March 16-20, 2009

[rangethatrover]

OLTL wants be EVERYTHING for EVERYBODY. Kiddies, musicians every month, veterans (to a point), serial killers, evil bitches, tons of history- but only used well 1/2 half the time.. Its the PLEASE LOOK AT ME red headed step child. I have said it before, I get the feeling that no other show is loved by its writers more than OLTL. And when corporate bulls-it is going on, it is most apparent on OLTL on screen.

[Scotty]

Well IMHO Gary Tomlin as head writer during the strike sucked, but Gary Tomlin as executive producer was great. The Live week, the special Trading Places and Babes Behind Bars episodes, etc.... were classic. And remember that while he was EP, OLTL won their first and only award for best daytime drama.

[DRW50]

I know. GL does have a lot of problems but I thought last week was good. I guess viewers didn't agree. I hope the ratings will pick up soon.

[BlueLick]

DAYS has done very well in the ratings. Its the only soap since 2006 to increase big time from a bad year.

Can you believe DAYS still exists when there was a 75% chance that NBC was going to axe it a year ago but its survived its first real threat of cancellation.

It looks like DAYS will live on to see 50 years and more than likely 75 years.

Yep its doing well in a lot of the big markets and other markets. Its actually the only soap doing well in almost every market while ABC and CBS are very strong and weak in half of their markets.

[tgilbrea69]

Fingers crossed there may be some change!!!! They are near the bottom for the year in both HH and straight numbers. Perhaps somebody higher up will realize Christopher Goutman, Jean Passanante and Leah Laiman are driving our beloved soap off of a cliff!

When will they realize that viewers don't want ridiculous action or episodes that introduce a situation and resolve it in one day - where is the excitement in that. And where is the reason to want to watch tomorrow???? Bring back stories that last longer than a day or a week.

[miajere]

They're probably blaming GL and B&B for their low ratings.

[MichaelGL]

Hmmm according to the comparisons from last year in Households, GL would be at a 1.9 and in 5th place if it stayed the same from last year. That says alot about the state of soaps ratings wise, does it not?

[alwaysAMC]

Hahahahha - AMC is going up while Zendall is getting a divorce. Love it - shows Zendall is NOT this show's saving grace.

[Sylph]

Mark, do you have the ratings charts?

[MarkH]

I haven't done any lately. What do you want to see?

[Sylph]

Perhaps a 3-year chart for all soaps?

[MarkH]

ETA: The two shows I'd be most scared to be right now are ATWT (look at those 2007-2008 slopes! Pure rapid decline) and Y&R. I should also explain that the Season numbers are the first part of each season. So, "2008" really means "2008-2009 season, beginning in Fall 2008".

As usual, Sylph, you inspire great revelations. The four-year chart below helps show why GL was cancelled.

Look at all the soaps. Notice that the ratings flatten, or improve, for almost every soap over the 4-season period. THAT IS A GOOD THING. It will be interesting too look at "longer haul", but it suggests soaps have at least temporarily "stopped the bleeding"...stability is DEFINITELY better than decline.

But look at the yellow line for GL. The slope is pretty monotonically linear, all decline, no stabilization. If this were a medical patient, we'd say, "relative to all the other patients, this patient shows no signs of improvement or stabilization". Thus, no hope.

Sad, sad day...but it is easy to see how the money wonks and number crunchers came to this decision, quantitatively.