March 23-27, 2009

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Most soaps seemed to have started off with Monday being a highly rated unusual day, but that leveled off towards the end of the week. I wonder what was the cause for the high household ratings on Monday. I don't recall any snow storms or anything else unusual.

[Adam]

Wow, AMC is 318,000 viewers ahead of last year.... that is really nice to see a year to year increase like that.

[Angela]

1.(U) Y&R: Monday: 3.8/5,478,000 (+477,000)

2.(U) B&B: Monday: 2.6/3,721,000 (+471,000)

3.(U) DAYS: Monday: 2.3/3,052,000 (-16,000)

4.(U) AMC: Monday: 2.3/2,986,000 (+407,000)

5.(U) OLTL: Monday: 2.2/2,887,000 (+258,000)

6.(U) ATWT: Monday: 2.0/2,752,000 (+249,000)

7.(U) GH: Monday: 2.1/2,734,000 (+15,000)

8.(U) GL: Monday: 1.6/2,340,000 (+296,000)

1.(1) Y&R: Tuesday: 3.7/5,433,000 (-45,000)

2.(2) B&B: Tuesday: 2.4/3,383,000 (-338,000)

3.(3) DAYS: Tuesday: 2.2/2,982,000 (-70,000)

4.(7) GH: Tuesday: 2.1/2,967,000 (+233,000)

5.(6) ATWT: Tuesday: 2.1/2,859,000 (+107,000)

6.(4) AMC: Tuesday: 2.1/2,660,000 (-326,000)

7.(5) OLTL: Tuesday: 1.9/2,578,000 (-309,000)

8.(8) GL: Tuesday: 1.7/2,382,000 (+42,000)

1.(1) Y&R: Wednesday: 3.7/5,132,000 (-301,000)

2.(2) B&B: Wednesday: 2.5/3,578,000 (+195,000)

3.(3) DAYS: Wednesday: 2.2/3,068,000 (+86,000)

4.(7) OLTL: Wednesday: 2.2/2,931,000 (+353,000)

5.(4) GH: Wednesday: 2.2/2,868,000 (-99,000)

6.(5) ATWT: Wednesday: 2.1/2,827,000 (-32,000)

7.(6) AMC: Wednesday: 2.0/2,815,000 (+155,000)

8.(8) GL: Wednesday: 1.7/2,252,000 (-130,000)

1.(1) Y&R: Thursday: 3.6/5,149,000 (+17,000)

2.(2) B&B: Thursday: 2.6/3,568,000 (-10,000)

3.(3) DAYS: Thursday: 2.1/3,109,000 (+41,000)

4.(5) GH: Thursday: 2.1/2,872,000 (+4,000)

5.(4) OLTL: Thursday: 2.0/2,754,000 (-177,000)

6.(6) ATWT: Thursday: 1.9/2,708,000 (-119,000)

7.(7) AMC: Thursday: 2.0/2,698,000 (-117,000)

8.(8) GL: Thursday: 1.6/2,239,000 (-13,000)

1.(1) Y&R: Friday: 3.4/4,782,000 (-367,000)

2.(2) B&B: Friday: 2.3/3,226,000 (-342,000)

3.(3) DAYS: Friday: 2.2/3,049,000 (-60,000)

4.(4) GH: Friday: 2.0/2,779,000 (-93,000)

5.(7) AMC: Friday: 2.0/2,737,000 (+39,000)

6.(5) OLTL: Friday: 2.0/2,692,000 (-62,000)

7.(6) ATWT: Friday: 1.8/2,505,000 (-203,000)

8.(8) GL: Friday: 1.4/2,032,000 (-207,000)

[SteveFrame]

I just made the comment because of all the threats. If I didn't read it on one board I read it on 50 including mine. The threat was that if Pratt wanted to kill AMC and get record low ratings all he had to do was let Kendall sleep with Ryan and break up with Zach.

I actually enjoy the story a lot. I actually enjoy Zach and Kendall more under Pratt than any writer in a long time. I liked them a little when they first got together and then turned to just hating them together. Under Pratt I can actually enjoy them again and not really them but enjoy their stories.

I don't enjoy seeing them almost every day, but at least I can watch them under Pratt.

I just have to laugh at all the threats not just by Zendell but even this year by the Jarlena fans who threatened doom and gloom for Days.

[brimike]

I think those low (and by low, I just mean relatively speaking, not in a critical way) plus-numbers from last year on most of the soaps? That's the Recession right there. In fact, I'd guarantee it. We're up a few hundred thousand, because people are out of work.

[Kryptonite]

Really good bounce back week for the soaps in the last full week of the March sweeps period. As usually there were some spotty days for the soaps.

After what went down yesterday with GL it was nice to see the uptick in every soap week to week and most of the soaps have now gone up on the plus side year to year which is another positive.

GL had a really good week but it could've been better, it also doesn't matter anymore, I hope they find a new home pretty soon and the Light can carry on past September of this year and they can reach 75 years and maybe even 100 years on the air.

Demos were really strong last week also as there were three soaps either at that 1.5 mark or over it.

CBS really should've held onto GL despite the economic downturn because the turn around for DAYS is amazing. That show is way up year to year and had a huge ratings week. DAYS cleared a 1.5 in the main demo and could be headed towards 3.5 million viewers down the line as their audience continues to increase. I really feel like Guiding Light was going to make that same turn around but at least GL will look like a real soap again when it syndicates to another network so maybe the cancellation off CBS was a good thing. Otalia will carry the new era of GL as GL will be the standard soap for the future.

ABC Soaps had a really good week especially AMC on Monday. ABC Soaps need to try to stabilize with these ratings as GH had a huge week and should continue to see an uptick.

OLTL is a monster right now. I'm enjoying that soap more than any other and the quality is far and away better than any other soap believe it or not. Evil Stacy is really turning into one of my favorite characters right now. Cole is the best actor out there and the show is still good this week. The ratings finally go up for it and the year to year increase shows that the soap is in a better state now than before. Quality doesn't equal ratings right away but it does in a big way down the line.

[MichaelGL]

I'm surprised that OLTL is steadily holding onto it's gains. Congrats to them. It's definitely entertaining.

[Angela]

SteveF, I know sometimes one has to get in the "you were wrong" when the opportunity strikes just as much as the other side has to get in the "we were rights" when the opportunity strikes. I just noticed the other side of that there, the "air-hogger" side. I do think the story is so muddled (lacking consistency, pacing is nuts) and even if I didn't, these 3, five days a week, eh.

No. No. It was the long anticipated Frankie/Randi wedding I mock them only because ... they're so incredibly boring.

4 out of the 8, I think, are in the pluses year to year. If it continues, our past Presidents definitely deserve the credit.

[marceline]

I think part of the credit goes to various spring breaks. Brimike's point about the recession is also a good one. I can only imagine trying to spin those numbers for advertisers:

"See the numbers are up!"

"Yes, but all those new viewers are unemployed."

[Faulkner]

Those demos for ATWT and GL are HORRIBLE.

[JackPeyton]

Yay for DAYS! I am shocked. I was sure it would fall. Hopefully it can keep this up and take over the number two spot!

The same thing can be said for passions, PC, AW, SuBe, Capitol, Loving, The City, etc....

soaps have been dying since they began to be honest.

the lowest rated soap for years getting the ax it should have gotten years ago isnt this huge sign of the demise of the genre being right around the corner.

[Kryptonite]

DAYS will definitely reach #2 soon as B&B is falling hard. It will be big when DAYS actually catches B&B as no soap has beaten B&B in years.

Positive news for the genre is that Y&R is averaging 5.26 million viewers ahead of both The Price Is Right at 4.95 million viewers and The View at 4.25 million viewers. Y&R is ahead and that could be a good sign there.

Another good sign would be if Guiding Light can find a new home. They could set the standard for the 2nd life of the soap genre. I don't think GL's death will be as bad as Passions or any cancelled soaps before that.

[jfung79]

No, because most of those shows were either under 10 years old or replaced by another soap. GL is the longest-running drama in broadcast history, and it is not being replaced by another soap.

The overall HH rating and total viewers were decent for GL last week ... I have a theory that CBS rushed the announcement on Wednesday because they weren't sure GL would do bad enough in the ratings out today to justify their decision, so they had to rush out the announcement when the only 1.5 week in March was the latest in people's minds.

That's actually my more charitable conspiracy theory. My other theory about the "macabre timing" as Dan Kroll put it, is that CBS did it on purpose to say that anyone who had believed the rumors that GL would be renewed for a year because of its improvement in the ratings was a "fool" -- a deliberate slap in the face.

[Steve]

I don't like seeing them every day either, but I also find Kendall/Ryan/Zach more watchable under Pratt. I enjoy Kendall more with Ryan than I ever did with Zach and judging from the ratings, I'm not the only one!

[JackPeyton]

It could also be said that the fact that no soap premiered since the 80's actually lasting was the death of soaps.

you can blame the death of soaps on whatever you want really.

all the charts and the discussions are great and all - but if you wanna go ratings declining and soaps being axed then you have to go back to the start. ratings have been on a decline for decades. shows have gotten axed and not replaced - how else do you explain going from at one point over 12+ soaps on the air at once, most being an hour in length, to only 7. GL isnt the first soap to be axed and not get replaced by another soap. it has happened before.

There is no one thing or person you can put the blame on for soaps dying. it just is. it has been for a very very long time.

The fact thats GL is the longest running drama in history doesnt mean anything when it comes to this. IMHO anyways, just that led a very long life.

The overall rating and total viewers were not decent. They were okay compared to what GL has had in the past year. But they were from decent. This decision was made some time ago i believe. I dont thik CBS made a deliberate slap in the face to the fans. I think we all KNOW GL has been living in borrowed time for most of the past 10 years, and without a doubt the last 5. The only reason it made this long and wasnt axed over a year ago was because of the peapack plan, and it failed.

sure its sad the longest running drama in history is coming to an end. and i wish it could go on and do well - and maybe there is a chance it could, i mean look at Days. Its bouncing back rather well - but honestly, how could anyone be shocked by the ax? We all knew it was coming. And really, it came later rather than sooner because we all have knowen for quite some time that it was going to happen.