April 13-17, 2009

[BlueLick]

Yep, the digital change is already in progress in certain markets and the rest of the country will follow in June. The affiliates are the ones that decide if the programs you're watching on your network will be in HD b/c the network has to be supported by HD whether it be CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, CW, or MyNet. Usually when your local news goes to HD then every other program can go into HD b/c everything will be digital on their affiliate and they'll be able to support HD programs like GH. If you're affiliate isn't ready for HD then you'll be getting the standard version of your network's programming whether they're in HD or not.

That's what I like about HD is that you can see the littlest details like pimples and bad face marks. Sonny really was shown bad in HD as I saw extra wrinkles on him. If I ever see Edward Allen Quartermaine or Stephanie Forrester in HD then I might have to turn. LOL!

[Benjiapollo]

Yeah, I am much aware thast if the afiiliates don't do it, you might as well forget it. ONe example is not the lcals, it is MSNBC, no HD for them.

Guess we are lucky in Naples becaue ABC, CBS and NBC do air all in HD. Miami does the same thing. I forget Fx, they do it also. IT just bugs me when the acgtors look chubbier than they realy are and even sometimes shorter.

[BlueLick]

Phoenix, I agree with everything you just said here and its all the truth. The Nielsen system is very outdated b/c GL's audience and fan base is very strong and just as huge as any of the other soaps are and the evidence was there when it got canceled. People don't really watch it in real-time anymore like you said and people aren't home to watch them anymore. I think if the Nielsen system ever wants to be 100% effective then they should require a measuring chip to be installed into everybody's set top box whether it be the digital over the air one, cable, or satellite for their real-time ratings and include the online and On Demand viewing stats in their data. Its very fair that way.

CBS probably won't do a third soap but I've got a feeling if their cheap stuff doesn't work out and lose ATWT at the same time then they'll probably be more confident to do it.

Like I said before and you just said, moving to Lifetime would be the best thing to ever happen to GL in the last 5-10 years as it'll get a lot of the network's attention with promos and more money put into the show. They were living on borrowed time the last few years on CBS.

Not sure yet, if B&B does go to one hour it probably won't happen until next year. It'll probably be the same timeslot but the local affiliates may move it around if it performs poorly and the strong markets will leave it where it is.

For B&B's sake, it needs to stay a half-hour b/c its safer that way and cheaper.

[MarkH]

1. B&B's not going to an hour. Soaps are in the lower half of the rating's distribution (compared to talk, game, etc). They are declining at a faster rate than primetime right now. They are in the bottom three of genres mentioned as "most loved", spontaneously, in a recent Harris poll. They draw an older-than-desired audience (by short-sighted advertisers). Yet they are among the most expensive categories to produce on daytime (even GL).

Morover, B&B's international success hinges, in part, on its 30 minute structure.

Neither the Bells nor CBS want an hour show. It's so moot. It will never happen.

2. My local affiliate, which does use an HD feed for primetime, is FORGETTING (yes, FORGETTING) to switch over to HD for GH. Apparently (based on some email conversations today), their engineers DO NOT KNOW/BELIEVE that GH is now in HD.

Really.

I admit this is a podunk town, but really....the engineers DON'T KNOW????

3. Alvin mentioned "washed out" aspects to the picture. DC's Luke Kerr compared the GH feed on LCD and Plasma. He concluded that TV settings need to be ADJUSTED for GH to look "right". (I realize this is ridiculous). It is a worthwhile, non-techy little report to read over there.

[Benjiapollo]

I totaslly agree with you, and ZI don't think the affilaifes are willing to give up their cheaper talk shows, and CBS is not about to give up the 12:30 easetern time time slot, getting a jump on the ABC soaps.

[Soapsuds]

1. Y&R 3.8

2. B&B 2.6

3. Days 2.1

4. GH 2.0

5. AMC 2.0

6. ATWT 1.9

7. OLTL 1.9

8. GL 1.6

[SteveFrame]

But where is the money going to come from. Are the Otalia fans of the modern age going to pay the production costs?

It may be antiquated or whatever but until something better comes along the Nielsens and the way things are done is still where the money comes from. It always takes years for things to catch up with technology. Look at when television came along. It took years for radio to officially die and give up the ghost. It took years for TV to really catch up to it.

There are still huge parts of the country where many people still don't have computers. Hell they don't even have cable or satellite thus the reason the government is giving them discount coupons to get the boxes so they can still watch TV when it all goes digital.

My sister lives in an area where all they have available to them is dial up internet still and it is so slow that just to watch a 10 minute clip on You Tube takes an hour. Cable television doesn't even go to the area. AT&T keeps promising every year to offer broadband to the area but nothing. Satellite offers faster internet to them but it costs $250 dollars a month.

All these new avenues of viewing are there but they are not universal in the states yet. Thus one of the reasons that until technology fully catches watching in real time and the antiquated Nielsen ratings are what advertisers use and will use until something better comes along.

[JimTolkien]

Now this would be plausible if only CBS didn't lose almost $12 billion dollars last year . Yeah, I think the soaps we have now better hold onto their britches and pray that the economy picks up, advertising pick ups and the biggie, they don't keep LOSING A LOT OF VIEWERS and they KEEP THEIR RATINGS moving in the right direction. No one is immune from CBS heads going, snip, snip...that's gotta go. CBS TV's saving grace is that is leads the network in a lot of things.

[Cyberologist]

Isn't Lifetime owned by Disney?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Yes, Lifetime is a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Corporation.

[MoTheGreat]

We didn't have any holidays this week right? Is the ratings that bad?

[ATWT_GL_fan]

No they werent that bad they all went up except GL what you didnt see them on a post someone posted them earlier and someone else posted them again but not the total viewers only the hh

[D28IF]

I'm new to knowing what exactly goes into the ratings. The discussion's been interesting. How has the Nielsens taken into account that GL is on so many different times across the country, or don't they? And aren't they the only soap in that situation? If so, does that affect their numbers at all? Sorry for so many questions right off the bat!

[chyti]

I am a little confused about the ratings, arent they for the sole purpose of generating ad dollars so why would taking into account internet viewership or soapnet benefit the show. Meaning if the network is trying to sell ad space for a 1-2pm timeslot wouldn't all that matters to the advertiser be how many are watching during that time and don't they already take into account next day dvr.

I just don't think that there are so many lost viewers out there that are not being represented by the current rating system which is why the industry is still accepting of it. Also there is no need to take into account each and every viewer to have a fair representation

[BBK_GL_FAN]

Besides the rating system not picking up viewers watching on non-traditional sources, do they really expect numbers to go up AFTER they cancelled the show??

Any chance the show had of improving ratings wise with the major developments lately in Bizzie/Otalia/Phillip were ruined by CBS cancelling it before the audience had a chance to grow. Last week was huge, and they spent all that money in Orlando, but dropped the hatchet before all of them. Why did they do this? So they could have plenty of time to develop a remake of a 30 year old gameshow??? Oookaaay...

And CBS may have promoted the heck out of Phillip but did absolutely no advertising of Otalia.. And while I am glad they didn't pull an AMC, who pushed their "wedding" simply to gain short term publicity, once Otalia's popularity starting rising they could have promoted them a whole heck of a lot more than they did. CBS could have used all the positive Otalia press in advertising and had the ladies on the CBS morning show, like Marina and Mallet were recently.

And I love the new production model! It has improved from last year when the jumpy camera work was making me sea sick. I really appreciate the outdoor settings which make the scenes seem so real! I always hated those fake indoor sets with fake trees and rocks! For instance, watching Crystal and Jessica in the cemetery or in the gazebo, surrounded by nature and real sounds, it made it seem like you were eavesdropping on a real conversation! Makes it seem more intimate as well.

And Crystal has also stated that the one camera system is much more freeing to them as actors, it allows them more flexibility in how they play the scenes.

GL has made so much improvement lately in story telling, lets hope Lifetime is noticing.. And although those antiquated ratings didn't increase, they also didn't decrease, so they know the audience they hope to gain is holding steady. Two million viewers is still great numbers for cable! And they are finally admitting the fan response is making a difference, so we need to keep writing and calling and emailing and faxing if we want to keep the show!