August 3-7, 2009

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Sh!t, Y&R got a 3.2 on Friday!

I hope the hacks running that show don't take it as people hating Nikki and that they couldn't care less about seeing her. I can definitely see how Y&R tumbled last week though.

The rises DAYS was getting earlier in the year seem to be wearing off, but nothing lasts forever anymore, especially in daytime.

[Carolyn1980]

The ABC soaps are more on-par with each other during this time than they ever have been. They've got about the same number of total viewers, the same HH rating, just about the same 18-49 demo rating (if GH had gotten 5,000 less women 18-49 viewers this week, they'd be tied), and just about the same 18-34 demo rating (with GH just 0.1 less than OLTL and AMC, and probably, as with the 18-49 demo, a few thousand more viewers in that demo would've brought GH up to a tie there).

It will be very easy, with the current ratings, for Brian Frons to cancel OLTL because of its more expensive cost (since it won't be getting the LA tax breaks AMC (will) and GH get, and it will still have the cost of tearing down sets every night to be driven across town, stored, and driven back the next day).

[Soapsuds]

ATWT need to get those Total Viewers up again. The 2.2 is very alarming. Goutman is featuring some vets now but it might be just too late. Many have left the show without looking back.

[alwild]

I'm not surprised, Soaps are becoming unwatchable now

[dragonflies]

How the hell do Frons, Guza, Pratt, Carlavati all have jobs? There is NO reason for ABC Daytime to be getting these types of ratings.

[dm.]

All soaps deserve to have low ratings for keeping hacks hired. Sorry for obviously stating that daytime will not be saved, but it's the truth.

[Jonathan]

It's a boys club. Was there ever another time when we had all male headwriters at ABC Daytime?

[Soapsuds]

I got agree with you there. None of TPTB in any network seemed to care what the audience wanted from their soap. It would have been nice if someone cared. When awful Jeremy whats his name won..I want to be a soapstar cause the EP seemed to have a hard on for him....well it is obvious where TPTB have the heads at.

[Angela]

1.(1) Y&R: Monday: 3.4/4,619,000 (-195,000)

2.(2) B&B: Monday: 2.5/3,411,000 (-10,000)

3.(3) OLTL: Monday: 1.9/2,609,000 (-56,000)

4.(4) GH: Monday: 1.8/2,481,000 (-175,000)

5.(6) AMC: Monday: 1.9/2,462,000 (+186,000)

6.(5) DAYS: Monday: 1.7/2,406,000 (-119,000)

7.(7) ATWT: Monday: 1.7/2,264,000 (-5,000)

8.(8) GL: Monday: 1.5/2,022,000 (-128,000)

1.(1) Y&R: Tuesday: 3.4/4,585,000 (-34,000)

2.(2) B&B: Tuesday: 2.4/3,289,000 (-122,000)

3.(6) DAYS: Tuesday: 1.9/2,687,000 (+281,000)

4.(5) AMC: Tuesday: 1.8/2,373,000 (-89,000)

5.(3) OLTL: Tuesday: 1.8/2,325,000 (-284,000)

6.(4) GH: Tuesday: 1.8/2,309,000 (-172,000)

7.(7) ATWT: Tuesday: 1.6/2,170,000 (-94,000)

8.(8) GL: Tuesday: 1.5/2,006,000 (-16,000)

1.(1) Y&R: Wednesday: 3.5/4,968,000 (+383,000)

2.(2) B&B: Wednesday: 2.5/3,464,000 (+175,000)

3.(5) OLTL: Wednesday: 2.0/2,711,000 (+386,000)

4.(3) DAYS: Wednesday: 1.9/2,592,000 (-95,000)

5.(6) GH: Wednesday: 1.9/2,554,000 (+245,0000)

6.(4) AMC: Wednesday: 1.8/2,407,000 (+34,000)

7.(7) ATWT: Wednesday: 1.7/2,281,000 (+111,000)

8.(8) GL: Wednesday: 1.5/1,972,000 (-34,000)

1.(1) Y&R: Thursday: 3.4/4,713,000 (-255,000)

2.(2) B&B: Thursday: 2.3/3,198,000 (-266,000)

3.(4) DAYS: Thursday: 1,8/2,688,000 (+96,000)

4.(3) OLTL: Thursday: 1.9/2,362,000 (-349,000)

5.(5) GH: Thursday: 1.8/2,341,000 (-213,0000)

6.(6) AMC: Thursday: 1.9/2,322,000 (-85,000)

7.(7) ATWT: Thursday: 1.6/2,217,000 (-64,000)

8.(8) GL: Thursday: 1.5/2,026,000 (+54,000)

1.(1) Y&R: Friday: 3.2/4,630,000 (-83,000)

2.(2) B&B: Friday: 2.4/3,472,000 (+274,000)

3.(5) GH: Friday: 2.0/2,525,000 (+184,000)

4.(6) AMC: Friday: 1.9/2,487,000 (+165,000)

5.(4) OLTL: Friday: 1.8/2,374,000 (+12,000)

6.(3) DAYS: Friday: 1.6/2,280,000 (-408,000)

7.(7) ATWT: Friday: 1.6/2,197,000 (-20,000)

8.(8) GL: Friday: 1.4/1,947,000 (-79,000)

[DRW50]

Isn't GH still overbudget even with the tax breaks? If AMC continues to do this poorly even after the big move and all the hype, then I'm not sure if they should keep it on the air. AMC and GH both have had many more chances and better publicity than OLTL and they still aren't improving in numbers. If anything AMC and GH have just declined, GH radically so.

As Y&RWorldTurner said, watch Y&R blame Nikki for the low ratings. More likely people are just sick of stunts and don't get a thrill out of seeing animals killed.

[Carolyn1980]

The problem is, the decision is in Frons' hands. And all three shows are pretty much doing the same right now, in every single demographic. So it comes down to costs....AMC will likely end up being the cheapest to produce with the move to LA. OLTL, the cheapest right now, will become the 2nd cheapest. And GH will be the most expensive. I think even if those above Frons tell him that GH should go instead of OLTL, because of the cost....Frons could easily come back and say he will just cut those costs somehow.

In fact....and I don't really think I'm going out on any big limb here....I think Tony Geary will probably retire in 2010, and if Genie Francis is feeling generous, she'll come back to escort him off the show. That will save a lot of money right there.

Believe me.....I'd prefer to keep OLTL around over the other two...but I just think Frons is stacking the deck against OLTL right now. IF, as it has been rumored, an ABC show is going to be canned in 2010, the only way OLTL can avoid being the unlucky one is to suddenly and consistently become higher rated in one area--the 18-49 female demo. I just don't see that happening. The ABC soaps are just too similar in performance (Nielsen-wise) lately.

(But I will be thrilled if I am proven wrong

[Ann_SS]

I'll believe it when I see it. Geary is rejuvenated with Nathan Parsons' arrival and it is expensive to live in Amsterdam. I don't see any the GH's top money makers (Geary, Benard, Burton and Wright) leaving in this economy. They will take pay cuts and stay with the sinking ship. None of them have opportunities outside of the soaps, they have families to support and mortgages to pay.

I can see GH adopting the cheaper production model that GL started and AMC and OLTL now use. Lots of strange outdoor scenes. If they do not go this route, then they will cull the cast by putting the less frequently used contract players on recurring.

Looking at all ABC soaps, I would not go out of the way to save any of them because the audience is not there to generate the ad revenue. If I was Frons. I would be developing less expensive replacement programming, a combo of game shows, court shows and talk shows. All the ABC soaps would all be off the air by 2012.

[CassieFan]

It's so sad to see that #3 soap has only 1.9. WOW.

Time for changes ABC, NBC and CBS. New HW!!!!

[JimTolkien]

I love the Y&R ratings!!! I really really do!! I feel really justified due to my own incessant moaning and whining last week and this week too!! I am sure I can probably pinpoint exactly when this show started to make the u-turn into hell!!

[Carolyn1980]

Ann, I agree with you that Geary would probably stay forever...but I think they're going to push him out the door...in a "positive" public relations way.

As for your suggestion that ABC go the talk show/game show route...I think the performance of Wayne Brady's "Let's Make a Deal" will be something ABC will be watching closely. If it does well.....ABC soaps are gone sooner than later.

BTW, I've given up on my original idea that ABC's soaps would all go out at once. I finally realized that that would really be a PR nightmare for the network. They really do need to weed them out one-by-one, like CBS is likely starting to do. So inevitably, one will go first....and unfortunately, I think it will be OLTL next year.

Still, I have to say, I find all of this behind-the-scenes stuff so much more fascinating than the shows themselves right now. I really am addicted to it. But I will be heartbroken when OLTL goes off the air. It's always felt like "the little show that could" to me, even when it was near the top (or at the top, as it was several times in 87 and 88) of the ratings.