October 5-9, 2009

[DRW50]

It's definitely unfair to not give credit to the show's storytelling for slowly bringing viewers back. There's a sense you need to watch every day, or at least watch some. That's missing from most soaps now.

To give CC all the credit is putting too much expectation on her, since they could lose all those viewers tomorrow. I guess I give her some credit because of those who were saying her return would do nothing for the numbers.

[Rakesh]

P&G (I can never boycott P&G. I have so many of their products in my home.) is the one who you should boycott, not CBS. I don't think it was CBS who hired those "writers."

[marceline]

LMFAO! I knew when I read that comment you were going to jump out here with your brass knuckles on, Toups!

[Ann_SS]

I understand GL fans' animosity towards LMAD. I think that Wayne Brady is doing a good job hosting and am pleased to see that some people are watching. We'll have to see if the ratings increase or decline next week. Like I said before, Brady should be hosting TPIR.

[Guest dc cubs]

I'm very happy for Days! I'd like to say their ratings success over the past year is enough to give them another renewal. I hope that is the case but its no guarantee.

[DRW50]

They're one of the few success stories on NBC right now, and Ali Sweeney is also an asset to NBC primetime. I hope this will be enough for that moron Zucker, or Comcast, to keep the show on.

[jdawg1077]

Whoever is behind the "timing" of things at Days is a genius. They create their "A Story" and build it over a year's time, a la JER and Bill Bell. The story hits all of the right beats over that year (the miscarriage, the birth/switch, the near-misses, the death of Grace), and touches nearly every character on the canvas, giving everyone a vested interest in the outcome.

Then, when it comes time to start the first step of the anticipated reveal (EJ finding out about the miscarriage), they take that exact moment of the reveal to reintroduce Crystal Chappell, who as of late seems to have gotten more press then Paris Hilton. CC's loyal fans (and new Days viewers) are sucked into the EJ/Nicole story, and EJ/Nicole fans are sucked into Carly's story, which is clearly going to be the "A Story" next year, once this story subsides.

On top of that, the final step of the baby-switch reveal appears as though it will take place during November Sweeps, which will probably be the month that determines whether Days is renewed or cancelled past its current contract, as Ken Corday basically said as much in one of his interviews. And given what the ratings are now, you can imagine what they might be when Sami finds out.

And as if that weren't enough, Days was made available on NBC.com and Hulu, and is already making waves there in terms of viewership.

Quite simply, this was a perfectly timed and executed plan to save this show, and I think it will work. And as a fan, I can't thank the team at Days enough!

[jfung79]

I never had a problem with the writers.

As for comments like "We all know ATWT is dead now" ... No, none of this defeatism.

- First of all, its ratings can improve with the improved writing.

- Second, LMAD did not succeed in the W 18-49 demo. It is clearly old-skewing. LMAD was almost 30% below ATWT in the W 18-49 demo this week. If CBS gets rid of ATWT for another game show, it increases its problem of having an increasingly aging audience.

This is now where the network fascination with demos can actually help rather than hurt soaps! Time to talk up the demos!

[JackPeyton]

it really doesnt matter if LMAD's ratings are lower than GL, if its cheaper to produce and turns a profit then it worked. game shows are the kind of show that can easily build an audience over time too. and if the net isnt happy they can ax it and replace it easily. i personally like LMAD, i think its a good game show. Not great, but it is far more entertaining than anything GL has done in a decade.

I am not surprised by the crazy hate aimed at LMAD/WB/CBS/P&G/Etc... because some fans refuse to believe that GL has run its course. Years of bad decisions, lack of caring, and all around suckage killed GL and it reached a point of no return. The fact is it had a long run and was fantastic for 90% of it. Thats an amazing thing they did.

As far as Days... WOW! Way to go. It just shows soaps can gain an audience back and get new people to watch if they produce good soap. and thats why days is. its good soap. its not reinventing the genre, its not trying to be something its not, its cliche - long storylines that play beats (i.e. the baby swap for the past year. we had sami/nicole prego by ej. sami going into witness protection and hiding the fact she was prego. nicole losign her baby and adopting mias to pass off. nicole swapping the kids. grace's death. the near miss'. and then some of the truth leading up to the climax - Sami finding out. this all touched upon every char on the canvas and it wasnt dragged, it was played perfectly). its not this brilliant amazing piece of television, but its not trying to be either. it is what it is - a soap opera.

Y&R, B&B, GH, AMC all deserve to drop. They are awful. ATWT is.... idk. its crazy, some of its amazing some is awful. its where it should be IMHO. OLTL is pretty solid overall.

[KevC1980]

I'm very impressed that Days beat B&B in viewers on Wednesday. When was the last time that happened? Days is on a roll.

[jfung79]

Game shows are old-skewing and CBS is already the oldest network. CBS cannot afford to get any older. Game shows may be able to replace each other, but replacing a game show with another game show can't win back the younger viewers lost by getting rid of a soap. At some point, absolute numbers does matter, not just profitability, because it begins to affect viewership for the rest of the lineup, including primetime. Furthermore, I read that GL was profitable too. Furthermore, no matter how cheap a game show is, how profitable can it be with almost the lowest possible W 18-49 demos for something on daytime network television?

So GL is gone, but it absolutely does matter how much worse LMAD does than GL, because it will affect whether ATWT and other soaps are canceled. And the jury is still out.

My "fact" is it had a long run and was fantastic to the end. Of course I "refuse to believe" what was not my experience. Do you think fans who liked it just happened to have an extra 5 hours to burn every week? Also, Guiding Light was the Emmy darling of 2006 and 2007, and it was holding steady in the ratings for 2006 and into 2007, back in the pack with other soaps when it had fallen beneath them for awhile -- hardly a story of continuous decline. CBS refused to invest to continue this success, however, cutting the budget further.

[MichaelGL]

I think some GL fans see LMaD's potential success as way to justify canceling other soaps. If LMaD is a success, who knows other networks might get the idea to cancel their soaps and replace them with gameshows.

[JackPeyton]

Maybe CBS is down with an older demo.

Emmys mean nothing.

If other soaps would wake up and fix whats wrong and not let what happened to GL happen to them then they have nothing to worry about. I would rather Days get the axe than end up like GL did.

[Ann_SS]

The networks are already looking to develop cheaper alternative programming to replace the soaps. It may or may not be game shows. It may be talk shows, judge shows or reality shows. Unless there is an infusion of viewers to raise the ratings, this is going to happen to all the soaps with ratings trending downwards eventually. Hating on LMAD is not going to change that fact.

[y&r_fan]

Do you mean in terms of ratings or quality? For quality I'd give B&B that title.