October 12-16, 2009

[Soapsuds]

Glad to see all the shows up in Total Viewers and some in HHs.

Also the plusses from last year are good to see too. Only GH is down over 100,000 viewers from last year.

(+362,000/+646,000)

(+233,000/+87,000)

(+24,000/+339,000)

(+129,000/+96,000)

(+70,000/-111,000)

(+165,000/-17,000)

(+133,000/-5,000)

Glad to see ATWT up in both categories. Y&R and AMC...I dont get their high numbers. AMC is a trainwreck..IMO.

[Cashton]

Perhaps people watch online or DVR them? But wow - Y&R had a 4.1 on Monday.

[Ann_SS]

Toups, are those total viewers GH numbers from last year correct? Last week GH was down around 300,000. They only gained 70,000 this so how come they are only down around 100,000 from last year?

[Soapsuds]

But they tumbled down to a 3.6 and lost almost 900.000 viewers by the end of the week.

[Toups]

I don't understand the question. LOL

2,691,000 (October 13-17, 2008)

2,580,000 (October 12-16, 2009)

= 111,000

I just do the math. LOL

[Jonathan]

You know what they say about trainwrecks....

[Ann_SS]

I must have mixed up the weeks in my head. I thought there were more total viewers last year last weak.

[Jonathan]

Maybe the ratings are up across the board because of Balloon Boy?

[JaneAusten]

It wasn't meant to be offensive and this has nothing to do with training viewers or anything of the such but some of the boards are honestly no different than blogs where people seems to comment and react to the most negative things and things get amplified by 1000 percent online. I know that in the past myself there have been characters and couples or stories I enjoyed on soaps as an offline viewer or didn't find particularly offensive and coming online you'd think it was the end of the world and earth was falling. And sorry but I do think in many cases there is a lot of follow the leader aspects to online. That of course is my opinion but as it happens everywhere else online, I have no idea why soaps would be different. Viewers political opinions or example get influenced watching Fox News or MSNBC or CNN so thy would online posting be different.( Hearing peoples understanding of the healthcare plan was a scary example of the media's influence on understanding and opinions of a lot of Americans. ) I do think this board is atypical in that respect though and there is intelligent points and dialogue that goes on here.

And it's anyone's choice to leave a show when a particular character or couple leaves, that's each viewer's decision. I am really going to be very interested in seeing what happens at AMC or Y&R with those key departures. Neither show is really doing anything much IMO. And you're right AMC doesn't have much. But I am one who thinks AMC doesn't have much anymore anyway aside from David Canary and Susan Lucci. While I recognize the popularity of Zach and Kendall(and I do know they are popular), I haven't enjoyed any couple on that show since the days of Leo and Greenlee or even Ryan(who I detest) and Gillian.

And while I am the last person to defend Brian Frons, I think his comments are many times so offensive the true intent is overlooked. I think his comments about training viewers while incredibly ridiculous and offensive, had some truth and validity to it and it's something every television show does to an extent, gearing stories and characters in a way to influence how the audience will accept them or it. It doesn't always work and is why characters and storylines flop, but is also works a lot also.

[RoseVioletDaisy]

LMAD is still on CBS's schedule and is still airing in most markets.

Why? LMAD failing won't bring GL back or discourage any of the other networks from considering cheaper programming than soaps for their daytime lineups. Everyone at GL is already out of work, why wish the same fate on the crew of another show?

[jfung79]

I understand where you're coming from with that point. I was making the same point when people were wishing GL to be cancelled because of the new production model having supposedly already effectively killed it and resulted in the firing of a lot of crew. I was like, why add to that with more firings? Huh? GL being cancelled wouldn't give the old crew their jobs back.

But this is different, because LMAD failing would be more evidence that any new game show would be a ratings failures in the key W 18-49 demo, and combined with the soaps' newfound stability or resurgence in the ratings that WILL save the remaining soaps. And soaps employ a lot more people than game shows.

[quartermainefan]

The best story Minshew's Kendell ever had (at least theoretically) was when she was in a coma for weeks. I tuned in expecting to get some relief finally. She never shut up! I never saw a coma patient talk more asleep than awake. They leaving will probably cause ratings to rise 20% resulting in an across the board bump all the way to Nightline!

[david]

A lot of Y&R viewers will probably disagree, but, to me, Y&R is the best it has been in years. It really reminds me of what the show was from 1987-95, when I got addicted to it : long-arc storylines clearly progressing from A to B to C.

Some of you complain that the storylines are predictable, but that is precisely what I like : that way, one can really anticipate the character's reactions. It also means they don't act out of character.

If you find the show is too dark, just remember the late '80s : Jessica died from AIDS, Steven Lassiter was killed, Cassandra died after the awesome George Rawlins murder mystery, crazy Lisa Mansfield trapped Brad in a cage, David Kimble died in a trash compactor with the word "killer" on his forehead, April killed her husband Robert... And I forgot the Sheila Carter saga...

Now we have Adam and Patty who did nothing worst than these past characters, and what is really innovative is that they are characters from the core families of the show.

But, at the same same time, you had quiet and poignant scenes to explore the reactions of each character, like the ones we saw after Colleen's death : don't you think Beth Maitland was amazing in these episodes ?

And why complain about a baby switch storyline ? To me, these are classic soap storylines, just like love triangles and murder mysteries...

Yes, Y&R is VERY dark show right now, but so was the classic Y&R written by Bill Bell : we can't blame the current writing team to try to recapture the darkness that makes the show so unique.

I agree that Colleen's death is very surprising and sad, but don't you like to be surprised and sad when you watch a soap ? As for the future, Steve could have a daughter of his own from a previous marriage, when Traci has no child anymore, and that could cause tension in the couple...

Regarding Eric Braeden's exit, I think this could be a chance to really add suspense in every future storyline : Victor was always... victorious in every situation he was put in, and like some of you said, he was involved in almost every storyline. But that was the character, he was there to win, and we liked him for that... or not !

If he ever comes back, his rivalry with Jack will be awesome to watch.

If Melody Thomas Scott agrees to stay without Eric Braeden, I think Nikki could start to drink again, alone and sad in the Newman ranch, like Katherine in the Chancellor mansion in the 70's. It could be revealed in Katherine's will after her death that Nikki was really Katherine's daughter and she would be given the mansion.

I even imagined she could eventually meet James Warwick to help her in these difficult times : MTS and Ian Buchanan would be awesome together.

And if she leaves, then the writers have the opportunity to create new characters and build the future of Genoa City (we don't know anything about Sharon except her mother, or about J.T.'s family) or have the Brooks family back in Genoa City or Jill's brothers...

The possibilities are endless with such a rich history, and the current writing team is brilliantly exploiting it.

Just my opinion and you may, of course, disagree.

[marceline]

Really? I expect a drop in total viewers to correct for this being a holiday week and the usual ABC/ATWT shuffle for last place but I can't see any reason for massive falls.

[JaneAusten]

I'm not that invested in Y&R as I have been other soaps but I definitely saw an upswing at the end of last year into maybe the first 6 months of this year. And while there may be a good foundation for the show, the storytelling of late has not been that compelling. Yes I think Beth Maitland is amazing as always but Colleen's death was such a waste especially just months after her fathers pointless death. I have no issue killing off long standing or legacy characters if there is significant impact to the canvas. Brad's had none. Now with Victor returning and having received Colleen's heart, is there a possibility we could see more significant impact to the show. I don't know but I don't get the point of killing off significant characters to just only play out story for a week or so and then dropping it when there could be tons and tons of story to tell.

There are going to be some new storylines kicking in, Sharon with Adam, Billy taking over Restless Style(I am getting bored with Billy by the way) so we'll see how things progress.