November 16-20, 2009

[Cyberologist]

GH is a horribly written testosterone driven show

that degrades and belittles women its horrid

it is abundantly clear that the writers are clueless about good soap

GuZa has got to go end of story... He should have been gone "years ago."

It is Brian Frons that dictates story on all three of his shows

He approves everything which I've been told they all do but he changes what the writers write...

until he hires excellent "soap" writers not his buddies

let them do their job and stay out of it (he's re-defining the genre he says)

[Ann_SS]

But you would think that the 18 to 49 viewers already watching GH would have stuck around. It is hard to believe that 136,000 of them stopped watch live to go watching JF on YT. I checked the views of JF on GH, YT videos and none were had more had a 2000 views. It could be a random weekly fluctuation that has no relationship to what was on the screen. It was also the week before the holiday week so people could have been getting an early start travelling home to be with their families. This seems far more likely since GH's stunt promotion usually draws in viewers for the occasional demo bump.

[JaneAusten]

Holiday week? Explain how Days managed to capture those viewers yet GH didn't. If you're going to use the holiday excuse that should apply to all soaps. Days just had a huge week and it appears viewers prefer classic soap telling versus stunt casting. And sorry I don't think James Franco is a big draw. He's not an A list star. He's not Tom Cruise or WIll Smith. Days ran promos in primetime as GH did it just seems most prefer classic versus a stunt with an a C list star that I'll bet many TV viewers don't even know.

Add in the fact that JJ's return IMO has been horribly handled and this is the result.

[KSlater]

Coming from the perspective of someone newer to GH, here's my main problem with the show (not saying this is the main problem, just mine): there is no follow through with any storyline. I started watching right before the Carnival event. When all of the mayhem broke out at the carnival, people were injured, killed, etc., I expected some sort of fallout. I expected to see Edward Quartermaine and his family deal with the consequences of the accident and to see how others dealt with it. But in just a few days, poof, it was over, Edward disappeared from the screen and then back to square one.

Claudia's death. Same thing once again. Michael killed Claudia, but I am not seeing any fallout from this. There's no sense of something happening that will have far-reaching effects on everyone involved. I thought Carly's reaction from a mother's perspective from her boy killing someone sorely lacked writing wise -- which surprised me, not in a good way. And Michael's reaction hasn't been written well.

The Dante story -- again, great potential. Pretty simple story that should be easy to tell -- a son out to destroy a man who happens to be his father, and he doesn't know it. This should be a big story with loads of emotional impact. But again, they aren't even following through well on this one and the emotional impact isn't there. I do love the actor playing Dante though. He probably won't stay on the show more than a couple years.

The Spixie wedding -- even though Spinelli gets on my nerves, I thought the wedding was well written and heartfelt. But Maxie is cheating already? LOL. It made that whole exercise kind of pointless.

And I hate to say this because he has loads of fans, but Jason bores me. I've tried really hard to get into his character, but there's nothing there for me to latch onto. He seems to be devoid of emotion.

From what I've read from longtime viewers, the head writer hasn't just alienated them. He has turned them off forever. It seems that a lot of things people loved for years about GH have been destroyed. It's hard to win people back after that kind of deliberate destruction. A few events won't fix that problem.

I am still watching the show though. But I'm not the viewer they need to win back and keep. JMHO.

BTW, James Franco is co-starring in an upcoming movie with Julia Roberts. He co-starred in a film with Sean Pean. While he hasn't reached A-list status and isn't well-known outside of the younger set, he is definitely up and coming with a bright future in spite of his stint on GH. He's not C-list by any means.

ETA: Thank you Toups, for the ratings!

[JackPeyton]

Its not that Franco isnt an A list star, because he is IMHO... its that he isnt a brad & angie, a britney, hes not someone who makes people want to see something. I dont even think Tom Cruise could pull it off.

Also, as you said, hes really not knowen to TV viewers. If you follow hollywood and award season and whatnot you know him. But Franco almost never even makes tabloid magazines. He just doesnt have that star power. But hes in no way a C list actor.

[Ann_SS]

I would argue that Days is an anomaly, an outlier. It is the only soap that has consistently gained viewers since last year. Consequently, Days had the strength to withstand the pre-holiday week slump and gain viewers with the climax of the baby switch story while the other soaps stumbled. I don't really know, but GH which is crap usually does well with heavy promotion so other factors could be at work.

[JaneAusten]

So the factor is maybe again Franco is not a draw. The stuff that does well for GH have been big events which I argue brings back lapsed viewers to watch the current cast in a big cast event. What lapsed viewers is Franco bringing in. It's not a big event he's involved in it's a storyline with Jason. And I still don't think he's a draw. He's not a A lister and I'd argue that a lot of people watching TV don't know him. It's not like he's Tom Cruise. I'd argue that if it was TOm Cruise or WIll Smith or Julia Roberts, those numbers for that week would have been decent.THe fact that the whole week for GH slumped tells me it's just not Franco at play it's other things also. IA Days had the baby storyline but doesn't it say something when viewers tuned in for that yet not GH's stunt casting. Even the carnival GH promoted only drew in decent numbers a couple of days. Claudia's death lasted a couple of days, etc..

[JaneAusten]

I think if you read my comments I said he's an A list actor, C list star. No he doesn't make the tabloids.etc.. He's just doesn't have that star power yet but gosh he's still young, 31. I just don't think people are going to tune into a bad soap to watch him. Even Liz Taylor back when she made her appearence on GH, while not actively performing in films, still had star power then.

And KSlater outlined the exact problem with GH. They don't run the course with stories and so many get dropped. It's why so many of the deaths on GH have been such a waste. First they kill off valuable legacy characters with loads of story potential. But they do nothing with them. Alan Q died after the 2007 MC Crisis Storyline and there was a storyline started where his will was forged and it was dropped and nothing. Georgie and Emily 2 young legacy females were killed on screen in a murder mystery the audience was supposed to follow and it all but disappeared until they decided months later to bring a character back from the dead as a culprit. Claudias death was IMO disgusting but after 2 years of this you'd think the fallot and followup story would be more. Nada. JJ comes back to play Lucky in the midst of a horrid storyline that had no buildup and is now waning because they are dragging it out and nothing. All of these stories could have had emotional punch for the long haul and played out yet nothing.

[Ann_SS]

I don't believe that quality of a soap is reflected in the ratings unless there is a consistent trend upwards like Days has had or promotion of a stunt like GH does. I am just surprised that GH's heavy promotion along with James Franco did not work this time.

[JaneAusten]

What stunt did GH promote though? I guess stunt casting but there was no story promoted. Every other promotion GH has done to draw in viewers has been an all cast event stunt, the MC Crisis, the trainwreck, the hotel fire. I just don't think Franco is a big TV draw.Plus I'll bet people may have tuned in before he appeared to see the lead up to his appearence and perhaps found the show lackluster as it is. He may be an a list actor, but he doesn't yet have the starpower that a Cruise, Clooney, Smith, Roberts, Pitt, do. I'd argue the same thing about a DeNiro. I don't think in his heydey he would be a huge draw but Redford would have. ONe was a well known fabulous A list actor the other a superstar and a B list actor.

[Cyberologist]

In my opinion.

What will bring in viewers / demise of soaps most of the blame is theirs IMO eg

most of ABC soaps write lousy stories....I came back to AMC for Jesse/Angie return and overall am not pleased with their storylines...

African Americans were huge soap watchers its nearing 2010 "soaps are not diverse" that is one of their "major" problems only Caucasians driving top tier A story by lead actors...they have "lost the African American audience" IMO and I really don't think we're watching like we use to....

Most of my Spanish friends are into tella novellas

Soaps IMO (for the most part with a few exceptions) do not represent the world we live in today they are dated I still watch but not like I use to.

When African Americans walk from a show IMO they don't come back they are done with Soap operas we waited around for decades with little change that I see... its too much good programming out here to waste time. I use to watch all soaps now I'm done to two and a half..

I use to avidly watch ATWT I lost intrest.

[Juliajms]

I think you may be right Q. I had just started tuning into Days for the first time ever when he implied that it would be canceled,s o I stopped watching and never went back. I figured why get into a show a year or so before it's ended. Guess I should have stuck it out, but that statement seemed pretty concrete at the time.

[Guest dc cubs]

Nielsen to Have "Internet Meters" In Place Prior to 2010-2011 Season

The integrated measurement of advertising across both TV and internet viewing might happen sooner than we thought. Nielsen now expects to have a portion of its people meter households covered with “Internet meters” prior to the 2010-2011 broadcast season.

Once that happens, count on internet viewing on Hulu.com and the network’s websites having the same national advertising load as the telecasts for at least 3 days after airtime, so it will count in the C+3 commercial ratings that the networks sell to advertisers.

Urged by clients to move faster, Nielsen responded Tuesday (Dec. 1) with a plan to accelerate the rollout of the Internet meter to its national people meter sample. The plans call for Nielsen to complete the roll out by Aug. 31, 2010, instead of some time in 2011.

The initiative, now called TVandPC will create the industry’s first single source measure of viewing to both TV and online. Once the rollout is complete, Nielsen will be able to report online video viewing from 7,500 national-people-meter homes, representing about 20,000 people and 12,000 computers.

[Cyberologist]

Quoting another a cyber bud here but basically these are the same storylines that didn't play out for me as well. And she says it all ....

"their lack of follow through.

They had 4 or 5 stories in a row that got dropped without any conclusion, any sparks, no pay off that I was uber excited about and that were responsible for me tuning in every day.

"

1. Elizabeth/Jason/Jake/Paternity Secret/Secret lovers (huge anvil of Jake's pic dropping on safe house floor)

2. Jason taking over as mob boss/the decline of Sonny/Jason's friendship and the ramifications on the mob business

3. Jason as mob boss going head to head with Anthony Z.

4. The Text Message Killer

5. The ramifications of Emily's death on Jason and Elizabeth/Jake and the Quartermaines "

5. Monica's alcholism storyline given the bum's rush...

(and where she stayed mad at Jason 2 eppys re: him being responsible for the deaths of her other two children

then was scribed back into kissing his ass)

[bellcurve]

Brad Bell should be sweating bullets right now.

I could see B&B continuing to drop and DAYS holding onto that #2 spot.