November 16-20, 2009

[Lucid]

Betty White beat James Franco???????????

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I'd argue that a hell of a lot more people who watch TV recognize Betty White more than they do James Franco.

[JaneAusten]

But none of the show's "ideal" men have ever gotten betrayed like this. I expected Guza to make a fool out of GV's Lucky but never JJ's Lucky. Because I have yet to see the show's male faves like Sonny, Jason, Luke, or Nikolas shown to be a fool to this degree. I just assumed when JJ returned, the triangle aspect would play out more evenly and we'd actually see his one true love, Liz, falling for him again and seeing a real triangle play out verss her trying to convince herself she still loves someone she doesn't. Liz is no better here than she was with Jason. This reminds me of Jason/Liz/Lucky again where Liz was never in love with Lucky or even the Zander/Emily/Nik triangle where it was clear Emily loved Nikolas over Zander.

More women who watch TV go. The Golden Girl reruns on Lifetime is still in the top 3 of Lifetime shows.

I;d watch her over Franco. I think she's far more interesting and entertaining on BB than he in on GH.

[DRW50]

I think the difference in how I see it is that those stories told us that Lucky and Zander deserved to be cheated on. They were losers, they were dupes. They had no perspective. It was all about the great love of Liasion and Nem. This time, Lucky has a lot of scenes where we see his POV, and all we see of Niz is whoring around. Liz looks just awful, and unlike Liasion, where Sam and Lucky were both destroyed to prop them, no one is going through that wringer this time around.

I think we're supposed to see Lucky as the injured party here and root for him as he breaks from her and probably breaks away from all that Luza has deemed abhorrent (like being a cop, and raising another man's children). But the problem is there is not enough investment from viewers for any of this trash to really work. The show should have had Lucky learn about Niz AS SOON AS JJ ARRIVED, and then had Liz and Lucky work their way through, complete with plenty of flashbacks of their time together in the late 90s.

[Juliajms]

I'm not so sure about this. I'd say it's a matter of perspective. I think JJ's Lucky is going to have the moral high ground when all of this goes down. You can already see that coming a mile away. It's something that GV's Lucky never would have gotten. He had to become a drug addict who couldn't support his family, while screwing a teenager in his marriage bed. This time Lucky has clean hands. I think Liz and Nik are going to take the hit this time, even within the shows twisted morality. Clean hands while being betrayed is something GH generally reserves for it's pets.

[PhoenixRising05]

I take that to mean you don't have the ratings yet? LOL.

Anyway, I wasn't expecting more. This whole ratings run by Days has been gradual and that is a good thing. A show is better able to sustain gradual increases then big ones. Also, Days has put itself in a position to bring in some of it's best numbers in years over the holidays when it always does well with people home. That may be the time for them to hook more viewers and reach a slightly higher ceiling.

It's just hard for any of these shows to get higher then a certain point when you consider DVR ratings, all the ways to watch these shows online, Soapnet, etc. If this were the 90's, I bet Days would see a huge surge because there was no other way to watch the show but on NBC live (unless you taped it). Now, there are just too many ways to watch it so it's hard to accumulate viewers. That goes for GH too. Franco isn't going to do much of anything for them when many can just watch GH on Soapnet or online in certain places. Hell, I would bet many are watching it on youtube or something where someone may just clip all the Franco stuff together so they don't have to watch the whole show...only the Franco parts. That is where a move like bringing Franco in does nothing. People can easily just skip over the rest of the show or only watch when Franco is on.

[Ann_SS]

Especially people who watch soaps. James Franco is hot right now, but he isn't a name that people instantly would recognize. I still thought that GH would have grabbed up more younger viewers and pushed up that 18 to 49 women demo last week with all that PR.

[Ann_SS]

ITA. The story has made Lucky as the victim with the high ground. However, no way would Liz EVER cheated on Lucky if JJ had been in the role when the story had started from the jump. Women never cheat on Guza's pets. I am surprised that the story did not turn with Liz favoring Lucky with JJ's return. It makes me think that Guza wants to make sure that Lucky is on his own for a long time hating on the Puffy Prince after the affair is revealed.

[jcar03]

No. Vanessa Marcil is massively overrated.

[Juliajms]

I'll reply in the GH thread.

[aMLCproduction]

I didn't even know who James Franco was at first. I didn't realize who he was until a week later after looking over Pointe Palace, a blog here at SON. James Franco play's a character on that blog. LOL

[JaneAusten]

I kind of wonder if this means a permanent break with Liz. Because I also can't see them tying JJ's Lucky down to raising 2 kids that are not his, one she conceived while married to him. I do notice JJ's Lucky having more scenes outside of the triangle than the other 2 which makes me wonder if they intend on moving Lucky more into Sonny's arena not as a mobster but more as a cop. Maybe he ends up bonding with Dante and they become the more "anti establishment" type of cops.

This probably belongs in the GH thread.

[JaneAusten]

I knew who he was but he's not an AList star. But his appearences on 30 Rock and SNL in Dcember is also garnering him some attention.

[Rosey]

Will ratings be posted today?

[aMLCproduction]

I sure do.