Lifetime has had a horrible year. They rank up there with CNN and MSNBC in terms of percentage of viewers lost. They had some original programming a few years back that was actually pretty decent and now nothing. I;m not sure what happened to Army Wives. But I think they are looking to go into more reality programming and they have purchased the rights to that Julia Louis Dreyfus show on CBS for next year. But I can't see them thinking a soap would be the direction to go in.

I don't see them wanting a 5 day per week/52 weeks per year show. I guess they could change the format but that might just wreck the show. I'm not shocked that Lifetime is in trouble. The channel doesn't really have an identity anymore.

It's never made sense to me to show so much of a serialized drama which is already heavily aired, and repeated, as it is. Usually only reruns of non-serialized shows are more likely to do well. Like L&O. I know NCIS is somewhat serialized, but you don't have to see every episode to know what's going on. You do with DH and Gray's, and you can catch those anywhere, so there isn't even the novelty value of running something in the past, like when TNT used to run Knots Landing episodes no one had seen in ages.

I don't remember Y&R having a big ratings loss with those stories...all of which ran for about five minutes.

OLTL's ratings actually went UP when the Kish story started. Branco and others bragged about that. The ratings only fell later on, perhaps because of the somewhat questionable mass wedding storyline.

I don't think people tune out for a gay story. It may not help, but if the show is good enough, they will keep watching.

Y&R feel and I remember Y&RWorldTurner pointing it out in one of her posts. I was shocked about this but she was right.

I just don't get the OLTL love. I know I'm probably in the minority on this, but I find the show just horrible. The dialogue is atrocious. The stories range from the ridiculous (the Mitch crap) to the cliched (EVERY element of the Kish story). I'm a gay man and I've tried to feel the Kish stuff, but it just seems so forced, as if they recycled "Queer as Folk" plotlines. Is the gay subject matter turning people away? Who knows? OLTL can milk all the press they want for Kish, but it's not getting the viewers. The parade of newbies certainly doesn't help things either. Also, with GH down, I wonder if that's affecting OLTL's numbers. OLTL has always been ABC's bridge show between AMC and GH. Maybe the fact that people are tuning out of GH is trickling down to OLTL, with the mindset that "oh I'm not going to watch GH, so why bother keeping the TV on that channel from 2-3 (or whenever OLTL airs)." AMC is also beyond terrible,but with some light at the end of the tunnel with Pratt gone. The whole ABC lineup needs a massive overhaul if it wants to survive.

That seems an unfair threshold for Kish, that the gay stuff is not getting them viewers. Does the straight stuff get them viewers?

AMC is closing in on Days and third place in total number of viewers and tied with them for HH rating. There is more separation between them in the demo ratings but AMC has been on an upswing.

I was disappointed that Days dropped as they usually do pretty well during the holidays. Those numbers for OLTL are getting very scary. It's not just an abnormal week anymore. OLTL has been consistently down for several weeks now.

Edited January 5, 201015 yr by dc cubs

Y&R feel and I remember Y&RWorldTurner pointing it out in one of her posts. I was shocked about this but she was right.

Y&R was threading down again in the summer rating-wise and its numbers were consistently below 5 million viewers. I think it was a combination of many asinine storylines, the Adam/Rafe crap being a small part of it.

It looks like they're back to being under 5 million viewers again, we can only hope their numbers get worse, and I expect they will. Y&R had lots of ratings growth in early 2009, but that faded as the rest of '09 went on.

And she is a "he."

Edited January 5, 201015 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

I don't see them wanting a 5 day per week/52 weeks per year show. I guess they could change the format but that might just wreck the show. I'm not shocked that Lifetime is in trouble. The channel doesn't really have an identity anymore.

This is one of the reasons I think Soapnet's gains will also fade soon enough. That channel is more about third rate TV movies and fourth rate attempts at reality shows these days.

And she is a "he."

That seems an unfair threshold for Kish, that the gay stuff is not getting them viewers. Does the straight stuff get them viewers?

Kish is somewhat new for the show so this isn't an issue of the story getting them viewers but, instead, driving them away. The str8 stuff is mainstay and garnered viewers since day one. I remember OLTL doing well six months ago and being ABC's top rated soap in households.

This is one of the reasons I think Soapnet's gains will also fade soon enough. That channel is more about third rate TV movies and fourth rate attempts at reality shows these days.

Soapnet is suckage..It use to be so much better when it was running FC, Dallas, KL, AW and Ryan's Hope. Now we have shitty programs taking up their spots.

Thanx Rux, with that picture I just though it was female. I'm glad SON has a Tranny

AMC is closing in on Days and third place in total number of viewers and HH rating. There is more separation between them in the demo ratings but AMC has been on an upswing.

I was disappointed that Days dropped as they usually do pretty well during the holidays. Those numbers for OLTL are getting very scary. It's not just an abnormal week anymore. OLTL has been consistently down for several weeks now.

It is so unusual to me how AMC is so close to being the 3rd most viewed Soap.

I think DAYS has been so enjoyable as of late, and your right, it usually does well in the holidays! I so hope Day's goes up this next week, it's my favorite soap right now. And IMO, the best out of the ones we have left right now.

I hate to say it but it looks like gay story scares off viewers. I'm gay but question whether daytime folks can cope with anything queer. Nuke helped ATWT for a short period but they were the first soap to play with gay so maybe it was a shock value thing. Y&R lost viewers about the time Adam went bi and Phillip rose from the dead and came out. OLTL crashed when it became the gay soap. I've even noticed ATWT now goes down when there is a major Nuke story. The really funnt thing about this is that ATWT seems to go down in Male viewers when Nuke is up front. Does this mean that most male daytime watchers are str8?

If I am wrong about all this then someone please let me know. I'm not an avid ratings watcher but there seems to be a trend here.

I think Nuke was very different from Kish. The Nuke story seemed organic and encompassed characters that the audience cared about. Luke was a character from a major family whom the audience knew from birth. It was interesting to anticipate and then see reactions from characters like Holden, Lily, Lucinda, Emma, etc. That's the same reason the Bianca coming out story was so successful. We cared about the characters involved. By contrast the Kish story has seemed forced and came out of nowhere. Why should we care about Kyle and Fish? How does their story impact characters the audience has known and cared about? It really doesn't. If they had gone the route of making a legacy character gay, then the story might've worked better. Also there's something very sweet and appealing about Van and Jake. The chemistry seems natural. I just don't get that same vibe from Scott and Brett. Another thing that's bothered me and maybe has bothered others is that just about every aspect of their story is related to the gay issue, from the coming out to the bashing. In the Nuke storylines, on the other hand, it's the story of two characters in love and their sexuality for some reason seems incidental to the storylines, which I think is a smart way to tell their story.

As for gay male storylines turning off female viewers, I don't buy that. Queer as Folk and Will & Grace had a HUGE female audience as does Brothers & Sisters. Judging by the women I work with, they love seeing hot gay guys in action...if the story and characters are appealing. I just think that this particular gay story in not attracting viewers for the reasons I mentioned above.

Thanx Rux, with that picture I just though it was female. I'm glad SON has a Tranny

Ouch....lol

Thanx Rux, with that picture I just though it was female. I'm glad SON has a Tranny

Woah there "ATWT For a Buck" dude, the girl in my avatar is British soap actress Gemma Bissix....

Not all of us desperately put pics of ourselves in avatars for attention...

Edited January 5, 201015 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

Soapnet may suck but they've gained viewers while Lifetime had bled them. But I do think Carl is correct. Soapnet's gains IMO are short term because they have no identity either and soon enough they'll probably drop just as Lifetime's have.