June 7-11, 2010

[marceline]

I know there's a lot of Jamanda hate but how many times have we seen posts beating the drum of "bring back love in the afternoon"? For all the weaknesses in the story, that's exactly what Jamanda and their wedding was: old-fashioned, schmaltzy, love in the afternoon complete with cute baby, core families, appearances by vets, a beautiful heroine in a gorgeous dress and the entire town celebrating their much exalted romance. For that reason alone, I'm glad AMC held its own.

Maybe ABC has decided to let the soaps fully develop their own identities: AMC=classic, OLTL=comedy/camp, GH=noir

[Cyberologist]

Re: BlockBuster

Yeah mostly here in Chicago too (they closed three by me over the years)

besides they have been online for years now

competing with Netflix and such.

They use to have locations knee deep a few blocks apart and in nearly every other strip mall

now they are strategically placed

They have this as low as $1.00 red stand alone vending machine for rentals that are placed near (or in) stores / drugstores and

they seem to be doing well.

As for the ratings It will be interesting to see how they will be affected when Nielsen' (finally long overdue) inclusion of Imternet viewership

I'm hoping it helps I criticize ABC because I loathe that network however I still record them to help the ratings because I do like most the actors but I just can't deal with the writing anymore I've had it its too much good stuff out here.

[me4ryky]

Wow, GH has sunk. Couldn't get more than a 1.8 all week. Is anyone paying attention over at the studio? Vanessa and Franco coming back aren't going to fix this. Very sad.

[Cyberologist]

DP

[metsfan5]

I agree and disagree Monty. Yes we have more channels to watch but, a true fan finds a way to watch. Back when we had good ratings I don't think that we had that many two income family's. I think more people work today and aren't home to watch. I wish that the ratings system can come up with a better way to rate a programs. I agree with Nelson it is the idiot ratings. It is all they have and it sucks!

[Steve]

Yeah, but they would have brought in more viewers without that horrible music video at the end of Wednesday's episode for an artist no one had heard of. I thought it was funny that Wednesday hit a 2.0 and then the ratings dropped off for the actual wedding. But I am glad to see AMC have a slight rise in total viewers and 18-49 and I agree that it's become a classic soap again. I'm really enjoying it most days.

[Eric83]

Why does it matter if OLTL lost more than AMC/GH, it still ahead of AMC in the demos.

They are only .1 away from each other in the demos, so it isn't that big of a deal for OLTL, but how many viewers it lost doesn't matter, it's still ahead of AMC.

[NYC123]

Networks look to see the potential it can have to keep or even regain those viewers. When they see that a show is loosing A LOT of viewers that is saying that people are not watching anymore.

[Saving ATWT]

There are just too many options for any genre, may it be daytime or primetime, to get the sort of numbers they garnered in the 1990's: Cable, internet, DVR, movie rental, video games. Primetime has dropped like a rock since the days of Cheers and Cosby so why would daytime ratings be any different? I think TPTB have been trying to hard to reinvent the genre in the hopes of a ratings boost when a return to basics might be a wiser formula. People should remember that NBC is still making money off of Days at a 1.9 and ABC is doing even better with their network owned line up. ATWT and GL were different because PGP wanted out of the genre but SONY can still squueze cash out of Days and Y&R for many years to come. I think soaps will 'bottom out' soon and that most shows are safe. ABC may drop one soap and give something else a try but I don't see any major shifts happening for a while. Once 'green screen' makes it's way to daytime everything will be a lot easier for the genre. Also, look at all the indy online soaps popping up. As things like Google TV fully develop, I see good things coming for 'daytime' which will watchable any time of day. In five years, we may be talking about a whole new crop of shows such as Venice, Republic or the Web to MY TV crossover airing this fall.

As a side note: What is PGP doing with the soaps classics web site? I checked it out and they are posting 'updates' of AW and GL. Does the company honestly think that these shows will one day air again as the web and television merge? I wonder if they plan to eventually sell all rights to a production company. Next fall Hawahi-five 0 will come back and I'm wondering if the same might someday happen for shows like GL. It would be so easy to reuse good scrips and make a lot of oney.

[Eric83]

OLTL lost 125,000 18-49 women viewers from last year, and AMC lost 99,000.

That isn't much of a difference.

[Eric83]

That is how I feel too, ATWT/GL were just dead. No way to save them at all, I mean I think ATWT had at least 1 or 2 years left in them, but it had to happen eventually.

Aside from ABC dropping a soap, I don't think there will be another soap cancellation for a bit.

[remos]

But what's a true fan? The ages of soap watchers are older - that's been pretty widely acknowledged, but they are also dying themselves. 20 years ago we had an entire generation that was raised on their 'stories' so they raised us - their grandchildren - that way, but they are now gone. Loyalty like the pre-war generation had is now a thing of the past and I think TPTB know that. We can talk 'till the cows come home about attracting former viewers back, but that's not a growth area and never will be.

[DRW50]

I think loyalty is bred in a viewer. When it comes to stuff like Twilight, some young people are as obsessed as they once might have been about soaps. Even a lot of the older viewers gave up on soaps because soaps did not want them anymore.

The soaps stopped giving people a reason to care. They were so desperate to get viewers who don't watch soaps that they ran off those who actually enjoyed or could potentially enjoy soaps. Stories are made up as they go along, characters are trashed, the shows are often depressing and reward the worst of humanity.

[remos]

It's not the same though - and Twilight is a perfect example (my 12 year old is part of that crew). Fans loyalty builds with the next book or movie is about to come out, then they back dodwn and look for something else to distract them. People like the quick-and-dirty and the "NOW", but being a soap fan takes a hardier soul. I can remember my grandmother stomping her foot at the TV and yelling at various characters (you have to appreciate, from my Scotch Presbyterian grandmother that was completely OOC behaviour) but the suggestion that she stop watching if she didn't like it was tantamount to suggesting strip-poker in Sunday service would be a good thing. She was aghast at the notion. That's the generation I'm talking about - they hung in there for the long haul through a lot of history. The instant gratification of today would appal them.

I don't think it's as simple as "build it they will come". Perhaps that worked once but the attitudes in society have changed greatly. Now it's a matter of "what's in it for me" - so if they cant feel the investment for their viewing within a day or two, they move on. Soaps are not a "day or two" proposition by definition.

[Saving ATWT]

i actually don't consider GL or ATWT to be 'dead shows'; a new team could have easily gotten them back on track if PGP had had the will and desire. I would almost dare to say ATWT is doing well for a show with no promo, no mag cover stories, bad writing and an expirtation. Yes, they could be getting more of a Bell boost but ATWT is a very different sort of show. I am curious to see what NBC does with Days but could see NBCU moving it to a cable station or Sony trying to farm it out.

As someone said earlier, soap fans are a different breed--most viewers can noot stand to invest five hours per week to any given program; however, there will always be a goodly market for well done sudsers.