September 20 - 24, 2010

[Saving ATWT]

Wow--how does Y&R always hold steady and by such a huge margin? Remove B&B and basically all shows are tied for 4th (last) place. Where do the people go? OLTL had a rough week but the show moves around from a 1.7-1.9. This was a bad week for all soaps but on good weeks some former ATWT fans, without cable, will become part of the mix. I had no idea Days aired against ATWT and OLTL in some markets. Wish that was the case in NYC, 'cause I'd flip to Days in a heartbeat. The 40 percent of us without cable will either float to a new show or turn off the tv. Mine has been off for almost two weeks at 2pm.

[EricMontreal22]

And yet is sensationalized pretty much at least as much... I usuallya gree with you marceline, but I'd be a seriously depressed person if I watched L&O SVU (or any fo the CSI) reruns everyday, particularly in the daytime. ICK. This is why I don't get the "just watch such and such crime show" to get your soap fix thing. I don't remotely get my soap fix--SVU's character projection and arcs (while better than the other L&Os) are third rate, and I'm already sick enough of how often crime and the court is shown over families on daily soaps...

[EricMontreal22]

To be fair over the past ten years or so Y&R has dropped percentage wise as much, if not more, than the other soaps. But it's had a huge head start over the other soaps since the mid 90s are so...

[EricMontreal22]

Isn't DAYS actually against ATWT (well was) and OLTL in more markets?

[EricMontreal22]

Oh and wow, what fantastically low numbers...

[Soapsuds]

Hmmm.. a new word?....hehe

[DRW50]

Y&R is now always near what was once seen only two years ago as an unacceptable all time low. This with an endless amount of stunts, shock value, and money spent on new hires.

Wasn't this the week of the much-hyped Brazen reunion???

[EricMontreal22]

Fan·tas·tic·al·ly adv. In a fantastic manner. the letter A, in scarlet, fantastically embroidered with gold thread, upon.

[JimTolkien]

This is a BIG BIG problem for the network, a network who doesn't own their own soaps but expect to make money because they don't own their own soaps!! And is about 6x smaller than the network who does own their own soaps. The show is so damn stagnant! If you are going to make investments like what you just pointed out, there must be a payoff and so far we don't have it. With a lousy increase of 5,000 viewers, it's becoming par for the course to say "at least they didn't lose any". You can't grow that way.

I am actually looking forward to how things will pan out this month with Maura and others coming onboard and Y&R plaguerizing another soap's disaster storyline. The ratings and demos better be through the roof. Because then one might find themselves not having the network wanting to do much more investing in your soap, instead they are more likely to do stuff that will make one has to cut their budgets again.

[OLTL_fan]

That was the week before. Last week ABC promoted the Robin/Patrick/Lisa storyline for once. Im sure theyll get blamed for the bad week.

[reallyhateskateonlost]

AMC should be ashamed of themselves. It's gotten really boring.

[marceline]

Exactly. So can we consider the argument settled now? And perhaps we can put to bed the notion that scores of starved viewers automatically shift to another soap after their show gets canceled like zombies looking for brains.

[marceline]

I totally get what you're saying. For you the crime is a turn off while I barely notice the crime. I love SVU for the kick-ass women. You're completely right that the show has become third rate, so how does that differ from soaps? But truthfully, I look at it this way, when somebody says "I'm looking for a new soap to watch", my response is "There are no new soaps to watch." Switching soaps is like switching brands of cigarettes. Perhaps the thing to do is to resign yourself to quitting.

[Sylph]

Neal Baer won't be happy when he hears his work is "third-rate"!

[EricMontreal22]

Ok, I can certainly (sadly) agree with all of that.