October 4-8, 2010

[Sylph]

MarkH was in a Y&R thread a few days ago, he'll definitely take a peak at this one, it would be nice to see those interpolations and cancellation ETAs for today's soaps.

[DRW50]

300K viewers more than a show on its premiere, one that has had a fair amount of hype, was a surprise to me. I think it makes The Talk look kind of weak in comparison, especially since OLTL is not really what I would call good at the moment. For that reason I think ABC was probably right to do the press release. They were going to look defensive even if they'd stayed quiet, because of Joy Behar sputtering to the press not long ago about this show. When the entire story is about how The Talk beat or tied ABC then I can understand ABC saying, "Well...no."

[Saving ATWT]

I found most of the repeats to be odd choices. Most were villian of the month Patty, Terrible Tom, Kevin on the run, and Sheila but they did show Lauren's wedding--great choice and Billy's New Year special. I was suprised they showed any of Jack Smith's work and thought this would be a MaBell showcase. Any Y&R repeat does well on holidays and am curious to see if the same logic applied for last week, Certainly, the ratings will be higher than LMAD.

[MontyB]

The way I see it is, The Talk didn't beat OLTL. ABC wrote a press release. Yeah and? If The Talk has won it's time slot, I'm pretty sure CBS would have touted it. It is what is. Just failing to see what ABC did that so so bad. It should have been expected from either network.

[Saving ATWT]

Agreed--networks are supposed to brag, pimp and hype good results. These results impact critics, advet pricing and even stock value. It is shocking that The Talk lost after so much promo. I think Carl is trying to say that the press release was somehow in poor taste but networks don't play nice. Aside from PBS, they all want to make money; also, ABC should be proud that OLTL is doing so well.

[DRW50]

I didn't say the press release was in poor taste. Several people said that the press release was a sign of weakness from ABC. I think that if ABC was trying to take the high road, then that was already gone when Joy Behar had a little shot at The Talk to the press.

When CBS is claiming a win, then I think it's understandable for ABC to respond, especially since these numbers turned out to not be all that good for a hyped show's premiere.

If you're talking about CBS' press release, I think it was shortsighted and opened them up to looking like they had to pad the numbers. They should have just let the media interpret the ratings how they wanted.

[marceline]

Speaking as someone who's spent a good portion of my career in the communications/PR/marketing field, I don't think it was poor taste. I think it was bad strategy. IMO, they acted like they dodged a bullet and by issuing a kneejerk release they came off as scared and reactive. I'm not saying they shouldn't celebrate their win but IMO, it would've looked better if they'd turned the weekly spin report into a "super-release" with the good stuff from last week and an added push for the fact that OLTL beat The Talk. As it stands, ABC let CBS set their agenda. That's not a position of strength.

[Sylph]

These numbers were good. Not great, but good. Better than ATWT's. OLTL might be rejoicing now, but the next week or some other one could bring a twist, a turn of fortunes.

I also didn't see any hype regarding this show nor am I seeing it now. An article pops up here and there, but I wouldn't call it hype. Hype would imply some excessive, unrelenting publicity and promotion, but I honestly didn't see that.

[DRW50]

I think it was the opposite. CBS let ABC come forward later and make them look like they were overhyping ratings which weren't what CBS claimed. ABC has less to lose because they have a show which has been on forever and is probably on the way out in a few years anyway, but CBS has a show which is supposed to be new and fresh and a threat. To have to juggle numbers around for the very first episode, which should be strong enough on its own, surprises me.

I do think they should have left The View ratings out.

[bellcurve]

EXACTLY!

[DRW50]

If it wasn't hyped Deadline wouldn't have reported on first day ratings and Moonves wouldn't have recorded a message for the first episode. I think there are some high hopes for the show.

[marceline]

That's promotion, not hype. That's like saying the weekly promos for soaps are hype. Now, the stuff ABC did for Vanessa Marcil's return, THAT was hype. If it wasn't for this board, I wouldn't have known The Talk premiered at all.

[DRW50]

I think Moonves appearing on the show sort of goes into hype, because it didn't do much for promotion, it sent more of a message to the industry that this is a very important show to him and one he wants to be taken seriously. But I see what you're saying.

[Eric83]

He only did that message because his wife was one of the hosts. That is the only reason he would want it to succeed.

[DRW50]

He's never done a message for Big Brother...I don't think he did for the Early Show either. Julie being his wife is a big factor and will help keep it on the air but beyond that I think the network president putting himself out there like that was an attempt to show that The Talk is supposed to be an important part of the lineup.