October 4-8, 2010

[KLN]

Some are fickle, yes -- but must of us are just fed up.

[Angela]

Jan to Oct (not Sept to Sept)

2010 HH

1. Y&R 5,060,000 (+19,000)

2. B&B 3,210,000 (-184,000)

3. DAYS 2,619,000 (-175,000)

4. GH 2,603,000 (-1,000)

5. AMC 2,522,000 (+8,000)

6. OLTL 2,388,000 (-117,000)

2010 18-49

1. Y&R 1,130,000 (+8,000) (22% of total viewers)

2. GH 865,000 (+1,000) (33% of total viewers)

3. DAYS 741,000 (-102,000) (28% of total viewers)

4. OLTL 695,000 (-73,000) (29% of total viewers)

5. B&B 685,000 (-53,000) (21% of total viewers)

6. AMC 634,000 (-101,000) (25% of total viewers)

2009 HH

1. Y&R 5,041,000

2. B&B 3,394,000

3. DAYS 2,794,000

4. GH 2,604,000

5. AMC 2,514,000

6. OLTL 2,505,000

2009 18-49

1. Y&R 1,122,000 (22% of total viewers)

2. GH 864,000 (33% of total viewers)

3. DAYS 843,000 (30% of total viewers)

4. OLTL 768,000 (31% of total viewers)

5. B&B 738,000 (22% of total viewers)

6. AMC 735,000 (29% of total viewers)

[KSlater]

I'm a longtime soap opera viewer -- started watching them on my mother's knee in the 70's -- General Hospital was the show. In my teen years, I watched the entire ABC lineup faithfully and kept watching until they ran out of steam for me. Then I switched to Days, a show that entertained me for over 20+ years. Last year, I stopped watching because it became I could not stand the storyline, even though it seemed to be a hit with others. It seemed like something I had seen 300 times before and I wasn't in the mood to watch it again. I don't think that makes me fickle by any stretch of the imagination. I simply no longer enjoyed what the show was serving up to me. I gave my soaps a long time before I made the decision to stop watching. We soap opera viewers give our shows a lot of leeway for crap, but sometimes it is too much to ask from a viewer to stay loyal for the sake of loyalty.

I read somewhere that if Shakespeare were writing for the soaps today, they'd still be in ratings' trouble. Perhaps. But I know one thing, this viewer would be happier if someone with that kind of talent did exist in the soap opera world. That person would have at least one happy viewer -- me. Why is it that I have to settle for crap because I am a soap opera fan? Sorry to go off on a tangent, but I don't for one second believe that soap operas shouldn't try to save themselves by creating storyline that challenges viewers instead of boring them to death with repetition of the same thing over and over again without at least a new spin on it.

[marceline]

And I feel like too many people in and out of the industry cop out by by blaming the fans. Are we supposed to accept garbage because "if other shows had to produce new episodes 5 days a week all year that they wouldn't be perfect either?" I don't need perfection but I demand quality. And if soaps can't/won't provide it then I'll go get it somewhere else. I get so sick of people acting like it's the viewers fault soaps died. It's not. If you like what you see, then by all means suck it up but criticizing other "fans" for not being loyal only confirms the low opinion most people have of soap fans.

But by all means, I hope you copy and paste the hell out of that post. If you do please let me know what response you get.

[Sylph]

I admire you, marceline, for still having the energy to explain certain things over and over again. I sure couldn't do it. I hope you continue, though I'm not holding my breath. At one point, you'll give up.

[marceline]

Just like MarkH and Jess and so many others that I miss? Probably.

[KLN]

Thank you.

There's no point in staying loyal for the sake of loyalty when the show is no longer enjoyable. If I'm not being entertained, why should I continue to watch?

I still tune in every now and again, but I'm no longer the faithful viewer I once was because the show has become unwatchable for me. It's too painful to watch so much potential be continually squandered by idiot execs and incompetent writers. It's too painful to watch a show that I used to love so much become something I barely even recognize. It's too painful to watch a show that was once on top limp out of the game on life support. And the worst part? Ken Corday calls this the "best" creative team he's ever worked with. Ha!

[dowwwe]

I recall a lot of viewers complaining about how teen-heavy DAYS has become and how the cast is unrecognizable to the older viewers. The writers then try to make a lot of people happy this spring/summer by focusing on some of the veterans like Hope ("Night time Hope"), Sami (with EJ), Victor, and Maggie. They bring back some of the past stars for Alice's funeral and put them into temporary storylines. What happens? People complain about everything - from how much TV time Sami is given to how Alice's funeral happened to the fact that Bo and Hope aren't together anymore. Nobody is ever happy.

The writers are in a damned if they do, damned if they don't situation. DAYS fans don't seem to like change (new characters, recasts, firings, breaking couples apart) but they're the first to bitch about the show being boring. They can't have it both ways. When you have the same cast for hundreds of episodes a year, things will need to change to prevent repetition and bordem. You can't have Bo and Hope "the super couple" battling Salem's crime on a daily basis and expect ratings. It doesn't work that way.

When ratings drop, so do the advertising dollars companies pay NBC. Less eyes are watching their commercials because less eyes are watching DAYS. So what happens? Budget cuts. Actors/actresses are fired, that pisses DAYS fans off even more, and those fans stop watching. Production is given less to work with, viewers are disappointed with quality, they stop watching. The show never wins, but the fans like to think it is never their fault. They want the show tailor-made to their wants or they stop watching. One thing pisses them off so they stop watching. That's what daytime TV has become.

[TeamEric]

I think online fans have a bigger struggle turning off their soaps than offliners. The soap boards are addictive. I struggled to stay away from OLTL in 2002 when I quit in disgust. But two years later it was far easier for me quit watching GH. Because I wasn't participating anymore in soap boards, the addiction died down some and I just shut it off after 30+ years watching. So I was soapless for the first time in decades for almost 5 years. Then I came back to OLTL last year and got sucked back in. I started to watch GH again too teased by online scoops and spoilers.

There's a pool of viewers like me out there that can be attracted back. I think that's a few hundred thousand that account for the big spikes some weeks.

[MontyB]

My sentiments exactly, though SFK is the only person who ever gave an answer to that question that made sense.

[beebs]

This is depressing. I had so much hope that DAYS would have been a major turning point for the industry, but leave to Dena Higley to muck it all up. I find it interesting that I have barely heard ANYTHING about the current stories on DAYS, it's like while the show is "good" according to a lot of people (I stopped watching during the summer so I can't say for sure), nothing happening is compelling enough or significant enough. The buzz is gone, and I have to admit I haven't been at all compelled to turn on YouTube and catch up AT ALL. It's a really sorry state of affairs, especially considering they're free of the heavy-handed network presence that ABC's soaps have. *sigh*.

[MontyB]

In that case, I guess if one TRULY wanted to stay away from the soaps, they should off the message boards.

[DRW50]

I don't think OLTL will ever really outrate GH, aside from a few random weeks. I also think GH will outlive OLTL. The main problem for GH is they burn money and get little out of it. I can't imagine they expected this with VMG's return.

[Saving ATWT]

Yeah, started watching OLTL about 2.5 weeks ago but mised most of this week due to the repeats of the 'Classic' Y&R repeats--these 'best of' shows were too cool to pass up. I actually like certain elements of OLTL--Todd is great and could see myself slowly getting into the story. My line up is Y&R, B&B, OLTL but I've given up on GH (just can't get into characters like Sonny, Jason, or Lulu but like Lucky and Dominick). Y&R has been painfully lame as of late. The show has great characters (I'm attached to them in the ATWT way) but the stories, since Patty, have become really weak and not worth watching.As for B&B, the writing is poor but, again, I do like the majority of characters.

Days is onlu 150,000 per show? Cady McClain said ATWT was the 'cheapest' show in the industry and I wonder what their cost was?

[Saving ATWT]

GH and OLTL are fairly close in the ratings. I still wonder if 100,000 viewers means much for ad sales. Also, ABC TV must pull a lot of revenue from OLTL considering the show's lower cost.

BTW, des anyone know why PGP would not sell GL to Associated Media. Read an article saying TeleNext objected to recasting the entire show with a younger (cheaper) cast. Why would they care if this was a true sale as opposed to partnership? The article was linked off of this weeks Suds Report.