TALK: Overnight Ratings Strong, Should Soaps Be Worried?

[bellcurve]

Hey management...feel free to delete this, merge it with another thread if you will.

Members, feel free to curse me for yet another doomsday thread.

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/10/19/premiere-of-cbss-the-talk-24-better-than-october-2009-avg-for-as-the-world-turns/68697

In 56 metered markets, Talk averaged a 2.1/7, up +24% vs. yr ago same day and vs. Oct. 2009 average of 1.7/6 for As the World Turns

Talk was #1 in time period in 20 markets including Philly, Boston, Miami, Minny, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Orlando, Indy and San Diego

Talk was #2 in time period in 18 markets including New York

A 2.1 household is significant. If they keep doing this, should other daytime soaps(on CBS and other networks) be worried? Or is an overnight nothing to get excited about?

Even if they get a 1.6 household, this is still a show that CBS co-owns, meaning that they are profiting more from it than they would from ATWT. Interesting...

[Chris B]

Just like primetime and especially in the 5-episodes-a-week format, you need to wait before calling this a success. The premiere ratings mean absolutely nothing. Let's see how it does the entire week, then month. Either way, even if it has the exact same ratings and demos as ATWT it'll be a bigger success because it's cheaper to make. It'll be interesting to see how this holds up over time. Creatively it wasn't very good. And Christie Brinkley? Really? That's the best opening guest?

[marceline]

This is all curiosity. Let's see what the ratings are a month from now. I think it'll settle in at around 1.6 - 1.7.

[bellcurve]

True that. I'm not calling it a success, but it did better than One Life to Live in its timeslot in twenty markets. LOL. Either old people aren't changing the channel or people really like these women. And no doubt, people might be drawn in to Leah Remini or Sharon.

I saw ten minutes yesterday and will watch it today, just to see what I think.

[bellcurve]

Which is the same as ATWT, but The Talk is a cheaper show to produce.

People(and by people, I mean bitter ATWT fans) were expecting this to bomb out of the gate.

[Sylph]

What about you?

[EastMA2]

Wow - pretty strong numbers. While I do agree that 1 day does not make or break the show, and the 1st day is probably high on curiosity, it's a great start for the show. Even if it settles down and drops to a 1.6 or 1.7, given how much cheaper it is to produce, CBS made the right move. Just like it made the right move by cancelling GL and replacing it with LMAD. Sad, but true.

[marceline]

Yeah, for all of our bitching about what's wrong with soaps the bottom line is that its the economics of them make them pretty unworkable.

[DRW50]

I think LMAD actually is lower in the ratings and demos than GL, or was the last time ratings were mentioned, so while LMAD is still more profitable, it's not going to be worth much.

Ultimately the network will likely just dump anything new and instead show a rerun of something in that timeslot.

For all the hype The Talk got, these ratings, for the first day, I'm not sure...it's certainly good, but I wonder. They're lucky Julie Chen is involved, because the ratings won't matter.

[OLTL_fan]

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/10/19/cbss-premiere-of-the-talk-lifts-womens-demos/68744

CBS’s PREMIERE OF “THE TALK” LIFTS WOMEN DEMOS

“The Talk” Is Up +22% in Women 25-54, +29% in Women 18-49 and +67% in

Women 18-34 Compared to Year-Ago Time Period

CBS’s premiere of its new daytime talk show, THE TALK, boosted key women demographics versus the year-ago time period, according to Nielsen preliminary live plus same day fast affiliate ratings for Monday, Oct. 18.

THE TALK premiered with 2.25m viewers, 1.1 in women 25-54, 0.9 in women 18-49 and 0.5 in women 18-34. Compared to “As the World Turns” on the same day a year ago, THE TALK was up +22% in women 25-54 (from 0.9), +29% in women 18-49 (from 0.7), +67% in women 18-34 (from 0.3).

THE TALK (weekdays 2:00-3:00 PM, ET; 1:00-2:00 PM, PT) is co-hosted by Julie Chen, Sara Gilbert, Sharon Osbourne, Holly Robinson Peete, Leah Remini and Marissa Jaret Winokur. Brad Bessey, Gilbert and John Redmann are executive producers.

[Sylph]

TV Guide called it "cheap":

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Cheers-Jeers-Talk-1024505.aspx

and NPR says it's "a gruesome insult to women, friendship, and sense":

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2010/10/19/130672206/cbs-introduces-the-talk-a-gruesome-insult-to-women-friendship-and-sense

[Money]

I'm not sure if it goes against OLTL in all markets but to me it's infinitely more entertaining than OLTL although it does have moments of fakeness among the panel. They're trying way too hard to be "girlfriends".

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I can't believe Moonves actually did a taped message to pimp this show and his wife on the debut episode...

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[marceline]

That NPR review is BRUTAL. The ratings for this week will be interesting to see when they come out.

[DaytimeFan]

I saw the first episode via YouTube...have to say, wasn't half bad. Christie Brinkley was a brilliant first guest, she's likeable and a beauty with class in the same vein as Jaclyn Smith, a woman I expect to see on the show by the end of the next Sweeps. I wonder if my darling Joan Collins will be on soon to coincide with her guest shot on 'Rules of Engagement'...

Certainly, all the women are in fake 'nice' mode out of the gate and things WILL deteriorate to View levels...what I found interesting was how blatant a rip off this show is. There's NOTHING original about it. Julie Chen might as well have been Barbara Walters, in that sweater set, sitting in the exact same position at the table Barbara sits in when she's on The View.

I am an unabashed Sharon Osbourne fan, I think she's magnificent fun and a really ballsy woman. Leah Remini was surprisingly engaging and self deprecating. Sarah (smart lady she is owning part of the show, Roseanne would be proud), Holly and Marissa weren't offensive at all.

The numbers, for daytime, are strong. If the show settles around 1.6 (give or take a point) CBS is going to laugh all the way to the bank. The demos are good, the show is cheap to run and CBS has a healthy ownership stake in it, none of which ATWT could boast.