TALK: Overnight Ratings Strong, Should Soaps Be Worried?

[DRW50]

Thanks.

So I guess normally The Talk would have won the timeslot, narrowly. We'll see what happens if they keep their first episode ratings, or improve on them. Or what happens with OLTL.

[bellcurve]

Maybe I don't watch a whole lot of CBS TV, but I was surprised that the show got a 2.1 overnight household, considering how not promoted this show was. I, personally, didn't see a whole lot of internet promotion or TV promotion for this show.

Exactly.

It'd take alot of deregulating the unions to get soaps "workable." Either that, or a really smart producer who knew how to make a quality product and save money in the process.

Well, it's f*cking NPR, radio for stuck-up liberals. What the hell else do you expect?

The Talk is not, by any means, the second coming of daytime television, but NPR would give this review to any new daytime show out of the gate.

LOL. That's pretty lame. That's like Jeff Zucker-like kinda bullshit.

Well, barely.

If you see the top ten/twenty markets where The Talk won it's timeslot, you'll see OLTL probably won't beat them for long.

Get ready for "He Said, She Said" starring Bryant Gumbel at 2PM!

And there you have it.

[bellcurve]

This really should be merged with the topic I made. Just sayin'!

[Sylph]

Yes, I was wondering about your trainwreck remark, that's all.

[marceline]

Yup. I was wondering why it got reposted here AND in the ratings thread.

[Melroser]

The 2.5 for OL was viewers not the household rating (which last week was 1.9).

With all of the promotion and advertising in magazines about the premiere of The Talk, this makes me very happy that it didn't get more viewers than OL. A LOT of people will watch the first few eps just to see what it's like and many will probably get bored and tune out. Seems there are waaaay too many 'hosts' on that show all trying to talk at the same time. Personally, i think it would get annoying.

[EastMA2]

I watched the 2nd episode of The Talk. It's actually pretty good. I like it and will watch everyday. Remember, The View took about 9 years to take off.

[bellcurve]

Here's are the top ten markets for "The Talk":

…1. NEW ORLEANS (7.7/17)

…2. DAYTON (6.2/18)

…3. COLUMBUS, OH (5.1/15)

…4. NORFOLK (4.7/13)

…5. TULSA (4.2/10)

…6T. ST. LOUIS (3.9/13)

…6T. BALTIMORE (3.9/13)

…6T. RICHMOND (3.9/10)

…9. INDIANAPOLIS (3.8/11)

…10. GREENSBORO (3.7/10)

Even though The Talk is ranked lower in NY and LA, keep in mind bigger cities on the coast have always been ABC Daytime's thing. CBS typically wins southern and midwest markets.

What's interesting is that The Talk did so well in Tulsa and The Talk doesn't have a soap opera or other CBS programming as its lead-in. Fascinating.

[fanOLTL]

Plus, the ratings were not from all markets so we'll see how it ultimately turns out. I just thought that since The View gets upwards of 3 million viewers, it wasn't a good sign for The Talk to debut with just over 2 million, not even able to beat OLTL in viewers.

[Ann_SS]

Exactly. Talk shows are insanely cheap compared to soaps. One set, a few hosts, and no writers and actors to pay. It is hard to know how The Talk will do in the long run, but if it holds on to most of its premiere ratings, it is in good shape.

[Gray Bunny]

Aesthetically, The Talk's set looks nicer than The View. I don't get why they decided at The View to truncate the set so and make it smaller, rather than keep that spacious loft look. The cramped all-blue hue backdrop isn't too exciting.

[All My Shadows]

New Orleans won't be #1 for long, trust me. People watched ATWT at that time for over 30 years. They hung on for LMAD, TPIR, and Y&R because they know/like those shows. And plus, games and soaps sorta go hand-in-hand and always have. I don't see many fans taking to the talk show and treating it as a regular part of the afternoon. Bonanza's gonna gain some viewers by the end of new month.

[Llantano Incorporated]

Well based on the viewership numbers for OLTL (granted this is just Monday, but Monday is generally one of OLTL's highest viewer days)

OLTL has lost about 100,000 viewers since that excellent Zimmer week. The 690,000 in the 18-49 is actually pretty damn good for OLTL, but who knows how the rest of the week will hold. OLTL seems to be showing some growth and actual holding in the 18-49. Who knows how long that will last.

I think 2.5 million translates to a 1.8 rating and 690,000 is a 1.0 or 1.1 in the 18-49. But it is just one day

[bellcurve]

It's like it's all so stilted and organized almost. Almost like it's rehearsed in a way. I want someone to Kathie Lee and Hoda their coffee mugs so "it's always a good time to have The Talk."

[Max]

I did think that The Talk was mostly garbage, and it was laughable how Julie Chen kept insisting that the cast had such amazing chemistry. However, one of the few positive things about the show was that (in stark contrast to The View) there were no loud-mouth co-hosts trying to shove their political beliefs down others' throats. Also, I think that this show would be much improved if Julie Chenbot/Mrs. Moonface was replaced with someone else. (Of course, that will never happen.)

The hatred most soap fans have for this show (and for LMAD) is far more intense than the hatred these same soap viewers had for Passions. To me, this makes little sense (as the only "logic" behind this thinking is that The Talk should be hated more than Passions because the latter is a soap whereas the former is not). Passions (even if it technically was a soap) was the worst possible replacement one could ever imagine because it was the most poorly written and acted program in television history. Regardless of how awful The Talk will become, it will--on its worst day--be far superior to Passions on its best day.