October 11-15, 2010

[marceline]

When I joined this board the ratings thread was about data and analysis. Now it's just squatting ground for the OLTL Defense Squad. I guess that's to be expected given the fact that three shows have been canceled in three years and the remaining six are barely hanging on but nonetheless, I miss those days.

Okay, my nostalgia trip is over.

[Sylph]

It was about data and analysis?! Right.

[marceline]

LOL! You've been here longer than I have but honestly I lurked for long time before I joined because all the math talk in the ratings thread gave me the willies. I'm not exactly "Math is hard" Barbie Kristie but I think you're taking for granted how intelligent the ratings thread used to be. It was head and shoulders above other boards.

I asked a question about ratings on another board and had someone PM me about SON because no one was allowed to reference SON's ratings archive on that board.

[Llantano Incorporated]

Oh jeez. The OLTL defense squad.

What is there to even say? Y&R is far and away # 1 and has been for two decades.

B&B is # 2.

GH will pretty much be # 3 for good.

Days is the only show in my opinion with a huge reserve audience that tunes out but will tune back in under the right circumstances.

That leaves AMC and OLTL.

OLTL will never hold its gains, and AMC cannot be counted out as it was the only soap to have year to year growth for months on end.

I could see AMC at #4 just as easy I can see Days.

Why not just post the ratings in a locked thread and leave it at that? That way the OLTL defense squad will have to defend the show in the OLTL thread.

[DRW50]

I appreciated the ratings talk too when I joined here in early 2009/late 2008, but I think eventually it kind of became "Soaps have been losing ratings for years and years and years and nothing has ever stopped that." And you can't have much of a response to that, even if it's true, because it basically means nothing soaps did mattered for forty or fifty years, quality was always irrelevant it was just a matter of time.

[Angela]

Carl, I don't think that argument negates that quality, couples, and characters had an effect on ratings for most of the duration of the soap genre. Things changed, the soaps lost a lot of their potential audience due to long-term drop in quality, technology, cable, more women in the work force, etc. Most of that isn't coming back in any substantial or long-term way despite quality IMO. I honestly do think quality and popular actors, characters and couples are pretty much irrelevant to soaps now. This may sound dark and dire (and it's probably inappropriate), but soaps are like an end-stage cancer patient and basically have been since 2005. Nothings really going to cure it but there's stuff you can use to make it comfortable and have positive moments.

I did Full Season (official seasons being Sept to Sept) to Date this week with season to season comparisons:

Total Viewers Avg. for the 2009-2010 Season

1.(1) Y&R 5,050,000 (SAME)

2.(2) B&B 3,238,000 (-285,000)

3.(3) DAYS 2,793,000 (+21,000) <-- They were getting 3 million plus regularly at the beginning of 2010

4.(4) GH 2,616,000 (-56,000)

5.(6) AMC 2,564,000 (+24,000) <-- Until 2010-2011 season they were getting more +'s in year to year comparisons (first + year in total viewers in at least the past 8 years)

6.(5) OLTL 2,416,000 (-133,000)

Total Viewers in 18-49 Avg. got the 2009-2010-Season

1.(1) Y&R 1,138,000 (+24,000) 23% of total audience (+1%)

2.(2) GH 870,000 (-14,000) 33% of total audience (SAME)

3.(3) DAYS 784,000 (-60,000) 28% of total audience (-2%)

4.(4) OLTL 700,000 (-83,000) 29% of total audience (-2%)

5.(5) B&B 694,000 (-65,000) 21% of total audience (-1%)

6.(6) AMC 655,000 (-94,000) 26% of total audience (-3%)

[marceline]

Just for the record, when I say the "OLTL Defense Squad," I'm not referring to you or others who simply love OLTL. On the contrary, I consider the openness with which you support OLTL (and hate AMC) to be unusually refreshing. When it comes to OLTL/AMC, you and I are Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Our light sabers are raised and we are ready to defend. THAT is not what I'm referring to.

I do however disagree with you that all the shows are static. Y&R may always be #1 but by how much is always up for grabs. The same for B&B at #2. Over the last few years DAYS has careened wildly from "on fire" to "end this please" and anything could happen with the ABC soaps if they abandoned the Fronsian formula. And make no mistake, my hatred of OLTL is hugs and puppies compared to my hatred of Frons. Get rid of him and I'd consider the slate with OLTL clean.

I don't think the ratings thread should have to become a locked thread just because of a vocal minority anymore than I think every Victoria Rowell thread should have to be locked because a few posters can't stop fighting with each other. I've just noticed that fewer and fewer people take part in the ratings thread and I want them to know that they're missed.

[ChiTownBoi03]

I believe this too. Because when the circumstances are right, DAYS cleans up pretty good. But when its bad, well...they do pretty bad. Love-hate, Hate-Love...I alternate. I guess this is what long-term relationships can be like sometimes.

[Llantano Incorporated]

Frankly Marceline, I agree with nearly everything you said!

And in the end my love of OLTL is purely sentimental. Hell, my hatred of AMC is purely sentimental too.

These shows are mere shadows of their former selves and run at 10% of their potential.

Even when I am enjoying B&B, OLTL, and Y&R- and I have to admit I am finding parts of each show highly watchable right now- all 3 are simply horrible in their own way on any given day.

And I cannot agree more about Frons.

[Llantano Incorporated]

Days has that fanbase that will always return. Days has that "name" recognition that AMC has when it comes down to that aspect of the AMC/OLTL wars in terms of public consciousness/branding.

I loved watching Days hit a solid #3 for all those months (I don't even watch the damn show)

Days will in all probability bounce back. The only other show who has that bounce back "thing" is GH. AMC to a lesser extent.

OLTL doesn't have those fans anymore. The show cannot hold a more casual viewers attention.

[Sylph]

You don't want me to get started on these threads. Sure, there were some quite clever posts now and then, but then mostly it got into repeat-mode. Then you had those awful "predictions" and schizoid posts "here's hoping [insert soap] rises in the ratings". Schizoid because while the same person trashed the soap in the weekly threads, he or she hoped for higher ratings in the ratings threads. Made no sense. All the more because they even had the nerve to be angry if someone said that they got the ratings they deserved. And so on...

After a while, since no one was "winning" in the discussions, people left. You can't outcrazy a crazy post. And there was lots of craziness, OLTL is a bastard child & vigil posts etc. You know.

[DRW50]

I see what you're saying, but this came up again and again last year and I felt like it was almost as much a justification for some soaps not bothering to improve their quality as it was a discussion of the state of the genre. That probably wasn't the intent, it's just how I felt. Daytime is dead. Daytime has been dead from the very start. There's no point in saying that some soaps which became offensive, lazy, cheap, and brain dead, should improve, because daytime has been gone for many decades and nothing could stop that. This tended to be in the Y&R thread as much or more than the ratings thread so perhaps that isn't fair to say about the ratings thread, I don't know. I was just trying to say that as much as I like the idea of actually talking about ratings, ultimately it seems to get to a point where the implication becomes that any investment in daytime you have ever had was pointless.

[Sylph]

That depends, it's different from person to person.

You should also calculate how many hours you've spent watching something you did not like, years which should've and could've been used for far better purposes.

Not you you, just someone, anyone, everyone...

[DRW50]

Well that was the reason they invented the fast forward button

[Sylph]

Or... You coul've decided not to watch at all and in all these years learned a language. For example. Or whatevs.