October 11-15, 2010

[Bella20]

This first sentence is so offensive, and shows the type of bigotry that both gay and black characters have to deal with. Here's a newsflash, there are actually some white viewers who would be interested in seeing a well written storyline that features black characters, and there are actually some heterosexual viewers who would be interested in seeing a well written storyline that features gay characters. Sadly, both gay and characters who aren't white are marginalized, and treated as if they aren't regular characters, because too many writers and producers think like you do. They are too afraid of their shows being labeled as gay or black, or that writing for minority characters would be targeting only a segment of the audience. This type of ignorant and backwards thinking is one of the reasons why soaps can't attract younger viewers, and why they are dead.

ATWT was the number three soap during a time period where Luke and Noah actually had a storyline, and Bianca's wedding, as stupid as it was, saw higher ratings than AMC had seen in weeks. I think both cases showed that people wanted to watch good storytelling, that's what is going to keep people tuning in. Some people are going to be mad about seeing a gay couple, and some will be upset about seeing other minorities, but they don't represent all viewers.

[DRW50]

I think daytime has bled itself dry by focusing so much on what they think is the ideal audience. I also think that a lot of brass have their own personal prejudices which are passed off as being what viewers demand. I'm sure there are ways to gauge what people want but I think what people really want to see is appealing characters and interesting stories, and while the idea of what is appealing or interesting is subjective, there are still some ways to try to get some interest. A mix of family, comedy, romance, mystery, and some "I can't believe he/she did that" moments.

The biggest question I have is who would anything on most soaps now appeal to? The crime stories are failures because they are made up as they go along, rely on one-note supervillains, and most of the time the "heroes" are more reprehensible than anyone else. The leading men are often constipated zombies who barely even bother to get through their lines. The women are empty-headed and the worst stereotypes of madonna/whore. The romances are rushed, degrading, and pointless. Families no longer exist. Friendships don't exist. People say and do things which make no sense and if they ever had a character is not true to that character. And of course there are the mob stories, which are a bad joke, because the mobsters are too wimpy for anyone who likes mob stuff to enjoy, and too repulsive for anyone who doesn't.

Even if there is some market for hardcore racists, they probably wouldn't want to see any of this either. Soaps need to start trying to appeal to someone who might care about watching a soap in the first place.

[SFK]

I would also say that another big problem is the way in which stories are told, not merely the stories themselves. Currently, a lot of the storytelling and dialogue lack elegance and finesse. Storylines and scenes are often clunky and slapdash, every week on the AMC board there are at least a handful of comments about the sloppy editing. Say what you will about being caught up in nostalgia, but the shows did have more heart once upon a time, it was an intangible quality that you felt while watching. To me, it was this heart and the presence of fine actors (no, not all of them were great) that could sustain a show through a dud of a s/l or something as simple and beautiful as two characters having a conversation "about nothing" on a sofa. That's all too rare, and instad we get lame attempts at being clever and/or sensational. Though I mini-dissed them just a second ago, I will say that lately AMC has been giving me glimpses of the late '80s/early '90s AMC that I loved. I think that has almost everything to do with th pretty healthy cast of actors they've assembled, pretty much all of which are playing characters with solid and interesting connections on the show. I don't feel like anyone is really superfluous right now, there are no Juan Carloses or whatever his name was.

[DRW50]

Yeah, the faux-cleverness and smugness is annoying too. That's true for all pop culture but I think it affects daytime worse than most because daytime is about heart and emotion. Many who run soaps now think they are too good for that.

[Eric83]

Gays are not the problem. Please tell me why most of the highest rated primetime shows have prominent gay characters like Glee, Desperate Housewives, Modern Family... I am sure there is more.

There really is no substantial reason to believe soap viewers hate gays. I think that soaps skew so old, that it is automatically assumed that every soap watcher has that same "I HATE GAYS! IT IS DISGUSTING!" mentality, that alot of older people may have, but the soap audience is more progressive than we think, and this same ignorance is why daytime is dead.

And who cares if 70 % of the army are against gays, that is a very small portion of the population, and doesn't necessarily reflect the people they grew up around.

So whites run away when they see blacks on the screen?

[Jess]

Yeah, I remember when this thread really generated a number of posts and comments.

I was reading TV Guide and they interviewed Valentini and RC. I was very surprised to read comments about the great investment in the kiddie corp. on OLTL. It was a bragging point for the head writer. I do not watch the show, and have not for a long while, so take my comments with that in mind. It seems to me that a writer that brags about having Starr, Cole, Matthew and the other kiddies as lead characters is seriously out of touch.

I read the boards and I have not noticed much enthusiasm for OLTL's new obsession with children going to high school.

[DRW50]

Believe it or not the teens they feature as lead characters are much worse than Starr and Matthew...

[bellcurve]

I kind of get why you posted this, but supporting such silly "research" and backhandedly supporting the networks' racist and homophobia agenda is kind of sick and insensitive.

I get that you're just bursting at the seams to just give us these long, pointless diatribes about ratings, OLTL, ATWT, and Billy Abbott, but please consider rethinking/restructuring your arguments if you don't want to come off as a thoughtless, insensitive prick.

Thanks.

[Angela]

Toups' Ratings for the week of 10/11 will be up at 1. ABC soaps went down in Total Viewers. CBS/NBC soaps went up.

[Soap Opera Network]

Photo: ABC

Ratings Report for the Week of October 11 - 15, 2010.

Read More

[J.W.S]

Went Down 100,000 Well None of the shows did great improvements either

[Bella20]

The numbers that grab my attention are the year to year comparisons, every soap is down, and poor DOOL has just taken a huge hit.

[DRW50]

OLTL is so uneven, the ratings go way up and down every week.

GH and OLTL both need a lot of changes...yet seem likely to get none.

[J.W.S]

How can OLTL have the most viewers on Friday But Their rating for that day is less than it was on Monday?

[J.W.S]

Im Calling Shanigans Ok

On Friday The 15th. OLTL 2,546,000 Viewers and got a 1.8 in HH

On Monday the 11th it had around 2.4 mil and got a 1.9 in HH

Then Look at AMC

On Tues the 12th it had 2, 546,000 viewers which OLTL had on the 15th and AMC's rating for the 12th was 1.9

If AMC and OLTL have the same # of viewers why did amc get a 1.9 on Tues and OLTL got a 1.8 on Friday?