October 25-29, 2010

[TeamEric]

That The View wasn't a ratings hit until season 10?

[jpoliver78]

I apologize if someone else has already answered some of these questions/comments from other people earlier in the thread...

-CBS mentions OLTL because it is the direct competition to "The Talk" (I still think that is a ridiculous name), and while both "The Talk" and "The View" are daytime network talk shows, they compete in very different time periods. "The View" airs at 11:00 a.m. (and competes against CBS's "The Price is Right"), while "The Talk" airs at 2:00 p.m. (ET) and competes against OLTL. That is like comparing "NCIS" and "CSI". Just because both are procedural crime dramas, they air on different nights and at different times with very different competition.

-CBS doesn't really have any history with daytime talk shows. "The Early Show" and its predecessors (i.e. "CBS This Morning", etc.) are morning news shows, just like "Today" and "Good Morning, America". While all three morning news shows blend news and entertainment, they are still considered news shows - and run by their network news divisions. "The Talk" is run by the entertainment division.

-Most new series tend to decline in their second week. In primetime, the number is usually 10%, so to only have a small drop in viewers and stay steady in the all important age demographic is key. This is probably why CBS makes a point to mention OLTL, as if to say, "look at this new, cheap talk show that is doing better than the competing soap that has been on for 30 years and costs a lot of money to make".

[DRW50]

If this were something like Mike and Maty, I would understand the need to compare, but a show with the wife of Les Moonves and various famous or semi-famous names...and they're content to just tie OLTL? It doesn't seem like a way to build confidence in the show.

[jpoliver78]

If CBS can't compare "The Talk" to its direct competition - ABC is the only network airing competition (nationally, at least) - then what is CBS supposed to say. Sure, the network can put out a press release touting the numbers and such, but what do those numbers matter to the average ordinary viewer? It's much easier for the public to understand, "we tying a long-running soap competing against us on ABC" than to say "we got an 0.8 rating in the adult 18-49 demographic".

Since this seems to be of some importance to you (considering how many times you've brought it up, no offense), what would you have CBS put in their press release?

[Saving ATWT]

CBS This Morning only did well once, the year Jane Pauly got booted from Today, and right before the firing of Kathleen Sullivan. The show was gaining ground and coming up close to second place but CBS had some issue with Sullivan and the rumors were that she was a b*tch to work with. Zahn was unable to maintain the gains but I don't really see it has her fault 'cause all the media attention had flipped over to 'America's Sweetfart' Katie Couric.

Sullivan was GREAT but got blacklisted HARDCORE. CBS This Morning was way better than The Early Show. I'm 34 and can even remember The CBS Morning News with Faith Daniels and The Morning Program with Meredith Heartly and Rolland Smith. We had an old TV with a clothes hanger jammed in and could only get CBS.

[TeamEric]

First week 2.14 million

Second week 2.08 million

That is a lesser than 10% drop let's see how they do in 3rd week.

[Southofnowhere]

The Talk needs to chnage hosts. They needa rightwinger and a flaming lefty.

I say Bristol Palin not sure about the lefty. Rosie would be perect if she didn't already have a show. How about a gay Dad?

[jpoliver78]

You are correct..."The Talk" only lost about 60,000 viewers and that a 10% would put the numbers at around 1.9 million viewers. "The Talk" seems to have dropped only around 3% in viewers. Overall, I think "The Talk" held up reasonably well...it appears that most of those people who tuned in liked what they say (of course, seeing the daily fluctuations in viewers may help to determine if the show started out strong on Monday but lost steam by Friday or stayed roughly steady all week).

The 10% number is a rule of thumb in primetime...if a series drops more than 10% it may be in trouble, 10% or less is considered the norm when it comes to second week drops. I don't know if that can be applied to daytime or not.

[DRW50]

Focus on their demos in their own right, not as a competition, especially against a show which isn't exactly going to be tough competition at the moment. To attach themselves to that idea means the show is just daytime filler, which, given some of the names attached, presumably wasn't the intention.

[jpoliver78]

Not a bad idea about the gay dad...perhaps Neil Patrick Harris' partner now that the couple have become parents? That would also be corporate synergy at work since Harris appears on CBS's "How I Met Your Mother".

If CBS were to hire a child of a politician, I would suggest Megan McCain (although she isn't a mother). I would much prefer her to the over-exposed Bristol Palin.

[jpoliver78]

By that, quite frankly, is stupid. Why do network's even have press releases for anyway? To tout their success, and one way to do that is by comparing yourself to others. CBS touts itself as "America's Most Wanted Network", meaning that ABC, NBC, Fox, and the CW aren't. When Conan hosted "The Tonight Show", David Letterman was "#1 in late night".

You're the only person that I know of on this board that has a problem with CBS comparing "The Talk" to OLTL. Other people can understand the rationale behind it, so why can't you? Are you a disgruntled OLTL viewer who is upset that a cheap to produce talk show is proving just how easy it is to tie or beat OLTL in the much more important demographics? If not, I can't really understand your opposition to CBS's press release tactics.

Also, I don't see how comparing one networks programming against another "demeans" or "lowers" that programming. If all CBS put in their press releases were dry numbers (2.08 million viewers, 0.5 in household ratings, 0.8 in adults 18-49, etc) they would only cater to those people who actually know what all those numbers mean, and I would guess that the average viewer wouldn't know anything about it.

[Money]

Rumor has it Starr Jones was upset because Oprah over looked her for Rosie. I think she would be a perfect addition in more ways than one.

[DRW50]

They'll probably try to get Todd Palin...

Todd interviews special guest Katie Couric!

[TeamEric]

I haven't watched THE TALK and have no interest in it outside how it does versus OLTL as I don't want cheap talk shows to succeed as subs for my soaps.

The VIEW would be far better off it they replaced that vapid blonde Hasselback with Megan McCain who actually has a brain vs talking points.

[TeamEric]

Actually would like to see the raw numbers behind their 18-34 ratings versus OLTL.

But speaking for myself only, I am very interested in how THE TALK does vs OLTL and vs ATWT's demos which were horrible.

So Katie, what do YOU like to read? And can you see Russia from YOUR house? lol