July 30 - August 3, 2012: Bad Week For Y&R

[ChitHappens]

+1

[Graham]

PREACH. IT.

[DRW50]

The GH stories go nowhere. If you started watching when "Cartini" took over, you have seen no real story movement since that time - it's just a bunch of stunts, and people who look depressed and traumatized in jump cut edits.

[marceline]

Considering that this an anomalous week, I don't see the point in fighting over whether GH or Y&R sucks or not because the results are skewed. I'd really like to see the numbers that the Olympics were getting.

[DaytimeFan]

But B&B's numbers aren't skewed at all and in most markets it faces the same (non Olympic) conditions as Y&R.

[marceline]

Oh I know what you are saying. I'm just saying that we can't use this week to judge anything because the Olympics are the ultimate wildcard. For all we know, some DAYS viewers may have decided to give B&B a shot this week and offset B&B viewers who decided to watch the Olympics. (I'm not saying that happened I'm just saying there's no way to tell.)

[rhinohide]

Anomalous or not, it's kind of the perfect storm for GH. 30 days prior to making a time slot change? Guess they could really pick up steam in the time they have left before the change. It will be interesting to see what happens.

[marceline]

GH is a dead show walking, Olympics or no.

[Gray Bunny]

Good or bad, Y&R is still pulling in higher numbers than GL was 10 years ago... does that mean Y&R still has a good 10 years left? eh...

Well, make that 7, since GL was cancelled in '09

[EastMA2]

While I don't expect the Executive Producers of these shows to say that what they are doing is crap and bleeding viewers, I also don't want them to make delusional statements. MAB's statements and Valentini's statements to Michael Fairman about how GH is better than the other 3 soaps is just delusion. Look at the numbers. The numbers speak much more loudly.

[rhinohide]

I don't know about JFP, but if Valentini's lips are moving, I think he's lying.

[Skin]

The show is more balanced now then it has been in months, so I disagree there. Todd is merely a figure head, he doesn't really do much of anything on the show. If anything in the past few months it's been Heather who has been all over the place pushing and controlling story. For what it's worth I don't think GH is really that bad, which is more or less why the ratings have been steady since they have started usually with them staying in the 1.7-1.8 range. What GH needs is a good story to really bring back viewers and get it to rise again (all soaps need that). I am not sure they are capable of pulling that off with what they have been given though. It will be interesting to see what Days can do next week, since it's crunch time.

[DRW50]

Heather is a plot point, not a character. Nothing is about her.

Most of the show focuses on Todd, McBain, Johnny, Jason, Sonny, Joe Jr, and the women who revolve around them, with B-list stories like Patrick's insta-pill addiction and Jerry and Ewen having a battle of the bored ferret faces.

[Skin]

Sonny hasn't lead story since Kate's breakdown, it's clear that Kate and to a lesser extent Kristina are the shows focus in that respective sphere. Mob Princess and Kate's DID have pretty much led Sonny to becoming regulated to supporting capacity. Joe Jr. is the antagonist to Skate, but the story is being positioned that it's about Kate's long lost kid and Kristina's new troublesome boyfriend. Sonny is reacting to those two women's stories.

Jason also hasn't been leading any story. He's been in some scenes with Liz but for the most part he has been positioned to react to Sam in a supporting role capacity since her baby has died. The focus has been on Sam, her baby and her trying to find out what Heather and Todd have done that concerns her with some minor input with John. Sam is the lead in that story there with Todd playing supporting to both sides of the fence which was Sam vs. Heather. But the main point of Todd interacting with Sam is because of the baby. Todd has had devastatingly little in terms of his own story. He had some brief scenes with Blair and some scenes with Carly but that's pretty much it aside from his one scene showdown with Johnny which he has since forgotten about. Yes, Todd is on everyday but again he isn't actively doing much of anything in his scenes. He doesn't lead story he is a supporting capacity player.

John McBain hasn't been doing much either and he spent a bulk of the last two weeks not being on the show at all because he was dealing with Natalie stuff off screen. For the most part story has been stretched out amongst all the characters lately. No one has really been dominating in terms of airtime or story focus. I would say in terms of story Johnny at this moment is the male lead character of the show, considering how many storylines he is in and all the things he has set in motion as a character. He is leading a lot of stories right now but it doesn't seem like it because he is only on about ten or more times a month which is what I would call balance.

[DRW50]

I wouldn't say the stories are about the women at all. Bad things happen to Kate so Sonny can lash out. Kristina screws up in order to get reactions from Sonny, Trey, and Joe Jr.