HOLIDAY MIRACLE: Prospect Park Back On Track To Revive AMC and OLTL

[DRW50]

The ratings were poor in the year or two before cancelation and had started falling again by the end. I don't think bad ratings were a specific reason, I think ABC just wanted cheaper programming, but he didn't do that much for ratings.

I think he was better off leaving B&B, in terms of growing as an actor, and having new opportunities. He kind of sucked on B&B the first time around. And then on GH. AMC was the first time I saw him actually learn to act.

B&B also tends to dump actors so he might have been better off leaving at the time he did.

[jfung79]

Please provide specific dates you're referencing. OLTL was growing year to year in the ratings when the cancellation was announced.

[Angela]

His first stint on B&B was IMO his absolute best fit in a role. Unfortunately, whenever I have seen him on B&B now, I still see JR. I haven't seen anything on CBS in months due to poor cable service.

[John]

Thom Racina

Got an idea for the next video...stop by here tomorrow for the details! Hope you're all keeping warm!

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[DRW50]

Year to year after a sharply declining 2009 and a dismal 2010 performance. Growing year to year didn't mean very much in that context.

Any Carlivati ratings uptick gets handstands and cartwheels because of him, the rest is immaterial, and the declines are always ignored or excused.

[SFK]

ITA. I didn't think much of him when he was on GH, I just remember feeling a little sorry for him given what Geary had said in the past about not accepting post-Jackson actors as Lucky. When he showed up on AMC, as Adam Jr. of all characters, it was tough for me to shake his incredibly Californian, B&B-perfect image. He just did not seem like an East Coast soap actor. And now when I see him on B&B, I feel like I'm watching Mormon J.R.

[jfung79]

OLTL was also doing significantly better than AMC when it was cancelled. OLTL was bucking a trend in soap ratings, and to deny that is to be biased against Carlivati in my opinion. The resurgence of GH in the ratings right now is not something that would have happened if Bob Guza were there, I hope that is not seriously in question. It says a lot about Carlivati and Valentini that they were able to right the ship on OLTL after declining a bit, rather than flailing and burning out and running out of ideas after how long they'd been there. When a soap can turn itself around, it's never something to be dismissed. GL dropped and stayed down, despite Jill Lorie Hurst being promoted, the return of Phillip, and the great Otalia story. ATWT, AW, PC, Passions, all the other cancelled soaps in the modern era also couldn't stop bleeding and languishing in the ratings in their final years. That wasn't the story with OLTL.

[DRW50]

OLTL was still bleeding and languishing in the ratings when it ended - the ratings increase was relative to its own performance, all-time low performance, and had steadily declined in the show's last few months. It's great that OLTL did better than those other soaps (although GL was not aired in a number of areas so I wouldn't compare them, even if that probably didn't make a big difference), but the same writer who presided over several years of all time low ratings is the same writer who was there for the temporary spike in 2011.

Guza, as much as his writing repulsed me, maintained high ratings for a number of years, until his last year or two as headwriter.

I would put more credit toward Valentini, if Valentini is the one who has greenlit these key returns and who was willing to cut down the mob stuff. The stories themselves are a disaster area, and, aside from the AJ/ELQ stuff, the vampire stuff and sometimes Todd/Carly, seem to have no positive feedback on most of the boards I see. (there was some for the Faison story but that's over and Anna is back to the Luke dross)

[Chris B]

I would say that without a doubt in my mind, Carlivati's writing is MUCH better on GH than at OLTL. His OLTL had such long periods of dullness that people seem to forget, then we'd get a run of two or three months of really exciting stuff, but then he'd play these stories it seemed obvious weren't popular. On GH his writing seems to suit the show more and there is a nice balance of camp, drama and an even better balance of hospital/mob/ELQ stuff. I'm so happy he won't be writing the new OLTL, he's right where he needs to be.

[Steve]

ICAM with all of this (and thanks for mentioning Lady Gaga, whose success has always puzzled me)!

[marceline]

Out of curiosity, are we going to be able to get "ratings" for these two shows? Obviously not Nielsen but some way for us to know how they are performing?

Oh don't get me started on that boring, derivative narcissist. All her attempts to be edgy just make her that much more generic.

[dragonflies]

I don't think I missed this being posted, sounds like what they said before

http://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/prospect-park-releases-statement-about-gh-trio

[VirginiaHamilton]

OK, OK... hint taken...

[rhinohide]

And it proves to me that PP recognizes the value of the character and is willing to recast if necessary. Works for me.

[dragonflies]

JR is a character that needs to be shipped off for awhile, I doubt McPherson who's as boring of a writer as it gets will be able to make JR interesting.

JY is better as Rick Forrester anyways. Smart guy staying at B&B instead of taking a pay cut and doing something that has a high degree of failure