March 25-29, 2013: Good Week for Y&R & GH

[DRW50]

This is one of the problems I have with our saviors. They are constantly hyped as the best ever in soap. They are Doug Marland. They're better than Doug Marland. And so forth. But most of the actual praise I hear about them is hey, someone else is worse.

[rhinohide]

Why do people always have to defend HackTini in contrast to some other head writer? I already acknowledged that people seem to like them better than Guza. They're better than Dena Higley too. Ok? That the bar is set so low and people will settle for it is not a referendum on how good they are.

I didn't see this before I posted. Well said.

[JONNYSBRO]

Without hacktini we would have a cancelled Gh. I think we all saw we really wish they wouldn't come so Gh could have been finished. It was a done deal.

[ChitHappens]

NOT TRUE! That's all...

[Wendy]

I'll be unpopular: If all that was left was to turn GH into some campy piece of [!@#$%^&*] with invasions from dead soaps and gutting existing characters to suit plot, maybe GH SHOULD HAVE been canceled.

RC/FV suck as much as Guza/JFP. It's just a different KIND of suck, not lesser. At least to me.

And at least if GH had been axed, maybe PP could have also picked it up and gave it a chance with people that actually give a s.h.i.t and just not surface stunts (i.e. bringing vets back but doing jack s.h,i.t with them).

[jfung79]

I think both DAYS and GH come across to me as being written well right now, although I am a relative newcomer of three months to DAYS and it's only been 11 episodes since I started watching GH again after stopping watching it in 1997. I'd previously watched GH for a few years in the mid-90s in junior high and high school, a glorious time.

DAYS is largely character-driven, with schemes and dilemmas for characters such as Kristen, Brady, Will, Sonny, Rafe, Kate, Sami, EJ, Nick, Gabi, and Nicole arising from their places in life, what they want, and what they have experienced, with intersections between stories and a feeling of community.

GH is using characters and relationships from its history for new stories in the present day. To say that GH brought vets back but isn't doing anything with them is inaccurate in my view. If anything, the vets have more to do the past couple weeks than newer characters. Laura is searching for her missing daughter and is in love with Scotty but always has a connection to Luke. Lucy is running the Nurses Ball, no small endeavor. AJ is in a feud with Tracy for control of ELQ. Brenda is back to deal with her addiction -- Sonny -- while Carly fumes at Brenda's seflishness. Anna is the police commissioner and thus always has a role in any crimes, in addition to having some story with Duke. Felicia has to choose between Frisco and Mac. Frisco has also been trying to get through to his daughter about telling the truth about her baby. None of this is particularly campy to me, although there is humor and fun. Also, there's something to be said just for having familiar faces who are back and able to be consulted.

You say that people praise "saviors" based on their being better than someone else, Carl, but I think that's just a subtext. It's not the main thing people say. There's also been no one on this board who's said Ron Carlivati is another Doug Marland that I'm aware of; you said you saw that on another board.

Carlivati didn't succeed Guza directly ... It's not just because he isn't Guza that people talk about him. There was already a "not Guza", Garin Wolf, who did not succeed at raising the ratings.

[DRW50]

This board is very balanced about "Cartini." It's some other boards and sites where, every time I go to them, it's feet-washing time.

[jfung79]

Ratings are out! All soaps continue to be up year to year. So glad! GH solid in the ratings and should be even stronger in the actual anniversary week.

DAYS's slight drop means we don't have to worry TPTB will think the Jennifer/Daniel/Chloe story was a huge ratings grabber, thank goodness.

[rhinohide]

That is awesome.

*fist pump*

[electrorat]

I have never once claimed that they're the best ever, nor do I for minute believe that they are. I see many of the problems that drive their critics crazy. I choose to ignore them for the most part, lol. (the critics and the problems).

[TeamEric]

Toups, if you check in a quick question for you. What do you make of GH gaining 303,000 viewers and only gaining 17,000 in the 18-49 demo? A 6% demo bounce seems a mighty small percentage, IMO.

GH viewership is really skewing older than ever before.

For comparison, here are the March averages for 2 years prior to RCi:

Mar 2010 2,575,250 887,250

Mar 2011 2,734,250 795,000

[JONNYSBRO]

Teameric nobody is paying attention to that as Vicki drummer the prexy said Gh is up fifty percent in demo. I don't think I have anything more prompted in years on Gh then this anniversary and ball. Geary on the view, genie on the chew, the Katie Couric talk show Gh episode, the soapnet marathon, the 20/20 episode And now two abc execs calling frank and Ron miracle workers and the saviors of Gh and the press is buzzing huge. Ron and frank are gods to the soap world given all the hype.

[rhinohide]

And that's really all I meant by leave your brain at the door. I'm sorry I overstated. I'm enjoying the hell out of Y&R right now. But I FF and ignore a lot.

This. The hype is ridiculous given the product. I don't think it holds water.

[TeamEric]

I recall Frons spinning some pretty numbers too. The overall numbers don't lie. GH is skewing older. The spikes aren't translating to gains in the 18-49 demo which sets the ad rates.

Actually I'm surprised with all the mainstream press GH received this last month, GH lost viewers 3 out of 4 months in March. I'm more surprised the Friday before the anniversary was only 1.9. I just expected far higher viewership based on all that free publicity.

[VirginiaHamilton]

If this board is balanced towards Cartini, then Carolyn Hinsey is a respected television critic.