July 1-5, 2013: GH Hits New Low in Women 18-49 Viewers

[jo.frank88]

Glad that DOOL seemed to stay pretty steady in this holiday week. But Ouch for GH.. I am probably going to sound like such a Negative Nancy on this one... but when you look at trends - our soaps really are very older-skewing and that worries me for their long term future. Even just looking at Days alone the W18-49 rating is 1/5 of their audience...that means that 4/5 of the audience watching is 50 and over (I know I'm not including the teens.. and I'm sure there are a few thousand teens in the under 18 category) but for the large majority 4/5 of the audience is over 50... (Again, I know I'm being a negative Nancy..) but for the most part young audiences do not have the brand loyalty and dedication to be a soap fan the way the older generations have over their lifetime. ( Again, I say this as a generalization.. I am 24 years old and have been a loyal soap viewer 17 years...so I KNOW there are younger dedicated soap fans out there.. I'm just speaking generally for my younger generation)

[CCCapwell]

I don't watch GH so please elaborate on what you don't like about the production values. Has it drastically changed from the time JFP ran it?

Perhaps its Frankie's way of controlling the budget, which is a good thing for a soap's survival. You mentioned writing, a soap should have consistently quality writing and since it doesn't cost the network an extra penny for have quality writing it amazes me it is something most shows are lacking.

There is a segment of fans online who love to lump FV and RC together, I would really like to know the dynamic of that working relationship, is Frank just an old fashioned EP and lets the head writer have tons of story control or does he mandate Ron to change his stories to meet Frank's vision, or are some of the fans right and its the combo of both of them. If GH doesn't end the ratings decline, I thing RC should be the one to go, and we can see how FV does with a new team of writers.

[ChitHappens]

Hi,

1. Shaky Cameras

2. Lighting (30,000 watt bulbs)

3. Camera Positioning to where it looks like 2 characters and only the camera is in the scene

4. Close ups - as in up the nostrils of the actors/performers

5. Trimming down each set - and this would not be so bad if what they left was not so shabby. I'd rather they decrease the amount of sets and spend the money on making the remaining sets look great.

Things can be less expensive without looking cheap!

I didn't see this with JFP. The only soap that came close was Trassions.

As I think of more, I will list them.

[CCCapwell]

I agree, stuff like that has less to do with budgets and is simply the EP not demanding quality in production. Maybe he is not on the set very often, perhaps he is interviewing for a new position somewhere. The Los Angeles area produces a lot of porn.

[frequentsoapfan]

They are trolling for clips to be shown on The Soup which Passions was featured on all the time. Of course no one was applauding Passions for that feat.

[MontyB]

LMAO!!!! So true!!!

[EricMontreal22]

The thing is, "old fashioned EPs" usually actually had a very clear vision for their show--of course it had to mesh with the writer they have, but... However, I do think they work very much as a combo--interviews with the two of them make that pretty clear. Of course FV was EP at OLTL under Malone's messy, brief return and Dena Higleyu's *horrendous* era, but they did share a campy sensibility with his work with RC.

Really though this thing with GH's ratings dropping, etc, is not all that different from what happened with OLTL under the two men. There's this belief I often read online that, while AMC was horrible in its final years on ABC (and it often was, though I did honestly see a upswing its last year post Pratt especially near the end, of course) OLTL was doing fabulously. In reality--or at least MY reality--it only was .,1 or so rating point above much of the time, and while the final months had some really good stuff it also had huge messes like the whole Stacey is Gigi is Stacy fiasco, etc.

But before that, during RC's nearly 5 year stint the show would have eras where things rating and creative wise seemed pretty good (like much of his first year) and then suddenly his major story would be exhausted and, similar to GH now, the show would be a huge set of WTF stories, unresolved endless stories, endless camp, etc. My point is, I think this is really par for the course for the team (ie OLTL once ABC and FV abruptly fired "Kish" claiming falling ratings and ratings tumbled even further and we were stuck in an endless show of inane stories like Jessica being almost raped and then electro-shocked by her "father" and thinking she was a teenager so she could be essentiallyr aped again, etc.) ANd, annoyingly in a way, I suspect GH--if ABC lets it, could climb back up again as OLTL went up and down.

Of course there is the difference that this ridiculous recasting of the three OLTL actors is particularly inane.

[EricMontreal22]

Well he did, at least in New York, audition the men in their underwear, apparently

Seriously, FV actually has a rep for being always present on the set--so that's not an excuse (he also used to direct a lot, though he hasn't done as much lately.)