October 7-11, 2013: GH #1 in W18-49 Viewers; First Time since 2011

[marceline]

That's an interesting thing about the ratings report. It sets up the narrative that all soaps are competing against each other which obviously isn't true. It was one thing when we had enough soaps where some shared a timeslot but that's not the case anymore. Claiming that Y&R is "beating" GH is like claiming that Scandal "beat" L&O: SVU just because they are both primetime shows. GH didn't really beat Y&R. GH's numbers got better while Y&R's got worse, each for their own reasons. Nobody has to choose between GH and Y&R so it isn't really a contest unless the goal is to be the number one soap which is meaningless to anybody except those here in this Lord of the Flies echo chamber known as the soap webverse.

Y&R clearly has work to do but acting like GH has anything to do with it is at best, laughably bad reasoning and at worst, deliberate distortion of the facts to advance an agenda as is the case with that pitiful tweet.

Yes they will. They'll throw a little sugar towards Robin's return but they'll make sure that the Livers get a big piece of the credit by claiming that they "add depth to the canvas" or some other such nonsense.

[jfung79]

I'm confident neither you nor DRW50 will have hard evidence such as a quote. In an ensemble show, everyone does add depth to the canvas though. Giving Robin's return the only credit for the ratings for the week would be wrong too. TPTB aren't going to release a detailed response crediting and denying character contributions to ratings for one week.

As for soaps competing against each other for viewers, I kind of agree with your point, but they kind of are competing for viewers too. Soaps are a five-hour-a-week commitment. The existence and makeup of Soap Opera Network and other soap discussion boards show there are fans who are not just fans of one show, but of many, who have to choose between the soaps to allocate limited time sometimes. Soaps can all rise by bringing in other viewers who have left them, but they also sometimes do poach viewers from each other.

"I ... am ... not ... Anna"!

[marceline]

It's hard to provide a quote for comments that we are predicting he will make. (Damn you, linear time!) But Ron has made a point of acting like the OLTL 3 brought something special and unique to GH. Yes, he'll toss a little credit to the other people on the canvas - much like tipping your server in the strip club even though she didn't show you her tits - but they'll make sure that he finds a way to justify the Livers.

From December 2012: "Bringing in those returns also provided story for the characters of: Michael, Sonny, Jason, Sam, Carly, Tracy, and Luke, and all the people you want to see."

Thank the soap gods because we know that without them those GH characters would've withered on the vine and died, right? It's not like any of them had enough story potential on their own.

Nobody's expecting a detailed treatise on credit for the ratings but, come on, anybody who pays attention knows how Cartini is going to play this. They'll do another interview with Fairman or Jamey, both of whom will practically fight each other in the street for the opportunity to genuflect before the masters, and Frank and Ron will smile benevolently and allow them to carry the Blessed Word of Cartini to the faithful masses as the people sing "Prepare Ye!"

That's true for all television. People are choosing between watching their soap and any of the other shows they DVR. So in that case we might as well say that OUAT beat Y&R. Also, trying to portray this message board as indicative of the larger soap viewing universe is, IMO, clearly a mistake. That reason boards like this exist is because we aren't the average viewers. We're the exact opposite.

[DRW50]

Pretty much all of this. Thanks.

The idea of their loving the Scorpios is baffling to me. They might like Anna (although she is unrecognizable to me), but they have done their best to sideline Robert throughout the story, and to replace Robin with Sabrina, even turning the Nurses' Ball into being Sabrina's special day.

You can see when they love a character - it's all the oohing and cooing every script does over Kukla and Franco, and the actors who are downgraded for them.

[jfung79]

They love all the characters on the canvas. Robin was not on the canvas. Kimberly McCullough had left the show. Ron Carlivati kept Robin from being killed off as his first decision. They got her back on the show. Now that Robin is coming back, it's clear they are building up to Patrick and Robin reuniting.

They brought back Mac and Felicia. They like Mac more than a lot of fans who are all Frisco Frisco (bleh).

[DRW50]

I will give you Felicia, although she has little interaction with most of the other Scorpios sans Mac. The rest mostly feels like status quo decisions to me. The thing helping Robin most is that Sabrina has not been that popular with a lot of fans. Even then the story mostly feels like it will be about Sabrina, or sideshow characters (Obrecht, Jerry, Faison).

[rhinohide]

I don't think Finola or Tristan agree.

[rhinohide]

You have a very different definition of ensemble than I do. But defend the livers to your dying breath.

[SouthOfSoap]

There is an exceptional amount of blah blah blah around GH considering all that happened was that GH increased from 718,000 W18-49 to 735,000 - a whopping 17,000!!!

No-one except Ann_SS has really mentioned that Y&R fell from 810,000 to under 735,000 in W18-49, a loss of at least 75,000 in one week.

(This assumes the ABC press release is accurate).

[OldGHFan]

This show does NOT love the Scorpios. I have no doubt after November sweeps this show will turn into the OLTL3-Sonny show again. But I'm enjoying my Scorpios while I can and I do love that the ratings go up every time they come back.

[ChitHappens]

Tell that to AJ Quartermaine. The man is in the middle of a murder scandal and has been MIA for over 5 weeks. His gf doesn't even mention his name. Someone tweeted that they want AJ back and poor SK had to RT it.

Crappy don't love all the characters. They love their 3 and a few of the newbies they created but eventually realized they were not going to bring in the numbers by themselves. That is when they began to "spread the love". Robin's story is all about Sabrina. Just you watch.

And before we go giving the credit to Robin's return and the Scorpios (the bait and switch with Friday's show was hilarious), just last week, the numbers had declined. GH's numbers began increasing about 2 months ago and have been fluctuating ever since. I don't anticipate constant growth for this show because it's all over the place. There's no reason to tune in long term.

[dragonflies]

If the love all characters, then tell me why Becky/Liz and Sean/AJ are getting the shaft