May 1-5, 2006

[SteveFrame]

Wow Days did better than both OLTL and AMC on Friday. And that was OLTL's best episode of the week and the day that so many tuned in to watch the tornado. That is surprising that Days was able to do that, and the episode was not the best of the week for me on Days. OLTL really popped that day - best OLTL episode in a long time.

[RogerNewcomb]

When I look at 18-49 views, it's usually about 25-30% of total views. Do the other 70% really not count? You would think that it would be a greater % of the audience if the networks obsess about it so much.

I notice ATWT had more viewers on Monday at a 2.4 rating than they had with their 2.5 days.

[shipperx]

All that proves is that ABC was willing to cut its losses sooner because their soaps in general have higher ratings than NBC's and bec ause ABC had 4 soaps instead of NBC's measly two. They still had a full complement of daytime programming.

That doesn't prove that NBC wasn't stupid NOT to cancel Days. In fact, considering that NBC has been LOSING money due to Passions and Days underperforming and not meeting the ratings needed for their ad rates, from a business point of view NBC was silly not to have cancelled Passions. In fact, if they really have removed Passions from Sci-Fi, I'd be fearing for the soap. Since NBC owns Sci-Fi that was their way of recouping their losses on Passions. If they've given up that avenue, then economically Passions is on very, very, VERY shakey grounds.

ETA: Actually the whole set-up about demos mattering more than households is falling apart. There was an article recently where ABC daytime said outright that they no longer counted demos as more important than overall ratings. It's the overall rating that matters to them. There have been similar articles on the media front. And the head of CBS (which was head of the WB) said exactly that recently when explaining why the WB (whose business plan was predicated on those demos) was folding up shop this fall and combining with UPN in the hopes of getting overall ratings because the demos weren't sustaining the shows adequately to be financially viable any longer.

Noticeably, however, OLTL ranked higher than Days every day that week except Friday and OLTL's highest rating that week was higher than ANY rating Days posted that week (including Days' Friday rating).

[dawn9476]

NBC ain't going to replace Passions and Days with talk shows. You are not going to a network run talk show like The View on NBC. You make more money syndicating your talk shows and allowing any affiliate to pick them up and letting them air when they want them to air. It's like people who thought Megan Mullally's show was going to replace Passions. The rights to air her show was sold to stations own by Viacom which we all know is owned by CBS. That means that Megan's show will air on CBS affiliates in addition to NBC ones.. Not to mention, didn't Fox based Ryan Secret's show go up against the 2 o'clock soaps? We know what happen there. If NBC does anything, it will probably turn control over to the affiliates.

[SteveFrame]

Shipper, according to recent articles posted here and found in various places CBS is the only one that is really making money with their daytime lineups right now. All of them are having a hard time and every network is having to offer free advertising to make up to the advertisers for losses during daytime programming. CBS is having to give them too but they are having to do it less than the other 2 networks.

I know that NBC's ratings are lower than the other 2 but none of the 3 are doing great. That is the reason you see such tight budgets in daytime. According to what is published it seems GL and OLTL must have the tightest budgest because they are the ones who have the most trouble at negotiation time for actors contracts. OLTL definitely seems to have more trouble than the other 2 ABC shows.

It just seems that the whole genre is in big danger. Hopefully some day and hopefully soon the ratings will at least get better overall for all shows.

And as to this last weeks ratings - you are right about OLTL the rest of the week but according to Rugrats analysis Days beat OLTL on Friday. They had the same HH rating but DAys had more viewers on Friday. OLTL did beat them all the other days but OLTL was the 5th show on Friday.

I am not saying that the talk shows will be NBC produced shows - they will most likely be syndicated shows. It was reported back when Days and Passions were at risk before that the shows would be replaced by talk shows. That is when they stated that they were cheaper than soaps. The other option is game shows which they also stated were cheaper than soaps. But look how long it has been since a network has aired a new game show.

NBC is not going to cancel the 2 soaps and create 2 new ones. That would be stupid. NBC has not had a successful new soap since Santa Barbara - the last 3 failed miserably (Passions, Sunset Beach and Generations). Passions has had the best demos of the three and that is the reason it has lasted as long as it has. Also the fact they only have 2 shows. If it weren't for that Passions would have been gone a long time ago. NBC has had cancellation fever for years now. They didn't even give Generations time to even catch on before they got rid of it. Both Santa Barbara and Sunset Beach could have rebounded but they weren't given the chance that Passions has been given. And Santa Barbara was an Emmy darling.

So yes you are looking at talk shows or possibly game shows. I don't think there is much chance of a new soap coming to daytime anytime soon.

[JERSoapsFan]

I'm confused about something here. How can we really blame "Days" current storylines for its ratings when these Nielsens ONLY reflect that of "live" TV viewing. Millions more probably tape the soaps but that figure isn't given because they also time shift their shows and zap out the commercials (rendering them ineligible for Nielsen's count, which is chiefly used for determining ad rates). So really, don't these figures just suggest that the "live" viewers tuned out for the Hatrick and Bollie phuckfests? Who knows, perhaps tapers, such as I, enjoyed the show. (And I have enjoyed "Days" immensely.)

On an unrelated note, I was wondering why Patrick all of a sudden went evil (working for Alex now, eh? ) I think this one looks like a rewrite.

Then again, I believe (and hope) that Patrick's faking viewers once again when the good guy/bad guy routine. He may have made a deal with Alex just to thwart ALEX. We'll see.

[Euclid219]

Except for the P&G soaps, all the soaps are down by huge numbers in the 18-49 demo, not just DAYS, and GL and ATWT have lousy demos anyway. If NBC doesn't renew DAYS, I still say that CBS will buy it. Even B&B is in bad shape with viewers who aren't eligible for AARP membership.

Women 18-49 Rating

1. Y&R 2.0/14 (-.1/-.2)

1. GH 2.0/13 (same/-.2)

3. AMC 1.8/12 (-.1/-.3)

4. OLTL 1.7/12 (-.1/-.3)

5. DAYS 1.6/11 (-.2/-.4) <-------- ties low rating

6. B&B 1.5/10 (same/-.2)

7. ATWT 1.3/8 (same/same)

7. GL 1.3/8 (+.1/same)

9. PSNS 1.2/8 (-.1/-.4)

Girls 12-17 Viewers

1. GH 66,000 (+14,000/+2,000)

2. OLTL 41,000 (+2,000/-29,000)

3. PSNS 38,000 (-3,000/-32,000)

4. DAYS 37,000 (+5,000/-23,000)

5. Y&R 29,000 (+12,000/-9,000)

5. AMC 29,000 (-21,000/same)

7. B&B 23,000 (+9,000/+10,000)

8. ATWT 11,000 (same/-3,000)

8. GL 11,000 (+3,000/-15,000)

Women 18-34 Rating

1. DAYS 1.7/11 (-.1/-.5)

1. GH 1.7/11 (+.3/+.3)

3. Y&R 1.5/11 (-.1/+.3)

3. AMC 1.5/10 (+.1/+.1)

5. OLTL 1.3/9 (same/+.1)

5. PSNS 1.3/9 (-.1/-.7)

7. ATWT 1.0/7 (same/+.1)

7. B&B 1.0/7 (-.1/+.1)

7. GL 1.0/7 (+.1/same)

[King]

From your lips to God's ears.

UGH! NO!

[PhoenixRising05]

I agree. Taping and Soapnet should be taken in account. Every soap on soapnet has seen a drop of some sort. Y&R had some 3.9's in their dailies thieir first week on there so I am interested in seeing how soapnet affects them. Everyone I talk to says they watch Days on soapnet so I think that hurts their ratings. Not making excuses just an observation.

As for Patrick, he always has had a dark side. We knew he was a con artist and that he came to Salem working for Tony and was instructed to target Jennifer. He got so close to Jennifer, Billie, and Hope that he could not hurt them so he turned on Tony and saved them all on the island. Since then he has been good two shoes but the dark/con artist side has always been there and now we are seeing it. He may have even lied about the Alma thing to. Who knows? I never really bought Patrick as a good guy-I bought him as man with a dark side who has changed due to being around good women. As soon as money is floated in front of him or blackmail becomes a part of the picture he reverts back to con artist again. It's definitely not a rewrite though.

[JERSoapsFan]

Phoenix, I agree that Pat has always had a dark side to him, but I don't agree that he would go so far as kill someone, as it seems he's agreed to do for Alex. I say it smells like a possible rewrite due to the drop in ratings, which some blame in part on the Bo/Hope split. I think Patrick and Hope would have been written a viable couple and up until last week, we saw that. Notice how many times he tried to keep Bo and Hope TOGETHER? not very typical for a guy who just 'made a deal with the devil' to hold onto Hope, no? So here's the next solution: a rewrite. Make Pat's bad side come out again by having him team up with Alex--a confirmed baddie. The fact that he's teamed up wth Alex to FIGHT the Bo/hope reunion makes him immediately 'bad' and takes away the viability that Hatrick were developing. And I'm glad you mentioned Alma, Phoenix, because that wasn't a lie. Mimi mentioned to Shawn just last week how much Patrick loved Alma--again, JER's original way to soften him and make him a viable leading man.

I still think it's a rewrite for all these reasons, lol.

It's not a bad rewrite (after all, we may not get Hatrick for a year now and instead, just a few months or so), but I think it's an obvious one.

[PhoenixRising05]

I won't say its a rewrite until I see him actually try to kill someone. After all, Tony wanted him to on the Island with the volcano and he agreed to do it until the last minute. Plus, let's remember Alex offered him Hope this time and is blackmailing him so that may have made him snap. Corday did preview this in SOD so if they rewrite it they did it awhile back and the ratings crashed this week so I am not sure if they rewrote it in response to ratings. I don't think he lied about loving Alma. I do think he lied about how she died somehow-perhaps she died during one of his cons or something? I just think there is more to the Alma thing and to the Patrick thing.

[PJA]

Just as I stated last week and as someone mentioned a few posts up, networks are looking more at the households and less at the demos. Households matter more now. And since CBS has overall higher households, I doubt they would add Days. It's been dropping now and soon it could go below GL.

[RogerNewcomb]

Yep. The concept of 18-49 demo was because the networks felt this is the group that can be influenced to buy things. After 50, people are not flexible in their buying habits. That has been proved to be wrong. Not only are people living longer, but they are much more flexible now to try new brands of products at all ages. CBS is obviously doing well as the network with the most viewers in daytime and primetime.

[Euclid219]

CBS has 3 of their 4 soaps sitting in last place with a 1.0 for 18-34, while a struggling DAYS still whoops them with a 1.7. As a purely dollars and cents decision, a network will not pass up an opportunity to considerably to drop the age of their average viewer. Besides, DAYS' missing viewers are enraged the writing of the show, the actors and characters that they love are still here. Replacing JER with a better writer could solve DAYS woes in a short order.

[PJA]

Yet it has been noted that CBS still makes the most money....which proves it's not all about the demos