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DAYS and GH Show Increase In Younger Viewers! Daytime Soaps Getting Support From Their Networks!

April 9, 2014

Photo Credit: HutchinsPhoto.com

Courtesy/NBC

Proof positive that your favorite daytime soaps are holding their own and then some, as we get heavily into the spring of 2014, comes a very upbeat look at the daytime dramas still on the air and the increases they have brought to key female demos and gains in total viewers from a piece in Variety.com!

In addition, with support from the network brass at the top including CBS Daytime’s Angelica McDaniel, NBC’s Bruce Evans and ABC’s Vicki Dummer, soap journalist Michael Maloney told Variety,  “What the soaps seem to have is terrific support from the network. The right people are running them, and each of the remaining shows are doing a great version of their show for their core audience.”

Photo Credit: HutchinsPhoto.com

As for Days of our Lives and General Hospital, these two iconic brands have brought in the some all important younger viewers again.  According to stats in the Variety article: “General Hospital has grown from last year by 9% in total viewership (to 3.32 million) but it’s also up by 19% in women 25-54 and by 11% among those 12-34, according to Nielsen. As a result, its median age of 55.5 for the current season is down from 56.1 a year ago. Days of Our Lives is up 10% (to about 3 million viewers), but its biggest gains are among females 12-34; its median age of 57.8 is nearly one full year lower than last year.”

But don’t forget the CBS soaps that are number # 1 and #2, Variety reports while, the CBS soaps skew older, they’re also the most popular overall. The Young and the Restless averages 5.3 million viewers daily and The Bold and the Beautiful bags nearly 4 million.

So soap fans, do you see the difference in the support from the network brass for your favorite shows over the last few years after the demise of four soaps in row?  Are you a younger viewer who has begun to tune-in to one of the four remaining network soaps? And are you glad to see, as much as we are, some solid positive press on the state of the daytime drama? Comment below!

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Yes!!
The Young and Restless is any thing but young or restless..
It is senior citizens who are the main characters and the younger ones are gawd awful!!
Y&R tries to attract younger ones with grandma and grandpa sex stuff and now they try to make an older women look young by making her pregnant, good grief..
Then they will have Lauren lose the baby because she too old to be a mother..
Fen is at the age of marriage and babies, not Michael and Lauren..

I have found, theses days, when I watch Y&R I laugh a lot at the stupidity of it all, and senior citizens have boring lives and they all are boring me!!

GH rocks!! mega drama and the couples are not using walkers!!
And a lot of really good looking men to drool over..

I watch Y&R every day, and it has become empty of the great soap it once was.. 🙁

(a music box story and DNA switch story going on for a year, yawn..

With Katherine , Billy miller/Billy, MM/Adam, Phyllis, and others who are gone it just is not right, not at all..
And recasting will fail..

I’m sorry, but– there is not one couple of interest on Y&R..
And- most all the women have hair styles from the 70’s, and bad wigs..
Nonetheless; I tune in every evening..
I may need bad soap opera therapy to break my Y&R watching habit and free myself….

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I agree! If it wasn’t for Nursing homes Y&R would not be #1.

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Love my Days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Glad the networks are again supporting our Soaps. WE don ‘t want talk in the afternoon, we want good stories about good characters we care about. Keep the drama coming!!!!

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Days of our Lives and General Hospital are hip and happening!!!

Y&R and B&B are broken hips and helpless!

DOOL and GH…relevant and unique!!!

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Now it’s time to bring back amc and oltl!!!!

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NO no Skye, get over it oltl and amc will never come back. I have moved on, to the other soaps. gh and days of our lives are on fire. great soaps to watch.

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I agree with Justin. It’s people like Skye that make people think that soap fans are delusional and out of touch with reality.

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This can still happen!!!! It’s not to late. I truly believe that abc will bring back those shows. Even as a 30 minutes like B&B. There is a reason why abc is suing pp. The
And beside we can only hope…

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It’s great to see the soaps getting positive press.

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I can understand why Days is on an upswing with younger viewers. They have some really talented teen performers…who are in teenage, age appropriate stories. Casey Moss is outstanding as JJ, and I love his friend Rory. He is such a typical carefree kid. I like Bev, and this new Paige girl is cute too. JJ and Paige are starting one of those old school awkward teen soap romances and it is refreshing and fun and there’s no angst and misery. No teenager is pregnant here…no teenager is getting married…no teenager is desperate to get pregnant…they are just being written as kids. For the life of me, I cannot figure out what or who is responsible for younger people tuning into GH. It is a show full of creepy disgusting people wishing death on one another.

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Days should expand on the Rory character! I see Rory living in a trailer with his mentally abusive and bipoler mother, and his father had abandon them and run off with another woman years ago. Rory has a younger kid brother in foster care because of their mothers mental health issues. Rory had turned to drugs because of his unstable family life(thats the backstory id like for him)…J.J. and Paige are far more interesting than GHs boring T.J. and Molly…i can see Bev as Paiges rival…id like to see that written the way Julie and Susan’s were rivals for the same men like it was when i first watched back in the 60s!!!

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Imo…The actress playing Days’ Paige reminds me of a young Sydney Penny!!!

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I agree about expanding the rory character. Respectfully, I don’t like the circumstances you present. DAYS has done that story over and over and over….the teen with the crappy, abusive background…they did it with Steve and Adrienne, they did it with Billie and Austin, they did it with April and Emilio, they did it with Nicole and Brandon, they did it with Mim and Connor. For once, I would like to see some teens without all the serious, intense drama that stems from their parents. i would LOVE to see a soap write teens in a Gilmore Girls/Dawson’s Creek kind of way. Where they are just teens, yet have intelligence, and wit, and lives that are normal for the most part. There is so much drama and humour and interest just being a teenager. One of the best examples of a teen storyline was on DAYS…from 1999-2002, involving Shawn, Belle, Philip, and Mimi. Their parents all had major issues, and yes, the teens were affected by it, but their normal teen problems took precedence. They worried about things like dances, and exams, and first crushes, and all those things that to teens, seem SOOOO important. Even though I don’t smoke pot myself, it is a fact of life that MANY teens just smoke pot. They are not drug addicts, they are not out of control bad-asses, they are not criminals, they just smoke pot. I love that that the show can have teenagers who do normal teenage things without resorting to the cliched drug storylines that are usually written terribly. I also love that Days makes conversations between teens and parents very awkward and uncomfortable. Contrast this with GH, and their horrifically written story of Molly and TJ wanting to have sex, and Alexis’ involvement. WHAT teenage girl spends endless amounts of time telling her mother that she wants to/plans to/is going to have sex, and have that be ALL they talk about?? If she is going to do it, she will not tell her mother all that, she will just go and do it, and then either hide it from her mother, or just NOT discuss it. I know these are soaps, and not realistic or real-life, but when teen stories are written and acted badly, which they normally are on soaps, it is just cringe worthy and embarrassing and painful to watch. I am LOVING this burgeoning, blossoming teen scene on DAYS, and am hoping they don’t ruin it with the same-old, same-old tales of unwanted pregnancies, drug addictions, psycho stalkers, teen marriage, etc. Let them be kids! Let them have fun ancd be reckless, and rebellious, but learn a few lessons along the way, and we as the audience can enjoy watching them grow, much as we did with Jennifer back in the day. And about rory…heck yeah…the actor is not stellar, LOL, but he plays the part of a teenage pothead SO well. He has the look, the talk, the posture, etc. He could be linked to any number of families on the show through newly created backstory. He could be some long lost Horton, or Brady. If GH can make Liesl Obrecht and Madeline Reeves sisters (just about the most unbelievable sisters and plot twist EVER), then DAYS can find a clever way to work Rory into this canvas. I’d like Bev and Paige to be frenemies, not enemies. You know, like they are friends, but there is that underlying teen girl thing going on. Best of all, these kids LOOK like teens. They don’t 32 look years old and worn out from life like Andrea Zuckerman from the original 90210, or that Taylor on GH, who has mercifully and thankfully not been seen or heard from for MONTHS. I LOVE the innocence and cute awkwardness that JJ and Paige have. Contrast this to when Taylor on GH was pursing her lips like a trashy pornstar and disrobing in front of TJ, a boy she had just met. Ron Carlivati ( and most soap writers) writes ALL characters, regardless of whether they are 14 or 73, as if they are somewhere around the generic 30 age range. they all talk the same, use the same vocabulary, and there is nothing to distinguish the way Molly talks or acts from the way Monica Quartermaine talks. It is a good writer who knows how to be the mouthpiece for different age groups for different aged characters. Sadly, most soap writers have no idea how to do that. Keep it up DAYS…you have a winning teen quartet in JJ, Rory, Bev, and Paige. It is kind of a Shawn (JJ), Philip (Rory), Belle (Paige), Mimi (Bev) redux, only 12 years later, and I’m digging it, dude (as Rory would say).

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Yes jimh, I can see that happening! We already had a glimpse of Rory’s mom at the police station after Rory was arrested. It makes sense to me!

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TJ and Molly are so DULL! It was around this age in the 80’s that the phenomenal Luke and Laura story came about… we all need one of those epic love stories… it has been years! In fact I am still peeved at Tony Geary for saying he wanted to move on from that….

I felt pretty close to the magic when Jack and Phyllis got back together….

Also I have to say Sonny and Brenda had undeniable sparks as well….

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Im agree with you…Shawn, Mimi, Belle and Philip were one of the best teen storylines ever in daytime…let kids be kids. Rory could easily be a Horton…grandson of Sandy Horton, a Days character we havent really heared from in over 30 years…now id like that idea! Maybe Sandy got married and had a son who married Rorys mother at an early age and 9 months later Rory was born…there could be several reasons why he doesnt know he was related to the Hortons…i remeber having hair like Rorys when i was his age…where did that go…lol

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In spite of mixed feelings i have with the storylines on both GH and Days im grateful both are doing well enough in the ratings to keep them on the air…im still entertained…also watching B&B!!! I still ocassionally watch Y&R!!!

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Such a relief, it was a worrying time when all the soaps were going off the air. I have always watched 4, except I used to have a choice, now I watch the 4 that are on but am very happy with them all 🙂

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I absolutely love Casey Moss on DAYS! He is incredibly talented! I’m not a big “Wilson” fan, especially since Will has been recast. I find the pair nauseating. I can’t stand Teresa. Talk about a waste of air-time!

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I’m glad that the networks are behind the soaps.Yeah DOOL and GH attract younger viewers and Y&R and B&B attract older ones but maybe that’s the way each soap likes it.

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Love my General Hospital. Way to go, keep gettn younger and younger 🙂

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I absolutely LOVED the soaps as a teen. I recall the late 1970s when the Rick-Monica-Alan triangle was at the fore on GH. Oh, how we marching band geeks were abuzz. And we loved the drama surrounding the murder of David Hamilton with Leslie taking the charge for her daughter Laura. And I could not get enough Karen Wolek and Marco Dane on OLTL. We all rode the Luke & Laura wave on GH, too, but there was so much more to enjoy as I wasin college and my early 20s. The launch of LOVING, my discovery of THE YOUNG AND RESTLESS before Jess Walton was Jill Abbott. I checked in with ATWT and AMC eventually and thank God to this day for the VCR. Daytime dramas are for everyone and I learned a lot I am sure, especially about some key social issues along with an appreciation for storytelling, acting and production. Theater remains an important part of my life and soaps helped inform that interest.

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They need to bring back Santa Barbara! That was my favorite soap. Or 666 Park Avenue which was really good. Yes, I know it wasn’t a serial but I enjoyed it.

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I loved both those shows…

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I’m still waiting to see the support from ABC / Disney for General Hospital. Not only do they continue to cut General Hospital’s budget every year but not once have they run a GH promo during any of their primetime shows, even though they run promos for their primetime shows during General Hospital every single day. If they’re trying to be supportive of GH, then why not run a promo during some of their primetime scripted soap dramas such as Nashville which stars Jonathan Jackson who used to star on General Hospital? And a GH promo would be perfect to run during Revenge and Scandal as both are evening soaps. When I see a GH promo during those three shows then I will believe that ABC and Disney are being supportive of General Hospital. For now I just don’t see it!!!

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I agree…

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Days of OUR Lives : #1 : the best show : cast aplomb : Salem’ites stand together

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Love ’em or hate ’em, WilSon brings in younger viewers as do JJ and even the out of control Teresa. Younger viewers relate to their peers — not their parents — and (usually) don’t have the hang ups their parents do. GH and Days do well online, with GH doing a bit better, actually. PP’s AMC is way down online, yet OLTL viewers are keeping their show relevant as of right now (according to what’s popular on H*l*.) I think OLTL fans may feel if PP can pull it back together, they may see OLTL as the more viable project to continue. Fans of hip, young soaps should check out Hollyoaks (also on H*l*, it’s amazing! Coronation Street is also an excellent soap!) JMOP.

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I love Coronation street…the lives of everyday middle class families with real life issues and children who act like real children and the dead stay dead!!!

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Check out Hollyoaks. It skews younger but has some older characters, too. It’s a great show. So is EastEnders (if you can find it in the US, some PBS stations carry it). Classic and current Aussie soaps like Neighbours, Sons & Daughters, Home & Away, Prisoner are also great soaps to watch. NZ soap Shortland Street is fun but sometimes light entertainment (it’s on the Y as are most of the Aussie soaps). With US soaps down to 4, we have to get our soap “fix” somewhere — and fortunately there are lots of great soaps out there.

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I doubt that Prospect Park can pull up their pants let alone put together another soap Matthew but I do appreciate your optimism. I don’t like their lack of communication with the fans of both AMC and One Life but that’s my opinion. Sorry, don’t want to go off-topic here – so let me say that I am glad that
younger people are enjoying soaps these days, I hate to think of soaps as a dying genre, I think they can survive in today’s entertainment market if produced and handled properly.

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I wasn’t being optimistic. It was purely an observation. Period. I agree that soaps can survive if handled properly. Soaps have been having identity crises for some time, both soaps themselves and, unfortunately, viewers — from changing viewing habits to some viewers no longer wanting soaps to be as “broad” in terms of social issues, etc. Of course, soaps have reflected the times (including social issues) in the past and will probably have to continue to do so, if they are to truly survive. I prefer soaps to reflect how (soap) people live and how they cope with life’s and society’s ups and downs, but I know others watch for their own reasons. Many of the soaps I mentioned, past and present, reflect my interest in seeing people deal with life (much as jim said about CS).

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Love my GH.

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Well it’s evident that DAYS is concentrating on the younger storylines with summer just ahead of us – don’t soaps generally do that to attract the younger set for the summer months – but it seems to be well executed and well acted – there are so very few shows to follow these days –

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Yes, soaps traditionally have concentrated on younger storylines in summer months to bring in younger viewers, but these days soaps need to be wooing these younger viewers (and all others as well) year-round. Passions appealed to younger views overall and was given an extra year on TV (even after NBC pulled the plug), thanks to a satellite channel for picking them up. I also agree that Days is one of the better written (and acted) soaps on the air right now.

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DOOL : Sheryl exit

dang it all

she was so real : crying… as she tells Jordan she’s been promoted and moving to Houston

THIS is the ONE time : I hope she is pregnant with Lucas child…. what a way for her to return

sorry to see her go… she could have been a great contributor to the DAYS canvas

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I have a feeling that perhaps that’s the way Sami will be ushered out…finding out about EJ’s affair and falling back to Lucas….

Their Swan Song…

I am ok with that…..EJ is terrific…and now there’s Kassie DePavia coming to DOOL…. that would be chemistry for sure!

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I’m with you there, Patrick!

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In my house we represent all those demographics. My mom is 50, I’m 25 and my sister is 12. My mom watches Y&R and GH. My sis and I only watch GH. My sister even tells the kids at her school what’s going on in Port Charles lol! She is the next generation of GH fans!!!

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51st Daytime Emmys: Eric Braeden, Scott Clifton, Thorsten Kaye, John McCook and Eric Martsolf Score Lead Actor Nominations

April 18, 2024

Ahead of the full list of 51st annual Daytime Emmy Award Nominations to be revealed tomorrow on Friday, April 19th, Extra’s Melvin Roberts unveiled the nominations in the highly-coveted Outstanding Lead Performance in a Daytime Drama Series: Actor.

Going for gold are Eric Braeden (Victor, The Young and the Restless), Scott Clifton (Liam, The Bold and the Beautiful), John McCook (Eric, The Bold and the Beautiful), Thorsten Kaye (Ridge, The Bold and the Beautiful) and Eric Martsolf (Brady, Days of our Lives).

All five of the nominees are previous Daytime Emmy winners, with Eric Martsolf the only won in the group to have won his previous Emmy for work in the Supporting Actor category.

Photo: JPI

B&B could make it three years in a row as the reigning champs in the actor race, having won in 2022 with John McCook and 2023 with Thorsten Kaye.

In addition, as previously announced, the Michael Fairman Channel will play host to its 10th annual Daytime Emmy Nominations special featuring several of the nominees for the 51st annual Daytime Emmys which happens live tomorrow Friday, April 19th beginning at 8 pm ET/5pm PT.

Check out Extra’s announcement of this year’s Daytime Emmy nominees for Lead Actor, then let us know in the comment section, which of the five do you hope takes home the prize?

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DAYS Alum Tanner Stine to Appear in ‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story’ Starring Nicholas Chavez

April 17, 2024

Another face familiar to daytime fans has already boarded Ryan Murphy’s limited series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story which stars General Hospital favorite, Nicholas Chavez (Spencer Cassadine) in the role of Lyle.

Tanner Stine who played Kayla (Mary Beth Evans) and Steve’s (Stephen Nichols) son, Joey Johnson on Days of our Lives will also appear in the series.

In ‘Monsters’, look for Stine to portray the role of Perry Berman, who was Lyle and Erik’s friend and former tennis coach. In the story, Perry found himself at the epicenter of the murder mystery when he had accepted a phone call from Lyle shortly before the brutal murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez.

Photo: JPI

Other previously announced castings included: Cooper Koch (who plays Erik), Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny as parents Jose and Kitty Menendez, Nathan Lane as Dominick Dunne, Ari Graynor as Leslie Abramson, and Leslie Grossman as Judalon Smyth.

Photo: IMDb

In the series, the two wealthy brothers stand trial for shooting their parents in Beverly Hills, amid claims of self-defense after years of abuse, while prosecutors alleged that greed was the motives for the killing. Lyle and Erik Menendez have been behind bars in California for more than three decades for the 1989 killing of their parents.

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story will debut later in 2024 on Netflix.

What do you think about Tanner Stine being part of the all-star cast for ‘Monsters’? Miss Joey on Days of our Lives? Comment below.

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Breaking News

51st Annual Daytime Emmy Nominations Set to Be Announced

April 17, 2024

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences revealed on Wednesday via X, that this year’s 51st annual Daytime Emmy Nominations are set to be announced in full on Friday, April 19th at 12 pm ET/9 am PT.

However, four of the top award category nominations will be revealed on Thursday, April 18th across four entertainment news programs to kick things off.

Those include this Thursday episodes of Access Hollywood, E! News, Entertainment Tonight and Extra. Over the past few years, NATAS has often let the syndicated entertainment news program handle the duties of revealing the top actor and actress in a daytime drama series, but we shall see which categories the shows unveil this year.

Photo/AP

As previously announced, the 51st annual Daytime Emmy Awards will be presented in ceremonies on Friday night, June 7th on CBS (8 – 10 PM, ET/delayed PT) on the CBS Television Network, and available to stream live and on-demand on Paramount+*.

The awards will be back at The Bonaventure hotel in downtown Los Angeles, where (the delayed due to the actors and writers strike) 50th annual Daytime Emmy Awards were held back in December of 2023.

Look for the full nominations to be posted right here at Michael Fairman TV and you can follow along on Friday on the Daytime Emmys social platforms as well.

Photo: AP

The Daytime Emmy Awards have recognized outstanding achievement in television programming and crafts since 1974, honoring work in a variety of categories, including daytime dramas, talk shows, instructional programming, hosting, culinary, and legal/courtroom programs. In 2021, NATAS and the Television Academy jointly announced plans to realign the Daytime and Primetime Emmy Awards to be organized by content genre, as opposed to program airtime.

The 51st Daytime Emmy Nominations will honor the work and achievement from the calendar year of 2023.

So, who would you like to see in the running for gold when the Daytime Emmy nominations in the key acting and show categories are revealed? Share your thoughts below.

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