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

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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….

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

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

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!!!!

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!!!

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

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.

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

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…

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

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.

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!!!

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

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).

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!

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….

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

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!!!

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 🙂

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

I loved both those shows…

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!!!

I agree…

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

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.

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!!!

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.

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.

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).

Love my GH.

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 –

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.

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

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!

I’m with you there, Patrick!

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!!!

Days Of Our Lives

Days of our Lives Star, Greg Vaughan, Gives Health Update and Thanks Everyone for Their Support

Greg Vaughan (Eric, Days of our Lives, ex-Lucky, GH, and ex-Diego, Y&R) provided an update on his health on Sunday, March 17th. Vaughan had previously shared that he had become ill during a trip with his sons to Colorado, and had developed altitude sickness when he was having trouble breathing accompanied by terrible headaches and landed in the urgent care.

Now on St. Patrick’s Day, Greg took to his Instagram and shared how he is feeling now, and to thank everyone for their love and support.  As it turned out, Vaughan was diagnosed with high altitude pulmonary edema, commonly known as HAPE. However, he is on the mend slowly and surely.

In his new video post, the DAYS favorite started by expressing, “I just felt such an appreciation and gratitude for everything. . reaching out. Your prayers have been felt. It’s been a struggle, but I’m over the top. And, taking this moment just to say I didn’t realize the things that I was going through. My (original) post was simply just to educate, put some information out there and some things that I was feeling, just share that information and the struggle that I was going through, which I didn’t quite understand. And it wasn’t because I’m stubborn or just because I’m a father, a man, and didn’t want to go to a doctor. It is just something I thought was so minor that I could overcome it, just by taking care of myself.”

Photo: JPI

The Daytime Emmy winner then revealed his actual diagnosis, “So, basically my situation was high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE). With some good friends, doctors that had reached out to me, it kind of gave me some understanding on the aftermath, which was very, very beneficial.”

“But I’ve been resting, taking care of myself even though I live in a hamster wheel,” said the dad of three teenaged boys. “I gotta get up and, you know, do my normal domesticated stuff, eventually. I’m tired of laying down in this bed, but, I am feeling much better.”

Photo: GVaughanIG

Talking on his confusion of trying to understand what could have been ailing him, Vaughan expressed, “I couldn’t quite figure it out, even though I was emphasizing and professing to my children going on our spring break getaway about hydration. I professed it. But, even though I was acting on it, it had a greater effect on me, and for which I did not even think, because my head was such in pain, and I was in a very bad state of mind – not being able to be out there with my kids on the mountain, enjoying their time, as well. I thought I was doing the right thing. Unfortunately, my lungs were full of fluids and my head was in severe pain and even migraine pills didn’t even help. So, I just want anybody that goes into the Colorado Mountains to know, it is no joke. It is this very serious thing which I guess is why they call it the Mile High City.”

Greg had a mountain of ‘thank you’s’ to give for the outreach he received from his original post, “For everybody internationally, wherever you are, I love you and I appreciate you and just the time and the thoughts that you’ve shared with me,” said Vaughan. “I didn’t realize that it would make such an impression on so many people around the world. I feel tremendously loved and I can’t say it enough. I’m good. And I appreciate you.”

Photo: GVaughanIG

The actor concluded his video with, “To all the family and friends that have reached out to me, man, it means the world. So take care of yourself, enjoy your spring break with your families. It’s Saint Patty’s Day, obviously. I wish I could be out there.” Vaughan added, “I feel loved and touched and I can’t emphasize that enough. I’ll take better care of myself, promise you will do the same.” Before he signed off, Greg shared, “Just know, that I’m alive and well and breathing, and I’m sore. So, be well, take care. I mean it. Thank you, tremendously.”

Glad to know that Greg has been on the mend, and shared his appreciation for everyone that reached out to him during this trying time? Comment below.

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Days Of Our Lives

‘Access Hollywood’ and ‘Couple to Throuple’ Host Scott Evans to Appear on Days of our Lives

Scott Evans, host of Access Hollywood and the Peacock reality series Couple to Throuple, will make a guest appearance this week on Days of our Lives.

Circle the Thursday, March 21st episode of DAYS for Evans’ arrival in Salem. During his tape date last fall (since DAYS tapes months well ahead of when episodes actually stream), Scott posed for a snap alongside Mary Beth Evans (Kayla), Jackée Harry (Paulina), James Reynolds (Abe) and Greg Rikaart (Leo).

Teasers for the 3/21 episode of DAYS share that Leo tries to come up with his next gossip column, and Paulina and Abe return home to a mini-celebration set up by Johnny and Steve. Will Evans pop up in one of those scenarios? Stay tuned.

Photo: JPI

For a long time, soap opera fans knew only of one Scott Evans. The one who played Oliver Fish on One Life to Live from 2008-2010.  But in show business, there are two Scott Evans’ that are widely-known.

Last Thursday, March 12th at the 35th annual GLAAD Media Awards, it found both Scott Evans and Scott Evans together in the green room and they taped this video ditty below, calling out how they both share the same name.

Photo: JPI

Last weekend, viewers saw OLTL’s Scott Evans on-stage at the Oscars when he performed in the musical number “I’m Just Ken” from Barbie led by Ryan Gosling.

As for Access Hollywood’s Scott Evans, he has been with the entertainment news program since 2015, appeared in the recent Ladies of the 80s: A Divas Christmas with Linda Gray, Donna Mills, Nicollette Sheridan, Loni Anderson and Morgan Fairchild, and currently has an overall talent and development deal with NBCUniversal.

So, looking forward to seeing Scott on DAYS? Check out ‘Evans meeting Evans’ below, and then share your thoughts in the comment section.

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Days Of Our Lives

Days of our Lives Star Greg Vaughan Shares Sudden Health Scare: “I Truly Feel Like I Work & Live in a Soap Opera!”

What started out as an adventure with his sons, quickly turned into a nightmare for Days of our Lives Daytime Emmy winner, Greg Vaughan (Eric Brady).

In a series of Instagram posts, Vaughan shared the sudden health crisis he found himself in.  The images show Greg with an oxygen tank to help him breathe.

The actor began to fill people, sharing, “I’ve said more than a few times, I truly feel like I work & live in a Soap Opera! 🤪 this trip was nothing short of another great Vaughan adventure!”

He went on to say that on a father and son Colorado spring break trip, he began to feel shortness of breath, feeling tired and with a headache and after two days of hoping he would feel better, Vaughan finally went to an Urgent Care to get checked out.

Photo: GVaughanIG

“I finally surrendered & went to urgent care and to my shock I learned that I was experiencing severe altitude sickness.” Vaughan admitted. “My Blood Oxygen was at 54% & my lungs were full of fluids! Blood oxygen, also known as oxygen saturation, represents the percentage of hemoglobin in your red blood cells that is carrying oxygen. Most people have an oxygen level of 95-100%….”

Providing more detail to his health scare, Greg shared, “Well, 4hrs later, a couple of bags of IV & oxygen tank strapped to my face, I was told that I needed to immediately get off the mountain! However I couldn’t, we still had another day to go & wanting the boys to enjoy their last day on the hill tops! I opted to go home with an oxygen tank, a good laugh for everyone, and I know will follow, but my boys looked after their old man & fortunately they had friends on this trip!”

Photo: JPI

The experience of altitude sickness in the Colorado Rockies gave Vaughan a bit of a new perspective, “In all seriousness, no matter your age, and all the times I’ve ⛷️ & 🏂 in my lifetime, Colorado Rockies is no joke! As they say, ‘ take a breathe and smell the roses!’ That is truly something we need to remember & appreciate! #recover”

Share your well-wishes to Greg as he continues to be on the mend via the comment section below.

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