News
Disney/ABC's Daytime Talker FABLife Premieres As #1 New Syndicated Series!


Courtesy/Twitter Disney/ABC Syndication
On Monday, Tyra Banks, Chrissy Teigen, and the crew of FABLife made their series debut via syndication. The ratings and numbers just in from their initial episode look promising.
The talk show in the U.S. Metered Markets came in as the No. 1 new syndicated show in Households (1.1/3), Women 18-49 (0.5/4) and Women 25-54 (0.6/4). In addition, the premiere of FABLife out-delivered the year-ago debuts of The Real by 22% in Households (0.9/3 on 9/15/14) and Meredith by 20% in Women 25-54(0.5/4 on 9/8/14).
According to the press release: FABLife ranked No. 1 in its time periods in 2 of the Top 4 U.S. Markets in HH: Chicago (2.4/8) and Philadelphia (2.4/8). In addition, FABLife ran in a virtual tie for No. 1 in its 2:00 p.m. time period in New York in Homes with the season premiere of The Talk (pacing within 1-tenth of a rating point and tying in share -1.8/6 vs. 1.9/6). In Homes, FABLife beat the season premiere of The Talk head-to-head by 140% in Chicago (2.4/8 vs. 1.0/4) and by 33% in Philadelphia (2.4/8 vs. 1.8/6). FABLife also beat The Steve Harvey Show in the 2:00 p.m. hour in Philadelphia by 60% in Homes (2.4/8 vs. 1.5/5). On average, FABLife improved its time period year to year by 25% with Women 18-49 (0.5/4 vs. 0.4/3 for the September 2014 average). FABLife grew over the year-ago September 2014 time period in Households in 3 of the Top 5 Markets: Los Angeles (+43% – 1.0/3 vs. 0.7/2), Chicago (+60% – 2.4/8 vs. 1.5/5) and Philadelphia (+9% – 2.4/8 vs. 2.2/7).
The talk series is s produced by Disney/ABC’s Summerdale Productions and is distributed by Disney/ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution. Shane Farley, Tyra Banks and Mark Schulman serve as executive producers, and Rebecca Mayer is the co-executive producer.
What do you think about the initial ratings performance of FABLife? Do you think they can build on their momentum, or will it dissipate? Can the success of a talker such as FABLife help improve the ratings for the day-part and bring additional viewers to General Hospital? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!
News
Y&R’s Colleen Zenk on the Flipside of Aunt Jordan Tormenting Nikki: “My Relationship with Melody Thomas Scott Has Just been Incredible Since I Got Here”

Viewers of The Young and the Restless were left in disbelief with the arrival of Aunt Jordan, who schemed to have recovering alcoholic, Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott) kidnapped with an IV drip of booze flowing through her veins (and that’s just for starters).
When As the World Turns favorite Colleen Zenk was cast on Y&R, to portray the revenge-filled Aunt Jordan, the top-rated soap got a bit of a spring back into its step. Zenk spoke this week with CBS San Francisco affiliate KPIX on her return to daytime and how she is getting along with the cast and crew at the CBS daytime drama.
In speaking with KPIX anchor, Gianna Franco, Colleen expressed: “Tthe fact that they welcomed me with such open arms and love, it really freed me up, because of how they received me and made me feel incredibly welcome, and not just the cast. I mean, the entire production, the crew, the staff, the directors, the writers … everybody from the top down.”

Photo: JPI
Hard to believe, but as Colleen shared, throughout her years in daytime she had never spoken with Y&R’s iconic star, Melody Thomas Scott, who she now has a budding on-screen rivalry with. Things have certainly changed.
Colleen added, “My relationship with Melody Thomas Scott has just been incredible since I got here. She and I had never had a conversation before until the day I walked on the set. It’s just been fabulous. I can’t tell you how much I’m enjoying that.”

Photo: CBS
And walk in she did! Zenk shared that her casting had been kept top-secret at the show. No one really knew she was on the call sheet or the cast list at the time. To keep it mum, Colleen revealed, “My name was not anywhere. They did not have “Colleen Zenk” in print. So, when I finally did show up on November 17th (on-air) it was shock.”
Check out the segment where Colleen speaks on her Y&R adventure thus far below.
Are you looking forward to seeing … Nikki get her revenge on Aunt Jordan for all she put her through? More scenes between Colleen and Melody? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
Guiding Light
Matt Bomer Reveals More On Why He Turned Down ‘Barbie’ Role as a Ken

Guiding Light alum Matt Bomer (ex-Ben Reade) is currently receiving rave reviews for his performance in Showtime’s Fellow Travelers and the motion picture Maestro.
However, on the December 6th episode of The Tonight Show, Bomer revealed more intel on why he decided to pass on an opportunity to appear in the summer blockbuster Barbie. Matt was in heavy consideration to play a Ken in Greta Gerwig’s smash hit starring Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie.
The in-demand star told Jimmy Fallon,”I had some projects in development, and I wasn’t sure if they were gonna happen or when they were gonna happen. So, I auditioned. I mean, I dressed up like Malibu Ken. I dressed up like Business Suit Ken. I had like four different looks going on. I have pictures of this.” Bomer shared that, “he really got into it.”

Photo: Warner Bros/Mattel
In the end, the timing just wasn’t right for Bomer who shares three sons with his husband, Simon Halls. Matt expressed, “I was talking with Greta, I was looking forward to doing it and then the things in development came to fruition, and I would have been away from my family for a year, which was just too much time away.”
As for how the cast shook out for Barbie, Bomer gave a thumbs up, “I think they made a perfect movie, and it was cast perfectly.”

Photo: AP
Bomer does not regret his decision because in the end he “got to do Fellow Travelers and Maestro and spend time with my family.” In Fellow Travelers, Matt stars in what he deemed on The Tonight Show as ‘the gay The Way We Were.” Bomer plays opposite Jonathan Bailey in the series. In Maestro, Bomer plays clarinettist David Oppenheim, who was one of Leonard Bernstein’s lovers.

Photo: CBS
On Guiding Light, daytime soap fans remember that Bomer played Ben Reade for two years from 2001-2003. The character was revealed to be a male prostitute and a serial killer before his death. Matt had told the producers before he exited, “Just throw the kitchen sink at me, and they did.”
Watch Matt’s segment on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon below. Now let us know, do you wish he would have played a Ken in the Barbie movie? Have you caught his performances in ‘Fellow Travelers’ and soon Maestro? What do you recall about his work as GL’s troubled Ben Reade? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
Breaking News
Ellen Holly, Groundbreaking Actress of ‘One Life to Live’, Passes Away at 92

Ellen Holly, who portrayed Carla Gray on ABC’s One Life to Live, had died at the age of 92. Her death was confirmed by her cousin Grant Shipp via his Facebook page. The groundbreaking actress passed away on December 5th.
Holly appeared on One Life from October 1968 through December 1980, and from May 1983 through December 1985. In his post, Shipp related of Holly, “She was a pioneer in daytime television. Starring on One Life to live for 20 years. Playing Lawrence Fishburns mother on the show. She appeared in several movies, and performed on stage with the greatest black actors of her generation. Sidney Poitier, Harry Beafonte, Cicely Tyson, Robert Hooks, James Earl Jones to name a few. You had One Life to Live and it was amazing Life. You were simply one of the best. Now you know the secret. God rest your soul.”
Following several theatre roles, Holly came to One Life to Live and took on the role of Carla Benari. Secretly, she was born Clara Gray, and eventually went by the name of Carla Gray. Agnes Nixon, iconic creator of the soap opera, wanted to tell an important social issue of the times, when in story, Carla was passing herself as white, in order to get a job. This was also an issue Holly faced in real-life and shared publicly in an essay she wrote for the New York Times, “How Black Do You Have To Be?”

Photo: ABC
In story for the first five months, the audience thought Carla was white. However, in a landmark moment, Carla came face-to-face with her mother, Sadie (Lillian Hayman) who was a housekeeper. Her mother felt she betrayed her race. Carla was embroiled in an interracial relationship with a white doctor, Jim Craig (Nat Polen), who was her boss at the hospital. Caral also was involved with another resident Prince who was Black. After breaking it off with Jim, Carla came clean about her race.
Eventually, Holly would star opposite Daytime Emmy-winner, Al Freeman Jr., and the love story of Carla and Ed Hall, became a fan favorite in the soaps earlier years. The couple adopted a teenaged son, Joshua played by now motion picture star, Laurence Fishburne. When Ed and Carla’s relationship fell apart, she eventually remarried Dr. Jack Scott played by Arthur Burghardt.

Photo: ABC
Holly said in a 1979 interview with Ebony magazine, “There are enormous stretches in this country where they don’t know anything about Black people…Our viewers tend to regard us as neighbors. People at the supermarket, total strangers, will throw their arms around you and treat you as a neighbor…My mother on the show has been a domestic and is now head of the housekeeping staff at the hospital; my ex-husband on the show is a policeman, and Arthur [Burghardt] plays a brilliant heart surgeon…I think we’ve opened up our viewers’ heads a little bit more to the variety that exists in the Black race. And the more that happens, the slower somebody will be — when they’re confronted with any given Black person — to jump to conclusions about who and what that person is.”
After Holly departed the show in 1980, she later returned to Llanview in 1983, at that time, Carla was now an assistant district attorney. She also was reunited with Ed Hall. Ellen last played the role in 1985.
Share your remembrances for One Life to Live’s Ellen Holly via the comment section and make sure to check out Holly speaking on the importance of her early storyline with the Television Academy below.
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Is this like the View and the Chew mixed together?
The Chiew!
So did the Queen Latifah and Anderson Cooper talk shows. And guess what happened to them; cancelled during seasnon 2.
Could not of said it better.
I loved Coop’s show. Oh well.
EXACTLY..so what..within a month she will be the next KatieCouric..all mouth and no substance..fashion tips and padded shoulders..and SMIZEING all over the place..TYRABANKS MAKES ME ITCH…UNCONTROLLABLY…it’s like they should have that warning banner about flashing lights before you watch the show…
Its new…some are checking it out…wait a few months to see if there is any growth or loses!!!
How about a FAB soap and not more of this crap!
Yes more soaps, and less of these has beens.
Its just annoying people talking LOUD and dissing celebrities and oh by the way, here is how to bake some cookies!
Or more variety in daytime: Talk shows, gag shows, variety shows, morning shows, soaps, lifestyle shows, cooking shows, educational shows, cartoons, etc.
This talk show won’t last, a bunch of has beens. Bring back more soaps, and less talk shows.
Josh I can kiss you lol. I totally agree with your comment. The hosts are so annoying. Bring back One Life To Live and we will dance together Josh LMAO.
AMC & OLTL will never return..
Soap = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Talk show = $$$$
It’s all about the money in business..
The networks got rid of soaps because of money.
cooking and talk shows are 70% lower dollar wise to produce than a soap.
🙁 🙁 🙁 ….. it is sad ..
This show airs late afternoon on NBC in my market, so it won’t effect GH or any other daytime drama in my area. Just one less hour of local news on that channel. I don’t predict big success for this show, but time will tell.
Honestly, what other new syndicated shows were there? Their press release is such a reach, LOL.
There’s nothing interesting or original here that you can’t find in so many other places on TV, not to mention the Internet. This seems to me like a carbon copy of The Revolution on ABC and we all remember how that tanked almost four years ago. I know they’re cheap to produce, but there are just way too many daytime talk shows on TV.
Personally, I think in markets where this show airs on the ABC station (in NYC, between The Chew and GH) the effect it could have on GH as a lead-in is minimal, regardless of how FABLife fares. It’s probably two different sets of viewers between the shows, and by now, avid fans know when GH airs. (In some markets, it’s the same place the show has aired for most of the last 50 years.) Bottom line: If the long-term quality of the stories on GH improve, word will spread and viewership will probably tick up. If it does not, then fans won’t bother with it. Let’s hope hard for the former.
Remember, when OLTL was in its final months in late 2011 still preceding GH, its ratings were very good, while GH was simultaneously tanking, and was nearly axed. (Thank you, Revolution! 🙂 Not to say that lead-ins are completely irrelevant these days, but I just don’t think they mean as much as in the past due to DVRing, time shifted viewing, etc.
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here-
Y&R=11am
BB=12:30
Days= 12pm
GH= 1pm
GH’s competition;
The Talk
Rachael Ray
whew- FABLife is 2pm on another network, that is good ..
((After people get done watching 3 soaps they are probably to worn to watch a 4th/the last GH .. lol
Blah, blah, blah, the same crap different name. BRING BACK LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON!!!
i think OLTL was number one in the philly market – see what happened to that!
NEW Soaps would need a new production module and schedule. Air them only 3 times a week. Have shows with casts of 10-12 like primetime shows. They need not be plotted to last 50 years….have a one year outline. If it catches on, continue. If not, fire up another one. Peoples attention spans and lifestyles are no longer conditioned to watch 5 days a week. Make new DAYTIME DRAMAS must see t.v., limited time viewing events. They could attract all sorts of new acting, writing, and production talent. They could tell less absurd soap stories, because they could actually kill people off for real, and not worry if a popular performer wants to return in 5 or 10 years. It would work! The other two days a week could be any talk show, or local programming, or whatever.
hi Dylan..
the only save for soaps is to get the out of daytime tv.
Daytime tv will soon be a graveyard; dying everything.
I can actually see a good part of day tv becoming infomercials in the future.
CBS was smart to bring their soaps to night/evening viewing
ABC has many extensions that would be good evening placement for GH ..
Doctors on BBC One is faring rather well despite airing at 1 in the afternoon in the UK. Everywhere else in the world, daytime soaps are thriving and getting along well with every other genre on daytime.
that would require creative thinking by the networks… I don’t think they took that course in college!
Have No interest at All in yet another Talk show!
Too much yakity yak and not enough daytime drama!
Anything with the word FAB in it indicates how out of touch network executives are with the general population. Ordinary people are not sitting at home, fantasizing about some kind of fabled, fab life that they can only get from watching Tyra Banks. She is not relatable, she is bizarre, and initial ratings may be promising, but they will tank and bottom out just like most other new talk shows.
Glad I missed it. Just what daytime needs. Another show with talk talk talk. Will they turn into the view ,chew etc. if it comes to Boston. I won’t be watching.I barely turn the TV on in the daytime. ABC no thanks.
Who wants to watch another talk show. Do not like this one. The game shows were more entertaining!!
Boring show, boring, boring.
Not only is Fab Life boring, but the hosts are insipid, arrogant and pretty useless! The ideas are not fab but ordinary! Tyra Banks is her usual self – totally self-absorbed. Chrissy Tiegen is no siren, although she thinks she is! Just because she married John Legend! Where is John Legend today? He is no Brad Pitt! What has he done lately? The arrogant Asian guy is no prize either! The only two somewhat likable hosts are the pregnant blonde and the Mariah Carey lookalike overweight black girl. The show is not fab but downright stupid because so far I have not seen anything that is Fab. Everything that I have seen has just been so so. The idea that these people are fab is a joke! Too bad that Joan Rivers is not around any more. Joan was FAB! Maybe Cathy Griffin and Joan’s daughter, Melissa could do a better Job!
I do not like Fab Life!