That’s an excellent point, Caroline. And some probably had to go back to work/school unlike the week before.

WELL THIS SHOW NEEDS MORE SHARON AND NEEDS VICTORIA ROWELL BACK AS DRUCILLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ITA!

So true

i sooooo agree,,,,y and r were fools to let her go

I think you said this well and succinctly. They’re making big waves over big moves, but when push comes to shove, nothing’s clicking like it should. Too much happening, not enough focus. This combined with STILL too much concentration on a select few characters (though thank heaven’s Jason is out of the equation), too many newbies I don’t care about, and well, no Robin and Patrick (with Robin’s return incessantly dangled and toying with but never anything more), and they’ve lost me as a viewer. For Y&R, I haven’t seen too much of the new writing, but what I did see….or what I tried to keep myself awake for…..was nothing short of boring and predictable. Foremost, I hated the way they copped out Phylis’s trial. I haven’t been watching long, but I can imagine for those fans who’ve waited 20 years for Phylis’s misdeeds to come to light, only for it all to amount to nothing in one episode must have been a huge let down. I get JG had another direction for the character, but hold off on that direction until AFTER the story gets a PROPER conclusion. But there’s just so much more that just isn’t jiving my interest. An online bullying story should be topical and hardhitting (a la OLTL’s fantastic bullying s/l), but that actress is so grating and the character’s justification is so stretched I can barely hold off my disbelief long enough to let myself become invested. Nick/Avery, Sharon/Adam, Lily/Cane even Nicky/Victor….all yawners. I’m just not feeling any of this show right now. It’s not worse than MAB, and though I’d say even bored out of my skull, the storylines are stronger than they were a year ago. B&B I have no idea….but I don’t care either. I will say I’m a bit surprised that the week following the BIG Stephanie week dropped that much. And DAYS….I always leave my DAYS for last. They are focusing way, waaaay, WAAAAAY too much on Dannifer and trembling hands (words I never want to hear ever again. And I mean EVER.). And Gabi being pregnant with Will’s baby while buying into this antiquated notion that she must marry a straight man who will raise the baby as his own is probably the biggest mistake of the year for any soap IMO (beating out that horrible Alamania story *shudders*, HopeLiamSteffy, Mob Princess and anything on Y&R). But they are getting things right with Kristen’s return. Oh baby it’s been delicious so far and I can’t wait for more. ED has just brought freshness and much needed fire and excitement to Salem. If they keep going in the direction of EJami, pursue long term story for Eric (and by default Nicole), showcase more vets like Victor, Justin, Adrienne, Julie, Doug, Caroline, Lucas, Kayla, Stephano, Abe and Kate and less no-nothings like Rafe, Daniel, Gabi, and when she returns, Chloe, and write ONE other huge, well woven, entertaining, dramatic and character driven storyline, DAYS would be unstoppable. And honestly, all… Read more »

I can co-sign most of this, but the DID story is overplayed and needs to be finished. However, I do agree that the writing is choppy, stories are not followed up and/or are very unevenly paced. I love seeing the vets, but its sort of like stunt casting, and I think the higher ratings can be attributed to that. When that is over, I don’t what RC/FV will do, because consistency and long term storytelling don’t seem to be among their talents. I think they are all wrong for GH. I too would like to see the romance, and the build up and the relationships; and for crying out loud GIVE REBECCA HERBST A STORY!! 🙂

I stopped watching GH recently for a similar reason. I watch for Elizabeth and Patrick ( not as a couple) and I am not getting anything to watch. I am tired of FF through other character stories. I am tired o Carly and am already tired of AJ. I like Sabrina and Anna but it is not enough to hold me for 5 hours a week. I miss Jax. I miss Luke and Lucky and Jason. So many changes and I was on board but now I am watching a series from Netflix for that 5 hours a week.

i stopped watching too when they fired genie…have tuned in this last week a bit but my snoreing woke me up to change the chanel.i think the show now has finally ben destroyed,

Tori –

Genie Francis knocked me out…. having watched her on Y&R… made me a true believer in her talent. she is more than the hoopla of her GH royalty’. of all the goings on with Y&R and all the actors let go… don’t even get me started on what is left of the Abbotts… course they’ve done this before…. just Jack. But, the big prize Y&R should have capitalized on… Genie Francis… she was bitchy, calculating, sensual, business woman, fierce mother…. held her own.

Genie Francis will never work on a show that is helmed by JFP! Very bad history between those two. I can’t wait until she returns to GH!!! And Colin is not on Y&R because Triston Rogers is back on GH as Robert Scorpio!!!

In my opinion GH has been on fire but I do agree that there have been too many dropped storylines. FV & RC start a story and then weeks go by before it is picked back up again and by then I don’t really care or remember. He’s doing that across the board to accomodate the large cast he has now, to bring back the vets for short stints and to bring over his OLTL actors/characters. Its choppy and confusing. And although Cartini are doing comedy, mystery, intrigue and drama well, there really is no romance at all! Soaps are known for “love in the afternoon” but GH has none of that. Bring back the romance, couples and family along with the comedy, mystery, intrigue and drama and the ratings will go right back up.

I only casually watch B&B as I find it very boring and although I watch Y&R now, I don’t find it all that interesting either. I have never been able to get into DOOL.

GH has always been my favorite soap and after 39 years it still is. Cartini hit the ground running when they took over GH, but now that they’ve been there for a year there’s no excuse for the lack of romance and couples. I don’t remember a lot of romance on OLTL either, so it may just be that RC doesn’t know how to write those types of stories. And that would be a real shame.

Good possibily!

Edits to my previous post…. Our dept. hate that you broke up Adam and Chelsea on Young and Restless…. Sharon and Adam do not have any chemistry on screen. Their kissing scenes are awkward! I look forward to Beauty and the Beast, Arrow, Vampire Diaries, SCANDAL and 90210. Take some tips from these writers. They are interesting!!!!

I might trust your analysis more if you knew basic sentence structure and punctuation – you, know, like the REAL writers you seem so intent on boosting?

Soaps have evolved before, and they will again. Unless, of course, people lose interest in good storytelling. And if that happens, then it’s all over for all drama, comedy, stories of any sort.

I don’t believe people have become stupider. What’s really happened is the remaining soaps are being micro-managed by account managers instead of being run and written by people who have an actual investment in story outcome instead of a balance sheet.

We’ve heard the pronouncement of the death of soaps before.

You have proven the point I made in an earlier post that the issue might not be the soaps are getting worse, but rather the audience is changing and what they want is changing. Soap opera is one form of story telling just like comics are different than novels, so too are soaps different from the form of story telling you are describing in your post. There is nothing wrong with that form of story telling you are speaking about, more like a mini series than a continuing drama, and perhaps that will eventually replace soaps. However the genre the way it is now, was and still is a unique form of story telling and to change the way it is done is to fundamentally alter the substance of the genre. It is a form of story telling that might have seen its day- just like poetry use to be a popular form of writing, but now is not, I will admit that. However, perhaps if people would stop expecting soaps to be something there were never meant to be, maybe they would enjoy them more for what they are instead of disliking them for what they aren’t.

“…What the producers do not understand is that the viewing population i.c. demographics is changing very quickly meaning the older soap loving generation is dying out very quickly, …”

I have to think some of this has to do with TV going digital and I am not sure everyone got a new TV or converter box. Even though the boxes were free or subsidized, I don’t think a lot of older people got them or understood what was happening so they just go without TV.

I think soaps are multi-generational in that if your parents watched, then you watched to some extent. I know I am one. My mom only started watching the ABC soaps when she was on maternity leave with me and then I watched them with her when she was on leave with my baby brother. In the 70s and 80s you had to watch them live until VHS came around. My mom worked so she gave them up because she could not see them live. When I became a teenager I picked them up again after school and on holiday break and have been with them since.

I have to think that a lot of people have just learned to live without certain things. I know what it is like to depend on my Tivo for everything only to have it break down and be without it for a couple of months (my husband was fixing it but was busy with other things). Anyway, you learn to live without it. When it comes back you are almost of the feeling that you do not need it anymore. For some, they do without these things and others take them back.

Amen!! Ditto!

HA HA HA !

You got it right about Days. Very slow and boring, I know people who don’t watch the show very often anymore, and also I know some people who fall asleep during the show! Actually, though!

I agree with Ces about comments on GH!!!

“General Hospital was on fire but now I think it’s concentrating too much on Connie and too little on chemistry between Carly/Todd and Sam/John. I know the latter has to do with SB leaving but it hurt the momentum being built.”

I wonder why that is myself. They must have gotten some very negative backlash considering the above-mentioned pairings.

It sounds like Todd is about to lose everyone and Johnny and Carly will be in each others’ orbits again.

I agree at this time of year most soap stories are a bit on the bland side because they know people have a life and are not glue to their sets when there is so much to be done. And it is true a soap’s bread and butter is the telling of a good romance and lately that has been lacking in most of the soaps. There are a lot attraction stories, hook ups and sex scenes, but the glorious journey couples use to take to fall in love has been MIA for a long time. As for Avery, I find her cooking charming- overplayed- but charming, it makes her character more human, but they don’t have to do every time she is in her apartment. And in case you missed my answer to your question where in Canada I live- I live in Ontario- what about you?

Since when did u speak for ALL DAYS viewers. I do not hate Gabi or Nick or Dannifer. They are the reasons I watch DAYS as well Brady/Kristen/John/Marlena and Will/Sonny. I have my fingers crossed that TPTB approach Stephen Nichols to return as Patch and we’ll have a full blown Patch/Kayla/Abe triangle or bring back Shawn/Belle so they can help Hope find her missing husband.

Exactly why I’m not interested in B&B. It’s the same old stuff everyday. You can tune out for a month and when you come back to watch the same thing is still happening. Too much Steffy/Liam/Hope and Brooke for me. Y&R is bland IMO as well.

Hopefully Robert makes it after the fight w/the needle. He better not die! We need Robert Scorpio…I like him a lot!