Days Of Our Lives
RATINGS: General Hospital Bottoms Out In Key Demos!
Courtesy/ABC
The ratings are out for the week of August 17th-21st and as difficult as this is to report, the iconic General Hospital hit new lows in key demos and ended up in fourth place of all four network soaps in those categories.
However, the series remained in third place in total viewers ever so slightly with 2,492,000 as it’s tally, while fourth place DAYS is only 88,000 viewers behind. GH’s performance is down -257,000 total viewers from last year at this time. If DAYS scores a strong week in the next few ratings reports, it could overtake GH for the third spot.
But, it’s the lone ABC soap operas performance in the key women’s demos: 18-49, 18-34, and 25-54 that is most troubling. GH hit an all-time low in the 18-49 category in total viewers – making it the third week in a row that show has attained a new low there. In the 18-49 ratings share, GH has tied a new low in the category and that makes for its 18th straight week (4 months) of lows. General Hospital is in last place in the 18-34 demo with tying a record low in the ratings share, while they are in last place in total viewers in the 25-54 demo.
A decision to make a head writer switch from executives at the top, and some behind the scenes restructuring have been the order of the day to try to get GH back on solid ratings footing. Being that GH is the only remaining ABC soap, here’s hoping that when the new writing regime comes in and stories are laid out and begin, that they’ve got compelling material to back it up that will pique the interest of the viewers. In addition, GH should benefit from summer being over, which is also the time of year that generally has less people tuning-in to television.
Let’s also hope ABC helps GH during the day-part with surrounding programming, which has suffered in the years since the cancellation of All My Children and One Life to Live and the once staple ABC Daytime programming block. Meanwhile, the Disney/ABC Domestic Television Syndication wing is hoping that the Tyra Banks anchored talker FABLife, premiering September 10th will help bring some viewers to the afternoon block.
On another note: The Bold and the Beautiful lost the most viewers for the ratings period of any soap opera losing -188,000 from the previous week, which saw Maya (Karla Mosley) and Rick’s (Jacob Young) wedding. View the entire ratings picture courtesy of SON here.
So, do you think General Hospital can have a big rebound in the weeks ahead? What do you think can help GH out of this ratings doldrums? Share your thoughts below!
GH is unwatchable.
It is. But so is “Days of Our Lives”
I started watching “Days of Our Lives” in 1975 and “General Hospital,” in 1992 and this is literally the worst shape I have seen them.
Most days I just turn the channel to CNN or MSNBC.
I hear Days is getting really good again.
I turned it on yesterday and while I did not know any of the stories which were transpiring, I was not bored.
What I liked is that I saw core characters like John, Marlena, Hope and some others older characters whose names I do not know but whom I recognize. Core families, core characters anchor a soap and that is what keeps viewers, young or old, watching.
Days of our lives has improved greatly in the last few days . the material from the new writers has just begun to air . patch has just come back and many other fan favourites are coming back . the soap is turning 50 this november so the favourites are back and the soap is exciting again .
No its not. It is still great. Stop being fair weather fans. That’s what leads to soaps being cancelled!
Robert I happen to agree with you. Alot of people are “fair weater fans”. When Frank & Ron first came from oltl everyone was gushing how great GH was and how they brought back old favorites, resurrected the Nurses Ball etc., etc.. Well they couldnt keep going like that forever! It had to slow down. Theres only so much they can do. I started watching abc soaps 45 years ago. Before Gloria Monty you should have seen the mess GH was. But I watched faithfully. I knew it would get better, and it did. Everyone goes through dry patches, even head writers. Have you forgotten what Bob Guza & Jill Phellps to GH? I think Ron Carlivati is probably the most talented head wrier in daytime today. People should have learned from the cancelations of amc & oltl. Everyone complained then when abc pulled the plug everyone got crazy only it was too late. Seriously people don’t let history repeat itself. Stick with GH the stories will get better.
Robert and Angela, I hardly think I am a fair weather fan. I have been watching GH since I was 12 (way back in the 70’s) and have hung in there up until now.
I really do not appreciate folks like you blaming viewers like me for tuning out.
You’re barking up the wrong tree–it took a lot for me to finally lose interest.
Re: fair weather fans–if you watch when what’s on the screen is crap, that’s exactly what you’ll continue to see on the screen.
I can’t agree that it’s being a “fair weather fan” to point out when what you’re seeing on the screen isn’t very good, or tuning out when it’s just not holding your attention. I’d liken it more to “tough love.” Nothing changes if you don’t deal it out.
I always thought fair weather fans as those who turn up for a hot story line or the big reveals, but don’t stay in the trenches to watch the day to day stuff. Fair weather fans usually inflate the ratings temporarily but each soap has a loyal fan base that keeps all their numbers fairly stable. It is when that loyal fan base starts eroding a soap is in trouble.
As a newer viewer of this soap, less than five years, I have only seen it when it was being written by RC, so I don’t know how his reign compares to past writers. I gather by all these comments that a lot of GH’s loyal fan base are ticked off enough to leave and that is a big problem. I mean Y&R fans have been complaining and bitching about the show since before MAB and beyond, but the basic numbers for the show have not changed. The base is still intact, which means fans can complain and be ticked but it doesn’t mean they will stop watching. So if GH fan base is tuning out then this goes beyond the usual viewer discontent that each soap has from time to time.
I’ve seen a lot soap in my day and I don’t think GH is that bad, yet as a newer viewer I respect the long time viewers need to revolt to try to get their show back to what it was, let us hope the changes to come will turn the tide and stop the erosion of the fan base that has kept this show on when other shows went to soap heaven.
Ratings are b**sh** what a waste of time. How many people do you know have Nielsen Box. What a joke.
Agreed. I never pay much attention to ratings.
I don’t pay attention to ratings unless they echo my own viewing habits.
In this case, I am paying attention.
A revival of their sister shows, spinoff, or the addition of two new daytime soaps.
I have continued taping GH but I haven’t watched in weeks. Too many characters I just can’t stand to watch anymore and the ones I like have such a horrible storyline & out of character stories that I just get irritiated. I hope the taping saves the show for better writing & stories down the road
Yes. GH is unwatchable and unrecognizable.
Soap Opera Network is reporting that the bulk of W18-49 viewers for soaps are W35-49 and #GH lows are from rapidly declining W35-49.
Today, a 39 year old viewer was 16 yr old high school student in 1992, a 20 year old college student in 1996. A 45 year old viewer was 16 in 1986, a 20 year old College student in 1990 (so much for only “old” people who don’t count not knowing or remembering anything about Duke Lavery).
The bulk of soap viewers in the demo, W35-49, are fans who did watch the show in the 80’s and 90’s. They are the majority of viewers in the demo who have checked out of GH. People who watched the show when Duke & Anna were together, loved the Q’s, Monica, AJ, Ned. Luke and Laura. Robert, Mac, Felicia, Robin, Brenda, Jacks, Lucy, Kevin.
Not only do the 35-49’s represent the steepest decline for GH now, they are the bulk of soap viewers in the demo; the greatest potential audience to win back and get GH ratings on the right track. They aren’t just interested in good storytelling. There’s plenty of good storytelling out there, literally hundreds of shows out there. They are interested in GH, not just a show that goes by that name.
Ive stopped watching…only watch previews now…stories drag and go nowhere…GH needs to drop characters, reveal Jason, and intro new and exciting character driven stories focusing on romance, adventures, mystery, hospital drama and reality!!!
Jimh…I agree with you!
You can only do gimmick stories for so long, then you are stuck out-doing yourself for the next one, and so on. And the competition is fierce, and the audience fickle with this kind of approach.
Can’t help but wonder if one un-named, recent story, that lasted way too long and was dark, dark, dark helped take the ratings down.
Well written, good story themes that are character driven never seem to lose interest. Ask Shakespeare.
Let’s hope for the best with the new writing team.
You got that right, Rose!
Losing nearly 1 million viewers in 3 months is not good
but they are still in third place … out of four.
Not for long, Chrystie.
DAYS means business. I’d be shocked to learn DAYS isn’t #3 in the next ratings report! Also, DAYS can make a real play for #2 in a few weeks!!!
DAYS is turning 50…5-0…50 years old. It can kick, stretch and kick again…it’s turning 50!!!!!
I’ll miss GH. I still watch now and will enjoy it as long as it lasts.
I think GH writers for whatever reasons…RC, writers, ABC suits, Tony, who knows…lost their way this last year+. But like you and lots of others, I would really miss it if it wasn’t on. It’s bad enough with OLTL and AMC gone, but afternoons would be a real wasteland if GH wasn’t there anymore. So let’s hope the new writing team will give it the storylines to give it renewed energy again.
That is because the show sucks now
Yes Marko Gh sucks right now, I would rather watch the talk and play with my German Shepard instead of GH. I FALL a sleep watching GH LOL.
Days will pass GH with their 50th Anniversary celebration. So, GH will be back in the gutter. If Frank is still interested in his job and has the same enthusiasm as he once did, he stays. The new writers, well, give them a chance. ALL of us on this site have better answers than what they are airing. WHY? If I were Frank and he wants to keep his job AND GH stays on the air I would do a reboot. Maybe wrapping up the senseless Silas murder so quick is a sign they are scrapping stupid stories. Here is my idea of a reboot.
Recast Morgan, Michael, Lulu, Ned and Robin. [I love Kim and Wally but they are unavailable.]
Fire Sabrina, Rosalie, Valerie, Jordan and TJ.
Kill off Dante
Re imagine: Roger, Maura and Michelle. All three are extremely talented actors. All three of their current characters either suck or have overstayed. I would pair ALL three of them together as a rich new family and pit them against the Q’s
The Q’s: Bring Emily back from Cassadine Island and rehab Nick and he will hand over ELQ to Tracy and Paul and let the beatings begin! Oh, by the way, Hayden is Paul’s daughter! She needs to be under the Q’s roof!
Wish we could vote on ideas – you’d have my vote!
@ Timmm, where is Kiki on your list? did you forget about that bundle of joy? hahaha
Actually, in the last few episodes aired following Silas’s murder, Hayley Erin has done better in the role, the one who is really bugging me is Bryan Craig as Morgan, I once enjoyed him, but ironically last night I was watching an episode and said to myself, if they would ONLY recast Morgan. I think they should, too. As for Ned, I would love to see Daniel Cosgrove step into the role of Ned. I still enjoy the actors who play Rosalie and Jordan and TJ, and Valerie is slowly growing on me. Sabrina is lost, now in a great relationship with Michael, I’m not feeling it or buying it.
On, another note, I loved seeing Roger’s hair longer in the jail scene, and just wish he could be Todd again. I’m so over Franco, but love Roger, usually. That longer hair brought memories of Todd hair. As for Maura, I love this woman, looking forward to her blonde hair to return, I hope the new writers can just delve deep into Ava Jerome, and really give Maura worthy story material. I don’t want Maura going anywhere. And, I enjoy Michelle, too, I want to see her do more dramatic stuff, same with Roger, yes they are both very talented and versatile actors, but the stick gets old after a while. They both are more than able to do heavy drama. Also, I’m not sold on the Dylan recast, and actually I would either send Dante and Lulu off to find Luke or, as you suggest recast Emme Rylan, she’s a strong actress, but something is not working with her, and the “pairing” with new Dylan, well, it’s not working.
Yes, I agree many of the GH needs to be written/killed off. I also am concerned with the Alexis character, I’m not sure she’s as vital as she once was.
Come on new writers, return Mac, Felicia, Kevin and Lucy, and get Epiphany back in the hospital, and Monica, too.
Jeremy, I dont mind Haley as Kiki. I know fans love Kristen from OLTL BUT her only facial expression was that of shear terror! If Morgan is Bi polar Bryan Craig cannot handle that heavy story. His acting is average at best! Did you notice the new Dillon had more chemistry with Maxie than with Lulu? Alexis lost her mojo. Julian is lying to her left and right and she just takes it like an innocent teenager! Come on Alexis we know your a strong women! MORE SCENES WITH MONICA AND JASON!
Wow, Jeremy…I would kiss you, if I could.
I, too, think that Erin has stepped up to the plate the last couple of days. I am not a fan of hers, but she has pleasantly surprised me. Craig? Ugh!!!! I can’t take this guy. I just FF when he’s on. Whiny, little boy!! Father, Mother and Son just drive me up the wall with their nonsense. This Corinthos offspring is just one big, spoiled brat, who needs his paramour more than air. That is his problem. But, if TPTB want to suddenly portray him as having Bipolar Disorder, I hope he is sent away somewhere. Carly cares more about her son’s mental state? What about her other son? Look how she completely dismissed Michael’s feelings after her oh-so-honorable fiancé killed AJ. She stuck to this poor excuse of a human being like glue.
As far as Dylan and Lulu? I see what you’re saying. I do not feel them as a couple, either…..but, , the writers will make it happen. I know where this is going .
Also, Dylan facetiously and jokingly alluded to Val being pregnant…..well, what if it’s true? Another marriage down the tubes.
Yup, we’re on the same plane with Alexis, as well. But, I will leave that up to Shay to elaborate. She does a much better job than I could possibly do. You have the floor, Shay. LOL.
Ha ha, you just fired all the actors of color on the show! The only ones you left off were Brad and Felix and neither is on contract. Sonny and Nathan don’t count, even though they are Latino and Asian in real life, they don’t play that in their roles!
Color had nothing to do with it, Jordan and TJ suck! I left off Brad and Felix because they can ACT and they are INTERESTING! Dear God!
Hey, I am usually the first one to pull the race card but shall not pull it on Timm. Like me, Timm is an equal opportunity basher of bad character and bad actors.
Timm, you’re right about Maxie and Dillon having more chemistry than Lulu and Dillon. Honestly, do not see Lulu having chemistry with anyone.
I also agree with you about Bryan Craig. He’s so one dimensional and doesn’t seem to have the brains or intensity to pull off bipolar disease.
I do like TJ and think he’s interesting and has potential.
Actually, downtownla, Sonny has been drawn as having 50% Latin heritage….it has repeatedly been referenced in the past, even if it is not constantly dwelled upon. His mother was full-on Cuban (while his dad, Mike, is of Irish-Greek extraction.) Hence, half-brother Ric also shares Sonny’s Hispanic blood, as does all of their biological children : Molly, Morgan, Dante, Christina, Avery and God only knows who else since “DimplesCorinthos” has such an impressive record of fathering illegitimate offspring that tend to come out of the woodwork on a rather regular basis! Therefore, despite all the assertions to the contrary, Port Charles has quite the Latin presence when you think about it….much more so than most other ethnic groups, in fact.
Hi, downtownla.
I doubt very much Timmm was even thinking of race or color. I am not too impressed with Jordan or her her son either. So much so that I cannot even remember the kid’s name half the time. I think we look at the acting. I agree with Timmm in this one.
I did not know that Ryan was of Asian ethnicity…..matters not. He’s still a hunk.
But Sonny? He plays Greek/ Irish descent. No way; no how!!!!! That has always struck a discordant note for me, and for so many other people. Sonny looks, talks and has the mannerisms of an Hispanic, who by the way, although born here, Hispanics are the only peoples who maintain a foreign accent. I wish TPTB employed authenticity when selecting actors to play certain ethnic roles. Greece is in Europe, so is Ireland and both cultures are Caucasian. Not that it makes any difference, but there are those who take such a thing to heart. My brother-in-law is Greek….not even close to looking so swarthy. Beside the fact that Sonny is supposedly 100% white……by looking at him? Not even close. The movie, WEDDING PLANNER, had JLO play an Italian. The woman is gorgeous, but, needless to say, her features are all wrong….she looks Puerto Rican and her speech has that Hispanic inflection. Italians are white, writers!!!!!!!
There are so many white actors/actresses I’d like to see off the show which has everything to do with antipathy or their delivery and acting ability…… and nothing to do with race or color.
So, I think, as myself, Timmm was only implying to get rid of superfluous actors….they serve no purpose. As myself, I bet race, did not even cross his mind. Later.
So in other words, no diversity and let the new characters with no ties to GH eat the show. Ok. Got it.
No diversity? Who said that? Diversity makes the world go ’round. Just select the proper ethnic people for the right roles. No one is picking on cultures or race….TPTB should keep it straight. Diversity is good for the soul. We live in a VERY diverse country…..we all come from somewhere else. But, I would like to see good acting; good presentation; scenes with characters that leave indelible marks on my brain. Not some wishy-washy character such as TJ or Morgan. So, please, no verbal attacks. I am beginning to appreciate NuKiki, she is proving herself…..but the aforementioned actors have been on for some time now, and we are still in square one. It is truly irritating when other posters put words in our mouths. Sarcasm is not a great tool to use here, me3.
You and downtownla are trying to cause an uproar on this site over race. I hope Mr. Fairman takes note and throws you two troublemakers off the site! We here are fans of the show, not haters! We all want interesting characters with well written stories. It doesnt matter what race they are. Quit being so hateful and start being grateful!
This current Morgan needs to go along with Kiki IMO. I don’t care if Morgan becomes a recast, but the character needs to shape up ASAP. When this Silas murder mystery wraps up there is no real need for Kiki since I’m assuming she’ll be cutting ties with Ava. I like Michael and Sabrina, they just need something other than AJ’s clinic to spice up their s/l some. When baby Leo is brought back into the picture I think it would be a good idea to have a Ned recast. I think him and Olivia can be a solid onscreen couple. I started watching right before Robin was killed off, and never really cared for her. Just bring her back long enough to tie up the loose ends of Jason and that embryo Helena carried around and she can go back to Paris.
Rosalie, Valerie, Jordan, and TJ can go. Unless Sonny is grooming TJ for the mob I don’t see any real use for him since the writers botched his shining moment with that racist s/l. Dante needs to go through some real pain for cheating and lying to Lulu, but I think they can come back from it if he really repents and Valerie and Dillon go MIA. Roger, Maura, and Michelle have been doing amazing with what amounts to trash, but Ava’s been written into a corner and needs to go, if need be revisit the twin storyline to keep Maura, but there is no way to save Ava. Franco and Nina can have a good life once this murder mess is behind them, they can easily become a couple that end up in odd situations, or travel the world and let Nina live a little, or even the couple that seems to know all of the PC secrets and manipulates to get what they want, but tone down the crazy for a little bit. I keep hearing Emily was the good Q, so I think it would be interesting that if she has been hanging out on Cassadine island that she comes back bad and that is what makes Nick second guess his current choices. Even better as a little more drama for Liz, have little Jake calling Emily mom. I still find it hard to believe that kid came back from that island with no damage. Hayden needs to remember and if she must stay she can be some competition for Emily, if she turned out to be a Q that’d be interesting to see a dark Emily fighting dirty for Nick since Hayden has already proven she can play dirty with the best of them.
Brad can go back to the lab once his secret is done, but I do enjoy Felix though and wish he had a bigger role.
Your right Tima, what will Kiki do now that Silas is gone, Morgan and Ava lied to her? #!, change Kiki’s name to Lauren. Listening to Sonny call her Kiki makes him look like a kook! Yes, bring Robin back to wrap up the loose ends if your not going to recast. This TJ is too young looking to be brought into the mob. Ned an Liv are cool together. Emily could really bring a lot of drama to the table! Felix could be the new Amy Vining of GH. They need to give him a family or a past with a reason to write him a bigger story.
I believe GH is in real trouble. We’ve heard little to nothing about the new writers agenda, outside of the rumor (?) that it’s back to focusing on Sonny and his family. With that news, it doesn’t give the viewing audience much hope for a turnaround, as it was that Corinthos family focus that went on for years, driving viewers away, that played a large part in having to bring Frank and Ron to the show in the first place. And let’s not mistake – that first year of refocusing the show, with the OLTL characters and the balancing of stories, worked well – it was a success.
Another layer of trouble is that so many of the front burner characters are the show are severely compromised characters. Franco, Nina, Ava, Sonny – and supporting characters Rick, Madeline, Dr. Olbrecht – are a mix of over the top villainy, remorseless souls, literal killers – that having them exist on the show day in and day out, severely compromises the integrity of the show and structure of plot. The very existence of these characters in daily conversation and interaction with other characters requires a huge suspension of disbelief and a daily dose of hypocrisy considering their judgement of other characters for acts of murder, kidnapping, lying and manipulating holds little value when coming from murderers, kidnappers, liars and manipulators. And the fact that other ‘normal’ characters accept these murderers, kidnappers, liars and manipulators as friends and co-workers and neighbors and interact with them in social situations as though they aren’t criminals is further evidence of ludicrous story telling.
AND, let’s not overlook the fact that even ‘normal’ characters are written to do questionably moral things on a regular basis. Good and evil, hero and heroine? Nope, out the window. Now, if you don’t at least have shades of grey – if not outright black spots – you get to be little more than a supporting character.
All of which speaks to the years long writing of writing to the ‘event’ rather than the long term longevity of characters on a show. GH characters are continuously written into corners that once upon a time, would have been the end of that characters on the show. Today, it’s just the next chapter of ever increasing lunacy involving a character’s actions. Nothing is too far, nothing is too over the line. Where once upon a time, attempting to kill someone else was a stretch to being able to keep the character on the canvas, now they can murder someone in cold blood and it’s just another Monday. And when that happens, when the show has no moral center and no sense of writing perspective, it harms the show in the long term.
Thus, GH is severely structurally unsound. Years of story where a mobster and his hitman were the heroes of the show, even as bodies piled up around them and viewers were conditioned to view them as the good murderous mob men vs the bad murderous mob men, followed by the over the top, literally insanely violent (and occasionally murderous) actions of Franco, Nina, Ava and Dr. Obrecht, leaves viewers with a an emotionally empty husk of a show to work with. Yeah, some of these people are great actors and by all rights, should have had years of long term story to play, but Sonny is a joke and Franco? Misconceived role from the start. Ava? Wonderful character whose legitimate long term viability was destroyed within months of debuting. Nina? I really enjoy Michelle Stafford but she came on and within weeks she was a deranged criminal. And Obrecht was an over the top cartoon villain from the get go, oddly being forced into a ‘real’ role that others are supposed to take seriously.
The show needs major writers to do some major overhauling and major renovations – and I don’t know if the team they have coming in – based on what little we have heard – can pull it off.
Well said Mike. I completely agree. The thought of going back to the Sonny Show makes me sick. As bad as things are now, I think focusing on Sonny is not the answer.
I second and third everything you said Mike
Best analysis of GH that I’ve read in a long time. When you can’t even root for the talented actors or enjoy watching fan favorites anymore, there are serious problems.
AMEN!
Exactly! I couldn’t have said it better. I too do not want the Sonny show. I can pop The Godfather or Goodfellas in the dvd player for that. I can’t get over having Genie Francis return only to be Luke’s shadow, learn a secret and leave. Just another example of missed opportunities. Remember when the show use to be about the doctors, nurses, patients and families of a hospital?
Genie Francis, Laura Spencer, and General Hospital fans got screwed. And Tony Geary wants FANS to contribute to his new movie venture. If other actors are more important than fans are, he should be asking them for money! But of course only some actors are important, those who are less than but worship Tony and cause him no trouble. I really think Wendy Riche should be brought back as Executive Producer.
Great analysis. Sadly, I don’t know if TPTB feel the same way. I agree that re-focusing on Sonny and the Corinthos is the wrong move. It has to be the Quartermaines, Spencers, Baldwins and Jones. That’s the real GH.
Mike, that WAS a great analysis indeed.
Simply put, I have been addicted to GH since I was about twelve. I am now middle aged and have not tuned in well lover two weeks even for a peek. Hey, it takes A LOT for someone like me to give up their favorite guilty pleasure. Yes, I am a GH addict in recovery.
For me, the death rattle started with the Fluke debacle which was followed by the incredibly disappointing Luke exit. That horrible exit simultaneously occurred with a huge sea swell of new faces whom I do not care about–Kiki, Ava, Julian, Donna Mills, Morgan, Kiki, Rosalie, Nina, Franco, Sappy and Valerie. I just don’t give a damn about any of these people.
@downtownla
Sadly, Edward, Lila and Alan Quartermaine are no longer living. Monica is shell of herself that is when she is on the show. Jason stopped being a Quartermaine years ago and the writers made sure there is no going back. The writers first destroyed AJ’s character then killed him off. That leaves only Tracy.
What Spencers? Luke is gone and not going to come back at least for a long time. Laura is definitely at loose ends here. Lucky is gone so that leaves only Lulu.
What Baldwins? There is only Scott left.
Sorry don’t see how focusing on those that are left will bring back the “real” GH.
Great post, Mike. I agree with every word but I’ll single out the specific paragraph that starts with “All of which speaks to the years of writing to the ‘event’ rather than the long term longevity of characters on a show…”
And you know what the craziest part is? Nothing. Ever. Actually Happens. How do you even manage to do that???
Case in point…Ava Jerome. I think Maura West is one of daytime’s best but I don’t know why her character is still here at this point. She murders someone in cold blood to keep the oh so important big secret that “Derek Wells” is actually Julian Jerome. Forget that the rather unimportant “big secret” comes out about 5 minutes later and no one actually cares. She gets found out as the murderer about a year later, is sent to prison for 5 minutes, miraculously beats a fatal cancer and comes back from the dead sporting a black wig and Jersey accent. And, ya know, if the evidence disappears so does the crime. Poof. End of “story.”
Ron Carlivati’s stories and characters have never had any substance from the start. He wrote big, splashy beginnings peppered with lots of breezy one liners and pop culture reference in the middle but no actual story until the long too dragged out and often backfilled ending lands with a resounding thud as usual. Why? Because he didn’t bother to make us care about any of these characters along the way.
Soaps are storytelling, not a game of musical chairs. Stories need a beginning, a middle and an end. The writer has to take engage the audience and take them on a journey from here to there. You can’t just meander around aimlessly until everyone gets bored and drifts away.
And that’s pretty much happened here. I’m only surprised that it took “the network” so long to catch on to what viewers have been trying to tell them for years.
Wonderful post! I don’t think tptb see it this way and that is likely what will lead to the destruction of GH once and for all. I don’t want to see it go but I’d rather have peace of mind. I get fat too frustrated with the show to watch it anymore. Obviously I care because I wouldn’t get upset otherwise, but GH has lost my trust to tell a good story. The show is not written for those who love GH and cherish its history. Hell, I don’t even know that it’s written BY those who love GH and cherish its history. I will be sad if it gets cancelled but I can’t say I’d be surprised. The writing’s on the wall that their in trouble buf also written on that wall are a few things needed to change the show around. It’s painful when a show you love is this far off thd mark but its even more painful when the ways to fix it are somewhat obvious and yet no one takes that road. Daytime’s been around for 50 years, we know what doesn’t work even if we don’t always know what does work.
I still think GH is the best soap on the air and that because of the summer, ratings aren’t at their best. The stories still hold my interest and I love seeing all the veterans that were MIA for a long time. If the new writers can hold up to what Ron did when he was there with giving us a surprise a day, GH will see a comeback in th ratings.
wow. Now I’m scared. Viewers don’t always come back. Too many times viewers have been fooled into believing that GH would get back to it’s roots. Let’s hope the new writers can put this show back to it’s glory. Unless they get rid of characters we don’t care about, change the tone (get rid of or backburner the mob once and for all) I fear this show isn’t going to make it.
I’m not surprised. The show has been horrible to watch lately; mostly ffwd worthy & Luke’s exit was the WORST for a longtime beloved veteran.
Fans don’t have patience like they used to, they leave in droves.
I know it’s hard for me to watch every night with this Ava/Denise/Nina/Franco/Kiki boredom. The Lulu/Valerie/Dante story is contrived and boring. Patrick and Sam do what? Oh wait – they don’t even have a story. Elizabeth gets away with everything and Jason/Jake has gone on forever; to the point where no one is going to care anymore once he IS revealed.
Get it together GH!
General Hospital will be cancelled, if they don’t improve in the ratings. They have 6 months to turn it around. I heard that on the radio last night.
That does not bode well for the genre at all. If GH gets canceled, I can see the rest of them following suit because it gives the networks an excuse because “everyone else is doing it” and we know how much they love to copy each other.
THEN someday in the future, somebody at a network will bring back daytime soaps because, as we know, everything old is new again.
In the meantime, all the unemployed actors from the network soaps will join their colleagues online and that will be where the soaps exist.
This all reeks of network interference and cost cutting. I don’t believe that Carlivati suddenly lost his touch and was unable to write entertaining stories– granted they weren’t for everyone but he had the ratings on is side. Ratings drop, Carlivati loses his job, new/old (cheaper?) writers are brought in and somehow the executive producer and the network heads who approve every script come out smelling like a rose. This is some Ken Corday level blame-gaming.
Carlivati was horrible. Valentini should have been fired along with him.
Preach!
I agree with your assessment. I’ve even started wondering if how much of what was wrong with GH during Phelps-Guza and Phelps-Wolf was ABC’s lousy management and interference, rather than the EP and head writer. The ABC execs can’t figure out how to fix the problem because they ARE the problem.
I would like to see Days do better.
GH is a snooze, FF through kiki, morgan, denise, nina and franco… Please let the stories be over!!! GH is unwatchable, i hope the new writer’s turn the sinking ship around ASAP!!!!
i agree with you on this batch of characters.
I hope GH survives, but the new headwriters came over from Y&R after making that soap boring. It’s also a bad sign that a new headwriter has already had breakdown writing air on the soap.
DAYS is well on it’s way to making a killing in the ratings while using a killer as an umbrella storyline. Next week will put DAYS over GH and headed for the faltering B&B.
There’s supposed to be a top secret surprise in today’s DAYS other than the return of Stephen Nichols as Patch. It may kill those who miss it!!!!!
a top secret surprise? hmmm, Joey returns too, right? Serena is killed off. I need to catch up with yesterday’s episode before I watch today. with that said, I’m sure you’re on it, 4ever DAYS.
DAYS is WINNING, love it. GH is near cancellation, they need to react now to viewers wants, and get it together, otherwise, we’ll see the Daytime line-up being: The Chew (gross), FabLife (very gross), and then what, a new talk show with Kathy Griffin or another Kardashian/Jenner? (even grosser).
I too, hope GH survives, but it’s probably got until December to shape up or ship out.
They don’t have OLTL to save GH this time. I hope the show continues, think they should have kept Ron, and fired Frank.
They both should have been fired. And OLTL didn’t save GH.
This is what happens when there is no story, and good actors do nothing but exposition for what little is there.
GH should be about romance, adventure and most of all, heart.
Romance, adventure, and heart–you said it!
Less mob . Less Sonny. Love Carly but not with Sonny. If they want this much Sonny better bring Brenda back only way Sonny works for me. He needs to be brought back off his pedestal it saved GH before. Need to bring Michael Easton back & give him some good material. I don’t care what character as long as he has good material he will bring his fans. Would also love to see Nathan Parsons brought back as Ethan to do the romance with Kristina since she’s coming back. Also want Vincent Izziary brought on and paired with Anna we got Rebbecca B from AMC let’s get VI think he would bring in more viewers. Fans still want OLTL & AMC back. I hated GH before Ron took over & it’s seems to be going back to that dark place. I blame it on network not Ron for theses low ratings . They seem so out of touch with what fans want.
This is sheer f#%king insanity! IMO, (and I’m not looking to debate this with any of this regime’s detractors) the show does not deserve this. GH is still a very entertaining and compelling soap, and I can only assume that more people have been watching in places that the live + same day numbers don’t reflect. That said, I know that the show’s ABC ratings need to improve soon because that’s what advertisers are primarily interested in, but it’s all really maddening.
I agree, I still love GH and I really like Franco, Nina and Ava. Had Michael Easton had a storyline they would have not let him go, but that’s kind of an anathema. No storyline, no actor, is what I mean. I love the veterans and the new people. The Jason story is dragging, but we were all told at the beginning it wasn’t going to end until November. Don’t know why, don’t care. It will end, but there is a lot that can happen between now and then, I just enjoy the show, ever single day. I can’t imagine life without GH, been watching for years and years. It’s all the people not watching because they are impatient, or hate the replacement actors without giving them time to get used to them. If all the people who are complaining so much would slow down and give the show a chance, the networks would not be reading things like this site with the haters and on FB with everyone being so critical of everything and posting it. These posts are being read, and we will get cancelled with no support from we who watch and love the show. Please save GH, don’t kill it with constant complaints. Thanks
Helen, complaints are NOT what is killing GH right now, it’s the ratings. Complaints at least show interest, they generate buzz and that is a good thing.
What you do not want is collective apathy which results in bad ratings.
I am so tired of trying to explain the obvious to some folks. Listen, complaints are good for two reasons–1. They demonstrate interest and care and 2. They give TPTB some form of semblance as to where they are going wrong and what they can do to fix it.
Truth be told HERE… ABC waited far tooooo long to address the multiple issues
plaguing General Hospital…GH will be well into week 21/22 of low ratings, before
we have a chance to see in which direction the NEW head writers take our slightly
tainted beloved show, can GH be turned around? ABSOLUTLY❗️❗️❗️with love,
attention & know how anything is possible. The truth is ABC has purposefully
forgotten all about SOAPS…… Their simply waiting in the wings for the final
rating countdown.
Please overlook my spelling❗️
maybe GH has to crash to recoup it that makes any sense, its not like viewers weren’t complaining for a while, how many ways does the network want to hear that the show sucks more often then not? I’m sticking with it i just hope other viewers don’t leave for good. i hope this is a lesson to the network, they need to have somebody paying attention to what viewers are complaining about. we all know what a good GH looks like, we all know the show has great history, great cast, we just need a sophisticated smart, storyteller, because let me tell you, theres no way the head honchos at GH thought what they were putting on the air was must see tv, the best example on what not to do was how the Anthony Geary exit was handle, thats a perfect example on dropping the ball and if they can’t comp up to it then this is why GH is in trouble…
People have to stop their habitual complaining.
Some viewers even get vicious with their hate for GH
It is the obsessive complainers who will and are bringing down GH..
ABC; the official General Hospital board was closed.
Some fans, yah know who you are, were using it to bash GH with their habitual ruthless complaining how terrible GH is and it became too much.
It was the ABC official General Hospital board.
It is the board Sponsors and the Uppers would read for feedback.
General Hospital is an ABC business. (no business or its Sponsors will continue to support a product that is hated- it is a bad investment.)
General Hospital needs Sponsors to continue to air GH.
Sponsors do not want their products sponsoring a product/GH that is hated by a horde of disgruntled bashes.
ABC saw the complaints on their board as detrimental to the survival of their product General Hospital.
They can’t keep Sponsors for their product that is having an overkill of hateful complaining.
((the above is from info online about the long standing board being closed)
The habitual bitching whining complainers are the real killer of soaps.
New, new people who might care to tune into GH read the horrible comments about it and turn away.
Fans who tuned out are were thinking about returning read the hate complaints of it and they don’t bother to tune in.
The complaining has a great deal to with the canceling of a soap.
I respectfully suggest the hate for GH persistent complainers shut the fug up.
People who luv GH are content and don’t run to the boards to trash it.
‘side; I watched BB for near a year..
I found it becoming not worth my time to watch, I eventually became very disgruntled with a in minds list of everything I found wrong with BB.
I never went to the boards and complained and bitched about it like a frantic crazy out of control kook.
What I did, as any rational person with a logical mind would do, I stopped watching BB and moved on.
(Don’t care for GH. OK fine then quietly move on.)
Anyways; It was done, said very nicely;
ABC.go boards
General Hospital
Discuss General Hospital
Discussions
Message Board Closure Announcement
TO: All
POSTED:Jul-28 11:30 AM
Dear loyal General Hospital fans,
We are announcing that General Hospital’s message board will be closing in two weeks on Monday, August 10th 12pm PT. We understand this news will be disappointing for regular users of the message boards. However, there are plenty of other active communities on Facebook ……………………. et`al
((I never posted there but seeing it closed was a bit saddening ..
You have no right to demand that people shut the fug up on any matter, just because their opinion doesnt match yours. And if you would READ the boards, you would see thatthe ooverwhelming majority are NOT pleased with GH, and havent been for quite some time. It takes a LOT for soap fans to tune out…..but it is happening in droves. The ratings clearly reflect that.
Wow! Protecting their own, eh?
And the viewers make the show go round; someone needs to get a clue. The squeaky wheel gets the oil. And GH gets garbage dumped on it because of the way TPTB and writers treat the fans. The fans have the power to switch to black and shut it down. And they’ve done so in droves. It’s “just what the doctor ordered.”
Sponsors could care less if a GH message board breeds complainers. They care about viewers within the ratings demos. The vast majority of those who have quit watching did so without posting one word on the message boards – they simply found other ways to spend their time during the GH viewing hour. People who complain on the boards have been trying to convey to the GH production team to GET A CLUE before the show was irreparably destroyed. And whether or not they succeeded before it is too late is questionable.
I’m final gonna ask… for whom do you intern for at GH?
Dylan..
I did not ”demand” complainers shut the fug up..
I said-
quote;
”I -respectfully suggest- the hate for GH persistent complainers shut the fug up.”
I suggested.. no wonder some can not understand GH some can’t even comprehend/read correctly what is said yet follow along with the soap stories.
I will suggest again;
habitual complainers need to quietly walk away and shut the fug up.. complainers are doing great harm to their soap.
again —
the ranting complainers, ranting hate of GH need to back away you are damaging the soap more than anything of the soap itself..
there is a difference between a negative criticism and the habitual bitching/relentless complaining/bashing everything GH from some peoples 🙂
Instead of putting energy into the bashing of GH use the energy to support GH.
really, all the negativity bashing of everything GH needs to stop or GH will end.
Silence at times is golden..
LOL..
hi me3..
I simply love my imperfect soap. a true fan..
It is more rewarding to say something supporting than ranting hate..
I don’t let anyone disrespect my Packers. either .. lol
but hey! perhaps I should apply for internship at GH, hopefully could find something for me LOL 🙂 ..
Actually, su0000, a business or sponsor will continue to support a product/program so long as it’s making money–even if people hate it and complain about it. There are many examples where this has been exactly the case. I agree with Elizabeth, above: they care about (numbers of) viewers within the ratings demos. You can love it, you can hate it, but as long as you watch (provided you’re the right gender and in the right age range) and your eyeballs are there to be counted in the numbers they use to determine their ad rates, they could not care less how you feel about what you’re watching.
And as others have pointed out, if they were serious about trying to maximize their ratings, they’d pay attention to the substance of what people are saying. It’s true that there’s a lot of nonsensical stuff posted on just about any soap message board–but there are also a lot of intelligent, perceptive people who express themselves well, are rational, and are quite articulate at saying what is driving them to stay tuned in or what is compelling them to tune out. This is FREE market research, if they’d only be willing to sift through the flotsam and jetsam and pay attention. But they’ve generally been quick to dismiss “those crazy Internet fans” (and yes, there are some of those, but “Internet fans” are hardly a uniform enough group to be tagged with one label)–especially when what those fans are saying is something they just don’t want to hear.
The truth is, with occasional exceptions on certain shows, they’ve (they = network soap execs) been producing mostly crap on the soaps since the Internet has been around, and they’ve become expert at finding every excuse in the book, or every evasion possible, why it’s not their fault, and why they shouldn’t have to do anything different from what they’re doing. With rare exceptions, soap execs aren’t soap fans and don’t have any particular love for the genre (despite what they say); if you don’t think there’s such a thing as “good soap,” you sure can’t make it happen. Actions like closing down the GH message board are part and parcel of their opinion that if they just cover their eyes and ears and stick their heads in the sand, the problems aren’t real. (That’s only survival for them, I guess: what else to do when the problem is YOU?)
I think the recent decision making has been disastrous, especially firing Ron C; if the team they picked as a replacement was the best they felt they could do, then that should have told them something. But that said, they’d be wise to listen to what people are saying; perceptive assessment of the more rational comments would have told them what was wrong and what they needed to do. My guess is that most of the things RC has gotten blamed for (though not all of them), and most of the things people complain about the most, were network executive decisions, not RC’s. Can you imagine what it must have felt for them to read that kind of thing–and start to grasp the extent of their own incompetence? I’m not surprised they shut the message board down; they’re certainly not up to the task of manning (womanning) up, putting on their big boy/big girl pants, and accepting that they’ve made a pretty big mess of things and need to figure things out. So much easier to congratulate themselves on “solving the problem”–we’ve hired new headwriters, so everything’s gonna be fine.
Could it be that the OLTL audience that came over to GH in 2012 (II was one of them) feels abandoned? We were waiting for a soap revival… But to no avail… ABC dropped the ball once again .
And killing off Silas, was just stupid – a real knife in the back to us fans…
bingo !
Carlivati is the tip of the iceberg of changes that need to be made. I really don’t believe recycling the same headwriters is the answer. Does anyone even care anymore that Jake is Jason? They are making Liz despicable! There is not one interesting storyline on this show at the moment.
GH needs some work. Despite top acting talent, too many characters are written into corners or are so over-the-top and evil, they defy any honest redemption or lasting love. And those characteristics make it difficult to win credibility in plots. Yes, it’s a soap opera with certain conventions, and yes, there will always be seen-to-be-believed plot points, but the endless resurrections, international spy rings, the tired mob stories, the plastic surgeries, the endless crazy… please. Sometimes too much is just that, too much.
Clean house. Simplify. Focus.
All soaps can come back from the brink as long as the top brass are willing to give the show money and time to turn itself around. What is saving Days is the 50th year anniversary, both the network, Sony and the Corday family want to exploit this milestone and are putting the effort into making sure the 50th is a great year. Whether they would be willing to do what they did if Days wasn’t hitting 50th I’m not too sure.
So whether GH can come back from this low point depends on how much time the network and fans are willing to give it– how much cash they are willing to sink in a reboot and how well they truly listen to what their viewers really want in a daytime drama
I have been watching GH since it first aired in early 60s. My mother was a fan and I watched with her. There have been scenarios I wasn’t interest in but being able to watch the people who became a part of my life at an early age has been an intricate part of my life. During the years I worked I recorded it so I could watch it. Since I’m 68, I guess I don’t fit into any of the demographics that are counted or maybe I should say that count as far as the polls go but watch every day and will until ABC is able to destroy it like they did OLTL. I believe they bring in the writers from hell when they want to destroy something. Loyal viewers just have to continue to watch and the writers will change and stories will get better. Although I think GH is going fairly strong right now even if the Jake/Jason story is dragging slower than I would like since I’m a Jason/Sam fan and thankfully Luke/TG has retired which allows it to getting better. I’m glad Laura/GF is coming back for her own storyline without Luke. Just like my mom and I talked about GH through the years, one of my daughters and I also carry on that routine. Sometimes it is difficult to read all the complaints the “fans” write in the comments. Negativity breeds negativity and when all the network reads is negativity they decide it is become obvious to them that no one wants to watch. Then they will shove another talk show or cooking show or reality show down the viewers throats and more and more afternoon viewing will become like prime time viewing of surfing the channels to find a rerun of a movie or old series that held our interest in days when television entertained us. I really would hate that to happen because despite a weak story here and there the majority are strong ones and the characters grow and become our make-believe GH family. As I said I am not considered in an important age demographic but I guarantee I will watch and support General Hospital every day.
Dawn–what a lovely and thoughtful comment. Contrary to that silly age demographic thingie, I do think your opinion matters and ABC should think so too.
While I disagree with some of what you say, you expressed it so eloquently that I must respect your position and it has given me food for thought.
I do agree with your premise that in general, negativity breeds negativity. For instance, let’s say you work in an office which is rather a joyless experience. You walk in first thing in the morning determined to make the best of things but the woman in the next cubicle sighs sharply and begins to bitch about her job. Suddenly, she spreads her toxicity and you’re in a lousy mood. Is this what you mean?
Okay, if so, I get this. However, I do not feel this premise is applicable to GH. For one thing, the complainers are not sitting in your living room with you as you attempt to watch GH. For another thing, as I keep asserting, any attention directed toward this soap, be it positive or negative, is a good thing because it signifies collective interest to the ABC suits. Finally, in the off chance that an ABC suit or a GH writer happens to read viewer forums such as this one, they will see that the fans really care and they will see WHERE GH is going wrong and WHAT they can do improve it.
I say keep the complaints coming but offer validation and direction for those complaints.
I hope that the new writers focusing on Sonny and the mob is not true. That is what made me quit this show so many years ago. It is General HOSPITAL! Please focus on the HOSPITAL and the core families. A little Sonny & The Mob is fine, but it should not be All Sonny All the Time.
Also, a major reboot is in order. Much of this cast needs to go. There is a lot of talent in this group but also a lot of dead weight. I will continue to support GH, but right now it sits on my DVR for weeks before I catch up through FF and delete!
Seriously, if TPTB at ABC are banking on The FabLife to bring in the ratings they are in for a rude awakening. Sad that they have learned nothing since cancelling OLTL & AMC.
How right you are! The FabLife has NOTHING to do with the fans of GH. We’re gone.
MBmomof3..
A huge numbers of fans love Sonny and Mob.
It is a great part of GH that many watch for.
Everybody I know that watch GH like the 2 mobsters.
GH has had its key families as gangstas, that is good stuff.
out of a cast say 40? there a 2 main mobsters Julian and Sonny, that is it 2 characters out of all..
There are others brought in, not often, to make it appear there still is an actual mob for key scenes ..
In past decades there were actual numbers in mobsters, more than a dozen at times, no longer, we have 2, Sonny and Julian..
People freaking out about 2 mobsters is ridiculous.. LOL 🙂
Sonny and the mob has no big dominating mob stories for a very long time and when there would be mob anything it short live, and I’d like an actual mob story..
Haven’t had one since the now defunct Alcazar’s..
Some people can’t get their minds out of what was and see what actually is.
Sometimes it seems you’re watching your own version of GH. The mob was central when Guza was there–well after Alcazar was killed. Sonny has been on our screens continuously for weeks now & contrary to how you feel, a whole lot of people don’t like Sonny or the Mob. Making Sonny & Jason heroes almost got the show canceled before.
Advertisers want viewers in the demo and in order to get that you need some hot men, being hot. Romance is the answer, not more mob wars
Lucy D..
It WAS it longer is Guza mobster days, we are in the now and there are 2 mobsters doing little of nothing but threatening each other LOL
The past is in the past– what was no longer is 🙂
Sonny has not has a story in a very long time.
I am looking forward to the upcoming story.
It is not a mob story, again- not a mob story-
it is a family story concerning Morgan, Michel and Avery a marriage and Kristina coming home.
The Gusa years are no longer, live in the now. 🙂
Su000…..where are these “huge number of fans that love Sonny and the mob”? Have you read the ratings, because I’m not seeing any large numbers?
The network is tone deaf. The ratings were fine until the last 6 months. That was the stupid Luke exit, complete with interference from Geary & the network.
It’s the DRAWN OUT Jake/Jason reveal.
And their solution is to hire headwriters who are on record as saying they want to focus on the “family” drama of Sonny and his family. Who the heck wants to see more of them? MB has had his day in the sun and it’s over.
GH needs to get rid of the mob–the Sopranos have been off the air for years. It’s an old, tired & worn out story line.
Mostly the problem is who are we supposed to root for? The mob people? Corinthos or Jerome? They’ve made the good guys Liz & Nik bad people. Because someone decided there were too many kids, we’ve not seen Emma trying to adjust to a possible new Mommy. Instead of showing Patrick & Sam adjusting to a new family dynamic, they have Sam back to wearing horrendous outfits and agonizing over a man who’s been “dead” for 2 years.
People who ship Sam & Jason have stopped watching. People who ship Liz & Jason are angry Liz is being made to act totally out of character. No way would Nik EVER try to have someone killed.
The network needs to stop blaming Ron & own up to its own responsibilities for tanking GH’s ratings. It’s been evident in interveiws from Vicki Drummer and the ridiculous antics of Nathan Varni on social media that this mess is due to a lot of network interference. Frons almost brought GH to its end. Seems like Drummer & Varni are trying to do the same thing.
I agree with most of your points. I have been watching since the late 60s. and have been hoping for a return to General Hospital as it should be.- I can then tolerate what goes on around it to a certain extent i.e. some off shoot stories featuring characters who work at GH as well as their relatives, and possibly some mob fodder. But f what I’ve been reading on this board is true about the new old writers putting heavy focus on Corinthos yet again, (and it seems it’s probable, by the ridiculous “Morgan may be bi-polar) story line, I’ll just have to quit. Old habits do die hard, but after how MIchael Easton was let go, it will be the last straw for me . I might jump ship to another network; It hurts to see what’s become of my beloved GH. I started watching with my Mother who recently left this earth, and so leaving this show will be letting go of yet something else we shared together for so long.
It’s pretty obvious from Dummer’s interview and Varni’s antics that they’re not thinking or operating in the best interest of the show. I love GH but I’m not going to continue to tolerate this dread of stories. I’ve watched since the 80’s and I just can’t take it anymore. Some may call me fair weather but I stuck it out for 30 years… I don’t think I’m the inconsistent onein the relationship.
The killing of Silas and the very popular Michael Easton was a HUGH mistake!!! He has an enormous fan base! When will GH listen to fans? We have a petition trying to get Michael Easton back on GH, if you would like to sign http://t.co/1oh1Poj55I
There is sadly nothing that can be done. GH is not OLTL . All traces of Llanview have been erased and GH is back to the boring show with terrible numbers that it was Pre – Carlivati . GH purists wanted a OLTL free show well now they are getting their wish with the terrible numbers that are no coincidence
the only thing I can say now…. for certain
ABC and NBC …. the one Network with lone (1) serial.
“DO NOT MESS WITH THEM” the cornerstone of all that you produce for your daytime arena. ratings be damned… without ; ABC, General Hospital and NBC, Days of OUR Lives… you’d spiral every thing else on your schedule. that gleaming soap opera title is what grabs at your viewers
I have to take a snippet from poster @MarySF : (which I thought was cute)
“… the suits realize the only thing that was ever wrong with Days was neglect. ”
operative word; “neglect”
this could easily be the same thing going on with GH… which has already been addressed with their OWN nuHEADWRITING TEAM … it was last read that their stories will start airing in OCTOBER, 2015.
since both of these shows arsenal have been addressed… lets carry on and champion
this summer alone… I know i’ve “erased” upwards of a month of each show
horror of all horror… I don’t think my priorities change
as poster, @Laurie and I have commiserated : “our soaps are in a downward trend, so to speak… and it was double sigh all around” LOL it’s deflating… all the gusto and what do we get…. bad bad bad writing, low production values, and cast change, that really drive fans (away) and or protest
Ta-da !
I have waited patiently and am NOW CELEBRATING w/ Salem’ites ! Days of OUR Lives is rocketing….. giddy happy dance
GH: I honestly, cannot think of a single story that grabs me??? I’m stumped… I keep up but nothing that’s reeling is REALly?
whew!
GH and DAYS are still my favorite show
I have to share at something
Nikolas, Liz, and Hayden : as much as Hayden makes me MAD… and yes, it’s because Hayden is doing a bang up job ACTING ! just don’t lord over too much my Nik and Liz…. bond! take this trio places ! LIVE and take over Port Charles
Liz and “Jake” : the romance is their ! it truly is…
Laura : will the writers do her justice ? in two months time?
Traci and Monica : ??? WRITERS ! seriously ? Billy Miller ensconced with these two maga watt Q’s? DEAL, BET, HEDGE, PAYOFF! please write….
FOREVER AND A DAY?!?! honestly…. seriously… REALly?
NO Roger Howarth, NO Michelle Stafford, NO Maura West. I don’t get it?
give samples plus of Mac and Felicia and Kevin! replete with attention span
Ava’ baby
Liz returned son, Jake
Olivia’ Leo
Carly’ Josslyn
just cute reasons to story
and many more !
LOL
sing
If only TPTB cared as much about GH as the fans do.
Glad you’re enjoying Days as much as I am.
IN THE END OF THE STORY YOU, OH BY THER WAY, MENTION BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL LOST MOST VIEWERS OF ALL SOAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHY WAS THAT NOT THE HEADLINE????? B&B NEEDS TO COME OFF MY SCHEDULE….A SOAP COULD NOT REPEAT AND REPEAT AND LECTURE LIKE
THAT ONE……GOOD BY B&B……give g.h. a chance…..
I have no intention of watching the DRABLife… enough of force feeding us ‘celebrity’ nonsense.
Give us our ‘stories’
The ratings will not increase until there are additional soaps on the air. ABC/Disney should take OLTL/AMC and other cancelled soaps out of the ‘vault’ and give them back to us..
I love GH and will always watch, but I understand the dip in ratings. They did the right thing first, which is getting a new head writer, or in this case, writers! They need to stop dragging out stories too long, like the reveal of Jason. They need to stop boring us with characters that don’t click or have no Port Charles roots, like Rosalie, Nina, Kiki, and Franco. Ratings soared when they brought back classic characters that longtime viewers love, but they haven’t been using them lately. They need their own story, not just to prop up other stories. We need to see more of Lucy, Bobbie, Felicia, Mac, and Monica. There needs to be more of a balance. TPTB need to listen to more of what the viewers want, which they don’t seem to do. If they do this more often, they will see the ratings spike! I’m holding out hope for the new writers. I don’t want to see the last ABC soap bite the dust.
These bad demos are ominous, once fans tune out they rarely come back. All My Children had horrid demos for years, even before the ratings hit rock bottom. Fans move on from soaps easily. The bump from AMC and OLTL fans may be over. My guess is this show is done and gone within eighteen months.
The Tyra Banks show someone mentioned is being aired in many markets in the morning, including mine. It is syndicated and any station can pick it up. I do not think it will impact GH at all.
I watch only General Hospital — sad DISNEY/ABC cancelled my other favorite shows All My Children/One Life to Live for CRAP — Games Shows, Talk Shows and Reality TV !! — Never watch anything else — If GH goes — so does ABC !! — I won’t support crap on day time — !! and GAME SHOWS, REALITY TV and TALK SHOWS are just that CRAP!!
Chalk me up as one of the GH viewers who left. I’m now five days into my two-week test without watching GH (first time to miss the show in 3 years, although I have been FF’ing through all Sonny scenes since he murdered AJ and got away with it). I hope the new writers can turn the show around or I’m gone for good.
New writers: the answer is NOT Sonny and the mob. Get back to the hospital and the main characters centered around the hospital (Quartermaines, Spencers, Webbers, Dr. O and her kids, Patrick, the gay trio, etc.).
Ditto!
Double ditto!
Triple Ditto!
Make that a quadruple one!
Both GH and Days are extremely borely and GH is utterly unwatchable.
I’d never watched GH until Roger Howarth migrated when OLTL was (ultimately) cancelled–and even as a diehard fan of his for 20 years–hanging in there right now to see if anything really worthwhile happens with Franco has become sheer torture.
Wasting so so so much time on the Silas murder mystery after so many other wasted opportunities and roadblocks (like having Nina marry Ric) has essentially destroyed whatever promise there could have been for a great super couple in Franco and Nina!!!
Granted, there are several brilliant actors on GH, but the storylines are total disasters. At this point, I don’t know how ABC will keep the show on the air.
As much as I adore Roger Howarth, I have pretty much run out of patience.
Edie, I so agree and if anyone told me that one day I would be fast forwarding through scenes which featured Roger Howarth I would say they needed they’re head examined.
their, not they’re. Darn it.
hey Harry..
I luv Franco and Nina, a very quique couple, indeed.
I am sooooo luvin Roger/Franco.. The role of Franco, no other than Roger could have turned him into a lovable character,, I wanna run away with Franco to a deserted island!!
Franco has a great following 🙂
I like how the humorous side of Franco has been calmed down to just enough to make me wanna hug him..
I luv Franco & Nina
I luv Franco & Dr. O
I luv Franco & Scotty !!
I just luv Franco to pieces!
I find your post highly questionable, edie.
Your first sentence pertains to DAYS and GH being boring…to you, but then you go on and on and on and on about the pro’s and con’s of GH and nothing else mentioned about DAYS.
I’ve concluded you hreally have no idea about DAYS…except you feel you can just throw it under the bus and hope GH can run it over and leave it in the dust!
Your post is null and void!!!!!
4ever DAYS,
The last thing I want to do is throw any soap under the bus and leave it in the dust. I have watched DAYS fairly regularly since it started back when I was a little girl in the 1960s. There used to be a real focus on romance and core families. Recently, I have been as a matter of personal (religious) beliefs extremely turned off and actually offended by the gay marriage/triangle story with Will & Sonny & Paul along with the cougar story with Eve & J.J. (yes, I also am subjected to that on GH with Ava/Denise & Morgan) And, I know GH has the occasional episodes with Lucas & Brad & Felix.
Back to DAYS, I find the “Who’s The Daddy” story with Abigail and Ben and Chad to be very unimaginative. I find very little reason to invest in Hope and Aiden because I just sensed that she would eventually reunite with Bo. The on again, off again pairing of Nicole and Daniel has grown tiring and Eric’s relationship with the now-murdered Serena never sparked whatsoever (not to mention, the most lame story perhaps ever on soaps with her elephants) Brady and the Teresa baby Tate story is also weak and seems contrived and forced; I feel it is a shame that they dropped a real gem of an actress in Melanie in the process. Jennifer needs a good love story; I never saw much chemistry between her and Daniel.
Now, I am not looking forward to the new teens taking over, thanks to some characters being SORAD (rapidly aged). I am in my mid-50s and this does nothing to appeal to me.
The only bright spot for me on DAYS this year has been the sweet romance between Lucas and Adrienne. Bryan R. Dattilo is one of my favorites and I was outraged when he was sacrificed (and Lumi fans dismissed) when Sami was paired with E.J. in what I viewed as a sick twisted story considering how he virtually raped her in return to agreeing to rescue Lucas who was trapped by the beam.
Now, with the return of Justin, that story has largely been swept aside.
I hope these expanded opinions and analysis has now made my earlier post more valid and credible.
I hate to be so down on my 2 shows right now, but it seems I am not alone in my dissatisfaction, disgust and dismay.
Yes, edie, I now understand you have real opinions.
Maybe, in time, the new writers will win you over…Salem wasn’t built in one day. I’ve already seen real progress!
Thanks for your insight and I’m sorry I misjudged your motives.
4ever DAYS.
No hard feelings and thanks for your responses. I, too, see a few positive signs
I wholeheartedly wish the new writers at both DAYS and GH all the best in improving both shows because life without soap operas is utterly unbearable just to imagine–and we have already suffered too many cancellations.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the new writing teams will make the right changes .
I dont watch anymore! I only like DAYS!
Agreed, Mark
ABC’s cancellation of OLTL and AMC has caused the demise of soaps – “Tyra Banks’ show will not be the draw to keep GH on. New writers and storylines will certainly help GH – the actors are phenomenal and even when the storyline was silly, at best, they pulled it off. I hope it can survive but ABC has to bring back
at least either AMC or OLTL to re-capture those lost and GH writing must improve – get the stories moving forward, we are always in a rocking chair, rocking and going nowhere – would hate to see GH end! Also, bring back Silas/Caleb somehow, keep the older excellent actor so we can have good acting and infiltrate the youth…you see what happened with OLTL when they handed over the storyline to the new generation; it could not be saved!
Reveal Jason so he can get back with his wife Sam and his son
Daniel!!
A fresh new writing team is what the show needs. Not the soap killers they hired.
I have a great fear of the fired writers from Y&R that brought Y&R rating to the lowest ever.
The Snooze Queens were brought to GH, and I fear it will be worse, not better.
Time will tell.. hope I am wrong, but…………………………../
If General Hospital gets cancelled I will not support ABC in any way. Regardless of how i feel about what has happened to G.H. at this point ,I am still hanging in there for 47 years. It would be thrilling to see the show rebound with great character driven stories and just blow through the roof again with new vitality, while keeping the General Hospital as the nucleus from which characters and their stories are generated.
I agree with you smoochie. These days I am not watching GH, but I will return when the head writers’ material goes on the air. If it is dreck, I won’t watch. And if GH is cancelled I won’t ever watch ABC, Disney, ESPN, Family, or any other broadcast network that is part of the Disney corporation again.
They need to pick up the pace. Too many stories are simply not advancing. Give fans a reason to turn in every day. Okay, he’s Jason. Move on already!
No problem with the veteran actors. They give good performances when the material is lackluster. They can do better work when the material is better.
Get an acting coach on staff, pronto! Some of the younger generation (Hello, Kiki) would really benefit.
And, last but not least, more Ilene Kristen!
Disappointed to hear that the new team will be focusing on more Sonny and more mob. One of the best things Ron did was to ease up on that and give more balance to the show – certainly to allow for characters that didn’t like Sonny or the mob very much (as it should be).
I’m a long time viewer of all the ABC soaps – since the 70s and have enjoyed them all through good and bad times. I stopped watching all the soaps about ten years ago because they were mostly unwatchable. Too many serial killer stories, not enough adventure and romance. Not enough relationships. GH was the worst as it had become the Sonny/Carly/Jason show. Five days in and five days out. Just too damn much mob.
But I started watching OLTL when Ron was making a splash there .. and eventually caught the last few months of AMC, a shell of its former self by the end. When both of those ended and Ron came to GH, I was thrilled and started watching GH again – loved it , there was some balance and some camp but old faves and some fun stuff, he really caught a bit of the old magic….. but eventually when AJ was killed (again) and Fluke dominated the show… and Sonny and the mob were reinstated as a major story… I realized that my time with the show was limited. I hung on until Michael gave Sonny Avery back and .. I dunno, it was the last straw. I caught a few eps in mid July and couldn’t believe that Ron had the balls to bring Jake back – a story that defined Liz’s and Luke’s character for years. (one of the few eps I caught during my time out from the show was Luke’s intervention… one of the best things that Guza did).
I had high hopes for the new team but this news does not bode well. If all they have is re-warmed Sonny and overbaked mob stories to tell, I think I’d rather it just be cancelled. I guess I’ll watch again and see how the new team does, I owe decades of watching that… but you know, Carolyn Hinsey said it best – if the show can’t be bothered to invest in its characters, why should I be bothered to watch?
Perfectly said, Andrew. Nothing more to add except that I’ve moved on and won’t reinvest my time in it again no matter what reincarnation they (try to) invent.
Andrew, spot on! I’m in total agreement. Thank you. I just hope that we’re wrong…..I really hope the new writers can listen to us!
The ratings are terrible because the show is terrible. I watched RC and FV destroy OLTL; and I tapped out early when I saw they would be doing the same to GH. The writing is bad, the storytelling is bad, the cast is entirely too big, and the production value sucks. FV is all out of stunts to try to drive up the ratings.
I loved Ron’s work; there was a time that G.H. and Days were very hot ! I didn’t know which show was more exciting. However, at some point something happened that made both shows, at the same period , become poorly written. I totally agree with some parts of everyone’s comments; we’re not going to all agree on what changes should occur; however, we agree that some are needed.
I believe that the show should get back to its name: General Hospital and not mob land. If Ron had written the mob out totally, he would have been stoned by some fans and given a parade by others. Yet, Ron did a marvelous job when he was at the helm.
As one commenter made last, Ron should have been retained and one new writer could have come on board.
Maybe Ron will join Days since Dena is out on leave.
Furthermore, fans shouldn’t desert the show, but continue to fast forward through the parts they don’t like; that’s what I do. Also, I agree with what was stated above about characters getting away with crimes and not being held accountable ; we wouldn’t accept it in reality; therefore, we shouldn’t accept it on the Soaps. I don’t want Michael to accept the fact that Sonny killed A.J. ; I would never accept that in real life if someone killed my father intentionally.
Let’s hope that the writing team’s decisions are the right ones or close to right since they won’t be able to please all of us.
hi Belle..
It is the way it is with soaps, nobody pays for their crimes unless they are leaving.
Has Victor Y&R ever payed, no
Not many on any soap have paid, it is the way it is. Not real life.
The soaps are fulla criminals, all free still doing dirty deeds. Not just GH.
Soaps are a different world than one we live in ..
It might help if producers and writers and even actors remember history Dillon was at Georgie’s funeral Holly and Bill had a relationship the list goes on and on if you are going to step in and run a show do your homework. FV quit hiring actors from cancelled soaps or other soaps because you might think they will pull a fan base. Stanford West Howarth Rylan Miller Easton Budig no one cares if you don’t develop a character and try making these actors study acting instead of working out at the gym. Try running like a business and quit letting the inmates run the asylum. That is all no excuse for a soap to get cancelled when you are the last man standing what is your completion Betty Boop ?
Competition sorry just stupid beyond stupid that no one jumps in and gets control their is still an audience for this but not if you are going to treat everyone like they have an IQ of 12.
Exactly, k/kay!!!! I’ve grown so very weary of the continual stunt casting of big name former soap opera refugees who usurp space from the deserving regulars on the GH canvas. That practice should be sparingly utilized, and suitably applied only when a situation actually calls for it….then in that rare instance, I can support it. For example, where we do part company is in the case of Billy Miller! His Jason/Jake character was necessary to progress an existing storyline with legacy cast members and the show’s original actor was (mercifully) gone for good….hence, it made perfect sense to enlist this popular, charismatic ex Y&R guy to offer his own interpretation of Mr. Morgan, and perhaps simultaneously increase the GH audience. The fact this experiment’s been somewhat less than wildly successful is not due to any failures on the part of the charming BM, but the stilted writing, meandering development and delayed reveals for which long-time viewers have been waiting….and waiting….and waiting! Still, no major quarrels with that particular recast. Same for Richard Burgi and his nuPaul Hornsby! Even the return of Michael Easton was fine by me, because I didn’t necessarily identify him just as OLTL’s John McBain….this veteran performer had a long list of previous credits, and former ties to Port Charles, as well, so I was delighted to welcome him back! Not so much for numerous others you have mentioned….most especially Stafford, Budig and to a lesser extent, West and DeVry (who was basically brought on board simply to give the insatiable Alexis an over-active sex life.). The repeated, ill-fated attempts to force-feed the likes of the nervy Nina, heinous Hayden and the atrocious Ava–then deplorable Denise–has just been too much for diehard GHers who want to keep THEIR program historically intact and going strong, not reinvent it into some super-soap or weird hybrid of cancelled ABC daytime dramas to placate those disgruntled, displaced fans. Along with the intrusion of far too many unappealing and annoying newbies, the show has become an unrecognizable mishmash of interlopers….that’s not to say that there should never be new blood….if judiciously added, it can be fabulous! I loved the introductions of Dr. O. and Britt, and could even excuse the insertion of the much-maligned “Swiss Sis” Magda and her so-called “son” Nathan…since their presence easily melded into and could be explained via those of past players like Faison and the Cassadines…yet the Nina nonsense was totally unnecessary to their existence. Ditto for Silas….he could have been the exact same doctor linked to Stephen Clay without the loony ex-comatose wife and segued right into the identical scenario with Sam and Danny, et al….Additionally, a disproportionate number of today’s cast simply don’t have any logical place in the scheme of all things Port Charles and never will, like the inane Sappy, Val-Chops, Grossalie, Jordan, etc….their ongoing intrusion is tantamount to sending someone like Luke Spencer to Downton Abbey or that show’s Lady Mary and Dowager Countess Violet to Empire….say what?????? It’s an exercise in futility to invent lame, incoherent reasons to try to make the implausible fit in….that simply cannot work, so it’s time to give it up. Period!
your :
ta-da !
pen
thesis
keyboard
mindful
logic
exemplary
dissertation
gavel my dear(s). K/Kay, Shay
simply applauding fan’ insight intellect innate sensibilities
Focusing on Sonny, his family, and the mob will be what finally brings this show to last place and result in cancellation. GH has been Sopranos-lite for far too long and it’s proving to be its undoing.
I know it will be an unpopular opinion but I’ve always thought GH should have been cancelled instead of OLTL which despite occasional missteps featured diverse storytelling, a greater respect for its history, and knew the value of always setting up the next generation of core families instead of killing them off for shock value.
I don’t think that is an unpopular opinion. OLTL was the superior soap and should not have been cancelled.
I believe OLTL had ratings close to 2.8 million when it was canceled. It was the third most watched soap at the time.
I tuned out of GH ages ago although, I did watch a few of the Geary goes bye-bye ones. They did nothing to spark my interest in viewing it again. From what little I have seen & have read in the synopsises (sp) stories drag, make little to no sense and some of the actors really need to be replaced. I have always thought the guy playing Morgan was dreadful. Chad Duell always seems to have a look on his face like “Wha?”, I never got the Sonny love…MB mumbles all the time.
Carlivati has talent but not enough to carry through on stories which started the derailing of GH. From what i know of the current shows noting much has changed despite his ousting.
Hate like hell to see another soap gone but GH is teetering on the edge.
A not unpopular opinion – there was a period when OLTL under Ron was gangbusters – although most of the last year was kind of strange… but I can forgive that as the concluding weeks were quite amazing.
But I do want to correct you- in the early 2000s, under Dena Higley, OLTL had its share of serial killer stories and there were some ‘next gen’ killings (can’t think of whom right now but it was a kind of epidemic throughout all of ABCs soaps at the time) such as Al Holden (his girlfriend, Marcie, got thrown into a dumpster because the girls in her school thought she was fat – she contracted some disease, passed it on to Al and then he died… but was kind of sort of ‘reborn’ as Michael McBain in what has to be one of the oddest storylines in all of soaps).
Yes, there were a few next generation characters killed off on OLTL such as Al Holden, Drew Buchanan, Duke Buchanan, and Jen Rappaport but if you look at the show at the time of its cancellation you had Jessica, Natalie, David, Matthew, and Rex as the next generation of the Buchanan family to drive story with Shane, Liam, Ryder, Bree, and Drew set up as the next decade’s leads. Starr, Jack, and Dani were the next generation Mannings and older siblings to Victor Lord Jr’s son Sam. Adriana, Cassie, and Kelly were the current (off-camera Cramers). And don’t forget Tina and Cord’s kids C.J. and Sarah; Kelly and Duke’s son Zane who was off in boarding school; and little Sierra Rose, Rex’s niece and Shane’s cousin. Also: Vimal’s little sister Neela, Dorian’s adopted daughter Langston, and Roxie’s son Schuyler. All in all, I think OLTL did a far better job of retaining its next generation characters and building its future than most soaps.
And yeah, that whole Al Holden’s soul in Michael McBain’s body plot was a real lulu. If I recall correctly, Al had until Valentine’s Day to make Marcy fall in love with the egotistical Dr. McBain if he was going to be reunited with her in another body. I believe Michael Malone and Josh Griffith were responsible for that mess (as well as the awful Music Box Killer plot).
All I know is that the show is less interesting these days. Bringing back original cast members, recasting and firing won’t help the show if the story lines always suck. The actors on the show can only act on what material and direction their given . If the director and producers can’t see the “I can has cheezburger ” mess they’ve created, don’t blame the actors, except the new kiki, you can definitely blame her, she’s horrible. I also notice the editing is a little off when it comes to certain actors, but I will keep the names to myself. Come on GH fix yourself!
Ron & Frank ..
brought back-
Morgan Corinthos (Bryan Craig) was brought back and Maura West came with him to Port Charles,,
He brought in Derek Wells (Julian Jerome) giving Sam a father.
And Alexis a love interest (hot!
and Sonny a rievel.
Ron gave us the ‘britch.. Patrick and Dr. Britt Westbourne (Kelly Thiebaud) had a real go at it. Britt gave birth to Roco..
And– Britt’s mother, Dr. Liesl Obrecht/Kathleen Gati, came to Port Charles with Faison behind her..
He brought back , my fav, Jerry Jacks
and all time greats the Cassadines!! I miss them.
LOL and another fav- Levi Dunkleman !! gawd I luved that dork!
And gave TJ a mom, Jordan Ashford..
Madeline/Donna Mills..
Sabrina Santiago (Teresa Castillo)
Filex / Felix / Marc Anthony Samuel)
Lucas & Brad (Ryan Carnes & Parry Shen)
Paul Hornsby (Richard Burgi) for Tracy and Dillion a father.
Prince Spencer Stefan Niklosovich Cassadine/(Nicolas Bechtel)
and-
Hayden Barnes (Rebecca Budig)
Michelle/Nina
— Billy Miller/Jake/Jason
Ron also brought back the defunct Nurses’ Ball !!
A Quartermain / Dillon
A Spencer / Valerie
and a Davis/Corinthos back Kristina
He gave us Michelle/Nina, Roger/Franco (ohh gawd they are dynamit! luv them)
He brought Scotty and Bobby back.
Ron brought in 3 million viewers and lost many with the Fluke/Luke exit, not all his fault, up until that mistake the stories, well people loved the stories holding high ratings.. The viewers liked the stories that is why the ratings were way up.
Also Ron won the writers guild award for best writer..
@su
“Thank You”
you were the one poster… I knew, if we needed, to know, all that RC/FV brought to the table… you’d be the one to let US in.
i’m feeling a little down in the dumps… for GH
at the same time celebrating the resurgence of DAYS
is the bait and hook… alive and well?
is this the catalyst for letting go… the huge casts… and rallying
I don’t know…
LOL… this will all bowl over
365 days of telee…. OK… sans the weekends
leave me weak… wanting… unWAVERING
i just glossed over your post
I want to celebrate Ron Carlivati
“Thank You”
storylines are not culled easily… (brought to the forefront)??? but that’s OK
the ACTORS you brought… are a whole ‘nother arena… big!
so… it’s a give and take
YOUR list of cast
is huge! instrumental… diehard come-hither
LOL
you get it
there’s a lot that happened at the pinnacle of their 4 year tenure
dang! didn’t you spot on… with the spiral… as soon as AG’ Luke story ended… is when GH started losing
as i’ve already posted… it was last read… that the new storylines… by the new headwriters (from Y&R) will start airing in October, 2015
which is a whole ‘nother contention in itself….. (oh Gawd) hear me… soap legion’ sing! HELP … is this good?
GH in my opinion… wasn’t so much resurrected… brought back to life… but aired… OH.. the opine we spectators gill… i’ll bleed with this
BS! expletive…. rant
LOL
like DAYS coming to…. GH will surface and onward we
for this reason… for all the undertow… that lie beneath Genoa City: 26 years plus
BS! expletive… rant
every serial has a life line
you know… I can SING that whole cast he brought PLUS
So, So agree. Ron Carlivati is not solely to blame.
Alarmed to hear the new writers are going to focus on Sonny and more terrible mob violence. Especially in these times of so much tragic and random real life violence in the news, I for one turn to my soaps for romance and true love stories–NOT murder mysteries monopolizing precious air time.
As I stated, I had never watched GH until Roger Howarth first brought Todd Manning to Port Charles–yet even his gallant portrayal of Franco is barely enough to keep me watching.
However, I will hang tough if only in my fervent desire and hope to finally be able to enjoy and celebrate his first love scene with Nina.
Keeping fans waiting for eons for extraordinary moments like that is a major reason behind the steep ratings decline.
Again, soaps should not be perpetuating and glorifying murder and other heinous crimes (Lord knows we are enduring way too much of that on our own real life streets) We need ROMANCE!!!
Sadly, Days is inflicting the same stupid strategy.
Both of my remaining soaps are either boring me to death or turning me off with disturbing violence.
Finally, stop coming down so hard on Roger Howarth. His work brings life and incomparable energy to any role and he should have definitely received several more Emmys by now.
Watching DOOL on my DVR and saw a commercial for FABLife. So it will not be on ABC in my market. The commercial was so cheesy . Hope it doesn’t negatively impact DOOL.
Days Of Our Lives
Days of our Lives wins WGA Award for Daytime Drama Series
Sunday night, April 14th in concurrent ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York City, the Writers Guild of America is handing out their 76th annual WGA Awards in the fields of motion picture, television, news media, and radio/audio.
In the Daytime Drama category, Peacock’s Days of our Lives was the winner, taking home its fourth WGA Award in this category in a row.
The DAYS winning writing team consisted of Head Writer Ron Carlivati Creative Consultant Ryan Quan and Writers Sonja Alar, Jazmen Darnell Brown, Joanna Cohen, Carolyn Culliton, Richard Culliton, Cheryl Davis, Kirk Doering, Christopher Dunn, Jamey Giddens, David Kreizman, Henry Newman, Dave Ryan, and Katherine D. Schock.
Photo: JPI
The team from Days of our Lives bested the only other team in the category from General Hospital, which consisted of former GH head writers: Dan O’Connor, Chris Van Etten Writers Ashley Cook, Emily Culliton, Suzanne Flynn, Charlotte Gibson, Lucky Gold, Kate Hall, Elizabeth Korte, Shannon Peace, Stacey Pulwer, Dave Rupel, Lisa Seidman, and Scott Sickles.
Courtesy/Peacock
As previously reported, a show spokesperson for Days of our Lives shared that the episodes submitted for the competition were #14663, #14678 & #14679, and mostly centered around the death, and the funeral of Victor Kiriakis played by the late John Aniston.
This week, DAYS head scribe, Ron Carlivati, confirmed that, and told Michael Fairman TV on the decision of the scripts the team submitted: “I like to have some humor, but it was also the funeral, and then there was Sarah (Linsey Godfrey) giving birth, and then Vivian’s (Louise Sorel) crashing the reading of the will.”
You can follow along with the live updated list of all the winners from tonight’s WGA ceremonies here.
Michael Fairman TV will have more on DAYS WGA Award win as it becomes available.
So, what do you think of Days of our Lives winning the WGA Award writing award for a Daytime Drama series for the fourth year in a row? Comment below.
Days Of Our Lives
Matthew Ashford and Melissa Reeves Talk Return to DAYS for Doug’s Funeral, Susan Seaforth Hayes, and Their Enduring Friendship
Last week, Days of our Lives celebrated the taping of their 15,000th episode which is tentatively scheduled to air on December 3rd. The story will feature emotional and heart-tugging scenes of Doug Williams funeral and honor his portrayer, the beloved Bill Hayes, who passed away on January 12th at the age of 98.
While the actors, producers, and crew took a lunch time break to pose for some pictures and speak with the press, they knew they would have to get back to taping the funeral, which was going to make it a tough day, but also cathartic for all who loved Bill Hayes.
Several returns have thus far been announced including; Melissa Reeves reprising her signature role of Jennifer Horton (a part she first played in 1985), and Matthew Ashford as Jack Deveraux. Reeves had last appeared on the show back in 2021, and she was replaced by Emmy-winner Cady McClain in her absence when Jennifer was in storylines. In real-life, Melissa had moved full-time to Tennessee along with her husband, Scott Reeves (ex-DAYS, GH, Y&R). Now, and as previously reported, Reeves will first appear back on DAYS for the Thanksgiving episodes with the Hortons.
Photo: JPI
Michael Fairman TV caught up with Matt and Melissa during the 15,000th episode celebration to get their take on: being back for these special episodes, how it has been working with and watching Susan Seaforth Hayes portray Julie’s grief over losing Doug, and how they have supported each other through the years. Check out what they shared below.
Melissa, you are back on the set of Days of our Lives for this very emotional and special moment in the series history. How does it feel?
MELISSA: Oh, my goodness. I am honored. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but to be here for Bill. He was like my real-life dance partner. He taught me how to ballroom dance. And to be here for Susan, of course, who’s just been our sweet hero this whole week. We’re just following her lead. She’s just been this incredibly strong example for us in the midst of this trial and season of her life. She is like just lifting us all up with her. It’s been incredible.
I was at Bill Hayes memorial service which was truly incredible and I know at the time you were in Tennessee. It was moving and celebratory of his life, all at the same time.
MELISSA: That’s all I have heard. I have to watch it on You Tube. They said it was just a real celebration of his life and I love that.
Photo: JPI
This must be difficult for Susan Seaforth Hayes depicting the death of Doug, when she is still grieving the loss of her beloved husband. (Susan pictured above with the returning Stephen Schnetzer who plays her on-screen brother, Steve Olson).
MELISSA: I’m sure Susan has those moments at home by herself, but she’s so good at being a leader and leading all of us. We’re following her, you know, and she’s like, “This is how I want to feel today.” And we’re just going along with her, you know? It’s so sweet.
Photo: JPI
How is it to see Matt Ashford again live and in-person?
MELISSA: You know, Matt and I can go years without talking, or seeing each other, and then the minute we see each other we’re chatting away.
MATT: Melissa was out on set doing a scene yesterday on the phone talking to a stage manager; as she was telling some really tough news on the phone. I’m like crying in the background, literally, I’m off-stage crying.
MELISSA: And then we get like back into normal life, and we’re like, okay, “What’s happening? What’s happening with this … or what’s happening with that?”
I had read, Melissa, that you were in touch with Matt about if there night be a possibility for you to reprise your role as Jennifer for these special episodes?
MELISSA: Yes. Well, Matt was like, “Hey! Would you want to come back? “And I was like, “Matt, you know, I would always come back. ”
MATT: Every time I come here to Days of our Lives, they ask, “Where’s Missy? How’s Missy?” Everybody backstage says, “I miss her.” All of the crew is asking about her and saying, “It would be nice to see Missy. Nothing wrong with you Matt, but …” They said, “Where is she?” I said, “She wants to come!”
Photo: JPI
There are some beautiful photos of Missy and Bill and Susan thorough the years that I found. It just reminded me of just the deep and entrenched history we all have had with the show, personally and professionally.
MATT: Missy is roughly the age where Francis Reid (ex-Alice Horton) was when she started the show, which is just crazy.
Photo: JPI
I’ve always said Missy was going to be the next generation Alice. Do you feel that Jennifer is the heir apparent matriarch of the Horton family?
MELISSA: Yes. I mean, this has been greatest blessing of my life, and that would be great. I told Ken Corday (executive producer, Days of our Lives) when I was 17 that this show would be my life. Ken always told me, “This is your home,” and I’ve always felt like that.
How have gotten through the scenes watching Susan Seaforth Hayes as Julie go through the loss of Doug?
MATT: Susan is bringing her best performance life for her and Bill. I mean, she’s a showbiz baby. She always has been one hundred percent, and she’s doing it for him, and this is who they’ve always been. So, you’re seeing this amazing performance colored by her life. She has her private life as Susan, but she has enough plugged into Julie that she’s done amazing work. The director, producers and writers are giving her room to live in these moments and it’s quite wonderful.
Photo: JPI
Have you already broken down in tears during the taping?
MELISSA: Yesterday, but today’s taping of the actual funeral I think they want us to try and be just more celebratory.
MATT: I mean, it is a beautiful long life for Bill Hayes and his character of Doug Williams, and so it will be about that. Then, you get a bunch of us together in the church pews, and there’s going to be hijinks.
MELISSA: We all have been through the waves of grief. You have that awful cry and then all of a sudden you feel okay. There are those family situations we are portraying where you’re like, “What do we do? What do we do now? You know, no one knows what to do. But, it’s so sweet. I’m looking forward to seeing how the scenes all turn out.
So, are you glad that Matt and Melissa are back for the 15K episode and Doug’s funeral? From what we can tell, it’s going to be quite an emotional journey for Days of our Lives fans, and especially the performance of Susan Seaforth Hayes,
Days Of Our Lives
Ron Carlivati Talks on Decision to Make Days of our Lives 15000th Episode About Doug’s Funeral, and Previews Chances for WGA Award
This week, Days of our Lives celebrated the taping of their 15,000th episode. In of it itself, that is an incredible accomplishment for the long-running soap opera currently streaming on Peacock.
However, this on set gathering was a bit different. Though the show is celebrating their achievement, they are also in the middle of taping scenes surrounding the death and the funeral of Doug Williams, played by the late Bill Hayes, who passed away on January 12th of this year at the age of 98.
As previously revealed many longtime favorites are back to honor Bill and the character of Doug including: Gloria Loring (Liz), Melissa Reeves (Jennifer), Matthew Ashford (Jack), Maree Cheatham (Marie), Victoria Konefal (Ciara) and Stephen Schnetzer (Steve) to name but a few.
Photo: JPI
Michael Fairman TV was in attendance and spoke with Days of our Lives head writer, Ron Carlivati to gain some insight into how the 15,000 episode was crafted and the decision to honor the character of Doug Williams and Bill Hayes as its epicenter. In addition, Ron weighed-in on this Sunday’s April 14th WGA (Writers Guild of America) Awards, where he and his writing team are facing off with General Hospital for the daytime drama prize. Here’s what Ron shared below.
Was this your idea to make the 15,000th episode centered around Doug’s funeral and passing?
RON: It was. When you’re looking at it, and laying out the calendar for the whole year and you see 15,000 is coming up, we’re like, “What are we going to do?” And then, we got the news that Bill had passed away and something kind of clicked. I was like, “We should honor Doug on that show.” So then, we started to kind of build around that … when does he pass away? How does he pass away? Who could come back? You know, it’s a lot. I’m very pleased with the returns that we got as there’s so much that you could do. We wanted everybody we could get. So, we put together a wish list and Janet Drucker (co-executive producer, Days of our Lives) made it happen.
Photo: JPI
You have Melissa Reeves back as Jennifer, when the role was last played by Cady McClain. What has it meant to have Missy back for these shows?
RON: It was so nice to see Missy Reeves. I think Cady has done such a good job, but on the 15,000th episode to see Missy as Jennifer, it’s a big deal. So having her was great, and overall, the milestone was a big undertaking, because you want to live up to it. You want the 15,000th episode to be good. Now, it has a lot of real emotion that you’re playing. because for the cast and the crew they’re honoring Bill Hayes just as much as we’re honoring Doug Williams.
Photo: JPI
Was it hard for you and the team to write this episode?
RON: Yes. I’ll tell you why it was hard to write. When I wrote, for example, Asa’s (Phillip Carey) death on One Life to Live or Victor’s (John Aniston) on DAYS, Asa is a different type of character. Like, you could have characters going, “Oh! I’m glad he is dead.” You could have different points of view, but with Doug, you’re not having that. Every person loves this man. No one had a bad relationship with him. So, you’re challenge as a writer is how do you make it that not everybody’s saying the same thing and doing the same thing. And so, we tried to find ways to make the episode about all the familial relationships and yet, how do you make it about Doug and yet broaden the scope.
Photo: JPI
I had spoken to Susan Seaforth Hayes (Julie), a week after Bill’s memorial, for an interview. She said that she felt very fortunate that you did include her on discussions of how you would tackle Doug’s passing. How did that conversation go?
RON: First, I attended Bill’s funeral, which was incredible. I said to so many people it was an emotional service, but it was hard to be sad at this. The guy had an incredible life and it was an incredible celebration. And so, you’re sitting there watching this knowing that you now have to write something similar. And how do you write something that lives up to what you just witnessed? I wanted to talk to Susan to get her thoughts about, you know, how much do you want this to be about keeping Bill separate from Doug. How comfortable are you sharing your grief. She was incredible to talk to. It was a great chat.
You’re in the middle of taping these major scenes for the 15,000 episode to air in December. How do you think it’s going? Have you seen any of the scenes?
RON: I haven’t seeing anything. I mean, we were still making changes to the script up till this morning!
Photo: JPI
The Writers Guild Awards are this Sunday, April 14th and once again this year there are two daytime drama nominees, General Hospital and Days of our Lives. How are you feeling about your chances this year?
RON: It is often just GH and us in the category. I’ve won three years in a row, so I’m kind of feeling like it’s their turn.
Photo: JPI
What episodes did you submit for contention? If I recall, they had to do with Victor’s memorial.
RON: The episodes we submitted were centered around Victor’s funeral. I think one has story with Vivian (Louise Sorel). We had some fun stuff, we had some emotional stuff at Victor’s death, and I am pretty sure that our submission was three episodes right around that time.
Did you make the decision to go with those episodes because there was a mix of humor and drama?
RON: I like to have some humor, but it was also the funeral, then there’s Sarah (Linsey Godfrey) giving birth, and then Vivian’s crashing the reading of the will. So, we had a lot of fun and it’s hard sometimes to pick three that tell a story, as opposed to submitting for the Daytime Emmys, where the writing team only submits two shows. So, we shall see how it goes on Sunday.
Courtesy/Peacock
So, are you looking forward to the emotional 15,000th episode of Days of our Lives? Do you think DAYS will take home the WGA writing award for daytime dramas for the 4th year in a row? Comment below.
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