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The Hollywood Reporter Puts Out Report On The Ratings State Of Y&R!

By Michael Fairman

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Courtesy/Y&RTwitter

Courtesy/Y&RTwitter

In a special report, that was in the online edition of The Hollywood Reporter late last week, and is currently in the print edition for October 31st, the Tinseltown mainstay attempts to analyze the ratings performance of The Young and the Restless over the last several years, despite the fact that the number one soap opera has had spurts of growth in Total Viewers, and key demos: Women 18-49, and Women 25-54, recently.

THR cites, “Y&R has been declining lately, falling to a 1.4 rating among the key demo of women 25-to-54 this season, compared to a 1.9 in 2009-10. And the slide has coincided with increases for CBS’ The Bold and the Beautiful and ABC’s General Hospital.”

The report also interviewed CBS Daytime Chief Angelica McDaniel who stated: “The show historically was struggling and was going down but we were able to plateau that.”  Angelica also told THR that Y&R viewing on the web on the CBS.com web platform is up 60% this year, and that the show has done very well for itself with its same day repeat broadcasts on TVGN (now rebranded as POP)

THR comes back to say that “rumors persist that CBS wants its soaps to fade so they can be replaced with lower-cost talk shows.”  McDaniel responded:  “That’s hilarious, and anyone who says that is greatly misinformed. While some say the numbers are softening, we feel the numbers are very strong. They’re up about 5 percent from where we were last year.”

Analyst Brad Adgate, Senior vp research for Horizon Media also interviewed for the piece noted as far as Y&R’s fate, Nothing last forever,”but as long as they are in first place, they’re OK.”

So, is THR misinformed here?  Does it seem to you that CBS wants the soaps to fade away with lower-cost talk shows, when their entire line-up has found great ratings success throughout 2014? Share your thoughts on the statements contained in the article below!

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the stories need to get so much better and too many darn new ppl which is irritating and recasting.

The past 6 weeks have moved painfully slow…. Then we will get some action with Sweeps….

Yes thank goodness November is sweeps month. We need some story lines sewed up!

Th reporter is Tommy Garrett and he is a strong supporter of the Bells. That being said if MAB had paid attention to her father-laws legacy by bringing back Kay Alden and others who had worked for BB maybe she would still be there but as the late Jeanne Cooper even said she was too busy with her art shows etc to pay attention to this show. She let the fox get into the hen house !

Highlight Hollywood is Tommy Garrett’s publication. The Hollywood Reporter is an industry bible along with Variety. It is well respected in Hollywood.

Paula I agree I am just simply saying MAB has to take some blame for the Bells losing any control over their show. She got her foot back in the door and she blew it now good luck with a Bell ever getting control back. It was not a slam to Tommy Garrett simply an observation that Maria has to take some blame and she does not.

I’m with you, K/Kay – Maria Arena Bell was at the helm of the ship when it was steering towards the iceberg! She told lousy stories (especially her lame-ass WHODUNNIT murder mysteries), SORAS’ed way too many of the younger characters and introduced characters nobody liked or cared about in the least. The worst S/Lsunder MAB was the horrid “Who Killed Diane Jenkins?” tale and of course, the debacle that was the “Susan Smythe/Sheila Carter” mess that brought the worst character in the history of “Y & R” – DAISY!!!

Oh let’s not forget the worst Shictor/ Sharon & Victor ruining a father/daughter type relationship. The character of Sharon is still trying to recover from that. She is also responsible for us losing Brad & Colleen Carlton and who can forget Phyllis & Sharon in the field with the crop duster! As time goes by we forget just how bad it was. Yes with JFP we have lost three good actors but they might have left even if she wasn’t there and remember we gained Steve Burton, Steve Burton and did I say Steve Burton. Lol

Y&R is generally good right now but it could be better.

Agreed, Mark – I’ve been watching Y & R for over 32 years and there is much room for improvement. It’s watchable, but lacking involvement. While Bill Bell was known for long, drawn-out stories, at least they were involving, character-driven and there was a payoff in the denouement.

It’s still the only soap I watch, and I hope new co-EP/Head Writer Chuck Pratt doesn’t do a lot of damage.

I find Nikki to be almost un watchable lately–and yet she is in front burner stories consistently. Her breathy manner of speaking, her redundant issues….it all has rather a somnolent effect on me.
I also find her daughter Victoria to be dull as dishwater–add to that list: Lily, Abby, Summer and her husband.
I truly believe that if the characters are fleshed out in a good and compelling way that the stories will follow.

Wish them luck if they even try to go the way of ABC. I barely watch CBS now. No one wants more talk shows they all fail.

In fact from the same above article it revealed after a ratings glitch was resolved General Hospital ‘s audience dropped about 8 percent overall and about 14 percent in the key demo of women 25-to-54.

Sadly it looks like this is exactly what CBS wants by having the team of Jill Farren Phelps and Charles Pratt who have cancelled every show they have been a part of
. I cant understand why . Isnt the point of being a network to want people to tune into your network ? Doesnt look like too long until I will be boycotting all 3 networks 🙁

JFP has never been the EP of a show when it was cancelled. She was gone from GL for 15 years before it was cancelled…..OLTL 9 years….and AW and Santa Barbara at least 2 years each. She can hardly be blamed ,,,,esp. for GL and OLTL.

Thank you. I hate the fact that she has that rep when the shows had multiple chances to recover after her tenure. Especially GL.

Sorry–I’m going to disagree with you in the case of GL. Despite the fact that the cancellation came many years after she left, she was responsible for the death of Maureen Bauer, and the show never really recovered from that. The structural damage from that one decision had ramifications all the way through the next decade and a half, until P&G finally pulled the plug. The show never recovered from it.

On OLTL, I agree with you; she left it in good shape (ratings-wise), and I can’t think of any damage she did that was long lasting; in fact, it was still in pretty good shape when it was cancelled, and the real blame for that would have to be ABC’s stupidity. I think it’s less clear cut in the case of AW–she was responsible for some incredibly damaging choices there too–but AW’s death was more like a bunch of slow cuts bleeding it to death; it’s hard to say she did more damage than other people did. She didn’t help, that’s for sure, but trying to pin the cancellation on her is a pretty tall order. In the case of SB, I think she did damage it, but she wasn’t the main damage–that was NBC taking control away from the Dobsons and locking them out–and I think it’s unsupportable to blame her for the cancellation.

I do think her reputation as a soap killer is justified. OLTL is the only show she left in better shape than, or at least as good shape as, it was in when she inherited it. The degrees of damage she’s done elsewhere have been varied, but even where she hasn’t been directly responsible, she’s been a contributor to the deaths of several shows. Should GH be cancelled anytime in the next 5 years or so, she’d have to be counted as a strong contributor to its death as well. The verdict is out on her contribution to Y&R. That’s not exactly a record to be proud of.

@Michael (not Fairman) while the death of Maureen Bauer hurt. The show had ample time to rightc itself. No one character can make or break a show. Sorry it always comesdown to wwriting and tone and I remember the surreal Paul Rauch year that hurt the show as well.

If GH is cancelled that is soley on FV. You can’t say that he saved GH an brought up ratings and then let him skate and blame the previous regime if it gets canceled especially if the ratings fall again. That is all on him.

To do that is just piling on JFP.

Nicole: Unfortunately, in the case of GL and Maureen Bauer, there was no way to right it. You can’t just pluck a character that fills the place she filled out of nowhere. GL was lucky in the first place that when Charita Bauer (Bert) passed away, Maureen was well positioned to be that warm, central, moral force that every show needs. When JFP decided she was expendable, there was absolutely nobody to fill that crucial place–and people warned her about it, and she still went on and did it. The show tried later, I think, with Mary Stuart (Meta) and came closer than anybody had a right to expect, but that was derailed when the actress died. I certainly remember, like you, some terrible periods afterward–and not just from Paul Rauch; I thought the John Conboy period was even worse–but those were like bad decorations on a Christmas tree that was already dead. I suppose you could argue that P&G just didn’t pick the right people to fix what JFP did, but even if that were something you could “prove,” it would be like saying they didn’t find the right doctors to pull out the bullet JFP put in the show’s head. It doesn’t change the fact that she’s the one that put the bullet there.

Regarding GH, I actually don’t think I’ve ever said FV saved GH, though I do think he had some success in the first year or so in repairing some of the damage. (Less so since then.) If GH is cancelled, he’ll have to take his share of the blame, but that won’t change the damage JFP and Guza did (with the help of Brian Frons), and they bear some of the blame as well.

I don’t pile on JFP. I recognize when she’s wrongly blamed (e.g., OLTL), and I also recognize she does some things right (for example, she’s been more of an advocate for multigenerational storytelling, and stories for older characters, than most people give her credit for). But she’s also got serious problems in the way she manages shows and people, and she makes the same mistakes over and over and doesn’t learn from them. She’s certainly not responsible for all of Y&R’s current problems, given the mess that she inherited, but I don’t see that she’s done much to fix it yet, either, in two years she’s been there. (Although if you’re going to say that FV is solely responsible for the current state of GH, then I’d have to argue that JFP is solely responsible for the current state of Y&R; the two situations are actually pretty comparable.)

Networks probably want lower cost crappy talk shows but i say if the remaining four get cancelled im totally done with daytime…i believe they will last but not past 2020…the networks will fade too…too much of the same stuff…no variety any more is what hurts…remember network movies of the week, variety-music shows, westerns and family drama…just 3 networks that once gave you a wide choice to choose from but not anymore…tv is crude and rude and not as creative as it once was…i find very little that entertains me…cable is terrible…too many reality series…im cutting the cable cord by the end of the year and internet shortly afterward…cost is too high anyway and i get so little in return…i may be in a minority here but thats fine…jmho!!!

Bottom line, THR is right. Y&R’s core audience is made up of the elderly. As they pass, there is no audience to replace them. They aren’t building an audience of younger female viewers because the show is boring and dull. All soaps suffer from the same situation and eventual fate. Angelica McDaniel is using CBS Daytime as a stepping stone in her career. She’s a TV executive and they will say anything that will make themselves look good. Daytime soaps are a dying genre. Only four of them are left. That says it all.

I don’t believe a word that comes out of Angelica McDaniel’s mouth. CBS & Sony have turned Y&R into a shell of itself. Anyone who has watched it over the years can see just how bad it has become. Phelps accelerated the show’s decline and Chuckie Pratt will finish the job. Y&R’s days are certainly numbered.

Excuse me, talk shows haven’t been very successful either : Katie Couric Show, Bethenny Frankel and the dreaded show with Kris Kardashian – Jenner . Yes, Y&R could be better, but we should not start the cancellation craziness again. Have we not learned anything from AMC & OLTL? If we aren’t happy with the direction of a shorw, be vocal and let your opinions be heard. Not the time to abandon the remaining soaps. We need to show the networks that we do care, love and support our shows.

“… we should not start the cancellation craziness again ”

I know, right

here, here

it’s anxious enough to keep 4 afloat

leave well enough alone…. these Serials are a constant…. a staple…. a belong

these 4 serials should be heralded and given all opportunity to thrive… regardless of budget constraints…. LOL tall order

it’s just that soap opera has been at the top and pinnacle of all of daytime

it would never be the same without

have to agree with JimH… I too would have to move on without daytime when the crash hits

Amen to you Lew, We need to support the remaining 4 soaps. We dont need anymore talk shows. Last year The young and The restless got renewed for 3 more years, until 2017. But I am enjoying watching Y&R again, Gina Tagnoni is kicking ass as the new Phyllis. Gina is a wonderful actress, I love watching her and I cannot wait until November 5, Justin Hartley first air date as the new Adam Newman. We need to watch and enjoy our soaps. If we dont watch at all, the soaps will be dead.

I couldnt agree more!

CBS wants Y&R to fail, there is no doubt in my mind. JFP is known throughout the industry as “The Soap Killer”. How this woman still has a job is beyond me.

Agree. Phelps was hired purposely by Steve Kent of Sony (he and Phelps go back 30 years). Sony is bleeding badly…huge losses…they have to get out of soaps. CBS holds only a minority interest so Sony calls the shots. The future of Y&R is bleak. And most assuredly by hiring Chuck Pratt it will be sooner than later.

If CBS were serious about keeping Y&R viable they would’ve hired Kay Alden as head writer instead of Charles Pratt.

NO MORE TALK SHOWS – they are boring and PLEASE keep Y&R life would’n’t be the same at 12;30 without Y&R coming on, just tune it up once and awhile.

Aware of Y&R and peek at it occasionally, but this article could be true of each of the four remaining soaps. The bottom line is that each show needs to continually dig deep to be the best they can be. AND the networks would be fools to cancel any more soaps. Soap fans are VERY loyal and they will not transfer from their soaps to a talk OR game show. The networks would only be wise to support the remaining four soaps and help grow them. To me, that’s their only win-win.

Id rather watch reruns than watch a talk show

Me, too.
No more talk shows!
No more reality shows!
There are already too many, UGH!

The four remaining soaps are on borrowed time, a few more years? They are not moneymakers anymore and scripted drama is expensive to produce.

The current regime seems to have forgotten that Nicki has M.S. Instead, they’ve given her back her alcoholism. Anyone familiar with M.S. know that M.S. and alcohol do not mix well, but Nicki must be Wonder Woman because alcohol seems to have no effects on her M.S. Amazing. JFP is bad, adding Chuck Pratt to the mix, devestating.

When you gut the show, the show goes into the gutter! Women demos are very important. Women LOVED Billy Miller and Michael Muhney. They are off the show. Enough said!

General Hospital

‘General Hospital’s’ Dominic Zamprogna Shares He Was ‘Happy to Hear’ of The Triangle Storyline Developing Between Dante/Elizabeth/Ric

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Dominic Zamprogna

General Hospital’s Dominic Zamprogna (Dante Falconeri) opened up about the burgeoning love triangle forming between his Port Charles alter-go, Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst) and Ric Lansing (Rick Hearst) after recently aired scenes, plus his hopes for the future of a Dante and Liz pairing, during his appearance on the Sunday, April 23 edition of the That’s Awesome podcast with Steve Burton (Jason Morgan) and Bradford Anderson (Spinelli).

On last week’s episodes of GH, Ric has made the decision that he wanted to propose to his ex-wife, only when he showed up at Elizabeth’s front door, he misread the scenario he walked in with Liz tending to Dante’s injured leg from the softball game. From there, the legal eagle’s jealous streak is reemerging which may cause him to act out and do something unforgivable, or will he take the high road? Stay tuned.

Speaking with Steve Burton and Bradford Anderson about where Elizabeth stands in the annals of the long-running soap, Zamprogna said, “She’s up there with Steve and Maurice (Maurice Benard) as one of the most legacy-filled people on the show.”

Courtesy/ABC

HOW DANTE AND ELIZABETH CAME ABOUT

Dominic jokes it’s a far cry for where Dante and Elizabeth previously, recalling, “We had some scenes together years ago and we were both laughing. Becky’s like, ‘Well, I guess we’re not going be paired up anytime soon.’ I remember we laughed immediately after they yelled ‘cut,”‘and said to each other, ‘Well, so much for that!'”

Fast-forward to early 2025 and as Zamprogna remembered it, “Elizabeth Korte (co-head writer, GH) came up to me at the General Hospital Christmas party, and I think it was a year and a half ago and she said, ‘We’re going to have you in scenes with Elizabeth,’ My internal monologue is going, ‘I’m not with Lulu (Alexa Havins) anymore and Sam’s (Kelly Monaco) gone, so maybe they want to see if this works.’ I didn’t want to get scenes with Becky and try to find the chemistry. I just wanted to play whatever honestly was written and came across for both of us and hope it was what people liked, and I don’t know if it is … or not.”

Knowing how beloved Elizabeth is to the GH faithfuls, Zamprogna added, “She got a big fan base with Ric … and a big fan base with with Jason … and you know, you’re going to piss somebody off. But, didn’t Ric drug Elizabeth and put Carly in a panic room?”

Dom and Liz

Photo: ABC

DANTE AND ELIZABETH PAIRING COULD STIR UP STORY FOR OTHERS IN PORT CHARLES

In closing, Dominic felt that the wide-reaching tentacles of a Dante and Elizabeth relationship is something he is 100% down for. “The triangle thing; I was happy to hear it was with Ric and her, because I felt it’s important to have her the top of it as opposed to Dante, Lulu and Elizabeth.”

Zamprogna added, “When you get into relationships on a soap, things seem to fizzle out a little bit, The buildup is what’s the fun part, and the getting to know each other, and the people who are affected by this coming together. When with this case it’s going to affect: Ric, Sonny, Lulu. There’s so much more story here. To me, it’s going to be a fun story to play.”

You can check out Dominic’s visit to That’s Awesome with Steve and Bradford below.

Now weigh-in: Are you rooting for Dante and Liz, or Dante and Ric at this juncture of the story, or neither guy  for Elizabeth? Let us know your thoughts and picks via the comment section.

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Beyond the Gates

‘Beyond the Gates’ Star Mike Manning Lands Role in Indie Horror Feature ‘Deify’

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Mike Manning

While Smitty tries to hold the fort down in his marriage to congressman Martin Richardson (Brandon Claybon)  and their two teenaged children, Samantha (Najah Jackson) and Tyrell (Jaden Lucas Miller) on Beyond the Gates, Emmy-winner Mike Manning has also landed another feature film role.

According to Deadline, Manning has joined the cast of Deify with 6 other new cast members for the indie psychological horror film starring Neal McDonough and Skeet Ulrich, which was previously announced last week.

Joining Manning as the latest cast addition are: Dennis Haysbert, Ashley Greene,  Casey Harnett, Kirk Avecdo, Anji White, anf Nicholas Chimera who’s directing the pic also has a part in the film.

WHAT’S THE STORY OF DEIFY?

Taking to his Instagram with the news of his casting, Manning shared, “A movie about a cult? What could possibly go wrong? Come for the enlightenment. Stay because they won’t let you leave. DEIFY is coming…”

The movie is currently shooting in Chicago and in story, “a cult leader is put on trial after causing his devoted followers to be burned alive. The film is inspired in part by events surrounding the 1993 Waco, Texas, standoff between members of the Branch Davidians church and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, one of the largest civilian firefights ever recorded on American soil.”

MIKE MANNING IS A DAYTIME EMMY NOMINEE

In addition, the multi-talented Manning is a producer on the feature. Previously, Mike was nominated last month in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for the upcoming 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards. He previously won an Emmy for his role on The Bay and for being a producer on the digital drama.

Mike’s previous credits include the role of Charlie Dale on Days of Our Lives and the Manny on This Is Us, plus various primetime and screen credits.

So intrigued to find what role Mike will play in the upcoming horror/cult film, Deify? Enjoying him as Smitty on Beyond the Gates? Share your thoughts via the comment section below.

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General Hospital

GH and OLTL Alum Patrick J. Gibbons Reveals the Story Behind Writing Trina’s Song on ‘General Hospital’ (Exclusive)

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Patrick J. Gibbons

At the conclusion of today’s August 21 episode of General Hospital, Trina Robinson (Tabyana Ali) sings a lullaby to baby Dez, that went into a montage to close out the episode as her father Curtis Ashford (Donnell Turner) reports to Pentonville and winds up in his jail cell.

However, in a fun fact, the song entitled, “A Lonely Heart To Give” was actually written by none other than former One Life to Live and General Hospital actor, Patrick J. Gibbons.

Daytime fans first met Gibbons as Sam Manning on One Life to Live. At the time, when he started on the soap, he was just 5-years-old. Gibbons played the part from 2010-2013 on ABC and Prospect Park’s editions of the show. Fast-forward to 2018, Gibbons shows up on General Hospital as Wyatt Hoover, the scout who seemed always be injured, but in the thick of the drama. Patrick had appeared on GH multiple times as Wyatt including: 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023.

Photo: ABC

FROM HIS GRANDMOTHER’S DEATH CAME THE INSPIRATION FOR HIS SONG

Now in 2026, General Hospital fans are getting to learn about another side of Gibbons’ talent as a songwriter and guitar player after “A Lonely Heart to Give” debuted today! Michael Fairman TV caught up with Patrick, who is now a senior at Penn State entering his final year as a finance major, to get the back-story of how his song wound up on GH!

Gibbons explained he wrote the song in honor of his grandmother who passed away a few years ago with whom he was, very, very close with. “Randomly, my grandmother had a downfall and passed away during the second semester of my sophomore year. I was in my dorm a lot and I was just playing with my guitar. And at the time, I was really into finger-style playing. I wrote the lyric and music to it (with a little help from my guitar teacher Lou), and my mom showed the rough demo to Frank Valentini (EP, General Hospital). He’s like an uncle to me. Frank loved it so much he said, “Finish that up. I want to hear the whole thing, and I want it on the show.”

MAKING MUSIC FOR GENERAL HOSPITAL

Gibbons and his parents took the next steps! “So now, all we needed was a female voice, because I thought that would fit the song well,” Patrick shared. “At the golf club we go to my parents were at a dinner. They liked the singer that was performing and spoke to her about the song, and she says she would like to bring it to her ‘boss’ who ended up being Eric Bazilian of the Hooters fame!” (Bazilian also wrote the smash hit song “One of Us” for Joan Osborne).

Next, “We went in the studio and recorded it and the song came together and it was beautiful. We loved it. They loved it at General Hospital and now they’re putting it the show and they are coming in with a piano, instead of a guitar. Paul Glass, the GH musical director, has been keeping us updated over the last six months of how it was coming along, and when it would air, and how GH put their own arrangement to it. I can’t wait to see and hear what they did with it.”

Photo: JPI

PATRICK’S ONE LIFE TO LIVE FAMILY

Everyone knows that the One Life to Live extended family share a very tight bond, and Patrick said he does stay in touch with a few of his former One Life to Live co-stars, especially those from the Manning family! “I stayed in touch with Kassie DePaiva (ex-Blair) and sent her little videos here and there. She was like my second mom for five years. We keep in contact with Kristen Alderson (ex-Starr) over X the most, and she can’t believe how big I’ve gotten. Like, none of them can! (laughs). I also loved working with Roger Howarth (ex-Todd) and Trevor St. John (ex-Todd and Victor Jr.), and to me since I was so young, they were just my friends, ‘Roger and Trevor,’ not Todd Manning or Victor Jr.”

It was a trip to California and a visit to Port Charles that ultimately led to Gibbons second soap role of Wyatt Hoover. Patrick explains, “In 2016, Frank Valentini invited us out to Los Angeles to visit the set of General Hospital. I think he heard me say, ‘This is so much fun. I miss being on the set.’ He goes, ‘You should come out. I’ll bring you on the show. We can make you a character.'”

A few years later, Patrick’s dream became a reality! “Then, by the summer of 2018, I was playing Wyatt, the scout, and shared scenes with Wes Ramsey (Peter August), and the best was when I shared a scene with Roger Howarth and Michael Easton (ex-John, OLTL and ex-Silas, Finn et al, GH), it was like chemistry from the old days.”

Photo: PGibbons

IT’S ALL IN THE NUMBERS

As to his future aspirations, it’s a career in the finance game that has piqued Gibbons’ real-life interest. But never say never to a return to acting. Patrick explained, “I’ve always enjoyed numbers. And on top of that, one of the biggest parts of finance is being personable and outgoing.”

He continued, “That’s one of the greatest skills I developed growing up. I really love the markets. I’m super interested. I’m never going to close the door to acting. I’m always open to that because I just love it so much. It’s such a great art.”

Take note! If there are any investment bankers or private equity folks among the GH faithful looking for a young analyst next year, Patrick’s DMs are open. You can find him on X at @PatrickJGibbons.

So, what did you think of the song sung by Trina on today’s GH that was written by Patrick J. Gibbons? Did you enjoy Patrick’s performances as One Life’s Sam and GH’s Wyatt? Would you like to see him back on GH at some point? Let us know via the comment section.

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