Nelson, Thank you thank you thank you for the shout outs to OLTL and the complete dissing of that garbage dump known as AMC. (I was wondering when you were gonna start really circling the wagons for OLTL!)

In my heart, I feel that all of this energy is futile regarding OLTL, but I think everyone does need to band together for this show.

My stomach sank when I saw the ratings this week. If there was ever a time when OLTL needed to beat GH and AMC again, it was now! I could not believe that AMC beat OLTL in the ratings (Has it even done that in the last 2-3 months??) At the least the prized demo was higher. I don't think Frons will ever choose AMC to go over OLTL (and the move proves it) I think OLTL would need to hit a 1.3 in in the 18-49 and a 2.2 or so to even be given consideration. And now with GH gaining momentum (which it always does somehow, which makes me ill- and with James Franco, no less) OLTL needs to pull out all the stops.

But again, I think this is futile.

and those blind items were GOOD!

For the superstar apologizing for dialogue?
Its gotta be Susan Lucci or Allison Sweeney..

Any theories on why OLTL is doing so poorly? It's light-years better than AMC. The acting is great, the writing is snappy, and the show highlights vets like Dorian & Viki and has not newcomers like Kish. It's not perfect -- Stacy is well you know and man oh man is that Greg guy an overactor -- but it's still a much better show than AMC and more consistent than GH. If anyone could explain why OLTL is bleeding viewers, I would love to know the answer!

Well I know last week was alot of Tea/Todd/Blair..

Are regular viewers turned off by KISH? Possibly, who knows.. (It is OLTL's best storyline in my opinion)

I don't have an answer..

I am not happy about Jackson returning to GH. Never liked him the first time around. I was glad when he went off to do films no one saw. On top of that, he looks like a drug addict. Why no digs at his lackluster post-GH career? OR are you a secret fan of DIRTY DANCING: HAVANA NIGHTS? Of course, he knew he'd return to GH since nobody else wanted him.

Glad to see we're being proactive about OLTL, but we need addresses so we contact the network and its advertisers by snail mail. Anyone have those?

Good for Alicia! She going to be a new mom and she knows the show is garbage and her man is making money so she doesn't need to work.

Hate that AMC is beating OLTL. Stop watching and fire Pratt. They need to get either a pop. HW from there past, yes McTavish stuff is better than Pratt, but she can stay gone for all I care, or at least a good HW period. No matter the new sets and a coast move the show will be cancel by the end of 2010 w/Pratt at the helm. And as for Jamey's rant on AMC I think it was funny. I am not w/him or you on Stephanie Gatschet being a bad actress. Is she great no, but she is passable and from what I saw during that wk. when she said "Mother Hubbard" to Angie I laugh. And I think it would be wise for them to hook Cornelius and her together. Two passable actors who have chemistry. And as for tat Denise Vasi she needs to go! I always though Ripa would make a return if they killed off Adam in a realistic way, but her coming back for the last days in NY will be nice.

World Turns has been a guilty pleasure of mine for awhile and on some days better than OLTL. Stuart Damon is great as Ralph and I am warming up to Lynn Herring as Audrey. They need to play the vets more and instead of getting all of these actors from other shows to play one month characters, bring back some old faces.

Poor Hunter Tylo. I don't think she bad like everyone says. Yes her face is scary now, but if anything she's a decent actress.

If it takes James Frnaco to get Marcil back than IDC. Greg go to Days as Eric Brady. As for MVJ to be HW. Yes!

That whole Evans family is a hotmess except for the parents. How that little girl keeps making your top three yng actors to watch each wk. over all of the other kids from GH is shameful. She needs an acting coach or they need to recast. As for Terrell Tilford he's the better actor out of those kids, but that doesn't mean much. And if I have a gripe about the writing on OLTL it is towards the black family. As a black male it makes me cringe and sometimes offends me when they are on w/that hokey, stereotypical, Tyler Perry lite dialogue. Not all of us are like that and they need to stop.
Why isn't OLTL ratings on SoapNet taken into account? Frons is a idiot.

So all ppl who are difficult on the sets should be given a free pass b/c of their work? I see where you are getting at, but I see it like this. Yes you don't have to be no ones friends on the set, but you can't make the work environment go in chaos as a result of that and that goes out to everyone. Do your jobs and be professional.

The only thing Emmy worthy about Colleen's death was Beth Maitland's performance. This compared to John & Cassie's death played out like a bad Lifetime movie of the wk. and if this mess gets them any nominations in the top 3 categories than it is a shame.

Will Daytime Confidential stop covering AMC? They should.

I'm glad someone enjoys their podcasts because I find them painful and unfunny. There's nothing amusing about people who think they are funny. There's also nothing worse than a know-it-all (Jamey) who gets basic facts wrong.

Re:OLTL
I rarely see promos, and when I do, it's for Rex and Gigi--a storyline most people can't stand. With that said, the show is a mess, and people overpraising it is not going to help. Yes, it's the best soap on ABC, but that's hardly a compliment. There's not a story that compels people to turn in. At this point, does anyone care about Tea/Blair/Todd/Ross? Starr and Cole's non-age appropriate storylines? A new family [The Evans family] so dull I didn't even know their last name? A mayoral race? Do viewers care about fictitious political races? A pregnant sociopathic stripper impregnated by a gay man? A straight man essentially stalking said gay man? A convoluted stalking storyline? Mismatched couples?

OLTL needs to regroup and start giving viewers a reason to tune in. Individual scenes do work, and the show has a way with dialogue, but it needs someone brought in who can help with long-term story planning. I think about GL in 1991 and 1992 when every storyline was on fire, and you didn't want to miss a single day. Stop the drive by scenes. As I type this, KYle and Fish had a scene that lasted 21 seconds followed by 26 seconds for Cristian and Layla followed by 20 seconds of JAred and NAtalie followed by 40 seconds of an almost shirtless Ross moving around the room. MY suggestion has always been to kick off a murder mystery with Todd as the victim. Tie KYle, Nick, and Fish into other storylines. More Roxy. Stop forcing couples and go with actual chemistry. Why put Rachel with Greg when she works so much better with Schuyler? Why Marty and John? Why Cristian and Layla when Cristian inexplicably has more chemistry with Fish? Don't know how much of this is Frons and how much of it is Carlivati, but the ratings won't go up if you don't tell viewers they can't miss a single episode. If I can miss two weeks, and nothing has changed, what is the incentive to watch on a daily basis?

Havana Nights was the best movie EVER! LOL!

Crystal you should run ABC.

Good column this week, with lots of news and lots to agree and disagree with.

For one, I really can't get behind almost anything that was said about Y&R. I'm still DVRing the show, but I haven't watched in a week and a half because I just have no desire to. Billy Abbott irritates me for all the reasons you listed, and no offense to Billy Miller, but he doesn't provide a saving grace as far as I'm concerned. And the episode leading up to Colleen's death and including Victor's shooting were mostly pretty bad. The cast is great, but nothing else had been working.

Poor OLTL! I'm all for watching it daily, and believe me I will not be watching AMC. Regarding the ratings for last week, I wonder if the poor numbers were a reaction to the resolution of the drug storyline, which lasted too long, or more likely the heavy focus on the Evans family. These are all newer characters, and it's hard for the audience to care about an episode that's mostly about Greg's guilt over his brother being in a coma. Neither the characters nor the actors are compelling enough to really sell it. That notwithstanding, the show's been good, and I'm really hoping it is not canceled. That statement from ABC was so jackassy, it would have been better to say nothing at all. What the show really needs is to build its baseline viewership by not going into that four-month lull it usually does after a few good months.

I didn't watch during the John/Natalie era, but I like their scenes together. I enjoy John a lot more with characters like Fish and Natalie that when he's just with Bo or Marty.

With James Franco, Jonathan Jackson, and probably Vanessa Marcil, GH should do well for itself at the end of this year. I would have preferred this kind of casting magic to happen to one of the soaps that's been better this year, but if this creates a big ratings spike for them, I'd say it's generally a good thing.

It's funny how the term soap superstar seems to apply to so few nowadays. The first two people who leapt to mind for me with that blind item were also Susan Lucci and Alison Sweeney. But since the writing on DAYS has been good (has been great, actually), I guess it's definitely not Sweeney.

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I agree with a lot of Crystal's complaints, though I like OLTL a lot more than she does right now. With Fish out of the closet, that storyline has improved. I hate Stacy, but we're seeing a lot less of her than we used to. And I for one love the funny, interesting, and topical mayoral race between Viki and Dorian and think it's the most original and relevant storyline I've seen on a soap for quite a while. OLTL is the best soap on the air right now -- a low bar to clear, but still -- and I'm with Nelson in his campaign to rescue it. I've long since tuned out of AMC, so my work is already done there.

To bring our outrage to ABC, Crystal's right that we need addresses; maybe we should start a mail-in campaign to save the show. Maybe send in goldfish crackers (to symbolize Fish). Something clear and emphatic when they open their mail at the network. Not that they make a habit of listening to fans anyway.

(BTW: I second the motion to make Crystal the new head of ABC Daytime, as long as she makes me head writer of GH.)

Sadly, all the fresh attention coming to GH -- the James Franco stunt casting, the return of Jonathan Jackson -- will make it hard for OLTL to overtake it in the ratings. Quick, someone give Ryan Phillippe a film role to research so he can do a two-month return stint as Billy Douglas. That might do the trick! And it would be perfectly timed to bring OLTL's gay storylines full circle.

I'll print addresses every week from now on for us to write.

Anyone that suggests McTavish coming back to AMC to head write obviously does not have the show's best interest at heart. Calling it the worst show on air is painfully over-the-top especially since the other two ABC shows are not doing much better. Until both shows show a major and sustained uptick in quality neither of them deserve the time of soap fans.

Say what u will about McTavish but her baby Bianca/Babe switch sl made AMC must see. Yes, granted it went on too long but for while she was on role.

The new writers of AMC have done nothing. I don't get why AMC kills ( and they show them dead and not going over cliff so they can come back) people like Dixie, Babe, etc for zero reason. Killing Dixie off chocking they way they had her was just vile.

When Rebecca Budig returned they should of just recasted Leo ( Josh is never coming back).

quote:

Originally posted by DLD:
Say what u will about McTavish but her baby Bianca/Babe switch sl made AMC must see. Yes, granted it went on too long but for while she was on role.

The baby switch story was not that great. McTavish had done more to kill AMC the any other heard writer. Unabortion, Zoe/Zarf, and Zendall are three of her biggest offensives and show has never recovered.

If you wanna talk about good work from her keyboard you have to go back to her 1st run as hear writer. Natalie in the well, the introduction of the Marricks, and Janet Green's 2nd reign of terror on Pine Valley.

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I agree the show tanked once baby switch sl was over just like DOOL tanked once Eileen Davidson left.

Both shows centered too much around 1 character and it took DOOL years to recover and I still don't think AMC has.

I don't think AMC can even be made better again. The show is such train wreck, characters are truly unlikeable, and strong actors are minor bit players.

Eden could return and I could care less; that card has been played too much. Also at this point I may question the sanity of Julia Barr or Cady McClain if they returned.

LOL @ the title of Chris Engen's film. We know one thing he won't be riding in that film.

I don’t like that Y&R killed off Colleen, but a big event like a murder does spike the ratings. OLTL needs to kill off a major character to get those ratings up!!!

Possibilities for an OLTL murder storyline:
*Stacy for obvious reasons. Shane could push her down some stairs in a misguided attempt to kill her baby. Kim would be so much better as the show’s bitchy bad girl.
*John McBain. This guy is so dull. How about a big dramatic death scene where the doctors don’t really realize he’s braindead because he always looks that lethargic? Bring in TK to play Patrick & replace him.
*Nick. He’s really hot and normally I don’t like seeing a hottie die but what if Fish’s dad set Kyle up for Nick’s murder and Fish had to find a way to save his true love from the chair?
*Clint. JvD is a good actor but he’s pretty much wasted here. He could take a bullet meant for Bo and then Bo & Nora could suffer from guilty angst.

Or OLTL could try some stunt casting. How how about a story where Karen Wolek turns out to be Kim’s long mom? Judith Light is dynamite as ever.

I think the reason OLTL is doing so well is that ABC doesn't promote it the same way that they promote AMC and GH.

I'm glad that Jackson is coming back, he is the REAL Lucky Spencer and i think will help the show refocus on it's roots. Just hope this means that Genie Francis will come back...

as for the blind items: the soap star humilated about her lines i'd say it sounds a lot like Susan Flannery or Susan Lucci. It could also be Debbie Morgan as well.

I really don't think it is Susan Lucci. She seems like someone who keeps quiet to TBTB. I mean she took her pay-cut, she has played out some horribly written storylines, etc. Unlike MTS or Slezak, she seems to be someone that goes with the flow. Even w/ AMC moving to L.A., she could have said, "NO NOT DOING IT," and considering AMC is losing Kaye and Minshew due to family reasons, I don't see how they'd also wanna lose Lucci as well.

It is a shame that OLTL has bigger chances of being cancelled than AMC. I'd say 2003 was the last good year of AMC. Ever since then, it has been downhill in a huge way. Even the attempts to acknowledge history have been botched i.e. Maria, Julia, Dixie, etc. KILL AMC.

--Morgan

Jamey and I are really joking about Megan McTavish returning. We were just trying to make a point.

Someone got the blind item right — and it's not Alison. Days is awesome right now!