It's more like a progress report for me. My attention has been flagging almost as quickly as the ratings have dropped. These shows, on average, are terrible. It has been a rough decade for soaps, but even just five years ago, there was more reason to be a proud soap watcher. Now even the shows I watch I find myself only giving my most meager attention. I watch out of inertia, and the passion I had when I started watching more than a decade ago is mostly gone now. So here's how they stack up nevertheless.

The shows I watch regularly -

1. "One Life to Live" (2008 Grade: A-) -- The gold standard. Despite some rough patches, particularly the Lee Ramsey storyline, which, even with Ron Carlivati back on the reins, isn't exactly lighting my fire. But otherwise the year has reminded me why I love soaps: Dorian's BE takeover, the rise of Bitchy Bangs, Marcie holding Viki hostage, Starr breaking from her father, a canvas that is balanced unlike other soaps, which focus on characters we don't want to see at the expense of veterans. This is the only show I watch for pleasure rather than waiting for them to finally get good again. Yes, OLTL has a diversity problem, but if we criticize Carlivati for it, we've got to hold every soap equally accountable, because the problem is genre-wide.

2. "The Bold and the Beautiful" (Grade: B-) -- Pretty solid. Some thrilling moments, like Taylor fighting to keep her son, and Storm's memorial with the spectacular performance of Heather Tom. (I'll forgive those corny-as-hell prom episodes this week with Nick.) Donna's rivalry with Pam was entertaining, and Donna's secret son works on paper; if only they had cast an actor who looks like Donna could have conceived him in high school. They're so close in age that it's hard to watch. It would also help if the guy could act. Problems: the neglect of Forrester kids Felicia and Thorne, Taylor with her daughter's ex-boyfriend, and the continuing revolving door romances with Nick and the Logan women. Ick.

3. "The Young and the Restless" (Grade: C) -- If something interesting happened this year, I must have missed it. Victor's newest son isn't terribly interesting. The couples are a virtual dead zone: Nikki and David (yawn), Victor and Sabrina (meh), Lily and Can (ugh), Gloria and Jeffrey (could be worse), Gloria and Alastair (worse), Jack and Sharon (snore), Nick and Phyllis (wasted), Neil and, um, whatshername (are they still alive?). And the storylines are just as empty: Restless Style magazine, David's mysterious past, Adrian's book, Lily's modeling career, Adam clashing with Victoria. I. Don't. Care. Lynn Marie Latham was canned months ago, but we've yet to see any marked improvement. The show is only watchable, in the same way that paint drying is watchable.

4. "Guiding Light" (Grade: C-) -- I watch this show every day, because I've got nothing else going on at 10am, but I have trouble describing most of the storylines. There's mildly interesting stuff, like Bill and Dinah's takeover of the Spauldings -- it's about time Alan got some comeuppance -- but even that is rather dreary. Elsewhere, we've got Ava, who contributes nothing to the show but takes up space anyway. We've got Cyrus, who actively takes away from the show but is put front in center every day -- maybe they should rename him Dusty, so then we could kill him off too. The Natalia-Gus-Olivia triangle was complete nonsense and ended with the silliest heart-transplant storyline I've seen; they should have waited for B&B so they could have seen how to get it right. Even worse was Cassie sleeping with Cyrus because, well, because David Kreizman said so. And I haven't even started talking about the new production model; even when the camerawork is competent and we're not laden with ugly angles and close-ups, the lighting is severe, the atmosphere is morose, and everything seems so cold.

5. "General Hospital" (Grade: D) -- Everything wrong with GH this year can be summed up in one word: Zacchara. It's the Zaccharas who have helped Bob Guza finish the hatchet job on the once vital Lulu character -- she's in love with Johnny and can't resist the sexy way he attempts to murder Sonny. How deep! How mysterious! Barf. It's the Zaccharas who have dominated the screen, squeezing out characters like Alexis, Sam, Monica, Elizabeth, Lucky, Ric, Tracy, Luke, and a strong and diverse hospital staff. Even when characters are used, they're used badly. Alexis swooning over Jerry? She has bad taste in men, but this is beyond the pale -- Jerry is an unrepentant sociopath in league with the Zaccharas. Ric and Sonny had more redeeming qualities and even them she kicked to the curb. Maxie shoehorned into the Zacchara storyline to break up Lulu and Johnny. Luke laundering money for the Zaccharas. Notice a trend? And the shooting of Michael -- at the hand of the Zaccharas -- did nothing but expose the rank hypocrisy of the mob characters with the promise that they would do nothing to change their lives. (Sonny gave the business to Jason, but didn't they already try the leadership change when Sonny started dating Emily? We'll see how long that lasts.) This is the only show where I actually look for excuses not to watch. Oops, I forgot -- I've got a root canal at 3pm that I can't miss.

The show I've lost track on but would like to catch up with again -

"Days of Our Lives" -- It shares a timeslot with OLTL, and it's hard to turn away from that show given its superior quality. But I like what I've seen. Future Emmy-winner Rachel Melvin (fingers crossed) is always a welcome sight, though I'm not sure I like her being romanced by a doctor guy old enough to be her father. (Why is it that soaps cast parents and kids ridiculously close in age, but love interests can be decades apart?) I like the new John Black, but he'll eventually go back to being boring old John Black soon enough. And I loved the Ava Vitali material when she held Hope, Kayla, and Steve hostage. But otherwise I don't know what's going on. It's hard to pick a show back up after having put it down for so long.

Shows I've lost track of ... are they worth it? -

"All My Children" -- I gave up not long after the promising Greenlee-steals-Spike storyline last summer went bust. This year, I've taken a peek from now and then and have not been impressed. Jesse jumping on a helicopter to save Angie -- ridiculous. The shooting of Julia -- silly. Erica Kane on the run from prison -- not very interesting. Dixie's ghost haunting Adam -- oy. Ryan's amnesia -- give me a break. I tune in, and I find nothing but reasons to tune back out again. The best thing I've seen is that Jacob Young got a haircut. He looks a lot better. Still can't act, though.

"As the World Turns" -- My pick for the worst show of 2007, I dumped this show like last week's garbage after it did its best to wreck Luke & Noah. The ridiculous storyline around Noah's dad killing his mother, writing out Maddie, and the since-rectified absence of affection between the two. And don't get me started on how much Jean Passanante seemed to hate her female characters. Tuning in this year, I've seen Alison and Chris in a sexual harassment storyline, and I couldn't care less. Brad and Katie's wedding was goofy and unimpressive. I don't care about Brad's daughter. It's hard to watch Carly or Emily's storylines because of how badly those characters were wrecked over the last two years. The sight of Paul Ryan or Meg Snyder is immediate cause for changing the channel. Why should I flip away from OLTL for this? If I miss a Luke/Noah kiss, I'll just YouTube it at this rate.

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Like you, my viewership has been down big time. The only two shows that I regularly watch anymore are OLTL and B&B, and even B&B is losing me these past two weeks. I don't like the Katie/Nick pairing at all. Wagner and Tom share nothing on-screen as far as I can tell. As for Donna's new son, like you said, intriguing on paper, but so far the execution has been poor, mostly because Texas Battle can't act. He suffers from the...affliction of pausing every...fourth word of dialogue...because he thinks it...adds dramatic value. Or does he do it because he just can't remember his lines? Either way, its hard to watch. Susan Flannery's role has been greatly reduced as the show is obviously preparing the audience for her retirement. Lesli Kay's role remains greatly reduced for some unknown reason. The show ended 2007 and started 2008 very strong, but since Storm's suicide, its been pretty bland.

What else is there to say about OLTL that most everyone isn't already saying. It is leaps and bounds ahead of every other show right now, and its only going to get better over the next few months. Its the first show in a long time to truly find a nice balance between new and veteran characters. There are some weak links in the cast that I would like to see addressed (Archer, Brotherton, Buddy), but overall, the other shows should take a cue from Carlivati and OLTL.

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my viewership is also down a lot. I've dumped "GH" and "AMC" completley. I only watch "OLTL" now. i try on occasion to watch AMC or GH but nothing remotely intresting happens so i can't stay for long.

Since it's summer, I'm trying to watch more soaps, and trying to watch OLTL and B&B consistently, in addition to DAYS. But I must say, B&B is losing my interest also. The only character on the show I really have an investment in right now is Donna. Everyone else is either not doing enough to pique my interest or just annoying me. I'm finding myself irritated with any scenes involving Bridget, Nick, and Katie. The saving grace is that the show's only half an hour. It's just the right length to make me want to see what happens tomorrow without being too deterred by the characters I don't like.

What I've seen of OLTL I have really enjoyed. I'm really looking forward to Tina's return.

And I've been loving DAYS actually. There's a pretty good balance of stories and rotation of characters that keeps me from getting too sick of anyone, and something that I really enjoy happens every day. I think a show is really doing it's job when I'm tuning in not just because I need to see what happens next, but because I know that I enjoy it every time I watch it. No episode feels like a chore just to get to the next one.

Great reviews and I pretty much agree with everything you said. I would rank ATWT higher than GL, tho, as the latter is already an absolute train wreck and while ATWT often is, too, it has its moments (like yesterday) when the show is extremely watchable.

For the year, I would say overall:

1. OLTL
2. B&B
3. DAYS (tho it's slipping badly)
4. Y&R (ditto)
5. AMC (most improved, but still an extremely faint shadow of its former self.)
6. GH
7. ATWT
8. GL