Tuesday, December 3, 2024

TV Ratings: “General Hospital” Beats “Young and the Restless” in Key Demo, And Beats Odds

Share

For the first time since February 2011, “General Hospital” beat number 1 soap “The Young and the Restless” in the key demo. In fact, the ABC soap–which was set to be cancelled in favor of Katie Couric’s talk show back in 2010–is within spitting distance of the CBS soap in the other demos, which are all about young women with buying power watching the shows.

It’s a vindication for “GH” after ABC mercilessly cancelled its other two soaps, “All My Children” and “One Life to Live,” sending them into a licensing black hole with Prospect Park Productions. It’s also ironic as the producer who almost got “GH” snuffed, Jill Farren Phelps, has moved her unpopular way of driving a soap to “Y&R.” This past week she even copied an unpopular story she executed on “GH”– the hit and run death of a small child– to the CBS show.

Meanwhile, “GH” aims for November sweeps by having cliffhangers almost every day. As for “All My Children” and “One Life to Live”– no one seems to know if they’ll ever come back online via Prospect Park, or if ABC’s license with that company will ever end.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

Read more

In Other News