Somewhere in the world ex ABC Daytime chief Brian Frons is weeping. His plan to kill the soaps on ABC backfired terribly. Last week, “General Hospital”– which he almost canceled and replaced with a show about peeling onions–hit a six year rating high. The soap beat “The Young and the Restless” on CBS in the key demo, too– 18 to to 49. “GH” scored 3.3 million total viewers. In 18-49 category, GH had a 1.4 compared to Y&R’s 1.3. In total viewers in that demo, it’s even more impressive. “GH” had 50,000 more people watching the show — 880K vs. 831K for Y&R.
What’s going on? Producer Frank Valentini and writer Ron Carlivati treat every day like a cliffhanger. They brought back most of the actors kicked to the curb by Frons. Basically, they gave the fans what they wanted.
Can it be sustained? That’s another question. But good for them. Now if only ABC could get “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” back on the air now that Prospect Park Productions has screwed up their whole online effort.
