The View

ABC’s “General Hospital” posted its largest overall audience in nearly 21 months (since week of February 21-25, 2011) as the daytime drama series averaged 2.82 million viewers during the week of November 5-9, 2012. This was the programs largest overall audience under executive producer Frank Valentini and head writer Ron Carlivati.

The series was up 21% compared to the same week last year (week of November 7-11, 2011) in Total Viewers (2.82 million vs. 2.27 million), 54% in Women 18-34 (266,000 vs. 161,000) and 23% in Women 18-49 (679,000 vs 571,000). “General Hospital” edged “The Young and the Restless” in Women 18-34 with its largest competitive advantage in nearly 4 1/2 years (since week of June 23, 2008).

Although “Good Afternoon America” showed some gains over the recent performance of ratings eyesore “The Revolution,” those gains could only last so long. The ABC News daytime talk show hosted by “Good Morning America’s” Lara Spencer and Josh Elliott has also failed to bring in an audience on par with the year-ago airings of the canceled “One Life to Live” after five weeks of ratings data (week of August 6-10, 2012).

Before we post the daytime soap opera ratings for the week of March 26-30, 2012, our friend Marc Berman at TV Media Insights has posted the latest ratings for daytime talk shows and things are still looking very bad for ABC’s “The Revolution” while “The Chew” has sustained a similar total audience in comparison to former time-period occupant “All My Children.” “The View” was in repeats, while “The Talk” on CBS was up year-to-year in total viewers and Women 25-54, flat in Women 18-49 and down in Women 18-34.

“General Hospital” and “The Revolution” are both fighting for a spot on the fall 2012-2013 schedule on ABC Daytime, although neither appear to be making a solid case for themselves.

Call it the case of a pissed off audience or call it a fluke, but whatever it is the mystery of where “General Hospital’s” audience went by its Friday, March 2, 2012 episode is up in the air.

“General Hospital” is the only soap opera left on the ABC Daytime schedule and is also the longest running dramatic series in the networks history. Unfortunately, the soap is facing the same cancellation danger that its former network counterparts (“All My Children” and “One Life to Live”) faced just over a year ago before ABC officially announced the two would go off the air in a press release. Before any decision on the future of “GH” is ultimately made, the drama series is showing an uptick in key demos and viewership.

Just before we post the dailies, which will provide a clearer picture of “One Life to Live’s” final week on television, ABC has revealed that the 43-year old soap ended its run as daytime’s 5th most watched program in total viewers (3,120,000), while ranking a strong second in Women 18-49 viewers (784,000) for the week of January 9-13, 2012. Only 94,000 Women 18-49 viewers separated “One Life to Live” from tying “The Young and the Restless” in that category. In Women 18-49 rating “OLTL” had a 1.2 compared to “Y&R’s” 1.4. The canceled ABC soap beat its former network and studio sibling “The View” in all key ratings categories except total viewers.

After scheduling conflicts reportedly kept her from reprising her signature role of housewife turned hooker Karen Wolek on “One Life to Live” in show’s final months on the air, Judith Light is finally coming back to Llanview…sort of. On Friday, January 13, just three hours before the final “One Life” episode airs, Light will set down on “The View” with several of her former co-stars to recall some of her fondest memories of the soap she called home from 1977-1983.

As in previous weeks, ratings for soaps are unavailable at press time but the numbers are out for talk shows including “The Chew,” “The Talk” and “The View.”

As previously reported, ABC soap opera “General Hospital” will lose its coveted 3:00 PM ET/2:00 PM CT/PT timeslot beginning in September 2012 when the network hands the hour back to its local affiliates. The move will leave ABC’s daytime lineup with just three hours left to program with “The View” already secured in the 11:00 AM ET/10:00 AM CT/PT slot. New talk shows “The Chew” and “The Revolution” will go head-to-head with “General Hospital” when it comes to the almighty dollar (ie. which show brings in enough income relative to cost) in a battle for the remaining two hours (1:00 PM ET/12:00 PM CT/PT; 2:00 PM ET/1:00 PM CT/PT). In place of “GH” beginning in September 2012 will be the new Disney/ABC Domestic Television syndicated series “Katie,” hosted by journalist Katie Couric, which was just cleared in over 60% of the country just six weeks after the sales period began.