So this show is what the world thinks of when they think of America? And here I thought the last presidential administration was bad for foreign relations.

Here in the Netherlands ATWT is more popular than B&B.

LOL Jamie. I don't get it. I just don't get it.

B&B is a joke and not in a very good way.

no guys the bold and the beautiful sucks,it's just that soap operas became very popular to the rest of the world at the late 80's.The bold and the beautiful was the first soap to air in many countries so it was something new and people got attached to it!It's another thing being popular and another having viewers!There was a time when all people in my country would watch it,that ended when Caroline died and Brooke married Eric!As far as I'm concerned Brad Bell should only write down orders in cafe rousse!
He's obssessed with Taylor Ridge and Brooke and misusing the rest of the cast!His sl's are ridiculous same old same old!Keeps bringing back characters from the past just to ruin them or for no reason(Beth,Rocco,Stephen,Whip i'm pretty sure,Donna,Katie e.t.c)
I was watching episodes from the 80's and the early 90's on utube the other day and I was amazed at how much depth those characters had back then,3dimentinal,today they've just become caricatures!
With the only exception of Y&R,there's no wonder the genre dies,when the same writers jump from soap to soap to prove how untalented they've become for one more time!

Do we have any idea how they got that number? I mean how do you add all the airings together? I guess i am just in denial that people think B&B is the best soap -.-.

No one said anything about it being the best, they said it was the most watched.

"Marina" should've won. I watched that novela and I loved it. As for B&B, believe it or not, more and more countries in Europe cancels the show because of the decrease in the ratings. Germany got rid of B&B last December and they made it clear, they're not gonna buy any new episodes.

Well, thanks Martin for the info. This means that if B&B don't get their act together, it won't be around for long because the writing is atrocious and the incestuous relationships isn't cutting it anymore.

No one said anything about it being the best, they said it was the most watched.

Here is a question then, isn't popularity all people who don't watch soap care about? Doesn't being the most 'popular' make you 'the best'?

Anyways I am just wondering how they got their stats.

Personally my favorite soap is the australian soaps Home and Away and Neighbours, I guess if i really had to pick it would be H&A, but H&A is about to do some foolishness that if played out the way it sounds (and i don't really know how it can go any other way lol) might just give Neighbours the lead imo lol.

I'm surprised Coronation Street isn't in the top three. But I guess it doesn't get the U.S. viewers.

my.head.is.spinning.....

My vote goes for Passions it was sure better than B&B on its worst days..Wait, you mean still on air...Capitol Hill the continuing drama of the first black family in the white house. I first got hooked during the 2008 presidential election and have not be able to stop watching ever since.

Rush and Cheney are my favorite super-villains.

Initially this soap focused on 3 core families.

The Obama's who are on the way up. The McCain's who are on the way down. And the Clinton's who were fighting to maintain relevancy.

Barack and Michelle Obama emerged as a "supercouple".

Hillary went down a dark path for a while, much like Lexie did on Days.

The entrance of Sarah Palin sure was ratings grabber in her short-term role.

So for me this is the best damn drama in the world.

I guess that's one of the benefits of being a half-hour show.

I've never even tried to watch B&B so I can't judge it. Its just plain ole Days of Our Lives and GH for me.

Kalya,

I think B&B has a lot of legacy watchers. The show has been on since 1987/88. Moreover, B&B is about the glamorous world the rich, fashionable American$.

David,

Passions could be fun but the show had no love for the black men on the cast:

T.C. --> Violent, hot-tempered man.

Chad --> Good guy who thought it okay to sleep with his sister (who really wasn't) and who ended up cheating on his supposed true love with another guy.

Vincent --> Intersexed person who was a psychotic rapist, murder who became pregnant by his/her father.

Passions could be fun but the show had no love for the black men on the cast:

T.C. --> Violent, hot-tempered man.

Chad --> Good guy who thought it okay to sleep with his sister (who really wasn't) and who ended up cheating on his supposed true love with another guy.

Vincent --> Intersexed person who was a psychotic rapist, murder who became pregnant by his/her father.
--------
There was no man on passions that was good.

Alistair was a rapist.
Julian was player and didn't mind getting drunk to sleep with you.
Both Miguel and Fox ended up being bad men.

And I could name bad deeds every man on the sow did.

The thing about Passions was that it allowed blacks to play storylines outside of the social issues of the month.

Eve was a main character for most of its time on air. I challenge anyone to count the number of episodes she was in verses Victoria Rowell. Tracey Ross was allowed to be a leading lady. To play a coveted woman with a sordid past.

They even brought on Liz as the black female villain. And it is a rarity that we get that on soaps.

I love Y&R but all the black people are too damn nice.

The fact that Chad and Whitney got to play such a storyline about incest was testament to allowing them to have storylines outside of the box. When is the last time African Americans got a controversial storyline in daytime?

Simone was allowed to be lesbian and that was a first for the AA's in daytime.

When other soaps were straying away from it. Passions allowed its characters to date colorblind less.

The Russells were an important and central family to that show.

Just to add any actor worth their money in soaps loves to play a meaty role. Rodney Van Johnson sure didn't complain nor did the other black males on Passions.

What other soap could they get that kind of work and the ability to play various storylines on?

None.

Passions could be fun but the show had no love for the black men on the cast:

T.C. --> Violent, hot-tempered man.

Chad --> Good guy who thought it okay to sleep with his sister (who really wasn't) and who ended up cheating on his supposed true love with another guy.

Vincent --> Intersexed person who was a psychotic rapist, murder who became pregnant by his/her father.
--------
There was no man on Passions that was good.

Alistair was a rapist.
Julian was player and didn't mind getting a woman drunk to sleep with you.
Both Miguel and Fox ended up being bad men.

And I could name bad deeds on every man on the show did.

The thing about Passions was that it allowed blacks to play storylines outside of the social issues of the month.

Eve was a main character for most of its time on air. I challenge anyone to count the number of episodes she was in verses Victoria Rowell's entire career on Y&R. Tracey Ross was allowed to be a leading lady. To play a coveted woman with a sordid past.

They even brought on Liz as the black female villain. And it is a rarity that we get that on soaps.

I love Y&R but all the black people are too damn nice.

The fact that Chad and Whitney got to play such a storyline about incest was a testament to allowing AA's to have storylines outside of the box. When is the last time African Americans got a controversial storyline in daytime?

Simone was allowed to be lesbian and that was a first for the AA's in daytime.

When other soaps were straying away from it. Passions allowed its characters to date colorblind less.

The Russells' were an important and central family to that show.

Just to add... any actor worth their money in soaps loves to play a meaty role. Rodney Van Johnson sure didn't complain nor did the other black males on Passions.

What other soap could they get that kind of work and the ability to play various storylines on?

None.

When you are an African American in daytime just getting a role is tough enough work. Any African American actor would have enjoyed being on Passions for the amount of work they got.

Passions could be fun but the show had no love for the black men on the cast:

T.C. --> Violent, hot-tempered man.

Chad --> Good guy who thought it okay to sleep with his sister (who really wasn't) and who ended up cheating on his supposed true love with another guy.

Vincent --> Intersexed person who was a psychotic rapist, murder who became pregnant by his/her father.
--------
There was no man on passions that was good.

Alistair was a rapist.
Julian was player and didn't mind getting drunk to sleep with you.
Both Miguel and Fox ended up being bad men.

And I could name bad deeds every man on the sow did.

The thing about Passions was that it allowed blacks to play storylines outside of the social issues of the month.

Eve was a main character for most of its time on air. I challenge anyone to count the number of episodes she was in verses Victoria Rowell. Tracey Ross was allowed to be a leading lady. To play a coveted woman with a sordid past.

They even brought on Liz as the black female villain. And it is a rarity that we get that on soaps.

I love Y&R but all the black people are too damn nice.

The fact that Chad and Whitney got to play such a storyline about incest was testament to allowing them to have storylines outside of the box. When is the last time African Americans got a controversial storyline in daytime?

Simone was allowed to be lesbian and that was a first for the AA's in daytime.

When other soaps were straying away from it. Passions allowed its characters to date colorblind less.

The Russells were an important and central family to that show.

Just to add any actor worth their money in soaps loves to play a meaty role. Rodney Van Johnson sure didn't complain nor did the other black males on Passions.

What other soap could they get that kind of work and the ability to play various storylines on?

None.

David,

I'm not saying Passions was all bad. However, none of the black men on Passions had a happy ending. T.C. always would have a violent reaction and beat the crap out of Julian. Isn't that the stereotype of the violent, angry black man?

I will agree that Passions did a VERY good job of integrating the cast and making the characters front burner performers. Tracey Ross had an excellent run on Passions that only Victoria Rowell's tenure on Y&R and Debbie Morgan's continuing legacy on AMC (and Loving/the City) could match.

Ultimately, I regret that none of the black men were able to overcome their faults and find happiness like Ethan, Miguel, Luis, Julian, etc.

In contrast, Y&R, with the exception of Lily, now treats its black characters like a toilet plunger, that tool that is tucked away and is used rarely. I won't defend Y&R's discriminatory practices.

The Winters only appear on Y&R once a month it seems. I'm not sure how Kristof St. John pays his bills. After winning an Emmy, how was Bryton McClure recognized by Y&R? He received a crappy storyline and was demoted to recurring. And, let's not even go into the wretched treatment of Nia Peeples...

Say what you will about LML, she did feature the Winters better and did cast an Asian man, Eric Stern, as Jill's lover Ji-Min.

(If HunterForrester is reading this, why didn't you ask Maria A. Bell about her crappy treatment of the Winters family and lack of other prominent minority characters?)

The reason why B&B continues to be the world's most watched soap is because in many countries outside the US it is the only American daytime soap being aired. Here in Finland we get B&B, Y&R and DAYS. B&B has always been the most popular (although it's ratings have dropped significantly since the 90's heydays), mainly because it was the first US daytime drama ever shown here.

I think B&B's continued worldwide success can mainly be contributed to the fact that in most countries it's the only American soap people have had the opportunity to watch since day one. That, and the cult show status it earned during the 90's, gives B&B an advantage over the other soaps that were introduced years later.

I know in my country, everybody thinks B&B is the worst crap on TV But due to the familiarity and the time slot (B&B airs late afternoon, whereas Days airs earlier in the afternoon and Y&R in the morning) it continues to be the #1 soap.

I also believe that the Hollywood glamour and the Southern California setting of B&B plays a big part in its international appeal. People all over the world love the California dream. That's one of the reasons why Baywatch became the world's most watched show too.

Yeah, I give Passions props for having an integrated cast unlike most of the soaps today. And the s/l wasn't the social issue of the week and I miss Passions because of the diversity of the soap. I am mad at MAB for the shi&*$ treatment of AAs on here and I glad that Victoria Rowell speaks out about this and not shutting up about the truth. I am loving Y&R, but I do agree that the show got problems and I going to speak up about it until something is done about it.

I do agree with the glamour about B&B, but the s/ls today are horrible and the leading men are terrible and Ronn is overrated and needs to go.