My absence from Daytime Confidential lately has not been due to the usual business of family and work taking up a lot of my time, but rather a certain lack energy to post about practically any of the daytime serials that clog up my DVR from day to day. This is neither a positive nor a negative thing because there are frequent periods throughout the year when shows kind of coast along and do their their thing, usually between sweeps.

At these times, there is little for the viewer — if that viewer is me — to get all worked up about this plot twist, that character's action, some couple or another or even a whole show's direction. Normally, this state of affairs hits one or two shows at a time. Every once in a while like the last couple of weeks, the stars align and all the serials get caught in the same momentum of drift. All that is required of us is to watch and see where it all goes.

In that spirit, my brain plays a little game of soap opera hopscotch, taking in odds and ends big and small. There is no great elaboration on anything here, just a quick rundown of things I like and not like so much. Your mileage may vary... READ MORE

Luke (Van Hansis) and Damian (Paolo Seganti) have an awkward conversation about Noah and Holden (Jon Hensley) gets territorial on Thursday's episode of As the World Turns.

Jon Hensley (Holden) and Kathleen Widdoes (Emma) in a scene from Thursday's episode of As the World Turns.

Holden

Damian

Forget those two, she should be with Jack

In terms of popularity, it is accepted as gospel that daytime soap operas commanded their largest audiences in the go-go 1980's, highlighted by the 30 million odd viewers who tuned into Luke & Laura's now legendary first wedding on General Hospital. Less well known among today's fans is that the true heydey of soaps was the early 1970's when the three broadcast networks — ABC, CBS, and NBC — were the only game around. They could have aired cheaper game shows all day long (in fact, game shows had their own morning and afternoon blocks of programming) but instead broadcast an average of 18 soap operas. Let me repeat that: 18 daytime dramas.

Want to know the Nielsen ratings that a few of today's soaps were averaging in soap-to-soap comparisons during the 1969-1970 season when there were 19 soaps? Days of Our Lives was pulling an 8.8, One Life to Live was pulling in a 6.7, while General Hospital was at an 8.5. Compared to the numbers soaps pull today, those ratings look glorious but as hard as it may seem to believe, all of them were in the middle of the pack. READ MORE

On today's episode of As the World Turns Damian Grimaldi (Paolo Seganti) returns to Oakdale. He was last seen in the summer of 2006. Holden (Jon Hensley), Lily (Noelle Beck) and especially his son Luke (Van Hansis) are not happy to see him in this preview scene from Thursday's episode.