TVSquad

You might be surprised to learn that the results of a new poll by AOL.com found that the number one soap opera among web searchers is Day of Our Lives. According to the Nielsen ratings for the soaps, The Young and the Restless is the top daytime drama -- and has been for over a thousand weeks. But I'm not surprised to read these AOL results, which shows Days, General Hospital and All My Children at the top of the list. Y&R is number eight. Also getting a lot of search engine hits is a Spanish telenovela, Fuego en la Sangre, from Mexico.


Like I said, these results may be a surprise to some, but not to me. Days of Our Lives has always been a fan favorite and has a huge, loyal following. Are you listening, NBC? This is a show to build on, not one to threaten with cancellation. There are fans equally loyal to the ABC soaps. For soap fans, watching the ABC lineup from All My Children to General Hospital is a tradition. If you watch one, chances are you watch (or have watched) them all. Soap fans are searching the net for spoilers, stories and info on their favorites. They're hungry to scoops, and the soap producers are loathe to give them away.

Speaking of soaps, many fans catch up with (some of) the daytime shows -- All My Children, One Life to Live, General Hospital, The Young and the Restless, and Days of Our Lives -- when they're repeated daily on SoapNet. The network has just relaunched their web site, throwing in a lot of new photos, video, and content. There's a lot of cool stuff there now, although the inclusion of style and fashion is a stretch for me. I like the meat-and-potatoes soap buzz from SoapNet, not US magazine-like photo spreads.