AMC's Eileen Herlie Has Passed Away

1 Daytime drama has lost a number of soap legends already in 2008 (Beverlee McKinsey, Irene Dailey and Larry Haines to name a few), and now comes word that another shining star has passed. Eileen Herlie, who played the feisty Myrtle Fargate on ALL MY CHILDREN since 1976, died on Oct. 8 in New York City. She was 90. The actress was born in Glasgow, Scottish, and had an impressive stage and film career. She studied theater and appeared in small roles in movies. But she got her big break when she was cast opposite Laurence Olivier in the film version of Hamlet in 1948. She played Hamlet's mother Gertrude even though she was 13 years younger than Olivier. She appeared on Broadway as well, most notably in the musical "Take Me Along" which earned her a Tony nomination. More from the Pine Valley Bulletin: In 1976 she made the leap to the small screen and debuted as former carnival worker, Myrtle Fargate. She endured everyone as the ultimate den mother at the boarding house where just about everyone has lived at one time or another. And has been surrogate mother to, most recently, Erica Kane (Susan Lucci) and confidant to Zach Slater (Thorsten Kaye). In 1984, 1985 and 1986 she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in the Best Supporting Actress category. And she is one of only a few actresses ever to appear on the three soaps (AMC, Loving and OLTL) as the same character. Eileen has been married, but is divorced and has no children. She is survived by her brother Alfred as well nieces and nephews. Eileen's legend will live on in the hearts of AMC fans who will never forget Myrtle's wise advice and calming influence in the chaotic world of Pine Valley.

Daytime Nielsen Ratings For Week of Sept. 29-Oct 3, 2008

From the NBC ratings release: NBC's "Days of our Lives" has matched its highest women 18-49 rating in 18 weeks, lifting the daytime drama 18 percent above its rating for the same week last year. For the week of September 29-October 3, "Days of our Lives" (1.3 rating, 8 share among women 18-49, 1.0/6 among women 18-34) ranked #4 among network daytime programs in the women 18-49 category and tied for #3 in the women 18-34 demo. "Days of our Lives" equaled its highest women 18-49 rating since the week of May 26-30 and earned its highest women 18-34 rating since the week of August 11-15. The 1.3 rating among women 18-49 is an 18 percent increase on "Days'" year-ago rating of a 1.1. Season to date, "Days of our Lives" is tied for #4 among daytime programs in the women 18-49 race and ranks #4 outright among women 18-34 Ratings reflect "live plus same day" data unless otherwise noted. From the ABC Daytime ratings release: * For the fifth successive week, ABC ranked as Daytime's No. 1 network in Women 18-49 (1.3 rating - tied), surpassing third-place CBS by 8% (1.2 rating). Based on deliveries, ABC (866,000) edged out NBC (831,000) as the most-watched network in Daytime by 4%. * Daytime's No. 1 program for the second straight week in Women 18-34 (385,000), "The View" posts its best deliveries in more than one year, or 53 weeks - - since week of 9/24/07. In Women 18-49 (911,000), this week was "The View's" most-watched week in six months, or 25 weeks - - since week of 4/7/08. * For the fifth week running, "The View" (No. 3 - 3.89 million) and "General Hospital" (No. 5 - 2.95 million) positioned among Daytime's Top 5 programs in Total Viewers. In Key Women, for the second week in a row, both shows tied for No. 1 in Women 18-34 and ranked among the Top 3 in Women 18-49. * In Women 18-34, for the second straight week "The View" (385,000/1.1 rating) and "General Hospital" (357,000/1.1 rating) tied as the week's No. 1 program in Daytime in the key target. With "One Life to Live" (No. 5T - 255,000/0.8 rating) rounding out the Top 5, ABC was home to 3 of the week's Top 5 programs for the second successive week. * In Women 18-49, ABC was home to 3 of Daytime's Top 5 programs with "General Hospital" (No. 2 - 1.02 million/1.5 rating), "The View" (No. 3 - 911,000/1.4 rating) and "One Life to Live" (No. 5T - 800,000/1.2 rating). * Ranking among Daytime's Top 5 programs for 25 straight weeks, "One Life to Live" defeated CBS' "As the World Turns" at 2 o'clock by 34% in Women 18-34 (255,000 vs. 191,000) and by 10% in Women 18-49 (800,000 vs. 730,000). * At 3 o'clock, "General Hospital" more than doubled CBS' "Guiding Light" in Women 18-34 (122%; 357,000 vs. 161,000), and topped the time period competitor by 72% in Women 18-49 (1.02 million vs. 592,000) and by 37% in Total Viewers (2.95 million vs. 2.15 million). Daytime Rank: Total Viewers Women 18-49 (Rtg/000s) No. 1 CBS 3.51 million No. 1 ABC 1.3/866,000 No. 2 ABC 2.93 million No. 1 NBC 1.3/831,000 No. 3 NBC 2.51 million No. 3 CBS 1.2/777,000 Top 5 Daytime Programs in Women 18-49 (rank based on rating): Program Net Rtg/000s The Young & the Restless CBS 1.7/1.10 million (-70,000) General Hospital ABC 1.5/1.02 million (+73,000) The View ABC 1.4/911,000 (+67,000) Days of Our Lives NBC 1.3/831,000 (+81,000) Bold and the Beautiful CBS 1.2/817,000 (-19,000) One Life to Live ABC 1.2/800,000 (+8,000) All My Children ABC TBD/TBD As The World Turns CBS TBD/730,000 (+23,000) Guiding Light CBS TBD/592,000 (+23,000)