will81

Yeah I noticed Y&R's ascent to #1 had a lot more to do with it maintaining its audience as opposed to gaining a whole lot, while other shows dropped. I think there was an increase in the early 90's (about 90-93) that got stifled by the OJ Simpson trial. Yeah agreed. Just watching the episodes from 87-89 that are around, it starts to feel like B&B once Sally arrives on the scene.

I went looking for some clues about AMC. I wasn't aware Agnes returned to the show briefly to get things sorted due to the shows drop in ratings. Seems she was there at least for the summer.

Wow May and June 87 are interesting. In May AMC is gaining which I guess wreaked havoc for Y&R, especially with a stronger OLTL. What was happening on AMC to get it to a shared #1 at the end of May only for it drop again in June? Y&R is then suddenly #1 for most of June. The ratings were a lot more interesting back then. This seems to back up Brenda Dickson's claim that Y&R was #1 when she left

Y&R really stepped it up in 1986 which is no surprise considering what was going on that year on the show. The resolution of the Jill/John/Jack story which had been playing out since 1983, the Ashley/Victor/Nikki triangle, Lauren and psycho Shawn, Who shot Jill. It was a really solid year.

Sorry @Paul Raven I hope I am not crashing your thread. Sorry if I am, not intended

Oct 5 - 11, 1981 was listed as Week 1 or premiere week for the 81-82 television season. Despite this many new shows and returning shows were still not back at this point. The schedule for the three networks would be a bit of a mess this season I also have a round up of the week from Broadcasting magazine that gives some good detail and HH shares for some shows. Let me know if I am adding too much stuff to each post and I will try to split it up more

I have some 80's ratings starting with 1981 from the Los Angeles Times. Unfortunately sometimes the scans are so poor they are not legible, but I will post what I can. ETA: There was a 13 week writers strike that delayed the 81-82 season, the NY Times stated the strike ended Jul 12, 1981 at 2am. So many of these shows were still in reruns. These also include a shorter list for the Los Angeles area

But Bell was asked to do a soap back before Capitol was put together and initially said no, he started working on B&B in 1986 and moved to California so he could oversee it, it was a done deal. So CBS needed to make room somewhere. Though it may have gotten ATWT timeslot, Capitol still needed to go in order for B&B to have room on the schedule. Do you think if Capitol had gotten stronger ratings CBS would have kept it and just expanded their daytime line up to include B&B or cancelled another daytime show? There was no way B&B wouldn't have made it on the air.

I was always under the impression that once Bell got B&B off the ground Capitol was out the door regardless of its ratings.

I found some tv listings for Dec 1982 out of Akron Ohio. Channel 3 was WKYC and The Doctors was on the WKYC daytime schedule for its last week

I probably shouldn't say fired, as it was never clear. It just said he was let go. I had heard Robert was not happy with being sidelined and being recurring (but can't confirm that) so it may have been a mutual decision as Stuart was barely appearing by 1983 and barely had story. That's why it is so hard to pin down when he last appeared.

No 1985? I think that was a pretty stellar year to be honest. Actually I get the feeling I would love everything from 1973 - 1994. I remember 1995 - 1997 being okay but not great and 1997 - 2002 being pretty good (except a couple stories here and there) I would say my fave era is late 1982 - 1994. I love how much more expansive the show got. I love Drucilla and the Abbotts etc.., I even have a soft spot for the bug, lol. I love the occassional psycho and the corporate stories. It really is the show I grew up with. In terms of Stuart. The last mention of him in weekly newspaper synopsis is memorial day 1983. Robert Colbert's firing was announced in a newspaper article from Oct 8, 1983. So either the memorial day episode was his last or it was sometime between then and Oct 83.

^^^ If it was NBC asking them to close the gap, then that is definitely not a good sign. It sounds like they have plans and as has been mentioned, it would be easier to replace Days if they don't have several months of episodes waiting to be aired.

Was the whole point of filming so far in advance soley to save money? Is there any other reason people can think of as to why they would be closing the gap, besides cancellation? Only thing I can think of, and it is a long shot is NBC/Sony still want the show and closing the gap was done simply because taping in advance didn't lead to any real cost cutting/savings and filming in advance was too chaotic from a creative/production stand point and not worth it. Then again, this would seemingly work in favour of cancellation. I honestly can't see why else they would do this now.

@YRfan23 I did a bit of research. CBS broadcast the NFC Wildcard Playoff between the Rams and Vikings on Dec 26, 1988. On the West Coast the game started at 11:30am, on the East Coast it started at 2:30pm but CBS aired the tv movie "Quaterback Princess" at 12:30pm until the game started. This now places episode #442 as Jan 3rd 1989. And pushes back Sally Spectra/Darlene Conley's first appearance to Jan 17, 1989. The entire soap line up was pre-empted so this is also a pre-emption for Y&R as well.

Yeah it could be that because Loving started right near the end of June that they didn't make the cut in time. I assume they are covered in the next months issue

The newspaper synopsis mentions the ciggarette near Angela (episode #451) during the Jan 16 - 20 week. #451 should be Jan 16, 1989. Unless the newspaper synopsis is wrong too and that episode did air Jan 13, 1989.

Yeah those dates seem spot on, at least that is what I have too. ETA: Actually sorry @YRfan23 I do have something different. I think B&B was pre-emtped on Jan 2nd 1989. So #442 is Jan 3rd 1989. Episode #451 when Stephanie and Ridge find the cigarette near Angela's bed was mentioned in the weekly newspaper synopsis for Jan 16 - 20. Which pushes Sally's first date to Jan 17 and Darla and Saul to Jan 19. However I could be wrong

With episode #454 we have Darla and Saul's first appearances. The Spectra Fashions family is filling out.

@YRfan23 Thanks for this, up to the point where Ryan is arrested is November 12, 1992. I can't quite find what the date is for the rest, but probs within a week.

Thanks for that great info. Yeah it is odd, newspaper listings have both shows in 1983, People Now with Bill Tush or Mike Douglas' People Now. almost changes daily. A big fan of the late Jan Hooks from her SNL days. Sad to hear of how she passed. Love it when other characters give Victor a good serving and he just has to cop it. As much as Bell and Alden loved Victor, they would allow others to dominate when it made sense. Hope was never under his spell, I also have to hand it to Signy, hard to drop the mic like that and have a great exit when you are playing a blind character that still has to slowly feel her way out of the room.

Thank you for the Eileen Davidson interview. She does seem a bit reserved, but also as if she is a little overwhelmed by the new fame. The host looks like Bill Tush and he did host a show called People Now on CNN which I think was actually Mike Douglas' show, but maybe Bill hosted on occassion or filled in for Mike. Not 100% sure. The set is the same at any rate.

True, thanks for the clarification and again for all the hard work you have put into posting all these magazines. Even for soaps I was never into, it is interesting to see the soap landscape and what was going on. I also find the 70's is the one decade where I can find something to like in most of the soaps, roughly 68 - 83 I am interested in all soaps in some way, even if just smaller periods of time. So these articles are greatly appreciated.

That's what I had always heard, the stress caused the termination. The wording makes it sound like she had an abortion, I get what they mean now

On Page 3 of this thread. The post you have of Daily TV Serials Anniversary Issues that did a recap of Y&R. It states Chris discovered the truth about Chuckie's paternity when he was sick with pneumonia and shortly after discovered she was pregnant. The line about her abortion is below. It is on the page that has Story Highlights of the Year at the top of it, which is the second page scanned under the photo you provided. "But Chris tortured with thoughts of Sally and Snapper, aborted. Realizing she had to find her way into the real world" Yeah it does feel like sometimes they just assumed certain things to fill in gaps, so maybe this isn't correct.