will81

Fair enough. Maybe my memories have failed me, I admit it is a bit of a blur and I was only in and out of the show after season 4. Thanks for the response though. I will definitely put Season 7 back on the list and see how it goes.

Oh right, that's unfortunate. I didn't know he thought it was stupid. Oh well. Maybe the fact she didn't want to have any lines influenced his feelings more, haha. I agree though that having her do a where's waldo type cameo would have been silly. If you are willing to come back, at least make it substantial, even without dialogue. As you suggested, simply having Billy turn up at Alison's place in Atlanta would have been cool. Though that would have been better at the end of Season 6 (techinically beginning of Season 7) when Shue left the show. Out of curiosity, and I know it doesn't matter all that much, but how does everyone view the held over episodes from season 6 that were officially made part of season 7. Do you see those now as season 6 episodes or still view them as season 7? Because I have to say when you remove them from season 7 it makes that season so much worse. Again I am going from memory, so maybe those that have seen those episodes recently might have a different view. Though Season 6 wasn't as strong as the earlier seasons, I actually was still able to tune in on occassion and enjoy the show somewhat. I could barely sit through a season 7 episode though and even though I am going back and re-watching the series again, I am not sure I will bother to go past those held over episodes.

True, though it seemed more like a second choice since Alison pushed him away. There was still a heartbreak that happened in order to get him there. Yeah I agree and I think Courtney would have done a cameo if she could have worked her schedule out. She was going to be in the last episode briefly, but her schedule couldn't be worked out to do it, but at the very least Courtney was apparently willing.

Which seemed odd, since both were leaving, why exit the characters the way they did, can't anyone have a happy ending, haha.

Yeah S4 (at least the first half) seemed to be a lot of good ideas that were poorly executed, so the idea Starr left the show with outlines that TPTB had no idea how to play out seems plausible. The second half is just a mess. I remember Jane's arc being one I was not impressed with, though the Sydney/Jane stuff towards the end of that season was fun (moreso because of Laura and Josie's great chemistry as sisters) I still remember thinking the show had lost it by then. I barely watched S5 and quit after Kelly Rutherford came on. Nothing to do with her, I just wasn't happy with the show by that point.

From what I remember he left between S3 and S4 but left those in charge with outlines for at least half the year. Which is why around the start of 1996 everything seems to start falling apart. I might look up some old newspaper articles to see if I can find any official info from BITD. I'll post if I find anything As a side note, thanks to this thread I have gone back and started watching this show from the start, I haven't watched MP since it first aired. So it is such a trip to see these episodes again and so bizarre that I remember it like it was yesterday. It is like a scent that takes you back to a certain time and place, haha. So much fun. SPOILERS in case anyone isn't up to this (not sure how this thread works, so just being cautious)

From a Marylin Beck colum from Oct 1981, doesn't say much but gives an idea of when Judith Krantz was working on the CBS soap, here it is called "Judith Krantz" Beverly Hills Here is Liz Smith's column from January 1982 talking about Capitol, she mentions CBS were developing a show called "Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills" with Judith Krantz

Apparently the Watergate pre-emptions also contributed, I read somewhere that as a result of those pre-emptions (around a months worth of shows) Addie's cancer story was delayed, I think her character was pregnant for about 12 months, lol, and I think she was supposed to die in child birth, this delay is the reason Patricia knew well in advance that her character was being killed off and gave her and fans enough time to cause a fuss about it, which is allegedly why Bell killed her off-screen in 74 when he had the chance. I believe she simply walked out the door one day with Hope and never came back, then the audience discovered she had been hit by a car. However I do remember reading something with Bill Bell where he stated he had never intended to kill off Addie in 1973, not sure I believe that though. What potentially happened with Pat was probably the reason Dorothy Green who played Jennifer on Y&R had no idea (though she suspected) that she was being killed off on Y&R a few years later.

And from reading synopsis, it was Vanessa who made sure Lorie saw her sister coming out of the shower. There were clips shared on the fourm of the aftermath when Lorie confronts Leslie about carrying Lance's baby.

Yes I remember this was the case too and that it happened before she left and was the reason she took time out. However I looked up some old newspaper articles and it was stated in Nov 96 that she had planned to leave to start a family. When her last episodes aired in Jan 97, Aaron Spelling only stated that Josie left for personal reasons.

@BoldRestless Thankyou so much for sharing. I think the episodes are actually from late September, I have only watched one, but the first episode posted is definitely from Sep 27, 1988, it has a promo for Mayflower Madam. Mayflower Madam (which originally aired in 1987) was rebroadcast that night. From watching more eps, it seems to jump to October, so I think the other dates are correct.

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.