VanessaReardon

The conclusion of GL’s Barbados storyline helped the show get to #2 for the week ending 11/30/84. 1. GH 8.2 2. GL 7.8 3. Y&R 7.4 4. AMC 7.3 5. Days 7.0 6. OLTL and ATWT 6.8 8. CAP 5.8 9. AW 5.3 10. Loving 3.7 11. SB 3.0 12 RH and SFT 2.8 14. EON 2.4

For the week ending 8/26/84 the rankings of the top 8 soaps were: GH, AMC, Y&R, OLTL, GL, ATWT, DAYS, CAP Y&R was the #1 daytime show (beating The Price is Right) from Oct 29-Nov 2, 1984. Soap Rankings that week were: Y&R, GH, GL, AMC, ATWT, OLTL, CAP, DAYS, AW, LOV, RH, SFT, SB, EON Partial ratings week ending 11/18/84: GH 8.9, Y&R 8.0, AMC 7.5, ATWT 7.4, GL 7.3, DAYS 7.2, OLTL 6.8

I’m going to suspend posting the Daytime TV magazine ratings because I have a better source and have found weekly ratings pretty much from 1985 on, with a few missing weeks. But in the meantime, to confuse everyone even more, I have found that the ratings posted in Daytime TV’s March 1987 issue were the actual ratings for week of August 25-29, 1986 and the April, 1987 issue showed the ratings from October 6-10, 1986. So the magazine was several months behind - even moreso than I thought. It will be much more clearer going forward for me to post clearly defined ratings -ratings for a specific week, instead of these were in Daytime TV but I don’t know which week they represent. Look forward to sharing this stuff that was in my basement.

I’ve started to dig up more detailed ratings info from 1984. For the week of July 30 to August 3, 1984 the rankings were as follows: AMC, GH, OLTL, Y&R, GL, ATWT, Days, Capitol, AW, SB and finally SFT. I don’t have the ratings numbers, just the ranking. Loving, Ryan’s Hope and Edge were preempted because of the olympics and ABC aired 40 minute episodes of AMC, OLTL and GH from 1-3 pm.

You’ll see - in 1988 how close SB got to AW.

Just to repeat, these ratings are for the issue date of Daytime TV Magazine. Search For Tomorrow was still listed in their ratings in the April, 1987 issue even though they left the air at the end of December 1986.

Great info. Thanks!

It has been a GREAT few days. Fingers crossed. Kinda something fun I came across from Feb 1989. I have no idea what time frame this captured but the source was Nielsen.

I won’t bore you with the article but first week ratings for some of the soaps that debuted in the 80’s: Loving 4.9/18 (previously discussed here), Santa Barbara 3.2/12 for its first week, Bold & Beautiful 5.6/20 and Generations 3.1/11. Generations ranked 19 out of 23 daytime shows, and last of the soaps during its first week.

Ah, Nia Long. Just a nice, nice person. Love her!

Warning!! I might bombard this thread in the coming weeks. Found this clipping which apparently lists the daytime ratings for the full month of May, 1982.

Found the ratings for the last quarter of 1981, which included the infamous Luke & Laura wedding on GH.

Phelps and Strasser clearly did not get along. But I very much remember that Strasser lied to the press about Phelps and publicly apologized to Phelps on her infamous hotline. Strasser claimed that Phelps made her come in on her vacation to shoot scenes, which was apparently a lie and Strasser then owned up to the lie and apologized on her hotline. I believe that there are 2 sides to the Strasser/Phelps story.

I found a gem that I forgotten I had. It pretty much confirms my belief that it was a myth that GL hit #1 in 1984. Yes, GL beat GH for 3 weeks, but GL was not the number 1 soap. Thanks - there’s so much more coming in the future months. I have tons of stuff in my basement that will flesh out the ratings. I hope to sort through that info during the winter and post it. I have many weeks of ratings from the mid 80’s onward that will fill in the gaps between the Daytime TV monthly ratings.

I believe that the question asked was whether or not AW reached higher than 8th during the rest of its run, from the mid 80’s onward, which Paul answered. The nutjob had to interject and post info from the 60’s and 70’s. Totally off topic and irrelevant to the question. Plus, the info she posted is readily available right here at SON. She didn’t have to look far. Ugh. You’re very welcome! I really can’t answer why ATWT lost its way but I think we all know that the hiring of Doug Marland in 1985 really started to turn the show around and 1986 was a great year for the show creatively.

Posting 60’s and 70’s ratings in a VERY clearly marked 80’s thread shows how sick this woman is.

Well thank you genius for continually posting OFF topic. Ugh!!!! Stop it!! Please. You ruin every thread.

The nutjob is truly mentally ill. She highjacks every single thread to get attention. She’s a sick person.

In the meantime: Oh wow Albert. I never even noticed that. I don’t have the 02/84 ratings. Good catch.

She does it for attention and yes, I am giving the mentally ill nutjob the attention she craves but it is just to call her out as a mentally ill person. She needs help. Oh yes, I watched GL before Kobe/Long. I think Kit Vested was the first story I remember. Kobe/Long to me revitalized the show. The 4 muskateers, Alexandra, Billy/Vanessa, Reva. I just loved it during their regime.

True story.

I truly have nothing that supports GL as number 1 in 1984. I am a HUGE fan of what Gail Kobe and Pam Long did at GL so if they actually hit #1, I’d shout it out!! What I DO have is a note from the GL Fan Club President at the time saying that GL beat GH for 3 weeks but Y&R was #1. And I do have my own personal interaction with Gail Kobe. Entertainment Tonight ran a story and interviewed Gail about beating GH for 3 weeks. The very next day after the ET story was the 1984 untelevised Daytime Emmys and I went to New York and stood outside the hotel with many other fans. I saw Gail Kobe and said to her “You’re #1!” She said “not yet, but we will be”. This is a true story. GL never hit #1, after that unfortunately.