GLATWT88

GL is pretty much done at this point. It is ranking in the moderate zone, but no longer has the pull to get those big numbers or leaps it achieved in the early 80s. The breakouts of the second half of the decade were ATWT, DAYS, and YR. YR continued to succeed and ultimately replaces GH as top soap. DAYS started the decade weak but shined during its supercople eras and ATWT solidifies itself as CBS' #2 soap around 86.

GL jumped up to a 6 for Josh and Reva's wedding after dipping back down to the mid 5s after Roger's return died down. BB starting to make gains, but will pretty much peak around this year but maintain numbers for a few seasons.

I agree that YR would have done well either way, its rise to the top wasn't only a matter of a cushy timeslot, but really strong storytelling and soap as well. However, AMC could have held off some of this growth if placed head to head. I wonder if YR being scheduled so close to local news programs (12:30pm on most east coast affiliates and 11 on the west coast) plays any role in all these preemptions. Although, it does say full preemptions...

True. ABC did very little to compete with YR and it ultimately hurt them in the end. Having AMC go up against YR's full hour when it was at its strongest could have taken a bit of steam from YR's engine, especially since AMC remained quite strong ratings wise until the mid-90s. Instead, ABC decided to have weak soaps or debut new soaps in that very difficult timeslot against YR. It was almost as if YR had a whole half hour without much direct competition to establish itself and gain and grow an audience.

I wouldn't say thrive, but it probably would have helped with clearance. By the end of its run, RH was clearing about 80% of markets compared to about 97 percent in the early 80s. Capitol and Bold both benefitted from being hammocked between established soaps. While neither achieved the ratings success of their lead ins, it definitely helped.

I can understand it from this perspective, especially since GH blows up and AW lagged behind all other timeslot competition. But the same can be said for all of NBC soaps at the time. Each one was last in their timeslot, at least AW had better numbers. It would seem like a poor decision to axe it unless something else was going on behind the scenes.

Isn't that a bit soon? AW was NBC's top rated soap in 1979. I don't think AW drops out of the top until mid 1980 and even then it's not like Days is pulling big numbers, at least not for a while.

Thanks! It seems like ABC was a bit inconsistent with their Thanksgiving week schedule. In '97 and '99 GH had a new episode on Thanksgiving and preempted on Black Friday - while in 98, they aired Luke and Laura's wedding on Thanksgiving and preempted on Black Friday. I'm assuming ABC probably just aired new episodes all that week in '89.

So bizarre, but I do feel like a Ryan's Hope lead in to OLTL works nicely.

Seems like the NBC and CBS soap lineups were preempted on Thanksgiving with the CBS lineup also preempted Black Friday '89. Do we know if ABC aired new episodes on Thursday and/or Friday or were they repeats. Did NBC air new episodes Friday?

This is truly incredible! Thank you for sharing all this information with us. I have looked forward to coming on here just to see how these numbers played out through the decade.

What happened to some of the faces?

The week between Christmas and New Years Day 87/88 (which usually sees a nice boost for all soaps), sees GL get its first 7 rating since the week of Feb. 10-14, 1986 - almost two years earlier. Also, this is the first time this decade that an ABC soap has not scored the top spot for that week. GH topped that week in 1980 - 1982 and 1985 - 1987 and AMC in 1983 and 1984.

I was completely shocked to stumble upon the new of Suzanne Somers' passing on Twitter. I love Three's Company and remember watching Step by Step growing up. I had no idea of her journey and I hope she's in a better place and that her family finds peace. Will watch some more Three's Company this week for sure.

That's great, @JAS0N47. I appreciate you sharing all of this data with us, especially since you're putting so much time into typing it all out and organizing. Woo-hoo at finding that missing December 87 week and a very interesting week at that. AMC and OLTL above GH with YR at their heels.

Wow, that's quite the statement. I mean NBC would have happily taken YR, but I don't necessarily see it fitting with the rest of the lineup.

Bold is doing okay. It's pretty much getting Capitol's numbers, but in a different timeslot. GL being outperformed by Bold some weeks is crazy.

I get that, but I'm just not quite sure what Sue Ellen would find appealing about Peter. Yes, he was boyish and a non-threat to JR's manipulation and power. However, I feel he should have been more rugged, maybe from the wrong side of the tracks- initially pursuing Lucy but ends up trying to conquer Sue Ellen. He gives Sue Ellen the attention she wants and in some ways JR is intimidated. Peter does play a huge contrast to the men that Sue Ellen had been with before, but maybe I'm a bit bias because I don't find Chris Atkins appealing at all.

Wow Guiding Light is such a mess. I'm surprised it has weakened so quickly. I've noticed that the spring ratings after Feb sweeps tend to be quite low all around.

I know YR was nicely situated in its 12:30 timeslot in the east coast, but I wonder what it may have looked like if BB was placed at 12:30 and YR was head to head for the hour with Days and AMC. It clearly had no issues holding an audience, because its numbers were good. Although, the 12:30 slot didn't seem to be very successful for most half hour shows in the 80s and 90s. Not sure if being isolated from the rest of the lineup made it more difficult to grow. Also, would have been interesting to see what may have happened if CBS kept Capitol and had a 4 hour lineup. I wonder how they would have arranged that.

While timeslot was a critical part of soap success, the same can be said for BB. BB will replace Capitol, but it will never outpace Capitol at its peak even with a much stronger lead in from YR versus Capitol's ATWT. Personally, I feel CBS wasn't invested in Capitol as it did pretty well, but once it was certain it would be replaced they had no interest in supporting it. I think they had too much faith in Bell to create another massive YR

Wow, I didn't realize. I've not watched Days regularly so I wasn't aware.

NBC aired new episodes on Christmas Day? Was this common at the time or was this a one off by NBC?

Was randomly on Pluto yesterday and noticed Dynasty was added. Airing episode 2-5 when I caught it.

Pretty sure CBS was done with Capitol at this point and knew Bold would replace it soon.