GLATWT88

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.

I agree. GL tends to feel more different from regime to regime. It also lacked as many long running characters that tended to anchor many the of the other shows. The overhaul in the early 80s really changed the direction of the show. That 1987 and 1988 episode feel like different shows. However, this is around the time GL stabilizes after losing ground around 1984 after a very successful late 70s and early 80s phase.

And with amazing numbers! Capitol seems to be doing fine. It's massive like YR, but it has pulled very decent numbers and while it was doing better at first, the current numbers are still quite good. Considering that GL and ATWT suffered quite a bit in the mid 80s, Capitol has been consistent. It will be out the door soon tho.

I haven't watched OC for a few seasons, but I keep reading tweets that it is good, but this reunion trailer looks so mid.

Guiding Light dropping below a 6 😬

It was a nice read and it was good to hear Victoria look back with some appreciation and care for the show. I know these interviews usually skim the surface, but gosh would I have so many questions to ask.

Thank you, @JAS0N47 Definitely much harder to guage as these were calculated over a two week period, but looking at these the biggest gainers were in the under 18 audience and women 18-34 and 18-49. I wonder if that working women number would have been higher if it was only for the one week during school holidays.

Are any of the episodes from 1967-1969 available online? Curious about early Peggy, but some of the other characters of that time.

I was figuring working women as well, but I wasn't sure so wanted to look at the numbers - but you're probably right about kids home from school.