GLATWT88

I was watching a bit of Nov. 1981 GL on YouTube yesterday prompted by the 80s ratings thread and I was just thinking to myself woah "Tony" is kinda hot. John Wesley Shipp too...

Thanks for sharing this.

Oh yikes 😬 I get it was a different time and fortunately we've come a long way in regards to such issues, but that explanation is the worst. I'm not even against Luke and Laura getting married. I totally understand the craze and it was definitely a moment in TV history and quite a special one. Real life issues, dilemmas, problematic scenarios are what soaps are all about. Where it went wrong is the treatment of the rape as not a rape.

Really great weeks for Guiding Light. It hadn't reached the 8s since March. It came close a few weeks with a 7.9, but it also had some really low 7s and a few 6s between then - wonder what was going on those months.

Oh! I do miss the show and just tuning in and seeing familiar characters. That's the thing about soaps, you form such an attachment because you "interact" with these characters daily for years. I know it wouldn't be the same if it was still on and the last years were rough and I didn't watch much, but I wish there was somewhere to revisit whatever is left of the catalog.

I was like 🤭

You're welcome. I love seeing all those students in the university commons glued to the screen. Interesting to see how programming geared towards stay at home moms/wives was appealing to such a different demographic.

Definitely. I'm glad we have it

I also feel that NBC was a bit heavy handed when the cancelations of some of its soaps. I believe it was so desperately trying to be competitive that if a soap wasn't a breakout hit, it would get the chop.

From the ABC station in NY. 20 million watched day 1. A 47 share in NYC and a 64 share in Chicago.

Wow! What a moment. Those numbers are incredible.

I'm not sure, but considering SFT was canceled over at CBS with better ratings than the entire NBC lineup, perhaps execs hoped SFT could prop up their numbers by bringing viewers over. Something that clearly didn't happen. They should have moved Texas to noon. It was never going to establish itself against GH and GL. It would have at least given it a half hour lead when no direct competition.

NY aired it at 4 until the end of its run.

Honestly, it's not that bad all things considered. Definitely doesn't have the same impact compared to the ATWT scene, but the did okay for what they've got. I would have expected a lot worse from soaps these days. Unfortunately, this is what we have to accept.

I wonder how EON would have faired if given a fair shot by affiliates. Considering how successful the rest of the ABC lineup was and GH being it's lead-in, it had all the makings of being a success. I know on the west coast, it apparently aired at noon, so did not have the same advantage. Unfortunately with many networks choosing to preempt, it just never had a chance. The timeslot move on CBS really did some damage, but IMO it could have been saved at ABC. I wonder how EON and Capitol (CBS) would have done in the 90s considering the rise of procedural dramas in primetime since then. Would have been interesting to see what direction EON would have taken.

When these outdoor scenes look better than anything Peapack did a decade later, it was bound to fail. Even when it got better, the Peapack stuff still looked like college kids that filmed something for their TV production class.

I have a question for longtime viewers. It seems like every soap by the 90s had established some sort of leading lady type or face of the show that you would easily recognize or associate with said soap...Erica -AMC, Marlena - DAYS, Vicky - OLTL, etc. While these ladies are usually beloved, Reva seems to be the most controversial. What is it about the character that makes this so? I know that Reva came on as GL was going through a massive change especially in characters. She's probably the newest of said leading ladies as most were part of their soaps for a lot longer.

Everyone suffering the consequences of the ABC dominance. I'm impressed by how steady GL is holding considering it is in direct competition with GH.

In Feb. during its transition to one hour episodes, it was head to head with AMC from 1-2pm. In June, it shifted to an earlier start time of 12:30, putting it up against the low-rating Doctors at the time and Ryan's Hope which was performing reasonably but not at the height of the rest of the ABC lineup. This half hour lead might have been an advantage to YR. I would be curious to see what the half hour ratings for YR would be at this time.

I was not a fan of the Peter Richard's story either and it largely had to do with CA in the role. I completely agree that he lacked chemistry with both Linda and Charlene. I loved the direction it was headed with Sue Ellen feeling conflicted about the age difference, Peter's friends at the restaurant thinking Sue Ellen was his mom, Peter being involved in the life of her son. It had great elements that could have produced some intense drama, but CA was just creepy. He just looked like a boy. I wish they would have cast someone a bit more manly and rugged. I know times have changed and beauty standards but he just looks scrawny and that lipless smile and limp blond hair do nothing. Not to mention his personality was lame too. I'm sure they didn't want to push the envelope too much at the time, but it would have really been more effective if we did see a lot more passion and an actual love scene between the pair as well.

No one was competing with AMC, OLTL, and GH that summer. It was a good move for YR not to be scheduled completely in direct competition to any of these three soaps.

Any time period in specific you can recommend for the Curlee era. I might do a revisit as I have some time. Funny you made that comparison to GH, as I was just thinking the same thing today. GH is getting Peapack numbers currently but with lower demos, but it visually looks pretty impressive all considered. Granted, this is 2023 vs 2008/9...so not a fair comparison. GH getting just over 2 million viewers, 15 years after GL was doing those same numbers isn't too bad. Also, I wonder if delayed viewing is also helping. I wish there was more transparency with these numbers. Another factor may be the steady decline in viewership across daytime and primetime which may have made networks a little more generous with budgets especially with soaps which bring a consistent number of viewers daily.

That seems about right. I would assume that ATWT would be moved to the 10am slot in some markets like NYC, as GL had already moved from its 3pm slot. I would be very curious to see how BB would have performed at 1 hour runtime. While, household numbers were strong in 97, BB's demos were mediocre. It consistently underperformed the ABC soaps, YR, and Days which was dominated the 18-49 demo that year. There were several weeks where GL outperformed BB in the demo in 97 and other weeks they were pretty much on par. Aside from stronger viewership, I'm not sure why they would want to expand BB at the time. Although, BB may have been doing better in 95 and 96, which I would have to check. Nonetheless, the issue with the CBS soaps at the time was that they skewed older. ATWT, GL, and BB were usually at the bottom half of the demo rankings. I am curious how a full hour of BB would fair against DAYS. I think a younger, fresher soap would have been in the works. I don't know what that would look like in 1997 - we got Port Charles and Sunset Beach which were supposed to be the answer to that. Maybe SuBe's numbers made CBS hesitant.

Wow, that's pretty amazing. I wish they had a streaming platform for soaps. Not sure why some of these companies are so protective of this old content, removing it from YT or pulling it down from other sources. Let's be honest, old soap episodes are not lucrative. It would be great if there was even a network like Retro, MeTV, Buzzr (old game shows) that would just air old soap opera episodes.

Oh freaky! I posted something very similar to this in the CBS Daytime thread.