GLATWT88

Thank you, frenchfan! These are amazing.

I was flipping through a magazine and it had an ad for the show Greenleaf on the OWN network and on the ad it had two huge letters "GL". I have never seen it promoted this way or abbreviated as such, but the show from my understanding does have a central family connected with a megachurch. Considering Springfield is rural Midewst, I can definitely see a Guiding Light reboot with the addition of a faith based family. While I don't believe I reboot would work, I would love to see some of the characters again, even for a 85th anniversary movie or miniseries to play out a new story or updates on what's been happening in Springfield.

I believe these ran at the start of the episodes. Many of the episodes I watched during this blackout storyline from 1992 included them and they were always at the very beginning. Also, the episodes that had commercials had the promos with the commercials and they didn't look like these character summaries. There was one for Gilly, Lujack, Mindy and a few other characters. I tried searching to find out if other CBS soaps were doing the same or why GL was airing these (possibly as an attempt to lure viewers and give them a bit of background).

I have been watching the 1992 blackout episodes and while searching for the first episode of the blackout, I noticed that GL had intros at the beginning of many episode with character summaries. Does anyone know if this was GL specific or if the other CBS soaps were doing something similar as well at the time. Here's an example:

+1

I haven't watched this season of NY partly due to Bethanny being gone. I feel that Bethanny brought a balance to the show that balanced the craziness of the other women. I'm not saying that Bethanny is some beacon of stability but her crazy was different from the likes of Ramona, Sonja, Tinsley and Luann. The women that usually provided more of a balance in seasons past are gone now and I think it's just too much with the current cast. I honestly didn't even watch because I assumed it would just be too much, but I may be wrong. RHOBH: I don't understand why it's so hard for these women to understand that Denise didn't want these grown ass women to talk about sex while her children and other people's children were present. Then the whole not having kids at an adult party. Honey, you should up at Denise's house as soon as you saw kids there and they had a table, it's not an adult party. Yes, she may have mentioned her husband's penis but she whispered it and she told the women to lower their voices but of course they were extra. Also, the hypocrisy is too much. Kyle didn't want it mentioned that Mauricio smoked pot a few seasons ago because of her kids and Rinna sure loves to stir the pot so the attention isn't on her and her husband. She sure flipped out when Kim tried to say something about her husband, but wants to ask Denise whether her kids know about Charlie's hookers.

Those are amazing demos for AMC. BB really took off.

You're absolutely right. I just checked and the HH point decreased from 1990/91 season to the 1991/2 season. The fact that no year was listed and I knew off the top of my head that a HH point in 91/92 was equal to 921,000, I thought this was for 93 and looked up the value and it matched. It's unusual that the value goes down, but I should have confirmed. 1990/91 a HH point equals 931,000 1991/92 a HH point equals 921,000 1992/1993 a HH point equals 931,000

I believe those ratings are for 1993. A HH point for the September '92 to Aug./Sept. 93 season was equal to 931,000. The Sept. '91 - '92 season was 921,000. Edit: This is in fact 1991. My apologizes. A HH point for September 1990 - August 1991 and September 1992 - August 1993 were equal to 931,000 as you see at the bottom of that page. The HH point from September 1991 - August 1992 was equal to 921,000.

That's true that the ratings weren't great, but considering there's been little success with new soaps since the 70s with the exception of LOV, AMC, Y&R and BB - none have lasted more than a decade (SB months shy of making it) and Loving wasn't exactly a ratings success. NBC's issues started in the 80s (actually a bit sooner in the late 70s) when its once strong lineup completely collapsed. Another World, The Doctors, Days of Our Lives all performing solidly for most of the 70s start seeing decreases in the late 70s and then big dips in the early 80s. NBC trying to stay competitive for the next two decades tried new soaps none with much success and unfortunately usually at the hindrance of its established soaps. NBC would have done better doing more to save its failing lineup than with the new soaps. SuBe was an expensive failure that I'm surprised didn't scare off NBC from ever trying a new soap again. While Passions performed well in the younger demos (it wasn't exactly doing as amazingly as some claim), it was far from a ratings success and never did surpass AW in season averages in total viewers even AWs lowest rating last season. Either way, by the mid 90s it may have been too late to save AW anyway. Even the success of Days' possession storyline did little to help AW. I guess all this to say, if NBC spent more time trying to fix its lineup as it did trying to replace it to be competitive with the other two networks, it may have faired better in the end.

Agree! I see some great questions pop up on the chat and I hope that he would ask some of them.

I can get Alan's frustration as he's hoping these work out smoothly for his sake and the audience, and I know the tech issues have been annoying in the past but I was thoroughly entertained with Kristi's antics today, talking over people, her reaction and logging on and off again. She seems sweet however. I didn't mind it. Besides, Alan could have prevented all of this so it's not entirely her fault. Also, sometimes Alan doesn't know how to follow up or continue the dialogue and there's awkward moments in conversation because of that and I'm like oh no...someone say something. Yes, I watched that one as well and they were definitely ready to spill. I mean that's the reason I watch these anyway, I want to know what was happening behind the scenes, how actors got along good and bad, funny moments, etc.

It's such a hot mess. Was it just me or did Michael seems annoyed at one point too. I just think Kristi is also a bit tech challenged and doesn't know wtf is going on...I'm laughing at all this.

I mean probably very unlikely, but it would be awesome to get an 85th anniversary movie to just see all the characters back in action. I miss them. Probably, very unlikely but considering most of the long running soaps ended in the last 20 years, and 85 is a big one would be nice even a more fitting reunion would be okay. Considering nothing was done for AW's 50th...not that I'm aware, this probably is a long shot.

I know...lol. She's all over the place and I kind feel bad. They should do some sort of test run.

The many faces of Jill week. I'm not sure if TPTB are too interested in going earlier than the 90s. I think since the theme weeks started, we've only had two 80s episodes and both were during Nikki's week. They didn't even air an 80s episode for Katherine's week. We did get one other 80s episode during the Friday classics.

Since, I started watching GL back in '03, I was always curious why my local CBS station in New York aired it at such an "off" time slot. All the other soaps on the three networks were scheduled after noon and before 4 and were pretty much tightly packed in that timeframe, except for GL which was on at 10am. I remember searching online back in 2003 and several times after and not being successful in getting a clear answer why, but the question came to mind again today and I have finally found an article that answered the question. Perhaps Variety has updated their archives, as this article is from 1995. CBS dims P& G ‘Light’ to make ‘Date’ July 12, 1995 The CBS Television Stations group has alienated the network’s largest daytime advertiser to make room for “Day & Date,” a new magazine show being jointly produced by the Eye web and Group W Prods. With its ratings diminishing, Procter & Gamble’s “Guiding Light,” the oldest continuing daytime soap, is being shunted to 10 a.m. from its longtime 3 p.m. slot by WCBS New York. The web’s flagship station wants to air “Day” live at 3 p.m. beginning Sept. 11. KCBS Los Angeles, meanwhile, has notified the advertiser that it intends to permanently shunt the soap to a deadly 9 a.m. slot after temporarily having moved it there from the afternoons to make room for 0 J . Simpson trial coverage. Naturally, the moves have not gone over well with the advertiser. But Group W Prods, hasn’t had the easiest time, either. When the Westinghouse stations renewed their affiliation pacts with CBS for 10 years, the deal involved a jointly funded effort to clear Group W syndicated shows on both its stations and the CBS O& Os. Initially, “Day” – the first project to emerge from the venture – had been pitched as a live, afternoon, early fringe news lead-in series. But some fiercely independent general managers at CBS-owned stations, which are the weakest of the Big Three network O& O groups, balked at having to choose “between a low-rated soap and an unproven afternoon magazine format over which they have no creative control. Group W is allotting 51% of the budget for “Day” and calls the shots, at least until the networks are fully deregulated. When it became apparent that some CBS stations would not carry “Day” directly before their afternoon newscasts, Group W broadened the parameters. It asked only that stations air it in post-3 p.m. early fringe slots. Now, however, CBS-owned WBBM Chicago has confirmed to Variety that it intends to carry “Day” at 12:37 a.m., after “The Late, Late Show With Tom Snyder.” The station in the nation’s third-ranked market is committed to Multimedia’s “Phil Donahue” and “Sally Jessy Raphael,” leaving only the out-of-pattern slot. But Group W apparently is not all that upset about the move, since it’s inheriting a time period that has averaged a 4 rating. KCBS, meanwhile, could end up installing “Day” at 3 p.m. after all, leading into its 4 p.m. news. The station, which could set its fall sked as early as this week, has only two hours available from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and three hour syndie strips to fill them, the others being Tribune’s “Geraldo” and the new Carnie Wilson talkshow from Warner Bros. Group W is producing “Day” as an afternoon show and offering five live feeds from 3-8 p.m. to accommodate stations. So far, the syndicator has been able to license “Day” in only about 60% of the U.S. because of the early fringe restriction. As Westinghouse and CBS quietly work to resolve their scheduling differences, P& G is grumbling loudly about its predicament. Procter & Gamble Prods., which lenses “GL” and two other daytime dramas, wields considerable clout because of the hundreds of millions it spends each year on network TV. “It’s tough enough working against talkshows and normal daytime competition,” says a dismayed Phil Dixson, senior VP-managing director of daytime program services at DMB& B, the ad agency that oversees production for P& G, adding that downgrades to morning timeslots spell disaster for soaps. “We’re assuming that several other CBS O& Os are going to follow suit, if not in the fall then later in winter,” Dixson says. That would make it far easier for restless affiliates elsewhere to do the same. “Our concern is that this will have ripple effects that will backfeed across the country.” Asked if P& G will use its ad leverage to prevent further station defections, Dixson says he’d “rather not comment on that,” but adds, “Things like this obviously don’t help the conversation.” The company spent $270 million last year on daytime TV ads, including $53 million on network buys for CBS’ three serials, according to Competitive Media Reporting. A WCBS exec said the decision to shift timeslots was made at the network level after discussions over “lots of delicate issues that needed to be addressed.” The 10 a.m. slot becomes available when talker “Marilu” ends its seasonlong run in September. So far, other O& O’s have not followed N.Y. and LA.: WBBM Chicago is expected to keep “Guiding Light” at 2 p.m. Still, the show can ill afford to lose any large-market clearances. For the season to date, “Guiding Light” has earned a 4.3 national rating and a 15 share, according to Nielsen, continuing a downward spiral from 5.2/18 for the same period last season. (This is a pretty shitty comparison considering that all soaps had dropped from the same period from the previous season due to pre-emptions from the O.J. trial. Also, these numbers seem to align pretty closely with the numbers posted on Wikipedia. GL's household reach in the 1993/94 season was still pretty strong and it was less than a rating point away from GH for the past three seasons - it's direct time slot competitor. In fact, in two of those three past seasons GL was less than .5 points away in household ratings. GH was also showing steady decreases in HH ratings from 1990-1994 while GL was holding strong.) In major markets, as with CBS’ entire daytime schedule, the show’s done worse: For the May sweeps, “GL” earned a meager 2.6/8 in Gotham and a 1.0/5 at 9 a.m. in LA. The New York number is expected to decline further with the morning timeslot shift, which threatens to drag down prices for national ad time. “It seems, lifestyle-wise, it’s a busier time for typical soap viewers, and they find it easier to make time in the afternoon for soap operas, which require fairly attentive viewing,” says Julie Friedlander, senior VP-director of national broadcast negotiations at Ogilvy & Mather. Lynn Leahey, editor-in-chief at Soap Opera Digest, expects legions of loyal viewers to be “frustrated” by the change, but suggests a morning slot is better than none at all. Dixson says CBS execs have denied persistent rumors that “GL” would be axed after a record 43 years on TV and 15 on radio, dating to 1937. The network dumped “Search for Tomorrow,” another long-running P& G daytimer, in l986. To prop up the serial, P& G recently hired a new exec producer, Michael Laibson, to replace Jill Farren Phelps, who was moved to P& G-owned “Another World” on NBC. https://variety.com/1995/tv/features/cbs-dims-p-amp-g-light-to-make-date-99129328/

Interesting that the household numbers for the CBS and NBC soaps are pretty consistent from 1982 and 1992. Even though the household rating is smaller each point represents a larger quantity of households in 1992. Clearly the ABC soaps were at a high in 1982, but AMC is actually outperforming its household numbers from 82 in 1992. Helps me to understand that soap operas were still holding onto their audience even in the early 90s. I think Days is also doing better.

Someone mentioned and shared a video from an episode of GL where they were playing Madonna's Justify My Love. As I was watching an episode of GL on YouTube, I hear Janet's Diamonds in the background as Phillip talks to Harley around the 12 minute mark of the episode from September 19, 1988. Actually a little further into the episode, you also hear Bette Davis Eyes playing in the diner. I guess I was thinking this was something rare....forgive me, I started watching soaps avidly in 2003. I forget that they actually had budgets at one time.

Just watched this the other day. I started watching a clip from December '83 and was hoping to find the next episodes but they weren't available, but I did find the one you posted. Pretty amazing. Love GA

Thank you. I assumed it was a stunt but I wasn't sure if it had been confirmed by anyone (officially). I did see the video on YouTube but didn't know whether it was real.

She's really in a onesie and a lucha libre mask. I fell off a few episodes in, just lost interest. Same with season 11, but I did make it further with season 11. Last one I saw all the way through was 10.

Thank you! Thanks! I read through the articles John and VF and I was surprised. I guess no one is beyond committing something so awful, but I guess it's always strange when you recognize the individual from a tv show. I honestly only started to like JY on BB and even then it took me a while.