JoeCool

Thanks @JAS0N47 for all the ratings! All My Children hits Number 1 in the ratings for the first time in its history during the week of 8/20/73-8/20/73!

WOW! So that episode was a repeat, it shows how strong Murder, She Wrote was!!

@kalbir MSW was a powerhouse for CBS. Angela Lansbury was a superb actress. In 1985, TV viewers were tiring of the primetime soaps and the like. People wanted storytelling and MSW was great at that and had great guest stars. Storytelling -- an amazing and novel concept. CBS Daytime by 1985 was beating ABC so CBS was on the upswing.

I am watching the first two seasons right now and I love it. I loved Angela Lansbury growing up. I have her autograph and I met in an LA supermarket in Brentwood - she was so nice and friendly. We spoke about the show and I asked about her movies too - which she was so happy about. What a beautiful & talented person.

I felt and saw that and it was refreshing. It is 2025 and this show is very contemporary and reflects now. The production crew did a great job.

I liked the episode. I am and was a big fan of All My Children and Restless. It was a good solid start. I am impressed with MVJ. I think Agnes Nixon and Bill Bell would be happy to see the soap genre resurrected. Looking forward to watching more. I felt like I was watching Dynasty, Dallas, AMC and Restless from the 80s but refreshed. The production values are high. Kudos!

I agree GL was best under Potter/Dobsons..best good run in the 70s.

When Cap Cities bought ABC in 1985 the value of the transaction was $3 billion. When Disney bought Cap Cities in 1995 the value of the transaction was $19 billion. ABC Daytime was a drop in a huge bucket there.

ABC bought AMC and OLTL from Agnes Nixon for about $10 to $20 million in 1975. Those assets were paid bought and very profitable by the time DIsney purchased Cap. Cities/ABC. Disney bought Caps Cities for primetime ABC and ESPN...the daytime shows on ABC were a bonus.

True but ESPN was the jewel of the transaction and was undervalued at the time of the transaction. Eisner wanted ABC and ESPN so the deal worked. ABC's value to DIsney subsequently increased after the tranasction. Disney wanted the sports and ESPN then ABC. ABC and ESPN were linked. Eisner wanted them both. Eventually Disney's stock went up as well.

Disagree on ABC soaps. Disney bought ABC in July 1995. Disney CEO Michael Eisner was VP of Daytime in the 1970s and was a huge supporter of the soaps. The soaps on ABC made money in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The soaps' solid performances were cited in DIsney yearly reports to shareholders and I as a shareholder have the reports and read them. Disney integrated the soaps into the theme parks and had events and cruise trips. Disney made plenty of money from the soaps. In 2000 Disney created the SoapNet cable network that aired the ABC lineup plus Ryan's Hope and eventually Days and Restless. When DIsney canceled SoapNet in 2010 and was shifting over to Disney Junior that signaled the death of the ABC soaps. Purely business and money. Frons was the instrument that was used to execute Disney's plan. AMC gone in 2011. OLTL in 2012. Conversion to Disney Junior comlplete in June 2012. Purely business. GH will go eventually it is not a matter of if but when. Once Eisner left as CEO in 2005 the soaps lost their strongest supporter and the soaps were doomed.

Thank you for the information and the historical context. @Contessa Donatella

Thank you!!!!

You must be right. Looking over the storyline timeframes. 1973 is too late. NY had legal abortion in 1970. Media got it wrong as did I. My sincere apologies. Many thanks! @will81 Agnes Nixon was an excellent contemporary writer. Miss her and her writing. Way ahead of her time.

Did Erica go to NY for the abortion? Well wikepedia says May 1972. At this point it is mute. I would love to see a press clipping. Getting back to fall 1974, AMC was doing very well in the ratings. Soap Opera Digest says 1973. https://web.archive.org/web/20071226102140/http://www.soapoperadigest.com/features/special/lasttaboo/ ALL MY CHILDREN Head Writer Megan McTavish was responsible for Julia's abortion in 1995 and faced the same problems, even though that show had done daytime's first legal abortion with Erica in 1973. "I think it was more controversial in 1995, when we did Julia's than when Agnes [Nixon, AMC's creator] did Erica's," she says. "By the time we approached Julia's, the political and religious ramifications of the act had [become so divisive]. I think [ABC] handled it very smartly — in other words, they didn't try to slip it on anybody. We warned everybody first. We told the advertisers that this would be the content and we left it up to them whether or not they chose to advertise." And while some sponsors chose to drop out, "In those days, we certainly had no lack of people who were willing to advertise."

Well then the media got it all wrong. It was 1973. https://ew.com/gallery/all-my-children-15-classic-moments/ One of the many groundbreaking things she did to become the iconic Erica Kane was portray TV's first legal abortion the same year of the Roe v. Wade ruling. Of course, this being a soap opera, unbeknown to Erica the fetus was actually transplanted by the doctor into his wife and they raised the boy, Josh. As an adult, Josh would go after Erica. Same year as Roe is 1973.

No. In 1973, “All My Children’s” Erica Kane (Susan Lucci) was the first TV character to have a legal abortion. It was the same year as the Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling, so it was a controversial storyline to say the least. “All My Children” protected themselves against the controversy by writing in that Erica mentally blocked the abortion, even thinking for a while that she miscarried. Erica would tipify free choice. https://soaps.sheknows.com/all-my-children/news/23249/all-my-children-throwback-thursday-poll-ericas-ab/ All My Children, “February 1, 1973” (1973) All My Children became the first TV show to depict an abortion following Roe V. Wade. In the episode, Erica Kane (Susan Lucci) decides to terminate an unplanned pregnancy so she can pursue her modeling career. “It seemed to me exactly what Erica would choose to do,” Lucci tells Refinery29. https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/abortion-on-tv-history https://pennylaneismyrealname.com/a-timeline-of-abortion-stories-in-us-popular-media/ 1973 – All My Children (Soap Opera, ABC) Erica Kane (Susan Lucci) has daytime TV’s first legal abortion. Her abortion was simply because she didn’t want to have the child. Nothing bad happened to her.

AMC was firing all on fronts: In 1973, certain that she was on the verge of fame and fortune, Erica secretly aborted Jeff's baby. Jeff stood trial for Jason's murder, but finally, it was revealed that Mona had killed the cad. The scandal temporarily ended Erica's days as a cover girl. In 1974, after granting Jeff a divorce, Erica made another play for Phil, who was on the rebound from Tara. This time, he not only slept with Erica, but a year later, he married her. After Erica miscarried their child and suffered a nervous breakdown, she gave Phil a divorce and began an affair with the much older Nick Davis, her mother's best friend. At the same time as Erica was carrying on with Nick, she became quite taken with Mark Dalton, the new music teacher at Pine Valley University. When it appeared that Erica and Mark might become more than friends, Mona admitted that the young man was the illegitimate son of Erica's father and his secretary, Maureen Dalton. Initially, Erica refused to accept her half-brother Mark, but over time, the half-siblings became very close.

Yes AMC had a boost but did not drop as significantly as Restless did in September.

Yes AMC really popped in July and August 1974. AMC I think hit number 1 for the first time in 1973. Restless steadily moving up in the summer and then pops. I think in the fall of 74 AMC and Restless have good ratings but not great ratings.

All My Children hitting number 1! I think this might be the first time. Perhaps it happened in 1973. We shall see. Great numbers for AMC in July 1974.

Feb. 1980 is when Restless went to 60 minutes. Decision was made in Spring 1979 around the time of CBS Annual meeting with its affiliates about the upcoming TV season.

Yes it was in his biography and he mentioned it in interviews. Bill was disappointed that Restless not bounce higher sooner but it did bounce in 1975. CBS refused to cancel the show when Bill requested it in late 1974. CBS was pleased with Restless in late 1974.

And to think Bill Bell approached CBS in late 1974 to cancel Restless as it was langushing at the bottom. It would soon hit number 1 in the weekly ratings in 1975 and win its first Emmy..

It will get to the top soon enough. 😁