JoeCool

7 minutes ago, GLATWT88 said:

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. 

Agreed. Capitol was canceled not for its ratings but because CBS wanted another Bill Bell soap.

Ryan's Hope had its best days in the 1970s and by the time the early 80s came around, RH was falling in the ratings. Ryan's Hope should have been canceled in 1983. Loving replaces it. AMC moves to 12:30PM. Loving at 1:30 then followed by OLTL at 2 and GH at 3ET. ABC owned RH by then in 1983. The Labines did not want to expand to an hour when ABC wanted it in the late 70s. RH's time was up by 1983 because Restless crushed it in 1983.

1 hour ago, Khan said:

In a way, it probably was for the best that ABC didn't give her that schedule.  As I've said elsewhere, LOVING was always mediocre to me.  It's one thing to land a cushy time slot between two tentpole shows like AMC and OLTL.  To keep the audience from tuning out when neither was on, however, you needed a show with good writing; and LOVING, IMO, never came close to being that.  If anything, placing LOVING at 1:30 would have jeopardized OLTL; and as it was, even when OLTL was besting AMC and even GH in the ratings, ABC *still* regarded it as the proverbial red-headed stepchild.

If I had had my druthers, AMC would have led off the day's lineup, followed by RH, OLTL, GH and finally, LOVING or another half-hour soap at 4/3c.

Starting off Loving at 11:30AM doomed it from the very beginning.  Ryan's Hope was already fading in 1982 and 1983. Historically, RH was given AMC timeslot at 1:00 PM when it premiered in 1975. AMC moved up to 12:30PM. Agnes fought the time slot change for AMC and was very angry with ABC. AMC's ratings went down and RH lost ground in the 1PM. Then AMC got the spot back in 1977 then went to an hour. Loving was an average show but was its writing any worse than Capitol? or RH? or Search or AW? No. 

And having Restless crush RH for years ..that did not affect AMC??? Of course it did...and Restless beat AMC after a while vs. when AMC and Restless were head to head it was an even match. RH was an awful lead-in for AMC and so was Loving. SO placing Loving before OLTL might have hurt but not as much I think.

ABC should have given Agnes what she wanted. 

1 hour ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

Do you think RH would have really thrived if given that almost magical bookending? 

Ryan's Hope already had many chances and RH would have tanked against Days and ATWT.

1 hour ago, kalbir said:

As I've pointed out before, Ryan's Hope was effectively over in 1983 when Y&R blew up. 

If we're keeping it real here, Agnes Nixon clout w/ ABC got Loving on the air in the first place. It was DOA head-to-head w/ The Price is Right and stood no chance when it was moved head-to-head w/ Y&R.

@kalbir Agreed. Agnes wanted Loving at 130 to 2. She was horrified when they placed it in the morning. Agnes wanted what Bill Bell got with B and B after Restless. Agnes wanted AMC at 1230, Loving at 130 and OLTL at 2. ABC screwed up big time. After B and B premiered, Agnes told ABC she could not focus solely on working on Loving and told the network she was focusing on AMC. Loving never belonged in the morning. Essentially ABC told Agnes we know better than you! I do not think so!! Agnes and Douglas Marland created Loving so they knew a lot more than ABC.

@FrankoThat is what Agnes wanted. Remember when Restless went to an hour it was moved directly opposite AMC then CBS moved it up to 1230 to get a chance to beat AMC and it did in time and destroyed RH and Loving.

24 minutes ago, kalbir said:

We're now at the point that each network has 3 1/2 hours of soaps (3 1 hour soaps and 1 30 minute soap) all broadcast between 12:30 pm-4 pm ET. Let's see how they got there over the course of the 1980s.

CBS: The decade began w/ Y&R, Search for Tomorrow, As the World Turns, Guiding Light, Love of Life. February 1, 1980 Love of Life ends. February 4, 1980 Y&R expands to 1 hour. March 26, 1982 Search for Tomorrow CBS run ends. March 29, 1982-March 20, 1987 Capitol run. March 23, 1987 B&B premiere. CBS had four different soap blocks in the 1980s.

ABC: The decade began w/ Ryan's Hope, All My Children, One Life to Live, General Hospital, The Edge of Night. June 27, 1983 Loving premiere. December 28, 1984 The Edge of Night ends. January 13, 1989 Ryan's Hope ends. ABC had four different soap blocks in the 1980s.

NBC: The decade began w/ Days, The Doctors, Another World. August 4, 1980-December 31, 1982 Texas run. March 29, 1982-December 26, 1986 Search for Tomorrow NBC run. December 31, 1982 The Doctors ends. July 30, 1984 Santa Barbara premiere. March 27, 1989 Generations premiere. NBC had seven different soap blocks in the 1980s.

As for ABC, both Ryan’s Hope and Loving should have been canceled in 1989. ABC would have been just fine with the 3 hour block of soaps. It could have done a 30 minute game show or news program for the 1230 Et slot. It would have cost less than a soap.

5 hours ago, JAS0N47 said:

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEK OF 1/30/89-2/3/89:

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 2/6/89-2/10/89 & 2/13/89-2/17/89:

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 2/20/89-2/24/89 & 2/27/89-3/3/89:

All My Children getting stronger and rebounding from December 1988 and January 1989. AMC will continue to strengthen in 1989 and will rejoin the top 3. OLTL is very strong but beginning in the summer of 1989 it begins to fade and falling during the fall of 1989. GH is still strong but will start to slip in 1989.  AMC will finish Number 4 for the 88-89 season. YR, GH and OLTL are the top 3. Restless gets stronger as 1989 progresses. Days begins to fade in 1989. B&B gets stronger as 1989 progresses as well.

1 minute ago, kalbir said:

1987 and 1988 were off years when you factor in Iran-Contra pre-emptions, Nielsen people meters, and the writer's strike.

Agreed. But I thought it was interesting about OLTL.

On 10/27/2023 at 3:14 PM, JoeCool said:

Thanks. I did not watch GL but I was just shocked.

 

@JAS0N47 So OLTL hit number 1 for the week of 8/29/88, was there any other week prior where OLTL hit number 1 or tied for No. 1?  I think the week of 8/29/88 was the first week OLTL hit Number 1 outright.

@JAS0N47 OLTL tied for Number 1 with GH during the week of 12/7/87. Checking your website!!

@JAS0N47 @kalbir The week of August 24, 1987 to August 28, 1987. There was a three way tie for Number 1 between All My Children, 7.6 25%, One Life to Live, 7.6 26% and Young and the Restless, 7.6 27%.

1 minute ago, kalbir said:

Ryan's Hope was effectively over in 1983 when Y&R blew up.

Exactly. ABC should have canceled RH in 1983. Moved AMC to 12:30 and put Loving at 1:30PM as Agnes Nixon wanted. The Labines told ABC no when ABC wanted to expand RH to an hour and then wanted to buy it back after ABC bought it. ABC made a mess of their late morning schedule.

1 hour ago, JAS0N47 said:

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 9/12/88-9/16/88 & 9/19/88-9/23/88:

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 9/26/88-9/30/88 & 10/3/88-10/7/88:

Ryan's Hope's cancellation will be announced at the end of October 1988..it should have been canceled about 2 to 3 years before. You can see the clearance issues really affecting Loving and RH.

Agnes Nixon returns to AMC in the fall of 1988 and overhauls the soap and its ratings slowly improve to where AMC finishes No. 4 for the 88-89 season then No. 3 the following season.

DAYS will be affected by AMC's improvement.

OLTL will finish out 1988 strong but in 1989 will be begin to decline as ATWT gets stronger.  GH will begin its descent to Number 2 then to Number 3..the adventure stories on GH fizzle and the ratings take a hit.

4 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

GL was really struggling in the ratings. It wasn't that good and that's why the low numbers. 

The show was mostly fluff with annoying Harley, AM and the teen scene....only serious story was Will and Sonni/Solita one. If you didn't like that one you had nothing else to entertain you.

Thanks. I did not watch GL but I was just shocked.

@JAS0N47 So OLTL hit number 1 for the week of 8/29/88, was there any other week prior where OLTL hit number 1 or tied for No. 1?  I think the week of 8/29/88 was the first week OLTL hit Number 1 outright.

@JAS0N47 OLTL tied for Number 1 with GH during the week of 12/7/87. Checking your website!!

1 hour ago, JAS0N47 said:

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 8/15/88-8/19/88 & 8/22/88-8/26/88:

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 8/29/88-9/2/88 & 9/5/88-9/9/88:

Wow! The first time I have ever seen One Life to Live at No. 1. I think this maybe the first time in its history.

DAYS is still strong but starting to weaken.

WHAT also is shocking is that Another World Beat Guiding Light one week? Why are GL's ratings so low?

6 hours ago, kalbir said:

Y&R this week Nikki learns she is pregnant. MTS real life pregnancy written in Nikki's storyline. 

Supercouple Days one year into the Steve/Kayla years and its paying off. I wonder how much of it is due to change in competition. Bo/Hope years were facing off w/ strong All My Children, rising Y&R, middle ranked As the World Turns. Steve/Kayla years were facing off w/ strong Y&R, not yet a hit B&B, weakened All My Children.

Eventually All My Children fends off Days in 1989. Agnes Nixon returns to AMC in late 1988. Children finishes No 4 for the 88-89 season and edges out Days. OLTL finishes No. 3 but that is it. Beginning in 1989, AMC becomes a solid strong No. 3 and then bumps off GH for the No. 2 spot. OLTL brutally falls after 1989 and 1990 and would never be a major competitor in the top 5 again.

What most forget is that AMC was a strong competitor since 1975 and was always near the top during the many weekly races. But when AMC was moved for Ryan's Hope in July  75 that slowed Children's momentum. But it finished near the top in the 1977-1978 season and was always in the top 4 through 1989 then got back to No. 3 in 1990 then No. 2 until 1996.

33 minutes ago, JAS0N47 said:

1978 WEEKLY NIELSEN CHARTS NOW POSTED, PLUS A CHECKLIST OF NIELSEN RATINGS DATA STILL MISSING SINCE 12/26/77...

 

The 1978 weekly ratings data is now available here: http://www.jason47.com/days/ratings1978.html

 

In addition, here is a checklist of the 10 weeks of Nielsen ratings data still missing since the week of 12/26/77:

 

Two Full Regular Weeks (2): 4/10/78, 4/17/78. These two weeks are missing the final ratings/shares/affiliates/clearances and partial preemptions data. Full preemption data is confirmed by comparing the # of telecasts in the preceding and succeeding books. ATWT had one preemption during the two missing weeks.

 

Two Partial Regular Weeks (2): 10/19/87, 12/14/87. These two weeks have ratings data, unconfirmed but likely to be accurate, from a SON post in 2019. These weeks are missing the shares/affiliates/clearances and partial preemptions data. Full preemption data is confirmed by comparing the # of telecasts in the preceding and succeeding books.

 

Fast Weekly Weeks (6): 3/20/78, 4/24/78, 6/26/78, 8/28/78, 12/25/78, 8/24/81. These six weeks are all missing the preliminary ratings and full/partial preemptions data.

 

All weekly Nielsen ratings charts from 1978-Present are now posted here, except for 1988 and 1989, which will be posted in the next few months: http://www.jason47.com/days/nielsensweekly.html

@JAS0N47 Thank you!!

7 minutes ago, JAS0N47 said:

1978 WEEKLY NIELSEN CHARTS NOW POSTED, PLUS A CHECKLIST OF NIELSEN RATINGS DATA STILL MISSING SINCE 12/26/77...

 

The 1978 weekly ratings data is now available here: http://www.jason47.com/days/ratings1978.html

 

In addition, here is a checklist of the 10 weeks of Nielsen ratings data still missing since the week of 12/26/77:

 

Two Full Regular Weeks (2): 4/10/78, 4/17/78. These two weeks are missing the final ratings/shares/affiliates/clearances and partial preemptions data. Full preemption data is confirmed by comparing the # of telecasts in the preceding and succeeding books. ATWT had one preemption during the two missing weeks.

 

Two Partial Regular Weeks (2): 10/19/87, 12/14/87. These two weeks have ratings data, unconfirmed but likely to be accurate, from a SON post in 2019. These weeks are missing the shares/affiliates/clearances and partial preemptions data. Full preemption data is confirmed by comparing the # of telecasts in the preceding and succeeding books.

 

Fast Weekly Weeks (6): 3/20/78, 4/24/78, 6/26/78, 8/28/78, 12/25/78, 8/24/81. These six weeks are all missing the preliminary ratings and full/partial preemptions data.

 

All weekly Nielsen ratings charts from 1978-Present are now posted here, except for 1988 and 1989, which will be posted in the next few months: http://www.jason47.com/days/nielsensweekly.html

@JAS0N47 Thanks for 1978!! Kudos!! Thank you.

22 minutes ago, JAS0N47 said:

WEEKLY DAYTIME RATINGS CHARTS FOR 1979 NOW POSTED...

http://www.jason47.com/days/ratings1979.html

1978 will be posted next. 1988 and 1989 will be getting posted over the next month or so. At that point, fans will have access to soap ratings for pretty much every week from 1978-Present! Click here for all weekly Nielsen charts available from 1979-Present: http://www.jason47.com/days/nielsensweekly.html

@JAS0N47 Thank you so much for 1979!!!!! Love your website.

2 minutes ago, JAS0N47 said:

Not yet. 1955-1977 should be coming at some point, but right now it is 1978-1992.

@JAS0N47 Thank you. Appreciate your efforts.

5 minutes ago, JAS0N47 said:

I'm adding 1978-1979 in the next few days. All I do is add the images that I posted here at SON to the yearly page on my site, so it doesn't take that long. I don't have to re-type anything!

@JAS0N47 Thank you so much. I appreciate it.  Do you have any ratings from 1976 or 1977?

3 minutes ago, JAS0N47 said:

I just finished typing 1988. I knew I was close to when YR started its streak, so I just googled it and it happens to be the week I just typed up!

GH was first place 12/19/88, and then YR hit # 1 on 12/26/88, a streak that continued for over 30 years:

From Hollywood Reporter in December 2018:

Thanks! I cannot wait to see 1988 and 89!

8 minutes ago, JAS0N47 said:

I just finished typing 1988. I knew I was close to when YR started its streak, so I just googled it and it happens to be the week I just typed up!

GH was first place 12/19/88, and then YR hit # 1 on 12/26/88, a streak that continued for over 30 years:

From Hollywood Reporter in December 2018 (There were only 12 daytime dramas, not 13 as HR article states):

Will you ever type up the late 1970s ratings on your website? 
I love your website. Thank you for all you do.

All My Children and Days of our lives!

1 hour ago, JAS0N47 said:

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 10/26/87-10/30/87 & 11/2/87-11/6/87:

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 11/9/87-11/13/87 & 11/16/87-11/20/87:

Competition with the top 5 is fierce. Very close. Restless beginning to displace GH.

40 minutes ago, JAS0N47 said:

WEEKLY DAYTIME RATINGS CHARTS BEING POSTED HERE:

I've started posting all of the weekly Nielsen charts that were posted here from 1980-1983 on yearly pages at my website, so all of the 1980-Present ratings charts will be available on this index page. 1978-1979 and 1984-1987 will be posted there in the coming days, with 1988 & 1989 to follow once they are posted here.  Click here for all weekly Nielsen charts available from 1980-Present: http://www.jason47.com/days/nielsensweekly.html 

@JAS0N47  Thank you for all your work. You are to be commended. So dedicated. Great website. Just bookmarked it. Kudos to you!!! Very grateful.

Joe

1 hour ago, JAS0N47 said:

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 6/29/87-7/3/87 & 7/6/87-7/10/87:

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 7/13/87-7/17/87 & 7/20/87-7/24/87:

Preemptions wreak havoc on the ratings. AMC tied for Number 1 with GH one week. Restless one week Number 1 then Restless No. 6 next week the following week back to Number 1.  ATWT Number 3 one week then Number 6. Very competitive time.

10 minutes ago, kalbir said:

1988 Y&R ties General Hospital for #1 and 1989 Y&R finally beats General Hospital for #1.

Y&R becoming #1 was a combination of owning their time slot, having strong lead ins, and holding on to their audience during the Writer's Strike.

I agree with the reasoning but Bill Bell was the master. His writing was awesome. I started to watch Restless in 86 and taped AMC. AMC was always my favorite. I always wondered how GH would have fared if it aired directly or 1/2 of it against Restless.

10 minutes ago, kalbir said:

June 23-27, 1997.

 

What is interesting is that General Hospital begins it descent in the summer of 1987 and slips to No. 2 in the late 80s/early 90s then falls to No. 3 and one season No. 4. GH becomes ABC's No. 2 soap and never recovers. The storytelling on GH just cannot match Restless, AMC and ATWT and to a certain extent Days during this time. GH also had weaker competition than Restless did. Restless begins to triumph in the summer of 1987.

35 minutes ago, JAS0N47 said:

You're in luck, since there was some overlap at the beginning of September 1987. There's a few weeks where they issued books with the old numbers, but also issued books with the new numbers, and the results are quite different between the two. I was only going to post the "official" numbers when it came time for that, but since you asked, I will post both sets of numbers: the old system vs. the new system, so your questions will be answered then once we get to September 1987.

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 5/11/87-5/15/87 & 5/18/87-5/22/87:

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 5/25/87-5/29/87 & 6/1/87-6/5/87:

All My Children ties GH for Number 1! Competition in the top 5 is fierce.