JoeCool

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

@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

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.

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.

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.

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

Thanks so much @JAS0N47 I appreciate all you do!

Restless was so so good Summer 1986....so good I watched restless and taped AMC.

Yep. Lots of good stuff!

I started watching Restless in May 86...I remember Brad/Traci wedding...very good lead-in weeks to that event.

Thought so. That was a very good summer on Restless in 1986.

I tuned into Restless during the summer of 1986. It was fascinating with Cricket, Danny, Nina and Phillip. Summer 1986 with AMC was rather ho hum. I ended up watching Restless and taping AMC. I am not sure if summer 1986 was the year of the summer concerts on Restless...though.

All My Children ended today - September 23, 2011. Does not seem 12 years.

All My Children ended today - September 23, 2011. Does not seem 12 years.

Agnes Nixon returned as HW in June 1985 and the stories got stronger for a time. This probably explains the small bounce.

I remember those shows. I taped them...I was not a regular viewer of AW but I wanted to see those shows.

@kalbir I forgot about the 1988 strike. It will be interesting to see. Thanks.

@kalbir Thanks I knew about AMC but I thought Restless made its move on GH earlier. I thought Restless was Number 1 against GH for a significant amount of time in 1988. It will interesting to see GH slip.

Ryan's Hope will tank as well as Loving. I am interested to see the drop off as well. Also in a year September 1986, General Hospital starts to drop and Restless overtakes GH.

All My Children begins its descent. After being in the top 3 since 77-78, AMC drops yet stays competitive. AMC forgot what it did best love stories and family relationships. Not until the fall of 1989 does AMC rise again. Ryan's Hope is just horrible the quality of the show was awful and ABC affiliates were dumping it and should have been canceled..tying SFT for last.

ABC did ask Agnes for help with OLTL in 1983 when Jean Arley was hired as producer. After nearly 2 years, Arley was canned and Rauch was brought on. Agnes had disdain for Rauch on his brusque style but could do nothing about him because ABC wanted him. I never said Agnes worked with Paul Rauch. Agnes in interviews avoided talking about Rauch. When Rauch fired Ellen Holly, Agnes Nixon offered Holly a part continuing on Loving but Holly refused. Agnes then focus on Loving in the mid 1980s.

Lorraine was Agnes' protege as well. She started as a breakdown writer for Agnes in 1979. In 1982 Lorraine and Wisner were co-HW for AMC until 1986. Wisner left in 1987. Lorraine was sole HW then th1 1988 strike and ABC then got involved and Lorraine was demoted to Associate HW. Margaret Depriest was hired as HW then Agnes came back in Nov 1989. WIsner returned as Associate HW with Lorraine as Associate HW. What happened during this time, AMC lost its focus on what it did best love stories and family relationships. Agnes never really should have left at all. Because of ABCs decision not to move AMC and place Loving at 1:30PM, Agnes really got tired and then ABC asked in the mid 80s to save Loving and OLTL.

Agnes has said she was exhausted. She intially left AMC as HW in 1982. Winser Washam became HW. Winser was Agnes' protege. Agnes retunred a writer for brief stints in the early 1980s. Winser was gone in the late 1980s. Lorraine Broderick and Winser were co head writers in 1986 to 1987. In mid 1987 to Nov. 1989, Lorraine was sole HW. Agnes returned as a writer in 1988 and then took over as HW in 1989. Agnes was busy with Loving and OLTL during this time. Winser was gone in 1987 so that really explains AMC's descent. Lorraine did not get into her groove and master AMC's tone until 1989. It did not work simply it was not Agnes and/or Winser. They knew AMC. Winsner left AMC in 1987 and returned as an Associate HW from 1989 to 1992. He left AMC once Megan McTavish was named HW in 1992. Wisner has said Megan was nasty and did not want to work with her. McTavish was not in Wisner's league as a writer.

September 1985 is the beginning of All My Children's 4 year descent and AMC will not begin to recover until September 1989. This is the weakest period of AMC in the 1970s and 1980s. It will finish in the top 3 for 1985-1986. Then descend to No. 4 (3 way tie with OLTL and Days) in 86-87 season then tied for No. 3 for 87-88 with OLTL and then No. 4 in 88-89. AMC ratings will fluctate from No. 1 to No. 7 in the weekly ratings and its performance becomes very erratic until ABC asks Agnes Nixon to return. Agnes was gone from AMC in 1985 and did to return until 1988 and then Nixon stayed until early 90s. AMC was in the top 3 since 77-78 but its descent is based on the fact that the writing was subpar and it faced intense competition from NBC and CBS. AMC rebounds in 1989 and finishes third in the 89-90 season and 2 years later will dethrone General Hospital as ABC's top soap. If Agnes Nixon did not leave AMC but stayed on even as a consulting writer, AMC during this period would have be much better.

Very true. AMC is very underrated when compared to GH. AMC was higher rated than GH from 1975 through 1979. AMC hit number 1 in the weekly ratings in 1973. AMC was a phenomenon for a long time. GH got all the attention because of Luke and Laura. AMC also had toougher competition in its time slot than GH.