JoeCool

Agnes was asked by Fred Silverman about Monty and recommended based on Monty's efforts at CBS. Jackie worked for Fred. So when Jackie asked so did Fred. Fred hired Jackie and credited her with ABC's success.

Agnes gave up her HW position at AMC in 1980/1. ABC was a mess basically because the writing quality was awful. GH after Luke and Laura had all these adventure storylines which were awful. OLTL had a rebirth between 1986 to 1988 and got into the top 3. AMC had its decline because a lot of big actors left the show in the mid 80s and Agnes was not there to steer the ship. Agnes was brought back in late 1980s to HW AMC. AMC got better but ABC was still a mess. The ABC formulas in the late 70s/early 80s were not working anymore. Bill Bell was still HW at Restless and the quality never waned. Marland was at ATWT and Days was having a rebirth. It was not so much as ABC collapsed...the competition was better, had better writing and better stories. Ryan's Hope and Loving were at the bottom and not doing well and that did not help ABC.

Yep. Over a period of 10 to 15 years. It has been reported. Not hard to believe. Michael Eisner was in charge of Disney then and loved Agnes. Eisner was daytime VP who greenlit AMC. Capital Cities/ABC also had Agnes under a consulting contract. Disney bought ABC. Agnes made millions from ABC after she sold AMC and OLTL. Agnes is the one who recommended Glory Monty as producer for GH. Case closed on the millions. Fred Silverman asked Agnes about how to save GH. Agnes also recommeded Douglas Marland for GH. Silverman also loved Agnes. Ellen Holly mentioned Agnes' huge contract for consulting in her book.

Nixon never expressed regret publicly but it was too much for her and her husband. But Agnes was very angry when AMC was moved for RH. Labine regretted it and wanted RH back but that ship sailed.

When RH debuted in 1975, it was given AMC's time slot at 1PM and AMC went to 12:30PM. Agnes Nixon sold AMC and OLTL to ABC in January 1975. Agnes fought hard against the time slot change. As a result, AMC went down and then recovered in 1977, reclaimed the 1PM slot and went to an 1 hour. Agnes never would have left. Agnes wanted Loving at 1:30 PM. AMC from 12:30 to 1:30PM. ABC was not keen on the idea. RH did well in the demos in the late 70s and then went down. ABC wanted to make RH an hour and Claire refused. RH could have been 12PM to 1PM. ABC eventually bough RH and then Loving from Nixon. By 1984, RH should have been canceled. Loving should have never made it to the 1990s. ABC was very eager for Loving but it never took off because of its first morning slot and then later too intense competition from Restless. Nixon blamed ABC for Loving and she was right. AMC was moved for RH and Nixon wanted AMC moved for Loving. ABC did want another show from Nixon after Loving but she was over it. ABC paid Nixon over $15M for AMC and OLTL in 1975. ABC paid Nixon $50M for a consulting contract in the mid 80s to early 1990s. Nixon made her money and felt content.

RH should have been canceled before 1989. ABC owned it so it had no incentive. Loving should have been canned by the late 80s but Agnes Nixon had clout at ABC. RH's ratings were horrible its last 7 years and should have been canned. ABC made 2 mistakes regarding them.

Exactly. Getting rid of RH would have been better for ABC. Restless moved past AMC because of the advantage it had at 12:30PM to 1PM. Eliminate that advantage and it would have been a different ballgame entirely. AMC is always understimated, but It had one of the toughest time slots. And horrible lead-ins. Restless had the Price is Right. What did AMC have Ryan's Hope? Loving? You are so right. In the head to head competition in the early 80s between the two soaps, AMC and Restless were neck in neck even with Restless' expansion to 60 minutes.

Understood. I don't think it would have killed All My Children. Maybe beat it not kill. Don't underestimate AMC. CBS moved Restless to 12:30PM to give it chance to beat AMC because head to head competition was intense.

ABC's Folly. Should Have moved AMC to 12:30PM to 1:30PM ET and put Loving at 1:30PM ET to 2PM. Should have canceled Ryan's Hope in 1984. 9 years of subpar ratings was enough.

The ABC bump was from the Olympics. All My Children bump (Olympics helped AMC too) and its ascent to Number 1 was the Greg and Jenny storyline coming to an end with Jenny's death from the jet-ski and Kim Delaney exiting AMC.

Wow All My Children at 13.2!! Soaps get holiday bump overall.

The GH bump was Laura's return - Genie Francis.

Passions was a good show but NBC never gave it a chance. NBC Daytime never really recovered after Another World plunged in the late 70s. Been at the bottom for over 40 years until NBC yanked DAYS off. I am well aware of that. Thanks. And viewers who started watching DAYS in the 80s still watch now. Soaps hook in viewers for a long time...that is part of the plan of the headwriters at least that is what the greats did like Irna Phillips, Agnes Nixon and Bill Bell and others did.

Actually with DAYS moving off of Broadcast Network TV/NBC Netwtork, DAYS is not part of NBC Daytime. DAYS is part of Peacock, a streaming service of NBC and Comcast. NBC Daytime is dead and done now. Comcast moved DAYS out of NBC. Traditional ads and viewership trends do not apply anymore.

I believe Y&R moves past OLTL in May/June 1983.

Wow All My Children hitting at 11 and a 10 rating! Solidly beating GH! Yes the holidays but still!

Hi. I think Y and R should be in the Top Tier. Restless would beat or tie OLTL in 1982.

Let's also not forget that Another World that Irna and Bell created was on the verge of being canceled and Irna asked Agnes to take over AW as a favor to her. Agnes took over AW and made it a huge success within less than a year. So Agnes helped out Irna too.

Agreed. Irna is the Goddess of Soaps! Agnes owed her career to Irna and Bill Bell owed his career to Irna. No one was more successful than Irna! But Irna did not have success at ABC. Her show was canceled. But overall she was the most successful person in daytime. NO doubt about it. Irna is the best.

Irna worked for all 3 but yes she did work on ABC nighttime. Agnes Nixon is the first person to work for all three networks for daytime. Irna's work as a consultant and storu consultant was rather vague at best. I would still go for Agnes Nixon. Agnes Nixon is the first person who substiantially worked on daytime serials for all 3 networks first. Agnes created OLTL for ABC in 1968. Consulting is work yes technicially. Creating a serial, being head writer and executive producer of OLTL is substantial. I would say Agnes Nixon. But if its Irna ok. Irna was not successful at ABC. Agnes was successful at ABC, NBC and CBS.

YES ABC could have done more. ABC never pushed to get more affilates to air Edge. When Loving premiered, it should have sandwiched between AMC and OLTL. AMC at 12:30PM. Loving at 1:30PM, OLTK at 2PM and GH at 3PM. Then have RH at 12 Noon and Edge at 4PM. ABC botched Loving with the 11:30AM slot when it premiered in June 1983. Then RH got moved to the morning and/or noon from 12:30PM. ABC really did not figure out its late morning/early afternoon schedule. Moving AMC to 12:30pm directly against Y&R would have stunted Restless' ratings in the 12:30PM slot. YR would have not have dominated the 12:30PM slot against RH and Loving.

Agnes Nixon is the first person to work for all 3 networks. First, for CBS with Guiding Light and As the World Turns. Then for NBC, Another World from 1965 to 1968 and then for ABC, One Life to Live in July 1968.

Thank you @JAS0N47 Moving Restless to 1230 against Ryan’s Hope was a smart move. I still believe AMC should have been moved to 1230 - 130pm against Restless directly and then schedule Loving at 130 pm in October 1984.

Y & R always won the 12:30-1PM slot but AMC beat Y and R and DAYS in the 1-130PM slot in June 1981. It was an advantage for Restless. CBS moved Restless to 12:30 to give an advantage so it could beat All My Children and eventually it did. ABC made a mistake in not moving All My Children to 12:30PM and schedule Loving at 1:30-2 in October 1984. Restless destroyed anything in its path at 12:30 EST to 1 PM EST and that has been going on for over 42 years now.

I think Y and R competed against All My Children in June 1981. @kalbir What were the CBS schedules in June 1981 after June 8?