kalbir

I'd say kids off school. There's also boosts for spring break and summer.

General Hospital and Y&R are clearly the top 2 in 1986. 3rd to 6th tier I think will show lots of movement between All My Children, One Life to Live, Days, As the World Turns. 7th through 9th tier will be Guiding Light, Capitol, Another World. The bottom tier will be Santa Barbara, Loving, Ryan's Hope, Search for Tomorrow. I think 1986 Santa Barbara overtakes Loving for 10th and that's the highest it will ever finish AFAIK. I don't believe Santa Barbara ever got past Another World in either the weekly ratings or the annual ratings.

None of those shows were labeled primetime soaps or promoted as soaps though, plus AFAIK SOD didn't cover them. In the 1990s, the only primetime shows I remember SOD covering outside the final seasons of the CBS big three primetime soaps were Twin Peaks, Dark Shadows reboot, 90210, Melrose.

Y&R at #1 first time since November 1984. We'll be seeing more of this over the course of 1986.

Robert Calhoun ushered in the early 1990s golden era but for whatever reason the ratings were still dropping during his run. Yes, JFP first year got the ratings up but the momentum didn't last and JFP first year was coasting off the groundwork laid by Robert Calhoun.

That's why Fall 1995 Bradley brought back Sheila then Lauren crossed over from Y&R. Funny thing is, Lauren and Sheila weren't really in each other's orbits for much of the time that Lauren was on B&B. Kimberlin Brown was on pregnancy leave in the early months of 1994. We saw this on Y&R too with Summer 1994 frat party and Fall 1994-Spring 1996 Nick and Sharon eating the show. I'd say it was more trying to get the younger audience away from Reilly's Days than influence from the Spelling Fox shows.

Veronica Redd is 5 years older than Peter Bergman, 10 years older than Beth Maitland, and 11 years older than Eileen Davidson, yet Mamie pretty much raised Jack, Ashley, and Traci.

@Soapsuds John Wesley Shipp got the 1986 Supporting Actor Emmy for that storyline. I remember CBS broadcasting episodes of that storyline as Christmas/New Year's classics in the early 2000s.

Hired on the cheap to fill both the good mother role and family conscience role. It was strategic that a not very physically attractive actress was brought on so as not to take attention away from the show's new pet Kristian Alfonso. Foster mother to two boys who lost their mother in an accident and then is drawn to the boys' father and he to her. That whole storyline was like some sort of dust off of The Sound of Music.

Three out of four shows under Les Moonves watch. We don't know if he had any say in the castings at Lorimar shows or CBS shows but she doesn't strike me as the type of actress he would like.

B&B is in a lull from when Bill Bell passes the reigns to Bradley in 1993 until Fall 1994. All of Bradley's storylines culminate from Fall 1994 through the first half of 1995, then the tanking starts in the second half of 1995. This was the same time frame that Y&R/B&B time slot rival Reilly's Days took off then blew up in the aftermath of OJ and I think that really shook up Y&R/B&B.

Thank you for the correction @YRfan23 I don't know how I missed that Challenger pre-emption. I was going by the date I saw on another site.

Mamie's upcoming return has me remembering her 1999 return. Does anyone recall that she offered Jack some of her money to get Jabot back but Jack refused to take her money? There was a scene during Mamie's 1999 return where Mamie told Jill she spent the entire $1M that Jill gave her but Mamie really turned that $1M into multiple millions, thus offering some of her money to Jack.

Mamie investing in Chancellor-Winters and having corporate battles w/ Jill? I am here for it. If that happens, hopefully Josh Griffith won't bungle the execution.

January 31, 1986 Y&R Nikki tells Victoria the wicked witch bedtime story. MTS 40th anniversary she commented on that scene saying it was worse than she remembered it being and told all mothers out there not to do this. February 18, 1986 Y&R Nikki summons Ashley to the ranch and confronts Ashley about Ashley's involvement with Victor. A pivotal scene in their rivalry.

Gail Kobe/Pamela Long era ends January 1986 and there's turnover in the EP/HW ranks for the rest of the decade. EP: Joe Willmore January 1986-June 1989. Robert Calhoun June 1989-July 1991. HW: Jeff Ryder January 1986. Jeff Ryder/Mary Ryan Munisteri February-September 1986. Mary Ryan Munisteri/Ellen Barrett September 1986. Joseph Manetta October 1986. Joseph Manetta/Sheri Anderson November 1986-July 1987. Pamela Long July 1987-December 1990. Also writer's strike March-August 1988. Somehow GL managed to have enough ratings from 1986-1989 to avoid cancel territory.

1986 we'll also see Capitol losing clearance and the end of Search for Tomorrow. We are some 7 months away from Oprah going national. I think we'll see clearances dropping on the lower rated soaps during the fall.

@Soapsuds Remember too that from September 1985 until B&B premiered the first half of As the World Turns was head-to-head w/ second half of All My Children and supercouple Days. All My Children weakens in 1986 and Y&R overtakes them for 2nd. Days I think will continue to grow. 1986 had some big cast arrivals: Christie Clark, Judi Evans, Mary Beth Evans, Drake Hogestyn, Wally Kurth. As for Guiding Light, Pamela Long departs as HW and there's numerous changes to the writing team, thus the drop. I don't believe GL was in cancel territory in 1986 though.

What to look forward to 1986: Y&R at its zenith during the first half of 1986 with the big storylines culminating. There will be some #1 weeks during the year and Y&R moves up to 2nd in the annual ratings. Marland era As the World Turns starts showing growth.

Plus in that same era (1988-1990) Santa Barbara had a bit of a run at the SOD Awards. I don't think they ever finished higher than 10th in the annual ratings though.

@JoeCool Remember too that 1988 ratings are going to be affected by the Writer's Strike. 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.

@JoeCool From the annual ratings, Y&R moves past All My Children for 2nd in 1986, ties General Hospital for #1 in 1988, and becomes #1 overall in 1989. I know there are some weeks in that time frame where Y&R is #1. Days got to #1 in July 1988 w/ Steve/Kayla wedding.

We're a year away from Oprah going national. It will be interesting to see clearances of the bottom tier soaps at that point.

@lucaslesann23 I saw that. I can't figure out how to link the specific post here but the page is Eric Braeden | Facebook