kalbir

Agree

Y&R December 5, 1988 Brenda Epperson debut. We saw Y&R December 23, 1988 as a holiday classic on Christmas Day 1998.

Is it in the realm of possibility that SOD could digitize their archive? There are articles/interviews from the 1980s and 1990s that I'd love to read.

Yes. Don't give Josh Griffith any ideas though 😆

Yes. Y&R November 1988 a pregnant Nikki leaves Genoa City and returns 2 months later w/ baby Nicholas. Exit storyline for Melody Thomas Scott pregnancy leave. Y&R December 2, 1988 Eileen Davidson departure.

@BoldRestless September 8-12, 1980 Y&R rating was 7.1. Y&R lowest rated week of the 1980s was May 3-7, 1982; rating 5.6.

Between Christmas and New Year's so holiday bump. We saw March 28, 1984 during the classics. From this thread, Y&R's lowest rated week of the 1980s was May 3-7, 1982; rating 5.6, 5th for the week. Two of the four non-holiday weeks where Y&R had ratings higher than 10 were just before the 1 hour expansion.

Y&R #1! I think around this time was Ruthless publication that exposed Ashley ending the pregnancy by Victor and Victor quickly divorced Nikki and married Leanna in order to deflect attention away from Ruthless.

September 29, 1987 as per YT upload, but the date could be wrong.

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

Darlene Conley first episode was actually January 17, 1989. I think Sally was first mentioned in 1988, that's probably why I thought she arrived in December that year.

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

Fall 1988, Y&R and General Hospital battling for #1 and by the end of the year Y&R takes over #1. One Life to Live, All My Children, Days, As the World Turns are jockeying for position. Days somehow is not maintaining their summer momentum. As the World Turns EP change in October from Robert Calhoun to Laurence Caso. Guiding Light still struggling. Three pivotal events are coming up: Maureen Garrett return in December, Michael Zaslow return in January 1989, EP change from Joe Willmore to Robert Calhoun in June 1989. Those cannot happen fast enough. B&B not yet a hit, but once Darlene Conley arrives in December, B&B will hit its stride.

September 5, 1988 Live with Regis and Kathie Lee goes national. At this point we're at two years of Oprah and one year of Geraldo. Among the lowest tier soaps, Santa Barbara clearance now 97% (down from 99% at one year of Oprah and Geraldo debut), Loving clearance now 88% (down from 89% at one year of Oprah and Geraldo debut), and Ryan's Hope clearance now 79% (down from 81% at one year of Oprah and Geraldo debut). The writer's strike ended August 5, 1988 so strike material is probably on until October I'd guess.

Oh snap, Marcus Jordan shows up!

I remember a behind the scenes from Lake Como but I can't recall when it aired.

I somehow remember B&B Christmas 1997 being a repeat of the Lake Como fashion show, but I could be wrong.

Not just the price but the magazine itself, less than 100 pages and flimsy paper quality. Keeping it real, SOD hasn't really been relevant for the better part of the last 25 years. I will forever maintain that the internet made the soap press obsolete.

Same here. Kids are back in school, so there's going to be a drop in the fall. GL was very fortunate that Capitol didn't show growth and B&B wasn't a hit right away, that's how it escaped cancel territory in the second half of the 1980s.

Days beats Y&R for 2 consecutive weeks and comes w/in 0.2 of Y&R in the other two weeks. In the 1990s AFAIK, the closest Days got to Y&R was June 23-27, 1997 when Days was w/in 0.3 of Y&R.

@YRfan23 February 19, 1990 was President's Day and CBS broadcast a regular season NBA game that afternoon.

There's also the EP change in October 1988 from Robert Calhoun to Laurence Caso. B&B still has issues with clearances. B&B doesn't really hit its stride until Darlene Conley (RIP) arrives in December 1988.

Y&R hanging on to its audience during the writer's strike. Days on the verge of reaching #1 for two weeks. Its summer so lots of kids are watching. All those elementary schoolers that were too young in the Bo/Hope years became the middle schoolers/high schoolers that came on board during the Steve/Kayla years. ABC big three and Marland As the World Turns are jockeying for position in the Top 5. It looked like GL was regaining lost ground w/ Pamela Long return as HW but it wasn't. May 1988 I think was Chris Bernau departure. Robert Calhoun cannot get to GL fast enough but as we know from the annual ratings, there was a drop during his run as EP which I think is unfortunate as I really enjoyed his run.

I think the summer ratings will show the affects of the writer's strike.

You're welcome @Toups