kalbir

@Soapsuds Maybe tanking wasn't the right description but the CBS numbers are very up-and-down. We'll see what happens during the rest of the fall.

So far in September CBS with the exception of GL is tanking. It's so funny how the fortunes of CBS daytime and primetime changed in opposite directions over the course of the 1980s. CBS daytime was shaken up at the beginning of the 1980s by the huge rise of ABC but was #1 by the end of the decade with all four soaps hitting their stride plus the game show block. CBS primetime was #1 at the beginning of the 1980s and riding high thanks to Who Shot JR mania but was an absolute mess by the end of the decade.

It's amazing that soaps survived past that era. Look at what was happening on and off screen. Reilly's Days blew up in the aftermath of OJ. Y&R off track. B&B tanking. P&G 1995 EP swap at all three shows. ABC sold to Disney. CBS sold to Westinghouse and Les Moonves arrives.

Agree. Non-storyline summer events that had an impact on soaps. Summer 1987: Iran-Contra hearings. The first big summer pre-emption I remember. Summer 1988: Writer's strike. So many shows felt off. Summer 1994: OJ. Soaps weren't the same in the aftermath of OJ.

Also GL summer 1993: Roger/Holly become involved and Roger's crashes Ed's party at the country club (the episode that got Michael Zaslow his long-awaited for Lead Actor Emmy.) Forgot to mention in my previous post B&B summer 1992: Sheila's new reign of terror. B&B summer 1993: Battle for Belief. Bill Bell's last hurrah before passing the reigns to Bradley.

Yes, so much sneak watching on school breaks. Y&R summers 1986-1993: Social issue storylines that usually featured Cricket plus a cringey Danny concert in many of those summers. Y&R summer 1990: Early Dru plus Sheila's reign of terror beginning. B&B summer 1990: Caroline's death. I cried so much after her final episode. Thankfully school didn't start for another few weeks. GL summer 1991: Alexandra exposing Roger at the country club. GL summer 1992: Blackout Y&R summer 1994: Frat party started

@JoeCool I'm hardly an expert, but thank you for the compliment I don't know about time shifting in 1979, but with Y&R expansion on February 4, 1980, there were two different schedules I've seen CBS affiliates use. 10 am Eastern/9 am Central, Mountain, Pacific The Jeffersons reruns 10:30 am/9:30 am Whew! 11 am/10 am The Price is Right Noon/11 am Local programming 12:30 pm/11:30 am Search for Tomorrow 1 pm/Noon Y&R 2 pm/1 pm As the World Turns 3 pm/2 pm Guiding Light 4 pm/3 pm One Day at a Time reruns or 9 am Central, Mountain, Pacific The Jeffersons reruns 9:30 am Whew! 10 am The Price is Right 11 am Y&R Noon Local programming 12:30 pm Search for Tomorrow 1 pm As the World Turns 2 pm Guiding Light 3 pm One Day at a Time reruns

@YRfan23 Come to think of it, a good choice for Tuesday's Fourth of July classic would have been 1993. That episode was the lead up to Billy's birth.

That would have been around the time of OJ. The P&G shows were effectively done in the aftermath of OJ. It's been posted here several times over the years that the big 1995 EP swap did long-term damage to all three shows. It's amazing that two of the three P&G shows made it to the 2000s.

Budget mode most likely lead to a salary cap, thus new hires were done on the cheap.

Agree. I am totally here for this.

In my mind, B&B classics are 1987-1993.

When NBC was killing it in primetime How NBC's primetime lineups fared each season of these promos. 1985/86 Top 10: 1. The Cosby Show (1984/85 3rd), 2. Family Ties (1984/85 5th), 5. Cheers (1984/85 12th), 7. The Golden Girls (first season), 9. Miami Vice (1984/85 below the Top 30) Top 30: 11. Night Court (1984/85 20th), 13. Highway to Heaven (1984/85 19th), 19. You Again? (first season), 20. 227 (first season), 21. NBC Sunday movie (1984/85 below the Top 30), 22. NBC Monday movie (1984/85 18th), 24. Valerie (first season), 27. The Facts of Life (1984/85 below the Top 30), 30. The A-Team (1984/85 6th) Top 30 fallouts: Remington Steele (1984/85 25th), Hill Street Blues (1984/85 30th) Below the Top 30: Gimme a Break!, St. Elsewhere, Hunter Final season: Riptide (1984/85 14th), TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes (1984/85 22nd), Knight Rider, Silver Spoons, Punky Brewster New fall shows returning in 1986/87: The Golden Girls, 227, Amazing Stories New midseason/summer shows returning in 1986/87: You Again?, Valerie, 1986, Me & Mrs. C, Stingray NBC moves up from 2nd to #1 and remains #1 until 1990/91. 1986/87 Top 10: 1. The Cosby Show, 2. Family Ties, 3. Cheers, 5. The Golden Girls, 7. Night Court Top 30: 13. Amen (first season), 14. 227, 15. Matlock (first season), 15. NBC Monday movie, 20. NBC Sunday movie, 21. L.A. Law (first season), 24. Highway to Heaven, 26. Miami Vice, 28. ALF (first season), 28. Hunter Top 30 fallouts: Valerie, The Facts of Life Below the Top 30: St. Elsewhere Final season: You Again?, The A-Team, Remington Steele, Hill Street Blues, Gimme a Break!, Amazing Stories, 1986, Me & Mrs. C, Stingray New fall shows returning in 1987/88: Amen, Matlock, L.A. Law, ALF, Crime Story, Our House New midseason/summer shows returning in 1987/88: The Bronx Zoo, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, Rags to Riches 1987/88 Top 10: 1. The Cosby Show, 2. A Different World (first season), 3. Cheers, 4. The Golden Girls, 7. Night Court, 10. ALF Top 30: 12. L.A. Law, 14. Matlock, 15. Amen, 17. Family Ties, 19. In the Heat of the Night (first season), 20. My Two Dads (first season), 20. Valerie's Family (renamed from Valerie), 23. NBC Sunday movie, 26. NBC Monday movie, 27. 227, 28. Day by Day (first season), 29. Hunter, 30. Aaron's Way (first and only season). Top 30 fallouts: Highway to Heaven, Miami Vice Final season: The Facts of Life, St. Elsewhere, Crime Story, Our House, The Bronx Zoo, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, Rags to Riches New fall shows returning in 1988/89: A Different World, My Two Dads New midseason/summer shows returning in 1988/89: In the Heat of the Night, Day by Day, Sonny Spoon 1988/89 Top 10: 1. The Cosby Show, 3. A Different World, 4. Cheers, 6. The Golden Girls, 9. Empty Nest (first season) Top 30: 11. Dear John (first season), 12. Matlock, 13. L.A. Law, 15. ALF, 17. Unsolved Mysteries (first season), 18. In the Heat of the Night, 19. Hunter, 21. Night Court, 22. The Hogan Family (renamed from Valerie's Family), 22. NBC Sunday movie, 25. Amen, 25. NBC Monday movie Top 30 fallouts: My Two Dads, 227 Final season: Family Ties, Day by Day, Highway to Heaven, Miami Vice, Sonny Spoon New fall shows returning in 1989/90: Empty Nest, Dear John, Unsolved Mysteries, The Magical World of Disney, Midnight Caller New midseason/summer shows returning in 1989/90: 13 East, Quantum Leap 1989/90 Top 10: 1. The Cosby Show, 3. Cheers, 4. A Different World, 6. The Golden Girls, 9. Empty Nest Top 30: 11. Unsolved Mysteries, 15. Grand (first season), 16. L.A. Law, 17. Dear John, 19. In the Heat of the Night, 20. Matlock, 24. Hunter, 28. Night Court Top 30 fallouts: NBC Sunday movie, Amen, NBC Monday movie Below the Top 30: Midnight Caller, Quantum Leap Final season: ALF, The Hogan Family, My Two Dads, 227, The Magical World of Disney, 13 East No new fall shows returned in 1990/91. New midseason/summer shows returning in 1990/91: Grand, Down Home, Real Life with Jane Pauley, Seinfeld, Shannon's Deal, Wings 1990/91 Top 10: 1. Cheers, 4. A Different World, 5. The Cosby Show, 7. Empty Nest, 10. The Golden Girls Top 30: 16. Unsolved Mysteries, 17. Matlock, 21. In the Heat of the Night, 23. L.A. Law, 25. Grand (final season) Top 30 fallouts: Dear John, Night Court Below the Top 30: NBC Sunday movie, NBC Monday movie, Quantum Leap, Seinfeld, Wings Final season: Hunter, Amen, Midnight Caller, Down Home, Real Life with Jane Pauley, Shannon's Deal New fall shows returning in 1991/92: The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Law & Order New midseason/summer shows returning in 1991/92: Blossom, Sisters

Oil companies were a 1980s trend that were out of place in the 1990s.

Budget mode casting. Hired on the cheap.

LOL at Budget Kardashian. I'm only here for any potential Larsa/Marcus drama, as I'm a longtime NBA fan.

Y&R/B&B Bill Bell only. Kay Alden and Jack Smith tried but they didn't work, and all the outsiders (LML et al) didn't understand Y&R. As far as B&B goes, we all know Bradley did not inherit his father's talent. Douglas Marland had successful runs at both Guiding Light and As the World Turns. I wonder how the CBS primetime soaps would have fared with CBS daytime writers. Imagine Bill Bell at either Dallas or Falcon Crest, or Douglas Marland at Knots Landing.

1987/88 CBS entire primetime lineup tanked, not just Dallas. With the exception of Murder, She Wrote, the rest of CBS drama lineup was either aging or not showing growth plus CBS had no big hit sitcoms while NBC was killing it with sitcoms and ABC was saved by its Tuesday lineup, World Series, Super Bowl, Winter Olympics. CBS primetime soaps all started going off the rails that season. Dallas in the aftermath of Pamela's disappearance. Knots Landing in the aftermath of Laura's departure. Falcon Crest I can't pinpoint exactly but the core families shrunk and the supporting characters and guest stars in short arcs didn't really work. They were all creatively exhausted by the end of the season and if they had all ended Spring 1988, we would have been spared the off the rails plus budget mode era.

@j swift Not to derail this thread, but if you watched the Y&R 50th anniversary special and saw the segment where Lauralee Bell talked about Cricket's date rape from Summer 1989, you'll recall that she commented how Bill Bell wanted to tell that story properly. To me it sounded like a swipe at how other soaps told rape storylines and I think two of the rape storylines that were being swiped were General Hospital Laura (which was about a decade earlier) and Santa Barbara Eden (which was about a year earlier).

The first year and a bit of Gail Kobe/Pamela Long (Spring 1983 to Summer 1984) was popular and set in motion characters and storylines that would carry GL through its final 25 years (Lewis family expanded and elevated to a core family, Phillip/Beth, Josh/Reva, Alexandra), but from what I've seen it was too much chasing 1980s trends. I'd go as far to say that the only bright spot of GL's final 25 years was the Robert Calhoun era.

The Search for Tomorrow/CBS/P&G situation is weird to me. I'm going by things that have been posted in various threads over the years. P&G was not happy that CBS moved Search for Tomorrow from 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm even though the ratings I believe remained stable after the time slot change. CBS had enough of P&G complaining so they cancelled Search for Tomorrow in March 1982 but P&G found a new home for Search for Tomorrow on NBC at 12:30 pm. That move was an epic failure as Search for Tomorrow lost half its audience with the move to NBC since it was head-to-head w/ the first half of Y&R. Capitol went on the air because CBS wanted something more glamorous to compete w/ ABC. It basically inherited the Search for Tomorrow 2:30 pm audience but I don't think Capitol performed any better ratings-wise than Search for Tomorrow did in that time slot. Oddly enough, Search for Tomorrow NBC run ended three months before Capitol ended. IMO Capitol was a placeholder/time-filler until Bill Bell had another show ready for CBS daytime.

Yup. No way that build-a-body gets ruined. She's probably harvesting her eggs as we speak. Totally agree.

Thanks again for all your hard work in bringing us this look back at daytime history 🤗 Agree. It will be interesting to see Y&R evolution from surviving years 1980-1982 to thriving years the rest of the 1980s.

Larsa turns 49 soon so her window of opportunity in producing a Jordan offspring is shrinking. OMG Juanita Jordan is a name I have not heard/read about in years. AFAIK she has kept a pretty low profile since she and Michael Jordan divorced some 15+ years ago.

She kind of did when she witnessed Roger slapping Blake and did nothing about it.