kalbir

No. We all know that you have no love for the overgrown frat boy. 🤣

Trapper John, M.D. was a Top 20 show in its first four seasons (peak was 15th in 1981/82) but it fell from 18th in 1982/83 to 30th in 1983/84 then 29th in 1984/85. I say the fall in 1983/84 was due to the weakening of the Sunday comedy block lead ins. 1984/85 new lead ins Murder, She Wrote and Crazy Like a Fox helped stabilize it. 1985/86 got counterprogrammed by movies and big budget miniseries. January 1986 CBS sent it to Tuesday where it was no match for ABC, then got pulled from the schedule, and the remaining episodes were burned off in the summer. It's funny that Trapper John, M.D. premiered the same season as Knots Landing and was higher rated than Knots Landing in its first four seasons, yet Knots Landing lasted twice as long as Trapper John, M.D.

Victor/Ashley worked in ED's original run because Bill Bell saw that EB was a match for ED's acting style. All of Ashley's pairings before Victor tanked because ED's acting style overshadowed the other actors. I have never found PB believable as a romantic leading man. Nikki and TL's Jack had a co-conspirator with benefits thing going on but PB's Jack being in love with Nikki didn't work for me.

1990/91 CBS was still in its 3rd place mess era, although there were some signs of life with Murphy Brown and Designing Women earning their first Top 10 finishes.

Agree. Maybe during the anniversary celebration we might see clips of them, but you never know.

This is a great read. Thanks for the link Soapsuds.

As for our two rookie hits that week: The Cosby Show - How Ugly Is He? (episode 9): Denise has a new boyfriend, David James, but is reluctant to bring him home. She fears that Cliff will, as always, make fun of the boy and ruin her chances with him. Cliff and Clair are initially impressed with David until he expresses some unwanted opinions about medicine and the law at dinner. Murder, She Wrote - Lovers and Other Killers (episode 6): While lecturing at the University of Seattle and meeting up with her old friend Dr. Edmund Gerard, Jessica becomes convinced the young man she hired as her secretary is not a killer, even though evidence points towards him.

That is some good Photoshopping.

Wednesday's clip is Jess Walton and she picked a scene from 2012 I think.

GL had a primetime special in 1992 for their 40th anniversary on television. I don't recall ATWT getting a primetime special for any of their big anniversaries. Noticed your choice of 1994 as Y&R's last good year. I take it you stopped enjoying Y&R after the frat party started.

Thanks for the mention Taoboi. Do you think Larsa is going to get dragged by the others?

OMG this sounds like it could be good.

Y&R Nick/Phyllis might apply here.

A Victor/Ashley scene I hope surfaces soon is one I read about in a Fall 1984 recap, where Victor tells Ashley about Cora, and so they are connecting over their parental issues. I wonder if that was the scene that made Bill Bell decide that he had something to work with as far as pairing Victor/Ashley goes.

The Weeknd is the 11th male solo artist to reach 7 #1s on the Billboard Hot 100. The male solo artists with 7 or more #1s on the Billboard Hot 100 are Michael Jackson (13), Drake (11), Stevie Wonder (10), Elton John (9), Usher (9), George Michael (8), Bruno Mars (8), Justin Bieber (8), Elvis Presley (7, plus 11 pre-Hot 100 #1s), Phil Collins (7), The Weeknd (7). The Weeknd is the 10th artist not from the United States to reach 7 #1s on the Billboard Hot 100. The artists not from the United States with 7 or more #1s on the Billboard Hot 100 are The Beatles (20), Rihanna (14), Drake (11), The Bee Gees (9), Elton John (9), The Rolling Stones (8), George Michael (8), Justin Bieber (8), Phil Collins (7), The Weeknd (7). Among Canadian artists, The Weeknd is 3rd, behind Drake and Justin Bieber. Ariana Grande is the 9th female solo artist to reach 7 #1s on the Billboard Hot 100. The female solo artists with 7 or more #1s on the Billboard Hot 100 are Mariah Carey (19), Rihanna (14), Madonna (12), Whitney Houston (11), Janet Jackson (10), Katy Perry (9), Taylor Swift (9), Beyoncé (8), Ariana Grande (7).

You were right. That's Monday's clip.

@sheilaforever Nikki was the OG ho turned housewife. Mid-1990s she was so snooty lady of the manor.

Christine was too saintly for Brad and she had no clout, and there's also the factor that Brad was at Jabot when she was a teen model there plus she was once his stepsister-in-law. What did you think of Bill Bell alluding to Victor/Christine in 1996? For 25 years I couldn't get past the ick factor of LLB being Bill Bell's daughter and her being half EB's age at the time but I think Bill Bell's planned Victor/Nikki/Brad/Ashley quad got derailed due to SS not passing the chemistry tests w/ EB and DD so I can see why Bill Bell pretty much put Christine in the Ashley role. Yeah Bill Bell dusted off some of the 1984, 1985 Victor/Ashley storyline for Victor/Christine but we did get two epic Nikki/Christine confrontations plus being totally shallow here EB glowed up during that storyline. 2002 Christine got placed in Michael's orbit romantically (which should not have happened due to the sexual harassment and attempted rape a decade earlier) and CLB glowed up too. Who knew LLB had the powers to cause glow ups 🤣

Agree. That final season felt like a totally different show. There was a darkness and sadness that surrounded everything and it was painful to sit through. Sitting through season 8 was bad enough but the final season was worse. Season 7 it started going off the rails and that had to do with the core families having shrunken and the supporting characters and guest stars in short arcs not really working. Seasons 8 and 9 were off the rails plus budget mode. The core cast shrunk further and the new arrivals didn't work plus after effects of the writer's strike and changing times. I break down the seasons as 1 good start, 2 and 3 peak, 4 still good but signs of tanking showing, 5 and 6 tanking, 7 signs of going off the rails showing, 8 and 9 off the rails plus budget mode. I'd rank the seasons as 3, 2, 1, 4, 6, 5, 7, 8, 9. If CBS hadn't been such a mess in the late 1980s, none of the primetime soaps would have lasted into the 1990s. I'll always maintain that Spring 1988 was the natural end point for primetime soaps as a genre.

Spring 1983 to Spring 1986 Cricket showed up on school breaks (spring, summer, Christmas). She wasn't annoying in small doses. It was so odd seeing a scene from 1983 where Jack was praising Cricket's modelling shoot, considering what was to come by Summer 1986 and what went down by the end of the decade.

Cricket ate the show from second half of 1986 until the end of 1989. I will give credit to LLB improving as an actress during the date rape storyline. In the 1990s Bill Bell wrote lawyer Christine as the main heroine but she wasn't eating the show as much. I agree that LLB aged well (she looks so much like her mother) and doesn't look over-surgeried or over-injected, but I suspect a nose job in the early 1990s.

Sunday's clip was TB and she chose Michael's proposal. If we go by seniority, we should see Monday March 6 - ED Tuesday March 7- BM Wednesday March 8- JW Thursday March 9- PB Friday March 10- CLB Saturday March 11- JM Sunday March 12- SC Monday March 13 - MS

You're welcome. I don't know 100% when the actual anniversary episodes will be, but based on March 26 being a Sunday I figure March 27-31 makes the most sense.

The peak of 14 soaps lasted from July 30-December 28, 1984. The peak lineups in the 1980s in terms of number of soaps by network: CBS: 5 from January 1-February 1, 1980 - Love of Life, Y&R, Search for Tomorrow, As the World Turns, Guiding Light. ABC: 6 from June 27, 1983-December 28, 1984 - Loving, Ryan's Hope, All My Children, One Life to Live, General Hospital, The Edge of Night. NBC: 5 from March 29-December 31, 1982 - The Doctors, Search for Tomorrow, Days, Another World, Texas. The 1980s began with 13 soaps and ended with 12 soaps. Here's now the network lineups changed over the course of the decade. CBS: Love of Life finale February 1, 1980. Y&R expanded to 1 hour February 4, 1980. Search for Tomorrow CBS finale March 26, 1982. Capitol run March 29, 1982-March 20, 1987. B&B premiere March 23, 1987. Started the 1980s with 5 soaps and ended the 1980s with 4 soaps. ABC: Loving premiere June 27, 1983. The Edge of Night finale December 28, 1984. Ryan's Hope finale January 13, 1989. Started the 1980s with 5 soaps and ended the 1980s with 4 soaps. NBC: Texas run August 4, 1980-December 31, 1982. Search for Tomorrow NBC run March 29, 1982-December 26, 1986. The Doctors finale December 31, 1982. Santa Barbara premiere July 30, 1984. Generations premiere March 27, 1989. Started the 1980s with 3 soaps and ended the 1980s with 4 soaps. ETA: Just realized that twice in the 1980s there were 14 soaps across the three networks: March 29-December 31, 1982 and July 30-December 28, 1984.

I'm surprised clips are being uploaded on the weekend. I'm thinking the lineup for the next 7 days will be Sunday - ED Monday - BM Tuesday - TB Wednesday - JW Thursday - PB Friday - CLB Saturday - JM