kalbir

Correction, the ratings you posted cover January 18-24, 1982. Super Bowl XVI was held January 24, 1982. The NBC lineup on January 23, 1982 was One of the Boys (series premiere), Harper Valley, Barbara Mandrell, Steve Martin Special.

1981/82 was Dallas second consecutive #1 season, but it wasn't as killer as 1980/81. 13 out of 26 episodes finished #1 and the other 13 episodes finished among the Top 5.

It seemed every show in the 1980s chased the trends of Dallas/Dynasty influence, supercouples, action/adventure. Yes it worked on some shows but chasing trends didn't really suit many shows original identities.

1980/81 Dallas was a killer show. 18 out 23 episodes finished #1 and the other 5 episodes finished 2nd. That season Dallas also had its highest-rated episode ever, "Who Done It?".

Would you say that the 1970s were the peak of soaps in terms of impact to the genre and the 1980s were the peak of soaps in terms of impact in pop culture? Many of us feel that soaps never really recovered from the aftermath of OJ but could the decline have started nearly a decade earlier w/ Summer 1987 Iran-Contra pre-emptions and 1988 Writer's Strike?

Going way back, Y&R Ashley learning she was the result of an affair between Dina and alcoholic Brent Davis. Yes in a way it was a dust off of Lorie Brooks parentage reveal a decade earlier. The initial impact of Ashley's parentage reveal is that it lead to so many storylines that still impact the canvas. The downside though is that it was largely forgotten after the initial storyline. Also John Abbott never found out that Ashley wasn't his biological daughter.

Bill Bell said in a 1996 interview that he regretted writing the storyline where Malcolm took advantage of an over-medicated Dru. It was brought up again in 2000, when Dru/Malcolm got together. Dru reminded Malcolm of the night that he behaved impulsively with her and Malcolm mentioned he regretted what happened that night. There was no mention though that Lily may have been the result of that night.

@ironlion Changing Jill's parentage twice and having Malcolm as Lily's father served no purpose.

I was too young for most of the 1980s but I was there for the tail end of that decade plus the early 1990s. I was a CBS fan and the best era for CBS daytime was Spring 1989 to Summer 1992, all four soaps hit their stride plus the game show block. Then came three pivotal events of 1993 (GL kills off Maureen Bauer, Douglas Marland passed away, Bradley takes over the reigns at B&B from his father) and Summer 1994 OJ pre-emptions. Daytime was never the same in the aftermath of OJ.

No worries Yes, Victor needs to be part of the 50th anniversary. For the 25th anniversary there was some buildup to a big story. For the 50th anniversary there seems to be nothing. Y&R feels so hollow and empty.

I didn't know Designing Women was cancelled in Spring 1987 then uncancelled. Designing Women didn't finish in the Top 30 until its fourth season 1989/90 and it got it's two Top 10 finishes in 1990/91 and 1991/92, rather late in its run. I had forgotten about CBS's 1992/93 attempt to compete w/ TGIF. The 1997/98 Block Party was an epic failure. The Cavanaughs had weird scheduling. Midseason replacement December 1986 to March 1987. Returned August to October 1988, pulled from the schedule, and final four episodes burned off June to July 1989.

NBC was very fortunate in the Seinfeld/ER/Friends era (Fall 1994 to Spring 1998) that both CBS and ABC had primetime mess eras. That's probably why NBC was able to get away with scheduling forgettable shows at Thursday 8:30 pm and Thursday 9:30 pm that still finished in the Top 10. Does anyone have any memory of these shows: The Single Guy, Caroline in the City, Boston Common, Suddenly Susan, The Naked Truth, Fired Up, Union Square, Veronica's Closet. CBS primetime mess era began with the loss of NFL broadcasting rights in 1994 which also cost them several established affiliates in major media markets. 1994/95 Murphy Brown fell out of the Top 10. 1995 was the sale to Westinghouse and Les Moonves arrived. 1995/96 the sabotage of Murder, She Wrote. 1996/97 Touched by an Angel moves to Sunday 8 pm and for four seasons (1996/97 to 1999/2000) it's CBS's only scripted show to finish in the Top 10. ABC primetime mess era began 1995/96 with the Top 10 fallout of Roseanne. 1996 ABC sale to Disney completed. Home Improvement is ABC's only scripted show for three seasons (1996/97 to final season 1998/99) to finish in the Top 10. CBS primetime would rebound in Fall 2000 with the start of the Survivor/CSI/Everybody Loves Raymond era. ABC primetime would rebound in Summer 1999 with the premiere of Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

Every soap had Dallas/Dynasty influence to some degree but it worked better on some soaps than others.

@soapfan770 If CBS wasn't in their third place mess era from Fall 1987 to Spring 1991, they wouldn't have dragged all their aging dramas as long as they did and kept a bunch of new dramas that showed no growth. Spring 1988, end of Magnum, P.I. (8 seasons), Cagney & Lacey (7 seasons), Houston Knights (2 seasons). Spring 1989, end of Simon & Simon (8 seasons) and The Equalizer (4 seasons). Spring 1990, end of Falcon Crest (9 seasons), Beauty and the Beast (3 seasons), Tour of Duty (3 seasons). Spring 1991, end of Dallas (14 seasons), Wiseguy (4 seasons), Paradise (3 seasons). The Fall 1991 survivors of the third place mess era: Knots Landing (season 13); Murder, She Wrote (season 8); Jake and the Fatman (season 5 and would end Spring 1992), Northern Exposure (season 3), The Trials of Rosie O'Neill (season 2 and would end Spring 1992).

@Paul Raven CBS Thursday lineup of The Twilight Zone, Simon & Simon, Designing Women lasted only a month. January 1987, new drama Shell Game became the Thursday 8 pm occupant and Simon & Simon moved back to 9 pm. Designing Women was moved to Sunday 9 pm then Monday 9:30 pm. The Twilight Zone returned to Saturday, then pulled from the schedule, and burned off in the summer. Shell Game lasted 6 episodes then CBS used Thursday 8 pm to burn off the final three episodes of The Wizard and the final four episodes of Scarecrow and Mrs. King. It was pretty clear that Thursday 8 pm was a dead zone and CBS just gave up on that slot. Simon & Simon went from Top 10 for three consecutive seasons (1982/83 to 1984/85), to clobbered by Cheers in 1985/86, and DOA when it moved up to 8 pm in Fall 1986 where it would be head-to-head w/ The Cosby Show. It really should have ended in Spring 1987 instead of limping along in its final two seasons, relegated to shortened season with a late start in 1987/88 and another short season in 1988/89 but moved to Saturday 9 pm head-to-head w/ The Golden Girls.

Maybe international money. I know Another World had a sizeable following in Canada until the end, and it was also exported to Australia and Italy.

Didn't all the P&G soaps tank around that same era?

John Wesley Shipp, Lisa Brown, Gregory Beecroft, Ellen Dolan on Guiding Light and As the World Turns when Douglas Marland wrote for both shows.

First week of 1986/87 and we can already see that NBC made a mistake moving Miami Vice up 1 hour and CBS made a mistake moving Simon & Simon and Knots Landing up 1 hour. I don't know why NBC didn't move Miami Vice back to Friday 10 pm when they moved L.A. Law to Thursday 10 pm. At least CBS saw the error of their ways and moved Simon & Simon and Knots Landing back to Thursday 9 pm and 10 pm but the damage was already done.

I wonder if People will have a special issue for Y&R's 50th anniversary. They didn't have one for the 40th.

@divinemotion Then again, Bill Bell basically replaced Caroline with Taylor.

1986/87 sitcoms going strong, primetime soaps still tanking, action shows all but done. The Cosby Show second consecutive season at #1 and it is still a killer show destroying everything in its path (time slot wise and overall). 22 out of 25 episodes finished #1 in the week of their original broadcast, 2 episodes finished 2nd, and 1 episode finished 3rd. This season The Cosby Show's had its highest-rated episode ever. The Cosby Show once again pulled up the rest of the NBC Thursday comedy block: Family Ties remained 2nd and it also had its highest-rated episode ever this season, Cheers moved up from 5th to 3rd and this season it had its highest-rated episode until the series finale, Night Court moved up from 11th to 7th. Murder, She Wrote once again continued to defy expectations and had its second consecutive Top 5 finish. This season Murder, She Wrote had an episode finish #1 and it also had its highest-rated episode ever. The Golden Girls had their first Top 5 finish and with Amen being the highest-rated new scripted series of the season, NBC Saturday is cemented. ABC Tuesday dominance starts again with Who's the Boss, Growing Pains, Moonlighting all in the Top 10. 1986/87 saw no change to the previous rankings: NBC #1, CBS 2nd, ABC 3rd. With the Top 10 fallout of Dallas, the CBS primetime mess era was about to start. With the exception of Murder, She Wrote, the drama lineup was either aging (Cagney & Lacey, Dallas, Falcon Crest, Knots Landing; Magnum, P.I.; Simon & Simon) or not showing any growth (The Equalizer). CBS really should have ended one of the aging dramas this season. Sitcoms were showing some signs of life, with Newhart and Kate & Allie still going and the renewals of My Sister Sam and Designing Women, but not enough to compete with the NBC and ABC comedies.

The Tortellis was one season and done. During the final five seasons of Cheers, NBC used Thursday 9:30 pm as a testing ground. Several shows passed through that time slot in that era: Dear John, Grand, Wings, Seinfeld.

Week of May 11-17, 1987. Family Ties, The Cosby Show; Murder, She Wrote; Cheers, Moonlighting were all repeats as their season finales were the week before. Growing Pains was a repeat but it's season finale was the following week.

@Soapsuds January 22, 1987 was the night The Cosby Show and Family Ties had their highest-rated episodes ever, and Cheers had it's highest-rated episode until the finale.