kalbir

@Soapsuds Based on NFC Championship coverage being in the Top 11, this is the week January 5-11, 1987. NBC sitcoms taking up five of the Top 11. They really did have the sitcom game on lock in the second half of the 1980s. Two weeks away from the historical night January 22, 1987.

@AMCOLTLLover The first half of 1986 was when all the big storylines of the H. Wesley Kenney era culminated. The second half of 1986 was the start of Cricket eating the show.

I loved those big 1980s mini series based on best-selling novels. Agree that by the 1990s mini series were mostly a sad state. One memorable 1990s mini series you didn't mention, Alex Haley's Queen. You are killing me 🤣

AFAIK Fresno is the only comedy mini series ever attempted. 🤣

Was Another World the most affected ratings-wise by the huge rise of the ABC big three in the late 1970s/early 1980s? It seems like every show that wasn't the ABC big three was a mess back then but a good number of them recovered but somehow Another World didn't yet NBC/P&G kept it.

The Jabot/Newman corporate battles are getting stale?

I don't know anything about contracts, but with Y&R being in budget mode I can see this happening.

Friends of Jill from Santa Barbara to Guiding Light: Vincent Irizarry, Justin Deas, Marcy Walker, Marj Dusay.

Agree. That was Y&R's second worst nepotism. I don't know if any big soap names were considered for Ashley in 1988, but if a big soap name was cast as Ashley in 1988 it might have taken attention away from Bill Bell's pets Cricket and Cassandra. Remember 1989 was all about Cricket and Cassandra and the rest of the main females got second/third tier storylines.

Bill Bell recast Y&R Ashley twice (1988 and 1996) and in hindsight, neither worked. Can we think of anyone who would have worked in either 1988 or 1996?

Dorothy McGuire's arc was two months, May-July 1984. I think it was mentioned here that it was a big deal back then for Y&R to get a Golden Age Hollywood actress in a short arc.

Tom Langan cast several 1980s Y&R actors on Reilly's Days: Deborah Adair, Eileen Davidson, Nick Benedict, Jaime Lyn Bauer, Lauren Koslow.

@dragonflies The chris evans you linked to is the same Twitter user that got EB trending in Summer 2021. I really hope these lack of appearances are due to EB's recovery from knee surgery, and not his role being reduced.

Also add CBS Master of the Game: February 19-21, 1984; 9 hours Mistral's Daughter: September 24-26, 1984; 8 hours Robert Kennedy and His Times: January 27-29, 1985; 7 hours Fresno: November 16-20, 1986; 6 hours I'll Take Manhattan: March 1-4, 1987; 8 hours Lonesome Dove: February 5-8, 1989; 8 hours NBC Marco Polo: May 16-19, 1982; 10 hours A.D.: March 31-April 4, 1985; 12 hours Peter the Great: February 2-5, 1986; 8 hours Noble House: February 21-24, 1988; 8 hours

There was a Fall 1992 issue of the week episode partly set in South Central Los Angeles. That episode might have referenced the riots.

Miami Vice weakened Falcon Crest in 1985/86 and if NBC left Miami Vice at Friday 10 pm in 1986/87 it might have finished off Falcon Crest. Miami Vice may have been the new hotness, but it still got beat by Murder, She Wrote. It will never not be funny to me that Miami Vice was clean swept by Murder, She Wrote (in weeks where new episodes of both shows were broadcast, Murder, She Wrote finished ahead of Miami Vice in all those weeks). Angela Lansbury referred to Miami Vice as Miami Heat in a 1985 Los Angeles Times interview. It might have been an accident or she might have been throwing shade but in an elegant and classy way though.

It's funny that Heather Tom has played Katie longer than she played Victoria, but Victoria is her signature role. I think she's staying at B&B until it ends, plus she has her directing career going so she's prepared for post B&B life.

ABC having the World Series and Winter Olympics in 1987/88 played a big part in them moving up to 2nd. 1987/88 was also the peak of Growing Pains and Who's the Boss, plus the premiere of The Wonder Years, and Moonlighting was still going strong. That's why I refer to Miami Vice as the new hotness. I pointed out earlier in the thread that NBC probably got too overconfident from Miami Vice Top 10 finish in 1985/86 that they moved it up 1 hour in Fall 1986 but Miami Vice did not do the job in 1986/87 that NBC wanted it to do (clobber Dallas). Those February 1984 ratings were a month before Kate & Allie premiered and Kate & Allie was the only sitcom to finish in the Top 10 in 1983/84. Agree that Fall 1984 was the start of the sitcom revival.

Nobody wants to see Nikki climbing the pole 🤣

@Tonksadora You're welcome. In that article Maureen Garrett mentions 20 years working together, so she must be counting from her first episode in 1976 to MZ last episode in 1997. Sadly so little of their 1976-1980 storylines are out there. It's too bad Ellen Parker wasn't interviewed in that article. I wonder if she has ever commented on the Roger/Maureen dynamic.

I know Katherine/Marge got JC a Lead Actress Emmy nomination in 1990 but it wasn't one of Bill Bell's finest hours. It was one of those second/third tier storylines of 1989, 1990 that Bill Bell gave to the main females that were not Cricket or Cassandra. SOD had Katherine/Marge as worst dual role in the 1990 Best and Worst issue, and that storyline probably played a part in Y&R also being named most disappointing show of 1990.

Remember too that ABC was sold to Capital Cities in 1985 and Brandon Stoddard became president of ABC that year, so the business end was probably affecting the programming end.

With the mention earlier of the 30th anniversary of Maureen Bauer's death episode, it reminded me that there are two GL real life death anniversaries this year. May 2 will be 15 years since we lost Beverlee McKinsey and December 6 will be 25 years since we lost Michael Zaslow. I recently came across this 2018 article where some GL cast members shared their memories of Michael on the 20th anniversary of his death.

@sheilaforever Agree that 1997 was hit and miss. I didn't like Thorne falling for Taylor either. I also think KKL's pregnancy leave may have derailed Bradley's original plans for Who Shot Grant.

This might be something that ties in with the 50th anniversary.