kalbir

@DeliaIrisFan NBC was a mess on the whole in the late 1970s and early 1980s. As we all know, NBC didn't recover in primetime until the start of The Cosby Show. Daytime remained mostly a mess. It's quite telling that NBC's longest-running soap block was Days nearly 15 year run as NBC's lone soap.

It's so funny that NBC dominated primetime for the better part of 20 years (start of The Cosby Show until the end of Friends) yet was mostly a mess in daytime in that same era despite supercouple Days, Santa Barbara Emmy and SOD awards run, and Reilly Days.

Can't wait to see the 1980s clips.

With the recent news that NCIS: Los Angeles is ending, I was thinking about three of CBS's biggest dramas (at least during my lifetime) and their spin offs/franchises. Dallas (14 seasons) spun off Knots Landing (14 seasons). CSI (15 seasons) franchise: CSI: Miami (10 seasons), CSI: NY (9 seasons), CSI: Cyber (2 seasons), CSI: Vegas (currently in its second season). NCIS (currently in its 20th season) franchise: NCIS: Los Angeles (ending this spring after 14 seasons), NCIS: New Orleans (7 seasons), NCIS: Hawaii (currently in its second season). The parent shows Dallas, CSI, NCIS all had three seasons as the #1 show. A fun fact, Knots Landing run and NCIS: Los Angeles run are separated by 30 years. The first episodes of Knots Landing (December 27, 1979) and NCIS: Los Angeles (September 22, 2009) are separated by 29 years 269 days (so almost 30 years) and the final episodes of Knots Landing (May 13, 1993) and NCIS: Los Angeles (May 21, 2023) will be separated by 30 years 8 days.

Jill, being all about the come up, kicked Andy to the curb when she saw the newspaper article that John Abbott had returned to Genoa City.

Monday March 27, 2023, Y&R 50th anniversary celebrated on a special episode of The Talk. If EB and Shemar are on that episode, we'd see Sheryl Underwood all squealing fangirl at a level that we've never seen before 🤣

Y&R Katherine and Nikki were absent from each other's lives from 1990-1992. This overlapped w/ Nikki's substance abuse and Katherine's cancer scare. I think the lack of Katherine/Nikki interaction was due to MTS having beef w/ JC at the time.

1980 and 1981 just seem like a mess in general. As we all know, 1982 was the big transition year. 1983 was another transition year, and 1984 was when Y&R became Y&R as we know it today.

@yrfan1983 Judging from Danny's first air date, he must have been brought on for a summer teen storyline and then Bill Bell decided to keep him past the initial storyline.

@victoria foxton I was only throwing around a prediction of CBS's next entry in the NCIS franchise. AFAIK there isn't another NCIS franchise entry in the works.

The next 10 episodes to me were the peak of the series. Looking forward to your recaps.

Hahaha. NCIS: Miami premiering Fall 2023, just watch.

On school breaks I'd watch the CBS game show block and if my parents weren't near the TV I'd leave the TV on to sneak watch the rest of the CBS soaps. Sometimes it worked and other times I got caught. When they weren't home I got away w/ soap watching of course Not related to soap watching, but I learned to use the microfilm readers at the public library for the purpose of reading old newspaper soap columns.

Since the NCIS: Los Angeles thread is archived, posting this here. ‘NCIS: Los Angeles’ To End With Season 14 On CBS; Series Finale Date – Deadline In CBS drama history, NCIS: Los Angeles 14 season run ties it w/ Dallas and Knots Landing. Five CBS drama series have had longer runs: Gunsmoke (20 seasons), NCIS (currently in its 20th season), Lassie (17 seasons), CSI (15 seasons), Criminal Minds (15 seasons).

@Paul Raven That's inconsistent SORASing at work.

@ltm1997 Sheryl Underwood is going to be all squealing fangirl, just watch.

I think that's because ratings dropped during Robert Calhoun's run and JFP first year got the ratings up, but as we know the momentum didn't last and JFP did long-term damage that GL never recovered from.

Bill Bell seemed to have dusted off some of the 1984, 1985 Victor/Ashley storyline when he alluded to Victor/Christine in 1996. Ashley/Christine both were placed in Victor's orbit in a professional capacity (Mergeron takeover/Nick's trial). Victor recognized Ashley's business skills/Christine's legal skills thus the job offer at Mergeron/Christine joining the legal team at Newman Enterprises. Victor supported Ashley/Christine when they were at turning points in their lives (Ashley's emotional breakdown in the aftermath of her learning about her parentage/Christine's broken engagement to Paul). Victor/Ashley connected over their parental issues. Christine also had parental issues (growing up without a father and being estranged from her mother for many years) but I don't believe that it was ever brought up again after Jessica died and Jim left. Big difference is that Victor became involved with Ashley while he kept himself in the friend zone with Christine (that I think had to do with Christine's past as a survivor of both date rape and sexual harassment, plus Victor knew Christine still loved Paul and Christine knew Victor still loved Nikki so they weren't going to be each other's rebounds). Of course Nikki had epic confrontations with both Ashley (at the ranch) and Christine (at Legal Aid and at the hospital). I think of all the rivals Nikki had for Victor, Ashley and Christine threatened her the most and brought out all her insecurities. Nikki the OG ho turned housewife that hadn't really accomplished much in her life whereas Ashley/Christine both are intelligent, educated, and have successful careers. With Ashley there was the added element of class differences (Nikki from a working class background and Ashley from a wealthy family) and with Christine there were the added elements of age and attitude differences (Nikki older snooty lady of the manor and Christine younger and kind-hearted).

Thanks @Broderick Found it, 7/2/1985.

The counter programming theory is interesting. The short-term impact of that storyline resulted in long-term damage that GL never really recovered from. The aftermath of Maureen's death to Nancy Curlee departing the writing team was a chore to get through. At least that era saw Michael Zaslow (RIP) earn his long-awaited for Lead Actor Emmy.

You're welcome @Vee and glad you liked the articles

Y&R has a good number of 25+ year veterans in their cast, so I imagine salaries eat up a good chunk of the budget.

Victor/Ashley worked during ED's original run because Bill Bell saw EB was a match for ED's acting style. Victor entered the Abbott orbit during the Mergeron takeover storyline. There are a couple of Victor/Ashley scenes during that storyline I read about in recaps but haven't surfaced in clips/full episodes. Does anyone remember these scenes: Fall 1984 - Victor relates his experience with Cora to Ashley, who begins to think that perhaps she hasn't given Dina a fair chance. Summer 1985 - Feeling Ashley's talents are wasted in the Jabot lab, Victor offers her an executive position at Mergeron. Victor and Ashley connected over their parental issues, then Victor supported Ashley through the recovery from her emotional breakdown in the aftermath of learning that she was the result of an affair between Dina and alcoholic Brent Davis, and Victor recognized Ashley's business skills. Then Fall 1985 the eternal triangle began when Victor and Ashley became involved in Corsica. Did anyone else get a pro-life slant from Ashley's emotional breakdown in the aftermath of ending her pregnancy? I think it was reported in the soap press that Bill Bell got alot of flack for that storyline. I don't know how religious Bill Bell was in his personal life so his personal beliefs may have clouded his storytelling or maybe somebody high up at CBS in 1986, 1987 was pro-life. While I think Ashley cared for Steven, I didn't sense it was a genuine love. Steven supported Ashley through a difficult time, but I feel the marriage was her trying to move on from Victor. BE was a serviceable recast but in hindsight her main storylines (Brad/Ashley/Traci triangle, Victor marriage/divorce, Blade/Rick) didn't work. BE had no connection w/ EB at all. Making Ashley and Traci romantic rivals didn't fit the characters as Bill Bell originally wrote them. Blade/Rick was awful. The less said about SS the better. I think Bill Bell was planning a Victor/Nikki/Brad/Ashley quad in 1996, but since SS had no connection at all w/ EB and DD, Bill Bell pretty much put Christine in the Ashley role.

@Sapounopera Mishael Morgan moved on to bigger and better things. Her talent was being wasted on Y&R.

@Vee I changed the link. It should work w/o a paywall.