kalbir

Could Taylor move past Janet/Whitney/Madonna soon as far as #1s go?

Who's the Boss first two episodes were Thursday 8:30 pm, then moved to Tuesday 8:30 pm. Fall 1985 moved up to Tuesday 8 pm where it took off and ABC Tuesday rebounded. Who's the Boss was ABC's only new show from Fall 1984 to return Fall 1985.

Also Stephanie/Brooke and to a lesser extent Nikki/Sharon. Adding to Bill Bell Mother that favors one son over the other: Vanessa, Cora, Stephanie Upper class background/working class background romantic rivals: Ashley/Nikki, Caroline/Brooke

John Abbott's death on Y&R, because it felt like the end of an era. In all honesty, Y&R hasn't been the same since.

I had no idea The Cosby Show was originally offered to ABC. The Cosby Show on ABC might have gotten Thursday 8:30 pm where Who's the Boss was originally scheduled. ABC was a mess in 1984/85 despite Dynasty reaching #1, so The Cosby Show may not have had the same success on ABC that it did on NBC.

@ironlionBill Bell also used vixen daughter all about the come up becomes involved with the upper class/wealthy man that her working class mother loves w/ Jill/Stuart/Liz and Brooke/Eric/Beth.

Bill Bell had characters/storylines with elements from literature, film, and biblical allusions, but then again that could apply to all writers.

@ranger1rg As long as JM still has that overgrown frat boy persona, Nick will too.

@Taoboi I have never heard anything about the team SM plays for, but I'm totally shocked that his baby mama is 39 and already has two kids by two dads.

@Darn @Faulkner @yrfan1983 Shemar Moore's girlfriend is pregnant with his first child (pagesix.com)

RIP Quinn Redeker and thank you for the years you entertained us on daytime.

1984/85 was probably the best and most pivotal television season of the 1980s. The premieres of The Cosby Show; Murder, She Wrote; Miami Vice; Who's the Boss; Moonlighting. The zenith of primetime soaps as all four were in the Top 10. The peak season of Dynasty and Knots Landing. Dallas lost #1 to Dynasty. Falcon Crest dropped from its peak the previous season. The action shows weakened a bit. The A-Team and Simon & Simon dropped from their peaks the previous season. Magnum, P.I. fell out of the Top 10. Sitcoms were gaining ground again, with the breakout success of The Cosby Show pulling up the rest of NBC's Thursday sitcom lineup Family Ties, Cheers, Night Court. CBS Sunday rebounded with the surprise success of Murder, She Wrote. Crazy Like a Fox was able to retain the Murder, She Wrote audience which The Jeffersons and Alice could not do. Despite Dallas dropping from #1 to 2nd, CBS was #1 for the 6th consecutive season. NBC moved up to 2nd. ABC dropped to 3rd. Little did we know at the time the impact that the breakout success of The Cosby Show and the surprise success of Murder, She Wrote would have on their respective networks, and that impact is still being felt today.

Do not give Bradley ideas. Then again, Bradley did reuse his father's work in the late 1990s. Amber/Rick/Kimberly was Bradley's version of Nina/Phillip/Cricket.

Looking back, 1988/89 wasn't a very good season. So many shows felt off. I chalk it up to after effects of the writer's strike and changing times.

@Paul Raven I had no idea Victor meeting Hope in Kansas was a redo of a Bill Bell Days storyline 🤯

I don't believe so. Other elements Bill Bell used Brothers fighting over a girl: Snapper/Greg, Lance/Lucas, Jazz/Tyrone, Victor/Matt, Ridge/Thorne, Neil/Malcolm Sisters fighting over a guy: Leslie/Lorie, Donna/Katie, Ashley/Traci, Olivia/Dru Virgin heroines that are rape victims: Chris, Peggy, Caroline, Cricket Working class young woman in conflict with wealthy older woman: Jill/Katherine, Nikki/Allison, Brooke/Stephanie, Nina/Jill, Sharon/Nikki Mothers that attempt to control their son's love lives: Vanessa, Allison, Mary, Stephanie, Nikki, Jill Messy wealthy matriarchs: Jennifer, Katherine, Vanessa, Allison, Dina, JoAnna, Stephanie Educated professional that has a troublemaking sibling: Casey/Nikki, Olivia/Dru, Neil/Malcolm

Bill Bell also had the working class single mother with a vixen daughter that was all about the come up w/ Liz/Jill and Beth/Brooke.

Y&R initial set up was an upper class family headed by a newspaper publisher and a working class family headed by a factory worker single mother. As we saw in the first two episodes during the 2020 classics, the upper class Brooks family didn't live in a mansion with a staff, matriarch Jennifer Brooks prepared dinner for her family, and they ate at the kitchen table. Y&R did introduce wealth and business in the 1970s (Chancellor, Prentiss) but it wasn't until the 1980s that wealth and business became the focus and that was due to Dallas/Dynasty influence. Bill Bell used the two family set up on B&B with the wealthy family that owned a fashion label and a working class family headed by a single mother that worked as a caterer.

Also Newhart, even though it was up and down ratings-wise during its run. September 1985, Charlie & Co. was placed Wednesday 9 pm head-to-head w/ Dynasty, the previous season's #1 show. January 1986 moved to Tuesday 8:30 pm head-to-head w/ Growing Pains, and then pulled from the schedule. Returned April 1986 Friday 8 pm head-to-head w/ Webster and ended May 1986. Charlie & Co. had a great cast (Gladys Knight, Flip Wilson, Kristoff St. John, Jaleel White) but somehow I feel CBS didn't have alot of faith in it. Earlier in the thread you brought up ABC Tuesdays in the first half of the 1980s where they also relied on 1970s sitcoms and the only new sitcom to have any success was Too Close for Comfort. Fortunately for ABC, they rebounded with sitcoms when Who's the Boss took off in 1985/86, then successful new comedies Growing Pains and The Wonder Years, and the breakout success of Roseanne in 1988/89. As for NBC, we all know that it started the 1980s as a mess in primetime. NBC made a comeback in primetime with the breakout success of The Cosby Show in 1984/85, which also pulled up Family Ties, Cheers, Night Court. Then there was the breakout success of The Golden Girls in 1985/86, and NBC would have the sitcom game on lock for the rest of the decade.

@fivethej January 1988.

Yup. You had the third place mess era (Fall 1987-Spring 1991), some signs of life (Fall 1991-Spring 1994), and another mess era starting Fall 1994. 1995 CBS sold to Westinghouse and goodbye Laurence Tisch, hello Les Moonves. Yes, it's funny that CBS had a Friday night line up of The Incredible Hulk, The Dukes of Hazzard, Dallas. Two shows for the kids, one show for the parents when the kids have gone to bed LOL.

Thank you for answering and I agree re Laura. While Val was the long-suffering heroine, Abby was the villainess, and Karen was the anchor/tentpole of the group, Laura was the heart and conscience of the group. Laura kept everyone in check and did not hesitate to call anyone out and put them on blast. Her absence left a huge hole in the show. Donna Mills was smart to leave when she did. Nicollette Sheridan wasn't a regular cast member until Season 10, but did you find that Paige ate the show during the final five seasons?

@DRW50 When would you say Knots Landing started tanking and when did it start to go off the rails for you? I'd say the tanking started in the aftermath of Val being reunited with the twins and it started going off the rails in the aftermath of Laura's death.

Knots Landing is not the type of soap you'd expect to go into action thriller/James Bond territory but I think they got Wolfbridge in Season 5 right. Empire Valley started good in Season 6 but was a mess in Season 7 and Jean Hackney in Season 8 was awful.

Yeah they were. It also didn't help that CBS struggled with sitcoms for most of the 1980s, from when M*A*S*H ended and The Jeffersons, Alice, One Day at a Time fell out of the Top 10 in 1982/83 to Murphy Brown and Designing Women entering the Top 30 in 1989/90 (they became Top 10 shows in 1990/91). Newhart and Kate & Allie started good, but they couldn't maintain their momentum and they got overshadowed by the big NBC and ABC sitcoms of the mid-1980s. It's so funny how the fortunes of CBS primetime and daytime changed in opposite directions over the course of the 1980s. CBS primetime was riding high at the beginning of the 1980s thanks to Who Shot JR mania but was an absolute mess by the end of the decade. 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. Also Magnum, P.I., Simon & Simon, Knots Landing. CBS Thursday was killing it with that block until NBC premiered The Cosby Show and the rest is history.