kalbir

Hahaha. This lull is the worst ever. It's allowed. I'm probably one of the biggest EB/Victor fans on this board, but I get that Victor isn't loved by everyone.

March Madness break is March 17 and 18. We are one year away from the 50th anniversary. We need something big to lead up to it.

So two of the CBS big three are fully streaming now.

Kate & Allie lasted six seasons, with their best finish #8 in their first season 1983/84 (also it's only Top 10 finish). Newhart lasted eight seasons, with their best finishes #12 in their first season 1982/83 (tied w/ The Jeffersons) and in 1986/87. CBS seemed to struggle with sitcoms from 1982/83 (M*A*S*H ended and The Jeffersons, Alice, and One Day at a Time fell out of the Top 10) until 1990/91 (Murphy Brown and Designing Women entered the Top 10). Of the CBS sitcoms that premiered in the 1980s, Newhart, Kate & Allie, Designing Women, Murphy Brown, Major Dad were the only ones that lasted three or more seasons. @Soapsuds 1986/87 Week 11 was December 1-7, 1986 if my calculations are correct. This was the week that NBC moved L.A. Law from Friday 10 pm to Thursday 10 pm and the December 4, 1986 episode was Jeanne Cooper's first appearance as Gladys Becker. I see what you did there NBC.

Dallas had three seasons finishing at #1 (1980/81, 1981/82, 1983/84), two seasons finishing at #2 (1982/83, 1984/85), two seasons finishing in the Top 10 (1979/80, 1985/86), one season finishing in the Top 15 (1986/87), two seasons finishing in the Top 30 (1987/88, 1988/89), and four seasons finishing below the Top 30 (1977/78, 1978/79, 1989/90, 1990/91).

I don't think this is the full Primetime Soaps episode though.

That's because Bradley did not inherit his father's talent.

Do we really want to see Bradley butcher one of his father's best storylines?

I know this thread is for Murder She Wrote, but I think appreciating Angela Lansbury's other work won't derail the thread that much.

When looking at 1980s ratings, it's clear that the first half of the 1980s is when hour long dramas dominated and the second half of the 1980s is when sitcoms dominated.

All of them in this thread so far 🤣

Do not give Bradley ideas :shudder

Aaron Spelling was clearly a fan of Dionne Warwick, as she also gave The Love Boat's theme a mid-1980s R&B sound for its final season.

@Soapsuds What a find! I had no idea there was a CBS soaps week on The Price is Right in 1985. When TPiR was reran on Game Show Network, they showed the 1983 CBS soaps week where Michael Damian and Steven Ford were part of the Y&R episode.

The Monroes was head-to-head w/ Seinfeld. It stood no chance. 1995/96 ABC and CBS tried to revive primetime soaps on their networks (The Monroes and Central Park West respectively) but they were epic failures.

Y&R, more garbage time, yuck. At least there's March Madness break. Looks like B&B's 35th anniversary will be the same old.

If they had, we might not have gotten Dr. Kimberly of Melrose.

Head-to-head w/ Cheers and Night Court. The Colbys had no chance of succeeding. Aaron Spelling must have been losing his clout w/ ABC by 1985/86, as he was down to only four shows on the network: The Love Boat (which would end in spring 1986), Dynasty, Hotel, The Colbys. You'd think the ABC primetime schedulers would've placed Dynasty and The Colbys back-to-back on Wednesdays, as the audiences for both shows were the same. For whatever reason Aaron Spelling didn't insist on that.

So at some point in the last 25 years Keemo

True. The Jabot/Newman corporate battles were more for the Jack/Victor feud.

Bill Cosby used his clout with NBC to get A Different World the lead out time slot from The Cosby Show and NBC agreed because they were so indebted to Bill Cosby for saving their primetime lineup. The fortunes of A Different World were clearly tied to that of The Cosby Show.

You're welcome re blog post. When I started the thread and saw the list of time slot hits that were Friends/Seinfeld lead outs, some of those shows I had no memory of at all. A Different World is probably the ultimate time slot hit. Five seasons as The Cosby Show lead out, and four of those seasons in the Top 5. A Different World fell out of the Top 10 when The Cosby Show fell out of the Top 10, and it fell out of the Top 30 when it longer had The Cosby Show as its lead in.

CBS at least tried in primetime, with Daniel Dae Kim (Hawaii Five-0) and David Lim (SWAT). His mother is Indonesian and Dutch.

Earlier in the thread we talked about the numerous time slot hits that were Friends/Seinfeld lead outs. NBC's Must-See TV Comedy Thursdays: The "Hammock" Shows | The Barrel of Forty (terrencemoss.blogspot.com) I liked this blogger's comment that NBC could've aired test patterns as Friends/Seinfeld lead outs and they would still finish in the Top 10.

The Victor/Jack conversation in today's show had me thinking about a couple things from the past. While Victor can't normally stand Jack and Billy, he respected their father John Abbott. I don't know if Bill Bell ever explored this, but I wonder if Victor's respect of John Abbott was because of John's business acumen or that John was the good father that Victor didn't have and Victor tried to be. Another thing I wonder if Bill Bell ever explored, Victor maybe being jealous of Jack for having a normal family life for most of his childhood, which Victor never had. Yes Dina abandoned her family, but Jack at least had John, Ashley, Traci, and Mamie, whereas Victor had nobody.