kalbir

Second half of 1986 through the end of 1987 was a mini-transition era. Ed Scott takes over as EP in November 1986, and June 1987 was the first of the big three late 1980s recasts (Brenda Dickson/Jess Walton). There's also a cast purge w/ the departures of Marla Adams, Colleen Casey, Alex Donnelly, Steven Ford, Lauren Koslow, Julianna McCarthy, Phil Morris, Robert Parucha, Jon St. Elwood, James Storm, Stephanie Williams. Bill Bell casted Lauren Koslow and James Storm on B&B. Marla Adams, Alex Donnelly, Steven Ford, Julianna McCarthy, Robert Parucha, Stephanie Williams would have brief returns years later.

CBS’s identity crisis in the second half of the 1990s was bad, but the decline of its primetime lineup in the second half of the 1980s was worse. 1985/86 CBS’s Top 10 shows were Murder She Wrote (#3, its highest finish ever), 60 Minutes (#4), Dallas (#6), and its Top 30 shows were CBS Sunday Movie (#12), Kate & Allie (#14), Newhart (#16), Knots Landing (#17), Falcon Crest (#24), Scarecrow and Mrs. King (#28), Simon & Simon (#29). CBS's new fall shows that returned in 1986/87 were The Equalizer and The Twilight Zone and their only midseason show to return in 1986/87 was West 57th. 1985/86 was also the final seasons for Airwolf, Crazy Like a Fox; Trapper John, M.D. 1986/87 CBS’s Top 10 shows were Murder She Wrote (#4) and 60 Minutes (#6), and its Top 30 shows were Dallas (#11), Newhart (#12), CBS Sunday Movie (#15), Kate & Allie (#19), My Sister Sam (#21, first season), Falcon Crest (#23), Knots Landing (#26). CBS's new fall shows that returned in 1987/88 were Designing Women and My Sister Sam and their midseason/summer shows to return in 1987/88 were The Cavanaughs, CBS Summer Playhouse, Houston Knights. 1986/87 was also the final seasons for Scarecrow and Mrs. King and The Twilight Zone. 1987/88 CBS's Top 10 shows were 60 Minutes (#8) and Murder She Wrote (#9), and its Top 30 shows were CBS Sunday Night Movie (#18), Dallas (#22), Newhart (#25). CBS’s new fall shows that returned in 1988/89 were Beauty and the Beast, Jake and the Fatman, Tour of Duty, Wiseguy, and their midseason/summer shows to return in 1988/89 were 48 Hours, Coming of Age, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. 1987/88 was also the final seasons for Cagney & Lacey, Houston Knights, Magnum, P.I.; My Sister Sam. CBS's primetime lineup really tanked this season, and they fell to 3rd place. 1988/89 was the writer’s strike delayed season and CBS’s Top 10 shows were 60 Minutes (#5) and Murder She Wrote (#8), and its Top 30 shows were Knots Landing (#27), CBS Sunday Night Movie (#27), Dallas (#29). CBS’s new fall shows that returned in 1989/90 were Murphy Brown and Paradise, and their only midseason/summer show to return in 1989/90 was Doctor Doctor. 1988/89 was also the final seasons for The Cavanaughs, CBS Summer Playhouse, Coming of Age, The Equalizer, Kate & Allie, Simon & Simon, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, West 57th. 1989/90 CBS’s only Top 10 show was 60 Minutes (#7), and its Top 30 shows were Murder She Wrote (#13), Designing Women (#22), CBS Sunday Movie (#24), Murphy Brown (#27). CBS’s new fall shows that returned in 1990/91 were Major Dad and Rescue 911 and their midseason/summer shows to return in 1990/91 were Bagdad Cafe, Northern Exposure, Top Cops. 1989/90 was also the final seasons for Beauty and the Beast, Falcon Crest, Newhart, Tour of Duty. 1989/90 was the low point I'd say and things were really looking bad heading into 1990/91 season. To think that just a decade earlier CBS was riding high w/ Who Shot JR mania.

There's even a promo for a February 1982 episode of The Price is Right that pays tribute to Y&R. That's three Y&R themed episodes of TPiR that we know of in the 1980s (February 1982, June 1983, February 1985).

Agree, that hair toss was epic. @will81 Thank you for the clips guide. I can't believe Christmas 1981 is in there but no Victor/Nikki scenes. I really want to see the scenes of where we first learn of Victor's childhood. EB has always credited those scenes w/ his decision to stay on past Victor's initial storyline. Bill Bell creating the back story of Victor's childhood and his becoming a self-made man opened up so many more layers to Victor's character instead of him being just a one-dimensional villain.

Hahaha, I haven't read that expression in years! JW rocked the s--t outta that big ass hair well into the 1990s.

@Orea Mou Kiria Rick ended up as B&B's version of Phillip III. Bradley later redid Phillip III/Nina/Cricket with Rick/Amber/Kimberly.

Y&R (in date order): JC tribute, MTS 40th anniversary, KSJ tribute, EB 40th anniversary, 12000th episode

Would we count M*A*S*H and Trapper John, M.D., or is that more sequel than spin off?

Thanks @Soapsuds for the TPiR video.

CBS should have placed Angela Lansbury front and center in these promos as she was basically carrying their primetime lineup at this point.

Thanks @Paul Raven

The Four Ls quad had influence from literature (Le Morte d'Arthur as @Broderick pointed out) and biblical allusions. I guess the romance novel element might be due to the contrasts between the siblings: suave sophisticated Lance, rugged elemental Lucas, kind-hearted emotionally fragile heroine Leslie, jealous scheming vixen Lorie.

@Paul Raven Are any F bombs dropped in the interview?

Hahaha, yeah they really are. NCIS is in its 19th season. JAG was on for 10 seasons (1 on NBC, 9 on CBS). It's crazy that the spin off has been on almost double the number of seasons of the parent show.

1982/83 was the first Top 10 season (#8), 1983/84 was the highest-rated season (#7), and 1984/85 was the final Top 10 season (#10). Then the decline: 1985/86 #24, 1986/87 #23, 1987/88 to 1989/90 were below the Top 30.

@yrfan1983 That latest clip set is amazing. Do we dare hope Christmas 1981 might surface soon?

JAG spun off NCIS. NCIS franchise: NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, NCIS: Hawai'i CSI franchise: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, CSI: Cyber, CSI: Vegas Criminal Minds had two spin offs, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders.

The crime element was always there, but it was amplified in that era. Not the awards, but the best of 1987 and 1988 issues. I think the writeups were posted here before. It really would've been. Spring 1985 was the zenith of primetime soaps as a genre.

In those Lorie edits, Victor seemed really drawn to Lorie. I think she was the one that got away. I'm pretty sure Victor/Lorie was Bill Bell's initial plan until behind the scenes events changed the storylines. Now if Victor/Lorie happened would they have worked as a 1980s high society power couple, with Victor running Newman Enterprises and Lorie writing bestsellers?

Dynasty is a different beast than the CBS big three. That show blew up once Joan Collins arrived and Alexis was the breakout character that became a pop culture phenomenon on the level with JR. Season 2 was the only year where the writing and acting were on point. After that it was as though Aaron Spelling's entire goal was to have Dynasty be bigger and better than Dallas and all storytelling logic and acting ability went out the window.

One would think action shows and primetime soaps would have entirely different audiences yet CBS's Thursday lineup of Magnum, P.I., Simon & Simon, and Knots Landing, and Friday lineup of The Dukes of Hazzard, Dallas, Falcon Crest somehow worked. The action shows weakened and eventually ended (The Dukes of Hazzard) or moved elsewhere in the schedule before ending (Magnum, P.I., Simon & Simon) and the replacement lead ins to the primetime soaps never really worked. Dallas' longest lasting lead in after The Dukes of Hazzard was Beauty and the Beast (1987/88 and 1988/89) and Knots Landing's longest lasting lead in after Simon & Simon was Street Stories with Ed Bradley (1991/92 and 1992/93).

@ironlion The Bell shows in the late 1980s were packed w/ blondes in the 20s/30s age range. Y&R had MTS, LLB, Barbara Crampton, Nina Arvesen, Brenda Epperson. B&B had Joanna Johnson, KKL, Teri Ann Linn.

I think Joanna Johnson announced in December 1989 that she was going to leave when her contract was up in March 1990, but Bill Bell got her to stay until July 1990. Thus Ridge and Caroline's marriage, effectively ending the Ridge/Thorne/Caroline/Brooke quad (which was also derailed by the recasting of Thorne and real-life pregnancy of Katherine Kelly Lang), and later Caroline's illness and death. Around the same time Bill Bell set up Thorne/Macy and Eric/Brooke.

K.T. Stevens has only 3 entries after Y&R on her IMDb page. Maybe she was mostly in theater in the 1980s, who knows. I think K.T. Stevens could have played a 1980s primetime soap matriarch but for whatever reason that didn't happen. The Leslie/Lorie confrontation where Lorie realizes Leslie is pregnant by Lance and is trying to pass the child as Lucas's would've been more powerful without the shrieking. Watching that scene I thought Leslie was going to collapse. Something about Victoria Mallory's acting style from what I've seen makes Leslie come across as so fragile that you just want to protect her from the outside world. I don't know if Janice Lynde was the same way as I've seen very little of 1973-1977 Y&R.

@Khan As far as the CBS big three primetime soaps go, 1985/86 was when they started declining and the end should have been 1987/88. We would've been spared budget mode and storylines going off the rails. CBS was such a mess in the second half of the 1980s that they hung on to shows that were well past their peak. Even their one-time big action dramas Magnum, P.I. and Simon & Simon lasted a couple seasons too long. Back to CBS's second half of the 1990s identity crisis, 1997/98 to 1999/2000, they turned Welcome Home into The Address is CBS. 1997/98 CBS's Top 10 shows were Touched by an Angel at 5th (it's highest finish ever), 60 Minutes at 8th, and CBS Sunday Movie at 9th, and its Top 30 shows were Walker Texas Ranger at 21st, Diagnosis Murder at 26th, and Cosby at 28th. The new fall shows were a disaster, w/ none returning in 1998/99 (I don't count Unsolved Mysteries as 1997/98 was its first season on CBS after moving over from NBC). Midseason only saw two returns, Kids Say the Darndest Things and The Magnificent Seven. 1997/98 was the final seasons for Cybill, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, and Murphy Brown (I don't count Family Matters and Step By Step as 1997/98 was their first and only season on CBS after moving over from ABC). 1998/99 CBS's Top 10 shows were 60 Minutes at 7th, Touched by an Angel at 8th, and CBS Sunday Movie at 9th, and its Top 30 shows were Everybody Loves Raymond at 11th, JAG at 16th, Becker (first season) and CBS Tuesday Movie tied at 19th, Walker Texas Ranger at 25th, and 60 Minutes II (first season) and Diagnosis Murder tied at 30th. The new fall shows returning for 1999/2000 were 60 Minutes II, Becker, The King of Queens, and Martial Law. No midseason returns. 1998/99 was the final seasons for The Magnificent Seven, The Nanny, Promised Land, and Unsolved Mysteries. 1999/2000 CBS's Top 10 shows were 60 Minutes at 8th and Touched by an Angel at 10th, and its Top 30 shows were Everybody Loves Raymond at 12th, CBS Sunday Movie at 14th, Becker at 18th, Judging Amy (first season) at 19th, JAG at 20th, 60 Minutes II at 23rd, Family Law (first season) at 27th, and CBS Wednesday Movie at 30th. The new fall shows returning for 2000/01 were Family Law, Judging Amy, and Ladies Man. Only midseason return was City of Angels. Summer 2000 was the first editions of Big Brother and Survivor, and we all know how the latter show played a big part in CBS's comeback in the 2000s. 1999/2000 was the final seasons for Chicago Hope, Cosby, Early Edition, Kids Say the Darndest Things, and Martial Law. As we all know 2000/01 saw Survivor at #1, Everybody Loves Raymond enter the Top 10, the start of CSI, and the rest is history.