kalbir

What lead to H. Wesley Kenney leaving Y&R? I don't recall reading about him and Bill Bell having any type of falling out like Bill Bell had w/ John Conboy 5 years earlier. Like I've said before, H. Wesley Kenney is really the one who laid all the groundwork for Y&R as we know it today, but Ed Scott gets all the credit. Consider a couple of things. 1987-1990 B&B was head-to-head w/ supercouple era Days, plus B&B wasn't carried by all CBS affiliates until well into the 1990s. Sheila plus full affiliate clearance kept B&B going when it was head-to-head w/ Reilly Sci-Fi era Days.

1987-1989 Y&R was in a bit of a transition. There was the EP change from H. Wesley Kenney to Ed Scott, and three major cast departures (Brenda Dickson, Eileen Davidson, Terry Lester). While all this was happening off screen, Cricket was eating the show onscreen. Yet Y&R still managed to reach #1 and stay there until today. Having The Price is Right as it's lead in probably played a big part in Y&R's rise to and staying at #1. Bob Barker once said about TPiR being the lead-in for Y&R that "without us Young and Restless would be Old and Lethargic".

The first half of 1986 was probably the zenith of the Bill Bell/H. Wesley Kenney era. Then Cricket came on full time and proceeded to eat the show.

@soapfan770 Silly me, why didn't I see that before I posted. Thanks On a different note, there had to have been some NBC stations in the 1980s and 1990s that aired Days in the late afternoon to get the kids coming home from school.

@VanessaReardon The ratings posts are a great look back at daytime history

I wonder how many other CBS affiliates aired Y&R outside the usual 12:30-4/11-3 block in order to beat Oprah. I remember reading during the New Orleans remote that their CBS station had the most Y&R viewers.

I wonder who else was considered for the Blake recast in 1992. I think it was posted either in this thread or the "They Almost Became" thread that Elizabeth Keifer originally auditioned for Eve but was cast as Blake instead. I can't think of any other soap names that were available during spring/summer 1992. Same here. I don't think so, seeing as how Elizabeth Keifer was already 30 when she started on GL.

B&B didn't air on all CBS affiliates until maybe the mid-1990s.

Marcy Walker's first episode

I would think pre-emptions were due to affiliates airing 1 hour noon newscasts or syndicated talk shows in the morning and late afternoon. I don't find it a coincidence that CBS gave up the 4 pm ET slot the same year Oprah went national, yet they stubbornly held on to the 10 am ET slot until 1993 despite the rise of talk shows in the late 1980s/early 1990s.

Susan Flannery was on Dallas in 1981 for 13 episodes. Between Dallas and B&B, she was in a couple of made-for-TV movies; her IMDb page has no entries for 1984-1986. Susan's daughter was born in either 1986 or 1987; her age is given as 21 in this early 2008 interview: https://www.nowtolove.com.au/celebrity/celeb-news/b-and-b-susans-aussie-daughter-23248

@vetsoapfan From the 1970s I'd watch the Katherine/Jill feud and the early storylines of Paul and Nikki, but that's really it. I'm not drawn to the original 1970s characters as much as most people here are, probably because they were phased out by the time I discovered Y&R.

@Donna B It was posted in the "They Almost Became" thread that Terry Lester was offered Buzz but turned it down to take Royce on ATWT. I think I remember Terry himself saying this in an interview around 1992 or 1993; maybe someone has the Soap Opera Digest/Soap Opera Weekly/TV Guide w/ this interview.

@VanessaReardon 1986 will see Y&R getting closer to #1. That year was so good, except for the permanent arrival of Cricket who proceeded to eat the show for the remainder of the decade.

From your keyboard to CBS/Sony. I would love to watch 1980-1990.

To think that Justin Deas might not have been the original choice for Buzz yet JFP got him hired and he earned a supporting actor Daytime Emmy in his first year, a lead actor win his second year, and a second lead actor win two years later. Maybe JFP tried to get one of her friends cast as Alan but CBS/P&G overrode her.

CBS kept the 10 am ET slot until September 1993; Family Feud Challenge was the last game show in that slot. I remember Bob Goen's Wheel of Fortune. CBS really cheaped out on WoF; $50 and $75 spaces on the wheel LOL. Like Family Feud and Now You See It earlier in 1989, WoF also had a CBS soap week but unfortunately those episodes haven't surfaced online anywhere (I remember they aired sometime during Fall 1989).

That's because Bill Bell was a genius and Bradley Bell did not inherit his father's talent. The first three years you can see the elements from 1970s Y&R, but once the Spectra gang becomes a bigger part of the story and Bill Bell writes off the characters that weren't working, it's full steam ahead to the end of the 1990s.

The GOAT wedding was April 1984, and not long after the seeds were planted for the eternal feud and eternal triangle. If Bill Bell didn't get the post-Y&R timeslot for B&B, do you think he would've taken both shows to another network? Apparently during the 1985/1986 season, Mark Goodson demanded that CBS give Bob Eubanks's Card Sharks the pre-The Price is Right timeslot then occupied by Press Your Luck otherwise he'd take both TPiR and Card Sharks to another network so CBS caved as they didn't want to lose their #1 game show (I think TPiR was also CBS's top rated daytime program but I could be wrong). As we all know, Press Your Luck was sent to the 4 pm ET death slot in January 1986 where it remained until it was cancelled that September, thus CBS being the last network to program the 4 pm ET slot. So during the 1980s CBS caved to Mark Goodson and Bill Bell but not to P&G. Imagine if CBS lost TPiR in 1986 and Y&R/B&B in 1987. I would guess their daytime division wouldn't survive past the 1990s. That 11 am-130 pm ET lineup of TPiR/local news/Y&R/B&B played a big part in CBS being the #1 daytime network.

I'm surprised Alan wasn't recast with a Friend of Jill. I figured a pivotal role would've gone to a well-known soap name. Wasn't Ron Raines a musical theater actor before GL?

Bill Bell also used that same element with Liz/Jill and Beth/Brooke.

Marcy Walker arrives in November 1993, correct? So the YT channel that has Fall 1993 should have her episodes soon. It was posted in the "They Almost Became" thread that Marcy Walker turned down B&B and joined GL instead, but I have no idea how she would've fit on B&B in 1993 as their cast then was quite full of females around her age. Which 1993 Friend of Jill incident is the most egregious, Justin Deas, Marj Dusay, or Marcy Walker?

If Days is on the air as of Monday April 27, 2020, it will move past As the World Turns and become the third longest running daytime drama on US network television.

I'm watching the Fall 1993 episodes and I can see signs of the worst elements of JFP that have been discussed numerous times in various threads. Even though it's a bit of a chore to get through the episodes, I'll continue until Nancy Curlee leaves the writing team, which is sometime in the beginning of 1994. I know the rest of 1994 and onward isn't very good, despite JFP leaving in May 1995.

I've always wondered if Robert Calhoun left by his own choice and now I know. Thanks Khan