kalbir

General Hospital started the supercouple trend but Days took it to a whole other level.

To me supercouples were a 1980s trend and more often than not, supercouple storylines encompassed another 1980s trend, action/adventure. Factoring in pop culture and soap press coverage, I'd say the big supercouples of the 1980s in date order were Luke/Laura, Bo/Hope, Cruz/Eden, Steve/Kayla.

The In Memoriam segment at the next Daytime Emmys is really going to hit hard.

@dragonflies That's sad to see. For a long time EB was trying to get Doug Davidson back on Y&R but I don't think EB is anymore.

As the World Turns was coasting from when they lost #1 in 1978 until Douglas Marland arrived in September 1985. It took about a year for Douglas Marland run to show growth and once it did, As the World Turns was CBS #2 daytime drama from 1986/87 until 1991/92. Yes, GL held its own in the Allen Potter/Douglas Marland era against massive pop culture phenomenon General Hospital but I can't help but feel that GL being CBS highest-rated daytime drama in the Potter/Marland era was helped by Y&R being in their post-expansion slump. Remember pre-expansion Y&R was challenging General Hospital and All My Children for #1 but the expansion derailed all its momentum. Y&R rebounds in the second half of 1982 and that overlaps w/ GL post-Marland fall. Whether we liked Gail Kobe/Pamela Long era or not, it can't be denied that Spring 1983-Summer 1984 saw the ratings go up from the post-Marland slump and set in motion characters and storylines that carried GL through its final 25 years. Yes, it was too much chasing 1980s trends which wasn't sustainable and caused long-term damage. The ratings from Fall 1984 onward reflected this. GL avoided cancel territory in the 1980s because Capitol showed no growth and B&B wasn't a hit right away.

April 2 will be 40 years since Julianne Moore debuted on As the World Turns. I love that she still speaks positively of her time there. She also had the good fortune of being on that show in the Robert Calhoun/Douglas Marland era when it was at its creative peak.

I think that was March 1995.

@DRW50 The ABC invasion during MAB's run was an epic fail in its entirety.

I think CBS and P&G were both shaken by 1978-1982 ABC big three huge rise and domination, thus CBS scheduling changes and P&G changes to the shows.

There were times in that segment where he is really trying to hold it together. EB is just keeping it real like always.

That's unfortunate that the beginning of Bill Bell Days is lost.

@dragonflies Thank you for posting the video.

Would that have been Bill Bell's first year?

I wonder if Fall 1974 All My Children was setting up a dramatic story to send Susan Lucci off on pregnancy leave. Her daughter was born in February 1975. It's so funny how Y&R was considered scandalous and shocking BITD but by today's standards it would be considered tame and Y&R is considered tame today.

Michael Zaslow original run ended April 1980. Maureen Garrett original run ended November 1980. Not much of 1980 has surfaced AFAIK. To those who watched back then, was Holly floundering in the final seven months of her original run?

These were the 1992-1994 drama series races 1992: All My Children (winner), As the World Turns, GL, Y&R 1993: All My Children, As the World Turns, GL, Y&R (winner) 1994: All My Children (winner), As the World Turns, GL, Y&R As the World Turns won drama series 1987, 1991, 2001, 2003.

JFP run at GL was July 1991-May 1995, so that covers 1992-1996 Daytime Emmys. Here are GL's results in the main non-acting categories in those years. Wins Writing 1993 Directing 1994 Nominations Drama series 1992, 1993, 1994 Writing 1992 Directing 1993

Would you say that the 1970s was the peak of daytime soaps as a genre? I take it you weren't a fan of the 1980s trends.

JFP stepped up her block voting game at Santa Barbara (their Emmy/SOD run was 1988-1990 and that overlaps w/ JFP time there) and by the time she got to GL she had the block voting game on lock.

@slick jones You forgot Joe Willmore and Michael Laibson in the EP list. As far as I'm concerned the only good EPs GL had in its final 30 years were Allen Potter and Robert Calhoun.

GL being a community-based show needed to have an anchor/tentpole character to keep things grounded, and JFP didn't realize that. Aftermath of Maureen death until Nancy Curlee departure was a chore for me to get through. GL was not in a very good place creatively at the start of OJ and I'd go as far as to say it was effectively over in the aftermath of OJ.

Shari Shattuck is one year younger than ED, so age-wise her casting was fine. I agree that Bill Bell should have rested Ashley from BE departure until ED return.

Just in time for the rise of Oprah.

I say blame Les Moonves, Mary Alice Dwyer-Dobbin, and Paul Rauch. When I saw MZ daughter on The Locher Room, I got the impression she wanted to call out those three and put them on blast but she held herself back.

Not sure if this would apply but Maura West on Y&R as recast Diane. Somehow I remember a Maura West interview from when she started on General Hospital where she did not speak positively of her time on Y&R so I think she knew that she was not well-received by Y&R viewers. I think Diane was the wrong role for Maura West. I thought she could have worked as a Grace Turner recast.