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William Devane (85 in September), Donna Mills (84 in December), Michele Lee (82), Joan Van Ark (81), Ted Shackelford (78). That's just the surviving long-time main cast members whose characters were in the final episode of the original series.

A look back at 1989/90, the last television season of the 1980s, as we approach its 35th anniversary. #1 NBC (1988/89 #1) Top 10: 1. The Cosby Show (1988/89 #1), 3. Cheers (1988/89 4th), 4. A Different World (1988/89 3rd), 6. The Golden Girls (1988/89 6th), 9. Empty Nest (1988/89 9th) Top 30: 11. Unsolved Mysteries (1988/89 17th), 15. Grand (first season), 16. L.A. Law (1988/89 13th), 17. Dear John (1988/89 11th), 19. In the Heat of the Night (1988/89 18th), 20. Matlock (1988/89 12th), 24. Hunter (1988/89 19th), 28. Night Court (1988/89 21st) Top 30 fallouts: NBC Sunday movie (1988/89 22nd), Amen (1988/89 25th), NBC Monday movie (1988/89 25th) Below the Top 30: Midnight Caller, Quantum Leap Final season: ALF (1988/89 15th), The Hogan Family (1988/89 22nd), My Two Dads, 227, The Magical World of Disney, 13 East No new fall shows returned in 1990/91. New midseason/summer shows returning in 1990/91: Grand, Down Home, Real Life with Jane Pauley, Seinfeld, Shannon's Deal, Wings 2nd ABC (1988/89 2nd) Top 10: 1. Roseanne (1988/89 2nd), 5. America's Funniest Home Videos (first season), 8. The Wonder Years (1988/89 22nd), 10. Monday Night Football (1988/89 15th) Top 30: 12. Who's the Boss? (1988/89 7th), 13. Chicken Soup (first and only season), 18. Coach (1988/89 below the Top 30), 21. Growing Pains (1988/89 13th), 22. Full House (1988/89 below the Top 30), 26. Head of the Class (1988/89 20th), 28. Doogie Howser, M.D. (first season) Top 30 fallout: Anything but Love (1988/89 10th) Below the Top 30: ABC Sunday movie, 20/20, MacGyver, Perfect Strangers, thirtysomething, China Beach Final season: ABC Mystery Movie (1988/89 29th), Mr. Belvedere, Just the Ten of Us, Mission: Impossible New fall shows returning in 1990/91: Doogie Howser, M.D.; Father Dowling Mysteries, Family Matters, Life Goes On, Primetime Live, The Young Riders New midseason/summer shows returning 1990/91: America's Funniest Home Videos, Equal Justice, Twin Peaks 3rd CBS (1988/89 3rd) Top 10: 7. 60 Minutes (1988/89 5th) Top 30: 13. Murder, She Wrote (1988/89 8th); 22. Designing Women (1988/89 below the Top 30), 24. CBS Sunday movie (1988/89 27th), 27. Murphy Brown (1988/89 below the Top 30) Top 30 fallouts: Knots Landing (1988/89 27th), Dallas (1988/89 29th) Below the Top 30: 48 Hours, Wiseguy, Jake and the Fatman, Paradise, Doctor Doctor Final season: Newhart, Falcon Crest, Beauty and the Beast, Tour of Duty New fall shows returning in 1990/91: Major Dad, Rescue 911 New midseason/summer shows returning in 1990/91: Bagdad Cafe, Northern Exposure, Top Cops 1989/90 is best remembered for The Cosby Show and Roseanne battling for #1 and they ended up tying. This season is also notable in that no Aaron Spelling shows were on the broadcast networks. NBC showing signs of getting a little complacent. Thursday and Saturday still carrying them but no new fall shows took hold. ABC launched their TGIF comedy block on Fridays and the first line up was Full House, Family Matters, Perfect Strangers, Just the Ten of Us. As we all know, TGIF would become a 1990s staple. Poor CBS, 1989/90 was their primetime nadir, with no scripted shows in the Top 10. CBS primetime started the 1980s riding high but ended the 1980s an absolute mess. 1989/90 Fox had their first Top 30 show with The Simpsons first season at 28th.

You're welcome @Khan Like I pointed out before, it's quite telling that none of the long-time female cast members were part of the main cast in the final season.

1989/90 Dallas was regularly being beaten by Perfect Strangers at 9 pm and with the March 1990 move to 10 pm it was regularly being beaten by 20/20. Fall 1990 at 10 pm it was regularly being beaten by 20/20 and 1991 return to 9 pm it was being regularly beaten by Perfect Strangers. I was floored when I saw that twice in 1991 the 9 pm time slot winner was Family Matters. It's one thing for big bad Larry Hagman to get knocked off the throne at CBS by sweet unassuming yet savage Angela Lansbury, but another thing entirely to get beaten in the time slot by Urkel. CBS owned Friday from 1980-1985. Miami Vice had 1985/86 as the new hotness but then NBC messed up their Friday line up in Fall 1986. ABC launched TGIF in Fall 1989 and it became a 1990s staple.

Let's keep it real here, LML and her husband were not going to bring on any actresses that would take attention away from their pet Nicollette Sheridan. Once Nicollette Sheridan was elevated to the main cast in season 10, Paige practically ate the show for the remainder of its run.

Early 1998 Kimberlin Brown and Hunter Tylo were both on pregnancy leave, so that affected the storylines. I think Sheila suicide attempt was the exit story for KB and Taylor and baby Thomas visiting Jack was the exit story for HT.

We know from the ratings threads that GL started dropping in 1986 and the ratings dropped until JFP first year. Also the turnover in the EP/HW ranks from 1986 until the end of the decade had an impact as well.

It always bugged me that CBS had so much of their own daytime talent they could have used on their primetime soaps but instead they went for ABC/NBC stars. Obviously we weren't going to see the likes of Julianne Moore or Eileen Davidson on the CBS primetime soaps in the off the rails plus budget mode era but you'd think that some CBS daytime stars would've gotten on the CBS primetime soaps in their peak years. Maybe demographics played a part, considering CBS drew an older an audience compared to ABC/NBC.

Also on Falcon Crest. If Jane Wyman hadn't returned for the final three episodes, it would have ended with no long-time female cast members left. It's quite telling that Dallas final season had none of their long-time female cast members in the main cast. I also think budget mode lead to a salary cap and the bulk of Dallas salary budget went to Larry Hagman and Patrick Duffy. Les Moonves was promoted to Head of Creative Affairs in 1988 and became President of Lorimar in 1990, so his rise at Lorimar overlaps with the salary dumping of the long-time female cast members and the hiring of sweet young things on the cheap across all three shows. We all know his notorious "when I got to CBS" comment so I wouldn't be surprised at all if he had a similar sentiment about his time at Lorimar.

Budget mode kicked in plus the trifecta of suck at Lorimar (Leonard Katzman, Michael Filerman, Les Moonves) decided that the long-time female cast members were more expendable than the long-time male cast members. Joan Van Ark left by her own choice in Fall 1992. That left Michele Lee as the only long-time female cast member in the final season and she took a pay cut to appear in all episodes of the final season.

There was also the framing of Olivia's boyfriend for drug trafficking which I thought was out of character. Despite being a villainess, I believe Abby loved her children and was for the most part a good mother to them. I'll always maintain that Knots Landing was effectively over when Abby left and Donna Mills was smart to walk away when she did. Hahaha, you are killing me. Brian leaves with Abby and we don't see him again for the rest of the regular series.

Because as far as we know, Stephanie had willingly loved only two men in her entire life, Eric and Massimo. I don't believe we saw Stephanie becoming involved with Clarke, Jack, James.

Totally agree. Calhoun/Marland era As the World Turns was that show's creative peak, and Calhoun/Long/Curlee era was GL's last golden era.

Robert Calhoun era was June 1989 to July 1991. Those who have seen Soap Opera Digest Best and Worst of 1989 recall that GL was Most Improved show that year, and it was thanks to Robert Calhoun.

Come on now, the trifecta of suck at Lorimar (Leonard Katzman, Michael Filerman, Les Moonves) weren't going to salary dump any of the big male stars. It was a pattern across all three CBS primetime soaps that the long-time female cast members got salary dumped and replaced with sweet young things hired on the cheap. In the grand scheme of things, Donna Mills was smart to walk away when she did.

Hahaha. I don't think MTS wore that blue gown on the show, only in the promo photo shoot.

I can so relate! I was the only CBS fan among the soap fans in my friend group/classmates. They were mostly Days fans and some General Hospital/All My Children fans.

Corrected that for you.

1987/88 was the season primetime soaps went off the rails and to me it feels like the natural end point for primetime soaps. Knots Landing goes off the rails for me in the aftermath of Laura's departure. Constance McCashin has always kept it real by saying she was salary dumped.

Roger was such a big part of the early 1990s golden era. MZ acting and the writing all came together. MZ/Roger had such a presence but I didn't feel either the actor or the character took over the canvas. MZ/Roger should get his flowers for being the OG and GOAT of CBS soap opera villains. He ran so JR and Victor could walk.

When Knots Landing ended in May 1993, it was CBS's fourth longest-running primetime drama series, after Gunsmoke, Lassie, and Dallas. Since Knots Landing ended, five CBS primetime drama series have had equal or longer runs: NCIS, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Criminal Minds, NCIS: Los Angeles, Blue Bloods.

It was the combination of Roger's return and Robert Calhoun becoming EP that got GL to finally hit it's stride after some really bad years. It's so funny that by the second half of 1989, CBS daytime was at full strength (all four soaps hitting their stride plus the game show block) but CBS primetime was an absolute mess.

If CBS hadn't been in their third place primetime mess era from 1987-1991, would Knots Landing have lasted as long as it did? To me it was effectively over Spring 1989 when Abby departed. It's crazy to me how Knots Landing final three seasons overlapped w/ the high school years of Beverly Hills 90210 and the final season overlapped w/ the first season of Melrose Place. Even if Knots Landing made it to Fall 1993, it would have looked old school. The primetime drama landscape then was peak Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place about to take off, NYPD Blue premiered, and ER was a year away. If by some miracle Knots Landing made it to Fall 1994, it would have been killed by ER.

Re: Victor/Lorie/Nikki, I wonder what Bill Bell's original plan was. Victor met Lorie while he was married to Julia, and he was drawn to Lorie. Also Lorie had business property Victor wanted: Prentiss Industries shares, so he could take over the company. After his marriage to Julia ended, Victor saw Nikki climbing the pole and was intrigued by her so he took on the challenge of transforming a working class young woman into a young woman suitable for high society, but then Victor's project turned into love. To me it seemed Bill Bell was setting up Victor/Lorie as a high society/business power couple but then the Victor/Nikki My Fair Lady storyline took off, plus I think MTS real-life pregnancy and JLB departure shifted whatever Bill Bell had planned.

In the first page of the Time Slot Hits thread.