kalbir

@Soapsuds I can't believe its been 40 years since the 1984/85 season. To me it was the best and most pivotal television season of the 1980s.

RIP James Earl Jones and thank you for your contributions to the entertainment industry. I know James Earl Jones career was in many mediums but to me he will forever be King Jaffe Joffer and Mufasa.

It bears repeating, EB is carrying the show on his back. Victor is the highlight, the rest of the show is pretty much garbage time.

@I Am A Swede Love the pictures 🤣

Yes she did. I don't think anyone thought sweet unassuming yet savage Angela Lansbury would be the one to carry CBS primetime on their back through some pretty awful years from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s. It's hard to believe the 40th anniversary of the premiere of Murder, She Wrote is three weeks away. When Murder, She Wrote ended in May 1996, it was CBS's 6th longest-running primetime drama series, after Gunsmoke, Lassie, Dallas, Knots Landing, original Hawaii Five-O. Since Murder, She Wrote ended, five CBS primetime drama series have had longer runs: NCIS, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Criminal Minds, NCIS: Los Angeles, Blue Bloods.

@Khan Lets not forget that Angela Lansbury knocked big bad Larry Hagman off the throne at CBS. She will forever be savage for that.

Dead at Dynasty reject 🤣 Frank M. Benard spent a good portion of the 1980s playing characters that were way too Dynasty. Even on his one episode of Dynasty itself.

The final five seasons was way too much Paige, she practically ate the show. Daughter of his frenemy Mack and there's the ick factor that at one point Greg was believed to have been Paige's father.

The final two seasons were a complete waste of time. When the time slot is regularly lost to TGIF comedies (the two time slot losses to Family Matters had me floored), it's a sign that the time has come to end things. Larry Hagman not so big and bad anymore if he's lost the time slot twice to Urkel.

I think JR/Val last interaction was during the Dallas crossover episode involving Jock's will. Val has a book signing that JR shows up to and he tells her that he owns the publishing rights to her book.

Dallas tanked in the aftermath of Bobby car accident, went off the rails in the aftermath of Pamela disappearance, and was effectively over with Sue Ellen departure. I agree that Victoria Principal was smart to leave when she did. There are conflicting stories about Linda Gray departure. She has said for the last 35 years that her contract was up and she chose not to renew and walked away, but she might have actually been let go.

That's right, by Dallas final season they had no long-time female cast members left, yet Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy, Ken Kercheval remained right until the end.

That's because Dallas was the most male-focused of the CBS primetime soaps.

This I did not know. Thank you for the information. I put Mark Harmon career as somewhere between Larry Hagman and George Clooney. Mark Harmon and George Clooney had their breakthrough roles on NBC medical dramas. Larry Hagman and Mark Harmon had their career resurgences on CBS dramas that each had three seasons as the #1 show. I don't know if Mark Harmon was considered the breakout star of St. Elsewhere the way Larry Hagman was the breakout star of Dallas and George Clooney was the breakout star of ER. Mark Harmon film career didn't take off the way George Clooney film career did. I consider NCIS as Mark Harmon second signature role after St. Elsewhere the way Dallas was Larry Hagman second signature role after I Dream of Jeannie.

I know Flamingo Road was Mark Harmon's first regular series role, but I consider St. Elsewhere his breakthrough role. Mark Harmon attempted a film career after leaving St. Elsewhere but for some reason it never took off and he returned to television, eventually having a career resurgence with NCIS.

@JAS0N47 Thank you for posting the article. CBS used reruns of Family Affair, All in the Family, Here's Lucy, M*A*S*H, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Alice as time fillers in the daytime schedule.

As the World Turns expands to 1 hour and The Edge of Night moves to ABC. Was the story that CBS cancelled The Edge of Night because CBS didn't have room on their daytime schedule for both 1 hour As the World Turns and The Edge of Night? Looking at CBS's schedule they did have room to keep The Edge of Night. CBS daytime schedule (ET) from November 3-28, 1975 10 am The Price is Right 11 am Gambit 11:30 am Love of Life Noon Y&R 12:30 pm Search for Tomorrow 1 pm Local programming 1:30 pm As the World Turns 2 pm Guiding Light 2:30 pm The Edge of Night 3 pm Match Game 3:30 pm Tattletales 4 pm Give-n-Take CBS daytime new schedule (ET) on December 1, 1975 10 am The Price is Right 11 am Gambit 11:30 am Love of Life Noon Y&R 12:30 pm Search for Tomorrow 1 pm Local programming 1:30 pm As the World Turns 2:30 pm Guiding Light 3 pm All in the Family reruns 3:30 pm Match Game 4 pm Tattletales CBS could have put The Edge of Night at 3 pm instead of All in the Family reruns but for whatever reason they chose not to.

B&B has been surviving off of international sales for the better part of the last 25 years.

Yes, but that wasn't until like 1983. MTS and Ed Scott went public as a couple in 1984 and married in 1985. Hahaha. Dead at Pole Rider.

Looking at the big three network's line up of dramas that premiered in the 1990s which ran 5 or more seasons, a good number of them seem to be forgotten. CBS: Walker, Texas Ranger (9); Touched by an Angel (9), JAG (9), Diagnosis: Murder (8), Northern Exposure (6); Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (6); Chicago Hope (6), Nash Bridges (6), Judging Amy (6). Touched by an Angel was a rare bright spot in the primetime mess era. JAG spun off NCIS, which is now CBS's longest-running primetime drama and there's also the NCIS franchise. ABC: NYPD Blue (12), The Practice (8), The Commish (5). NYPD Blue I would say is the second definitive drama of the 1990s. The Practice didn't really take off until it became the lead out of Millionaire (yes, I consider The Practice a time slot hit). NBC: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (season 26 about to start), original Law & Order (20), ER (15), Homicide: Life on the Street (7), The West Wing (7), Sisters (6), Third Watch (6), Providence (5). We all consider ER the definitive drama of the 1990s. Original Law & Order and The West Wing were Top 10 shows in the 2000s.

Not to give Josh Griffith an idea, but I thought there would be a Single White Female storyline with Lucy and Faith.

Of all the actors that were Blake and Alexis children, these three worked together the longest (1985-1988) and its nice to see them together 35+ years later.

@Khan That would have made a good exit story for Joan Van Ark instead of what we got.

Yeah, I never thought of The Simpsons. Mainly because it's animated and on Fox. I can't believe The Simpsons 35th anniversary is in December. I don't think I've watched a live episode of The Simpsons in something like 25 years.

Did the 1990s have a definitive family sitcom? The big ones I'd say were Roseanne, Home Improvement, and maybe Everybody Loves Raymond. Roseanne peak 1990-1993 but that era was 1980s hangover plus the remaining big 1980s family sitcoms (The Cosby Show, Who's the Boss?, Growing Pains) were winding down. Home Improvement peak was 1993-1997 and this overlaps with Roseanne winding down. Everybody Loves Raymond showed growth 1998-2000 and this overlaps with Home Improvement winding down. Everybody Loves Raymond didn't crack the Top 10 until 2000/01 and it was a Top 10 show for the rest of its run so maybe its more associated with the early 2000s. I think most of us consider Seinfeld and Friends as the definitive friendship sitcoms of the 1990s.