kalbir

When Julia came back in 1982, it was shown that in her time away from Genoa City she grew confidence and built a career in fashion. Julia even told Douglas "Victor won't believe how I've changed". Also in 1983 it looked like Victor and Julia were getting close again and Nikki got so insecure. Julia even called Nikki out and said "you're acting like a jealous wife". Of all the rivals Nikki had for Victor, Julia is the only one she made peace with.

Dallas got another five seasons out of "it was all a dream", but then again CBS was a mess in primetime during the final four seasons of Dallas. When Dallas ended in May 1991, it was CBS's third longest-running primetime drama series, after Gunsmoke and Lassie. As of today, Dallas is CBS's 6th longest-running primetime drama series, after NCIS, Gunsmoke, Lassie, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Criminal Minds.

Victor was the wealthy businessman introduced as the new villain. Lorie was the vixen daughter of the main upper class family. Victor was drawn to Lorie but she also had business property he wanted (Prentiss Industries shares, so he could take over the company). I think Victor had some affection for Lorie, but I don't feel that it was a genuine love and they wouldn't have been a romantic super couple, they felt more like a high society/business power couple. I'm pretty sure that in Lorie's 2002 return, she mentioned that she and Victor were never involved. We know Victor met Lorie while he was married to Julia so there was no Victor/Lorie affair then (not that I need to see EB/JLB in a love scene or anything like that).

Look at the big 1980s family sitcoms in 1989/90. The Cosby Show was losing its grip on #1 to Roseanne. Who's the Boss? and Growing Pains were starting to fade. It was a sign that times were changing, that Reagan-era ideals were out.

You're welcome @Maxim and happy watching. Looking forward to your thoughts.

Episode 12 has an epic scene where my reaction was "hell yes I am here for it". Episode 20 has a pivotal scene which for me sets everything in motion for the rest of the series and my reaction was "I am totally down for this".

We all know Fall 1987-Spring 1991 was CBS primetime third place mess era. I don't know what was going on in the business end at CBS but in the programming end there was Nielsen people meters, 1988 writer's strike, and the primetime line up fell into either aging/fading shows or new shows that weren't showing much growth. Dallas goes off the rails in the aftermath of Pamela disappearance and was effectively over with Sue Ellen departure.

Thanks for the link @NothinButAttitude . The "you're a disrespectful young woman" scene. Yes, Nikki and Dru are of different generations, but in real life MTS and VR are only three years apart in age. I've pointed out before that early Nikki and early Dru were not that much different from each other, but that's something that was never mentioned on screen. I'd think that Katherine or Victor would have recognized those elements.

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.