kalbir

Thanks for starting this thread @Soapsuds. I'll be following basketball and maybe track and field.

B&B starts tanking to me in the second half of 1995. From the annual ratings, 1995/96 All My Children loses 2nd to Days and B&B finishes ahead of All My Children.

What to watch for in 1995. Reilly Days blows up and begins to threaten Y&R dominance. Guiding Light enters cancel territory. Loving ends and The City premieres. OJ. CBS sold to Westinghouse and hello Les Moonves. ABC in the process of being sold to Disney. P&G shows all get new EPs.

Great recap @Vee . Dallas tanks for me this season, and it wasn't helped by the it was all a dream resolution. As we all know, Newhart and The Simpsons paid homage to it was all a dream.

Maybe someone at NBC Daytime had beef w/ Bill Bell.

Y&R: Rex death. Phyllis crashes Rex's memorial. Michelle Stafford chose one of her scenes from the Rex memorial episodes as part of the Y&R 50th anniversary memorable moments clip set. Y&R this week: Phyllis attempts to murder Christine. We saw this episode during the classics.

CBS Summer Playhouse, 1987-1989.

@Khan Thank you for the reply re The Cosby Show/Charlie & Co. I've pointed this out before but I think 1985/86 was the turning point season of the 1980s. Escapist shows like the primetime soaps and the big action shows were out, shows that gave comfort and warmth were in. Look at what two of the biggest hits that season were: sophomore surprise Murder, She Wrote and rookie breakout The Golden Girls. Even though both shows main characters were women over 50, the shows appealed to viewers of all walks of life. I pinpoint 1986 as the year s--- got real (AIDS crisis, Space Shuttle Challenger, Chernobyl) and with the world around us changing so much, television viewers sought comfort and warmth.

The Richmonds of Chicago were middle class (Charlie was a city highway worker, Diana was a teacher) and they had three kids and not five. Other than being a family sitcom featuring an African-American family, I'm not seeing any parallels with The Cosby Show unless I'm missing something. Oddly enough, I see some elements of Charlie & Co. in Family Matters, besides Jaleel White being in the cast of both shows: set in Chicago, middle class African-American family, both families have an aunt named Rachel. Married...with Children, Roseanne, The Simpsons to me seem like responses to the big 1980s family sitcoms The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Who's the Boss, Growing Pains. Think about it, The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Who's the Boss, Growing Pains all embodied Reagan-era ideals and Married...with Children, Roseanne, The Simpsons were the total opposite, the anti-Reagan-era ideal family sitcom.

@Paul Raven @bboy875 @Soaplovers Thank you for the info re Christina/Blake.

There was also the episode when Gary kicked Abby out and Abby went to Greg's place for a booty call only to find Greg with Laura. Recall that a few episodes earlier the audience found out that Greg and Laura had hooked up. So season five Greg/Abby hookup, then the shocker Greg/Laura hookup which turned into friends with benefits and eventually genuine love.

Y&R this week: Michelle Stafford debut.

When Blake Lindsay was introduced, was she always intended to be Christina Thorpe or was that something that was decided later? I think it was explained that she went by her middle name Blake and the last name of her former stepfather Mr. Lindsay. For those who watched in the 1970s, did Christina have a middle name?

I'd say Y&R's best dad was John Abbott.

Dallas got more corporate and glamorous and tried to be cosmopolitan, all to beat Dynasty, but it didn't work.

Y&R this week: Nina has a miscarriage. B&B this week: Ridge and Brooke get married. We saw this episode during the classics, and it had been rebroadcast twice before. Fall 1994 B&B rebounds from the lull it was in since the Catalina Island crossover ended. All of Bradley's storylines are going to culminate during the first half of 1995.

Great recaps @Vee Laura saw right through Greg, and she had some great dialog too. Even though they began as friends with benefits, I believe Greg genuinely loved Laura. Of all Greg's main pairings (Abby, Laura, Paige), Laura was the only one that was genuine love. Abby/Greg hooked up in season 5. Abby was all about the come up. Abby/Greg were more power couple, there was no love.

From this thread, it turns out that Thanksgiving 1976 is the earliest CBS pre-emption for an NBA game. It's funny that Thanksgiving 1976 CBS broadcast both NBA and NFL, as sports fans today associate Thanksgiving w/ NFL and Christmas w/ NBA.

Fall 1994, CBS lost NFL broadcasting rights which also cost them several established affiliates in major media markets. I think we will be seeing this impact the ratings of the CBS soaps. Y&R big events: Dru learns she is pregnant. Sharon Case debut and Nick/Sharon proceed to eat the show until Spring 1996.

Y&R big events: Hope tells Victor she is pregnant. Malcolm takes advantage of an over-medicated Dru. Bill Bell admitted in a 1996 interview that he regretted writing that Malcolm/Dru storyline.

It hasn't surfaced AFAIK.

Agree. Roger/Holly return and Robert Calhoun becoming EP ushered in GL's last golden era. GL's previous golden era (in my life anyway) was Potter/Dobsons/Marland and Roger/Holly were quite prominent then. I always point out that any 1979 and 1980 episodes featuring Roger/Holly are a treat because the storylines of those episodes set in motion so much of what we saw a decade later.

I agree. Kimberley Simms may not have been the original Mindy, but she was the best Mindy. It's too bad she didn't get another soap or a primetime series after GL. Her name was thrown around by the soap press for some big recasts in the 1990s but as we know nothing came of it.

Those with a better knowledge of GL can correct me, but these are my impressions. Alexandra in the Kobe/Long era was introduced as a jet setting socialite divorced from wealthy European Baron von Halkein. I haven't seen enough of Kobe/Long era to know if Alexandra had much interest in Spaulding Enterprises. Calhoun era Alexandra was business-minded and JFP era had Alexandra become a messy matriarch attempting to control her son's love life.

@Khan @Soapsuds You are killing me 🤣 Now back to our 1990s ratings discussions