kalbir

1988/89 the CBS primetime soaps were in budget mode. I don't know if 1988/89 Dynasty went into budget mode to the same degree as the CBS primetime soaps. I'm sure Linda Evans departure halfway through the season and Joan Collins episodes being cut freed up a good amount of cash.

Y&R Hillary/Amanda may also apply here.

B&B Taylor pretty much replaced Caroline.

You're welcome Khan. Are you referring to the early years, as in first three seasons?

Correction, Emerald Point N.A.S. was on CBS. In the NBC list you are missing The Yellow Rose.

@BoldRestless Do not give Josh Griffith ideas :shudder

Generations clearance started dropping summer 1990, cancellation announced some three months later, and two months later the final episode. Pretty quick moves by NBC. AFAIK there were no new big syndicated talk show debuts in Fall 1990. At that point we were at four years of Oprah, three years of Geraldo, two years of Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. Fall 1991 was the debuts of Jenny Jones, Maury Povich, Jerry Springer, and Montel Williams, and I think clearances for Loving and Santa Barbara dropped in that time frame but I could be wrong on that.

I guess you could think of the primetime soaps in relation to the daytime soaps on their respective networks. Dallas and Falcon Crest were family/business conflict-based shows, so structurally similar to the Bell shows. Knots Landing was a community-based show, so structurally similar to the P&G shows. Dynasty I don't think had much resemblance with any of the ABC big three structurally.

So how is it going to be explained that baby Eve survived? The only explanation I can think of is Jordan kidnapped baby Eve and replaced her with a sick infant.

Y&R big event: Katherine exposes Jill seeing both Rex and John at the same time. B&B October 19, 1990 Thorne and Macy get married. Days October 23, 1990 Stephen Nichols departure and the end of the supercouple era. Y&R big events: Nikki has a miscarriage and shortly afterwards starts taking painkillers. Sheila finds out she is pregnant. Olivia and Dru meet. Guiding Light big event: Roger and Holly in Acapulco. B&B November 7, 1990 Brooke gives birth to Rick.

Nicholas was SORASed twice. Went from 2 to 6 in 1990, then 10 to 17 in 1994.

Y&R big events: Sheila visits Scott, gives him drugged martinis, and we know what that leads to. Nikki learns she is pregnant. Victor and Ashley get married. Nikki's horse riding accident, a fall that results in a miscarriage and a back injury. Bill Bell is setting two big storylines for 1991 in motion, the baby switch and Nikki's substance abuse. Days has really dropped in September and October. The supercouple era is ending with a whimper. It must be close to if not already Stephen Nichols departure.

@beebs I took your 1987/88, 1988/89, 1989/90 season end ratings and calculated the net differential for the 11 shows that were on all three seasons and they rank as follows B&B +0.4 Y&R +0.1 General Hospital -0.7 As the World Turns -0.7 Guiding Light -0.7 Loving -0.7 All My Children -1.0 Another World -1.1 Santa Barbara -1.1 One Life to Live -1.4 Days -1.6 B&B showed growth and Y&R was stable. The rest dropped off.

Deidre Hall and James Reilly cannot get to Days fast enough.

@beebs 1989/90 was the second season in a row Days had a huge drop. 1987/88 was 7.0, 1988/89 was 6.2, 1989/90 was 5.4. The supercouple era is ending with a whimper it seems.

I stick to a classic menu: roast turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, stuffing, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, steamed green beans w/ lemon and butter, pumpkin pie. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Stay safe 🤗

What happened to Days this week? We expect to see a drop off across the board in September once the kids are back in school but a 1.2 drop is pretty big. I take it the shipwreck storyline is over and Days is preparing for Stephen Nichols departure. I think its the aftermath of Kim Zimmer departure.

Donna Mills was smart to walk away when she did.

Foreign divas I'd say were a side effect of Dynasty influence. Foreign spies/secret agents I'd say were a side effect of action/adventure. Technically Eric Braeden (Y&R debut February 8, 1980) precedes Tristan Rogers (General Hospital debut December 2, 1980) in the foreign accent game. For whatever reason, Bill Bell didn't have Eric adopt an American accent but he also didn't factor in Eric's German heritage into Victor's back story.

Y&R been hitting 8+ since late May 1990. They are so far ahead of the pack. I haven't done a deep dive into 1991-1994 ratings yet, but I'm pretty sure Y&R dominates in the sense that they are far ahead of everyone until the start of OJ. We know that Y&R dominance was threatened in the aftermath of OJ when Reilly's Days blew up.

Guiding Light July 23, 1990 Kim Zimmer departure. Y&R July 27, 1990 Esther gives birth to Chloe. August 2, 1990 Iraq invades Kuwait. We'll be seeing interruptions for Gulf War coverage over the next 6 months. Guiding Light August 17, 1990 Mark Derwin debut.

B&B June 25, 1990 Clarke and Sally get married. Y&R July 9, 1990 we saw during the classics. Nikki puts on a show at The Colonnade Room. B&B July 18, 1990 Caroline death. I cried so much afterward. July 16-20, 1990 As the World Turns in 2nd. @Soapsuds will be so happy to see this. Guiding Light July 20, 1990 Rick Hearst debut. Days getting a boost from the shipwreck. Only three months left of the supercouple era. One Life to Live is tanking.

Nikki's substance abuse was from self-medicating after a fall from a horse that resulted in a miscarriage and a back injury. She hardly left the ranch during the time she was self-medicating.

@Khan Days in between the shipwreck and Deidre Hall return had Stephen Nichols departure, which was considered the end of the supercouple era. I believe Stephen Nichols departure was in October 1990.

I hail Queen Stephanie and her bitch slaps were everything. It's a shame that the classics did not give us a week of the best of Queen Stephanie and her bitch slaps.