Paul Raven

NBC had a 227 spin off in the works where Jackee's character went to NY to work in a health club. That pilot aired in May 89 (?) b/w Cosby and Cheers and ranked #5 for the week. Despite those ratings it didn't proceed. Guess they realized that the timeslot was the main reason for it's success.

Top rated miniseries (6 hours or more) 1. Roots ABC 44.9/66 2. The Thorn Birds ABC 41.9/59 3. Winds of War ABC 38.6/53 4. Shogun NBC 32.6/51 5. How the West was Won ABC 32.5/50 6. Holocaust NBC 31.1/49 7. Roots The Next Generation ABC 30.2/45 8. Pearl ABC 28.6/45 9. Rich Man, Poor Man ABC 27.0/43 10. 79 Park Avenue NBC 26.7/40 11. Master of the Game CBS 26.7/40 12. Masada ABC 26.5/41 13. Scruples CBS 26.3/40 14. Lonesome Dove CBS 26.1/39 15. North & South ABC 26.0/38 This list is as of 1988 but I don't think anything came along after to change those rankings. CBS was late to the game, not showing any mini series till the 79/80 season I believe. Whereas 8 of the Top 10 were before that.

Life Goes On - Glenwood Twin Peaks - Northwest Passage The Young riders - The Kid

Have to feel a bit sorry for these young actors with little experience or training who are handed poorly written scripts and have to try and bring it without much direction or rehearsal. It's always been an issue for soap actors but it's probably worse than ever. Some actors are lucky to be able to adapt due to inherent talent and /or charisma but for others it's all there onscreen.

I think that w/o making major changes immediately and adopting a more measured approach, it can take a good 6 months for new writers to get a show back into shape. Same holds true for a new show-it can take that long for things to fall into place- there might need to be recasts or actors having to adjust to playing a role as the writers see it, or conversely, writers reshaping a character to suit the actor etc I do worry about the show being centered around wealthy characters-that can be limiting in terms of budget -I don't want to see rich characters living in tiny houses with no staff, and being wealthy takes away some story options as well.

Also, Y&R pretty much settled on a new course whereas GL continued to drop characters...all of the Bauers save Ed/Rick, all of the Reardons save Maureen, and various other newer characters. And Ed was Richard Van Vleet, Phillip was John Bolger Only Ross, Vanessa were around from a few years before.

Do you think the move to NY and the criminology professorship was a mandate made to give the show a more (perceived) urban.youthful appeal?

So much to speculate on. Will the show follow the traditional soap format eg x number of sets and performers per ep and being told in 'real time' or will they go for a faster pace? will we have some primetime 'names' in there or unknowns or a mix?

The other names mentioned Sheila Ducksworth, producer of Ambitions, The Baxters, and various TV Movies Leon Russell -couldn't fond anything on quick Google search Derrick Johnson - lawyer and humanitarian. He serves as the 19th President and CEO of the NAACP Kimberly Doebereiner - Group Vice President, Future of Advertising and Head of P&G Studios at Procter & Gamble.

The article also noted that MSW younger demos were affected by Family Ties moving into that tuimeslot. Some more promo ads

Pam Long's first tenure worked because there were a lot of new characters but still some presence of the old and as stated the stories were fast moving and interesting. The problems arose when long term characters started disappearing eg Hope, Mike, Hilary, Justin etc and suddenly everyone onscreen was a newbie. There was no foundation left.

Schedule-wise, I could put it at 8 p.m. Saturday, with Once a Hero in the 9 p.m. Sunday slot. @Franko Sorry can't see Once a Hero Sun @9. The show was kid oriented and was a disaster Sat night. Maybe - Dolly/Buck James/Hotel on Sat night? And back to a 2hr Disney Movie 7-9 Sun followed by a Sunday night movie. ABC wasted their movies on Thurs night that season. @Khan Re Dolly Fri @9. Risky as Dallas/Vice were still battling it out, although I could see Dolly making some noise there. Do you have an idea for Dolly's Sunday @ 9 slot?

Some interesting demos from Variety Nov 87 tracking the ratings from the sart of that season. MSW ranked 10th in households but was 47th in Women 18-34, 33rd in W 18-49, 49th in Men 18-34 and 33rd M18-49 Whereas Family Ties its 8pm opposition was 12th in households but 8th in W19-34, 8th in W 18-49, 3rd in M18-34 and 4th in M18-49. So MSW definitely skewed a lot older. NBC was probably getting more advertising $$.

Budget is definitely( and sadly )a big influence on the show, but I wish they could be more creative on the production side.

thanks @FrenchFan Robin never seemed a very stable character. She was very much a forerunner of later soap ladies who had several short lived marriages in the space of a few years eg Erica, Carly,Mindy...

@Franko thirtysomething Sun @9? can't see that working well. It was a very niche show. Variety shows have traditionally aired at 8pm Sonny & Cher, Ed Sullivan, Donny & Marie or 10 pm Dean Martin, Carol Burnett, Jackie Gleason So maybe Dolly could have aired Fri @8 up against Rags to Riches and Beauty &the Beast or Sat @8 up against Facts of Life and My Sister Sam. I could see it doing better there, although it was costly and I can't see them putting it on Sat (even though that's where it ended up.) There just weren't many timeslots available that suited that show.

1986-87 Season Mini Series Ratings 1. The Last Frontier CBS (Linda Evans) 2. The Two Mrs Grenvilles NBC (Ann-Margaret, Claudette Colbert) 3. At Mother's Request CBS 4. I'll Take Manhattan CBS 5. Anastasia : The Mystery of Anna NBC 6. Murder Ordained CBS 7. Amerika ABC 8, Roses Are For The Rich CBS (Lisa Hartman) 9. A Year in the Life NBC 10. Deceptions (R) 11. Hands of a Stranger NBC 12. Rage of Angels : The Story Continues NBC (Jaclyn Smith) 13. Fresno CBS (carol Burnett) 14. Jesus of Nazareth (R) NBC 15. Out on A Limb ABC (Shirley McLaine) 16. The Long Hot Summer (R) NBC 17. Monte Carlo CBS (Joan Collins) 18. Queenie ABC 19. Doubletake (R) 20. Nutcracker :Money, Madness, Murder NBC 21. A Year in the Life (R)NBC 22. George Washington CBS 23. Lace (R) ABC 24. Winds of War (R) ABC 25. Deadly Intentions (R)ABC 26. Master of the Game (R) CBS 27. Space (R) CBS Some of those successes like Murder Ordained and At Mother's request did not make much of an impression. They were more like extended TV Movies, ABC had the fewest mini series and they did not fare well, Amerika was a flop considering the cost and the hype. CBS missed out with George Washington, Fresno and Monte Carlo. The trend was towards 4 hr 2 part shows. They cost less and wouldn't affect ratings too much if they bombed unlike 6 or more hours that could really damage the ratings. They were also easier to repeat. Longies like Space, Winds of War etc were repeated over Summer and did poorly.

Precisely. It's like when Ashley,for example, might say 'I have been married a few times, but it hasn't worked out for me' rather than specify 6 or 7 which would bring attention to it.

Dolly Parton's 1987 variety show seemed sabotaged from the get go. Putting it Sun @9 seemed misguided. Having a terrible lead in with Spencer for Hire and knowing it would battle the strongest theatrical and TV movies on the opposition placed it on the back foot from Day 1. And having an unknown lead out with Buck James didn't help either. Wk 1 8pm CBS Murder She wrote #12 NBC Family Ties #11/ My Two Dads #19 ABC Spenser For Hire #60 9pm - 11pm CBS Movie The Law and Harry McGraw #48 NBC Movie The Terminator #30 ABC Dolly #5 Buck James # 27 Wk 2 8pm CBS MSW #9 NBC Family Ties # 10/My 2 dads # 16 ABC Spenser #55 9-11 CBS Movie #20 NBC Movie #17 ABC Dolly # 21 Buck James # 55 And from then on Dolly continued to slip. ABC shipped it off to Sat night to quietly expire. Perhaps Dolly should have aired Sun @8 with a movie @9? Although the 8pm competition was fierce. My other thought was the 2hr Disney movie Sun 7-9, Dolly @ 9 and Hotel @ 10. Slightly stronger leadin/lead out. Where else would you have placed Dolly on the schedule?

Deidre looking amazing in that photo-looks closer in age to Martha than the other ladies. Martha is 46,Deidre is 76, Gloria is 77, Suzanne 80, Maree 83

@FrenchFan thank you for supplying those 1962 eps. This clears up something else that was puzzling me. I was mistakenly proclaiming that Robin never married Alex Bowden, based on the fact that Robin was involved with Mike and Karl in 1959 and would go onto marry Mike. And then by 1964 was married to Paul. So she squeezed in a marriage to Alex along the way. In the 64/65 scripts, Alex and Robin have little to do with one another so I assume the marriage was short lived and didn't end well.

@Xanthe Mentioning LL as Dennis was only in terms of him being cast at that time and aligning more with Jim Poyner's Dennis , rather than any great love for the actor, Dennis was a sensitive type-growing up in the shadow of a domineering mother, having a heart condition etc .But upon returning in say 1986, he could have been cast and written differently. As for story,for fun, I wrote daily outlines for AW for that time period. I had Vicky and Dennis involved, causing Iris much angst. Vicky got pregnant by Jake who was trying to rebuild his marriage to Marley. So Vicky decided to have an abortion to solve the whole mess, but was in a car accident before she could do so and the pregnancy was discovered and Dennis of course believed he was the father. Much drama ensued!

No point in showing ATWT and GL as part of a CBS Daytime to Remember - it would just make viewers sad/annoyed they were dropped. What would be great to see is a properly curated look back at classic Y&R. eg the Katherine/Jill story with comments from Jess and other actors, fans, critics etc ,selected important scenes etc played out over one or 2 weeks, Similar 'mini series' dealing with Jack, Nikki etc

@kalbir If only the show had have kept to that timeline and not messed up the ages. Looking at Billy the other day, he looked almost as old as Jack.