Paul Raven

Glad you're enjoying it-really a special show. In one of the interviews that I think is posted in the thread Paul Monash(?) said they learnt from the Shusters that new characters should be apart of the community eg the Chernaks, Ann Howard etc -either living there (but unseen) or returning. It just gave those characters more connectedness to the show. BTW the whole series is on YouTube. I still haven't got back into it.

In 1988 Jerry Douglas and Herb Gross, a former CBS programming VP formed Jovra Productions 'to package teleseries, telefilms and features'. Don't recall anything coming of this but it seems every second LA citizen had a production company at one time or another. Probably a tax dodge as much as anything else. Was that around the time that Jerry was written out for a year or so?

The 87/88 season was the first time that CBS had ever finished in 3rd place. Early in the season longtime CBS programmer Bud Grant was axed and Kim Le Masters took over. Going into the season CBS had had new shows everynight at 8pm. (bar Sunday) Mon Frank's Place, Tues Houston Knights (new to the timeslot) Wed Oldest Rookie, Thurs Tour of Duty, Fri Beauty and the Beast, Sat My Sister Sam. They had 2 new hours Tuesday Jake & Fatman/Law & Harry McGraw, Wiseguy Thurs and Legwork (CBS second attempt at giving Margaret Colin a series) Sat. Nothing worked and they began shuffling series around and decided to introduce a comedy block on Tues 8-10 which bombed- Trial& Error/My Sister Sam/Coming of Age/Frank's Place Magnum was ending as was Cagney & Lacey and the soaps were another year older. The Monday night schedule didn't take off once football ended as had been the case. NBC held on to 1st place but had only 2 hits My 2 Dads and Different World, both of which were reagarded as timeslot hits. In the Heat of the Night boosted Tuesdays following Matlock and taking advantaged of Moonlighting's production troubles. They introduced the concept of 'designated hitters' 3 series that would air individual episodes scatttered around the schedule. The feeling was that it was a gimmick to get some publicity for shows that would otherwise bomb if they were conventionally scheduled. They were 'Mama's Boy' which never went beyond 4 episodes and Beverly Hills Buntz and Bronx Zoo which both flopped once they played as regular series. ABC secured 2nd place thanks to world Series/Superbowl and Winter Olympics. They had some success with Hooperman and thirtysomething but everything else flopped until later in the season when Wonder Years,China Beach and Heartbeat were introduced. Moving Growing Pains to Wed and Perfect Strangers to Fri boosted those nights. Dolly was the big failure of the season . Going into 88/89 ... Would NBC manage to coast at #1 or introduce some new hits? Would ABC be able to build on their late season surge? Would CBS get out of 3rd and rebuild a tattered schedule? Stay tuned...

Feb 1-5 1988 ABC 6.4/21 CBS 6.1/21 NBC 5.3/18 1. GH 9.2/28 2. Y&R 8.4/28 3. OLTL 8.3/26 4. AMC 8.0/25 Home new ABC show at 11.30 last in daytime ratings 2.6/10

I get the feeling that the cast might have been given a few readily available clips to choose from as their 'favorites'

Dolly is such a talent but those sitcoms sounded awful. From what I saw of the variety show I recall the Dixie's Diner sketches were simply not funny and they tried a little bit of everything when a less is more approach might have worked. 2 decades earlier Judy Garland had the same issues with her weekly show-too much interference and change of direction. All the blame was laid at Judy of course. The 87-88 season was the first to use the Neilsen Peoplemeters and the immediate change was lower ratings all round. So comparing- say Dallas' ratings from the previous season wasn't exact as a different system was in use. Variety published a list of primetime shows and their rankings in households, women and men 18-34/18/49. Most shows ranked similarly but there were some interesting deviations Murder She Wrote #10 in households #47 W 18-34 #33 W 18-49 #49 M 18-34 #33 M18-49 Dallas #18 in households #26 W18-34 #33 W 18-49 #47 M 18-34 #45 M 18-49 Falcon Crest #33 in households #36 W 18-34 #35 W 18-49 #61 M18-34 #60 M 18-49 thirtysomething #36 in households #10 W 18-34 #13 W 18-49 #18 M18-34 #22 M 18-49 I can supply other figures if anyone is interested.

Thanks for that. Glad she left on her own terms.

I wonder if. like so many other vets. Marilyn was offered a contract that consisted of fewer episodes guaranteed so basically a lot less money- so her decision to leave was really being pushed out.

In addition to Beantown, CBS tried The Four Seasons and Suzanne Pleshette as Maggie Briggs on Sun to no avail. They decided to drop comedy 8-9 for Murder She Wrote. Moving back to 87/88 ABC poured a lot of money into Dolly only to see it fail pretty quickly. Has there ever been a post mortem on the show from Dolly herself or anyone else? The show opened big so people were interested. I think the content was a problem. They tried to present Dolly in a way that didn't seem genuine . To me another problem was the timeslot. Going up against movies on the other 2 networks was a big ask for Dolly. Inevitably CBS and NBC would be scheduling big theatrical premieres, mini series debuts and their best TV movies. Maybe 8pm would have been better with movies @9? Although Dolly would have to face MSW and Family Ties. ABC wasted their movies on Thurs night where they got thrashed by Cheers/Night Court/LA Law. And the lead in was Spencer for Hire, a low rated show that didn't warrant being placed in the important Sun @8 slot. It provided no lead in for Dolly and didn't seem compatible. And then to place Buck James @10 as lead out. If Dolly was to play at 9pm maybe Hotel would have worked better instead of being dumped on Saturday night. So either Disney 7pm Dolly 8pm Sunday Movie 9pm or Disney 7pm (2 hr as in previous seasons) Dolly 9pm Hotel 10pm

That's terrific. Using established characters and their history to propel new stories, Bravo!

The Salem Strangler was really a coup for Days. It was the first time a soap had tried this type of story and the suspense was there. It was played seriously and there were several suspects and potential victims. Much better than GH's Ice Princess in terms of expanding the type of stories being told. Unfortunately instead of letting it stand alone, by the next year there was the Salem Slasher, complete with eccentric characters, evil lookalikes, masks etc

That Sunday line up was invincible for several seasons. But anytime they moved a show eg Alice to Wed or Archie Bunker to Mon they tanked. Those shows worked together as they were all products of the same era. When CBS tried freshening things up eg Goodnight Beantown, it didn't work as it just seemed an odd fit.

My computer is playing up and I couldn't add to the quote above. Anyway... The soaps had been enormously successful and had runs beyond most primetime hits. By 87/88 the decline had set in. Creatively it was harder each year to come up with compelling stories as viewers expected to see JR scheming, Blake/Krystal/Alexis etc .Unlike daytime, where there was more flexibility in making casting/story changes, the primetime shows were more restricted.JR couldn't be backburnered for 6 episodes for example. FC/KL had a little more flexibilty in that regard. Ratings wise the numbers were falling but they were all performing OK. ABC saw the writing on the wall and moved Dynasty back to 10pm, where it won its timeslot. However it was an expensive show and I'm sure ABC realized they could probably get similar numbers from a cheaper show. CBS kept Dallas/FC in the same slots and they were winning their timeslots. CBS had other nights to worry about but I wonder if they should have bitten the bullet and moved Dallas back to 10pm with maybe Simon& Simon/Magnum as leadins? Or something else at 9pm. Freshening up 9pm while viewers were still accustomed to watching CBS at that time rather than waiting for a new show to come along on ABC or NBC that might crush Dallas. Falcon Crest could be used as a 10 pm show on Tues for example to provide some familiarity as the rebuilt that night. Knots was the only Thurs show on CBS providing any competition so it earned its keep. As for Hotel ABC seemed to want to be rid of it. I think in that final year the big name guest stars were out. I would have slotted it Thurs at 9 and kept 20/20 at 10 . Placing/wasting movies there seemed foolish. Both ABC/CBS made some weird scheduling moves that season.But that's for another post.

OK so March is looking a little dull, but after everything that went on in Feb sweeps, we need to take a breather....

Some radio updates Helen Claire Aunt Jenny 1939 Front Page Farrell 1951 My True Story Mary Thomas 2/26/54 Tom Collins Romance of Helen Trent Barclay Bailey 1952 Front Page Farrell 'Case of The Invisible Man' Ned Corbett 1951 Kitty Keene Stella Dallas Inspector Malloy Backstage Wife Lorenzo Jones Right to Happiness My True Story Whispering Streets

Secret Storm Aggie Clemens Parsons...Jane Rose.. August 18 69-71...aunt, Belle Judge Sam Stevens...Terry O'Sullivan...September 68-69...old friend, Valerie Jerry Ames....Stephen Bolster May 68-69 Paul Britton...Nicholas Coster...64, April 68-69.College Professor, married Terri, Amy,& Belle Martha Norris Novotny(Warren)...Gretchen Walther...Beginning Aug 68...reporter fired by Charlie

Ok Thanks. Maybe they'll go to the Tuscan Villa!

Why not fudge the date by a few months and Have Nikki throw a 10th anniversary memorial/celebration of Katherine's passing. That would keep Jeanne in people's minds and Katherine's importance/presence in GC and be more intresting to viewers. The Top of The Tower is the venue BTW All of those returnees would be involved (with Leanna crashing the event) Brock's absence would have to be explained (in the wilds of Africa)

looks like The top of the Tower set has been pilled out of mothballs. And do I see 4 extras in the background? They'll have to cut back after this extravagance.

Week 1 of 87/88 season 1. Cosby Show NBC 31.5/51 2. A Different World NBC 31.3/49 3. Cheers NBC 28.4/44 4. Night Court NBC 24.9/40 5. Dolly Show ABC 24.7/38 6. Who's the Boss? ABC 23. 7. Growing Pains ABC 23.3/36 Tues @9 8. Golden Girls NBC 22.3/40 9. Full House Special ABC 21.7/34 Tues @8.30 10. Hooperman NBC 21.5/35 11. Family Ties NBC 21.0/34 12. Murder, She Wrote CBS 20.4/32 13. I Married Dora Special ABC 20.3/33 Tues @9.30 14. 60 Minutes CBS 20.0/37 15. Newhart CBS 19.1/30 16. Monday Night Football ABC 18.7/34 17. Moonlighting ABC 18.3/32 repeat special @10pm 18. Slap Maxwell ABC 18.2/31 19. My Two Dads NBC 18.1/28 20. Unsolved Mysteries Special NBC 17.9/32 Thurs @10 21. Alf NBC 17.9/29 46. 22. Designing Women 17.6/28 23. Head of the Class CBS ABC 17.6/28 24. 227 NBC 17.3/32 25. Matlock NBC 17.0/27 26. Dallas CBS 16.9/31 2hr episode Fri@8 27. Buck James ABC 16.6/30 28. Special Movie Presentation CBS 16.6/31 ?? 29. Dynasty ABC 16.5/28 30. NBC Sunday Night Movie 'The Terminator' NBC 16.5/27 31. Cagney & Lacey CBS 16.4/28 32. Valerie's Family NBC 16.3/26 33. Miami Vice NBC 16.2/29 34. J.J. Starbuck Special NBC 15.8/30 35. Kate & Allie CBS 15.6/24 36. Highway to Heaven NBC 15.6/27 37. Perfect Strangers ABC 15.2/27 38. Knots Landing CBS 15.2/27 39. Facts of Life NBC 14.8/29 40. 20/20 ABC 14.7/28 41. Equalizer CBS 14.4/24 42. Frank's Place Special CBS 13.9/23 43. A Year in the Life NBC 13.8/23 44. Beauty & the Beast Special CBS 13.5/26 Fri @10 45. St. Elsewhere NBC 13.4/23 46.. NBC Monday Night Movies 'If It's Tuesday,It Still Must be Belgium'' NBC 13.4/22 47. Special Movie Presentation CBS 13.1/22 Tues @9? 48. Special Movie - Sun. The Law and Harry McGraw' 2 hr pilot CBS CBS 12.6/21 49. Jake and the Fatman Special CBS 12.5/24 Sat @10 preempting West 57th 50. Crime Story NBC 12.3/21 51. ABC Thursday Night Movie 'Ghostbusters' ABC 12.2/20 52. Wiseguy CBS 12.1/19 53. MacGyver ABC 11.9/20 54. Private Eye NBC 11.5/22 55. Rags to Riches NBC 11.2/21 56. Tour of Duty CBS 10.6/17 57. Disney Sunday Movie ABC 10.4/19 58. Oldest Rookie CBS 10.4/18 59. Our House NBC 10.2/19 60. Spenser: For Hire ABC 10.1/16 37. 61. I Married Dora ABC 10.1/18 62. Houston Knights CBS 9.6/16 63. Full House ABC 9.3/18 64. Sledge Hammer ABC 7.9/13 65. ABC Sat. Night Movie Special ???ABC 7.3/14 66. Max Headroom ABC 6.9/13 67. Charmings ABC 6.7/11 68. Once a Hero ABC 3.7/7

Sara came on in 67 so had agood run. By 82, she had been married 4 times. Two of her husbands had tried to kill her . Her true love Joe died of a heart attack and she'd been married off to Adam Thorpe so there wasn't much story left. It would have been nice to see her as the go to psychologist and talk to but Millette probably wasn't interested in recurring and neither was GL at the time.

1987-88 Season New to Top 20 Different World new ALF up from #28 The Wonder Years new LA Law up from #21 In The Heat of the Night new My Two Dads new Valeries Family up from below #30 Out of Top 20 Dallas down to #22 Newhart down to #25 Kate & Allie out of Top 30 NBC Sunday Movie down to #23 NBC Monday Movie down to #26 227 down to #27 1 The Cosby Show 2 A Different World 3 Cheers 4 The Golden Girls 5 Growing Pains 6 Who's the Boss? 7 Night Court 8 60 Minutes 9 Murder, She Wrote 10 (Tie) ALF 10 (Tie) The Wonder Years 10 (Tie) Moonlighting 10 (Tie) L.A. Law 11 Matlock 12 Amen 13 NFL Monday Night Football 14 Family Ties 15 CBS Sunday Night Movie 16 In the Heat of the Night 17 (Tie) My Two Dads 17 (Tie) Valerie's Family

Millette had been in soaps since the 50's and probably realized that at her age and the way soaps were going there would be little chance of landing another contract role. In the SFT thread I posted an interview with Val Dufour upon his departure in 79 where he hoped for another role based on working for P&G all those years. That wasn't going to happen, but maybe he thought he'd give it a shot. Millette was lucky to have another career to fall back on, but it must have been hard for some actors to suddenly be out of work and maybe finding it hard financially also. And Meta/Mary should have come on in 87 as soon as Search was cancelled as part of rebuilding the Bauers on GL.

Going off topic but NBC should have based their gameshow line up around Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and Concentration and maybe Sale of the Century as building blocks for 2 or 3 others.