Paul Raven

As opposed to today when couples are given their happy ending way too soon and then writers tie themselves in knots trying to come up with some believable conflicts (and usually fail).

Why did ATWT lose its status? A number of factors I think. Looking at the story synopses and 1979 episodes posted the show was looking pretty dull and tired story and production wise. There were a lot of older characters and the younger cast acted the same as their elders and were conservatively dressed and made up. The scenes were slow and long. Meanwhile ABC were offering up faster pacing and better production values. AMC had successfully introduced Cliff and Nina as their new front burner couple-two brand new young characters that younger viewers could hook onto in a larger than life story. Gloria Monty had introduced tape editing so there were no more traditional longer scenes at GH. How long was it before the other ABC soaps followed suit? ABC began heavy promotion and hype. Even though the big 3 ABC soaps had all been around for years they had modernized and seemed 'new'. CBS made a change with the Dobsons moving to ATWT which seemed a good idea but the stories never really gelled. Then there was a timeslot change and for the first time ATWT was not slotted at 1.30 pm .that would have upset some viewer patterns.

Y&R had the advantage of Bill Bell's writing which was very stylised , a good timeslot and unlike it's competition had the advantage of being new. There were no characters that had been around for years, married and divorced multiple times, on trial for murder etc. They were mostly fresh young people and we viewers were there with them as they experienced all this for the first time. When Y&R expanded AMC had a lavish masquerade ball where Palmer discovered Daisy was in Pine valley, Nina and Cliff announced their engagement etc

To think that was it for AW. Apart from a brief spike with the conclusion of the Rachel/Mac/Janice story it sat in the bottom half for almost 20 years. Remarkable really that it wasn't axed sooner. In response to those falling ratings ATWT changed writers, but Ralph Ellis/Eugenie Hunt didn't do much either for the story or the ratings. Guess there must have been a lot of resistance to changing what had been working for years. ATWT had let the characters age out and not really managed to nurture the next generation. SORASing Tom and Dan had those characters already burn through a lot of story .They killed off Chuck, forgot about Don's stepdaughters etc Meanwhile AW's answer to falling ratings was to go 90 mins, constantly make cast changes and then weaken the show to incorporate Texas characters.

Wow- never knew days hit #2! From the summary it seems Don and Marlena were the reason for that. Pity they couldn't keep up the momentum, plunging back to the bottom the following week. AW and ATWT still hanging in the Top 5 with OLTL,RH and Y&R all making an appearance. Interesting that at this point OLTL is regularly ahead of GH yet ultimately became perennial runner up to its sister soap. Knowing what's to come makes this an even more fascinating read. Thanks so much Jason for your efforts.

I wonder if in previous Summers the ratings fluctuated to reflect that? This was the first year GH and OLTL were 60 mins and both shows story wise were more engaging. So AMC viewers had more of a reason to stay tuned. Was this the time that the 'Love in the Afternoon' promos began? I wonder if Jackie Smith at ABC had been working towards a big Summer promo blitz and ensuring the stories were there,knowing that those younger viewers would be available. Not sure why Days would have that spike ... Reading various things over the years I know that the ratings data was much anticipated each week. I'm sure at Days there would have been much jubilation and congrats to Ann Marcus and a feeling they were on the right track, only to be disappointed in coming weeks when the numbers dropped. Search was looking weak. Henry Slesar was writing but the Corringtons were on the way.

So June saw a lot of changes OLTL jumping to #3 Days to #4 ATWT dropping to #6 So interesting. What was happening on those shows to cause the jumps? Or was there nothing story wise that could account for it?

Somerset Steve Lasky ??? union organizer murdered by Virgil Paris 1972

One Life to Live John Olden...Anthony Kane March 11 1983

Nat Polen THE GUIDING LIGHT Reporter Early 1950s

Search for Tomorrow Andrea Whiting Reynolds....ex wife,Sam; mother of Len and Jamie (dec) Virginia Gilmore...Nov 65- August 1967 Dr. Len Whiting...Dino Narizzano...64-72, Sept 76 - ? 76 husband, Patti ...Paul Collins..??? ...Jeffrey David Pomerantz...Feb - Dec 74 Dr. Dan Walton.. ...Ron Hussman...71- Feb 72 Dr. Peter Murphy...Charles Siebert..69- Sept 72. Lauri Leshinsky Phillips(( McCarren)..Kelly Wood... May 69- Nov 73 mother of Eric (by Scott) , daughter of Magda died on way to honeymoon

Search For Tomorrow Raney___Wesner...Katherine Squire...July 74- Jan 75... Stephanie's step mother and housekeeper,Wendy's carer. Discovered that Wendy was Dave's child not Tony's and told Jo. Stephanie sent her out of town,worried she would reveal the truth, unaware that Jo already knew. Dr Sawyer ??? Liza's eye specialist July 77 Martin Sullivan ??? Ralph Heywood's lawyer In Eric custody case Sept 77

So here we are in May and AW and ATWT are still strong. So I guess it is over Summer that GH will jump into the Top 5 and AW will begin to dip with ATWT also dropping.

The frustrating thing for me is that I have her name and these roles but no idea where I sourced them from! Maybe a SOD article??

Lesley Vogel All My Children Pauline Blake Guiding Light Tina Berkel

Josh's 'storylines' are based around writing everybody as idiots to serve nonsense plots. But I fear Y&R will stick with him for the forseeable future.

Dan was killed off in Feb 72 and then Wade and Janet married in 73. They didn't have major story until the arrival of Clay that culminated in Janet being arrested for his murder in 75. Wade was used as a pychiatrist and he and Janet were involved in Liza and Gary's stories otherwise. Maybe Wade could have died suddenly rather than the murder story. The only other story that seemed to be used was an affair and that had been employed with John and Eunice, and Wade and Janet weren't the kind of characters to cheat. Maybe Wade could have had a child turn up but that story didn't get used much in the 70's. As I said previously there was so much death throughout the 70's with Jo losing Sam and then Tony, Doud dying and then Eunice, Clay and Wade etc I think the turnover in writers was a factor also.

Liza was a model at this point and on her way to a fashion shoot was in an accident that injured her eye. She was estranged from Steve at this point as he was pursuing his music and they were moving in different directions. She didn't want him to leave his tour and care for her so she moved back in with Janet and Wade. I think John Cunningham wanted to leave, which I can understand as his character wasn't doing much. So they whipped up a kidnapping/murder plot that came out of nowhere and Wade was history. That left Janet floundering although Millee hung around till 82.

Search For Tomorrow Walter Pace..father Jennifer (see Ted Adamson) widower of Mrs Pace (died July 74)married Stephanie (Oct 76) Introduced when Jennifer and Scott went home for her mother's funeral,disapproved of Scott being married. Sept 76 returned after Jennifer attempted suicide.Needing money romanced and married wealthy widow Stephanie Collins, requested she sign over her holdings for a sham investment. When Stephanie discovered his deceit she demanded he testify that Jennifer was lying about Johns guilt in Eunice's murder.In return she would pay off Walters debt and divorce him. He left town to be near his institutionalized daughter. ...Wayne Tippit ...July 74 ...Ed Grover...Sept 76...? ....Tom Klunis... ? 76- March 77

ATWT Feb 78 The main stories are Beau and Annie's marriage issues with his mother Jane interfering and trying to get him involved in her hotel business. Jay Stallings is on trial for murder and his alibi is that was at amotel with Melinda-revealing that will mean Carol will leave him. He finally admits on the stand he was with a woman but won't identify her. Bob is involved with new character Karen, Kim and Dan consider telling Betsy Dan is her father,Valerie has feelings for Grant, Joyce is pushing Don to move up in the world, Sandy realizes new husband Kevin is still in love with Susan.Ralph and John vie for Mary.

Irna did the same with Helen Wagner firing her after 13 weeks and then at AW dropped John Beal as Jim and Sarah Cunningham as Liz in the first week. Also Will Lee might have appeared once as Grandpa Hughes before being dropped. That was Irna's way....

Looking at ATWT and GL he probably felt that ATWT was in better shape at that point. There was still a lot of vets and some sort of history/consistency to work with whereas at GL the Bauers had basically disappeared and his creation the Reardons were hardly visible. To get GL back on track would have required a lot of retooling whereas ATWT had a better base to start from.

Irna had written for Frances on ATWT as Grace Baker, Jeff's mother-who I think was an interfering type, so maybe Irna could only see her that way.

Yes, even if Josh had to stay on because of contract, Reva could have survived the bridge accident and be sent to rehab, with Josh dealing with his beloved in recovery and then leaving town 6 months later to be near her. Then down the track the story could take off from there. If Josh came back alone they could have divorced or she could be missing etc. I guess they didn't know for sure that Robert would leave.

AW continuing as #1. I'm sure NBC had no idea what was to come. Their concerns would have been the rest of the lineup. Michael Brockman had been appointed Nov 77 as head of daytime. Ann Marcus was writing Days and no change was made there in 78. I guess she was an expensive hire and and maybe had a contract that ensured her position. At that stage maybe it was felt she needed more time to bring the show around. At The Doctors Mel and Ethel Brez were dropped in April. They had been touted by NBC and signed a deal that saw them appointed to TD with no previous soap experience.