Paul Raven

'I have been lied to (beat) and manipulated' is often quoted at Chez Raven.

Moonlighting definitively had its own audience when you look at its ratings - it's just that it fell apart backstage and then came Roseanne and eclipsed it. I wasn't suggesting Moonlighting was a timeslot hit, just went on a bit of a tangent when it was mentioned. Guess the move of Family Ties had a few motivations. Firstly NBC had been underperforming in the important Sunday night slot, they had tried new sitcoms with no success. So they knew FT would bring more viewers to that slot. Secondly MSW had older demographics so FT was good counterprogramming Thirdly Cosby/Carsey-Werner insisted ADW was placed Thurs 8.30 so FT had to move somewhere.

Esther!

So did Audra deliberately come to GC to see Noah or is it another tiresome coincidence that Noah meets a woman on the other side of the world and she just happens to turn up in his hometown? That soap staple always annoys me.

William Hickey Guiding Light Carny involved w/Dylan/Bridget 1994 Loving Ray 1992 Gloria de Haven Honeymoon Suite ABC Afternoon Playbreak August 1972 June Lockart Honeymoon Suite ABC Afternoon Playbreak August 1972 Martha Scott Honeymoon Suite ABC Afternoon Playbreak August 1972 Sarah Burton Kitty Keene Ronnie 1942 Mrs Miniver Strange Romance of Evelyn Winters Cecily Lockwood 1951 Wendy Warren and the News Helene Dumas Big Sister temp replacement for Grace Matthews Aug 1948 Ginger Jones Woman in White Jenny Peabody Alice Gardner Portia Faces Life Joan Ward

By the 88/89 season Moonlighting was in serious trouble BTS. Cybill and Bruce feuding and production being delayed. ABC didn't have enough episodes to fill the slot and ABC had to program movies and specials up till Wk 12 of the season. Moonlighting ranked #13 in its season debut but drifted downwards and had to be preempted due to lack of eps. Meanwhile In the Heat of the Night on NBC was taking viewers. Luckily Roseanne was hit and they could move it to 9pm. I think this was one of the few times a show was moved to a leadin slot in it's first season. Sun @8 was a black hole for ABC at that time. Viewers and ABC had had enough of Moonlighting by that time and it was sent there to die, raking #70 in its first Sunday showing.

Much better than what they went with! From TV Guide Jan 21st 1995 Lisa Miller Hughes Eldridge Shea Colman McColl Mitchell—the unsinkable diva played by Eileen Fulton on As the World Turns—will say “I do” for the seventh time next week. But on the eve of her wedding to Eduardo Gri- maldi (Nicolas Coster), she is going to discover, much to her horror, that her son Tom (Scott Holmes) has gone behind her back and presented the groom- to-be with a prenuptial agreement. Says Fulton: “Гvе done this show since 1960, and Lisa’s never even heard the word ‘prenuptial’! Half the plots—and most of her money—wouldn’t have been possible.” (Ironically, Lisa struck it rich thanks to Hubby No. 2 —John Eldridge—who was also played by Coster some 29 years ago.) In real life, the 61-year- old Fulton, who’s been married three times, is quite savvy about this stuff: “I had a prenuptial agreement drawn up for my last husband—but the marriage was over before his signature had a chance to dry.”

Hearts Afire starring John Ritter and Markie Post In it's first season 92/93 at Mon 8.30 it ranked #20 following Evening Shade #19. So CBS decided for 93/94 to move it to 9pm Friday where they were trying to build a comedy night. But before the season began it was rescheduled to 8pm Wed. CBS delayed the intro of the Wed night lineup till several weeks into the season. In a 1hr debut Hearts Afire ranked #73 up against Home Improvement, Unsolved Mysteries and 90210. It stayed in the 50's and 60's. The Nanny new at 8.30 consistently outrated HA so CBS swapped them around in Jan butby March it was dropped. CBS in April moved it to Mon 9.30 following Murphy Brown. It's first episode there was #11. and rated well in a short run. So CBS gave it another chance for 94/95 - Sat 9.30 following new comedy 5 Mrs Buchanans. In Wk1 of the season 5 Mrs Buchanans was #41 HA #62 So CBS moved it to 8.30 Wed following the new Delta Burke sitcom Woman of the House. That was disaster with HA ranked #81. After a few weeks it was dropped and that was it for Hears Afire. Only ever flourished following a stronger show - timeslot hit!

Looking back to the start of the season, Eight is Enough and Charlies Angels were Top 10 shows but slowly NBC gained dominance with Real People and Diff'rent Strokes. Unfortunately Hello Larry and Best of Saturday Night Live were always weaker in the latter part of the Wed lineup. Chips was moved to Sunday at mid season and that paid off for NBC. Interesting that Benson made the Top 20 but it's lead in Mork and Mindy didn't. Mork had been weakened by being moved to Sunday and never regained it's numbers when it was moved back to Thursday. Palmerstown was trialed in The Waltons Thur timeslot and started out strong but ratings softened over it's short run. I'm sure at first CBS thought they had found areplacement for the long running but fading Waltons. Dukes/Dallas really solidified their hit status over the season. Also this late in the season there is the probability that some shows were repeats so viewers gravitated towards new eps. eg Chips was probably a new ep but Archie Bunker may have been a repeat. CBS Monday Mash/House Calls/Lou Grant always benefitted if the competing ABC/NBC movies didn't score.

Having Bob move towards Kim would have made sense at that point. It played onto history and tightened the canvas with Bob/Kim becoming 'parents' to Frannie, Andy, Tom, Betsy - the next generation. Nancy may not have found that coupling suitable in her eyes. I'm sure it would perturb Lisa and John would have been livid. So a lot of possibilities then. Ellen/David would have an opinion etc So quite a bit of story could come from this pairing. Bob and or Kim could back off due to general Oakdalian concern/disapproval. Only a few years later the decision was made to put them together anyway. We would have avoided the awful Bob/Miranda and Kim/Nick marriages.

Wasn't sure where to place this but since it deals mainly with OLTL here it is. Makes you think how other shows with clearance problems might have rated with more coverage. May 1970 What clearance woes can mean to ABC -TV The half hour, daily afternoon serial, One Life to Live, is suffering from "live clearance deficiency" and this con- dition is costing more than $2 million a year, $1.5 million of it lost directly by the network. ABC -TV stations last week, at the annual network affiliates meeting in Los Angeles , were given a striking illustration of what it can mean to a network when just one program is not being carried live on a competitive line -up of stations. Frederick Pierce, vice president in charge of planning and assistant to the president of ABC -TV, citing One Life to Live as a specific example, offered the following editorial and mathematical suppositions as evidence of how a lack of live clearances does not pay: Fact: In the first quarter of 1970, One Life to Live registered a 7.1 rating nationally. Fact: General Hospital, the half -hour afternoon serial that generates ABC - TV's biggest daytime audience, gained a 9.1 rating nationally during the same quarter. Supposition: According to Mr. Pierce, "the difference is live coverage." Logic: General Hospital enjoys a 92% primary live line -up. One Life to Live only has 83% live coverage. Supposition: If One Life to Live had General Hospital's live line -up, ABC - TV figures that it would have a national rating of 8.6 -near General Hospital's level -or 1.5 more rating points than it now earns. Question: What does this mean in terms of dollar loss? Mathematical formula: One Life to Livé s 1.5 rating -point deficiency represents 880,000 fewer homes nationally. At the going cost -per- thousand daytime rate of $1.60, this amounts to $1,400 less per minute on the selling price of the show. There are 1,560 available commercial minutes in One Life to Live per year (in round figures 1,500) at the show's actual 96% sell -out situation. This figures out to 1,500 available commercial minutes multiplied by $1,400 lost for each minute. The total: $2.1 million in revenues lost per year. Some $360,000 of this total would be station compensation. Subtract about $200,000 more for agency commission. Sub -total: about $1.5 million in annual revenue loss to the network.

i recall something about a fire at Columbia/ Screen Gems in the late 60's. Will do some research and hopefully come across something. This was what I was thinking of I guess but it doesn't apply to Days. Fire blazes on Burbank sets Feb 1970 High real -life drama, bursting out at the Columbia Studios ranch in Burbank, Calif., on the afternoon of Jan. 30, almost wiped out the physical property of several comedy television series. A fire that started in an old sound stage raged for about an hour and caused an estimated $2 million in damages. Sets used in such Screen Gems - produced programs as Here Come the Brides, Bewitched and The Flying Nun were damaged. Studio officials indicated, however, that the fire damage would not delay TV production.

And he was married to Lee Warrick who was on OLTL as Julie Siegel and GH as Mary Ellen Dante in the 70's.He had done of print and TV commercials .

Yes, the story is ridiculous but I think having an over 50 actress in a contract role, who hasn't been facelifted to the heavens and brings her natural essence to the role has been a plus. Of course TSJ is going to look older. I didn't really watch when SN played Tucker so what should I expect to see from Trevor? Is 82 yr old Victor going to be presented as a viable rival to a man 30 yrs his junior?

Love this show. They are always talking about how underfunded it is, but it looks pretty nice to me. And for stressed out teachers they have a lot of time to sit around chatting in the teacher's lounge!

Hope you can add some more. My next contribution is Dear John on NBC. In the 1998/89 season it took Night Court's 9.30 pm Thurs slot following Cheers. Cheers was # 4 and Dear John a respectable #11. In it's 2nd season it kept the 9.30 pm slot till mid season when it was replaced by Grand. I believe NBC was under pressure from Carsey/Werner productions to place their new show in that plum slot (they supplied Cosby and A Different World) Dear John got moved to Wed 9.30 following Night Court. It finished #17 for the season but that average was bumped up from the Thurs showings. In 90/91 it retained the 9.30pm Wed slot but now followed a new show Fanelli Boys. Wed 9-10 Wk 1 1990/91 season ABC Doogie Howser #8 CBS Jake and the Fatman # 25 NBC fanelli Boys #42/Dear John # 52 Fanelli flopped and NBC moved Dear John to 9pm. By Jan 1990 Night Court was back to 9pm and Dear John was back to 9.30 before being shunted to 10.30 Saturday. It's overall ranking was #50 For it's final season it was given the 9pm Fri timeslot but was moved to 9.30 . It ranked #77. So it only worked with a strong lead in - timeslot hit.

1978/79 Mini Series Ratings 1. Roots Next Generation ABC 30.1/45 2. Pearl ABC 28.6/45 3. Roots (R) ABC 25.4/42 4. Backstairs at the White House NBC 25.0/37 5. Ike ABC 24.7/40 6. Little Women NBC 22.6/34 7. The Word CBS 21.2/33 8. Jesus of Nazareth (R) NBC 21.2/33 9. The Chisolms CBS 21.1/35 10. Blind Ambition CBS 20.5/34 11. The Best Place to Be NBC 20.2/34 12. A Woman Called Moses NBC 19.9/32 13. Centennial NBC 19.5/30 14. From Here to Eternity NBC 18.9/30 15. Mr Horn CBS 18.5/29 16. The Sacketts NBC 17.5/30 17. Greatest Heroes of the Bible NBC 17.4/28 18. The Critical List NBC 17.0/27 19. The Pirate CBS 15.4/25 20. Moses the Lawgiver CBS (R) 15.4/30 21. Women in White NBC 14.0/23 22. Studs Lonegan NBC 14.0/23 23. A Man Called Intrepid NBC 12.5/21 24. Hanging by a Thread NBC 12.4/21 25. The Innocent and The Damned (rpt) NBC 12.4/23 26. The Dark Secret of Harvest Home (R) NBC 10.3/18 27. Wheels NBC (R) 10.0/18 NBC showing the most mini series for the least return. The Innocent and The Damned was a new title for Aspen. Maybe they thought people would be fooled into watching a rerun. The Wheels rerun was truncated due to dreadful ratings. Originally all 5 episodes were going to be shown, but after dire ratings for ep 1 and 2, they showed a summary of eps 3&4 before playing the final episode.

Bit hard to play that when Paul has been gone for years, but yes beforehand their connection was downplayed. With Paul isolated because of LLB's absence they could have easily played up a lonely Paul leaning on Lauren. Write in some issues that would cause friction b/w Lauren and Micheal and bingo! Paul and Lauren could be tempted. Yes that relationship should have remained stronger over the years.

To my way of thinking a show can only be classified as a timeslot hit if it is moved out of a timeslot it is rating well in, and doesn't perform as expected/hoped for in the new timeslot. That discounts a lot of shows that get moved at the end of their lifespan. I would put Hotel in that category along with other examples like Falcon Crest and Trapper John, which after several successful seasons were falling in the ratings and basically moved elsewhere to finish their runs. Had Hotel been moved in Season 3 and bombed then its status as a timeslot hit would be proven. Looking forward to your response!

Fantasy Island Debuted mid season as Love Boat, an instant hit at 10pm Saturday was moved to 9pm with FI inserted at 10. 77/78 season Love Boat #14 Fantasy Island#17 78/79 LB # 17 FI #22 So after 2 seasons of solid ratings ABC decided to try and shore up some of it's 8pm ratings woes and moved Fantasy Island to 8pm Friday. It ranked 53rd with a 19 share behind Diff'rent Strokes #16/37 share and Incredible Hulk. After two showings it was moved back to Sat @10 where it once again won its timeslot. 79/80 LB #23 FI #28 80/91 LB #5 FI #17 81/82 LB 314 FI #30 82/83 LB #9 FI not in Top 30 83/84 LB #17 FI #49 So Fantasy Island was definitely a timeslot hit, always rating respectably but lower than it's Love Boat lead in. And it's brief tryout in a lead in timeslot was a disaster.

For all soaps past and present- what are some of the relationships b/w characters that were played at one point and then seemingly forgotten. For Y&R Nikki and Tessa At one point Nikki took Tessa in and mentored her. But in recent years they have had nothing to do with each other. Lily and Abby They were friends during the Sussman years ,I think. But now never interact. Any others?

There was no reason for Nikki to interact with Sheila. It makes sense to keep some characters/storylines separate as it can become cumbersome to keep all those connections going.

I don't think that would be a surprise to anybody, especially considering the short timeline and the demographics involved. Have they started taping the Peacock episodes yet? They're probably hoping word of mouth will increase the viewership.

Yep.

It really only left the possibility that Alison had come to some harm. Why wouldn't she make some contact with her parents?