Paul Raven

Lauren can take time out from running an international department store chain to be an exec assistant. OK.

Meanwhile Tessa, a super successful performer and spokesmodel now works at a local restaurant.

I'm surprised Abby didn't open Society in LA, NY and London.

Does a drunk Griffith scribble this nonsense on the back of a napkin.

STOP the business stories!

11 minutes ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

She was the HW who had The Salem Strangler kill Marlena & caused such fan outrage that they quickly changed it to be Samantha.

Do you really believe that?

It was always intended to be Samantha and the 'fan outrage' -picketing the studio,was a publicity stunt that got the show (much needed) media coverage.

If Kin is troublesome, then he should go once and for all. It would be quite easy to ease him out.

I hate the  notion of women 'brought to tears' or made to cry. Unfortunately something women are allowed or expected to do.

I'm over this notion that actors have much of a say in story.

Especially the notion that Kin, a recurring player who's only there due to the generosity of his employers, could flex his muscles about who he's paired with...

As for wanting some young love interest, yea we all have dreams.

It is irritating when new headwriters come to a show and don't bother to research past characters/stories. 

They are always actors and backstage staff who have been around for years that could be consulted.

And if they do reference the past quite often things are changed and go against what has previously happened.

Were any of the Kennicotts on at the same time?

What about the parents-did they appear? 

Had Mary mentioned other siblings specifically or were they made up as they went along?

I think this might be the only time that a family was represented this way-one by one over several years.

On 2/4/2024 at 7:56 AM, soapfan770 said:

Phyllis devolves into lunacy

So business as usual

On 2/4/2024 at 7:56 AM, soapfan770 said:

Phyllis schemes to crush the Bug once and for all! 

Deja vu...

On 2/4/2024 at 7:56 AM, soapfan770 said:

Daniel and Heather find the walls are closing in as they come to cross an unthinkable boundary! 

They have sex.

On 2/4/2024 at 7:56 AM, soapfan770 said:

Abby starts a venture for herself

Hasn't she already done that with Society? 

On 2/4/2024 at 7:56 AM, soapfan770 said:

Nick & Sharon rekindle their past love.

Again???

What was the deal with AfterMash ?

The idea of continuing the show may have been ultimately misguided but you can't blame CBS for going with it. Some of the Mash creatives were involved I think and there was a lot of interest and good will there as evidenced by the show debuting at #1.

The show held its own initially in the tough 9pm Monday slot ranking in the Top 15 but in the second half it fell against big TV movies (something About Amelia) mini series (Lace) and specials (Anerican Music Awards,Olympics). 

And then Kate & Allie replaced it and did better. Nonetheless it finished #15 for the season.

So CBS renews it but moves it to one of its dead zones Tues @8 up against a hot show A Team. OK that was counterprogramming but it seemed like CBS just wasn't interested in After Mash. It was cancelled mid season.

On 2/2/2024 at 8:13 AM, AMCOLTLLover said:

Y&R: I know people will hate me for it but Devon. Bruh. He’s the most boring character and yet they throw so much work to him while others suffer. 
Elena… God she has been nothing but boring on GH and keeps on being boring on Y&R 

No hate from me re Devon. Y&R should have recast years ago when Devon was backburner.

As for Elena she has disappeared from the canvas.

It's been discussed elsewhere ...

The creation of Texas -Spinning Iris off to the new show and changing her character, in turn weakening AW. The debut of Texas was a lesson in how not to launch a new show.

12 hours ago, Khan said:

I don't think any discussion on "Tank Jobs & Sabotages" would be complete without the ongoing nightmare that was CBS's erratic scheduling of "WKRP in Cincinnati."

That comment prompted me to do  a deep dive into WKRP's scheduling history.

It debuted Fall 78 at a time when CBS needed to replenish their sitcom stock. Their last new sitcom hit was Alice, now into it's 3rd season. Good Times and Rhoda were on their last legs(that's another story)

Anyway WKRP was given the tough gig of leading off Mon night against powerhouse Little House on NBC. It got good reviews but was saddled with the dud magazine show People and CBS wisely moved it to 9.30 following MASH, where it flourished.

It kept that slot next season until mid season when CBS replaced it with House Calls and sent WKRP back to Mon @8 again to try and bolster Last Resort, another struggling new sitcom.

In Fall 80 CBS decided Flo would be a better Mon lead in (not the case) and WKRP was sent to Sat night to lead the night. It did well enough teamed with Tim Conway  but the rest of the night was a flop.

For it's final season ,as CBS had placed Walt Disney on Sat CBS moved it to We @8.30 following the kiddie sitcom Mr Merlin, which (surprise) flopped. CBS then moved WKRP to Wed @9 against 2 strong shows Fall Guy and Facts of Life and that was it.

Looking back the show never got the support it needed. Had they kept it after MASH for longer, to really solidify it's following it might have stood a chance when moved to another timeslot. 

Requests

Kimberley Farr

Rodney Raulsberry

Richard Kiley

Lawrence Pressman

Riptide I would call a timeslot hit. NBC were looking for a compatible show to follow their first breakout hit The A Team. Bare Essence bombed and Remington Steele was moved to Tues @9 and fared better but was still losing to much of A Teams lead in, so in went Riptide with Remington moved to 10pm. Riptide did the job, helped by the fact that 3's Company was fading.

But ABC quickly fought back and Moonlighting took off at9 pm and by season's end was dominate. NBC moved Hunter from Sat night and Riptide was shifted to Fri @8 where it failed and that was it.

4 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Now that you mention this it reminds me of Mork & Mindy. Wasn't that moved around a lot, with a second season choice that basically sealed its fate? 

In 79/90 ABC decided to move a few hit shows Laverne & Shirley, Fantasy Island and Mork & Mindy to new slots to shore up weak timeslots. Mork got moved up to Sunday against Archie Bunker, reasoning that anew fresh hit would see off the aging Bunker. 

The fight was tight at first but ABC didn't factor in the huge football overruns on CBS which flowed onto 60 minutes , Bunker and the rest of the CBS schedule.

Also Mork had no lead in, a couple of flop sitcoms and an incompatible untried lead out The Associates.

And Mork had the Raquel Welch episode which was a Jump the Shark moment.

Also in Mork's old slot Laverne was not doing as well as expected. By midseason Mork was back on Thurs but never regained the ratings or hype of the first season.

8 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

CBS seems like the most ruthless network in this category, at least as it pertains to primetime?

Charlie & Co—which starred Gladys Knight, Jaleel White and the late greats Flip Wilson and Kristoff St. John— a series that offered promise but never fully got is “legs” underneath it, by Season 2, was put against The Cosby Show, a ratings juggernaut. What were the programming folks at CBS hoping to achieve here? It doesn’t seem like they hoped to achieve success for the fledgling sitcom.

 

I think you are confused re Charlie &Co.

CBS scheduled it Wed @9 initially up against Dynasty and NBC's new drama Helltown. I guess they were hoping to offer an alternative as NBC did for years with Facts of Lif,. It ran for through Dec but never took off.

It returned 8.30 Tuesday in January  following Melba, the Melba Moore sitcom but they were yanked after one episode.

By the time it returned late in the season Fri @8 it seemed CBS had given up and was just filling the time period.

It never got a 2nd season season or played against Cosby.

EDIT Sorry somehow I missed the other replies!

7 minutes ago, SoapDope said:

I remember reading that network executives would be shocked when they would attend cast parties and little Adam Rich was walking around drinking martinis or champagne and smoking. Rich said he was smoking pot and watching porn by age 10.

Did anybody intervene? Wouldn't that behavior have been enough to have his parents/guardians reported to child services or whatever?

Don's leaving/Sid's death opened up a lot of story possibilities that helped the show in the long run.

Had Sid stayed on I wondewhat they would have come up with for Sid/Karen. Maybe his daughter would have resurfaced?

If they had gone with the story but had Sid survive, I could see him grappling with a disability/sexual problem type story for the rest of that season. But then what?

2 hours ago, yrfan1983 said:

Will have to also FF through: Cole and Victoria and... Jeri? Was this meant to truly be a love triangle...?

Bill Bell made a miscalculation with Cole and Victoria in that he didn't really have anything waiting in the wings to cause problems. Maybe he married them off too soon?

Or maybe Aunt Jordan should have turned up then??

Who's The Boss?

In it's 6th season Boss finished #19 but was running out of steam.  ABC had Full House ready to take over and freshen the schedule. So ABC moved it to Sat @8 which had been a black hole for them since TJ Hooker ended. It ended up against another fading hit Golden Girls.

I think in a lot of cases, the networks want to rid themselves of aging shows because they are increasingly expensive to run with salaries for on and offscreen personnel increasing while ratings/profits move in the other direction.

Also stars are quite often ready to quit and there are enough episodes in the can to start making the real bucks in syndication. 

In the case of WTB, did the show feel like it had run its course by the final season?

10 hours ago, Khan said:

I would argue that the "The Jeffersons" did. 

I would wager a steak dinner that The Jeffersons would have to be the show that had the most timeslot changes.

10 hours ago, Khan said:

CBS moving "Designing Women" from Mondays to (I believe) Fridays for its' final season.

Designing Women should have been moved a few seasons earlier when it was still peaking.

20 hours ago, SoapDope said:

Most of the cast had mental or substance abuse issues that caused the shows cancellation after 5 seasons. Van Patten said they were all geared to film season 6 when he was reading the paper at home and read they were cancelled. Lorimar felt the show was too much trouble to continue with.

Falling ratings caused the shows cancellation as much as BTS problems.

Eight Is Enough was #12 in the 79/80 season Wed @8 Then Real People on NBC came along and took over the time period. In 80/81 Real People was #12 and Eight was moved to Sat night and replaced by Greatest American Hero. 

Tom and Alice were the original tentpole couple, happily married with little story or conflict of their own.

The others ,we have seen their love lives play out on air through all the ups and downs, so they can never hold the same moral ground or position as Tom and Alice.

In terms of first black characters on daytime, Rex Ingram was announced as joining The Brighter Day just  weeks before its cancellation in 1962. Unsure if this was a contract role.

I'm remembering when Sally Sussman returned to Y&R and we were hoping for a return to a more classic style, which never eventuated,so who knows what's in store for GH.

Guess it depends on Mulcahey's motives - did he take the gig for the money and/ or because he was missing the creativity or structure of daytime writing?

Maybe he's already realistic about what he can achieve in the current climate and just wants to do what he can.

He's never been a headwriter (apart from a short stint at GL)right? There's a big difference b/w writing good scenes and dialogue and creating cohesive long term story.

Time will tell.

Death was more common in the 80's-murder or otherwise. 

There were more murders with the greater emphasis on crime stories and deaths overall were more common, so a character dying wasn't such a big thing anymore.

Also in the 80's there was a more light hearted tone to most shows. The introduction of characters like Calliope (Days) Leanna (Y&R)  was part of it, but overall things seemed less somber.

I get your point and I could see NBC hoping that a known action/adventure show might take the time period where there was no clear leader, but it was 50/50 proposition.

They'd already gone down that road the season before  when Knight Rider began to fade Sun @8 and it was moved to Fri @8.

Has a fading show ever gotten a new lease of life by moving time slots?

@kalbir You know this is right up my street!

Fall 85

ABC moves The Fall Guy, fading on Wed due to Highway to Heaven to the Thurs @8 dead zone up against Cosby Show #1. Ratings are awful and ABC brings in a movie for Nov sweeps. Fall Guy is moved to Sat @8 to replace flop Hollywood Beat, before being dropped. The remaining episodes resurface in another ABC dead zone Fri @10 up against two tough competitors Falcon Crest and Miami Vice

Fall 86

The A Team, a top 10 show Tues @8 for several seasons dropped to #30 once Who's The Boss took hold. So for it's final season A Team gets shunted to Fri@8 where they haven't had a hit in years, it gets cancelled after 13 eps.

More to come...