Paul Raven

Wk 2 of the season with all of the shows now on air Cosby Show NBC 29.8/49 A Different World NBC 28.2/45 Growing Pains ABC 26.5/41 Cheers NBC 26.1/41 Moonlighting ABC 25.9/40 Golden Girls NBC 24.4/44 Who's the Boss? ABC 24.0/39 Tonight Show 25th Anniversary NBC 23.8/39 Murder, She Wrote CBS 22.8/34 Family Ties NBC 20.9/32 60 Minutes CBS 20.7/34 ALF NBC 20.3/32 NBC Monday Night Movies NBC 20.2/32 Amen NBC 18.7/34 Valerie's Family My Two Dads NBC NBC 18.6/28 NBC Sunday Night Movie NBC 18.1/29 227 NBC 17.6/32 Hooperman ABC 17.5/28 CBS Sunday Movie CBS 17.5/29 Dolly ABC 17.3/26 Head of the Class ABC 17.1/28 Dallas CBS 17.0/30 Hunter NBC 17.0/34 Thirtysomething ABC 16.7/30 Perfect Strangers ABC 16.3/28 Matlock NBC 15.25 Miami Vice NBC 15.9/28 Designing Women CBS 15.8/24 Facts of Life NBC 15.4/29 Dynasty ABC 15.2/26 Newhart CBS 15.2/23 Falcon Crest CBS 15.1/28 Slap Maxwell Story ABC 14 Magnum, Pl. CBS 14.9/24 J.J. Starbuck NBC 14.9/23 Knots Landing CBS 14.8/25 Crime Story NBC 14.2/26 St. Elsewhere NBC 14.1/24 Beauty and the Beast CBS 14.0/26 Equalizer CBS 14.0/24 Monday Night Movie NBC 13.7/22 33. Cagney & Lacey CBS 13.6/23 Highway to Heaven NBC 13.5/23 Kate & Allie CBS 13.0/20 Our House NBC 12.4/21 MacGyver ABC 12.2/19 Frank's Place CBS 12.2/20 A Year in the Life NBC 12.0/19 Private Eye NBC 11.9/22 Buck James ABC 11.6/19 Wiseguy CBS 11.5/18 Oldest Rookie CBS 10.8/18 20/20 ABC 10.7/20 Spenser: For Hire ABC ABC 10.7/20 Tour of Duty CBS 10.3/17 Disney Sunday Movie ABC 10.2/18 Hotel ABC 9.6/19 Jake and the Fatman CBS 9.6/15 Rags to Riches NBC 9,6/18 Full House ABC 9.5/18 I Married Dora ABC 9.4/17 ABC Thursday Night Movie ABC 9.4/15 Law and Harry McGraw CBS 9.4/17 O'Hara ABC 8.5/15 Charmings ABC 8.4/14 Sledge Hammer! ABC 7.9/13 My Sister Sam CBS 7.3/14 Everything's Relative CBS 7.2/13 West 57th CBS 6.9/14 Max Headroom ABC 6.4/11 Leg Work CBS 6.0/11 Once a Hero ABC 4.6/9

I think CBS was the last to continue to offer fresh programming on Saturdays. I guess the others gave up when season after season they couldn't come up with a winner. And viewing patterns changed. Looking at the ratings above, My Sister Sam got a raw deal.Originally scheduled for Mon 8.30-9.00 between Kate and Allie and Murphy Brown it was switched with Frank's Place to Sat where it was off the air in a matter of weeks. Had it stayed on Mon it probably would have lasted the season at least. Leg Work and Everything's Relative were also quickly dropped. Margaret Colin was the star of Leg Work. Her co-stars - Frances McDormand and Patrick James Clarke (ex RH, SFT )It was CBS' second attempt to give her a series. Jason Alexander and John Bolger were in Everything's Relative.

Dramatist, I know you mentioned not having read Rouverol's book. You can borrow it online at Open Library. I think you'll enjoy it!

i just jumped online to grab a quick look at a PP episode. Maybe Mal Young should do the same. The sets, lighting, staging, costumes etc outshine today's Y&R. Surely the budget of online OLTL was less than Y&R ? What was the taping schedule of OLTL ?

Yes I went back and realized I had read that....old age catching up with me...BTW Heart of JJ was posted a while back in the old Proposed Soaps thread which was archived and I have reposted(planning to put everything back in when I'm so inclined). So Mr Gussman had the clout to get that credit. I know Irving Vendig had a created by tag at the end of Edge of Night each ep until he left in the early 60's. Did find the opening amusing when the actors had to pose in those picture frames.

NY Times Oct 28 2000 Charles Gussman, 87, Dies; Spinner of Soap Opera Webs Charles J. Gussman, who brought delightfully tangled plots, addictively picturesque characters and heaping doses of steamy romance to soap operas he wrote for radio and television, died on Oct. 18. He was 87 and lived on a farm in Holland, Pa. Mr. Gussman was a master of a genre that once claimed 20 million radio listeners a day, from Cole Porter to housewives to construction workers on lunchtime breaks. He strove to bring wit and cleverness to what often seemed a melodramatic formula of failed love, insidious illness and, always, the ever-dangling hope that all questions might be answered in the next episode, said Anthony Heilbut, who is researching soap operas as part of a book he is writing. With relish, ''he turned the already baroque story lines rococo,'' Mr. Heilbut said. Among the radio serials for which Mr. Gussman wrote were ''The Road of Life,'' ''The Right to Happiness'' and ''Young Doctor Malone.'' All three were among the top-rated programs of the early 1950's, when daytime soap operas, usually 15 minutes long and named for the soap companies that sponsored them, attracted far more listeners than nighttime dramas. A typical story line for the Malone program might go: Jerry Malone, a principled and idealistic physician in the little town of Three Oaks, goes to New York on a business trip; there he falls into the clutches of the treacherous Lucia Standish. Meanwhile, his wife, Ann, is fooling around with Sam Williams, an aggressive Three Oaks businessman. Though these shows were far from serious drama, Arthur Miller and other serious young playwrights were more than willing to write such episodes. A basic requirement for success, Mr. Heilbut argued, was not to be condescending. Of Mr. Gussman, he said: ''He wasn't really winking, but was trying to do the best he could with this idiom. He went for broke.'' Mr. Gussman was born in Kansas City, Mo., in 1913, his daughter, C. Brooke Gruenberg, said. His father was a railroad worker who became a lawyer by attending night school. The boy was picked up by police at the age of 4 for ''promiscuous throwing of cardboard,'' but became an Eagle Scout. He attended the University of Missouri for two years before dropping out during the Depression because of lack of money. He wandered from radio station to radio station working as an announcer. At 19, he managed a radio station in Iowa, his daughter said. One of his earliest writing jobs was a serialized radio version of ''Lil' Abner,'' a brazen combination of soap opera and down-home humor, Mr. Heilbut said. Mr. Gussman conferred regularly with Al Capp, the comic strip's creator, but had license to develop his own plots. As television became the dominant medium, Mr. Gussman turned to it enthusiastically. But he hedged his bets. For the last radio episode of ''The Road of Life'' in 1959, he left at least three cliffhangers hanging, including a man on the verge of realizing that the man he had just shot was his father. Mr. Gussman's work for television included writing for some of its first soaps, including ''Search for Tomorrow'' and the television version of ''Young Doctor Malone.'' He wrote the pilot script of ''Days of Our Lives'' and gave the series its name. He once said of the title, ''The big guys loved it because it didn't mean a thing.'' He also wrote some episodes of ''Gilligan's Island,'' among other shows. Ms. Gruenberg said that her father tried to fight blacklisting during the McCarthy era by requesting actors whom he knew were controversial because of allegations of Communist connections. When some of them began to be accepted, he knew the situation was easing. He also faced another challenge in bringing the amount of sex to soap operas he sensed viewers desired. Network policies required all actors to have at least one foot on the floor at all times. ''His basic solution was contortionists,'' Ms. Gruenberg said. She described his creative process as simultaneously reading a magazine and playing solitaire in the living room, then retreating to an officer to bang out a complete and almost always perfect script in less than three hours. ''My mother would say: 'Be quiet, Brooke. Daddy's working,' '' she said. ''I had the strangest idea what work was.'' In addition to Ms. Gruenberg, also of Holland, Mr. Gussman is survived by a son, Christopher of Kansas City, and a stepdaughter, Zoe Hollenbeck Barr of Santa Rosa, Calif. He and his first wife, the former Mary Alice Young, the mother of his children, were divorced in 1969. His second wife, the former Angelique Dean Hollenbeck, died in 1985. For years, Mr. Gussman had said he wanted his last words to be memorable. As his death approached, his daughter reminded him of his wish. He slowly removed the oxygen mask, she said, and whispered in the faintest voice: ''And now for a final word from our sponsor. . . .''

To give a clearer picture of how the ratings related to the schedule. Sunday 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 ABC movie Spenser: For Hire Dolly Buck James CBS 60 Minutes Murder, She Wrote movie Fox 21 Jump Street Werewolf Married with Children The Tracey Ullman Show Duet local programming NBC Our House Family Ties My Two Dads movie PBS local programming Masterpiece Theatre Monday 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 ABC MacGyver football CBS Frank's Place Kate & Allie Newhart Designing Women Cagney & Lacey NBC ALF The Hogan Family movie Tuesday 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 ABC Who's the Boss? Growing Pains Moonlighting Thirtysomething CBS Houston Knights Jake and the Fatman The Law & Harry McGraw NBC Matlock J.J. Starbuck Crime Story Wednesday 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 ABC Perfect Strangers Head of the Class Hooperman The Slap Maxwell Story Dynasty CBS The Oldest Rookie Magnum, P.I. The Equalizer NBC Highway to Heaven A Year in the Life St. Elsewhere Thursday 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 ABC Sledge Hammer! The Charmings movie CBS Tour of Duty Wiseguy Knots Landing NBC The Cosby Show A Different World Cheers Night Court L.A. Law Friday 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 ABC Full House I Married Dora Max Headroom 20/20 CBS Beauty and the Beast Dallas Falcon Crest NBC Rags to Riches Miami Vice Private Eye Saturday 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 ABC Once a Hero Ohara Hotel CBS My Sister Sam Everything's Relative Leg Work West 57th Fox Mr. President Women in Prison The New Adventures of Beans Baxter Second Chance local programming NBC The Facts of Life 227 The Golden Girls Amen Hunter

No worries...I'll let you know when she pops up May I propose: Judy Lewis John Loprieno Elizabeth Savage Komrad Matthei Allan Miller Michael Nader Jon Cypher Damien Scheller Dan Frazer

Thanks again for all this info. Re Maxine Stewart on PP. I am currently watching from the start and as of mid 1966, no sight of Mrs Hewit...

And 227 and Amen were winning their time slots on NBC Saturday. Frank's Place on CBS starred Tim and Daphne Reid and was given the prime Monday lead in slot.

That list is all the shows that aired that week. Falcon Crest was not shown as CBS aired a 2 hr Beauty and the Beast 8-10 pm with Dallas at 10. The following week Dallas moved back to 9 and Falcon Crest had its season premiere at 10 Other shows not appearing in premiere week CBS Magnum PI ,The Equalizer. Law and Harry McGraw, Leg Work, West 57th, Everything's Relative and My Sister Sam ABC Head of the Class, Thirtysomething,O'Hara and Hotel NBC Amen, Hunter and LA Law.

Great Thanks!! That Sybil is something else. Funny how episodes of a short lived show surface...would be great if other similar shows eg Hotel Cosmopolitan or The Seeking Heart turned up

Diana Van Der Vlis Geraldine Brooks Lloyd Bochner Maxine Suart William Smithers Richard Cox Gwyda Donhowe Madlyn Rhue Percy Rodriquez

With the fall season upon us, I thought some of you might be interested to see what the Big 3 offered up to begin the 1987/88 TV season. Would welcome any questions/comments and happy to post more if anyone is interested ... Cosby Show NBC 31.5/51 A Different World NBC 31.3/49 Cheers NBC 28.4/44 Night Court NBC 24.9/40 Dolly Show ABC 24.7/38 Who's the Boss? ABC 23.4/39 Growing Pains ABC 23.3/36 Golden Girls NBC 22.3/40 Full House Special ABC 21.7/34 Hooperman NBC 21.5/35 Family Ties NBC 21.0/34 Murder, She Wrote CBS 20.4/32 I Married Dora Special ABC 20.3/33 60 Minutes CBS 20.0/37 Newhart CBS 19.1/30 Monday Night Football ABC 18.7/34 Moonlighting ABC 18.3/32 Slap Maxwell ABC 18.2/31 My Two Dads NBC 18.1/28 Unsolved Mysteries Special NBC 17.9/32 Alf NBC 17.9/29 Designing Women CBS 17.8/28 Head of the Class ABC 17,4/29 227 NBC 17.3/32 Matlock NBC 17.0/27 Dallas CBS 16.9/31 Buck James ABC 16.6/30 Special Movie Presentation CBS 16.6/31 Dynasty ABC 16.5/28 NBC Sunday Night Movie NBC 16.5/27 Cagney & Lacey CBS 16.4/28 Valerie's Family Miami Vice NBC 16.2/29 J.J. Starbuck Special NBC 15.8/30 Kate & Allie CBS 15.6/24 Highway to Heaven NBC 15.6/27 Perfect Strangers ABC 15.2/27 Knots Landing CBS 15.2/27 Facts of Life NBC 14.8/29 20/20 ABC 14.7/28 Equalizer CBS 14.4/24 Frank's Place Special CBS 13.9/23 A Year in the Life NBC 13.8/23 Beauty & the Beast Special CBS 13.5/26 St Elsewhere NBC 13.4/23 NBC Monday Movie 13.4/22 CBS Movie Special 13.1/22 CBS Sunday Movie 12.6/21 Jake and the Fatman Special CBS 12.5/24 Crime Story NBC 12.3/21 ABC Thursday Night Movie ABC 12.2/20 Wiseguy CBS 12.1/19 MacGyver ABC 11.9/20 Private Eye NBC 11.5/22 Rags to Riches NBC 11.2/21 Tour of Duty CBS 10.6/17 Disney Sunday Movie ABC 10.4/19 Oldest Rookie CBS 10.4/18 Our House NBC 10.2/19 Spenser: For Hire ABC 10.1/16 I Married Dora ABC 10.1/18 Houston Knights CBS 9.6/16 Full House ABC 9.3/18 Sledge Hammer ABC 7.9/13 ABC Sat. Night Movie Special ABC 7.3/14 Max Headroom ABC 6.9/13 Charmings ABC 6.7/11 Once a Hero ABC 3.7/7

The reference to Lew as Luke and of Madison are further evidence that Marland had a hand in reshaping DePriest's last week.

Variety Dec 25 1989 Ratings apparently came up roses for Multimedia Entertainment's talk show Private Affairs which just ended three -week test run on Sacramento's KCRA -TV. Show, which premiered Dec. 4, scored overnight 2.5 rating /12 share average for first week, 2.9/13 in second week and further picked up steam to 4.6/14 average rating midway through final week (as of Dec. 20). Getting little advance on -air promotion, Private Affairs filled in for NBC affiliate's Generations at 10 a.m., while soap only scored average 1.4/6 during test period as leadout at 10:30 a.m.

Re PP Maybe the uploader needs to label them differently. You can find all sorts of stuff if you think of alternate titles.

John Aprea replaced David Ackroyd as Dave Gilchrist on AW while Ackroyd filmed a pilot called 'Exo-Man'. Getting tougher to think of new additions as Ifor now I'm sticking to those who've had at least 3 roles... Loyita Chapel Marion Brash Ellen Dolan Kate Dezina Jane Hoffman Michael Goodwin Charles Baxter

Re Hotel Cosmopolitan Mary K Wells was in the premiere cast as was Lois Holmes

Regarding Ruth Warrick - Wasn't it the case that at first she was playing Pheobe too dark and was told to make her less threatening? Watching her on Peyton Place as Hannah, she definitely not subtle in her acting, but that made it all the more fun to watch as she wailed against Ann Howard and threatened/cowered before Martin Peyton...

William Joyce Anita Gillette Ed Fry Robert Desiderio John Aprea Eileen Barnett Robert Loggia Drew Snyder

Broadcasting October 1989 CBS remains the consistent number -one ranked network in daytime. The network is paced by The Young and the Restless, usually the highest rated show, and usually places four other shows in the top 10: As the World Turns, from 2 -3 p.m.; The Bold and the Beautiful, from 1:30 -2 p.m.; The Price is Right, from 11 to noon, and Guiding Light, from 3-4 p.m. ABC, which is ranked second during the day, is usually the strongest network in terms of demos, based on the strength of three of their soaps, General Hospital, All My Children and One Life to Live, which usually come in as the second, third and fourth -rated shows of the day, respectively. NBC, which has consistently been in third place during the day, made a bold move earlier in the year when it introduced Generations, the first soap opera to feature a predominantly black cast. Going up against Young and the Restless at 12:30 p.m., the six month old serial is the lowest rated soap. "Right now, the show [Generations] is performing up to our expectation, which is about a nine share," said Jackie Smith, vice president, daytime programs, ' NBC Entertainment. "It will take a while to bring it up to the teens. According to research and focus groups, some characters are becoming more favorable and the show itself is beginning to be perceived as a very likeable show," she said. According to Lucy Johnson, vice president, daytime programs, CBS, daytime schedules may be the toughest to try to adjust. "People build their lives around their viewing patterns, so you try not to change your schedule. Usually the most successful schedules are those that remain constant. That's why you try to fix and develop a show as it goes along, because it can take an audience five years to sample and accept a new serial," she said. In addition to the afternoon, where CBS scores well with The Young and the Restless, the network also pulls in strong numbers with its morning schedule, which since July has included Wheel of Fortune, picked up from NBC. "Shows in the early morning are easier to change because people are busier at that time of the day as opposed to the afternoon," said Johnson. "Even so, you still don't like to make a lot of changes. That's why the Wheel of Fortune move was so drastic. Wheel is starting to show some growth," she said. The 11-to -noon time period is dominated by CBS's The Price is Right. "We've been blessed with The Price is Right, which is the only hour -long game show on television," said Johnson. "During the summer, the show goes into reruns and the ratings don't change." At 11- 11:30, the show dominates NBC's Golden Girls and the first half -hour of ABC's Home. From 11:30 to noon, the show is number one against 227 on NBC and the second half -hour of Home. For NBC, further change may be forthcoming. Smith says while there are no immediate plans to pull Golden Girls or 227, "ultimately, we're using them to warm up the time periods for new concepts." Some of those new concepts include a serial which "will focus on a lighter side. There really hasn't been a soap that presented a lighter point of view," she said. The half -hour project will be co- produced by NBC Productions. In addition, Smith said a project to be hosted by Night Court co- star Marsha Warfield is in the works. Smith said the Warfield project will be ready sometime in 1990, with the serial slated for 1991. Although NBC has cut back on the number of game shows on its daytime schedule, Smith said some game show concepts are also in the works. "We're undertaking some new and classic game shows, including one that needs to be produced live," she said. Smith emphasized that the game concepts were in the experimental stage. In the afternoon, where no further changes are expected, CBS wins at 12:30 -1:30 p.m. with The Young and the Restless, but ABC takes over from there until 4 p.m., with All My Children at 1 -2 p.m.,. One Life to Live at 2 -3 p.m., and General Hospital at 3 -4 p.m. ABC attracts the younger demos with their soaps, while CBS draws a much older audience, especially later in the afternoon, with As the World Turns (2 -3 p.m.) and Guiding Light (3-4 p.m.). The two serials, which have been on the air for 33 and 36 years, respectively, "appeal to a slightly older and conservative audience without ignoring current issues," said Johnson. For NBC, its highest performing soap is the long -running Days of Our Lives, which has been on the air for 24 years. Airing from I2 p.m., the show ranks third in household numbers for the time slot, but comes in second among women 18-49, and women 25 -54. Although daytime television has traditionally been the domain of women, and primarily still is, Johnson says the landscape is changing. "Research shows there are more men and young people watching and it's affecting sales patterns, resulting in different advertisers coming into daytime," she said. As evidence of this change in daytime demographics, an NBC study conducted earlier in the year showed daytime viewing among college students to be much higher than was previously thought. The study showed that in a typical week, network daytime serials were watched by 47% of all college students, 29% male and 62% female. "I think daytime is healthy, not that there aren't problems," said Johnson. "But as a form, it's healthy. It's a good advertising vehicle because the audience is guaranteed."

I guess that DePriest was fired due to failure to get the ratings up.For the 74-75 season TD had a 9.0 rating but for 75-76 it was down to a 7.3 It's lead in Days had also dropped. I guess viewers were accustomed to seeing Matt, Maggie, Steve, Carolee, Althea. Now there was an influx of Dancys, Carolee was gone, Nick returned briefly and Althea was involved with the awful Scott. Plus a recast Mike and the sidelining of Toni... And OLTL moved opposite TD in mid 76 so now it was competing with 2 soaps.

Eric returns!

Heather got pregnant and gave up the baby before Jeff met Anne.