beebs

Capitol's cancellation looking increasingly justified as SB begins to nip at their heels, and AW comfortably beating them most weeks. Granted it seems every CBS soap was trending downward that fall, but I suspect James Lipton's writing didn't help matters much.

For 1985-86 vs. 1984-85: 1 . GH 9.1 (+0.1) 2. Y&R 8.4 (+0.4) 3. AMC 7.9 (-0.2) 4. OLTL 7.7 (+0.4) 5. DAYS 7.4 (+0.4) 6. ATWT 6.8 (+0.1) 7. GL 6.6 (-0.6) 8. AW 5.3 (-0.1) 9. CAP 5.2 (-0.4) 10. SB 4.3 (+0.8) 11. LOV 4.1 (0.0) 12. RH 3.1 (-0.1) 13. SFT 2.8 (-0.4) A generally positive year for many shows. GH and Y&R gaining back some viewers they'd lost in 1984-85, OLTL surging ahead thanks to Rauch/O'Shea. DAYS upward momentum continues, as the supercouple era really gets into gear. RoJohn/Marlena and the Pawn storyline were clearly a big hit. Some weakness in AMC starting to appear, GL obviously being the biggest loser this year. AW, despite some minor ratings loss, begins to pull ahead of Capitol, and nearly occasionally beats GL. Too bad the momenutum wasn't sustained into 1987, despite both shows around it maintaining or gaining viewers. SB gained some major support, they're now more or less on par with the numbers TX got in the same slot their first year.

We watch soaps, but as they've said upthread, we relied mostly on imports, I think less due to financials rather than how easy it is to just air American and British soaps. Y&R has always been HUGE here, helped by it airing a day ahead and in late afternoon (usually 4 or 4:30pm ET). As @kalbir said, AW was massive up here, and I read an article that also mentioned that Texas had also been a huge hit up here, topping the ratings for many weeks early on. I do remember AMC airing for many many years on CBC to great success (I believe CBC began carrying it in 1982, though it may have begun earlier), and EON for many years as well, though i couldn't tell you how successful it was. Global aired DAYS for decades as well, but that ended when the show went to Peacock. I believe it airs on cable now. There's also a sizeable audience for British soaps, Coronation St. has been quite popular on CBC for years, and Emmerdale as well, to a lesser extent. We've made attempts of our own, obviously. I remember reading that CBC Radio aired a version of Search For Tomorrow in 1957, with DAYS' Corrine Conley playing Jo. As far as I know, it's still in their archive. Obviously we tried again on TV with High Hopes in the 70s, but again, nothing long-term. I think our biggest problem was that we didn't jump on the train early enough on, relying so heavily on American shows, it's quite a missed opportunity.

Ah there you go, much like in '78 when Don fell off a ledge trying to save Donna, the easiest way for this show to get a quick ratings boost is to throw someone off a tall building, apparently.

It was, and...yeah. For all the hype it was supposed to give them, it essentially amounted to a few weeks above 3.0 and that's it? Kinda sad, really.

Wild to see Loving so competitive at this stage, coming so close to beat AW, especially knowing how this truly is as good as it's gonna get for them. Were the stories really that strong at the time, or was it just them being buoyed by the uptick of ABCD in general?

Okay, so Season + Summer numbers for 1984-85 (vs. previous year): 1. GH 9.0 (-0.9) 2. AMC 8.1 (-0.7) 3. Y&R 8.0 (-0.6) 4. OLTL 7.3 (-0.5) 5. GL 7.2 (-0.7) 6. DAYS 7.0 (-0.2) 7. ATWT 6.7 (-1.0) 8. CAP 5.6 (-0.7) 9. AW 5.4 (-0.2) 10. LOV 4.1 (+0.4) 11. SB 3.5 (+0.2) 12. RH 3.2 (-1.6) 12. SFT 3.2 (-0.1) 14. EON 2.6 (-0.6) A truly rotten year for everyone except SB and LOV, though NBC generally came away relatively unscathed. In RH vs. LOV's case, I would expect that the numbers would be more or less reversed if they'd not moved timeslots, which would have made RH's drop seem far less jarring. ATWT definitely needed a new headwriter at this point, truly not surprised Marland was brought on shortly after this. As I think I mentioned upthread, this is the first year that VCRs truly took off, so I imagine some of the drop off in viewership is down to that, plus the upturn in the economy meaning more folks are out of the house during the day.

For the record, my mind was already at peace with this info, so as much as I understand where you're coming from, it did come off a little...patronizing. We generally are looking at trends, and the trend IS downward at this point. There was an earlier post about increase in VCR usage around this time, which I think explains a lot of the downturn in daily viewership (obviously among other factors). I think if we can't have a little fun with tying the numbers to the creative processes of the shows, then what are we even doing in this thread?

Stephen Nichols appears to have debuted in June. I will say, upon second look, they were coasting in and around 7.0 most of the summer up until August, when the wind seems to go out of their sails. The Pawn also begins in November, which I suspect will start to tick the ratings back up into the new year.

We're definitely now hitting SFT's death spiral. DAYS' slight faltering after Bo & Hope's wedding having knock-on effects across the NBC lineup (minus SB who are already thriving). ATWT really struggling, which isn't helping Capitol or GL's numbers. Though the combination of Pam Long's stories starting to sour on the audience, plus SB's growth and PFS' return to GH helping to stabilize them can't help GL.

SB really picking steam quickly. AW nearly beating ATWT at this point. Obviously the momentum won't last, but it's shocking to see. For Y&R, I believe the first week of June is when Kay finally shows John Abbott the slides exposing Jill's affair, promptly causing him to go home screaming after Jill (who was busy eye-f***ing Brad by the pool), and then having a stroke in the bedroom. So unsurprised the numbers jumped there. Nice to see DAYS' bump for Bo & Hope's wedding, though I am surprised they didn't get more of a bump, considering how much that story lifted the show's ratings in the previous year! Maybe the bad press from not inviting most of Hope's family didn't help matters.

Similar ratings for a much cheaper show to produce. So I guess it wasn't a total bust. Thanks, @JAS0N47!

12/31/84-1/4/85 - SFT's highest rating yet at NBC. LOV ties their series high. Unfortunately, the RH/LOV timeslot move is clearly a big bust, even at this point. Though LOV is moving upwards slightly, it's hardly improved on the previous year's numbers, and RH has tanked. I forget what was in LOV's old 11:30 timeslot at this point, and how were they doing.

I forgot to mention as well, a friend on mine had a small speaking role last year on Coronation St.

She was EP of "Working The Engels" on NBC with her sister Katie, but otherwise I'm not familiar with other projects she's been involved in.

It's interesting to see the growth, though weird that it doesn't reflect as strongly in the overall numbers for the year. Y&R's growth has been slow and steady from 81-82 where they were 5th with 7.4, to 83-84 where they're now solidly 3rd with 8.6, and by season's end, they're consistently topping AMC for #2! I Have to hand it to Bell for collecting everything together so expertly after such a steep slump not two years prior. GL's upward movement is also impressive, though it's hardly ticked upward vs. GH since January '84, which does surprise me considering the popularity of the first PKL era within the fandom.

1983-84 really shook things up. The season + summer (vs. 1982-83) (yes, I know Fast Nationals aren't 100% accurate so take it with a grain of salt if you're so inclined): GH 9.9 (+0.1) AMC 8.8 (-0.4) Y&R 8.6 (+0.4) GL 7.9 (+0.5) OLTL 7.8 (-0.2) ATWT 7.7 (+0.2) DAYS 7.2 (+1.3) CAP 6.3 (+0.4) AW 5.6 (+0.5) RH 4.8 (-0.5) LOV 3.7 (-0.1) SFT 3.3 (+0.4) SB 3.3 -- EON 3.2 (-0.5) Obviously DAYS is the big winner this year, Bo and Hope really helped lift the show, and in some ways the rest of NBC Daytime, out of the gutter, even SFT getting a significant lift this year. Luke & Laura's return helped GH for awhile, but their departure, and DA's, tanked the show the rest of the year, so they stayed pretty much flat vs. 82-83. This seems to have had a knock-on effect to the rest of ABCD, with the rest of the lineup posting year-on-year losses. Will be interesting to see how Rauch/O'Shea lift OLTL up in the coming year, as well as the effect the timeslot swap has on RH vs. LOV. I'm assuming October 8 is when RH & LOV moved?

The only real good one I have was making friends by way of karaoke with Constance Ford's niece, who works as a TV sitcom writer here in Toronto. We spoke about how she was sick in hospital as a child and her aunt brought her flowers from the studio from Steve and Alice's wedding. At one point, she even got me on a three-way call with Meredith Scott Lynn, who was a good friend of hers. We lost touch many years ago, but I always really appreciated those little things she did for me. I also knew a bunch of people who'd been to high school with Brittany Allen, and every time I mentioned being interested in soaps, her name would always inevitably come up at every social function, with her former classmates waxing poetic about how unbelievably talented and kind and virtuous and wonderful she was, and it would take everything in my power to hold my tongue about how the soap fandom actually felt about her. 😬

SFT continuing to build its audience, and yet NBC affiliates still won't pick it up. The lack of clearance really prevented them from surviving long-term. With those ~50 extra affiliates, they'd easily be besting RH at this rate.

Of course, there used to be a higher quality version of this up, but I always was fascinated by this beat of the story. Jill not only wanting to keep the paternity of the baby a secret (since there's a good chance it's Jack's), but she finds out the baby stands a very great chance of being born disabled. John wants the baby regardless, but Jill, knowing she'd be the primary caregiver, and not having been especially maternal with Philip, is horrified by the prospect of her life being spent caring for a disabled child, and... Add the fact they never definitively revealed to all that Jill's fall was intentional. I really miss the layers to the storytelling you got, especially with Y&R.

Considering Gary Tomlin was headwriting the show at the time, and he admitted to (I THINK) being ignorant of Alice's history on the show (someone correct me if I'm wrong about that), her return was doomed from the get-go.

Imagine getting Susan back to town with a teenage Anne as a spoiler for Bo & Hope? I could see it working just as well as Megan, but a bit deeper considering the generational history there.

The one-two punch of Luke & Laura's departure, and then Denise Alexander leaving in March really did a number on GH. Almost immediately after Lesley's "death", the show dips below 10.0 and it's all downhill from there.

So, for the 1982-83 season including summer, we've got (vs. previous season): 1. GH 9.8 (-0.8) 2. AMC 9.2 (-0.1) 3. Y&R 8.2 (+0.8) 4. OLTL 8.0 (-0.8) 5. ATWT 7.5 (+0.4) 6. GL 7.4 (-0.2) 7. CAP 5.9 (+0.5) 7. DAYS 5.9 (+0.2) 9. RH 5.3 (-1.4) 10. AW 5.1 (+0.6) 11. LOV 3.8 12. EON 3.7 (-1.0) 13. SFT 2.9 (-0.1) 14. TX 2.7 (-0.5) 15. DOC 1.6 (-1.2) RH clearly the biggest crash that year. Something about Labine/Mayer's return was not connecting with the audience, combined with Y&R's return to form really hurting them. I'm not entirely surprised ABC was willing to push it out the way in favour of Loving at this point. Nice to see AW making such strides, moreso than even DAYS!

Though it's a fast national, 8/22-8/26 is the first time since Spring 1980 that DAYS has been above a 7.0. Also nice to see SFT hitting a 4.0, their highest rating of their NBC run (so far?)