Courtesy of mystic_penguin at Goldderby

Week of 11/16/1981: (Luke and Laura's Wedding)

1. GH - 16.0/49

2. AMC - 10.2/37

2. OLTL - 10.2/37

4. GL - 7.9/25

5. Y&R - 7.3/26

6. RH - 7.0/24

7. ATWT - 6.9/24

8. SFT - 6.3/23

9. EON - 5.0/18

10. DAYS - 4.8/15

11. AW - 4.0/13

12. DOC - 1.8/7

13. TEX - 1.7/8

Oh that just makes me wanna cry seeing how high Ryan's Hope is! It would still be the best soap on TV had ABC not moved it to that awful timeslot which go the show moved to middle of the night time slots in most cities.

EON, SFT, DOC... Can someone refresh my memory - which soaps are these?

Edge of Night, Search For Tomorrow, The Doctors

EON: The Edge of Night (1956-1975, CBS; 1975-1984, ABC)

SFT: Search for Tomorrow (1951-1982, CBS; 1982-1986, NBC)

DOC: The Doctors (1963-1982, NBC)

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Oh that just makes me wanna cry seeing how high Ryan's Hope is! It would still be the best soap on TV had ABC not moved it to that awful timeslot which go the show moved to middle of the night time slots in most cities.

A good time for the show. Barbara Wilde was in the hospital paralyzed, Joe was bringing down Alexei as part of government sting, and the Meritkhara storyline was in full swing.

And look how *low* the NBC soaps are -- the bottom 4 rankings are all of the 4 NBC soaps. How fast they fell from the golden ratings years they were having just 5 years prior. SFT was CBS's lowest rated soap and *still* higher than anything on NBC, it actually made sense that NBC would pick it up from CBS the following year, but they didn't count on the fact that a lot of people would rather watch Y&R & RH (both higher rated at the time) than SFT (which would be its competition on CBS & ABC, respectively). Also, looking at how high GH's ratings were, look at how high GL's ratings were IN THE SAME TIME SLOT. GH got the highest ratings ever for a soap and GL *still* ranked #4 that week as the highest rated non-ABC soap. Up against powerhouses like GH and GL, poor Texas didn't really stand much of a chance. I can see why NBC moved it to the late morning the following year (to get it away from the unbeatable GH/GL competition), but at the same time, no soap has *ever* done well when aired before noon (you'd would've thought NBC would remember the "Morning Star/Paradise Bay" fiasco of the 1960s.). The only soap I can remember that had any level of success (albeit fair to moderate) before noon was Love of Life in it's long-running 11:30am slot in the late 1960s through 1970s.

If soaps were heavily promoted in primetime we wouldn't be talking about how pitiful the ratings are.

Well, it's not just that. Writing is a big factor. The writing in MOST primetime dramas has gotten beter than, say, 20 years ago. However, with soaps, it's more of a reverse trend. Also, audiences have also gotten smarter over the years and soaps haven't.

G

Cliff & Nina’s first wedding on AMC had over 20 million viewers.

Well, it's not just that. Writing is a big factor. The writing in MOST primetime dramas has gotten beter than, say, 20 years ago. However, with soaps, it's more of a reverse trend. Also, audiences have also gotten smarter over the years and soaps haven't.

G

I agree that writing is a factor, but I'd say promo is much more important in terms of getting viewers in. No matter how many writing changes you make, without promotion, nobody knows it's going to happen. If a soap like Y&R (which is on a big high, both creatively and writing) were promoted in primetime, I'm sure the ratings would skyrocket. Right now the show's ratings have been rising since it joined the SOAPnet lineup.

All the ABC/Days viewers are getting to see the show and like what they see obviously. Now let the former viewers in priemtime know the show is good and they'll tune in. The soap audience didn't die off, they just left. If they see "Oh wow, that looks pretty good," I'm sure they'd tune in, you just have to make the show good enough for them to stick around.

Exactly, Chris. Look what happened in January 2004 with the ratings.

Every single soap rose because of the reveal that Marlena was the Salem Serial Killer.

Courtesy of SON's ratings archive:

HH (Jan. 26-30 2004)

1. Y&R 4.9/16 (+.3)

2. DAYS 3.9/12 (+.3)

3. B&B 3.8/12 (+.3)

4. GH 3.4/10 (+.3)

5. ATWT 3.2/10 (same)

5 OLTL 3.2/10 (+.4)

5 AMC 3.2/10 (+.4)

8. GL 2.6/7 (+.1)

9. PSNS 2.3/7 (+.1)

Comparatively, take a look at more than a year later:

HH - August 15-19 2005

1. Y&R 4.2/14 (same)

2. B&B 3.4/11 (+.1)

3. ATWT 2.7/9 (+.1)

4. DAYS 2.6/8 (same)

4. GH 2.6/8 (-.1)

4. OLTL 2.6/8 (same)

7. AMC 2.5/8 (+.1)

8. GL 2.3/7 (same)

9. PSNS 1.7/5 (-.1)

All we need is a huge storyline for one soap, then headwriters would come up with great ideas for their own and the ratings would rise like it did in January '04. We also need A LOT of promos in primetime and daytime.

I think Victor and Nikki's 1984 wedding got huge ratings too. They brought back a lot of former cast members and it was heavily promoted.

It's amazing to see those huge shares from the past. I guess primetime shares were huge back then too.

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I agree that writing is a factor, but I'd say promo is much more important in terms of getting viewers in. No matter how many writing changes you make, without promotion, nobody knows it's going to happen. If a soap like Y&R (which is on a big high, both creatively and writing) were promoted in primetime, I'm sure the ratings would skyrocket. Right now the show's ratings have been rising since it joined the SOAPnet lineup.

All the ABC/Days viewers are getting to see the show and like what they see obviously. Now let the former viewers in priemtime know the show is good and they'll tune in. The soap audience didn't die off, they just left. If they see "Oh wow, that looks pretty good," I'm sure they'd tune in, you just have to make the show good enough for them to stick around.

I think writing is critical, but not for stunts. Can any daytime soap be consistently good for several months or a yaer anymore? I love ATWT, but there are plot holes galore and so much to pick apart in the stories. When I watch a show like Kyle XY this summer, I really believe the writers know where the story is going and everything that happens is a clue. But when I watch a soap story or mystery unfold, I rarely feel confident they know where it's going or there's a likelihood it will change halfway through. I think fans have become less loyal to their soaps because the writing has gotten worse and worse and it seems like TPTB care less about the quality.

I hope one soap (Y&R seems to be a popular pick this year) becomes consistently good and shows everyone how it's done. I get frustrated because it seems like all most shows want to do is cast, recast and cast some more and focus stories around new faces.

Keep in mind a ratings point in 1980 = 780,000 HH. It is now over 1.1 million -- which is almost 40 percent higher. (It's tough to compare ratings points because each year they change. Total viewers is better measure. Also, in 1980, cable was hardly a factor. Think about the fact the GL still got a 25 share the week it was opposite LL wedding.)

Here's what we've come up with so far. The total viewers need to be confirmed. Funny that Genie Francis was in the top 2 rated episodes.

1) GH November November 16, 1981 - 30 million (Luke & Laura's wedding)

2) Days July 25, 1988 - 25 million (Patch & Kayla's wedding) - Genie Francis was in the wedding party

3) ATWT May 31, 1984 - 20 million (Steve & Betsy's wedding)

3) Y&R April 13, 1984 - 20 million (Victor & Nikki's wedding)

3) AMC ??? date??? - 20 million (Cliff & Nina's wedding)

3) AMC ??? date??? - 20 million (Cliff & Nina's wedding)

Cliff & Nina first married in 1980, but I don't know the exact date. I think it was either late summer or early fall.