I never saw the Cricket-heavy years, but what I have seen of her I enjoyed. She seems like another case of a character thats on so much that you just get burnt out on them. I wonder how William Bell could do that for so long considering the amount of negative backlash. Even when Aaron Spelling cast Tori Spelling on 90210 she had to wait well over a season before she got a storyline.

Cricket was EXTREMELY annoying in the 80s. It started with that awful nick-name, the constant pimping of the character and that huge halo flying over her. Most of all, some stuff was just badly written: Nina showed some excentric and ridiculous behaviour in her early days but Christine was shown so naive and trustworthy it was just sickening. And then, there was always half the town lusting for that little Miss Sunshine...

Beginning with Chris' mother things started to change for the better, though I've always H-A-T-E-D Chris and that dreadful singer Danny Romalotti - may he never come back! But with the Chris & Paul years, Phyllis entering the stage I became a huge fan of this character especially during the Alden reign when the character got backburned from time to time.

Judging SOD there was a pretty common feeling about the character since the opinion changed from get her off the screen (80s) to fan-favorite (90s)...

As for the original topic: Y&R gained major momentum in 1988 & 1989: Phillips death, Lisa Mansfield, Cassandra and the Rawland (?) murder, Victor becoming a ruthless business man, the story of Jessica Blair...

YEARLY SUMMARY — 1988

The mysterious Faren regained her memory and arranged to reconcile with her first husband, Evan, and to be a mother to their daughter, Betsy. Evan's housekeeper and lover, Janet, felt rejected by Evan because he had promised to marry her. Angered, she fired a gun at Faren, but shot and killed Evan instead. Faren told Andy Richards that she needed to stay with her daughter to avoid adding any further trauma to her life. Andy abided by Faren's wishes and moved to Pittsburgh.

Lauren wasn't thrilled to learn that Traci was pregnant with Brad's baby. But Brad Carlton had bigger problems than Lauren. Lisa, his ex-wife, wanted him back. Brad divorced Lisa after he had been paid a huge sum of money by his ex-father in-law, who didn't approve of Brad. Lisa, however, was determined to resume her life with Brad. She arranged for him to be offered a lucrative job in Chicago. Instead, Brad accepted a job from Lauren. Eventually, Lisa went off the deep end and kidnapped Brad. She held him prisoner in a deserted lodge for several weeks. Meanwhile, Brad's apparent desertion caused Traci to miscarry. In order to get through her loss, Traci turned to her writing, and to her former lover, Tim Sullivan.

After Jack Abbott's scheme to swindle the Mergeron stock away from Victor Newman backfired, Jack was hounded by the IRS. There was, however, a bright side. Brittany, Jack's auditor, soon felt an attraction toward the playboy and began dating him.

Marc Mergeron, who experienced a series of financial setbacks, became romantically involved with JoAnna, who soon began footing his bills. When Lauren learned that her mother was supporting Marc, she schemed to end that relationship. Her first step was to give Marc a job as a male model for the Fenmore Department Store chain. Marc also modelled for Jabot, but his arrogance eventually cost him the lucrative assignment.

Jill Abbott chose to ignore company procedure during the launching of her men's line at Jabot. She spent huge sums of money to promote the new products, which enraged her ex-husband, John Abbott. Meanwhile, Jill pursued an affair with her handsome assistant, David Kimball.

Katherine Chancellor discovered that Rex Sterling had been hired by Jill to romance her. Nevertheless, she accepted Rex's marriage proposal, which infuriated Jill, who was hoping for a proposal herself from Rex.

In a surprise move, Jill and Katherine teamed up to scheme against Nina Webster, who was pregnant with Phillip Chancellor's baby. Katherine offered the pregnant young woman room and board in her home. To Nina's disappointment, her living space was a cramped room in the attic. During Nina's stay, Katherine and Jill tried unsuccessfully to prove that another man had fathered the young woman's baby. They also offered Nina a huge sum of money to move to another part of the world, but Nina refused to take the bait. She was convinced that Phillip would eventually marry her and be a father to their baby son. Jill also arranged for a young man named Chase to romance Nina. Jill hoped that Chase would succeed in taking Nina away on a romantic vacation for three weeks, which would provide enough time to have Nina legally charged with deserting her baby. Nina, however, cut the vacation short when she discovered that baby Phillip was seriously ill. Phillip stood by Nina during the ordeal, which fuelled her hope that they'd marry. Fortunately, the baby survived the illness.

Cricket's mom, Jessica, arrived in Genoa City after she had dropped out of her daughter's life for several years. Initially, Cricket didn't want anything to do with Jessica, but sentiment got the better of the young model and they were soon reconciled. Jessica and John Abbott also fell in love. Jessica, however, neglected to tell her daughter or John that she was suffering from AIDS. Her secret came out when Jessica was suddenly hospitalized with a serious illness. She was treated by Dr. Scott Grainger.

Leanna Love, a former mental patient of Dr. Steven Lassiter, surfaced in Genoa City. Steven and Ashley Abbott had met and fallen in love. Leanne, however, believed that she was madly in love with and hated Ashley with a deadly passion. Her plans did not work, and eventually, Leanna abandoned her plans and her lunacy. She became involved with Jack Abbott, who arranged for Leanna to write a sensational tell-all biography, Ruthless: The Victor Newman Story, which would destroy Victor. Ironically, the wealthy businessman, who didn't know about Leanna's project, also hired her to write an authorized biography of his life. Without Jack's consent, or knowledge, Leanna added an extra chapter to the unauthorized book that chronicled Ashley's ill-fated affair with Victor, and included details about the young woman's abortion.

Victor decided to postpone divorcing Nikki after he learned that Ashley had married Steven Lassiter. Nikki, who was also pregnant with Victor's baby, hoped that Victor would eventually drop his divorce plans and resume their marriage. But when Ruthless hit the bookshops, Victor assumed that Nikki was responsible for the dirt on Ashley. In order to take the media's attention off Ashley, Victor quickly divorced Nikki. In a surprise move, he married Leanna Love. Nikki, however, discovered that her divorce from Victor wasn't legal. Meanwhile, Steven was killed, leaving Ashley a widow.

Paul Williams fell for a mysterious and beautiful woman named Cassandra. When Paul learned that Cassandra was an interior designer, he hired her to decorate his office. Soon after, Paul became romantically involved with Cassandra, but she was unwilling to take things beyond being just lovers. One evening, while dining at the home of George Rawlings, a client of Paul's, the young private eye was surprised to discover that Cassandra was Rawlings' wife. While socializing with George, the older gentleman confided to Paul that he was impotent. Nevertheless, George wanted to raise a child with Cassandra. To Paul's surprise, George asked him to father the baby!

According to my calculations, the #1 winning streak began on December 26, 1988. So, by now it's 930 weeks or 17 years, 9 months, 27 days.

Just to remind you that the highest rated week in daytime history was the one of November 16, 1981. 24 years, 11 months, 6 days passed since then (1300 weeks [rounded down]).

Sylph, I thought As the World Turns has the #1 record at 20 years. Could be wrong though.

I remember the crazy Lisa story. She had Brad in a cage and hired Rich Little to impersonate his voice when Traci called. The first Jan Spears of daytime. I watched Y&R during the late 80s and early 90s and it was known to some people as "The Cricket Hour."

Y&R did some crazy stuff in the 80s that rivaled any crazy stuff DAYS or Passions did.

Sylph, I thought As the World Turns has the #1 record at 20 years. Could be wrong though.

Yes, the magnificent Irna and her offsprings.

As The World Turns is best known for its virtually uninterrupted reign as the highest-rated soap from 1958 to 1978, twice tying for first place with NBC's Another World (1973–74 and 1977–78).

In season 1978–79 it lost its ratings crown and even its position as CBS' highest-rated soap, but still rated strongly. The Douglas Marland era of 1985–1993 saw a resurgence in ratings and by 1991 it was back in its once habitual top 4 placing.

Y&R did some crazy stuff in the 80s that rivaled any crazy stuff DAYS or Passions did.

Yeah, Bill Bell always had a kinky side. He had Leslie go nuts and hear voices; she was committed to a sanatorium in 1976. The same with Ashley, hearing her aborted baby cry in her head when she went nuts in the 80's? How about when Kay pretended to be dead and then appeared in flowing white chiffon to »haunt« Suzanne and drive her crazy? How about when Lauren visited her psychic friend Tamara in 1985 and used her advice to dig up dirt on Gina and distance herself from Shawn?

The same with Ashley, hearing her aborted baby cry in her head when she went nuts in the 80's?

That happened in late 1986 and by New Years Ash was in a NYC sanitorium. I hated that story because Bell preached his beliefs - abrtion is baaaaaaaaaaad - much too openly and biased.

The nuthouse action was over-the-camp-top though. There was Meg Wyle (GH, DAYS et al.) and Michelle Davison (who later played homeless Ruthanne who befriended Stephanie on B& as loony inmates.

Thank you.

When Victor discovered that Ashley had been pregnant with his baby and had had an abortion, he berated her. Traumatised, Ashley suffered a nervous breakdown in New York City. Since she wasn't carrying any identification, Ashley ended up in an overcrowded mental institution, where she was treated by dr. Lassister.

Eventually, John Abbott located his daughter, Ashley, in the New York mental institution. He arranged for her return to Genoa City. Meanwhile, dr. Lassister, who had fallen in love with his patient, also moved to Genoa City so that he could pursue a romance with Ashley.

Sheila Forever, do you remember the year Kay haunted Suzanne?

Hello all!!

Let me start by saying this is my first post & I've enjoyed reading my soap family's feeling for manys years here.....I've also kept myself from posting on this site for years to avoid the board drama... alas (MAYBE?) Any-WHO.. As I know the streaks go like this...

ATWT was NO1 from 1958-1978 until AMC took over the NO1 spot for one year 1978-79 then GH became No1 1979-1987 ALTHOUGH this WAS NOT consecutive GL took the no1 spot for a couple months in 1984 Y&R then took the no1 spot in 1987 but again this was NOT consecutive ....AMC yes AMC took the NO1 spot for one week in 1993 when Tad and Dixie reunited. So really Y&R has only been NO1 since 1993.

For season 1987/88, GH and Y&R shared #1 spot with an 8.1 rating. AMC and OLTL were tied for #3 with a 7.7 rating (I imagine during that seaon it was a very close-run thing between those four). However, Y&R took over outright #1 the following season and has remained so ever since. I'd like to see the ratings for the week of Patch and Kayla's wedding.

Hello all!!

AMC yes AMC took the NO1 spot for one week in 1993 when Tad and Dixie reunited. So really Y&R has only been NO1 since 1993.

Hello jam!

Anyway, I think this is wrong. If I remember correctly, AMC came close to tie with Y&R the week of Tad & Dixie's 93 reunion, but Y&R still beat it by a few points.

Danny raped Cricket? When and why?