^

which included lavish sets.

All soaps, be it 1973 or 2006, focus on the actors rather than the backgrounds. Daytime sets are generally not up to par to go "hmm, lets focus in on the Brady livng room today ...". Y&R however has for decades, picked objects in its sets and used them to start scenes. Be it a vase, a glass award in the Newman halls, etc etc.

OK, I was just thinking, which years do you think were pivotal to Daytime soaps, which affected the direction of the entire genre?

I can think of the following:

1951- Search For Tomorrow goes on air and soon becomes the first soap to be a long-running success.

1956- The first half-hour serials, As The World Turns and The Edge of Night, go on air.

1958- ATWT secures #1 spot which it would hold down for 20 years.

1967- more soaps move to 30 minutes and begin transitioning to tape.

1968- Another World and The Doctors become the first soaps to break the CBS stranglehold on the ratings.

1975- Days, AW and ATWT all expand to an hour, ATWT and EON the last soaps to change to tape.

1980- in many ways a decisive year. ABC Daytime begins the apex of its domination and General Hospital begins its domination of the ratings, whilst NBC Daytime experiences a catastrophic collapse from which it would never recover.

1988- Young & the Restless reaches #1, from which it has never let go.

1993- in many ways, a fateful year for Daytime because the effects of it are still being felt today:

- Guiding Light kills off Maureen Bauer

- the death of Douglas Marland

- the arrival of James E. Reilly as HW of Days

1999- the cancellation of Another World and the launch of Passions. I think to a degree this has also affected the genre, in its own way.

Anyone have any more years to add to this?

How could you leave out the thing that destroyed Daytime Ratings forever????

THE O.J. Simpson Trial.

MILLIONS of soap viewers never returned to daytime after it was basically PRE-EMPTED for a whole year!!!!

THAT is a top 3 defining moment as soap averages went from 8.1 to 3.1 and never recovered.

that, and the ratings point system has changed.

Along with the OJ trial, the Oliver North hearings. I don't remember the year. The Oliver North hearings were in the summer, which are when teens typically watch soaps. This was before the all news channels, at least in my area. I know it also had a negative impact on soaps.

Of course, another year, which I don't remember was when Guiding Light went from radio to TV.

How could you leave out the thing that destroyed Daytime Ratings forever????

THE O.J. Simpson Trial.

MILLIONS of soap viewers never returned to daytime after it was basically PRE-EMPTED for a whole year!!!!

THAT is a top 3 defining moment as soap averages went from 8.1 to 3.1 and never recovered.

I tend to think, but many will disagree, that the impact of the OJ Simpson trial is (slightly) overstated.

The rate of decline from 1975 (when I think viewership of Daytime peaked) to c. 2000 was fairly steady. In 1980 it was approximately 7.5, in 1990 approximately 5.6 and in 2000 around 4.0. And soaps had been pre-empted for various events before OJ- the Iran-Contra hearings in 1988, which also happened to be the year of the writers' strike. I tend to think of it as a cop-out to cover up the declining quality of soaps in recent years. Since 2000, however, the rate of viewership erosion of Daytime- and probably network TV as a whole- appears to be much sharper. Even in the late 90s, well after OJ, soaps were still seen as a viable medium with a future, otherwise Port Charles, Sunet Beach and Passions would never have been created. That's the big difference between pre-2000 and post-2000 daytime.

1974- The 1st annual Daytime Emmy Awards air

Pivotal moments for Y&R

1973 - premiere; Jeanne Cooper joins the cast

1979 - Melody Thomas Scott joins the cast

1980 - expansion to 1 hour; Eric Braeden joins the cast

1982 - the original families, the Brookses and the Fosters, are phased out, and the Abbotts become the new core family

1986 - Lauralee Bell joins the cast full-time

1988 - reaches #1

1992 - first cross-over with The Bold and the Beautiful (don't know how B&B survived during the pre-Sheila years; Days must have been killing it back then)

2005 - Bill Bell passes away

Edited December 17, 200618 yr by KateW

1992 - first cross-over with The Bold and the Beautiful (don't know how B&B survived during the pre-Sheila years; Days must have been killing it back then)

Well for the first few years it was CBS' lowest-rated soap. But to demonstrate the strength and consistency of CBSD, its numbers were pretty decent from the beginning and that alone was a big achievement because very few new soaps could get such numbers from the start (some, like Y&R and Ryan's Hope, took at least a couple of years). It inherited that mantle from Capitol, which got decent numbers throughout its run, which in turn had replaced SFT which was doing fine right up to the time it moved to NBC. Basically, B&B was born in extremely fortunate circumstances as it was scheduled between the network's then two highest-rated soaps, Y&R and ATWT. So it was certain to get good numbers from the start and grow from there.

2006 - Willow joins Days of our Lives

2006 - Willow joins Days of our Lives

2006 - James Reilly fired from Days. JER reportedly gives Kenny Corday the finger.

in all seriousness ...

1993 - James Reilly takes over Days of Our Lives writing

It was a turning point in soaps because it started to shape the stories the other shows told trying to compete. Like the influence Monty had on soaps in the early 80s, other shows tried to complete with Days by telling campy and supernatural storylines. They all failed.

2006 - James Reilly fired from Days. JER reportedly gives Kenny Corday the finger.

Don't forget, "Kiss my FAT ASS!"

2006 - James Reilly fired from Days. JER reportedly gives Kenny Corday the finger.

Who wouldn't have loved to be a fly on the wall for that one?

that, and the ratings point system has changed.

How did it change?

Plus, what made ratings slip first in 1988, then more acutely in 1995 and even more since 2001? What happened respectively in those years? Anyone?