Jump to content

Vintage Soap Ratings


Recommended Posts

  • Members

Here are the Top 10 rated soaps for the 2 weeks ending 2/20/72 as reported by Daytime TV magazine (1st number is ratings, % is share)...

#1 - As the World Turns (12.0/38%)

#2 - General Hospital (11.3/35%)

#3 - Days of our Lives (10.2/32%)

#4 - The Edge of Night (9.8/31%)

#5 - Another World (9.7/31%)

#6 - Search for Tomorrow (9.5/33%)

#7 - The Doctors (9.4/31%)

#8 - The Guiding Light (9.3/31%)

#9 - Love is a Many Splendored Thing (8.7/28%)

#10 - One Life to Live (7.9/24%)

Each ratings point equals 620,000 homes, so this would translate...

#1 - ATWT - 7,440,000

#2 - GH - 7,006,000

#3 - Days - 6,324,000

#4 - TEON - 6,076,000

#5 - AW - 6,014,000

#6 - SFT - 5,890,000

#7 - DOC - 5,828,000

#8 - TGL - 5,766,000

#9 - LIAMST - 5,394,000

#10 - OLTL - 4,898,000

Other soaps on the air, but not making the top 10 (i.e. ratings lower than 7.9)...

Love of Life

Where the Heart Is

The Secret Storm

All My Children

Bright Promise (cancelled 3/31/72; replaced by Return to Peyton Place)

Somerset

The soap opera broadcast schedule for that time period...

CBS

11:30 - 12:00: Love of Life (n/a)

12:00 - 12:25: Where the Heart Is (n/a)

12:30 - 01:00: Search for Tomorrow (#6/9.5)

01:00 - 01:30: local

01:30 - 02:00: As the World Turns (#1/12.0)

02:00 - 02:30: Love is a Many Splendored Thing (#9/8.7)

02:30 - 03:00: The Guiding Light (#8/9.3)

03:00 - 03:30: The Secret Storm (n/a)

03:30 - 04:00: The Edge of Night (#4/9.8)

04:00 - 04:30: Gomer Pyle, USMC

NBC

11:30 - 12:00: The Hollywood Squares

12:00 - 12:30: Jeopardy!

12:30 - 01:00: The Who, What, or Where Game

01:00 - 01:30: local programming

01:30 - 02:00: Three on a Match

02:00 - 02:30: Days of our Lives (#3/10.2)

02:30 - 03:00: The Doctors (#7/9.4)

03:00 - 03:30: Another World (#5/9.7)

03:30 - 04:00: Bright Promise (n/a)

04:00 - 04:30: Somerset (n/a)

ABC

11:30 - 12:00: Bewitched

12:00 - 12:30: That Girl

12:30 - 01:00: Password

01:00 - 01:30: All My Children (n/a)

01:30 - 02:00: Let's Make a Deal

02:00 - 02:30: The Newlywed Game

02:30 - 03:00: The Dating Game

03:00 - 03:30: General Hospital (#2/11.3)

03:30 - 04:00: One Life to Live (#10/7.9)

04:00 - 04:30: Love, American Style

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 7
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members

For point of reference, here are the 71/72 season ratings/rankings...

#1 - As the World Turns (11.1)

#2 - General Hospital (10.4)

#3 - Days of our Lives (9.9)

#4 - The Edge of Night (9.5)

#5 - The Doctors (9.3)

#6 - Another World (9.1)

#7 - Search for Tomorrow (8.8)

#8 - The Guiding Light (8.6)

#9 - Love is a Many Splendored Thing (8.0)

#10 - Love of Life (7.4)

#10 - Return to Peyton Place (7.4)

#10 - The Secret Storm (7.4)

#13 - One Life to Live (7.3)

#14 - Somerset (6.5)

#15 - Where the Heart Is (6.3)

#16 - Bright Promise (6.1)

#17 - All My Children (5.7)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

So out of all of them ALL My Children is the one that really pretty much did not drop all that much I mean if it was in the 5's in 72, and only in the 2's today that is alot better than GH or ATWT which was in the 11's and 12's. And seeing as total viewers were only 600,000 or so back than and are over a million now, aren't there ratings pretty much the same as they have always been.

It would be interesting to see what AMC's total viewers were in 72, I really don't think they would be much higher than today, that is unless AMC started getting better ratings at a later point.

Thanks for posting these Matt.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

winterguy, I asked this question a few weeks ago and the answer was that the #s are the household #s in millions not the total viewers. There may be multiple people in a household watching and they count in the total viewers. ATWT had 7.44 million homes but probably like 10 million total viewers (as opposed to 3 million today).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Um...yeah, AMC started getting a *lot* better ratings at a later point. The show averaged a 9.4 for both the 81/82 season and the 82/83 season. It was the #1 soap with an average 9.0 rating for the 78/79 season., which was the 1st time since the 58/59 season that ATWT hadn't finished at #1 (although it had tied with Days & AW for a couple of those seasons).

When AMC premiered in 1970, it was part of an attempt by ABC to build an early afternoon soap block along the lines of CBS's lineup of LoL, WTHI, SFT. AMC premiered 1/5/70 at 1pm; "The Best of Everything" premiered 3/30/70 at noon; and "A World Apart" premiered 3/30/70 at 12:30pm. With the premieres of the last 2, the network schedules looked like this during those timeslots...

CBS

12:00pm-12:30pm: Where the Heart Is

12:30pm-01:00pm: Search for Tomorrow

01:00pm-01:30pm: local programming

NBC

12:00pm-12:30pm: Jeopardy!

12:30pm-01:00pm: The Who, What, or Where Game

01:00pm-01:30pm: local programming

ABC

12:00pm-12:30pm: The Best of Everything

12:30pm-01:00pm: A World Apart

01:00pm-01:30pm: All My Children

The Best of Everything tanked quickly, only airing 6 months. It's average rating for the 69/70 season was 1.8 (which, even today, is cancellation zone). Meanwhile, on CBS, Where the Heart Is (while not highly rated) at least averaged a 7.0 for that season. Both were being soundly beaten by Jeopardy, the #1 show in that timeslot (which it occupied for 8 1/2 years). A World Apart did do a little better averaging a 2.8 rating for the 69/70 season and 3.4 rating for the 70/71 season (the show aired for a total of 1 year, 3 months). However, SFT over at CBS averaged a 10.0 rating for the 69/70 season (the #3 soap) and 9.3 for the 70/71 season (dropping to the #8 soap). It was losing its timeslot (The Who, What, or Where Game occupied its NBC slot for just over 3 years) and was ABC's lowest rated soap opera when it was cancelled (AMC was the 2nd lowest for the 70/71 season with an average rating of 4.8). Interestingly, Dark Shadows was also cancelled in 1971 and had *higher* ratings than AMC at the time (5.3 average for the 70/71 season). A World Apart actually had a stronger ratings growth than AMC and there was some speculation at the time that AMC would be the soap cancelled and it's still believed by some that the only reason AMC survived was that it was because it was an Agnes Nixon product (which is kinda funny since OLTL wasn't exactly setting the ratings on fire). ABC's faith in the series paid off in the 72/73 season when AMC jumped from its last place spot the previous season all the was up to #8 (tieing with The Guiding Light) of 17 soaps (right behind OLTL which had also begun to see some ratings growth).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • The Vault has been down all night.
    • Notable: Glendale is not exactly a progressive enclave.

      Please register in order to view this content

      Newsom is a craven opportunist, but his comments today were exactly how better people need to handle Trump.
    • Please register in order to view this content

       
    • I decided this primetime soap deserved it's own thread as the Primetime soaps thread is very cluttered and why shouldn't NBC's Lorimar soap mot have a chance to shine? In doing a deeper dive into the second season ratings I was surprised to see that FR actually had an uptick in the ratings when NBC moved it to 9pm Tuesdays beginning March 82. I'd always assumed this move was a desperate one as NBC were running short of programming and had given up on the show,deciding to let the final episodes play out and be hammered by 3's Company  and CBS Movie. But the numbers paint a different story. In it's 10pm slot up against Hart to Hart, which regularly finished in the Top 20, FL premiered in 53rd place and placed in the 40's and 50's as the season continued. But come January 82 the numbers surged a little now moving into the 40's hitting #43 in Feb. Hart to Hart was #11 Then in March Bret Maverick was moved to 8pm with FR @9. First week 16th March FR #47 15.1/24 3's Company #3 Too Close for Comfort #5 CBS Movie #60 Not great but #2 in it's timeslot March 23 FR #44 15.6/25 3's Company #4 Too Close for Comfort #5 CBS Movie #33 So even with a stronger movie on CBS FR's numbers went up. March 30 FR #31 16.6/26 3's Company #9 Too Close for Comfort #5 CBS Movie #56 Best rating/position yet Tues April 6 pre empted Tues April 14 FR #36 16.0/26 3's Company #5 Too Close for Comfort #11 CBS Movie #59 Maintaining previous week's numbers Tues April 21 FR #33 15.6/24 3's Company #3 Too Close for Comfort #5 CBS Movie #60 Numbers down a little (reflecting general spring downturn) but best ranking of the season so far Tues April 28 FR #35 15.1/23 3's Company #9 Too Close for Comfort #6 CBS Movie #42 Tues May 4 FR #27 15.2/24 3's Company #5 Too Close for Comfort #4 CBS Movie #41 Season finale and highest position of the season. Looking at those numbers I wonder why NBC cancelled the show? They had very few hits and here was a show that was holding it's own and moving up in the rankings in a tougher timeslot. And being a serial, the storylines could continue to build the following season. And I'm sure the desirable W18-49 demo was good. Some might argue that CBS were shower weaker movies, but even so, soap viewers are pretty loyal. I guess Grant Tinker arrived at NBC and wanted a classier look but there was room for FR on the schedule. I mean, the following season Knight Rider,Powers of Matthew Star and the A Team arrived so there was still room for more populist fare. Flamingo could have stayed at 9pm-the replacement Gavilan bombed (surely FR would have done better} or moved back to 10pm. The following Jan NBC had a hit with A Team Tues 8pm. Had Flamingo followed it, it might have really taken off. As it was they tried Bare Essence, which flopped. Oh well,it was not to be...    
    • Always, in every way, Cass/Wally/Felicia foundational to my viewing. And, I think if we look at the aftermath of the disastrous 90 minute show that we find too many pockets of some kind of lost time at the show plus way too much of change-ups in exec & writing leadership and of course we also reach the first time it becomes notable that NBC wants to get rid of the show so they can put a new soap they own in the timeslot.
    • If the MAGAts were easy prey enough to get manipulated into voting for the tangerine-tinted terror, they'll fall for anything.

      Please register in order to view this content

    • And this came out as the "feud" and the media pushing the protests in Los Angeles got all the media attention. They know the press and the public will not care or can be manipulated into approving.

      Please register in order to view this content

    • Hope you will enjoy the 1976 storyline from the Daytime serial Newsletter. The show had just expanded to an hour so new characters and stories were required. The Soderbergs had been writing since late 73 and the show was still #1. Looking foward to comments and discusssion Pt.1  For over two decades As the World Turns has depicted the events in the lives of two Oakdale families: the wealthy and influential Lowells and the less affluent but equally respected Hughes family. Judge Lowell’s granddaughter Ellen is married now to Dr. David Stewart, whose adopted son, Dan, is actually her own illegitimate child. Dan was once married to Dr. Susan Stewart, by whom he has a daughter, Emily. Dan then married Liz, the ex-wife of his late brother Paul. Liz was the mother of Dan’s daughter Betsy, who believes to this day that Paul was her father. Liz died tragically the day after their wedding. Ellen and David have two daughters, Carolann (Annie) and Dawn (Dee), now of college age. Dan has recently fallen in love with Kim Dixon, who was about to divorce Dr. John Dixon until injuries suffered in a tornado caused amnesia and left her with no memory of her love for Dan. John is using this respite to solicitously convince Kim of his love for her. Nancy and Chris Hughes had three children: Bob, a doctor, Donald, an attorney, and Penny, who, after tragically losing two husbands due to automobile accidents, is now living in Europe, where she is married to a racing-car driver. Bob was married while very young to Lisa Miller, then a scheming and selfish young woman, whose machinations destroyed their marriage. She is the mother of Bob’s son, Tom, who is divorced from Carol, who is now married to Jay Stallings. Tom is currently married to Natalie Bannon. Bob later married model Sandy Wilson, a marriage which ended in divorce, and Sandy is now married to Norman Garrison, who is her partner in a beauty products concern. Norman blames Bob for Sandy’s  recent disillusionment with their marriage, and, ironically, Norman suffered a heart attack during his verbal assault on Bob at a Hughes family party; and while Bob rode with him in the ambulance to the hospital, Bob’s beloved wife, Jennifer, Kim’s sister, died in a car crash while driving home alone. Lisa, more mature and considerate of others now, is married to attorney Grant Colman, but her life has been complicated by the recent arrival in town of Grant’s ex-wife, Joyce, and the incredible news that she and Grant had a child after their separation, a child Joyce gave out for adoption but now wants to reclaim. Now the story continues... The picture has now come clear for attorney Grant Coiman. He has learned that his ex-wife Joyce neglected to tell him she had a child shortly after their divorce and had given the boy to Mary and Brian Ellison for adoption. Grant, after seeing the adoption papers and considering the boy’s interests, tells Mary he feels the child should remain with them; they are providing a fine, stable home for him. Grant’s wife, Lisa, is pleased with his decision, feeling he has thus closed the door to the past and they can now go on with their own lives. But Joyce has learned that attorney Dick Martin is now back in private practice, and she tells him she was confused when she gave Teddy up years ago and wants him to represent her in a custody action to get her son back. Dick tells Joyce she has a very weak case but he’ll do what he can. He goes out to Laramie to see the  Ellisons, upsetting them very much. Grant, meanwhile, has confided in Chris Hughes, his law partner, that while his name was on the consent form for the Ellisons’ adoption, he didn’t sign the papers; he had, in fact, never known that he had a son. But he’s afraid to open a new can of worms by signing a consent form now, as that would reveal that the adoption papers are not legally correct. Grant confides the situation to Lisa, explaining that if he wanted to,  he could probably get custody of Teddy himself, but that’s not what he feels would be best for the child. Mary Ellison finally breaks under the strain of Dick’s visit and tells Brian that Dr. Paulk, the doctor who arranged the adoption, told her he didn’t know where to find the baby’s father and so he signed the consent form himself. She painfully explains she kept this secret knowing that Brian wouldn’t go through with the adoption if he learned the papers weren’t legally sound. Brian quickly calls their family lawyer, Jerry Butler, who immediately phones Grant to be sure he backs the Ellisons’ claim. Dick realizes from Joyce’s story that Grant couldn’t have signed the papers and tells him he knows. The only person who has a right to file for Teddy’s custody now is Grant; he’s the only injured party. And the moment he files, Dick can sue for invalidation of the Ellisons’ adoption. Grant finally files, to settle the custody question once and for all, but technically he's filing for custody himself. Tom Hughes and Natalie Porter are married in a small, lovely ceremony at the home of his grandparents, Nancy and Chris Hughes. They honeymoon in the Southwest and return full of expectations of happiness. Natalie is disquieted, however, when flowers arrive which are not from her new husband. She covers by pretending to check with the florist and tells Tom it was a wrong delivery and they have told her she might as well keep them. But she knows who sent them. Natalie is upset when, shortly after, Luke Porter arrives in town and seeks her out. But Luke insists he is there only to assure her this is a final farewell and he has now decided to concentrate on. making his own marriage work. Sandy Garrison, Bob’s ex-wife, is working at the  bookstore to fill in for Natalie. Her estranged husband, Norman, recovering from a heart attack he suffered during a drunken confrontation with Bob at the Colonnade Room, is still telling anyone who will listen that Bob and Sandy are having an affair, but ironically will let only Bob care for him at the hospital. His recovery is hampered by his easily aroused temper. Norman anxiously tries to persuade Dr. John Dixon to convince Bob to swear he slipped at the restaurant, thus making them liable for a costly lawsuit, but John won’t do this. Chris discovers a large amount of money missing when checking the books on the Garrisons’ business, but doesn’t want to upset Sandy with this. More to come...
    • The cynical (i.e., the dominant) me has the very same thoughts.
    • Oh wow that’s pretty awesome! I wish I had  approached him but there was so many people 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy