Primetime Soaps

[Khan]

IMO, 10/9c was the ideal time slot for a network primetime soap.  Dinner had been made and eaten, the kids had been put to bed, your next day had been mapped out, and now you were settling down before the evening news (and Carson).  You could devote all your energy - or, as much energy as you can muster at that point - to watching a good, involving show.

Of course, I also think some nights worked better for the primetime soaps than others.  Thursdays and Fridays?  Good.  Mondays?  Also good.  Saturdays, Sundays and Tuesdays?  Eh.

I think most of those shows - certainly, BE, THE MONROES and PAPER DOLLS - would have flopped in any time slot.  (Same goes for the 10pm shows that you've mentioned.). Those shows had problems that went beyond bad time slots.

Edited February 26, 2022 by Khan

[te.]

The first season of Dynasty wasn't the huge flop people make it out to be to begin with (it was top 30), but certainly needed a boost considering the large costs. It also didn't help the first season was against MASH. The only show I can really think of that would've benefitted from the 10PM slot is Central Park West, mainly because it would've been out of the way of the Fox soaps but who knows if it could've had a broad enough appeal on CBS beyond improving the demographic numbers.

[Paul Raven]

From the get go ABC knew Dynasty would need a new timeslot as the 9 o'clock Monday timeslot was reserved for Monday Night Football.

[BetterForgotten]

I also think Primetime is a vastly different experience than Daytime. While I can watch soaps back to back in daytime, I don’t really need that in primetime. If I’m going to commit to a network schedule, there better be a smartly written and funny sitcom or two in there to compliment the 1 hour drama on your lineup (if I’m giving you my night). 

Again, say what you want about NBC’s Must See TV lineup, but capping the night off with a 1 hour drama after all those sitcoms was strategically brilliant (obviously depending on what the quality and popularity of what those shows on the lineup are).

In the era of streaming and DVR, I guess none of this matters though…

 

 

Edited February 26, 2022 by BetterForgotten

[Soapsuds]

That's what I loved about Friday and Sunday's CBS lineup.

Dukes, Dallas, FC.......incredible Hulk, Dallas, FC...

60 minutes, 2 hour comedy block and trapper john md

[Soaplovers]

Out of the short-lived 80s primetime soaps I've seen.. I actually think Paper Dolls had a lot of potential with an appealing anti-heroine lead Morgan Fairchild.  Had the show just focused on the modeling agency, models, and the models parents.. it would have done much better.

Berrenger's had a bad timeslot, and too many characters.  I believe this was a Lynn Latham written show?

Bare Essence, I wish I could see because I loved the mini series... but it sounds like it isn't just set in NYC.. but also in Europe.  It sounds like the tv show didn't focus on the parts that made the mini series so good.

[Khan]

Exactly.  PAPER DOLLS was too unfocused.  Plus, I don't know whether it would have worked better as a straight-ahead drama series with SOME soapy elements.

Diana Gould (another KL alum) created BERRENGER'S; but, yes, Lynn Marie Latham and Bernard Lechowick worked on the show, too.  And even David Jacobs, I think, said that BERRENGER'S had too many characters and not enough time to let the audience get to know them before dropping them into major, ongoing storylines.

BE's major problem, I think, was that too many roles had to be recast for the series, and that the replacements, good as they might have been, paled in comparison to the original actors.  Plus, I think the milieu (the perfume industry) might have been too limiting for the series.  Not enough high stakes.

[Paul Raven]

Yes ,if it was placed at 10pm with a stronger lead in there might have been more time to work out the kinks.

 

Sat at 10 was a bad slot. Too many viewers were not available each week to build afollowing. Yellow Rose suffered the same fate. Both shows should have been slotted Tues at 10.

[Khan]

Well, I must admit, that slot seemed to work well for "Sisters," but I guess expectations for that show were low going in.

[DemetriKane]

Agreed!!!!! Even if they went with powerful family business angle, i believe it could have worked.

[te.]

Paper Dolls essentially needed to drop one element - either Laurie's home life or the Harpers - ironically I don't think the Harpers were present in the tv movie with Joan Collins and Darryll Hannah. Either way, as it was it was just too busy and it felt like you were walking into a show that was in season 5, not season 1.

[Khan]

Even in the age of streaming, however, we're falling back on familiar patterns.  That's why streaming services have begun releasing the newest episodes of series, one at a time, at designated times, rather than just making the whole season available at once.

Trust me: give it time, and we'll be back to sitting down and deciding which streaming service to watch on which night, lol.

[Soaplovers]

Not only did Paper Dolls get placed in a shaky timeslot, it was also preempted due to the World Series.

Dallas or Knots Landing could handle that..but a new soap needs to be on every week in order to get people hooked.

@te.I would have dropped the Harper angle since the wealthy family angle was already handled.  

Dack Rambo could have been Wesley looking for a model for his cosmetics company, Blair could have still been the 'aging' model, and the red headed lawyer could have been legal counsel for Racine's agency..and her boyfriend could have still done the story on Racine.

 

[Paul Raven]

Paper Dolls got a good sampling for it's first episode, finishing in the Top 10 - #7 

But that was a week before the official start of the season against reruns.

In Wk 1 things were different.

NBC had a 2hr A Team which ranked 5th and CBS the Mistral's Daughter miniseries which was 12th (and appealed to the same audience as PD)

Paper Dolls fell to 44th and never recovered.

[te.]

I think they could've put some of those stories off for a bit to be honest and push them later into the season/series. As I said, it was just too busy and I tend to think new shows need to establish their characters first before having a dozen or so plots.

 

ETA: Like in theory, they could've actually used the journalist doing a story on Racine's modelling agency as a way into this world, but on the other hand, you already had Laurie acting as the viewer going in so there wasn't really much point to him. In that sense he could've just turned up later and had the purpose of stirring things up.

Edited February 28, 2022 by te.