Best and Worst of 87

In 1987, NBC was still in the midst of its "Silver Age". It was now left with a three hour soap block of Days, Another World and Santa Barbara, its ratings had stabilised and even shown moderate improvement. For that time, they looked like getting it right for once. (AW probably got its highest post-1980 ratings in the middle of '86 though).

It was also the year B&B premiered. No new soap created in the past 35 years ever had the extreme fortune B&B had, because it was sandwiched between Y&R and ATWT which were two of CBS' highest-rating soaps at the time. I will always believe it was that alone which allowed B&B to survive and prosper- any other timeslot would not have worked so well IMHO.

Soaps like Loving and Santa Barbara might not have had stellar ratings, but through this time they were generally stable and just about enough to avoid cancellation. The following year Ryan's Hope saw its ratings sink to levels abysmal even by more recent standards.