24 minutes ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

Very interesting to me. Irna Phillips, two proteges, two soaps marked for early cancellation, two saved soaps. Agnes Nixon saved Another World. Bill Bell saved Days of Our Lives.

Absolutely correct.  

Allen M. Potter was AW's last good executive producer. Ironically, he was its first ep in 1964! He was also executive producer on The Doctors from 1967-1973 and Guiding Light from 1976-1982, strong eras on both shows. AW from 1983 through 1984, when he rejoined the show, was really good! It's too bad he retired in 1985 and didn't stick around a few more years. If he had, AW would definitely have been in a better place in the late 80s!

We were taking about Potter in the GL thread not long ago. He’s really underrated when we speak of the great soap opera EP’s of all time. 

2 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

We were taking about Potter in the GL thread not long ago. He’s really underrated when we speak of the great soap opera EP’s of all time. 

And, yet, he threw away one of the great stories! 3 Carries! Jane Elliot says to this day it was her best & most challenging role! 

1 hour ago, Mona Kane Croft said:

1 hour ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

Very interesting to me. Irna Phillips, two proteges, two soaps marked for early cancellation, two saved soaps. Agnes Nixon saved Another World. Bill Bell saved Days of Our Lives.

Absolutely correct.  

So, while her two main proteges were saving other creations of hers, she was at home base, keeping ATWT as #1 for a little while longer, right? And, then she tutored Pete Lemay but it was such a totally different experience I don't think we should call him a third protege. And Bell & Nixon both spoke their stories out loud as the way they "wrote". Irna dictated to her secretary Rose. Agnes dictated into a Dictaphone. Bell spoke it aloud & then typed it himself on his IBM Selectric. And, all 3 related to their actors by their character names NOT their real names. That is just so much in common!!! 

On 2/9/2024 at 11:20 PM, Donna L. Bridges said:

Well, March 1979 the 90 minute show began. I'm pretty sure God could have been writing the 90 minute show & the instant the schedule changed, ratings would shift. 

I think the ratings declined even before the 90 minute episodes.  I am using AWHP as my evidence.  I could be wrong.  I loved Lemay but I when I think the writing was on the wall and he saw the dip in the audience and yes writing 90 minute episodes is taxing but he was also an alpha and wanted to leave without his part in maybe the show was tanking. 78-79 another world was at #8.  Just one year prior was #1 or about.  So, Lemay can't blame the 90 minute error.  Which made no sense if the show was not at the top anymore (in his defense but he does not state that in his book).

4 minutes ago, denzo30 said:

I think the ratings declined even before the 90 minute episodes.  I am using AWHP as my evidence.  I could be wrong.  I loved Lemay but I when I think the writing was on the wall and he saw the dip in the audience and yes writing 90 minute episodes is taxing but he was also an alpha and wanted to leave without his part in maybe the show was tanking. 78-79 another world was at #8.  Just one year prior was #1 or about.  So, Lemay can't blame the 90 minute error.  Which made no sense if the show was not at the top anymore (in his defense but he does not state that in his book).

I think many fans, including me, in retrospect blame the 90 minute debacle! It was enough that he fought against it  tooth & nail & quit over it. 

24 minutes ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

I think many fans, including me, in retrospect blame the 90 minute debacle! It was enough that he fought against it  tooth & nail & quit over it. 

I think many fans view the 90 minute episodes as a big mistake.  After August, 1980, the following happened: AW would never be NBC’s top rated soap ever again; Beverlee McKinsey left AW and would never return; for the first time in 16 years, AW would not air in the 3 PM time block, with NBC moving it to 2 PM on the East Coast.

NBC should have left AW in the 3 PM block where it was since it premiered.  It was in better shape to do battle with GH and GL.  Also, by the mid80s, both GH and GL were not as strong as they once were.  Texas and Santa Barbara would have done better at 2 PM sandwiched between DAYS and AW.

3 minutes ago, watson71 said:

I think many fans view the 90 minute episodes as a big mistake.  After August, 1980, the following happened: AW would never be NBC’s top rated soap ever again; Beverlee McKinsey left AW and would never return; for the first time in 16 years, AW would not air in the 3 PM time block, with NBC moving it to 2 PM on the East Coast.

NBC should have left AW in the 3 PM block where it was since it premiered.  It was in better shape to do battle with GH and GL.  Also, by the mid80s, both GH and GL were not as strong as they once were.  Texas and Santa Barbara would have done better at 2 PM sandwiched between DAYS and AW.

⬆️ This, all of this, and for good measure, also the affiliates hated the 90 minute show & assumed AW had wanted it so they turned away from treating AW like their prized child they were proud of!! And, also BOLDED!! 

Does anyone recall whether Jamie's blood type was ever specified? Was it used to determine that Steve was his father? Or that Maggie was not his daughter? Or that Steven was his son? 

I have just come across the scene in April 1989 where Jake, secretly believing that Steven is probably his son based on the fact that both of them have the blood type AB, has learned from Marley that she and Vicky (who had told Jake that she was also type AB to throw him off) are type O. In reality it is extremely rare for a type O parent to have a type AB child, but also a couple of years earlier in the question of whether John was the twins' father, they said that John and Vicky were type AB. If they could choose only one of continuity or science I would rather they had gone with science, but they ignored one and confused or oversimplified  the other. I am just trying to amuse myself by adding whether they made any of this worse by what blood type(s) they chose for Jamie.

Just happened upon this posting of what I think is a current photo of Valerie Pettiford, a cop Courtney Walker. And may I just say YOWZA! 

No matter what the show did, nothing was enough to get it out of the ratings basement it was stuck in during those last 2 decades. In actuality, NBC had wanted to cancel the show at least twice before 1999, so I do think it was a miracle the show lasted as long as it did.

 

46 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

No matter what the show did, nothing was enough to get it out of the ratings basement it was stuck in during those last 2 decades. In actuality, NBC had wanted to cancel the show at least twice before 1999, so I do think it was a miracle the show lasted as long as it did.

 

I am one fan who believes that NBC and P&G were in a protracted battle over the show. NBC at various times wanted to kill the show, run it off the air, cancel it, own it, turn it into DAYS Jr., etc. 

I want to get better ratings than the annual ones that can be found on wikipedia, in Schemering, at AWHP, but with those annual figures we have 

72-73 3rd 9.7/33   30

73-74 2nd 9.7/32   30

74-75 2nd 9.7/31    30

75-76 2nd 8.9/30    60

76-77 2nd 9.0/29    60

77-78 2nd 8.6/28    60

78-79 8th 7.5/25    60/90

Mar. 5, 1979 first 90 min. show

And, I figure that they fought about the 90 minute show for several months, so I still peg it as the reason the bottom fell out. And, there's nothing at all disgraceful about a 7.5/25, anyway. 

Also, Pete Lemay character creation: Amanda, Sharlene, Josie, Sally, Willis, Sven, Janice, Emma, Iris, Elliot, Dennis, Olive, Brian, Robert, Tracy, Gil, David, Larry, Clarice, Gwen, Louise, Beatrice, Vivienne, Angie, Joey, Rose, Eileen, and Blaine

Who did I miss? 

3 hours ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

Also, Pete Lemay character creation: Amanda, Sharlene, Josie, Sally, Willis, Sven, Janice, Emma, Iris, Elliot, Dennis, Olive, Brian, Robert, Tracy, Gil, David, Larry, Clarice, Gwen, Louise, Beatrice, Vivienne, Angie, Joey, Rose, Eileen, and Blaine

Who did I miss? 

Are you trying to list every character Lemay created on AW?  That list would be almost endless.  You have many of the important ones here, but still dozens are missing.  I wouldn't even know where to begin.  

3 minutes ago, Mona Kane Croft said:

Are you trying to list every character Lemay created on AW?  That list would be almost endless.  You have many of the important ones here, but still dozens are missing.  I wouldn't even know where to begin.  

Yeah, that was my aim. I just started & went till I had to stop. Knew I would be missing lots! I have a similar list on the Dobsons. They were somewhat easier because I could list, for example, the whole original cast of Santa Barbara. This is more difficult, by a large margin!