Ratings from the 70's

[Khan]

Looking at your summary of events, @beebs, I think PFS should have done one of two things: either wrap up the Trish storyline as quickly as possible, or develop another, lighter storyline to counter-balance all the heavy melodrama that was going on at that time.  The Don/Marlena/Sharon storyline might have been okay, but dealing with Trish's mental breakdown on the heels of Mickey's feels like too much.

Did PFS leave DAYS voluntarily the first time, or was she fired?  If she was fired, then I think NBCD might have acted too hastily.  Yes, the ratings were down, but there wasn't any need to panic yet, since PFS had proven she could do better.  The network could've just given her time to figure out what needed tweaking and then let her tweak it.  (Again, Pat, I would've wrapped up Trish's story sooner rather than later).

[beebs]

IIRC, PFS was fired, as Betty Corday had been, according to Ann Marcus, been trying to get Ann Marcus on board for awhile. I think the combo of all of this, plus Mike sleeping with Linda, the David/Valerie/Brooke story, complete with Adele Hamilton and her alcoholism (as well as David's and Valerie's dad Paul's), were some extremely weighty material on a show that hadn't really been quite this heavy before, and it was weighing everything down. I agree, the DID story should have (and ultimately was) wrapped up quickly, though I don't think what AM replaced it with was much better.
 

Ultimately, Sharon shifted FAST into becoming deranged and obsessed with her friend/painting partner Julie, and was hastily shuttled off-canvas by her suddenly-appearing husband after confessing romantic feelings for Julie. Leaving Don and Marlena free for...Sam to lock Marlena in Bayview and take over her life even though Sam looked and sounded nothing like Marlena.

The stories were definitely well-crafted, but you're right that there was absolutely no levity in any of the stories on the show at the time, and the only semi-happy event to occur during this period was Doug & Julie's wedding, which was back in October '76, so I think the real error in PFS' judgment was to wrap up that story with very little on the frontburner that was resonating with viewers to replace it. Honestly, to me it would've been a good time to draw Maggie back to the farm and fall for a muscled farmhand that took her mind off her struggles with Mickey, just SOME kind of levity to balance out everything else going on.

PFS seemed to want every story to be deeply psychological and intense, which is great for Emmy reels and the like, but not every story can be ripped-from-the-headlines (or the medical journals, as the case may be), hyper-realistic dramas. Not in such an ensemble, daily format. The fatigue sets in fast, and I can see why a lot of folks switched over to ATWT or Family Feud as a result.

[kalbir]

Five month run, NBC reacted w/ the quickness. As we saw earlier in the thread, the replacement For Richer, For Poorer didn't fare any better and that had a 9 month run.

[Paul Raven]

When did Bill Bell cut ties with Days completely? I know for some time PFS had pretty much free reign but Bill was dictating long term stry.

I wonder if Days falling ratings were the result of Pat taking complete control and not having Bill's input-hence the dark stories lacking Bill's unique touch.

[beebs]

Officially, Bell was credited into 1978, but you can definitely tell the difference in tone after the switch to the hour in 1975, which is about when Bell said in his TV Archives interview (I believe, again, correct me if I'm wrong) he stopped providing projections for the show, which he'd left PFS with when he left to create Y&R.

I will say, just based on what I've read, PFS does take the reigns pretty quickly after Bell left in 1973, as she almost immediately introduced some new characters and involved them heavily in story -- Neil & Amanda, specifically, are introduced very suddenly and are involved in meaty story almost immediately upon their arrival, which is jarring if you'd followed the story to that point, where Bell took pains to introduce new characters very slowly and carefully, the shift in style is very noticeable, even just in write-ups.

Edited December 30, 2023 by beebs

[kalbir]

If my math is correct, we can divide Days first three decades or so into three pivotal eras and two transition eras:

Bill Bell years 1966-1973

Post-Bill Bell/pre-supercouple 1973-1982

Supercouple era 1983-1990

Post-supercouple/pre-Reilly 1990-1992

Reilly years 1993-1997

[Contessa Donatella]

1973-75 Bill Bell continued to write story thrusts which were executed by PFS. 

BTW, this is the date that is in the book Michael Maloney wrote with Lee. 

Maloney, M., & Bell, L. P. (2012). The young and Restless Life 0f William J. Bell. Sourcebooks, Inc.

I am re-reading it right now.

 

 

Edited December 31, 2023 by Donna L. Bridges

[JAS0N47]

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 4/25/77-4/29/77 & 5/2/77-5/6/77:

 

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Edited December 31, 2023 by JAS0N47

[kalbir]

April 25, 1977 All My Children expands to 1 hr.

ABC new daytime schedule (ET) starting w/ soaps until the end of the day 12:30 pm Ryan's Hope, 1 pm All My Children, 2 pm $20,000 Pyramid; 2:30 pm One Life to Live, 3:15 pm General Hospital, 4 pm The Edge of Night. 

New soap time slot rivalry As the World Turns vs. All My Children vs. Days

ABC next and final soap expansions were One Life to Live to 1 hr and General Hospital to 1 hr on January 16, 1978.

Guiding Light going strong, it's expansion to 1 hr a little over 6 months away.

[beebs]

That explains DAYS' haste to oust PFS to some degree as well. Knowing her stories weren't working, and knowing an incredibly-strong AMC was to go up directly opposite them, I'm certain there was some major panic behind the scenes.

Seems everyone's in a bit of springtime freefall at the moment, though ATWT and GL are keeping their numbers up rather nicely in spite of it all.

[Paul Raven]

SFT at this time was being written by Irving Ellman and there didn't seem to be anything particularly compelling going at that time to account for the rating.

[beebs]

This would've been the aftermath of John Wyatt's trial for Eunice's murder. I'm sure a lot of that is residual excitement from that storyline, at least.

I dug up the Daytime Serial Newsletter for the month of April to be sure. There seems to be some excitement with Liza, if nothing else.

 

 

[vetsoapfan]

Bill Bell was still executive story consultant after Smith left, and into Marcus' tenure. He is the one who created the Trish-mental breakdown story, which Smith said she kept trying to put off for being too over-the-top. The ratings had dropped from in the 9s down to the 8s during BB's and PFS's last year working as a team.. After Smith was fired, she sued the network. Ann Marcus was continuing to use PFS's story (which had been created in coordination with William J. Bell.), but acknowledged in the press that if she did not wish to write what Bell suggested, she would just change things as she saw fit. There was a huge deterioration in the quality of the writing once Marcus took over.  Comments in the press were not kind ("Never have I seen a show go downhill so quickly.") The ratings really dropped after PFS was axed and AM was in charge. They fell into the 6s. Thus began a revolving door of headwriters.

[JAS0N47]

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 5/9/77-5/13/77 & 5/16/77-5/20/77:

 

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Edited December 31, 2023 by JAS0N47

[JAS0N47]

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 5/23/77-5/27/77 & 5/30/77-6/3/77:

 

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