Ratings from the 70's

[JAS0N47]

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 11/10/75-11/14/75 & 11/17/75-11/21/75:

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FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 11/24/75-11/28/75 & 12/1/75-12/5/75:

[will81]

So interesting to see Y&R slowly climb. Going from the bottom of the top 10 to multiple weeks in the top 5.

Unless it goes #1 in the next two weeks, and excluding the fast national week as we don't have that data and it doesn't really count anyway, Y&R went all the way to the top for the first time the week of Dec 29

[Khan]

Frankly, I think RH had the same problem as SaBa: as brilliant as it was, it was never going to appeal to the average soap viewer.  It was much too special and really would've done better as a primetime show, IMO.

[JAS0N47]

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 12/8/75-12/12/75 & 12/15/75-12/19/75:

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FAST WEEKLY WEEK OF 12/22/75-12/26/75 NOT AVAILABLE

(Note: Per newspaper listings, the following were scheduled preemptions: 12/25/75 ABC 11-12PM Christmas on Historic Hill: 1726-1976 (preempted Happy Days); 12/25/75 CBS 330PM-onward NBA Kansas City Kings-Phoenix Suns (preempted Match Game '75 & Tattletales); 12/25/75 NBC 10-11AM Christmas at Washington Cathedral (preempted Wheel of Fortune); 12/26/75 CBS 12-3PM+ Sun Bowl & 3PM-onward Fiesta Bowl (preempted Young & Restless/Search for Tomorrow/As the World Turns/Guiding Light; All in the Family/Match Game '75/Tattletales). All other daytime shows were scheduled to air every day this week).

The remainder of 1975-1979 posted earlier in this thread. Later this year, or early next year, check back for the 1974 ratings!

FROM THE VAULT: NON-SOAP DAYTIME RATINGS: HIGHLIGHTS FROM AUGUST 1975 & NOVEMBER 1975:

Edited September 6, 2024 by JAS0N47

[YRfan23]

Amazing work!! I can’t begin to thank you for providing all this helpful info!

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[kalbir]

November 3, 1975 The Price is Right expands to 1 hour. The Price is Right moved from 10:30 am ET to 10 am ET, now head-to-head with Celebrity Sweepstakes and Wheel of Fortune. 

First week at 1 hour its middle of the pack.

[JAS0N47]

FROM THE VAULT: SATURDAY DAYTIME RATINGS: HIGHLIGHTS FROM FEBRUARY 1975

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Edited September 6, 2024 by JAS0N47

[will81]

Awesome work. Thank you so much for sharing, especially the recaps of the other daytime shows. So many gameshows came and went and networks more and more started relying on soaps, so it is interesting to see how those shows were going as well. 

 

Side note - I feel this now confirms Y&R's first week at No.1 ever was indeed the week of Dec 29, 1975. For reference this was the week Jill's baby was born, in fact his birth date was Dec 29, 1975. 

 

[Sean]

What surprises me most about Ryan's Hope's performance in these early months isn't that it's at the bottom of the rankings—that seems pretty par for the course for a new soap, with some exceptions (Capitol, B&B). It's that the show performed decently enough for a new show (#10 its first week, ahead of OLTL), held on for a few weeks, and then dropped precipitously as soon as September hits.

And, looking back at the 1976 ratings Jason previously posted, it continues to hover near the bottom until June 1976, when suddenly it's in the middle of the pack—and then hits #5 the week of 7/19/76. There's even two weeks in November when it eclipses AMC to be the #1 soap on ABC—less than 18 months after such a befuddling start. It's interesting to think about a hypothetical in which that growth continues rather than stalls after 1978 (though even then it manages another spike from late 1980 through mid-1982).

On a related note, the fact that the demo breakdowns we've seen for the late '70s usually show Ryan's Hope punching above its weight and ranking alongside its ABC stablemates always astounds me. IIRC Tom Lisanti's book notes that the headwriter shuffle began in 1982 once Y&R and some of the other CBS soaps began eclipsing it in the demos.

[JAS0N47]

FROM THE VAULT: SATURDAY DAYTIME RATINGS: HIGHLIGHTS FROM MAY 1975

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[will81]

One interesting thing that may or may not have had an effect.

WCBS in New York bought the syndicated Dinah Shore show and after it struggled at 9am they moved The Mike Douglas Show to 4pm and cut it from 90 to 60min and placed Dinah's show after it at 5pm. They moved their 4pm game show Musical Chairs to 1pm.

Mike Douglas was now competing with Somerset and as a result WNBC moved Somerset to 1pm. So Ryan's Hope and Somerset were in direct competition with each other and whatever game show CBS had on, I think Musical Chairs. 

No idea if this may have had a big effect on the overall national ratings for either show. It doesn't look like the CBS game shows were much threat, but at least in New York, Somerset and Ryan's Hope may have been battling for viewers. Since it was the largest market it may have had some impact. 

[JAS0N47]

FROM THE VAULT: SATURDAY DAYTIME RATINGS: HIGHLIGHTS FROM AUGUST 1975

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FROM THE VAULT: SATURDAY DAYTIME RATINGS: HIGHLIGHTS FROM NOVEMBER 1975

[kalbir]

As the World Turns expands to 1 hour and The Edge of Night moves to ABC.

Was the story that CBS cancelled The Edge of Night because CBS didn't have room on their daytime schedule for both 1 hour As the World Turns and The Edge of Night? Looking at CBS's schedule they did have room to keep The Edge of Night.

CBS daytime schedule (ET) from November 3-28, 1975

10 am The Price is Right

11 am Gambit

11:30 am Love of Life

Noon Y&R

12:30 pm Search for Tomorrow

1 pm Local programming

1:30 pm As the World Turns

2 pm Guiding Light

2:30 pm The Edge of Night

3 pm Match Game

3:30 pm Tattletales

4 pm Give-n-Take

CBS daytime new schedule (ET) on December 1, 1975

10 am The Price is Right

11 am Gambit

11:30 am Love of Life

Noon Y&R

12:30 pm Search for Tomorrow

1 pm Local programming

1:30 pm As the World Turns

2:30 pm Guiding Light

3 pm All in the Family reruns

3:30 pm Match Game

4 pm Tattletales

CBS could have put The Edge of Night at 3 pm instead of All in the Family reruns but for whatever reason they chose not to.

[JAS0N47]

FROM THE VAULT: SUNDAY DAYTIME RATINGS: HIGHLIGHTS FROM FEBRUARY 1975 & MAY 1975

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FROM THE VAULT: SUNDAY DAYTIME RATINGS: HIGHLIGHTS FROM AUGUST 1975 & NOVEMBER 1975

Edited September 7, 2024 by JAS0N47

[JAS0N47]

Per the AP article, Bud Grant said it was too good of an opportunity to not air All in the Family ("There's never been anything more successful [in television].")

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Edited September 7, 2024 by JAS0N47