Ratings from the 70's

[Broderick]

My mother wouldn't watch it when she was home during the day.  She kept it on CBS if she was in the house, but when "that awful show" came on, she turned it off.  I learned early on that was the one to watch, lol.   

[JAS0N47]

I thought that was it. But if you add 3 000's to the total viewers (2 years and older) for Days (1278), that puts Days at 1.278 million viewers total. Yet the average column (the one we are used to looking at), is over 5 million.

So, that's where my confusion comes in. I always thought the # I am used to seeing is the average number per day, but you mean to say the 5 million average is the total for the week?

So, really, Days had just 1.2 million people watching per DAY, so when you average it out for the WEEK (the #'s that are the ones most usually reported), the number goes to just over 5 million?

 

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 3/6/78-3/10/78 & 3/13/78-3/17/78:

 

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[GLATWT88]

P&G seem to have its soaps on opposite ends...AW, ATWT, GL, SFT at the top and EON and FR,FP sunk at the bottom. 

[Soapsuds]

ATWT at #1 for two consecutive weeks. Wish these episodes were on YouTube or had been released on DVD.

[kalbir]

Did your mother eventually change her mind about Y&R?

[will81]

Was she okay with the sort of lesbian story with Kay/Joann? Y&R's ratings did drop in 1977 as a result and I think they were still recovering in 1978

[JoeCool]

Actually she was okay with it - she said Kay just got a little too close with JOann. She LOVED Kay and Y&R. She watched it until she died at 92 which was in '92.

[will81]

Awesome, yeah she did get a little too possessive of her, haha. So great your grandma loved the show so much!

Changing track. I think Henry Slesar took over SFT around this time. He was definitely there by the week of Mar 20, 1978 but not sure if that was his first week or not. He lasts about six months. Will be interesting to see the week to week ratings. The Corringtons take over around the week of Sep 11 approximately. 

Edited June 6, 2023 by will81

[Paul Raven]

ATWT Feb 78

The main stories are Beau and Annie's marriage issues with his mother Jane interfering and trying to get him involved in her hotel business.

Jay Stallings is on trial for murder and his alibi is that was at amotel  with Melinda-revealing that will mean Carol will leave him. He finally admits on the stand he was with a woman but won't identify her.

Bob is involved with new character Karen, Kim and Dan consider telling Betsy Dan is her father,Valerie has feelings for Grant, Joyce is pushing Don to move up in the world, Sandy realizes new husband Kevin is still in love with Susan.Ralph and John vie for Mary.

[JAS0N47]

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 3/27/78-3/31/78 & 4/3/78-4/7/78:

 

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[Broderick]

When the show went to an hour in 1980, it became a LITTLE bit harder to "ignore it completely".  She'd occasionally catch the last few minutes or the first few minutes.  But of course it was still "horrible", as it featured a female stripper (Nikki), a male stripper (Cash), an older lady (Kay) paying a younger male prostitute for sex, and the perpetually bouncing breasts of Lorie Brooks "who evidently can't afford to buy herself a brassiere".  

Once some of the perceived "seediness" was zapped away (about 1982), she started watching it along with the rest of the the CBS line-up if she was at home. 

I still vividly remember her reaction when she walked through the living room & saw Tyrone in whiteface.  "That poor little girl can't tell he's Tyrone?" lol.   

[MichaelGL]

Any reason why OLTL was in the middle of the pack, or dangerously close to being near the bottom 4 soaps in '78?

Like it was once said, OLTL's success is the reason they greenlighted AMC. But it seems like in the mid-late 70s it was waning. 

[EONGLOLTL]

What is the reason for the differences in the number of affiliates/stations from week to week?  Interesting that no soap opera had 100% clearance.

[will81]

NBC sure seemed to enjoy pre-empting For Richer, For Poorer, and not even for any good reason. 

[Khan]

I've wondered that myself, @MichaelGL.  Of course, GH's renaissance impacted the rest of ABCD's lineup, with all the shows experiencing ratings boosts; but it also seems that characters like Karen Wolek and Marco Dane played a major part in OLTL's surge in particular.  Yet, as far as I can tell, the network didn't make any major changes behind-the-scenes to precipitate this turnaround.  Gordon Russell, Sam Hall and their writing staff remained intact throughout the '70's.  Any other show in OLTL's position might have experienced multiple turnovers, both on-screen and off.

At any rate, I'm sure ABCD used OLTL's ratings during the mid-to-late '70's to justify phasing out many characters who had been with the show since the beginning.

Edited June 6, 2023 by Khan