Ratings from the 70's

[JAS0N47]

They are doing it because of specials they aired on those days in the 4PM time slot (an open slot). So I guess they gave back a half hour to their affiliates by not airing For Richer those days. So far, the 4PM specials to necessitate For Richer preemptions have been several editions of "Special Treat" (I think the NBC version of ABC Afternoon Special) and a Bob Hope golf tournament.

Edited June 6, 2023 by JAS0N47

[Khan]

If not for the fact that that show was a Harding Lemay/Paul Rauch creation, I'm sure NBC would have cut it loose long before they actually did.

[JAS0N47]

A note for some of the Nielsen "missing weeks." 4-5 times a year, at least in the 1970's, Nielsen would have 4 weeks they skipped over and only issued fast national ratings. Those 4 weeks from 1978 are not available, but the ones from 1979 and 1980 are included.

A rundown of the missing weeks of Nielsen data from 1978-1980:

1978....2 main weeks (and 5 fast national weeks)

1979...6 main weeks

1980...Complete! 

[will81]

True, I guess had they not been involved the retooling would never have happened. Lovers and Friend would have simply been cancelled.

I notice in New York they aired a show called Unicorn Tales, was Special Treat something different? Unicorn Tales had a remake of Wizard of Oz and a musical remake of Alice in Wonderland

[JAS0N47]

All the Nielsen reports list is "Special Treat" (no episode titles). So I looked in the newspaper listings, and I guess Unicorn Tales is the local/syndicated program that the New York affiliate aired in the For Richer time slot. The 4PM slot in New York is listed as Special Treat: Luke Was There (a children's story with Scott Baio). So that is the network program that was rated. Unicorn Tales was local and not listed at all in the Nielsen report.

[Khan]

For some reason, whenever I see the title LOVERS AND FRIENDS, I hear this duet playing in my head:

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[Franko]

I'm going to guess that the partial episodes on March 6 and 9 were because of coverage of the ongoing United Mine Workers strike. On the 6th, President Carter said that he was invoking a law to order the strikers back to work. On the 9th, that law went into effect.

Side note about news coverage: It's quite trippy to watch 1990 episodes of One Life to Live, where the lead-up to the Persian Gulf War is taking up enough air time to practically be a storyline!

Edited June 6, 2023 by Franko

[will81]

Well Dion is a Queen so I'd be happy to get her voice stuck in my head : )

Oh awesome, thanks for the info. I guess the NYC NBC O&O had enough money to produce their own show. It wouldn't surprise me anyway. 

[BetterForgotten]

As different as Y&R may have been from its P&G neighbors on the CBS lineup, I think a great deal of those P&G soap fans were still drawn to Y&R as Bell was still a traditionalist in many ways. For years, I think the Bell soaps complemented the P&G soaps even as they also served as an alternative. 

[will81]

I do feel it held him back a bit though. I think Bell had a certain conservatism but you can see moments where he tried to break out of it and the audience wasn't having it and he backed off. I feel ABCD audiences might have taken more to his pushing the limits. 

[JAS0N47]

I have a lot of TV reference books, but Unicorn Tales was pretty hard to track down. I remembered I had a syndicated encyclopedia from the 1980's and found it in that! 

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[will81]

So it was a syndicated show. Thanks for tracking it down. I might look to see what other episodes aired and if I can find any other cast and production information, from the tv lisitings it sounds elaborate and like it might have had a decent budget. Especially if they are comparing it to Faerie Tale Theatre. 

[BoldRestless]

Wikipedia does not give dates, but it has the titles for the episodes, so you may be able to search them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicorn_Tales

 

Thanks @JAS0N47for all these treasures!

[JAS0N47]

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 5/1/78-5/5/78 & 5/8/78-5/12/78:

 

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[Broderick]

I agree completely.  As "suave" and "smooth" as early Y&R appeared to be, it was nothing more than a traditional 1950s Irna Phillips soap, updated with a youthful early 1970s "contemporary vibe".