It's interesting that CBS will do better later in the year and Guiding Light will hit #1 again. 

15 hours ago, Beetle Bailey said:

The only two non-ABC soaps that were riveting viewing during most of the 70's was AW and GL.

What about 1970s Y&R?

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 2/26/79-3/2/79 & 3/5/79-3/9/79:

 

On 6/21/2023 at 7:59 AM, Beetle Bailey said:

In 1979, both Joe Riley and Dan Stewart were killed off their shows.  When OLTL aired Joe Riley's funeral, it felt raw and real,  it was like the audience was able to grieve along with Llanview, while Dan Stewart's funeral was so stiff.  It seemed to me as if the writing was too caught up in being dignified rather than mourning the loss of this important character.  Dan Stewart was the love of Kim's life, Kim was too stoic.  And this was the contrast between the two shows.

I wasn't a big fan of 1970s World Turns, though it was often playing in our living room.  I remember Dan's funeral pretty vividly, and how composed Kim was for the sake of Betsy.  It struck me as being shockingly real.  (But I was too young for anyone's demo, so my opinion didn't matter lol.)     

2 hours ago, JAS0N47 said:

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 2/26/79-3/2/79 & 3/5/79-3/9/79:

 

All My Children, General Hospital and Young & Restless battling it out for Number 1!

On 6/21/2023 at 8:09 AM, JAS0N47 said:

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 2/12/79-2/16/79 & 2/19/79-2/23/79:

 

February 20, 1979: Melody Thomas Scott debut on Y&R.

9 hours ago, JAS0N47 said:

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 2/26/79-3/2/79 & 3/5/79-3/9/79:

March 5-9, 1979 was a big week in daytime history: Another World expands to 90 minutes, Guiding Light Roger/Holly marital rape, One Life to Live Karen Wolek on the witness stand.

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 3/12/79-3/16/79 & 3/19/79-3/23/79:

 

Y&R and ATWT #1 and #2.

15 hours ago, kalbir said:

February 20, 1979: Melody Thomas Scott debut on Y&R.

March 5-9, 1979 was a big week in daytime history: Another World expands to 90 minutes, Guiding Light Roger/Holly marital rape, One Life to Live Karen Wolek on the witness stand.

GL episode from the 5th

 

6 hours ago, JAS0N47 said:

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 3/12/79-3/16/79 & 3/19/79-3/23/79:

 

March 19, 1979: Jerry verDorn (RIP) debut on GL.

6 hours ago, JAS0N47 said:

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 3/12/79-3/16/79 & 3/19/79-3/23/79:

 

3/12: All My Children Number 1.

3/19: Restless, ATWT and GL top 3 Great week for CBS. AMC bumped to Number 4.

On 10/8/2022 at 4:49 PM, JoeCool said:

You should watch the interviews with Fred Silverman when he was at ABC on the EMMYs website and also on Youtube.  Fred was a fan of Agnes Nixon's All My Children and of Agnes. When Fred came to ABC, GH was a mess and Fred was the one who said either you improve this or it is gone. When things got better at GH and OLTL he expanded them to 45 then to an 1 hour. It was All My Children that was the leader when Fred took over and remained ABC's top soap until 1980.

I remember this interview.  He then talked about what he walked into when he defected over to NBC, including their show development and how their daytime was a mess.

7 minutes ago, mphs19952003 said:

I remember this interview.  He then talked about what he walked into when he defected over to NBC, including their show development and how their daytime was a mess.

Fred Silverman and Jackie Smith - VP for Daytime were instrumental in ABC Daytime's rise. Fred could not do anything about NBC Daytime when he got there...it was a mess.

16 minutes ago, JoeCool said:

Fred could not do anything about NBC Daytime when he got there...it was a mess.

NBC on the whole was a mess in the late 1970s and early 1980s. As we all know NBC didn't recover in primetime until The Cosby Show came along but it remained a mess in daytime despite supercouple Days, Santa Barbara Emmy run, Reilly Days.

A note on the ratings. I will be pausing the posts on the ratings for a bit due to time constraints. Look more towards probably August for the regular ratings posts to return. And 1980's ratings fans, as a teaser, you now have a LOT more to look forward to than just the first year (1980) of the decade!!

4 hours ago, JAS0N47 said:

A note on the ratings. I will be pausing the posts on the ratings for a bit due to time constraints. Look more towards probably August for the regular ratings posts to return. And 1980's ratings fans, as a teaser, you now have a LOT more to look forward to than just the first year (1980) of the decade!!

We have really appreciated all the work you have done getting these posted!  and OMG, that's gonna be awesome if you have ratings for 1981, 1982 etc...eventually!  

Thanks so much!!