MAY 1978 SWEEPS WEEK CHARTS: MONDAY-FRIDAY & SATURDAY EARLY MORNING & DAYTIME:

 

NOVEMBER 1978 SWEEPS WEEK CHARTS: MONDAY-FRIDAY & SATURDAY EARLY MORNING & DAYTIME:

MAY 1979 SWEEPS WEEK CHARTS: MONDAY-FRIDAY & SATURDAY EARLY MORNING & DAYTIME:

 

 

NOVEMBER 1979 SWEEPS WEEK CHARTS: MONDAY-FRIDAY & SATURDAY EARLY MORNING & DAYTIME:

 

 

1980's to be posted in the '80s Ratings Thread.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On 1/8/2024 at 4:37 AM, Khan said:

Does anyone have the inside story as to why Kathy Breech was replaced as Karen Wolek?  Thanks to YT, I was able to watch some of her work.  Although she was very pretty, I really don't think she would've been up to playing the prostitution story with as many psychological layers as JL was.  Was that why TPTB replaced her, or was it something else?

As I understand it, Kathy was unreliable and missing work. She claimed illness but I think the TPTB knew better, Julia Duffy came in to sub at one point and in a rare move for a soap, OLTL hired Judith Light as Kathy's understudy. The next time she called in sick, they dumped her for Judith. She cried foul and that's the last I could find about it all.

Edited January 25, 20241 yr by will81

8 minutes ago, will81 said:

As I understand it, Kathy was unreliable and missing work. She claimed illness but I think the TPTB knew better, Julia Duffy came in to sub at one point and in a rare move for a soap, OLTL hired Judith Light as Kathy's understudy. The next time she called in sick, they dumped her for Judith. She cried foul and that's the last I could find about it all.

"Unreliable," eh?  Either she was too hopped up on "Peruvian marching powder," or she was playing hooky because she didn't know acting would be so hard when she took the job.

Thanks, @will81!

22 minutes ago, Khan said:

"Unreliable," eh?  Either she was too hopped up on "Peruvian marching powder," or she was playing hooky because she didn't know acting would be so hard when she took the job.

Thanks, @will81!

Haha, I think around this time many producers felt actors called in sick to grandstand for a better contract. Not sure if she was in negotiations at the time or not. I do feel it was the latter though, she just flaked, not sure why but I just get the vibe from the couple of episodes I've seen of her. 

On 1/3/2024 at 2:43 PM, beebs said:

Yeah, these numbers explains a lot of what happened in 1978. Ann Marcus gave DAYS a real jolt, presumably because of the Sam/Marlena story, so I can see why she lasted as long as she did in the head writer spot, but she couldn't sustain the momentum.

As for GH, they didn't look like they were doing so badly until the summer hit, and now they're some weeks only above EON. ABC's cancellation threats make a lot more sense now. The Pollocks may have been popular on The Doctors, but they were tanking GH, and would be out by September, with Richard & Suzanne Holland filling in for a month before Irving & Tex Elman come over from SFT for another month. Then Marland arrives at the end of the year.

CORRECTION: looking at the Daytime Serial Newsletters, it appears Irving & Tex Elman arrive first in September 1977, and are out by mid-October, replaced with Richard & Suzanne Holland. Marland isn't credited as headwriter until some time in January 1978.

Marland took over in Nov 1977. I have a Dec 77 article that states Marland went to GH and Mel and Ethel Brez went to The Doctors the previous month, just not sure if that means they began writing the show but scripts began airing in Dec 77 or if their episodes were airing through Nov 77.

Interestingly, Mel and Ethel Brez were hired by NBCD in the summer of 77 and put through a HW workshop intensive with the goal being that they would take over one of the NBC soaps. I think this was always going to be TD. Since Harding Lemay and Ann Marcus seemed safe in their positions. 

Irving and Tex Elman's script archive suggests they wrote GH from Aug 04, 1977 - Sep 29, 1977 and the Hollands were likely there from Sep 30 - Nov 77. Given GH pushes up to a 7 the week of Nov 14, I wonder if Marland's scripts were already airing by then. 

20 minutes ago, will81 said:

Irving and Tex Elman's script archive suggests they wrote GH from Aug 04, 1977 - Sep 29, 1977 and the Hollands were likely there from Sep 30 - Nov 77. Given GH pushes up to a 7 the week of Nov 14, I wonder if Marland's scripts were already airing by then.

Wasn't it the Hollands who located the show in Port Charles for the first time?

2 hours ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

Wasn't it the Hollands who located the show in Port Charles for the first time?

I think so, I believe during their first run on the show.

1 minute ago, will81 said:

I think so, I believe during their first run on the show.

I know for sure it was the 70s & I also know it was a husband-wife team for sure, so they fit. 

On 10/24/2011 at 2:09 AM, DRW50 said:

This is from the April 1977 Daytime TV, the top ten soaps, taken from the last two weeks before they went to press.

 

10.0 ATWT 36%

9.1 AW 31%

8.8 GL 34%

8.4 Y&R 37%

7.9 SFT 32%

7.7 DAYS 28%

6.8 Doctors 26%

6.6 AMC 26%

6.4 OLTL 24%

6.5 RH 25%

Most popular game shows

9.3 Match Game '76 30%

6.9 $20,000 Pyramid 25%

6.3 Wheel of Fortune 34%

6.3 Family Feud 24%

6.2 Price is Right 2 34%

So, GH is missing here?

31 minutes ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

So, GH is missing here?

Obviously. Probably ranked #11.

Hence all the BTS changes.

On 1/11/2024 at 7:50 PM, JAS0N47 said:

MAY 1979 SWEEPS WEEK CHARTS: MONDAY-FRIDAY & SATURDAY EARLY MORNING & DAYTIME:

 

 

NOVEMBER 1979 SWEEPS WEEK CHARTS: MONDAY-FRIDAY & SATURDAY EARLY MORNING & DAYTIME:

 

 

1980's to be posted in the '80s Ratings Thread.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seems like poor foresight to place Love of Life at 4pm instead of 3:30. The 3:30pm slot is doing well at maintaining GL's audience - perhaps viewers were sticking around til 4pm and letting that hour block conclude before switching off or onto something else. Wonder if the network just didn't have much faith in LOL and keeping a rerun that could pull in numbers was just a wiser move than jeopardizing the slot in the case LOL still manages to underperform. 

16 minutes ago, GLATWT88 said:

Seems like poor foresight to place Love of Life at 4pm instead of 3:30. The 3:30pm slot is doing well at maintaining GL's audience - perhaps viewers were sticking around til 4pm and letting that hour block conclude before switching off or onto something else. Wonder if the network just didn't have much faith in LOL and keeping a rerun that could pull in numbers was just a wiser move than jeopardizing the slot in the case LOL still manages to underperform. 

Was this before, during or after Jean Holloway did a number on it?

46 minutes ago, GLATWT88 said:

Seems like poor foresight to place Love of Life at 4pm instead of 3:30. The 3:30pm slot is doing well at maintaining GL's audience - perhaps viewers were sticking around til 4pm and letting that hour block conclude before switching off or onto something else. Wonder if the network just didn't have much faith in LOL and keeping a rerun that could pull in numbers was just a wiser move than jeopardizing the slot in the case LOL still manages to underperform. 

The 3.30-4.30 slot of MASH and Match Game seemed compatible programming. An hour of comedy following the soap block.

So then to drop Match Game for Love of Life seemed odd. LOL had played in the morning for years and expecting viewers to find it in the afternoon was a big ask.

If they really wanted it to work it would have been scheduled following GL with MASH moved to 4pm.

But clearances were lower at 4pm and MASH was probably too valuable to be placed there.

I think it was just a way to get rid of Love of Life and blame the ratings.

43 minutes ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

Was this before, during or after Jean Holloway did a number on it?

I'm not sure when Jean left. But by the time she arrived LOL was already a sinking ship, it had been for most of the decade. 

12 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

The 3.30-4.30 slot of MASH and Match Game seemed compatible programming. An hour of comedy following the soap block.

So then to drop Match Game for Love of Life seemed odd. LOL had played in the morning for years and expecting viewers to find it in the afternoon was a big ask.

If they really wanted it to work it would have been scheduled following GL with MASH moved to 4pm.

But clearances were lower at 4pm and MASH was probably too valuable to be placed there.

I think it was just a way to get rid of Love of Life and blame the ratings.

It makes sense. I'm sure the network was interested in replacing it by then either way. GH and ABC were heating up and LOL was showing its age and definitely felt outdated.