Bridget is kind of a delusional mess. ATWT was never #1 when they were writing the show. Not even for a week. I'm assuming that Steve & Betsy's wedding wedding MAY have made ATWT #1 that week, (no confirmation on this)but the Dobsons were long gone by then.

We won't even go into her delusion about being the only people to ever be offered to create a show that is all their own. Remember being locked out of the studio of your own show Bridget? Obviously others had more power than you.

Bridget is kind of a delusional mess. ATWT was never #1 when they were writing the show. Not even for a week. I'm assuming that Steve & Betsy's wedding wedding MAY have made ATWT #1 that week, (no confirmation on this)but the Dobsons were long gone by then.

We won't even go into her delusion about being the only people to ever be offered to create a show that is all their own. Remember being locked out of the studio of your own show Bridget? Obviously others had more power than you.

Ha I'm intrigued for part four to hear her spin onthe SB mess.

I aklways thought the soaps that supplanted ATWT as number one were first AMC, I believe briefly in 1979 and then the same year GH which stuck around.

Yeah, I think those are some rose-colored glasses she's remembering through. I don't know (and I couldn't find it in the archive) the specific dates of her tenure, but not only did ATWT never regain the #1 ranking, or the top rated CBS show. There was only one year that it even outperformed GL.

It was amazing, one year P&G (I think it was '77-'78) P&G had three of the top four shows. Five years later, they were behind the entire ABC lineup and Y&R. AW specifically lost a third of it's audience.

Anyone who wrote the Barbara/Gunnar/James in 1800's costuming should have been fired. IMMEDIATELY.

Edited May 7, 201312 yr by P.J.

I remember reading SOD in 1982 that ATWT reclaimed the #1 spot from GH during Steve and Betsy's hyped wedding. IDK if it was for a day or just for the whole week. I do remember them saying that the wedding episode ranked #1.

IIRC, the highest the Dobsons ever took GL in the ratings was number three. For most of their tenure, however, GL stayed at fifth place.

I wonder if Prospect Park were to get GH, I wouldn't mind seeing them as consultants along with Claire Labine at GH..

Bridget and Jerome in 2012

they aren't as old as people makes them out to be, they are probably around Agnes' age

I think one thing to be considered is that when Marland took over GL from the Dobsons the show was in pretty good shape. Marland himsely acknowledged that.

The Dobsons, on the other hand, came to ATWT when the show was floundering.There weren't any real strong stories at the time.

Having said that,some of the characters they introduced were destined to fail ...Nick,Brad etc

We won't even go into her delusion about being the only people to ever be offered to create a show that is all their own. Remember being locked out of the studio of your own show Bridget? Obviously others had more power than you.

Actually, that was what the lawsuit was over- they were supposed to have total autonomy on the creative end. You do realize that they eventually won that lawsuit, right? Meaning NBC/New World were not within their rights to lock them out.

As for the creating a show all their own- I think she meant an hour daytime drama, since the others had all premiered as half hour soaps. Even then, however, she's not right because JER was eventually given that power (again, by NBC) at "Passions."

I think one thing to be considered is that when Marland took over GL from the Dobsons the show was in pretty good shape. Marland himsely acknowledged that.

The Dobsons, on the other hand, came to ATWT when the show was floundering.There weren't any real strong stories at the time.

Having said that,some of the characters they introduced were destined to fail ...Nick,Brad etc

I remember Marland stating that the only time he ever took over a show that was in excellent shape was GL. He stated he really didn't need to do anything to improve the show, so he basically carried on a lot of the plotlines that the Dobson's created for the first year.. while putting his touches to them and beefed up the teen/younger character set with Nola/Kelly/Morgan.. while tying them all the long term characters on the show.

From reading the monthly outlines during the Dobson's first stint on ATWT, I think they did do some great stuff.. but also some not so great stuff either.

I'm wondering when they say #1, do they mean #1 out of all daytime dramas... or the #1 daytime drama produced by P & G? I do know that P & G showed more favoritism toward ATWT then they did the other shows on their schedule.. except maybe AW during the 1970s.

If I were to be truly honest, I think their interpretation of GL far surpassed Marland's and would be most in-tune with my personal viewing sensibilities.

Their stints at ATWT also coincided with ABC becoming the dominating lineup on daytime at the time, something they really didn't face at GL. That had to factor into the type of stories they were going for.

Though, it seems like their second stint was a lot more stable and focused than their first stint. Does anyone know why they left and came back anyway? I think they had a great working relationship with Mary Ellis Bunim (who also received a lot of flack from fans of both SEARCH and ATWT for her more youthful innovations) during that second stint, who they later hired at Santa Barbara.

Edited May 7, 201312 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

I was able to dig up some info down in my basement. There definitely were times in 78/79 when GL was number 1 in the ratings. Remember how Daytime TV Magazine had the ratings? I dug up their February 1979 issue. They don't say what particular week the ratings are from, it just says 'as we go to press' so the ratings must have been from the later part of 1978. The top 3 that week were GL 8.3; ATWT 8.2; Y&R 7.8. Then in the September 1979 issue of Daytime TV the top shows were GL 7.9; ATWT 7.7; AMC 7.6; Y&R 7.5 and GH 7.4. There were interesting variations that year because there were months when GL was as low as #7. I also looked ahead in the early 80's and while the Dobsons were at ATWT, they were never higher than #4. Again, keep in mind that I am just going by the month of the Daytime TV issue and they did not say which weeks the ratings were for. 1983 seemed to be a pretty good year for ATWT. They were #4 alot. Their highest ranking was the 11/84 issue. ATWT was #3 behind Y&R and GH. I wish I knew what particular weeks these ratings were for!

Thanks for digging that up! I had a feeling that their GL hit #1 at some point, considering the way the ratings were back in those days. The #1 soap could change on a dime and storytelling was a HUGE contributing factor. Plus, if one show started to stink and another one got good, younger viewers who weren't fully invested could and would switch their viewing habits. Very interesting.

Does she say in the interview that ATWT hit #1 when they were there? All I remember is her saying that about GL, but maybe I didn't fully digest that part of what I read.

I thought she did say that about ATWT--but I'm too lazy to check again

You're right that ratings are always interesting to read back then --they did change often a fair amount week to week. It seems by the mid or late 80s things settled down somewhat (and then became fairly stagnant.) I'd like to know when people started to pay attention to demos..

I am sure the details of the SB lawsuit are available, but I never really did understand how NBC managed to go against their word and take the show creatively away from them. I suppose we'll hear Bridget's take in part four (whenever that's posted )

I never really did understand how NBC managed to go against their word and take the show creatively away from them.

That's why the Dobsons sued NBC (and, I think, New World). According to the Dobsons, the network had promised them total control over SANTA BARBARA; yet, when the Dobsons decided to replace Anne Howard Bailey as HW, the network argued that doing so would jeopardize the show's success and locked them out of the show, both literally and figuratively.

That's why the Dobsons sued NBC (and, I think, New World). According to the Dobsons, the network had promised them total control over SANTA BARBARA; yet, when the Dobsons decided to replace Anne Howard Bailey as HW, the network argued that doing so would jeopardize the show's success and locked them out of the show, both literally and figuratively.

Didn't they also sue ABC concerning GH

Yep. I think. The Hursleys' daughters all sued ABCD, claiming they were denied a percentage of profits or royalties from GH, their parents' creation.

Bridget Dobson and Pat Falken Smith: they sure do love their lawsuits.