Ratings from the 80's

[EricMontreal22]

So what caused DAYS to go to number 1?  Was that HH or demos? 

Please register in order to view this content

 

[jam6242]

I believe it was because of Steve and Kayla's wedding, in late July 1988.

[EricMontreal22]

Ah, that would make sense.  It's interesting looking at the old ratings--the soaps actually moved around somewhat (more so in the 1970s) week by week--something I'm not used to seeing lol.

[Paul Raven]

Variety Dec 25 1989

Ratings apparently came up roses for Multimedia Entertainment's talk show Private Affairs which just ended three -week test run on Sacramento's KCRA -TV. Show, which premiered Dec. 4, scored overnight 2.5 rating /12 share average for first week, 2.9/13 in second week and further picked up steam to 4.6/14 average rating midway through final week (as of Dec. 20). Getting little advance on -air promotion, Private Affairs filled in for NBC affiliate's Generations at 10 a.m., while soap only scored average 1.4/6 during test period as leadout at 10:30 a.m.

[pdm1974]

Was the 4.8 the highest that SB ever rated?

[VanessaReardon]

I realize that these ratings are from the end of 1979, but I’m putting these in the 80’s thread based on the Daytime TV issue date. The magazine did not specify which weeks these ratings represent. 

Please register in order to view this content

[watson71]

Does anyone know the specific date that NBC and P&G decided to end the 90 minute episodes of AW and spin off Beverlee McKinsey's Iris on Texas?  Based on these ratings, the 90 minute episodes of AW were not working.  I'm just curious as to when they decided to create Texas.  I assume it had to be sometime in the winter of 1980, as the Texas characters started appearing on AW in June/July 1980- some like Reena and Kevin even earlier than that.

[robbwolff]

I recall a Daytime TV article about the spinoff early in 1980. The series was then called Another World: Houston. There was no talk at all of Iris moving over to the new soap. Rather, Russ Matthews was going to be a core character. I believe Texas was originally supposed to debut in June.

 

 

[BetterForgotten]

Texas, in the end, didn't seem worth the effort. McKinsey left after a year and hated how they wrote Iris, and the show never found its footing. Though, had McKinsey not been on Texas she probably wouldn't have gotten the chance to play Alexandra on GL (and thus creating another popular soap character) as that's where she met Gail Kobe and Pam Long. 

 

You have to question why NBC/P&G thought a new spin-off starring a popular character/actress from a now struggling soap was a good idea. That, or Texas should have been designed as a standalone soap with no direct ties to AW. 

 

 

[AbcNbc247]

Something tells me that the people who thought this was a good idea were also the same people who thought expanding AW to 90 minutes was a good idea.

[teplin]

 

Well, the star power of David Bailey would have ensured a hit! /s

 

IIRC, Beverlee McKinsey had decided to leave AW and TPTB reconfigured their Another World: Houston plans to make the show a starring vehicle for her, keeping her in the P&G family and giving Texas a better promotional platform – McKinsey's Iris was insanely popular. But it was the "love to hate her" quality that clicked with viewers, and that was lost when she was refashioned as a romantic heroine for Texas. 

[watson71]

 

Thanks for the info.  Definitely would be interesting to read the Daytime TV article about Texas.

 

 

I suspect that NBC played a big part in the Texas spin-off.  When Texas debuted, Fred Silverman was running NBC after he had successful stints at CBS and ABC.  On all three networks, he always liked creating spin-offs of successful series.  While at CBS, All in the Family spun-off Maude and Maude spun-off Good Times.  Mary Tyler Moore spun-off Rhoda.  While at ABC, Happy Days spun-off Laverne & Shirley and Mork & Mindy.  Three's Company spun-off The Ropers.  When Silverman arrived at NBC, the network had few prime time hits.  Immediately, Silverman spun-off The Facts of Life and Hello Larry from Different Strokes.  Then, NBC put a Sanford & Son spin-off Sanford on the air that even Redd Foxx could not save from cancellation.  Also, NBC lost a considerable amount of cash because of the US boycott of the Summer Olympics that was to air on NBC.  Another World, while no longer the highest rated soap on the air, was still the highest rated on NBC.  AW was probably still turning a nice profit for the low rated network, so Silverman and the other NBC executives saw the spin-off Texas as a solution to part of NBC's ratings problem without clearly thinking out the soap before putting it on the air.

[robbwolff]

I believe someone on here also mentioned that Pat Randolph was slated to be part of Another World: Houston. That makes sense since Another World was going for a Kevin/Pat/Reena love triangle.

 

I assume Tom King had created the characters of Reena, Kevin, Striker, and Victoria, all of whom appeared on Texas. Apparently, the Corringtons changed some of the details about those characters. I know Striker and Victoria had other children in addition to Reena. I believe they had twin sons and a daughter named Samantha (later made Reena's cousin on Texas). In addition, a fall 1979 synopsis on the Another World Home Page mentions that dialogue was crossed out in one script that referenced Kevin's two grown-up children.

[VanessaReardon]

Please register in order to view this content

[Paul Raven]

March 1-5 1982

1. GH 9.8/32

2. AMC 8.8/31

3. OLTL 8.1/29

4. GL 8.0/26

5. Y&R 7.4/27

6. ATWT 7.3/26

7. RH 6.7/25

8. SFT 6.6/23

9. DOOL 6.2/22

10. AW 4.0/19

11. EON 4.6/14

12. Texas 4.0/13

13. TD 3.7/14

 

 

Week ending July 19 1983

1. TPIR

2. GH

3. Y&R

4. AMC

5.  GL

6. ATWT

7. Wheel of Fortune

8. OLTL

9. TPIR

10. Capitol

Edited July 26, 2019 by Paul Raven