Ratings from the 80's

[Paul Raven]

NBC was a mess in the early 80's.

In July 1980 they averaged a 5.0/20 over the previous 14 weeks compared to ABC 7.5/29 and CBS 6.5/26

In its debut week NBC's David Letterman 90 min morning show had a 2.6/13 compared to a 3.6/18 for the 3 gameshows it replaced. NBC obviously hoped  it would build but that never happened.

The week of Letterman's debut NBC could only manage a 4.5/18 daytime rating.

[kalbir]

NBC was a mess in both daytime and primetime back then. As we all know, NBC didn't recover in primetime until the breakout success of The Cosby Show, but NBC remained a mess in daytime despite supercouple-era Days getting alot of hype in the soap press.

[j swift]

Can someone fill me on Regis's NBC show?

I recall watching the premiere because my family were big Regis fans from his local morning show AM LA (Los Angeles)

But, I was looking at 1982 ratings and saw that the show was listed as 30 minutes.  Did NBC reduce the show from 60 to 30 minutes, or was it always 60 and I was mistaken?

[Paul Raven]

Regis' NBC show was always 30 min .It ran from Nov 30 1981 to April 9 1982.

His LA show was an hour.

[Paul Raven]

8th annual Daytime Emmy Awards ABC May 21 1981

2 hr ceremony 12.8/44

1980 on NBC for 90 min 6.6/24

[Paul Raven]

Week of Aug 3-7 1981.

ABC 10.0/34  its highest ever daytime rating for the 11.00-4.30 time period

CBS 6.8/24

NBC 4.0/14

[Paul Raven]

4th quarter 1981  9/28/81-12/13/81

1. GH 11.8/39 

2. OLTL 9.8/35

3. AMC 9.6/35

4. GL 7.7/25

5. RH 7.0/28

6. Y&R 7.0/28

7. ATWT 6.8/25

8. SFT 6.3/23

9. EON 5.0/16

10. DOOL 5.0/18

11. AW 4.4/16

12. TX 3.4/11

13 TD 3.2/13

Total viewers

ABC 9.73 million

CBS 7.13 million

NBC 4.31 million

Women 18-49

ABC 4.65 million

CBS 2.33 million

NBC 1.6 million

 

[Broderick]

Crazy how close together Edge of Night & Days of Our Lives were in 1981 in the ratings.  A few years later, Edge was cancelled, and by the late 1990s (?) Days was hovering around right behind Y&R and B&B near the top.  

[Paul Raven]

And Edge's ratings were all the more remarkable in that it had way less affiliate clearance -  either rescheduled or not shown at all.

Days had clearances in the high 90 % range.

Imagine if ABC and P&G had really gotten behind EON.

[Errol]

When referencing ratings, I think we should be careful in distinguishing Household rating vs demo rating. When I see 5.0 and above used to reference the 1980s figures for some shows, I immediately think it’s households but in reality it is Adults 18-49. But that’s not stated. 

Just a thought.

[Paul Raven]

Those 1981 ratings are from Variety and are household ratings, hence the separate reference to  W18-49.

Although that was the desirable cohort, at that time primetime and daytime ratings were all reported in terms of households.

[Paul Raven]

Don't think these have been posted but with 32 pages...

May 82

1. General Hospital 9.4/35

2. All My Children 8.3/32

3, One Life to Live 7.3/32

4. The Price is Right  6.5/35

5. Guiding Light 6.5/24

6. The Young and the Restless 6.0/27

7. As The World Turns 5.9/23

8. Family Feud 5.8/279.

9. Ryan's Hope 5.8/26

10. Days Of Our Lives  5.4/21

11. Love Boat 4.9/26

12. Capitol  4.5/19

13. Edge of Night 4.5/16

14. Alice 4.3/25

15 Another World 4.0/19

16. One Day At A Time  3.1/17

17. Wheel of Fortune 2.9/16

18. Search for Tomorrow  2.9/13

19. Tattletales 2.8/10

20. Texas 2.2/12

21. The Doctors 1.8/8

22. Diff'rent Strokes 1.7/10

Diff'rent Strokes triple its ratings over the next few months due to kids tuning in during vacation, so not really solving NBC's ratings issues.

[Paul Raven]

Not a good omen for ABC....the week Loving debuted in 83 was the first time since April 1979 that CBS won the daytime ratings.

Edited December 21, 2022 by Paul Raven

[Paul Raven]

Week of July 24-28 83

NBCs most competitive week since April 78

ABC/CBS  tied with 6.7 NBC 5.5 It's best rating best since June 81

Top 2 NBC shows

Wheel of Fortune 7.2/30

Days of Our Lives 6.4/20

General Hospital #1 that week - 9.8/32

[Paul Raven]

Week ending August 1 1982

For the first time in 3 years,GH did not top the weekly ratings.

1. AMC 10.2/33

2. GH 9.6/33

3. OLTL 8.5/30

4. Love Boat

5. TPIR

6. Y&R 7.7/29

7. ATWT 7.2/24

8. TPIR 2 

9.GL 7.0/24

10. Family Feud

11.Alice

12.DOOL

13. RH

14. CAP

15. Wheel of Fortune

16. AW

17. ?

18.?

19.?

17/18/19 Not reported but Diffrent Strokes, One Day At A Time and Tattletales were airing at that time and would have been in those positions.

20. EON

21. SFT

22. TX

23.TD

Chips reruns were airing on NBC 3-4pm at this time but I have never seen it mentioned in ratings reports at that time for some reason.