Ratings from the 80's

[MichaelGL]

Total embarrassment of riches not getting DA to return to DAYS, and instead going to AW.

[beebs]

Considering Gary Tomlin was headwriting the show at the time, and he admitted to (I THINK) being ignorant of Alice's history on the show (someone correct me if I'm wrong about that), her return was doomed from the get-go. 

[Soapsuds]

OLTL tanking at #8 and even passed by Capitol.

[soapfave06]

This! Exactly this should have happened, with Doug and Julie clashing with Susan. Although DAYS did well for sidelining the vets and focusing on the supercouple craze, but this always hurts the shows long-term when cast upheavals occur. 

[GLATWT88]

While I love to see GL so high on that list, beating GH with a low 8s doesn't seem like much of a victory. Seems more like a failure for GH than anything else. 

GL was easily hitting 8s a few years back, it's finally finding its groove again. Would have been nice to see GL with a 9 again, but still pretty impressive that it beat out its time period competition which it hadn't in a long while. All though, I still hold that it was more impressive how strongly GL performed 78-81 when GH mania was in full force and their ratings were insane. 

OLTL no longer benefitting from AMC or GH as both have seemed to drop 

[Soapsuds]

ATWT wedding ratings for Steve and Betsy. I guess they weren't as popular as I thought back in the day. Craig's misdeeds to separate them garnered higher numbers for ATWT.

[BoldRestless]

Story from the week Y&R went #1. Solid but nothing looks like a barn burner.

 

MONDAY MAY 28, 1984 - FRIDAY JUNE 01, 1984

The Young and the Restless: Ashley told a heartbroken Eric that she can't marry him, and that she's attracted to Marc. Nikki conned Victor into admitting that his real name is Christian Miller. Paul and Andy learned that Victor's parents, Albert and Cora, had once tried to get a then teenaged Victor out of the orphanage, only to learn that he had run away. Frank warned Amy that Jazz will never be rid of his mob contacts. Jazz worried that Tyrone, who is Genoa City's new county prosecutor, wants to live with Jazz. Jill lost her baby; then denied John's accusation that she purposely fell off the ladder in hopes that she'd abort their son. Jack warned Ashley that Marc can destroy the Abbott family if he reveals that Dina's still legally John's wife. Dina and Marc mended old fences. Tim nixed John's job offer because he feared it might harm his relationship with Traci.

[GLATWT88]

I am interested to see Luke and Laura's impact later on in 1984 when they return for a short stint. Laura's return in late 1983 brought a big spike. 

The second promo in this clip seems to be around this time either week leading up to 

Please register in order to view this content

 

[beebs]

Of course, there used to be a higher quality version of this up, but I always was fascinated by this beat of the story. Jill not only wanting to keep the paternity of the baby a secret (since there's a good chance it's Jack's), but she finds out the baby stands a very great chance of being born disabled. John wants the baby regardless, but Jill, knowing she'd be the primary caregiver, and not having been especially maternal with Philip, is horrified by the prospect of her life being spent caring for a disabled child, and...
 

Please register in order to view this content

Add the fact they never definitively revealed to all that Jill's fall was intentional. I really miss the layers to the storytelling you got, especially with Y&R.

[kalbir]

Y&R at #1! I think this was the start of Dorothy McGuire's arc as Cora Miler.

[AbcNbc247]

That could have been really good, but by that point, I think Margaret DePriest was pretty much done with Bill and Susan. 

They didn't even get a proper exit. For pretty much their entire last episode, they were secondary characters in Liz's storyline

[Paul Raven]

For Gary Tomlin to say he was unfamiliar with Alice was unforgivable. 

More likely he was told she was returning and she didn't fit into his vision so he couldn't be bothered taking advantage of her presence.

The thing with Pam Long (and many others) is they make an initial splash with new characters and situations but either through choice or circumstance don't have to follow through over the course of several years to sustain interest in those characters and come up with new plots.

[JAS0N47]

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS (FAST NATIONALS): WEEK OF 6/18/84-6/22/84:

Please register in order to view this content

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 6/25/84-6/29/84 & 7/2/84-7/6/84:

[Soapsuds]

ATWT to #3 and #4.

Too bad no episodes are on YouTube. No clue what was going on.

GL slipping. I wonder if it was because of the Beth/Lujack pairing.

[kalbir]

June 27, 1984 Y&R Traci's suicide attempt. We saw this episode during the classics. Beth Maitland 1985 Supporting Actress Emmy winning episode.

Edited September 1, 2023 by kalbir