Ratings from the 80's

[Paul Raven]

Yes that's why I included 'adventure' in the description. Jack/Jennifer weren't battling spies, travelling to exotic locations or encountering super villians.

[TEdgeofNight]

Pam Long the NBC soap killer! Texas and Search in the 80’s and Santa Barbara in the 90’s. Not a fan. 

[Soapsuds]

ATWT August 1989 promo

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[te.]

I know the guys behind the website and they do what we all do - compile ratings from various known sources. They've never posted anything false.

[Contessa Donatella]

Thank you very much for the info. I'm so pleased to have fallen down a rabbit hole looking for something else & discovered them!

[MichaelGL]

She did create Hamp Speakes. I'm not sure if it was Curlee who created Gilly, but as an educated guess I would credit Curlee and Co for bringing on the Grants and etc and making the cast much more diverse. 

Negative. LOL I honestly think for SON, Robert Calhoun is widely known here as one of those underrated EP's. The ideal pairing IMO would be Calhoun as EP  and Douglas Marland as HW at any soap. 

For GL in 1989 really enjoyed watching the Phillip unraveling/Blake marriage/Beth being alive story, the writing and production was pretty good (I remember loving the episode where Phillip dug up Beth's grave the directing was on point with the mood, lighting, etc.) I even enjoyed the whole Alan-Michael/Harley/Dylan/Sam quad. Wasn't GL named most improved soap by SOD in 1989? Honestly things didn't really start to pick up or become cohesive until mid 1989 and by the fall/winter I thought the show was firing on all cylinders. (Possibly having to do with Curlee and Jones having more influence on the writing as associate head writers).

This is true, such a talented bunch of writers. Off topic, but despite JER's faults, I will also commend him for keeping some of these group of core writers employed in the late 90s early 2000s.

Edited November 9, 2023 by MichaelGL

[JAS0N47]

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 8/21/89-8/25/89 & 8/28/89-9/1/89:

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FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 9/4/89-9/8/89 & 9/11/89-9/15/89:

[Franko]

Notes about the start of September 1989 ... After the Vicki Lawrence version of Win, Lose or Draw ended its run on Sept. 1, daytime is down to five game shows: Scrabble and Classic Concentration on NBC and Family Feud, Wheel of Fortune and The Price Is Right on CBS. Also, The Joan Rivers Show started its run in syndication on Sept. 5.

[Khan]

So, GENERATIONS started at the bottom and stayed there.  NBC likely blamed the competition and part-African-American cast; I blame the cheap production values and piss-poor writing and acting.  Either way, I don't understand those who insist the show was cancelled too soon when it was clear the show was DOA.

[kalbir]

Y&R September 1, 1989 Terry Lester (RIP) departure.

B&B this week Thorne and Macy first meeting.

B&B this week Clayton Norcross departure and Jeff Trachta debut.

We're also at three years Oprah, two years Geraldo, one year Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. 

Loving clearance no change from September 1988.

Edited November 11, 2023 by kalbir

[Contessa Donatella]

Now see, I thought it was well-written, well-acted, had a great premise, & there had been nothing like it on before. To me, the production values were good & I loved its opening theme & song. You couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting an excellent actor & NBC had enough confidence in it to start it with a 3-year contract instead of their usual 2-year. BET immediately bought its rerun rights & ran it several times. Then for its legacy on YouTube, it has the world's best catfight. Maya & Chantal almost destroy a room. What's not to love? 

But, I always heard that it had a white knight protector among the NBC execs, but NBC executive personnel changed & they lost their white knight. As much as NBC executive level personnel changed, that might have been a foregone conclusion. 

It's where I first saw Kelly Rutherford & I loved her Sam. Followed her to the great vampire soap "Kindred: The Embraced" where Stacy Haiduk is exceptional, too, as are others. Then she was excellent in "Gossip Girl."

[Franko]

And six years for Sally on the whole, ~five in national syndication. At least, that's how I'm interpreting a May 1985 article that said her show had been on the air for a year after its promising start in St. Louis. At that point, Sally was on 60 stations nationally.

[kalbir]

Yes it was. The write up is here.

[JoeCool]

Yes and I will note All My Children was selected as the best show of 1989. Agnes Nixon returned to AMC as HW in the fall of 1989 and the ratings went up and stabilized. AMC getting back into the top 3 fairly often in 1989 and will cement that position in 1990.

Edited November 10, 2023 by JoeCool

[beebs]

A tough year for most soaps, though things seemed to stabilize during Summer '89. Interesting to see the changing trends, as B&B and Y&R appear to be the real winners of the year, reflecting the shift away from the action-oriented style of the 80s.

Here's 1988-89 (vs. 87-88)

1. Y&R	8.1 (+0.2)
2. GH	7.5 (-0.2)
3. OLTL	6.9 (-0.5)
4. AMC	6.6 (-0.7)
5. ATWT	6.3 (-0.2)
6. DAYS	6.2 (-0.8)
7. GL	6.0 (0.0)
8. B&B	5.8 (+0.5)
9. AW	4.5 (-0.5)
10. SB	4.2 (-0.4)
11. LOV	3.5 (-0.5)
12. GEN	2.4 (new)
13. RH	2.3 (-0.3)

 

Seems like DAYS really sh*t the bed this year, with the combination of shifting tastes, Anne Howard Bailey's unsuccessful writing, Al Rabin's departure as EP (temporarily), Scrabble being replaced by a relatively weak Generations as its lead-in, and Y&R and B&B's ascent really wreaking havoc on the show. The fact the show reached as high as 8.1 and as low as 5.0 within about three and a half months shows just how quickly the wheels fell off. And while I recognize the holiday boost plays into that high, it's still a significant drop, considering how consistently well the show had been doing the previous year.

AMC seems to have the opposite situation happening. While it lost almost as many viewers as DAYS, they were struggling to build back their audience after the ratings crashed in the first half of 1988. Things don't pick up until Summer 1989 for them, with Felicia Menei Behr and Margaret DePriest tightening the ship through 1989, before Agnes Nixon returns in the fall.

Interesting to note that, though we've been talking a lot about GL's ratings troubles, it has stayed remarkably consistent the last three years, averaging a 6.0 and 7th place every year since 1986-87. Though Pam Long hasn't managed to move the needle upward at all during this period, she should be commended for at least maintaining stable numbers despite most soaps losing viewers over the past few seasons.

I should also note that, despite it being down slightly for the year, 1988-89 is the first year ATWT ranks 5th or higher since 1982-83. No doubt Marland was keeping the show on stable footing during this period.