Ratings from the 80's

[BoldRestless]

These ones are ok. I can do it going forward, I'll just reply with thumbs up or a correction. If you want me to look back, let me know what weeks.

[kalbir]

1973-1975 Bill Bell was writing both Y&R and Days. Bill Bell wrote both Y&R and B&B from 1987-1993.

Edited November 14, 2023 by kalbir

[Contessa Donatella]

Thanks for replying. That's what I thought. 

[JAS0N47]

Thanks!  If you can check back to the first Soap Weekly chart from 10/16/89, that would be great.

Bill was still the story consultant with Days into Spring 1978, so he was still on the Days payroll until then. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Jason, what was Pat Falken Smith's position between 1975-1978? 

[JAS0N47]

She left Days in April 1977, but she was the head writer from 1975-1977. 

The Days scripts from 1975-1977 all said: 

Story by: William J. Bell

Written by: Pat Falken Smith (then followed by the dialogue writer)

 

[Contessa Donatella]

Thank you. I knew they had an arrangement where the ideas came from him but she executed his wishes. It is good to see how the credits read at that time. That was some deal that Betty Corday worked out! She was a consultant on Y&R and Corday Inc. owned 1% of Y&R. I have great admiration for her, also for PFS. 

[Khan]

I don't think AMC's decline in the late '80's can be blamed entirely on RH's place in the lineup, though.  Consensus seems to be that AMC began to suffer creatively somewhere around 1984, with the departure of Kim Delaney (ex-Jenny).  The decline was then exacerbated by the loss of both EP Jackie Babbin, who left the show in 1986; and HW Wisner Washam, who left the following year.  By 1989, despite HW's Lorraine Broderick and Victor Miller telling some powerful stories like Cindy Parker Chandler's battle with AIDS and Tom and Brooke losing their daughter, Laura, in a drunk driving accident, it was clear to many that the show was atrophying under EP Stephen Schenkel and needed a proverbial shot in the arm - enter Felicia Minei Behr.

 

It's my understanding that Bill Bell agreed to stay on at DAYS (after being threatened with a lawsuit), even though he was eager to focus all his energies on Y&R.  He'd write the long-term bible for DAYS; however, Pat Falken Smith and her team were free to use or not use his story ideas as they saw fit.

Given PFS' personality, though, I wonder if she elected to use any of her predecessor's ideas at all, lol.

[watson71]

Not even sure how Schenkel got hired at AMC.  He took over AW in January 1985 and quickly dismantled all the good that Allen Potter did the previous 20 months to get AW back on track after a disastrous 1982.  The only good thing Schenkel did at AW was introduce Jake McKinnon and Victoria as Marley’s twin.  

[JoeCool]

@Khan All of what you said is true. However having a weak lead-in did not help AMC compete against Restless. Remember CBS moved up Restless in February 1981 to give Restless a chance to beat AMC. Restless destroyed RH which weakened AMC. Eventually Restless gained an edge over AMC and in 1986 overtook AMC. The point I did not make failed to make previously is if AMC went head to head with Restless it would have been a whole different ratings ballgame. Restless would have been number 1 eventually but I don’t think AMC would have weakened in the period between 85 to 87 if it had the chance too be in the 1230 slot. And yes Loving did not help AMC. Restless destroyed Loving more than it did RH. 
AMC never had a strong lead in.

 

Also Bill Bell insisted BB has Restless has its lead in. I wonder why?! Why not ATWT or GL? I do not think BB would have such success not being after Restless. Why not  have BB start at 1230 and move Restless to 1 and have BB compete against Loving.  BB was an average show until about 1990. Yes Bell was HW for its first 7 years or so but the show did not hit its creative strides until 3 years in.

 

Timeslot placement is important. I do not think BB would have fared as well against GH and SB either.

 

Edited November 14, 2023 by JoeCool

[JAS0N47]

WEEKDAY DAYTIME TV SPECIALS (1/11/82-9/26/82):

Please register in order to view this content

 

[BoldRestless]

Here's what I have through 2/2/90:

 

10/16/89-10/20/89 
SOW has GL ahead of DOOL because of the 19 share (the numbers you have are the same though). 

10/23/89-10/27/89:
You have B&B's share at 20. SOW has 22.

11/6/89-11/10/89:
Same numbers, but SOW has GL above B&B.

11/27/89-12/1/89 
I didn't type them all out but the share is different for virtually every show (this must be a fast national week?)

12/25/89-12/29/89 
OLTL and AMC are reversed from what SOW has. Same for Loving and SB but I think that's SOW's error.

1/1/90-1/5/90
Nearly every show's ratings are different.

[JAS0N47]

 

DIFFERENCES IN SOAP OPERA WEEKLY CHARTS VS. NIELSEN BOOKS (SO FAR)...

 

10/23/89-10/27/89: SOW has BB share at 22....Nielsen book has 20 share,
11/27/89-12/1/89: All shares in SOW are higher than in Nielsen book.

 

Thanks so much for comparing!  I see the problem with the "1/1/90-1/5/90" SOW chart. Those are actually the ratings (which match exactly in the Nielsen book) for the "missing" 1/8/90-1/12/90 SOW chart.  So SOW actually never published the ratings for the week of 1/1/90-1/5/90, which happened to be the week that GH tied YR for # 1. I will make that correction on my website and confirm that is actually the numbers for 1/8/90.

 

So, for the moment, my two best guesses are that SOW had a typo for BB's share the week of 10/23/89, and that obviously there was some miscalculation with the shares in the report sent to SOW for the week of 11/27/89, since every share in SOW is higher than the Nielsen book.

 

So, now we know there will sometimes be a discrepancy, but so far it has only involved 1 full week of shares (and 1 share for BB). All of the ratings SOW has published so far have matched exactly to the Nielsen books.

 

(And, yes, I don't care about the "placement" differences, when SOW places the higher share show, while my Excel chart just places them by title alphabetically when the rating is tied, so those you don't have to mention....only when either a ratings point or a share is different. Also, fast national weeks ended in 1987, so those are no longer a thing during the Soap Opera Weekly era).

Edited November 15, 2023 by JAS0N47

[JAS0N47]

WEEKDAY DAYTIME TV SPECIALS (9/27/82-1/9/83):

Please register in order to view this content

TOP 50 HIGHEST-RATED WEEKDAY DAYTIME TV SPECIALS (12/31/79-1/9/83):

[JAS0N47]

DAYTIME DEMOS: FEBRUARY 1980:

Please register in order to view this content