Ratings from the 80's

[Gray Bunny]

Indeed, thank you for all your hard work @JAS0N47 Among so many other things we've learned and/or confirmed, we can now see when DAYS hit #1, OLTL hit #1, the fact that GL did *not* hit #1 during the much ballyhooed weeks of August 1984, among so much more

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[JAS0N47]

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 12/11/89-12/15/89 & 12/18/89-12/22/89:

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FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 12/25/89-12/29/89 & 1/1/90-1/5/90:

Join us tomorrow in the 1990's ratings thread as 1990, 1991 and 1992 start being posted.

Also, I don't remember getting a response the last time I asked this, but each day as I post the next batch of ratings, can some ratings fans here please compare these charts to the Soap Opera Weekly charts on this page and let me know if you see any discrepancies between the two. Thanks!

http://www.jason47.com/days/nielsens1990.html

Edited November 13, 2023 by JAS0N47

[kalbir]

Y&R December 22, 1989 was rebroadcast in 2008 to give background on Katherine/Marge. This episode had a scene where Marge was watching television and you could hear the B&B theme song. I guess Bill Bell forgot when he began the crossovers that Y&R/B&B were in separate universes.

As the World Turns December 22, 1989 was rebroadcast as a holiday classic in the early 2000s I think.

This week in real life US troops invade Panama and communism is coming to an end in Romania.

Y&R December 29, 1989 was rebroadcast in 1999. Scott and Lauren wedding.

B&B December 28, 1989 Ridge proposes to Caroline.

The 1980s are now over. What a ride it's been.

Thank you so much @JAS0N47 for your hard work in bringing this part of daytime history to us. You should be knighted

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Edited November 13, 2023 by kalbir

[kalbir]

With the 1980s ratings now fully posted, lets see how each network stacked up.

CBS was shaken at the beginning of the 1980s with the huge rise of ABC, thus the rearrangements of the schedule and changes to the shows themselves, but ends the decade with Y&R killing it, B&B showing growth, As the World Turns performing strongly, and Guiding Light middle of the pack. Prior to its expansion to 1 hour, Y&R was a Top 3 show but the expansion derailed all its momentum and Y&R doesn't fully recover until the second half of 1982. Y&R would become CBS's highest rated show by 1983 and #1 overall by 1989. As the World Turns remained middle of the pack until it started showing growth in Fall 1986 thanks to Douglas Marland writing. Guiding Light was able to hold its own in the early 1980s against General Hospital and was CBS's highest rated show but with Douglas Marland departure, Gail Kobe/Pamela Long chasing all the 1980s trends, and the writer turnover during the first half of Joe Willmore run, the ratings dropped and Guiding Light ends the 1980s as CBS's lowest rated show. Search for Tomorrow was middle of the pack but P&G was not happy with the time change and CBS had enough of P&G complaining so Search for Tomorrow CBS run came to an end. Capitol was a placeholder/time filler until Bill Bell had another show ready.

ABC started the 1980s with its big three General Hospital, All My Children, One Life to Live killing it and ends the decade with its big three still performing strongly but not as dominant as it was in the beginning of the decade. ABC's weakness was its shows outside the big three. Ryan's Hope was effectively over in 1983 when Y&R blew up, The Edge of Night suffered from lack of clearances, and Loving only made it on the air because of Agnes Nixon clout with ABC.

NBC started the 1980s at the bottom and ended the decade at the bottom. The only bright spots were supercouple Days but even that collapsed by the end of the decade, and Santa Barbara Emmy/SOD awards run at the end of the decade but that didn't translate into ratings. Another World never recovered from its late 1970s ratings drop.

Edited November 13, 2023 by kalbir

[Khan]

THE DOCTORS was effectively dead before the decade began; and GENERATIONS and TEXAS shaped up to be total non-starters.  And SFT - that poor show never stood a chance on NBC.  It might have had its' old time slot back, but the competition was tougher; and, as I understand it, the clearances were lower, too, with local affiliates either running the show at other time slots (which defeated the purpose of switching networks) or not running it at all.  Then, to add insult to injury, NBCD itself ends up being run by the same guy who cancelled SFT on CBS, making Brian Frons the man who'd cancel SFT twice!  P&G really screwed the proverbial pooch on that one, lol.

In retrospect, I think CAPITOL was doomed from the start on CBS.  CBS should have been upfront with John Conboy: "Look, John, SFT's exit leaves us with a half-hour to fill.  Bill's not ready to give us another show, but we don't want to give up that time to the local affiliates.  So, yes, we're greenlighting CAPITOL, but it's with the understanding that it's gone if/when Bill's ready."  After all, Michael Brockman pretty much told Claire Labine (and maybe Paul Rauch) the same thing when they pitched and developed their respective series ideas for CBS after CAPITOL's cancellation. 

If the network had apprised Conboy of their long-range plans - presuming, of course, that they didn't - then I imagine some events might have transpired differently.  I think CAPITOL would have been more inclined to tell a finite story; and maybe Conboy would have stuck with a HW longer, too.  As it is, short of CAPITOL cracking the top three, I don't think the show could've done anything that would've changed CBS' minds about its' future.  CBS never saw CAPITOL as anything beyond a placeholder for Bell's next show (which, of course, was B&B); and IMO, that's awfully shady.

Apparently, no one at the network ever looked at what she and Doug Marland were developing and said, "I dunno, guys, it's not a good sign when I can't even tell you what's the show ABOUT"?  I mean, I think they made a valiant effort to describe the show and its' themes to the press before the premiere, but it all sounded extremely vague.

Edited November 13, 2023 by Khan

[kalbir]

Bill Bell himself said that CBS first approached him in 1977 for a second show but for whatever reason he wasn't ready for a second show then. If Bill Bell had a second show ready in 1977, then I think GL doesn't expand to 1 hour that year. IMO CBS wanted a second Bill Bell show to replace Search for Tomorrow in 1982 but Y&R was still a mess during the first half of that year so Bill Bell had to fix Y&R before he could even think about a second show.

Edited November 13, 2023 by kalbir

[JoeCool]

@kalbir@Khan

 

ABC approached Agnes Nixon, the creator of All My Children and One Life to Live, to create a new soap opera for the ABC afternoon lineup in the early 1980s. ABC wanted a 30-minute program to be added to the lineup. Agnes just finally left her AMC head writing duties in the early 1980s and Agnes approached soap great Douglas Marland to co-create the new ABC drama. Agnes wanted the show to be focused on young love and contemporary social issues. The tentpole family, the wealthy Alden family would be the new drama's prominent family with the blue-collar Donovan family and the backdrop of the small city, Cornith, PA with its promenient University would provide an array of socioeconomic characters in contemporary stories. Loving's Bible indeed filled with young love and the trials and tribulations of the Alden family. The show was initially titled Love Without End. ABC also wanted the show to have stories focused on action and adventure which was not Nixon's and Marland's niche. Loving premiered on June 26, 1983 as a two-hour movie premiere that featured much of the original cast and acclaimed film actors Lloyd Bridges and Geraldine Page.

What doomed Loving from the start was ABC and its interference.  Agnes Nixon wanted Loving placed at 1:30PM, sandwiched between All My Children at 12:30PM and One Life to Live at 2PM. AMC would move from 1PM to 12:30PM and compete directly with CBS' Young and the Restless.  Y&R and All My Children were head-to-head at 1 pm ET from February 4, 1980 to June 5, 1981. CBS moved Y&R to 12:30 pm ET on June 8, 1981, so Y&R was now head-to-head w/ Ryan's Hope and the first half of All My Children. Agnes wanted a block of her shows in the afternoon and thought Loving would strongly benefit from AMC's strong lead-in. Douglas Marland concurred with Agnes' analysis of Loving's placement.

 On Monday, June 27, 1983, ABC placed Loving at 11:30AM ET against the strong second half of the hit game show The Price is Right where Loving garnered low ratings. Agnes Nixon was horrified about ABC’s early morning placement. On October 8, 1984, ABC moved Loving to 12:30PM ET against the Young and the Restless. Nixon stated in interviews and in private that this move was doomed from the start. Nixon again implored ABC to move AMC to 12:30PM ET and place Loving at 1:30PM. Restless destroyed Loving in the ratings. Loving was cancelled in 1995 and ended on Friday, November 10, 1995.

Loving was plagued with a revolving door of writers and producers. Marland and Nixon exited Loving in 1985 and Nixon would return several times to try to save the show. When Nixon returned to AMC in the late 1980s and stayed for several years at AMC, ABC employed its own executives in the early 1990s to write, produce and guide the show -- which proved to be a disaster. Nixon returned in 1993 and stayed until 1995 - the show improved but the damage was done.  ABC's failure to follow Nixon's sound advice about Loving's time slot placement is what caused Loving to fail before it even aired and ABC's own disastrous interference in the early 1990s in guiding and running the show further weakened Loving.

 Loving should be remembered for its strong storylines featuring major social issues such as incest, alcoholism and post-traumatic stress syndrome of Vietnam veterans  and its strong cast. Loving 's strong acting cast included Celeste Holm, Wesley Addy, Nada Rowland, Lisa Peluso, Noelle Beck, Lisa Walters, Lauren Marie Taylor, Laura Wright, Bernard Barrow, John Gabriel, Nancy Addison, Ilene Kristen, Thom Christopher, Perry Stephens, Christine Tudor, Roger Howarth, Augusta Dabney, Catherine Hickland, Matthew Cowles, Pamela Blair, Patricia Barry, Luke Perry, James Kieberd, Susan Keith, Anthony Herrera, Ameila Heinle, Patricia Kalember, Genie Francis and Bryan Cranston.

Edited November 13, 2023 by JoeCool

[kalbir]

Correction: Y&R and All My Children were head-to-head at 1 pm ET from February 4, 1980 to June 5, 1981. CBS moved Y&R to 12:30 pm ET on June 8, 1981, so Y&R was now head-to-head w/ Ryan's Hope and the first half of All My Children.

Edited November 13, 2023 by kalbir

[Khan]

I'd have to agree with Agnes Nixon (and with Douglas Marland): if LOVING stood any chance at all of succeeding, it needed to be scheduled between AMC and OLTL.  And I say that as someone who disliked LOVING and would have preferred RH getting that slot.  (If I had had my druthers, LOVING would have been scheduled instead after GH with the hopes that its' youth-skewering cast might prove to be a draw for younger audiences coming home from school.)

Edited November 13, 2023 by Khan

[JoeCool]

@kalbir Thanks for the correction..dates were mixed up. I corrected it.

[Khan]

I definitely think that (getting another Bill Bell creation) was the reason why they even let P&G take SFT to NBC.  They might have thought dumping SFT would have been incentive enough for Bell; but, like you say, @kalbir, Y&R was such a mess after expanding to an hour that he still couldn't entertain the notion.

[JoeCool]

@Khan Ryan's Hope already had the best slot when it premiered in 1975 at 1PM ET. AMC was moved to 12:30PM and lost ground in the ratings. The 1PM slot had no network soap competition. Agnes Nixon was furious with ABC at the time. In 1977, AMC moved back to 1PM and then went to an hour in April 1977. RH moved to 12:30PM.  Loving really deserved the 1:30PM slot. Also, ABC wanted to expand RH to an hour but Labine and Mayer refused to do it, then ABC bought it from them.

@kalbir@Khan Loving was doomed even before it aired. ABC already had 5 soaps and RH and Edge were not doing well. Loving needed the 1:30PM slot and RH and Edge needed to go.

Edited November 13, 2023 by JoeCool

[Khan]

I think that probably was their biggest mistake where RH was concerned.  Even if expansion potentially meant losing the team that had created the show and brought it its' initial acclaim and accolades, I also think the network might have been more inclined to save the show, rather than give up on it, which they did at a certain point before actually cancelling it.

[Contessa Donatella]

When did he stop doing both DAYS & Y&R, Spring '75? I can't see how he made it through that tough 2-year period & then struggled with Y&R initially, so, '77 sure would have looked impossible to jump right back into 2 shows. 

[JoeCool]

ABC wanted RH to go from 12PM ET to 1PM ET and have a block of 4 one hour shows then Edge. Labine and Mayer refused to do it in the late 70s/early 80s.  Eventually ABC bought RH from Labine and Mayer and then when ABC made some changes in production and behind the scenes, Labine and Mayer wanted to but it back from ABC but that ship sailed. ABC gave RH more than enough time. RH should have been canceled after it could not compete at all against Restless and destroyed any lead-in for AMC. Having RH there so long weakened AMC because it allowed Restless to gain more and more.