Ratings from the 80's

[soapfan770]

 

Indeed! She ruled both Texas and GL with an iron fist and it was definitely her way on the highway.  The cast were glad to see her go when she left. I wonder how Kobe was at B&B, I assume the Bell's kept her in check. 

 

 Kobe's replacement Joe Willmore didn't fare better, as by 1989 the once mild-manned exec allegedly had become "emotionally unmoored" so to speak i.e. throwing a chair across the set, experiencing stress-induced vomiting in the middle of a negotiation meeting between him, Long, and Zimmer etc. 

 

 

The summer of 1986 had Cecile's return and kidnapping Cass story as the highlight, which was a big hit for AW. It wasn't til the fall when AW sputtered out again with the above departures.

 

[Soapsuds]

ATWT caught on fire in July and August. Viewers finally started to get into Marland's writing. Frannie story coming to end with the gunshots with Marsha Talbot. Tad Channing story with Iva. Holden finding out Iva was Lily's mother. Chris Hughes dies. Craig and Sierra together yet Craig having that friendship with Iva. Gregg Marx as Tom Hughes and HBS as Margo. Barbara making Margo believe that she and Tom has slept together and later Tom finding out the truth.

Edited November 17, 2019 by Soapsuds

[will81]

Y&R really stepped it up in 1986 which is no surprise considering what was going on that year on the show. The resolution of the Jill/John/Jack story which had been playing out since 1983, the Ashley/Victor/Nikki triangle, Lauren and psycho Shawn, Who shot Jill. It was a really solid year.

[Melroser]

 

Oh, I do remember that and I loved Cecile! I guess I just wasn't thinking. For some reason I thought the departures were earlier. 

[soapfan770]

 AW had its highs and lows throughout the 80’s it does get muddled of what worked and what didn’t work. AW always had such rich and lively characters with a stellar cast unfortunately the show’s writing and production were quite inconsistent. 

[kalbir]

 

The first half of 1986 was probably the zenith of the Bill Bell/H. Wesley Kenney era. Then Cricket came on full time and proceeded to eat the show.

[soapfan770]

Indeed. Cricket was a recurring character at that point, her first story was in the summer of ‘86. Cricket’s best friend Molly(played by the girl from Honey I Shrunk The Kids) got knocked up and didn’t know what to do, so Cricket got Danny, Traci, and Lauren to do some massive 1980’s PSA style benefit concert where Molly and her mother(if I recall right played by some C-List actress from the 1970’s) had a kumbaya moment of understanding.

 

It was a sickening saccharine hot mess, but in all the sappy sweetness a backdoor pilot developed featuring the return of Rose DeVile and the introduction of Nina. 

[Xanthe]

 

Tom Eplin and Ellen Wheeler left in September. Their storyline spun its wheels for a little while first though with Marley out of town and their engagement in doubt.

 

Anna Stuart left in November and Donna was off the canvas until February. Donna and Michael did get married before she was hospitalized.

 

Stephen Schnetzer and Julie Osburn left in December (at the same time as Duke Stroud when Vince had to go on the lam), after Kathleen had had some time with her returned-from-the-dead mother Mary.

 

Sharon Gabet left the following January with Thomas Ian Griffith. Brittany's storyline was about trying to figure out how to escape from her abusive marriage with Peter with her baby, and then of course she shot him, was found guilty, and left the state intending to appeal the verdict.

 

Basically all of their storylines had the underlying theme of Reginald Love's villainy. I'm not sure that any storylines at the time managed to avoid it -- even the return of Mitch touched on it since Mitch was secretly working for Reginald and Reginald had killed Felicia's husband Zane, making her available to spend time with Mitch while writing a series of exposes on Reginald Love. I guess Nancy dating Greg had nothing to do with Reginald, so that's something.

[VanessaReardon]

Week ending 8/8/1986

Y&R 9.4

GH 8.8

OLTL 8.1

AMC 7.8

DOOL 7.7

ATWT 7.6

GL 6.7

AW 5.8

CAP 5.4

SB 4.6

LOV 4.4

RH 3.2

SFT 2.5

8/15/1986

Y&R 8.7

GH 8.3

OLTL 7.9

AMC 7.6

ATWT 7.4

DOOL 7.1

GL 6.3

AW 5.5

CAP 5.4

SB 4.7

LOV 3.9

RH 3

SFT 2.4

 

8/22/1986

Y&R 8.7

GH 8.4

AMC 7.9

OLTL 7.8

DOOL 7.4

ATWT 7.3

GL 6.5

AW 5.5

CAP 5.1

SB 4.5

LOV 4.3

RH 3.4

SFT 2.7

 

8/29/1986

Y&R 8.8

GH 8.3

DOOL 8

OLTL 7.7

ATWT 7.3

AMC 7.1

GL 6.6

AW 5.4

CAP 5.1

SB 4.6

LOV 3.9

RH 3

SFT 2.7

 

8/5/1986

Y&R 7.9

GH 7.4

ATWT 7.1

AMC 7

OLTL and DOOL 6.9

GL 5.9

AW 5.1

CAP 5

SB 4.3

LOV 4.1

SFT 2.7

RH 2.6

 

9/12/1986

GH 8.2

Y&R 7.8

OLTL 7.5

AMC 7.1

DOOL 6.9

ATWT 6.7

GL 6

AW 5.1

CAP 5

SB 4.4

LOV 4

RH 2.9

SFT 2.3

 

9/19/1986

GH 8.3

Y&R 7.9

AMC 7.3

OLTL 7.2

DOOL 6.7

ATWT 6.3

GL 6

AW 5.2

CAP 4.7

SB 4.4

LOV 3.8

RH 2.7

SFT 2.4

 

9/26/1986

GH 8.3

Y&R 8.2

OLTL 7.4

AMC 7.1

DOOL 7

ATWT 6.6

GL 6.4

AW and CAP 5.1

SB 4.2

LOV 3.8

RH 2.5

SFT 2.3

 

10/3/1986

GH 8.2

Y&R 7.9

AMC 7.2

OLTL 7.1

DOOL 6.6

ATWT 6.3

GL 5.8

AW 5

CAP 4.6

SB 4.1

LOV 3.6

RH 2.5

SFT 2.2

 

10/10/1986

baseball playoffs helped ABC

GH 8.5

OLTL 7.3

AMC 7.2

Y&R 7.1

DOOL 6.7

ATWT 6.4

GL 5.9

AW 5.3

CAP 4.5

SB 4.3

LOV 3.8

RH 2.7

SFT 2.3

 

10/17/1986

GH 8.2

Y&R 7.5

OLTL 7.2

ATWT and AMC 6.9

DOOL and GL 6.5

CAP 5.2

AW 4.7

SB 4.1

LOV 4

RH 2.6

SFT 2.3

 

10/24/1986

SFT was cancelled on Halloween 10/31/86! 

GH 8.5

Y&R 7.7

DOOL 7.2

OLTL 7

AMC 6.7

ATWT 6.6

GL 6.4

CAP and AW 5

SB 4

LOV 3.4

SFT 2.4

RH 2.3

 

10/31/1986

Y&R 8

GH 7.5

ATWT and AMC 7.1

OLTL 7

DOOL 6.8

GL 6.1

AW 5

CAP 4.9

SB 3.9

LOV 3.4

RH 2.7

SFT 2.3

 

11/7/1986

GH 8

Y&R 7.8

OLTL 7.4

AMC 7.2

ATWT 6.9

DOOL 6.8

GL 6.5

AW 5.2

CAP 5.1

SB 4.1

LOV 3.6

RH 2.8

SFT 2.6

 

11/14/1986

Y&R 8.7

GH 8.2

OLTL 7.5

ATWT 7.3

DOOL 7.2

AMC 7

GL 6.8

CAP 5.5

AW 5.1

SB 4.6

LOV 3.6

RH 2.7

SFT 2.5

 

11/21/1986

GH 8.5

Y&R 8.1

OLTL 7.2

ATWT 7

AMC 6.9

DOOL 6.8

GL 6.5

CAP and AW 4.9

SB 4.3

LOV 4.2

RH 3

SFT 2.4

 

11/28/1986

GH 8

Y&R 7.7

ATWT 7.3

AMC 7.1

OLTL 7

GL 6.5

DOOL 6.1

CAP 5.3

AW 4.5

LOV 4.4

SB 4.3

RH 3.3

SFT 2.8

 

12/5/1986

GH 8.7

Y&R 7.6

OLTL 7.2

DOOL 6.9

ATWT 6.8

AMC 6.4

GL 6.2

CAP 4.9

AW 4.7

SB 4

LOV 3.8

RH 2.4

SFT 2.3

 

 

[AbcNbc247]

Nice to see AW get a little bump in August. I'm pretty sure those were the weeks that Zane died and Reginald and Mitch came back. Unfortunately later in the year, Reginald's machinations, Mary's return and Mac/Rachel/Mitch part 2 didn't seem to help at all.

 

DAYS was still hanging in there, but was starting to decline a little.

 

What was happening on GH in the Fall that caused it knock Y&R out of the top spot?

[BetterForgotten]

One thing is for certain, Y&R's eventual dominance wasn't a fluke occurrence. Throughout the 80's, they were consistent and broke through the ABC dominance for most of the early part of the decade. 

 

They maintained their audience (for the most part) by the end of the 80's when other soaps started to lose it. Oddly, Y&R was the soap in its own bubble that didn't follow all the trends most soaps would - other than some great timeslots, I have to wonder if that's what the average viewer ultimately appreciated. God knows they're coasting off that past reputation to this day. 

Edited November 18, 2019 by BetterForgotten

[Gray Bunny]

 

Ooh look at Y&R at 9's, ATWT & DAYS in the 8's, and AW in the 6's...  Meanwhile, Capitol down in the 4's definitely earns a cancellation for a CBS soap... 

[VanessaReardon]

12/12/1986

GH 8.3

Y&R 7.4

DOOL 6.9

OLTL 6.8

ATWT 6.5

AMC 6.4

GL 5.8

AW and CAP 4.8

SB4.1

LOV 3.7

RH 2.6

SFT 2.1

 

12/19/1986

GH 8.4

Y&R 7.2

DOOL and OLTL 6.7

ATWT and AMC 6.4

GL 5.8

AW 5

CAP 4.8

SB 4.4

LOV 3.4

SFT 2.6

RH 2.4

 

12/26/1986

Holiday bump for Y&R

Y&R 8.5

GH 8

DOOL 7.5

ATWT and AMC 7.1

OLTL 6.8

GL 6.4

CAP 5.4

AW 5

SB 4.4

LOV 3.9

SFT 3.3 Last week on the air

RH 2.8

 

[BetterForgotten]

What was going on with AMC at this point and why were they starting to tumble? Assuming the increased competition in some markets from a now very strong Y&R couldn't have helped. 

[VanessaReardon]

Week ending 1/2/1987

GH 9.3

DOOL 8.9

Y&R 8.8

AMC 8

OLTL 7.9

ATWT 7.7

GL 6.4

AW 6.2

CAP 5.6

SB 5.2

LOV 4.6

RH 3.3