Ratings from the 80's

[VanessaReardon]

Week ending 3/27/1987.

B&B’s premiere week. ATWT moved back half an hour to 2 pm to compete head to head with OLTL and AW. OLTL had Viki going to heaven for 2 weeks and bringing back many former actors. ATWT’s big shocker was marrying John and Lucinda. AW had Crystal Gayle as a guest star. 
 

GH 8.3

Y&R 7.6

OLTL 7.2

DOOL 6.9

AMC 6.5

ATWT 6.4

B&B 5.6

GL 5.5

AW 5.1

SB 4.1

LOV 3.5

RH 2.3

 

4/3/1987

Y&R 8.1

GH 8.0

OLTL 7.6

DOOL 7

ATWT 6.8

AMC 6.7

GL 6

B&B 5.6

AW 5

SB 4.4

LOV 3.9

RH 2.9

 

4/10/1987

GH 7.9

OLTL 7.4

Y&R 7.1

ATWT 6.6

AMC 6.5

DOOL 6.4

GL 6

B&B 5.4

AW 4.7

SB 4.2

LOV 3.3

RH 2.4

 

4/17/1987

Y&R 7.6

GH 7.3

DOOL and OLTL 7.1

AMC 6.8

ATWT 6.6

GL 5.9

B&B 5.6

AW 4.8

SB 4.4

LOV 3.6

RH 2.5

 

4/24/1987

GH 7.7

Y&R 7.4

OLTL 7.3

AMC 6.9

DOOL 6.7

ATWT 6.6

GL 5.5

B&B 5.3

AW 5

SB 4.7

LOV 3.7

RH 2.6

 

 

[VanessaReardon]

5/1/1987

GH 7.4

OLTL 7.3

Y&R 7.1

AMC 7

ATWT 6.2

DOOL 6.1

B&B and GL 5.3

AW 4.3

SB 4

LOV 3.6

RH 2.3

 

5/8/1987

GH 7.4

Y&R 7

OLTL 6.9

AMC 6.5

ATWT 6.3

DOOL 6.1

B&B 5.6

GL 5.3

AW 4.7

SB 4.1

LOV 3.2

RH 2.3

 

5/15/1987

GH 7.4

Y&R and OLTL 7.2

AMC 6.6

ATWT and DOOL 6.2

B&B 5.4

GL 5.2

AW 4.5

SB 3.8

LOV 3.5

RH 2.3

 

5/22/1987

GH 7.4

OLTL 7

Y&R and AMC 6.8

DOOL 6.2

ATWT 6

GL 5.5

B&B 5.3

AW 4.7

SB 4.2
LOV 3.6

RH 2.5

 

5/29/1987

AMC and GH 7.7

Y&R 7.6

OLTL 7.3

DOOL 6.4

ATWT 5.8

GL 5.4

AW 5.1

B&B 5

SB 4.4

LOV 4.2

RH 2.8

 

6/5/1987

GH 7.6

Y&R 7.4

OLTL 7

AMC 6.7

ATWT and DOOL 6.2

GL 6

B&B 5.1

AW 4.7

SB 4.1

LOV 3.6

RH 2,6

 

6/12/1987

Y&R 8

GH 7.5

AMC 7.1

OLTL and ATWT 6.9 

DOOL 6.7

GL 6

B&B 5.7

AW 5

SB 4

LOV 3.7

RH 2.7

 

6/19/1987

Y&R 8.3

GH 7.3

DOOL 7.1

AMC 7

ATWT and OLTL 6.9

GL 6.3

B&B 5.8

AW 5.1

SB 4.1

LOV3.6

RH 3

 

6/26/1987

Y&R 8.2

GH 7.4

ATWT, OLTL, AMC 7.2

DOOL 6.9

GL 6.2

B&B 5.9

AW 4.7

SB 4.3

LOV 4

RH 2.9

 

7/3/1987

Y&R 8.1

ATWT 7.2

GH 7.0

AMC and OLTL 6.8

DOOL 6.6

GL 6.2

B&B 5.8

AW 4.3

LOV and SB 3.8

RH 2.6

 

 

Edited November 24, 2019 by VanessaReardon

[VanessaReardon]

We interrupt our regularly scheduled ratings because of the Iran- Conta hearings. Ironic that we are going through the exact same thing now with our soaps being interrupted. 
 

The week of 7/6 to 7/10/1987 has to be taken with a grain of salt because Y&R aired only on Monday that week and there were massive pre emptions. AMC, DOOL,LOV and RH had the least pre-emptions.

 

Y&R 9.2/34 (only aired on Monday)

GH 7.6

OLTL and ATWT 7.1

B&B 6.3

AMC 6.2

DOOL 5.8

GL 5.6

AW 4.7

LOV 4

SB 3.8

RH 3.1

 

7/17/1987

still massive pre emptions

GH 6.4

ATWT and OLTL and AMC 6.3

DOOL 6.1

Y&R 6 obviously affected by pre emptions

B&B 5.2

GL 5.1

AW 5

SB 4.3

LOV 3.7

RH 2.6

 

7/24/1987

The hearings started rotating between networks

Y&R 7

OLTL 6.9

DOOL and GH 6.8

AMC 6.7

ATWT 6.5

GL 5.4

AW 5.3

B&B 5.2

SB 4.9

LOV 3.6

RH 3.1

 

7/31/1987

Hearings ongoing

Y&R 7.8

ATWT 7.1

AMC 6.7

DOOL 6.5

GL and GH 6.4

OLTL 6

B&B 5.6

AW 5.4

SB 5

LOV 3.6

RH 2.2

 

 

[Khan]

OLTL was killin' it for awhile in '87.

[Soapsuds]

ATWT had some great stuff.....Lily finding out Iva was her mother and not Lucinda and that Josh was her father and he had raped Iva. Craig was missing. Margo and Hal slept together creating Adam. Meg and Tonio got married. 

 

I think at this time Gregg Marx had left as Tom and Scott Holmes was about to make his debut as Tom.

 

B&B and GL were stinking up the place in June and most of July. B&B even dropped to 9th and was beaten by AW. 

[VanessaReardon]

The next ratings challenge in 1987: People Meters 

Look it up. 

[will81]

Wow May and June 87 are interesting. In May AMC is gaining which I guess wreaked havoc for Y&R, especially with a stronger OLTL. What was happening on AMC to get it to a shared #1 at the end of May only for it drop again in June? Y&R is then suddenly #1 for most of June. The ratings were a lot more interesting back then. 

 

This seems to back up Brenda Dickson's claim that Y&R was #1 when she left

Edited November 24, 2019 by will81

[Soapsuds]

Anybody know if ATWT hit #1 in the weekly ratings from 83 and onward? I know they hit #2 a lot in the 80's

[VanessaReardon]

I don’t know. The theory out there is that 20 million people watched Steve & Betsy’s wedding in 1984, which would easily put the show at #1, but there’s nothing out there to back that up. 

[beebs]

Once again, gotta thank you @VanessaReardon for these ratings. It's so fascinating to watch how things would change week to week. Your work is definitely not going unappreciated.

[VanessaReardon]

Thank you very much. Glad to share. 

[will81]

I went looking for some clues about AMC. I wasn't aware Agnes returned to the show briefly to get things sorted due to the shows drop in ratings. Seems she was there at least for the summer.

 

 

Please register in order to view this content

[BetterForgotten]

I do wonder if ABC ever wondered why or were dumbfounded why AMC wasn't able to succeed GH as the #1 rated soap when the later started to run of of steam in the late 80's. 

 

Looking at these ratings, it seems Y&R's #1 status was becoming inevitable, even if other soaps were sometimes nipping at its heels. They really held up throughout the 80's and cut right through the ABC dominance, to the point where they would topple GH completely by the end of the decade. 

Edited November 25, 2019 by BetterForgotten

[kalbir]

 

 

1987-1989 Y&R was in a bit of a transition. There was the EP change from H. Wesley Kenney to Ed Scott, and three major cast departures (Brenda Dickson, Eileen Davidson, Terry Lester). While all this was happening off screen, Cricket was eating the show onscreen. Yet Y&R still managed to reach #1 and stay there until today. 

 

Having The Price is Right as it's lead in probably played a big part in Y&R's rise to and staying at #1. Bob Barker once said about TPiR being the lead-in for Y&R that "without us Young and Restless would be Old and Lethargic".

Edited November 25, 2019 by kalbir

[BetterForgotten]

TPIR isn't Y&R's lead-in in many markets though. It may have played a part, but is one of many things. 

 

Ironically, Y&R went to #1 and stayed there when H. Wes Kenney went over to GH to produce it. Kenny later said he regretted leaving Y&R for GH. 

Edited November 25, 2019 by BetterForgotten