Ratings from the 80's

[GLATWT88]

Any details on the week of August 27, 1984 for YR. It seemed to be solid leading up to this week, hitting a peak, and then pretty significant drop over the next two weeks. 

Capitol also had a really good week that week. 

Also of note that week, Santa Barbara had  very significant drop. Even Edge with its low clearance tied in HH.

Seems like the Bo and Hope storyline was bringing in the numbers. Location shoot in New Orleans around that time too

August 22, 1984: On the famous Oak Alley plantation in New Orleans, Bo and Hope had sex for the first time, with Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack’s “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love” playing in the background.

[BoldRestless]

JON-MICHAEL REED RECAPS

MONDAY AUGUST 27, 1984 - FRIDAY AUGUST 31, 1984

 

The Young and the Restless: Diane is divorcing Andy so that she can marry Jack. On Mr. Anthony's orders, Jazz duplicated Tyrone's key to the county prosecutor's office. Lindsey intercepted the blackmail photo negatives she'd sent to Jack when she realized Jack hadn't split up with Diane. Victor doesn't approve of Douglas' involvement with Boobsie Caswell. Boobsie lied she'd rather hang out at Sleazy's Bar than go out with Douglas. Jill realized that Jack really cares for Lindsey. Tyrone left to make contacts in New York and Detroit before his return to Genoa City as Leon Smith. Cricket's admiration for Julia dulled because Julia got pregnant out of wedlock. Alec comforted Julia after she quarreled with Joe about her pregnancy. Diane disbelieved Lindsey, who warned that Jack is playing one of them for a sucker. Ashley refused to give Marc inside info on why Dina had deserted John.

 

JON-MICHAEL REED RECAPS

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 03, 1984 - FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 07, 1984

 

The Young and The Restless: Lindsey nixed giving Jack the photo negatives even though he followed her orders and dumped Diane. Diane was crushed that Jack broke off their engagement and that Andy comforted her, but said their marriage is over. A- "fan," Shawn, secretly photographed Lauren, who was sunbathing in the nude. Shawn later asked to start a fan club for Lauren. Jazz was livid when Mr. Anthony threatened Tyrone's life and then ordered Jazz to bust into the county prosecutor's office.  Julie considered Joe's offer to pretend that he fathered her baby. Boobsie admitted to Nikki that she really cares for Douglas. Boobsie refused Victor's big bucks offer to stay away from Douglas. Danny denied Jill's suspicion that Traci is pregnant. Traci saw Tim, who is engaged to another woman, Andrea. Marc and Ashley rekindled the old flame between them with a red hot smooch.

[Soapsuds]

In 1984 there were 14 soaps on the air. Love that!

[Contessa Donatella]

Elsewhere I did a post that began:

53 yrs ago, in 1970, there were 19 soaps on the air.

1976 there were 15.

1989 there were 12.

2005 there were 9.

2007 there were 8.

and so on. The thrust of it is how high the stakes are today when we desperately need some reinventing changes but probably people are too afraid to make bold moves. 

[GLATWT88]

With all these streaming platforms, I'm hoping one of them takes a swing at developing a soap opera. It is clear that the model for releasing new content has changed. These platforms are no longer dropping an entire series on the same day, rather choosing to go with a gradual weekly release- which makes good business sense. If someone is really into watching a series, they would have to remain subscribed for three/four months to catch new episodes in real time as opposed to just signing up on the day of release and binging and cancelling. As competition grew, im sure more budget conscious viewers may have subscribed for limited periods to watch a particular series and then cancel instead of maintaining multiple simultaneous subscriptions which is obviously costly. A daily soap that can hold even a modest audience and is cheaper to produce than a 10/12 episode series would be well worth the investment. 

[kalbir]

Twice in the 1980s there were 14 soaps on the air: March 29-December 31, 1982 and July 30-December 28, 1984.

The 1980s began with 13 soaps and ended with 12 soaps.

Edited September 3, 2023 by kalbir

[GLATWT88]

Both of those periods, although short lived, are also the most hours of daytime TV dedicated to soap operas at 11.5 hours across the Big 3. 

[AbcNbc247]

That New Orleans/Oak Alley shoot was great for Days.

And, poor AW, not even Julia’s murder and the mystery of Donna being Marley’s mother did anything for them.

People seemed to have been getting tired of Santa Barbara as well.

Edited September 3, 2023 by AbcNbc247

[Contessa Donatella]

That sounds perfectly logical. Imagine a new soap, perhaps in 2024. In a way Amazon is doing a new streaming soap with Neighbours & that is happening right now. 

[JAS0N47]

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 9/17/84-9/21/84 & 9/24/84-9/28/84:

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FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 10/1/84-10/5/84 & 10/8/84-10/12/84:

[Soapsuds]

I believe the shocking conclusion to Whits murder trial occurred on October 12th. The episodes are no longer on YouTube. It's a shame.

Nice to see ATWT mainly at #4.

Here's a September 26 episode.... Lindsay Frost as new Betsy with memory loss after the car accident.

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Btw Betsy doctor Russ is being played by former ATWT script and HW Richard Backus.

[TEdgeofNight]

@jason47 If you have time, I'm curious about the number of total viewers that Days had versus AMC when Days beat AMC in households from 5/7 - 5/11/84. 

Similarly, it would be great to see the total viewers that GL had versus GH for the 3 weeks that GL beat GH in households. (5/28-6/15/84). Thanks so much.

[dragonflies]

Laura wasn't a virgin when Luke raped her though, she was married to Scotty

[beebs]

1983-84 really shook things up. The season + summer (vs. 1982-83) (yes, I know Fast Nationals aren't 100% accurate so take it with a grain of salt if you're so inclined):

1. GH 9.9 (+0.1)
2. AMC 8.8 (-0.4)
3. Y&R 8.6 (+0.4)
4. GL 7.9 (+0.5)
5. OLTL 7.8 (-0.2)
6. ATWT 7.7 (+0.2)
7. DAYS 7.2 (+1.3)
8. CAP 6.3 (+0.4)
9. AW 5.6 (+0.5)
10. RH 4.8 (-0.5)
11. LOV 3.7 (-0.1)
12. SFT 3.3 (+0.4)
13. SB 3.3 --
14. EON 3.2 (-0.5)

Obviously DAYS is the big winner this year, Bo and Hope really helped lift the show, and in some ways the rest of NBC Daytime, out of the gutter, even SFT getting a significant lift this year.

Luke & Laura's return helped GH for awhile, but their departure, and DA's, tanked the show the rest of the year, so they stayed pretty much flat vs. 82-83. This seems to have had a knock-on effect to the rest of ABCD, with the rest of the lineup posting year-on-year losses. Will be interesting to see how Rauch/O'Shea lift OLTL up in the coming year, as well as the effect the timeslot swap has on RH vs. LOV.

I'm assuming October 8 is when RH & LOV moved?

[kalbir]

@beebs Also Y&R blew up during 1983 and by 1984 was cemented in the top 3.