Jump to content

Looking back...Primetime Ratings from the 80's


Paul Raven

Recommended Posts

I've been rewatching Archie Bunker's Place. The last time i saw it was when it originally aired. And i was a small child. I'm in S3. I like Billie and Gary. And Archie's Puerto Rican love interest Katherine. I noticed Archie's can be very bigoted like he was on All in The Family. Other times he was more progressive in his views.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 974
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

  • Members

Thanks everyone for the Suzanne Somers info. I mixed up Cass Malloy with Suzie.

Don't know how ABC could claim Suzanne was playing Chrissy.

Anyway the CBS deal didn't get her a series but she probably made some money out of it.

Always wonder about the BTS stuff in moves like these. Was there some exec change that resulted in Suzanne being cast aside?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

That was the Knots season finale.

A lot of series programming would have been repeats and I'm assuming Hill St Blues up against Knots was a rerun.

That was also the Falcon Crest finale which did not have the usual Dallas lead in. Caddyshack ran 8-10 and only ranked 32nd so FC did well considering.

The #27 show 'International Airport' was a pilot for a Hotel like series starring Gil Gerard and aired Sat 9-11. Guess viewers used to watching Love Boat were quite happy to sit through it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I think it was a mistake for Suzanne Somers to try and rebound from "Three's Company" with another sitcom.  If I were her, I would have tried instead to find a gig on a one-hour series with some lightly comedic elements, like "Crazy Like a Fox" or "Scarecrow and Mrs. King."

Was this when Sheila told Harry [slow-mo]"they wanna take the babies!"[/slow-mo]?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Yes...it was the year end cliffhanger.

The week before when they hit 20 HH and cracked the top #10 is when Mack and Karen cornered Dr. Ackerman who switched the babies and shot himself in front of them in his car.

Please register in order to view this content

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I remember when I watched that sequence with Dr. Ackerman for the first time that I thought, "There's no way they could have EVER topped that!"  Turns out, I was right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Here it is @Khan

Please register in order to view this content

 

The lead ups and the cliffhangers for the 85 season were awesome. The mascare, Bobby death, and Knots....

Dallas, Dynasty cliffhanger numbers....Knots numbers for the Ackerman episode

Please register in order to view this content

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

That was the resolution to the Wolfbridge Group storyline, when KL tried combining '70's conspiracy thriller with '80's primetime soap opera.  At the time, I'm sure it was very exciting to watch every week; but, in retrospect, I don't think it's an easy story to explain (although, certainly much easier than Empire Valley!) and it was probably a bit beyond KL's scope as a more middle-class and character-driven show than DALLAS or DYNASTY.

Edited by Khan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I love the fact that Gary's "death" had real, emotional impact on everyone.  If that had happened during the Lechowicks' tenure, it would have been treated as just another plot point, with their customary shits-and-giggles.

As far as storylines go, the Wolfbridge storyline was pure adrenaline.  You knew something exciting and sinister was going on, you just didn't know what, lol.  In a way, watching it was like being inside a speeding car where the wheels are in danger of coming off at any moment.  It's a miracle that everyone made it to the end.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • Oh, well.  At least he can cry into his hoodie.
    • Sorry, just realized I'd somehow lost a whole paragraph in that last post.
    • Thanks @Paul Raven  They should have brought Billy back in the early '90s for more drama with Hart and Blake. Maybe Blake would have gotten involved with him to try to ruin him in Roger's eyes, but realize under his sweet nature, Billy was a player himself.
    • Checked. Taggert last date, Wed, 7-19-23, so a long dadgummed time ago.
    • Please register in order to view this content

    • Watching the cult of Fetterman collapse is one of the few political bright spots for me. The best part  is watching all the people who built him up now decide they want to tear him down. I'll be fascinated to see how this ends for him. https://buckscountybeacon.com/2025/05/pennsylvanias-democratic-senator-john-fetterman-raises-alarms-with-outburst-at-meeting-with-union-officials/

      Please register in order to view this content

    • Long ago, this Rachel fan channel uploaded a number of clips of Rachel with Felicia during the alcoholism story, and this one in particular stands out for me. 

      Please register in order to view this content

      And then you have this scene, which is the dark mirror of the above, especially the final moment: Felicia started out as camp bitch on a very dreary show (with Cecile being the only somewhat fun character around that point) and then got into a lot of comedy. Some of the comedy was very stupid, but many viewers still felt drawn to it, to Lily, Cecile, Cass, Felicia, Kathleen, Wallingford. There was a vibrancy which Dano fit well in, her fashions and melodrama parodied in a gentle way. This was missing in some of the long-suffering parts she'd had had on shows like ATWT. By the late '80s, especially after Wallingford's death, those times were gone, and Donna Swajeski added further misery to Felicia with the Gold Street backstory. Luckily, after a bit of time the show found a good framing for this new twist on Felicia. The stories with finding and losing a love from her past, learning that a woman she hated was the daughter she'd spent years searching for, sinking into alcoholism, they all fit into the type of material suited for the '40s and '50s screen goddesses.  When Dano tried some of this old weepy type of material when she went back to ABC, it mostly fell flat, as the atmosphere wasn't the same and her character always felt shoehorned in. It worked perfectly at this period on AW because you had Iris, you had Rachel, you had Donna - you had a number of tough-but-vulnerable women of a certain age, most of them grandmothers by this point, but still trying to find love, find themselves. This is what AW could have had earlier if they hadn't dumped Pat and Alice, but better late than never. This is an approach you saw more often on British soaps than on US soaps, which for a number of years respected women in that age group. Both UK and US soaps have done away with this, both countries having the ladies devolve into perpetual ingenues (with added doses of endlessly self-aware camp in the UK) or just being shipped off entirely.  You could even see that on AW with the treatment of Iris (shipped off, never to be mentioned again, too old to return), Donna (repeatedly humiliated and crippled), Felicia (regressed into degrading herself with married John), Rachel (mother to newborn twins, put into lengthy periods of trauma through her new relationship with Carl). 
    • I'm of a certain age where I caught some of Upton's final year and it was not great but Jean Holloway was worse. All I remember is Bambi, Bambi, Bambi!
    • Yes, of course, all of those servants added to the overall picture at AW & also people had relationships with those servants! I like it when Anita asks after one of the servants at the club, how their children are doing & like that. 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy