15 hours ago, soapfan770 said:

@kalbir Thanks for the 12/16-12/22 recaps as well!!

You're welcome.

1985/86 was the season primetime soaps tanked and we can see that from the recaps.

1 hour ago, kalbir said:

1985/86 was the season primetime soaps tanked and we can see that from the recaps.

It's remarkable how the four major primetime soaps all tanked at around the same time...but not at all surprising.

DALLAS was trying too hard to outdo DYNASTY, and DYNASTY was trying too hard to outdo itself.

FC had lost its' way already when they were forced to wrap up the Gustav Riebmann arc sooner than planned, and even KL managed to piss away the momentum they had built over the previous two seasons with the Empire Valley crap.

It's as if the four shows made some strange pact to do whatever they could to sabotage themselves and drive the audience away.

Edited yesterday at 08:39 PM1 day by Khan

1 hour ago, Khan said:

It's remarkable how the four major primetime soaps all tanked at around the same time...but not at all surprising.

1984/85 the primetime soaps pulled out all the stops to out-do each other and I think that played a part in them tanking the following season.

1 hour ago, kalbir said:

1984/85 the primetime soaps pulled out all the stops to out-do each other and I think that played a part in them tanking the following season.

I agree. DYNASTY might've taken everything to the next level with the Moldavian Massacre, but I think FC wasn't too shabby either that season, refashioning itself as a cross between "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and a James Bond movie, with a Special Guest Appearance from Ursa, lol.

26 minutes ago, Khan said:

I agree. DYNASTY might've taken everything to the next level with the Moldavian Massacre

Aaron Spelling also cashed in on Diana-mania.

26 minutes ago, Khan said:

FC wasn't too shabby either that season, refashioning itself as a cross between "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and a James Bond movie, with a Special Guest Appearance from Ursa, lol.

OMG you described that season so perfectly 🤣

3 hours ago, kalbir said:

OMG you described that season so perfectly 🤣

Honestly, with Paul Freeman ("Raiders") and Sarah Douglas in the cast, I'm surprised FC didn't attempt to snag a "Star Wars" or "Star Trek" veteran as well.

1 hour ago, Khan said:

I'm surprised FC didn't attempt to snag a "Star Wars" or "Star Trek" veteran as well.

Hahaha, that's funny.

9 hours ago, kalbir said:

Hahaha, that's funny.

Not that there wouldn't have been opportunities! For instance, they could've hired George Takei (there's your ST person) as one of Chao-Li's relatives, who was also after the Nazi treasure. Or they could've hired Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker (a.k.a. C3PO and R2D2) as another team out for the gold (and comic relief for the storyline). Heck, they could've even hired none other "Blofeld" himself, Donald Pleasance, as a sworn enemy of Gustav and his father's, who will stop at nothing, including romancing poor Emma, to keep Riebmann from reclaiming the treasure.

2 hours ago, Khan said:

Not that there wouldn't have been opportunities! For instance, they could've hired George Takei (there's your ST person) as one of Chao-Li's relatives, who was also after the Nazi treasure. Or they could've hired Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker (a.k.a. C3PO and R2D2) as another team out for the gold (and comic relief for the storyline). Heck, they could've even hired none other "Blofeld" himself, Donald Pleasance, as a sworn enemy of Gustav and his father's, who will stop at nothing, including romancing poor Emma, to keep Riebmann from reclaiming the treasure.

I can totally see that 🤣

OK, now lets get back to 1980s ratings 😀

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by kalbir

The return of sitcoms' popularity in the mid-'80s was a real thing, but the crash of the wealth-based nighttime soap genre was resonate and self-induced.

There was an effectively grim finality to the mood of the cliffhangers in the Spring of 1985: Bobby's death, the Moldavian massacre, the return of Val's babies... and they felt as if they could have ended right there (and perhaps they should have, although I would have sorely missed S10 of Dallas, S6 of FC, and Season 9 of Dynasty , and the next five years of KNOTS as they singularly maintained quality).

But, wow, these shows just fell apart post-Spring 1985. They stopped being character dramas after a while, and just started trying to "impress" viewers in some superficial way and to "fake it" somehow.

What a painful, unnecessary slide it was. But once these shows seemed to lose their identities, their sense of self, their momentum into the dung heap couldn't be slowed.