Ratings From the 90's

[JAS0N47]

If I've seen all of your updates (which I have been keeping a list of to eventually update/re-check for typos), I believe this is just the second week with a conflict over the past year (November 1990-October 1991). So, going pretty good now. That first year in 1990 had a lot of conflicts. I'm glad things have pretty much quieted down now with the discrepancies!!

[soapfave06]

It is interesting how low the soaps sunk in the late 80s and early 90s but the difference pre and post OJ is that they actually fought for their lives and were on an upswing until 1995, for the most part? 
 

The majority of soaps were more modern from 91-95 than any soap since, even in 2023. 
 

It is really sad how low OLTL has sunk. They did not even get an increase with Alex taking Cassie out on Loon Lake. It will be interesting to see the turnaround. They really truly failed to build a long lasting canvas in the late-80s and it hurt them tremendously. 

[dc11786]

According to his partner, Dominic Procaccino, Schnessel was diagnoses with AIDS in 1988. I imagine that may have also played a role in the end of his run on "One Life to Live."

Here is a link to Procaccino's interview for the Not Another Second Project where he speaks a little about his life with Schnessel. Procaccino passed last year. 

https://www.notanothersecond.com/stories/nick/

[JoeCool]

I agree but I also think the rapid expansion of cable TV in the late 80s and early 90s contributed to the softening of the soap's ratings. There was so much more to choose from as compared to just the 3 networks and a handful of other stations.

[JAS0N47]

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 11/11/91-11/15/91 & 11/18/91-11/22/91:

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FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 11/25/91-11/29/91 & 12/2/91-12/6/91:

[Gray Bunny]

Whoo hoo! GL hits No. 3 with a healthy 6.0! 

Funny to see a 5-way tie for 4th place with a 5.7. 

[BoldRestless]

12/2/91-12/6/91:
OLTL you have a 19 share, SOW has 21

 

Not too bad!

[MichaelGL]

Impressive numbers for GL.

[Khan]

Proof positive that Nancy Curlee was the last, great thing to happen to my beloved GL.

[kalbir]

Y&R November 13, 1991 Lauren's "son" passes away.

Guiding Light November 15, 1991 Alexandra tells Billy about Mindy being involved with Roger.

Y&R November 26, 1991 Christian LeBlanc debut.

Edited December 9, 2023 by kalbir

[kalbir]

If only the ratings rise happened under Robert Calhoun's watch and not JFP's.

I will forever maintain that Robert Calhoun laid all the groundwork but JFP took all the credit.

[JAS0N47]

UPDATE ON RATINGS...

We have 6 more days of posts to take us through May 1992. As I said recently, we just got June 1992-December 1993 in, but I won't be working on those until after the holidays, so we will have a brief pause in the ratings data after December 14 until January. Also, word is we might be getting some of the still-needed weeks in 1990 and 1991 by the end of the month, so those are two different things to look forward to as we head into 2024!!

Before even looking at your post (expanding it to show the chart, I figured that meant there was probably a "breakout" portion of an episode, so that seems to usually be when something like that happens. SOW gets the "almost" final numbers, but then the network at a later point says "hey, wait a minute, we want this half hour of an episode not counted towards our weekly ratings." So, that's pretty much what all of the discrepancies you are finding mean. Of course, I expect there to be a few of my "human error" typos as well, where I think it says 5.3 but it actually says 5.8. 

[Khan]

I agree.  

[I Am A Swede]

I'm a little surprised that B&B this far into its run, and having reached as high as #3, still has a lower clearance (94%) than most of the other shows.

[kalbir]

I always thought B&B clearances went up when they started showing growth, but yes, the clearances are about the same as the beginning of the run.

It might have been posted here that around 1992 or 1993 Lee Bell personally visited every CBS affiliate that was not carrying B&B in an attempt to get them to add B&B to the line up.