Ratings From the 90's

[Franko]

If I remember correctly ...

Sergio's became original recipe Doug's Place, which was backburned for a while for Doug's Place, the casino era. Doug's Place original then became Blondie's and later, Wings. By the time it was written out, The Penthouse Grille was the new hangout.

The Twilight became Shenanigans, then the original Alice's Restaurant. The Tuscany, successor to the Penthouse Grille, became the country Alice's.

[Khan]

How could I forget the country Alice's?  When Bonnie had the audacity to change the sign to one of a drawing of the late Alice Horton, wearing a Stetson hat and brandishing six-shooters, lol!  You'll never convince me that JER loved writing for DAYS.

Edited December 18, 2023 by Khan

[Contessa Donatella]

In my Roman (Jerk or not?) project I'm in Dec. 1991 & those Scofields they really use up a lot of the available oxygen!

[kalbir]

From the last 1992 chart as of this writing, James Reilly is some 6 months away. I believe he was first credited December 1992.

Days is such an interesting case in soap history. Started as a Bill Bell show which unfortunately I was not alive for, so for my generation its best known for the supercouple years and Reilly years.

Now that we've seen a good portion of the ratings for the post-supercouple/pre-Reilly era, it makes sense why that era was not really talked about alot.

[Khan]

Make no mistake: DAYS was floundering.  At best, Deidre Hall and Wayne Northrop's returns provided a sort of Band-Aid, but they alone could not salvage the rest of the show creatively.  It NEEDED a new direction BADLY.  I'm just not sure JER was the right person for that task (then, or now).

[MichaelGL]

Does the Lisanne (Lynn Herrings character) story/Nicky/Lawrence/Carly storyline take place mostly in 93 or in 92?

[AbcNbc247]

1992

Lisanne was on only from April to October

[Franko]

While Lisanne was only on until late October, the impact of her death dragged on for four more months, followed by Nicky finally learning he's Carly & Lawrence's kid.

[JAS0N47]

The Scofields. I was watching Fallon last week, and David Blaine did a trick, and Fallon brought out the band that was on that night to watch the trick. And who is a member of the band but Rob Mailhouse (Brian Scofield)?!   Hadn't seen him in quite awhile, didn't know he was in a band, and didn't know that his bandmate is Keanu Reeves (who I also didn't know was in a band). So that was a fun Days sighting out of the blue!!

[Contessa Donatella]

I knew he was in a band!!! Neat. Envy! Kidding. 

[kalbir]

James Reilly was part of that early 1990s writing team at GL and he worked fine as part of that team. AFAIK he was left to his own devices at Days, and we saw what happened from 1993-1997. Yes Days recovered in the ratings, but daytime was shaken at a level not seen since ABC's huge rise and domination some 15 years earlier.

[Contessa Donatella]

Nancy Curlee (Locher Rm) said they were suspicious when they were told they were to all 3 be co-headwriters at GL. They thought since "Jimmy" wrote his way & she & Stephen wrote their way that the execs were up to no good, so they decided to beat them at their own game. They talked & made a united front, sorta resolved to decide together how best to do it their own way, a new amalgamation of the 3 of them. From what she said it worked miracles. It was interesting. 

[Khan]

Yep, we sure did, lol.

Look, I realize that the era of supercouples jetting off to exotic locales in order to take down supervillains like Stefano DiMera was over and that DAYS needed to move in entirely new directions.  And I realize, too, that had JER not gone big, then DAYS would have gone home, permanently.  But I feel like DAYS (and other shows) should have taken lessons from Y&R, GH and even GL and turned inward, focusing back on the kinds of deep, psychologically complex stories that Bill Bell and Pat Falken Smith had told in the '70's.  Maybe DAYS wouldn't have come within points of beating Y&R in the ratings, but then again, maybe it wouldn't have become the kind of silly, cartoonish mess that it still is today either.

Edited December 19, 2023 by Khan

[JAS0N47]

Check the 1970s and 1980s ratings threads for some additional ratings news!

In regards to the 1990's, we are now pending those remaining weeks from September 1990 and March 1991, so look for that data to be posted soon!

[JAS0N47]

9/10/90-9/14/90 NIELSEN BOOK:

 

Update with Nielsen book ratings for the week of 9/10/90. The "Days" breakout made its weekly average rating jump from the 4.2 listed in SOW to the final of 4.7 in the Nielsen book. All of the other numbers matched SOW.

 

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