When Did Each Soap Become a Hit

[Planet Soap]

At what point did each soap become popular in what was then a saturated field. 

Obvious: GH in 1978/79 after Monty toook the reigns.

ATWT: was popular in the 60s and 70s and had a mid 80s resurgence under Marland.

When for example did DAYS or OLTL or AMC become popular.

[kalbir]

Y&R 1984

B&B 1992

Days 1983

[watson71]

AW- 1966-67  once Rachel and Ada arrive in Bay City- and Agnes Nixon begins the Rachel/Steve/Alice triangle.

[Contessa Donatella]

GH: When Marland was Hwriting!

ATWT: #1 soap for 12 years running

AW: a resurgence landing them tucked #2 after ATWT during Lemay HWing.

[titan1978]

It seems like GH was a hit earlier, Monty and Marland just saved it from a low point.  It was a very popular and highly rated soap pretty early on.  By all accounts, DAYS takes off after Bell takes over as head writer and some key recasts happen- Flannery as Laura, SSH as Julie.

[Contessa Donatella]

SSH was/is Julie #4 although I could swear I remember her earlier. There's an imposter in that 1966 clip! No, it's just a game my brain plays. SSH began 1968.

[Contessa Donatella]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_daytime_soap_opera_ratings?fbclid=IwAR2KcNmUBi5hk6vLqcoxqraBjyaBsKsK5pTmQ2HJONJhZkCKnmnpu9-IvYY#1960s

1959-60 ATWT 1, GL 2

1960-61 ATWT 1, GL 2

1961-62 ATWT 1, GL 2

1962-63 ATWT 1, GL 2

1963-64 ATWT 1, GL 2

1964-65 ATWT 1, GL 2, AW 9

1965-66 ATWT 1, GL 2, AW 8

1966-67 ATWT 1, EON 2, GL 3, AW 7

1967-68 ATWT 1, AW 2, GL 3

1968-69 ATWT 1, SFT 2, AW 3

1969-70 ATWT 1, AW 5

1970-71 ATWT 1, AW 4 (Tie w/DOOL)

1971-72 ATWT 1, AW 6

1972-73 ATWT 1, AW 3

1973-74 ATWT 1, AW 2

1974-75 ATWT 1, AW 2

1975-76 ATWT 1, AW 2

1976-77 ATWT 1, AW 2, GL 3

1977-78 ATWT 1, AW 2, GL 4

1978-79 AMC 1, GH 2, Y&R 3, ATWT 4, GL 5, AW 8

It makes an interesting picture. It goes without saying that P&G would be happy campers when they commanded the top 2 or top 3 of the ranking.

Edited May 22, 2022 by Tonksadora
Add.

[Planet Soap]

I take it that Sheila's crossover put B&B on the map.

What particularly in 1984 boosted Y&R? I believe their was a writer change and storyline direction change around that point? The Brooks and Fosters were mostly written out by then in favor of the Newmans and Abbotts.

[Faulkner]

1983-84 was big for Victor/Nikki leading up to their wedding, right? And Paul/Lauren/Danny/Traci?

[kalbir]

1984 Y&R transition from the Brooks/Foster era to the Abbott/Newman era was complete and Y&R became Y&R as we know it today. 1992 for B&B due to the Y&R crossovers.

[Paul Raven]

The Doctors  debuted in April 1963 and struggled for several years.

It changed format from daily to weekly anthology and then became  fully fledged serial a year or so later but in August 67 it finally won the timeslot for NBC for the first time in 6 years -  beating Art Linkletter's House Party.

So officially a hit.

Edited May 23, 2022 by Paul Raven

[MichaelGL]

GL: I'm just thinking aloud here, but I would take a guess that it really became a hit when Meta Bauer was put on trial for killing Ted White. 

Ryan's Hope: I want to say around the time Delia's schemes were revealed about what she did to hold on to Pat. Jill and the beach house explosion. Mary and Jack's romance. So maybe 3-4 years after they premiered. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Just to throw a date into the mix since it might give some context:

AW 1st hr long show May 3, 1974. AW permanent to hr Jan. 6, 1975.

DOOL to 1 hr. Apr 21, 1975

Most of the rest followed along. RH did not.

[jam6242]

Days went to #1 for the first time during the week of November 8, 1971.  This was the first time a CBS soap didn't top the ratings in something like 10 years.

[dragonflies]

GH in the late 70's due to the Luke and Laura phenomenon