When Did Each Soap Become a Hit

Contessa Donatella · May 24, 2022

1978-79 GH jumped up to #2 in the ratings, from somewhere in the bottom half of the pack the year before. I think Doug Marland might have been MVP of HWs then.

Agnes Nixon literally saved AW from being an infant soap cancelation, making the triangle of Rachel & Steve & Alice iconic.

Bill Bell HWing DOOL with Mickey-Laura-Bill & Mike's paternity being a known secret for 8 yrs before the satisfying reveal brought that show to improved ratings & whole lotta what is now called buzz.

DemetriKane · May 28, 2022

True!!!!!

Such a shame All My Children wasn't able to hold onto the #1 spot for a few years. I guess second best isn't too bad; but they were thee best Imo. Real trendsetter of the genre.

Edited May 28, 2022 by DemetriKane

soapfan770 · May 29, 2022

I’ve always been curious about OLTL’s long success myself as it was one soap I could not get into yet I respected it a lot as I knew it was beloved by so many. Was it the longest running middle of the pack soap ever apart from Days lol? The highest I’ve seen the show was it was overall the #3 show from 86ish-89ish. I know it had critically acclaimed success in the early 90’s but had its ups and downs. Last time I really remember it getting attention was when it hit #2 with a 3.0+ during May Sweeps of 2005.

Broderick · May 30, 2022

Y&R was pretty much always a "hit", being in 3rd place in the 1975/1976 season, when it was only in its third year of production. It stayed that way until 1980, when it expanded to an hour, suffered in the new format, and lost a ton of viewers. It didn't rebound until the 1983/1984 season.

Contessa Donatella · May 30, 2022

And I am sure that po'd Bell Sr. since they forced him to go to an hour!

Max · May 31, 2022

If you look at the history of daytime soap ratings on Wikipedia, and assume that what is written there is correct, this is actually an easy question to answer. For the sake of discussion, I'll define a successful/long-running daytime soap as The Doctors or any program that lasted longer. This means that there have been fourteen successful soaps. Before I comment on each of these soaps, what is really apparent is that--in virtually all cases--it would take at most five years to determine if a soap was a commercial hit or disappointment (if not outright failure). The biggest exception to this "five-year rule" was OLTL, which didn't become a smash hit until the tail end of the 70s. (Obviously, being sandwiched between AMC and GH played a big role in helping OLTL. But the decision to make Llanview into Buchanan Country--and the popularity of those characters--was also an important factor.) GH also took longer than five years to become a huge hit.

Below is an analysis for each of the fourteen long-running soaps:

*All My Children: This show had terrible ratings during its first few years. But it moved into the middle of the pack during the 1972-73 Season and was ranked # 5 during 1974-75.

*Another World: In spite of all that I've read about NBC wanting to cancel the show during its infancy, it seemed to have respectable, middle-tier ratings during much of its first three years on the air. AW became a smash hit during the 1967-68 Season, when it shot up to # 2.

*As the World Turns: This soap had a very poorly rated first season on the air, but it was # 2 during the 1957-58 Season. It began its long run at # 1 (albeit tied with SFT) the following season.

*The Bold and the Beautiful: This soap had respectable ratings from the start (I believe always besting AW). It was # 6 for the 1989-90 Season and # 5 the following year (obviously showing that it was able to build an audience in a way that Capitol never did).

*Days of Our Lives: As was the case with AW, I've read much about how NBC seriously considered cancelling this show during its infancy. During its first three seasons, it was ranked # 10, which obviously wasn't all that good, though I'd hardly say that was a terrible showing for a new soap (given the sheer number of soaps on the air back then). The 1968-69 Season was the breakout year for this show, as it rose to # 5 (albeit in a tie with Love of Life and The Doctors).

*The Doctors: This show was lower rated than GH during its first few years, which had to be embarrassing given that ABC (at the time) was considered a subpar network relative to NBC and CBS. But The Doctors' fortunes turned around, as it became the # 5 soap during the 1967-68 Season.

*The Edge of Night: EON was a hit from the beginning, with a rank of # 4 for the 1956-57 Season.

*General Hospital: GH pretty much had mid-tier ratings during its infancy, which was impressive given that it was/is an ABC soap. For much of the 60s, however, it didn't seem to be showing growth potential. However, that changed in the early-70s, when it became # 6 during the 1970-71 Season and # 2 the following year.

*Guiding Light: I have no idea how long it took GL to become a hit on the radio, but it must have had a turbulent ratings history, given that (I believe) it was cancelled three times, only to come back on the air. GL appeared to do very well making the transition to television: It was ranked # 4 for the 1951-52 and 1952-53 Seasons and # 2 during 1953-54. (Note that Wikipedia only lists four soaps for the 1952-53 Season, but I have my doubts if that was an accurate number, given the eight soaps for the prior season and the ten soaps for the 1953-54 Season.)

*Love of Life: This was ranked # 2 during its first year on the air, so it was a hit from the beginning.

*One Life to Live: Like its sister soap AMC, it had horrendous ratings at first. (The early-70s were a very rough time for ABC soaps apart from GH, and AMC and OLTL were very lucky to avoid cancellation, as they could have met the same fates as The Best of Everything, A Word Apart, and Dark Shadows. I'm guessing that ABC kept AMC and OLTL over those other shows because of the network's faith in Agnes Nixon.) But for much of the 70s, OLTL had respectable, though not great ratings (which nevertheless likely meant that OLTL was still earning a decent profit for ABC). Per Wikipedia, OLTL's massive boost in popularity can be witnessed by the fact that it was ranked # 7 for the 1977-78 Season, # 6 for 1978-79, # 4 for 1979-80, and # 3 for 1980-81.

*Search for Tomorrow: This was the # 1 soap for the 1951-52 Season and remained that way for several years.

*The Secret Storm: It did not take long for this soap to become a hit, as it rose to #5 for the 1954-55 Season and # 3 during the 1956-57 Season.

*The Young and the Restless: This soap, like AMC and OLTL, had a terrible first year. But it did not take long for it to experience an astonishing rise in popularity, going from 17th (and last) place during the 1972-73 Season, 13th place during 1973-74, 9th place during 1974-75, and 3rd place during 1975-76. The 1980-81 Season was the only year since then that Y&R fell out of the top five (with a 6th place ranking that season); I believe that the ratings dip that year was attributable to the difficulties of adjusting to its then-new 60-minute length. (Perhaps Y&R's ratings problems were the main reason why CBS decided to shuffle its daytime lineup in June 1981, moving Y&R from 1:00-2:00 to 12:30-1:30, ATWT from 2:00-3:00 to 1:30-2:30, and upsetting P&G by moving SFT from 12:30-1:00 to 2:30-3:00.)

Edited May 31, 2022 by Max

JoeCool · May 31, 2022

Great analysis.

All My Children hit #1 for the first time during the summer of 1973. ABC did indeed have faith in Agnes Nixon and gave AMC and OLTL time to grow, Because of AMC's strong ratings from 1973 to 1975, ABC bought both AMC and OLTL from Agnes Nixon and her husband and their company Creative Horizons for around $5 to $10 million.

Paul Raven · May 31, 2022

Anyone interested in more of the above check pout the Ratings threads in Cancelled Soaps sections for way more detailed ratings from the 50's thru 80's.

eg

Ratings for the two weeks ended June 25, 1972.

11.8 ATWT 35%

10.4 DAYS 34%

9.9 GH 33%

9.5 Doctors 33%

9.1 AW 31%

8.7 Search 32%

8.5 GL 29%

8.2 LIAMST 28%

8.0 EON 28%

7.9 OLTL 27%

2 weeks Sept 29-Oct 10. 1969

1. As The World Turns 13.7/50

2. Edge of Night 10.9/42

3. Search for Tomorrow 10.2/45

4. Another World 10.0/37

5. Guiding Light 9.7/36

6. Love Is A Many Splendored Thing 9.3/34

7. Gomer Pyle 8.9/34

8. The Doctors 8.7/33

9. Secret Storm 8.6/32

10. Days of Our Lives 8.4/30

11. Love of Life 7.9/41

12. General Hospital 7.7/29

13. Newlywed Game 7.2/27

14. Dark Shadows 7.2/27

15. Where The Heart Is 6.9/32

December 1958

1. As The World Turns (CBS) 9.3

2 Price is Right (NBC) 9.0

3. Concentration (NBC) 9.0

4. Search For Tomorrow (CBS) 8.2

5. The Guiding Light (CBS) 8.2

6. The Verdict is Yours (CBS) 7.9

7.Secret Storm (CBS) 7.9

8. House Party (CBS) 7.7

9.The Edge of Night (CBS) 7.6

10.The Brighter Day (CBS) 7.4

Max · June 1, 2022

Thank you for your kind words.

I think that OLTL would have become a big hit quite a bit earlier had ABC not waited so long to give it the post-AMC timeslot. In fact, it is quite puzzling as to why ABC aired AMC and OLTL so far apart from each other for many years. Based on data I found at the Daytime TV Archive website, the following is a partial history as to when ABC aired its soaps in the Eastern Time Zone: (Note that times not listed were devoted to non-soap programming. And I'm sorry for the awkward spacing, as what should be single-spaced is double-spaced and what should be double-spaced is quadruple spaced. I tried and tried to get around this problem, but I was unsuccessful.)

01/05/1970 to 03/27/1970

01:00 P.M. to 01:30 P.M. - All My Children

03:00 P.M. to 03:30 P.M. - General Hospital (timeslot held since 12/30/1963)

03:30 P.M. to 04:00 P.M. - One Life to Live (timeslot held since 07/15/1968)

04:00 P.M. to 04:30 P.M. - Dark Shadows (timeslot held since 07/15/1968)

03/30/1970 to 09/25/1970

12:00 P.M. to 12:30 P.M. - The Best of Everything

12:30 P.M. to 01:00 P.M. - A World Apart

01:00 P.M. to 01:30 P.M. - All My Children

03:00 P.M. to 03:30 P.M. - General Hospital