Sunday, December 7, 2008

FLASHBACK: TIME Rates the Soaps 1976

TIME Rates the Soaps

TIME Magazine
January 12, 1976

The 14 soap operas on the networks are rated from four teardrops to none according to quality. The numeral in brackets is the show's Nielsen position in the last quarter of 1975.

DAYS OF OUR LIVES (3) ****
The most daring drama, encompassing every trend from artificial insemination to interracial romance. The Horton family's days pass with reckless brio. "We are a bunch of horny devils," admits the star, Susan Seaforth Hayes (NBC).

THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS(4) ***1/2
A glossy, trendy and randy soap about the poor Foster and well-off Brooks families (CBS).

ALL MY CHILDREN (6) ***
A socially relevant romance about the Tylers and the Martins features bleeding hearts just this side of broken (ABC).

ANOTHER WORLD (2) ***
An old-fashioned and extremely complicated mate-swapping epic involving the Matthews, Frame, Randolph and Cory families (NBC).

RYAN'S HOPE (14) **1/2
The newest soap and unique: the Ryans' religion is revealed to be Roman Catholic, and the bar they run is in a real place, New York City (ABC).

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW (4) **
The oldest TV soap, Search has run for 25 years, and so has Mary Stuart as the thrice-widowed housewife Joanne Vincente (CBS).

LOVE OF LIFE (10) **
Vicious sibling rivalry. While Good Sister Vanessa searches for human dignity with Bad Meg's ex-husband, Meg competes with her daughter for a lover (CBS).

THE DOCTORS (8)**
Who could not love the most trustworthy man on TV, Dr. Matt Powers, father figure at Hope Memorial Hospital (NBC).

ONE LIFE TO LIVE (11) *
A sociologist's delight, now giving way to careless love with the arrival of George Reinholt and Jacquie Courtney (ABC).

EDGE OF NIGHT (12) *
P.G. Wodehouse loved this mystery soap — based on Perry Mason — but why he did is a mystery (ABC).

GENERAL HOSPITAL (9) *
If malpractice is this dull, it is worth insuring against. The only successful therapy offered is by Denise Alexander, who plays sensuous Dr. Lesley Williams (ABC).

AS THE WORLD TURNS (1)
This popular and conservative soap should be subtitled "Musical Beds" — single ones, of course, because the Hughes family always observes the proprieties (CBS).

THE GUIDING LIGHT (6)
The sole hope for the godly Bauers, now entering their 39th year on radio and TV, is that the family turns Trappist (CBS).

SOMERSET (13)
ANOTHER WORLD World got overly large 5½ years ago, so half the cast moved to Somerset and out of contention (NBC).

2 comments:

  1. "ONE LIFE TO LIVE *
    A sociologist's delight"


    HA HA HA!!!

    i like the synopsis for RYANS HOPE as well!

    thanks for goin back in time for us!

    ReplyDelete