1954-55 Soap Ratings

Search for Tomorrow, Guiding Light, and Love of Life continued into the 1954-55 season as the dominant soaps, with Guiding Light once again rising in the ratings from the previous year. Its retention Search for Tomorrow increased to 96%, and its average HH rating was up over five points from its first season. Once again, Valiant Lady was the lowest-rated soap in the noon hour, but still performed significantly better than all soaps airing outside of that hour. 

CBS saw a 12% increase in HH ratings in the 4 pm time slot from the previous year, with The Brighter Day moving from 1 pm to replace 1953-54’s Woman with a Past. That combined with The Secret Storm at 4:15 pm gave CBS a respectable soap half-hour outside of the dominant noon hour.

CBS’s struggles with soaps came in the 1 pm hour. Portia Faces Life, which was renewed for a second season despite already low ratings at 1:15, was shifted to 1 pm to air after Guiding Light. Ratings went even lower, and a rename to The Inner Flame did not save it from cancelation. Lead-out The Seeking Heart didn’t make it out of fall 1954 alive, with midseason replacement The Road of Life going even lower and getting canceled by the end of the season.

NBC did a massive expansion with soaps, still making sure to stay away from CBS’s noon hour. Their top-rated show was the new soap Modern Romances, which averaged an 8.5 Household rating and tied for fifth place overall. Notably not NBC’s highest-rated soap was Hawkins Falls, which picked an inconvenient time to plummet in the ratings — down 34% year-to-year to a 7.7 rating. That was still enough to be NBC’s #2 soap, but not enough to get renewed for another season.

New soap Way of the World started the season airing at 10:30 am before transitioning to 4 pm while Hawkins Falls was on summer break. Like Hawkins Falls, Way of the World was ultimately canceled. It was lower-rated than One Man’s Family and Concerning Miss Marlowe, both of which also got canceled. NBC did renew First Love, which aired after Hawkins Falls and, like Way of the World, performed worse than both One Man’s Family and Concerning Miss Marlowe. All four shows rated higher than CBS’s lowest-rated soaps. 

The same cannot be said for Three Steps to Heaven, Golden Windows, and The Greatest Gift. Three Steps to Heaven was rejected in its 10:45 am time slot, and was canceled by the winter. Golden Windows and The Greatest Gift flopped in two time slots each, but the network was at least patient with them. Originally airing in the 3 pm half-hour, they were shifted to the 3:30 pm half-hour upon the midseason cancelations of One Man’s Family and Concerning Miss Marlowe.

 

1953-54 Soap Ratings

 

CBS aired eight daytime soaps in the 1953-54 season, led once again by Search for Tomorrow (15.8, -2%), Guiding Light (14.4, +27%), and Love of Life (14.0, =). Guiding Light notably moved back to the noon hour, leading to the surge in ratings and movement from 4th place overall to 2nd place. Its 91% retention was far better than the 65% retention and 9.2 rating it received in the same time slot out of the same lead-in just two years prior. 

NBC interrupted CBS’s dominance with Hawkins Falls, down a bit to an 11.7 and moving down a spot to fourth place. Airing directly out of Hawkins Falls was new soap The Bennetts, which was low-rated and short-lived. 

CBS went four for five with their new soaps, canceling only Women with a Past. With a 7.5 rating, the 4 pm soap was weaker than its lead-out, The Secret Storm. Valiant Lady was the top-rated new soap, notching a 10.2 household average at noon, but still left the veterans that followed it to do the heavy lifting in the hour. CBS’s 1 pm half-hour, consisting of The Brighter Day at 1 pm and Portia Faces Life at 1:15, were both on the weaker side. Both were renewed, though Portia ultimately did not last long thereafter.

1952-53 Soap Ratings

 

Despite a trimmed down roster, 1952-53 was overall a good year for soaps. Search for Tomorrow held as the highest-rated soap, notching a 16.1 HH rating. That’s the highest household rating any soap has hit in history — of course, still a far cry from the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s the Top 30 shows in prime time were achieving at the time. Fellow returning CBS soaps Love of Life (15.1 HH rating, +9% y2y) and Guiding Light (11.3 HH rating, +23% y2y) also showed promise in their sophomore seasons. NBC brought back Hawkins Falls for a third season in 1952-53, which was steady at a 13.7 HH rating. All four series were renewed for another season. 

1950-51 Soap Ratings

 

The 1950-51 saw the premiere of three soap operas between NBC and CBS. It started with CBS premiering The First Hundred Years in December 1950, followed by NBC debuting their soaps in the spring. 

Hawkins Falls was the leader of the pack, likely due to the exposure it previously received as a prime time dramedy. Still, a 13.7 HH rating was just a fraction of what the top prime time shows were notching that season — the top 30 ranged from a 31.5 to a 61.5 rating. 

All three soaps aired for 15 minutes each, with the rest of the half hour filled out by one of many daytime variety shows. 

Hawkins Falls and The First Hundred Years were renewed for a second season. Miss Susan managed to make the fall 1951 schedule, airing the latter retooled part of what was still considered its first season. It would not, however, get a Season 2.