Soap Scheduling in Your Country

[Carrie Fairchild]

This is like a detailed history of all the times life disappointed me. Seriously. I LOVE US daytime soaps... Or did before they were all but obliterated. I would scour TV schedules looking them out like a dirty crack whore. I loved when we got Sky and I could watch Sky soap and then Sky axed it just after we got it. I remember in the early to mid '90s watching Days Of Our Lives and loving it and that whole world. Then when it came on channel 5 after Sunset Beach was cancelled it just wasn't the same. There must have been a switch in writers/producers. I wish there would be a new channel devoted to nothing but US Daytime soaps. Or even a channel that did blocks of old soap programming. Like 8am to 12pm or something. Just showing soaps from whatever period they began keeping the episodes.

I think it's telling that the last attempt to get UK viewers to watch a US soap was when The Bold and the Beautiful was made available for free via a dedicated YouTube channel for UK fans. And still nobody watched it!

I think soaps in general have very little repeat value and can be a minefield to get cleared, so the best we can hope for are "best of" compilations in the style of the Sons and Daughters DVD's from a few years back.

 

[Willie Oleson]

I think it's telling that the last attempt to get UK viewers to watch a US soap was when The Bold and the Beautiful was made available for free via a dedicated YouTube channel for UK fans. And still nobody watched it!

Many European countries have their own daytime soaps, so there's not a gap that needs to be filled. I also think that the European soaps have more sense of place and identity i.e. British people like to watch British people in British houses, streets etc.
From the little I've seen of the US daytime soaps I think that, apart from the American accent, they don't have a particular American atmosphere (unlike the prime time soaps, when Europeans got the opportunity to drool over America's greatness and opulence).
Yes, TB&TB was popular in Holland too, for more than 10 years at least, but personally I don't think these shows have much to offer.
Maybe the 1960s and 70s episodes were more interesting? I don't know...

Having said that, I'd love to see the first year of CAPITOL, starring Carolyn Jones as Myrna Clegg.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Many European countries have their own daytime soaps, so there's not a gap that needs to be filled. I also think that the European soaps have more sense of place and identity i.e. British people like to watch British people in British houses, streets etc.
From the little I've seen of the US daytime soaps I think that, apart from the American accent, they don't have a particular American atmosphere (unlike the prime time soaps, when Europeans got the opportunity to drool over America's greatness and opulence).
Yes, TB&TB was popular in Holland too, for more than 10 years at least, but personally I don't think these shows have much to offer.
Maybe the 1960s and 70s episodes were more interesting? I don't know...

Having said that, I'd love to see the first year of CAPITOL, starring Carolyn Jones as Myrna Clegg.

You're spot on there Willie. On the surface, Guiding Light, Days, ATWT, OLTL and Another World all look interchangeable to me. General Hospital was at least set in a hospital and while repetitive as hell, B&B was identifiable by the fact that it mostly focused on one family. I think The City is the only US soap I've seen where you got some sort of realistic feel for the place that it was set in.

I had a bit of a Capitol binge a while back. It's premise was unique and the cast was quite good. And what a cliffhanger to go out on! I have read posts from people saying that the political angle was kind of restrictive though because they couldn't really be topical in regard to real life Washington because of how far ahead it was filmed. Still the political backdrop was different from anything else that was on air at the time.

 

[Emelee]

It also has a lot to do with timing and other factors. Cause The Bold and the Beautiful is very popular in countries like Italy. If a show doesn't hit (begin) at the right time, no one will bother. That's a reason why I don't think Dallas would have ever gotten as popular as it did if it had begun airing in 2002 for example.
These days, what seems to work the best is fantasy/sci-fi. Both on TV and in movies.

 

[Marika]

In Germany, the Bold and the Beautiful still had good ratings when ZDF cancelled the show in 2011. They always had ~ 1 million viewers. However, ZDF wanted to restructure their program and B&B just didn't fit in anymore.

But yes, we also have our own soaps, and they are not shown during daytime, but in early primetime. Over the years, various soaps have come and gone, but 3 shows remained, and they're shown at 5.30 pm (Unter uns), 7 pm (Alles was zählt) and 7.40 pm (Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten), respectively. They're still going strong as of today, and all three have their own identity: UU takes place in an apartment house where all the protagonists live, AWZ features a big company and sports as its main theme, and GZSZ is about a group of people living in a district in Berlin. Over the years, production values have improved so much that they're pretty much comparable to any primetime show.

I always found American daytime soaps to be very static. People just stand around and talk the same dialogue for ages, filled with overdramatic long pauses and stares. At least that was my impression from watching B&B and Y&R.

 

[Willie Oleson]

But yes, we also have our own soaps, and they are not shown during daytime, but in early primetime

Our most popular Dutch soap, "Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden" also airs at 20:00, but it's definitely the daytime soap format.

filled with overdramatic long pauses and stares

LOL. Who could ever forget the Stephanie vs. Brooke stare-battles with the "dramatic" frowns and raised eyebrows?

 

[Monzo]

In Germany, the Bold and the Beautiful still had good ratings when ZDF cancelled the show in 2011. They always had ~ 1 million viewers. However, ZDF wanted to restructure their program and B&B just didn't fit in anymore.

I love this topic! Thanks, Carrie for opening and sharing Ireland tv infos! Thanks to Willie Oleson and Emelee, too! Thanks Marika for sharing schedule of my home country, it brings back many great memories when I was watching live tv and couldn‘t wait for Saturday afternoon. I hope we get to know infos about other countries soon.

Sadly, there is a mistake about The Bold & The Beautiful‘s cancellation in Germany. Die-hard fans still argue B&B was ratings‘ gold when it was cancelled and can‘t get why no other station picks up the show, but this is just wishful thinking. ZDF‘s daytime was in bad shape when B&B arrived, but through the years it got stronger and whenever there was a break (because they aired two episodes a day) B&B returned with lower ratings. Finally, B&B was at the bottom of ZDF‘s daytime share. It had around 500,000 viewers average in 2010, peak was 660,000 and low was 330,000. 2011 average slipped further. Demo was really bad, that‘s why no other station picked up B&B. By the way, B&B‘s replacement, repeats of ZDF‘s own Soko crime franchise, almost doubles B&B‘s viewership.

 

[AndyB2008]

In Germany, the Bold and the Beautiful still had good ratings when ZDF cancelled the show in 2011. They always had ~ 1 million viewers. However, ZDF wanted to restructure their program and B&B just didn't fit in anymore.

But yes, we also have our own soaps, and they are not shown during daytime, but in early primetime. Over the years, various soaps have come and gone, but 3 shows remained, and they're shown at 5.30 pm (Unter uns), 7 pm (Alles was zählt) and 7.40 pm (Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten), respectively. They're still going strong as of today, and all three have their own identity: UU takes place in an apartment house where all the protagonists live, AWZ features a big company and sports as its main theme, and GZSZ is about a group of people living in a district in Berlin. Over the years, production values have improved so much that they're pretty much comparable to any primetime show.

I always found American daytime soaps to be very static. People just stand around and talk the same dialogue for ages, filled with overdramatic long pauses and stares. At least that was my impression from watching B&B and Y&R.

GZSZ was, like Verbotene Liebe, an adaptation of a Aussie soap.

And has managed to outlast the original series.

 

[Bri1231]

This is kind of random but it's this sort of useless info that I often find interesting. I've seen in various threads, people talk about when the different soaps were screened in their home country - what was popular, what wasn't popular and what was dumped unceremoniously. In an age where we watch most of our TV online, it's interesting (to me at least) to see how each of these huge shows were scheduled back in the day. Even in the US, from what I can gather, the local stations were able to move shows around the schedules (I've seen a Dynasty promo for a New York station that didn't air it until 11pm).

Anyway, here's the info for Ireland. We were kind of spoiled with our access to TV because as well as our own terrestrial stations, we also had the Sky satellite service and for those of us that lived on the east coast or the border area, we had access to all of the UK channels too. So at any given point, you could have two or even three channels showing your favourite show, at differing points in the storyline.

DALLAS
The most popular of all of the US primetime soaps among Irish audiences. For the bulk of (if not the entirety) of it's run, Dallas aired in a Saturday night 9pm/9.30pm slot on the country's main channel (RTE One) as the lead in for one of the country's flagship chat shows at the time (Kenny Live). It's airings more or less followed the same timeline as US airings, a few weeks/months after their US premiere.

KNOTS LANDING
Knots didn't show up on Irish screens until 1989, ten years after it's US debut. It originally aired in the afternoons on RTE One, five days a week, in the style of a daytime soap. It proved popular, so it was moved to a primetime slot in the early 90's (usually 9pm) on sister channel RTE Two. They aired all remaining episodes continuously with no break between seasons.

DYNASTY & FALCON CREST
Both started in primetime slots on the main channel RTE One before being transferred to sister channel RTE Two as their popularity waned. Their airings were slightly behind the US as they were both still premiering new episodes in Ireland into the early 90's.

All of the above plus The Colbys had back to back repeat runs on RTE One in the late 90's in a 10.30am daytime slot. It's here that I watched most of them for the first time. I'm unsure of the details of The Colbys original run but presumably it aired in primetime like the rest of them.

BEVERLY HILLS 90210
Started in primetime on the now rebranded Network Two, airing in a 7pm/8pm slot during the week. It was soon dumped into the doldrums of Sunday afternoons, being moved or postponed often, depending on which Grand Prix or football match was on. I'm not even sure if it made it to the end of it's run on Irish terrestrial TV or if they just dumped it.

MELROSE PLACE
A late addition to Irish TV, Melrose showed up in a late night slot on Tuesday nights on Network Two in the late 90's. It never aired any earlier than 11pm and was often pushed further into late night by football coverage or films or anything else. Nevertheless, it often cracked the Top 20 ratings for that channel despite it's moveable timeslot. They adopted the same approach to airing MP as they did with Knots - back to back without breaks between seasons and the whole show was aired in it's entirety.

SAVANNAH
Savannah was something of a big deal when it initially aired in Ireland (and the UK). It was heavily promoted and aired in a primetime 9.30pm, post news slot, on RTE One. I think there were "younger Dynasty for the 90's" vibes being given off from it but it didn't really catch on and season two was dumped in a later slot.

PACIFIC PALISADES
This showed up as late night filler sometime in 1999 / 2000 on Ireland's newest channel at the time, TV3. I recall it airing around midnight / 1am and being excited to see it as I'd heard Joan Collins talk about it in a radio interview, even though she described it as being "really awful, even though it was Aaron Spelling". She wasn't wrong.

DALLAS TNT
RTE One was the home of the original but they were either outbid for it or more likely, weren't bothered with the revival. It aired on the country's third place channel TV3 instead where it was shown at 10pm for the first two seasons. I'd stopped watching by this point but I'm pretty sure it was dumped in a late night slot for season three (midnight or later). Had season four happened, who knows where it would've ended up.

If you didn't have access to Sky Television in the 90's/00's, Irish audiences missed out on (or were spared) Models Inc, Central Park West and Titans.

Central Park West actually aired on Network 2 Tuesdays at 9.10pm

This is kind of random but it's this sort of useless info that I often find interesting. I've seen in various threads, people talk about when the different soaps were screened in their home country - what was popular, what wasn't popular and what was dumped unceremoniously. In an age where we watch most of our TV online, it's interesting (to me at least) to see how each of these huge shows were scheduled back in the day. Even in the US, from what I can gather, the local stations were able to move shows around the schedules (I've seen a Dynasty promo for a New York station that didn't air it until 11pm).

Anyway, here's the info for Ireland. We were kind of spoiled with our access to TV because as well as our own terrestrial stations, we also had the Sky satellite service and for those of us that lived on the east coast or the border area, we had access to all of the UK channels too. So at any given point, you could have two or even three channels showing your favourite show, at differing points in the storyline.

DALLAS
The most popular of all of the US primetime soaps among Irish audiences. For the bulk of (if not the entirety) of it's run, Dallas aired in a Saturday night 9pm/9.30pm slot on the country's main channel (RTE One) as the lead in for one of the country's flagship chat shows at the time (Kenny Live). It's airings more or less followed the same timeline as US airings, a few weeks/months after their US premiere.

KNOTS LANDING
Knots didn't show up on Irish screens until 1989, ten years after it's US debut. It originally aired in the afternoons on RTE One, five days a week, in the style of a daytime soap. It proved popular, so it was moved to a primetime slot in the early 90's (usually 9pm) on sister channel RTE Two. They aired all remaining episodes continuously with no break between seasons.

DYNASTY & FALCON CREST
Both started in primetime slots on the main channel RTE One before being transferred to sister channel RTE Two as their popularity waned. Their airings were slightly behind the US as they were both still premiering new episodes in Ireland into the early 90's.

All of the above plus The Colbys had back to back repeat runs on RTE One in the late 90's in a 10.30am daytime slot. It's here that I watched most of them for the first time. I'm unsure of the details of The Colbys original run but presumably it aired in primetime like the rest of them.

BEVERLY HILLS 90210
Started in primetime on the now rebranded Network Two, airing in a 7pm/8pm slot during the week. It was soon dumped into the doldrums of Sunday afternoons, being moved or postponed often, depending on which Grand Prix or football match was on. I'm not even sure if it made it to the end of it's run on Irish terrestrial TV or if they just dumped it.

MELROSE PLACE
A late addition to Irish TV, Melrose showed up in a late night slot on Tuesday nights on Network Two in the late 90's. It never aired any earlier than 11pm and was often pushed further into late night by football coverage or films or anything else. Nevertheless, it often cracked the Top 20 ratings for that channel despite it's moveable timeslot. They adopted the same approach to airing MP as they did with Knots - back to back without breaks between seasons and the whole show was aired in it's entirety.

SAVANNAH
Savannah was something of a big deal when it initially aired in Ireland (and the UK). It was heavily promoted and aired in a primetime 9.30pm, post news slot, on RTE One. I think there were "younger Dynasty for the 90's" vibes being given off from it but it didn't really catch on and season two was dumped in a later slot.

PACIFIC PALISADES
This showed up as late night filler sometime in 1999 / 2000 on Ireland's newest channel at the time, TV3. I recall it airing around midnight / 1am and being excited to see it as I'd heard Joan Collins talk about it in a radio interview, even though she described it as being "really awful, even though it was Aaron Spelling". She wasn't wrong.

DALLAS TNT
RTE One was the home of the original but they were either outbid for it or more likely, weren't bothered with the revival. It aired on the country's third place channel TV3 instead where it was shown at 10pm for the first two seasons. I'd stopped watching by this point but I'm pretty sure it was dumped in a late night slot for season three (midnight or later). Had season four happened, who knows where it would've ended up.

If you didn't have access to Sky Television in the 90's/00's, Irish audiences missed out on (or were spared) Models Inc, Central Park West and Titans.

Central Park West actually did air at 9pm Thursdays Network 2.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Central Park West actually did air at 9pm Thursdays Network 2.

Yes. I spotted that in an old RTE Guide a while back. I don’t know how I missed that when it aired, considering I lapped up any US soap at that time.

 

[kenneth]

Norway alternated between Falcon Crest and Dynasty on Wednesday night throughout the mid 80's. One season of Dynasty followed by one of FC and so on. Both shows stopped airing after season 5. It was only years later I got to see the full shows.

 

[colbyco]

Germany, only had 2 big networks in the 80´s and a third smaller who was different in every region

Dallas - Tuesdays 21:45 ARD, had the biggest ratings of the big 4, started 1981 all seasons, with some breaks when new episodes had to be dubbed; Miami Vice or Magnum got its timeslot (7 episodes weren´t shown)

Dynasty - Wedneydays started at 21:25 ZDF (who didn´t buy Dallas because of moral issues) later at 21:00. All episodes, with some breaks when new episodes had to be dubbed; between the first 2 seasons there was no break. So the newspaper wrote a lot about Alexis even the viewers had to wait 13 weeks. I think the pilot aired on Sunday and the first episode on Wedneyday. Over 40% did watch the pilot. At its heyday it reached more than 15% million viewers.

Falcon Crest - aired afternoons maybe between 5 and 6pm at different local networks of ARD (there were 2 hours at the afternoon where every region had a different programme filled to 90% with US shows like "Remington Steele", "Hart to Hart", "Simon & Simon". So only people in the region of WWF (in the West) got to see all episodes. I had to ask my uncle to record the last 2 seasons because in was in the region of NDR (north west). Newspaper called it "Dallas in the vineyards" before it started. Some wrote it would have beaten "Dallas" in the ratings if it were shown at evening. The critics seemed to like this show more than the 2 D´s. Later durring the mid 90´s SAT1 a private channel aired all episodes again.

 

[lost-in-time]

Germany, only had 2 big networks in the 80´s and a third smaller who was different in every region

Dallas - Tuesdays 21:45 ARD, had the biggest ratings of the big 4, started 1981 all seasons, with some breaks when new episodes had to be dubbed; Miami Vice or Magnum got its timeslot (7 episodes weren´t shown)

Dynasty - Wedneydays started at 21:25 ZDF (who didn´t buy Dallas because of moral issues) later at 21:00. All episodes, with some breaks when new episodes had to be dubbed; between the first 2 seasons there was no break. So the newspaper wrote a lot about Alexis even the viewers had to wait 13 weeks. I think the pilot aired on Sunday and the first episode on Wedneyday. Over 40% did watch the pilot. At its heyday it reached more than 15% million viewers.

Falcon Crest - aired afternoons maybe between 5 and 6pm at different local networks of ARD (there were 2 hours at the afternoon where every region had a different programme filled to 90% with US shows like "Remington Steele", "Hart to Hart", "Simon & Simon". So only people in the region of WWF (in the West) got to see all episodes. I had to ask my uncle to record the last 2 seasons because in was in the region of NDR (north west). Newspaper called it "Dallas in the vineyards" before it started. Some wrote it would have beaten "Dallas" in the ratings if it were shown at evening. The critics seemed to like this show more than the 2 D´s. Later durring the mid 90´s SAT1 a private channel aired all episodes again.

What was the reason they didn’t air those 7 episodes of Dallas?

 

[Bri1231]

Germany:

(I will only list first broadcasts, not repeats, since most shows have been repeated on various channels over the years.)

RTL had a "soap afternoon" on Saturday for years between 4 and 7 pm branded as "Young and Beautiful".

Beverly Hills, 90210 debuted in 1992. New seasons started one year after the US broadcasts, usually in the fall, the last new episode aired in the summer of 2001.

Melrose Place (1992) debuted in 1993. New seasons started one year after the US broadcasts, usually in the fall, the last new episode aired in the summer of 2000.

Models Inc., Central Park West, 2000 Malibu Road, Party of Five and Popular also ran on Saturday afternoons on RTL in various timeslots either before, between or after Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place.

Dawson's Creek started out on Sat.1 for its first 3 seasons and was then given to Pro7 for the final 3 seasons. It also aired on Saturday afternoons around 3 or 4 pm.

Pacific Palisades was shown on a now defunct pay-tv station in 1998. In 1999, it ran on Sat.1 saturdays at 5 pm.

Savannah ran on RTL2 on Sunday evenings. It was a rare exception of an US primetime soap airing during primetime in Germany.

Titans and The $treet have only been shown on pay-tv stations. Titans was first shown in 2008 on Passion, eight years after its US premiere.

7th Heaven debuted on VOX on Tuesday evenings in 1999. For its second or third season, the show moved to weekdays around 4 pm where it remained for its remaining run. For Gilmore Girls, it was the other way around: It started out weekdays at 4 pm and then switched to primetime for its 5th season. I think it aired Fridays at 8 pm.

The O.C. debuted on Pro7 in January 2005 Wednesdays at 9 pm. Because ratings were bad during the 2nd season, the show moved to Saturday afternoons for its 3rd season. The fourth and final season was shown on Sundays around noon during the summer of 2007.

One Tree Hill had the worst run: Pro7 started airing the show in 2007 on Sunday mornings. Later, they tried to establish the show weekdays in the mornings, but not for a long time. In 2010, the show moved to VOX where it was shown weekdays around 4 pm for a few weeks. Eventually, sixx aired the remaining seasons in various timeslots. I think the final season was shown during nighttime.

Desperate Housewives debuted on Pro7 in early 2005 Tuesdays at 8 pm. Because of huge competition from RTL (they showed CSI Miami in that timeslot which had better ratings than the original CSI), the Housewives moved to Wednesdays in 2007. The remaining seasons were shown in that timeslot.

Grey's Anatomy debuted on Pro7 in 2005 on Saturday afternoons. For its second season it moved to Wednesday at 8 pm and has remained there ever since. They usually show two new episodes back to back.

Brothers & Sisters debuted on Pro7 in 2007. They wanted to establish a new soap evening with Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy and Brothers & Sisters back to back. However, Brothers & Sisters flopped badly and was cancelled after 12 episodes. The remaining seasons were broadcast in the early mornings around 6 am on sixx.

Dirty Sexy Money ran on FOX (pay-tv) in 2008. In 2011, zdf.neo showed the complete series weekdays in the afternoon.

90210 and Gossip Girl debuted on Pro7 in 2009 on Saturday afternoons. Both shows were kicked off Pro7's schedule after half a season due to low ratings. The remaining seasons were shown on sixx on Monday evenings. Melrose Place (2009) aired on sixx on Monday evenings in 2011.

Daytime soaps:

The only US daytime soap that had a steady run in Germany was The Bold and the Beautiful. It debuted on Tele5 in April 1988, then called "Fashion Affairs". A year later, RTL began airing the show, now known as "Reich und Schön". In May 2000, they kicked B&B off their schedule. B&B found a new home on ZDF in January 2002 where it was usually shown at 11.15 am. Because they showed two episodes back to back, they had to take various breaks so that they wouldn't get too close to the US airings. For a brief time, they also tried to establish the show in afternoons at 3 pm; however that didn't last long. In June 2011, ZDF cancelled B&B.

Other daytime soaps that aired in Germany were:

As the World Turns – Jung und leidenschaftlich (1992-1993 on RTL; 1993-1994 on VOX, 194 dubbed episodes from the 80s?)
Days of our Lives – Zeit der Sehnsucht (1993-1995 on RTL; later on Premiere; 919 dubbed episodes from the late 80s)
General Hospital – General Hospital (1988-1991 on Sat.1, 884 dubbed episodes from the early 80s)
Guiding Light – Springfield Story (1986-1999 on RTL, 3278 dubbed episodes from 1979 to 1992)
One Life to Live – Liebe, Lüge, Leidenschaft (1989-1990 on Pro7, 357 dubbed episodes from 1980/1981)
Santa Barbara – California Clan (1988-1997 on RTL, full run, 2175 dubbed episodes)
Sunset Beach – Sunset Beach (1998-1999 on RTL, only the first year of the show was dubbed)
The Young and the Restless – Schatten der Leidenschaft (1993-1994 on Sat.1; later episodes from the mid 90s on Premiere; re-start on ZDF with US episodes from 2005/2006 from March to December 2008; in total 1718 dubbed episodes)

I remember this so well. The Young and Beautiful slot on Saturdays. Loved it.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Ryan's Hope - presumably this was bought in due to the Irish connection, Ryan's Hope ran in an evening slot (possibly 7pm) on RTE2 for a period in the late 70's/early 80's but was dropped before the end of it's run.

Trawling through the excellent TVRDB listings site and I see that Ryan’s Hope also ran on the shortlived Mirrorvision satellite channel between 1985-86. It went out weekdays at 1pm for most of its run, before moving to 5pm for the channel’s final month.

Also, I see that Capitol, which I didn’t think aired in Ireland or the UK, ran in a 7pm slot on the Super Channel in the late 80’s.

 

[Monzo]

American soldiers and their families overseas didn't have to live without their soaps, at least not their primetime soaps. When there were only three US networks, most series made it onto the AFN TV schedule, mainly because AFN is commercial-free and rarely airs reruns. Less successful shows like The Colbys aired in the summer.

It wasn't until the early 1980s that daytime soaps were added to the AFN schedule. General Hospital aired worldwide, while Guiding Light only aired in the Pacific region and Ryan's Hope only in Europe. When The Young & the Restless became the number 1 soap in the US, it aired worldwide alongside General Hospital. Today, there are several AFN channels that air all daytime soaps with the exception of Beyond the Gates; even Days of Our Lives still airs on AFN.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

A few others that I found:

Harold Robbins’ The Survivors: appears to have only ever aired once on BBC1 during the autumn/winter of 1969/70. Interestingly, based on the dates I’ve come across, episodes were premiering in the UK before they aired in the US. Episode one was shown on BBC1 at 9.10pm on Friday 26th September whereas the first episode wasn’t shown in the US until the following Monday 29th.

The Yellow Rose: aired in the UK at least twice (although it was regional). Granada ran it in a daytime slot in 1986. It appears to have been weekly on Fridays at 2pm. LWT also ran it weekly in 1989, at 3am on Saturday mornings.

Paper Dolls: aired on Thames in the summer of 1987. It was shown at 10am on weekday mornings in a rather random pattern where some episodes were only 30 minutes long, while others ran to 90 minutes.

Swan’s Crossing: ran on The Children’s Channel in 1994 and on Trouble from 1996-1998.

Dark Shadows: didn’t show up on schedules until long after it ended when it aired on the Sci-Fi Channel in the 90’s. Similarly, DS knockoff Strange Paradise popped up on Bravo in the early 90’s.

As The World Turns and Loving - both aired for a number of years in the 90's on Sky Soap.

While ATWT ran for the entirety of Sky Soap’s five and a half year existence (in addition to a short run on Sky Channel/Sky One prior to that), only the first year of Loving was ever shown in Ireland and the UK (first on Sky One before being repeated on Sky Soap). I may be wrong but I think ATWT may be the US daytime soap with the second longest continuous airing on Irish or UK TV (1993-1999). I think Another World may have had the longest (1989-1998) when it ran between Sky One and Sky Soap. All of the rest aired in sporadic fashion, ranging from Loving’s one year run mentioned above, to the likes of Days, Y&R and B&B that dropped on and off the schedules of different channels over a number of years.

 

[Monzo]

Germany:

Daytime soaps:

The only US daytime soap that had a steady run in Germany was The Bold and the Beautiful. It debuted on Tele5 in April 1988, then called "Fashion Affairs". A year later, RTL began airing the show, now known as "Reich und Schön". In May 2000, they kicked B&B off their schedule. B&B found a new home on ZDF in January 2002 where it was usually shown at 11.15 am. Because they showed two episodes back to back, they had to take various breaks so that they wouldn't get too close to the US airings. For a brief time, they also tried to establish the show in afternoons at 3 pm; however that didn't last long. In June 2011, ZDF cancelled B&B.

Other daytime soaps that aired in Germany were:

As the World Turns – Jung und leidenschaftlich (1992-1993 on RTL; 1993-1994 on VOX, 194 dubbed episodes from the 80s?)
Days of our Lives – Zeit der Sehnsucht (1993-1995 on RTL; later on Premiere; 919 dubbed episodes from the late 80s)
General Hospital – General Hospital (1988-1991 on Sat.1, 884 dubbed episodes from the early 80s)
Guiding Light – Springfield Story (1986-1999 on RTL, 3278 dubbed episodes from 1979 to 1992)
One Life to Live – Liebe, Lüge, Leidenschaft (1989-1990 on Pro7, 357 dubbed episodes from 1980/1981)
Santa Barbara – California Clan (1988-1997 on RTL, full run, 2175 dubbed episodes)
Sunset Beach – Sunset Beach (1998-1999 on RTL, only the first year of the show was dubbed)
The Young and the Restless – Schatten der Leidenschaft (1993-1994 on Sat.1; later episodes from the mid 90s on Premiere; re-start on ZDF with US episodes from 2005/2006 from March to December 2008; in total 1718 dubbed episodes)

In addition to the daytime soaps listed above, three others aired on (West) German television:

Search for Tomorrow - Henderson (first on Eureka and later Tele 5, episodes 7334 to 7788)
Texas (approximately the first 100 episodes, first on Eureka and later Tele 5)
Loving - Wege der Liebe (112 episodes on Sat1 from December 1994 to May 1995)

The only successful US daytime soap of the 1980s that didn't make it to German television is All My Children. Apparently, no station considered it suitable for the German market; why is a matter of speculation.

In 1990, Peyton Place made it to German television for the first time as an afternoon soap, but only seasons 3 to 5 aired.

No UK soap has ever made it to German television; of the Australian daily soaps, only Neighbours premiered thanks to the music careers of Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan. Starting in October 1989, Sat1 aired Neighbours from the beginning. After first Kylie and then Jason left the show, ratings dropped, so Neighbours was cancelled after episode 844.

Telenovelas were also popular for a while, the most successful being the very first on German television in 1986: Escrava Isaura, which is considered the most successful telenovela of all time worldwide. The lead actress, Lucélia Santos, also starred in the second telenovela on German TV, Sinhá Moça, which was also successful in 1988. Other telenovelas, such as Rosa Salvaje or Cuando llega el amor, were only moderately successful or even dead on arrival.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

The only successful US daytime soap of the 1980s that didn't make it to German television is All My Children.

To my knowledge, All My Children never made it to air in Ireland or the UK either.

In 1990, Peyton Place made it to German television for the first time as an afternoon soap, but only seasons 3 to 5 aired.

I’m presuming they skipped the black & white episodes, hence the early episodes not being shown.

Telenovelas were also popular for a while, the most successful being the very first on German television in 1986: Escrava Isaura, which is considered the most successful telenovela of all time worldwide.

Telenovelas were never really a thing on Irish or UK TV. Escrava Isaura was shown on Channel 4 during its early years when the channel was a bit more experimental. Other than that, TV3 ran a couple of those awful MyNetworkTV telenovelas (Fashion House and Wicked Wicked Games) back in the mid-00’s.

 

[LB-Colby]

ITALY

Prime Time Soaps of the 80s:

Dallas and Dynasty were the most successful here.

DALLAS
From 1981 to 1992 (Rai1, Canale5, Rete4)
Season 1 (aka the Miniseries) and some episodes of Season 2: Wednesdays at 8.30 p.m.
From Season 2 to Season 4: Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8.30 p.m.
From Season 5 to Season 11: Tuesdays at 8.30 p.m. (This was the main time slot of the series.)
Season 12 and first half of Season 13: Wednesdays at 8.30 p.m.
Second half of Season 13: Sundays at 8.30 p.m.
Season 14: Sundays at 10.30 p.m.

DYNASTY
From 1982 to 1990 (Rete4, Canale5)
Season 1 and first half of Season 2: Wednesdays and Fridays at 8.30 p.m.
From the second half of Season 2 to Season 6: Fridays at 8.30 p.m. (This was the main time slot of the series.)
Season 7 and first half of Season 8: Tuesdays at 9.30 p.m. (after Dallas)
Second half of Season 8 and Season 9: Wednesdays at 9.30 p.m. (after Dallas)

THE COLBYS ("I COLBY")
From 1987 to 1988 (Canale5)
Season 1: Fridays at 9.30 p.m. (after Dynasty)
Season 2: Tuesdays at 10.30 p.m. (after Dynasty)

FALCON CREST
From 1982 to 1994 (Italia1, Rete4, Canale5, Italia7)
Season 1: Wednesdays at 8.30 p.m. (the first 2 episodes), then Sundays at 8.30 p.m.
Season 2: at 8.30 p.m.
Reruns of Seasons 1-2 + Season 3: Tuesdays at 9.30 p.m. (after Dallas)
Season 4: Thursdays at 8.30 p.m.
Seasons 5, 6 and 7: in daytime
Seasons 8 and 9: never aired here

KNOTS LANDING (“CALIFORNIA”)
(Rete 4)
Sundays at 8.30 p.m. (first episodes), then in daytime until Season 9.
Seasons 10-14: never aired here.