BetterForgotten

To me, what Allen Potter and the Dobson's did with GL was a great template in updating an old soap for contemporary audiences. The sensibilities of the show were still there, but in a way contemporary audiences (for that time at least) could relate and not feel out of touch with.

Arsenio towards the end was really desperate though and trying hard to drum up interest/controversy, lol. Like that Louis Farrakhan interview. Arsenio's bubble seemed to burst really quickly in hindsight.

I guess that piece of sh!t Everybody Loves Raymond did eventually become a hit somewhere in there, too.

And no one could "replace" Jean Smart/Charlene - somehow, Smart's departure was more impactful to the overall dynamic of the show than Burke's. Charlene really was the emotional heart of that ensemble, IMO.

Yeah, just keeping it in perspective for the 90's thread, lol.

It can't be stressed enough that it was 60 Minutes and Murder She Wrote that largely kept CBS's ass afloat in the early 90's.

When X-Files became their first top 10 ratings hit, Fox made a conscious decision to become more vanilla and less inclusive.

In fact, until Empire a few years back, ADW was the last show with a predominantly black cast that was in the Nielsen top 10.

The Carsey-Werner Company owns the right to ADW (along with Roseanne, TCS, and others). ADW may be in a unique position because Bill was a creator on it, and has some vested interest that requires his or his estate's participation. I think The Carsey-Werner Company only exists as a syndication arm now though, and Marcy Carsey is no longer involved. The Conners is produced under Werner Entertainment and Sara + Tom (a joint venture between Sara Gilbert and Tom Werner).

By the end, it seemed NBC couldn’t wait to get ADW off its schedule. This promo is basically just a “bye, bitch!” to the show. Compare that to say the “goodbye” they gave to Family Ties, Cosby, and Cheers and you’ll see the difference.

Perhaps Delta’s claims about the poor working conditions on that show weren’t totally unfounded! Harry Thomason directed a great many of those episodes, too. I always thought his episodes were inferior to those David Trainer directed.

Family Ties also dropped in the ratings when NBC moved it from Thursday after Cosby to Sunday. However, it didn’t drop quite as bad as ADW did - which does tell me that the show (ADW) likely would have never succeeded ratings-wise on its own without that plush timeslot. Cheers is a more interesting story. It didn’t start off as a mainstream hit show. However, once Cosby brought an audience to NBC on Thursday nights, it seemed as if people fell in love with that show in its own right - even scoring a season as the #1 show for the first year of the 90’s, long after Cosby’s ratings dominance had faded.

I’m sorry for what she endured under Moonves, but Linda Bloodworth-Thomason always thought she was much more important and talented than she actually was. In the early 90’s, despite a pre-Moonves CBS giving her work a big platform, she always complained about not getting the same respect or Emmy attention as Diane English got for Murphy Brown. She seemed very bitter and jealous for some reason. There were so few female showrunners at the time, it always left a bad taste in my mouth that she saw English as her big competition.

And even Frasier lasted about 4 seasons longer than it needed to!

True, but also the antithesis to something like Friends, which was also heavily copied, where NBC and Warner Brothers tried to force on audiences for years that those characters were their "family" and "comfort food."

Seinfeld proved a lot of sitcom connotations wrong - for one, none of the characters were exactly likeable or sympathetic, and the audience didn't need to be deeply invested or "like" them in order to be invested in or enjoy the actual show.

Seinfeld is also the last show to ever finish at #1 during its last season on the air. The story of Seinfeld in itself is an interesting one - from initial ratings bomb to the quintessential and #1 rated sitcom of the 90's.

Why does Kristina Wagner sound like she's Irish?

Something must be said for the longevity of Murder She Wrote though - always a consistent ratings draw until CBS intentionally sabotaged it in its last season. Angela Lansbury was always adamant that Madison Avenue got it wrong regarding the demographics of people watching that show, and I’m inclined to believe she’s right. It wasn’t just “old” people watching MSW, but entire families. So many people I know grew up watching it with their parents or grandparents and enjoying it.

Times were changing again as well - suddenly, sitcoms were back big time and NBC on Thursday nights was dominant.

Brilliant, but troubled man by most accounts. I mostly remember his feud with Cher during the making and promotion of Mask.

But hey, Frank does everything on the cheap, and his opening reflects that!

I’m just glad Jane Elliot has allowed herself to age gracefully, and if she’s had work done, it’s been very subtle. It’s telling when people like Jackie Zeman and Leslie Charleston are in the same episode…