kalbir

L.A. Law was NBC's cool and trendy drama once Miami Vice was no longer the new hotness, but Matlock was NBC's highest-rated drama in 1986/87, 1988/89, 1990/91. Matlock was ABC's highest-rated drama in 1992/93.

Due to unfortunate real-life circumstances, we didn't get MZ Roger vs. CB Alan in the late 1980s/early 1990s. If I have the time line correct, CB departure was May 1988, MZ return was January 1989, CB passed away June 1989. Those who were able to see MZ Roger vs. CB Alan from 1977-1980 were most fortunate. It's too bad so little of that era has surfaced.

1991/92 Tuesday 8 pm Matlock would have been head-to-head w/ Full House at 8 pm and Home Improvement first season at 8:30 pm. 1991/92 Full House got their first Top 10 finish (7th) and Home Improvement was the breakout hit of the season (4th, tied w/ Cheers). Matlock might have barely been a Top 30 show if it remained Tuesday 8 pm. Correction, it was 1993/94 that ABC moved Matlock to Thursday 9 pm, where it was head-to-head w/ Seinfeld at 9 pm and Frasier first season at 9:30 pm. 1993/94 Seinfeld blew up (going from 25th to 3rd) and Frasier was 7th. Matlock fell out of the Top 30.

Looking at the above Fall 1984 line up of new scripted shows. CBS had only one return: Murder, She Wrote. ABC had only one return: Who's the Boss. NBC had five returns: The Cosby Show, Highway to Heaven, Miami Vice, Hunter, Punky Brewster. Looking at the returning scripted shows on the above Fall 1984 line up that ended by Spring 1985. CBS ended five shows: AfterMASH, The Jeffersons, Alice, The Dukes of Hazzard, Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer. ABC ended two shows: T.J. Hooker and Matt Houston. NBC ended Diff'rent Strokes. CBS lack of fall success and spring house cleaning left a lot of space in the schedule to fill. ABC also had a lack of fall success which left them a good amount of space to fill. NBC had the most fall success, and little did we know that it was the start of their dominating primetime for the better part of the next 20 years.

OK Marcus, what are you implying? Marcus Jordan says he sent ex Larsa Pippen back to the ‘streets’ after their breakup (pagesix.com)

Earlier in the thread I thought Thanksgiving 1976 was the earliest CBS pre-emption for an NBA game. It's now moved up to Christmas 1975.

Y&R is currently broadcast in France and Belgium but I don't know of any other countries in Europe where it is currently broadcast. I know in the past it was broadcast in Germany, Italy, Switzerland. If there would ever be a Y&R DVD collection release in Europe, I'd say it would most likely be in France.

Lance/Melissa was a business arrangement marriage between the playboy prince grandson of the main winemaking family and the vixen daughter of a landowner that turned into a love/hate relationship. I don't feel there was a genuine love between them. Did Lance even have a genuine love? He started with random hookups and ended with budget mode replacement wife that was the show's new pet.

@I Am A Swede Love the Urkel GIF. That started March 1985 and continued for the rest of the run. What should have been the wake up call for Lorimar/CBS was 1985/86 Dallas losing CBS highest-rated scripted show to Murder, She Wrote.

Corrected that for you

Angela Lansbury had a presence that radiated comfort and warmth, and that's what drew viewers of all walks of life to Murder, She Wrote. Look at how much the world around us changed during Murder, She Wrote's run. We sought comfort and warmth at that time, and Murder, She Wrote gave us that. Murder, She Wrote was the perfect show for families to watch together and unwind to on a Sunday night when homework was done, dinner was done, and everything was organized for the upcoming school and work week. Murder, She Wrote was a show that I took for granted as a kid/teen, but I appreciate it so much more as an adult. I think it will live on forever in syndication, DVDs, streaming.

The first 850 episodes cover up to August 1990 if we go by the episode numbers on the YT channel.

@Soapsuds I can't believe its been 40 years since the 1984/85 season. To me it was the best and most pivotal television season of the 1980s.

RIP James Earl Jones and thank you for your contributions to the entertainment industry. I know James Earl Jones career was in many mediums but to me he will forever be King Jaffe Joffer and Mufasa.

It bears repeating, EB is carrying the show on his back. Victor is the highlight, the rest of the show is pretty much garbage time.

@I Am A Swede Love the pictures 🤣

Yes she did. I don't think anyone thought sweet unassuming yet savage Angela Lansbury would be the one to carry CBS primetime on their back through some pretty awful years from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s. It's hard to believe the 40th anniversary of the premiere of Murder, She Wrote is three weeks away. When Murder, She Wrote ended in May 1996, it was CBS's 6th longest-running primetime drama series, after Gunsmoke, Lassie, Dallas, Knots Landing, original Hawaii Five-O. Since Murder, She Wrote ended, five CBS primetime drama series have had longer runs: NCIS, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Criminal Minds, NCIS: Los Angeles, Blue Bloods.

@Khan Lets not forget that Angela Lansbury knocked big bad Larry Hagman off the throne at CBS. She will forever be savage for that.

Dead at Dynasty reject 🤣 Frank M. Benard spent a good portion of the 1980s playing characters that were way too Dynasty. Even on his one episode of Dynasty itself.

The final five seasons was way too much Paige, she practically ate the show. Daughter of his frenemy Mack and there's the ick factor that at one point Greg was believed to have been Paige's father.

The final two seasons were a complete waste of time. When the time slot is regularly lost to TGIF comedies (the two time slot losses to Family Matters had me floored), it's a sign that the time has come to end things. Larry Hagman not so big and bad anymore if he's lost the time slot twice to Urkel.

I think JR/Val last interaction was during the Dallas crossover episode involving Jock's will. Val has a book signing that JR shows up to and he tells her that he owns the publishing rights to her book.

Dallas tanked in the aftermath of Bobby car accident, went off the rails in the aftermath of Pamela disappearance, and was effectively over with Sue Ellen departure. I agree that Victoria Principal was smart to leave when she did. There are conflicting stories about Linda Gray departure. She has said for the last 35 years that her contract was up and she chose not to renew and walked away, but she might have actually been let go.

That's right, by Dallas final season they had no long-time female cast members left, yet Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy, Ken Kercheval remained right until the end.

That's because Dallas was the most male-focused of the CBS primetime soaps.