Paul Raven

If only there was someone in power who had respect for the history and legacy of the show. OK -kill off David Stewart and make Ellen recurring but use the next generation to drive story. Betsy deserved another run-deal with the fallout of Steve in prison and finding new romance as well as mothering Dani. Bring back Dee as a successful businesswoman tangling with ex John Then later a ready made teen scene with Annie's quads. Maybe one or two at first with the others down the line. Plenty for Ellen to deal with and keep the Stewarts front burner.

To minimise the Spectras in the first place was bad enough but then to bring back a new generation and do the same thing is crazy!

Here's a(not quite complete) list of CBS pilots(some comedies missing) for the 86-87 season. Interesting to see what was chosen/rejected. Some rejected concepts look interesting but I'm sure there are a lot of BTS stuff that come into play eg relationships that execs want to foster, budget considerations etc Comedy Designing Women.picked up.Columbia Pictures Television. Four Southern women, two of them sisters, form an interior decorating business. Executive producers are Linda Bloodworth and Harry Thomason. Home Improvements. Scholastic Productions in association with Universal Television. A domestic comedy about a widower with three children who marries a divorcee with one child and moves to the New Jersey suburbs. Executive producer is John Matoian. Scholastic and Universal also produced Charles in Charge. Late Bloomer. Reeves Entertainment. Stars Lindsay Wagner as an actress who returns to school after 14 years to study pyschology and moves back into the home of her Brooklyn parents. The pilot will be based on this season's last episode of Kate & Allie. A Town Like Ours a.k.a. The 13th Ward. Bill D'Angelo Productions in association with Group W Productions. The son of a Chicago alderman takes on his father's job but finds his idealism challenged by a pragmatic older politician. Bill D'Angelo is executive producer. Pals. Bill D'Angelo Productions and P &G Productions in association with Group W Productions. A father returns to college and becomes roommate with his son. The Pam Dawber Project.(became My Sister Sam) picked up Warner Bros. Television. Pam Dawber, the co -star of Mork and Mindy, is a San Francisco photojournalist who opens her door to her 16 year old sister who has run away from home. Burt Metcalfe, who produced M *A *S *H, is executive producer. The Popcorn Kids .picked up for midseason MTM Enterprises. An ensemble comedy about children who work at a movie theater. The Real Thing. MTM Enterprises. An older woman strikes up a relationship with a younger man. Rita. 20th Century Fox Television. A domestic comedy starring Rita Moreno as a toy designer married to a successful businessman. They decide to have a third child after their first two reach their mid -to -late teens. Pat Nardo is the producer of a script by Alan Leicht. Squad R. Lorimar -Telepictures. About a white teenager from Beverly Hills who moves to New York City and joins an all -black basketball team at an inner city high school. Executive producers are Stuart Sheslow and Jeff Freilich. Tommy Chong Project. Blue Collar Productions in association with Embassy Television. An atypical family situation featuring an Auntie Mame type mother, a straight -A student daughter and an attorney son and his streetwise best friend. Tommy Chong, of the Cheech & Chong comedy team, developed the pilot. Chong and Howard Brown are executive producers. Dramas Adams Apple stars Sidney Walsh as Tony Adams, a female private investigator. Executive producer is Frank Abatemarco (Cagney & Lacey, Mike Hammer). Adams Apple will be filmed in New York. D.C. Cop. Stonehenge Productions in association with Paramount Television. Stars Washington actor Cotter Smith (Bobby Kennedy in Operation Prime Time's Blood Feud) as a former investigative reporter who becomes a Washington cop. Executive producer is Dick Berg (Hometown and mini -series, Space). From a pilot co- written by Berg and Grady Also stars Robert Hooks. To be filmed in Washington. Houston Knights picked up for mid season. Jay Bernstein Productions in association with Columbia Pictures Television. Stars Michael Pare, Michael Beck and Leigh Taylor Young. Pare plays a hip Chicago cop who transfers to Houston and gets partnered with a straight laced Texas police officer (Beck). Their boss is played by Young. Pilot being shot in Houston with series production there as well. Kay O'Brien, Surgeon picked up for Fall. Orion TelevisionStars Patricia Kalember (co-starred in The Equalizer pilot) as a second -year resident at New York's Bellevue hospital. She must cope with the trials of residency and a profession largely dominated by men. Bill Asher is producer, Richard Michael is director. Will be filmed in New York and Toronto. Lily. Viacom Productions. Action adventure series starring Shelley Duvall as an associate curator at a Washington museum. When when not searching for artifacts, she is a troubleshooter, searching for stolen art. Executive producers are Duvall and Andy Borowitz. Pilot written by Borowitz. Supplier is Duvall's Platypus Productions in association with Viacom Productions. Production began on March 11 with location shoots in Los Angeles, Washington, London and Acapulco. Outlaws picked up for mid season Universal Television. Stars Rod Taylor, William Lucking, Charles Napier, Richard Roundtree and Patrick Houser. Romantic west- em. Executive producer is Nicholas Corea, producer is Steve Caldwell. Shell Game picked up for mid seasonWarner Bros. Stars Margot Kidder and James Read. About a con artist couple. He, trying to escape his past, gets a job producing a local TV show solving other people's problems. She still wants to con them. Executive producer is Michelle Rappaport. Spies picked up for mid season. Lorimar -Telepictures. Executive producer is Gary Adelson. About an older, master spy (played by Tony Curtis) and his young, protege /partner. The master spy is a high living, playboy and his protege is assigned by their agency to keep an eye on him. Production begins March 24. Starting Over. Warner Bros. Stephanie Powers is a recent widow who lives in London and goes to work as an assistant for PR firm owner, Ava Gardner, and finds adventure. Producer is London -based Bill Hill, who was the English producer of the 1984 mini -series The Last Days of Pompeii. Untitled project withReevesEntertainment. Stars Matt McCoy and Leah Ayres in a romantic comedy about two people who work for a reclusive, eccentric multimillionaire and pose as wealthy socialites during his frequent absences. They manage to "do good" while acting out their charade. Executive producer is Merrill Grant along with Alan Wagner. The Wizard of Elm Street picked up for Fall 20th CentFox. Stars David Rappaport (the dwarf in the theatrical movie, "The Bride ") as a tinkering toy maker whose genius for gadgetry and illusion proves a strategic weapon for both the U.S. government and private citizens. Executive producers are Paul Radin, Michael Berk and Doug Schwartz. Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer picked up for Fall. Jay Bernstein Productions in association with Columbia Pictures Television. After a year's absence from the network's schedule, Mike Hammer is again under consideration. A new pilot is being produced with Stacey Keach returning in the title role and Lauren Hutton in the female lead. The producers are making the new Hammer more like Raymond Chandler's Phillip Marlowe character. To broaden the show's appeal, they are toning down what some critics saw as Hammer's sexist attitude. Executive producer is Jay Bernstein. New, two -hour pilot will air this spring.

CBS were hardly in the position to throw away a promising sitcom. The Cavanaughs did OK following Newhart and maybe should have been retained , at least as a back up show. My Sister Sam was moved to Saturday next season where it bombed. CBS's programming and scheduling was a mess.

I don't know what CBS were smoking when the moved Designing Women to Sun @9 in February 87. It was in it's first season and had hardly been a blockbuster. First of all it got shunted to Thurs as the lone sitcom in an odd lineup and then expected to fight off February sweeps movie/mini series on Sunday night. And the rest of the lineup-Nothing is Easy and Hard Copy were lame ducks. Here's how it went Feb 1 CBS MSW #6 Designing I hr Sun premiere #15 Hard Copy #49 NBC LBJ Early Years #19 ABC Man with Golden Gun #36 Feb 8 CBS MSW #4 DW #44 NIE #60 HC #69 NBC Two Mrs Grevilles Pt 1 #9 ABC Romancing the Stone # 13 Feb 15 CBS MSW #4 DW #50 NIE #67 HC #70 NBC Facts of Life Downunder #13 ABC Amerika Pt 1 #7 Feb 22 CBS MSW #4 90 min DW #28 HC #51 NBC Flashdance #31 ABC Amerika PT 7 #13 March 2 CBS MSW # 3 I'll Take Manhattan Pt 1 #5 NBC Dirty Dozen # 22 ABC Casanova #57 March 9 CBS MSW rpt # 5 Movie Deadly Deception # 19 NBC Abduction of Kari Swenson #12 ABC #50 So CBS basically threw away the chance to win or at least compete on Sunday nights during sweeps. Even routine TV movies would have done better. And Designing Women was not being treated well.

With just over a month to go, it doesn't look like there is any big event/story planned for the 50th. Unless it is being kept under wraps. Looks like the most we can hope for is most of the cast at the Not so Grand Phoenix for 'a shocking announcement that will change lives forever'

By November the networks had a clear picture of what changes needed to be made CBS Dumped Mike Hammer/Twilight Zone Sat 9-11 and went with movies. Mike Hammer Wed @8 replacing Together We Stand/Better Days, Moved Twilight Zone to 8pm Thurs against Cosby, Simon & Simon to 8.30 and newbie Designing Women to 9.30 and Knots back to 10. That certainly was an odd lineup. The Cavanaughs replaced Designing Women Mon @9.30. DW had been doing OK but was thrown to the wolves. Seems an odd choice by CBS to sacrifice a promising new sitcom. NBC Dropped the A Team. The move to Fri @8 saw the show in 3rd place. replaced by Stingray. Moved LA Law to Thurs @10, Crime Story to Fr @10 and Hill St Blues to Tues @9. Those changes looked like moves to push 2 new shows and let Hill St fade away against Moonlighting. Also on Sun Easy St and Valerie swapped places. Guess the felt Valerie might do a little better against MSW. ABC Sledgehammer/Sidekicks moved from Fri @9 to Sat @8 replacing Lucy/Ellen Burstyn, Gung Ho/Dads Fri @9. O'Hara replaced Heart of the City.

Ratings data from that time is hard to come by. From Jan to August 78 AW ranked #2 of all soaps with a 8.3/28 rating. GL had a 7.5/27 to rank #5 GH had a 7.2/25 to rank #6 Keep in mind this is the average for those 8 months. What was happening during those months was not only GH growing week by week but GL also gaining as the 1 hr format bedded in. By Nov 78 GL # 1 8.3/30 GH #7 7.1/25 AW #8 6.6 /22 So AW had lost almost two rating points from its average. The above figures are just a snapshot and it being Nov GL might have got a boost from a sweeps storyline. So the AW fall was due to stronger competition,from both GL and GH, weaker lead-in and AW itself failing to follow up the Sven storyline which coincided with its last big ratings.

5000th episode aired Dec 7 1970.

Wk 1 86/87 season 1. Cosby Show NBC 33.5/53 2. 'Family Ties NBC 32.1/50 3. Cheers NBC 30.0/46 4. Dallas CBS 28.5/44 2 hr premiere 5. Golden Girls NBC 25.6/45 8. Stranded NBC 24.9/38 Monday movie 7. Moonlighting ABC 24.9/38 8. 'Murder, She Wrote CBS 24.6/38 9. Raiders of the Lost Ark ABC 22.7/37 Sunday movie 10. Johnny Carson Special NBC 22.1/38 yhurs 9.30 pre-empting Night Court/Hill St Blues 11. Football, Chicago -Green Bay ABC 22.3/36 12. Who's the Boss ABC 21.8/36 13. Amen NBC 20.3/36 14. Matlock NBC 20.1/32 15. Dynasty ABC 20.1/31 16. 60 Minutes CBS 19.8/34 17. Head of the Class ABC 19.2/30 18. Sledge Hammer (Tues.) ABC 18.6/29 pre-empting Growing Pains 19. Kate & Allie CBS 17.828 20. Hunter NBC 17.5/33 21. Gimme a Break NBC 17.5/27 22. Perfect Strangers ABC 17.4/29 23. Miami Vice NBC 17.4/28 24. Together We Stand CBS 17.1/26 pre-empting My Sister Sam (after Kate & Allie) 25. Doing Life NBC 18.8/27 Tues movie special 28. 'Highway to Heaven. NBC 16.7/27 27. Scarecrow & Mrs. King CBS 18.6/30 28. The Colbys Wed. ABC 16.6/28 pre-empting Hotel 29. St. Elsewhere NBC 15.7/27 30. Facts of Life NBC 15.6/30 31. ALF NBC 15.6/24 32. Amazing Stories NBC 15.6/23 33. Under the Influence CBS 15.4/24 Sun movie 34. MacGyver ABC 15.4/24 35. Valerie NBC 15.4/23 36. Jack & Mike ABC 15.3/26 37. Football, NFL game (Sun.) NBC 15.2/29 38. Knots Landing CBS 14.8/23 39. Easy Street NBC 14.6/23 40. Intimate Encounters NBC 14.2/23 Sunday movie 41. Our House NBC 141/24 42. A Team NBC 13.6/24 43. Crime Story NBC 13.3/23 Fri @10 preview pre-empting LA Law 44. '20/20 ABC 13.2/22 45. Kay O'Brien, Surgeon CBS 13.1/22 48. Firefighter CBS 12.6/20 Tues Movie 47. Courage CBS 12.5/20 3 hr Wed movie 48. Mike Hammer CBS 12.1/21 49 Hero in the Family ABC 12.0/20 Disney Sunday movie 50 Downtown CBS 11.9/23 51 Sidekicks ABC 11.821 52 'Webster ABC 11.7/22 53 Simon & Simon CBS 11.3/18 54 Spenser: For Hire ABC 10.8/20 55 Twilight Zone CBS 10.6/20 56 The Colbys ABC 10.2/16 57 Life with Lucy ABC 10.1/20 58 George Washington II, part 2 9.8/15 Monday 9-11 59 CBS 'Sledge Hammer ABC 9.6/16 60 The Wizard CBS 9.3/15 61 Ellen Burstyn Show 8.9/16 62 ABC Starman ABC 8.7/15 63 'Mr. Belvedere ABC 8.3/13 64 Heart of the City ABC 6.2/11 65 Our World ABC 6.0/9

Chandler Hill Harben/Ann McCarthy - Ben/Bambi LOL Max/Samantha TX Irene Dailey/Maeve McGuire - Pamela/Nicole Liz/Elena AW

86-87 Season Sun CBS dominates with 60 Min,MSW and Sunday Movie all Top 15. NBC were competitive with their movie but sitcoms against MSW flopped. Mon Kate & Allie moved up to 8pm strong against Alf and MacGyver and My Sister Sam is #22 Newhart at 9 beats NBC Movie and Football but Designing Women/Cagney and Lacey stop the CBs winning streak. The Cavanaughs is given a try at 9.30 mid season. Tues ABC with Boss/Pains and now Moonlighting all Top 10 but Jack & Mike at 10 fails to break through. NBC recovers from A Team failing with Matlock but Crime Story/1986 don't benefit. CBS have more 8pm flops with The Wizard and Spies Wed ABC loses its grip on Wed with Dynasty dropping to 25th. NBC wins 8pm with Highway to Heaven, although it drops out of Top 20. Thurs NBC sitcoms in Top 10 but Hill St Blues on its last legs even w/o Knots Landing competition. NBC moves LA Law there and Knots moves back to 10 and they fight for dominance. Apart from Knots the rest of CBS Thurs in a mess. ABC perseveres with The Colbys but it fails to gain traction. Fri CBS Dallas out of Top 10 but NBC's ploy of moving Miami Vice against it fails. Falcon Crest OK at #23 once LA Law is moved to Thurs. At 8pm 2 shifted shows - Scarecrow & Mrs King and A Team have their final seasons. Sat NBC wins all timeslots. Lucy flops for ABC and nothing else makes an impression. Out of Top 20 Miami Vice Dynasty Highway to Heaven Knots Landing You Again? In Moonlighting Matlock NBC Monday Movie Amen NBC Sunday Movie 1 The Cosby Show 2 Family Ties 3 Cheers 4 Murder, She Wrote 5 The Golden Girls 6 60 Minutes 7 Night Court 8 Growing Pains 9 Moonlighting 10 Who's The Boss? 11 Dallas 12 Newhart 13 Amen 14 227 15 (Tie) Matlock 15 (Tie) CBS Sunday Night Movie 15 (Tie) NBC Monday Night Movie 16 NFL Monday Night Football 17 Kate & Allie 18 NBC Sunday Night Movie

Tracey gets a 40th anniversary episode and apart from that is on once.

The 90 min format was an albatross to the show, and I'm sure there were few writers who wanted to take it on, not only because of the workload but also the difficulty in juggling characters/stories in that format. Although looking at Marland's work on ATWT there were so many characters and stories,I'm sure it could have worked at 90 mins. When the show went back to an hour, there was still the possibility of getting it back into shape and there were efforts made with the return of Alice and Marianne but the casting was wrong. They should have doubled down on the Matthews, bring in Ricky to live with Liz. I thought the show was quite strong when Sandy was introduced (was that L Virginia Browne?)but Corinne Jacker blew that to pieces.

Had The Tortellis stayed following Cheers it would obviously have done better but viewers lost interest once it moved. Timeslot hit. Over the years there have been a number of sitcoms that launched big behind a hit but flopped in their intended timeslot.

Wishing Eric Braeden all the best but limited appearances by Victor is perfectly fine by me, especially with the way the character is written.

B&B was popular overseas because viewers could be there from the start and the 30 min format worked for scheduling. That's why Sunset Beach also did OK in some markets b/c it was new. Expecting a viewer to jump into Days or Y&R after decades is a much tougher ask. In terms of soaps dying the Big # UK soaps are all experiencing their lowest ratings. Of course all shows are dropping but Corrie no longer dominates the Top 10 as it did a decade ago. But they still have plenty of life as they cheaply fill many hours of primetime and are rating OK.

This would have to be brilliant to live up to expectations. And it's not going to be. Cleese's 'anti-woke' and 'cancelled' comments have set him up to fail.

David Selby/Morgan Fairchild - Michael/Constance Flamingo Rd Richard/Jordan Falcon Crest Quinn Redeker/Patty Weaver - Alex/Trish DOOL Rex/Gina Y&R

North & South was a biggie for ABC in Nov 85 All episodes in the Top 10. ABC won the week. Part 1 Sun #4 25.6/37 Part 2 #8 Tues 23.6/34 Part 3 #4 Wed 28.0/42 Part 4 #7 Thurs 26.6/38 Part 5 #10 Sat 23.2/37 Part 6 #2 Sun 29.4/42 It won every time period except the final hour of Part 2 which lost to the Lucille Ball movie Stone Pillow on CBS. The Tues and Wed eps played in time periods ABC was already strong in but on Thurs it beat Cheers, Night Court and Hill St Blues and Sat Golden Girls,227 and Hunter Oddly they skipped Fri night giving Dallas and Falcon Crest a free run.

Lucy had success with her first TV movie 'Stone Pillow', in Nov 85 playing a bag lady. It ranked #9 for the week up against North & South Part 2 which was #8. So the public was interested in seeing Lucy in a different type of role. The Golden Girls made Lucy look even more out of date. Instead of doing the same thing again, she should have tried a different format. Imagine her as a snoopy older woman, maybe with a police officer son/daughter stumbling into crimes.There would be room for some Lucy shtick as she goes undercover/ gets herself in over her head but tailored for her age and showing off some of the dramatic chops she honed in the 30's and 40's.

Couldn't imagine Nancy Hughes having that conversation with Ellen Stewart 10 years earlier. But in the 80's it was decided everyone had to be rich or striving to be and big business offices replaced the kitchen, living room and hospital.

The Dobsons to take over AW in January 1983? Santa Barbara wasn't even on the air . Monty became GH exec producer in Jan 78 Jacquie Babbin became AMC producer in 82 4 years later Jean Arley joined OLTL in 1983 5 years later ABC and CBS were holding their own at this point. GH kept climbing and ABC eventually held the Top 3 positions but CBS were competitive. NBC was badly affected.

Thanks for sharing. Odd to see B&B's Saul as an action hero! I wonder if those sort of scenes were all staged in the studio?

Re Fresno After a solid start on Sunday #13 following MSW #5 , it was downhill for the rest of the week. Part 2 Mon #36 15.2/22 beaten by NBC Family Ties special # 8 24.5/36 and Alf #13 21.5/31 Part 3 Tues # 50 12.8/19 beaten by ABC Who's The Boss #12 21.7/33 and Growing Pains #11 22.2/33 Part 4 Wed # 52 12.5/24 beaten by NBC Highway to Heaven # 41 14.5/22 and ABC Head of the Class #47 13.5/21 Part 5 # 51 12.6/18 beaten by Cosby #1 34.7/50 and Family Ties #2 32.0/46 Not sure what CBS expectations were. Running an hour a night at 8pm was not the traditional format for a mini series but I guess as it was unique in content and scheduling.