Ratings from the 70's

[Paul Raven]

Re Somerset. 

NBC/P&G must have had Lovers & Friends in the works for sometime so it was probably a foregone conclusion that Somerset would be facing the chop months before the official announcement. And after years of low ratings there was no surprise.

 

[Manny]

Oh wow! I would have never guessed

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Thanks a lot, Jason, for providing these!!

[JAS0N47]

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 12/6/76-12/10/76 & 12/13/76-12/17/76:

 

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FAST WEEKLY WEEK OF 12/20/76-12/24/76 NOT AVAILABLE

(Note: Per newspaper listings, there were no scheduled preemptions and all daytime shows were scheduled to air every day this week).

COMING LATER THIS YEAR (HOPEFULLY!): 12/27/76-3/18/77  (For now, join us in the 1990's ratings as the remainder of 1994 and 1995 are posted).

 

[YRfan23]

Amazing Work!!! We can't thank you enough for all of this!   

[kalbir]

From this thread, it turns out that Thanksgiving 1976 is the earliest CBS pre-emption for an NBA game.

It's funny that Thanksgiving 1976 CBS broadcast both NBA and NFL, as sports fans today associate Thanksgiving w/ NFL and Christmas w/ NBA.

[JAS0N47]

FROM THE VAULT: NON-SOAP DAYTIME RATINGS: HIGHLIGHTS FROM FEBRUARY 1976 & MAY 1976:

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[JAS0N47]

FROM THE VAULT: NON-SOAP DAYTIME RATINGS: HIGHLIGHTS FROM AUGUST 1976 & NOVEMBER 1976:

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[Paul Raven]

Thanks @JAS0N47 for the non soap ratings. interesting to get a complete picture of daytime and shows that outrated the soaps.

Happy Days going through the roof in August due to kids on vacation. Sitcom reruns always did better over Summer.

[JAS0N47]

FROM THE VAULT: NON-SOAP DAYTIME RATINGS: HIGHLIGHTS FROM FEBRUARY 1977 & MAY 1977:  (February 1977 not yet available)

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[beebs]

So I finally got the chance to input the data for 1976. The 1975-76 season + summer that we have at this moment give some interesting data:

 

1975-76 (Jan-Sep 1976 only)
1.	ATWT	9.5
2.	Y&R	9.0
3.	AW	8.9
4.	SFT	8.4
4.	GL	8.4
6.	AMC	8.0
7.	DAYS	7.8
8.	LOL	6.9
9.	DOC	6.8
10.	GH	6.6
10.	OLTL	6.6
12.	EON	6.5
13.	RH	6.3
14.	SOM	5.3

 

CBS putting on an extremely solid showing, with four of the Top 5 soaps. LOL managing to be competitive through the first half of the year. The summer really ruined their momentum (they managed to tie for 6th with DAYS during May Sweeps and the early part of the year had them averaging 7.8 before things went south in the late spring). It seems that after DePriest left to write The Doctors in December 1975, LOL was written by a Paul & Margaret Schneider. They lasted til January 1977 when Gabrielle Upton took over writing duties. While DePriest built on Labine & Meyer's writing and helped solidify LOL in the ratings, the Schneiders managed to tank the show halfway through the year, which it appears they never recovered from, despite claims that Jean Holloway was the main culprit.

ABC really struggling this year, with even AMC getting some questionable numbers many weeks in the spring. EON's early success being bogged down by the state GH and OLTL were in at the time, OLTL only beginning to really recover once being moved ahead of GH during the 45min experiment (which definitely had far better effects on OLTL than on GH, though both shows benefitted). ABC's main bright spot was in RH, which rather suddenly becomes a major hit in the Summer 1976, after months of fighting Somerset for dead last. It's really a shame RH never was able to maintain their audience from this era, considering their rather rousing success early on. The constant recasts and Labine/Meyer selling the show to ABC/losing creative control can't have helped matters, of course.

NBC still rather steady, though DAYS is absolutely showing weakness at this point. The Mike Horton reveal probably was done at exactly the right time, but I feel like, just based on what I've read, that Doug & Julie having to fight Doug's ex- Kim before marrying was just one obstacle too far, and it feels just a bit too dragged out. I think if they'd married in 1975 or early 1976, it might have resulted in somewhat higher ratings, but also Kim doesn't feel like a formidable obstacle for them the way that Brenda Benet's Lee does in later years. Imagine if Lee were Doug's ex- instead of Kim?

Elsewhere, the Doctors seems to be holding its own, though Margaret DePriest really doesn't seem to move the needle upward for them, but I'll give her credit for keeping things steady post-Pollocks, though having been an actress on the show previously, I'm sure that was a show she understood relatively well. 

HUGE numbers for SFT steadily through the season. It's surprising to know that the show would be cancelled just a few years later, especially after being a top-rated show for so long. Does anyone remember when Jennifer shot Eunice? I'd be curious to know how the show did that week (apologies if it was already asked and answered).

 

Edited June 28, 2024 by beebs

[beebs]

Thanks again to @JAS0N47 for putting these together and tracking the data down. This is so cool to see the real world data for this period! Your work is incredible, and we really appreciate it!

[JAS0N47]

You're welcome!  Glad people are enjoying them!!

[JAS0N47]

FROM THE VAULT: NON-SOAP DAYTIME RATINGS: HIGHLIGHTS FROM AUGUST 1977 & NOVEMBER 1977:

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[Paul Raven]

Chico & The Man reruns were scheduled in May 77 after Lovers & Friends was taken off after 65 episodes.

Up against SFT and RH.

Here's Lucy went off the air in Nov 77 when GL expanded to an hour displacing Match Game which moved to the morning following TPIR whichin turn  moved up half an hour to displace Lucy at 10am.

That was the first time that Lucy reruns hadn't aired on CBS mornings since 1959. The end of an era.

Family Feud was up against Love of Life and Knockout at 11.30 am.

Gong Show was at 4pm opposite EON and Tattletales but NBC would move it to 12.30 replacing Chico in December.

[JAS0N47]

I have checked the 20 dates missing from the 1977 fast weekly weeks in newspaper archives and found these scheduled preemptions. These notes have been added to these weeks:

FAST WEEKLY WEEK OF 4/18/77-4/22/77 

(Note: Per newspaper listings, there were several scheduled preemptions this week. On CBS, "Magazine" preempted "Double Dare" and "The Price Is Right 1" on 4/21/77 from 10-11AM.  A President Carter News Conference on 4/22/77 was scheduled to preempt "Double Dare" on CBS and "Sanford and Son" on NBC from 10-1030AM. All other daytime shows were scheduled to air every day this week).

FAST WEEKLY WEEK OF 6/20/77-6/24/77

(Note: Per newspaper listings, there were no scheduled preemptions and all daytime shows were scheduled to air every day this week).

FAST WEEKLY WEEK OF 8/22/77-8/26/77 

(Note: Per newspaper listings, there were several scheduled preemptions: On 8/23/77, a President Carter News Conference from 230-3PM was scheduled to preempt "Guiding Light" on CBS, "The Doctors" on NBC and the first 30 minutes of "One Life to Live" on ABC. All other daytime shows were scheduled to air every day this week).

FAST WEEKLY WEEK OF 12/19/77-12/23/77 

(Note: Per newspaper listings, there were no scheduled preemptions and all daytime shows were scheduled to air every day this week).

From my research, I only have CBS daytime airing Lucy-related shows during these time frames:

I Love Lucy 1/5/59-9/23/66
The Lucy Show 9/9/68-9/1/72
Here's Lucy 5/2/77-11/4/77

So, no Lucy-related shows on CBS daytime from 9/26/66-9/6/68 and 9/4/72-4/29/77.