Jump to content

Ratings from the 80's


Paul Raven

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 2.2k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

  • Members

Will add more if you like from what I can locate

This is Nov 85.

The four numbers represent 1.Show 2. rating 3. share 4.coverage 5.number of markets

So as you can see, something like Fight Back, a consumer rights show, ranks 9th but is only shown in 27 markets. 

This is before the boom in talk shows.I'll try and find something from later in the decade when Oprah, Sally, Geraldo etc take hold.

1.Wheel of Fortune 18.5 32 99.1 192

2. Jeopardy 11.2 24 94.5 169

3. M'A'S'H . . 9.2 20 91.6 165

4. New Newlywed Game 8.9 19 90.7 156

5. PM Magazine 8.8 15 56.0 53

6. Southwest Conference Football 8.7 28 7.5 20

7. Three's Company 8.6 19 85.9 154

8. Entertainment Tonight 8.4 17 89.9 141

9. Fight Back 8.0 17 34.3 27

10. People's Court 7.8 20 94.1 162

11. Price is Right 7.8 15 67.0 112

12. Honeymooners Season 7.5 14 25.2 36

13. Small Wonder 7.4 15 67.6 60

14. Diff'rent Strokes 7.3 16 84.0 126

15. Hee Haw 7.2 18 79.8 170

16. Barbara Mandrell 7.1 19 1.4 6

17. Benson 7.0 15 71.6 108

18. Serendipity Singers 7.0 27 1.4 5

19. Too Close for Comfort 6.9 14 74.0 85

20. Country Comes Alive 6.8 12 2.0 5

21. Gimme a Break 6.6 13 48.4 55

22. Jeffersons 6.5 15 76.1 118

23. Fame 6.3 13 89.7 141

24. ACC Football 6.2 24 10.3 17

25. Phil Donahue Show 6.2 28 97.5 178

26. Sale of the Century 6.2 16 20.9 13

27. $100,000 Pyramid 6.2 11 34.5 42

28. Forrest Gregg 6.0 18 2.0 6

29. Archie Bunkers Place 5.7 11 19.9 13

30. What's Happening 5.6 13 44.1 37

31. WKRP in Cincinnati 5.6 14 66.2 119

32. Barney Miller 5.4 14 66.8 99

33. Big Ten Football 5.2 18 18.1 25

34. Smurf-Magic Flute 5.2 8 5.3 6

35. Taxi 5.2 12 56.8 83

36. What's Happening Now 5.1 11 74.1 82

37. Agronski and Company 5.0 14 6.6 6

38. Dance Fever 5.0 12 79.7 104

39. Hour Magazine 4.9 21 78.4 114

40. SFM Holiday Entertainment 4.9 13 17.9 28

41. Star Search 4.9 12 90.7 159

42. Happy Days 4.8 14 51.4 94

Lower in the rankings 

Hour Magazine 4.9 21 74 110

Comedy Break with Mack and Jamie 1.7 6 48.1 40

Comedy Tonight 1.0 6 59.7 71

Dick Clark Nitetime 2.3 10 72.8 83

Dallas 3.4 10 51.7 92

Dynasty 3.4 10 48.7 47 

Knots Landing 3.3 10 12.5 20 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 Show/Number of markets/rating/share/ coverage as %

November 86

1. Wheel of Fortune 199 19.3 33 99.6

2. Jeopardy 189 12.3 26 98.4

3. PM Magazine 45 9.7 18 36.6

4. New Newlywed Game 181 8.9 17 96.5

5. M`A`S`H 159 8.7 19 90.6 #1 in late night in 65 markets

6. People's Court 181 8.2 21 95.3

7. Three's Company 143 7.9 18 84.7

8. Oprah Winfrey Show 131 7.7 31 89.3 #1 daytime talk show

9. Southwest Conference Football ... . 19 7.7 25 7.4

10. Phil Donahue Show 181 7.6 29 97.9

11. National Geographic 47 7.6 15 27.4

12. Entertainment Tonight 140 7.5 15 87.6

13. Best of National Geographic 59 7.5 14 44.7

14. Hollywood Squares 134 7.2 17 86.1

15. ACC Football 18 7.1 24 10.0

16. Hee Haw 165 7.1 18 77.8

17. Big Spin 9 6.9 12 10.7

18. Card Sharks 35 6.6 16 35.0

19. Facts of Life 104 6.5 13 76.4 #1 off network sitcom new to syndication

20. Magnum PI 116 6.4 16 77.5 #1 off network drama

21. Gimme a Break 103 6.2 13 81.0

22. Small Wonder 111 6.2 13 82.7 #1 first run sitcom

23. Benson 108 6.0 13 71.0

24. Diff'rent Strokes 127 6.0 14 83.2

25. Divorce Court 137 5.9 18 85.7

26. Jeffersons 96 5.6 13 63.7

27. God's Good News 5 5.4 17 2.2

28. Silver Spoons 29 5.4 11 29.4

29. Ellery Queen 6 5.3 14 9.1

30. $100,000 Pyramid 40 5.2 11 40.4

31. Too Close for Comfort 84 5.2 11 55.5

32. Fight Back 27 5.1 13 38.6

33. Dating Game 142 5.1 15 84.1

34. 9 to 5 63 5.0 10 60.9

35. Hour Magazine 126 4.8 18 82.1

36. WKRP in Cincinnati 102 4.8 12 63.2

37. Barney Miller 92 4.7 14 56.4

38. Mama's Family 138 4.6 10 85.2

39. Superior Court 109 4.6 15 73

40. Throb 133 4.6 9 88.4

And...

Superior Court  109 markets 4.6/15 

The Judge 67 markets 3.9/15

Siskel and Ebert 138 markets 2.6/10

At the Movies 88 markets 2.0/7

Cross Wits 29 markets 2.1/9

Strike It Rich 57 markets 1.8/8

Nightlife w/ David Brenner 96 markets 1.9/11

First run sitcoms 

What's Happening Now 85 markets 4.2/10

Ted Knight Show 98 markets 4.1/9

It's a Living 138 markets 3.9/9

What A Country 85 markets 3.8/8

That's My Mama 12 markets 3.6/8

One Big Family 135 markets 3.4/7

Gidget 113 markets 2.6/7

Check It Out 86 markets 1.7/6

New to syndication 60 min

Fall Guy 67 markets 3.1/8

Falcon Crest 110 markets 1.1/5

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Fascinating to me that the Tom Kennedy Price Is Right was deemed a flop, but had excellent ratings considering only having 67% coverage. I feel like, with a good push to individual markets, it really could have taken off as a strong competitor to the WOF/J! juggernaut.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Problem for nighttime TPIR was that most affiliates aired it against Wheel or J!, expecting it to vie for the top of the rankings and knock Wheel and/or J! off its perch, which it didn't come close. Subsequently, most affiliates banished it after the new year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Yeah, and again, a 7.8 with only 67% coverage is EXCELLENT numbers. Tom Kennedy did a great job hosting this version and giving it something of a unique energy vs. Barker's show, and I think if there had been more of a push with individual affiliates to air this version against WOF/J!, or possibly expand it to an hour to combat the pair, it might have lasted longer, so I don't know why affiliates would be dropping it if it was doing this well.

I suppose we'd have to take a look at the numbers a little earlier into 1986 to see how well it was holding up as the months wore on, but these numbers did genuinely surprise me, considering how the 1985-86 Syndicated PIR is generally viewed as a flop by all accounts.

 

Edited by beebs
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

May 87 Syndicated Ratings Rating/share/number of markets/percentage of the country

1. Wheel of Fortune 18.9 34 199 99.6

2. Jeopardy 11.3 27 187 98.1

3. Oprah Winfrey Show 9.3 34 154 93.6

4. PM Magazine 8.5 17 39 31.1

5. M *A *S *H 7.7 19 164 91.8

6. Peoples Court 7.1 21 185 96.7

7. Phil Donahue Show 6.9 28 182 97.5

8. New Newlywed Game 6.6 15 178 97.2

9. Ent. Tonight 6.5 15 142 87.8

9. Three's Company 6.5 16 146 87.1

11. Big Spin 6.4 14 10 10.8

11. Hollywood Squares 6.4 16 142 85.6

13. Card Sharks 6.1 15 29 21.3

14. Facts of Life 5.4 13 109 79.4

15. Magnum, P.I. 5.3 15 119 77.6

16. Benson 4.9 13 102 60.6

16. Diff'rent Strokes 4.9 13 123 77.2

16. Jeffersons 4.9 13 102 66.1

19. Hee Haw 4.8 16 172 82.8

20. Divorce Court 4.7 16 138 85.8

20. Fight Back 4.7 15 29 36.5

20. Gimme a Break 4.7 11 97 75.9

23. Barney Miller 4.5 13 89 56.3

23. Judge 4.5 17 73 63.2

23. Superior Court 4.5 16 107 71.9

23. Too Close- Comfort 4.5 10 80 66.6

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Black women in particular loved Oprah from the start, because she was like their best girlfriend, showing up every afternoon with some "real talk" about themselves and their men.  Not that they didn't love Phil Donahue, but Oprah just felt more "real" to them, for lack of a better word.  She seemed to be going through the same [!@#$%^&*] they were going through themselves, right down to the issues with weight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • A full 1973 episode that looks fantastic in color.
    • It 's obviously cheaper to go the true crime route. Having different reporters and production teams covering a variety of topics costs more. The networks are delivering budget programming these days.
    • Maybe because 60 Minutes has kept the same formula for almost 57 years? Usually, there is more than one interview/topic discussed, like a real magazine. Dateline, 20/20, and so many others have all fallen to the one-subject formula: True crime. I mean, I'm a Forensic Files junkie and loved original America's Most Wanted back in the day, but even I think the TV market has been over-saturated with all crime, all the time. There was still that element when these shows began, but they were a segment of an episode, not the entire episode. Maybe the audience is just getting bored with such a fixed formula. If stories were intermixed with crime, some feel-good segment, and maybe something to do with lifestyle/music/and yes, as much as I have come to hate it, political issues, maybe these shows could rally. As they are - again, minus 60 Minutes - they have become tired and predictable.
    • Interesting tidbit- Robert Newman (Josh) dated Jennifer Cooke (Morgan) when they first started on Guidling Light (it was reported in the press and I think they talked about it in interviews). I did see (as a young kid) Rita having a flashback about Roger's rape of her --and it was confusing as a kid because she was on the floor leaning against her bed and she looked like she was seduced by force and her dress was in disarray, her hair was mussed, make up was a bit messy, but she looked at him with fear, disgust and confusion but the camera was in soft focus (so I get why people may say it was romanticized)--and I remember asking what happened to her and told well she is having nightmares/flashbacks of Roger not being nice to her 
    •   Like I said I wasn’t talking about characterization. It makes sense that Dani is in denial. However literally no one in the real world would accuse someone of faking a pregnancy. Why? Because it’s just not feasible. What is Dani supposed to expect from Hayley—that she’ll be hiding a pillow under her shirt 24/7? Come on. The accusation has no legs, and that’s exactly why nobody would ever go there. A far more plausible accusation—one that actually has been made for centuries—is that someone might lie about who the father is. Dani only vaguely hinted at that, but at least that angle would make some narrative sense. I’d go for a coworking space that would be home to these small businesses like Kat and Chelsea’s bag startup (the whole police station trope feels like copaganda to me)
    • I guess RTPP looked worse because it followed Another World, but it's a shame they didn't give it more time especially considering how the shows that were put on following it fared.
    • Please register in order to view this content

    • Durkin was awful. The writing did her no favors, but she was all wrong for the part, lacking the mix of mystery, steeliness, sorrow and hesitancy that defined Victoria. I still have the awful memory of Adam lugging her around like a rag doll. She looked much more like one of the Blue Whale dancing extras than Victoria. And her voice... Maybe I am too harsh. With that said, Curtis didn't seem as bothered. I see from a fan review mentioning Barnabas & Company that Durkin was asked to return for Victoria's final episodes and declined as she had a Christmas trip to Europe with her husband planned and wasn't interested in just a few appearances.  I refuse to believe Victoria actually died during the Leviathan storyline. If Barnabas and Angelique could come back 8 times, she could come back a few.
    • It's a shame she only appeared in three episodes for the purpose of being written out - I thought she was quite good in the little we saw. I liked her vibe better than Durkin that never seemed to quite capture Victoria as a character.
    • He did a lot of romance novel covers, so that might've just been enough for them to get their panties in a twist.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy