Classic Shows That Were Ratings-Challenged

[VirginiaHamilton]

While currently watching The Odd Couple marathon, I looked it up online and was surprised to learn that that show struggled in the ratings. I fondly remember watching and loving the reruns as a kid and figured that it aired in syndication because it was popular during its original run (before I was born, FYI) and was acclaimed.

So, for those who watched this or any other classic show that fit this description in their original runs, can you tell me why they struggled and / or eventually got cancelled and how they managed to become a beloved classic in spite of that.

Happy 2015, by the way...

[JtSmarts]

I think Leave It to Beaver was similarly challenged. I was surprised that it wasn't a highly ranked show when it aired.

[quartermainefan]

Star Trek is probably the best example of this.

[dragonflies]

I remember reading once that the first season of the Dick Van Dyke show didn't get great ratings. The ratings only started picking up after they started showing episodes over the summer I think during the day and the rest is history

[cct]

The Brady Bunch struggled to be renewed every season, but lasted for 5.

Of course Seinfeld fought an uphill battle its first few seasons. I remember thinking, "Someone should just put that show out of its misery." Then it started getting all this Emmy love; I started watching, and apparently so did the rest of America.

Cheers was 74th out of 77 in its first year on the air. It didn't become a top ten show until its fourth season.

Designing Women and Cagney and Lacey were both cancelled after their first seasons. Massive fan campaigns brought them back.

[Gray Bunny]

Party of Five, one of those considered "the best show you're not watching."

[Soaplovers]

The nanny struggled its.first season.but after.being rerun in the summers..ratings rose.

[SoapDope]

Facts Of Life was considered NBC's little show that could. When the show started in 1979 as a vehicle for Charlotte Rae as a spinoff from Different Strokes, they had a cast of 7 girls. The ratings were nothing to write home about so the show was retooled in 1980. 4 girls and 2 adults (the headmaster and teacher) were cut. Nancy McKeon was added to the cast and it stayed on the air till 1988.

[applcin]

Agreed. The road to its iconic status is pretty well-known. The show was thisclose to being cancelled after season 2 but a pair of married fans (the Trimbles) started up a letter-writing campaign, enlisting other fans, and the show got a third season, which at least garnered it enough episodes for syndication...where fans like my 6-year old self found it. It became hugely popular then, setting into motion all that we're familiar with now...the animated series, the films, the other series, the conventions, the books and magazines, etc. The Trimbles worked pretty hard at the campaign when you consider that there was no internet back then to immediately reach a huge number of fans.

As far as why it got cancelled, I think it was basically a combination of bad time slots (it got moved to Friday night in Season 3), not reaching their target audience, budget restraints, decline in story quality (partly because of those budget issues). In syndication, it was on at a time when kids, teens and families were more likely to see it and it was on every weeknight.

[BingCherry]

Everybody Loves Raymond was doing terribly its first season on Fridays; it was only when the show was moved to Mondays that the show slowly climbed in the ratings, finally entering the top 10 in its fifth season.

[Paul Raven]

Dallas had mediocre ratings until moved to Friday at 10 and paired with Dukes of Hazzard.

Hill St Blues was a ratings disaster in its first season.

[cct]

Beverly Hills 90210 wasn't exactly burning up the charts, until it began airing fresh summer episodes after the first season when everyone else aired reruns. After that, the issue-focused themes of the first season turned into the soap-opera style themes of the second season and beyond.

[Soapsuds]

Blossom

Gimmie A Break

Mostly anything that was on before Dallas timeslot on CBS.

Silver Spoons

[applcin]

Shows like The Addams Family, The Munsters and The Monkees found such popularity in syndication that, I think, sometimes people don't realize they were all on for only 2 seasons. The Monkees especially (and their popularity) became long-lived from the syndicated reruns in the 70s, followed by the resurgence (starting with MTV) in the 80s.

[Eric83]

Oh wow I thought The Munsters ran like 4 seasons lol.