Looking back...Primetime Ratings from the 80's

[Gray Bunny]

I thought Dolly had started out strong? 

 

I hope down the line you'll get the December 1988 Nielsens for the week CBS aired "A Very Brady Christmas." Apparently it was the highest rated made-for-TV movie that year, prompting CBS to bring them back as the short-lived bomb, "The Bradys." 

[BetterForgotten]

The next season will have a direct correlation to this current season - Roseanne and Murphy Brown both premiered in the 88-89 season. 

[Paul Raven]

Will definitely be posting those weeks.

Please register in order to view this content

[Soapsuds]

@Paul Raven Thanks for posting the most recent one from week 20 of 1987-1988 season. Love that Dallas was still the top soap amongst the rest. Dynasty and FC were fading fast. 

[Paul Raven]

Wk 26

We are now in mid March 88 and mid season replacements are showing up.

 

ABC debuted Wonder Years @ Tues .8.30 ,moved Growing Pains to Wed @8 and Perfect Strangers to Fri @ 8. also debuted Family Man Fri @ 9.30.

Supercarrier was slotted in Sun @8 replacing Spencer for Hire and the Sunday movie was back to fill 2 hours vacated by Dolly and Buck James. Probe was slotted Thurs @ 8.

 

CBS decided to go comedy from 8-10 Tues -- Trial & Error, My Sister Sam, Coming of Age and Frank's Place. It was a disaster and I think they were dumped after a couple of weeks.

Eisenhower & Lutz went into the Mon 8.30 slot.

 

NBC had success with In The Heat of the Night Tues @  9 challenging the slumping Moonlighting. Aaron's Way was slotted Wed @8

 

1. 28.2/43 N Cosby Show

2. 25.2/39 N Different World

3. 22.8/38 C 60 Minutes

4. 22.5/38 N Golden Girls

5. 22.3/34 A Who's the Boss?

6. 22.0/35 N Cheers

7. 21.4/32 A Wonder Years

8. 20.9/33 N Night Court

9. 20.8/31 C Murder, She Wrote

10. 19.2/30 A Growing Pains

11. 19.1/29 N ALF

12. 18.5/28 N Matlock

13. 18.1/31 N Amen

14. 18.0/29 N Inherit the Wind

15. 17.9/28 N In the Heat of the Night

16. 17.9/27 N Valerie's Family

17. 17.5/27 C Newhart

18. 16.9/26. A Head of the Class

19. 16.9/28. ABC Monday Movie

20. 16.6/29 N L.A. Law

21. 16.4/26 N Family lies

22. 16.3/25 N Aaron's Way .

23. 16.3/31 N Hunter

24. 15.4/23 A MacGyver

25. 15.4/23 N Day by Day

26. 15.3/27 C Knots Landing

27. 15.1/26 N My Two Dads Special

28. 14.7/23 A Moonlighting

29. 14.6/24 C Dallas

30. 14.4/23 N Highway to Heaven

31. 14.2/22 C Eisenhower and Lutz

32. 14.1/22 CBS Sunday Movie

33. 14.0/21 C Kate and Allie

34. 14.0/25 N Facts of Life

35. 13.7/22 A Hooperman

36. 13.7/23 N Miami Vice

37. 13.6/24 . A Dynasty

38. 13.5/21 C Jake and the Fatman

39. 13.5/24 C Equalizer

40. 13.3/22 N NBC Monday Movie

41. 13.0/20 C Eisenhower & Lutz Spec

42. 12.8/23 A Thirtysomething

43. 12.7/21 A ABC Sunday Movie

44. 12.7/20 C Simon and Simon

45. 12.5/19 A Supercarrier

46. 12.4/22 A Perfect Strangers

47. 12.1 /22 C Falcon Crest

48. 12.1/22 N Sonny Spoon Detective

49. 12.0/21 A Full House

50. 12.0/22 A 20/20

51. 11.8/21 C Cagney and Lacey

52. 11.8/21 C Beauty and the Beast

53. 11.8/18 C Snoopy's Getting Married

54. 11.7/19 A Slap Maxwell Story

55. 11.6/19 A Mr. Belvedere

56. 11.4/21 N Crime Story

57. 11.3/20 A Dolly

58. 11.1/17 C Garfield Goes Hollywood

59. 11.0/17 C Coming of Age"

60. 10.7/19 N Year in the Life

61. 10.5/18 C Tour of Duty

62. 10.4/18 N Highwayman

63. 10.2/19 A Spenser: For Hire

64. 10.1/17 C Wiseguy

65. 9.9/15 C 48 Hours

66. 9.9/16 C Frank's Place

67. 9.8/17 C High Mountain Rangers

68. 9.5/16 A Family Man*

69. 9.3/16 N Place at the Table

70. 9.2/14 A Probe

71. 8.7/15 A Disney Sunday Movie

72. 8.7/16 C West 57th

73. 8.5/14 A Ohara

74. 7.4/12 A Hotel

75. 7.3/11 C My Sister Sam

76. 6.5/11 A Buck James

77. 6.5/10 C Trial and Error

Edited November 2, 2018 by Paul Raven

[Gray Bunny]

Thanks for your continued postings @Paul Raven Us numbers nerds appreciate it. 

 

I have a very fat Primetime Television book that covers the Top 30 in primetime ratings from the golden age up until 2007, but it's always nice to see the weekly numbers, especially for the entire lineups. 

[Soaplovers]

Family ties was still in a good position...and knots landing never regained lost ground from the brief move in the 86 to 87 season to an hour earlier.

[titan1978]

It’s remarkable that Knots is doing as well as it does when you consider just how much attention L.A. Law was getting.  The actors hosted SNL, they were on all the major talk shows.  They were nominated for awards, they definently got a lot of pop culture exposure and love.

 

I was a kid but I remember just how often we saw Harry Hamlin, Susan Dey and the rest of the cast on magazine covers.  Not so much with the cast of Knots at that point.

[Wendy]

What's jarring is seeing the ratings for the shows at the bottom rung of the ladder, so to speak, and realizing they are still triple (or greater) the current numbers that constitute a "hit" on broadcast TV today!

[Soapsuds]

Dallas was at #29 with only 4 episodes left in the season. I believe the cliffhanger didn't even make the top 20. That was the first year that a Dallas cliffhanger didn't make the top 20. 

[Paul Raven]

Mid May -  Season finale of Dallas, Falcon Crest, Knots Landing

Lower ratings all round as official season is over and more repeats in the schedule.

1. 22.63 N NBC Sunday Movie 'Perry Mason'

2. 21.7/40 N Cosby Show 8-9

3. 20.3/32 A ABC Sunday Movie 'Beverly Hills Cop'

4. 20.3/35 N Cheers

5. 20.0/32 A Barbara Walters Special Wed @9

6. 19.9/33 N Night Court

7. 19.7/37 N Golden Girls

8. 19.0/29 N NBC Monday Movie 'Something Is Out There Pt2'

9. 18.5/29 A ABC Monday Movie 'The Bourne Identity Pt 2'

10. 18.3/33 A Whos the Boss?

11.17.8/31 C Knots Landing

12. 17.313 C Murder. She Wrote

13. 17.3/30 C Dallas

14. 17.2/29 A Just the Ten of Us

15. 17.2/34 C 60 Minutes

16. 16.3/27 N ALF

17. 14.8/25 N L.A. Law

18. 14.7/26 C Falcon Crest

19. 14.6/25 A Head of the Class

20. 14.4/23 N My Two Dads Special

21. 14.3/27 A Growing Pains

22. 14.3/23 A MacGyver

23. 14.2/29 N 227

24. 14.0/24 A China Beach

25. 13.8/27 N Hunter

26. 13.4/23 N Matlock 8- 10

27. 13.3/20 C Newhart

28. 13.0/23 A 20/20

29. 12.6/22 A Thirtysomething

30. 12.4/21 N St. Elsewhere

31. 12.0/20 N Day by Day

32. 11.9/21 N Aaron's Way

33. 11.8/26 N Facts of Life

34. 11.7/19 A Moonlighting

35. 11.7/20 N Crime Story

36. 11.5/18 C Designing Women

37. 11.2/18 C CBS Spec. Movie Wed 'Rocky IV'

38. 11.2/18 C Cagney and Lacey

39. 11.1/19 C CBS Tuesday Movie 'Who Gets The Friends?'

40. 10.9/16 C Eisenhower and Lutz

41. 10.9/18 N Highway to Heaven

42. 10.7/18 C Kate and Allie

43. 10.6/17 N Decision '88

44. 10.4/18 A Captain EO Backstage

45. 10.4/20 C Beauty and the Beast \

46. 10.4/16 C CBS Sunday Movie

47. 10.4/19 N Family Ties

48. 10.3/17 C Simon and Simon

49. 10.1/18 N Miami Vice

50. 9.9/20 A Spenser: For Hire

51. 9.7/17 A Koppel Report Thurs @10

52. 9.7/18 A Full House

53. 9.6/20 A Perfect Strangers

54. 9.4/18 A Disney Sunday Movie

55. 9.4/17 N NBC Friday Movie Spec 'Annie'

56. 9.3/16 A Mr. Belvedere

57. 9.1/16 C Smothers Brothers

58. 8.5/15 A I Married Dora

59. 8.4/16 C Tour of Duty

60. 8.1/14 A ABC Thursday Movie 'Uncommom Valor'

61. 7.7/ C Nest 57th

62. 7.5/16 15 C High Mountain Rangers

63. 7.3/14 C 48 Hours

64. 7.1/14 N Aaron's Way Special

65. 6.9/12 C Houston Knights

66. 6.8/13 A Ohara

67. 6.3/13 A Supercarrier Special

Edited November 6, 2018 by Paul Raven

[Gray Bunny]

Random thought: I wonder if there's a way to find out ratings for first-run syndication shows. For instance, Baywatch was a monster of a hit in the 90's that aired at all sorts of time slots on any given independent station or local affiliate throughout the USA. Same with all those first-run syndicated sitcoms of the 80's like Small Wonder, and I think Webster, Silver Spoons, and others (I could be wrong on some titles) had their last year or two ran in first-run syndication instead of a network. It'd be interested to see how those fared. 

[Paul Raven]

Will search out some syndicated ratings.

 

Next post will be the beginning of 88/89 season.

[Soapsuds]

11.17.8/31 C Knots Landing

 

13. 17.3/30 C Dallas

 

18. 14.7/26 C Falcon Crest

 

 

For some reason I thought none but especially Dallas had placed in the top 20 with their cliffhanger. But first time a Dallas cliffhanger did not rank in the top 5 and it also got beaten by KL. 

 

Dallas cliffhanger was Sue Ellen shooting JR.  Anyone recall what the KL and FC cliffhangers were? And what about Dynasty? Do you have it's cliffhanger numbers for the week before?

[Soaplovers]

 

If this is the end of 1987 to 1988.. than KL's cliffhanger was Jill Bennett forcing Val to take pill and making it look like a suicide.