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

[kalbir]

First week of 1986/87 and we can already see that NBC made a mistake moving Miami Vice up 1 hour and CBS made a mistake moving Simon & Simon and Knots Landing up 1 hour. I don't know why NBC didn't move Miami Vice back to Friday 10 pm when they moved L.A. Law to Thursday 10 pm. At least CBS saw the error of their ways and moved Simon & Simon and Knots Landing back to Thursday 9 pm and 10 pm but the damage was already done.

 

[Soapsuds]

The problem with Knots Landing is that they premiered a week earlier than the rest with an 18.4 HH and 30 share.  Mostly everyone's premiere was the following week and the show got trampled because of it. The storylines weren't that great except for Olivia's addiction. The cliffhanger was weak too. I thought it should've ended with the discovery of Peter's body instead of him being buried by Abby.

 

[Paul Raven]

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.

[kalbir]

@Paul Raven CBS Thursday lineup of The Twilight Zone, Simon & Simon, Designing Women lasted only a month. January 1987, new drama Shell Game became the Thursday 8 pm occupant and Simon & Simon moved back to 9 pm. Designing Women was moved to Sunday 9 pm then Monday 9:30 pm. The Twilight Zone returned to Saturday, then pulled from the schedule, and burned off in the summer.

Shell Game lasted 6 episodes then CBS used Thursday 8 pm to burn off the final three episodes of The Wizard and the final four episodes of Scarecrow and Mrs. King. It was pretty clear that Thursday 8 pm was a dead zone and CBS just gave up on that slot.

Simon & Simon went from Top 10 for three consecutive seasons (1982/83 to 1984/85), to clobbered by Cheers in 1985/86, and DOA when it moved up to 8 pm in Fall 1986 where it would be head-to-head w/ The Cosby Show. It really should have ended in Spring 1987 instead of limping along in its final two seasons, relegated to shortened season with a late start in 1987/88 and another short season in 1988/89 but moved to Saturday 9 pm head-to-head w/ The Golden Girls.

Edited February 10, 2023 by kalbir

[soapfan770]

I loved Scarecrow and Mrs. King but I also recall some of Season 4’s woes were also affected by Kate Jackson’s illness at the time. The move from Mondays to Fridays had hurt the show enough (dropped from #28 to #41) but Jackson’s absence in the last 5 episodes was the final nail. The show really should have ended with the episode where Scarecrow and Amanda married earlier. 
 

@kalbirLOL I forgot Simon & Simon ran that long…too long. I vaguely recall my grandma stopped watching after Downtown was written out and said something about it when the show was being reran on A&E. 

[kalbir]

@soapfan770 If CBS wasn't in their third place mess era from Fall 1987 to Spring 1991, they wouldn't have dragged all their aging dramas as long as they did and kept a bunch of new dramas that showed no growth. Spring 1988, end of Magnum, P.I. (8 seasons), Cagney & Lacey (7 seasons), Houston Knights (2 seasons). Spring 1989, end of Simon & Simon (8 seasons) and The Equalizer (4 seasons). Spring 1990, end of Falcon Crest (9 seasons), Beauty and the Beast (3 seasons), Tour of Duty (3 seasons). Spring 1991, end of Dallas (14 seasons), Wiseguy (4 seasons), Paradise (3 seasons). The Fall 1991 survivors of the third place mess era: Knots Landing (season 13); Murder, She Wrote (season 8); Jake and the Fatman (season 5 and would end Spring 1992), Northern Exposure (season 3), The Trials of Rosie O'Neill (season 2 and would end Spring 1992).

[Paul Raven]

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. 

[soapfan770]

@Paul RavenThe PrimeTime Encyclopedia discusses this:

 

”The critics loved Designing Women, and so did its loyal audience. They howled when CBS moved the show all over the schedule following its initial ratings success on Monday nights, and then canceled it in the spring of 1987. Viewer protests (encouraged by the network’s own publicity team) prompted programmers to reconsider, and Designing Women was saved from the Nielsen axe. Once it became firmly entrenched on Monday evenings that fall, Designing Women flourished as part of a strong CBS Monday comedy lineup.”

The show would remain on Mondays until 1992, when CBS moved it along with Major Dad to build a disastrous Friday night comedy lineup (sound familiar?) with The Golden Palace and a new Bob Newhart sitcom. 

[j swift]

I noticed in an earlier post that ABC had a James Bond special, and now here they are replaying a 23 year old Bond movie on a Sunday night.  At a time when anyone could easily rent a VCR copy of the film, it astounds me how much replay ABC got out of licensing the Bond library. 

I looked it up and it turns out United Artists sold the rights to the first five Bond movies to ABC in 1971 for 14 million dollars to replay for ten years, which was a record at the time.  UA first offered the rights in 1967 for 30 million, but then On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), and the one-off return of Sean Connery in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) were relative flops in comparison to their predecessors. 

Goldfinger was the first to premiere on the ABC Sunday Night Movie.  I loved this bit of trivia about ABC having to edit the film for TV, Bond is trying to dissuade Goldfinger from using a nerve gas on Fort Knox, saying it'll kill 60,000 innocent people. Goldfinger replies “So What? American motorists kill that many people every two years” - that line was cut because the sponsor of the ‘Sunday Night Movie’ was American car manufacturer Chevrolet.

In 2001, ABC repurchased the rights in order to screen the movies in case there was a writer's strike that year, but the strike was averted, and the replays failed to attract viewers, so they sold the rights for 30 million to Viacom.

But for Gen Xers like me, we'll always cherish the baritone voice of the ABC announcer proclaiming, "Bond is back" on a Sunday night.

http://www.007magazine.co.uk/bond_on_tv.htm

https://variety.com/2002/tv/news/inside-move-abc-terminates-bond-1117864479/

Edited February 10, 2023 by j swift

[Paul Raven]

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.

[DRW50]

I remember that the show was still very well-rated in that penultimate season. I guess CBS wanted rid of it. I can't blame them, as that season was just plain bad, and a horrid use of Julia Duffy.

[kalbir]

I didn't know Designing Women was cancelled in Spring 1987 then uncancelled. Designing Women didn't finish in the Top 30 until its fourth season 1989/90 and it got it's two Top 10 finishes in 1990/91 and 1991/92, rather late in its run.

I had forgotten about CBS's 1992/93 attempt to compete w/ TGIF. The 1997/98 Block Party was an epic failure. 

The Cavanaughs had weird scheduling. Midseason replacement December 1986 to March 1987. Returned August to October 1988, pulled from the schedule, and final four episodes burned off June to July 1989.

[soapfan770]

I don’t think CBS necessarily had ill-intent I 1992, just made a major (and stupid) miscalculation/grave error in judgement in that viewers would follow en masse if they built it. They didn’t. Not to mention DW and Major Dad’s Monday night replacements flopped as well (didn’t Susan Dey get fired and recast on her own sitcom vehicle?). The only survivor of the new line-up was Picket Fences, which for some reason CBS never moved and later killed it off by moving it up an hour to directly compete with X-Files. 
 

Of course the CBS programmers didn’t learn their lesson five years later at all. 
 

 

[Paul Raven]

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.

[Wendy]

Ah, so the same thing happened here on CBS - and the same year! - that happened at NBC (with Remington Steele, thus screwing Pierce Brosnan out of playing James Bond for a few more years, and also screwing Stephanie Zimbalist out of the female lead role in Robocop!)