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

[kalbir]

40 years ago tonight (February 8, 1985) CBS broadcast The Dukes of Hazzard series finale. For the rest of the season CBS filled Friday 8 pm with specials, movies, and a 6 episode series Detective in the House. Friday 8 pm became a CBS dead zone for the remainder of the decade.

[Soapsuds]

I wonder how it ranked for the week. I know Dallas had a 25.0 rating and 38 share.

The ratings site where I would get the ratings was taken down.

Just checked the post you quoted of mine, and Dukes ranked #49 for the week before its finale.

Edited February 9 by Soapsuds

[soapfan770]

I’d say the Fri 8PM slot had became a dead zone for CBS a few years earlier when Bo & Luke left

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Even when they returned the show didn’t gain anything back. And then became a dead zone a lot longer than just 1990. Seems to me CBS tried throwing everything into that hour and nothing stuck until the era of Kids Say the Darndest Things and Candid Camera in the late ‘90’s.

I do think recall watching Scarecrow & Mrs King on Friday nights before Dallas. It ranked #41 that season but I do think it may have lasted another season in that slot had Kate Jackson’s health and absence took a toll.

Friday night at 8ET/7CT seems like a notorious bad spot for dramas. Obviously ABC had more or less success from the mid-80s to early ‘00’s with sitcoms. But NBC had trouble as well with Knight Rider dying a miserable death in the slot despite Miami Vice being on fire…they wouldn’t have something stable until Unsolved Mysteries and later Providence were in the spot. Fox finally gave up at some point.
 

 

 

[kalbir]

@soapfan770 CBS Friday 8 pm from 1985/86 to 1989/90.

1985/86: The Twilight Zone, Charlie & Co (8-8:30 pm).

1986/87: Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Together We Stand (8-8:30 pm), specials

1987/88 and 1988/89: Beauty and the Beast

1989/90: Snoops, Max Monroe: Loose Cannon, The Bradys, specials, Small Talk (8-8:30 pm)

Nothing really worked except for Beauty and the Beast.

Edited February 9 by kalbir

[soapfan770]

Both Glitter and Finders of Lost Love have got to be the worst…did anyone ask for them???

Some earlier Fantasy Island episodes I’ve watched years later in reruns held my interest but The Love Boat was basically a “Battle of the Network Stars” on a weekly basis.

Thanks!

Without a doubt as you’ve mentioned before I see why 89-90 was the nadir of this particular CBS mess era…I forgot the Brady’s aired on CBS and that was pretty awkward I.e. Bobby Brady being paralyzed following a race car crash in the initial “Brady 500” movie or whatever it was called. 

[Paul Raven]

Dukes finished #30 in 82/83 but CBS persisted.

And the opposition failed to exploit that weakness.

In 83/84 ABC had middling success with Webster but NBC had bombs like Mr Smith, Jennifer Slept Here, The Master and Legmen

84/85 CBS finally gave up on Dukes but Detective in the House didn't score . Meanwhile Dallas was still #2. Webster was winning the time slot but was no world beater and NBC failed again with V and Codename Foxfire.

85/86 CBS tried Twilight Zone and then Charlie &Co/Leo & Liz, NBC Knight Rider,Misfits of Science and Riptide. ABC weren't benefitting as Webster/Mr Belvedere dropped also.

Looked like viewers were not bothering to tune in Fri @8.

Nothing worked there until Full House in 89.

 

[Soapsuds]

The only replacement I liked was Scarecrow and Mrs. King. The rest were horrible.

[Khan]

Ugh, "Glitter," lol.  Even their opening credits - which, as of this morning, are still going - were the worst.

The sitcom fiend in me remembers too well watching "Webster" on Friday nights.

[kalbir]

Maybe the data from that site could be found on archive.org

I forgot about The Dukes of Hazzard 1982/83 ratings drop because of the cast switch. Even with the returns the ratings didn't rebound.

Also Hotel, which was The Love Boat on land but a little soapier.

Even though we disproved this, I still maintain that Hotel was a time slot hit and I don't believe that 1983/84 Hotel was a better show than Knots Landing.

1989/90 was probably the worst primetime season of the 1980s.

As for CBS, it was the nadir of their third place primetime mess era yet that same season CBS was killing it in daytime with all four soaps hitting their stride plus the game show block.

The launch of TGIF, which became a 1990s staple.

Pre-TGIF ABC Friday sitcoms I remember watching were Webster, Mr. Belvedere, Perfect Strangers.

[Soapsuds]

@kalbir

I wish I had saved the ratings data to my computer.

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[DRW50]

That's well put. Early LA Law was very good at having serious material and then some splashes of crazy comedy.

HSB and St. E had also been on for a number of years and had seen their best days. The first half of St. Elsewhere's 85-86 was a huge slog (I am not talking about ratings, I don't know what those were, just quality) until they miraculously turned things around in the back half. Season 5 is also a huge mess and often moves too far into needlessly mean and "quirky" humor (which would also happen to LA Law later on). The show against all odds managed a renewal after season 5 - what were the ratings at that point and in the last season? Was NBC running low on shows? I'm grateful they got one last season, as the season 5 finale is one of the worst of all time for any show, but I'm still surprised they did.

As for Dynasty, I think beyond just being tired of pretty people and silly problems, the show was just hollow by that time. There used to be a long comment on a TV website about why the show began to fail and how as the years passed, the Pollocks didn't even want the cast to move during scenes. And it truly does feel like studied lifelessness with each passing year.

[kalbir]

The A-Team, Miami Vice, and L.A. Law I'd say were NBC's biggest hit dramas of the 1980s. The A-Team peaked 1983/84 at 4th. Miami Vice peaked 1985/86 at 9th. L.A. Law peaked 1987/88 at 12th.

Hill St. Blues and St. Elsewhere I'd say were NBC's most critically acclaimed dramas of the 1980s. Hill St. Blues peaked 1982/83 at 21st. St. Elsewhere never got a Top 30 finish in its 6 season run.

St. Elsewhere scheduling history

1982/83: Tuesday 10 pm. CBS Tuesday movie, ABC Hart to Hart.

1983/84 and 1984/85: Wednesday 10 pm. CBS Wednesday movie, ABC Hotel.

1985/86 and 1986/87: Wednesday 10 pm. CBS The Equalizer, ABC Hotel.

1987/88: Wednesday 10 pm. CBS The Equalizer, ABC Dynasty.

Perhaps the lack of Top 30 finishes could be explained by being head-to-head with the Aaron Spelling hit factory.

[Paul Raven]

St Elsewhere survived due to critical acclaim, upscale demos, steady but not spectacular ratings and ideal counterprogramming to glitzy ABC offerings.

[Khan]

I agree.  Especially about the upscale demos.  Someone (forget who) once said that not a lot of people watched "St. Elsewhere," but that those who did often had highly disposable incomes.

[DRW50]

I can't remember either - maybe William Daniels?

Thanks for the extra info, and also to @kalbir @Paul Raven