4 hours ago, kalbir said:

The breakout success of The Cosby Show saved both sitcoms as a genre and NBC primetime line up. It also lead to NBC Thursday dominating primetime for the better part of the next 20 years (I consider NBC Thursday dominance from the start of The Cosby Show until the end of Friends). It was the breakout success of The Golden Girls the following season that lead to NBC having the sitcom game on lock for the rest of the decade.

For that, I give credit and thanks to Brandon Tartikoff and Grant Tinker. Those two CARED about the network they ran and the shows they placed on their lineup.

After doing some digging I think that TV Guide mention of Our House at #14 for the first half of the 86-87 season was either a fluke, misprint, or maybe someone at TVG was a big Deidre Hall fan Lol? Because this doesn’t mention Our House at all:

On 1/4/2026 at 12:12 PM, Soapsuds said:

From January 3, 1987

@soapfan770 Our House's numbers were boosted by it's premiere following The Cosby Show. It ranked #2 for the week 28.7/45 following Cosby #1.

That was Thursday of course and NBC placed it there to get as much sampling as possible before it went up against 60 Minutes. The second episode aired Sunday and ranked #19 14.6/26. 60 Minutes was #8.

So Our House earned that #14 place on the strength of those early ratings that boosted the average. In the first official week of the season OH was #41.

Thanks @Paul Raven for the explanation.

I wonder Our House would have done a much better job is a more visible timeslot.

Perhaps 9PM on Wednesdays to have it pared with the family friendly Highway to Heaven? NBC sitcoms in that hour struggled.

I guess Our House was NBC's determined attempt to provide some competition to 60 Minutes which was untouchable in that 7pm timeslot.

I think they wanted to provide an alternative that would capture the demos that 60 Minutes didn't reach eg kids 2-11. young women etc. I would imagine it was quite successful in that regard.

The list of shows that the opposition tried Sunday @7 through the 80's was a long one

Those Amazing Animals Code Red Father Murphy Believe It or Not Voyagers First Camera Silver Spoons

Punky Brewster Disney Incredible Sunday Life Goes On

Programming for that slot was restricted by regulations-either Current Affairs, which 60 Minutes had a hold on or children centered-hence the opposition shows.

Ratings from the week of January 4–10 1982. Dallas at #4, FC at #12, Knots tied at #23, Dynasty at a surprisingly low #35 with it competition Quince ME beating it at #29, and Flamingo Road at #45.

@Paul Raven That Sunday @7:00/6:00 slot has always been difficult to program. Outside of stuff like 60 Minutes, Dateline, and AFV the only shows I can think of that had some success in that slot were Life Goes On and I guess some of the animated shows on Fox.

That was a pretty standard week with no special programming of note.

As for Dynasty, at that point it was winning it's timeslot but usually finishing somewhere between 20th and 30th-it hadn't broken through yet. One explanation for the lower rating was that it hadn't aired the week before so maybe a bit of momentum was lost?

Anyway it continued to slowly grow throughout the season moving into the Top 20 on occasion but it wasn't till the May finale episodes that it exploded, finishing at #2 for the final two episodes.

NBC was having trouble on Friday and Saturday nights but what possessed them to program the movie The Late Show Sat @9?It was a repeat of a box office flop that had rated poorly the first time around. Surely they could have found something with a bit more ratings potential? Barbara Mandrell had won it's timeslot and they squandered that.

CBS programmed a repeat of Foul Play and ABC Love Boat.

4 hours ago, soapfan770 said:

Ratings from the week of January 4–10 1982. Dallas at #4, FC at #12, Knots tied at #23, Dynasty at a surprisingly low #35 with it competition Quince ME beating it at #29, and Flamingo Road at #45.

@Paul Raven That Sunday @7:00/6:00 slot has always been difficult to program. Outside of stuff like 60 Minutes, Dateline, and AFV the only shows I can think of that had some success in that slot were Life Goes On and I guess some of the animated shows on Fox.

Here are the ratings for that week with the numbers.

Dallas was dealing with Jock's death.

Edited January 10Jan 10 by Soapsuds

#67 Palms Precinct. This was a failed pilot that NBC programmed Fri @10 against Falcon Crest and Strike Force.

It starred Sharon Gless and Steve Ryan as police inspectors in mythical Palms City CA.

#52 Mork & Mindy. After a ratings bump early in the season with a marriage and birth viewers tuned out and ABC later tried Police Squad and No Soap, Radio in that timeslot, bumping M&M off the schedule.

#47 Fame, Debut episode. Despite good reviews that show never took off, coming distant second to Magnum.

The 1981/82 season was a struggle for NBC. It was the end of the Fred Silverman era that had produced more misses than hits.

Apart from Hill St Blues, NBC's only hits Real People, Different Strokes, Facts of Life debuted several seasons before so Silverman hadn't replenished the schedule.

Apparently the pilot line-up for Fall 81 was so uninspired that NBC announced Rock Hudson, James Arness, Angie Dickinson in shows they had no title or clear concepts for.

There seemed to be a budget freeze as NBC had no big theatrical releases, splashy mini series, TV movies and specials. And only a few back up shows.

They also had bad luck with Powers of Matthew Star and Devlin Connection delayed to the following season which left gaps to fill. Those shows bombed any way.

Compared to the following season's schedule with Family Ties, Cheers, St Elsewhere, Knight Rider, Remington Steele all debuting. None of them were huge hits but building blocks in NBC's ultimate success.

Another interesting show in 81/82 was NBC's Chicago Story. It was 90 mins in length and difficult to place on the schedule. Don't know what NBC were thinking.

It had played as a 2 hr movie the previous season and done well.

The cast and concept was interesting. Dennis Franz, Daniel Hugh Kelly, Maud Adams, Vincent Bagetta, Craig T Nelson.

It's original timeslot was 8.30 pm Friday, following the Mickey Rooney sitcom. I guess the idea was that viewers would stick around after Mickey through to 10pm. and steal viewers away from Dukes of Hazard and Dallas.

It seemed misguided at best. Then that plan was dropped and Chicago Story became a back up show.

It finally aired on Saturday in Wk 22 of the season following One of the Boys (the Mickey Rooney sitcom with Nathan Lane and Dana Carvey) One of the Boys was #63 and Chicago #61.

Meanwhile a 2 hr Love Boat was #11.

Things only got worse as the show moved to Friday and flamed out. Don't know what NBC was thinking ordering a 90 min series with no suitable timeslot.

TV ratings January 16-22 1984

Obviously the Super Bowl dominated, but wow at those ratings for the American Music Awards. Propelled by Michael Jackson being the big nominee/winner, it’s weird to see the AMA’s be so relevant after spending the last like 26 years of low ratings and irrelevance to the point the ceremonies went on a 3 year hiatus.

Dallas at #5, Dynasty at #6, FC at #13, Knots at #14, Yellow Rose at #60, and Emerald Point was really struggling pitifully at #62.

I’m with @kalbir no way did Hotel deserve to be higher ranked lol. Did people just leave the channel on ABC after Dynasty?

NBC still struggling. The A-Team and Riptide were a boon, and Cheers showing some growth here. The rest of the lineup was middle to lower pack. Night Court was in its 3rd week and at #49.

4 hours ago, soapfan770 said:

no way did Hotel deserve to be higher ranked lol.

I don't believe 1983/84 Hotel was a better show than Knots Landing. Despite Hotel finish at 9th for the season and being the highest-rated rookie show, I don't feel it was a breakout hit.

1983/84 Aaron Spelling hit factory was Dynasty (3rd), Hotel (9th), The Love Boat (17th), T.J. Hooker (below the Top 30), Matt Houston (below the Top 30), Hart to Hart (final season), Fantasy Island (final season).

Hotel was the perfect complement to Dynasty. It had the same soapy appeal, but you didn't have to follow a continuing story and worry about missing an episode.

Around 64 NBC piloted Grand Hotel with Barry Sullivan and Chad Everett.I wonder if it intended to follow the same format? Most likely there would have been one story per episode.

That was the last season of Aaron Spelling's dominance at ABC. The next crop of shows-The Colbys, Finder of Lost Loves, Hollywood Beat, Glitter etc didn't make the grade.

6 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Hotel was the perfect complement to Dynasty. It had the same soapy appeal, but you didn't have to follow a continuing story and worry about missing an episode.

It was a nice, soft place to land after all the melodrama emanating from Casa Carrington, lol.