2 hours ago, soapfan770 said:

Of course familiarity and attraction didn’t just affect those aging CBS sitcoms—Three’s Company was still very well deep into the Priscilla Barnes era.

True, lol. Ironically, I think "Three's Company" actually improved once Suzanne Somers (and Jenilee Harrison) left, even though, by all accounts, Priscilla Barnes was handed a very raw deal on that show.

Of course, I'm also the only viewer on the planet - and certainly, the only African-American viewer - who thought "Good Times" actually got better once John Amos was fired, so I'm probably not the best judge here, lol.

Edited 13 hours ago13 hr by Khan

CBS must have known that those aging sitcoms on Sunday had a shelf life but it was difficult to tamper with.

In 82/83 they made the first move by introducing Gloria with Sally Struthers which finished 18th but was cancelled. I guess the whole show never gelled and it felt old fashioned and too dependent on the Bunker connection w/o using it. There seemed to be BTS issues.

Gloria displaced One Day At A Time which moved to 9.30 with The Jeffersons, rather than Alice the new 9pm lead in. That seemed to work OK with TJ finishing 12th down from 3rd and ODAAT finishing 16th down from 10th. Not bad considering they were another year older, but dropping nonetheless.

The real loser was Alice displaced from Sunday and moved to Wednesday a night CBS had struggled with for years. Alice had to do all the heavy lifting, surrounded by new shows and up against 2 strong competitors The Fall Guy and Facts of Life. Within weeks Alice was dropped and taken off the schedule. There was no room elsewhere.

Not a good position for last season's No 5 show to be in. Later in the season it was Monday night after MASH finished up but didn't work and CBS did better with MASH repeats. Then it went to Sunday @8 as CBS moved Bunker to Mondays. Again the ratings were soft.

CBS moving Archie Bunker to Mondays where it flopped.

So by the end of the season Bunker, Gloria were gone and Alice was weakened. Goodnight Beantown was introduced into the mix and didn't take off.

CBS Sunday was going into freefall.