Thanks @Paul Raven for the details on FC. Odd to know that CBS scheduled new episodes on holidays like Christmas and NYE. I believe Knots also had new eps air on Thanksgiving New Year’s Day as well. Then again, perhaps for some watching FC on Christmas was perhaps a nice excuse/escape from real family chaos lol.

Yes it was odd to schedule FC Xmas Day. Just throw on a movie. Dallas was pre-empted so why not FC?

FC had just started and needed that Dallas lead in to establish itself.

If anything, I would've aired a Christmas-themed episode that stood outside the ongoing stories, in case the regular viewers weren't tuning in.

...

Winter Olympics took up all of ABC primetime. CBS and NBC (Noble House) had to counterprogram or let regular series have an off week.

16 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Winter Olympics took up all of ABC primetime. CBS and NBC (Noble House) had to counterprogram or let regular series have an off week.

I can see why! With the exceptions of "Cosby," "Cheers" and "Murder, She Wrote," just about all my favorite shows from that period had a bad week, lol.

Edited Sunday at 07:46 PM1 day by Khan

CBS Previews New Fall Season 1980-1981 "Looking Good Together"

....Nielsen TV Ratings February 28-March 6, 1983

Edited Sunday at 10:53 PM1 day by Soapsuds

I can't remember - did "Alice" air the same night as "M*A*S*H"?

1988 Winter Olympics was the last year they were broadcast on ABC. 1992, 1994, 1998 were broadcast by CBS and 2002 onward have been broadcast by NBC.

1987/88 ABC got out of third place by having World Series, Super Bowl, and Winter Olympics, plus their successful Tuesday night lineup Who's the Boss?, Growing Pains, Moonlighting.

Alice was the lead-in to the blockbuster MASH finale. American Gigolo/Night Bridge Fell Down was the competition.

CBS Thurs was the only night where all shows made the Top 20 Magnum/Simon/Knots.

The A Team had disrupted ABC Tues taking the 8pm slot.

Wed ABC Fall Guy/Dynasty 9-11 but weak at 8.

Fri CBS Dallas/Falcon Crest but Dukes not making Top 20

Sat ABC Love Boat/Fantasy but TJ Hooker not Top 20

Sun CBS 60 Minutes and later Jeffersons/One Day But Bunker/Gloria and Trapper John not Top 20 that week.

Here’s what was going on in the world of primetime soaps that week. It should be noted for Knots and FC it was their penultimate episodes for their season:

Bare Essence 3/1/83 ( @Paul Raven do we know where this one ranked?)

Tyger Hayes pushes forward with her new perfume line despite intense opposition from the Marshall family. Ava continues plotting to protect her son's position, while Lady Bobbi deepens her romance with the vengeful Niko.

St. Elsewhere 3/1/83:

Ehrlich scrambles to find a last-minute date to Craig's party. Morrison finds out that one of his patient's injury were not from a racially-motivated scuffle as he initially claimed. White's wife asks him for money to get an abortion.

Dynasty 3/2/83:

As Blake is departing for Singapore to identify his son, Alexis intercepts him at the airport to assure him she will not be stopped from merging their respective companies. Despite Alexis' efforts, however, Blake is assured of Congressman McVane's help in stalling official approval of the move...

Knots Landing 3/3/83:

While Gary is being held in jail for the murder of Ciji, it's Valene that confesses to killing her. Lilimae tells Chip that she's had enough of his lies and kicks him out of the house. Richard walks out on his family.

Dallas 3/4/83:

After Holly consults with Bobby regarding JR's latest scheme, he enlists Ray help in finding out where JR is really shipping a million barrels of oil. When JR is approached to run for senate, Sue Ellen is reluctant to be in the spotlight because of her past problems with alcoholism. Mickey gets Lucy involved with his misunderstandings with Ray and Donna. Cliff and Katherine push Pam towards Mark.

Falcon Crest 3/4/83:

In the morning, Chase encounters Sheriff Robbins, who is running out of the county building. Robbins has obtained the forensic report on Henri Denault and wants to ask Richard Channing some questions. Chase explains that he has evidence that Carlo Agretti was blackmailing Richard. Richard is dictating Denault's obituary to Diana for the newspaper when Robbins and Chase arrive at Richard's house. After Robbins informs Richard that there were signs of struggle on Denault's body, Robbins wants to examine Richard's clothing from that day. In response, Richard tells them to get search warrants and slams the door in their faces. Later, Richard decides to give Lance all the information on Tony Cumson. At Falcon Crest, Lance tells Melissa that Diana Hunter called to tell him that Tony is working in San Diego as an offshore consultant for an oil company. Lance tells Melissa that if Julia travels to San Diego, she will never be able to show her face at Falcon Crest again. On the veranda, Angie questions Chase about Maggie and Darryl Clayton, and while Chase tries to discuss work, Sheriff Robbins drives up with a warrant and requests that Chase accompany him to Richard's house. Chase warns Robbins not to be rash; he cautions that they should try to obtain more concrete evidence. Chase then suggests that they might find some more clues at the Agretti's house.

NBC had concluded The Family Tree a week earlier on 2/26/83 as the Saturday night drama flopped.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by soapfan770

Bare Essence was 58th 11.9/18, Huge drop from A Team which was 14th.

NBC dropped it from that timeslot moving Remington Steele to Tues @9, which did much better than BE.

It returned Fri March 25th Fri @10. It did even worse ranking 61st 10.7/19. Guess they were hoping to lure some Falcon Crest viewers now that FC had concluded its season.

5 episodes played there until it was dropped again. The final two episodes played as a Monday movie in June.

Poor Genie Francis saw her hyped up primetime career go down in flames before it had started.