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


Paul Raven

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I thought Dolly had started out strong? 

 

I hope down the line you'll get the December 1988 Nielsens for the week CBS aired "A Very Brady Christmas." Apparently it was the highest rated made-for-TV movie that year, prompting CBS to bring them back as the short-lived bomb, "The Bradys." 

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Wk 26

We are now in mid March 88 and mid season replacements are showing up.

 

ABC debuted Wonder Years @ Tues .8.30 ,moved Growing Pains to Wed @8 and Perfect Strangers to Fri @ 8. also debuted Family Man Fri @ 9.30.

Supercarrier was slotted in Sun @8 replacing Spencer for Hire and the Sunday movie was back to fill 2 hours vacated by Dolly and Buck James. Probe was slotted Thurs @ 8.

 

CBS decided to go comedy from 8-10 Tues -- Trial & Error, My Sister Sam, Coming of Age and Frank's Place. It was a disaster and I think they were dumped after a couple of weeks.

Eisenhower & Lutz went into the Mon 8.30 slot.

 

NBC had success with In The Heat of the Night Tues @  9 challenging the slumping Moonlighting. Aaron's Way was slotted Wed @8

 

  1. 28.2/43 N Cosby Show

  2. 25.2/39 N Different World

  3. 22.8/38 C 60 Minutes

  4. 22.5/38 N Golden Girls

  5. 22.3/34 A Who's the Boss?

  6. 22.0/35 N Cheers

  7. 21.4/32 A Wonder Years

  8. 20.9/33 N Night Court

  9. 20.8/31 C Murder, She Wrote

  10. 19.2/30 A Growing Pains

  11. 19.1/29 N ALF

  12. 18.5/28 N Matlock

  13. 18.1/31 N Amen

  14. 18.0/29 N Inherit the Wind

  15. 17.9/28 N In the Heat of the Night

  16. 17.9/27 N Valerie's Family

  17. 17.5/27 C Newhart

  18. 16.9/26. A Head of the Class

  19. 16.9/28. ABC Monday Movie

  20. 16.6/29 N L.A. Law

  21. 16.4/26 N Family lies

  22. 16.3/25 N Aaron's Way .

  23. 16.3/31 N Hunter

  24. 15.4/23 A MacGyver

  25. 15.4/23 N Day by Day

  26. 15.3/27 C Knots Landing

  27. 15.1/26 N My Two Dads Special

  28. 14.7/23 A Moonlighting

  29. 14.6/24 C Dallas

  30. 14.4/23 N Highway to Heaven

  31. 14.2/22 C Eisenhower and Lutz

  32. 14.1/22 CBS Sunday Movie

  33. 14.0/21 C Kate and Allie

  34. 14.0/25 N Facts of Life

  35. 13.7/22 A Hooperman

  36. 13.7/23 N Miami Vice

  37. 13.6/24 . A Dynasty

  38. 13.5/21 C Jake and the Fatman

  39. 13.5/24 C Equalizer

  40. 13.3/22 N NBC Monday Movie

  41. 13.0/20 C Eisenhower & Lutz Spec

  42. 12.8/23 A Thirtysomething

  43. 12.7/21 A ABC Sunday Movie

  44. 12.7/20 C Simon and Simon

  45. 12.5/19 A Supercarrier

  46. 12.4/22 A Perfect Strangers

  47. 12.1 /22 C Falcon Crest

  48. 12.1/22 N Sonny Spoon Detective

  49. 12.0/21 A Full House

  50. 12.0/22 A 20/20

  51. 11.8/21 C Cagney and Lacey

  52. 11.8/21 C Beauty and the Beast

  53. 11.8/18 C Snoopy's Getting Married

  54. 11.7/19 A Slap Maxwell Story

  55. 11.6/19 A Mr. Belvedere

  56. 11.4/21 N Crime Story

  57. 11.3/20 A Dolly

  58. 11.1/17 C Garfield Goes Hollywood

  59. 11.0/17 C Coming of Age"

  60. 10.7/19 N Year in the Life

  61. 10.5/18 C Tour of Duty

  62. 10.4/18 N Highwayman

  63. 10.2/19 A Spenser: For Hire

  64. 10.1/17 C Wiseguy

  65. 9.9/15 C 48 Hours

  66. 9.9/16 C Frank's Place

  67. 9.8/17 C High Mountain Rangers

  68. 9.5/16 A Family Man*

  69. 9.3/16 N Place at the Table

  70. 9.2/14 A Probe

  71. 8.7/15 A Disney Sunday Movie

  72. 8.7/16 C West 57th

  73. 8.5/14 A Ohara

  74. 7.4/12 A Hotel

  75. 7.3/11 C My Sister Sam

  76. 6.5/11 A Buck James

  77. 6.5/10 C Trial and Error

Edited by Paul Raven
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It’s remarkable that Knots is doing as well as it does when you consider just how much attention L.A. Law was getting.  The actors hosted SNL, they were on all the major talk shows.  They were nominated for awards, they definently got a lot of pop culture exposure and love.

 

I was a kid but I remember just how often we saw Harry Hamlin, Susan Dey and the rest of the cast on magazine covers.  Not so much with the cast of Knots at that point.

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Mid May -  Season finale of Dallas, Falcon Crest, Knots Landing

Lower ratings all round as official season is over and more repeats in the schedule.

1. 22.63 N NBC Sunday Movie 'Perry Mason'

2. 21.7/40 N Cosby Show 8-9

3. 20.3/32 A ABC Sunday Movie 'Beverly Hills Cop'

4. 20.3/35 N Cheers

5. 20.0/32 A Barbara Walters Special Wed @9

6. 19.9/33 N Night Court

7. 19.7/37 N Golden Girls

8. 19.0/29 N NBC Monday Movie 'Something Is Out There Pt2'

9. 18.5/29 A ABC Monday Movie 'The Bourne Identity Pt 2'

10. 18.3/33 A Whos the Boss?

11.17.8/31 C Knots Landing

12. 17.313 C Murder. She Wrote

13. 17.3/30 C Dallas

14. 17.2/29 A Just the Ten of Us

15. 17.2/34 C 60 Minutes

16. 16.3/27 N ALF

17. 14.8/25 N L.A. Law

18. 14.7/26 C Falcon Crest

19. 14.6/25 A Head of the Class

20. 14.4/23 N My Two Dads Special

21. 14.3/27 A Growing Pains

22. 14.3/23 A MacGyver

23. 14.2/29 N 227

24. 14.0/24 A China Beach

25. 13.8/27 N Hunter

26. 13.4/23 N Matlock 8- 10

27. 13.3/20 C Newhart

28. 13.0/23 A 20/20

29. 12.6/22 A Thirtysomething

30. 12.4/21 N St. Elsewhere

31. 12.0/20 N Day by Day

32. 11.9/21 N Aaron's Way

33. 11.8/26 N Facts of Life

34. 11.7/19 A Moonlighting

35. 11.7/20 N Crime Story

36. 11.5/18 C Designing Women

37. 11.2/18 C CBS Spec. Movie Wed 'Rocky IV'

38. 11.2/18 C Cagney and Lacey

39. 11.1/19 C CBS Tuesday Movie 'Who Gets The Friends?'

40. 10.9/16 C Eisenhower and Lutz

41. 10.9/18 N Highway to Heaven

42. 10.7/18 C Kate and Allie

43. 10.6/17 N Decision '88

44. 10.4/18 A Captain EO Backstage

45. 10.4/20 C Beauty and the Beast \

46. 10.4/16 C CBS Sunday Movie

47. 10.4/19 N Family Ties

48. 10.3/17 C Simon and Simon

49. 10.1/18 N Miami Vice

50. 9.9/20 A Spenser: For Hire

51. 9.7/17 A Koppel Report Thurs @10

52. 9.7/18 A Full House

53. 9.6/20 A Perfect Strangers

54. 9.4/18 A Disney Sunday Movie

55. 9.4/17 N NBC Friday Movie Spec 'Annie'

56. 9.3/16 A Mr. Belvedere

57. 9.1/16 C Smothers Brothers

58. 8.5/15 A I Married Dora

59. 8.4/16 C Tour of Duty

60. 8.1/14 A ABC Thursday Movie 'Uncommom Valor'

61. 7.7/ C Nest 57th

62. 7.5/16 15 C High Mountain Rangers

63. 7.3/14 C 48 Hours

64. 7.1/14 N Aaron's Way Special

65. 6.9/12 C Houston Knights

66. 6.8/13 A Ohara

67. 6.3/13 A Supercarrier Special

Edited by Paul Raven
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Random thought: I wonder if there's a way to find out ratings for first-run syndication shows. For instance, Baywatch was a monster of a hit in the 90's that aired at all sorts of time slots on any given independent station or local affiliate throughout the USA. Same with all those first-run syndicated sitcoms of the 80's like Small Wonder, and I think Webster, Silver Spoons, and others (I could be wrong on some titles) had their last year or two ran in first-run syndication instead of a network. It'd be interested to see how those fared. 

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11.17.8/31 C Knots Landing

 

13. 17.3/30 C Dallas

 

18. 14.7/26 C Falcon Crest

 

 

For some reason I thought none but especially Dallas had placed in the top 20 with their cliffhanger. But first time a Dallas cliffhanger did not rank in the top 5 and it also got beaten by KL. 

 

Dallas cliffhanger was Sue Ellen shooting JR.  Anyone recall what the KL and FC cliffhangers were? And what about Dynasty? Do you have it's cliffhanger numbers for the week before?

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