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

[Khan]

Yeah, Bobby/Patrick Duffy didn't do it for me either.  Then again, I don't think any actor from the nighttime soaps ever did it for me, lol.

[Soapsuds]

I thought Ted Shakelford was hot back in the day.

[kalbir]

CBS dropped to 3rd in 1987/88.

Murder She Wrote was a solid hit but the rest of the drama lineup was not looking so good heading into Fall 1987. Dallas fell out of the Top 10 the previous season. Cagney & Lacey, Falcon Crest, Knots Landing; Magnum, P.I.; Simon & Simon were aging. The Equalizer wasn't really a hit. The only new drama from the previous season to return that fall was Houston Knights.

As far as comedies go, Newhart and Kate & Allie were still going strong, but CBS had been struggling to launch successful new comedies for the previous three seasons. The only new comedies from the previous season to return that fall were Designing Women and My Sister Sam.

What happened in 1987/88 that caused CBS's primetime lineup to tank?

 

[Chris 2]

Two things. As you pointed out, CBS didn’t have any blockbuster comedies, and comedies were in vogue at that point. NBC was doing gangbusters with its comedy lineup, but CBS was dependent on a lineup of aging dramas.

The second problem was that was the season that Nielsen switched from a diary method of measuring audiences to electronic “People Meters.” Series with older audiences showed a significant decline from the previous season. The thinking was that older audiences had been more diligent about filling out their diaries than younger audiences had been, so those older audiences had been over-represented in the Nielsen sample. People Meters were considered more accurate, since no one had to fill anything out.

[kalbir]

@Chris 2 I didn't know about the change in audience measuring method. Thanks for that info.

[Paul Raven]

CBS just failed to regenerate their lineup.

They had been winning Thursday with Magnum/Simom &Simon/Knots Landing but Cosby came along and destroyed that. Magnum moved to Wed and the best CBS could now offer was Tour of Duty and Wiseguy.

Meanwhile Friday saw Dallas and Falcon Crest losing viewers each season but CBS left them there.

The Monday comedy lineup Newhart/Designing Women was aging. Frank's Place at 8 was too niche to lead off the night.

Tues/Wed and Sat had always been a struggle for CBS with those other nights including Sunday holding them up. But with the formerly strong nights failing they were in trouble,

[Soapsuds]

An interesting observation that the highest rated episode for Dallas in the 1985-1986 season was its cliffhanger with Bobby's return. 

[Paul Raven]

Bobby's absence was seen as the reason for the ratings drop, not the actual content of that season.

With all the hype, people tuned back in to see Bobby's return.

But once Bobby was back, ratings continued to drop.

That was an inbuilt limitation of the primetime soaps. They had an hour a week and a template to follow. JR had to be front and center so everyone else took a back seat. Daytime soaps have much more flexibility to make changes.

[Chris 2]

The season after Bobby’s return actually had the smallest drop in Dallas ratings in several seasons. The show’s ratings average for the  1986-87 was only a half rating point lower than the previous season, though the overall ranking was several places lower since there were so many highly-rated half hour sitcoms in the top 10 that year. It was the following year, after Victoria Principal’s departure, when the ratings truly plummeted.

[Soapsuds]

Yup...the show maintained its audience from the dream season but those that returned for the cliffhanger and premiere episode never returned. The highest Dallas got was a 23.7 rating for Pam and Bobby wedding. 

The 1987 season after Pam left their highest rating was a 20.6 in week 3 which placed #6 in the ratings. After that Dallas averaged between a 17 to 18 HH.

Edited March 28, 2022 by Soapsuds

[kalbir]

CBS already ended aging dramas in 1984/85 (The Dukes of Hazzard) and 1985/86 (Trapper John, M.D.), and in 1986/87 they should've ended another. The dramas that premiered from Fall 1985-Fall 1989 which had multiple season runs never really showed any signs of growth, hence the aging dramas lasting longer than they should have. Of CBS's Fall 1985-Fall 1989 dramas, who would've thought Jake and the Fatman would last the longest (5 seasons).

Edited April 1, 2022 by kalbir

[Soapsuds]

Week 1 of the 1984-1985 season

 

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[kalbir]

@SoapsudsThat week was the second episode of The Cosby Show and the first episode of Murder She Wrote.

The Cosby Show was the breakout hit of 1984/85 and it pulled up the rest of NBC's Thursday lineup, plus it saved the sitcom genre and NBC on the whole. 

Murder She Wrote was probably the surprise hit of 1984/85. Little did we know at the time that Murder She Wrote would carry CBS through some pretty rough years from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s.

[Paul Raven]

Who's the Boss was given the Thurs @ 8.30 slot, so it seems ABC had little faith in it and it could have gone the way of so many other sitcoms and cancelled after a few eps.

But there was some star power involved and reviews were fairly positive so ABC quickly moved it to Tuesdays where it started to gain some traction.

Also in it's favor was that ABC had so many pricey flops like Paper Dolls, Glitter etc 

Males you wonder how many other shows might have blossomed into hits had TPTB shown a little patience.

 

[Melroser]

Knots Landing? I don't see it on the list for '84-'85. Was it below 63rd?