1 hour ago, Soapsuds said:

Dallas and Falcon Crest were preempted. Anyone know what aired instead?

The movie 'Any Which Way you Can' which was a repeat. That gave ABCs Street Hawk (with Rex Smith) it's season high. NBC was airing Hunter/Miami Vice.

The following week Dallas was back to 1st place.

1 hour ago, soapfan770 said:

Any thoughts as to why Saturday night soaps didn’t work? Dallas had a rather dismal 78-79 season before moving, both Secrets of Midland Heights and King’s Crossing flopped, and Berrenger’s floundered, and Hotel was killed off. I know in the 90’s though Sisters had success though. Just not enough available audience to stay home every Saturday night as opposed to Wed-Fri nights?

Yellow Rose was another soap that didn't work Saturdays. The general thought was that soaps needed viewers available each week to follow the story and too many people went out Saturdays on a regular basis so their viewership was interrupted.

There may be truth in that but all of those shows had an uphill battle in that they were given timeslots that were weak for the network and followed shows that were also failures.

Saturdays had been a disaster for CBS since the late 70's  while ABC took hold with Love Boat/Fantasy Island.

So by the time 10 o'clock rolled round viewers had been avoiding CBS all evening. That was the case for both Dallas and Midland Heights.

Similarly by the time Berrengers was inserted at 10pm NBC had been trying various shows to no success.

The other issue might be the shows themselves.

I never saw Midland Heights but one issue was the show was originally developed for 8pm -hence the teen cast. Then CBS wanted it sexed up for 10 pm and the show never gelled.

Kings Crossing was 8pm and utilized some of the same cast but obviously didn't work.

Berrengers had a large cast and a lot of stories which made it confusing at first.

So a lot of those shows faced issues.

Riptide benefited from the A Team lead in and weak competition. Once A Team started to soften and Moonlighting came along Riptide went under.

 

Edited February 15, 20232 yr by Paul Raven

Thanks as always @Paul Raven for the analysis. It’s fascinates me how viewership for Fri and Sat nights changed so much from decade to decade. 

 I have to hone into my own parents viewing tastes sometimes. In the the 80’s a mix of going out for dinner or staying in with pizza; if we did go out we’d always be back home around for Dallas. Saturday nights were almost a guarantee night out of dinner, but we’d be back home for Golden Girls/Empty Nest. By the 90’s save for when The X-Files aired on Friday nights my parents could care less about trying beat a crowd lol. 

1 hour ago, Paul Raven said:

The movie 'Any Which Way you Can' which was a repeat. That gave ABCs Street Hawk (with Rex Smith) it's season high. NBC was airing Hunter/Miami Vice.

The following week Dallas was back to 1st place.

 

 

Yup!

 

That 7th place finish for Webster was its highest rating ever. It was a 'very special episode' dealing with child molestation.

That pushed V to a season low while Miami Vice was repeating the 2 hr pilot.

On Sunday NBC aired 'Codename Foxfire' John McCook's foray into a primetime series. Considering he left Y&R in 1980 he had put in the hard yards before landing a series but the show was a flop on Fri nights so he was ready to go back to soaps by 87.

Berrengers aired a special Sun at 10 which had its best ratings to date but nothing special.

Otherworld debuted Sat on CBS - another attempt to find if not a hit, at least a competitive show but it failed its mission.

The Cosby Show was a repeat on January 24, 1985. Robert Kennedy aired instead of Murder, She Wrote on January 27.

The following week The Cosby Show would have it's first #1 finish since the pilot.

11 minutes ago, kalbir said:

 

The following week The Cosby Show would have it's first #1 finish since the pilot.

 

#63 and #64 missing from that list - Call to Glory and Berrengers

The Robert Kennedy mini-series was a flop. ABC won the week and CBS/NBC tied for 2nd.

Strangely Codename Foxfire which had good numbers for the pilot on the previous  Sunday didn't debut that Fri in its intended timeslot. Instead NBC showed a Bloopers special. So by the following week a lot of momentum was lost.

Reading those ratings/numbers, I had forgotten all about "MacGruder and Loud", one of Aaron Spelling's few failures. Surprised this never made it to DVD, what with it being in the cop show genre, etc.

Lots of other flops/short shows have been put on DVD. And being from Aaron Spelling, I would think that would be enough reason to throw it out to the masses again a few years back (as DVD is on the downswing now), but I guess not. Oh, well. *shrug*

Aaron Spelling had an exclusive contract with ABC throughout the 70's and into the 80's. Pretty sure he was guaranteed a series on the schedule each year.

So there were plenty of hits but some misses along the way:

The Colbys

Life With Lucy

MacGruder and Loud

Strike Force

BAD Cats

Glitter

Finder of Lost Loves

San Pedro Beach Bums

Friends

Hollywood Beat

Aloha Paradise

At Ease

Heartbeat

And a lot of pilots that were rejected also.

 

 

40 years ago this week

 

20 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

40 years ago this week

February 14-20, 1983. Two weeks before the series finale of M*A*S*H.

9 to 5 at #25 is interesting, it’s one of those forgotten sitcoms I enjoyed in syndication years later. The Rita Moreno version had two successful seasons but then after Jane Fonda departed as EP the shows new producers did a disastrous revamp and got cancelled early on in its third season. Later it came back in syndication for another three seasons with Sally Struthers as the lead actress. 

CBS 18.2 Mon ABC 17.4 NBC 16.3

Mon

ABC win That's Incredible/Movie 'Who Will Love My Children?' starring Ann Margaret.NBC Little House/ Bloopers/Candid Camera. CBS Square Pegs/Filthy Rich/MASH/Newhart/Cagney & Lacey.

Tues

 CBS win  Disney/Movie 'Murder in Coweta County'. NBC A Team/Bare Essence 2hr debut. ABC Happy Days/Laverne/3's Company/9to5/Hart to Hart (season low)

Wed 

ABC win Dom DeLuise/Fall Guy/Dynasty. CBS  Seven Brides (season high)/ Movie 'Dixie: Changing Habits' . NBC Real People/Facts of Life/FamilyTies/Quincy

CBS win  Magnum/Simon/Knots (2nd best rating of the season). ABC new sitcoms 'Amanda's' (Bea Arthur) and 'Condo' (McLean Stevenson) dropped from their debut a week earlier Too Close for Comfort/ It Takes Two had best ratings since Dec/Nov respectively/20/20 . NBC Fame/ Gimme a Break (season high) Cheers(season high) Hill St Blues

Fri

CBS win Dukes/Dallas/Falcon Crest. ABC Benson (tied with Dukes) New Odd Couple/movie'First Family' NBC Powers of Matthew Star/Knight Rider/Remington Steele (2nd best score of the season)

Sat

ABC win TJ Hooker/Love Boat/Fantasy Island. NBC Diffrent Strokes/Silver Spoons/Mama's Family/Teachers Only/Family Tree CBS Bring m Back alive (season low) Movie 'The Fighter'

Sun

CBS win 60Min/Bunker/Gloria/Jeffersons/One Day/Trapper John. NBC Disney/Chips.rage of Angels. ABC Voyagers/Matt Houston/Movie 'Star Trek"

 

 

Edited February 16, 20232 yr by Paul Raven

I had forgotten about Bea short lived sitcom Amanda. I don't even recall McLean Stevenson sitcom.

 

 

 

Did people actually watch Hart to Hart back then? LOL. 
 

If I recall right CBS canceled Cagney & Lacey but then later brought it back.