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

[Paul Raven]

For ABC to think that following the template of Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Hotel etc when those shows were from a different era was misguided.

Thurs @9 was a tough timeslot. If the show had married the anthology stories to more realistic plots it might have worked better.

By that stage viewers were no longer intrigued to see the likes of Ginger Rogers, soap stars and other familiar faces each week.

[Khan]

That wasn't just a plunge.  America literally pushed "E-R" off the balcony after the first episode.

Except watch "People Do the Craziest Things," apparently.

LMAO!!

Edited September 21, 2024 by Khan

[kalbir]

@Khan That was from the IMDb description of Murder, She Wrote season premiere.

[Khan]

I know, it just cracks me the hell up, lol!

[Soapsuds]

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[kalbir]

Great magazine cover @Soapsuds

1984/85 was expected to be the biggest Dallas vs. Dynasty battle ever, but little did we know that a rookie hit was waiting in the wings to blow up and another rookie hit was waiting in the wings to shock the world.

[BetterForgotten]

And while those two soaps reached unimaginable pop cultural heights, TCS and MSW had more longevity. 

MSW (and yes, 60 Minutes) kept the Tiffany Network alive for a very rocky decade, and TCS pioneered NBC’s primetime dominance on Thursday nights (the most lucrative night in terms of revenue) for two decades. 

[kalbir]

Exactly.

As we all know, the following season we saw a sophomore slaughtering and a sophomore surprise while the primetime soaps tanked.

[Paul Raven]

Bill Cosby borrowed Phillip Michael Thomas' hair for that cover.

I am stumped by the doctor on the right. Is that supposed to be Eliot Gould?

[kalbir]

This was the first of week of 1984/85 season that all four soaps and the two rookie hits had new episodes broadcast.

The previous weeks of 1984/85:

September 17-23, 1984: The Cosby Show series premiere. Dynasty was a repeat. No Knots Landing, Dallas, Falcon Crest.

September 24-30, 1984 (in date order): Dynasty season 5 premiere. The Cosby Show episode 2. Dallas season 8 premiere. Falcon Crest season 4 premiere. Murder, She Wrote series premiere. No Knots Landing.

October 1-7, 1984: Knots Landing season 6 premiere. No Dynasty.

October 8-14, 1984: No Knots Landing.

October 15-21, 1984: No Murder, She Wrote.

Here's what happened on the soaps and two rookie hits the week of October 22-28, 1984:

Dynasty - The Rescue: Jeff and Blake learn the woman who died in the plane crash with Peter DeVilbis cannot be positively identified, but the ring she was wearing is indeed Fallon's wedding band. Back in Denver, Fallon's funeral is held.

Dallas - Family: Jamie offers J.R. proof that she is really a Ewing. Cliff considers a lucrative offer from Wendell. Pam and Jackie see Mark Graison's car.

The Cosby Show - Breaking with Tradition (episode 6): Cliff's father attempts to convince a reluctant Denise to attend his alma mater.

Knots Landing - Hanging Fire: Greg tells the police that he shot St Claire because he had a gun and was about to shoot Abby. Abby concurs and Greg asks her to make a public statement on his behalf.

Falcon Crest - Shadows: Richard's attacker is revealed. Lance faces opposition at the newspaper. Joel mugs Maggie at the track. Emma has a surprise visitor.

Murder, She Wrote - Hooray for Homicide (episode 4): Jessica travels to Hollywood in an effort to stop a sleazy producer from turning one of her novels into a steamy film. When the movie mogul turns up dead, she is horrified to learn that she is the chief suspect.

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The Dallas episode had a 43 share.

[Paul Raven]

I don't believe any TV movie following bested the numbers of 'The Day After'.

And look at AfterMash at #13. Those early ratings were fine but somewhere along the line it lost it's luster and CBS gave up. Putting it up against the A Team was crazy. They had very few sitcoms. Surely a better slot could have been found.

[kalbir]

Here's what happened on the four soaps the week of November 14-20, 1983.

Dallas - Ray's Trial: J.R. is despondent after losing the fight for Ewing Oil. Bobby meets Jenna Wade again. Ray's trial begins.

Falcon Crest - Solitary Confinements: Julia begs for protection. Maggie and Chase exchange gifts. Maggie makes a discovery about Lantry. Terry leaves for Tuscany Valley.

Knots Landing - A Change of Heart: Diana tells police about Ciji's death. Mack convinces Karen to see a doctor. Gary pursues Cathy, Ciji's look-alike. Chip escapes.

Dynasty - Tracy: Alexis realizes that Adam has framed her for Jeff's poisoning. Denver Carrington PR assistant Tracy Kendall is jealous that Blake has given a job she wanted to Krystle. Mark badly suggests a reconciliation between him and Krystle.

AfterMASH first season was Monday 9 pm, but the second season it was moved to Tuesday 8 pm.

CBS struggled with sitcoms for most of the 1980s. M*A*S*H ended. The Jeffersons, Alice, and One Day at a Time fell out of the Top 10 and eventually ended. Kate & Allie started good but couldn't maintain its momentum. Newhart was up-and-down. There were some signs of life with sitcoms at the end of the decade when Designing Women and Murphy Brown started showing growth.

[Paul Raven]

AfterMash couldn't sustain its early promise and CBS must have been disappointed by its failure to compete with the TV movies in the second half of the season. So when Kate & Allie came along and did just that CBS washed its hands of AfterMash, tossing it into an impossible timeslot in Season 2.

Wk 1 #1

Wk 2 #1

Wk 3 #4

Wk 4 #17

Wk 5 #8

Wk 6 #15

Wk 7 #13

Wk 8 #13

Wk 9 # 13

Wk 10 prempted by The Gambler Pt 2 #1

Wk 11 # 18

Wk 12 ?

Wk 13 ?

Wk 14 ?

Wk 15 # 9

Wk 16 #39  up against Something About Amelia #1

Wk 16 # 28 up against  American Music Awards

Wk 17 #16

Wk 18 # 20

Wk 19 # 33

Wk 20 #36

Wk 21 # prempted by Master of The Game

Wk 22 # 49 up against Lace #1

Wk 23 # 17

Wk 24 # 40

Wk 25 Kate & Allie takes over timeslot #4

[Khan]

I agree.  And I don't believe their drama shows that weren't soaps did much better.  We've said it before, and we'll say it again: "Murder, She Wrote" literally kept CBS going through some very dark times for the network.

Yet, despite everything that went wrong for the network during that period, it's also an era I remain very nostalgic for.  ABC was mostly junk, IMO, before "Moonlighting" and "thirtysomething"; and NBC was where you could find the shows that were so groundbreaking or so out-of-the-ordinary that they verged on being bizarre; but CBS in the '80's was home for solid, meat-and-potatoes television that didn't insult your intelligence too much or made you think you were strung out on acid, lol.