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

[Paul Raven]

House Calls 2 and 1/2 seasons @9.30 Mon

Real People 6 seasons  Wed @8

Alf Mon @8 4 seasons

 

[Wendy]

Aside from the pilot airing on a Tuesday [and my 12th birthday, no less!] and a very short run on Friday nights thereafter, where it was getting creamed by Dallas, once Brandon Tartikoff gave the series a brief hiatus to find a new slot and give it one last try, Hunter seemed to remain on Saturday nights from the last half of its first season through Season 6 on NBC. I do remember the lone McCall-free final season of season 7 switched to...Wednesdays, or something?

But predominantly, Hunter kept the same time slot for years. And on a night now considered a TV wasteland. Ah, for the days of The Golden Girls and Hunter on Saturday nights!

Edited December 22, 2024 by Wendy

[Paul Raven]

The final season of Hunter was Wed @10. But it got moved to Fri @9 in the Spring,replacing Dark Shadows, to make way for Quantum Leap. So back to its original timeslot of Season 1

In 1990 it was moved to Mon @9 for a while replacing the movie,while Carol&Co/Down Home had a short run on Sat in its place.

In 87 it was moved to Tues @9, swapping places with JJ Starbuck, before In The Heat of the Night took over successfully and Hunter went back to Sat.

In 86 it was shifted to Tues @9 replacing Riptide and Remington Steele played Sat @10.

So a few shortlived moves over the years .

[soapfan770]

I decided to look up answer to my own question as I was so curious about this...

Here are the ratings for the Top 30 Shows for the week of May 19-25, 1986. Seems a large number of repeats dominated with season finales thrown like Dynasty also thrown in the mix. The Love Boat's series finale fell just outside the Top 30. 

1. The Cosby Show (NBC) 28.4 (Repeat)

2. Family Ties (NBC) 26.4 (Repeat)

3. MOVIE: Perry Mason: The Case of the Notorious Nun 23.3 (New)

4. Dynasty (ABC) 21.9 (New)

5. MOVIE: On the Wings of Eagles Part 2 (1986) (NBC) 21.2

6. Cheers (NBC) 20.9 (Repeat)

7. Night Court (NBC) 19.8 (Repeat)

8. Hotel (ABC) 19.7 (New)

9. The Golden Girls (NBC) 18.6 (Repeat) 

10. MOVIE: Samaritan: The Mitch Snyder Story (1986) (CBS) 18 (New)

11. Falcon Crest (CBS) 17.9 (New)

12. Miss USA Pageant (CBS) 17.8 (New)

13. Valerie (The Hogan Family) (NBC) 17.4 (New)

      Who's The Boss? (ABC) 17.4 (Repeat)

15. McGyver (ABC) 17.2 (Repeat)

16. Miami Vice (NBC) 17 (Repeat)

17. 227 (NBC) 16.5 (Repeat)

18. Growing Pains (ABC) 16.3 (Repeat)

19. The Colbys (ABC) 15.9 (New)

20. MOVIE: Sam's Son (1986) (NBC) 15.6 (New)

21. 20/20 (ABC) 14.7 

22. SPECIAL: Neil Diamond...Hello Again (CBS) 14.6 (New)

      Moonlighting (ABC) 14.6 (Repeat)

      Highway to Heaven (NBC) 14.6 (Repeat)

25. 60 Minutes (CBS) 14.2 (New)

26. MOVIE: Long Time Gone (1986) (ABC) 14 (New)

      You Again? (NBC) 14 (New)

28. Hill Street Blues (NBC) 13.6 (Repeat)

29. Murder She Wrote (CBS) 13.5 (Repeat) 

30. Kate & Allie (CBS) 12.9 (Repeat) 

 

[kalbir]

@soapfan770 1985/86 season finales for NBC Thursday, rookie breakout, new hotness, primetime soaps, sophomore surprise, ABC Tuesday were spread out over three weeks in May 1986. 

May 5-11, 1986: Family Ties (27.5, 2nd), Night Court (20.1, 9th), The Golden Girls (19.9, 11th), Miami Vice (18.8, 14th)

May 12-18, 1986: The Cosby Show (31.8, #1), Dallas (24.9, 3rd), Cheers (24.4, 4th); Murder, She Wrote (21.7, 6th); Knots Landing (20.0, 10th), Moonlighting (19.3, 11th), Who's the Boss? (18.8, 12th), Growing Pains (18.8, 12th)

May 19-25, 1986: Dynasty, Falcon Crest

The final ratings for these shows were 1. The Cosby Show, 2. Family Ties; 3. Murder, She Wrote; 5. Cheers, 6. Dallas, 7. Dynasty, 7. The Golden Girls, 9. Miami Vice, 10. Who's the Boss?, 11. Night Court, 17. Knots Landing, 17. Growing Pains, 24. Moonlighting, 24. Falcon Crest

[soapfan770]

Thanks as always @kalbir!

We’ve well established that Falcon Crest was without a doubt a timeslot hit. It's amazing  to see the difference Dallas made as the lead-in for Falcon Crest. For example to go back FC’s Season 4, the episode Confessions aired behind Dallas season finale and had a 22.0 rating, while a week later a repeat of Caddyshack was FC's lead-in and the rating dropped to 16.4 even though it was the season finale. It's strange that CBS didn't plan better because Dallas and Falcon Crest both had 30 episodes that season, yet Falcon Crest ended a week later. On March 1st, CBS aired a rerun of The Wizard of Oz so Dallas didn't start until 10pm, I wonder what the point was.

We as fans can be happy about being a time-slot because I don't think without Dallas Falcon Crest would not have made nine seasons as it’s lead-in. 

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[Contessa Donatella]

It seems to me that FALCON CREST is now having a true resurgence. Its popularity is strong. Its as if it was always the most popular Lorimar production. Why do you think that is?

[Maxim]

The 24-7 primetime plex channel did it's job. Then it jumped to amazon prime... and a lot more people joined in. I am still stuck somewhere in season 1. I deserted it, since I've been enjoying other things, but I'll come back to it sooner or later. 

[kalbir]

@soapfan770 You're welcome.

Re: 1984/85 finales, for some reason CBS had Dallas finale one week before the finales of Knots Landing and Falcon Crest. 

1984/85 season finales for the rookie breakout and primetime soaps were spread over three weeks in May 1985.

May 6-12, 1985: The Cosby Show (24.1, #1)

May 13-19, 1985: Dallas (27.5, #1), Dynasty (25.9, 2nd)

May 20-26, 1985: Knots Landing (22.9, #1), Falcon Crest (16.4, 12th)

[soapfan770]

Thanks again! Always thought that the Knots Landing at #1 was an impressive feat and well deserved for one of Knots’ best cliffhangers and season finales.

Falcon Crest had started the season off at #2 right behind Dallas I recall the Season 3 finale and Season 4 premiere were the most watched episode of the series. 

Not quite sure why CBS held back the Falcon Crest finales for the 84-85 and 85-86 seasons. They were finally aired together again in 1987. 

It was mentioned earlier that Falcon Crest premieres starting in 1985 were also held back a week because of Dallas having two hour premieres, to the show’s detriment, the lone exception being 1988 when season premieres aired the same night. 

[kalbir]

That was the only episode of Knots Landing to finish #1.

Falcon Crest never had an episode finish #1, but the season three finale and season four premiere both finished 2nd. The series high was Lana Turner first episode February 19, 1982.

[te.]

It is worth mentioning that the lead-in (Caddy-shack) had a 12.2 rating - so people did specifically tune in to see Falcon Crest. It just wasn't in the same major numbers Dallas' did. And realistically - they probably realised that few shows could hold onto the Dallas audience as well as Falcon Crest did. They did try with The Mississippi in late spring 1983 when Falcon Crest still only had 22 episodes and it didn't do as well as FC. 

I guess they could've moved FC off Fridays to some other night and had it as a mid-performer (that probably wouldn't have lasted nine seasons, I agree), but why? 

Edited December 23, 2024 by te.

[Khan]

The thing is, if FC had been a truly awful show, it never would've held onto as much of DALLAS' audience as it did.  It never was as consistent as DALLAS or KL, but I do think FC had a few things going for it, especially in the first few seasons, when Earl Hamner, Jr. was still in charge.

Just imagine if Michael Filerman hadn't succeeded in running off Peter Dunne and his team.  KL might've been able to maintain that momentum - maybe not enough to hurt DALLAS, but certainly enough to stop DYNASTY in its' tracks.

[te.]

I agree. It clearly had a good flow from Dallas. I guess you could reason they should've moved Falcon Crest to try out other shows, but realistically, they sort of did try out both Nurse and The Mississippi there and neither did well outside the timeslot. So they'd just move Falcon Crest (which would do significantly worse and probably be a middling performer in another slot) to replace it with... another prime time sudser compatible with Dallas? 

I think they did the right thing to keep FC there as I don't see what benefit moving it would've had.