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

[soapfan770]

I can definitely see that airing the same week as The Love Boat colliding with an iceberg and sinking while crossing the North Atlantic on the Titanic anniversary with a “Who lives and dies?!” Promo next to Mr Belvedere being blackmailed over his wanted fugitive status back in the UK

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Agree with you both. I am also going assume that while Hotel may had some big numbers the first 2 seasons BUT the demographics weren’t great. Reason I say this is I distinctly remember my parents watching St Elsewhere and/or The Equalizer after Dynasty. 
 

I still don’t get Hotel’s designation as a primetime soap opera either lol.

ABC should have aired Paper Dolls in the 10/9 slot on Wednesdays in the fall of 1984 to give that show some more legs. 
 

Obviously ABC was eyeing a double bill night in the same vein as Dallas & Falcon Crest and that might have worked better than leaving Paper Dolls to the wolves in an untested timeslot.

Edited May 5 by soapfan770

[kalbir]

Aaron Spelling still had clout with ABC in Fall 1984, as I think they knew he was going to pull out all the stops for Dynasty to get to #1, which he did. That's probably why ABC kept Hotel as Dynasty lead out.

Fall 1985 with the sale to Capital Cities and Brandon Stoddard arrival, Aaron Spelling would lose his clout with ABC.

[Paul Raven]

And maybe Hotel could have been placed at 9pm Tues instead of Paper Dolls. Not that I thing it was a surefire thing but at least viewers were familiar with the show and it might have done better than PD. ABC's line up was pretty threadbare at that point.

And with a big guest star to launch the season - Elizabeth Taylor- the numbers would have been there initially.

[Khan]

I guess it's because the stories on "Hotel" tended to be very...melodramatic, lol?  I mean, it seems like every episode had long-lost lovers reuniting or people finding out someone they knew and/or loved was dying.  And then there was the time Anne Baxter was strung out on dope, lol.

Brandon Stoddard must've envied what the other Brandon (Tartikoff) was doing at NBC.

Edited May 5 by Khan

[Franko]

As the folklore goes, Love Boat episodes generally had one "heart" story, one "laughs" story, and one "tears" story. I guess Hotel just stuck with "heart" and "tears."

[kalbir]

Brandon Tartikoff saved NBC primetime.

Brandon Stoddard got ABC Tuesday to rebound and put an end to the Aaron Spelling hit factory.

[Paul Raven]

I think Hotel would have the similar demos as Dynasty W 19-49 would have been strong.

St Elsewhere survived b/c it attracted wealthier/urban viewers and The Equalizer was probably stronger with men and younger viewers. So each had their own niche-good counter-programming.

As for Aaron Spelling's influence over ABC in terms of scheduling, I don't know if he would have been happy with Charlie's Angels moving to Sunday, The Colbys scheduled on Thursdays or Matt Houston moved to Fridays. I think he just had to roll with the punches.

[kalbir]

The Equalizer original series was not a big hit yet it became a movie franchise and got a reboot series. The Equalizer reboot lasted 5 seasons, so one season longer than the original series.

[JoeCool]

@kalbir MSW was a powerhouse for CBS. Angela Lansbury was a superb actress. In 1985, TV viewers were tiring of the primetime soaps and the like. People wanted storytelling and MSW was great at that and had great guest stars. Storytelling -- an amazing and novel concept. CBS Daytime by 1985 was beating ABC so CBS was on the upswing.

[Wendy]

I think maybe viewers needed a break from Aaron Spelling by 1985 or 1986. He had a series, Macgruder and Loud, which I recall, even as a young teen, getting TONS of promotion with even a post-Super Bowl slot, and it failed.

Viewers probably were - as said here - tired of soapy fare and went elsewhere. But they must have missed him since, as we know, Spelling rose from the TV ashes in the '90s with Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place!

Edited May 6 by Wendy

[Paul Raven]

Dallas, Dynasty, Knots and Falcon Crest all had good runs but by 85 they had seen better days.

I think they were a victim of the format. After several seasons seeing the same characters front and center viewers were bored. What was once fascinating grew predictable.

JR, Alexis etc had to be front and center and after a while their schemes and shtick grew repetitive. JR remarrying Sue Ellen, Alexis constantly trying to get he better of Blake etc

Unlike daytime, there wasn't the flexibility to bring in other stories and characters and maybe let the likes JR go backburner. That same mentality also invaded daytime with characters like  Sonny and Victor still peddling the same stuff after decades.

I guess the same could be said for MSW eg every week Jessica encounters a crime and solves it,but I think viewers come to that format with a different mindset.

[Khan]

I agree.  How many times did we have to watch Bobby vs. J.R., or Blake vs. Alexis, knowing that nothing would change at the end, and that everything would go back to status quo, so that they could fight the same, exhausting battles all over again?  If nothing else, I give FC and KL credit for trying to keep things fresh, even if I think FC, in particular, went too far in the other direction and became unrecognizable even to the most diehard fans.

Exactly.  Plus, because viewers were so burned out by the kind of serialized storytelling that was beginning to affect even half-hour comedies, I think MSW represented a nice change of pace.  You didn't have to watch every week, or watch from the beginning of each season, to know what was going on with Miss Fletcher.  Instead, you could watch a complete story in one episode, de-stress from whatever had happened in your own life last week, gear yourself up for the week ahead, and be okay.

If you notice, though, there were differences between those two shows and what Aaron Spelling had produced in the past.  For one thing, there was a greater emphasis on youth; and while characters on 90210 and MP certainly had more disposable incomes than the average viewer, their wealth wasn't as opulent as what we'd seen on DYNASTY or on "Hart to Hart."  Even the battles among Alison, Amanda, Billy and others at that advertising agency weren't as histrionic as those between Denver Carrington and ColbyCo.

Edited May 6 by Khan

[Franko]

As it happens, 40 years ago this week, ABC and CBS revealed their 1985-86 fall schedules. NBC revealed theirs the week before.

ABC's would end up changing. The original plan for Tuesdays was to have Diff'rent Strokes lead the night, with He's the Mayor at 8:30, followed by Who's the Boss at 9, Growing Pains at 9:30, and Moonlighting at 10. There was some surprise over MacGruder & Loud not getting renewed, but it was considered part of Aaron Spelling's declining influence at the network.

Yes, Dynasty was still a hit (for a while longer), but Aaron's shows steadily took up less and less of the schedule.

Fall 1984: Seven hours, five of which were new programming (Dynasty, Hotel, Glitter, Matt Houston, T.J. Hooker, The Love Boat, Finder of Lost Loves; MacGruder & Loud aired at midseason, by which time Glitter was gone.).

Fall 1985: Five hours, two of which were new programming (Dynasty, Hotel, The Colbys, Hollywood Beat, The Love Boat).

Fall 1986: Three-and-a-half hours, a half-hour of which was new programming (Dynasty, Hotel, The Colbys, Life With Lucy).

Fall 1987: Two hours, none of which was new programming (Dynasty and Hotel; HeartBeat premiered at midseason).

Fall-winter 1988: Two hours, none of which was new programming (Dynasty and HeartBeat).

This led to Variety's infamous shady headline in spring 1989: "Aaron's Dynasty Over"

[kalbir]

Brandon Stoddard goal was to put an end to the Aaron Spelling hit factory but it was Robert Iger that got Aaron Spelling off of ABC.

1989/90 was the first television season in I don't know how long that there was no Aaron Spelling show on any broadcast network.

Of course the following season Aaron Spelling took his talents to Fox and 90210 premiered, and we know the rest.

[Paul Raven]

Well at one point Aaron's contract with ABC guaranteed a new series on the schedule each year.

I guess once his contract was up he was out the door. It would have been a huge financial commitment and as tastes changed and Aaron didn't ,ABC couldn't see the value.

Spelling did have a number of flops along the way. 

He always brought up Family as a counter to the criticism that his output was trashy but that's because Family was the only show among many that wasn't  trashy.