CBS was the first to make changes.

Ball Four Wed @8.30 was axed after 4 episodes and The Jeffersons was moved there to strengthen the lead in hour, All in the Family/Alice which had been placed Wed 9-10 were moved to Sat 9-10 and Blue Knight Wed 10-11 was cancelled. CBS put a movie 9-11.

On Sat, with Jeffersons moved to Wed and Doc cancelled. Mary Tyler Moore/Bob Newhart were moved forward an hour from their long held 9-10 timeslot with AITF and Alice taking over from 9-10.

NBC addressed Thurs where Gemini Man was cancelled after 5 episodes and Van Dyke & Company was moved from 10pm to 8pm. Gibbsville was the new 10 pm show.

On Wed NBC went with comedies beginning in Dec as the 90 min TV movie was dropped. CPO Sharkey @8, McClean Stevenson @8.30, Sirota's Court @9 and The Practice @9.30. Very odd to think 3 new sitcoms would have any kind of success (they didn't)

ABC riding high, didn't make any changes till later on.

9 hours ago, Khan said:

IMO, it went beyond audiences feeling betrayed by Rhoda's divorce. Seemingly overnight, "Rhoda" became a sitcom in search of a premise. The final two seasons were okay, but they also feel very aimless.

I take it that’s why Rhoda was never prevalent in cable and syndication? It was always weird because we all knew Valerie Harper as Rhoda but the show itself was always elusive to me. I recall Nick at Nite and TV Land running the show for like a year or so in the late 90’s but outside of that I don’t remember it airing on anything else.

Meanwhile MTM was a regular Nick at Nite staple (along with both Bob Newhart shows) for an entire decade and Lou Grant ran for years on A&E.

Sheesh even Harper’s other related show Hogan Family ran forever on Family/Fox Fam/ABC Family along with the Pax network.

2 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

CBS was the first to make changes.

On Sat, with Jeffersons moved to Wed and Doc cancelled. Mary Tyler Moore/Bob Newhart were moved forward an hour from their long held 9-10 timeslot with AITF and Alice taking over from 9-10.

Curious, did AITF not do well in the Wed timeslot against Barretta? AITF fell pretty hard from #1 to #12. Moving AITF off Saturday nights ruined the dominant lineup for the 1975-76 season. After 76-77 CBS wouldn’t have any Sat night success again for 17 years until the early 90’s with Dr Quinn and Walker.

I think AITF did OK Wed night but not the kind of blockbuster (Top 5) numbers they were hoping for. And the surrounding shows were not pulling in the numbers so CBS decided to call it quits and went with a movie.

17 hours ago, soapfan770 said:

I take it that’s why Rhoda was never prevalent in cable and syndication? It was always weird because we all knew Valerie Harper as Rhoda but the show itself was always elusive to me. I recall Nick at Nite and TV Land running the show for like a year or so in the late 90’s but outside of that I don’t remember it airing on anything else.

Meanwhile MTM was a regular Nick at Nite staple (along with both Bob Newhart shows) for an entire decade and Lou Grant ran for years on A&E.

Sheesh even Harper’s other related show Hogan Family ran forever on Family/Fox Fam/ABC Family along with the Pax network.

Curious, did AITF not do well in the Wed timeslot against Barretta? AITF fell pretty hard from #1 to #12. Moving AITF off Saturday nights ruined the dominant lineup for the 1975-76 season. After 76-77 CBS wouldn’t have any Sat night success again for 17 years until the early 90’s with Dr Quinn and Walker.

Here you go! Baretta did beat AITF twice during those 6 weeks:

9/22/76 Baretta 23.1/35, AITF 27.3/41 (hour ep)

9/29/76 Baretta 24.0/36, AITF 26.3/39

10/6/76 Baretta 25.7/38, AITF 23.2/35

10/13/76 Baretta 21.1/33, AITF 24.6/39

10/20/76 Baretta 26.4/41, AITF 27.5/42

10/27/76 Baretta 27.2/40, AITF 26.6/39

17 hours ago, soapfan770 said:

I take it that’s why Rhoda was never prevalent in cable and syndication?

Probably. As popular as Rhoda/Valerie Harper had been on MTM, the general consensus, I think, is that her own show never lived up to its' potential; and in fact, "Rhoda" proved to be more of a showcase for Julie Kavner and Nancy Walker than it did for Harper herself.

2 hours ago, JAS0N47 said:

Here you go! Baretta did beat AITF twice during those 6 weeks:

9/22/76 Baretta 23.1/35, AITF 27.3/41 (hour ep)

9/29/76 Baretta 24.0/36, AITF 26.3/39

10/6/76 Baretta 25.7/38, AITF 23.2/35

10/13/76 Baretta 21.1/33, AITF 24.6/39

10/20/76 Baretta 26.4/41, AITF 27.5/42

10/27/76 Baretta 27.2/40, AITF 26.6/39

Thanks @JAS0N47 You are amazing. Having AITF beaten by Baretta was not a good look for CBS, hence the move.

Baretta was constantly outrated by it's follow up Charlie's Angels so the following season, the Angels moved up to 9pm. Baretta back to 10pm.

AITF was moved again the following season to Sun @9, where it took care of CBS Sunday issues. The loss of MTM and AITF on Saturdays saw the end of CBS dominant Sat sitcom lineup. ABC pounced with Love Boat/Fantasy Island.