I couldn't find any previous threads related to 1990s ratings so I decided to start one.

Top 10 shows for each season of the 1990s.

1990/91: 1. Cheers (1989/90 3rd), 2. 60 Minutes (1989/90 7th), 3. Roseanne (1989/90 tied for 1st w/ The Cosby Show), 4. A Different World (1989/90 4th), 5. The Cosby Show (1989/90 tied for 1st w/ Roseanne), 6. Murphy Brown (1989/90 27th), 7. Empty Nest (1989/90 9th), 7. America's Funniest Home Videos (1989/90 5th), 9. Monday Night Football (1989/90 10th), 10. The Golden Girls (1989/90 6th), 10. Designing Women (1989/90 tied for 22nd w/ Full House). The Wonder Years falls from 8th in 1989/90 to 30th (time slot changed from Tuesday 8:30 pm to Wednesday 8 pm).

1991/92: 1. 60 Minutes, 2. Roseanne, 3. Murphy Brown, 4. Cheers, 4. Home Improvement (first season), 6. Designing Women, 7. Full House (1990/91 14th; time slot changed from Friday 8 pm to Tuesday 8 pm); 8. Murder, She Wrote (1990/91 12th); 9. Major Dad (1990/91 tied for 21st w/ In the Heat of the Night), 10. Coach (1990/91 18th), 10. Room for Two (first season). A Different World falls to 17th. The Cosby Show falls to 18th in its final season. Empty Nest falls to 22nd (time slot changed from Saturday 9:30 pm to Saturday 9 pm), tied w/ The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. America's Funniest Home Videos falls to 20th. Monday Night Football falls to 12th. The Golden Girls falls to 30th in its final season (time slot changed from Saturday 9 pm to Saturday 8 pm), tied w/ In the Heat of the Night.

1992/93: 1. 60 Minutes, 2. Roseanne, 3. Home Improvement (time slot changed from Tuesday 8:30 pm to Wednesday 9 pm), 4. Murphy Brown; 5. Murder, She Wrote; 6. Coach, 7. Monday Night Football, 8. CBS Sunday Movie (1991/92 14th), 8. Cheers (final season), 10. Full House. Designing Women falls to 67th in its final season (time slot changed from Monday 9:30 pm to Friday 9 pm). Major Dad falls to 69th in its final season (time slot changed from Monday 8:30 pm to Friday 8:30 pm). Room for Two falls to 105th in its final season (time slot changed from Wednesday 9 pm to Thursday 8:30 pm), tied w/ The Powers that Be and What Happened.

1993/94: 1. 60 Minutes, 2. Home Improvement, 3. Seinfeld (1992/93 25th, time slot changed from Thursday 8:30 pm to Thursday 9 pm), 4. Roseanne, 5. Grace Under Fire (first season), 6. Coach, 7. Frasier (first season), 8. Monday Night Football, 9. Murphy Brown, 10. CBS Sunday Movie. Murder, She Wrote falls to 11th. Full House falls to 16th.

1994/95: 1. Seinfeld, 2. ER (first season), 3. Home Improvement (time slot changed from Wednesday 9 pm to Tuesday 9 pm), 4. Grace Under Fire (time slot changed from Wednesday 9:30 pm to Tuesday 9:30 pm), 5. Monday Night Football, 6. 60 Minutes, 7. NYPD Blue (1993/94 18th, tied w/ Wings); 8. Murder, She Wrote; 8. Friends (first season), 10. Roseanne (time slot changed from Tuesday 9 pm to Wednesday 9 pm). Coach falls to 53rd (time slot changed from Tuesday 9:30 pm to Monday 8 pm), tied w/ Pride and Joy. Frasier falls to 15th (time slot changed from Thursday 9:30 pm to Tuesday 9 pm). Murphy Brown falls to 16th. CBS Sunday Movie falls to 18th.

1995/96: 1. ER, 2. Seinfeld, 3. Friends (time slot changed from Thursday 9:30 pm to Thursday 8 pm), 4. Caroline in the City (first season), 5. Monday Night Football, 6. The Single Guy (first season), 7. Home Improvement, 8. Boston Common (first season), 9. 60 Minutes, 10. NYPD Blue. Grace Under Fire falls to 13th (time slot changed from Tuesday 9:30 pm to Wednesday 9 pm). Murder She Wrote falls to 58th in its final season (time slot changed from Sunday 8 pm to Thursday 8 pm). Roseanne falls to 16th (time slot changed from Wednesday 9 pm to Tuesday 8 pm).

1996/97: 1. ER, 2. Seinfeld, 3. Suddenly Susan (first season), 4. Friends, 4. The Naked Truth (first season on NBC), 6. Fired Up (first season), 7. Monday Night Football, 8. The Single Guy (final season), 9. Home Improvement, 10. Touched by an Angel (1995/96 34th, time slot changed from Saturday 9 pm to Sunday 8 pm). Caroline in the City falls to 23rd (time slot changed from Thursday 9:30 pm to Tuesday 9:30 pm), tied w/ Walker Texas Ranger, Mad About You, NBC Monday Movie. Boston Common falls to 51st in its final season (time slot changed from Thursday 8:30 pm to Sunday 8:30 pm), tied w/ Boy Meets World. 60 Minutes falls to 11th. NYPD Blue falls to 13th.

1997/98: 1. Seinfeld (final season), 2. ER, 3. Veronica's Closet (first season), 4. Friends, 5. Touched by an Angel, 6. Monday Night Football, 7. Union Square (first and only season), 8. 60 Minutes, 9. CBS Sunday Movie (1996/97 14th), 10. Home Improvement. Suddenly Susan falls to 65th (time slot changed from Thursday 8:30 pm to Monday 8 pm), tied w/ Nash Bridges, Wonderful World of Disney, That's Life. The Naked Truth falls to 69th in its final season (time slot changed from Thursday 9:30 pm to Monday 9:30 pm). Fired Up falls to 80th in its final season (time slot changed from Thursday 9:30 pm to Monday 8:30 pm), tied w/ Boy Meets World, For Your Love, Melrose Place.

1998/99: 1. ER, 2. Friends, 3. Frasier (1997/98 14th; time slot changed from Tuesday 9 pm to Thursday 9 pm), 4. Monday Night Football, 5. Veronica's Closet, 5. Jesse (first season), 7. 60 Minutes, 8. Touched by an Angel, 9. CBS Sunday Movie, 10. Home Improvement (final season; time slot changed from Tuesday 9 pm to Tuesday 8 pm)

1999/2000: 1. Who Wants to be a Millionaire - Tuesday (first season), 2. Who Wants to be a Millionaire - Thursday (first season), 3. Who Wants to be a Millionaire - Sunday (first season), 4. ER, 5. Friends, 6. Frasier, 7. Monday Night Football, 8. 60 Minutes, 9. The Practice (1998/99 33rd, tied w/ Dateline Wednesday), 10. Touched by an Angel. Veronica's Closet falls to 82nd in its final season (time slot changed from Thursday 9:30 pm to Monday 8:30 pm), tied w/ Greed, That 70s Show, Early Edition, Cops 2, Cosby. Jesse falls to 13th in its final season. CBS Sunday Movie falls to 14th.

NBC's Thursday night powerhouse trio of Friends, Seinfeld, ER resulted in a lot of short-lived time slot hits (Caroline in the City, The Single Guy, Boston Common, Suddenly Susan, The Naked Truth, Fired Up, Veronica's Closet, Union Square, Jesse). Also of note is that Home Improvement was in the Top 10 for its entire run.

Edited September 24, 20223 yr by kalbir

12 hours ago, kalbir said:

NBC's Thursday night powerhouse trio of Friends, Seinfeld, ER resulted in a lot of short-lived time slot hits (Caroline in the City, The Single Guy, Boston Common, Suddenly Susan, The Naked Truth, Fired Up, Veronica's Closet, Union Square, Jesse). Also of note is that Home Improvement was in the Top 10 for its entire run.

So true. A lot of these shows were popular only because of their timeslot. But some were only given a short time before they were cancelled or moved to another timeslot and expected to do some heavy lifting.

Maybe if some of these shows were given a bit more time in 'cushy' timeslots they would have been better equipped to support the schedule elsewhere.

8 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

So true. A lot of these shows were popular only because of their timeslot. But some were only given a short time before they were cancelled or moved to another timeslot and expected to do some heavy lifting.

Maybe if some of these shows were given a bit more time in 'cushy' timeslots they would have been better equipped to support the schedule elsewhere.

I doubt it.

Frankly, in order for shows like "Caroline in the City" and "Suddenly Susan" to have been successful elsewhere on the lineup, they would have first needed to bring up the level of writing to that of "Frasier" or "Seinfeld."  But that was never going to happen when all the producers and network saw was that the shows were retaining a sizable enough portion of the audience from their lead-ins.  (Never mind that that had more to do with viewers' laziness than the shows' actual quality.)

20 hours ago, kalbir said:

Also of note is that Home Improvement was in the Top 10 for its entire run.

Which says so much about this country that...never mind, that's for another thread.

Seinfeld is also the last show to ever finish at #1 during its last season on the air. The story of Seinfeld in itself is an interesting one - from initial ratings bomb to the quintessential and #1 rated sitcom of the 90's.  

Edited January 16, 20224 yr by BetterForgotten

21 hours ago, kalbir said:

Designing Women falls to 67th in its final season (time slot changed from Monday 9:30 pm to Friday 9 pm).

DW suffered an almost perfect storm of death knells in its' last season.  In addition to the time slot change, there was lingering backlash to Jean Smart's departure and Julia Duffy's casting as Delta Burke's replacement, additional backlash to the final year's piss-poor changes to the cast (Duffy out, Judith Ivey and Sheryl Lee Ralph in), and an overall sense that, with Linda Bloodworth-Thomason no longer running the show on a day-to-day basis, the quality of the writing had fallen to frightening lows, with some truly bizarre changes to the remaining characters (Julia, Mary Jo, Anthony and even Bernice).

In retrospect, between the declines of both DW and "The Golden Girls," it really felt like the end of an era for series with large gay followings.

6 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

Seinfeld is also the last show to ever finish at #1 during its last season on the air. The story of Seinfeld in itself is an interesting one - from initial ratings bomb to the quintessential and #1 rated sitcom of the 90's.  

"Seinfeld" also proves correct the theory that audience familiarity plays the largest part in any, long-running show's success, as the general consensus is that the quality of the show suffered when Larry David left as showrunner.

Seinfeld proved a lot of sitcom connotations wrong - for one, none of the characters were exactly likeable or sympathetic, and the audience didn't need to be deeply invested or "like" them in order to be invested in or enjoy the actual show. 

Unfortunately, the networks saw all that and came to the (very wrong) conclusion that ALL sitcom characters had to be that venal.

As you can tell, I've never been a "Seinfeld" fan.  To me, the characters (and actors) were all off-putting, and the scenes were so short, and the stories so convoluted, that they left little room for character exploration.

Edited January 16, 20224 yr by Khan

Just now, Khan said:

Unfortunately, the networks saw all that and came to the (very wrong) conclusion that ALL sitcom characters had to be that venal.

True, but also the antithesis to something like Friends, which was also heavily copied, where NBC and Warner Brothers tried to force on audiences for years that those characters were their "family" and "comfort food." 

1 minute ago, BetterForgotten said:

True, but also the antithesis to something like Friends, which was also heavily copied, where NBC and Warner Brothers tried to force on audiences for years that those characters were their "family" and "comfort food." 

True dat.  Oh, Gawd, I still get hives thinking 'bout all those endless (and mindless) "Friends" clones.

I've never liked Friends and I never will!

 

I was never a fan of Seinfeld either. I just never found that show funny.

22 hours ago, Vee said:

I've never liked Friends and I never will!

Same!!

22 hours ago, I Am A Swede said:

I was never a fan of Seinfeld either. I just never found that show funny.

Again: same!!

I thought I was the only person who wasn't a fan of the 1990s big sitcom trio of Seinfeld, Friends, Home Improvement 🤣

On 1/16/2022 at 12:23 PM, Khan said:

Unfortunately, the networks saw all that and came to the (very wrong) conclusion that ALL sitcom characters had to be that venal.

As you can tell, I've never been a "Seinfeld" fan.  To me, the characters (and actors) were all off-putting, and the scenes were so short, and the stories so convoluted, that they left little room for character exploration.

+1

Shows in the Top 10 by network.

CBS: 60 Minutes, Murphy Brown, Designing Women, Murder She Wrote, Major Dad, CBS Sunday Movie, Touched by an Angel. Four of the seven shows in the Top 10 during the 1990s were broadcast on Sunday (60 Minutes, Murder She Wrote, CBS Sunday Movie, Touched by an Angel) and the remaining three were broadcast on Monday (Murphy Brown, Designing Women, Major Dad).

ABC: Roseanne, America's Funniest Home Videos, Monday Night Football, Home Improvement, Full House, Coach, Room for Two, Grace Under Fire, NYPD Blue, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, The Practice. Eleven shows made the Top 10 during the 1990s (I counted Who Wants to be a Millionaire as one show). Disney completed their purchase of ABC in 1996 and in the early years of Disney's ownership, it seems like Monday Night Football and Home Improvement were the only solid hits until Who Wants to be a Millionaire premiered.

NBC: Cheers, A Different World, The Cosby Show, Empty Nest, The Golden Girls, Seinfeld, Frasier, ER, Friends, Caroline in the City, The Single Guy, Boston Common, Suddenly Susan, The Naked Truth, Fired Up, Veronica's Closet, Union Square, Jesse. Eighteen shows made the Top 10 during the 1990s and nine of them were short-lived time slot hits (Caroline in the City, The Single Guy, Boston Common, Suddenly Susan, The Naked Truth, Fired Up, Veronica's Closet, Union Square, Jesse) that benefitted from the Thursday night powerhouse trio of Friends, Seinfeld, ER. Sixteen of the 18 shows in the Top 10 during the 1990s were broadcast on Thursday (Cheers, A Different World, The Cosby Show, Seinfeld, Frasier, ER, Friends, Caroline in the City, The Single Guy, Boston Common, Suddenly Susan, The Naked Truth, Fired Up, Veronica's Closet, Union Square, Jesse) and the remaining two were broadcast on Saturday (The Golden Girls, Empty Nest).

 

 

Edited January 18, 20224 yr by kalbir