Ratings from the 1990s

[kalbir]

Correction, Chicago Hope 1994/95 was initially Thursday 9 pm, a CBS dead zone and head-to-head w/ Seinfeld. 1994/95 CBS Thursday 10 pm initially was Eye to Eye with Connie Chung.

Later in the season CBS did a scheduling shift with Chicago Hope moving to Monday 10 pm, Eye to Eye with Connie Chung moving to Thursday 9 pm, and 48 Hours moving from Wednesday 10 pm to Thursday 10 pm.

[soapfan770]

 Thanks! For some reason I had misremembered ER and Chicago Hope going directly head to head but that may have been because of the hype about both shows. 
 

Poor Connie Chung. She seem poised for success and possibly the next Barbara Walters. I don’t recall her co-anchor gig on the CBS Evening News was well received though. She kind of tanked her career moving into more a tabloid journalist role once at ABC and especially once she moved off network TV to CNN and later more infamously on MSNBC. 

[kalbir]

CBS primetime was such a mess in the 1990s.

1990/91 fourth consecutive third place finish.

1991/92 to 1993/94 some signs of life but it didn't last. 

1994/95 to 1999/2000 another primetime mess era. 1995 the sale to Westinghouse and Les Moonves arrived. The only bright spots were Touched by an Angel becoming a Top 10 show and Everybody Loves Raymond starting to show growth.

CBS primetime would have a comeback in 2000 with the premieres of Survivor and CSI and Everybody Loves Raymond becoming a Top 10 show, and the rest is history.

Edited May 11 by kalbir

[soapfan770]

No kidding. It’s amazing to me that CBS as messy as it was for the 97-98 season landed at #2 that year thanks to Sunday nights, 1/2 of the Monday night lineup, Diagnosis Murder on Thursdays, and oddly the Saturday night line-up. I think CBS was saved by the Winter Olympics not to mention ABC had gotten even messier than CBS’ mess. 

CBS came out a more solid for #2 for the 98-99 season but was still very uneven overall. Outside of Sundays the rest of the network’s hits were on checkerboard split between Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. 
 

Had it not been for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire fever I’d say CBS probably would’ve been at #2 for the 99-00 season as well, very much still uneven but of course Survivor and CSI were on the horizon.

(*There’s some evidence that CBS may have barely eked out a win for #2 for the 96-97 season but that season’s mess sure doesn’t feel that way)

[kalbir]

@soapfan770 1995/96 to 1999/2000 were not very good in primetime. CBS and ABC both had primetime mess eras, and that's how NBC got away with their Thursday garbage shows finishing in the Top 10. Remember too that ABC was sold to Disney in 1996. 

As for ABC primetime mess era, it started with the Top 10 fallout of Roseanne and ended with the breakout success of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Monday Night Football and Home Improvement pretty much kept ABC alive in that era.

[soapfan770]

Late posting this but we had mentioned about the 35th anniversary of the final episode of FC in the FC thread, here’s an article giving some ratings background behind that as well as CBS giving a couple other shows the boot as well as the new Fox network going through growing pains saying sayonara to both its 80’s flagships:

CBS Pulls Plug on ‘Falcon Crest,’ 2 Others

By RICK DU BROW 

May 17, 1990 12 TIMES TELEVISION WRITER

 One of the most successful soap operas in the history of TV, CBS’ “Falcon Crest,” comes to an end tonight at 9 after a nine-season run.

In the early and mid-1980s, “Falcon Crest,” which starred Jane Wyman in a tale set in the Napa Valley wine country near San Francisco, ranked among the Top 10-rated shows for three consecutive seasons.

It was the period of prime-time soap opera’s greatest success, with such series as “Dallas” and “Dynasty” dominating the field and “Knots Landing” also a strong finisher.

CBS also yanked two other series Wednesday--”City,” a Valerie Harper sitcom, and “The Famous Teddy Z,” a comedy about a young talent agent--after both shows registered disastrous ratings Saturday when paired for the first time against NBC’s powerful tandem of “The Golden Girls” and “Empty Nest.”

“City” and “The Famous Teddy Z” will be replaced effective this Saturday by reruns of the Vietnam War drama “Tour of Duty,” which earned double the ratings of the two comedies in the same time slot before winding up its season. “Tour of Duty” is awaiting a decision on whether it will be renewed for next season.

CBS’ decision to cancel “Falcon Crest,” which was down to 19% of the audience this season, came as the network--on a surprising rebound this month--focused in on its new lineup for fall, soon to be announced. “Dallas” has also slipped sharply, although “Knots Landing” remains a relative success.

In another series change, Fox TV’s “The Tracey Ullman Show,” which tied for 89th place in last week’s ratings with “The Famous Teddy Z,” became the second quality series to depart the fledgling network. Ullman’s innovative variety program, which gave Fox its first Emmy Awards but drew low ratings, followed “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” in bowing out after its fourth season.

“I thank Fox for letting someone no one ever heard of do a show on a network that didn’t exist,” Ullman said. “Well, it certainly does exist now and I am proud to have helped give it credibility.”

In last week’s ratings, “City” ranked last among 91 shows, drawing only 6% of the audience, and “The Famous Teddy Z” was 89th, with 7%. “Tour of Duty,” which previously fared respectably against TV blockbusters such as “The Cosby Show” and “Roseanne,” attracted 13% of the national audience this season in competition with “The Golden Girls” and “Empty Nest.”

 

 

[kalbir]

@soapfan770 1989/90 CBS also ended Newhart, Beauty and the Beast, and Tour of Duty, but I guess at the time the article was written those endings might not have been known.

1989/90 CBS primetime had so many one season and done shows. The fall shows that returned were Major Dad and Rescue 911, and the midseason/summer shows that returned were Bagdad Café, Northern Exposure, and Top Cops. 

 

[Soapsuds]

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[Khan]

This must have been the week the final episode of "Newhart" aired.

[kalbir]

May 21, 1990 was CBS Monday comedy finale night. Major Dad season 1 finale, Newhart series finale, Murphy Brown season 2 finale, Designing Women season 4 finale.

The comedies that were in the 1989/90 Top 10 had their season finales earlier.

April 23-29, 1990: Empty Nest

April 30-May 6, 1990: The Cosby Show, A Different World, Cheers, The Golden Girls

May 7-13, 1990: Roseanne

May 14-20, 1990: The Wonder Years

[kalbir]

1996/97 CBS moves Touched by Angel from Saturday 9 pm to Sunday 8 pm, where it pretty much inherited the Murder, She Wrote audience.

`TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL' HAS PUT CBS EXECUTIVES IN RATINGS HEAVEN

Touched by an Angel becoming a Top 10 show was a rare bright spot in that 1994-2000 CBS primetime mess era.

[te.]

To be honest, moving Murder, She Wrote to Thursdays probably did seem like a good attempt at counterprogramming (they did the same thing with some success with Diagnosis: Murder the next season). They had hoped it would appeal to a different audience to the Friends juggernaut and wouldn't crash in the way it did. They also programmed Mary Tyler Moore's new show after it, so they clearly went with a "vibe" for the evening.

With that said, I think MSW just have that end of the weekend vibe. Something you'd cosy up on Sunday evening while preparing for a new dreaded week.