9 hours ago, BetterForgotten said:

And the highest rated finale of the entire 90's decade as well! The end of Cheers was also part of a greater cultural shift in many ways - 90's pop culture took years to get off the ground in music, fashion, film, and TV. The early 90's were largely a late 80's extension. 

By the time Cheers ended music trends had started to shift to grunge, adult contemporary, and hip-hop, the supermodel era in fashion was peaking, there was a greater emphasis on blockbuster film making and quicker box office hits, and certain TV shows like Seinfeld were about to hit the stratosphere (with others on its heels).  

I agree.

IMO, "Cheers" and "Frasier" were the last two, non-family-oriented sitcoms that emphasized storytelling (and longer scenes) over just gags and (white) folks behaving badly.  Once "Seinfeld" and "Friends" became the new thing, it seemed like sitcom plots were variations of, "So-and-so's got a new boyfriend, but how is she gonna handle him not being circumcised!?"

20 hours ago, BetterForgotten said:

certain TV shows like Seinfeld were about to hit the stratosphere (with others on its heels).  

1993/94 Home Improvement peaked, Seinfeld blew up, NYPD Blue premiered.

1994/95 Seinfeld reached #1, ER and Friends premiered and they were the breakout hits of the season, NYPD Blue peaked. ER also became the highest-rated drama across the broadcast networks and it would remain so until 2000/01.

1995/96 ER reached #1 and Friends blew up.

ER was the first drama since Dallas to have three seasons as the #1 show. Fun fact, the three #1 seasons of Dallas and ER are each separated by 15 years: Dallas #1 1980/81, 1981/82, 1983/84; ER #1 1995/96, 1996/97, 1998/99.

NBC Thursday 20 year dominance of primetime I divide in two eras: Cosby/Cheers era and Seinfeld/ER/Friends era. I hold the Cosby/Cheers era in much higher regard than the Seinfeld/ER/Friends era. The Cosby Show saved both NBC as a network and sitcoms as a genre. As I've pointed out before, NBC was very fortunate in the Seinfeld/ER/Friends era that both CBS and ABC had primetime mess eras and that's how NBC was able to get away with scheduling forgettable shows at Thursday 8:30 pm and Thursday 9:30 pm that still finished in the Top 10.

 

Edited May 23, 20232 yr by kalbir

Dallas related

 

How strange to see "A Different World" and not "The Cosby Show" listed among the top 10 most watched shows for that week, lol.  Had TCS been preempted?  Did they air a repeat?

2 hours ago, Khan said:

How strange to see "A Different World" and not "The Cosby Show" listed among the top 10 most watched shows for that week, lol.  Had TCS been preempted?  Did they air a repeat?

May 2, 1991 was The Cosby Show season 7 finale, Theo and the Kids (Part 2). Rating 15.2, 15th for the week.

The Dallas finale was the highest-rated episode since October 9, 1987: Gone with the Wind, rating 20.2.

Prior to the finale, the last Dallas episode to finish ahead of a new episode of Murder, She Wrote was October 23, 1987: Tough Love, rating 18.2.

Prior to the finale, the last Dallas episode to finish ahead of a new episode of The Cosby Show was February 22, 1985: Shattered Dreams, rating 25.8.

A year after Dallas’ end, CBS celebrated a brief resurgence:

For the first time in television history, a network has gone from third place to first in a single season.

CBS dethroned longtime ratings champion NBC by winning the 1991-92 season by a relatively substantial margin. CBS averaged a 13.8 rating and a 22 share, 12 percent ahead of NBC (12.3/20), 13 percent in front of ABC (12.2/20) and 66 percent in front of Fox (8.0/13).(Fox was the other big winner, however. Those numbers represent a 25 percent increase in ratings and an 18 percent increase in shares over last season.)

The Big Eye also claimed five of the top 10 shows and eight of the top 15, including No. 1 "60 Minutes."

It was CBS's first season win since the 1984-85 season. The network won 22 of 30 weeks during the regular season, including last week when the NCAA tournament title game was the most-watched show.

Even better than ranking No. 1 was the fact that CBS increased its audience by 12 percent over last season, while NBC fell 3 percent and ABC 2 percent.

"This was the greatest season-to-season percent rating increase of any network since ABC's 14 percent during the 1976-77 season," said David Poltrack, CBS's senior vice president of planning and research.

Much has been made of the boost that CBS got this season from the World Series, the Super Bowl, the Winter Olympics and the NCAA basketball tournament. And while those highly rated sports events made the gap wider, CBS would have finished first without them.

Among regular series, CBS averaged a 13.3 rating, NBC a 12.1 and ABC an 11.7.

And while CBS has long been derided because its audience "skews old" - it tends to attract older viewers, the network finished first among women 18-49, women 25-54, men 18-49 and men 25-54.

NBC, which had won the 30-week regular season for six straight seasons, was particularly classless in defeat. Instead of congratulating CBS on its victory, in an official statement, NBC announced that it "would no longer recognize mid-April as the end of the television season.

(Funny, it hasn't seemed to bother them the past six seasons. Talk about a corporate cry-baby.)

NBC will declare a winner in the middle of September, after a 52-week TV season. But it isn't going to help - CBS will still come out the winner.

THE TOP 20: 1. "60 Minutes," CBS; 2. "Roseanne," ABC; 3. "Murphy Brown," CBS; 4. "Cheers," NBC; 5. "Home Improvement," ABC; 6. "Designing Women," CBS; 7. "Coach," ABC; 8. "Full House," ABC; 9. "Murder, She Wrote," CBS; 10. "Major Dad," CBS; 11. "Monday Night Football," ABC; 12. "Unsolved Mysteries," NBC; 13. "CBS Sunday Night Movie"; 14. "Evening Shade," CBS; 15. "Northern Exposure," CBS; 16. "A Different World," NBC; 17. "The Cosby Show," NBC; 18. "Wings," NBC; 19. "20/20," ABC; 20. "America's Funniest Home Videos," ABC.

1991/92 CBS owned Sunday (60 Minutes; Murder, She Wrote) and Monday (Murphy Brown, Designing Women, Major Dad), and ABC owned Tuesday (Roseanne, breakout hit Home Improvement, Full House, Coach).

NBC Thursday and Saturday had weakened in 1991/92. Cheers was still going strong but The Cosby Show, A Different World, The Golden Girls, and Empty Nest all fell out of the Top 10. NBC also made the mistake of changing the time slots of The Golden Girls (9 pm to 8 pm) and Empty Nest (9:30 pm to 9 pm).

28 minutes ago, kalbir said:

1991/92 CBS owned Sunday (60 Minutes; Murder, She Wrote) and Monday (Murphy Brown, Designing Women, Major Dad), and ABC owned Tuesday (Roseanne, breakout hit Home Improvement, Full House, Coach).

NBC Thursday and Saturday had weakened in 1991/92. Cheers was still going strong but The Cosby Show, A Different World, The Golden Girls, and Empty Nest all fell out of the Top 10. NBC also made the mistake of changing the time slots of The Golden Girls (9 pm to 8 pm) and Empty Nest (9:30 pm to 9 pm).

Fox knew exactly what they were doing by counter programming The Simpsons against Cosby.

NBC made a mistake by keeping The Golden Girls separate from spinoffs Empty Nest & Nurses instead of at least building a block for for the three shows while multiple shows failed between that. Not to mention Marc Cherry era of the Golden Girls completely changed the tone of the show. 

15 minutes ago, soapfan770 said:

Fox knew exactly what they were doing by counter programming The Simpsons against Cosby.

Roseanne was the first show that threatened The Cosby Show's dominance but it was The Simpsons that finished off The Cosby Show.

21 minutes ago, kalbir said:

Roseanne was the first show that threatened The Cosby Show's dominance but it was The Simpsons that finished off The Cosby Show.

Indeed. At the time so called “industry experts” were surprised Fox made such a move at the start of the season but it’s pretty obvious Fox was the shark that saw blood in the water. 
 

The momentum didn’t last though as Tisch’s  CBS made some strange oddball moves. More on that later.

8 hours ago, kalbir said:

The Dallas finale was the highest-rated episode since October 9, 1987: Gone with the Wind, rating 20.2.

 

It ranked as the #6 show for the week.

In the episode Pam's bandages are removed and she vanishes.

Dallas still had life in it. It's too bad a few important pieces were missing.

Show	Net	Viewers (millions)	HH Rating	HH Share
Monday, October 5, 1987
ALF	NBC	27.2	18.5	30
Frank's Place	CBS	15.5	13.7	22
MacGyver	ABC	13.3	12.2	20
Valerie's Family	NBC	24.2	17.6	27
Kate & Allie	CBS	19.1	15.1	23
Newhart	CBS	26.9	19.5	30
Haunted by Her Past	NBC	20.6	16.7	27
49ers/Giants	ABC	12.5	13.8	25
Designing Women	CBS	24.7	18.6	29
Cagney & Lacey	CBS	18.9	15.7	27
Tuesday, October 6, 1987
Who's the Boss?	ABC	30.5	21.9	36
Houston Knights	CBS	14.7	12.7	20
N.L. Pre-game	NBC	12.8	10.7	19
Giants/Cardinals	NBC	17.9	15.5	26
Growing Pains	ABC	30.9	23.1	37
Moonlighting	ABC	28.0	21.8	34
Jake and the Fatman	CBS	20.9	14.8	23
thirtysomething	ABC	18.7	15.9	38
The Law & Harry McGraw	CBS	15.4	13.6	24
Wednesday, October 7, 1987
Perfect Strangers	ABC	21.3	17.0	28
A.L. Pre-game	NBC	14.2	12.3	22
The Oldest Rookie	CBS	16.9	12.2	19
Tigers/Twins	NBC	20.2	17.2	28
Head of the Class	ABC	21.7	18.7	29
Magnum, P.I.	CBS	22.9	18.6	28
Hooperman	ABC	18.0	16.8	26
``Slap'' Maxwell	ABC	15.4	14.9	23
Dynasty	ABC	14.6	15.4	26
The Equalizer	CBS	16.9	14.2	24
Thursday, October 8, 1987
The Cosby Show	NBC	41.6	28.2	45
Tour of Duty	CBS	16.4	12.0	19
Sledge Hammer!	ABC	14.2	9.3	15
Tigers/Twins	NBC	21.1	18.7	32
The Charmings	ABC	20.8	13.2	21
Wiseguy	CBS	19.7	13.8	22
Star 80	ABC	12.8	10.6	17
Knots Landing	CBS	19.1	16.5	28
Friday, October 9, 1987
Beauty and the Beast	CBS	17.5	13.0	23
Full House	ABC	16.9	11.4	21
N.L. Pre-game	NBC	12.6	10.1	20
Cardinals/Giants	NBC	19.0	14.6	27
I Married Dora	ABC	15.5	11.6	20
Dallas	CBS	28.3	20.2	35
Max Headroom	ABC	11.0	7.1	12
Falcon Crest	CBS	20.8	16.4	31
20/20	ABC	15.2	10.8	20
Saturday, October 10, 1987
My Sister Sam	CBS	17.4	10.1	19
N.L. Pre-game	NBC	14.3	9.6	19
Carol Burnett Special	ABC	10.5	7.8	14
Cardinals/Giants	NBC	19.2	14.5	27
Everything's Relative	CBS	16.8	10.0	18
Ohara	ABC	13.7	10.5	19
Leg Work	CBS	14.8	8.6	16
Hotel	ABC	16.2	11.9	24
West 57th	CBS	10.8	7.6	15
Sunday, October 11, 1987
60 Minutes	CBS	22.3	18.5	32
Cardinals/Giants	NBC	-	14.6	28
Disney Movie	ABC	17.2	11.3	19
Murder, She Wrote	CBS	30.2	23.3	36
For Hire	ABC	16.8	12.1	19
A.L. Pre-game	NBC	17.6	11.9	20
Twins/Tigers	NBC	22.4	16.8	28
After the Promise	CBS	26.4	19.2	30
Dolly	ABC	25.9	15.1	23
Buck James	ABC	17.4	10.9	20

Edited June 10, 20232 yr by Soapsuds

17 hours ago, soapfan770 said:

At the time so called “industry experts” were surprised Fox made such a move at the start of the season but it’s pretty obvious Fox was the shark that saw blood in the water. 

The Simpsons was on Thursdays from 1990/91 to 1993/94. It did the job that Fox wanted it to do (finish off The Cosby Show) but notice how the final Thursday season was the same season that Seinfeld blew up. I think Fox sensed that NBC Thursday was about to make a comeback so The Simpsons returned to Sunday in Fall 1994. Imagine The Simpsons head-to-head with Friends during the second half of the 1990s.

17 hours ago, soapfan770 said:

The momentum didn’t last though as Tisch’s  CBS made some strange oddball moves. 

The 1992/93 attempt to compete with TGIF? We know the 1997/98 Block Party was an epic failure.

Edited June 10, 20232 yr by kalbir

1995/96, ER reaches #1 and Friends blows up. The rest of the broadcast network primetime lineups that weren't NBC Thursday, not looking so good.

Who Lives and Who Dies on TV - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

46 minutes ago, kalbir said:

1995/96, ER reaches #1 and Friends blows up. The rest of the broadcast network primetime lineups that weren't NBC Thursday, not looking so good.

Who Lives and Who Dies on TV - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Very interesting. LOL at the two new “hits” being The Single Guy and Caroline in the City.