As we've seen in the 1980s Ratings, 1990s Ratings, and Time Slot Hits threads, scheduling often plays a big part in the success of a primetime network series.

We all know some scheduling moves were more successful than others.

There are scheduling moves made by the networks to get an aging or fading show to a quicker end (tank jobs) or to get a show no longer wanted by the networks to an end (sabotage).

Here are some examples. 

Tank jobs

1984/85: CBS moves The Jeffersons and Alice from Sunday 9 pm/9:30 pm to Tuesday 8 pm/8:30 pm where they are now head-to-head w/ The A-Team. The Jeffersons and Alice are both below the Top 30 and are cancelled. The A-Team is 6th.

1985/86: CBS moves Trapper John, M.D. from Sunday 10 pm to Tuesday, where ABC has made a comeback w/ Who's the Boss taking off, new comedy Growing Pains, and Moonlighting showing growth. Trapper John, M.D. falls out of the Top 30 and is cancelled. Who's the Boss is 10th, Growing Pains is 17th, Moonlighting is 24th.

1986/87: NBC moves Hill Street Blues from Thursday 10 pm to Tuesday 9 pm, where it is now head-to-head w/ Moonlighting. Hill Street Blues is below the Top 30 and is cancelled. Moonlighting is 9th.

Sabotage

1987/88: ABC moves Hotel from Wednesday 10 pm to Saturday 10 pm. Hotel is below the Top 30 and is cancelled. Brandon Stoddard had a goal to get Aaron Spelling shows off of ABC, thus the move to a dead zone time slot.

1988/89: ABC moves Dynasty from Wednesday 10 pm to Thursday 9 pm, where it is now head-to-head w/ Cheers. Dynasty is below the Top 30 and is cancelled. Cheers is 4th. Brandon Stoddard knew exactly what he was doing when he moved Dynasty to a dead zone time slot. That move accomplished Brandon Stoddard's goal of getting Aaron Spelling shows off of ABC.

1988/89: ABC moves Moonlighting from Tuesday 9 pm to Sunday 8 pm, where it is now head-to-head w/ Murder, She Wrote. Moonlighting falls out of the Top 30 and is cancelled. Murder, She Wrote is 8th. My feeling is Robert Iger had enough of the backstage drama at Moonlighting, thus the move to a dead zone time slot.

1995/96: CBS moves Murder, She Wrote from Sunday 8 pm to Thursday 8 pm, head-to-head w/ Friends. Les Moonves wanted Murder, She Wrote gone from CBS so he knew exactly what he was doing when he moved Murder, She Wrote to a dead zone time slot. Murder, She Wrote falls out of the Top 30 and is cancelled. Friends is 3rd.

Some moves that might be considered tank jobs or sabotage but I'd say they were more fill space in the schedule.

1985/86: CBS moves Crazy Like a Fox from Sunday 9 pm to Wednesday 9 pm, head-to-head w/ Dynasty. That move filled the space from CBS cancelling new Wednesday shows Stir Crazy and George Burns Comedy Week. Crazy Like a Fox falls out of the Top 30 and is cancelled. Dynasty is 7th.

1988/89: CBS moves Simon & Simon from Thursday 9 pm to Saturday 9 pm, head-to-head w/ The Golden Girls. CBS never really had much success on Saturday. Simon & Simon is below the Top 30 and is cancelled. The Golden Girls is 6th.

1989/90: CBS moves the final four episodes of Falcon Crest from Friday 10 pm to Thursday 9 pm, head-to-head w/ Cheers. That move filled the space from CBS cancelling new Thursday 9 pm shows Top of the Hill, Island Son, Max Monroe: Loose Cannon. Cheers is 3rd.

If anyone has more to add, please do.

@kalbir Did some further digging re Simon /Cagney

Simon was #70 for the season

Cagney was #65

Cagney aired 3 of its 6 episodes Thurs@9 and CBS took it off and replaced it with a Simon& Simon repeats -as you stated all 13 of it's original order had played Tues @8. It hit #12 one week, so on the strength of that CBS decided to commit for the 82/83 season. 

Wonder who had the idea to place a repeat of a failed series in that slot? They were both from Universal so maybe there was a suggestion from them that the shows would work together? Who knows? But it sure was a canny move.

Meanwhile a new episode of Cagney was placed in the Sun @10 slot and rated well so CBS ordered a new series for 82/83 in the Mon @10 slot.

So two examples of failed series that were given renewals on the strength of  good showing in a new timeslot.

Meanwhile other shows weren't given that chance and much higher rated series were cancelled.

43 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

Meanwhile other shows weren't given that chance and much higher rated series were cancelled.

This reminds me of some of the alleged  conspiracy that Ed Asner had that season about CBS cancelling Lou Grant because the network was out against his political views. 

CBS stated it was because the show’s falling ratings they axed the show. Certainly the ratings were down a bit but still decent enough for a middle pack show. But I don’t know if there is any credence to Asner’s theory about why Lou Grant was canned.

My best uneducated guess is the reality is CBS probably wanted something new instead of trying to save a older show that was starting to flail, and there was at least one exec who was more than happy to say good riddance.

@Paul Raven Thank you for the additional info re Simon & Simon/Cagney & Lacey.

8 minutes ago, soapfan770 said:

CBS probably wanted something new instead of trying to save a older show that was starting to flail

1979-1982 CBS was successful in replacing a good number of aging and fading shows. Hawaii Five-O, Barnaby Jones, The White Shadow, The Waltons, The Incredible Hulk, Lou Grant gave way to Trapper John, M.D.; Knots Landing; Magnum, P.I.; Simon & Simon, Falcon Crest, Cagney & Lacey. Unfortunately when the new shows of 1979-1982 started to age and fade, many of the new offerings weren't as successful: The Equalizer, The Twilight Zone, Houston Knights, Beauty and the Beast, Jake and the Fatman, Tour of Duty, Wiseguy, Paradise.

 

52 minutes ago, kalbir said:

@Paul Raven Thank you for the additional info re Simon & Simon/Cagney & Lacey.

1979-1982 CBS was successful in replacing a good number of aging and fading shows. Hawaii Five-O, Barnaby Jones, The White Shadow, The Waltons, The Incredible Hulk, Lou Grant gave way to Trapper John, M.D.; Knots Landing; Magnum, P.I.; Simon & Simon, Falcon Crest, Cagney & Lacey. Unfortunately when the new shows of 1979-1982 started to age and fade, many of the new offerings weren't as successful: The Equalizer, The Twilight Zone, Houston Knights, Beauty and the Beast, Jake and the Fatman, Tour of Duty, Wiseguy, Paradise.

 

 Some of those late 80’s shows were very good (Equalizer, Paradise), while some decent but lacked the quality of what it was replacing etc. I’m still puzzled on why out of all those late 80s shows it was Jake and the Fatman that lasted the longest 🤣.

CBS kind of fell into a complacency overall between 1982-85, but for the bigger shows there was nothing to fix as it wasn’t broken.

Seems to me one of the biggest issues CBS had was programming new blocks of shows on what had been traditionally movie nights like Wednesdays and Saturdays and expecting it work right off the bat without having some type of anchorage of an established show and with tight competition at work. 

@soapfan770 re Lou Grant cancellation. I'm sure Ed Asner's politics was a factor but there were other factors at play.

CBS 9-11 Monday-MASH, House Calls,Lou Grant traditionally was strong in the second half of the season when Monday football finished and ABC programmed series that usually flopped. That season they went with movies that did very well and CBS didn't dominate.

MASH was finishing and CBS attempts to refresh the night with Flo and Private Benjamin hadn't worked. House Calls was regarded as a success due to following MASH and another season of Lou Grant would have fallen further. So a revamped Cagney and Lacey was placed there behind the new Bob Newhart series to freshen the night before MASH departed

You're right about CBS trying to program those movie nights. For 81/82 the moved Nurse to 9pm Wed after it performed well as a short flight  show Thurs @10. To expect it to perform up against Facts of Life and Fall Guy was a big ask and it was off the air after a few weeks.

Nest season they tried Alice 9pm Wed and that flopped also so for 83/84 they threw in the towel and programmed movies Tues, Wed and Sat admitting that trying to launch new series in those timeslots at the start of the season was doomed. They waited to see how the opposition was performing and then placed Airwolf/Mike Hammer Sat 9-11 with some success.

7 hours ago, soapfan770 said:

Certainly the ratings were down a bit but still decent enough for a middle pack show. But I don’t know if there is any credence to Asner’s theory about why Lou Grant was canned.

Well, as you said - it was a middle-of-the-pack show. It was the definition of a reliable player, but also something that they could do away with if they needed the space. And with Dallas and Falcon Crest flying high, I imagine the decision might've been between Knots and Lou Grant, and Knots won out (it was actually in real danger of getting cancelled that season per producers). 

Similar thing happened with NCIS: Hawaii this season - it was performing well enough for renewal, but CBS essentially had to do away with something for new shows.

Edited July 26, 20241 yr by te.

On 7/25/2024 at 8:05 PM, soapfan770 said:

CBS kind of fell into a complacency overall between 1982-85

That came back to bite them, and that's how we got the third place primetime mess era 1987/88 to 1990/91.

CBS struggled w/ sitcoms from 1982/83 (the end of M*A*S*H and the Top 10 fallouts of The Jeffersons, Alice, One Day at a Time) until 1989/90 (Designing Women and Murphy Brown started showing growth). The only bright spots among sitcoms in that era were Newhart and Kate & Allie, but they got lost in the shuffle when sitcoms made a comeback in 1985/86. Newhart was up-and-down in the ratings and got overshadowed by the big workplace/friendship sitcoms Cheers, The Golden Girls, Night Court. Kate & Allie started good but couldn't maintain its momentum and got overshadowed by the big family sitcoms The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Who's the Boss, Growing Pains.

On the drama side, Dallas, Knots Landing; Magnum, P.I.; Simon & Simon, Falcon Crest were at their peak, The Dukes of Hazzard was fading; Trapper John, M.D. was middle of the pack but about to fade; Cagney & Lacey took time to show growth but couldn't maintain its momentum. The new dramas launched in that era had varying degrees of success: The surprise success of Murder, She Wrote. Another surprise success Crazy Like a Fox but counter-programming killed its momentum. Middle of the pack Scarecrow and Mrs. King. The Mississippi started good but couldn't maintain it's momentum. Airwolf and Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer showed no growth.

1985/86 was the turning point for the drama lineup as Dallas, Knots Landing, Falcon Crest tanked; Magnum, P.I. got slaughtered by The Cosby Show, and Simon & Simon got clobbered by Cheers. That's really when CBS should have looked at their drama line up and started making moves. 

Edited July 28, 20241 yr by kalbir

3 hours ago, kalbir said:

Kate & Allie started good but couldn't maintain its momentum and got overshadowed by the big family sitcoms The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Who's the Boss, Growing Pains.

A shame, since I thought K&A was as good as Cosby and FT.

Also a shame that "Newhart," while not perfect, got overshadowed by "Night Court," which often confused weirdness with humor (IMO).

Edited July 28, 20241 yr by Khan

1 hour ago, Khan said:

A shame, since I thought K&A was as good as Cosby and FT.

Also a shame that "Newhart," while not perfect, got overshadowed by "Night Court," which often confused weirdness with humor (IMO).

I think K&A was better than Family Ties - I never thought the cast on that clicked. 

I preferred Night Court as a kid, but I agree Newhart is underrated.

CBS launched The Mississippi following Dallas after Falcon Crest finished its run and in that timeslot it did well.

So the following season CBS moved it into one of their perennial dead zones Tues @8 where it limped along opposite The A Team, which was the hot new show.

Maybe the idea is that it would be good counterprogramming and be  a solid #2 in the timeslot.

But it seemed a waste of a promising show. 

Maybe Fri@8 leading into Dallas? Dukes of Hazzard was on its last legs and Mississippi may have freshened up the night.

Either cancel Dukes of Hazzard or move it to Sat @8.

Edited July 29, 20241 yr by Paul Raven

@Paul Raven I remember it being posted in another thread that The Mississippi was a starring vehicle for Ralph Waite after The Waltons ended as CBS had some sort of deal with him they had to fulfill. I wonder if the move to a dead zone time slot was sabotage to get that deal to a quicker end.

Dukes of Hazzard, for whatever reason CBS chose not to tank job it, instead they left it at Friday 8 pm to limp along in its final two seasons. When Dukes of Hazzard ended, Friday 8 pm became another dead zone.

Edited July 29, 20241 yr by kalbir

6 hours ago, Khan said:

A shame, since I thought K&A was as good as Cosby and FT.

Also a shame that "Newhart," while not perfect, got overshadowed by "Night Court," which often confused weirdness with humor (IMO).

I think the thing with K&A is that it was a family sitcom that wasn't a family sitcom. It was about the two ladies, and the kids were always supporting characters and never leads. Even the kids problems were explored from the moms' perspectives. That definitely made it a unique show for the time, and I'm glad it ended up having a nice, healthy run, but with limited appeal to the teen/kid audience, it's no surprise that it rarely popped up in reruns.

3 hours ago, kalbir said:

@Paul Raven I remember it being posted in another thread that The Mississippi was a starring vehicle for Ralph Waite after The Waltons ended as CBS had some sort of deal with him they had to fulfill. I wonder if the move to a dead zone time slot was sabotage to get that deal to a quicker end.

Dukes of Hazzard, for whatever reason CBS chose not to tank job it, instead they left it at Friday 8 pm to limp along in its final two seasons. When Dukes of Hazzard ended, Friday 8 pm became another dead zone.

I agree that Ralph Waite had some deal with CBS along those lines- he also had some TV movies airing around that time.

I don't get why CBS would want to sabotage a show with ratings potential, however.

Although who knows what went on BTS?

I wonder if Michael Learned got a similar to deal to stay on The Waltons-that resulted in her series, Nurse.

I think Patrick Duffy and Larry Hagman got those deals also.

Re Dukes-CBS could see the writing on the wall but didn't develop a show that suited Fri @8, which neither ABC or NBC were dominating.

When Dukes finally was dropped they replaced it with Detective in the House with Judd Hirsch, which hardly had the same appeal as Dukes.

failed tank job:

1995/1996: NBC moves Mad About You from Thursday at 8 to Sunday at 8, much to Sony and Paul Reiser's chagrin as they'd just begun selling the show into syndication and the thinking was that moving it off Must See Thursday would devalue the show; NBC ended up giving it a two-season pickup to calm their nerves.  While it consistently won its timeslot on Sundays, it lost a third of its audience from when it was on Thursday and NBC moved it to Tuesday at 8 the following season, where ratings largely recovered opposite a flailing Roseanne.  

Thought this article was appropriate for this thread

‘Designing Women’ becomes Thursday’s sacrificial lamb By Michael Dougan San Francisco Examiner SAN FRANCISCO (Scripps) Wed December 17 1986

Annie Potts and Dixie Carter were eating lunch when word came that their funny new CBS aeries “Designing Women” had scored miserably low numbers In the overnight Nielsens in its first Thursday outing, So low in fact that “Designing Women” rated 58th in the weekly figures — a disastrous drop from the No 20 slot it enjoyed when it aired on Monday the week before.

Despite its great success as a Monday show following “Newhart” “Designing Women” is not likely to prevail against NBC’s “Night Court", part of a quartet of programs (with “The Cosby Show” “Family Ties” and “Cheers”) that has given American viewers an unshakeable NBC habit come Thursday evenings.

Television Is an industry that eats its young 

In order to boost its own pitiable Thursday night ratings CBS moved “Designing Women” Into the death zone. The results were predictable - not only did “Designing Women” drew an abominable Nielsen rating but its “share” — the percentage of sets actually turned on at the time it aired — was a mere 15 vs 41 for “Night Court” and 21 for ABC’s ‘The Colbys”. “We did not win over The Colbys?’ ’’ moaned Carter “Oh Annie I hadn’t expected us to be lower than The Colbys’. ’’ “Did they have naked women on last night or something?” said Potts “That’s better than they’ve ever done” She stared glumly into her minestrone.

Kim LeMasters is the CBS programming chief who made the decision to shift “Designing Women” onto the Thursday night minefield. On this Black Friday Potts and Carter were mentally scratching LeMasters off their Chrlstmas-card lists. They had learned of the move to Thursdays only two weeks earlier, “We were shocked and we were frightened,” Carter recalled. “We didn’t know what to make of this and Kim LeMasters came to see us to assure us that this was a vote of confidence. Although he acknowledged that this was not the best thing to do for Designing Women, it was the best thing to do for CBS on Thursday nights.He thought we were up to it”

The topic shifted — however lightly — to Hal Holbrook, Carter’s husband, as It happened the “Designing Women” guest star on that ill-fated Thursday debut.“I’m just so angry” said Potts “that a man of his stature could come along strictly out of his affection for all of us and his extraordinary love for Dixie and do this show . “And” chimed in Carter, “that he would have the foul luck to be a sacrificial lamb on our first night.” I asked whether CBS might consider a second move if “Designing Women” continues to founder “That’s what Kim LeMasters said right to us” Carter replied “He said they would move us back to Monday nights but now that (CBS’ new series) The Cavanaughs’ has scored a marvelous rating on Monday night ”