@kalbir Interesting find there!!
CBS had a solid Thursday night there for a good 3 seasons or so, but the increased competition from ABC lead to both the Waltons and Hawaii Five-O falling out of the Top 30. The 78-79 season had the Waltons at #37, HF-O at #44, and Barnaby Jones at #26.
To exacerbate HF-O’s ratings woes, both the actors who played Danno and Fong quit, so the last season or featured new cast members (including Sharon Farell). The changes didn’t work, and it also seems a bit goofy to me that a show like HF-O crossed over into 1980. The HF-O day and time move reeks more of sabotage than a tank job.
Barnaby Jones seems more of a tank job but was probably performing more solidly than HF-O. The show had seen a bit of a revival by adding in Barnaby’s nephew as Ebsen was getting up there in age but was on the decline by this point as CBS Thursdays weakened further as a whole in the fall of ‘79.
Based on the 1979-80 ratings we have, The Walton’s ended up at #42, Barnaby Jones at #48, and Hawaii Five-O at #74. Our shiny new show Knots Landing ranked in tied at #29.
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soapfan770 ·
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