Moving shows around the schedule in the search for better numbers was part and parcel of programming.

In the Tank Jobs/Sabotage thread we've discussed how/why this was done when programmers lost faith in a show for any number of reasons.

In this thread let's look at timeslot changes that actually benefitted a show.

One example was Dallas. Originally on Sunday night it did well, but CBS saw how it suffered when up against strong movies on ABC/NBC. So it got moved to Saturday night for 78/79. Bit with a weak lead in (American Girls) and strong competition it floundered. So CBS tried Fri@9 following new show Dukes of Hazzard. The ratings picked up and the rest is history.

Six Million Dollar Man was struggling Friday nights in it's first season but once ABC moved it to Sun@8 it hit the Top 10.

Beverly Hills 90210 moving to Wednesdays in the summer of 1992, which was originally only meant to be temporary until Melrose Place got properly launched.

Then Melrose Place moving to Mondays in the 1994-95 season after Fox having abandoned the nights to movies after having cancelled all their dramas following the 1989-90 season, including the Monday line-up of 21 Jump Street (a failed move, but it did one season in syndication afterwards) and Alien Nation.

IDK whether this qualifies, but...

Despite signing her and then-husband Grant Tinker to a deal for her own sitcom, CBS had zero faith that "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" would succeed, largely because Mary would be playing a divorced woman (which was later changed to unmarried, but leaving a live-in boyfriend when he refused to marry her after finishing medical school...because that's less scandalous than divorced, lol?) and they were afraid viewers would think "Laura Petrie" had left Rob. So, they attempted to bury her show on some night - I think Wednesdays? - with the hope that it would die a quick death.

Then, Fred Silverman replaced Mike Dann as CBS' programming VP. He watched the MTMS pilot and believed it fitted in with his overall strategy to "de-ruralize" the network's lineup and put on shows that would appeal to more upscale audiences instead. That's when he switched MTMS from its' original night to Saturdays - before the first episode had aired, but weeks after its' original time slot had been announced to the trades, including TV Guide.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Edited 9 hours ago9 hr by Khan

CBS announced schedule changes late July 1970. It was definitely Fred Silverman's directive.

From Broadcasting mag.

CBS -TV, to everybody's surprise last week, put into effect a decision to change the time periods of almost one half of its half hour primetime shows in the fall schedule.

The new line -ups:

Tuesday- 7:30 -8 Hillbillies (previously on Wednesday, 8:30 -9); 8- 8:30 Green Acres (previously Saturday, 9- 9:30); 8:30 -9:30 Hee Haw (unchanged); 9:30 -10 Rome With Live (previously Tuesday, 7- 7:30); 10 -11 60 Minutes! CBS News Hour (unchanged).

Wednesday- 7:30 -8:30 The Storefront Lawyers (unchanged); 8:30 -9 Governor and J.I. (previously Tuesday, 9- 30 -10); 9 -10 Medical Center (unchanged); 10 -11 Hawaii- Five -O (unchanged).

Saturday -7:30 -8:30 Mission Impossible (unchanged); 8:30 -9 My Three Sons (unchanged); 9 -9:30 Arnie (previously Saturday 9:30 -10); 9:30 -10 Mary Tyler Moore (previously Tuesday 8- 8:30); 10 -11 Mannix (unchanged).

While advertising- agency thinking appeared confident that CBS's decision made sense, there was speculation that The Mary Tyler Moore Show had sparked the series changes. This reasoning held that CBS had been wedded to a commitment and "not a pilot" of the Moore show and CBS had become convinced that it "was throwing it away" -that the show in reality might well fail to make the grade and CBS "was prepared to swallow its commitment." Agency executives said that all this changed when CBS brass saw the first scripts of the show and "saw a rough cut. The show was good. And that triggered changes.

It was pointed out that in the previous schedule, Green Acres, a rural series, was the lead -in to Arnie, about a worker who moves into the executive suite -"there was no compatibility," one source said. In the rescheduling, this source explained, "CBS used its old formula of following an established show, My Three Sons, with a new series, Arnie and Moore." CBS obtained "greater flow" by placing a contemporary series, Governor and J.J. in place of Hillbillies between Storefront Lawyers and Medical Center on Wednesday night. The same "flow" was effected with the rural -based series, Hillbillies, Green Acres and Hee Haw on Tuesday (and will go against Don Knotts and Julia on NBC -TV and Mod Squad and a movie on ABC -TV).

1983/84 NBC premiered Night Court mid-season Wednesday 9 pm and that lead to Family Ties moving to Thursday 8:30 pm. Also 1983/84 NBC moved Cheers from Thursday 9:30 pm to Thursday 9 pm. 1984/85 NBC new Thursday line up was 8 pm new comedy The Cosby Show, 8:30 pm Family Ties, 9 pm Cheers, 9:30 pm Night Court, and we know the rest.

1984/85 ABC premiered Who's the Boss Thursday 8 pm but after 2 episodes it was moved to Tuesday 8:30 pm for the remainder of the season. 1985/86 Who's the Boss was moved to Tuesday 8 pm where it would take off.

1991/92 ABC moved Full House from TGIF to Tuesday 8 pm where it became a Top 10 show.

1 minute ago, kalbir said:

1984/85 NBC new Thursday line up was 8 pm new comedy The Cosby Show, 8:30 pm Family Ties, 9 pm Cheers, 9:30 pm Night Court, and we know the rest.

One of the all-time best network lineups, AFAIC. Right up there with "All in the Family," "M*A*S*H," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "The Bob Newhart Show" and "The Carol Burnett Show" on CBS Saturday nights; and "Archie Bunker's Place," "One Day at a Time," "Alice," "The Jeffersons" and "Trapper John M.D." on CBS Sundays.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Khan

13 minutes ago, Khan said:

One of the all-time best network lineups, AFAIC.

I hold the Cosby/Cheers era of NBC Thursday to much higher regard than the Seinfeld/ER/Friends era of NBC Thursday.

17 minutes ago, kalbir said:

1991/92 ABC moved Full House from TGIF to Tuesday 8 pm where it became a Top 10 show.

Full House had an earlier beneficial time slot shift. It premiered as an 8 p.m. Friday series to low ratings. The initial Friday lineup was FH, I Married Dora, Max Headroom, and 20/20 (which was having its own beneficial time slot move, having vacated the 10 p.m. Thursday slot).

Anyway, at midseason, there was a series of sitcom revolving doors, including Perfect Strangers moving from 8 p.m. Wednesday to 8 p.m. Friday. FH got demoted to 8:30 p.m., sandwiched between PS and Mr. Belvedere. For the next season-and-a-half, Full House built an audience and got rewarded in the fall of 1989 with a return to the 8 p.m. Friday slot (Perfect Strangers moved to 9).