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Monzo
Telly Talk Enthusiast
Thanks for the table, it's a shame there wasn't a ranking for the first season of Flamingo Road. Fortunately, the ratings for each individual episode can be found on Wikipedia and there are newspaper clippings with the rankings for several weeks of the 1980-81 season. Flamingo Road was rarely in the weekly top 40, often only between places 50 and 60, so I assume that Flamingo Road was around the 50th place during the first season. Still, it's amazing that NBC stuck with Flamingo Road for a second season.
Spooky Owl!
Telly Talk Supreme
NBC might have given FLAMINGO ROAD a second season because it was understood that these nighttime soaps didn't always explode into popularity in their first year -- and NBC desperately wanted its own nighttime soap hit (which they never got).
Funny, though, how DALLAS' ratings are pretty much exactly what they should be for each season, the descent correctly happening at the right time and pace given what the show was giving us.
With DYNASTY, it was the reverse: the first year before the show found an audience and the last year after that audience was already gone, were probably their best. Ironic that DYNASTY's Season 9, one of the best years of any of the soaps, was also the lowest rated of them all -- but that's the perversity inherent to DYNASTY.
KNOTS deserved better ratings, but at least it got into the Top 10 a year or so. And by the end of the decade, was pulling better numbers than any of the others.
The renewed energy of Freilich's Season 6 of FALCON CREST slowed its ratings slide, but it wouldn't last.
Monzo
Telly Talk Enthusiast
I was back on the Dallas Wikipedia page after a while and saw that someone had recently posted the full ratings for Dallas (and Dynasty) based on Bruce B. Morris' book "Prime Time Network Serials: Episode Guides, Casts and Credits for 37 Continuing Television Dramas, 1964-1993”.
I find it astonishing that after the shooter on JR was resolved, the next episode had fewer viewers than the first three episodes of season 4. I expected viewers to want to know how JR was dealing with Kristin's pregnancy.
I had read somewhere that the second most-watched episode of Dallas was the one where Lucy and Mitch got married, but based on ratings from Bruce B. Morris's book, that's not true. It is only the fifth most watched episode.
The magical 30.0 rating mark was exceeded with every episode in season 4, only twice before and three more times in season 5.
Although I'm happy to see the full ratings, I'm not sure if every episode has the right rating. Years ago I picked out ratings myself from newspapers from back then and some of them differ from those on Wikipedia. There are also differences to TV Tango. TV Tango gives the season 10 finale a 21.5 rating, while Wikipedia has a 29.5 rating, which would have been the best rating since season 5.
I find it astonishing that after the shooter on JR was resolved, the next episode had fewer viewers than the first three episodes of season 4. I expected viewers to want to know how JR was dealing with Kristin's pregnancy.
I had read somewhere that the second most-watched episode of Dallas was the one where Lucy and Mitch got married, but based on ratings from Bruce B. Morris's book, that's not true. It is only the fifth most watched episode.
The magical 30.0 rating mark was exceeded with every episode in season 4, only twice before and three more times in season 5.
Although I'm happy to see the full ratings, I'm not sure if every episode has the right rating. Years ago I picked out ratings myself from newspapers from back then and some of them differ from those on Wikipedia. There are also differences to TV Tango. TV Tango gives the season 10 finale a 21.5 rating, while Wikipedia has a 29.5 rating, which would have been the best rating since season 5.
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GillesDenver
Telly Talk Dream Maker
It's strange because I remembered reading somewhere that the first season of "Flamingo Road" got the same ranking than the first season of "Dynasty" (28th tied and there were a lot of tied shows that season so "Dynasty" and "Flamingo Road" were more likely 41th and 42th).
Guzzler’s Frightening Hair
Telly Talk Winner
in a just world, Flamingo Road would have rocketed to the top of the ratings and stayed there for several years
Julia's Spooky Nun
Telly Talk Well-Known Member
So Knots Landing finally beat Dallas in the ratings during Abby's final season. I like how there was a consistent fanbase for Knots that kept its ratings fairly stable between 86-91.
And how fast did Dynasty fall after the massacre! I'm pleased that more people watched Knots season 8 - with all its faults - and saw Peter' s body buried in the cement by our Abster, than bothered to tune in to Dynasty. In the UK we had the ghastly later years of Dynasty shown in prime time in BBC1, whilst poor Knots was relegated to an afternoon slot, and several years behind. The Beeb should have switched Dynasty with Knots Landing in prime time in the late 80s and it would have finally got the success and adulation it deserved!
And how fast did Dynasty fall after the massacre! I'm pleased that more people watched Knots season 8 - with all its faults - and saw Peter' s body buried in the cement by our Abster, than bothered to tune in to Dynasty. In the UK we had the ghastly later years of Dynasty shown in prime time in BBC1, whilst poor Knots was relegated to an afternoon slot, and several years behind. The Beeb should have switched Dynasty with Knots Landing in prime time in the late 80s and it would have finally got the success and adulation it deserved!
Brian Kinney
Telly Talk Addict
Interesting that Knots never fell out the Top 50 and is the only soap that improved their ratings in the final season.
lost-in-time
Telly Talk Member
Dynasty’s season 9 position isn’t surprising since it was moved to Thursday opposite Cheers (and Dear John). What’s really surprising is the season 8 position since it didn’t really have any competition in that slot.
Dallas managed to hold on in the ratings until TGIF came along.
Dallas managed to hold on in the ratings until TGIF came along.
The post at the top of this page is looking at ranking as opposed to rating. Knots actually fell in the ratings and had lower viewership for its last season vs its penultimate season (an 11.5 average rating in the final season vs a 12.3 for the prior season). But it had an improved ranking due to the lower ratings of the shows it was ranked against that season.
TaranofPrydain
Telly Talk Fan
by moving to 10 PM Wednesdays in season 8, Dynasty ran into St. Elsewhere, a show that never had great ratings, but had an alnost unbudging fan base that tuned in every week. That, combined with a slight time change from its traditional spot, likely cost the show some viewers.
Which also brings to mind something else. As more cable channels proliferated, the ratings shows got were much smaller. Knots Landing was often considered the tiniest of the four, and only started outdoing the others in the final years. By contrast, the biggest of the 2000s soap craze, Desperate Housewives, was considered a major hit. But if you look at the audience averages, Housewives' biggest season (its debut year), had smaller audiences then the first ten seasons of Knots, and only three of DH's seasons had better ratings than Knots' least watched year.
lost-in-time
Telly Talk Member
I’d forgotten about the show was moved to 10pm that year.
Others have mentioned it but I feel the aftermath of the massacre really sank the show with the general public.
I've now just finished my rewatch (1st time I've ever watched Falcon Crest though) of all the 4 big Soaps, it's taken me just under 2 years to do it!
So the question is which was the most enjoyable?
I'd rank them as follows:-
No.1 Dallas
No.2 Knots Landing
No.3 Falcon Crest
No.4 Dynasty
Dallas just shades it for me, although for pure coherent storytelling Knots was by far the best, yet for pure nostalgia reasons the first time I saw it I have to go with Dallas.
Falcon Crest was surprisingly enjoyable and just beats Dynasty, which really didn't deliver for me on the rewatch and somewhat spoiled my memories of how I viewed it originally.
So the question is which was the most enjoyable?
I'd rank them as follows:-
No.1 Dallas
No.2 Knots Landing
No.3 Falcon Crest
No.4 Dynasty
Dallas just shades it for me, although for pure coherent storytelling Knots was by far the best, yet for pure nostalgia reasons the first time I saw it I have to go with Dallas.
Falcon Crest was surprisingly enjoyable and just beats Dynasty, which really didn't deliver for me on the rewatch and somewhat spoiled my memories of how I viewed it originally.
Spooky Owl!
Telly Talk Supreme
Yours, but in reverse.
ClassyCo
Telly Talk Warrior
I would rearrange them just a little:
1) KNOTS LANDING
2) DALLAS
3) FALCON CREST
4) DYNASTY
KNOTS LANDING is definitely my favorite. The setting, the characters, the storylines, the relative consistency practically all the way to the finish. Of course, there are some definite low points. For instance, I'm not a major fan of the earlier self-contained episodes, and there are some plot points throughout the last half of the show that I could've nit-picked and made them more to my precise liking.
If I'm being honest, DALLAS was most likely the best of the genre in terms of creativity, characterization, and storytelling when it was at its peak. Without a doubt, it is the show that ignited the whole "primetime soap" trend that dominated television during the 1980s, particularly the first half of the decade. But, I'd argue that the post-Dream Season episodes of DALLAS just really derailed the show and it never recovered.
FALCON CREST had a really strong start. For me, the last six or eight episodes of the first season and the entirety of the second and third seasons are some of the best seasons of any of the nighttime soaps. The second season finale of FALCON CREST is one of my favorite cliffhangers from any of the shows. The scenery, the FC mansion, and especially Jane Wyman give the show a flavor distinct from the others, but, like most good things, it didn't last and its final seasons didn't even feel like the same show.
DYNASTY is, as we've said numerous times here in the forums, the most frustrating of what we call the "Big Four". It had a strong start (even if I'm not the biggest fan of the first season), and its second season laid a solid blueprint that the following seasons completely wrecked. Its ninth and final season was very, very good, and arguably the show's best season overall, but it was just too late. Even if the show contains one of the most popular characters from '80s television, Joan Collins as Alexis Colby, the show itself has numerous issues that would certainly keep me from wanting to do anything complete re-watch.
Piggyrella Sanderson
Maximum Member
Maybe they renewed FR because the brothel wasn´t there anymore, just another happy place run by Lute-Mae...
...And then, in the 40th season, it´s become a Lute-Mae spinoff...
Of course, now she is played by a younger AI version...