- Awards
- 7
A couple of interesting points IMO from this list:
- the swing in popularity towards half hour sitcoms had well and truly taken hold, with them making up 13 out of the top 20 programmes.
- the primetime soaps were rapidly falling out of favour but funnily enough, it’s the lowest rated one on this list (Knots Landing) is the one that would last longest from the date of these ratings (another six years).
- if you look at the ratings for the same period a year prior, Dallas was still in the top 10 whereas Dynasty had already fallen out of the top 20.
- Awards
- 11
Why would Knots last longer, despite being lower-rated? To me, this reads like Cheers on NBC being low-rated in its first go (1982-83), but apparently having what it took for NBC to keep it going and have it going until 1993 (which is when both Cheers on NBC and Knots on CBS ended out, both on Thursdays).
- Awards
- 21
By the end of the '80s, KNOTS was doing better than DALLAS and DYNASTY. Slightly.
But the ratings listed above saw KNOTS in a slump because LA LAW, new on NBC in 1986, was scheduled against it on Thursday nights at 10pm. Then CBS attempted to counter-program by moving KNOTS up an hour to compete with Season 2 of THE COLBYS and, most disastrously, CHEERS (in the Top 5 and part of NBC's impenetrable Thursday sitcom line-up.
CBS soon moved KNOTS back to 10pm.
KNOTS maintained quality, while DALLAS, DYNASTY, and FALCON CREST just slid into pedestrian, soapy crap (except for Season 9 of DYNASTY, which was actually good -- but the audience was already gone, the show also shoved off into Thursday night to kill it by ABC).
KNOTS deserved to last longer than the others. And did. Also, the perception that it was "middle class" when the glitz fad of the '80s was on its last legs, as the ROSEANNE-esque sensibilities of the '90s were taking hold, probably kept KNOTS off the chopping block for a while longer.
Last edited:
- Awards
- 9
Rags to Riches and Full House rank back-to-back on that list at positions 60 and 61. Fun fact: In Germany, both series had the same name, Full House. Rags to Riches premiered in Germany in 1988, but Full House didn't air until 1992.
I really liked Rags to Riches, but haven't watched it since. Maybe it's the kind of show you loved when you were very young and wouldn't captivate you today.
Here's a rating chart for Dallas and Dynasty (in German, Der Denver-Clan, colloquially known simply as Denver) from 1985 in West Germany.
At the end of 1985, a German-language soap called Lindenstraße, a kind of German version of Coronation Street, launched (which by the way was canceled in 2020). A report compared the ratings of these three soaps, but Die Schwarzwaldklinik (The Black Forest Clinic) dominated all of them. Critics criticized Die Schwarzwaldklinik as a kitschy doctor novel, but it became the most-watched series of all time on West German television. In 1985, there were 61 million people living in West Germany, so the fact that Dallas had 18 million viewers was a huge success. However, at its peak, Die Schwarzwaldklinik was watched by even 28 million viewers.
I really liked Rags to Riches, but haven't watched it since. Maybe it's the kind of show you loved when you were very young and wouldn't captivate you today.
Here's a rating chart for Dallas and Dynasty (in German, Der Denver-Clan, colloquially known simply as Denver) from 1985 in West Germany.
At the end of 1985, a German-language soap called Lindenstraße, a kind of German version of Coronation Street, launched (which by the way was canceled in 2020). A report compared the ratings of these three soaps, but Die Schwarzwaldklinik (The Black Forest Clinic) dominated all of them. Critics criticized Die Schwarzwaldklinik as a kitschy doctor novel, but it became the most-watched series of all time on West German television. In 1985, there were 61 million people living in West Germany, so the fact that Dallas had 18 million viewers was a huge success. However, at its peak, Die Schwarzwaldklinik was watched by even 28 million viewers.
Last edited:
- Awards
- 24
Advertisers want to buy ad time on shows that deliver predictable numbers. Knots, in its later years, had steady audience figures week to week, with none of the peaks and valleys one sees in shows that are "a flash in the pan" or in the midst of "creative peaks and valleys". No, they were not scoring 30 shares like a lot of the better-known shows, but the 15 share was reliable and could be purchased by some of the companies afraid to spend so much extra $$$ to buy ad time in the 30-share shows. KL was delivering a "safe" investment to advertisers in a very fickle industry, so CBS was happy to stick by them as long as they made money for the network.
- Awards
- 7
Channel 4 in the UK aired The Black Forest Clinic in 1988, both in a primetime 10pm slot and a daytime afternoon slot. I’m unsure how it rated but it was at a time when Channel 4 were trying to find a “Dallas” for their schedules, having previously tried (and failed) with French soap Chateavallon.
- Awards
- 11
This list intrigues me. Westerns and ruralcoms were still quite popular in 1968. MAYBERRY R.F.D. was #2 for the week, and GOMER PYLE tied in third place with JULIA, a groundbreaking sitcom at the time that centered on a working-class single black woman raising a small son.
Doris Day, who had been the #1 box office draw in the country in the early-60s, had a Top 10 that weekend with her final hit movie, THE GLASS BOTTOM BOAT, airing on TV.
HERE'S LUCY and THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, both shows that would get axed within a few years after being regarded passe, were both still in the Top 10.
- Awards
- 21
As I recall, HERE'S LUCY ended in 1974 because Ball was tired after 23 years of sitcom duties (each of her three shows lasting, by her own choice, six years -- if you don't count the monthly LUCY-DESI COMEDY HOUR which extended the I LOVE LUCY franchise for a bit).
THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES ended in 1971 after a nine-year run when CBS decided to slash the rural sitcom genre in its entirety, many of those series still pulling in good numbers across middle America but were highly-repetitive and formulaic, and the advertisers were increasingly interested in "more sophisticated" urban fare (cop shows instead of westerns, ALL IN THE FAMILY instead of GREEN ACRES).
This "rural purge" is still infamous in some corners, and seen by some as a high-handed act of elitist snobbery. But I'm not sure it was a mistake: most of those rural comedies had gotten pretty tired, their premises laid-out in the opening theme song and replicated endlessly episode after episode.
I'm old enough to remember it, but don't tell anybody.
- Awards
- 21
^^
Is that 1964?
Is that 1964?
- Awards
- 11
I believe it is, but it doesn't specify a year.
- Awards
- 24
In the article it states the ratings were released on "Friday the 16th," and Oct. 16, 1964 fell on a Friday.
- Awards
- 11
The biggest shocks here, for me at least, are how low-rated THE JUDY GARLAND SHOW and MISTER ED were.
I can excuse JUDY GARLAND being so low because of all the off-camera issues, but it's still a tad puzzling that a show headlined by Judy Garland (who had once been one of the biggest box office stars in America) didn't draw more viewers. Even so, the low ratings weren't what eventually got it cancelled, or not from what I read anyway.
MISTER ED lasted six seasons. It was one of the very first comedies to start in syndication to be picked up by a network, in this case, CBS. I knew the show was never a major hit, but I just figured it would've had higher numbers just because it lasted as long as it did.
Then there's shows like TWILIGHT ZONE and ALFRED HITCHCOCK that I expected to have higher ratings, but I guess that can be excused for them considering they're anthology shows and don't have the luxury of regular casts to draw viewers back on a weekly basis.
How did a show like LASSIE last so long without better numbers than what's documented here?
- Awards
- 24
If they are cheap to produce, then it's easier to remain profitable despite lackluster ratings. This is why reality shows and game shows took over.
Shows like Lassie also prospered because networks felt obligated to offer varied programming for all age groups back then. Remember "the Family Hour"?
Another factor might be the show's time-slot competition. You can have a hit show, but if it's against another hit show on another network in the pre-VCR era, then your audience will be divided.
Shows like Lassie also prospered because networks felt obligated to offer varied programming for all age groups back then. Remember "the Family Hour"?
Another factor might be the show's time-slot competition. You can have a hit show, but if it's against another hit show on another network in the pre-VCR era, then your audience will be divided.
Last edited: