Nielsen Ratings (1 Viewer)

[younger1968]

Hi all,
I found an interesting link to ratings for the 1970s tv series
http://www.angelfire.com/ny2/televisioncity/7580.html
http://www.angelfire.com/ny2/televisioncity/7075.html

 

[PatrickGoodluck]

Here's a few things that immediately came to my attention looking at these ratings...
Good Times dropped out of the top 20 after 1974. I would suspect largely due to John Amos quitting the show.
Happy Days got to No. 1 by 1976.
Mod Squad didn't reach the top 20 in its last season. No surprise there, although personally I find the last season had many strong episodes. I guess the public lost "the faith" and it was no longer hip to say "groovy man" in 1972. (Although Greg Brady still used the phrase!) Not forgetting that there was an influx of many new and exciting shows to divert ones interest at the beginning of the 70's. At least Mod Squad had a decent run, unlike many quality shows that suffered a short fate during vast competition in the 60's and 70's.
It also wasn't surprising to see MASH consistently making the top 10. A feat well deserved!
Also noticed Trapper John M.D. just made the top 20 in its first season.

 

[younger1968]

Here's a few things that immediately came to my attention looking at these ratings...
Good Times dropped out of the top 20 after 1974. I would suspect largely due to John Amos quitting the show.
Happy Days got to No. 1 by 1976.
Mod Squad didn't reach the top 20 in its last season. No surprise there, although personally I find the last season had many strong episodes. I guess the public lost "the faith" and it was no longer hip to say "groovy man" in 1972. (Although Greg Brady still used the phrase!) Not forgetting that there was an influx of many new and exciting shows to divert ones interest at the beginning of the 70's. At least Mod Squad had a decent run, unlike many quality shows that suffered a short fate during vast competition in the 60's and 70's.
It also wasn't surprising to see MASH consistently making the top 10. A feat well deserved!
Also noticed Trapper John M.D. just made the top 20 in its first season.

I found the listing interesting, especially seeing Three's Company being successful from 1977 and on. What i also find interesting is why the studios have not released Chico and the Man on dvd. I was a huge Hawaii Five-O fan and you can see with all the staffing changes after S5..
What is great about some show, especially the seinfeld/Cheers/Three's Company/MASH is they were always in the top 20. TV was different back in the 1970s when cable TV was very limited as such the networks fought each over weekly on the time slots/shows.

 

[Matt Hough]

Originally Posted by younger1968 /t/323119/nielsen-ratings#post_3964388
What is great about some show, especially the seinfeld/Cheers/Three's Company/MASH is they were always in the top 20. TV was different back in the 1970s when cable TV was very limited as such the networks fought each over weekly on the time slots/shows.

Actually, M*A*S*H was almost canceled after its first season. CBS had it on Sunday night where it was dying. Because of the show's quality, they moved it for its second season after All in the Family on Saturday where it instantly jumped into the Top Ten and then pretty much stayed there. Putting it after the most popular series on TV at the time allowed it to get discovered and then to flourish.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Actually, M*A*S*H was almost canceled after its first season. CBS had it on Sunday night where it was dying. Because of the show's quality, they moved it for its second season after All in the Family on Saturday where it instantly jumped into the Top Ten and then pretty much stayed there. Putting it after the most popular series on TV at the time allowed it to get discovered and then to flourish.

Cheers was also at the bottom of the ratings pile after its first season (74th of 77), and only survived to see a second season because NBC had nothing to replace it with.

 

[Tory]

Was Bridget Loves Bernie any good? No 5 in 72-73, not in any other listings. I've never heard of it. I've at least heard of all the others.

 

[bryan4999]

Was Bridget Loves Bernie any good? No 5 in 72-73, not in any other listings. I've never heard of it. I've at least heard of all the others.

I enjoyed this show, although when I watched it in first run I was only 11. I remember clearly the advertising hoopla over David Birney and Meredith Baxter getting married while working on the show, in fact, to me she will always be Meredith Baxter Birney because it was such a big deal at the time. You can watch the pilot pisode on youtube. The comedy is a bit forced, but the performances are charming IMO. I would love to see all 24 episodes once again, if only for nostalgia. I am sure its high ratings were only because of its fortunate timeslot - in between All in the Family and Mary Tyler Moore. It doesn't get much better than that. I am sure I only saw it because my Dad wanted to watch Archie Bunker and my Mom wanted to watch Mary. Bridget and Bernie were just lucky to be in between and I went along for the ride.
I was surprised to read on imdb that thre was a big issue at the time about a Christian marrying a Jew, and that the reason it was cancelled was because CBS was getting hate mail. I never heard anything about that back in the day, although at 11 its possible I wasn't exposed to that kind of news, still, I was surprised to have never heard that before today!

 

[Matt Hough]

Originally Posted by bryan4999 /t/323119/nielsen-ratings#post_3965356
I enjoyed this show, although when I watched it in first run I was only 11. I remember clearly the advertising hoopla over David Birney and Meredith Baxter getting married while working on the show, in fact, to me she will always be Meredith Baxter Birney because it was such a big deal at the time. You can watch the pilot pisode on youtube. The comedy is a bit forced, but the performances are charming IMO. I would love to see all 24 episodes once again, if only for nostalgia. I am sure its high ratings were only because of its fortunate timeslot - in between All in the Family and Mary Tyler Moore. It doesn't get much better than that. I am sure I only saw it because my Dad wanted to watch Archie Bunker and my Mom wanted to watch Mary. Bridget and Bernie were just lucky to be in between and I went along for the ride.
I was surprised to read on imdb that thre was a big issue at the time about a Christian marrying a Jew, and that the reason it was cancelled was because CBS was getting hate mail. I never heard anything about that back in the day, although at 11 its possible I wasn't exposed to that kind of news, still, I was surprised to have never heard that before today!

I do believe that is the very reason it was canceled.

 

[Tory]

Thanks for the info about Bridget Loves Bernie. I have seen some now, seems nice, probably would have gotten better as it went along and in a second season probably would been super. Such a shame that a show that was apparently so popular was killed. Also a shame is what he did to her in real life which may make a release of this even more unlikely.

 

[Tory]

Looking at 78 -79 the Ropers did pretty well, with only 6 episodes airing in the later half of that season, phenomenally well. What the heck happened? I wish there were more. did they run out of George & Mildred scripts to convert and didn't want to make their own?

 

[derosa]

Wow, CBS really dominated the early 70's ratings!
Hard to believe ABC had only 1 show in the top 20 in the '74 season,
and then by the next season they had 10 shows in the top twenty,
and by 1976 they had 4 of the top 5 shows on television.
Amazing.

 

[Matt Hough]

Originally Posted by Tory /t/323119/nielsen-ratings#post_3965481
Thanks for the info about Bridget Loves Bernie. I have seen some now, seems nice, probably would have gotten better as it went along and in a second season probably would been super. Such a shame that a show that was apparently so popular was killed. Also a shame is what he did to her in real life which may make a release of this even more unlikely.

Coincidence of coincidences: tonight I'm working on The Streets of San Francisco: Season 4, Volume 1 and who guest starred in one of the episodes I watched tonight: Meredith Baxter! And her husband was played by Gerald McRaney. Both looked about 19. (It's 1975, so I know they're older than that, but they DO look young.)

 

[younger1968]

Coincidence of coincidences: tonight I'm working on The Streets of San Francisco: Season 4, Volume 1 and who guest starred in one of the episodes I watched tonight: Meredith Baxter! And her husband was played by Gerald McRaney. Both looked about 19. (It's 1975, so I know they're older than that, but they DO look young.)

It is neat looking at the neilsen ratings from the 1970s as TV was much different. In Canada there was only few channels, i.e. abc/cbs/nbc and CTV/CBC. Plus, you only had one color tv set in house.
I do remember the family time, which is when the family sat down at watch tv together. My family tv time was with disney, wild kingdom, etc. My dad also like shows such as 60 mins and david allen at large, etc, which meant going to the other room at watch shows on the black and white tv.

 

[Matt Hough]

Originally Posted by younger1968 /t/323119/nielsen-ratings#post_3965565
It is neat looking at the neilsen ratings from the 1970s as TV was much different. In Canada there was only few channels, i.e. abc/cbs/nbc and CTV/CBC. Plus, you only had one color tv set in house.
I do remember the family time, which is when the family sat down at watch tv together. My family tv time was with disney, wild kingdom, etc. My dad also like shows such as 60 mins and david allen at large, etc, which meant going to the other room at watch shows on the black and white tv.

Oh, yes, many a night I spent watching an old movie or a different show in my parents' bedroom on the black and white TV because the color TV in the den was showing something I was not the least interested in.

 

[younger1968]

Oh, yes, many a night I spent watching an old movie or a different show in my parents' bedroom on the black and white TV because the color TV in the den was showing something I was not the least interested in.

Unfortunately, today's youth have no real understanding the sacrifices and/or what is truly like being a kid without gadgets, internet, social media, etc. I am all for technology as it does improve our life, but i am also into being active and social with people one on one.