why did ABC have such a backlash in the 1979-1980 season?

[Dean Winchester]

With the exception of Three's Company, which stayed in the top 10 until 1983, it seemed like pretty much every show on ABC plummetted drastically in the 1979-1980 season compared to the 1978-1979 season. Any idea why all the shows fell as bad as they did (Laverne And Shirley fell from #1 to out of the top 35, Mork And Mindy fell from #3 to #27, Happy Days fell from #4 to #17, and so on....). I know Mork fell because it was a huge victim of sophomore slump blues thanks to ABC moving it to another night, but why the other shows? It's odd that Laverne did better in the 80-81, 81-82 and even it's final Shirley-less season than it did in 79-80, and Happy Days even did better in it's first non-Ron Howard season in 80-81 than it did that year.

What was the huge cause of this ABC backlash in 79? Of course, Three's Company was totally immune to this fallout

[MrBand]

With the exception of Three's Company, which stayed in the top 10 until 1983, it seemed like pretty much every show on ABC plummetted drastically in the 1979-1980 season compared to the 1978-1979 season. Any idea why all the shows fell as bad as they did (Laverne And Shirley fell from #1 to out of the top 35, Mork And Mindy fell from #3 to #27, Happy Days fell from #4 to #17, and so on....). I know Mork fell because it was a huge victim of sophomore slump blues thanks to ABC moving it to another night, but why the other shows? It's odd that Laverne did better in the 80-81, 81-82 and even it's final Shirley-less season than it did in 79-80, and Happy Days even did better in it's first non-Ron Howard season in 80-81 than it did that year.

What was the huge cause of this ABC backlash in 79? Of course, Three's Company was totally immune to this fallout

In 1979, ABC tried to use their blockbusters to shore up weaker timeslots. Laverne and Shirley was moved to Thursdays at 8 Eastern where it was competing with The Waltons on CBS and Buck Rogers on NBC. Mork and Mindy moved from that Thursday spot to Sunday evenings against Archie Bunker's Place (CBS) and a series of specials called The Big Event (NBC). By December 1979, Laverne and Shirley moved to Monday evenings where it must have done even worse as it reclaimed its spot after Happy Days in February 1980. Mork was likewise returned to Thursday nights in January 1980.

I'm not certain why Happy Days had a bad year. Maybe it was because people who were tuning in early to wait for Laverne and Shirley no longer had that option. By 1979, I think much of the novelty wore off. By then, the hairstyles and fashions did not reflect the late 50s/early 60s.

Three's Company stayed in its Tuesday spot, thus keeping its loyal audience who knew where and when to watch, and high ratings.

[JulieSomoski]

In 1979, ABC tried to use their blockbusters to shore up weaker timeslots. Laverne and Shirley was moved to Thursdays at 8 Eastern where it was competing with The Waltons on CBS and Buck Rogers on NBC. Mork and Mindy moved from that Thursday spot to Sunday evenings against Archie Bunker's Place (CBS) and a series of specials called The Big Event (NBC). By December 1979, Laverne and Shirley moved to Monday evenings where it must have done even worse as it reclaimed its spot after Happy Days in February 1980. Mork was likewise returned to Thursday nights in January 1980.

I'm not certain why Happy Days had a bad year. Maybe it was because people who were tuning in early to wait for Laverne and Shirley no longer had that option. By 1979, I think much of the novelty wore off. By then, the hairstyles and fashions did not reflect the late 50s/early 60s.

Three's Company stayed in its Tuesday spot, thus keeping its loyal audience who knew where and when to watch, and high ratings.

You're right. I never understood why ABC moved Laverne and Shirley. One of their dumbest moves. The show probably would have stayed in the top 3 easily if they hadn't toyed with it.

Happy Days was wearing thin by then. Not really sure why it fell so much, though.

[Ireneparalegal]

Watching ABC in the 70's, the best line-up was the Tuesday night line-up of Happy Days and L&S right after that. Then you had the Friday night line-up of The Love Boat and Fantasy Island. Why mess with perfection was my question regarding the Tuesday line-up.

[JulieSomoski]

Watching ABC in the 70's, the best line-up was the Tuesday night line-up of Happy Days and L&S right after that. Then you had the Friday night line-up of The Love Boat and Fantasy Island. Why mess with perfection was my question regarding the Tuesday line-up.

Exactly. When you have 3 shows, all on the same night and on right after each other, fighting for the number 1 slot year after year, why would they mess with that? It made no sense.

[catlover79]

I also read that Mork & Mindy's ratings suffered not only due to the timeslot switch, but due to cast turnover. Conrad Janis and Elizabeth Kerr were fired and several new characters were brought in. None of the new characters were hits with the audience, and the stories grew more and more bizarre. The show never really recovered, and was certainly not the huge hit it was in its first season. Conrad Janis and Elizabeth Kerr were eventually brought back, but the damage was done. Jonathan Winters as Mearth was the nail in the coffin. I read this in the book The Complete Directory to Prime-Time TV Shows.

[JulieSomoski]

I also read that Mork & Mindy's ratings suffered not only due to the timeslot switch, but due to cast turnover. Conrad Janis and Elizabeth Kerr were fired and several new characters were brought in. None of the new characters were hits with the audience, and the stories grew more and more bizarre. The show never really recovered, and was certainly not the huge hit it was in its first season. Conrad Janis and Elizabeth Kerr were eventually brought back, but the damage was done. Jonathan Winters as Mearth was the nail in the coffin. I read this in the book The Complete Directory to Prime-Time TV Shows.

Yeah, that was the main reason it suffered. ABC would have had a huge success with Mork and Mindy, but they wanted even more success, so they went and retooled the show, and it was cancelled shortly later. Just another example of ABC's stupidity in the past.

[mstewart]

Yeah, that was the main reason it suffered. ABC would have had a huge success with Mork and Mindy, but they wanted even more success, so they went and retooled the show, and it was cancelled shortly later. Just another example of ABC's stupidity in the past.
The first season of Mork & Mindy had an innocence to it and it got lost in the second season especially when Racquel Welch was added as a guest star.

Another show where a mistake was made in retooling was Angie. It was a good series and it look like a hit but they retooled it. The ratings fell and cancelled.

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

[catlover79]

The first season of Mork & Mindy had an innocence to it and it got lost in the second season especially when Racquel Welch was added as a guest star.

Another show where a mistake was made in retooling was Angie. It was a good series and it look like a hit but they retooled it. The ratings fell and cancelled.

If it ain't broke don't fix it.
The networks never learn to follow that simple phrase: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". You are so right.

[JulieSomoski]

The networks never learn to follow that simple phrase: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". You are so right.

Yes. They know they have a success, but in the longrun, they just want it to be a bigger success so they can make more money. But in most cases, after they try to do that, it turns for the worse.

[Zebra 3]

I blame it all on the Starsky & Hutch (http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=556) cancellation!

[TVFactFan]

With the exception of Three's Company, which stayed in the top 10 until 1983, it seemed like pretty much every show on ABC plummetted drastically in the 1979-1980 season compared to the 1978-1979 season. Any idea why all the shows fell as bad as they did (Laverne And Shirley fell from #1 to out of the top 35, Mork And Mindy fell from #3 to #27, Happy Days fell from #4 to #17, and so on....). I know Mork fell because it was a huge victim of sophomore slump blues thanks to ABC moving it to another night, but why the other shows? It's odd that Laverne did better in the 80-81, 81-82 and even it's final Shirley-less season than it did in 79-80, and Happy Days even did better in it's first non-Ron Howard season in 80-81 than it did that year.

What was the huge cause of this ABC backlash in 79? Of course, Three's Company was totally immune to this fallout


I know L&S couldn't compete with the Waltons and that M&M couldn't compete with Archie Bunkers Place

Not sure about Happy Days since Donny Most and Ron Howard didn't leave until AFTER the 79-80 season.

[jimpickens]

The reason Threes Company did better than Happy Days L&R and M&M was because while the later three were becoming ridiculously unbelievable particularly Happy Days Threes Company stayed with the original plot which was three people living together and living the single life late 70s/early 80s circa southern California.