Connie Harper (Nelson) has said that the 1963-64 tv season was the best rating wise for the Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Here is a link for the ratings for that season:

www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1963.htm

Thanks!! Fascinating to look at all the shows, esp those who were once big hits and today you never see them in reruns!

Wow did CBS have a dominance or what! In the top 30 NBC only had 5 shows and ABC 6 shows. The rest were all CBS.

I've heard that ABC wasn't availablein as many places as CBS and NBC at first, when did ABC start to be available nationawide?

I've heard that ABC wasn't availablein as many places as CBS and NBC at first, when did ABC start to be available nationawide?

That's very true and may be a good explanation that Ozzie & Harriet and some other shows on ABC-TV did not hve the large rating numbers one might think in looking back. Here are a couple of explanations that I will offer.

Even by the late 1950's and up into the 1960's, some cities had only two channels. One would be CBS and the other might share NBC and ABC. However, as shows on NBC were more popular (based on ratings), that station might very well choose to carry the NBC show during a specific time slot.

Some communities did acquire a third channel who became an ABC-TV affiliate, but it may have been placed on the UHF band. Back then, many households did not have a television that could receive UHF and those who had a newer set that could, may not have had the proper antenna to receive it well enough to watch and take interest in a show.

Finally with newer TV sets and interest in the UHF band in terms of better antennas along with the availability of cable in communities, making all three of the networks received and seen fairly equally, did you have real parity across the country.

Depending on where in the country this was, it could have been the mid-to-late 1960's or even into the 1970's becfore this parity took place.