when Hazel debuted on NBC, it was an instant smash and ranked #4 for the season--awesome for a freshman series, but then it dropped out of the top 10. What was the reason? Did CBS (or ABC) place an established hit against it to lure viewers away? Did NBC change its timeslot (and therefore made a bonehead move)? I find it strange for a series to make such a huge drop--I could understand if it still made the top 10 in season 2, say such as #7 or #8.

"Hazel" dropped from #4 to 15 to 22 to outside the Top 25 its' last two seasons. The timeslot remained Thursdays at 9:30 for the entire NBC run.

Not sure why the big drop in Season 2 as "The Nurses" and "McHale's Navy" were its competition on CBS and ABC, respectively.

In Season 3 it was up against "Perry Mason" and "The Jimmy Dean Show".

Season 4's competition was the short-lived "Baileys of Balboa" and ABC's new powerhouse "Peyton Place" which whipped "Hazel" into the ground, probably causing NBC to cancel it.

Of course, the move to CBS in Season 5 should have guaranteed huge ratings following "Andy Griffith" on Mondays (which placed #4 for the 1965-66 season) but "Hazel" didn't hold onto that audience and it was up against "The Andy Williams Show" on NBC and "The Farmer's Daughter" on ABC.

Not sure why there was such a drop in Season 2 and beyond since the quality remained. The same thing happened to "Petticoat Junction" (rating #4-15-21-23) except after Season 4 it began to fall apart, too.

yea, it sure is strange....esp the CBS move where it couldn't even hold on to Andy's audience.....back then, lead-outs usually held a good portion of the lead-in's audience. When you such a huge drop-off, that's usually a tell-tale sign that people are not happy with the show. I'm sure the cast changes did not help one bit.

Hey everyone, I have relocated to my new home and just had internet connected yesterday, so I am back on line.

One reason for Hazel's high ratings in it's 1st season was Shirley Booth, she was a respected actress with star power quality, so viewers tuned in to see Shirley in this new role of Hazel, maid for the Baxter family. But a fair percentage of viewers weren't all that pleased with the show, so ratings gradually declined with each successive season. I like the show but I can't say it's very high on my list of favorites, I have to be in the right mood to watch it. The acting is top notch but the writing overall is not consistent, some episodes are on the weak side. But I'm glad however, that Shout Factory has picked up the series and continuing the DVD's.

One other factor to keep in mind is that TV ratings are listed in order of popularity during a given season. "Hazel" was the most popular sitcom in 1961, but by 1962-63 it was competing, albeit indirectly, with "The Beverly Hillbillies," which was the smash hit of that year. In '63-'64 it was "Petticoat Junction," "The Patty Duke Show" and "The Farmer's Daughter." In short, new shows were the flavors of the year, and unless it was a perennial favorite like one of the "Lucy" shows, there was always a churning among sitcom ratings. By S4 of Hazel, "Bewitched" became the second-most popular of the season, and ABC's most popular show ever (before "Marcus Welby, M. D."

And so on, and so on, and so on...