This is the fourth part in my series (I next intend on covering Fox) of all-time worst decisions that the American broadcast TV networks have made.

*The one mess-up involving ABC that most immediately comes to mind from the start is them oversaturating amd overrelying on Who Wants to be a Millionaire by putting it on almost every weeknight.

*Another case of ABC oversaturating something is when off the heels of Sabrina the Teenage Witch being a success in its first season on TGIF, ABC (who had just lost Family Matters and Step by Step to CBS, who started their own short-lived version of TGIF called "The Block Party") ordered two more supernatural/special effects heavy sitcoms in You Wish (basically a '90s version I Dream of Jeannie if Jeannie were male) and Teen Angel. These two shows only lasted for a single season and that was to me, the beginning of the end of TGIF (all of the other shows besides Sabrina and Boy Meets World didn't last beyond a single season if I'm not mistaken).

*And speaking of TGIF, there was the whole reasoning behind ABC cancelling Just the 10 of Us after two seasons, even though it I believe, won it's time slot. ABC basically wanted all of the shows in TGIF to be produced by Miller-Boyett Productions (just like Perfect Strangers, Full House, Family Matters, Step by Step, and Hangin' w/ Mr. Cooper). In the place of Just the 10 of Us (which was outright canceled when ABC couldn't find another suitable timeslot for it) came Going Places. This proved to bite ABC in the butt because Going Places wound up only lasting one season.

*ABC's micromanagment during at least the initial years that Disney owned the company (w/ Michael Eisner still around as CEO). With this came some serious errors in judgement. For example, ABC turned down a chance to broadcast CSI instead of CBS. Eisner also apparently didn't want Lost (or Desperate Housewives for that matter) even though it was a huge success for ABC.

*Diluting ABC Sports during the late '90s early 2000s in favor of more emphasis on ESPN. This in a way, hurt ABC's ability to promote new programming and through a wrench in the unique relationships (if you want to call it that) affiliate stations. More to the point, ABC had a chance at landing the Sunday night prime time package in 2006 instead of NBC (http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2011/05/23/Media/Sports-Media-column.aspx), but for whatever the reasons fumbled;) (while at the same time, resting on its laurels by worrying about moving Desperate Housewives) and Disney wound up overpaying for Monday Night Football on ESPN (which was really just the old ESPN Sunday Night Football package a day later).

*Meddling w/ Mork & Mindy after its first season (which was the third rated show in America I think) in order to further appeal towards younger viewers.

*The whole controversy involving ABC pulling the plug on long running soaps like All My Children and One Life to Live.

*The David Westin regime (http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38915) at ABC News.

Allowing Happy Days to continue once Richie left it should've ended.
Messing with said show once it went from being about Richie and became the Fonzie show that is when the show started getting goofy.
Canceling Battlestar Galactica and replacing it with Galactica 1980.
Canceling The Carol Burnett Show.
Canceling Sledge Hammer.
Ruining Starsky and Hutch by dumbing it down with silly plots involving cults, viruses, and Hutch getting hooked on and off heroin in one episode.
Canceling Soap.
Not scrapping their news network with everybody now with basic cable and internet access network news is obsolete.

THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW was on CBS not ABC

Cancelling great shows like Twin Peaks, The Critic, My So-Called Life, High Incident, Townies, Strange World, Invasion, Pushing Daisies, Samantha Who?, Eli Stone, and The Unusuals.

You see folks, ABC isn't this "Holy" network that people make them out to be as they cancel more good shows than any other network (and yes, this does include FOX, which gets too much unnecessary hate).

Another screw-up ABC has done is their oversaturation of generic, cookie-cutter shows. Webster was the first of this kind, then Who's The Boss, Mr. Belvedere and Growing Pains all came along and got popular. This led to ABC bringing in those crappy Lorimar-era Miller-Boyett sitcoms that they would shove down our throats for a freaking decade. I mean, Full House (worst show ever) was almost cancelled after the first season, but some jackass executive decided to keep it on for way too long. It even had generic and cookie-cutter dramas like Thirtysomething and Life Goes On.

So ABC decides to cancel cool innovative shows while keeping generic, unoriginal, cookie-cutter crap, which is why I rip them more than any other TV network (not counting The CW, which isn't even a real network).

I think...ABC's biggest mess-up was...having it be Disney-owned!

By 1997, ABC lost "Family Matters" and "Step by Step", but favored less successful shows for TGIF. Then for SatAM...ABC had "One Saturday Morning" which I felt was a Monopoly after 2000 when "Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show" ended its run on ABC. And somewhere in the 2000's, "Wonderful World of Disney" ended since I think it was on a Saturday which it should've been on Sunday.

That...and losing MNF!

* letting The Wonder Years end with no closure (the gang had their senior year left ahead of them) :mad:

* breaking down taboos with NYPD Blue (as opposed to, say, entertaining the masses) after canceling TWY :angryfire

This is the fourth part in my series (I next intend on covering Fox) of all-time worst decisions that the American broadcast TV networks have made.

*The one mess-up involving ABC that most immediately comes to mind from the start is them oversaturating amd overrelying on Who Wants to be a Millionaire by putting it on almost every weeknight.


*The David Westin regime (http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38915) at ABC News.

I agree with you on WWTBAM. I could see that it was cheaply-produced, and that FIVE other series got cancelled to make room for it. This IMO was the point where TV, as I knew it, had just "Jumped the Shark".:angryfire

This proved to bite ABC in the butt because Going Places wound up only lasting one season.


But 'Step By Step' basically took its place on the sked so it worked out.

ABC turned down a chance to broadcast CSI instead of CBS. Eisner also apparently didn't want Lost (or Desperate Housewives for that matter) even though it was a huge success for ABC.

Also, ABC had first look at The Cosby Show, which buoyed NBC to first in the 80s.

Allowing Happy Days to continue once Richie left it should've ended.
Messing with said show once it went from being about Richie and became the Fonzie show that is when the show started getting goofy.

HD should have ended after the '80-81 season when expectant Lori went off to join husband Ritchie. The Cunninghams should have been written out, with the exception of Chachi and Joanie and Happy days should have transformed into an official Fonzie spin-off. Joanie and Chachi could spinoff into their own show mid-season (Spring '82) like IRL.

Just my thoughts.

I agree with you on WWTBAM. I could see that it was cheaply-produced, and that FIVE other series got cancelled to make room for it. This IMO was the point where TV, as I knew it, had just "Jumped the Shark".:angryfire

ABC basically pulled a Jeff Zucker type of move (and ironically, before I think Zucker really began to ruin NBC)! :crazy:

THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW was on CBS not ABC
Thanks for the correction.

I think...ABC's biggest mess-up was...having it be Disney-owned!

By 1997, ABC lost "Family Matters" and "Step by Step", but favored less successful shows for TGIF. Then for SatAM...ABC had "One Saturday Morning" which I felt was a Monopoly after 2000 when "Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show" ended its run on ABC. And somewhere in the 2000's, "Wonderful World of Disney" ended since I think it was on a Saturday which it should've been on Sunday.

That...and losing MNF!

Disney isn't interested in putting sports on ABC since they can make more $$$ on E$PN

Disney isn't interested in putting sports on ABC since they can make more $$$ on E$PN

That's why I don't like Disney. If it wasn't for The Disney Ducks (Donald, Scrooge, Daisy, etc.), Touchstone Pictures, and the former Disney Afternoon...I'd dodge them like the plague because all they want is cash cows like tween music and overusing Mickey Mouse which in my honest opinion is one of the most unfunniest characters out there and NOTHING really happens to him.

Maybe this should be their theme rather than "When you Wish Uopn a Star"....

7bwNqasHgpo

What will Disney buy next?

When Disney took over ABC the first thing that happened was meddling with GMA. GMA was number 1 at the time, changes were made, trips to Walt Disney World, replacing the veteran on-air staff with relative rookies. Today was on a surge with Matt Lauer's popularity increasing and GMA stumbled not too long after. Lucky for Disney/ABC, Today has been mismanaged and GMA is on top.

I love the Disney company, their characters, their parks, their movies now for years. At the time I was so excited when they bought ABC as I was anticipating 'The Disney Network.' :p

I totally agree with the oversaturation of WWTBAM. I think Regis Philbin is annoying anyway and him being all over the network didn't help. I also agree about cancelling AMC and OLTL in favor of more generic boring reality/lifestyle shows with The Chew and The Revolution.

Thinking Welcome to the Neighborhood, a reality show where rich, white surburbanites get to pick which minority family would be moving into a home in their neighborhood would be good drama. They pulled it after complaints there could be potential racism and stereotyping.

Constantly preempting the popular soap Edge of Night and then ultimately cancelling it in 1984.


Not giving V a chance with the constant preempting of that show.

Allowing The Bachelor and The Bachelorette to continue despite only having one successful contestant finding love and actually getting married.

I totally agree with the oversaturation of WWTBAM. I think Regis Philbin is annoying anyway and him being all over the network didn't help. I also agree about cancelling AMC and OLTL in favor of more generic boring reality/lifestyle shows with The Chew and The Revolution.

Thinking Welcome to the Neighborhood, a reality show where rich, white surburbanites get to pick which minority family would be moving into a home in their neighborhood would be good drama. They pulled it after complaints there could be potential racism and stereotyping.

Constantly preempting the popular soap Edge of Night and then ultimately cancelling it in 1984.


Not giving V a chance with the constant preempting of that show.

Allowing The Bachelor and The Bachelorette to continue despite only having one successful contestant finding love and actually getting married.

ABC most recently, pulled the plug on GCB (even though I think, it did at least respectable in the ratings) too quickly in order to appease to the growing pressure right-wing moral guardians such as One Million Moms.

ABC most recently, pulled the plug on GCB (even though I think, it did at least respectable in the ratings) too quickly in order to appease to the growing pressure right-wing moral guardians such as One Million Moms.The mistake there was ever airing GCB in the first place. I'm very glad it was cancelled, a show referring to Christians as bitches in the title had no business being picked up. And yes the title was shortened but we all know what it stood for, ABC didn't pick those letters out of a hat. :rolleyes:

I totally agree with the oversaturation of WWTBAM. I think Regis Philbin is annoying anyway and him being all over the network didn't help. I also agree about cancelling AMC and OLTL in favor of more generic boring reality/lifestyle shows with The Chew and The Revolution.

Thinking Welcome to the Neighborhood, a reality show where rich, white surburbanites get to pick which minority family would be moving into a home in their neighborhood would be good drama. They pulled it after complaints there could be potential racism and stereotyping.

Constantly preempting the popular soap Edge of Night and then ultimately cancelling it in 1984.


Not giving V a chance with the constant preempting of that show.

Allowing The Bachelor and The Bachelorette to continue despite only having one successful contestant finding love and actually getting married.
I don't watch soap operas, but wasn't EDGE OF NIGHT on CBS? And wasn't V on NBC?

I don't watch soap operas, but wasn't EDGE OF NIGHT on CBS? And wasn't V on NBC?The original V was on NBC but they may be referring to the V remake, which aired on ABC.

ABC most recently, pulled the plug on GCB (even though I think, it did at least respectable in the ratings) too quickly in order to appease to the growing pressure right-wing moral guardians such as One Million Moms.
what's GCB?

The mistake there was ever airing GCB in the first place. I'm very glad it was cancelled, a show referring to Christians as bitches in the title had no business being picked up. And yes the title was shortened but we all know what it stood for, ABC didn't pick those letters out of a hat. :rolleyes:

:clap

ABC expanding Nightline from four nights a week to five and ultimately cancelling the SNL rip-off 'Fridays.' From what I read the show did well in its first year at 11:30, but then bumped the show to midnight after Nightline and ratings plummeted. A trial episode aired at 9 pm, but that didn't work and the show was canned.

I would've had Nightline air Sun-Thu. The Sunday Nightline could have easily bumped down the late night Sunday newscast ABC used to offer to affiliates after their late local news.

Last Man Standing should have find a well-known actor, who did not end up in the movies at all, to play Mike Baxter better. Tim Allen is already in the movies and he should appear more movies right now!

If they got rid of actress Alexandra Rosney and replaced her with Amanda Fuller to play Kristen, than they should replace both actresses Molly Ephraim and Kaitlyn Dever with two new actresses to play both 18-year-old Mandy Baxter and 15-year-old Eve Baxter characters better!

The original V was on NBC but they may be referring to the V remake, which aired on ABC.

Yep, and the original V series on NBC after the miniseries didn't fare well either, being cancelled after one season which had the final episode end on a cliffhanger.

The biggest mistake that I remember was when they moved The Partridge Family to Saturday nights opposite All In The Family in the fall of 1973. Not only would the show be doomed to fail, and it did, only lasting for one final fourth season, but that move also completely destroyed the best Friday night lineup ABC has ever had. The Brady Bunch and The Odd Couple, two other great pre-TGIF shows, would be gone after that season as well.

I would agree about Who Wants to be a Millionaire. That show was beaten to death. Also, the infamous One Life to Live and All My Children being cancelled is a mistake.

Odd Couple was renewed for one more season.

I'd say Everything ABC did in preparing for fall, 1979 was a massive pile of fail. Not just the ridiculous focus group-driven tinkering with Mork & Mindy and moving it to Sundays, but all the shuffling of shows the network did that year. Laverne & Shirley went from finishing as the #1 show for the 1978-79 season to placing third in its time slot and dangling near the bottom ten around January of 1980. It takes some hardcore incompetence on the part of the network suits to achieve that!

Last Man Standing should have find a well-known actor, who did not end up in the movies at all, to play Mike Baxter better. Tim Allen is already in the movies and he should appear more movies right now!

If they got rid of actress Alexandra Rosney and replaced her with Amanda Fuller to play Kristen, than they should replace both actresses Molly Ephraim and Kaitlyn Dever with two new actresses to play both 18-year-old Mandy Baxter and 15-year-old Eve Baxter characters better!

How exactly that a mess-up that ABC as a television network made as a whole? I would put that more on the list of the biggest mess-ups/mistakes in Tim Allen's career. Or more the point, the biggest mistakes that TV shows made for their second seasons.

ABC had a lot of problems in the years following the 90's. The biggest mistake was overplaying Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, and not foreseeing that it was going to be a trend that burnt-out quickly. They also failed to use this show to produce new hits.


But the main problem was mismanagement, starting with the appointment of Jamie Trases as President of Entertainment where she turned everything on the network into a "Friends" clone. ABC tried in vein to capture the market NBC was getting by turning every show on the network into a show about young 20'somethings.


You also had the mistake of passing on several shows that turned into major hits for other networks--- They passed on the CSI Franchise (and along with it the lucrative Jerry Bruckhemier production contract which ended up earning CBS untold fortunes.)

They passed on The Apprentice a show that ended up going on to to the #1 show on Primetime for awhile

I believe I also read that they also nearly passed on both Lost and Desperate Housewives.


Which brings me to my next point:

Firing Lloyd Braun and Susan Lyne, whose development work produced the two biggest hits ABC had had in decades and turned the network around. I think ABC was in such bad shape for so long and Lyne's previous development efforts produced little fanfare that firing her was sort of inevitable. Aside from George Lopez and 8 Simple Rules, her work produced little value until Lost and Housewives.


Cancelling long-running soaps "All My Children" and "One Life To Live" (which at the time of it's cancellation was the highest-rated soap on ABC) in favor of cheaply produced talk shows that nobody is watching. They thought that producing cheaper shows would off-set any ratings slips. They were wrong. This decision is to be solely blamed on one man imho, Brian Frons, the idiot who from the second he was hired at ABC Daytime began to systematically dismantle the shows he was in charge of. It was clear he was a man that did not love the soap opera genre and every decision he made undermined the intelligence of the audience and disrespected the crew and cast of these shows. He made bad decisions so he would be justified in cancelling two beloved iconic series.

I don't watch soap operas, but wasn't EDGE OF NIGHT on CBS? And wasn't V on NBC?


Edge of Night started out on CBS airing there from 1956-1975 and then moved to ABC in 1975 where it stayed until 1984.

The whole 1979-80 season (http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=214497) could on its own be considered as one of the biggest mess-ups in ABC history:
http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/04/25/how-networks-perish/

Anyway, the historically interesting point about this season is that it was the centrepiece of a disastrous season for ABC, where the network essentially gave back much of what it had gained during the Fred Silverman era. Silverman, the most famous TV executive of the era, came to ABC in 1975 after turning CBS around in the ’70s, and he did the same for ABC with a combination of shows with kid appeal, shows with sex appeal, and a slight sprinkling of quality TV (Roots, Barney Miller, Taxi). Silverman left to join NBC (where he didn’t pull off the same feat but did manage to greenlight Hill Street Blues) in 1978, and in the 1979-80 season, ABC made a number of aggressive scheduling moves. The biggest move was taking Laverne & Shirley out of the slot following Happy Days, where it had actually out-rated its lead-in, and moving it to Thursday at 8 to anchor the night. This is why the season begins with a special (and kind of idiotic) crossover event with Happy Days, designed entirely to make viewers follow the show to Thursdays. Only they didn’t. Up against what should have been easy competition – the aging The Waltons and the bubble show Buck Rogers in the 20th Century – the show sank like a stone in the ratings and eventually had to be moved to Mondays and then back to Tuesdays, ending the season out of the top 30 after several years as #1. The following year it underwent a huge, absurd retool, moving the whole cast to California, just to keep viewer interest alive in a show that seemed all-conquering only a couple of years before. It seems to have been an odd case of a show that was incredibly popular as a lead-out but simply was not strong enough to anchor a night; the biggest time-slot hit of all time.

Though it did come up with one new hit, Benson, ABC seemed to be over-confident in some of its other shows, including Mork & Mindy, which underwent an ill-advised retool and did poorly in its new Sunday night timeslot. Fantasy Island also got moved to make room for a show from the same producers (Hart to Hart), and it never quite caught on as the anchor of an evening, either. The midseason comedies of 1978-9, The Ropers and Angie, turned out less strong when they had a full season. The Associates, the one new high-quality comedy of the season, was given a terrible timeslot (after the retooled Mork) and died. And some other shows just passed their prime really suddenly: 1979-80 was the season of Shelley Hack on Charlie’s Angels, and that was the end of that franchise. To some extent, it seems like an illustration of how a #1 network can be weaker than it seems. Silverman had left his successor, Tony Thomopoulos, with some genuine smash hits, but also some shows that needed careful handling if they were not to lose their audience. Every successful network has a combination of the two: some shows can be a hit no matter what the network does to them, and others can only be a hit in certain controlled circumstances. What ABC found out in 1979-80 was that a lot of its shows weren’t as strong as they looked.

By the end of the season, CBS (powered by Dallas) had taken back the #1 network spot, and ABC would struggle for a long time – a struggle that was bad for them but good for the viewers, since their desperation eventually forced them to greenlight all kinds of experimental drama series in the late ’80s. Thomopolous apparently felt that the principle of aggressive scheduling was still a good one, and continued the policy in 1980-1, moving two of ABC’s best comedies, Taxi and Soap, to new time slots. Both were basically killed by these moves.

ABC had a lot of problems in the years following the 90's. The biggest mistake was overplaying Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, and not foreseeing that it was going to be a trend that burnt-out quickly. They also failed to use this show to produce new hits.


But the main problem was mismanagement, starting with the appointment of Jamie Trases as President of Entertainment where she turned everything on the network into a "Friends" clone. ABC tried in vein to capture the market NBC was getting by turning every show on the network into a show about young 20'somethings.


You also had the mistake of passing on several shows that turned into major hits for other networks--- They passed on the CSI Franchise (and along with it the lucrative Jerry Bruckhemier production contract which ended up earning CBS untold fortunes.)

They passed on The Apprentice a show that ended up going on to to the #1 show on Primetime for awhile

I believe I also read that they also nearly passed on both Lost and Desperate Housewives.


Which brings me to my next point:

Firing Lloyd Braun and Susan Lyne, whose development work produced the two biggest hits ABC had had in decades and turned the network around. I think ABC was in such bad shape for so long and Lyne's previous development efforts produced little fanfare that firing her was sort of inevitable. Aside from George Lopez and 8 Simple Rules, her work produced little value until Lost and Housewives.


Cancelling long-running soaps "All My Children" and "One Life To Live" (which at the time of it's cancellation was the highest-rated soap on ABC) in favor of cheaply produced talk shows that nobody is watching. They thought that producing cheaper shows would off-set any ratings slips. They were wrong. This decision is to be solely blamed on one man imho, Brian Frons, the idiot who from the second he was hired at ABC Daytime began to systematically dismantle the shows he was in charge of. It was clear he was a man that did not love the soap opera genre and every decision he made undermined the intelligence of the audience and disrespected the crew and cast of these shows. He made bad decisions so he would be justified in cancelling two beloved iconic series.

I wouldn't exactly consider 8 Simple Rules of any real value after John Ritter suddenly passed away early into the second season.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ScrewedByTheNetwork/LiveActionTV

Better Off Ted. The critically acclaimed sitcom quickly grew a Firefly-level intense fanbase, and to ABC's credit was given a second season despite low ratings, but then screwing truly began with the network providing minimal promotion, launching the season in December (exceptionally late for a returning show on the network), airing episodes during the holiday season (even though by 2009 most US viewers had been conditioned to expect new shows to be on mid-season break and so likely didn't expect the series to be on at that time), and when the ratings weren't stellar began burning off the episodes two at a time in January, cancelling the series, thus giving the show a Season 2 that ran for less than two months with the last two episodes not being aired in the U.S.(they did air in Australia later that summer, and both are availible on Netflix) due to the network's plan of airing them as Filler if the NBA Finals ended early wasn't needed due to that year's series going a full seven games.

ABC's apparent reaction to Commander In Chief winning rave reviews and Emmys for its acting was to kill the show. They put it on hold during the Winter Olympics, then moved it to a different timeslot afterwards without properly announcing this. Ratings suffered, as tends to happen when one moves a show to a new timeslot without announcing it, so they canned it.

There's a bit more to that story. Showrunner/Director Rod Lurie took too long to produce episodes for the network, since he wanted to write and direct everything himself. ABC was understandably upset, but their unwise next move hurt the show beyond repair. Instead of giving Rod Lurie a scriptwriter to help him out, ABC instead fired Lurie and brought in Steven Bochco as the new showrunner mid-season. Then came the way-too-long delays and schedule shifts that followed, which further destroyed the show, one season in.

Covington Cross (1992) aired only six episodes over eight weeks, being constantly preempted and/or moved due to sports programming. It didn't help that the show was expensive to produce (shot on location in England) and had been a prime target for Moral Guardians due to its violent content. Regardless, after the show's "dismal" ratings, it was canned.

One of Litton's Weekend Adventure shows, Culture Click (an educational clone of The Soup), got screwed in Atlanta when their ABC station aired it at 4:00 AM Eastern. To be fair, it was the dud show in the Litton lineup and the first canceled program.

Cupid was bounced around from the Friday Night Death Slot to Saturday (the two nights nobody is ever home to watch a romantic dramedy) to Thursday against NBC's Must-See TV, justifying its cancellation before the end of the season. The show was Un-Cancelled years later, as ABC has gave its creator permission to try again...but the revival didn't get much better treatment, and after ratings slipped it was quickly canned once again.

Fridays was a Saturday Night Live knock-off that aired on ABC from 1980 to 1982. Despite clashes with the censors and a bad first season, it did win over fans who were disillusioned over SNL's decline in quality at the time and cited by most critics as the only sketch show that was worthy of replacing SNL. However, ABC was wary about the show's content, and, during the second season, moved the show from its cushy 11:30 PM timeslot to midnight and extended it from 70 to 90 minutes to make room for Nightline. When the ratings suffered because of this, ABC had the brilliant idea to air the show in primetime on April 23, 1982 — where it got its ass kicked by Dallas (like so many other shows from the early- to mid-1980s). Also not helping was the fact that NBC had gotten rid of Jean Doumanian and most of her SNL cast (Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo were the only survivors of Season 6), with the show more-or-less recovering from its Seasonal Rot with Dick Ebersol at the helm.

Hope and Faith was still getting decent ratings in Season 3 despite being scheduled opposite American Idol, but ABC cancelled it anyways so they could make room for an expanded Dancing with the Stars.

ABC screwed over Jake In Progress after its Season 2 premiere by replacing its timeslot with The Bachelor and cancelling the show a few short months afterwards (they screwed over Emily's Reasons Why Not in a similar manner), leaving eight episodes unaired, ABC cited lackluster ratings in the premiere as its reason; it seems more like ABC just wanted an excuse to cancel the show so it could fill another time slot with more of their Lowest Common Denominator reality shows.

Just the Ten of Us, a spin-off of Growing Pains, was screwed because of politics. Although Just the Ten of Us did well in the ratings on Friday nights (and frequently won its 9:30 PM timeslot), ABC wanted all shows in the TGIF block to be produced by Miller-Boyett Productions (as was the case with Full House, Family Matters, and Perfect Strangers). Ultimately, after finding no other suitable timeslot for Just the Ten of Us in time for the 1990-91 season, the series was canceled outright and replaced by Going Places (which lasted only one season of 19 episodes, changing its premise on #13).

Feeling that ABC wasn't promoting it enough, Stephen King spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money to buy print ads for Kingdom Hospital. The network then decided to change the timeslot to compete with CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, meaning all the ads King bought gave the wrong time. King was probably pissed-off at this.

Less Than Perfect was royally screwed by ABC during its final year, first by shortening its Season 4 order from 22 episodes to 13 despite solid ratings for the previous season, then the season was delayed until April. Then only 5 out of 13 episodes were aired; the next two episodes scheduled to air were pre-empted by NBA games and ABC unceremoniously cancelled the show without giving any explanation whatsoever.

Fans of Lois and Clark had no reason to suspect Season 4 would be its last, as 4-5 had been confirmed for some time as part of a single contract deal. Then ABC got both new Disney ownership and leadership who wanted the timeslot for a revival of The Wonderful World of Disney and the contract was reneged on, leaving the cliffhanger unresolved and the hasty removal of "To be continued..." over the last scene.

America's Funniest Home Videos may have suffered for this too, given that its 7 pm Sunday timeslot was the first half of the two-hour timeslot Disney wanted for the Wonderful World revival. That Videos was already facing trouble, with a weary Bob Saget leaving at the end of the 1996-97 season, couldn't have helped. In any case, the Retooled show was treated poorly (start at 3.2 at the linked page) from that point on, with three timeslot changes — ending up on Saturdays. From there, it was demoted to occasional specials. In the end, however, it survived the screwing; once it relaunched as a series with Tom Bergeron as host in 2001, it gradually clawed its way back to being a network fixture and returned to its old Sunday at 7 timeslot.

Max Headroom: Give it promotion no series could live up to (come on, a Newsweek cover?) and then drop it opposite the wildly-successful Miami Vice. This is somewhat different, though, as the reason it was screwed was not due to incompetence or office politics so much as the content of the show, which pretty much did everything it could to spit in the face of the execs and their way of life. The fact it was ever greenlit at all is a miracle.
ABC screwed over My Wife and Kids by cancelling it after the creators had already been promised another season, thus ending the series on a cliffhanger as a result (though Word of God's explanation for what would've happened next season lessens the blow somewhat).

The Partridge Family was a modest ratings success its first three years, debuting at #26 and breaking the Top 20 in Seasons 2-3. Then ABC moved it to Saturday nights opposite All in the Family, which was in the middle of five consecutive seasons at #1. Ratings tanked, and the show was canned.

The Practice was having great success for six seasons. Then ABC decided to move it from Sunday nights to Monday, supposedly to get out of the way of the similar and strongly-casted NBC show The Lyons Den (which ended up being canned in less than a year). The Practice suffered a huge drop in ratings during that year. At the end of Season 7, ABC refused to renew the show unless its budget was severely cut, citing "poor ratings". As a result, six of the main cast members were fired. Ironically, the show was put back on Sunday nights for the final season...and to show that David E. Kelley can make lemons into lemonade, he introduced a new character: Alan Shore, played by James Spader. The final season mostly dealt with Shore being wooed by a rival law firm led by Denny Crane, portrayed by special guest star William Shatner. Spader and Shatner both won Emmys later that year for their performances, and both characters and actors were spun off onto a new show, Boston Legal, which lasted for several years.

For some reason, ABC decided to screw Samantha Who?, which was undoubtedly one of their most successful shows with high ratings and an award-winning cast. The deathblow? The network decided to move the show from its popular Monday timeslot (right after Dancing With the Stars) to a Thursday timeslot right after In The Motherhood, a complete flop that turned off most viewers.

Tales of the Gold Monkey. Cast and crew members cited a lot of hostility by ABC at the tone of the show (the network wanted Lighter and Softer), the high budget, and "culture clash" (the South Seas Retro setting of the show didn't mesh with ABC's at-the-time "modern urban" sensibilities). It experienced Executive Meddling in scripting from the start and was canned after a single season even with growing ratings and the rival networks certain it would be ABC's flagship.

ABC originally slotted Twin Peaks against Cheers, against which it actually performed admirably...then shifted the show's timeslot repeatedly. And then they forced David Lynch to reveal who killed Laura Palmer long before he wanted to.

Ugly Betty was screwed over by ABC. Its first three seasons aired consistently on Thursday nights at 8:00 PM, but a slight drop in ratings resulted in the show being shunned to the Friday Night Death Slot at 9:00 PM in favor of Flash Forward taking its place (which ended up being canceled). Betty's ratings were cut in half after the night and time switch, and its fans spoke out...so at midseason it was moved to Wednesdays at 10:00 PM with other comedy shows. Even though the ratings improved, it was too late. The show officially ended at the end of Season 4, not finishing its original ordered run. The show did get a story sendoff, but it was rushed, and many plot points were never explained.

ABC doesn't have a Friday Night Death Slot, it has Thursday Night Death Slot. The network has tried and failed to get a successful show going at 8:00 PM (Ugly Betty was the only scripted exception, although Whose Line Is It Anyway? and more recently Wipeout have both managed to run a few years by being low-cost filler) for over 30 years. So, naturally, in 2012 the geopolitical/military thriller Last Resort was aired Thursdays at eight. The ratings started as bad as you'd expect from a show that had to compete directly against (among other things) The Big Bang Theory and The X Factor, and got worse to the point where it finished last in its timeslot twice in a row, after which ABC killed it. Mildly subverted in that ABC is airing the remaining episodes and allowing its studio to give the series an actual ending.

Of course, with Grey's Anatomy being such a runaway hit in the hour afterwards, does ABC really need to worry too much about that?

In all honesty, ABC did try to subvert this with FlashForward (2009), where the show debuted to a promising ratings, and looked to be successful. And then the show went on hiatus, which the second part had half the ratings that Part 1 had. By the time the show was cancelled, the show was performing in last place, being beaten by The CW of all channels. It was cancelled, without resolving any questions the last episode made.

Actually, FlashForward's ratings declined steadily going into the hiatus, yet it was brought back afterwards at the same time slot. They gave the show every chance to succeed, but it just didn't take with enough people to become the Spiritual Successor to Series/Lost that ABC desperately wanted.

If it was screwed in any way, it was by putting it on at 8 rather than 9, where violence that didn't hurt Lost was perhaps a little off-putting at the earlier hour, and certainly didn't make any of the Grey's Anatomy fans watch it.

While 666 Park Avenue received modest ratings by Nielsen standards, it was later revealed that 77% of it's viewings came from DVR recordings. However, ABC ignored this, and the show was canceled anyway. Fortunately, this announcement came early enough for the final episodes to be re-written and re-shot to give the series closure. Unfortunately, the show was pulled off the schedule before they could actually air that finale. It finally did over the summer, only to see another screwing with the literal last minute of the show's finale being pre-empted for the George Zimmerman trial verdict in the East.

Masters of Science Fiction was an anthology series with plenty of promise (adaptations of stories by popular science fiction writers with a wraparound sequence hosted by none other than Stephen Hawking) but ABC sat on the show for a year, dumped it to Saturday nights and didn't air two episodes as the studio head felt the show was "too intelligent". And you wonder why there hasn't been a successful anthology show since Tales from the Crypt.

My So-Called Life. Among other factors, it was in the Thursday Night Curse Slot, and up against Friends and Mad About You. And unlike, say, Last Resort, it ended on a huge, unresolved cliffhanger.

ABC started airing season 2 of Dont Trust The B In Apartment 23 and Season 3 of Happy Endings on Tuesdays on October 23, a month after the start of the season, and more importantly after the start of popular Tuesday comedies New Girl and Raising Hope and new comedies Go On, The New Normal, The Mindy Project and Ben And Kate, all of which share the same time slot as the B and HE. Then they began seriously effing with Apt. 23 airing unaired episodes from Season 1 while airing episodes from Season 2 at random, resulting in serious discontinuities between episodes (like June working on Wall Street and then not, then doing it again the next episode; the entire "James on Dancing with the Stars" plot via airing order was scrambled beyond belief to the point a Dub-Induced Plot Hole had to be created to scrub a DWTS mention). Then, on January 22, 2013, they cancelled the show and announced they were not going to air the remaining 8 episodes on the network. After the end of the 2013 broadcast season the missing eight episodes were placed online and Hulu, allowing some kind of closure.

This was actually a result of being screwed in Season 1 when, after a positive response at upfronts, ABC had ordered 13 episodes and scheduled it as an actual midseason replacement with a premiere date in February. But then...perhaps ABC got cold feet about the title, not least because they were taking similar heat over Good Christian Bitches, which became Good Christian Belles and finally just GCB. After putting Apt. 23 through the same rollercoaster, they rescheduled its premiere date to the end of April, allowing just 6 episodes or so and forcing the mixed-up order in Season 2.

Houston Medical was a well-received 2002 documentary series about the inner workings of a hospital in Houston (it also received praise for its tasteful handling of one of the series' subjects, a doctor dying of brain cancer). So what did ABC do? Dumped it into the Summer 2002 scheduling with no advertising or awareness whatsoever. After ABC burned off the series, the series was never re-run.

Late in the run of Power Rangers Jungle Fury and continuing for Power Rangers RPM and the subsequent Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers reversioning, Disney took PR off cable and made it exclusively an ABC Kids series, despite having just opened up the boys-targeted Disney XD. This would have been borderline tolerable if it aired at, oh, a sensible time. Instead, Power Rangers RPM and the reversioning were not aired as part of the ABC Kids block in most top markets. And where it was aired, it was often given a time slot before sunrise. Both seasons were barely promoted by the network.

ABC is pretty much the Fox of the 2010s. Pan Am, Missing, Body of Proof, Zero Hour, No Ordinary Family, Better with You, How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life), Red Widow, and countless other series have gotten yanked off the air pretty quickly, some as a result even ending on cliffhangers!

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ScrewedByTheNetwork

In 2005, ESPN opted not to continue its relationship with the National Hockey League (fresh out of the lockout that canceled the entire 2004-05 season), and the cable rights were taken over by OLN (which then became Versus), a channel dedicated to outdoor sports with distribution not as wide as ESPN's. When NBC finally offered to air the 2007 NHL playoffs, they cut away from a series-clinching playoff game IN OVERTIME to show 90 minutes of pre-race coverage of the Preakness Stakes, knocking the remainder of the game over to Versus (except in Buffalo, one of the NHL's smallest markets, and Ottawa, where the CBC knows better). Though thankfully, they've learned their lesson (and Versus, now known as the NBC Sports Network following Comcast's acquisition of NBC, has become a lot more established since.) The Preakness Stakes incident was Executive Meddling of its own, as NBC's contract with the race (negotiated years before, mind you) had advertising commitments.

ESPN and ABC aren't exactly blameless for losing their NHL TV rights, though. Once they pulled some duplicitous tactics to yank broadcast rights away from FOX, both ESPN and ABC proceeded to ignore the league, giving it absolutely no advertising time on ABC and the bare minimum on ESPN. This behavior accelerated when ESPN and ABC got the rights to broadcast NBA games (coincidentally, the NHL's direct competitor for the winter months), with both networks making it clear they were prioritizing basketball over hockey. Then right as the 2004-05 NHL lockout started, ESPN canceled their NHL recap show NHL2night and refused to revive the show when the League approached them for a new cable deal after the labor dispute ended. With this kind of network screwing over a 6-7 year period, you cannot possibly blame the NHL for jumping to a more caring TV partner in Versus (although going with NBC is still inexcusable, as shown above). This blog entry goes into more detail about how Disney's networks screwed over the NHL, as well as the aforementioned dirty tactics used to screw FOX out of any TV rights.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ScrewedByTheNetwork/WesternAnimation

Of the six episodes of Clerks: The Animated Series that were actually made, only episodes four and two were actually aired, in that order. This despite the number of running gags and ongoing plotlines that the series had, and the fact that the second episode makes sense only if you have seen the first (it's a parody of clip shows, because they only have one episode to mine for clips). All six episodes — with vitriolic commentaries — were later released on DVD.

Comedy Central later showed all six episodes in 2002, before also shoving the series aside. [adult swim] picked it up in November 2008, airing one episode every Friday night for about six months straight.

Recess was once Adored by the Network. But Walt Disney Television decided to end the series in 2001, not for any issue with ratings (actually, the ratings for the show were higher than any other Saturday Morning Cartoon at the time, and for a while, the highest rated Saturday morning cartoon), but because there was a policy to end a show once it reached 65 episodes. And it doesn't matter how popular it was, it had to end with 65.

Sonic the Hedgehog suffered this badly. It's entire first season was plauged by preempts from college football. Then, when the second season hit, it turned out that it was a major contender against Fox's Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. Then, a new head honcho came in, actually declared that he was sweeping out everything connected to the old guy... and did so. Sonic would be driven out in favor of those within "One Saturday Morning" and Power Rangers would begin its 10-year romp on Fox.

I'm still mad about Hope & Faith getting screwed over. Instead of a 4th season we got a 2nd season of mediocre Rodney, which tanked in season 2. And for two and a half years ABC was fine with Hope & Faith Fridays at 9:00. But then the Dancing With the Stars results show came. Hope & Faith was scheduled after it at 8:30 but was pulled after one episode (barely got a chance!) so they could have a bloated results show, which led to DWTS airing 3 hours a week 2 seasons a year. Ever since then shows with 3 full seasons automatically get renewed for a 4th season because of syndication, Hope & Faith was the last show cancelled after 3 full seasons. :mad:

I'm still mad about Hope & Faith getting screwed over. Instead of a 4th season we got a 2nd season of mediocre Rodney, which tanked in season 2. And for two and a half years ABC was fine with Hope & Faith Fridays at 9:00. But then the Dancing With the Stars results show came. Hope & Faith was scheduled after it at 8:30 but was pulled after one episode (barely got a chance!) so they could have a bloated results show, which led to DWTS airing 3 hours a week 2 seasons a year. Ever since then shows with 3 full seasons automatically get renewed for a 4th season because of syndication, Hope & Faith was the last show cancelled after 3 full seasons. :mad:

What annoys me in particular about Dancing w/ the Stars is that Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney (and former entertainment president of ABC if I'm not mistaken) in the book about the "behind the scenes history" of ESPN (Those Guys Have All the Fun) tried to spin ABC's loss of the National Football League package (I've said earlier that Iger, screwed up a chance of Disney landing both the Sunday night and Monday night package for ABC and ESPN respectively) by saying that they really don't need it anymore since Dancing w/ the Stars appeals to both men and women w/ the same sort of ratings.

I wouldn't exactly consider 8 Simple Rules of any real value after John Ritter suddenly passed away early into the second season.

I would agree with that statement. It was really unable to recover from his death, and what little potential it once had was ruined, making ABC's issues at the time even more unfortunate.

Basically it was just around to limp around to get to syndication, and the post-Ritter episodes were nothing much more than filler to get the Ritter-eps into syndication.

Basically it was just around to limp around to get to syndication, and the post-Ritter episodes were nothing much more than filler to get the Ritter-eps into syndication.

I'm very surprised that 8 Simple Rules managed to get a third season after the whole mess w/ losing John Ritter (and in all honesty, the whole central premise). I kind of think that ABc move the show to the "Friday night deathslot" (during the brief period in which they tried to revive TGIF) to justify (mercy) killing it.

You can make the argument that ABC during that era (i.e. the early 2000s) didn't really have a lot of quality or remarkable sitcoms to rely on. It's a pretty sad state of affairs when According to Jim was pretty much your flagship sitcom.

You can make the argument that ABC during that era (i.e. the early 2000s) didn't really have a lot of quality or remarkable sitcoms to rely on. It's a pretty sad state of affairs when According to Jim was pretty much your flagship sitcom.

This is true, ABC comedy was in shambles during this era, and by comparison, 8 Simple Rules looked like a winner compared to shows like George Lopez and According To Jim, which were sort of bottom of the barrel type shows, IMHO.


It would take until the launch of "Modern Family" in 2009 for ABC to have a comedy series that was a hit with critics and viewers alike.

Cancelling the drama "Brothers & Ststers" after five seasons, after the network was considering an abbreviated sixth and final season, and "B&S"'s timeslot (Sundays @ 10:00 P.M. ET) has been a death slot ever since, with failures like "Pam Am", "GCB", "666 Park Avenue", and "Red Widow".

ABC's treatment of their comedies in general is really frustrating lately. They acquire lots of great shows with tons of potential but squander them with poor scheduling. Cougar Town, Happy Endings, Apartment 23, Suburgatory, The Neighbors...all shows that started off well and collapsed once ABC jerked them around the schedule. Now they're all either cancelled or greatly weakened.

This year's schedule is a great example. The Goldbergs and Trophy Wife would make great post-Middle and post-Modern Family shows, respectively, but instead they throw them after SHIELD which seems really incompatible with the audience they'd be going for. And yet, they stick young-skewing and "hip" single-cam Super Fun Night after Modern Family, instead of putting it after the similarly young-skewing SHIELD? It makes no sense at all.

Another ABC screw-up I like to add is the fact that they passed on American Idol, which would allow FOX to take the ball and run with. AI became the dominant show on American TV, making FOX jump from fourth, to third, to second, to even first place. This move certainly hurt ABC, which was at doing poorly the time of Idol's debut due to the lack of hits. In fact, they were the fourth-place network in the 2003-04 season. Since then, ABC has struggled to beat FOX in the ratings.

Another ABC screw-up I like to add is the fact that they passed on American Idol, which would allow FOX to take the ball and run with. AI became the dominant show on American TV, making FOX jump from fourth, to third, to second, to even first place. This move certainly hurt ABC, which was at doing poorly the time of Idol's debut due to the lack of hits. In fact, they were the fourth-place network in the 2003-04 season. Since then, ABC has struggled to beat FOX in the ratings.

I gotta give ABC a pass on this one, and here's why: American Idol was a pretty radical new concept when it debuted and frankly it wasn't not seen as a sure-fire success when it was being pitched. There hadn't really been a successful singing competition since Star Search in the late 80's. so I understand WHY ABC passed on it.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kateaurthur/abc-is-in-last-place-so-why-does-nbc-get-all-the-bad-pr

Beating up on NBC is a sport, and the consequence seems to be ignoring that ABC is also in sad shape — and has been for a while.

In fact, ABC is currently in last place among adults 18 to 49, and it could stay there unless The Voice tanks when it returns to NBC on March 25. Here are the current rankings of the big four networks in the 18-to-49 demographic that advertisers covet most:

1) CBS: 3.1/9
2) Fox: 2.6/7
3) NBC: 2.5/7
4) ABC: 2.3/6

ABC has no new hits this season and has had many failures. The network has become a serial killer of dramas in particular: Last Resort, 666 Park Ave, and Zero Hour are gone already, and Red Widow can’t last at its current levels. Last season, it was Charlie’s Angels, GCB, Missing, Pan Am, and The River that came and went.


ABC’s bright spots are that Scandal has grown in its first full season (and become a huge zeitgeist show) to be a genuine hit, and The Bachelor rebounded in the season that just ended Monday night. Grey’s Anatomy still does well, and Modern Family is one of the most popular shows on TV — unfortunately for the network, it’s on for only 30 minutes a week. And Shark Tank, the once invisible reality competition, has climbed its way to nice numbers on Friday nights. When Dancing with the Stars returns next week, it will do well among total viewers, but its audience has always been and will always be older (its median age was 61.6 during its fall season) — casting Bachelor Sean will not reverse that years-long trend. But still, because of DWTS, ABC should finish second among viewers for the season behind CBS.

Beyond that, the news is not good for ABC. I love Nashville as much as the next Connie Britton obsessive, but it’s not a real hit — at all. (Still, I would bet money it will be renewed.) The retooled Dana Delany drama, Body of Proof, has been hitting series lows. Moving Revenge from Wednesdays at 10 to Sundays at 9 has grown its audience because of its better lead-in in Once Upon a Time, but its ratings have declined lately as the plot has descended into madness, and it’s underperforming how Desperate Housewives did in that slot in its final season last year. And speaking of Once Upon a Time, ABC’s fun, family-friendly hit has gone down in Season 2 (10% in viewers, 9% in 18 to 49). So has the comedy Suburgatory (down 12% in viewers, 7% in 18 to 49). And moving the Tim Allen comedy Last Man Standing from Tuesdays to Fridays has really hurt the show: It has sunk by 20% in viewers and 36% among 18- to 49-year-olds. In general, ABC’s attempts to launch another Modern Family–scale hit have not come close: Don’t Trust the B—— in Apartment 23 is gone, things aren’t looking good for Happy Endings, and Malibu Country and The Neighbors are weak.

Given this ABC disarray, why is NBC always the story, begetting headlines like “NBC Ratings Sink Even Lower,” “In Turnabout, NBC Prime Time Lands in the Cellar,” and, most dramatically, “Has NBC Passed the Point of No Return?” Those stories are certainly right, by the way: NBC’s dive from first this past fall to now third has been swift — and frighteningly symbolic of the overall end-times instability of the business of network television in 2013. There’s no question that NBC has plummeted this winter; on its way down, ABC has beaten it six weeks in a row. I’ve written about NBC myself several times.

But it’s not the only somber story out there. To me, the most logical answer for the NBC fixation is that its failures have been going on for so many years now, and the network has seemed so flailing — because of Ben Silverman’s antics, Jeff Zucker’s future-of-media pronouncements that were often seen as arrogant, and the Jay Leno/Conan O’Brien catastrophe — that it’s an ongoing soap opera that reporters love. Its flops are also crazily low-rated, like the recent disaster Do No Harm and the shockingly weak return of the revamped Smash.

ABC’s ups and downs, on the other hand, have been less insane-seeming. (Though that characterization does not apply to the firing of ABC’s former entertainment president, Steve McPherson, in the summer of 2010 for, as Bill Carter phrased it then in the New York Times, “a delicate personnel matter,” the full truth of which has never been reported.) That incident aside, in recent years, ABC has had some smaller successes (Castle, The Middle), a ton of cancellations, a few real embarrassments (the offensive cross-dressing “comedy” Work It last year), and one huge hit in Modern Family.

Yet ABC projects more stability: Its vicissitudes just aren’t as easy or fun to write about as the telenovela-like swoonings at NBC. Which, by the way, fell from second place to third after last week’s ratings. As you can see from the rankings at the top, Fox has recovered from its horrible fall, and is now in second, and, unless something unforeseen happens, will stay there for the rest of the season behind the dominant monolith CBS.

NBC’s biggest draw, Sunday Night Football, is gone until next fall. But we’ll see what happens when The Voice comes back. If the audience likes the new panel of judges, NBC’s ratings will stabilize, since The Voice will again lift shows like Go On and perhaps even the woeful Smash. I’m also curious if Revolution, also back on March 25, will return strong.

No network wants to be fighting for third place. But since first and second are set, this is where the real contest is.

I think...ABC's biggest mess-up was...having it be Disney-owned!

By 1997, ABC lost "Family Matters" and "Step by Step", but favored less successful shows for TGIF. Then for SatAM...ABC had "One Saturday Morning" which I felt was a Monopoly after 2000 when "Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show" ended its run on ABC. And somewhere in the 2000's, "Wonderful World of Disney" ended since I think it was on a Saturday which it should've been on Sunday.

That...and losing MNF!

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/02/08/disney-abc-univision/

Instead of cutting its losses on ABC by exploring a spinoff of the dragging network, Disney is reportedly doubling down in a deal with Univision. None of it makes sense.

By Cyrus Sanati, contributor

FORTUNE -- Is it time for Disney to finally banish ABC from the Magic Kingdom? The media conglomerate's broadcast division was yet again the only real bruise in what would have been a relatively blemish-free quarter. ABC's anemic growth rate, coupled with its earnings cyclicality, has been a drag on Disney's stock for years, and its future doesn't look positive given the way people consume media in the 21st century.

But instead of cutting its losses and selling ABC, Disney executives are reportedly gearing up to double down on the dying brand by forming a partnership with Spanish-language powerhouse Univision to create yet another 24-hour cable news network – in English. Looking beyond the odd premise of such a network, the cost to get such a venture up and going in an already crowded field of cable news stations may not be worth the headache and could become yet another albatross around Disney's neck.

Disney's broadcast division, which includes the ABC network and its eight ABC-owned affiliates, reported yesterday a 7% decline in revenue and a whopping 23% decline in operating income for its fiscal first quarter, compared with the same time last year. The rest of the company, which includes its cable networks, like ABC Family and ESPN, as well as its theme parks and movie studios, met or beat revenue and profit expectations.

Disney (DIS) blamed the poor showing at ABC on lower affiliate revenue following the end of Oprah Winfrey's popular talk show and a decrease in political ad spending, as it was not an election year. While both may explain a decrease in revenue, it doesn't make up for the huge decrease in profits. ABC has the fewest owned and operated affiliate stations, so the decrease in revenues from losing Oprah and the political ads shouldn't have moved the needle as much as it was moved.

ABC's entertainment division and its news division, which is looking increasingly like an entertainment outlet, continues to suffer from a fall in viewership, making its ad space worth less today than in the past. ABC ended the fall season dead last among the four networks among 18 to 49 year olds, down 1% in viewership from last year. That compares to the 2% and 14% increase in viewership at Fox and CBS, respectively, in this key marketing demographic.

The company was reportedly close to selling off ABC in the spring of 2010 to a consortium of private equity firms, but that deal never materialized. Since then, Disney has been chopping costs and slashing employees at ABC in what appeared to many in the industry to be an attempt by management to make the division look as lean and as profitable as possible to attract new buyers. But ABC's poor performance may have scared off would-be suitors.

Another news network?

So instead of just cutting its losses and ejecting the division through some sort of tax-free spinoff or fire sale, Disney appears set to invest even more money in ABC. There is now talk that ABC is close to announcing the formation of its own 24-hour cable news network in partnership with Univision. It would meld its gutted ABC news division with Univision's news division to create a station catering to the Hispanic market. Sounds like an interesting idea, but what is odd is that instead of the station being in Spanish, it would be in English. The thinking at ABC is that the growing number of Hispanic Americans who speak English will want to watch a network news channel that is geared to issues affecting "their community" and that advertisers will then have a direct link to this increasingly affluent ethnic group.

That seems like a risky bet built on a false premise. All the other 24-hour cable news networks are divided across the ideological spectrum, with News Corp's (NWS) Fox News catering to conservatives, Time Warner's CNN catering to moderates and Comcast and Microsoft's MSNBC appealing to liberals (Fortune is owned by Time Warner (TWX)). It is unclear why a Hispanic-American, who speaks English, would care about elections back in their grandparent's homeland or about other Hispanic-Americans in other parts of the country.

When asked about the reported Univision deal, Disney CEO Bob Iger declined to comment during a call with shareholders. "I've said before that ABC is a platform that we continue to invest in from a content perspective, and ABC News is a very important part of that platform," he said. "And we have an interest in seeing that ABC News continues to flourish and giving it an opportunity to look for and create some growth opportunities on its own."

ABC News is but a shell of what it used to be and its ratings have plummeted as more Americans get their news from other mediums, like the internet (viewership of flagship shows Good Morning America, Nightline and World News improved during the 2010-2011 season, but ratings are down significantly from where they were 15 years ago). Executives inside ABC News are being shuffled around in an attempt to breathe "new life" into the news division. The answer, unfortunately, has been to appeal to the lowest common denominator in a cheap attempt to lure in viewers. So stories like "how male porn stars are trying to cater to women," are more likely to lead the network's iconic news daily Nightline than a hard news topic considered "boring." The end seems near.

Disney would be smart to just cut the cord before it is too late. It derives very little, if any, synergies from ABC and ad revenue is expected to fall going forward as viewership continues to drop off. Attempts to cut costs while maintaining quality programming that people want to watch has eluded ABC entertainment and ABC News executives for a decade, and there is no reason to believe that they will ever get it right.

The old mainline broadcast giants simply cannot capture the viewership they once could due to the plethora of information and entertainment choices now available to consumers. If Disney cannot find a buyer, it could always spinoff ABC to its shareholders in a tax-free spinoff. That would give shareholders the opportunity to decide whether they want to keep ABC as part of their portfolios or dump it. At the right valuation, ABC could be worth owning. But for now, it seems to be dragging Disney's valuation down - preventing shareholders from having their dreams of strong profits come true.

Di$ney probably doesn't care if ABC is 1st or 5th as long as its profitable, its big money maker is E$PN.

Di$ney probably doesn't care if ABC is 1st or 5th as long as its profitable, its big money maker is E$PN.

I'm not 100% sure of this, but perhaps a byproduct of this problem is sort of like NBC under Jeff Zucker, they have people in charge who don't entirely understand the creation of prime time programming (at the very least) and/or the unique relationship between a broadcast network and an affiliate station. In other words, cable and satellite MSOs are more or less, considered "affiliates". More to the point, said relationships are dramatically different and less synergistic than that between a broadcast network and an affiliated station. Both create content, have unique brands and specific relationships with viewers. I suppose a perfect example of this is the way that ABC's sports programming (which is basically, "lip service" from ESPN) has been presented in recent years under the ESPN banner. It seems like a lot of things (just like NBC during the Zucker years) feel like they're being done on the cheap.

Ending "SoapNET" and replacing it with yet another pre-school network that nobody wanted and nobody will watch. They had a winner in SOAPNET, which even til it's end was among the highest rated cable networks out there and instead they are going to enter an already saturated market that will only further dilute the Disney brand and provide competition for Disney Channel.

Ending "SoapNET" and replacing it with yet another pre-school network that nobody wanted and nobody will watch. They had a winner in SOAPNET, which even til it's end was among the highest rated cable networks out there and instead they are going to enter an already saturated market that will only further dilute the Disney brand and provide competition for Disney Channel.
I wouldn't call it "among the highest rated cable networks out there", as it really wasn't all that strong. In August 2012 (the latest data I could find), the highest rated programming on SoapNet was Young and the Restless - with a mere 490,000 viewers. They only had 21 shows above 100,000 viewers, with the remaining 149 programs were under that threshold. Finally, 43 of the 170 programs (25% of their lineup) were under 25,000 viewers.

From those numbers, I completely understand why SoapNet closed. Why it was replaced with Disney Junior though, I have no idea. They have plenty of material on Disney Channel and the Disney Junior block on Disney Channel.


Update: Disney Junior averaged 385,000 viewers for a week in September 2013, ahead of the 64,500 viewers SoapNet averaged last August.

Here is the link: http://www.tvmediainsights.com/highlights/11252/soapnet-ratings-scorecard-week-of-august-6-2012/

I wouldn't call it "among the highest rated cable networks out there", as it really wasn't all that strong. In August 2012 (the latest data I could find), the highest rated programming on SoapNet was Young and the Restless - with a mere 490,000 viewers. They only had 21 shows above 100,000 viewers, with the remaining 149 programs were under that threshold. Finally, 43 of the 170 programs (25% of their lineup) was under 25,000 viewers.

From those numbers, I completely understand why SoapNet closed. Why it was replaced with Disney Junior though, I have no idea. They have plenty of material on Disney Channel and the Disney Junior block on Disney Channel.


Update: Disney Junior averaged 385,000 viewers for a week in September 2013, ahead of the 64,500 viewers SoapNet averaged last August.

Here is the link: http://www.tvmediainsights.com/highlights/11252/soapnet-ratings-scorecard-week-of-august-6-2012/


Fair enough, but that was way after they essentially had already shut-down the network and stopped promoting it and programming it for the most part.

Prior to 2011 SOAPNET was a hugely successful cable network that routinely exceeded expectations, and when it launched was among the fastest growing networks on cable.

I wouldn't call it "among the highest rated cable networks out there", as it really wasn't all that strong. In August 2012 (the latest data I could find), the highest rated programming on SoapNet was Young and the Restless - with a mere 490,000 viewers. They only had 21 shows above 100,000 viewers, with the remaining 149 programs were under that threshold. Finally, 43 of the 170 programs (25% of their lineup) was under 25,000 viewers.

From those numbers, I completely understand why SoapNet closed. Why it was replaced with Disney Junior though, I have no idea. They have plenty of material on Disney Channel and the Disney Junior block on Disney Channel.


Update: Disney Junior averaged 385,000 viewers for a week in September 2013, ahead of the 64,500 viewers SoapNet averaged last August.

Here is the link: http://www.tvmediainsights.com/highlights/11252/soapnet-ratings-scorecard-week-of-august-6-2012/

I still hope for a Vault Disney Channel...or at least have some older Disney Afternoon Shows back on The Disney Channel rather than feeding the cash cows!

There's an audience for that and if Disney doesn't watch out...reruns of "Wonderful World of Disney" (The ones that showed the older shows and Walt Disney himself) will be on either Antenna TV or MeTV!

cancelling Doogie Howser MD and The Wonder Years. I mean ABC should have done something to boost ratings. I mean In an interview with Steven Bochco, he expressed his displeasure with ABC for cancelling Doogie Howser when he did not get to finish off the series properly

As for The Wonder Years, ABC was planning on going all the way to Kevin's senior year in high school but a female guest star sued Fred Savage and Jason Hervey and purportedly sued ABC! Damn that bitch!

In the fall of 1969, the American Broadcasting Company ran two programmes on Mondays from 7:30 to 9:00 P.M. with a running time of 45 minutes each. They were The Music Scene (a music chart/variety show) and The New People (a drama series). Their competition was Gunsmoke and Here's Lucy (on CBS) and Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In (on NBC).

Music Scene and New People finished in third place each week (drawing around a 10.0 rating), and they were cancelled at midseason, finishing their 17-episode runs in January of 1970.

The peculiar length of the two programmes may have been a key reason for their failure, not just in the Nielsen ratings, but with advertisers as well; To many an advertiser, there was no such thing as a 45-minute show.

They cancelled Body of Proof, The Neighbors & Suburgatory, but renewed Nashville which is now expected to reach 87 episodes with terrible ratings. Not to mention the sitcoms they picked up for next season instead of the aforementioned two, I'm very disappointed with ABC at the moment.

ABC had a lot of problems in the years following the 90's. The biggest mistake was overplaying Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, and not foreseeing that it was going to be a trend that burnt-out quickly. They also failed to use this show to produce new hits.


But the main problem was mismanagement, starting with the appointment of Jamie Trases as President of Entertainment where she turned everything on the network into a "Friends" clone. ABC tried in vein to capture the market NBC was getting by turning every show on the network into a show about young 20'somethings.


You also had the mistake of passing on several shows that turned into major hits for other networks--- They passed on the CSI Franchise (and along with it the lucrative Jerry Bruckhemier production contract which ended up earning CBS untold fortunes.)

They passed on The Apprentice a show that ended up going on to to the #1 show on Primetime for awhile

I believe I also read that they also nearly passed on both Lost and Desperate Housewives.


Which brings me to my next point:

Firing Lloyd Braun and Susan Lyne, whose development work produced the two biggest hits ABC had had in decades and turned the network around. I think ABC was in such bad shape for so long and Lyne's previous development efforts produced little fanfare that firing her was sort of inevitable. Aside from George Lopez and 8 Simple Rules, her work produced little value until Lost and Housewives.


Cancelling long-running soaps "All My Children" and "One Life To Live" (which at the time of it's cancellation was the highest-rated soap on ABC) in favor of cheaply produced talk shows that nobody is watching. They thought that producing cheaper shows would off-set any ratings slips. They were wrong. This decision is to be solely blamed on one man imho, Brian Frons, the idiot who from the second he was hired at ABC Daytime began to systematically dismantle the shows he was in charge of. It was clear he was a man that did not love the soap opera genre and every decision he made undermined the intelligence of the audience and disrespected the crew and cast of these shows. He made bad decisions so he would be justified in cancelling two beloved iconic series.

Some insight on Jamie Tarses' plans (http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1997/03/17/223297/index.htm):
ABC has a plan to rebuild its family franchise. Entertainment division president Jamie Tarses (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Tarses#Network_executive), hired away from NBC last June, wants to build family comedies around strong adult characters. That means shows that look less like Sabrina and Boy Meets World and more like Growing Pains and Who's the Boss?--in other words, the very sorts of programs that Miller and Boyett produced in the 1980s.

Ending "SoapNET" and replacing it with yet another pre-school network that nobody wanted and nobody will watch. They had a winner in SOAPNET, which even til it's end was among the highest rated cable networks out there and instead they are going to enter an already saturated market that will only further dilute the Disney brand and provide competition for Disney Channel.

I remember when Soapnet had that Dynasty marathon on early Sunday mornings. Every week, I'd set the VCR and tape the whole thing. I think I went through three or four seasons' worth (maybe 5) that way.

Some insight on Jamie Tarses' plans (http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1997/03/17/223297/index.htm):


Sadly, that ended up not being the direction she went in. I recall numerous people saying she was only interested in shows about young characters and she insisted every show she greenlit be similar in tone to Friends or Seinfeld. I recall somebody from Boy Meets World explaining she suddenly decided they had to introduce some 20-something characters which is why Mr. Turner showed up.

Sadly, that ended up not being the direction she went in. I recall numerous people saying she was only interested in shows about young characters and she insisted every show she greenlit be similar in tone to Friends or Seinfeld. I recall somebody from Boy Meets World explaining she suddenly decided they had to introduce some 20-something characters which is why Mr. Turner showed up.Mr. Turner was a great addition. The mistake there was getting rid of him.

Frankly, cancelling Subergatory would be on my list. I thought that was a funny show. Also, I might be the only one, but I didnt like when they cancelled "Dont trust the B..." I thought James VanDer Beek was hiliarious and so was Krysten Ritter.

Also, Soapnet didnt surprise me when they cancelled it. It was obvious that the executives just gave up and didnt care. They started pushing reality crap and other nonsense. When that happens, forget it. Its a shame because it was a really good channel.

Why not bring back TGIF? It was so successful back in the day. I do think they need Girl Meets World to anchor it.

Also, cancelling OLTL and AMC as well as overplaying Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

Yep, and the original V series on NBC after the miniseries didn't fare well either, being cancelled after one season which had the final episode end on a cliffhanger.


They should have just left V as a mini series.

Since Fox's Glee recently had its series finale, it just reminded me of the final years of The Drew Carey Show (http://www.avclub.com/article/glee-harmonized-art-and-commerce-then-gradually-be-216538#comment-1917701962) on ABC:
"ABC signed a new contract to keep the show on through a ninth season, even though the show had yet to enter its seventh season (2001–2002) at that time. The season saw one of the show's biggest drops in ratings, finishing 57th with an average rating of 5.9, a significant drop of 28.3% from the sixth season. The show finished its eighth season (2002–2003) season 119th with an average rating of 3.29, a drop of 44.23 percent from the seventh season. This caused ABC to put the series on hiatus, airing the rest of the season in the summer of 2003. Unable to get out of the contract, ABC was forced to allow the show to film a ninth season, paying three million dollars per episode. Not doing well enough to receive a time slot on ABC's fall schedule in 2003, the show had its ninth and final season burned off during the summer of 2004.

The series finale was viewed by a little over 5 million viewers."

The show was moved to Mondays against King of Queens and ratings dropped, the show was pulled with 12 episodes left in season 8 and burned off that summer.

The final season was 26(!) episodes, so take those 26 episodes and add the 12 from the season before and multiply by $3 million bucks.

ABC spent $114 MILLION DOLLARS for summer burn off programming, essentially.

Since Fox's Glee recently had its series finale, it just reminded me of the final years of The Drew Carey Show (http://www.avclub.com/article/glee-harmonized-art-and-commerce-then-gradually-be-216538#comment-1917701962) on ABC:
I remember when they did that, at the same time they did the same thing with WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY?
I remember I thought both shows had been cancelled and I was surprised when they both appeared on the schedule again that spring with original episodes.

Cancelled Cambat! that was still going strong and replaced it with Garrison's Gorillas which got cancelled after on season!

Executives did not like the salary of the cast nor the expenditure of ammo some season episodes!

Harry Wild, I've never even heard of those shows.

ABC expanding Nightline from four nights a week to five and ultimately cancelling the SNL rip-off 'Fridays.' From what I read the show did well in its first year at 11:30, but then bumped the show to midnight after Nightline and ratings plummeted. A trial episode aired at 9 pm, but that didn't work and the show was canned.

I would've had Nightline air Sun-Thu. The Sunday Nightline could have easily bumped down the late night Sunday newscast ABC used to offer to affiliates after their late local news.

They should have let the show die after Ted Koppel left

- not canceling The Home Show in 1990 and replacing it with two game shows as planned.

Harry Wild, I've never even heard of those shows.

"Combat! premiered on ABC on October 2, 1962, and was broadcast for five seasons. TV's longest-running World War II drama (as of May 2013), Combat! aired 152 hour-long episodes. "

Bio on Combat!: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat!

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Garrison's Gorillas:

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Thanks for the info!!

Also, overplaying Millionaire. They could have had it one or maybe two times a week. Who knows, maybe if they went the Survivor route, Millionaire would still be on the air.

canceling THE FUGITIVE after 4 seasons (although you can't blame them-they did it because David Jansen didn't want to do it anymore, it used to get him really tired physically-they would shoot on location constantly and he was in just about every scene. He was also a heavy smoker)

They should have let the show die after Ted Koppel leftI agree nightline stinks now

They should have just left V as a mini series.

I agree. I think a V full series reboot would have done better on Syfy or FX.

Thanks for the info!!

Also, overplaying Millionaire. They could have had it one or maybe two times a week. Who knows, maybe if they went the Survivor route, Millionaire would still be on the air.

I think part of ABC's problem (especially since Disney has owned it) is that whenever they strike the proverbial "lightening in a bottle", they have to run it into the ground at the expense of what's possibly best for the long term.

ABC or more specifically, the big wigs at Disney (i.e. Michael Eisner and Bob Iger) acted rather complacent (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:t1uAna9ng1MJ:www.uvm.edu/~rgriffin/ESPN-Miller.pdf+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us) around the time that Monday Night Football moved from ABC to ESPN in 2006:
BOB IGER:
I was feeling good that we had secured an eight-year deal for sports
television’s most venerable franchise when the other TV packages went
for six years. I also felt good that we had clearly strengthened one of
Disney’s core brands, ESPN, and had created a new opportunity for
ABC on Monday nights. And ultimately ABC created a franchise,
Dancing with the Stars, that has given Disney a strong, enviable position
with both men and women on Monday nights

MICHAEL EISNER:
By 2004, we had Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, and
they had all done very well, but you can’t give up football; it’s The
American Pastime, and it would be bad from a PR point of view. So by
putting the big franchise, Monday night, on ESPN, we no longer had
to have it Monday nights on ABC. It was a fantastic decision worth
maybe a billion dollars to the company. So now you had Sunday night
on NBC, which is a big loss for them, and Monday night on ESPN.
ESPN goes from a Ping—Pong network and a surfing network, and
whatever else they were doing there in the beginning, to the key sports
franchise.

STEVE BORNSTEIN:
Running these broadcast networks without a male delivery system,
which is what Monday Night Football is, is really hard to do. ABC may be
better positioned given the cross—promotional opportunities that they
have within ESPN, but they’ll want back in as well. Every time any of the
big four networks has ever lost the football package, they’ve come back in.

It sort of reminds me of what Jeff Zucker said around the time that NBC lost the rights to broadcast the NBA to ABC/ESPN in 2002:
“ We lost football two years ago, and we stayed a strong No. 1. We lost baseball, and we stayed a strong No. 1. Now we're about to lose basketball, and I believe we'll stay a strong No. 1. The fact is, it's had no impact on our prime time strength. . . NBC can now program all of Sunday nights without going around basketball. I think that's a huge advantage for us. We haven't been able for the last several years to put a program at 8 o'clock (such as "American Dreams") because we've had the NBA. ”

Within two years of the network losing the NBA rights, NBC dropped to fourth place in the prime time television rankings for the first time in its history, which was also partly the result of a weaker prime time schedule, and would more or less remain there until for almost nine years.

I thought ESPN getting MNF was good. I thought MNF had gotten stale on ABC and ESPN provided a much needed breath of fresh air.

I can see Zucker's point. I mean you lose the NFL, MLB and then NBA, you figure your teflon. Boy, was he wrong. Just proves how much sports plays a role on network tv.

They also canned Doogie Howser MD without closure. Steven Bochco said he would never forgive ABC for pulling the plug.

Passing up a Chevy Chase-Beverly D'Angelo sitcom for Uncle Buck. Are you kidding me? I'd rather watch Chev and Bev than an 80s movie butchering sitcom!

Passing up a Chevy Chase-Beverly D'Angelo sitcom for Uncle Buck. Are you kidding me? I'd rather watch Chev and Bev than an 80s movie butchering sitcom!

Like Uncle Buck couldn't sink lower than the first TV adaptation (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098937/combined) w/ Kevin Meaney! :crazy:

I know right?

Moving Full House to Tuesday night's. When it was a school night!

Moving Full House to Tuesday night's. When it was a school night!

I think that was done because Who's the Boss has been losing audience and ABC needed something that can attract audience at Tuesday 8pm, it was good move for FH but bad for Friday night, Family Matters wasn't strong as FH.

I don't know if had written this before but biggest mistake for ABC was moving Laverne & Shirley to Thursday night, but still how can #1 show fell below top 30 just because of change of time-slot. Mork & Mindy should have stayed on Thursday 8pm and L&S maybe on Thursday 9pm.

The Ropers - either on Tuesday or Thursday night in S2.

All those changes in late 70s made ABC lose its #1 place. :(

I think that was done because Who's the Boss has been losing audience and ABC needed something that can attract audience at Tuesday 8pm, it was good move for FH but bad for Friday night, Family Matters wasn't strong as FH.

I don't know if had written this before but biggest mistake for ABC was moving Laverne & Shirley to Thursday night, but still how can #1 show fell below top 30 just because of change of time-slot. Mork & Mindy should have stayed on Thursday 8pm and L&S maybe on Thursday 9pm.

The Ropers - either on Tuesday or Thursday night in S2.

All those changes in late 70s made ABC lose its #1 place. :(Laverne and Shirley must have been a timeslot hit being sandwiched between Happy Days and Three's Company. Once moved away from a protected slot it suffered.

Yea, but in tbe process, Full House killed Quantum Leap.

I thought ESPN getting MNF was good. I thought MNF had gotten stale on ABC and ESPN provided a much needed breath of fresh air.

I can see Zucker's point. I mean you lose the NFL, MLB and then NBA, you figure your teflon. Boy, was he wrong. Just proves how much sports plays a role on network tv.

From page 379 of Dan Rapak's book "Brought to You by . . ."

A sports broadcaster that tries to save money by not acquiring rights to sporting events is like an auto maker that tries to save money by not acquiring steel. The short term bottom line looks real good, but before long you look around and realize you have no inventory to sell.

Yea, but in tbe process, Full House killed Quantum Leap.

It didn't, Full House was on Friday 8pm while QL was on Friday 9pm in S1 and Wednesday 10pm in S2, only in S3 and S5 both shows ran against each other.

Rescue 911 didn't have trouble competing with FH.

From page 379 of Dan Rapak's book "Brought to You by . . ."

And speaking of "the bottom-line" regarding ABC under the Disney regime:
Editorial: Eisner strategy won’t save ABC (http://www.tvweek.com/in-depth/2002/10/editorial-eisner-strategy-wont/)

I don't know if had written this before but biggest mistake for ABC was moving Laverne & Shirley to Thursday night, but still how can #1 show fell below top 30 just because of change of time-slot. Mork & Mindy should have stayed on Thursday 8pm and L&S maybe on Thursday 9pm.

I think that would have meant Barney Miller being shifted to Sundays at 8pm. But what do you think about having Laverne & Shirley at 8pm and Mork & Mindy at 9pm if a move like that happened?

#FantasyScheduling

I think that would have meant Barney Miller being shifted to Sundays at 8pm. But what do you think about having Laverne & Shirley at 8pm and Mork & Mindy at 9pm if a move like that happened?

#FantasyScheduling

My ABC Thursday 1979-80 schedule:

8:00pm - Mork & Mindy
8:30pm - Benson
9:00pm - Laverne & Shirley
9:30pm - The Ropers
10:00pm - 20/20

Barney and Soap on Sunday 8pm.

L&S had no competition on Thursday night, CBS was airing 8th season of The Waltons and NBC sci-fi flop Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, even new comedy Benson managed to land in top 25.

Turning away Gene Rayburn when he auditioned to host Match Game 1990.

Like Uncle Buck couldn't sink lower than the first TV adaptation (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098937/combined) w/ Kevin Meaney! :crazy:


Wait, Chevy and Bev were going to have a tv sitcom? I never knew that.

I never saw the Uncle Buck tv show. It was THAT bad???


Also, I would never turn away Gene Rayburn. How do you turn away the guy who helped built the original Match Game??

Wait, Chevy and Bev were going to have a tv sitcom? I never knew that.

I never saw the Uncle Buck tv show. It was THAT bad???


Also, I would never turn away Gene Rayburn. How do you turn away the guy who helped built the original Match Game??

Two words: Age discrimination. Rayburn was 72 at the time but could still run circles around the younger hosts!

Also, in their defense about The Chevy Chase-Beverly D'Angelo sitcom, Chevy Chase seemed to not be with the program. If you watched the SNL 40th anniversary special, you'll know what I'm talking about.

ABC has always been my least favorite network. Just do not like their programming. Of the Big Four networks, ABC probably has the least shows I watch or watched.

My question, how and why did ABC lose Monday Night Football? I would think this would be a coveted show not to lose, and ABC lost it to ESPN, which sucks for the poor people who do not have cable.

ABC has always been my least favorite network. Just do not like their programming. Of the Big Four networks, ABC probably has the least shows I watch or watched.

My question, how and why did ABC lose Monday Night Football? I would think this would be a coveted show not to lose, and ABC lost it to ESPN, which sucks for the poor people who do not have cable.

To make a long story short, Disney claims that they were losing a lot of money during the last few years that MNF was on ABC. ABC unlike ESPN, doesn't have the advantage of being able to exploit what is known as a duel-revenue stream. That means that you can charge both in cable subscription fees and advertisers. This is basically why Disney would prefer to have a majority of big time live sporting events now on ESPN instead of ABC (unless they're really forced/contracted to do so). ESPN/Disney will on occasion throw ABC a bone in order to apiece the affiliates.

By this time, the NFL (or more importantly, Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, and a key member of the NFL's TV committee) pushed for Sunday nights to be the new marquee spot for NFL broadcasts. This is because unlike on Monday nights, the NFL can better exploit "flex scheduling" (meaning that it would be much easier to avoid bad match-ups later in the season) and not start broadcasts at 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast.

From what I've gathered, Bob Iger (who at the time was Michael Eisner's second in command at Disney and was at one time, the chief of ABC's entertainment division) in particular was hesitant of going after the Sunday night package for ABC's benefit. This in part, likely has to do w/ ABC at that point, having a rejuvenated prime-time schedule (especially on Sunday nights) w/ Desperate Housewives leading the way.

Cutting to the chase, once Disney figured out that NBC had won the Sunday night package, they overspent on the Monday Night Football package since no live NFL coverage would've been seen as extremely bad for ESPN's brand. ESPN was left w/ what accounted for their old Sunday night schedule on MNF (which was not very good to put things lightly) while NBC now had the premiere NFL TV package. Disney for a lack of a better word, could've had (continued having) both the Sunday night and Monday night package albeit w/ the ABC and ESPN trading places.

It didn't help ABC because now they had to program against ESPN (does it really doesn't matter if ESPN is a sister network), and is w/o a lynch pin to promote their prime-time programming and attract the male demographic in particular.

I always thought that MNF on ABC had lost its luster the last few years. I think it got a somewhat super charge being on ESPN. I will say that for them keeping MNF and having record numbers for the games on ESPN its kind of a double edged sword. I say that because when you look at the premier tv schedules, NBC's Sunday night Football is number 1 followed by the CBS/NFLN Thursday Night Football followed by MNF.

another BIG Mess-Up From abc was this:

Reviving Classic TV Show from Paramount during the 80's

The NEW Odd Couple, The NEW Love American Style and The NEW Mission: Impossible

These 3 shows were abc and Paramount's Way of bringing Classic TV Shows, but with new twists and they all failed

The NEW Odd Couple

In this series, Felix Unger and Oscar Madison were both African-American college buddies who met in the 1950s. Felix was portrayed by Ron Glass who is best known for his role as the Witty Detective Ron Harris on the Hit abc 70's Cop Comedy Barney Miller and Oscar was portrayed by Demond Wilson who is best known for his role as Fred Sanford's 30-ish son Lamont Sanford on the Hit NBC 70's Comedy Sanford & Son.

The characterizations were still the same, as Felix was a prissy neatfreak and Oscar was a fun loving and sloppy character. John Schuck best known for his role as Sgt. Charles Enright on the NBC Mystery Drama McMillan & Wife and Herman Munster in the 80's Version of The Munster's Today also appeared as Murray the Cop, who was kept Caucasian, as was the character of Roy, who was played by Bart Braverman who is best known for his role as Bobby "Binzer" Borso the popular abc Crime Drama Series Vega$ and as a Semi-Regular on Match Game.

The show ran for 18 episodes; eight of the episodes used recycled scripts from the original series. By the time the writers began producing new scripts, it was too late, as the show never found an audience. The series was cancelled in 1983.

I didn't remember this revival growing up, but after watching some of the clips on YT, I can see why the show was cancelled after 1 season

IMO, NO ONE can touch Tony Randall and Jack Klugman when it comes to The Odd Couple TV Series and NO ONE can touch Jack Lemmon and Walter Mattheu when it comes to the MOVIE version of The Odd Couple

The NEW Love America Style

A decade after it went off the air, a new version premiered on ABC's daytime schedule in 1985 entitled New Love, American Style but was canceled after a few months due to low ratings against The Price Is Right on CBS. A third edition, starring Melissa Joan Hart among others, was shot as a pilot for the 1998–1999 television season, but was not ordered into a series. Nevertheless, ABC aired the pilot on February 20, 1999.

IMO, putting the NEW LAS on Daytime instead of Prime Time was a HUGE Mess-Up by the network executives of abc

Not to mention putting the show against CBS' The Price is Right and NBC's Wheel of Fortune was ANOTHER BIG BLOW for abc

The NEW Mission: Impossible

The events of the series take place 15 years after the last season of the original Mission: Impossible TV series. After his protégé and successor as leader of the top-secret Impossible Missions Force is killed, Jim Phelps is called out of retirement and asked to form a new IMF team and track down the assassin.

His team consists of Nicholas Black, a disguise expert and actor; Max Harte, a strongman; Grant Collier, the son of Barney Collier; and Casey Randall, a model-turned-agent, the IMF's original technology expert, and a technical genius in his own right. After finding the killer, Jim decides to stay on and keep the team together. Midway through season 1, Casey is killed during a mission (becoming the first ongoing IMF agent to be disavowed), and Secret Service agent Shannon Reed succeeds her for the remainder of the series. With the exception of this cast change, Phelps' team remains constant throughout the series.

In 1988, the American fall television season was hampered by a writers' strike that prevented the commissioning of new scripts. Producers, anxious to provide new product for viewers but with the prospect of a lengthy strike, went into the vaults for previously written material. Star Trek: The Next Generation, for example, used scripts written for an aborted Star Trek series proposed for the 1970s. The abc network decided to launch a new Mission: Impossible series, with a mostly new cast (except for Peter Graves, who would return as Phelps), but using scripts from the original series, suitably updated. To save even more on production costs, the series was filmed in Australia; the first season in Queensland, and the second season of episodes in Melbourne. Costs were, at that time, some 20 percent lower in Australia compared with Hollywood. The new Mission: Impossible was one of the first American commercial network programs to be filmed in Australia. The show's core cast included several Australian actors, and numerous Australians (along with Australian-based American and British actors) were cast in guest-starring roles, too.

According to Patrick White's book, The Complete Mission Impossible Dossier, the original plan was for the series to be an actual remake/reimaginging of the original series, with the new cast playing the same characters from the original series: Rollin Hand, Cinnamon Carter, et al. Just before filming began, White writes, the decision was made to rework the characters so that they were now original creations, albeit still patterned after the originals, with only Jim Phelps remaining unchanged, and with the Collier character becoming the son of the original to take advantage of the fact the actor cast in the role, Phil Morris, is the son of Greg Morris, the actor who played Barney Collier. One of the reworked scripts incorporated a guest appearance by the elder Morris as Barney Collier.

The strike ultimately ended and the series was able to compose original storylines; ultimately only a couple of episodes ended up being outright remakes of the original series, including the show's premiere episode.

Originally, the show had aired on Sundays, and was moved to Saturday evenings starting with episode 9 of the first season. At the start of the second season, ABC moved the show to the Thursday 8:00 p.m. timeslot, which proved to be a disaster for the show. Being forced to compete with NBC's The Cosby Show and A Different World, Mission: Impossible's ratings quickly declined. ABC responded by moving the show back to Saturday nights to replace the sitcoms Mr. Belvedere and Living Dolls, which faltered badly in their time slots. The move was to no avail as the series was cancelled at the end of the second season.

The Late Peter Graves returned as Jim Phelps
Skills: Leadership, disguise, role play, mimicry.

Thaao Penghlis (Tony DiMera on NBC's Long Running Daytime Soap Days of our Lives) as Nicholas Black
Skills: Actor, makeup/disguise, visual effects, voice impersonation, mimicry.

The Late Tony Hamilton of the short lived CBS Drama Cover Up as Max Harte
Skills: Strength, acting, role play, pilot.

Phil Morris (son of the late M:I actor Greg Morris) as Grant Collier
Skills: Electronics, computers, sabotage, engineer.

Terry Markwell as Casey Randall (early episodes 1988–1989 season)
Skills: Designer, femme fatale, sharpshooter.

Singer and Actress Jane Badler (Diana on the Sci-Fi Drama Series V) as Shannon Reed (1989–1990)
Skills: Ex-Secret Service Agent, femme fatale, disguise, mimicry, role play.

Bob Johnson as Voice on Disc (voice only)

Well guys, it was a pretty good revival, but IMO, once again, abc ruined another good show by too many time changes, but as for the writer's strike, I can totally understand

I guess the only 80's show that was revived by Paramount and became successful in the 80's and 90's was Star Trek: The Next Generation and it did extremely well mainly b/c it was syndicated and not on networks like abc, CBS or NBC

Had abc picked up ST: TNG, they would've done the same thing, mess up a good show and then cancelling it

also, speaking of Game Shows, abc Daytime lost very interest in their Daytime Game Shows, plus I blame abc's rival network NBC for NOT picking up Hot Streak and letting abc pick-up the show and get it cancelled due to competition against TPIR and WoF

But back to the task at hand, once again, abc and Paramount tried their way of reviving Old TV Classics with a NEW Twist and they failed

IMO, I think that Paramount should NEVER revive Old TV Classics, but if they do, they need to come up with some decent writing and make it work, if not, don't mess with it

for a while ABC had a winning forumla on Saturdays-college football, China Beach and Twin Peaks and then Bob Iger just has to put another show on at 8:00 instead of going with 5:30 for football like he had done the two years before in 88 and 89 it messed both shows up big time!

another BIG Mess-Up From abc was this:

...

The NEW Odd Couple

...

I didn't remember this revival growing up, but after watching some of the clips on YT, I can see why the show was cancelled after 1 season


Honestly, having watched a few episodes here and there on YT, the only thing the show had going for it was the jazzy updated theme song.

One other blunder ABC committed was trying to change the name of Happy Days to include Fonzie's name in the title. Thankfully, Garry Marshall and the cast thought better of it.

another BIG Mess-Up From abc was this:

Reviving Classic TV Show from Paramount during the 80's

The NEW Odd Couple, The NEW Love American Style and The NEW Mission: Impossible

These 3 shows were abc and Paramount's Way of bringing Classic TV Shows, but with new twists and they all failed

The NEW Odd Couple

In this series, Felix Unger and Oscar Madison were both African-American college buddies who met in the 1950s. Felix was portrayed by Ron Glass who is best known for his role as the Witty Detective Ron Harris on the Hit abc 70's Cop Comedy Barney Miller and Oscar was portrayed by Demond Wilson who is best known for his role as Fred Sanford's 30-ish son Lamont Sanford on the Hit NBC 70's Comedy Sanford & Son.

The characterizations were still the same, as Felix was a prissy neatfreak and Oscar was a fun loving and sloppy character. John Schuck best known for his role as Sgt. Charles Enright on the NBC Mystery Drama McMillan & Wife and Herman Munster in the 80's Version of The Munster's Today also appeared as Murray the Cop, who was kept Caucasian, as was the character of Roy, who was played by Bart Braverman who is best known for his role as Bobby "Binzer" Borso the popular abc Crime Drama Series Vega$ and as a Semi-Regular on Match Game.

The show ran for 18 episodes; eight of the episodes used recycled scripts from the original series. By the time the writers began producing new scripts, it was too late, as the show never found an audience. The series was cancelled in 1983.

I didn't remember this revival growing up, but after watching some of the clips on YT, I can see why the show was cancelled after 1 season

IMO, NO ONE can touch Tony Randall and Jack Klugman when it comes to The Odd Couple TV Series and NO ONE can touch Jack Lemmon and Walter Mattheu when it comes to the MOVIE version of The Odd Couple

The NEW Love America Style

A decade after it went off the air, a new version premiered on ABC's daytime schedule in 1985 entitled New Love, American Style but was canceled after a few months due to low ratings against The Price Is Right on CBS. A third edition, starring Melissa Joan Hart among others, was shot as a pilot for the 1998–1999 television season, but was not ordered into a series. Nevertheless, ABC aired the pilot on February 20, 1999.

IMO, putting the NEW LAS on Daytime instead of Prime Time was a HUGE Mess-Up by the network executives of abc

Not to mention putting the show against CBS' The Price is Right and NBC's Wheel of Fortune was ANOTHER BIG BLOW for abc

The NEW Mission: Impossible

The events of the series take place 15 years after the last season of the original Mission: Impossible TV series. After his protégé and successor as leader of the top-secret Impossible Missions Force is killed, Jim Phelps is called out of retirement and asked to form a new IMF team and track down the assassin.

His team consists of Nicholas Black, a disguise expert and actor; Max Harte, a strongman; Grant Collier, the son of Barney Collier; and Casey Randall, a model-turned-agent, the IMF's original technology expert, and a technical genius in his own right. After finding the killer, Jim decides to stay on and keep the team together. Midway through season 1, Casey is killed during a mission (becoming the first ongoing IMF agent to be disavowed), and Secret Service agent Shannon Reed succeeds her for the remainder of the series. With the exception of this cast change, Phelps' team remains constant throughout the series.

In 1988, the American fall television season was hampered by a writers' strike that prevented the commissioning of new scripts. Producers, anxious to provide new product for viewers but with the prospect of a lengthy strike, went into the vaults for previously written material. Star Trek: The Next Generation, for example, used scripts written for an aborted Star Trek series proposed for the 1970s.[citation needed] The ABC network decided to launch a new Mission: Impossible series, with a mostly new cast (except for Peter Graves, who would return as Phelps), but using scripts from the original series, suitably updated. To save even more on production costs, the series was filmed in Australia; the first season in Queensland, and the second season of episodes in Melbourne. Costs were, at that time, some 20 percent lower in Australia compared with Hollywood. The new Mission: Impossible was one of the first American commercial network programs to be filmed in Australia. The show's core cast included several Australian actors, and numerous Australians (along with Australian-based American and British actors) were cast in guest-starring roles, too.

According to Patrick White's book, The Complete Mission Impossible Dossier, the original plan was for the series to be an actual remake/reimaginging of the original series, with the new cast playing the same characters from the original series: Rollin Hand, Cinnamon Carter, et al. Just before filming began, White writes, the decision was made to rework the characters so that they were now original creations, albeit still patterned after the originals, with only Jim Phelps remaining unchanged, and with the Collier character becoming the son of the original to take advantage of the fact the actor cast in the role, Phil Morris, is the son of Greg Morris, the actor who played Barney Collier. One of the reworked scripts incorporated a guest appearance by the elder Morris as Barney Collier.

The strike ultimately ended and the series was able to compose original storylines; ultimately only a couple of episodes ended up being outright remakes of the original series, including the show's premiere episode.

Originally, the show had aired on Sundays, and was moved to Saturday evenings starting with episode 9 of the first season. At the start of the second season, ABC moved the show to the Thursday 8:00 p.m. timeslot, which proved to be a disaster for the show. Being forced to compete with NBC's The Cosby Show and A Different World, Mission: Impossible's ratings quickly declined. ABC responded by moving the show back to Saturday nights to replace the sitcoms Mr. Belvedere and Living Dolls, which faltered badly in their time slots. The move was to no avail as the series was cancelled at the end of the second season.

The Late Peter Graves returned as Jim Phelps
Skills: Leadership, disguise, role play, mimicry.

Thaao Penghlis (Tony DiMera on NBC's Long Running Daytime Soap Days of our Lives) as Nicholas Black
Skills: Actor, makeup/disguise, visual effects, voice impersonation, mimicry.

The Late Tony Hamilton of the short lived CBS Drama Cover Up as Max Harte
Skills: Strength, acting, role play, pilot.

Phil Morris (son of the M:I actor Greg Morris) as Grant Collier
Skills: Electronics, computers, sabotage, engineer.

Terry Markwell as Casey Randall (early episodes 1988–1989 season)
Skills: Designer, femme fatale, sharpshooter.

Singer and Actress Jane Badler (Diana on the Sci-Fi Drama Series V) as Shannon Reed (1989–1990)
Skills: Ex-Secret Service Agent, femme fatale, disguise, mimicry, role play.

Bob Johnson as Voice on Disc (voice only)

Well guys, it was a pretty good revival, but IMO, once again, abc ruined another good show by too many time changes, but as for the writer's strike, I can totally understand

I guess the only 80's show that was revived by Paramount and became successful in the 80's and 90's was Star Trek: The Next Generation and it did extremely well mainly b/c it was syndicated and not on networks like abc, CBS or NBC

Had abc picked up ST: TNG, they would've done the same thing, mess up a good show and then cancelling it

also, speaking of Game Shows, abc Daytime lost very interest in their Daytime Game Shows, plus I blame abc's rival network NBC for NOT picking up Hot Streak and letting abc pick-up the show and get it cancelled due to competition against TPIR and WoF

But back to the task at hand, once again, abc and Paramount tried their way of reviving Old TV Classics with a NEW Twist and they failed

IMO, I think that Paramount should NEVER revive Old TV Classics, but if they do, they need to come up with some decent writing and make it work, if not, don't mess with it
had ABC had the CFA as well as Big 10 and the Pac 10 package in 88 they could have used those games as a lead-in to a show like I Married Dora or China Beach or even a movie on Saturday nights?

you know if i was the guy that ran ABC i would have not moved China Beach to Saturday Nights maybe i would have moved it to Frdiay nights even though that might have made Roone Arledge mad because that would have moved 20/20 from Friday Nights maybe move that show to Monday Nights before MNF?

Allowing Happy Days to run as long as it did. It was really good, up until 1980 ,when Ron Howard and Donny Most left. That's when they should've cancelled it.

^^ If I ran ABC Network during that time, I'd have ended Happy Days after Season 8 and Laverne & Shirley after Season 6 (both during the 1980-81 season). I probably wouldn't have had the title characters of L&S move to California after its S5. After that, I would have put Too Close for Comfort in the Tuesday at 8:00 timeslot for 1981-82.

if i ran ABC..
make the most out of my college football coverage-since ABC`s contract guaranteed the Big Ten and Pac-10 conferences that their regional games would be seen in at least 50 percent of the country i would have made those games at 1/4:30 on Saturdays
moved Life Goes On to Saturdays after college football
moved China Beach to Fridays-a drama show might have done better after TGIF
moved 20/20 to Monday Nights before MNF
moved thirtysomething to Wednesday Nights
not sure where Twin Peaks would go maybe Tuesday Nights?

restored Wide World Of Sports to 5:00 on Saturdays(i know that ABC wanted a Saturday newscast but..

Not allowing Gene Rayburn to pass the torch to Ross Shafer and scheduling it in the noon slot!

if i ran ABC..
make the most out of my college football coverage-since ABC`s contract guaranteed the Big Ten and Pac-10 conferences that their regional games would be seen in at least 50 percent of the country i would have made those games at 1/4:30 on Saturdays
moved Life Goes On to Saturdays after college football
moved China Beach to Fridays-a drama show might have done better after TGIF
moved 20/20 to Monday Nights before MNF
moved thirtysomething to Wednesday Nights
not sure where Twin Peaks would go maybe Tuesday Nights?


If I ran ABC I would....

Immediately renew soap operas All My Children and One Life To Live, even if they were just brought back as half-hour soaps with limited casts.

I would fire Whoopi Goldberg and Candace Cameron from "The View"; I would hire a respected journalist like Connie Chung or Joan Lunden as the new head moderator of the show. I would fire Sherri Shepherd again; I would bring Rosie O'Donnell back as a recurring contributor.


The daytime lineup would look like this:

11am-12pm: The View
12pm-1230pm: Local Programming
1pm-130pm: All My Children
130pm-2pm: One Life To Live
2pm-3pm: General Hospital
3pm-4pm: The Chew

If I ran ABC, two things I would most definitely do:

--Resurrect the ABC Movie broadcasts with the Star Tunnel titles and music
--Bring back the original multiple-city setup of WNT (Washington, Chicago, London, and New York)

it makes me wonder why ABC put China Beach on on indefinite hiatus rather than have it as the Super Bowl lead-out that year or even Twin Peaks

it makes me wonder why ABC put China Beach on on indefinite hiatus rather than have it as the Super Bowl lead-out that year or even Twin Peaks

Even though I liked China Beach it was never gonna be a huge hit, as for Twin Peaks, ABC should have moved it to Wednesday 9pm instead of Thursday night and leave it only as limited series with S1 finale as show finale, I'm sure it would have had huge numbers.

it amazes me though how ABC was in bad trouble in the early 90s they mismanaged college football, China Beach, and Thirtysomething the only saving grace for ABC was that they still had Monday Night Football and their newscast was still going strong but that would change in fact the time between 1990 and the early 2000s was a bad time for ABC although they got ESPN to produce the college football telecasts and they got some good shows in the late 90s-early 2000s

it amazes me though how ABC was in bad trouble in the early 90s they mismanaged college football, China Beach, and Thirtysomething the only saving grace for ABC

No they weren't, Roseanne, Home Improvement, Full House, TGIF, AFHV and AFP were.

might correct myself then Roseanne, Home Improvement, Full House, TGIF, AFHV and AFP and college football and MNF did give ABC some good programming(it didn't hurt that ABC had the exclusive rights to college football back then too) some of ABC's core sports talent was still there though Keith Jackson, Brent Musburger, Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Gary Bender, Jim Mckay, Julie Moran(she would replace Mckay as Wide World Of Sports host in 94), Steve
Zabriskie, and i cant remember who else they had on the ABC Sports roster back then

it amazes me though how ABC was in bad trouble in the early 90s they mismanaged college football, China Beach, and Thirtysomething the only saving grace for ABC was that they still had Monday Night Football and their newscast was still going strong but that would change in fact the time between 1990 and the early 2000s was a bad time for ABC although they got ESPN to produce the college football telecasts and they got some good shows in the late 90s-early 2000s


Thirtysomething was something of a critical hit for sure, but hardly ever a ratings powerhouse. It was never even a top 20 series. The highest it ever ranked was #40. China Beach was also hardly ever a ratings winner, in fact it was notoriously lowly rated.

Thirtysomething was something of a critical hit for sure, but hardly ever a ratings powerhouse. It was never even a top 20 series. The highest it ever ranked was #40. China Beach was also hardly ever a ratings winner, in fact it was notoriously lowly rated.
let me see what ABC had..
Thirtysomething- never even a top 20 series, but critical hit for sure.

college football-always second to CBS until they got CFA

MNF- ratings winner always in top 20

China Beach- hardly ever a ratings winner, in fact it was notoriously lowly rated but critically acclaimed

Twin Peaks- same as China Beach

olympics- nope NBC had them then

Life Goes On- did OK against NFL overruns and 60 Minutes

the shows i mentioned earlier re: the comedies were great of course and AFV and AFP

Wide World Of Sports- did OK with Frank Gifford and Becky Dixon as co-hosts in 87 then went to Gifford as sole anchor and did even well while Becky Dixon joined Gary Bender and Dick Vermell on college football for ABC(behind Keith Jackson, Bob Greise and Mike Adamle)

Bowling- still did well with Chris Schenkel and Nelson Burton, Jr

Homefront- see China Beach and Twin Peaks

ABC had best sports talent then though back then though-Jim Mckay, Frank Gifford, Al Michaels, Keith Jackson, Al Trautwig, Dan Dierdorf, Gary Bender, Charlsie Cantey, Mike Adamle, Bob Griese, Becky Dixon, Dave Johnson and Paul Page they later added Brent Musburger, Mark Jones, John Saunders, Julie Moran, Terry Gannon, Steve Zabriskie, and then Mike Tirico, Sean Grande, Brad Nessler, Tim Brant and that is about all they had in that time period.

If I ran ABC, I'd get rid of The View completely. That show had run its course. It's time to put it to pasture now that Barbara Walters is gone.

ABC was stable in terms of ratings from late 80s until mid 90s, MNF on Monday, Roseanne and Full House on Tuesday, Home Improvement and Grace under Fire on Wednesday, TGIF, weak days were Thursday and Saturday.

ABC was stable in terms of ratings from late 80s until mid 90s, MNF on Monday, Roseanne and Full House on Tuesday, Home Improvement and Grace under Fire on Wednesday, TGIF, weak days were Thursday and Saturday.
Saturdays were not weak when you include college football though(ABC did some prime time games back then)

Letting The View last as long as it is. They should gsve canned it when Barbara Walters retired. Same goes with Nightline and Ted Koppel.

Here's another Big Mess-Up

Trivia Trap - It was a pretty good show and had a good unique format, but when they changed the Trivia Trap Round to the Fact or Fiction Round and changed the rules to the Trivia Trap Round, Messed Up the whole show

The $10,000 Trivia Ladder was an interesting concept since everyone was winning money for themselves

Trivia Trap, not a bad show, but changing the format and competition against The NEW Price is Right Daytime w/Bob Barker and Wheel of Fortune Daytime w/Pat & Vanna hurt the show

Family Feud - Richard Dawson, to me will FOREVER and ALWAYS be THE Best Host of Family Feud

The Final Years from 1984-1985 the show changed its format from $300 to $400 rules with 4 Singles Round, 1 Double Round and if neither team got 400, Round 6 was Tripled and if necessary, Round 7 had a Triple Round

I mean hey, it worked w/the Tournament of Champions from the Combs Era, Karn Era, John O'Hurley Era and the Steve Harvey Era

Changing the $400 rule messed up the Feud and I think that's another reason why the Feud was goin' downhill, IMO

Break the Bank - 1976 abc Brought Break the Bank to the show Produced by Barry & Enright Productions

Sure many people might call that a rip-off of The Hollywood Squares, but the show had a unique concept and the Big Board was great

Having 3 100 Boxes, 3 2 Boxes and 3 300 Boxes, 5 Money Bags, 5 Empty Boxes and a Wild Box which can be used for ANY value was a great idea

Tom Kennedy was also great on the show and as always, he interacts with celebrities, too

But when Fred Silverman started expanding Daytime Soaps 30 minutes to 45 minutes, hurt the show and moving the show to syndication w/the late Jack Barry hosting the show didn't help wonders either, but thankfully, Mr. Barry brought back The Joker's Wild when the show moved to syndication after being cancelled on CBS Daytime

Here's another Big Mess-Up

Trivia Trap - It was a pretty good show and had a good unique format, but when they changed the Trivia Trap Round to the Fact or Fiction Round and changed the rules to the Trivia Trap Round, Messed Up the whole show

The $10,000 Trivia Ladder was an interesting concept since everyone was winning money for themselves

Trivia Trap, not a bad show, but changing the format and competition against The NEW Price is Right Daytime w/Bob Barker and Wheel of Fortune Daytime w/Pat & Vanna hurt the show

Family Feud - Richard Dawson, to me will FOREVER and ALWAYS be THE Best Host of Family Feud

The Final Years from 1984-1985 the show changed its format from $300 to $400 rules with 4 Singles Round, 1 Double Round and if neither team got 400, Round 6 was Tripled and if necessary, Round 7 had a Triple Round

I mean hey, it worked w/the Tournament of Champions from the Combs Era, Karn Era, John O'Hurley Era and the Steve Harvey Era

Changing the $400 rule messed up the Feud and I think that's another reason why the Feud was goin' downhill, IMO

Break the Bank - 1976 abc Brought Break the Bank to the show Produced by Barry & Enright Productions

Sure many people might call that a rip-off of The Hollywood Squares, but the show had a unique concept and the Big Board was great

Having 3 100 Boxes, 3 2 Boxes and 3 300 Boxes, 5 Money Bags, 5 Empty Boxes and a Wild Box which can be used for ANY value was a great idea

Tom Kennedy was also great on the show and as always, he interacts with celebrities, too

But when Fred Silverman started expanding Daytime Soaps 30 minutes to 45 minutes, hurt the show and moving the show to syndication w/the late Jack Barry hosting the show didn't help wonders either, but thankfully, Mr. Barry brought back The Joker's Wild when the show moved to syndication after being cancelled on CBS Daytime
if I was Fred Silverman I would have NOT expanded Daytime Soaps 30 minutes to 45 minutes and tried BTB and OLTL and GH in a block maybe get Jack Barry to host BTB?

if I was Fred Silverman I would have NOT expanded Daytime Soaps 30 minutes to 45 minutes and tried BTB and OLTL and GH in a block maybe get Jack Barry to host BTB?

I don't know about Jack Barry hosting BTB, I saw some of his episodes and he wasn't comfortable hosting a show with celebs

Tom Kennedy was a better fit, IMO, he knew how to get into the game and he was also a master when it comes to celebrities

The reason he wasn't available when the show was on once a week on syndication was due to the fact that he was still hosting Name That Tune on syndication, plus he was also hosting NBC Game Shows 50 Grand Slam and the Daytime Version of Name That Tune

Plus, as much as I liked the Bonus Games on B&E Game Shows, the BTB Bonus Game for the syndicated version didn't do wonders for me when you have to find a total of $2000 before finding the word BUST

I liked the Bonus Games on The Joker's Wild, The NEW Tic Tac Dough, BULLSEYE and Hot Potato though

The best thing for Jack Barry as far as his hosting goes was The Joker's Wild and that's where people remember him for

But I do agree, if I was Fred Silverman, I would not have expanded Daytime Soaps to 45 minutes, not to mention, I would've kept BTB, but knowing Mr. Silverman, he was the King of Killing Game Shows, but he finally got a taste of his own medicine when he revived 21 on NBC back in the year 2000

This version was also Produced by Phil Gurin Producer of The Weakest Link, The All New LINGO on GSN w/Chuck Woolery, The Singing Bee and Oh Sit!

I liked the Bonus Games on The Joker's Wild, The NEW Tic Tac Dough, BULLSEYE and Hot Potato though


I liked the one on the short-lived 1978 CBS New Tic Tac Dough, where you had to find either three Xs or three Os in a certain configuration on the board. The 1990 Wayne TTD sort of fouled that up, though, based on what I've heard.

ABC has always been my least favorite network. Just do not like their programming. Of the Big Four networks, ABC probably has the least shows I watch or watched.

My question, how and why did ABC lose Monday Night Football? I would think this would be a coveted show not to lose, and ABC lost it to ESPN, which sucks for the poor people who do not have cable.
ABC used to be my favorite network.
Not only did they have Wide World of Sports but they had China Beach, some of the Indycar races(they still do, but on a lesser scale) and the movies on Sunday Nights and Monday Night Football. the network has went downhill since they canceled WWOS, China Beach, and lost MNF. i don't like their programming anymore. they even canceled Life Goes On which i liked too.

I always thought that MNF on ABC had lost its luster the last few years. I think it got a somewhat super charge being on ESPN. I will say that for them keeping MNF and having record numbers for the games on ESPN its kind of a double edged sword. I say that because when you look at the premier tv schedules, NBC's Sunday night Football is number 1 followed by the CBS/NFLN Thursday Night Football followed by MNF.

Monday Night Football as a concept probably is obsolete in a sense because it was first done during an era in which cable television like ESPN or NFL Network was in its infancy, if it existed at all. What I mean is that outside of the playoffs/Super Bowl, the Monday night game was really the only time (well, outside of NFL Films' syndicated highlight shows/HBO's Inside the NFL) that you were guaranteed nationwide exposure for the week. It's kind of why that Howard Cosell narrating highlights during halftime back in the day, was a big deal.

With that being said, MNF on ABC lost its luster for several reasons I think besides what I just said. There was the Monday night pro wrestling wars between WWE and WCW siphoning off viewers during the late '90s. There was the introduction of Sunday night prime time games on ESPN and later TNT, which meant that MNF was no longer the sole, nationally broadcast game of the week. To make matters worse, was when Disney purchased ABC and ESPN and in their infinite wisdom (in 1998 when they got the full Sunday night package from TNT) "borrowed" the production look from MNF on ABC to also use for ESPN. Al Michaels lays it all out in his autobiography, where he called this sort of thing "sin-ergy".

And then there's of course, the ever growing issue of ABC not being able to "flex" their schedule (meaning that they could ask the NFL change the match-up during the season if say, both teams are underperforming) just in case that they wind up w/ a dog of a game.

ABC used to be my favorite network.
Not only did they have Wide World of Sports but they had China Beach, some of the Indycar races(they still do, but on a lesser scale) and the movies on Sunday Nights and Monday Night Football. the network has went downhill since they cancled WWOS, China Beach, and lost MNF. i don't like their progamming anymore. they even cancled Life Goes On which i liked too.

I hate to say this, but I'm not sure if a weekly anthology sports program like WWOS could work or be successful in this day and age. If I'm not mistaken, one of the reasons why WWOS started losing its shine was because 24 hour channels like ESPN provided the same type of often obscure sporting events that WWOS could only provide once a week. It's kind of similar to how MTV made American Bandstand seem obsolete by the late '80s.

Monday Night Football as a concept probably is obsolete in a sense because it was first done during an era in which cable television like ESPN or NFL Network was in its infancy, if it existed at all. What I mean is that outside of the playoffs/Super Bowl, the Monday night game was really the only time (well, outside of NFL Films' syndicated highlight shows/HBO's Inside the NFL) that you were guaranteed nationwide exposure for the week. It's kind of why that Howard Cosell narrating highlights during halftime back in the day, was a big deal.

With that being said, MNF on ABC lost its luster for several reasons I think besides what I just said. There was the Monday night pro wrestling wars between WWE and WCW siphoning off viewers during the late '90s. There was the introduction of Sunday night prime time games on ESPN and later TNT, which meant that MNF was no longer the sole, nationally broadcast game of the week. To make matters worse, was when Disney purchased ABC and ESPN and in their infinite wisdom (in 1998 when they got the full Sunday night package from TNT) "borrowed" the production look from MNF on ABC to also use for ESPN. Al Michaels lays it all out in his autobiography, where he called this sort of thing "sin-ergy".

And then there's of course, the ever growing issue of ABC not being able to "flex" their schedule (meaning that they could ask the NFL change the match-up during the season if say, both teams are underperforming) just in case that they wind up w/ a dog of a game.
I remember it being a big deal if NBC cut to Bob Costas in New York to show highlights of other games before Our House or Magical World of Disney or even Eerie Indiana back then. same with Brent Musburger or Greg Gumbel before 60 Minutes on CBS. But when i had cable in 93, seeing NFL PrimeTime on ESPN with Boomer and TJ was a big deal to me because i'd never seen extended highlights of each game!

ABC has done it again with Castle TV Show! They were #1 in the rating from season 2-6 and they hired new writers and took the show into a tailspin that end up with a cancellation in the end of season 8!

The new writers changed the show from a procedural lighthearted crime drama into a dark conspiracy thriller along with Castle and Beckett getting separated from one another. LOL! Rating drop from 2.6 to 1.0 share of 18-49 and decrease viewership fell by 40%!

Before the show got the ax, word got out that Katic and Fillion in real life hated each other and avoid talking on the set when not in a scene together! LOL!

Can we say ABC's cancellation of Nashville is a mistake, also?

Even though Nashville's critical reception was among the most positive for any scripted show on network TV, the 18-49 demo ratings and viewership for each of its four seasons on ABC were mediocre. Even though a writers room for season 5 had been set up by its new showrunners, ABC still cancelled it after season 4, to the shock of its fans and the media.

The other factors that may have led to Nashville being cancelled by ABC include: Hayden Panettiere's struggles with postpartum depression, the passage of an anti-LGBT counseling law in Tennessee, and Paul Lee being replaced as President of ABC Entertainment by Channing Dungey.

Fortunately, Nashville has been picked up by CMT for season 5 (with the new episodes on the cable channel being made available the next day on Hulu).

My opinion? I think if Nashville had attracted at least 10-12 million viewers during its run on ABC, ABC would have continued to air the series anyway.

Well let's get to the 96/97 Season which was the 1st season under The Walt Disney Company

20 years ago, abc along with ESPN sold their stock to The Walt Disney Company and since then, the 96/97 season started the beginning of the end for many abc shows:

The ABC Afterschool Specials and the ABC Weekend Specials both exited abc in 1997

Afterschool Specials ended after 25 years and the Weekend Specials ended after 20 years before abc retooled its Saturday Morning Line-Up to Disney's One Saturday Morning from 1997-2002

The 96/97 Season also marked the end of the following shows:

When TGIF added Sabrina: The Teenage Witch Starring Melissa Joan Hart of Nickelodeon's Clarissa Explains it All Fame, Comedienne Caroline Rhea and Jenna Leigh Green, the 96/97 Season spelled the end for Family Matters and Step By Step

1st off, Family Matters was a Nielsen Ratings Top 20 Grabber during the 2nd Season and from Seasons 2 & 3, it was in the Top 30 and that was when Lorimar took over the show, but when Lorimar closed its doors and sold to Warner Bros. Television during the 93/94 Season the show climbed back up to the Top 30, but then the 94/95 Season, that's when the show started to slowly fade like writing off Judy Winslow played by Jaimee Foxworth and focusing more on the feud between Steve Urkel and Carl Winslow made it worse as well and plus, Aunt Rachel and Little Richie even got wrote off the show, but made appearances from time to time and then, after Urkel, Laura and Waldo graduated High School, during the 96/97 season, Waldo left the show and adding 3J to the mix didn't even help wonders either, and that was the final straw for abc as the show was cancelled after 8 season

But, when the show moved to CBS as part of the Friday Night Block Party, that's when the ratings took a HUGE Fall and JoMarie Payton leaving the show half-way through the season and replacing her with Judyann Elder as the new Harriett Winslow was the last straw

JoMarie Payton's Harriett had a STRONG Heart and was very outspoken, but Judyann Elder's Harriett didn't have any of that

also, Step By Step was a great show, and it made Cody "The Codeman" Lambert the show stealer, but after the 95/96 Season, Cody was written out of the series after legal problems that began with Sasha Mitchell's 1995 arrest on accusations of domestic violence by his first wife Jeannette Robbins, charges which were later dropped and he was cleared of wrongdoing. Cody returned as a guest star for one episode in season seven when the show moved to CBS

The final season on abc, the producers replaced Cody with Jean-Luc Rieupeyroux played by Bronson Pinchot of another Miller-Boyett Sitcom Perfect Stangers

Jean-Luc is a male beautician, and serves as Carol's business partner. He was brought in to take the place of Sasha Mitchell's character on the series, but disappeared when Pinchot took the title role in the short-lived CBS sitcom Meego (which aired alongside Step by Step when the latter moved to CBS for its seventh season in 1997).

Meego was the 1st first show produced by Miller-Boyett-Warren when Michael Warren ended his partnership with William Bickley

IMO, putting Jean-Luc was not a good decision by the network executives and when the show moved to CBS, I enjoyed it better than Family Matters, but neither show had a great finale, IMO

and also, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, another Lorimar Sitcom that was also in the hands of Warner Bros. Television

When Lorimar produced the show, it was more like a Black Version of Three's Company as it was an adult oriented sitcom, but when Warner Bros. took over the show, abc moved the show to Friday Nights and it went from an adult-oriented sitcom to a more family-friendly sitcom

However, during the 96/97 Season, the show became as a mid-season replacement for abc's Monday Night Football and abc moved the show to Saturday Nights and THAT was a HUGE mistake and that caused the show to be cancelled, but unlike Family Matters and Step By Step, the show didn't go to CBS

and here's another one, during the 96/97 Season, America's Funniest Home Videos witnessed the Final Season for Bob Saget and the show changed its theme from the famous Jill Colucci theme to the Stewart Harris theme and the final episode of Saget's Run on AFV was on a Friday Night as he reunited with his friends, the cast of Full House as the show celebrated its 10th Anniversary

Andrea Barber, Jodie Sweetin, Candace Cameron Bure, Lori Loughlin, Dave Coulier and John Stamos

and after Saget's departure from AFV after 8 seasons, the show would return in January '98 and the show hired 2 NEW Hosts who happens to be 2 Former VJ

Model/Actress Daisy Fuentes of MTV (who recently celebrated her 50th Birthday) and Comedian John Fugelsang of VH1

The show even added a NEW segment called "The Bad News, Good News"

When Daisy & John took over, the show got a NEW theme, NEW Logos, NEW Set and a whole NEW Attitude

The theme song sounds more like The Mighty Mighty Bosstones BIG Hit "The Impression That I Get" and that theme was used for 18 consecutive seasons before Alfonso "Carlton" Riberio took over the show after Tom Bergeron left the show after 14 seasons

Plus, their version became the only version to never air on its traditional Sunday Night Time Slot

Daisy & John's 1st season was pretty good, but when they returned for their 2nd season, that's when it got bad and I don't think that they wanted to be there and personally, I can't say as I blame them

The 1st season of Daisy & John's Version was on Monday Nights as a mid-season replacement for Monday Night Football and I taped some of the shows mainly due to me watching WCW Monday NITRO on TNT

The 2nd season of Daisy & John's Version moved to Saturday Nights and later Thursday Nights and that's spelled disaster for the show

I can tolerate Daisy, but John was tolerable on VH1, but was annoying on AFV, IMO

Putting the show on Thursday Nights against NBC's Thursday Night Juggernaut Must-See TV was a HUGE Mistake

AFV was moved to Thursday Nights in the Spring of '99 and it was up against TV's #1 sitcom in Friends and that spelled doom for AFV w/Daisy and John

I guess everyone's favorite friend Jennifer Aniston was too much for Daisy Fuentes to handle, but I know that they're good friends in Real Life if I'm mistaken

and now, here's the theme to Saget's Final Season to AFV performed by Stewart Harris

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1mnGFQBUlM

and now, here's the The Mighty Mighty Bosstones performing The Impression That I Get and see if that reminds you of the theme to AFV from the Daisy & John Era and the Tom Bergeron Era

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGRMhVMkQG0

IMO, putting AFV up against Friends during the 98/99 Season was a HUGE Mess-Up, but also, I wonder why they didn't keep Daisy & John's Version on Sunday Nights or probably b/c abc and Vin Di Bona probably thought that they were either too cool or too much for Sunday Nights

Well let's get to the 96/97 Season which was the 1st season under The Walt Disney Company

20 years ago, abc along with ESPN sold their stock to The Walt Disney Company and since then, the 96/97 season started the beginning of the end for many abc shows:

The ABC Afterschool Specials and the ABC Weekend Specials both exited abc in 1997

Afterschool Specials ended after 25 years and the Weekend Specials ended after 20 years before abc retooled its Saturday Morning Line-Up to Disney's One Saturday Morning from 1997-2002

The 96/97 Season also marked the end of the following shows:

When TGIF added Sabrina: The Teenage Witch Starring Melissa Joan Hart of Nickelodeon's Clarissa Explains it All Fame, Comedienne Caroline Rhea and Jenna Leigh Green, the 96/96 Season spelled the end for Family Matters and Step By Step

1st off, Family Matters was a Nielsen Ratings Top 20 Grabber during the 2nd Season and from Seasons 2-4, it was in the Top 30 and that was when Lorimar took over the show, but when Lorimar closed its doors and sold to Warner Bros. Television during the 93/94 Season, that's when the show started to slowly fade like writing off Judy Winslow played by Jaimee Foxworth and focusing more on the feud between Steve Urkel and Carl Winslow made it worse as well and plus, Aunt Rachel and Little Richie even got wrote off the show, but made appearances from time to time and then, after Urkel, Laura and Waldo graduated High School, during the 96/97 season, Waldo left the show and adding 3J to the mix didn't even help wonders either, and that was the final straw for abc as the show was cancelled after 8 season

But, when the show moved to CBS as part of the Friday Night Block Party, that's when the ratings took a HUGE Fall and JoMarie Payton leaving the show half-way through the season and replacing her with Judyann Elder as the new Harriett Winslow was the last straw

JoMarie Payton's Harriett had a STRONG Heart and was very outspoken, but Judyann Elder's Harriett didn't have any of that

also, Step By Step was a great show, and it made Cody "The Codeman" Lambert the show stealer, but after the 95/96 Season, Cody was written out of the series after legal problems that began with Sasha Mitchell's 1995 arrest on accusations of domestic violence by his first wife Jeannette Robbins, charges which were later dropped and he was cleared of wrongdoing. Cody returned as a guest star for one episode in season seven when the show moved to CBS

The final season on abc, the producers replaced Cody with Jean-Luc Rieupeyroux played by Bronson Pinchot of another Miller-Boyett Sitcom Perfect Stangers

Jean-Luc is a male beautician, and serves as Carol's business partner. He was brought in to take the place of Sasha Mitchell's character on the series, but disappeared when Pinchot took the title role in the short-lived CBS sitcom Meego (which aired alongside Step by Step when the latter moved to CBS for its seventh season in 1997).

Meego was the 1st first show produced by Miller-Boyett-Warren when Michael Warren ended his partnership with William Bickley

IMO, putting Jean-Luc was not a good decision by the network executives and when the show moved to CBS, I enjoyed it better than Family Matters, but neither show had a great finale, IMO

and also, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, another Lorimar Sitcom that was also in the hands of Warner Bros. Television

When Lorimar produced the show, it was more like a Black Version of Three's Company as it was an adult oriented sitcom, but when the show Warner Bros. took over the show, abc moved the show to Friday Nights and it went from an adult-oriented sitcom to a more family-friendly sitcom

However, during the 96/97 Season, the show became as a mid-season replacement for abc's Monday Night Football and abc moved the show to Saturday Nights and THAT was a HUGE mistake and that caused the show to be cancelled, but unlike Family Matters and Step By Step, the show didn't go to CBS

and here's another one, during the 96/97 Season, America's Funniest Home Videos witnessed the Final Season for Bob Saget and the show changed its theme from the famous Jill Colucci theme to the Stewart Harris theme and the final episode of Saget's Run on AFV was on a Friday Night as he reunited with his friends, the cast of Full House as the show celebrated its 10th Anniversary

Andrea Barber, Jodie Sweetin, Candace Cameron Bure, Lori Loughlin, Dave Coulier and John Stamos

and after Saget's departure from AFV after 8 seasons, the show would return in January '98 and the show hired 2 NEW Hosts who happens to be 2 Former VJ

Model/Actress Daisy Fuentes of MTV (who recently celebrated her 50th Birthday) and Comedian John Fugelsang of VH1

The show even added a NEW segment called "The Bad News, Good News"

When Daisy & John took over, the show got a NEW theme, NEW Logos, NEW Set and a whole NEW Attitude

The theme song sounds more like The Mighty Mighty Bosstones BIG Hit The Impression that I get and that theme was used for 18 consecutive seasons before Alfonso "Carlton" Riberio took over the show after Tom Bergeron left the show after 14 seasons

Plus, their version became the only version to never air on its traditional Sunday Night Time Slot

Daisy & John's 1st season was pretty good, but when they returned for their 2nd season, that's when it got bad and I don't think that they wanted to be there and personally, I can't say as I blame them

The 1st season of Daisy & John's Version was on Monday Nights as a mid-season replacement for Monday Night Football and I taped some of the shows mainly due to me watching WCW Monday NITRO on TNT

The 2nd season of Daisy & John's Version moved to Saturday Nights and later Thursday Nights and that's spelled disaster for the show

I can tolerate Daisy, but John was tolerable on VH1, but was annoying on AFV, IMO

Putting the show on Thursday Nights against NBC's Thursday Night Juggernaut Must-See TV was a HUGE Mistake

AFV was moved to Thursday Nights in the Spring of '99 and it was up against TV's #1 sitcom in Friends and that spelled doom for AFV w/Daisy and John

I guess everyone's favorite friend Jennifer Aniston was too much for Daisy Fuentes to handle, but I know that they're good friends in Real Life if I'm mistaken

and now, here's the theme to Saget's Final Season to AFV performed by Stewart Harris

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1mnGFQBUlM

and now, here's the The Mighty Mighty Bosstones performing The Impression That I Get and see if that reminds you of the theme to AFV from the Daisy & John Era and the Tom Bergeron Era

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGRMhVMkQG0

IMO, putting AFV up against Friends during the 98/99 Season was a HUGE Mess-Up, but also, I wonder why they didn't keep Daisy & John's Version on Sunday Nights or probably b/c abc and Vin Di Bona probably thought that they were either too cool or too much for Sunday Nights


Sorry but you are wrong! Every show that you mentioned had to go because they all sucked big time!!

Simmy, excellent post. And you taped Monday Nitro?? Nice to see a fellow wrestling fan.

Simmy, excellent post. And you taped Monday Nitro?? Nice to see a fellow wrestling fan.

Thank You and yes, they had a great run, but it was just too much mess-ups there

Well let's get to the 96/97 Season which was the 1st season under The Walt Disney Company

20 years ago, abc along with ESPN sold their stock to The Walt Disney Company and since then, the 96/97 season started the beginning of the end for many abc shows:

The ABC Afterschool Specials and the ABC Weekend Specials both exited abc in 1997

Afterschool Specials ended after 25 years and the Weekend Specials ended after 20 years before abc retooled its Saturday Morning Line-Up to Disney's One Saturday Morning from 1997-2002

The 96/97 Season also marked the end of the following shows:

When TGIF added Sabrina: The Teenage Witch Starring Melissa Joan Hart of Nickelodeon's Clarissa Explains it All Fame, Comedienne Caroline Rhea and Jenna Leigh Green, the 96/96 Season spelled the end for Family Matters and Step By Step

1st off, Family Matters was a Nielsen Ratings Top 20 Grabber during the 2nd Season and from Seasons 2-4, it was in the Top 30 and that was when Lorimar took over the show, but when Lorimar closed its doors and sold to Warner Bros. Television during the 93/94 Season, that's when the show started to slowly fade like writing off Judy Winslow played by Jaimee Foxworth and focusing more on the feud between Steve Urkel and Carl Winslow made it worse as well and plus, Aunt Rachel and Little Richie even got wrote off the show, but made appearances from time to time and then, after Urkel, Laura and Waldo graduated High School, during the 96/97 season, Waldo left the show and adding 3J to the mix didn't even help wonders either, and that was the final straw for abc as the show was cancelled after 8 season

But, when the show moved to CBS as part of the Friday Night Block Party, that's when the ratings took a HUGE Fall and JoMarie Payton leaving the show half-way through the season and replacing her with Judyann Elder as the new Harriett Winslow was the last straw

JoMarie Payton's Harriett had a STRONG Heart and was very outspoken, but Judyann Elder's Harriett didn't have any of that

also, Step By Step was a great show, and it made Cody "The Codeman" Lambert the show stealer, but after the 95/96 Season, Cody was written out of the series after legal problems that began with Sasha Mitchell's 1995 arrest on accusations of domestic violence by his first wife Jeannette Robbins, charges which were later dropped and he was cleared of wrongdoing. Cody returned as a guest star for one episode in season seven when the show moved to CBS

The final season on abc, the producers replaced Cody with Jean-Luc Rieupeyroux played by Bronson Pinchot of another Miller-Boyett Sitcom Perfect Stangers

Jean-Luc is a male beautician, and serves as Carol's business partner. He was brought in to take the place of Sasha Mitchell's character on the series, but disappeared when Pinchot took the title role in the short-lived CBS sitcom Meego (which aired alongside Step by Step when the latter moved to CBS for its seventh season in 1997).

Meego was the 1st first show produced by Miller-Boyett-Warren when Michael Warren ended his partnership with William Bickley

IMO, putting Jean-Luc was not a good decision by the network executives and when the show moved to CBS, I enjoyed it better than Family Matters, but neither show had a great finale, IMO

and also, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, another Lorimar Sitcom that was also in the hands of Warner Bros. Television

When Lorimar produced the show, it was more like a Black Version of Three's Company as it was an adult oriented sitcom, but when the show Warner Bros. took over the show, abc moved the show to Friday Nights and it went from an adult-oriented sitcom to a more family-friendly sitcom

However, during the 96/97 Season, the show became as a mid-season replacement for abc's Monday Night Football and abc moved the show to Saturday Nights and THAT was a HUGE mistake and that caused the show to be cancelled, but unlike Family Matters and Step By Step, the show didn't go to CBS

and here's another one, during the 96/97 Season, America's Funniest Home Videos witnessed the Final Season for Bob Saget and the show changed its theme from the famous Jill Colucci theme to the Stewart Harris theme and the final episode of Saget's Run on AFV was on a Friday Night as he reunited with his friends, the cast of Full House as the show celebrated its 10th Anniversary

Andrea Barber, Jodie Sweetin, Candace Cameron Bure, Lori Loughlin, Dave Coulier and John Stamos

and after Saget's departure from AFV after 8 seasons, the show would return in January '98 and the show hired 2 NEW Hosts who happens to be 2 Former VJ

Model/Actress Daisy Fuentes of MTV (who recently celebrated her 50th Birthday) and Comedian John Fugelsang of VH1

The show even added a NEW segment called "The Bad News, Good News"

When Daisy & John took over, the show got a NEW theme, NEW Logos, NEW Set and a whole NEW Attitude

The theme song sounds more like The Mighty Mighty Bosstones BIG Hit The Impression that I get and that theme was used for 18 consecutive seasons before Alfonso "Carlton" Riberio took over the show after Tom Bergeron left the show after 14 seasons

Plus, their version became the only version to never air on its traditional Sunday Night Time Slot

Daisy & John's 1st season was pretty good, but when they returned for their 2nd season, that's when it got bad and I don't think that they wanted to be there and personally, I can't say as I blame them

The 1st season of Daisy & John's Version was on Monday Nights as a mid-season replacement for Monday Night Football and I taped some of the shows mainly due to me watching WCW Monday NITRO on TNT

The 2nd season of Daisy & John's Version moved to Saturday Nights and later Thursday Nights and that's spelled disaster for the show

I can tolerate Daisy, but John was tolerable on VH1, but was annoying on AFV, IMO

Putting the show on Thursday Nights against NBC's Thursday Night Juggernaut Must-See TV was a HUGE Mistake

AFV was moved to Thursday Nights in the Spring of '99 and it was up against TV's #1 sitcom in Friends and that spelled doom for AFV w/Daisy and John

I guess everyone's favorite friend Jennifer Aniston was too much for Daisy Fuentes to handle, but I know that they're good friends in Real Life if I'm mistaken

and now, here's the theme to Saget's Final Season to AFV performed by Stewart Harris

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1mnGFQBUlM

and now, here's the The Mighty Mighty Bosstones performing The Impression That I Get and see if that reminds you of the theme to AFV from the Daisy & John Era and the Tom Bergeron Era

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGRMhVMkQG0

IMO, putting AFV up against Friends during the 98/99 Season was a HUGE Mess-Up, but also, I wonder why they didn't keep Daisy & John's Version on Sunday Nights or probably b/c abc and Vin Di Bona probably thought that they were either too cool or too much for Sunday Nights

I think that TGIF theoretically could've survived the departure of the shows that you mentioned. I think that the beginning of the end so to speak was the 1997-98 season. It was there, that ABC filled their TGIF line-up w/ nothing more than supernatural/fantasy sitcoms (Sabrina, Teen Angel, and You Wish) along with Boy Meets World. In essence, they rested too much on their laurels. They simply couldn't develop and foster any more successful shows past Sabrina and by 1999-2000, when BMW ended and Sabrina had its last season on ABC (before its move to the WB), they had little if anything else to fall back on.

One thing that is not specific to ABC, but general to all three networks: making it to where New York is the default bureau for all three network newscasts. Back when I was a boy, New York was the general bureau for the normal nightly newscasts (World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News), and Washington was the bureau for the weekend newscasts of all three networks, IINM (and sometimes, Washington would be used for a weeknight newscast if the story so directed, like for a Presidential inauguration; see, for instance, this World News Tonight edition from Jan. 19, 1989, one day before the inauguration of George H.W. Bush and Vice-President Dan Quayle)...

mWuLfoJCsC4

...and of course, Washington was where Ted Koppel held court on Nightline for his run there.

Now, New York seems to be the default broadcast bureau for all three networks' newscasts, weeknight and weekend-- one hardly sees a network newscast from Washington anymore, except for Presidential inaugurations and major breaking stories, IINM.

ABC's TGIF had a great run.

Here's another Mess-Up

Cancelling Three's a Crowd: The Spin-off of Three's Company and picking-up Diff'rent Strokes

I think that was done because Who's the Boss has been losing audience and ABC needed something that can attract audience at Tuesday 8pm, it was good move for FH but bad for Friday night, Family Matters wasn't strong as FH.

I agree, moving Full House to Tuesday Nights competing against Rescue 911 was a GREAT Decision by abc and during the 91/92 season, FH cracked the Top 10 in the Nielsen Ratings and it finally got higher ratings than NBC's Powerhouse Sitcoms from the 80's in The Cosby Show and its spin-off A Different World along with The Golden Girls and its spin-off Empty Nest and it even got higher ratings than fellow abc sitcoms Who's the Boss? and Growing Pains which went from a Top 30 during the 90/91 season to #75 & #76 and both shows ended in the spring of '92 as well

Cosby, ADW, GG & EN dropped out of the Nielsen Ratings Top 10, but stayed in the Top 30 with Cosby and ADW in the Top 20

Even though Family Matters didn't crack the Top 10, the show did crack the Top 20 during the 90/91 Season, but it still stayed in the Top 30 during the 91/92 Season and again in the 93/94 Season

also, speaking of Who's the Boss? the 91/92 Season saw abc move the show to Saturday Nights competing against NBC's Saturday Night Juggernaut The Golden Girls and the show saw the ratings dropped BIG TIME to #76

It seems like in recent times, when ABC starts moving a show around it suffers in the ratings. The network has a bad habit of taking established hit shows and shuffling them all over the place. They've been doing it for years. They gamble too much on new shows by placing them in a slot that was previously occupied by a hit show. Then the hit show is tossed somewhere random where they don't fit in. When the ratings suffer ABC moves it around several times before cancelling it. Viewers do not like to search for shows. They'll lose interest and find something else to watch.

I agree, moving Full House to Tuesday Nights competing against Rescue 911 was a GREAT Decision by abc and during the 91/92 season, FH cracked the Top 10 in the Nielsen Ratings and it finally got higher ratings than NBC's Powerhouse Sitcoms from the 80's in The Cosby Show and its spin-off A Different World along with The Golden Girls and its spin-off Empty Nest and it even got higher ratings than fellow abc sitcoms Who's the Boss? and Growing Pains which went from a Top 30 during the 90/91 season to #75 & #76 and both shows ended in the spring of '92 as well

Cosby, ADW, GG & EN dropped out of the Nielsen Ratings Top 10, but stayed in the Top 30 with Cosby and ADW in the Top 20

Even though Family Matters didn't crack the Top 10, the show did crack the Top 20 during the 90/91 Season, but it still stayed in the Top 30 until the spring of '93, but when Warner Bros. Television took over the show from LORIMAR, the show went downhill and it never recovered in the ratings

also, speaking of Who's the Boss? the 91/92 Season saw abc move the show to Saturday Nights competing against NBC's Saturday Night Juggernaut The Golden Girls and the show saw the ratings dropped BIG TIME to #76

I used to watch Empty Nest a lot. Maybe because it followed GG, but I liked GG and EN better than ABC's movies. Of course, ABC had China Beach opposite GG and EN and CB got smashed in the ratings by NBC's Saturday Night Juggernaut in Golden Girls and Empty Nest.

I used to watch Empty Nest a lot. Maybe because it followed GG, but I liked GG and EN better than ABC's movies. Of course, ABC had China Beach opposite GG and EN and CB got smashed in the ratings by NBC's Saturday Night Juggernaut in Golden Girls and Empty Nest.

Which is funny because one poster posted in one thread about how Empty Nest was only time-slot filler, and I thought that sounded stupid. That poster has since said a lot of stupid things IMO, calling opinions "research". :lol: :rolleyes:

It seems like in recent times, when ABC starts moving a show around it suffers in the ratings. The network has a bad habit of taking established hit shows and shuffling them all over the place. They've been doing it for years. They gamble too much on new shows by placing them in a slot that was previously occupied by a hit show. Then the hit show is tossed somewhere random where they don't fit in. When the ratings suffer ABC moves it around several times before cancelling it. Viewers do not like to search for shows. They'll lose interest and find something else to watch.

I think they do that to boost struggling shows. They'll put a hit show with a struggling show to boost the struggling show.

Which is funny because one poster posted in one thread about how Empty Nest was only time-slot filler, and I thought that sounded stupid. That poster has since said a lot of stupid things IMO, calling opinions "research". :lol: :rolleyes:

Since you're talking about me (http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showpost.php?p=5225753&postcount=20), I'll give you this to think about (since my "opinions" are for the most part, stupid in your eyes). During it's first four years, Empty Nest was a Top 20 show and a Top 10 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empty_Nest#Nielsen_ratings) for those first three. In 1992-93, the first year that it didn't have The Golden Girls (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992%E2%80%9393_United_States_network_television_schedule#Saturday_.5B2.5D) around to anchor NBC's Saturday night schedule, it ranked 48th. And the year after that, it ranked 62 in the Nielsens. Finally, in its final season in 1994-95, it was #118. :rolleyes:

How about The Brady Bunch Variety Hour/The Brady Bunch Hour?

Michael Eisner for me, hands down.

Since you're talking about me (http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showpost.php?p=5225753&postcount=20), I'll give you this to think about (since my "opinions" are for the most part, stupid in your eyes). During it's first four years, Empty Nest was a Top 20 show and a Top 10 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empty_Nest#Nielsen_ratings) for those first three. In 1992-93, the first year that it didn't have The Golden Girls (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992%E2%80%9393_United_States_network_television_schedule#Saturday_.5B2.5D) around to anchor NBC's Saturday night schedule, it ranked 48th. And the year after that, it ranked 62 in the Nielsens. Finally, in its final season in 1994-95, it was #118. :rolleyes:

I wasn't talking about YOUR opinions necessarily, actually. I was talking about another poster who posts opinions as "research" and "fact".

It seems like in recent times, when ABC starts moving a show around it suffers in the ratings. The network has a bad habit of taking established hit shows and shuffling them all over the place. They've been doing it for years. They gamble too much on new shows by placing them in a slot that was previously occupied by a hit show. Then the hit show is tossed somewhere random where they don't fit in. When the ratings suffer ABC moves it around several times before cancelling it. Viewers do not like to search for shows. They'll lose interest and find something else to watch.

I agree, let me give you one example:

Hangin' with Mr. Cooper

Following the success of Full House, Series Creator Jeff Franklin and LORIMAR Television introduced Coop and it was on a Tuesday Night

The series, set in Oakland, CA (Mark Curry's hometown), centers on NBA player-turned-substitute teacher/gym coach (and later basketball coach) Mark Cooper. Mark is a "somewhat suave" single guy with a zany personality; he always gets a few laughs from his friends. Mark's childhood friend Robin Dumars and Robin's other best friend Vanessa Russell, both female, share a rented house that they cannot afford without an additional roommate. Though the events just prior to Mark's moving in are heavily debated, he agreed to move in with Robin and Vanessa. His "bedroom" is the 'den' near the 'living' room; Robin and "Vanessa" occupy the only bedrooms in the house. Although living with women may not be easy at times, Mark does appreciate them. They often teach him a thing or two when he gets in over his head.

Early episodes of the series featured references by Robin of Mark possibly having a crush on Vanessa, though that was mostly de-emphasized. Near the end of season four, he and Vanessa became a couple. Almost as quickly as they started dating, they became engaged. Midway through the first season, Tyler Foster was introduced as Mark's annoying neighbor kid; he would become a regular character starting in season two. By the second season, Robin was phased out after Lewis's departure. Mark's two cousins from Georgia, Geneva Lee and her daughter Nicole moved into the house. Tyler quickly became the best friend of Nicole.

The very 1st season as one poster called it was the black version of Three's Company

6'6" Comedian Mark Curry who played Mr. Cooper himself teamed up with Singer/Actress Dawnn Lewis from A Different World as Robin Dumars and Actress Holly Robinson Peete from FOX's 21 Jump Street and NBC/The WB's For Your Love as Vanessa Russell

Mark Curry plays Mark Cooper – a former NBA player for the Golden State Warriors turned high school teacher and P.E. teacher for Oakbridge High School; later became interim head coach for the Oakbridge boys' basketball team, but was originally passed over for permanent coach after being offered the job by P.J. Moore in season 3; later begins dating (and then almost immediately engaged to) roommate Vanessa Russell by the end of season 4, though there are hints in season one that he is interested in her.

Holly Robinson Peete plays Vanessa Russell – Mark's roommate, who originally worked for the firm Toplyn and Toplyn, and then worked various odd jobs after quitting her job, before settling on working as an Emergency Medical Technician (which she would later be laid off from); was the daughter of rich parents, who later cut her off from her trust fund due to her extravagant spending; would later date Mark (after he successfully conspired to break up her latest relationship due to his jealousies over her boyfriend) and then be engaged to him by the end of season 4.

Dawnn Lewis played Robin Dumars – Mark's best friend since childhood, who comes up with the idea to have Mark move in with her and Vanessa in order to pay the rent; worked as a music teacher and often moonlighted as a tutor to neighborhood kids

25 years ago this fall, the series debut on abc Tuesday Nights and was a Hit as the series cracked the Nielsen Ratings Top 20 with Full House, Roseanne and Coach still in the Top 10 and not only that, but FH and Coop even got higher ratings than NBC's Quantum Leap which went head to head against FH and Coop

also, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper along with 2 other African American Sitcoms in abc's Family Matters and NBC's The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air got WAY higher ratings than Dawnn Lewis' Former Sitcom A Different World which was placed @ #71

In fact, Season 1 of Hangin' with Mr. Cooper and Season 3 of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air became not only the only African American Sitcoms to crack the Nielsen Ratings Top 20, but they became the 2 Most Watched African-American Sitcoms on Prime Time Television during the 92/93 Season

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was ranked #16 makin' it the #1 African-American Sitcom on Prime Time Television and Coop was ranked #17

However, when LORIMAR closed its door in 1993 after nearly 25 years, Warner Bros. Television took over the show along with Full House, Family Matters, Step By Step, Getting By (which moved to NBC from abc) and the hit TV Drama Sisters

In the fall of '93, abc decided to move Hangin' with Mr. Cooper from Tuesday Nights to TGIF on Friday Nights and Warner Bros. Television changed the show from an adult sitcom to a more family oriented show and the idea didn't work with fans

Dawnn Lewis left Coop and the folks @ Warner Bros. Television hired Saundra Quarterman as Coop's cousin Geneva Lee and Raven-Symone of The Cosby Show and That's So Raven Fame as her daughter Nicole and they would remain on the show for the rest of the series

Saundra Quarterman played Geneva Lee – Mark's cousin from Georgia, who (with her daughter Nicole) moves in with Mark and Vanessa; seemed out of place in California in early episodes; worked as a music teacher and then principal at Oakbridge High

Raven-Symoné played Nicole Lee – Mark's precocious preteen cousin, who Mark thinks of as practically a daughter and develops a friendship with next-door neighbor Tyler Foster

Marquise Wilson who had a recurring role in Season 1 as Tyler Foster would soon have a full time role for the rest of the series

Tyler Foster was Mark's next-door neighbor, who Mark saw as an annoyance in the first 2 seasons, and saw as a little brother in later episodes; was best friends with Nicole Lee after she is introduced; he had a crush on Vanessa, which was referenced to several times, but also was briefly infatuated with Geneva

Omar Gooding (the brother of Cuba Gooding, Jr.) played Earvin Rodman – One of Mark's students and player on the Oakbridge Penguins boys' basketball team; was not a stellar student, but managed to graduate high school; was briefly married to his high school sweetheart; worked as a security guard after graduating high school

Gooding had a recurring role in the 1st 3 seasons and would later have a full time role in the Final 3 Seasons

Omar Gooding is best known for co-hosting the Nickelodeon Game Show Wild & Crazy Kids and he would later team up with Danny Kallis (who Co-Produced the very 1st season of Coop) as Morris "Mo" Tibbs in The WB Comedy Series Disney's Smart Guy w/Taj Mowry of Full House Fame, Jason Weaver of The Jacksons: An American Dream and the short lived abc comedy Thea, Essence Atkins of TV's Half & Half and Veteran Actor John Marshall Jones as Floyd Henderson

During the 2nd and 3rd Season, the late Nell Carter of TV's Gimme a Break! Fame played the role of Pamela Jane "P.J." Moore – Principal of Oakbridge High, who was Mark's sister's best friend and his babysitter as a young kid; though it seemed to Mark that P.J. was tough on him, it was revealed later in season 3 that she was tough on him because she saw the potential in him to be a great teacher

Ever since abc moved the show to Friday Nights and turned it into a Family Sitcom, abc took a gamble and they lost as the ratings for the show went down and never recovered

In 1996, Mark proposed to Vanessa in the episode "Will She or Won't She". This episode was a cliffhanger season finale that was aired on May 10, 1996. The following season premiere episode ("The Ring") was not aired until June 21, 1997, more than a year later. Vanessa accepted Mark's proposal in this episode. "The Ring" is the first episode of the fifth and last season of the series.

The entire third season and most of the fourth season's episodes were directed by Mark Linn-Baker, who portrayed Larry Appleton on the hit ABC series Perfect Strangers. MLB also appeared in a few episodes.

However, when the show returned for a 5th Season in the Summer of '97, the show moved from TGIF to Saturday Nights and that's when the show saw its final nail in the coffin

The last season was 13 episodes long, half the length of most television seasons, and was aired in the summer, when most television shows are in reruns. In addition, this season was aired on Saturday nights—a move away from its traditional Friday night slot on TGIF.

The series finale ("Getting Personal") was aired August 30, 1997. In this episode, Vanessa wrote a personal ad in the newspaper, and wanted Mark to figure out which ad was hers, and to answer it. Mark decided to answer all ads in the paper, tell everyone to look for the man with the rose, and then not wear a rose. Mark figured that Vanessa would be happy enough that Mark answered her ad, and would not worry about the rose, and that the other women would not get mad at him because, without a rose, they would not know that Mark is the one who answered their ads. Earvin knew about Mark's plan, and decided to go to the restaurant with the rose, so that he could get a date with one of the women whose ad Mark had answered. Vanessa and the other women figured out that the same man had answered all their ads. They decided that the man with the rose would be the dead man with the rose. When Earvin showed up, they all got mad at him, thinking he was the one who answered their ads. The finale ended with a goodbye from the cast.

While the series finale was viewed in its entirety on ABC affiliates in the Eastern, Central, and Mountain time zones, ABC pre-empted the episode on the West Coast, 5 minutes in, to break the news of the death of Princess Diana, and the finale was never re-run on ABC. Other than several complaints from viewers on the West Coast, there was little, if any, controversy, as this episode generally had low ratings, and aired on a Saturday. However, the episode eventually aired on syndication.

abc actually intended to bring back Hangin' with Mr. Cooper and Step By Step to TGIF for the 1996–97 season as midseason replacements if freshmen series Sabrina the Teenage Witch and/or Clueless were cancelled (Clueless was cancelled by February and was replaced by Step by Step by March, Clueless was picked up by UPN the next season; while Sabrina lasted four seasons on abc, before being picked up by The WB in 2000, where it spent its last three seasons).

The wedding of Mark and Vanessa would have most likely been the 6th season premiere episode had the show been renewed after season five, as Mark Curry reportedly wanted the wedding to begin a new season, not be a series finale. Hangin' with Mr. Cooper was the only TGIF show cancelled after the 1996–97 season as CBS picked up Step by Step and Family Matters when that network attempted a TGIF-style comedy lineup on Fridays called the "CBS Friday Night Block Party".

Season 1: #17
Season 2: #38
Season 3: #41
Season 4: #61
Season 5: N/A

The series was created by Jeff Franklin (Creator of Full House, of whose cast John Stamos, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen made a guest appearance in Mr. Cooper's second episode), the series was originally produced by Franklin (who also served as the Executive Producer for Season 1 of Malcolm & Eddie), with Danny Kallis (Creator of Disney's Smart Guy for The WB) becoming Executive Producer and showrunner shortly after and Yvette Denise Lee Bowser (Writer for The Cosby Show Spin-off A Different World and Creator of Lush Life, For Your Love, Half & Half and most notably Living Single) served as a writer for the 1st season as well; Cheryl Gard (Producer of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) became the showrunner for the 2nd season before William Bickley and Michael Warren (who created the popular abc TGIF sitcoms Family Matters and Step by Step, which moved to CBS in 1997) became the showrunners for the remainder of the series

The show had three different theme songs throughout its run. The first season's theme song was performed by Dawnn Lewis, Holly Robinson Peete, and the Super 90's R&B Vocal Quartet En Vogue best known for their Hit Songs like "Hold On", "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)", "Free Your Mind" and "Whatta Man" w/the 1st Ladies of Hip Hop Salt 'N' Pepa, and was written by Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy. Lewis and Robinson perform most of the theme, while En Vogue sings "Cooper" in the chorus. This sequence was styled similarly to a music video. This was the only opening title sequence during the show's 1st season to feature two different versions. The version used in most episodes lasted only 32 seconds. However, a couple of episodes used a minute-long version which included an extra stanza that was not included in the short version.

R&B male crooner and Shalamar lead singer Howard Hewett best known for their Hit Songs "Second Time Around", "Night to Remember", "Dead Giveaway" and "Dancin' in the Sheets" sang the second season theme, which was a remake of Sam & Dave's Top 10 Soul Hit "Soul Man". This version was produced by singer Steve Tyrell, who also composed the scene change music used during season two. The opening sequence accompanying the theme during this season featured Mark, Geneva, Nicole and Vanessa in the kitchen getting ready to go to work and school.

Steve Tyrell was also the man behind the music to such shows as Frank's Place w/Tim & Daphne Maxwell Reid, The Famous Teddy Z Starring Jon Cryer of Two and a Half Men and NCIS Fame, Jane Sibbett of Herman's Head and Friends Fame and the late Alex Rocco of The Facts of Life Fame, The Heights with the late Ray Aranha, Jamie Walters of 90210 Fame and Alex Désert of The Flash, Boy Meets World and Becker Fame and he's best known for writing music to the popular TNBC Saturday Morning Teen Sitcom California Dreams Starring Kelly Packard of Baywatch, Michael Cade and William James Jones and that series also debut in the fall of '92

Sherwood Ball, Carmen Carter and Oren Waters performed the third season theme, which became the main theme song until the series ended. This theme was written by Gary Boren and Steven Chesne, who also composed the music cues to signify scene changes and commercial breaks during the last three seasons and composed the music score of several Miller-Boyett series during the early and mid-1990s. The sequence, created by graphic design firm Creative Tool, featured shots of various places in Oakland in static and regular form with posterized shots of the cast members with clips on the opposite side of the cast members (though clips of Mark Curry are shown on both sides in his part of the sequence).

Alice Cooper best known for his 1972 Top 10 Pop Hit "School's Out" was approached in the initial stages of production to create a theme song for the series, but declined due to scheduling conflicts.

and so, yes, I agree, abc made a HUGE Mistake by changing the show from an adult sitcom to to a family oriented sitcom and moving it to TGIF didn't click with fans either

and here's the theme to the show:

Season 1 Theme Performed by Dawnn Lewis, Holly Robinson Peete and the 90's Super R&B Vocal Group En Vogue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTt05xDgzXs

Season 2 Performed by Howard Hewett with Cheryl Gard as Executive Producer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ao917vphCo

Season 3 Performed by Sherwood Ball, Carmen Carter and Oren Waters

1st Version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ba1jFKXJR8

2nd Version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2z36Lt8Yz0

Since you're talking about me (http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showpost.php?p=5225753&postcount=20), I'll give you this to think about (since my "opinions" are for the most part, stupid in your eyes). During it's first four years, Empty Nest was a Top 20 show and a Top 10 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empty_Nest#Nielsen_ratings) for those first three. In 1992-93, the first year that it didn't have The Golden Girls (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992%E2%80%9393_United_States_network_television_schedule#Saturday_.5B2.5D) around to anchor NBC's Saturday night schedule, it ranked 48th. And the year after that, it ranked 62 in the Nielsens. Finally, in its final season in 1994-95, it was #118. :rolleyes:

Yes, Empty Nest along with Nurses couldn't even survive w/o The Golden Girls and when NBC cancelled Nurses, it spelled curtains for Empty Nest

also, during the 92/93 season, The Golden Girls moved to CBS w/o Bea Arthur and was renamed The Golden Palace and the series was ranked #57 in the Nielsen Ratings and there were a couple of reasons behind that:

CBS put the show on Friday Nights competing against abc's Family Matters and it spelled curtains for that show as well, plus The Golden Palace couldn't survive w/o Bea Arthur who wanted to move on from the show after 7 years on NBC w/The Golden Girls

What makes me angry about China Beach is that ABC could have put it on Friday nights instead of Saturdays.

I mean, ABC didn't have faith in China Beach by putting against two top 20 shows in The Golden Girls and Empty Nest. Maybe ABC should have gotten The Golden Girls and Empty Nest to air before CB, but i don't know how that would have worked.

ABC expanding Nightline from four nights a week to five and ultimately cancelling the SNL rip-off 'Fridays.' From what I read the show did well in its first year at 11:30, but then bumped the show to midnight after Nightline and ratings plummeted. A trial episode aired at 9 pm, but that didn't work and the show was canned.

I would've had Nightline air Sun-Thu. The Sunday Nightline could have easily bumped down the late night Sunday newscast ABC used to offer to affiliates after their late local news.

They should have just gotten rid of the show after Ted Koppel retired.

They should have just gotten rid of the show after Ted Koppel retired.you can say that again nightline is pure garbage now

You know what? I agree with you about NIGHTLINE

Ever since Ted Koppel retired from both the show after 25 years and from abc news after 42 years, the show itself went from being more of a News Magazine Program to more Entertainment

Back in the 80's, Nightline was voted by TV Guide's 40th Anniversary Issue as the GREATEST News Magazine Show of the 80's and Ted Koppel made the show

But ever since 2006 after Koppel retired in 2005, it became pure garbage

I mean hey, don't get me wrong, I like some of the anchors they had from Bill Weir to Cynthia McFadden to Terry Moran to even Juju Chang

But the format has changed and even Disney who owns abc news has had a hand in those changes

I mean, sometimes they'll tape it from Washington D.C., but then they would tape from New York City Time Square (the home to New Year's Eve)

also, Ted Koppel himself says that he's not pleased with Nightline

Checkout this article here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/26/ted-koppel-criticizes-nightline_n_981931.html

Ted Koppel Criticizes ‘Nightline’ For Soft News Turn (VIDEO)

Ted Koppel took a harsh swipe at “Nightline,” the show that brought him worldwide fame, during an interview with a Seattle television station over the weekend.

Koppel lamented that “Nightline” has taken a notable turn towards softer news since he left the ABC News show in 2005. During Koppel’s tenure, the show became as famous for its off-screen turmoil as for its journalism. Koppel even publicly chastised ABC in 2002, when the network made no secret of its attempt to recruit David Letterman to replace him in its late night schedule.

The new, fluffier “Nightline” has now made any need for Letterman obsolete, because the show now beats its CBS rival — along with every other late night show — in the ratings.

Asked about the show by his interviewer, Koppel was dismissive.

“It’s no secret they have become hugely successful, because they are doing precisely what I didn’t want ‘Nightline’ to do,” he said. “It’s become a show that’s heavily oriented into entertainment, more than it is in the direction of information and news.”

Koppel also notably did not pour any cold water on the recent rumor that he is in talks with NBC News to be one of the reporters on its new “Rock Center” magazine show. Rather, he acknowledged that negotiations were underway.

and boy was he right

another big mess-up

Lettin' The View go on w/o Barbara Walters and lettin' New Year's Rockin' Eve go on w/o Dick Clark

I mean, Walters is THE VIEW and so is Meredith Vieira, but since then, it's gone downhill for me

also, NO ONE could count down to the New Year than Mr. Clark

Sorry, but Ryan Seacrest is NOT THE MAN

I have agree.

But also, Meredith Vieira was also hosting Who Wants to Be a Millionaire at the same as being the moderator for The View. The only other person that's done that kind of job was Hugh Downs in the 1960s, when he hosted the Today Show and also Concentration. When Meredith joined Matt Lauer on Today, she continued hosting Millionaire at the same time.

Canceling the original US version of Whose Line Is It Anyway.

another big mess-up

Lettin' The View go on w/o Barbara Walters and lettin' New Year's Rockin' Eve go on w/o Dick Clark

I mean, Walters is THE VIEW and so is Meredith Vieira, but since then, it's gone downhill for me

also, NO ONE could count down to the New Year than Mr. Clark

Sorry, but Ryan Seacrest is NOT THE MAN

Ryan Seacrest was pretty much being groomed to take over for Dick Clark while Mr. Clark was still alive (yet couldn't really host any more due to his debilitating stroke), so we might as well been prepared anyway.

Cancelling Mr. Belvedere, a perfectly good highbrow and intellectual program, midway through its run, yet giving atrocious special treatment to goofier, more dumbed down programs, such as Full House, Perfect Strangers, and Family Matters.

Cancelling (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Belvedere#Ratings_and_cancellation) Mr. Belvedere, a perfectly good highbrow and intellectual program, midway through its run, yet giving atrocious special treatment to goofier, more dumbed down programs, such as Full House, Perfect Strangers, and Family Matters.

Wouldn't Just the Ten of Us also fit in too? ABC canceled JTOU after it's second season despite winning its Friday night time slot because it wasn't produced by the Miller-Boyett factory like the ones that you mentioned.

Wouldn't Just the Ten of Us also fit in too? ABC canceled JTOU after it's second season despite winning its Friday night time slot because it wasn't produced by the Miller-Boyett factory like the ones that you mentioned.


I hated them doing that..but if they kept Just the Ten of Us, maybe move it to Saturdays?

I have agree.

But also, Meredith Vieira was also hosting Who Wants to Be a Millionaire at the same as being the moderator for The View. The only other person that's done that kind of job was Hugh Downs in the 1960s, when he hosted the Today Show and also Concentration. When Meredith joined Matt Lauer on Today, she continued hosting Millionaire at the same time.

Right, I remember that, but also, during her time on TODAY, it seems as Matt Lauer didn't like Meredith being on the show, but Meredith was great on there and being herself, I think Lauer was use to Katie Couric on the show and his ego got the best of him

another BIG TIME Mess-Up

Letting Go of Getting By and NBC picking up the show

It was a pretty good show and I like the theme to the abc version better than the NBC version

Wouldn't Just the Ten of Us also fit in too? ABC canceled JTOU after it's second season despite winning its Friday night time slot because it wasn't produced by the Miller-Boyett factory like the ones that you mentioned.

Actually, you're quite right. I can't understand why often tend to overlook Just the Ten of Us.

Here's another one

Cancelling Me and the Boys which was Steve Harvey's 1st Hit TV Sitcom

The show was a Top 20 Show in the Nielsen Ratings, so why cancel a good thing?

I guess abc probably thought that the show wasn't gonna last long or maybe they didn't have too much faith in the show

Me and the Boys aired back to back with Full House and the show was ranked higher than FH (which was still in the Nielsen Ratings Top 30) and it also beat The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the Nielsen Ratings as well

The series was ranked #20 and it was the most watched African-American Sitcom on Television, but despite that, they cancelled it after 1 season and that was another Big Time Mess-Up for abc

Here's another one

Cancelling Me and the Boys which was Steve Harvey's 1st Hit TV Sitcom

The show was a Top 20 Show in the Nielsen Ratings, so why cancel a good thing?

I guess abc probably thought that the show wasn't gonna last long or maybe they didn't have too much faith in the show

Me and the Boys aired back to back with Full House and the show was ranked higher than FH (which was still in the Nielsen Ratings Top 30) and it also beat The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the Nielsen Ratings as well

The series was ranked #20 and it was the most watched African-American Sitcom on Television, but despite that, they cancelled it after 5 seasons and that was another Big Time Mess-Up for abc

Not sure if you're thinking of something different or not, but Me and the Boys only lasted one season.

Not sure if you're thinking of something different or not, but Me and the Boys only lasted one season.

I know it lasted one season, but the show was a Top 20 Hit

Just wandering why cancel a show that was a in the Top 20?

I know it lasted one season, but the show was a Top 20 Hit

Just wandering why cancel a show that was a in the Top 20?

Okay, I just said that because you said in your post that it lasted 5 seasons.

I corrected it and I mean to say 1 season

Thanks for noticing that

Cancelling Mr. Belvedere, a perfectly good highbrow and intellectual program, midway through its run, yet giving atrocious special treatment to goofier, more dumbed down programs, such as Full House, Perfect Strangers, and Family Matters.
IMO, they canceled Mr. Belvedere because Wesley grew up and the chemistry between Wesley and Mr. Belvedere was lost when he aged.

Well here's my question:

What if abc didn't cancel Me and the Boys with Steve Harvey after 1 season?

Do ya think that Steve Harvey would still be on Me and the Boys instead of having his own WB sitcom 1 year later?

don't know; never saw it

The creators of Roseanne and the Cosby Show created a sitcom called Davis Rules, which starred Randy Quaid as a school principal and Jonathan Winters playing his dad. The show garnered considerable hype and debuted following Super Bowl XXV in 1991. The ratings were modest and Winters won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor. Despite being a critical success, ABC didn't know what do with the sitcom and opted to release it to CBS where it lasted one more season and got canceled. Given its youthful tone, I never understood why ABC didn't give it a try on TGIF in the 9:30 PM timeslot as a bridge to 20/20? There was potential with the show but it never quite worked.

Camp Wilder, which aired during the 1992-93 season on ABC in TGIF was another example of the network giving up too quickly. The series starred Mary Paige Keller as a 28-year-old nurse, who had to move back into his parent's home after their death to raise his 16-year-old brother, her 13-year-old sister, and her 6-year-old daughter. Her home also served as a place for her brother's friends to hang out and help solve their daily issues. The show had a lot of future star power behind it with Jerry O'Connell, Jay Mohr, and Hilary Swank all playing key roles, but only lasted just 19 episodes and was off the schedule by February.

The creators of Roseanne and the Cosby Show created a sitcom called Davis Rules, which starred Randy Quaid as a school principal and Jonathan Winters playing his dad. The show garnered considerable hype and debuted following Super Bowl XXV in 1991. The ratings were modest and Winters won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor. Despite being a critical success, ABC didn't know what do with the sitcom and opted to release it to CBS where it lasted one more season and got canceled. Given its youthful tone, I never understood why ABC didn't give it a try on TGIF in the 9:30 PM timeslot as a bridge to 20/20? There was potential with the show but it never quite worked.

Camp Wilder, which aired during the 1992-93 season on ABC in TGIF was another example of the network giving up too quickly. The series starred Mary Paige Keller as a 28-year-old nurse, who had to move back into his parent's home after their death to raise his 16-year-old brother, her 13-year-old sister, and her 6-year-old daughter. Her home also served as a place for her brother's friends to hang out and help solve their daily issues. The show had a lot of future star power behind it with Jerry O'Connell, Jay Mohr, and Hilary Swank all playing key roles, but only lasted just 19 episodes and was off the schedule by February.

Regarding Davis Rules, the reason why ABC didn't put the show in the TGIF lineup was because at that point, they only wanted shows produced by Miller-Boyett Productions in the lineup.

The creators of Roseanne and the Cosby Show created a sitcom called Davis Rules, which starred Randy Quaid as a school principal and Jonathan Winters playing his dad. The show garnered considerable hype and debuted following Super Bowl XXV in 1991. The ratings were modest and Winters won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor. Despite being a critical success, ABC didn't know what do with the sitcom and opted to release it to CBS where it lasted one more season and got canceled. Given its youthful tone, I never understood why ABC didn't give it a try on TGIF in the 9:30 PM timeslot as a bridge to 20/20? There was potential with the show but it never quite worked.

Camp Wilder, which aired during the 1992-93 season on ABC in TGIF was another example of the network giving up too quickly. The series starred Mary Paige Keller as a 28-year-old nurse, who had to move back into his parent's home after their death to raise his 16-year-old brother, her 13-year-old sister, and her 6-year-old daughter. Her home also served as a place for her brother's friends to hang out and help solve their daily issues. The show had a lot of future star power behind it with Jerry O'Connell, Jay Mohr, and Hilary Swank all playing key roles, but only lasted just 19 episodes and was off the schedule by February.

I remember both of those shows

Davis Rules was a series from Carsey-Werner and Caryn Mandabach

I guess after the success of The Cosby Show, A Different World and Roseanne, they had a hard time trying to find the right shows to become hits until 1993 after the cancellations of both The Cosby Show in 1992 and A Different World in 1993, they produced Grace Under Fire Starring Comedienne Brett Butler and it was Created by Chuck Lorre and the show was a hit and was in the Nielsen Ratings Top 20 for 3 consecutive seasons and was in the Nielsen Ratings Top 5 for its 1st 2 Seasons, it was Prime Time's #1 New Comedy of the 93/94 Season and by the 94/95 Season, it finally beat Roseanne in the ratings for 2 straight seasons

I think putting Davis Rules on TGIF would be a good idea, but then again, it wouldn't be, I guess b/c knowing Carsey-Werner, they talked about topics that wouldn't be TGIF appropriate, who knows?

But when abc aired the show, it was a Top 30 Hit in the Nielsen Ratings and that was when The Cosby Show, A Different World and Roseanne were all still in the Top 5 with Roseanne @ #3, A Different World @ #4 and The Cosby Show @ #5, plus Cheers became THE #1 Show of the 90/91 Season

However, when CBS picked up the show, it dropped to the 60's and was cancelled due to low ratings

also, I agree, abc messed it up by cancelling the show and then moved to CBS and that's when Bonnie Hunt of the films Beethoven and Jumanji as well as Life with Bonnie joined the show along with Debra Mooney

and I do remember Camp Wilder, it aired right after Getting By

and Mary Page Keller who starred in Camp Wilder starred in the short-lived abc comedy Baby Talk when she replaced Julia Duffy of Newhart Fame and that was part of TGIF

and BTW, here's the openings to Davis Rules from the abc years and the CBS years

Can ya tell the difference?

The only cast members to appear on both seasons are Randy Quaid, Luke Edwards, Nathan Watt, Tamayo Otsuki and the late Jonathan Winters

Season 1 on abc
A8isFdZ5BFQ

Season 2 on CBS
KxnTDcd511w

not picking up Conan O' Brien for a late night talk show and it not replacing nightline leading to the mess with the Feud between Jay and Conan.

not picking up the goldbergs spinoff and coach reboot

The Coach reboot would've been nice.

IMO, they canceled Mr. Belvedere because Wesley grew up and the chemistry between Wesley and Mr. Belvedere was lost when he aged.

I'm not talking about its 1990 conclusion, I'm talking about its initial 1987 cancellation.

not picking up the goldbergs spinoff and coach reboot

Um, that was NBC not showing interest.

abc Daytime hasn't been the same ever since they cancelled Family Feud in 1985 and they only thing they have on their daytime line up now are The View w/o Barbara Walters, The Chew and General Hospital

abc Daytime hasn't been the same ever since they cancelled Family Feud in 1985 and they only thing they have on their daytime line up now are The View w/o Barbara Walters, The Chew and General Hospital

I don't think The Chew is even on anymore.

I don't think The Chew is even on anymore.

Yes, it is.

Not canceling nightline when Ted Koppel retired and also failing to snag Conan O'Brien from for a late night talk show. Had the latter happened, this debacle with Conan and Jay wouldn't have occurred also failing to snag Jay Leno after he retired from NBC the first time

Yes, it is.

It is? I did not know that.

ABC passed on All in the Family. Couldn't really blame them, who wants to watch some grouchy, portly older man with a dingbat wife, with two adult children living at home fighting, arguing and whatnot. And it is based on a Britcom? But by ABC passing over ATIF, it potentially lost all the other successful Norman Lear shows.

ABC letting go Best of the West (1981). One of the best, and FUNNY AS FARK sitcoms I have ever seen (and saw it recently thinking it would suck as an adult and LOL'ing still). The show was a lot like Night Court set in the West with a bunch of weird characters and all the characters fit perfectly. Several very well known actors did the show such as Andy Griffith and Christopher Lloyd as a recurring role. However the villian guy was the funniest guy.

My explanation of why Best of the West died is the lead actor wanted to do another show Silver Spoons with Ricky Shroader. Joel Grey, Earl Grey, whatever his name was, if he were the cause of the death of the show, a hex be upon him. Never liked him much (Gary Sandy would have been better) anyway, but he was a decent enough straight man for the town crazies. I loved that show and its a travesty it didn't last 5 seasons or more.

ABC passed on All in the Family. Couldn't really blame them, who wants to watch some grouchy, portly older man with a dingbat wife, with two adult children living at home fighting, arguing and whatnot. And it is based on a Britcom? But by ABC passing over ATIF, it potentially lost all the other successful Norman Lear shows.

ABC letting go Best of the West (1981). One of the best, and FUNNY AS FARK sitcoms I have ever seen (and saw it recently thinking it would suck as an adult and LOL'ing still). The show was a lot like Night Court set in the West with a bunch of weird characters and all the characters fit perfectly. Several very well known actors did the show such as Andy Griffith and Christopher Lloyd as a recurring role. However the villian guy was the funniest guy.

My explanation of why Best of the West died is the lead actor wanted to do another show Silver Spoons with Ricky Shroader. Joel Grey, Earl Grey, whatever his name was, if he were the cause of the death of the show, a hex be upon him. Never liked him much (Gary Sandy would have been better) anyway, but he was a decent enough straight man for the town crazies. I loved that show and its a travesty it didn't last 5 seasons or more.

His name is Joel Higgins. Erin Gray is the female co-star.

abc Daytime hasn't been the same ever since they cancelled Family Feud in 1985 and they only thing they have on their daytime line up now are The View w/o Barbara Walters, The Chew and General Hospital


In 1990, ABC was going to cancel the home show and replace it with a couple of game shows but it did not happen :(

Not canceling nightline when Ted Koppel retired and also failing to snag Conan O'Brien from for a late night talk show. Had the latter happened, this debacle with Conan and Jay wouldn't have occurred also failing to snag Jay Leno after he retired from NBC the first timeIf ABC didn't replace Nightline with Letterman when they were interested, ABC sure wouldn't be interested in Conan. Conan the barbarian never should have stolen the Tonight Show from Jay in the first place, the only place Conan deserves to have a talk show is Siberia.

If ABC didn't replace Nightline with Letterman when they were interested, ABC sure wouldn't be interested in Conan. Conan the barbarian never should have stolen the Tonight Show from Jay in the first place, the only place Conan deserves to have a talk show is Siberia.


I agree

1) Deciding to cancel Full House in February of it's final season and not giving fans one more (10th) season to say goodbye. Despite the high salaries of cast members, ABC could have afforded to give FH one more season considering it had 10 of the TOP 20 Highest Rated Shows in the '94-'95 season.

2) 2007-Moving October Road to Monday Nights in Season 2. In Season One, OR had placed a very good #28th place in the ratings and was averaging over 10 million viewers. Yes, this was because "Grey's Anatomy" was a strong lead-in, but the sitcom Coach did very well in the ratings as long as Roseanne was it's lead-in. It had held it's own against CBS "Shark" and NBC's "ER" which was finishing it's first season out of the TOP 30.

Season 2 debuted on Thanksgiving Night (seriously!) and subsequent episodes aired on Monday nights. The ratings dropped by over 50% from Season One. Dancing With The Stars and Notes From The Underbelly were horrible lead ins and OR was canceled after only a 13 episode 2nd Season. CBS's "CSI Miami" was too much of a head-to-head threat against OR too.

3) 2005-Canceling High School Drama "Life as We Know It" after only 11 episodes. This show was doomed from the start because ABC had scheduled it against the #2 ranked CSI and the #15 rated show "The Apprentice." on Thursday Nights at 9 PM. This show should have moved to Friday Night's it could have been the CPR that the TGIF lineup needed. I guess ABC didn't learn it's lesson from 10 years earlier with "My So-Called Life" Teen Shows just don't work on Thursday Nights. But they do on Friday Nights see "Boy Meets World."

Letting The View last longer than it should have. They should have cancelled at after Barbara Walters retired. Just like they should have cancelled Nightline after Ted Koppel left

Stupid Business Decisions: ABC Passes on "The Cosby Show" (http://www.minyanville.com/special-features/articles/cosby-abc-nbc-ge-disney-viacom/4/23/2010/id/27121)

Those 10 ways to save NBC might work. ABC blew it.

I think they do that to boost struggling shows. They'll put a hit show with a struggling show to boost the struggling show.

They are trying to boost new shows not struggling shows. I think the best strategy for them would be to shuffle in the new show when the hit show is almost finished for the season.
This article on single serve coffee makers
(https://kitchenlola.com/best-single-serve-coffee-maker/)

ABC like so many successful networks always seems to be the top channel in TV because they have what other networks have which is A. Huge fanbases when they have hit shows. B. Successful shows that continue to be hits. and C. Sitcoms that are really worthy of watching. But in my opinion the worst mistakes were that should make the 20 biggest mistakes in ABC history is ending Growing Pains in 1992 and I think ABC should've made Growing Pains last until 1993 because it would've been neat to see a finale where Mike Seaver becomes a dad and Carol Seaver gets married and Ben Seaver also a father and Chrissy Seaver follows in her mother's footsteps and becomes a journalist and Jason and Maggie Seaver as grandparents to their grandchildren 20 years later and that would've been a great finale to a good sitcom. A second thing I think was a mistake was letting CBS have Step By Step and Family Matters because I think the reason that Family Matters and Step By Step got moved to CBS was because ABC wanted to focus on other sitcoms in the TGIF lineup and by doing this move ABC was really surprised that CBS was interested in their popular sitcoms. Third I could never understand why in 2000 ABC overhyped Who Wants To Be A Millionaire so much that I think this mistake could've been corrected by putting Who Wants To Be A Millionaire on Thursday Nights instead of every day of the week. Another mistake that ABC made was making a spin-off of The Bachelor/The Bachelorette called Bachelor In Paradise when it should've been a one time special and I don't know why The Bachelor/The Bachelorette is still popular when those shows should've had two seasons and then have it end. Another mistake ABC did was still show Spin City after they added Charlie Sheen when they could've ended Spin City after Michael J. Fox left. But the biggest mistake for ABC was cancelling Duel and 500 Questions because it seems that they were hit game shows but due to low ratings ABC chose to cancel them and finally why did ABC end Loving and then decide to rename it The City when Loving ended in a wonderful finale but having Loving characters in a new soap opera was awesome but ABC cancelled The City too and ABC would've have a hit soap opera on their hands
Bestie

ABC like so many successful networks always seems to be the top channel in TV because they have what other networks have which is A. Huge fanbases when they have hit shows. B. Successful shows that continue to be hits. and C. Sitcoms that are really worthy of watching. But in my opinion the worst mistakes were that should make the 20 biggest mistakes in ABC history is ending Growing Pains in 1992 and I think ABC should've made Growing Pains last until 1993 because it would've been neat to see a finale where Mike Seaver becomes a dad and Carol Seaver gets married and Ben Seaver also a father and Chrissy Seaver follows in her mother's footsteps and becomes a journalist and Jason and Maggie Seaver as grandparents to their grandchildren 20 years later and that would've been a great finale to a good sitcom. A second thing I think was a mistake was letting CBS have Step By Step and Family Matters because I think the reason that Family Matters and Step By Step got moved to CBS was because ABC wanted to focus on other sitcoms in the TGIF lineup and by doing this move ABC was really surprised that CBS was interested in their popular sitcoms. Third I could never understand why in 2000 ABC overhyped Who Wants To Be A Millionaire so much that I think this mistake could've been corrected by putting Who Wants To Be A Millionaire on Thursday Nights instead of every day of the week. Another mistake that ABC made was making a spin-off of The Bachelor/The Bachelorette called Bachelor In Paradise when it should've been a one time special and I don't know why The Bachelor/The Bachelorette is still popular when those shows should've had two seasons and then have it end. Another mistake ABC did was still show Spin City after they added Charlie Sheen when they could've ended Spin City after Michael J. Fox left. But the biggest mistake for ABC was cancelling Duel and 500 Questions because it seems that they were hit game shows but due to low ratings ABC chose to cancel them and finally why did ABC end Loving and then decide to rename it The City when Loving ended in a wonderful finale but having Loving characters in a new soap opera was awesome but ABC cancelled The City too and ABC would've have a hit soap opera on their hands
Bestie

The one thing ABC should have never done was let Kirk Cameron run the show with his holier-than-thou bull****

I know I mentioned it in other forums but let me summarize a bit

-Cancelling Just the ten of us. I knew a good spot for it too. Tuesday's at 8:30 and if I recall I remember seeing a promo for it for Tuesday's at 8:30 before it got canned.

- in 1990 ABC thought of canceling The Home Show and replacing it with two game shows but instead they kept the home show and expanded it a year later

- Passing on The Goldbergs 1990s spinoff.

- Greenlighting The Jetsons remake

- not snatching up the Coach reboot after ABC passed on it

The one thing ABC should have never done was let Kirk Cameron run the show with his holier-than-thou bull****Whatever. I am a fan of Kirk Cameron. In this age of Hollywood constantly bashing Christians, it is refreshing to see a prominent actor standing up for his beliefs.

I know I mentioned it in other forums but let me summarize a bit

-Cancelling Just the ten of us. I knew a good spot for it too. Tuesday's at 8:30 and if I recall I remember seeing a promo for it for Tuesday's at 8:30 before it got canned.

- in 1990 ABC thought of canceling The Home Show and replacing it with two game shows but instead they kept the home show and expanded it a year later

- Passing on The Goldbergs 1990s spinoff.

- Greenlighting The Jetsons remake

- not snatching up the Coach reboot after ABC passed on it

We don't need a Jetsons remake.

Whatever. I am a fan of Kirk Cameron. In this age of Hollywood constantly bashing Christians, it is refreshing to see a prominent actor standing up for his beliefs.

I am a chiristiah myself but he forced a lot of changes on Growing Pains and had Julie McCullough fired and ****ed up all the careers of his other co-stars

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growing_Pains

Here's another BIG TIME Mess-Up

Adding Scrappy-Doo to The Scooby-Doo Show

IMO, that puppy was SOOOOOOOO annoying with his Puppy Power

This was abc's way of getting ratings

Not to mention, The NEW Scooby-Doo & Scrappy-Doo Show w/o Fred & Velma and turning Daphne from Dangerprone to more serious like Fred

A second thing I think was a mistake was letting CBS have Step By Step and Family Matters because I think the reason that Family Matters and Step By Step got moved to CBS was because ABC wanted to focus on other sitcoms in the TGIF lineup and by doing this move ABC was really surprised that CBS was interested in their popular sitcoms.

I think it was a good decision these as shows had eroding fanbases,and the marketplace had changed. IE increase in tv's per family and increase in content aimed at typical TGIF viewers. Also,if you were a gradeschool kid in the late 80s or early 90's TGIF was the vanilla default option if you wanted to watch a kids show on Friday night,by the mid 90's Disney Channel had gone from a pay channel to one most people had with basic cable and then you had the emergence of the cartoon network and Nickelodeon entering more homes.

I think it was a good decision these as shows had eroding fanbases,and the marketplace had changed. IE increase in tv's per family and increase in content aimed at typical TGIF viewers. Also,if you were a gradeschool kid in the late 80s or early 90's TGIF was the vanilla default option if you wanted to watch a kids show on Friday night,by the mid 90's Disney Channel had gone from a pay channel to one most people had with basic cable and then you had the emergence of the cartoon network and Nickelodeon entering more homes.

I couldn't agree more. I'm actually still very put off by the fact that ABC was so insistent airing these types of shows which were so filled with vanilla and so infantile that only a child could appreciate them, over shows like Mr. Belvedere which actually were very witty and very cerebral and thus could enjoyed by everybody, young and old alike.

Not picking up 'Young Loves of General Hospital' around 82-83 when their daytime line-up was red-hot. They should've slid up AMC and OLTL up a 1/2 hour to counter Y&R and ATWT and had YLoGH at 2:30 leading into GH at 3.

Ryan's Hope could replace the sitcom repeat at 11am, giving a stronger lead-in to the fledgling Loving at 11:30. Giving you a solid morning hour of soaps going into Family Feud or your local news then into the afternoon soap block.

Here's another BIG TIME Mess-Up

Adding Scrappy-Doo to The Scooby-Doo Show

IMO, that puppy was SOOOOOOOO annoying with his Puppy Power

This was abc's way of getting ratings

Not to mention, The NEW Scooby-Doo & Scrappy-Doo Show w/o Fred & Velma and turning Daphne from Dangerprone to more serious like Fred

Scrappy gets a bad rap. It was contrast, Scooby was big and a coward so Scrappy was small and brave. Yes I think they laid it on too thick at times. Shows get stale and they need to change things up to keep things fresh.

I don't know why they got rid of fred and Velma, maybe they thought there were too many 'straight man' types on the show. I certainly didn't mind the idea of Daphne getting more focus by not having to share the screen with Fred and Velma.

Cancelling Fridays. Fridays was gaining momentum and started out with decent ratings and was on the verge of being 'a thing' before ABC moved it to midnight to make room for the show that would become Nightline. Saturday Night Live was on life-support while Fridays was doing some great character stuff, with a little more edge.

ABC should've just had the Friday Nightline after Fridays or forgo a Friday edition of Nightline and just run it Sun-Thu instead.

@LaBestia and WilliamHBonney: The long and short of why Step By Step and Family Matters moved to CBS was that due to Disney buying ABC, Miller-Boyett felt their shows didn't have a future on ABC. Early this year I posted a topic on the Family Matters board that goes into pretty specific exhaustive detail on what was going on between ABC, Miller-Boyett and CBS during '96 and into '97. It took quite some time to put the topic together and post it. I wanted to post it so there was finally a concise, as close to chronological as we can get detail into exactly what was going on with the whole ABC-TGIF-Miller/Boyett-CBS situation at the time. Here's a link to that thread:

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=358091

I don't want to glut up this thread with a copy paste of that OP but I do invite you both along with everyone else here to read through that post and comment on it if you have time! It's an extremely long post but it's worth everyone's time to read through I think. That was....an interesting situation at the time to say the least.

Stupid Business Decisions: ABC Passes on "The Cosby Show" (http://www.minyanville.com/special-features/articles/cosby-abc-nbc-ge-disney-viacom/4/23/2010/id/27121)

Wanted to comment on this post too! Stupid doesn't even begin[/I] to cover that friggin blunder on ABC's part! If I understand right, Carsey-Werner pitched Cosby to ABC first. ABC passed on it and NBC picked it up. I imagine to this day just in terms of the monster ratings Cosby got the probably long since retired ABC execs that passed on it are banging their heads into the wall over passing on it and likely will be the rest of their lives. Huge huge mistake there.

But here's the thing. Even when a red hot famous comedian comes along like that, there's just no way to know for sure if they'll translate well to a sitcom and if the sitcom will be worth the risk and be a hit. That picture doesn't start to become clearer until the pilot airs but it's usually fairly clear by the end of the first season if it's taking off or not. Warren Littlefield even said in his book when they pitched it to NBC even they were unsure if Cosby would be a hit. He said he knew for sure it was gonna be a smash hit the night the pilot was taped seeing the audience's reaction to the classic "I brought you into this world and I can take you right out!" scene between Cliff and Theo. I guarantee ABC immediately regretted passing on it as soon as they saw the around 40 rating the Cosby pilot got the night it aired! Big time ooooops there!

Saw a post talking about Just The 10 Of Us...I have about 18 episodes of that show on DVD and I'll tell you with a straight face it should have lasted at LEAST another 2 seasons! You can pretty well see why it did well watching it, it deserved way longer of a run than it got. It earned its success fair and square and deserved better than it got!

Wanted to comment on this post too! Stupid doesn't even begin[/I] to cover that friggin blunder on ABC's part! If I understand right, Carsey-Werner pitched Cosby to ABC first. ABC passed on it and NBC picked it up. I imagine to this day just in terms of the monster ratings Cosby got the probably long since retired ABC execs that passed on it are banging their heads into the wall over passing on it and likely will be the rest of their lives. Huge huge mistake there.

But here's the thing. Even when a red hot famous comedian comes along like that, there's just no way to know for sure if they'll translate well to a sitcom and if the sitcom will be worth the risk and be a hit. That picture doesn't start to become clearer until the pilot airs but it's usually fairly clear by the end of the first season if it's taking off or not. Warren Littlefield even said in his book when they pitched it to NBC even they were unsure if Cosby would be a hit. He said he knew for sure it was gonna be a smash hit the night the pilot was taped seeing the audience's reaction to the classic "I brought you into this world and I can take you right out!" scene between Cliff and Theo. I guarantee ABC immediately regretted passing on it as soon as they saw the around 40 rating the Cosby pilot got the night it aired! Big time ooooops there!

Indeed after The Cosby Show proved itself to be a big hit, the ABC Entertainment president responsible for passing on it, Lewis H. Erlicht, was abruptly and humiliatingly sacked and replaced by Brandon Stoddard, head of the network's in house production company, ABC Circle Films.

Indeed after The Cosby Show proved itself to be a big hit, the ABC Entertainment president responsible for passing on it, Lewis H. Erlicht, was abruptly and humiliatingly sacked and replaced by Brandon Stoddard, head of the network's in house production company, ABC Circle Films.

Yikes!!! Holy damn! 😮 I was even thinking after seeing a show like that you passed on become a monster smash hit like that instantly that the consequence for it would have to be demotion or firing. Jesus...it looks like passing on Cosby literally costed Mr. Erlicht his job! Not a good day for sure and I definitely wouldn't wanna be that guy having to go home and tell his family along the lines of "Enjoyimg Cosby with everyone else? Yeah I passed on it and got fired for it today!" Good God...and it's not like they could have gone to NBC at that point and said we changed our minds, it's a smash hit we want it on ABC after all! You can't do that once you've passed on it and given up your right to first pick up. I'm betting the other execs were telling him to pick it up too. He's not gonna ever forget that day or that sacking I'm sure. Thank you for filling in the name of the exec responsible for passing on it, I was wondering what that Einstein who passed on Cosby was :p

Just because a show is a hit on one network doesn't mean it would do well everywhere. There is no guarantee The Cosby Show would have hit the levels it did on NBC.

Doesn't necessarily have to do with ABC but more to do with their then-parent company Capital Cities. Ted Turner came close to buying ABC in the mid-90s even going as far as having lunch with Tom Murphy and Warren Buffett and when he mentioned something about buying a movie studio they passed on it. Ironically about a year later ABC would merge with Disney.

Another ABC screw-up I like to add is the fact that they passed on American Idol, which would allow FOX to take the ball and run with. AI became the dominant show on American TV, making FOX jump from fourth, to third, to second, to even first place. This move certainly hurt ABC, which was at doing poorly the time of Idol's debut due to the lack of hits. In fact, they were the fourth-place network in the 2003-04 season. Since then, ABC has struggled to beat FOX in the ratings.

And the funny thing is they are going to air the revival. Which brings me to another mess up! Picking the damn thing up! In fact, Idol being revived period. It was a show that has run its course

Putting Match Game 90 in the noon death slot. Also not canceling The home show and replacing it with two game shows like they planned to

Moving Mork & Mindy to Sundays and Laverne & Shirley to Thursdays. This move killed the momentum of both shows. Angie was also killed after having a strong start the previous season. ABC's once strong Thursday comedy block would die a slow death with Barney Miller lingering around for a couple more seasons. Leaving an opening for NBC to have a very successful comedy block on that night a few years later.

Moving Mork & Mindy to Sundays and Laverne & Shirley to Thursdays. This move killed the momentum of both shows. Angie was also killed after having a strong start the previous season. ABC's once strong Thursday comedy block would die a slow death with Barney Miller lingering around for a couple more seasons. Leaving an opening for NBC to have a very successful comedy block on that night a few years later.

So basically, the president of ABC Entertainment at the time, Anthony Thomopoulos, practically destroyed very quickly what his predecessor, Fred Silverman, had worked very hard to build up, and also left his poor successor, Lewis Erlicht, to take the blame. I can only imagine the irony, given that Erlicht had also tutored former NBC Entertainment president Brandon Tartikoff back when both worked at ABC O&O WLS-TV in Chicago. If ABC had still been in a stronger position during the 1984-85 season, even without The Cosby Show, we the viewers could have been treated to a very interesting "battle of the network executives."

Not picking up Conan in 2004 or Jay in 2008 which led to the debacle between Jay and Dave and not cancelling Nightline after Ted Koppel retired.

Letting the view go on as long as it did

Letting Family Feud go on for another year

Here's another one for ya:

Changing the theme song of Grace Under Fire from Aretha Franklin's "Lady Madonna" to a more modern sound called "A Perfect World"

When they use the theme Lady Madonna, the show was in the Nielsen Ratings Top 20 with the 1st 2 seasons in the Top 5

The 1st Season was the #1 NEW Comedy of the season and the 2nd season, it finally beat its sister show Roseanne for 2 consecutive seasons

Not only that, but during the final 2 seasons, Brett Butler was also battling her personal demons which caused the show to be cancelled for good after the 97/98 Season

But as for A Perfect World, I guess you can say that it was Disney (who bought abc in the late 90's along with ESPN, SOAPNET and Lifetime) that made the decision to make the theme song more modern and Disney was probably the ones that changed the theme to Roseanne with lyrics by Blues Traveler and the theme to America's Funniest Home Videos

Letting Family Feud go on for another year

Hey, if you thought that was something, what about Roseanne?

The show went on another year for a 9th Season and the show dropped out the Top 20 into the Top 40

I'm no fan of Roseanne, but for the show to go on for 9 seasons was WAY too long, IMO

and also, Family Matters went on another season on abc and another season on CBS didn't do wonders for me either

Not picking up Conan in 2004 or Jay in 2008 which led to the debacle between Jay and Dave and not cancelling Nightline after Ted Koppel retired.

I think ABC dodged a bullet there. Conan proved to be niche, Kimmel fits ABC better as he seems to have more 'mainstream' appeal than Conan did.

Nightline was strong in the ratings at that point, often beating Dave. Nightline did not deserve an outright cancellation but it should've moved to 12:37 which it eventually was.

Moving Dougie Howser Md from Wednesday's to Monday's

Moving Dougie Howser Md from Wednesday's to Monday'sThat did not happen according to my primetime directory. The pilot premiered on a Tuesday, then it was on Wednesdays the rest of the run. It aired at 9:30 the first month then alternated between 9:00 and 8:30, all on Wednesdays.

That did not happen according to my primetime directory. The pilot premiered on a Tuesday, then it was on Wednesdays the rest of the run. It aired at 9:30 the first month then alternated between 9:00 and 8:30, all on Wednesdays.

Steven Bochco said they moved it to Monday's in his book: truth is a total defense

Letting the view go on for as long as it did. They should have canned it after Barbara Walters retired

Not cancelling Family Feud in 1984

Yikes!!! Holy damn! �� I was even thinking after seeing a show like that you passed on become a monster smash hit like that instantly that the consequence for it would have to be demotion or firing. Jesus...it looks like passing on Cosby literally costed Mr. Erlicht his job! Not a good day for sure and I definitely wouldn't wanna be that guy having to go home and tell his family along the lines of "Enjoyimg Cosby with everyone else? Yeah I passed on it and got fired for it today!" Good God...and it's not like they could have gone to NBC at that point and said we changed our minds, it's a smash hit we want it on ABC after all! You can't do that once you've passed on it and given up your right to first pick up. I'm betting the other execs were telling him to pick it up too. He's not gonna ever forget that day or that sacking I'm sure. Thank you for filling in the name of the exec responsible for passing on it, I was wondering what that Einstein who passed on Cosby was :p

Well, you know, as much as I despise Erlicht's decision, I sort of feel that his successors, Brandon Stoddard and, after that, Bob Iger, were far worse. If you're wondering what I mean, Erlicht once green lit a show on ABC named Mr. Belvedere, a very intellectual show from former Barney Miller writers Frank Dungan and Jeff Stein that was based on a successful 1947 novel by Gwen Davenport and three cinematic movies released from 1948-1951 and starring Clifton Webb as the main character. When he green lit the show, Erlicht was very interested in making sure that it could properly thrive on the network's schedule. Unfortunately, however, after Stoddard took over, he immediately began screwing over the program on the grounds that it wasn't like the programs on the schedule that were coming off of the Miller-Boyett assembly line, i.e. Perfect Strangers, and later on, Full House, which he felt generated higher ratings. In fact, when Stoddard decided that Mr. Belvedere was not scoring the same high ratings that the other two shows were getting, he cancelled the show only to bring it back after much fan protest and a vacancy in the schedule due to the abrupt cancellation of fellow ABC program Max Headroom. Unfortunately, however, the damage was already done. As a result of the initial cancellation, several key staffers who wielded major creative influence on the show, such as co-producer and writer Lissa Levin and director Noam Pitlik, ended up leaving for work elsewhere and the episodic quality ended up somewhat suffering as a result. It got far worse, however, with Bob Iger. Around the time Iger took over, Miller-Boyett were in the process of creating a spin off of Perfect Strangers called Family Matters, which revolved around minor character Harriet Winslow and her family. Because Iger held pretty much the same interest as Stoddard did in pandering to Miller-Boyett, he moved Mr. Belvedere to Saturday nights to make room and as a result, Mr. Belvedere's ratings, already not that high to begin with, took a major nosedive and never recovered, and as a result of this Dungan and Stein, as well as cast members Christopher Hewett, Ilene Graff, Rob Stone, Tracy Wells, Brice Beckham, and Bob Uecker; as well as all the other recurring cast members and crew members decided to just call it a day and they ended up writing a very respectful series finale for all they had been put through. So you see, if Erlicht had been allowed to stay on, Mr. Belvedere most likely would have gotten a much better shake at ABC.

I like Mr. Belvedere a lot better than The Cosby Show, it is no contest between those shows for me.

I like Mr. Belvedere a lot better than The Cosby Show, it is no contest between those shows for me.

You know something, catsrule, I actually feel that way myself, believe it or not. Initially I thought that The Cosby Show was the more superior program, but looking back now at how, among other things, Clair was supremely butt whipping almost every male character in the series who disagreed with her, the show's general portrayal overall of men as bumbling idiots and women as mega superior angels, and how poor Denise got severely flanderized when Lisa Bonet both co-starred in the R-rated film Angel Heart and then got married to Lenny Kravitz and became pregnant with their child, all against the wishes of Bill Cosby, who was actually very hypocritical about this given how he's now facing constant accusations of sexual abuse and rape, I've now come to the conclusion that The Cosby Show was severely overrated and, not to be offensive, but probably only got its mega success in the first place because the starring family members were all African-American. By contrast, with Mr. Belvedere, every character in the main family, the Owenses, as well as Mr. Belvedere himself, had their own strengths and weaknesses that made them effective characters and people you could actually identify and sympathize with.

During the 85/86 Season, abc was struggling in both Daytime and Prime Time

I mean, after Family Feud was cancelled, their Daytime Line-Up hasn't been the same

also, Saturday Mornings hasn't been the same

They also cancelled 2 of Hanna-Barbera's long-running favorites in Superfriends after 13 years on the network and Scooby-Doo

The 85/86 Season saw Superfriends become The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians with the late Adam West reprising his role as the voice of Batman and B.J. Ward replacing Shannon Farnon as the voice of Wonder Woman

and as for Scooby-Doo, the show became known as The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo and Shaggy & Daphne got a HUGE makeover with their wardrobe and they also got a NEW Mystery Machine

Scooby, Scrappy, Shaggy and Daphne (who also had a NEW hairdo) was joined by Flim Flam played by the voice of Susan Blu and the late Vincent Price as Vincent Van Ghoul

Scooby & the gang had to recaptured the demons that they took out of the chest of demons

Both series were cancelled, but Scooby-Doo would return 2 years later with A Pup Named Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo & Shaggy were once again voiced by the late Don Messick and the late great Casey Kasem and Fred was voiced by Carl Stevens, Velma was voiced by Christina Lange and Daphne was voiced by a young Kellie Martin of TV's ER Fame & Life Goes On

Frank Welker did voices for other characters and Scott Menville best known for voicing Ma-Ti on TBS SuperStation's Captain Planet & the Planeteers and played Kimmie Gibbler's Dimwitted Boyfriend Dewayne played the voice of Coolsville Town Bully Red Herring

and as for SuperFriends, the show would return 15 years later to Cartoon Network called Justice League

The 85/86 Season also saw the end of Diff'rent Strokes as well as 2 of Aaron Spelling's Favorites in Fantasy Island and The Love Boat and we also saw the end of the late Robert Guillaume's character of Benson after 9 seasons on both SOAP and the spin-off Benson and even saw the end of Hardcastle and McCormick

and another BIG TIME Mess-Up was letting The Fall Guy go on for one more season without Markie Post (formally of Card Sharks) who left the show to join the cast of the hit NBC Comedy Series Night Court

I mean, Markie's character of Terri Michaels was perfect for the show after the departure of Jo Ann Pflug as Samantha Jack aka "Big Jack", but when Markie left the show, it wasn't the same

You know something, catsrule, I actually feel that way myself, believe it or not. Initially I thought that The Cosby Show was the more superior program, but looking back now at how, among other things, Clair was supremely butt whipping almost every male character in the series who disagreed with her, the show's general portrayal overall of men as bumbling idiots and women as mega superior angels, and how poor Denise got severely flanderized when Lisa Bonet both co-starred in the R-rated film Angel Heart and then got married to Lenny Kravitz and became pregnant with their child, all against the wishes of Bill Cosby, who was actually very hypocritical about this given how he's now facing constant accusations of sexual abuse and rape, I've now come to the conclusion that The Cosby Show was severely overrated and, not to be offensive, but probably only got its mega success in the first place because the main family was African-American. By contrast, with Mr. Belvedere, every character in the main family, the Owenses, as well as Mr. Belvedere himself, had their own strengths and weaknesses that made them effective characters and people you could actually identify and sympathize with.

I would agree with you. I prefer Mr. Belvedere to Cosby as well. As much as I a man a fan of Mr. Cosby and believe that he is innocent, Let me admit in 2008, during WGN's 80s retro marathon I did not bother watching the Cosby show on Thursday nights because I was cosbyed out. Between Nick at Nite, TV Land, and WGN America. It was overkill IMO. I would have much preferred to see a rarity like Mr. Belvedere

Passing on Deal or No Deal

You know something, catsrule, I actually feel that way myself, believe it or not. Initially I thought that The Cosby Show was the more superior program, but looking back now at how, among other things, Clair was supremely butt whipping almost every male character in the series who disagreed with her, the show's general portrayal overall of men as bumbling idiots and women as mega superior angels, and how poor Denise got severely flanderized when Lisa Bonet both co-starred in the R-rated film Angel Heart and then got married to Lenny Kravitz and became pregnant with their child, all against the wishes of Bill Cosby, who was actually very hypocritical about this given how he's now facing constant accusations of sexual abuse and rape, I've now come to the conclusion that The Cosby Show was severely overrated and, not to be offensive, but probably only got its mega success in the first place because the main family was African-American. By contrast, with Mr. Belvedere, every character in the main family, the Owenses, as well as Mr. Belvedere himself, had their own strengths and weaknesses that made them effective characters and people you could actually identify and sympathize with.


I always thought The Cosby Show was overrated. Were there some funny episodes? Yes, but it wasn't the all time classic that everybody made it out to be. Hell, if we are talking about ABC, Growing Pains was better than Cosby. Mr. Belvedere was good but I can't get into it anymore.

Come to think of it, I can relate more with the characters from Mr.Belvedere more than the ones on The Cosby Show. And I happen to be black. But now I can't stand it. Except for the male pregnancy episode (which is the only one I'll keep) I will never watch The Cosby Show again. Growing Pains was funnier and even Family Matters was funnier. The Winslows maybe middle class but they were more of a loving family and never thought they were superior over each other. I couldn't stand Clair Huxatable and Phylicia Rashad. So smug and arrogant. I hated the male bashing.

Come to think of it, I can relate more with the characters from Mr.Belvedere more than the ones on The Cosby Show. And I happen to be black. But now I can't stand it. Except for the male pregnancy episode (which is the only one I'll keep) I will never watch The Cosby Show again. Growing Pains was funnier and even Family Matters was funnier. The Winslows maybe middle class but they were more of a loving family and never thought they were superior over each other. I couldn't stand Clair Huxatable and Phylicia Rashad. So smug and arrogant. I hated the male bashing.

YA know something? I'm with you guys,

Back in the day I use to watch The Cosby Show, but I don't hardly watch it anymore, as the show has been shown into reruns way too much, heck even Saved by the Bell was shown in reruns way too much which is why I don't hardly watch it either as both shows are overrated, but I personally like The Bill Cosby Show when he played Chet Kincaid and Cosby when he played Hilton Lucas was better than his role as Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable, but that's another topic for another discussion

But also, I'll say this:

There's another show that I like besides Growing Pains & Family Matters

I like Full House and Step By Step as well as Hangin' with Mr. Cooper (The 1st Season) and even Me and the Boys and Grace Under Fire (The 1st 3 Seasons) and even Home Improvement

They're WAY better than The Cosby Show, IMO

I was SO glad when Cheers knocked off The Cosby Show as the #1 Show after 5 straight seasons, but also, the 91/92 Season, Full House cracked the Nielsen Ratings Top 10 and it FINALLY got Higher Ratings than The Cosby Show and they also knocked The Cosby Show out of the Top 10

In fact, Full House got Higher Ratings than NBC's 80's Powerhouse Sitcoms The Cosby Show, A Different World, The Golden Girls and Empty Nest and those 4 Shows dropped out of the Top 10, but both ADW & Cosby landed in the Top 20 and EN and GG landed in the Top 30, (even though ADW got higher ratings than Cosby during Cosby's last 2 years and EN got higher ratings than its parent show The Golden Girls)

I always thought The Cosby Show was overrated. Were there some funny episodes? Yes, but it wasn't the all time classic that everybody made it out to be. Hell, if we are talking about ABC, Growing Pains was better than Cosby. Mr. Belvedere was good but I can't get into it anymore.

I, on the other hand, always like Mr. Belvedere. I always come around to watch an episode on YouTube occasionally.

Come to think of it, I can relate more with the characters from Mr.Belvedere more than the ones on The Cosby Show. And I happen to be black. But now I can't stand it. Except for the male pregnancy episode (which is the only one I'll keep) I will never watch The Cosby Show again. Growing Pains was funnier and even Family Matters was funnier. The Winslows maybe middle class but they were more of a loving family and never thought they were superior over each other. I couldn't stand Clair Huxatable and Phylicia Rashad. So smug and arrogant. I hated the male bashing.

I couldn't agree with you more, King of Comedy. As a matter of fact, I've actually been thinking about it a lot, and I've sort of come to a conclusion that the male bashing on the show was actually Bill Cosby's way of punishing himself for engaging in so many numerous sexual transgressions while he was desperately trying to achieve his goal of finally getting non-black people to truly accept black people as full equals. When I actually say this, however, I'm not actually talking in generalities as how you and I and most others think, but i'm actually saying that Cosby was trying to change all non-black people, including even the most hardened Klansman.

Canceling The Brady Bunch

When I found out that The Cosby Show was going to be used for 80s week on WGN America in 2008, I thought to myself: "Dude! You air the Cosby show every day! Why don't you air something rare like Perfect Strangers or Head of the Class or Mr. Belvedere or Night Court?" overkill if you ask me. I didn't even bother watching that night. Because At the time, between WGN, TV Land, and Nick at nite, I was Cosby showed out

Forcing Joan Lunden (http://www.nickiswift.com/95927/whatever-happened-joan-lunden/) and Charles Gibson out of Good Morning America in favor of Lisa McCree and Kevin Newman in 1997.

When I found out that The Cosby Show was going to be used for 80s week on WGN America in 2008, I thought to myself: "Dude! You air the Cosby show every day! Why don't you air something rare like Perfect Strangers or Head of the Class or Mr. Belvedere or Night Court?" overkill if you ask me. I didn't even bother watching that night. Because At the time, between WGN, TV Land, and Nick at nite, I was Cosby showed out

What was used?

Passing on Chev and Bev a few years ago. The pilot which reunited Vacation's Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo as grandparents unexpectedly raising their grandchildren was passed on by ABC. I would've liked to have checked that out, it might have been a decent companion with Modern Family on Wednesday. The nostalgia factor would've been notable as Vacation was one of the movies that defined a generation growing up in the 80s.

Now, Chevy Chase is reported to be difficult to work with, maybe that was a deciding factor in deciding to pass on Chev and Bev regardless of whatever the quality of it was.

Passing on Chev and Bev a few years ago. The pilot which reunited Vacation's Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo as grandparents unexpectedly raising their grandchildren was passed on by ABC. I would've liked to have checked that out, it might have been a decent companion with Modern Family on Wednesday. The nostalgia factor would've been notable as Vacation was one of the movies that defined a generation growing up in the 80s.

Now, Chevy Chase is reported to be difficult to work with, maybe that was a deciding factor in deciding to pass on Chev and Bev regardless of whatever the quality of it was.I'm sure it was. My cousin worked with Chevy on "COMMUNITY" and describes him as "a really nasty s. o. b."

I know I mentioned it in other forums but let me summarize a bit

-Cancelling Just the ten of us. I knew a good spot for it too. Tuesday's at 8:30 and if I recall I remember seeing a promo for it for Tuesday's at 8:30 before it got canned.

- in 1990 ABC thought of canceling The Home Show and replacing it with two game shows but instead they kept the home show and expanded it a year later

- Passing on The Goldbergs 1990s spinoff.

- Greenlighting The Jetsons remake

- not snatching up the Coach reboot after ABC passed on it

I recently read that ABC wanted to put Free Spirit in the original TGIF lineup in 1989-90 and move Just the Ten of Us to Sunday nights but could not do so due to contractual obligations that required the show to remain on Fridays, which is why only the pilot episode of Free Spirit was aired on that night. Whatever ratings Just the Ten of Us garnered in the 9:30 timeslot was inconsequential to ABC since they already made up its mind about the show's future (or lack there of) on the TGIF schedule.

I think the biggest mistake that ABC made was when they pulled the plug on the Professional Bowlers Tour. That caused Wide World of Sports to be canceled too.

Constantly preempting the popular soap Edge of Night and then ultimately cancelling it in 1984.


EON was near the bottom of the national ratings. However EON's ratings were strong in NYC. The preemptions were affiliate decisions. ABC would've continued to air Edge into 1985 but P&G decided to pull the plug at the end of the 1984 fiscal year instead.

ABC could've tried to move Edge to 2:30 (where it aired briefly at the end of its CBS run), with AMC and OLTL both moving up a half hour. AMC (and OLTL) was strong at the time and it should've gone up against Y&R at 12:30. It would've fared better than Loving in that time-slot. Of course ABC didn't own Edge so it didn't have an incentive to actively try to save the show.

Moving Password from 4 to 12:30 and to 12:00 worked out very good and then it started running neck and neck with Jackpot! That Fred Astaire a big fan of Password, shouted JACKPOT! At the host Geoff Edwards. Then they changed it to Password all stars and it became an all celebrity format leading it to get canned.

Even though I liked China Beach it was never gonna be a huge hit, as for Twin Peaks, ABC should have moved it to Wednesday 9pm instead of Thursday night and leave it only as limited series with S1 finale as show finale, I'm sure it would have had huge numbers.

Another reason that ABC put China Beach on hiatus was because i think the gulf war was starting around that time. I don't think that ABC wanted any comparisons between the gulf war and Vietnam, so they deliberately kept it on hiatus till June of 91. But ABC kept Thirtysomething on during that time, and that show was also well received by the critics, but low rated.

Hey, if you thought that was something, what about Roseanne?

The show went on another year for a 9th Season and the show dropped out the Top 20 into the Top 40

I'm no fan of Roseanne, but for the show to go on for 9 seasons was WAY too long, IMO

and also, Family Matters went on another season on abc and another season on CBS didn't do wonders for me either

That's ridiculous. Roseanne was still pulling good ratings in the time slot, considering it was a nine year old sitcom with a poorly received premise change. Weekly ratings were still 15-20 million an episode for the majority of the season, and not too much below several episodes in season 8 with the original premise. Many people seem to think season 9 tanked, but there were actually more viewers shed between season 7 and 8 than 8 to 9. In fact, what helped season 8's season ranking is the final episodes, when viewers thought the show was ending, with Darlene's wedding and Dan's heart attack, which were up substantially from the rest of the season.

In fact, ABC was pushing for a 10th season, but seeing as none of the cast wanted to come back, Roseanne decided to end it. At this point they considered a spinoff with just Roseanne, but she declined, and they ended it.

I'm not sure. I might have responded years ago.

I don't remember and I'm too lazy to go through the threads.

But my pick is the shake-up from the 1978-79 season.

Moving "Laverne and Shirley" and "Mork And Mindy" to different nights that subsequently collapsed the Network for many years later.

2nd choice:

**edit** I just scrolled above my post. Moving "Home Improvement" following it's peak to compete with NBC's "Frasier" instead of "Roseanne" (as originally planed).

In the end..."Roseanne" ended badly/costly and finished outside of the top 30 and lost the time-slot battle to NBC's "Mad About You".

Yeah, but Roseanne would've almost certainly fared even worse opposite Frasier. That's why NBC wanted to go head-to-head with Roseanne until ABC got wind of it and 'flipped the script' on them. With the aging Roseanne on Wednesdays at 9 against weaker competition for a season before moving back Tuesdays, but at 8.