http://www.tvguide.com/News/Fall-Season-TV-Year-Four-Friends-Lost-Anniversary-1087343.aspx

The “Rule of 4” is the reason there are so many big anniversaries this year, from “The Cosby Show’s” 30th to "Friends'" 20th to “Lost’s” 10th to “Gilligan’s Island’s” 50th."
Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/tv-tattle#UM7yUVdxD9Ay1XlR.99

http://www.whatculture.com/tv/10-pilots-that-changed-tv-forever.php

Behold, the game changers...

http://www.tvinsider.com/article/1120/tvs-rule-of-4-strikes-again-why-empire-is-part-of-a-decade-by-decade-trend-in-hit-shows/

The 2014-15 season is resembling the 2004-05 season, the 1994 -95 season and even the 1984-85 season -- all game-changing seasons that start in a year that ends in a "4." This season, Empire is the breakout hit. Ten seasons ago, ABC had Grey's Anatomy, Lost and Desperate Housewives. Twenty seasons ago, NBC had Friends and ER. And 30 seasons ago, The Cosby Show broke new ground.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jamiejones/why-2004-was-the-greatest-year-in-television-history

Anyone who says otherwise is wrong.

http://www.tvinsider.com/article/1120/tvs-rule-of-4-strikes-again-why-empire-is-part-of-a-decade-by-decade-trend-in-hit-shows/

The 2014-15 season is resembling the 2004-05 season, the 1994 -95 season and even the 1984-85 season -- all game-changing seasons that start in a year that ends in a "4." This season, Empire is the breakout hit. Ten seasons ago, ABC had Grey's Anatomy, Lost and Desperate Housewives. Twenty seasons ago, NBC had Friends and ER. And 30 seasons ago, The Cosby Show broke new ground.


The big difference here, is that in 14-15, Empire is the only show one could call a "game changer" or even a solid hit. Other shows have done, OKAY (Last Man On Earth, Arrow) but nothing else has even remotely hit. Whereas in 94-95, 04-05, 84-85, multiple shows were solid hits, if not straight up smashes...

The big difference here, is that in 14-15, Empire is the only show one could call a "game changer" or even a solid hit. Other shows have done, OKAY (Last Man On Earth, Arrow) but nothing else has even remotely hit. Whereas in 94-95, 04-05, 84-85, multiple shows were solid hits, if not straight up smashes...
Empire, The Flash, and How to Get Away with Murder were all pretty big hits for their networks.

Of course there were a number of bombs this season too.

Empire, The Flash, and How to Get Away with Murder were all pretty big hits for their networks.

Of course there were a number of bombs this season too.


You are 100% correct. I tend to discount The CW because the numbers there are so low anyway that it rarely makes a difference.

How To Get Away With Murder would count though... So that would mean Empire, HTGAWM and Last Man On Earth... a good season, but not great.

I am sure no one in this thread mentioned the 1974-75 season, Among the programs premiering during that season were Rhoda, Little House on the Prairie, Chico and the Man, The Rockford Files, Police Woman, Baretta, The Jeffersons and Barney Miller.

Or the 1964-65 season, with the debuts of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Peyton Place, Bewitched, The Addams Family, Flipper, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Daniel Boone, The Munsters, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. and Gilligan's Island.

The 1954-55 season only had the debuts of Climax! and Lassie.

The 1984-85 TV season was also great - The Cosby Show, Who's the Boss, Moonlighting, Miami Vice, Murder, She Wrote, Highway to Heaven.

The big difference here, is that in 14-15, Empire is the only show one could call a "game changer" or even a solid hit. Other shows have done, OKAY (Last Man On Earth, Arrow) but nothing else has even remotely hit. Whereas in 94-95, 04-05, 84-85, multiple shows were solid hits, if not straight up smashes...
Empire is a pretty significant smash though. It's the first show in years to prove that there might be life left in network television. (How it holds this fall will really prove its true importance.)

You're also underselling the rest of the new shows a bit. This season also saw big hits in How to Get Away With Murder and The Flash (I assume that's what you meant because Arrow is in its 3rd season) and solid hits in Fresh Off the Boat, Last Man on Earth, Black-ish, Secrets and Lies, NCIS: New Orleans, Jane the Virgin, Gotham, and Scorpion. That's a pretty great batting average for a network TV freshman class, especially considering how disappointing the 2012-13 and 2013-14 ones were as a whole. It'll take a few years to see how these shows hold up, but overall it was a good year for new shows (except for NBC.)