I guess i'm confused about how "Soap" only stayed on the air for 4 years whie it's spinoff-"Benson" had a longer run on the air. Does anyone know why that happen?

What's to explain? Obviously, it got better ratings. It's not uncommon for spin-offs to outlast the parent show. Look at Knots Landing, The Facts of Life, The Jeffersons.

This is fairly easy to explain.. Soap was much more groundbreaking, and people had higher expectations of it.. For this reason, during season four, when the writing(and ratings) began to slip a little, it was given up on.. Benson(not to insult any fans of this series) was much more typical of what we had seen in the past, and was able to last many more seasons..

Originally posted by Restless
This is fairly easy to explain.. Soap was much more groundbreaking, and people had higher expectations of it.. For this reason, during season four, when the writing(and ratings) began to slip a little, it was given up on.. Benson(not to insult any fans of this series) was much more typical of what we had seen in the past, and was able to last many more seasons..

Thank you very much Restless for your response-that is what i was looking for. Unlike someone who told me something I already knew

"Soap" was also one of the most controversial shows on TV. It was the first sitcom the feature an openly gay character (Billy Crystal as Jody) plus the sexual situations were very risque for the time period. There was constant protests from many religious groups; even before the show aired ABC recieved thousands of letters protesting the show.
What I'm saying is while I'm sure the show suffered in the ratings when the novelty wore off after a few seasons, I'm sure many ABC folks were happy to see the the highly controversial show get the heave-ho. Network execs don't like picket lines outside their offices...

thats been questioned for decades.

:wave: "Benson" didn't actually do good in the ratings, surprisingly. it only made the much-looked at Top-30 only once in it's 1979-1986 run. the appearance on the charts came in the first season when it hit #23, tied with "The Love Boat" at a 20.6 rating. the secret to it's seven year success is simple: it always won it's time-slot! the show was usually on Friday nights opposite "Dukes of Hazzard" on CBS. "Benson" always won the time slot because a majority of adults were watching "Benson" and not the children's action/adventure of "Dukes of Hazzard". "Benson" was moved from Fridays at 8pm in 1985 and switched to 9:30 after "Diff'rent Strokes"! the reason for this, ABC claims, is that the newer series, "Webster" and "Mr. Belvedere", were pulling more viewers separately than what "Benson" was bringing in. the move to 9:30 was ABC's way of having a legitimate reason to ax the show because they knew the ratings would go further down! Robert Guillaume finally won the Best Lead Actor Emmy in a comedy series in 1985 after having won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in 1979 for "Soap".