James28
04-07-2024, 08:37 PM
In late November of 1973, ABC Network overhauled its Friday lineup, cancelling fifth-year veteran Room 222 and freshman Adam's Rib at midseason to make room for The Six Million Dollar Man. The Six Million Dollar Man occupied a really unusual timeslot for a one-hour drama: Fridays at 8:30 to 9:30 PM Eastern. The Brady Bunch stood pat at the 8 PM lead-off position while the 1970 version of The Odd Couple was shifted from 8:30 to 9:30. Three pilot movies of The Six Million Dollar Man aired on March, October, and November of 1973. Six Million Dollar Man wound-up ranking eleventh for the entire 1973-74 American broadcast TV season with a 22.4 average rating. Here are two examples of the figures TSMDM pulled for two of its first-season originals:
February 8, 1974 ("Operation Firefly") (https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/74-OCR/1974-02-18-BC-OCR-Page-0040.pdf): 24 rating/36 share
February 22, 1974 ("Little Orphan Airplane") (https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/74-OCR/1974-03-04-BC-OCR-Page-0029.pdf): 24.8 rating/37 share
For its second season, The Six Million Dollar Man slipped to an average of 17.1 and 51st place, thanks to being placed between Kodiak and The Texas Wheelers (both of which were cancelled after four episodes due to extremely abysmal ratings) at the beginning of the 1974-75 broadcast season, and recovering once it moved to Sundays at 7:30 to 8:30 after its January 19, 1975 original. For its third season, TSMDM slid to airing on 8:00 to 9:00 PM on Sundays, and it ultimately ranked ninth for 1975-76 with an average of 24.3, and then seventh for 1976-77 with a near-identical 24.2 average rating. TSMDM's fifth season saw its ratings slip to 40th place and an average rating of 18.8, thanks to moving to the Mondays at 8 hour from Sundays at that same hour to make room for the TV adaptation of How the West Was Won for TSMDM's final six episodes.
Can you think of any reason ABC made such an odd schedule placement of a Top-20 show?
February 8, 1974 ("Operation Firefly") (https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/74-OCR/1974-02-18-BC-OCR-Page-0040.pdf): 24 rating/36 share
February 22, 1974 ("Little Orphan Airplane") (https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/74-OCR/1974-03-04-BC-OCR-Page-0029.pdf): 24.8 rating/37 share
For its second season, The Six Million Dollar Man slipped to an average of 17.1 and 51st place, thanks to being placed between Kodiak and The Texas Wheelers (both of which were cancelled after four episodes due to extremely abysmal ratings) at the beginning of the 1974-75 broadcast season, and recovering once it moved to Sundays at 7:30 to 8:30 after its January 19, 1975 original. For its third season, TSMDM slid to airing on 8:00 to 9:00 PM on Sundays, and it ultimately ranked ninth for 1975-76 with an average of 24.3, and then seventh for 1976-77 with a near-identical 24.2 average rating. TSMDM's fifth season saw its ratings slip to 40th place and an average rating of 18.8, thanks to moving to the Mondays at 8 hour from Sundays at that same hour to make room for the TV adaptation of How the West Was Won for TSMDM's final six episodes.
Can you think of any reason ABC made such an odd schedule placement of a Top-20 show?