ABC's Late 70's to Early 80's Tuesday Night Line-Up

[LucyFan]

"Happy Days" at 8, "Laverne & Shirley" at 8:30, and "Three's Company" at 9 what a GREAT line-up of t.v. shows. ABC did a wonderful job making their tuesday line-up a strong one that lasted about six or seven years. I wish I was there to see it (but I wasn't alive then) because I am a fan of all three shows. Henry Wrinkler and Ron Howard were absolutely great at playing their characters as well as Penny Marshall, Cindy Williams, John Ritter, Suzanne Somers, and the rest of the casts. "Happy Days" was the first out of three to debut on the Tuesday night line-up in 1974. Then came "Laverne & Shirley" in 1976, and shortly thereafter "Three's Company" in 1977. In 1977, both "Happy Days" and "Laverne & Shirley" were TV's top shows and they provided a strong lead-in for "Three's Company". In 1978, all three shows (which made up ABC's Tuesday nights line-up mind you) were the Top 3 shows of that year: Laverne & Shirley ranking #1, followed by "Three's Company" at #2, and then "Happy Days" tied with "Mork and Mindy" at #3. In 1979, "Laverne & Shirey" was moved from the strong Tuesday night line-up to the Thursday night line-up. The Tuesday night line-up was now incomplete (because "Laverne & Shirley was missing from the line-up) and the ratings for "Happy Days" and "Laverne & Shirley" in 1979-80 season proved it because they weren't in the Top 20 anymore. "Three's Company" was the only one that remained in the Top 20. In 1980, several changes were happening to all three shows. Ron Howard and Donny Most left "Happy Days" and new characters were introduced. "Laverne & Shirley" moved to California (and back to the Tuesday night line-up) and new characters Rhonda and Sonny were introduced. Then there was "Three's Company". Around that time Suzanne Somers (Chrissy) was battling the producers of 3's Co. and soon she was fired which meant a replacement and a new character in "Three's Company". This was the downfall for all 3 shows and the Tuesday night line-up. "Happy Days" and "Laverne & Shirley" were no longer the top shows anymore and "Three's Company" was no longer in the top 3. As each year passed from then on, all 3 shows lost some of its popularity and eventually the newer shows began to literally kill them in the ratings. The first one that was killed was "Laverne & Shirley" which ended its run in 1983. Soon, "Happy Days" and "Three's Company" met their deaths in 1984 and both of them ended their run. The love for these shows were now gone and America obviously was interested in something else and not ABC's Tuesday Line-Up anymore.

ABC's Tuesday Night Line-Up History:
1974- "Happy Days" makes its debut
1976- "Laverne & Shirley" makes its debut
1977- "Three's Company" makes its debut; Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley: TV's Top Shows
1978- All three in the Top 3
1979- "Laverne & Shirley" leaves, incomplete
1980- "Laverne & Shirley" returns, complete
- The Fall of all three shows
1983- "Laverne & Shirley"cancelled, leaves for good
1984- Both "Happy Days" & "Three's Company" cancelled, leaves for good


One of these days, I hope a network picks "Happy Days", "Laverne & Shirley", and "Three's Company" all up for a regular line-up and air all 3 shows together like as if they were in their original runs. That would be great because I am so eager to watch them back-to-back. The times that I suggest are: "Happy Days" at 7p & 10p (2 episodes) , "Laverne & Shirley" at 7:30p & 10:30p (2 episodes), and "Three's Company" at 8p & 11p (2 episodes). Also, it would neat if TV Land would have a fandmonium of ABC's main 70's Tuesday night line-up of the shows (HD, L&S, 3's Co: 32 episodes each). Anyone like these ideas?

[Sean Snow]

That's a great history, except I would say "Happy Days" was the first to get hit. In 1983, "Laverne & Shirley" was #25, and "Happy Days" was #28, prob. because some people would tune off "The A-Team" at 8:30 PM and switch channels to ABC. Even though 'Laverne & Shirley' did better, ABC felt that "Laverne & Shirley" would fail miseraly the next season and took it off. Also, Penny Marshall (Laverne) and David L. Landers (Squiggy) didn't have their heart in it anymore, due to Cindy Williams (Shirley) and Michael McKean (Lenny) leaving the show, and the fact that if there had been another season, Eddie Mekka (Carmine) would be gone too)

But it seems that "Three's Company" fared the best of all three during it's run.....the network never changed it's slot on the Tuesday Night Line Up, unlike "Happy Days" (Moved to 8:30 PM in 1983) and "Laverne & Shirley" (LucyFan Mentioned It)

It would be great if they did that lineup thing! I would love a schedule that was like this:

8:00 PM: "Happy Days"
8:30 PM: "Laverne & Shirley"
9:00 PM: "Three's Company"
9:30 PM: See Below
10:00 PM: "Hart to Hart"
I'd have the 9:30 PM slot rotate between "Soap", "Taxi", "Too Close For Comfort", "9 to 5", and "Oh, Madeline!"

That would be great if TV Land did a Primetime Schedule from the original networks.....the early 70s CBS Saturday Schedule Would Be Great, and the ABC Friday Nights of the Early 70s (Even Though the Brady Bunch is with it) would be cool to!

I really hope "Three's Company" will eventually go to TV Land...then they'd have the entire 1978-1979 8-10 PM schedule of "Happy Days", "Laverne & Shirley", "Three's Company", and "Taxi"