Ratings drop in 76/upswing in 77? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

MiracleHand · 09-09-2018, 12:22 PM

I know AITF was the #1 series between 1971-1976 and shows don't stay on top forever, but what caused the huge drop in the 1976-77 season where it plummeted to #12? Shows do go downhill with age (Maude and Sanford And Son both also plunged out of the top 10 to #31 and #27 respectively, Sanford ended this season and Maude fell even further down in its last season) and I know this was the era of shows like Happy Days and Laverne And Shirley, but what makes the plunge in season 7 more unexplainable is the fact that for season 8, it bounced back up to #4 behind only three ABC Tuesday mainstays and has several episodes now regarded as all time classics (the rape episode Edith's Crisis of Faith and when Mike and Gloria depart). I recently bought the complete series and haven't gotten that far down, but I'm curious what made season 7 so unremarkable that it slid out of the top 10 and had no real classic episodes when it was able to bounce back up the next year.

TV Guy · 10-14-2018, 01:27 PM

It was moved to Wednesday briefly at the beginning of the season and that caused the drop. It was moved back to Saturday after a few months and things stabilized. Then it moved to Sunday for season 8, where it stayed for the rest of its run.

09-09-2018, 12:22 PM	#1
MiracleHand Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Apr 12, 2015 Posts: 73	Ratings drop in 76/upswing in 77? I know AITF was the #1 series between 1971-1976 and shows don't stay on top forever, but what caused the huge drop in the 1976-77 season where it plummeted to #12? Shows do go downhill with age (Maude and Sanford And Son both also plunged out of the top 10 to #31 and #27 respectively, Sanford ended this season and Maude fell even further down in its last season) and I know this was the era of shows like Happy Days and Laverne And Shirley, but what makes the plunge in season 7 more unexplainable is the fact that for season 8, it bounced back up to #4 behind only three ABC Tuesday mainstays and has several episodes now regarded as all time classics (the rape episode Edith's Crisis of Faith and when Mike and Gloria depart). I recently bought the complete series and haven't gotten that far down, but I'm curious what made season 7 so unremarkable that it slid out of the top 10 and had no real classic episodes when it was able to bounce back up the next year.

10-14-2018, 01:27 PM	#2
TV Guy Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Jun 25, 2001 Location: Boston, MA, USA Posts: 3,419	It was moved to Wednesday briefly at the beginning of the season and that caused the drop. It was moved back to Saturday after a few months and things stabilized. Then it moved to Sunday for season 8, where it stayed for the rest of its run.