NBC Comedy Tuesdays: The Other Must-See TV

[TMC]

http://terrencemoss.blogspot.com/201...st-see-tv.html

With the departure of The Cosby Show in 1992 and Cheers the following year, NBC was in need of a new hit for its top-rated Thursday night comedy lineup. The Peacock Network had been grooming the promising Seinfeld to succeed the venerable Cheers as the 9pm tentpole and paired it with the latter’s new spinoff Frasier at 930pm for the fall of 1993.

Seinfeld and Frasier ended the 1993-1994 season with a respective #3 and #7 ranking.

With Friends in the pipeline for the fall of 1994, NBC was able to rebuild its Thursday night. But it did so without Frasier – which was sent over to Tuesdays at 9pm opposite Home Improvement, ABC’s top comedy.

Though Frasier took a hit in the rankings, it held firm in the Top 20. And by the spring of 1998, it was tied with Home Improvement at #10. But NBC was still only able to achieve moderate success on the night opposite ABC’s more powerful lineup – particularly when compared to its ongoing potency on Thursday nights.

Below are NBC’s Tuesday night lineups from the fall of 1994 to the spring of 1998 with Nielsen rankings where applicable:

1994-1995
8pm Wings (#26)
830pm The Martin Short Show (#29t) / Something Wilder / NewsRadio
9pm Frasier (#15)
930pm The John Larroquette Show / Pride & Joy

1995-1996
8pm Wings / 3rd Rock from the Sun (#22)
830pm NewRadio / 3rd Rock from the Sun / Wings
9pm Frasier (#12)
930pm The Pursuit of Happiness / The John Larroquette Show

1996-1997
8pm Mad About You (#23t)
830pm Something So Right
9pm Frasier (#16)
930pm Caroline in the City (23t)

1997-1998
8pm Mad About You (#23t)
830pm NewsRadio / For Your Love
9pm Frasier (#10)
930pm Just Shoot Me (#12) / Lateline

With the departure of Seinfeld in the spring of 1998, Kelsey Grammer campaigned HARD for its newly-vacated 9pm time slot on Thursday nights. While Friends would have been the more logical successor, it was the strongest 8pm anchor on television and there was nothing groomed to replace it in the time slot – though Will & Grace was waiting in the wings. So Grammer got his way – at least for two seasons. But Tuesday night crumbled without Frasier while Frasier achieved the highest ranking (#3) of its decade-plus run.

1998-1999
8pm Mad About You / 3rd Rock from the Sun
830pm Encore! Encore! / NewsRadio
9pm Just Shoot Me!
930pm Working / Will & Grace / Everything’s Relative

1999-2000
8pm Just Shoot Me! / 3rd Rock from the Sun
830pm 3rd Rock from the Sun / God, the Devil and Bob
9pm Will & Grace
930pm The Mike O’Malley Show / Veronica’s Closet / Just Shoot Me!

After a breakout second season capped by a 2000 Emmy win for Outstanding Comedy Series (which Frasier had previously won an egregious five consecutive times), Will & Grace became NBC’s new comedy darling. And in a swap with Frasier, Will & Grace was upgraded to the 9pm tentpole position on Thursday nights while Frasier returned to Tuesday nights at 9pm for the remainder of its run.

2000-2001
8pm The Michael Richards Show / 3rd Rock from the Sun
830pm 3rd Rock from the Sun / DAG / The Fighting Fitzgeralds
9pm Frasier (#17)
930pm DAG / Three Sisters

2001-2002
8pm Emeril / Imagine That
830pm Three Sisters / Watching Ellie
9pm Frasier (#14)
930pm Scrubs

2002-2003
8pm Just Shoot Me! / Various
830pm In-Laws / Various
9pm Frasier (#26)
930pm Hidden Hills / A.U.S.A

2003-2004
8pm Whoopi / The Tracy Morgan Show
830pm Happy Family / Whoopi
9pm Frasier (#30)
930pm Good Morning, Miami / Happy Family

Frasier ended its run in 2004 after 11 seasons. For much of the next decade, NBC struggled on the night with a wide variety of lackluster programming and very little success to show for it. Their next round of ratings success came with a combination of The Voice Results Show in the spring of 2012 (Top 20), the Chicago series in the fall of 2015 (Top 30) and This Is Us in the fall of 2016 (Top 10).

[king of comedy]

A lot of those sitcoms were forgotten. Except for Frasier.