Midseason Replacement Night Court: More Successful than All NBC's Fall 1983 Newbies

[icecream]

The Yellow Rose, Mr. Smith, Jennifer Slept Here, Bay City Blues, We Got It Made, Boone, The Rousters, For Love and Honor, and Manimal. All nine of those shows were flops that failed to get a 2nd season on NBC, only We Got It Made continued in first-run syndication. Night Court lasted 9 seasons total, one season for each of those shows. Nine freshman shows all on the fall schedule does seem a bit excessive.

[TJ]

Night Court had an underrated run. NBC had more success in 1984.

Night Court wasn't even mentioned in these articles.

15 Midseason TV Shows That Became Hits, From 'The Office' to 'Seinfeld' (Photos)
https://www.thewrap.com/midseason-tv...natomy-photos/

9 iconic mid-season replacements… and the TV shows they replaced
https://www.metv.com/lists/9-iconic-...-they-replaced

[Alan Brady's Hair]

They were at least trying stuff. They managed to get one thing right: by the end of the summer they had strung together Family Ties, Cheers, Night Court, and Hill Street Blues on Thursday night, just waiting for the Cosby Show to lead things off.

[EccentricGenius]

Originally Posted by icecream

The Yellow Rose, Mr. Smith, Jennifer Slept Here, Bay City Blues, We Got It Made, Boone, The Rousters, For Love and Honor, and Manimal. All nine of those shows were flops that failed to get a 2nd season on NBC, only We Got It Made continued in first-run syndication. Night Court lasted 9 seasons total, one season for each of those shows. Nine freshman shows all on the fall schedule does seem a bit excessive.

"Riptide" also premiered at midseason--the same week.as "Night Court" (January of '84)--and proved to be a moderate success, lasting three seasons and 58 episodes, partly because "The A-Team" was its lead-in on Tuesdays.

Truth be told, NBC's entire fall lineup for the 1983-84 season was nothing short of disastrous, not to mention downright embarrassing... what braindead network exec would've thought an orangutan would become the breakout star of that season (I'm referring, of course, to the infamous "Mr. Smith")? And don't even get me started on "Manimal." That series was already an abomination even before it premiered. With the possible exception of the period drama "Boone," none of the new entries on the "Peacock Network's" schedule deserved to be renewed.

[Mace Dolex]

Didn't Brandon Tartikoff greenlight some of those failed shows? Seriously sometimes I think how does one become a network executive? What credentials does one need to move up the ladder?

And then years later he goes on to Paramount for whatever reason.

[Alan Brady's Hair]

Originally Posted by Mace Dolex

Didn't Brandon Tartikoff greenlight some of those failed shows? Seriously sometimes I think how does one become a network executive? What credentials does one need to move up the ladder?
.

Tartikoff on what it takes:. https://youtu.be/cg2ie6O3emE

[EccentricGenius]

Originally Posted by Mace Dolex

Didn't Brandon Tartikoff greenlight some of those failed shows? Seriously sometimes I think how does one become a network executive? What credentials does one need to move up the ladder?

And then years later he goes on to Paramount for whatever reason.

Despite his enormous success at NBC, the late Brandon Tartikoff did indeed greenlight many of the stinkers that premiered on NBC's fall lineup during the 1983-84 season. At least Tartikoff's track record at the "Peacock Network" throughout the eighties was significantly better than his predecessor's, the late Fred Silverman, during his lackluster--and disastrous--three-year reign from '78 to '81 (stinkbombs such as Supertrain, Pink Lady And Jeff, The Misadventures Of Sheriff Lobo, and, of course, the infamous Hello, Larry immediately come to mind). May both Tartikoff and Silverman continue to rest in peace...they are still missed.