10 TV Shows That Flopped in 1966-67 — and Why

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The 1966–67 TV season is one of my favorites. There were so many classics already on the air, joined by a remarkable crop of new shows. But what about the shows that didn’t catch on and disappeared — some of them forever?

In this episode we take a look at the season’s biggest casualties and the stories behind them, as we count down the ten of the lowest-rated shows of the 1966–67 TV season.

Debuting that season were The Monkees, The Green Hornet, Mission: Impossible, The Invaders, That Girl, Family Affair, Dragnet 1967, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., Love on a Rooftop, and Star Trek. Add in returning shows like Batman, Bewitched, The Avengers, I Spy, Bonanza, The Andy Griffith Show, The Lucy Show and Lost in Space, and you had a extraordinary group of classic TV series that still endures today.

We are examining the ones that did not endure — in fact, some of them barely lasted. Some of them included stars of the past like Jean Arthur and Milton Berle and some featured stars of the future like Burt Reynolds, David Carradine, William Daniels and Richard Mulligan

There is no complete data available ranking the TV shows that fell outside of the Top 70 in the 1966-67 TV Season. The 29 entertainment shows that had no official season ending ranking were:

• The Roger Miller Show– NBC
• The Road West – NBC
• Captain Nice – NBC
• The Hero – NBC
• T.H.E. Cat – NBC
• Laredo – NBC
• Bell Telephone Hour – NBC
• Please Don't Eat the Daisies – NBC
• It's About Time – CBS
• The Gary Moore Show– CBS
• The Jean Arthur Show – CBS
• I've Got a Secret – CBS
• The Danny Kaye Show– CBS
• Jericho – CBS
• What’s My Line – CBS
• The Rounders – ABC
• The Phyllis Diller Show – ABC
• The Monroes – ABC
• The Man Who Never Was – ABC
• Stage 67 – ABC
• Tammy Grimes – ABC
• Hawk – ABC
• The Green Hornet – ABC
• Time Tunnel – ABC
• The Milton Berle Show – ABC
• 12 O’clock High – ABC
• Rango – ABC
• The Avengers – ABC
• Shane – ABC

For this subjective ranking, we considered all available ratings information from the 1966–67 season, including early and mid-season ratings reports, the number of episodes aired, how quickly each show was removed or cancelled, and the strength of its time-slot competition.