When CBS Really "Blew It."

[willcail]

CBS reruns are beating the other broadcast networks, and they have summer series.

BTW Law and Order CI airs first run episodes on USA Network then repeats them on NBC.

The rual sitcoms was the worst of CBS.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

Just to clarify...

The point that I was trying to make is that back in the 60s and early 70s, CBS was the #1 network but squandered that lead by getting rid of some of the most (then) popular shows on TV which opened the door for NBC to take over the number one spot.

I mentioned Captain Kangaroo only because CBS was never able to be competitive with the other two networks after "bumping off" the Captain and replacing him with a series of revamped early morning news shows.

Of course I know that CBS regained it's number one status today. My post centered on what happened years ago. It would be nice once in a while if some arm-chair critics would first read what people write before offering sarcastic comments.

Sorry about the Law and Order network mistake (CBS/NBC) but I happen to watch that show on a cable network.

 

[Studio20]

As much as I enjoyed the "rural" comedies...seeing as I lived at least part time in the country, they'd pretty much run their course, and Hee Haw did much better in syndication.

( BTW, Max Baer Jr's 20 year struggle to start a Beverly Hillbillies Casino in Nevada has finally ended..)

The "Kangaroo" curse is real to this day. CBS has never finished higher than second in the mornings since Bob Keeshan and company were sent packing. Their run on PBS did bring in some much needed $$$$ to their networks for a decade.

Given how the current generation has turned out, though, Captain would not have lasted the entire 80s decade on the CBS, as most parents forgot to teach their children about "please" and "thank you". We won't even go near his Friday send off, "Attend the church of your choice this weekend".

 

[Mark Giardina]

The decision by CBS executives to cancel Captain Kangaroo would not have been considered a major mistake had CBS's Morning Show been a real competitor against "Today" and "Good Morning America." Since that program has undergone numerous format and personnel changes over the years, supporters of the "Captain" can now say that CBS's decision was a bad one.

Rural comedies did attract an audience. However, as one poster wrote, they were starting to get long-in-the-tooth. Again not to defend CBS, but I think the mindset back then was to revamp the network by getting rid of the rural programs. The problem was that instead of cancelling a few shows at a time, CBS went ahead and axed them all at once (so it seemed).

Finally Walter Cronkite: Bad decision on the part of CBS! But again there are two sides to every story.

In one article I read Cronkite reportedly agreed to retire in 1981 on his own, while another article claimed CBS wanted to retire Cronkite because they were afraid Dan Rather would go to ABC. Roger Mudd of course left CBS because he was passed over for the anchor chair.

 

[Nate Wesley]

It would be nice once in a while if some arm-chair critics would first read what people write before offering sarcastic comments.

But your original post was all about being an arm-chair critic...of CBS!

 

[LKellerIII]

Just to clarify...

The point that I was trying to make is that back in the 60s and early 70s, CBS was the #1 network but squandered that lead by getting rid of some of the most (then) popular shows on TV which opened the door for NBC to take over the number one spot.

I mentioned Captain Kangaroo only because CBS was never able to be competitive with the other two networks after "bumping off" the Captain and replacing him with a series of revamped early morning news shows.

Of course I know that CBS regained it's number one status today. My post centered on what happened years ago. It would be nice once in a while if some arm-chair critics would first read what people write before offering sarcastic comments.

Sorry about the Law and Order network mistake (CBS/NBC) but I happen to watch that show on a cable network.

Having already made "sarcastic comments," I guess it would be bad form to mention that CBS's status as number one broadcast network was not taken away by NBC in the mid 70s, it was taken away by ABC; who had great success under Fred Silverman with Happy Days, Welcome Back, Kotter, Love Boat, Fantasy Island, etc. CBS dropped to #2 and NBC was still at the bottom. In fact, NBC hired Silverman in the late 70s hoping he could duplicate his success with ABC. It was a fiasco...anyone remember Manimal and Super Train? No? Didn't think so. NBC didn't hit number one until the 80s, with Brandon Tartikoff in charge (I think...somebody will no doubt correct me if I'm wrong).

Back to the "rural" comedies, though...you could argue that dropping the hick comedies was the reason CBS dropped to #2...or you could give credit to Silverman and ABC for developing hit programming. Maybe CBS would have been pummeled worse in the ratings by Fonzie and the Sweathogs if they had kept tired and corny old Green Acres , Petticoat Junction, etc.

I know that in the mid 70s, I watched great CBS shows like All in the Family, Mary Tyler Moore, Maude, M*A*S*H, etc. No way would I have still been watching Green Acres...I wasn't 12 anymore.

 

[imhomerjay]

Quite true.

People look at only one piece of a very complex puzzle--the piece that fits their opinion--and ignore anything that may contradict it. Could CBS have had another year or two at the top? Maybe. Maybe not. An interesting guessing game, but that's it. If they reasonably felt the best days of the rural phase were behind them at that point, then it can be argued that moving in a new direction in bulk made good business sense for that time and those circumstances.

 

[azumanga]

NBC hired Silverman in the late 70s hoping he could duplicate his success with ABC. It was a fiasco...anyone remember Manimal and Super Train? No? Didn't think so. NBC didn't hit number one until the 80s, with Brandon Tartikoff in charge (I think...somebody will no doubt correct me if I'm wrong).

Manimal came during the early days of the Tartikoff era -- it was Supertrain that was all Silverman's. And I remember them both -- solely for the fact that they were fiascos; especially Supertrain, which almost sunk NBC.

 

[kms575]

Did you ever notice that Bob Keeshan (Capt. Kangaroo) and Walter Cronkite were never seen together?

Neither were Mr. Green Jeans and Douglas Edwards.

Conspiracy? Hmmm.

I beg to differ!!
Interesting thought, but I saw this on msnbc.com the other day: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3098944...1247/?beginSlide=1&beginChapter=1&beginTab=1#

 

[gr8oldies]

Certainly not Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Mayor.

 

[onairb]

Finally Walter Cronkite: Bad decision on the part of CBS! But again there are two sides to every story.

In one article I read Cronkite reportedly agreed to retire in 1981 on his own, while another article claimed CBS wanted to retire Cronkite because they were afraid Dan Rather would go to ABC. Roger Mudd of course left CBS because he was passed over for the anchor chair.

Last week's obits repeated the story that Cronkite had planned to retire in November of '81(around the time he turned 65), but either was pushed out or agreed to leave several months early because of Dan Rather's situation; supposedly, ABC was ready to hire Rather away in the spring, and CBS felt the best way to hang onto him was to promote him to ancor ahead of schedule.

 

[mleach]

Finally Walter Cronkite: Bad decision on the part of CBS! But again there are two sides to every story.

In one article I read Cronkite reportedly agreed to retire in 1981 on his own, while another article claimed CBS wanted to retire Cronkite because they were afraid Dan Rather would go to ABC. Roger Mudd of course left CBS because he was passed over for the anchor chair.

Last week's obits repeated the story that Cronkite had planned to retire in November of '81(around the time he turned 65), but either was pushed out or agreed to leave several months early because of Dan Rather's situation; supposedly, ABC was ready to hire Rather away in the spring, and CBS felt the best way to hang onto him was to promote him to ancor ahead of schedule.

Had ABC got Rather...wonder what would have happened to Frank Reynolds who was the main anchor for ABC at the time?

 

[briancraig]

Canceling the rural comedies in 1971 was a gamble, but turned out to be a smart move for CBS.

ABC becoming #1 happened later in the decade and had nothing to do with Green Acres or Hee Haw being cancelled.

In the 1973-74 season, CBS had 9 of the top 10 shows. Sanford and Son was the only non CBS show in the top 10 of the season.

All In The Family one of the new urban comedies being pushed by CBS had a whopping 31.2 rating for the season. The other top 10 shows on CBS that year were The Waltons, M*A*S*H, Hawaii Five-O, Maude, Kojak, Sonny and Cher, Mary Tyler Moore and Cannon. Bob Newhart, Gunsmoke and Barnaby Jones were just outside of the top 10.

 

[RicoGregg]

Did you ever notice that Bob Keeshan (Capt. Kangaroo) and Walter Cronkite were never seen together?

Neither were Mr. Green Jeans and Douglas Edwards.

Conspiracy? Hmmm.

I beg to differ!!
Interesting thought, but I saw this on msnbc.com the other day: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3098944...1247/?beginSlide=1&beginChapter=1&beginTab=1#

Conspiracy disproved! We can rest easy now.

However, that doesn't explain about Bunny Rabbit and Woody Allen.

 

[firepoint525]

For me to be able to say that "dumping all the rural sitcoms" was a good or bad idea for CBS, I would need to know what kind of ratings they were getting at the time they were dumped. If they were all doing fairly well, then such a decision might have been ill-advised. If CBS merely wanted to retire all their rural sitcoms, then certainly a phase-out over a 2-3 year-period might have been a better idea for them. But it's ludicrous to suggest that any of these shows would still have been around in the late '70s to compete with Fonzie, Barbarino, et al! : TV shows "jump the shark;" that's why the term "jump the shark" is in our vernacular now.

One of the worst decisions CBS ever made (apparently) was the decision to cancel Gilligan's Island just to make room for Gunsmoke! Couldn't they have found another place on the schedule for Gilligan?

And it's interesting to note that Hee Haw was cancelled (from syndication) in the early '90s after the ill-fated attempt to "citify" it! ;D

 

[bpatrick]

My pick for the best decision CBS ever made was
to put "60 Minutes" on Sundays at 7. A clause in
the access rule, adopted in 1975, gave the networks
7-8 (ET) on Sunday, on condition that they run either
kids' shows or public affairs. That fall there were three
kid-oriented shows in that hour: Disney on NBC, "Swiss
Family Robinson" on ABC, and something called 'Three For
The Road," which many CBS affiliates pre-empted in favor
of local news at 7 (after football) and syndicated programs
at 7:30. Seeing this disaster, CBS apparently realized that
a public-affairs program would be running basically unopposed,
so in December "60 Minutes" was moved into the slot, and the
rest is history, both in ratings and profits.

 

[mleach]

And it's interesting to note that Hee Haw was cancelled (from syndication) in the early '90s after the ill-fated attempt to "citify" it! ;D

And it also didn't help Hee Haw that by the early 90's country music stars was filling arenas the same way rock stars were doing plus there was the music video factor too.The country stars were doing it too. In other words country music became "too popular". Heck, Garth Brooks was selling more records than Madonna back then. Good for the country music business but somewhat a disadvantage for a show like "Hee Haw".

 

[gr8oldies]

When did "Hee Haw" cease first-run production?

 

[ixnay]

The 2003 ed. of the Brooks and Marsh book lists the Nielsen top 30 for every season 1950-51 through 2002-2003 (Oct through Apr every year).

From it, I'll quote the final seasonal rankings of the CBS rural sitcoms that made the top 30 in 1969-70 and 1970-71, so that you can compare the trends.

First, 1969-70:
Rank Title Rating
4th-Mayberry RFD 24.4
18th-The Beverly Hillbillies 21.7
Tied 20th-Hee Haw 21.0

Green Acres, moved from Wed. to Sat. in Sep. 1969, dropped out of the top 30 after placing 19th in ’68-69. Also, two CBS top 30 variety shows that probably had rural appeal were The Jim Nabors Hour (12th, 22.4) and The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (a favorite of my mom's and mine, tied 20th [with Hee Haw, 21.0]).

For 1970-71, Mayberry RFD stayed put on Mondays, Hillbillies was moved from Wed. to Tue., as did Hee Haw. The Nabors show stayed on Thu. and Campbell’s show continued to follow Ed Sullivan on Sun. Green Acres moved again, from Sat. to Tue., creating a Hillbillies/Green Acres/ Hee Haw block. And Petticoat Junction was axed after ’69-’70, its 7th season.

Now the 1970-71 ratings:
Rank Title Rating
15th-Mayberry RFD 22.3, down from ’69-70
16th-Hee Haw 21.4, up from ’69-70

Also, Jim Nabors’ show was 29th, 19.5. Hillbillies missed the top 30, as did Green Acres again, as did Glen Campbell.

ixnay
(who, during this era, spotted a Hee Haw lunchbox in school, with Roy and Buck on one side and I don’t know who on the other. BTW I grew up in Boothwyn, PA, a Philadelphia suburb)

 

[ixnay]

When did "Hee Haw" cease first-run production?

1993 according to Brooks and Marsh.

ixnay