To you dopers who are old enough to remember the three- or maybe four-channel universe. (At least in the US - here in Canada, depending on where you lived, it was the one- maybe two- or if you were really lucky, three-channel universe). Anyway, it occurred to me that every Family Ties, Friends, Seinfeld, Cosby Show, etc. would have two or three shows airing opposite them. I don’t recall even knowing what the alternatives were to any of these (which I used to watch, well, except for Friends). So I’ll throw it out there: did anyone habitually watch something that aired against these or other hits? What was it? What do you remember about it?
I liked The Cosby Show, but I watched The Simpsons when it moved to Thursdays. That’s the only one I can remember.
Batman and Lost in Space were in the same time slot. I watched batman.
Here’s US schedules, by the way: Lists of United States network television schedules - Wikipedia
By the time Friends and Seinfeld were on, wasn’t there a lot of cable to watch? Even Cosby was against MTV back when MTV played videos.
I know that I picked a few “losers” before I had a DVR, but the only example I can remember off the top of my head is that in 1994 I started watching Chicago Hope instead of ER. I mean, at 6 seasons the former wasn’t *really *a loser, but it paled in comparison to ER’s 15 seasons.
I picked Chicago Hope because of Mandy Patinkin and Adam Arkin, and because it seemed like more of a serious drama. I knew who Anthony Edwards was (from Revenge of the Nerds, Gotcha!, and Top Gun), but at the time he wasn’t enough of a draw.
I finally watched every episode of ER in 2016-2017. 
Heh.
My dad was quite infamous at work before I was born, for still watching Bonanza, when the cool people were all watching that hot new show, Batman.
My dad was like, “Pfft… live action comics, like that will ever be a thing.”
For my part, I never caught the Sheriff Lobo or the BJ and the Bear with his lady truckers bug, I was locked in the Happy Days meme. Until the A-Team replaced it, that is.
I remember TV Guide deeply lamenting, no one without a Betamax got to se Richard Gere’s Gigolo, because of the MAS*H finale. That should probably be one of the latest example.
Whatever we watched was a hit! They were the best shows on that time slot.
I’ve looked at the old schedules before, and I’m never quite sure how I managed to watch every episode of two shows that were on at the same time in those pre-VHS days. But I did. Maybe summer reruns were enough in those days to keep up.
Same here! I was just perusing the schedules and we seemed to have watched just everything on every timeslot all the time. I don’t remember taping shows very often, either.
WRT the topic, all I can really suss out is that my family pretty much eschewed dramas and news shows and watched sitcoms. So while “60 Minutes” and “Knotts Landing” were big, we weren’t watching because we were kids.
Although my mom and brother liked “Moonlighting”, and my brother was only like, 10 when it was on.
The only one I can remember right now is that I used to go upstairs to watch Magnum P.I., because the rest of my family wanted to watch Highway to Heaven.
The Flip Wilson Show was a big hit for NBC when CBS threw The Waltons against it (and the Mod Squad on ABC) as a sacrificial lamb. The Waltons took off and suddenly the other two shows were “what else is on?”
I’m sure it happened a few times, but the only one I can think of is Northern Exposure. According to Wikipedia, it started as a summer replacement up against L.A. Law, then spent most of its run opposite Monday Night Football. Still, it ran for six seasons, which isn’t bad.
I used to work in an office park east of Seattle, and rumor was that one of the other buildings was where they filmed the interiors for Northern Exposure. I never found out for sure, but some of the props and things I saw outside make me tend to believe it.
Adam-12 was one of my favorite shows. Not sure of the ratings but in its last season, it was up against two shows that are better remembered today, Good Times and Happy Days.
Cannon was another favorite. What else was on varied from season to season, but in '75-'76 it went up against two more highly rated shows: Baretta and Chico and the Man.
Ugh, should have stopped when Neela joined the show… Worse show killers never existed.
I was a big fan of Voyagers! It aired Sundays at 7 p.m., opposite 60 Minutes.
I watched Sabrina the Teenaged Witch instead of Seinfeld, at least my kids did I and didn’t care enough to fight for Seinfeld. I’ve only ever watched Seinfeld in reruns.
After looking up what was on opposite Dallas (man, I hated that show) I can’t recall watching any of those shows early on. Then I realized it was on on Friday nights. When I was young and into disco, so I wasn’t watching any TV. At the end of it’s run, I was older and more married. Me and hubby watched Miami Vice instead.
I habitually watched nothing instead of Seinfeld. That’s one show whose popularity has always puzzled me, because when it was current I knew exactly one person who liked it. Everyone else I knew who had ever seen it (including me) absolutely hated it.
I have this one too, but it wasn’t exactly a choice at the time - since my area got only CBS without cable. I think it was the one good show on CBS, then when we got cable around 1992 I chose to keep watching it.
I watched Adam-12 and Good Times, and I watched Cannon, Baretta *and *Chico. I would sure like to know how I did that!
Makes sense, as the exteriors were filmed just east in Roslyn, WA. Not far from Twin Peaks. 
Yeah, I’ve been to Roslyn a couple times.
Outside the makeshift studio were a trailer (which Chris, the DJ, lived in, I think) and an airplane fuselage (used for shots when Maggie was flying somewhere, I imagine).