# Hugely Successful TV Shows that had terrible ratings at first; Hit shows that were cancelled **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 7, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688 "2009-08-07T20:47:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/21 "2009-08-08T02:07:49Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Can you explain how Sci-Fi will be making billions by changing its name to Syfy. The math doesn’t make any sense in my head. Because it can now start SyFy Channel-Germany, SyFy Channel-India, SyFy Channel-Chile, plus 100. Same technique MTV used. Anybody can start a sci-fi channel or a music channel. If you license your brand, the real money comes in. ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/22 "2009-08-08T02:31:20Z")
> [@Ataraxy](#): > > I just looked at Nielsen ratings for '95 and saw a show titled “Madman of the People.” I have never heard of that show. It finished higher than “Fraiser” and “Murphy Brown.” It was canceled after one season because it had a huge drop-off from its lead-in of “Seinfeld” on Must See Thursday. No, it was cancelled because the lead was Dabney Coleman, and the Universal Laws therefore decreed it. This year alone, _Eleventh Hour_ was cancelled despite being #22 and the show it replaced in that timeslot. _Without a Trace_, #20 the previous year, rose to #18 this year, and got cancelled. In both cases, I imagine it was all about the money. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/23 "2009-08-08T02:40:16Z")
> [@Ataraxy](#): > > I just looked at Nielsen ratings for '95 and saw a show titled “Madman of the People.” I have never heard of that show. It finished higher than “Fraiser” and “Murphy Brown.” It was canceled after one season because it had a huge drop-off from its lead-in of “Seinfeld” on Must See Thursday. Good point. I have the ratings [right here](http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1994.htm). _Madman of the People_ finished 12th overall in the ratings, with a 14.9. _Seinfeld_ (the #1 show that season) had a 20.6. The show after Madman was _ER_ (#2) with a 20.0 rating. In other words, fully 25% of NBC viewers turned off the show even though CBS, ABC and Fox were all running hour-long shows in that time slot, which meant the viewers chose to tune in shows that were already half over! By contrast, _Frasier_ was up against _Home Improvement_ – the #3 rated show on TV. _Murphy Brown_ was competing against \*Monday Night Football \*and _Party of Five_. On top of all that, MMOTP starred Dabney Coleman. Although hilarious in movies, Coleman had already bombed in 3 other sitcoms. ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/24 "2009-08-08T03:41:03Z")
If I recall correctly, CSI (Las Vegas) was hardly a ratings powerhouse at first. It didn’t start hitting the top 10 of the Nielsens until the second season, much less consistently win the week. ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/25 "2009-08-08T03:54:34Z")
> [@Risha](#): > > If I recall correctly, CSI (Las Vegas) was hardly a ratings powerhouse at first. It didn’t start hitting the top 10 of the Nielsens until the second season, much less consistently win the week. Almost. [It was the #10 show the first year](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSI:_Crime_Scene_Investigation#American_ratings), but yes, it really hit its stride with the second season. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/26 "2009-08-08T03:57:10Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Because it can now start SyFy Channel-Germany, SyFy Channel-India, SyFy Channel-Chile, plus 100. Same technique MTV used. Anybody can start a sci-fi channel or a music channel. If you license your brand, the real money comes in. …seriously. I have been waiting for the Sci Fi channel to come to New Zealand for years. Now, hopefully with the name change it might actually happen. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/27 "2009-08-08T04:27:28Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Good point. I have the ratings [right here](http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1994.htm). _Madman of the People_ finished 12th overall in the ratings, with a 14.9. _Seinfeld_ (the #1 show that season) had a 20.6. The show after Madman was _ER_ (#2) with a 20.0 rating. > > In other words, fully 25% of NBC viewers turned off the show even though CBS, ABC and Fox were all running hour-long shows in that time slot, which meant the viewers chose to tune in shows that were already half over! > > By contrast, _Frasier_ was up against _Home Improvement_ – the #3 rated show on TV. _Murphy Brown_ was competing against \*Monday Night Football \*and _Party of Five_. > > On top of all that, MMOTP starred Dabney Coleman. Although hilarious in movies, Coleman had already bombed in 3 other sitcoms. A lot of those shows that NBC tried airing on Thursday nights between Friends and Seinfeld or Seinfeld and ER never lasted more than a season or two. They got good ratings overall, usually in or near the top 10 shows for the week, but that was huge drop off from Seinfeld, Friends and ER which were all top 5. That and most of those shows just weren’t very good. “The Single Guy,” anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/28 "2009-08-08T04:31:35Z")
Both **Seinfeld** and **The Dick Van Dyke Show** struggled with poor ratings at first, and both were nearly canceled. ---
**Author:** ![ekwynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ekwynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekwynn)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/29 "2009-08-08T04:45:20Z")
Sampiro, you’re so _right_. What a suckular way to spell Sci-Fi. It does look like Siffy and it seems kind of simpy and PC, like spelling ‘women’ _‘wymyn’_. Just the look of the word is ugly and looks like they want to back off the Sci-Fi label but what the hell are they thinking? Do they think it’s in some stupid weird way, cooler? Huh? I thought I was the only one who saw that and that my brain was deteriorating faster than I thought it was. While that may indeed be the case, I am not alone in wondering, **what the f_c_!** ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/30 "2009-08-08T10:06:26Z")
Not sure where it was in the ratings, but The Ben Stiller Show was cancelled before their final show in their first season . . . then won the Emmy for best comedy writing. ---
**Author:** ![Ourrah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9de0a6/32.png) [@Ourrah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ourrah)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/31 "2009-08-08T10:18:21Z")
Wasn’t [Soap](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap_(TV_series)) still pulling in high ratings at the end? Hilarious show at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abby_Emma_Sasha)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/32 "2009-08-08T10:28:56Z")
> [@Risha](#): > > If I recall correctly, CSI (Las Vegas) was hardly a ratings powerhouse at first. It didn’t start hitting the top 10 of the Nielsens until the second season, much less consistently win the week. I can’t seem to find Nielsen ratings for Cop Rock, though I am sure it was a critics darling. I’m failing in my Google-Fu. However, when I was in the can the other day I felched down to the bottom of the drawer and found a _People_ magazine from 2000. It listed a few new series and the mag’s critics take on them. One of these reviews was of _CSI_, the original. The critic’s take was that it was not a well thought out show, it was too rout(sp?) and would never last. Critics, sometime you love them, sometimes they’re stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Superfreaknduper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Superfreaknduper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfreaknduper)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/33 "2009-08-08T14:24:27Z")
All this mentioning of shows and no one says Family Guy? I’ll just[let Peter explain it. . .](http://www.lolcenter.com/videos/TV_Clips/Family_Guy__Cancelled) ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/34 "2009-08-08T14:47:13Z")
flip side: _Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour_ was doing fine in the ratings when abruptly cancelled for inside political reasons in 1969. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/35 "2009-08-08T15:14:15Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > It wasn’t just Beverly Hillbillies, BTW. CBS canceled all of its rural-themed programming, including Green Acres, Mayberry R.F.D. and Hee Haw. The shows skewed older. They were getting good ratings, but they weren’t getting good ratings among the 18-34 age group. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/36 "2009-08-08T16:29:08Z")
The Rural Purge: > **[Rural purge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_purge)** > > The "Rural Purge" of American television networks (in particular CBS) was a series of cancellations in the early 1970s of still-popular rural-themed shows with demographically skewed audiences, the majority of which occurred at the end of the 1970–71 television season. In addition to rural-themed shows such as Mayberry R.F.D., The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, and Green Acres, the cancellations ended several highly rated variety shows that had been on CBS since the beginning of te... CBS cancelled the programs because they skewed rural or older in their audiences. Advertisers didn’t want those sorts of audiences and were willing to pay more for somewhat smaller but more urban and younger audiences. TV networks aren’t as interested in high ratings as in making more money. ---
**Author:** ![Slade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Slade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slade)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/37 "2009-08-08T16:52:02Z")
Here in the UK, a sitcom called Only Fools & Horses got very poor ratings in its first season, but the BBC stuck with it and it went on to become the most popular TV show in the country - beloved characters, nationally-adopted catchphrases, guaranteed Christmas Specials every year, the works. As with Seinfeld, it simply took audiences a little while to get to know the characters and develop an enduring affection for them. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/38 "2009-08-08T17:11:44Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > **Cheers!** is the only example I can think of; for the first few weeks it was actually dead last in the rankings for network TV (77 out of 77) and only survived cancellation because they had nothing to replace it with that was cheaper to produce. Within a couple of seasons it ws a major hit, and John Ratzenberger said that by the final season his agent was making more off of his role in the show than he himself made in the first year (when IIRC he was pay for play- Cliff wasn’t supposed to be a regular at first). Actually, it was kept because NBC’s Head of Programming, Brandon Tartikoff, really liked it, just as he kept \*Seinfeld \*and _Hill Street Blues_. Brandon was a man who trusted his instincts, and was usually right. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/39 "2009-08-08T19:38:02Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > The Rural Purge: > > [Rural purge - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_purge) > > CBS cancelled the programs because they skewed rural or older in their audiences. Advertisers didn’t want those sorts of audiences and were willing to pay more for somewhat smaller but more urban and younger audiences. TV networks aren’t as interested in high ratings as in making more money. Note this wasn’t in time to save _Star Trek_ (also a CBS show), which did skew towards the desired subaudiences. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/40 "2009-08-08T20:01:54Z")
_Star Trek_ was on NBC, which was the network least affected by the Rural Purge. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688.md?page=3)