How does Monk fit in this thread? Great show, but all of its run was on the USA network.
As I understand it, the first-run episodes were such a hit on USA that they started getting aired again – as reruns – on an up-the-chain network that just couldn’t find anything else they’d prefer to broadcast in prime time.
I don’t think the OP applies to reruns. Original episodes didn’t air on ABC. They remained on USA. If Monk had switched networks and ceased to be shown on USA, then it might qualify. As it is, it didn’t really switch networks.
Well, that’s why I said “sort of”. I mean, it still seems sort of weird and noteworthy that the very same big-boy network that passed on the series at first got to where it genuinely couldn’t think of anything better to do with its prime time slots than air episodes of that very show – which obviously isn’t the case with most stuff on cable.
As Great Chains of Being go, that’s not as bad as some, but there’s one big monkey wrench in the whole thing: The FCC.
The top two tiers on your ladder are broadcast networks. That means they are effectively subject to the FCC’s dictates, in that their affiliates are subject to fines if they show things the FCC gets sufficient complaints about. Therefore, they can’t show some things at all, and have to dance around some topics.
Now imagine South Park on a broadcast network. You could do it, and I saw it done back when I lived in the ass end of nowhere, aka Havre, Montana, but broadcast networks can never show some episodes, and can only show others in mutilated form.
In addition, Wikipedia, at least, lists the CW as a major network (and the WB as defunct), and I’m inclined to believe them. A minor broadcast network is MyNetworkTV, which has zero famous shows, as opposed to the CW, which has Arrow.
So some of the cable channels have more cachet than the lesser broadcast networks. Comedy Central is one of them: A show on Comedy Central rates streaming services, video on demand, and a more desirable viewership than whatever MyNetworkTV can drag in. Going from Comedy Central to MyNetworkTV would be a big step down in every respect.
So, yeah, going from one of the lesser broadcast networks to one of the Big Four is a step up, in that you get more money and the FCC rules don’t change, but going from Comedy Central to a lesser broadcast network is a step down.
I might argue that. It might have been until about 1962, when they aired their first color show. Before that, their affiliates couldn’t afford to lay in equipment to broadcast in color. Certainly by 1966, they were on a footing with NBC and CBS. They had major hits such as Bewitched, McHale’s Navy and The Fugitive and were broadcasting their prime time schedule in full color.
Does Greg the Bunny count, blah?
ABC started having hits, but remained at the bottom of the ratings heap throughout the 60s. The big issue was that NBC and CBS got first crack at affiliates, leaving ABC with stations with weaker signals and, in many markets, no affiliates at all. Ratings remained low until they made up the difference.
Max Headroom went from Cinemax to ABC (to oblivion)… not sure how that ranks.
For some reason, the 1991 sitcom* Hi Honey, I’m Home* aired Wednesday nights on Nickelodeon, with the same episode running Friday nights on ABC.
DuMont was a low-rent effort in the 1940s and early 1950s to build a TV network from scratch. It had even fewer affiliates than ABC, and whenever a show on DuMont got popular enough, one of the other networks stole it or its star away. Mary Kay and Johnny, which many TV historians consider to be the first network TV sitcom, started on DuMont before moving to NBC (and later, CBS.) And, in an unusual case, the Admiral Broadway Review ran simultaneously on NBC and DuMont before the sponsors dropped DuMont.
Another borderline one. Saving Hope is a Canadian hospital drama. Aired by CTV and initially also run on NBC. NBC dropped it and later ION picked up the show.
While Canadians might see CTV as a bigger deal than ION, ION has many more affilaites, larger market and more other outlets. Definitely a step up for the show. But it’s a small fish in a much bigger pond.
BTW, the recently started season is the last one for this show. Goodbye, Charlie.
You could say in the 1950s the “Make Room for Daddy”/“Danny Thomas Show” was on ABC for the first four years and was never in the top 30. The fifth season it switched to CBS (following the ending of “I Love Lucy”) and quickly became a top 10 show.ABC for years had a reputation as the lowest tier network. A common joke in the late 1960s was “How do you end the Vietnam war? Put in on ABC, it will be cancelled in 13 weeks”).
Last I heard, Sesame Street is moving from PBS to HBO. Is that up or down the chain? Feels like a little of both to me.