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... only new show, THE 1 / 2 HOUR 1984 - 85: Twenty shows were canceled this season, including ten of the thirteen new shows. Only KATE & ALLIE and NIGHT COURT and one other survived, leaving only 25 on the air. The one other was THE COSBY SHOW, starring Bill Cosby. THE COSBY SHOW immediately shot to the top of the ratings, a position it continued to maintain.
The rumor was that the situation comedy was dead, that the audience didn't want it anymore. THE COSBY SHOW, as well as the rest of the NBC Thursday night schedule (FAMILY TIES, CHEERS, and NIGHT COURT), changed that idea. The variety show was basically a dead form. Only THE LOVE BOAT remained, and there were no new shows. 1985 - 86: The situation comedy was at its lowest point since 1974, with only 23 programs on the air.
Because the situation comedy was considered a passe form of show, only seven new programs premiered. However, three of them, 227, GOLDEN GIRLS and GROWING PAINS, were hits. The variety show was still at one, THE LOVE BOAT. 1986 - 87: Because of the success of THE COSBY SHOW and the rest of NBC's Thursday night line-up of situation comedies, the sitcom was back in style and 22 new shows premiered, bringing the total to 37. Although some of the new shows, including the highly-touted and sure-to-be-smash-hit LIFE WITH LUCY starring Lucille Ball, were canceled almost immediately, others became hits.
Those included AMEN, DESIGNING WOMEN, VALERIE, and WHO'S THE BOSS? . The variety show died this season when THE LOVE BOAT was canceled and there were no new programs. The only example of comedy-variety show left was the syndicated HEE HAW. 1987 - 88: The situation comedy continued to increase. Eighteen new shows were added, bringing the total to 43, only two shy of the all-time high of 45 in 1979. Most of the new shows were canceled by season's end. This was the year that a fourth network, Fox, challenged the Big Three (ABC, NBC, CBS) and began assembling nightly schedules.
Fox presented three new sitcoms, DUET, MARRIED... WITH CHILDREN, and IT'S GARRY SHANDLING'S SHOW. THE COSBY SHOW was the most popular show on the air, emphasizing family values. Now they came out with the antithesis of COSBY's ideal family -- MARRIED... WITH CHILDREN. Instead of warmth and wit, MARRIED had heat and half-wits with a totally dysfunctional family.
The show appeared to be so anti family-values that a Midwestern woman named Terry Rakolta tried to start a sponsor boycott to get the show off the air. Her campaign backfired: the show got so much publicity that its ratings skyrocketed, guaranteeing it a slot on the Fox schedule. Dolly Parton tried a new variety show. After a rocky start she revamped the format, using more music and less glitz and production.
However, the show was canceled in a matter of weeks. It appeared to be 1988 - 89: The situation comedy made a slight readjustment, falling back to 39 on the air. Nineteen new shows premiered, including new shows for Mary Tyler Moore (ANNIE McGUIRE) and Dick Van Dyke (THE VAN DYKE SHOW). However, they seemed unable to capture the audience the way they had in the past, and both shows were cancelled within weeks. DAYS AND NIGHTS OF MOLLY DODD, starring Blair Brown, was also soon cancelled, but was picked up by a syndication company that continued making new episodes and placing the show on the independent cable network Lifetime. The two big hits of this season were ROSEANNE and THE WONDER YEARS.
ROSEANNE violated virtually every principle of network television: the lead was a fat, raucous woman who bad-mouthed anything and everybody, but always with an undercurrent of affection and tenderness. THE WONDER YEARS was a nostalgic look back at the 1960 s, but avoided the slapstick and pat situations and answers that were the hallmark of HAPPY DAYS (1974 - 84). It became almost a kid's-view dreamed, involving the lead, a 12 -year-old boy with bullies, first love, going steady, and death in the Vietnam War. It used a mixture of humor, pathos and poignancy without every getting raucous or maudlin. 1989 - 90: There were 50 sitcoms on the air during this year, 29 from previous seasons and 21 premieres. By the end of the season 21 shows were cancelled, including 15 of the premieres. One of the premieres was a show that Fox felt could challenge the Thursday night dominance of THE COSBY SHOW -- THE SIMPSONS, a cartoon sitcom featuring a nine-year-old brat named Bart, a genius named Lisa, Maggie, a pacifier-sucking baby, Homer, a dumb fat slob father, and Marge, the tender-loving-care mother with a three-foot blue beehive hairdo.
For those people who were finding COSBY a bit cloying and pilotless, THE SIMPSONS was a perfect alternative. 1990 - 91: Twenty-four shows carried over from 1989 - 90, and were joined by 22 premieres. Thirteen shows ended their runs, but only one, UNCLE BUCK, was cancelled before New Year's. However, of the new shows, only two could be considered hits: THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL AIR and SEINFELD. The latter starred Jerry Seinfeld, a stand-up comic who played -- Jerry Seinfeld, a stand-up comic. As Seinfeld himself said, all the other actors on the show play characters; he's just himself. The show concentrated its plots around little things, like parking spaces and answering machines, with which the audience could identify.
This was a break from the usual problem-solution plots of the average sitcom. 1991 - 92: Thirty-three shows carried over from previous seasons, but ten of the 22 new shows from last season weren't around this fall. In addition, 20 new shows premiered, of which eight were soon cancelled. One of the new shows, BROOKLYN BRIDGE, a gentle family comedy set in 1956, was almost cancelled, but fans, aided and abetted by a TV GUIDE magazine campaign, got it a reprieve. There was also an attempt to revive the comedy-variety show.
One the most popular C-V shows was THE CAROL BURNETTE SHOW (1967 - 78). However, this season's effort (imaginatively titled THE CAROL BURNETTE SHOW) died a quick death. Bibliography:
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Research essay sample on Jerry Seinfeld Family Values
