3. The Red Skelton Show
The Red Skelton Show aired from 1951-1971; during the same era of The Ed Sullivan Show – often defeating Sullivan in ratings! While the show did offer some musical performance, the draw of the program was Skelton’s sketch comedy bits where he would portray one of his several characters. Many acting stars also appeared on Skelton’s show to take part in one of his numerous sketches!
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The show would come to an abrupt end after moving to NBC and the network reworking the program. Clearly Skelton fans did not appreciate the changes as he dropped from the #7 rated show in 1969-1970 to not even being ranked in the top 30 of shows in 1970-1971. However, The Red Skelton Show is remembered as a smashing success that entertained viewers for two decades!
wikiwand.com EDIT BY JME
He forgot some very important shows like M*A*S*H, and all of the Lucille Ball series . Starting with I Love Lucy in 1951 through Here’s Lucy ending in 1974, some of Lucy was on TV. Archie Bunker’s Place is just a footnote. This Walter needs to do more homework. In 1951, fewer homes had television set than in 1980’s and beyond. The measure of success should be percents of viewers rather than number of viewers.
On the contrary, I did do my homework and used those measures in the analysis. MASH just missed the top 15 and Archie Bunker’s Place is far more than a footnote when calculating various different measures.
Longevity and Percentage of households viewed were weighed more heavily than number of overall viewers (If that wasn’t the case a number on the list wouldn’t have been present). There was hours of time put into compiling the list – but thanks for taking the time to comment.
Seinfeld?
While Seinfeld is considered one of the (if not) best Sitcoms of all time it really only spent 5 seasons as a ratings hit. Due to that it’s share ranks rather low – the first 4 seasons of the show didn’t crack the top 20 in ratings. But, that does not take away from the critical success the show was able to obtain. Unlike the vast majority of shows, the series ended while it was still a major ratings powerhouse. If it continued for 3, 4, or 5 more seasons in the top 3 of ratings it would have skyrocketed up the list and would have cracked the top 15.
Good question.
Andy Griffith?
*Whistles Theme Song*
Around the mid 20s – 30 range. Would have definitely been higher up the list if it continued past it’s final season where reached #1. Was a top 10 hit for all 8 of its seasons. Definitely a good show to mention, longevity is all what held it down really.
Law and order? Buffy?
Law & Order is in the 20s. Longevity played a huge role there, it only broke into the top 10 for 1 out of its 20 seasons. It remains one of my favorite series as it resulted in a number of spin-offs. While I personally love Buffy it was far from a ratings machine – at least at this level.
What about Gilligans Island?
The run for Gilligan’s Island was extremely short. It’s been far more popular. It was actually cancelled after Gunsmoke was moved into its timeslot.
I thought I love Lucy was shot in front of a live audience
From what I can find I Love Lucy used a laugh track, cannot find anything about being filmed in front of a live audience.