Nielsen Top 10, December 18th – December 24th, 1972

Here are the first ten programs from the fifteenth week of the 1972-1973 television season, which ran from Monday, December 18th, 1972 through Sunday, December 24th, 1972. I don’t have access to the complete Nielsen report but Bill was kind enough to send me the Top Ten. CBS and All in the Family were, not surprisingly, at the top of the chart. The network had six of the Top Ten programs. NBC had four and ABC just one. CBS likely won the week but I don’t have the weekly averages.

## Program Net Rating
1. All in the Family CBS 28.9
2. Hawaii Five-O CBS 26.9
3. Sanford & Son NBC 25.7
4. Marcus Welby, M.D. ABC 25.3
5. Medical Center CBS 23.3
6. The Flip Wilson Show NBC 22.9
7. Cannon CBS 22.6
8. The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour CBS 22.5
9. Ironside NBC 22.5
10. Maude. CBS 22.3

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3 Replies to “Nielsen Top 10, December 18th – December 24th, 1972”

  1. One program of note that aired this week in 1972 was THE SNOOP SISTERS, a two-hour backdoor pilot written and directed by the supremely talented Mr. Leonard Stern, and starring the delightful damsel duo of Miss Helen Hayes and Miss Mildred Natwick as two elderly mystery writers who were also sleuths. THE SNOOP SISTERS aired on ‘NBC Monday Night at the Movies’ on Monday December 18, 1972 and rated very strongly at 22.0HH/35%.

    One year later in December 1973, NBC folded ‘The Snoop Sisters’ series into their ‘NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie’ wheel, in rotation with ‘Banacek’, ‘Faraday & Company’ and ‘Tenafly’, which had been competitive that fall with the ‘ABC Wednesday Movie of the Week’.

    At midseason, just after ‘The Snoop Sisters’ debuted, the ‘NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie’ wheel got shifted to Tuesday nights, up against the red-hot ‘ABC Tuesday Movie of the Week’ (21.0HH average) and the mystery wheel slipped a bit, finishing the season with a 17.1HH average.

    ‘The Snoop Sisters’ run over the 1973-74 season was a mere four episodes, and the series ended abruptly when NBC cancelled their second mystery wheel in the spring of 1974.

    I would be thrilled to bits if Universal would do a DVD release the pilot and episodes for this special series. In many ways, the concept of this series was taken up by ‘Murder, She Wrote’, only Jessica solved her mysteries solo.

  2. In addition, Douglas Benton, previously of Columbo and later of Murder She Wrote, was the producer.

    With the exception of the two stars, the series was totally recast from the pilot. One of the recast roles was that of Barney, the driver. He went from being 50-something Art Carney, comedian extraordinaire and future Academy Award winner and star of Leonard Stern’s Lanigan’s Rabbi to Lou Antonio, 30-something director extraordinaire of lots of Universal shows, including Lanigan’s Rabbi starring Art Carney!

    Here is a bit of the best and most beautiful theme I feel Jerry Fielding ever wrote:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFW1WJXzLLU

  3. Thank you Mr. Collins for sharing the opening and closing of ‘The Snoop Sisters’ on-line. The theme is simply magnificent, with the lush orchestrations that are rarely scored in television today.

    Although I am not a member of YouTube, please include me on the list of those who would be delighted and grateful to see a copy of this television treasure, even chopped up into 10-minute pieces.

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