Week 5 of the 1987-1988 season started on Monday, October 19th, 1987 and ended on Sunday, October 25th, 1987. The highest-rated program was Game 7 of the 1987 World Series on ABC with a 32.5/49 Nielsen rating/share and 38.9 million viewers according to AGB Television Research.
Here are the 10 lowest-rated programs on TV during Week 5 of the 1987-1988 season:
| ## | Program | Network | Rating | Viewers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 57 | Houston Knights | CBS | 10.5/16 | 12,600,000 |
| 58 | Rags to Riches | NBC | 10.3/18 | 16,700,000 |
| 59 | The Flamingo Kid (movie) | ABC | 9.5/16 | 13,600,000 |
| 60 | Hotel | ABC | 9.4/18 | 10,700,000 |
| 61 | Mysteries of the Rock-Dwelling Predators | CBS | 8.2/12 | 10,700,000 |
| 62 | All-Star Gala at Ford’s Theater | ABC | 7.9/14 | 11,500,000 |
| 63 | Leg Work | CBS | 6.4/11 | 6,700,000 |
| 64 | West 57th | CBS | 6.0/12 | 10,700,000 |
| 65 | My Sister Sam | CBS | 5.8/11 | 11,400,000 |
| 66 | Everything’s Relative | CBS | 4.7/8 | 8,600,000 |
Copyright A.C. Nielsen Co. and AGB Television Research
Note: USA Today did not begin including FOX programming in its weekly rating charts until December 1988.
NBC placed just one program in the Bottom 10, its musical comedy/drama series Rags to Riches on Friday, October 23. ABC had three programs in the Bottom 10 while CBS had six, including the lowest-rated program on TV during Week 5 of the 1987-1988 season: Everything’s Relative.
For ABC, the week was feast or famine. The network aired four World Series games, all of which were in the Top 10. Unfortunately for ABC, Game 6 of the World Series was played in the afternoon on Saturday, October 24th, forcing it to air regular low-rated programming rather than a high-rated baseball game. The hour-long “All-Star Gala at Ford’s Theater” from 9-10PM ranked 62nd for the week with Hotel from 10-11PM only slightly ahead in the 60th position. Had Game 6 been played in prime time, ABC would only have had a single program in the Bottom 10.
ABC’s third program in the Bottom 10 was the movie The Flamingo Kid, which it aired on Friday, October 23rd from 8-10PM in place of equally low-rated Full House, I Married Dora, and Max Headroom.
Yet again, CBS saw its entire Saturday line-up in the Bottom 10: My Sister Sam, Everything’s Relative, Leg Work, and newsmagazine West 57th. Those four programs were the four lowest-rated for the week.
Also in the Bottom 10 on CBS was “Mysteries of the Rock-Dwelling Predators,” an hour-long special the network aired on Thursday, October 22nd in place of Tour of Duty opposite the one-two punch of The Cosby Show and A Different World on NBC and Game 5 of the World Series on ABC.
(A presidential news conference aired live on the East Coast on all three networks starting at 8PM on Thursday, October 22nd. President Reagan discussed the recent stock market decline, taxes, unrest in the Persian Gulf, and more. ABC and NBC began prime time at 8:38PM; CBS started prime time at 8:43PM.)
The other CBS entry in the Bottom 10 was Houston Knights on Tuesday, October 20th.
Source:
“Using this chart.” USA Today. 28 Oct. 1987: 03.d
Thank you for posting these. I remember this season began along with my senior year of high school. I would always,get USA Today on Wednesdays just to see the ratings report. I actually remember seeing “Everything’s Relative” once, with Jason Alexander. It wasn’t very good.