Nielsen Bottom 10, December 28th, 1987 – January 3rd, 1988

Week 15 of the 1987-1988 season started on Monday, December 28th, 1987 and ended on Sunday, January 3rd, 1988. The highest-rated program was an NFL game on NBC with a 28.3/43 Nielsen rating/share. AGB Television Research did not provide a viewership figure for the game.

Here are the 10 lowest-rated programs on TV during Week 15 of the 1987-1988 season:

## Program Network Rating Viewers
63 China Odyssey (special) CBS 8.5/14 12,400,000
64 Ohara ABC 8.3/14 11,900,000
65 Sledge Hammer! (repeat) ABC 8.0/15 9,100,000
66 Bugs Bunny (repeat) (special) CBS 7.8/15 15,600,000
  Houston Knights (repeat) CBS 7.8/12 12,900,000
68 The Electric Horseman (repeat) ABC 7.4/16 12,600,000
69 ABC News Special (special) ABC 6.9/11 9,600,000
70 Sable ABC 6.7/11 12,600,000
71 Betty Boop (special) (repeat) CBS 6.5/13 13,600,000
72 Barnum (repeat) CBS 6.0/13 11,300,000

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.

ABC and CBS both placed five programs in the Bottom 10 this week, most of which were repeats. ABC did air new episodes of Ohara and Sable, plus an ABC News Special. The only original CBS program at the bottom f the chart this week was an hour-long documentary titled “The China Odyssey: Empire of the Sun.”

ABC pre-empted MacGuyver at 8PM on Monday, December 28th for an ABC News Special titled “The Other Olympic Game,” which did not fare well in the ratings. It ranked 69th for the week. A repeat of Houston Knights on Tuesday, December 29th actually did better than a new episode the week before. A new episode of Houston Knights aired on Saturday, January 2nd, 1988 and ranked 58th.

CBS aired “The China Odyssey: Empire of the Sun” on Wednesday, December 30th. Martin Sheen narrated the special, which gave viewers on a behind-the-scenes look at Steven Spielberg’s upcoming movie Empire of the Sun. It ranked 63rd for the week.

Thursday, December 31st was a bad week for any network not named NBC. CBS aired repeats of two half-hour animated specials from 8-9PM (“Bugs Bunny’s Mad World of Television” and “Romance of Betty Boop”) and both were in the Bottom 10. From 9-11PM, CBS aired a repeat of the 1986 made-for-TV movie Barnum starring Burt Lancaster. It was the lowest-rated program on the air.

As for ABC, it’s Thursday line-up kicked off with Sledge Hammer! at 8PM. It tied for 66th and was followed at 8:30PM by the 1979 film The Electric Horseman. The movie ranked 68th for the week.

Also of note: “The Kennedy Center Honors” (CBS, Wednesday, December 30th) tied for 59th for the week; “Scared Sexless” (NBC, Wednesday, December 30th) tied for 16th; “King Orange Parade” (NBC, Thursday, December 31st) tied for 51st; a repeat of I Married Dora (ABC, Friday, January 1st) tied for 45th; and Dolly (ABC, Sunday, January 3rd) tied for 51st.

Source:
“Using this chart.” USA Today. 6 Jan. 1988: 03.d


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2 Replies to “Nielsen Bottom 10, December 28th, 1987 – January 3rd, 1988”

  1. Wondering who the Kennedy Center honored that year? Compared it to last year’s honors, which wowed in the ratings the night it’s aired, it’s small potatoes, indeed!!!

  2. The Kennedy Center Honors honoring that year are Perry Como, Bette Davis, Sammy Davis Jr., Nathan Milstein and Alwin Nikolais. Compared to last year’s honors which won the night it was aired, it’s should’ve been great in the ratings, giving the lineup it’s got!!!!!!

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