Nielsen Bottom 10, February 1st-7th, 1988

Week 20 of the 1987-1988 season started on Monday, February 1st, 1988 and ended on Sunday, February 7th, 1988. The highest-rated program was The Cosby Show on NBC with a 32.3/47 Nielsen rating/share and 46.5 million viewers according to AGB Television Research.

Here are the 10 lowest-rated programs on TV during Week 20 of the 1987-1988 season:

## Program Network Rating Viewers
63 Our House NBC 11.0/17 18,100,000
64 Houston Knights CBS 10.0/16 13,400,000
65 48 Hours CBS 8.9/13 11,900,000
66 Ohara ABC 8.8/14 13,100,000
67 The Thorns ABC 8.6/14 11,600,000
68 The Law and Harry McGraw CBS 8.4/13 13,100,000
69 Sledge Hammer! ABC 8.3/13 11,700,000
70 Bugs Bunny Valentine (special) [repeat] CBS 7.7/11 13,000,000
71 West 57th CBS 7.6/13 10,500,000
72 Political Broadcast CBS 4.9/7 7,700,000

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.

The second month of 1988 brought with it another “sweeps” month for the networks. The February sweeps period officially began on Wednesday, February 3rd and ran until Wednesday, March 2nd. The first two days of February featured five repeats. There were no repeats during the remainder of the week. There were, however, five official “specials” according to Nielsen and plenty of other programs the networks hoped would skew ratings in their favor.

With two exceptions, the Bottom 10 this week was made up of the same low-rated weekly shows like Our House (NBC), Houston Knights (CBS), and Sledge Hammer! (ABC). NBC only placed one show in the Bottom 10 while CBS had six and ABC three.

At the very bottom of the chart was a half-hour political broadcast that aired on CBS on Thursday, February 4th from 8-8:30PM. TV listings called it a “Paid Political Announcement for Lyndon LaRouche (a perennial candidate for President of the United States between 1976 and 2004). It was followed at 8:30PM by a repeat of “Bugs Bunny’s Valentine,” a half-hour animated special that originally aired in February 1979. That special also landed in the Bottom 10.

Recently introduced 48 Hours landed in the Bottom 10 in its third outing on CBS. ABC’s mid-season replacement The Thorns was also once again among the lowest-rated programs on the air.

Also of note: Weekend War (ABC, Monday, February 1st) ranked 33rd for the week; Jake and the Fatman (CBS, Tuesday, February 2nd) ranked 56th; A Year in the Life (NBC, Wednesday, February 3rd) ranked 53rd; Full House (ABC, Friday, February 5th) ranked 52nd; High Mountain Rangers (CBS, Saturday, February 6th) ranked 57th; and Dolly (ABC, Saturday, February 6th) ranked 58th.

Source:
“Using this chart.” USA Today. 10 Feb. 1988: 03.d


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2 Replies to “Nielsen Bottom 10, February 1st-7th, 1988”

  1. Little did CBS know that “48 Hours” would survived to this day, being the most popular original show to air on Saturday Night, alongside repeats of CBS crime dramas!!!

    Lyndon LaRouche!!! HA!!! It’ll be a laugh like that when Donald Trump do his half-hour infomercial before the election!!!

  2. Even the universally beloved Bugs Bunny can’t overcome a heinous lead-in like a Lyndon Larouche paid announcement. Those were the absolute worst (politics aside, they were just crushingly boring TV).

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