Nielsen Bottom 10, February 8th-14th, 1988

Week 21 of the 1987-1988 season started on Monday, February 8th, 1988 and ended on Sunday, February 14th, 1988. The highest-rated program was The Cosby Show on NBC with a 30.1/45 Nielsen rating/share and 44.9 million viewers according to AGB Television Research.

Here are the 10 lowest-rated programs on TV during Week 21 of the 1987-1988 season:

## Program Network Rating Viewers
58 Houston Knights CBS 10.1/17 13,500,000
  Our House NBC 10.1/16 17,900,000
60 1988 Winter Olympics [Saturday] ABC 9.9/17 15,400,000
61 West 57th CBS 8.9/16 13,200,000
62 The Law and Harry McGraw CBS 8.7/13 11,100,000
63 Primary Report NBC 8.4/15 N/A
64 Star Trek II [movie] ABC 8.1/12 10,600,000
65 The Thorns ABC 7.7/13 11,700,000
66 48 Hours CBS 7.6/11 9,700,000
67 Sledge Hammer! ABC 6.8/11 10,400,000
68 The Charmings ABC 6.3/9 9,600,000

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.

The February “sweeps” continued this week but there was limited special programming on the networks. There were several made-for-TV movies on various networks. ABC kicked off the 1988 Winter Olympics from Calgary, Canada on Saturday, February 13th but initially drew very low ratings.

Due to two programs tying for 58th in the ratings, the above chart includes the Bottom 11 rather than the Bottom 10. Of those 11 programs, five were on ABC, three were on CBS, and two were on NBC. Most were familiar low-rated shows like Our House (NBC), The Law and Harry McGraw (CBS), Sledge Hammer! (ABC).

ABC and NBC both aired half-hour news specials about the Iowa caucus from 10:30-11PM on Monday, February 8th. ABC’s special ranked 44th for the week while NBC’s landed near the bottom of the chart, ranking 63rd.

Both The Charmings and Sledge Hammer! aired their final episodes this week; The Charmings concluded on Thursday, February 11th while Sledge Hammer! ended on Friday, February 12th. The two shows were the lowest-rated of the week.

ABC’s rebroadcast of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan on Friday, February 12th landed in the Bottom 11. The movie had its network broadcast premiere back in 1985. The next day, ABC’s coverage of the start of the 1988 Winter Olympics ranked 60th with a 9.9 Nielsen rating, which was actually down slightly from its nightly average the previous week. Sunday’s Olympic coverage, however, perked up and ranked 10th for the week.

Also of note: Frank’s Place (CBS, Monday, February 8th) tied for 56th for the week; The Slap Maxwell Story (NBC, Wednesday, February 10th) ranked 48th; Tour of Duty (CBS, Thursday, February 11) tied for 46th; “Disney’s Magic in the Magic Kingdom” (NBC, Friday, February 12th) tied for 46th; High Mountain Rangers (CBS, Saturday, February 13th) tied for 50th; and My Two Dads (NBC, Sunday, February 14th) tied for 41st.

Source:
“Using this chart.” USA Today. 17 Feb. 1988: 03.d


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One Reply to “Nielsen Bottom 10, February 8th-14th, 1988”

  1. Ah The Charmings.. :) I love those actors Judy Parfitt (Queen Lillian) & Paul Winfield (The Mirror), Caitlin O’Heaney (Snow White – Season 1) & Christopher Rich (Prince Eric). Yep, I watched those episodes in the season 1 & 2. Cheers! And thanks for the memories. :)

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