Week 2 of the 1987-1988 season started on Monday, September 28th, 1987 and ended on Sunday, October 4th, 1987. The highest-rated program was NBC’s The Cosby Show with a 29.8/49 Nielsen rating/share. USA Today did not include figures from AGB Television Research in the week’s chart, so there are no viewership numbers this week.
Here are the 10 lowest-rated programs on TV during Week 2 of the 1987-1988 season:
| ## | Program | Network | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62 | I Married Dora | ABC | 9.4/17 |
| The Law & Harry McGraw | CBS | 9.4/17 | |
| Proud Men (movie) | ABC | 9.4/17 | |
| 65 | Ohara | ABC | 8.5/15 |
| 66 | The Charmings | ABC | 8.4/14 |
| 67 | Sledge Hammer! | ABC | 7.9/13 |
| 68 | My Sister Sam | CBS | 7.3/14 |
| 69 | Everything’s Relative | CBS | 7.2/13 |
| 70 | West 57th | CBS | 6.9/14 |
| 71 | Max Headroom | ABC | 6.4/11 |
| 72 | Leg Work | CBS | 6.0/11 |
| 73 | Once a Hero | ABC | 4.6/9 |
Copyright A.C. Nielsen Co.
Note: USA Today did not begin including FOX programming in its weekly rating charts until December 1988.
You’ll notice that there actually 12 shows listed. That’s because three shows tied for 62nd place and I decided to include them all.
NBC managed to escape the Bottom 10. It’s lowest-rated program was Rags to Riches, which tied for 58th for the week. ABC again placed the most shows at the bottom of the chart: six in the Bottom 10 and seven in the Bottom 12. CBS had four shows in the Bottom 10 and five in the Bottom 12.
In fact, CBS had its entire Saturday, October 3rd line-up in the Bottom 10. From 8-8:30PM the network aired the second season premiere of sitcom My Sister Sam, followed by the debut of a new sitcom called Everything’s Relative from 8:30-9PM. A new detective drama called Leg Work debuted from 9-10PM. News magazine West 57th closed out the night for CBS from 10-11PM.
ABC’s Saturday line-up fared little better. Both Once a Hero (8-9PM) and Ohara (9-10PM) were in the Bottom 10. Hotel (10-11PM) managed to tie for 58th. The network pulled low-rated Once a Hero after its October 3rd airing (its third).
Most of ABC’s line-up on Friday, October 2nd also performed poorly. It aired Full House from 8-8:30PM (which ranked 61st), followed by I Married Dora from 8:30-9PM, then Max Headroom from 9-10PM. 20/20, airing from 10-11PM, improved dramatically on Max Headroom–the news magazine ranked 54th for the week, well above Max Headroom, which ranked 71st.
Nor could ABC compete on Thursday, October 1st. Sledge Hammer! (8-8:30PM), The Charmings (8:30-9PM), and the movie Proud Men (9-11PM) were all in the Bottom 10. NBC’s entire line-up, starting with The Cosby Show at 8PM, was in the Top 10. CBS did only slightly better than ABC from 8-10PM; Knots Landing perked up to 37th, however.
Source:
“Using this chart.” USA Today. 30 Sep. 1987: 03.d
Most of those shows would be in the top 20 now with those ratings.
You can start to see why the networks eventually gave up programming anything NEW for Saturday nights.