Nielsen Bottom 10, November 23rd-29th, 1987

Week 10 of the 1987-1988 season started on Monday, November 23rd, 1987 and ended on Sunday, November 29th, 1987. The highest-rated program was 60 Minutes on CBS with a 24.0/35 Nielsen rating/share and 32.7 million viewers according to AGB Television Research.

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

## Program Network Rating Viewers
61 I Married Dora ABC 9.1/16 11,300,000
62 The Oldest Rookie CBS 8.5/15 12,200,000
  Smokey and the Bandit II (movie) (repeat) ABC 8.5/15 14,800,000
64 Hotel ABC 8.4/16 14,400,000
65 Gandhi, Part 1 (movie) (special) CBS 8.0/14 10,100,000
66 West 57th CBS 7.9/15 12,000,000
67 Gandhi, Part 2 (movie) (special) CBS 7.6/15 11,500,000
68 The Pursuit of Happiness ABC 7.2/13 11,400,000
69 Sledge Hammer! ABC 6.4/13 11,800,000
70 The Charmings ABC 6.1/12 13,200,000

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 Thanksgiving holiday and the end of the November sweeps period (which ran from October 29th through November 25th) led the networks to schedule quite a few repeats and low-rated specials, particularly on Thursday, November 26th and Friday, November 27th.

NBC’s entire Thursday lineup was in repeats, including The Cosby Show. That allowed 60 Minutes on CBS to take the top spot for the week; a repeat of The Cosby Show ranked 12th for the week.

ABC placed six shows in the Bottom 10; CBS took the other four spots. There were three low-rated movies but otherwise it was business as usual with shows like I Married Dora, Hotel, West 57th, and The Pursuit of Happiness.

ABC scheduled a repeat of Smokey and the Bandit II on Saturday, November 28th in place of low-rated Sable and Ohara. The movie performed only slightly better than the two dramas but tied for 62nd for the week. It was beaten by a repeat of Murder in Three Acts on The CBS Saturday Night Movie, which tied for 58th for the week.

CBS aired Gandhi in two parts on Wednesday, November 25th and Thursday, November 26th. Both ranked in the Bottom 10. The network probably would have done better with repeats of its regular programs on those nights.

Also of note: Frank’s Place (CBS, Monday, November 23rd) tied for 51st for the week; “Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” (CBS, Tuesday, November 24th) ranked 55th; “Jay Leno’s Family Comedy Hour” (NBC, Wednesday, November 25th) tied for 27th; “This Is Your Life” (NBC, Thursday, November 26th) ranked 30th; and an “Unsolved Mysteries” special (NBC, Sunday, November 29th) ranked 45th.

Source:
“Using this chart.” USA Today. 2 Dec. 1987: 03.d


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4 Replies to “Nielsen Bottom 10, November 23rd-29th, 1987”


  1. The Thanksgiving holiday and the end of the November sweeps period (which ran from October 29th through November 25th) led the networks to schedule quite a few repeats and low-rated specials, particularly on Thursday, November 24th and Friday, November 26th.

    I think that should read Thursday, November 26th and Friday, November 27th. I remember spending that Thanksgiving weekend finishing a term paper for a grad school course, so it was mostly work and little celebration for me.

    I MARRIED DORA was cancelled about a month after this, and its cancellation made it memorable, as the main character, played by Daniel Hugh Kelly, who had married Dora, announced that he wasn’t taking his plane trip because the show had been cancelled.

  2. It’s a shame the SLEDGE HAMMER! entry was seen by fewer viewers than usual, since it was a riot. “Hammeroid” was the show’s Robo-Cop parody, and featured Richard Moll and Sid Haig as guest stars.

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