Week 8 of the 1973-1974 season started on Monday, October 29th, 1973 and ended on Sunday, November 4th, 1973. The highest-rated program was All in the Family on CBS with a 35.4/55 Nielsen rating/share. Here are the 10 lowest-rated programs:
| ## | Program | Network | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 57 | ABC Suspense Movie (“Linda”) | ABC | 13.7/23 |
| 58 | New Temperature’s Rising | ABC | 13.5/21 |
| 59 | Love American Style | ABC | 13.3/24 |
| 60 | Diana | NBC | 13.3/19 |
| 61 | NBC Follies | NBC | 12.6/22 |
| 62 | Love Story | NBC | 11.7/20 |
| 63 | Partridge Family | ABC | 10.5/16 |
| 64 | CBS News Special (“Embattled President”) | CBS | 10.3/14 |
| 65 | Calucci’s Dept. | CBS | 7.5/12 |
| 66 | Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice | ABC | 8.3/14 |
CBS aired “The Embattled President,” a CBS News special report on Sunday, November 4th, 1973 from 7:30-8:30PM ET, pre-empting The New Perry Mason.
Source:
“All in Family Tops Nielsen Ratings Again.” Los Angeles Times. 12 Nov. 1973: D22.
Why was “Bob….” dead last when it received a higher rating and share than “Calucci’s?”
I think there may have been a mix-up here. A few words about B&C&T&A: It was a cleaned-up adaption of the 1969 mate-swapping movie. About the raciest thing in the series is that the 4 major characters skinny-dipped together in the pilot, however this being ABC and not HBO nothing was seen. The most memorable factor was the casting: the free-thinking Bob and Carol were played by Robert Urich [the first of over a dozen series he would do over the next 25 years] and Anne Archer [daughter of Marjorie Lord and who is best remembered for killing Glenn Close in “Fatal Attraction”]. Ted and Alice’s daughter was played by future double-Oscar winner Jodie Foster.