1994-95 Ratings History

Written Watching Seinfeld Soar from the ER by Bridger Cunningham (former TVRG Writer)


ABC again claimed 1st Place as their three comedy blocks reigned in stellar ratings.  However, the eyeballs were on NBC, who made a creative comeback after 3 years in 3rd Place with Seinfeld taking 1st Place, as well as the debut of successful entries ER and Friends.  CBS slid back to 3rd Place as their Monday comedy block softened, and feel-good television entries like Diagnosis: Murder, Touched by an Angel, Northern Exposure and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman ranked toward the middle of the pack.  FOX rode the soap wave with Beverly Hills, 90210 leading another year with mild gains.  The Simpsons and Married... With Children began to age, but they sought extraterrestrial help from increasingly popular X-Files.  And January marked the debut of WB and UPN, who covered two nights each.  Throughout the season, the greatest villain to take over television was OJ Simpson, as his scandalous murder trial was everywhere, leading to the spawn of several news outlets and NBC to quadruplicate Dateline NBC. 

To check out other years' ratings, visit the Ratings History Library.



Trending Hot -- ABC and NBC comedies took televisions by storm, and a rising trend for medicine came on the heels of NBC's ER and CBS' Chicago Hope.  The OJ Simpson trial led to a news craze, as NBC multiplied Dateline NBC to four evenings.  Network produced Movies helped putty undesirable timeslots with the 90's trend of "Women in Peril". 

Trending Tepid -- Soaps on FOX produced mixed results.  90210 and Melrose Place were red hot, to the point FOX made a wise choice to have MP relaunch Monday evenings with the genius advertisement "Mondays are a B!tch" with an icy portrait of Heather Locklear over the catchphrase.  Party of Five ranked closer to WB and UPN, and MP spinoff Models, Inc received creative and Nielsen backlash.  Po5 received a renewal, and the Models were told to eat something.... on another network. 


CBS comedies hit a stall in the 1994-95 season, as the red-hot 1992 Republican controversy cooled down with age.  The Nanny experienced great growth on Mondays, while Dave's World delivered respectable at best.  An ill-fated Saturday comedy block rated poorly, and no pilots received a renewal except Cybill. 

Trending Cold -- WB and UPN were obscure and had little draws.  Paramount backed UPN (United Paramount Network) managed to find great success with Star Trek: Voyager, and that was it.  Warner Bros. backed WB entered the sitcom game with four entries, all poorly rated at best. 
  

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