Hello. I am Tommie and I’m always curious about failures and shows that went south (sometimes literally). Fox’s 1992-93 season is particular for many reasons, but among those is that they were trying to massively expand – going from four nights to seven. Good luck, Chuck!
Either way, here’s one of the shows Fox tried on their schedule to expand..webp)
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Class of ‘96 (1993)
Concept: Look, Fox launched both The Heights and Melrose Place in the fall of 1992. The Heights was an Aaron Spelling show about being post-High School and wanting to start a band; Melrose Place was about being post-college and being a bit lost. So why wouldn’t you do a show actually about college?
Launch: This one is messy. They were set to launch Class of ‘96 in the fall of 1992, but their other expansions – namely, The Heights on Thursdays and Melrose Place on Wednesdays either flopped or did mediocre. So they pushed the premiere of Class of ‘96 to the winter. Was it a good decision?
And away we go: Class of ‘96 bombed. It was a high-concept show (more on that later) for Fox and really stood out like a sore thumb among their trashier dramas. You’d kind of ask why they even ordered it all things considering – Class of ‘96 feels like Fox debuting West Wing. It’s simply a very ill fit for the fledgling network that has made itself known as a purveyor of absolute trash.
As for the show… Class of ‘96 was a show about going to college – it’s not really more complicated than that. Our protagonist, David (Jason Gedrick), is going to Havenhurst, a secluded little place where he meets six other students. Overall it’s very much a serious drama about being in college – think of it as a pre-cursor to Party of Five. Considering Fox’s absolutely shambolic slate, it’s a bit amazing that this got ordered. You can also see it in the above mismatch in the advertisement - let's just say that the episode itself isn't quite on the level the tag line makes out. Of course, with Fox running high on the Brenda / Dylan / Kelly triangle on 90210 and Melrose Place finally catching heat with Heather Locklear stirring things up as Amanda with Alison (Courtney Thorne-Smith) and Billy (Andrew Shue), it probably seemed like an easy road to try and get people to watch another triangle with two feuding females over a man.
Ratings: So how did it compare to the other dramas airing simultaneously? Let's take a look:
| Class of '96 | Beverly Hills 90210 | Melrose Place | Key West | TriBeCa |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.0 | 8.2 (r) | 5.1 (r) | 6.0 | N/A |
| 5.1 | 12.0 | 8.0 | 4.8 | N/A |
| 5.0 | 10.8 | 7.2 | 4.8 | N/A |
| 4.1 | 12.0 | 6.6 | 4.3 | N/A |
| 4.7 | 12.4 | 9.8 | 4.1 | N/A |
| 4.5 | N/A | N/A | 4.1 | N/A |
| 4.1 | 11.1 | 9.0 | 4.2 | N/A |
| 3.7 | 8.6 (r) | 5.6 (r) | 4.2 | N/A |
| 3.6 | 7.5 (r) | 4.8 (r) | 4.3 | N/A |
| 3.6 | 12.9 | 8.8 | N/A | 5.4 |
| 3.9 | 8.7 (r) | 8.0 | N/A | 4.7 |
| 3.6 | 10.1 | 7.8 | N/A | 4.1 |
| 3.0 | 7.6 (r) | N/A | N/A | 2.9 |
| 3.1 | 10.1 | 8.5 | N/A | 4.0 |
| 3.2 | 12.3 | 10.3 | N/A | 3.4 |
| 2.9 | 12.0 | 9.9 | N/A | N/A |
| 3.2 | 8.2 (SPECIAL) | 9.5 | N/A | N/A |
Source: TvTango.com
Now, it's fair to say that Class of '96 didn't have an easy job to try and launch an entirely new night for Fox, which on top of all things had been delayed from originally being launched in the fall. While we can't know what Fox would've considered acceptable ratings for the night, I'd assume Class of '96 launching to a 6.0 rating was a bit of a disappointment. Ultimately, it only got worse for it and fellow freshman Key West from there, which got pulled in the middle of its run (more on that in the next article) and replaced by anthology series TriBeCa. While both Key West and TriBeCa even managed to out-rate Class of '96 on several occasions, we don't have any information about the demographics so it's possible '96 out-performed them both on that metric.
Plus, it did seem like Fox was a bit more invested in it. Not enough to perhaps give it some special airings elsewhere, but they did at least give it an additional four episodes outside the traditional 13 episode order. Though, that might've been because they had plans to launch it in October originally.
Overall, it ended sleepwalking it with a 4.3 average and tying with fellow freshman and lead-out TriBeCa at #134 with only four other shows (all on Fox) doing worse for on all networks per the 1992-93 ratings history.
Where to watch? There’s a playlist on YouTube. You need to be a bit discerning though since the episodes aren’t sorted in the right order.