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In the fall of 1953, I Love Lucy was the defending ratings champion. So it’s puzzling why NBC scheduled another comedy opposite the monster hit. The other three sitcom showdowns that season were more competitive. I Love Lucy vs. The Dennis Day Show on Monday at 9:00 p.m. (ET) Dennis Day was a longtime player…

There were no television sitcoms scheduled opposite each other until the fall of 1952. Variety shows and other genres dominated network television in its infancy. It was only after the phenomenal success of I Love Lucy that networks began to consider sitcoms an important part of their lineups. The first head-to-head matches relied heavily on…

Although the Fox network had been on the air in primetime since 1987, it was not yet a major factor in the ratings by the beginning of the 1989-90 television season. However, with the premiere of The Simpsons and In Living Color and the increasing popularity of Married With Children, Fox became a threat to…

The 1988-89 television season was delayed by the longest writers’ strike in the history of the Writers Guild of America. Production of prime-time series didn’t ramp up until after the strike was settled in August of 1988. Most shows didn’t premiere until October or November. Once the season started, there were a few (mostly one-sided)…

In the fall of 1987, The Cosby Show was entering its fourth season after finishing the last two years as the overall ratings champ. Desperate for something, anything, to compete with NBC’s ratings juggernaut, ABC dared to challenge it with another sitcom. This was just one of three nights that fall that featured sitcom showdowns,…

Though The Cosby Show helped revive the sitcom in the 1984-85 season, the fall of 1985 featured no sitcom showdowns. By the fall of 1986, though, the networks had enough sitcoms on their schedules that it was inevitable some would be scheduled opposite each other. Kate & Allie vs. Alf on Monday at 8:00 p.m.…

Going into the 1984 fall television season, some experts declared the sitcom was dead. The once-dominant format had fallen into disarray over the past few years. Long-running hits like M*A*S*H, Happy Days, Three’s Company, One Day at a Time, Laverne & Shirley, Barney Miller, and Taxi ended their runs. Other hits, including Soap, Mork &…

NBC trailed CBS and ABC badly in the ratings during the 1982-83 season. Despite their middling to low ratings, NBC renewed freshmen series Cheers, Family Ties, St. Elsewhere, Knight Rider, Remington Steele, Mama’s Family,and Silver Spoons. These renewals eventually paid off with higher ratings for Cheers, Family Ties, Knight Rider, and Remington Steele. Disappointed by…

Moving a hit sitcom to another night is always a risk. When it works, it increases a network’s comedy presence. When it doesn’t, it can damage the show and the lineup from which it moved. In the fall of 1982, it nearly ended the runs of two shows that were red-hot ratings hits the previous…

A second straight television season was delayed in 1981-82, this time by a writers’ strike. There was just one sitcom showdown that fall, but it pitted two two-hour sitcom blocks against each other. Mork & Mindy, Best of the West, Barney Miller, and Taxi vs. Harper Valley, Lewis & Clark, Diff’rent Strokes, and Gimme a…