1992, The Redskins defeated the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVI, the Seinfeld episode "The Contest" airs, SciFi Channel launched with a broadcast of Star Wars, Cartoon Network launches in the US, Barney & Friends, Melrose Place and Dateline NBC all premiere, Jay Leno becomes host of the Tonight Show, and these were the top 20 prime time shows for the 1991-92 season:
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PRIME TIME TOP 20 PROGRAMS |
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|
SEPTEMBER 1991 - APRIL 1992 |
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|
HOUSEHOLD |
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|
RANK |
PROGRAM |
NETWORK |
SHARE |
||
|
1 |
60 Minutes |
CBS |
21.7 |
36 |
|
|
2 |
Roseanne |
ABC |
20.2 |
31 |
|
|
3 |
Murphy Brown |
CBS |
18.6 |
27 |
|
|
4 |
Cheers |
NBC |
17.6 |
27 |
|
|
5 |
Home Improvement |
ABC |
17.5 |
27 |
|
|
6 |
Designing Women |
CBS |
17.3 |
26 |
|
|
7 |
Coach |
ABC |
17.2 |
27 |
|
|
8 |
Full House |
ABC |
17.0 |
27 |
|
|
9 |
Murder, She Wrote |
CBS |
16.9 |
25 |
|
|
10 |
Unsolved Mysteries |
NBC |
16.9 |
27 |
|
|
11 |
Major Dad |
CBS |
16.8 |
25 |
|
|
11 |
NFL Monday Night Football |
ABC |
16.8 |
28 |
|
|
13 |
Room For Two |
ABC |
16.7 |
26 |
|
|
14 |
CBS Sunday Movie |
CBS |
15.9 |
25 |
|
|
15 |
Evening Shade |
CBS |
15.8 |
25 |
|
|
16 |
Northern Exposure |
CBS |
15.5 |
25 |
|
|
17 |
A Different World |
NBC |
15.2 |
24 |
|
|
18 |
Bill Cosby Show |
NBC |
14.8 |
24 |
|
|
19 |
Wings |
NBC |
14.6 |
23 |
|
|
19 |
America's Funniest Home Videos | ABC |
14.5 |
22 |
|
For a bit of perspective, the top rated show this season, Tuesday's American Idol, Season To Date HH rating is 16.1 and its share is 24. Remember though that in 1992, a ratings point was far fewer households than it is today.
Unlike 1982, when primetime broadcast network viewership was near its peak, by 1992 viewers had begun a long term move towards cable.
As in 1982, we still see both 60 Minutes and Monday Night Football, and a regular movie [CBS Sunday Movie, not ABC].
America's Funniest Home Videos, which began in 1989, appears in the list tied for #19. Besides 60 Minutes and primetime football, it's the only show that survives today, although currently with a season to date viewer ranking of tied for #86.
In 1992, CBS had 5 successful sitcoms in the top 20 [Murphy Brown, Designing Women, Major Dad, Evening Shade and Northern Exposure], but perhaps Murder, She Wrote was the harbinger of the elderly favored crime dramas that were to dominate CBS today.
By 1992, NBC's The Cosby Show and its spinoff A Different World, were past their primes which occurred from the mid to late 1980's, but Cheers was near its peak [which was 1991], and NBC sitcoms still ruled Thursday night, as they would for more than another decade.
Except for football, ABC had only sitcoms in the top 20 [Rosanne, Home Improvement, Coach, Full House, Room for Two].
Today, few sitcoms survive at the top of the ratings, as Robert wrote earlier.
Original SciFi channel logo courtesy of Wikipedia.
Nielsen TV Ratings Data: ©2008 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
