Lucy Show/Here's Lucy ratings

[Neil]

Though the last season's ratings of Here's Lucy were up and down, recent research reveals that the last new episode "Lucy Fights the System" came in at #7 for the week!

[Will]

Though the last season's ratings of Here's Lucy were up and down, recent research reveals that the last new episode "Lucy Fights the System" came in at #7 for the week!

That's amazing. It is great to end a series in the top ten! Lucy was funny in this one with a couple of lines and Gale's pie in the face is hilarious. I love the subtle message in this one. YOu can replace the old but it won't be the same just as Lucy was saying you can replace me but it isn't as funny (and Lucie wasn't her mom.)

[C L A U D E]

That's amazing. It is great to end a series in the top ten! Lucy was funny in this one with a couple of lines and Gale's pie in the face is hilarious. I love the subtle message in this one. YOu can replace the old but it won't be the same just as Lucy was saying you can replace me but it isn't as funny (and Lucie wasn't her mom.)

Bless you my child, for saying what i've always said.

[Neil]

I was unaware of this statistic.

"I Love Lucy" in its best rated season (2nd)attained the highest season average rating of any show in history, by far. And that includes TV's first ratings phenomenon "Texaco/Milton Berle".

ILL: 67.3; next highest "Texaco/Berle" in 1950 at 61.6

A "rating" represents the percentage of homes with TV sets (whether on or off) that are tuned to a show, so the number of TVs in America had little to do with that number.

This is amazing considering there were more cities with multiple stations in 1952-53 than in 1950 when many markets probably have had only one. Ratings for the two years of TV before 1950 are not listed.

The "share" percentage number is not listed but I would think ILLs would have approached 100! A share represents the show's percentage of viewers actually watching something at that time and is a higher number than the rating.

 

The Nielson ratings "top" lists usually include shows from 1960 on because of this disclaimer which I've never quite figured out: Nielson changed its ways of computing ratings in 1960 so numbers before and after are not precisely comparable.

[leenorman]

I was unaware of this statistic.

"I Love Lucy" in its best rated season (2nd)attained the highest season average rating of any show in history, by far. And that includes TV's first ratings phenomenon "Texaco/Milton Berle".

ILL: 67.3; next highest "Texaco/Berle" in 1950 at 61.6

A "rating" represents the percentage of homes with TV sets (whether on or off) that are tuned to a show, so the number of TVs in America had little to do with that number.

This is amazing considering there were more cities with multiple stations in 1952-53 than in 1950 when many markets probably have had only one. Ratings for the two years of TV before 1950 are not listed.

The "share" percentage number is not listed but I would think ILLs would have approached 100! A share represents the show's percentage of viewers actually watching something at that time and is a higher number than the rating.

 

The Nielson ratings "top" lists usually include shows from 1960 on because of this disclaimer which I've never quite figured out: Nielson changed its ways of computing ratings in 1960 so numbers before and after are not precisely comparable.

 

 

Neil - thanks for this information. JK

[Neil]

Found in my box of memorabilia:

 

In the article "Miss Ball to End TV Series" on Feb. 27, 1974, it states: "While no longer the #1 show, Here's Lucy consistently places in the top 20. In the most recent ratings, it came in #14."

Depending on which week they're talking about, this episode could have been "Phil Harris" which had aired on 2/25 but more likely "Mary Jane's Boyfriend" from the previous week or maybe even "Milton Berle/Life of Party".

 

In a document entitled "NTI MULTI-NETWORK AREA TV RATINGS" (whatever that means) for Monday Oct. 29. 1973, "Lucy and Andy Griffith" did NOT do well. This only lists the percentage shares each series got that night. I suspect that this was an "overnight" report that only took in some urban areas like NYC and LA. Lucy usually did better when the whole country was included. In this report, "Gunsmoke" also did poorly.

 

I have no idea how I got this. It looks like it was meant for the stations or advertisers.

 

Here's Lucy came in third in the 9pm time slot. The NBC movie "Cactus Flower" had 32.8% of the audience while ABC Football had 31.4% to Lucy's 26.8%. "Gunsmoke" tied with its competition "Lotsa Luck" (Dom Deluise/one season) with 26.1% and both lost to ABC's Rookies. CBS came in a distant third for the entire evening. "New Dick Van Dyke" was 25.8%. Lucy did not do substantially better than NBC's "Diana" (Diana Rigg, NOT Ross!) which was canceled mid-season.

 

While not horrible, "Lucy and Andy Griffith" is among my least favorite type of HL plot--where Lucy is just in a few scenes, Kim gets the bulk of the show and it ends with Kim and guest star doing a pre-recorded musical number. Isn't this the one where Andy is some sort of youth counselor who ends up taking Kim over his knee and SPANKING her??

 

Of course the networks would KILL for these kinds of numbers again.

[C L A U D E]

Found in my box of memorabilia:

 

In the article "Miss Ball to End TV Series" on Feb. 27, 1974, it states: "While no longer the #1 show, Here's Lucy consistently places in the top 20. In the most recent ratings, it came in #14."

Depending on which week they're talking about, this episode could have been "Phil Harris" which had aired on 2/25 but more likely "Mary Jane's Boyfriend" from the previous week or maybe even "Milton Berle/Life of Party".

 

In a document entitled "NTI MULTI-NETWORK AREA TV RATINGS" (whatever that means) for Monday Oct. 29. 1973, "Lucy and Andy Griffith" did NOT do well. This only lists the percentage shares each series got that night. I suspect that this was an "overnight" report that only took in some urban areas like NYC and LA. Lucy usually did better when the whole country was included. In this report, "Gunsmoke" also did poorly.

 

I have no idea how I got this. It looks like it was meant for the stations or advertisers.

 

Here's Lucy came in third in the 9pm time slot. The NBC movie "Cactus Flower" had 32.8% of the audience while ABC Football had 31.4% to Lucy's 26.8%. "Gunsmoke" tied with its competition "Lotsa Luck" (Dom Deluise/one season) with 26.1% and both lost to ABC's Rookies. CBS came in a distant third for the entire evening. "New Dick Van Dyke" was 25.8%. Lucy did not do substantially better than NBC's "Diana" (Diana Rigg, NOT Ross!) which was canceled mid-season.

 

While not horrible, "Lucy and Andy Griffith" is among my least favorite type of HL plot--where Lucy is just in a few scenes, Kim gets the bulk of the show and it ends with Kim and guest star doing a pre-recorded musical number. Isn't this the one where Andy is some sort of youth counselor who ends up taking Kim over his knee and SPANKING her??

 

Of course the networks would KILL for these kinds of numbers again.

Absolutely H A T E D the Andy Griffith one with Lucy, perfect example of too much Lucie, not enough Lucy.

[tjw]

I was unaware of this statistic.

"I Love Lucy" in its best rated season (2nd)attained the highest season average rating of any show in history, by far. And that includes TV's first ratings phenomenon "Texaco/Milton Berle".

ILL: 67.3; next highest "Texaco/Berle" in 1950 at 61.6

A "rating" represents the percentage of homes with TV sets (whether on or off) that are tuned to a show, so the number of TVs in America had little to do with that number.

This is amazing considering there were more cities with multiple stations in 1952-53 than in 1950 when many markets probably have had only one. Ratings for the two years of TV before 1950 are not listed.

The "share" percentage number is not listed but I would think ILLs would have approached 100! A share represents the show's percentage of viewers actually watching something at that time and is a higher number than the rating.

 

The Nielson ratings "top" lists usually include shows from 1960 on because of this disclaimer which I've never quite figured out: Nielson changed its ways of computing ratings in 1960 so numbers before and after are not precisely comparable.

 

The ratings for January 19, 1953 were phenomenal... I LOVE LUCY received a 68.8 rating and 91.5 share... NBC had a show called HOLLYWOOD OPENING NIGHT which came in at a 3.3 rating and 4.4 share... Okay, so that was a special occasion, but it shows the power that little show had on the nation...

[C L A U D E]

The ratings for January 19, 1953 were phenomenal... I LOVE LUCY received a 68.8 rating and 91.5 share... NBC had a show called HOLLYWOOD OPENING NIGHT which came in at a 3.3 rating and 4.4 share... Okay, so that was a special occasion, but it shows the power that little show had on the nation...

I thought the Lucy book stated a 70 something share, i guess it was a 70 something rating, i've never heard of a share that high, E V E R ! 91.5, that's almost everyone watching tv.

[Neil]

Here's Lucy ended its run in 29th place with a 20.0 rating, which means that 20% of the households that have TVs were tuned in (this scale counts all TVs even if they are off--as opposed to a share, which is the percentage of households with their set ON that were watching Here's Lucy, which very often even in the last year won its time slot with a 30 or better share. Remember the last 3 years of HL was opposite the very popular ABC Monday Football for the first half of the season and the ABC Monday night movie for the 2nd half; and another movie on NBC, all three starting at 9. The Joan Rivers episode ran against NBC's showing of Yours Mine and Ours--not sure who won, but I think YMO did by a hair.

Beginning in 1984, which is about when cable started, that 20.0 rating would have qualified it for the top ten. By 1997, that same rating would have made it the #1 show for the season.

None of Lucy's 3 major series dipped below the 20 rating in any season average.

I Love Lucys 2nd season had a rating of 67.3 which is the highest of any series in any season..and that includes the first ratings blockbuster Milton Berle's Texaco Star Theater; and there was a gap of 13 ratings points before you got to the #2 program.

TLS's highest rating was its first year at 29.8, 4th place.

HL's highest was the 3rd season at 26.1, 3rd place. This is overall my least favorite HL season. Was the Burtons rating so high it boosted the entire season? I remember reading that its share of the audience was over 50% and the rating was somewhere in the 30s (34.8 stands out in my memory), easily the #1 show of the week---prompting laugh In's Dick Martin to say "We thought about getting Eddie fisher and Sybil Burton for our show that week."

During the 60s and 70s very few series reached a rating of 30 or higher.

[C L A U D E]

 

HL's highest was the 3rd season at 26.1, 3rd place. This is overall my least favorite HL season. Was the Burtons rating so high it boosted the entire season? I remember reading that its share of the audience was over 50% and the rating was somewhere in the 30s (34.8 stands out in my memory), easily the #1 show of the week---prompting laugh In's Dick Martin to say "We thought about getting Eddie fisher and Sybil Burton for our show that week."

During the 60s and 70s very few series reached a rating of 30 or higher.

Eddie and Debbie Reynolds might have been better.

[Neil]

Interesting the when CBS tinkered with Lucy's 8:30 time slot, the ratings dropped. Moving it to 9:00 in the third season dropped it's ranking to #8, though this is not substantially lower than the previous season's #6 or the first season's #4, it was obvious we wanted our Lucy at 8:30 because when it went back the next season TLS bounced back with his highest ranking to date #3 for a season Lucy might have been worried about: the first without Vivian, the kids or Danfield.

Of course there are many factors. In the 3rd season Lucy was opposite the never-charting (all we have is the top 30), but highly respected "Andy Williams Show" which during its initial run took the Outstanding Variety Series Emmy award every year it was nominated except for one. ABC decides to fight fire with fire with three Monday night sitcoms of its own from 8:30 to 10:00. "No Time for Sergeants", inexplicably scheduled opposite "The Andy Griffith Show". Andy of course appeared in the Broadway and movie versions of "Sergeants". "Wendy and Me" opposite Lucy, which had the appeal of young Connie Stevens; followed by Bing Crosby is a sitcom which I would have thought would have been a bigger deal. Opposite "Many Happy Returns", both of those shows, along with ABC's two other sitcoms lasted only one season.

You would think TLS's biggest competition for ratings (pre-Laugh In) would have been the 2nd season, when NBC scheduled its Monday night movie at 7:30, but it was outrated by CBS's cheap, but enjoyable game shows: To Tell the Truth, I've Got a Secret, then Lucy and Danny Thomas. You gotta feel a little sorry for poor ABC. They snag the #1 show of the previous season "Wagon Train", schedule it in the exact same time slot as NBC had....and it drops to #25. Then they expand it to 90 minutes as their Monday competition again CBS's Monday sitcom powerhouse: Lucy, Danny, Andy and it drops off the chart. You would think it would have had some residual viewers, but despite WT and NBC's movie and Lucy still prevailed. And recent theatrical movies on network TV was still a ratings-grabbing novelty but they always started at 9:00 making them too late for the younger set. Having one at 7:30 seemed like a sure-thing.

Moving HL from its 8:30 slot to 9:00 in 1971 was more about practicality than a scheduling ploy. This was the year the networks prime time started at 8:00 and CBS wasn't about to move "Gunsmoke". HL did respectable numbers against "Monday Football", new to the air and a bit of a phenomenon at the time; and NBC movies, but that competition could have been a contributing factor to its ratings drop, which didn't drop THAT far. Plus eventually ALL series start to drop and this was actually the 10th season of 60s Lucy. I for one, think the 4th, 5th and 6th HLs at 9:00 are vastly superior overall to 8:30's season 1, 2 and ESPECIALLY 3.

 

And that's my rant of the day!

[JoeySanJoaquin]

Interesting the when CBS tinkered with Lucy's 8:30 time slot, the ratings dropped. Moving it to 9:00 in the third season dropped it's ranking to #8, though this is not substantially lower than the previous season's #6 or the first season's #4, it was obvious we wanted our Lucy at 8:30 because when it went back the next season TLS bounced back with his highest ranking to date #3 for a season Lucy might have been worried about: the first without Vivian, the kids or Danfield.

Of course there are many factors. In the 3rd season Lucy was opposite the never-charting (all we have is the top 30), but highly respected "Andy Williams Show" which during its initial run took the Outstanding Variety Series Emmy award every year it was nominated except for one. ABC decides to fight fire with fire with three Monday night sitcoms of its own from 8:30 to 10:00. "No Time for Sergeants", inexplicably scheduled opposite "The Andy Griffith Show". Andy of course appeared in the Broadway and movie versions of "Sergeants". "Wendy and Me" opposite Lucy, which had the appeal of young Connie Stevens; followed by Bing Crosby is a sitcom which I would have thought would have been a bigger deal. Opposite "Many Happy Returns", both of those shows, along with ABC's two other sitcoms lasted only one season.

You would think TLS's biggest competition for ratings (pre-Laugh In) would have been the 2nd season, when NBC scheduled its Monday night movie at 7:30, but it was outrated by CBS's cheap, but enjoyable game shows: To Tell the Truth, I've Got a Secret, then Lucy and Danny Thomas. You gotta feel a little sorry for poor ABC. They snag the #1 show of the previous season "Wagon Train", schedule it in the exact same time slot as NBC had....and it drops to #25. Then they expand it to 90 minutes as their Monday competition again CBS's Monday sitcom powerhouse: Lucy, Danny, Andy and it drops off the chart. You would think it would have had some residual viewers, but despite WT and NBC's movie and Lucy still prevailed. And recent theatrical movies on network TV was still a ratings-grabbing novelty but they always started at 9:00 making them too late for the younger set. Having one at 7:30 seemed like a sure-thing.

Moving HL from its 8:30 slot to 9:00 in 1971 was more about practicality than a scheduling ploy. This was the year the networks prime time started at 8:00 and CBS wasn't about to move "Gunsmoke". HL did respectable numbers against "Monday Football", new to the air and a bit of a phenomenon at the time; and NBC movies, but that competition could have been a contributing factor to its ratings drop, which didn't drop THAT far. Plus eventually ALL series start to drop and this was actually the 10th season of 60s Lucy. I for one, think the 4th, 5th and 6th HLs at 9:00 are vastly superior overall to 8:30's season 1, 2 and ESPECIALLY 3.

 

And that's my rant of the day!

But whaddya really think Neil sir?

[C L A U D E]

Yeah, what did you do, work for Neilsen or something?

[Neil]

In Dick Van Dyke's autobiography, he speaks of the (mostly forgotten) "NEW Dick Van Dyke Show" where he played a local talk show host. The show was shot with an audience in Carefree, Arizona where Dick lived. It did well its first season as part of CBS's Saturday sitcom block. For the next season, Dick was out on Saturday night (Bob Newhart was in). TNDVDS was moved to a Sunday as part of low-reated comedy block consisting of Yul Brynner in "Anna and King", "Mash"'s first season, "The Sandy Duncan Show" and "NDVD".

Anna and Sandy were gone by mid-season. The ratings for Mash and NDVD must have been passable because both were renewed. MASH went to Saturdays and firmly established itself as a hit. NDVD replaced "Doris Day" as the show that followed Here's Lucy's final season on Monday.

In his book, dick does not mention HL specifically but he says "I met with CBS executives and DESPITE A BUMP IN THE RATINGS, I said I didn't want to do a 4th season." I had always assumed NDVD was canceled, but like every show that followed a Lucy series (with the exception of Many Happy Returns apparently), the show benefited from Lucy's audience, even the last year.

[C L A U D E]

Where on earth do you get all this priceless information on the shows Neil? Just fascinating, and in your case i MEAN FASCINATING!

[Neil]

I read that NBC ran the initial showing of Mary Martin's Peter Pan opposite I Love Lucy and it was the only time NBC trumped in the ratings for Monday.  Do we know what episode?

Which brings me to another topic: SOMEDAY I'm going to get my hands on week-to-week Nielson ratings, because.....well, just because I want to know.

"The Lucy Show"'s debut was #1 for the week and I assume a batch from the pre-Laugh-In catching-on in season 6, because TLS was #1 for the first half of the season according to that great TV article.  But were there other #1 episodes along the way?

And what about "Here's Lucy": was the Burtons episode the only time it was #1 for the week?

Fun fact: for year end season tallies of ratings: I Love Lucy  at #1, TLS peaked at #2 and HL at #3.....and LWL....well, as optimist Bob Carroll put it "We made the top 60!"

In the spotty weekly ratings I've been able to uncover, the trend for The Lucy Show, except for season 1, is that it would start out the season a little weak and gain strength after some time.   For instance, the debut of Rat Patrol (which I can only assume was a show about a dedicated group of household pest exterminators)  actually won the time slot in the fall of '66 and was the only show, except LI, opposite Lucy that had a top 30 showing for the season.  And the only one renewed in the same time slot for another season: 67-68, but at the end of that season with TLS on CBS and Laugh In on NBC, it was 'good-by RATS'.

[FreddieMertz]

According to imdb, it aired as part of 'Producers Showcase' on March 7th 1955; there was no Lucy episode that aired on that date. Did they air Peter Pan twice?

[HarryCarter]

I Love Lucy aired repeats on the two nights Peter Pan was scheduled to run opposite them. The first showing was March 7, 1955 and they reaired The Courtoom. After Peter Pan was such a smash, the following year NBC did another live broadcast on January 9, 1956. I Love Lucy reran Baby Pictures that night. 

[HarryCarter]

"Lucy Gets a Roommate" ranked number one the week it aired. Audiences clearly loved to see Lucy and Carol together because Carol Plus Two was in first place during its initial airing as well. 

[HarryCarter]

One thing was about the ratings for Lucy Meets the Burtons that I think is interesting is that the show was so highly rated that the audience stayed on CBS the whole night. The four highest rated programs that week were Here's Lucy, Mayberry RFD, The Doris Day Show, and The Carol Burnett Show. That was CBS's Monday night lineup from 8:30 to 11:00. 

[FreddieMertz]

Just what was the number of viewers for the burton ep?

[Neil]

Just what was the number of viewers for the burton ep?

According to "Television's Top 100" Here's Lucy came in at #71 with a 34.3 rating and a 52 share.  When it was rerun, TV Guide did one of their "close ups" and said the show's first showing garnered Lucy's highest rating since the birth of the baby.  However, this book lists the premiere of "the Lucy Show" slightly ahead of the Burtons at #62 with a 34.8 rating (share "n/a").  This book includes specials, Oscars, sports events and theatrical movies run on TV, the last is the highest represented category.  The #1 spot goes to Mash's finale.  Also mentions the competition. Other notable finishes: Laugh-In at #59 of March 24,1969.  Competition: a repeat of THE LUCY SHOW.  I know CBS ran Lucy Show repeats in the summer instead of Here's Lucy, but I didn't think they started that early.  In fact, I think this is incorrect.  "Carol and Company" at #33, her special from March of 1963 with Robert Preston.  Not much competition: Voice of Firestone (whatever that was) and "Winston Churchill-the Valiant Years".  In the entire list, there are only 17 regular half-hour sitcoms that made it.  The entries are limited to the highest rated episode of each show, many of these were the finales or debuts.  "Mayberry" came in at #50 with the first episode which was the wedding of Andy and Helen.

 

One thing was about the ratings for Lucy Meets the Burtons that I think is interesting is that the show was so highly rated that the audience stayed on CBS the whole night. The four highest rated programs that week were Here's Lucy, Mayberry RFD, The Doris Day Show, and The Carol Burnett Show. That was CBS's Monday night lineup from 8:30 to 11:00. 

CBS should have had the Burtons guest on each show! 

Would love to have seen "The Burtons Visit Mayberry".

Plot: When Goober wins the "A Date with Elizabeth Taylor" contest, he's the envy of all the local yokels.  Unfortunately her husband tags along and after a drunken brawl at the Mayberry Diner, Burton has his lusty sites set on Aunt Bee, much to Clara Edwards' chagrin.

[JoeySanJoaquin]

One thing was about the ratings for Lucy Meets the Burtons that I think is interesting is that the show was so highly rated that the audience stayed on CBS the whole night. The four highest rated programs that week were Here's Lucy, Mayberry RFD, The Doris Day Show, and The Carol Burnett Show. That was CBS's Monday night lineup from 8:30 to 11:00. 

Makes sense: Lots of folks still didn't have a remote control yet a this point and since CBS has always skewed older than the other networks, us "old folks" would have less tendency to get up and change the channel! Plus....there weren't 500 channels to choose from back then either like there is now!

[Neil]

Makes sense: Lots of folks still didn't have a remote control yet a this point and since CBS has always skewed older than the other networks, us "old folks" would have less tendency to get up and change the channel! Plus....there weren't 500 channels to choose from back then either like there is now!

You were an "old folk" in 1970?  Exactly how old are you Vera, the truth....

After 2 minutes of "Mayberry RFD", I would think they even somebody hunched over with lumbago would have experienced a miraculous cure and leapt up to  switch the channel....a test pattern was more exciting than that show.  The post-Barney Andy Griffith shows lacked any real comedy but at least retained some of that Mayberry charm even if the plots were getting more and more contrived ("Aunt Bee Buys a Chinese Restaurant", etc.) and you still had Andy.  I think Ken Berry was completely wrong as the lead, never convincing to me. And his son was no Opie. 

 

I remember the 'no remote' days, too and how wonderful the invention of the mute button was.  My first VCR did not do a fast forward search.  It had a wired remote and all it could do was pause. 

Carole Cook appeared on a show that aired last week on TNT: "Major Crimes" and during the hour, there were 4 commercial breaks each lasting FIVE FULL MINUTES each!!

 

Post script about the "TV's Top 100" book.  It lists shows from 1960 forward only, so no ILL or LDCH.