Friday night death slot
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The term Friday night death slot refers to the idea that television shows broadcast on Friday nights in the United States, face a greater than average chance of being cancelled. The term began from the belief that Americans are rarely at home to watch TV on Fridays.
Whether networks realize this, and hence purposely move programs to Friday nights to justify their cancellation, is the subject of much continuing debate and cynicism amongst fans of such programs.
It is likely, though not certain, that the underlying reason for this syndrome reflects the fact that Friday evening is the traditional "first night of the weekend" in the United States, when many people who might otherwise be watching television at home are out enjoying other forms of entertainment instead, because they work a standard work week and need not be up early Saturday morning.
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[edit] FOX and Fridays
In recent years, this has especially been true with FOX. The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., Arrested Development, Johnny Zero, Boston Public, Greed, Wanda at Large, The Lone Gunmen, Firefly, Playing it Straight, Wonderfalls, John Doe, VR.5, M.A.N.T.I.S., Strange Luck, Dark Angel, Killer Instinct, Fastlane, Vanished, and The Bernie Mac Show are all examples of FOX shows that started on Friday nights and lasted only a few episodes, or moved to Friday nights, lost the battle for television ratings, and were eventually cancelled.
[edit] TGIF on ABC
In the late 1980s, ABC thrived with its success on Friday nights by creating a family night of television with sitcoms such as Full House, Family Matters, Step By Step, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, and Perfect Strangers, which were among shows within the TGIF lineup that thrived for several years. In the early 1990's, the TGIF lineup began to feel stale to viewers and in 1991 the network tried to freshen up the night by moving Full House to Tuesday nights. Further changes occurred in 1996, when Hangin' with Mr. Cooper was renewed as a midseason replacement slated to return in spring 1997. The series would be brought back in the summer of 1997 to air on Saturday to run the 15 episodes that were produced. Family Matters and Step by Step were both cancelled by ABC in the spring of 1997. By the late 1990s the majority of the shows that were on the original TGIF lineup were cancelled. In the early-mid 2000's ABC attempted to launch another successful block of family shows. However, this attempt was unsuccessful and these shows were cancelled in 2004.
[edit] CBS and Fridays
CBS, in an effort to revive Friday night television in the late 1990's, tried to capitalize off the cancellations of Friday night programs on rival ABC. They gave shows such as Step by Step and Family Matters a second life and created the CBS Block Party to take away ABC's viewers. In September 1997, the CBS Block Party kicked off with Family Matters and Step By Step in their original timeslots and The Gregory Hines Show and Meego were added to the mix. However, CBS failed to adequately promote the programs, resulting in their cancellation after one season. Some argue that viewers of the shows had grown older and moved on to other viewing options which caused the ratings decrease. CBS did not try to use the concept again, sticking to dramas from that point on.
The phenomenon is now seen in regard to other original programming on CBS as well. JAG has been cancelled after a 10-year run, and Joan of Arcadia, which had a successful freshman year in the 2003-2004 season - and was even renewed unusually early - in January 2004 for the following fall season - was canceled after its second year. Only CBS' NUMB3RS has received high ratings for being in this time slot and is regarded as Friday's most popular show. The popular CBS show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation was originally aired on Friday nights before being moved to Thursday nights a month after its fall 2000 series premiere; it has remained on Thursday nights ever since. Another popular series that aired on Friday nights at the beginning of the 1996-97 season was Everybody Loves Raymond. After its debut, the show received low ratings, however, the network kept the show and moved it from Fridays to Monday nights, to boost ratings, and Raymond performed well over 9 seasons.
[edit] The case of Star Trek and NBC
A famous example of a television series brought to a premature death by being moved to Friday nights was the original Star Trek series, which aired on NBC. Producer Gene Roddenberry lost a fight with Laugh-In producer George Schlatter over the 8:30 p.m. Monday-night time slot. Roddenberry said he had been promised the slot when the show was renewed, after fans deluged NBC with mail in protest.
That would have meant Laugh-In would have had to start a half-hour later, and Schlatter did not see why his show, a ratings smash, had to yield that time to the poorly-rated Star Trek, and made no secret of his displeasure. Roddenberry, who never forgave the network for this, made good on a threat to withdraw from personally producing the show, which when combined with the departure of others involved behind the scenes hastened its decline and ensured that there would be no fourth season.
This was only a year before NBC began using demographic breakdowns to decide which shows to air. NBC discovered that even in the 10 p.m. Friday slot, the show nevertheless attracted an audience segment advertisers would have found highly desirable, as it consisted mainly of married couples with lots of disposable income.
In an echo of what happened with the original Star Trek, the prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise was rescheduled from Wednesday to Friday nights on UPN for its fourth season (2004–2005), a move which preceded its cancellation in February 2005.
[edit] Programs that buck the phenomenon
However, many popular shows, such as Sanford and Son (NBC), The Partridge Family (ABC), Monk (USA), Miami Vice (NBC), Dallas (CBS), Falcon Crest (CBS), The Incredible Hulk (CBS), The Dukes of Hazzard (CBS), Providence (NBC), Ghost Whisperer (CBS), Nash Bridges (CBS), Picket Fences (CBS), Hope & Faith (ABC) The X-Files (FOX), Reba (WB), Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (ABC later WB) Grounded for Life (FOX) and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC), have been launched on Friday nights and become successful. In time, however, FOX later moved The X-Files to Sunday nights, and NBC relocated Law and Order: Special Victims Unit to Tuesdays.
Similarly, Battlestar Galactica has flourished at 10 p.m. on Fridays on the Sci-Fi Channel since January 2005, becoming one of its highest-rated programs. For several years, Sci-Fi Channel in fact placed its three highest rated shows on Friday night, airing Galactica alongside Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis in a three-hour Sci-Fi Friday block. This is no longer the case as of the 2006/07 season, however; though both Battlestar Galactica and Stargates SG-1 and Atlantis air on Friday night, Galactica has been scheduled to run during the mid-season break for both Stargate series. However, although the name of the block and shows aired on it have changed, the block itself has been (for the most part) very good for many of the Sci-Fi Channel's original shows.
A completely opposite reaction to the Friday-night death slot can also occur, in which a show with lower ratings when placed earlier in the broadcast week experiences better ratings on Fridays than in their original slot. This consequence is shown in the example of World Wrestling Entertainment's Friday Night SmackDown!. Originally named SmackDown!, it was first broadcast on Thursdays in competition to WCW Thunder. This show was moved to Friday nights in the United States by UPN (now the CW) beginning on September 9, 2005, because of low ratings in its original Thursday-night slot. However, upon its move to the "death slot", UPN/CW Friday nights have seen a substantial increase in ratings over its previous movie specials. SmackDown! had also initially garnered even better ratings in the death slot than the ratings on its former Thursday-night airings (after the merging of WCW with WWE). However, ratings have begun to steadily decrease. Relocation to Friday has recently been most helpful to CBS's series between Ghost Whisperer and NUMB3RS, Close to Home, which originated on Tuesdays. A March 2006 scheduling shift for Close to Home's competitor at 9 p.m. EST on NBC, Las Vegas, also has seemingly reversed the alleged bad luck of the night.
