MovieChat Forums > Nanny and the Professor (1970) Discussion > Another victim of network stupidity

Another victim of network stupidity

posted 8 years ago by ragingbull1965
10 replies | jump to latest

I recall this was my favorite show when I was knee-high to a locust. Friday evenings were family night at my house when I was still in grade school. My mom, siblings and I would watch all the family shows like this every Friday. Nanny was originally on Friday evenings after The Brady Bunch. While it was shown on Fridays, this series enjoyed high ratings. But at the start of season 3, ABC did what I consider something incredibly stupid; they moved it to Mondays where it had to compete against other top-rated shows and consequently, Nanny's rating languished and ABC decided to cancel it. I have always believed that if something isn't broke, don't tinker with it. But I guess ABC doesn't believe in that philosophy. Why change a winning formula? It makes no sense.

[–] RedNkBearOregon 8 years ago

Exactly! I loved this show along with Petticoat Junction!' They were both really fun shows!

[–] gpicto 8 years ago

Could be politics. If a new boss took over at ABC, he might've wanted his predessor's shows to fail, so he moves shows like this to a lousy time slot, where they bomb out. Then his boss would feel that firing the other guy, who had approved all these rotten shows, was the smart move. That's how Hollywood operates. It's The same with movies, when they're in production.

Marriage is between one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others.

[–] ragingbull1965 8 years ago

You may actually be right. If I recall correctly, there was new management at ABC in the early 70s because it was around that time that the network cancelled the "hick-coms" (Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, Gomer Pyle, Mayberry, etc) because it wanted to present more "sophisticated" series. So there may be a lot of truth to what you said. But it could also be sheer hubris that these networks make such inane decisions. The Partridge Family was also originally on Fridays where it enjoyed high ratings but after the third season, the network decided to move it to Saturday evenings so that it could compete with All in the Family (at the time, the most popular series on TV) and when that happened, The Partridge Family totally bombed. Whatever the reason, a bad decision is still a bad decision.

BTW, I agree with your statement about marriage!

[–] Balberith 8 years ago

The Partridge Family by the 2nd season had become the Brady Bunch with music. :(

"A real man would rather bow down to a strong woman than dominate a weak one"

[–] ragingbull1965 8 years ago

First off, I agree with your tagline. But then, I always found strong women very "sexy"!

As to your comment, even if what you say is true, the fact remains that The Partridge Family was still a very popular series in its second season and if the network hadn't made the same stupid mistake twice and move it to Saturday evenings in its fourth season where it had to compete against All in the Family, it could have had a longer run. One would have thought that these people would have learned after Nanny and the Professor but I guess getting knocked on their rear end once is not enough for some people.

[–] jackgriffin1-1 8 years ago

Those "hick-coms" were on CBS.

[–] ragingbull1965 8 years ago

You're right. I stand corrected. But the principle is the same. CBS may have also had a change in management and the new president probably wanted to "upgrade" the network's image which resulted in the cancellation of those programs.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ragingbull1965 8 years ago

You're preaching to the converted. The Partridge Family enjoyed relatively high ratings when it was on Friday evenings. But then the suits at ABC got stupid and moved the show to Saturday evenings for its final season at the exact same time as All in the Family (then the most popular series on television) and it languished in the Nielsen's. As any race car driver will tell you, if everything is working perfectly, don't make any changes!

[–] JVIvies 8 years ago

You can blame the FCC for that......they gave the 7:30pm ET/PT,6:30 CT back to the affiliates,thus leading to the shift to Mondays!!!!