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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. FOX AND FRIDAYS In recent years, this has especially been true with FOX . '' The Adventures Of Brisco County, Jr. '', '' Jonny Zero '', '' 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 '', '' Brimstone '', '' Killer Instinct '', '' Fastlane '', '' Vanished '', '' Justice '', '' The Wedding Bells '', and '' Standoff '' 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. Fox has justified some of these cancellations by a small fan base. However, some of these shows become even more popular due to their short lived run. ''Fastlane'' re-runs were shown on MTV, Court TV, and G4TV and Firefly's storyline and characters have since been made into a major motion picture entitled Serenity. 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 '', '' Perfect Strangers '', and '' Dinosaurs '', which were among shows within the TGIF Lineup that thrived for several years. In the early 1990s, 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 2000s, ABC attempted to launch another block of family shows. However, this attempt was unsuccessful and these shows were cancelled in 2004. CBS AND FRIDAYS CBS , in an effort to revive Friday night television in the late 1990s , 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. '''' 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, midway throughout the season, to boost ratings, and ''Raymond'' performed well over 9 seasons. 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, and while Schlatter won the battle, it was at his own expense, as it caused ''Laugh-In'' cast member Judy Carne to resign in sympathy. 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 '''' was rescheduled from Wednesday to Friday nights on UPN for its fourth season (2004–2005), a move which preceded its cancellation in February 2005 . PROGRAMS THAT BUCK THE PHENOMENON However, many popular shows, such as '''' (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. It could be argued, however, that ''Grounded for Life'' was a victim, as FOX cancelled it before it went on to achieve success on The WB. Similarly, '' Battlestar Galactica '' flourished at 10 p.m. on Fridays on the Sci-Fi Channel from January 2005 to January 2007, in which time it became one of Sci-Fi's 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; as of January 21 , 2007 , ''Galactica'' was moved to Sunday nights. 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 its 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 UPN's movies and the WB's block of sitcoms. ''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). Originating on Tuesdays, relocation to Friday had been helpful to CBS' '' Close To Home '' series between ''Ghost Whisperer'' and '' NUMB3RS '', though it was cancelled in May 2007 due to declining ratings. 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. NBC also moved another of its top shows, Law & Order to its 10:00 P.M. EST timeslot on Fridays. While having mediocre ratings and rumors of cancellation surrounding it, Law & Order has survived thus far. |
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