The Friday Night TV Curse

By Amy & Nancy, Harrington, GetBack.com | Friday, October 9, 2009, 2:06 PM

"Ugly Betty" moves to Friday nights.

ABC/David Giesbrecht

When news that one of our favorite shows, "Ugly Betty," was moving from the prime real estate of Thursday nights to the cursed graveyard of Fridays, we, like all Betty fans, prepared to mourn the loss of our friends. After all, they don't call it "the Friday night death slot" for nothing.

Time and time again, popular series have been relegated to the weekend night when historically no one watches TV, ratings plummet, and shows get canceled. In an almost predictable cycle, programmers say they are trying to reverse the trend by moving a highly rated program to the time period ("Medium" is going head-to-head with "Betty" this fall). But we don't buy it. Granted, with the advent of the DVR, perhaps more people are recording Friday shows and watching them on Tuesday, and we hope that is true for the gang at Mode. But more often then not, Friday is the place where series go to die. Just look at this list if you need proof.

[Photo gallery: See the beloved shows struck by the Friday night curse.]

"Star Trek"

The original "Star Trek" series was not initially the phenomenon that the franchise would later become. In fact, the show was close to cancellation during its second season, but a fan letter writing campaign saved it. According to Trekkie folklore, show creator Gene Roddenberry said he was promised that in its third season "Star Trek" would be moved from a Thursday night airtime to Mondays at 8:30. One small problem: the nation's #1 rated show, "Laugh-In," already owned that time slot. Producers of the extremely successful sketch comedy series won out over the poorly rated sci-fi saga, and "Star Trek" was moved to Fridays. It did not live long and prosper in the death slot. In fact, it was canceled for good at the end of Season 3.

"Diff'rent Strokes"

Season 7 of "Diff'rent Strokes" included a few "jump the shark" story lines in an attempt to regain a dwindling audience. Mr. Drummond got married (to a pre-"Designing Women" Dixie Carter) and a new fresh-faced young kid (Danny Cooksey) was brought in, because, as is frequently the case with sitcom kids, the precocious star (Gary Coleman) was growing up and becoming not so cute anymore. But neither of these last-ditch efforts helped, and NBC canceled the series. ABC, however, said, "What 'chu talkin' 'bout, NBC?," and picked up the show for its eighth season. Dixie had already signed on to play Julia Sugarbaker, so Mary Ann Mobley took over her part, and the show was switched to Friday nights. The move proved to be the kiss of death for Willis, Arnold, and the rest of the Drummonds. It was pronounced dead after 19 episodes.

"Pink Lady and Jeff"

The series premiere of the variety show "Pink Lady," featuring Japanese pop duo "Mie" and "Kei," performed so poorly that some actually viewed the move to Friday night as premeditated TV murder - a surefire way to put it out of its misery. After just one episode, the show was placed in the Friday night death slot and renamed "Pink Lady and Jeff" to try to highlight the third star, comedian Jeff Altman. Even the addition of Jim Varney ("Ernest Goes to Camp") could not save the ill-fated program from early retirement. NBC abandoned the series after just five episodes and would not launch another variety show for 28 years. Last year's "Rosie Live" tried to reinvent the genre for the network, but instead it probably marked the end of variety show on NBC for good.

"The A-Team"

For its first three seasons, Mr. T and "The A-Team" were ratings superstars. In its freshman year, the show was the #10 highest-rated show, and in the following two seasons, it landed in fourth and then sixth place. "The A-Team" was part of a resurgence for NBC, winning the network some of its highest ratings in five years. By the third season, with the help of "The Cosby Show," NBC won both May sweeps weeks. But in Season 4 Hannibal Smith and his gang of renegade crime fighters started to lose viewers. When the show plummeted to #30, the Team was moved to the dreaded Friday slot. After only 13 episodes, the network pulled the plug. The remaining nine episodes were never made.

"Designing Women"

The girls at Sugarbaker Design got off to a rough start in Season 1, when CBS could not decide on a time slot for "Designing Women." The series debuted on Monday nights, then moved to Thursdays, then Sundays. The constant shuffling didn't allow the show to find an audience, and it was almost canceled during its first year. But network execs gave it one last shot on Mondays, and it started to catch on. By the third season, "Designing Women" and "Murphy Brown" were leading the charge of strong females on TV, dominating the ratings for their demographic. But in an attempt to boost Friday night ratings, CBS moved "Designing Women" to the graveyard slot, along with "The Golden Palace" (a "Golden Girls" spin-off), "Major Dad," and "Bob" (Bob Newhart's newest show). "Bob" was the only show to survive the curse, and even it only lasted another half season while the ladies of Sugarbakers went to that great design firm in the sky.

"Family Matters" and "Step by Step"

"Family Matters" and "Step by Step" were actually survivors of the Friday night curse. Both were very successful parts of ABC's "TGIF" ("Thank Goodness It's Funny") Fridays. Steve Urkel and "Family Matters" were on ABC for eight seasons, while Patrick Duffy and Suzanne Somers' blended family lasted for six. But in 1997, CBS bought both shows from ABC for a reported $40 million and battled it out for Friday Night ratings, putting both shows on their "CBS Block Party." The two series were canceled by the end of the season. Guess they should have stuck with ABC.

"Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place" and "The Norm Show"

In the fall of 2000, ABC tried to reverse the curse of Friday Nights by putting some of its top-rated shows into a programming block aimed at older viewers. So network execs took Wednesday night ratings winners "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" (retitled "Two Guys and a Girl" because they didn't hang at the Pizza Place anymore) and "The Norm Show" (starring "SNL" alum Norm MacDonald), and paired them with "Madigan Men" and "The Trouble with Normal." All four shows would be gone before the end of the season. "Two Guys" held on the longest, even moving back to Wednesdays on television life support for a two-week trial to see if it could be revived. The season finale, "The Internet Show," was filmed with four different endings, with fans voting online to decide which female character would get pregnant. But the fifth season baby was never born. The show was canceled before the online vote was tabulated.

"8 Simple Rules"

"8 Simple Rules" never really did all that well in the ratings. In its first season it reached a respectable, but not astounding, 42nd place. Still, viewers and network execs loved John Ritter, and the show was picked up for a second year. Then tragedy struck: John collapsed on the set while filming the third episode of the second season. Following his unexpected death, it was announced that the show would continue after a brief hiatus to regroup. David Spade was brought in as Katey Sagal's wayward nephew and was soon promoted to star of the show. Still, after an initial surge due to curiosity surrounding how the show would deal with Ritter's death, the ratings dropped and "8SR" was put out to pasture on Friday nights for its third and final season.

"Everybody Hates Chris"

In a "You can't fire me, I quit!" sort of way, Chris Rock put an end to "Everybody Hates Chris" before the CW had a chance to. Seeing the writing on the wall after being moved to Friday nights for its fourth season, and watching a decline in the ratings, Rock created a season finale for the sitcom that revolved around Chris dropping out of high school (as he had done in real life). When it was announced after the episode had been shot, that it would be the show's last because the CW was moving away from sitcoms, Rock thought it was a fitting ending to that chapter of his life, on and off the screen.

"Surviving Suburbia"

"Surviving Suburbia" was initially made for the CW and their Sunday night programming block, but at the last minute they pulled the plug and left Bob Saget and his show in TV limbo. Not one to let a Bob Saget vehicle go unused, ABC picked up the series, hoping it would have the success of their last shows with the actor, "Full House" and "America's Funniest Home Videos." One fine Monday night in April, "Surviving Suburbia" premiered as a mid-season replacement. The show fared pretty well with viewers, but it was panned by critics, and then the TV nightmare happened. The series was moved to Friday nights. Just a few weeks later, it was canceled for good.

Talk About It: Do you think "Ugly Betty" will survive the Friday night curse?

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