List: Nielsen Ratings winners

by likeorhate

•  The Beverly Hillbillies

  The Beverly Hillbillies is an American television sitcom. Panned by many entertainment critics of its time, it quickly became a ratings success for CBS. The series was about a hillbilly family transplanted to Beverly Hills, California after finding oil on their land. A Filmways production, the series aired on CBS from September 26, 1962 – September 7, 1971 and comprises 274 episodes—106 in black-and-white (1962–1965) and 168 in color (1965–1971).

  

  37.5%
  

  31.3%
  

  31.3%
  
•  Cheers

  Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for eleven seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association with Paramount Television for NBC, having been created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles. The show is set in the Cheers bar (named for the toast "Cheers") in Boston, Massachusetts, where a group of locals meet to drink, relax, chat and have fun.

  

  5.1%
  

  20.5%
  

  74.4%
  
•  Friends

  Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which ran on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in the area of Manhattan, New York City. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television. The original executive producers were Crane, Kauffman and Kevin Bright, with numerous others being promoted in later seasons.

  

  16.4%
  

  19.7%
  

  63.9%
  
•  Home Improvement

  

  0.0%
  

  0.0%
  

  0.0%
  
•  Seinfeld

  Seinfeldis an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. The eponymous series was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, with the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself.

  

  19.0%
  

  9.5%
  

  71.4%
  
•  60 Minutes

  60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by long-time producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation. It has been among the top-rated TV programs for much of its life, and has garnered numerous awards over the years, including 78 Emmys (as of 2007). It is considered by many to be the preeminent investigative television program in the United States.

  

  16.5%
  

  15.3%
  

  68.2%
  
•  Roseanne (TV series)

  Roseanne is an American sitcom broadcast on ABC from 1988 to 1997 starring Roseanne Barr. The series reached #1 in the Nielsen ratings becoming the most watched television show in the United States from 1989 to 1990, and remained in the top four for six of its nine seasons, and in the top twenty for eight. In 1993, Roseanne Barr and Laurie Metcalf both won Emmy Awards for their performances in the series, Barr for Outstanding Lead Actress and Metcalf for Outstanding Supporting Actress.

  

  71.4%
  

  14.3%
  

  14.3%
  
•  Dallas (TV series)

  Dallas is an American prime-time television soap opera that originally ran from 1978 to 1991. It revolved around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. The show debuted in April 1978 as a five-part miniseries on the CBS network, and then was broadcast for thirteen seasons from 1978 through 1991. In 2007, Dallas was listed as one of Time magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME."

  

  12.5%
  

  25.0%
  

  62.5%
  
•  Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In

  Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In is an American sketch comedy television program which ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968 to May 14, 1973. It was hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin and was broadcast over NBC. It originally aired as a one-time special on September 9, 1967 and was such a success that it was brought back as a series, replacing The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on Mondays at 8pm on NBC.

  

  66.7%
  

  0.0%
  

  33.3%
  
•  The Andy Griffith Show

  The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960 and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in a fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina. His life is complicated by an inept but well-meaning deputy, Barney Fife, a spinster aunt and housekeeper, Aunt Bee, and a young son, Opie (Ron Howard, billed as Ronny). Local ne'er-do-wells, bumbling pals, and temperamental girlfriends further complicate his life.

  

  33.3%
  

  33.3%
  

  33.3%
  
•  I Love Lucy

  I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom, starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951 to May 6, 1957 on CBS. Although the original series ended, the show continued on for three more seasons with 13 one-hour specials, running from 1957 to 1960, known first as The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show and later in reruns as The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.

  

  50.0%
  

  25.0%
  

  25.0%
  
•  M*A*S*H (TV series)

  

  25.0%
  

  25.0%
  

  50.0%
  
•  All in the Family

  All in the Family is an Emmy Award-winning American situation comedy that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971 to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, the show was revamped, and given a new title, Archie Bunker's Place. This version of the sitcom lasted another four years, ending its run in 1983. Produced by Norman Lear, it was based on the British television comedy series Till Death Us Do Part.

  

  33.3%
  

  0.0%
  

  66.7%
  
•  The Cosby Show

  The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, first airing on September 20, 1984 and running for eight seasons on the NBC television network, until April 30, 1992. The show focused on the Huxtable family, an upper-middle class African-American family living in Brooklyn, New York. According to TV Guide, the show "was TV's biggest hit in the 1980s, and almost single-handedly revived the sitcom genre and NBC's ratings fortunes".

  

  25.0%
  

  50.0%
  

  25.0%
  
•  Happy Days

  Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from 1974 to 1984 on ABC. The show presents an idealized vision of life in mid 1950s to mid 1960s America. The family consists of Howard Cunningham, a hardware store owner, his homemaker wife Marion and the couple's two children, Richie, an optimistic if somewhat naïve teenager, and Joanie, Richie's sweet but feisty younger sister.

  

  58.3%
  

  16.7%
  

  25.0%
  
•  Gunsmoke

  Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The radio version ran from 1952 to 1961, and John Dunning writes that among radio drama enthusiasts "Gunsmoke is routinely placed among the best shows of any kind and any time.

  

  66.7%
  

  0.0%
  

  33.3%
  
•  ER (TV series)

  ER is an American medical drama series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 1994 to April 2009. It is set primarily in the emergency room of fictional County General Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment in association with Warner Bros. Television Production, Inc. The show ran for 15 seasons, becoming the longest-running medical drama in American primetime television history.

  

  50.0%
  

  0.0%
  

  50.0%
  
•  Laverne & Shirley

  Laverne & Shirley is an American television situation comedy that ran on ABC from 1976 to 1983. It starred Penny Marshall as Laverne De Fazio and Cindy Williams as Shirley Feeney, roommates who, as the series began, worked in a Milwaukee brewery. The show was a spin-off from Happy Days, as the two lead characters were originally introduced on that show as acquaintances of Fonzie.

  

  40.0%
  

  20.0%
  

  40.0%
  
•  Bonanza

  Bonanza is an American Western series that ran on NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons, it is among the longest running Western television series and continues to air in syndication, starring Pernell Roberts, Lorne Greene, Dan Blocker, and Michael Landon.

  

  0.0%
  

  0.0%
  

  0.0%
  
•  Texaco Star Theater

  Texaco Star Theater was an American comedy-variety show, broadcast on radio from 1938 to 1948 and telecast from 1948 to 1956. It was one of the first successful examples of American television broadcasting, remembered as the show that gave Milton Berle the nickname "Mr. Television". It originated in the late 1930s with a popular radio comedy series starring Ed Wynn. The classic 1940–44 program, hosted by radio's Fred Allen, was followed by a radio series on ABC in the spring of 1948.

  

  0.0%
  

  50.0%
  

  50.0%
  
•  American Idol

  American Idol is a reality television competition to find new solo singing talent. Part of the Idol franchise, it was created by Simon Fuller as a spin-off from the British show Pop Idol, of which two series were broadcast between 2001 and 2003. Debuting June 11, 2002, as American Idol: The Search for a Superstar on the Fox network, the show has since become one of the most popular in the history of American television.

  

  100.0%
  

  0.0%
  

  0.0%
  
•  Dynasty (TV series)

  Dynasty is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981 to May 11, 1989. It was created by Richard and Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, and revolved around the Carringtons, a wealthy oil family living in Denver, Colorado. Starring John Forsythe and Linda Evans as oil magnate Blake Carrington and his new wife Krystle, Dynasty was ABC's derivation of the hit CBS prime time serial Dallas.

  

  50.0%
  

  25.0%
  

  25.0%
  
•  Survivor: The Australian Outback

  

  0.0%
  

  0.0%
  

  100.0%
  
•  CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

  

  100.0%
  

  0.0%
  

  0.0%
  
•  Three's Company

  Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from 1977 to 1984 on ABC. It is a remake of the British sitcom Man About the House. The story revolves around three roommates, Janet Wood, Chrissy Snow, and Jack Tripper who share Apartment 201 in a Santa Monica, California apartment building owned by Mr. and Mrs. Roper (later owned by Bart Furley but managed by his brother, Ralph Furley).

  

  33.3%
  

  0.0%
  

  66.7%