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ABC's run at the top stretched into [[The Eighties|the '80s]], but began to slip midway through the decade. The once-moribund [[NBC]] was experiencing its resurgence under Brandon Tartikoff, and hit shows like ''[[Three's Company|Threes Company]]'' and ''[[Laverne and Shirley]]'' were coming to an end. While ABC was still producing hit shows like ''[[Dynasty]]'', ''[[Moonlighting]]'', ''[[The Wonder Years]]'', ''[[Growing Pains]]'' and ''[[MacGyver]]'', it was also producing bombs like ''Dolly'' and the [[Lucille Ball]] [[Sitcom]] ''Life With Lucy''. The network wound up being bought out by a media company only a tenth its size, Capital Cities Communications, in 1985. After this, the network became more financially conservative (as its new owner had been known for prior to the purchase), tightening its purse strings and slowing investment in new series.
In [[The Nineties|the '90s]] and [[Turn of the Millennium|early 2000s]], the network's only success story was its spectacular subversion of the [[Friday Night Death Slot]], the ''TGIF'' comedy block on Fridays, which featured such shows as ''[[Full House]]'', ''[[Family Matters]]'' and ''[[Boy Meets World]]''. Hits on other nights, such as ''[[The Practice]]'' and ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]'', were few and far between, and attempts to launch a hit [[Reality Show]] (like [[CBS]]' ''[[Survivor]]'' and [[
Midway through the decade, however, ABC finally regained its footing. It finally found its [[Reality TV]] hit in 2003 with ''[[Extreme Makeover: Home Edition]]'', and followed that up the following year with three scripted series that quickly turned into megahits: ''[[Lost]]'', ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'', and ''[[Grey's Anatomy]]''. Other shows, like ''[[Ugly Betty]]'' and ''[[Dancing With the Stars]]'', also helped to boost ABC's cachet in the new decade. While still behind [[CBS]] and [[
Not to be confused with the [[The ABC|Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] or with the Japanese network Asahi Broadcasting Corporation ([[TV Asahi]]'s Osaka affiliate), which both have the same abbreviations.
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