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Friday Night Death Slot: Difference between revisions
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Another dimensions of this explains not only why Friday is so neglected, but also why Thursday is the biggest night on TV. Advertisers realize that most American consumers do the majority of their weekly shopping on the weekends, and often do it on Friday. This means that advertisers are desperate to get their product on the airwaves on Thursday, before people go shopping the day after, and don't put as much effort into advertising on Friday (if someone goes shopping after work Friday afternoon, advertising on Friday night is too little, too late.)
''Especially'' if the show is neither family friendly (folks with kids ostensibly stay home on the weekend more often), nor a show that already has much of an audience. And really, ''really'' especially if it's on Fox. Or produced by [[Tim Minear]]. Or [[Department of Redundancy Department|on
The ''good'' news for shows on Friday is that due to lower expectations, shows can get away with ratings that would get them cancelled on any other weekday. The ''bad'' news for shows on Friday is that even with those lower expectations, shows often don't reach them, causing Friday shows to have a high turnover rate.
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* [[CBS]] - Controlled by National Amusements, which also controls Paramount Pictures, and now has their own studio in CBS Films. Since CBS spun off Viacom in 2006, however, they don't hew to the FNDS concept as closely as the other three networks
* [[The CW]] - Gets it both ways; two owners, two different studios. CBS owns 50%, while Warner Brothers has the other half
* [[
* [[NBC]] - The youngest network with a studio relationship after the 2004 purchase by the network of Universal Pictures
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Some networks and shows manage to find a surprising amount of success on Fridays, ranging from [[CBS]]'s ''[[Ghost Whisperer]]'' to [[NBC]]'s successful move of ''[[Las Vegas]]'' from Monday nights. ''GW'' is somewhat family-friendly and ''Vegas'' had a large, dependable fanbase, a mostly comedic style, and a lot of celebrity guest appearances along with the preexisting tendency to re-air it on Fridays anyway, so these aren't all ''that'' surprising, but fans of the shows certainly breathed a sigh of relief when they survived to be renewed. In addition, [[CBS]] in its history had numerous series that got great ratings for Friday, the lineup of ''[[The Incredible Hulk]]'', ''[[The Dukes of Hazzard]]'' and ''[[Dallas]]'' in the late 1970s and early 1980s are the major example. (Meanwhile, Saturday nights, which is an even ''more'' iffy time for TV programming at present, were practically CBS's bread and butter in the '70s, thanks to a lineup that included shows like ''[[All in The Family]]'', ''[[M*A*S*H|Mash]]'', ''[[The Mary Tyler Moore Show]]'', ''[[The Bob Newhart Show]]'', and ''The Carol Burnett Show''.) [[ABC]]'s ''TGIF'' block in [[The Nineties]], with such shows as ''[[Family Matters]]'', ''[[Boy Meets World]]'', and ''[[Sabrina the Teenage Witch (TV series)|Sabrina the Teenage Witch]]'', was perhaps the most spectacular subversion of this, as it not only turned the entirety of Friday night into a moneymaker for the network, but also one of its few success stories in what was otherwise a bad decade for the network.
More common and less surprising is the fact that Friday lineups do much better on cable. Such as [[Adult Swim]]'s Friday lineup, [[USA Network]]'s airing of ''[[Monk]]'' and ''[[Psych]]'' on Fridays, or more impressively, [[Sci Fi]] Channel's [[Sci Fi]] Friday lineup, which they claim is one of their "biggest" nights as far as ratings go; both the ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' and ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' TV series met with great success in this lineup, as did the imported new ''[[Doctor Who]]'' series, the 2000's version of ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'', and even the surprisingly successful re-airing of ''[[Firefly]]'' in 2005, which managed to be their second-highest rated series during [[November Sweeps]] of that year, despite its easy availability on DVD. (That is, it ''was'' their biggest night, before they separated ''SG-1'' and ''Galactica'', canceled the former, moved the latter to Sundays, pretty much gave ''[[Doctor Who]]'' away to [[The BBC|BBC America]], and generally built up more animosity towards the channel than existed towards them when they canceled ''[[Farscape]]''. And then back again, since ''[[Eureka]]'' is their most-watched show.)
However, these are frequently treated as exceptions to the rule. The list below shows why.
* The [[ABC]] [[Game Show]] ''[[The Names the Same]]'' held a 7:30 Monday slot since it was [[Uncanceled]] in October 1954. It moved on June 28, 1955 (after its ''third'' host change in less than a year) to Tuesdays at 10:00, then on September 16 shifted to Fridays at 10:00. The series was canned on October 7, after just '''four''' episodes at that slot.
* Though a number of factors combined to kill it in just 14 episodes (only 11 of which were ever actually aired, in the wrong order), part of the reason ''Firefly'' got canceled by Fox was because it was in the 8 PM (Eastern) Friday slot, failing to attract the more adult audience at which it was aimed and being constantly preempted by sports broadcasts to boot. Its success in the 7 PM Friday slot on cable years later is usually considered ironic. Creator [[Joss Whedon]] now reportedly refuses to work with the network ever again precisely because of how badly they burned him with ''Firefly''. Of course, producer Tim Minear didn't even ''allegedly'' vow such a thing, but in light of other shows of his that have aired on the network including the next listing, probably should have.
** Eliza Dushku, however, had a contract with Fox, and so she brought Joss Whedon back to Fox for ''[[Dollhouse]]'', which aired 2009-2010 on Fridays. Despite poor ratings, Fox renewed this for a second season (still on Friday), although it was canceled fairly early in its second run due to the already low ratings declining further.
** Even more ironically, Sci Fi contributed to the original cancellation of ''Firefly'' by airing ''[[Farscape]]'' in the same time slot, thus splitting the sci-fi loving audience. The split also negatively affected Farscape; it ended up being the show's last season (save for the ''Peacekeeper Wars'' miniseries.)
** A decade before the Browncoat got screwed, there was ''[[Alien Nation (TV series)|Alien Nation]]''. Same network, same story, and roughly the same outcome...though their movies were of the Made For TV variety.
* ''[[Wonderfalls]]''. Three of its first (and only) four weeks on Fox, it was slotted in the 8PM Friday slot. It wasn't as family-friendly as its competitor, ''[[Joan of Arcadia]]'', was and died fast. Though it did well on cable as well, when GLBT-friendly Logo aired it.
* ''[[Boston Public]]'' was moved to the Friday Night Death Slot for its fourth season, and was quickly canceled mid-season, leaving two unaired episodes left to debut in reruns on cable
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* Despite critical raves and an audience whose demographics would have today guaranteed its survival, ABC threw ''[[Max Headroom]]'' into the Death Slot in an effort to get rid of it by any means necessary. The whole situation surrounding the show is still regarded as a scandal by SF fans today.
* [[Two Guys, a Girl And A Pizza Place]] got this slot.
** However, unlike a lot of these examples, it wasn't moved to the spot because the network wanted to get rid of it. It was moved because it had proven to be quite popular in its Wednesday night slot and ABC thought the show's popularity would move with it and break the curse of the Friday night death slot. It didn't.
* ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' caught a double whammy: moved to the Death Slot during its and its network's final season. It was very well-known among a subset of Trek fans that the only reason it had gained a fourth season in the first place was to get enough episodes for syndication. Then, the show started to drastically improve in quality, bringing some fans some hope that there might be a Season 5. Those hopes were dashed when the Death Slot took away any improved ratings it might have garnered from the improved quality.
** The Original Series also suffered the Death Slot in its final season on NBC.
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* In the late 90s, a very well-acted, well-produced modern update of ''[[The Six Million Dollar Man]]'' debuted on CBS. The show was titled ''Now And Again'', and featured an intricate and tightly-woven running premise, stellar acting by Eric Close and Dennis Haysbert, Kim Chan as one of the most surreal sociopaths in TV history, and frequent cameos by the likes of John Goodman and Mick Foley. It was an intelligent, thought-provoking show, which downplayed the premise's gimmick in favor of more real, dramatic interactions between the major characters. ...but its timeslot was 10pm on Friday, and it faded away with little fanfare after one season (at least a third of which never actually aired on CBS, and would only surface years later in syndication on [[Sci Fi]].)
** Ironically, ''[[The Six Million Dollar Man]]'' itself debuted in a 9pm Friday timeslot, and was a hit.
* The TV version of Beauty and the Beast was an aversion for the first two seasons, then we got [[Executive Meddling]] and Linda Hamilton getting written out.
* ''[[Moonlight]]'' is an especially weird case, as it was getting a good ''8 million viewers'' on its Friday slot when [[CBS]] cancelled it. And it was cancelled ''just'' before [[Twilight (novel)|a certain novel by Stephenie Meyer]] triggered the massive vampire fad. CBS must still be kicking themselves.
* [[The Adventures of Brisco County Jr]] creator Carlton Cuse (Executive Producer of [[Lost]]) specifically blames this for the show's demise.
** Brisco County was a weird example... the pilot movie was so popular, the network actually ordered additional episodes. Cuse blames the flawed ratings system for incorrectly counting the show's fans, and unfortunately since it aired in the era before DVD releases gave a better gauge of popularity, it couldn't be revived.
** Oddly enough Cuse averted the Friday night curse with ''[[Nash Bridges]]''. It was a hit at Friday nights and lasted for five seasons.
* In one of the biggest subversions of this trope (and therefore a pretty biting case of irony), [[The X-Files|the little show that debuted in the 9pm timeslot after Brisco]] went on to enjoy some ''moderate'' success.
** During the three seasons it aired on Friday night, the pre-X-Files timeslot became an elephants' graveyard of failed speculative fiction shows. The aforementioned Brisco County, [[VR 5]], [[Strange Luck]], [[M.A.N.T.I.S.|MANTIS]], and [[Sliders]] all floundered (only Sliders made it to a second season), baffling FOX execs and no doubt informing their future decisions on Friday night sci-fi shows.
*** After [[X Files]] got moved to a more prominent timeslot, the Friday slot of death got taken by [[The Lone Gunmen]]...who got the usual treatment from FOX.
* After SNICK was re-vamped into "SNICK House", ''[[Ka Blam!]]'' got removed from its saturday night timeslot to friday at eight.
** Though seeing as how it was a kids show, and Friday was one of the few nights where kids often got a chance to stay up late, a kids show airing on Fridays is probably the ''best'' you could do for it.
* [[Family Net]] put airings of The Color Honeymooners as the lead-in to their Friday-night line-up (airing at 5 PM Eastern/4 PM Central, as [[Family Net]] considers that time slot as the start of prime time for them) starting in March 2010. [[Family Net]] dropped it in August in favor of Landmarks and The Greats, two really obscure docmentary shows that were about to be taken out of the channel altogether. This duo was replaced in September with additional showings of The New Flipper. That show, in turn, was dropped in October for Chuck Norris' [[World Combat League]].
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*** The original Nicktoons block, with [[Doug]], [[Rugrats]] and [[The Ren and Stimpy Show]] was scheduled on Sunday mornings.
** ''[[iCarly]]'' provides an example of using Friday, when it aired most of the second half of Season 3 in that slot. Its popularity made it an aversion with high ratings. There was one minor failure though. You remember how at the top they explain how the movie studios don't want any competition for Friday? Nick forgot that a certain movie named [[Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows]] came out that day. They still got 5 million though.
* ''[[Fringe]]'' ([[
** Despite very low ratings in the fourth season, it still was renewed for a 13-episode fifth and final season, to the surprise of almost everyone.
* [[Smallville]] managed to survive being here in season 9. Season 10, however, started with the tagline that this is the [[Finale Season|final season]].
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** And in 2011, CN started airing action-oriented programs like ''[[Star Wars: The Clone Wars]]'', ''[[Generator Rex]]'', and ''Thundercats2011'' on Friday night, receiving high ratings.
** On the other hand, ''[[Gundam Seed]]'' played this trope straight when it got shoved to a super-late/early morning Friday/Saturday slot following poor ratings on [[Toonami]]. In exchange, however, the death slot version had fewer edits, with the final two episodes being nearly uncut.
* ''[[Degrassi]]'' has averted this. In season 10 in the U.S., it came on on Fridays at 10 pm.
* In 2011, former ''[[American Idol]]'' judge Kara DioGuardi premiered a new reality/competition series for aspiring songwriters on Monday nights, called ''Platinum Hit''. Midway through the series, amid low ratings and with little advance warning, Bravo threw in the towel -- and moved the series to 8pm Fridays, where it quietly finished its run.
* As of Season 2 in September, ''[[Nikita (TV series)|Nikita]]'' will be in this slot on The CW. It seems to have done well for itself regardless of poor ratings last season, having had a larger episode order and huge fanbase. However, some fans view it as a death sentence.
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