...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!
Friday Night Death Slot
- 466 statements
- 90 feature instances
- 14 referencing feature instances
| Friday Night Death Slot | type |
FeatureClass | |
| Friday Night Death Slot | label |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot | page |
FridayNightDeathSlot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot | comment |
The infamous Friday Night Death Slot is the television equivalent of ritual seppuku in North America, but it varies in a few other countries.note In Israel (where the weekend is Friday and Saturday, and Sunday is a working day), the UK, and Norway, the very best shows are often reserved for Friday nights. This is particularly true of Channel 4 comedies in the UK - the likes of Peep Show and The IT Crowd are always aired on Fridays. However, a UK version of this could be Channel 5, which airs shows that the other channels aren't airing anymore. Viewers, especially those in certain coveted demographics like 18-34 year-olds, just don't watch as much TV on Fridays as on other nights because they're doing other things: hitting the bars, going to a sporting event, going on dinner dates, seeing a movie (see below for why this is especially relevant), or hanging out with friends. Compounding this, the Friday prime-time slot is especially likely to get pre-empted by events like Big Games or Award Shows on local affiliates. Scheduling a show on a Friday - especially early in the evening, such as 8:00 PM Eastern - is the kiss of death. This goes double if the show isn't family friendly, as folks with kids are more likely to stay home on the weekend, or hasn't developed a loyal following. Fridays are thus often reserved for relatively cheap-to-produce content that doesn't require a lot of continuity to understand. That used to mean lots of mid-level half-hour sitcoms (see: The WB's past Friday lineup as well as ABC's 90s TGIF block), reruns, movie airings, shows that the network is neglecting, and in recent years a lot of Reality Shows. Sometimes a network will fill an especially moribund slot with a No-Hoper Repeat of a popular show from a different night. The good news for shows on Friday is that expectations are low and shows can get away with ratings that would get them cancelled on any other weekday. The bad news is that Friday shows often struggle to meet even that lowered bar and have a high turnover rate. A show SURVIVING in a Friday slot is greeted with surprise; when a show is moved to one, fans assume that the network has turned against it. When a show starts in a Friday slot, and not as a "sneak preview" or "special viewing event," it's pretty much assumed to be doomed from the outset. However, there is a certain sweet spot timeframe on Friday where networks actually shoot for viewers- the time when they expect people to be bunkering in at home after a long day. Some shows that air during this desirable period (usually starting around 7:00 PM with a lead-in set of programs, peaking at 8:00 PM with riveting shows laced with comedic wit, getting into more serious, intense, and mature programs into the latter portion of nightfall, and then concluding at 11:00 PM) are of the action or drama genres, which tend to be solid if they can hit all the right notes and can carry the night well when assembled into a block of action programming, especially if it falls under Crime Drama. The opposite of this trope is a Thursday primetime slot, often awarded to the most coveted TV programming. Advertisers realize that American consumers do the majority of their shopping on the weekends, and often on Friday after work, likely because Friday is the typical payday at most workplaces. This means that advertisers are desperate to get their product on the airwaves on Thursday so that it's still on people's minds when they go to the stores on Friday. The better the advertising rates for a timeslot, the more effort goes into the content for that slot. Ironically, ratings data indicates that while Thursday is higher rated than Friday by a wide margin, it still lags behind other weeknights, which can make slotting a show there feel like a Death or Glory Attack, even with an established audience. ABC is particularly familiar with this in the night's 8:00 pm hour, which suffered low ratings and persistent turnover for almost thirty-five years before Grey's Anatomy finally entrenched itself after being moved there from the 9:00 hour in the fall of 2014. A relatively recent development is the vertical integration brought about by the mergers of The '90s and 2000s; this means that the networks' parent MegaCorps now covet that Thursday night advertising for movies from their affiliated film studios that will be released... on Friday. Thus, the networks are forced to maintain a weak Friday lineup to ensure strong box office numbers. Four of the five major American networks have either direct or indirect studio relationships: |
|
| Friday Night Death Slot | fetched |
2024-04-11T20:46:19Z | |
| Friday Night Death Slot | parsed |
2024-04-11T20:46:19Z | |
| Friday Night Death Slot | processingComment |
Dropped link to GameShow: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Friday Night Death Slot | processingComment |
Dropped link to InvisibleAdvertising: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Friday Night Death Slot | processingComment |
Dropped link to NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Friday Night Death Slot | processingComment |
Dropped link to PrettyRhythm: Not an Item - UNKNOWN | |
| Friday Night Death Slot | processingComment |
Dropped link to SoapOpera: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Friday Night Death Slot | processingComment |
Dropped link to ValentinesDayEpisode: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Friday Night Death Slot | processingComment |
Dropped link to WWESmackDown: Not an Item - IGNORE | |
| Friday Night Death Slot | processingComment |
Dropped link to highschool: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Friday Night Death Slot | processingUnknown |
PrettyRhythm | |
| Friday Night Death Slot | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_116de4aa | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_116de4aa | comment |
In 1999, 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 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 9 pm on Friday, the same as the original show, but with absolutely no lead-in to speak of; the network cut back on promoting it in the second half of the season (to the point where some viewers had no idea new episodes were airing). It faded away with little fanfare after one season and would only surface years later in repeats on Sci-Fi Channel. A year later, this pattern would repeat with a remake of The Fugitive. |
|
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_116de4aa | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_116de4aa | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Six Million Dollar Man | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_116de4aa | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_1b5eec6e | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_1b5eec6e | comment |
Sheep in the Big City, an obscure cartoon that aired on Cartoon Network from 2000 to 2002, suffered this quite a lot throughout its run. The first nine episodes aired at 9:30 PM on the "Cartoon Cartoon Friday's" block. However, the last four episodes of the first season were delayed several months to Sunday evenings for no given reason. The show was initially cancelled after the first season because of low ratings. However, it was at the last minute greenlit for a second season, which began airing with the same Sunday evening time slot, later changing to Sundays at 9 PM. Inevitably, the ratings became even worse, and after the second season, the show was gone. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_1b5eec6e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_1b5eec6e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Sheep in the Big City | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_1b5eec6e | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_1d858ce4 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_1d858ce4 | comment |
Dark Angel gave Jessica Alba a career boost (as well as a smaller one to Jensen Ackles) and had good ratings. Then Fox moved it to Fridays. When they canned it, they replaced it with (ironically enough) Firefly. Fans were not pleased, to say the least. Of course, the show's Second Season Downfall didn't help matters either. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_1d858ce4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_1d858ce4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Dark Angel | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_1d858ce4 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_1e511d6f | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_1e511d6f | comment |
The Tom Bergeron-era episodes of America's Funniest Home Videos initially aired on Friday nights on ABC, but apparently did well enough for the show to be moved back to its old Sundays at 7 p.m. timeslot. It's thrived there ever since. Given that the show was effectively treated as cheap filler by the network after Bob Saget left, the fact that its comeback came in a death slot is extremely impressive! Tom did poke some fun at its timeslot on one Valentine's Day Episode, noting that if you were at home watching TV on a Friday night, then your romantic plans must have fallen through. |
|
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_1e511d6f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_1e511d6f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| America's Funniest Home Videos | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_1e511d6f | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_222c2051 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_222c2051 | comment |
Chuck, a fan-favorite which constantly wavered back and forth on the edge of cancellation each year since the '07-'08 Writer's Strike, received this treatment for its final (2011-12) season, along with a 13-episode order. However, it was justified by executives as being done only because the fan campaign that saved it (during its third season) didn't translate into viewers. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_222c2051 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_222c2051 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Chuck | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_222c2051 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_223e261f | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_223e261f | comment |
The end of the 2016-17 season saw the cancellation of Dr. Ken, and more prominently, ABC dropping Last Man Standing due to production costs. For the following season, ABC experimented with scheduling dramas on Friday instead, with a Post-Script Season of Once Upon a Time, while 9:00 p.m. would be the Marvel Hour, with the new series Inhumans, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. moving in for midseason. Inhumans was a critical failure and got cancelled. ABC revived the TGIF brand for the 2018-19 season, with Fresh Off the Boat and Speechless moving in alongside the Game Show Child Support. Speechless would get canned the next year, and American Housewife took its place. Fresh Off the Boat would meet the same fate on February 2020, (barely) surviving one full season on Friday nights, but American Housewife surprisingly managed to retain pretty decent ratings and was ultimately spared, moving back to Wednesday nights mid-season as the network appears to have ended its latest attempt at a TGIF revival. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_223e261f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_223e261f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Dr. Ken | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_223e261f | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_2250e67e | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_2250e67e | comment |
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. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_2250e67e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_2250e67e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Star Trek: Enterprise | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_2250e67e | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_2268de37 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_2268de37 | comment |
Grimm on NBC, which started in the Death Slot but moved to Mondays for its second season, then back to Fridays, again. It still did moderately well for an NBC show, even with the timeslot, and was renewed for its sixth and final 13-episode season in 2016-17. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_2268de37 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_2268de37 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Grimm | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_2268de37 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_230f9515 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_230f9515 | comment |
The return of Smash quickly circled the ratings drain in Season 2, so NBC announced in March 2013 that the remaining episodes would air on Saturdays rather than Tuesdays starting in April. The Onion's A.V. Club joked that the announcement not admitting that the show would be cancelled - and it was, come that May - was the television equivalent of parents claiming their kid's dog is being sent off to a farm to live out its days when it's actually being put to sleep. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_230f9515 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_230f9515 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Smash | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_230f9515 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_23188b61 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_23188b61 | comment |
Party Down aired on Friday nights at 10PM on the premium cable channel Starz. Although it gained glowing reviews and a devoted fanbase, that wasn't enough to save the series from getting cancelled, only lasting for two seasons (20 episodes in total). | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_23188b61 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_23188b61 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Party Down | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_23188b61 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_25305527 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_25305527 | comment |
Speaking of CN, the English dubs of a couple of .hack anime, Legend of the Twilight and Roots, aired at 5 AM EST when they were new. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_25305527 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_25305527 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| .hack (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_25305527 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_2675e30b | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_2675e30b | comment |
While LMS did well after switching to Friday nights, every show that was placed in the slot after it wound up getting cancelled. The streak was finally broken when Dr. Ken lasted the entire 2015-16 season and was renewed for a second season. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_2675e30b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_2675e30b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Malibu Country | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_2675e30b | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_28fe1376 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_28fe1376 | comment |
Fringe is one of the few series that survived the move to the Death Slot. Moved there in the middle of its third season from a prime Thursday night slot, the show continued to retain a core set of dedicated viewers passionate about the show. As the show was written with a definitive end, the vigor of the fans and that of Fox's Kevin Reilly (vice president at programming at the time) helped to ensure the show completed its story even with a shortened 5th season, reaching the magic number of 100 episodes for syndication rights. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_28fe1376 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_28fe1376 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Fringe | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_28fe1376 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_2b05167 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_2b05167 | comment |
Alien Nation got through a single season before it was canceled by Fox, though it wasn't caused by their Friday timeslot so much as it was the network's lack of funds from advertising revenue, causing them to ax all of their dramatic shows. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_2b05167 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_2b05167 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Alien Nation | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_2b05167 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_31ca9925 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_31ca9925 | comment |
Falcon Crest, which, as stated above, was part of CBS' Friday lineup from 1981-90 (after The Dukes of Hazzard ended in 1985, other shows preceded it and Dallas on Fridays, such as The Twilight Zone (1985) and Scarecrow and Mrs. King). | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_31ca9925 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_31ca9925 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Dukes of Hazzard | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_31ca9925 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_32c217c7 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_32c217c7 | comment |
Live PD aired on Friday nights on A&E to great success when it premiered in October 2016. Until it was cancelled and subsequently pulled from rotation in mid-2020 due to being distanced from the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests, it frequently ranked as the top-rated show on cable on Friday nights, except during special sporting events. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_32c217c7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_32c217c7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Live PD | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_32c217c7 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3558eaa2 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3558eaa2 | comment |
After being renewed for a fourth season of only 13 episodes, Community was moved to 8:30 on Fridays in what was presumed to be its final season. Along with the studio-mandated ouster of series creator/showrunner Dan Harmon and several other prominent staff quitting, the resulting fan backlash may have been what motivated NBC to push Community's premiere into 2013 with a more favorable Thursday night slot and eventually renew it for a 5th season (along with the return of Harmon). | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3558eaa2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3558eaa2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Community | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_3558eaa2 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_36151c14 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_36151c14 | comment |
Hawaii Five-0 was moved to Friday for its fourth season after previously airing on Mondays. The ratings were actually an improvement from its previous season, and the show has remained part of CBS' Friday night schedule, until its tenth and final season in April 2020. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_36151c14 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_36151c14 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Hawaii Five-0 | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_36151c14 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3626dc6d | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3626dc6d | comment |
Nikita held this slot from its second season onward. However, it did well enough to last through four seasons before ending. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3626dc6d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3626dc6d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Nikita | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_3626dc6d | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_378000d8 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_378000d8 | comment |
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, which was averaging 8-9 million viewers on Sunday nights, was moved to Friday nights in the middle of Season 9. The ratings dropped to 5 million viewers and the show was cancelled at the end of that season, though it at least got a proper Series Finale. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_378000d8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_378000d8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Extreme Makeover: Home Edition | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_378000d8 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_38839b68 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_38839b68 | comment |
Both Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? and Don't Forget the Lyrics! aired on Friday nights during the 2008–09 season, and were later moved to Syndication for the 2009–10 season (with the latter show returning in September 2010); both shows were ultimately canceled by their syndicators in early 2011. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_38839b68 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_38839b68 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_38839b68 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3bbb1a1b | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3bbb1a1b | comment |
Carlton Cuse averted the Friday night curse with Nash Bridges. It was a hit on Friday nights and lasted for five seasons. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3bbb1a1b | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3bbb1a1b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Nash Bridges | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_3bbb1a1b | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3c4b953d | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3c4b953d | comment |
Boston Public was moved to a Friday timeslot for its fourth season, and was quickly canceled mid-season, leaving two unaired episodes left to debut in reruns on cable. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3c4b953d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3c4b953d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Boston Public | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_3c4b953d | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3c88ab29 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3c88ab29 | comment |
Raines, a surprisingly good, somewhat subversive, more than a little weird Police Procedural about a homicide detective who may or may not be seeing the ghosts of his latest assignments. The show was bumped from a prime Thursday night slot to Fridays at 9:00 Eastern after just two episodes. It quickly dropped from the #23 highest-ranked show to #63 and only five more episodes were aired before it was quietly cancelled. Despite being put next to Las Vegas in the lineup. Of course, it was also a midseason replacement, which never really bodes well for a series' longevity. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3c88ab29 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3c88ab29 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Raines | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_3c88ab29 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3e77214f | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3e77214f | comment |
Selfie was but in the Tuesday Death Slot. Despite the fact that it received very good reviews, an All-Star Cast and was the most popular of the three romantic sitcoms ABC pumped out that season, it (along with the other two rom-coms) was cancelled after season one. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3e77214f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3e77214f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Selfie | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_3e77214f | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3f047e59 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3f047e59 | comment |
Our Miss Brooks was an early aversion, a hit show airing on Fridays at 9:30 pm. It helped that it was The '50s, and also that Our Miss Brooks had been a hit on CBS Radio's Sunday Night lineup for at least four years prior to the show also airing on television. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3f047e59 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_3f047e59 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Our Miss Brooks | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_3f047e59 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_43576f5 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_43576f5 | comment |
Supernatural managed to survive the death slot not once, but twice at 9:00 pm. This was during Seasons 6 and 7. For Season 8 onward, the show's airing slot alternated between Wednesdays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays before settling on Mondays, where it will air its Grand Finale. Considering the show's liberal use of Back from the Dead, this seems appropriate. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_43576f5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_43576f5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Supernatural | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_43576f5 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_4540b0b2 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_4540b0b2 | comment |
Spider-Man: The New Animated Series was aired on MTV's Friday night slot. This seriously limited the audience, since younger kids were more likely to be watching the programming on Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, and older teens were usually out doing stuff on Friday nights. The show only had one season despite the massive popularity of the movies, and even worse, ended on a cliffhanger. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_4540b0b2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_4540b0b2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Spider-Man: The New Animated Series | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_4540b0b2 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_49c05a1a | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_49c05a1a | comment |
Quite possibly the reason The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss only lasted two seasons on Nickelodeon between 1996 and 1998. The show's first time slot was 8:00 P.M. Sunday nights. Its second? On Nick Jr. at 11:00 starting in October 1997, when the target audience would be in school. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_49c05a1a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_49c05a1a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_49c05a1a | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_4b356e7c | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_4b356e7c | comment |
The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. creator Carlton Cuse (later executive producer of Lost) specifically blames this for the show's demise. However, this is a strange example - the pilot movie was so popular, the network actually ordered additional episodes. Cuse blamed the flawed rating 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. Amusingly, the show Fox scheduled trying to get a residual audience from Brisco County Jr. is listed in the "Aversions" folder. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_4b356e7c | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_4b356e7c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_4b356e7c | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_4d70297 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_4d70297 | comment |
Chico and the Man was successful in part because it followed Sanford and Son on the schedule. However, after losing both co-star Freddie Prinze (who committed suicide shorty before the end of the third season) and it’s lead in, the ratings dropped tremendously and was canceled during the final season. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_4d70297 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_4d70297 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Chico and the Man | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_4d70297 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_4e45b093 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_4e45b093 | comment |
British channel E4 trumpets Thursday nights as its strongest night of the week, using it for premieres and first showings of imported American sitcoms such as The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother and New Girl. Coincidentally, the ad breaks are chocka with movie trailers. Fridays, by comparison, are a bit weak. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_4e45b093 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_4e45b093 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Big Bang Theory | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_4e45b093 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_564871a | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_564871a | comment |
Blue Bloods has averted this since its premiere, barely cracking the top ten for its sixth season. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_564871a | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_564871a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Blue Bloods | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_564871a | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_5aa392c7 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_5aa392c7 | comment |
Ghost Whisperer aired on Fridays for its entire successful five-season run all on CBS. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_5aa392c7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_5aa392c7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Ghost Whisperer | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_5aa392c7 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_5ae0bec6 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_5ae0bec6 | comment |
WWE Friday Night Smackdown was a very successful aversion, to such a point where episodes had bumpers bragging about how viewed their show is, and an advertising campaign talking about how they're "changing Friday nights". After failing to hit the same numbers on MyNetworkTV, it averted this once more when it moved to Syfy and became one of its most popular shows. The series later aired on Tuesdays on USA Network between 2016 and 2019, after which it would move to a Friday night timeslot on Fox in October of the latter year. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_5ae0bec6 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_5ae0bec6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| WWE (Wrestling) | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_5ae0bec6 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_5dcadbfc | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_5dcadbfc | comment |
FreakyLinks was a paranormal drama where a man ran his own website, which chronicled strange urban legends and the circumstances behind his brother's death. The show began airing on Fridays and was canceled midway through the season due to low ratings. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_5dcadbfc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_5dcadbfc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| FreakyLinks | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_5dcadbfc | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_66ac7b33 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_66ac7b33 | comment |
Moonlight (2007) is an especially weird case, as it was getting a good 8 million viewers on its Friday slot when CBS cancelled it. It was unfortunate enough to have been canned right before Twilight triggered a massive vampire fad. CBS must still be kicking themselves. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_66ac7b33 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_66ac7b33 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Moonlight (2007) | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_66ac7b33 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_691be369 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_691be369 | comment |
In one of the biggest aversions of this trope (and therefore a pretty biting case of irony), The X-Files (the "little" show that debuted in the 9 PM timeslot after The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.) went on to enjoy massive success. During the three seasons it aired on Friday night, the pre-X-Files timeslot became an elephants' graveyard of failed speculative fiction shows, such as Brisco County, VR.5, Strange Luck, M.A.N.T.I.S., and Sliders, only the last of which made it to a second season, baffling FOX execs and no doubt informing their future decisions on Friday night sci-fi shows. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_691be369 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_691be369 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The X-Files | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_691be369 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_6fe4666f | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_6fe4666f | comment |
Despite having a large number of well-known characters and a fast-paced narrative, the action/drama series Fastlane was canceled midway through its Friday run due to skyrocketing costs for each episode (more than $2.6 million per episode)., and ended on a cliffhanger. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_6fe4666f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_6fe4666f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Fastlane | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_6fe4666f | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_70814599 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_70814599 | comment |
Stargate SG-1 held the Friday at 8 PM slot for most of its run, and the Friday night shows (SG-1, Stargate Atlantis and Battlestar Galactica (2003)) came to be known as the Power Block. In fact, when both Atlantis and Galactica were moved from their Friday timeslots, fans complained that they wouldn't get as many viewers. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_70814599 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_70814599 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Stargate SG-1 | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_70814599 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_724e7b62 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_724e7b62 | comment |
Antena 3, Spain's second biggest network, tends to use Thursday nights as its particular death slot, largely due to having given up on competing against rival Telecinco's highly-rated reality shows (and also against TVE's Cuéntame Cómo Pasó when there is a season going on). As such, Antena 3's Thursday prime time is usually filled with second-rate movies, foreign shows they bought but don't really have much faith in (such as Roots or Rush Hour — the latter of which performed so badly on the death slot it was pulled off the schedule after airing only two episodes, in the summer season), or original series that have underperformed on other days of the week, but for whatever reason they still want to finish airing (such as 45 RPM, whose streaming rights had already been sold off to Netflix). | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_724e7b62 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_724e7b62 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Cuéntame Cómo Pasó | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_724e7b62 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_75e85024 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_75e85024 | comment |
Around April 2016, Challenge started to air The Chase Australia, promoting it heavily as it featured Anne Hegerty, one of the Chasers from the British version (Whilst advertising it and making it look like she was the ONLY Chaser). Like Hot Seat, it started at a 9 PM time slot, then after a few weeks, it moved down to a 7 PM time slot. A couple of weeks after that, it was pushed to a 2 AM time slot, with the daytime repeats cancelled. To add insult to injury, the remaining episodes that aired in the 2 AM time slot still had the 'New to' wordmark above the Challenge logo. By comparison, the British series is repeated quite frequently, and the US series usually airs after the UK series has run its current selection of episodes. As of mid-June 2016, it's been replaced with repeats of the British version (Whilst still using the 'New to' wording). | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_75e85024 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_75e85024 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| TheChase | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_75e85024 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_77ba7f66 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_77ba7f66 | comment |
In a related phenomenon, the timeslot after its popular game show Wipeout was a revolving door of one-season wonders left unrenewed, including Crash Course (a game show based around driving stunts and challenges, which was canned after three episodes), Downfall (a quiz show with Chris Jericho that dropped prizes over the edge of a building on a conveyor), 101 Ways to Leave a Game Show, Trust Us with Your Life, and Rising Star. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_77ba7f66 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_77ba7f66 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Wipeout (2008) | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_77ba7f66 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_7ad62e34 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_7ad62e34 | comment |
FamilyNet 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 FamilyNet considers that time slot as the start of prime time for them) starting in March 2010. They dropped it in August in favor of Landmarks and The Greats, two really obscure documentary 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. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_7ad62e34 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_7ad62e34 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Honeymooners | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_7ad62e34 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_7b6c4921 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_7b6c4921 | comment |
Degrassi. In seasons 10 and 12 in the U.S., it came on Fridays at 10 PM and did reasonably well. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_7b6c4921 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_7b6c4921 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Degrassi: The Next Generation | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_7b6c4921 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_7d122312 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_7d122312 | comment |
The Flintstones aired on Fridays during its first three seasons to great success, moving to Thursdays for the fourth and the first half of the fifth season. It moved back to Fridays for the rest of the run, but its eventual cancellation had more to do with The Great Gazoo than with the time slot. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_7d122312 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_7d122312 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Flintstones | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_7d122312 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_88335d6f | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_88335d6f | comment |
When Pig Goat Banana Cricket aired its final three episodes on Nicktoons in August 2018, they were placed in the extremely awkward time slot of 4:30-5:15AM, so people without a DVR that worked or a willingness to head to copyright infringement streaming sites were unlucky. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_88335d6f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_88335d6f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Pig Goat Banana Cricket | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_88335d6f | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_8a3d3df6 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_8a3d3df6 | comment |
Wonderfalls. Three of its first (and only) four weeks on Fox, it was slotted in the 8 PM Friday slot. It wasn't as family-friendly as its competitor, Joan of Arcadia, was and died fast. However, it did well on cable as well, when LGBT-friendly Logo aired it. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_8a3d3df6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_8a3d3df6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Wonderfalls | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_8a3d3df6 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_8d7f29ec | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_8d7f29ec | comment |
Glee was moved to Fridays at 9 pm for its sixth and final season, which also got cut to 13 episodes. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_8d7f29ec | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_8d7f29ec | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Glee | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_8d7f29ec | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_8d801f22 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_8d801f22 | comment |
jPod only lasted 13 episodes on CBC in early 2008 despite rave reviews due to a low viewership that was exacerbated by CBC moving it to Fridays halfway through the run. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_8d801f22 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_8d801f22 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| jPod | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_8d801f22 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_8e0312e6 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_8e0312e6 | comment |
RuPaul's Drag Race is an interesting example, since Friday night isn't a death slot for the show itself, but for gay bars. You see, many bars host Drag Race viewing parties and might have a drag show of their own afterwards. These events provide much-needed revenue on slow weeknights. When VH1 moved Drag Race to Fridays, it was seen as redundant by bar owners since people go out on Friday night anyway. The backlash led to the show getting moved back to Thursdays. In 2021, Season 13 was moved back to Friday nights, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, people aren't going out anyway. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_8e0312e6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_8e0312e6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| RuPaul's Drag Race | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_8e0312e6 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_9a7088bc | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_9a7088bc | comment |
Star Trek: The Original Series survived being moved to an 8:30 Friday night timeslot for its second season thanks to a letter-writing campaign (following a short-lived sitcom Accidental Marriage, then a primetime edition of The Hollywood Squares), but could not survive being moved to 10:00 on Fridays for its third season, where its slashed budget (due to lower ad rates and higher salaries for the stars) prompted the departures of most of the series' writers. Gene Roddenberry resigned as line producer since he could see the writing on the wall. Its success in syndication would leave NBC regretting losing such a Cash-Cow Franchise, which due to mergers and acquisitions is now owned by rival CBS (with Paramount retaining film rights). | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_9a7088bc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_9a7088bc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Star Trek: The Original Series | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_9a7088bc | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_9f1766e4 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_9f1766e4 | comment |
The Brady Bunch lasted its whole five-season run on Friday night and did decently ratings-wise. It only got the boot in 1974 against Sanford and Son. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_9f1766e4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_9f1766e4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Brady Bunch | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_9f1766e4 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_a3325757 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_a3325757 | comment |
After being renewed for a second season, Touch (2012) was moved to a Friday night slot and intended to air its season premiere in October 2012. The premiere was then pushed to February of the next year, and coupled with the weak timeslot and next-to-no advertising, the show died a quick death. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_a3325757 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_a3325757 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Touch (2012) | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_a3325757 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_a346e791 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_a346e791 | comment |
NUMB3RS managed to last six whole seasons on Friday nights before CBS ended it. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_a346e791 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_a346e791 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| NUMB3RS | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_a346e791 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_a947ca1d | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_a947ca1d | comment |
Joan of Arcadia, despite surviving longer than Wonderfalls, got the boot not long after, failing to be renewed for a third season even though it was relatively popular and critically-acclaimed. Aired at 8 PM Fridays on CBS. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_a947ca1d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_a947ca1d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Joan of Arcadia | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_a947ca1d | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_a9c57bd | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_a9c57bd | comment |
For one-and-a-half years, The Greatest American Hero built up a reasonably good audience and rating on Wednesday nights. For its third season, ABC threw it and another Stephen J. Cannell show, The Quest, away via a Friday timeslot, not even airing the show's last four episodes. Cannell's previous show Tenspeed and Brown Shoe saw the final few episodes of its single season burnt off on Fridays, in June, even though its initial ratings on Sunday nights were good enough to put the show in the Top 30 for the season — and it was a mid-season replacement! |
|
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_a9c57bd | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_a9c57bd | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Greatest American Hero | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_a9c57bd | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_ab42c63a | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_ab42c63a | comment |
Get Smart wound up being Uncanceled after four seasons on NBC as a Saturday night entry. Then CBS aired it on Fridays at 7:30... | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_ab42c63a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_ab42c63a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Get Smart | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_ab42c63a | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_ae3eb4b8 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_ae3eb4b8 | comment |
Despite critical raves and an audience whose demographics would have today guaranteed its survival, ABC did everything they could to kill Max Headroom, the alleged reason being that the show's Biting-the-Hand Humor infuriated the network executives and advertisers. When putting it against Dallas and Miami Vice failed, they shuffled it into the Death Slot, which worked. The circumstances behind the show's cancellation are still seen as scandalous by science-fiction fans. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_ae3eb4b8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_ae3eb4b8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Max Headroom | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_ae3eb4b8 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_b2bf1826 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_b2bf1826 | comment |
Touched by an Angel was initially aired on Saturday nights before a campaign by viewers resulted in it being moved to Sundays (where CBS has long reigned in the ratings). Upon being moved back to Saturdays in its 8th season, ratings promptly dropped yet again, and the show's 9th season was its last. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_b2bf1826 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_b2bf1826 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Touched by an Angel | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_b2bf1826 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_b5a03cec | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_b5a03cec | comment |
Anime like Robotech, the Ocean dub of Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon and the first 40 episodes of Pokémon: The Series note Only some networks did this, as most aired it between 7:00AM and 8:30AM. were shown in these timeslots, as most networks did not see potential in these shows because they were different from other cartoons at the time. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_b5a03cec | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_b5a03cec | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Robotech | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_b5a03cec | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_b975458d | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_b975458d | comment |
The 2017 reboot of Dynasty moved from Wednesdays to Fridays midway through its first season, where it remained for the rest of its run. It also became spring/summer filler for seasons four and five, even as the network kept ordering 22-episode seasons, an increasing rarity for any of its programs in this era. Like Charmed, its cancellation was announced in spring 2022. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_b975458d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_b975458d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Dynasty (2017) | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_b975458d | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_b9c5943b | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_b9c5943b | comment |
Cannell's previous show Tenspeed and Brown Shoe saw the final few episodes of its single season burnt off on Fridays, in June, even though its initial ratings on Sunday nights were good enough to put the show in the Top 30 for the season — and it was a mid-season replacement! | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_b9c5943b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_b9c5943b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Tenspeed and Brown Shoe | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_b9c5943b | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_bb3c278e | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_bb3c278e | comment |
The Australian series The Late Show (1992) (think Saturday Night Live with no budget) - it was put on at 9.00 on a Saturday, where most of its intended audience would have gone out. However, it became very popular with parents who had to stay home to look after their children, and so lasted two seasons. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_bb3c278e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_bb3c278e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Late Show (1992) | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_bb3c278e | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_bc3e398b | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_bc3e398b | comment |
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: 2007-08 season: on Monday nights. 2008-09 season: moved to Friday nights. 2009-10 season: Terminated. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_bc3e398b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_bc3e398b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_bc3e398b | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c218b3f7 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c218b3f7 | comment |
The 1995 two-week syndicated run of The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth aired on most TV stations at 6:00AM. This was averted for the Nickelodeon versions of this run in 1995 and 1996, which played at 1:00PM 7 days a week. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c218b3f7 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c218b3f7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_c218b3f7 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c25b1f2f | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c25b1f2f | comment |
Friday Night Lights, which from the beginning had fans saying that given the title, airing on Fridays seemed completely natural for it rather than its original Wednesday slot. Starting in the second season it did run on Fridays, which was met with widespread approval (plus a wonderful Narm-y tagline: "''Friday Night Lights'', finally on Fridays! This Friday on NBC.") Despite low ratings for its entire run, the show ran five seasons. The move to Fridays created a unique problem for NBC. Given that the subject matter was High School football, the episodes had to be timed so that they would not conflict with the actual football season. Meanwhile, DirecTV aired the episodes early, during football season, causing a Short Run in Peru within the same market. |
|
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c25b1f2f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c25b1f2f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Lights | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_c25b1f2f | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c37e7a28 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c37e7a28 | comment |
Poor Emerald City. It didn't help that it went through Development Hell and was cancelled in production before it came back, but it was saddled with the infamous slot, causing its ratings to be crappy. The result? Cancellation after ten episodes. The ever-growing fanbase are calling for the show to be moved to Netflix or another streaming service and some are even calling for a second season to be made as the show was cancelled on a cliffhanger. Even Ana Ularu, one of the actors of the show, would be happy for a second season. Sadly, we may never know of the show's fate, but it might as well be dead for good. Shame. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c37e7a28 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c37e7a28 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Emerald City | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_c37e7a28 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c43df4d8 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c43df4d8 | comment |
The block went through a slump when the network separated SG-1 and Galactica, canceled the former, moved the latter to Sundays, gave Doctor Who away to BBC America, and built as much fan animosity as when they canceled Farscape. Sci-Fi Friday has since recovered with the highly-rated Eureka and Un-Cancellation of Merlin. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c43df4d8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c43df4d8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Doctor Who | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_c43df4d8 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c4f9442f | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c4f9442f | comment |
Here Come the Brides was moved from Wednesday to Friday night during its second season, and many ABC stations wouldn't even broadcast it. As a result, its popularity plummeted, and it was cancelled at the end of the season. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c4f9442f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c4f9442f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Here Come the Brides | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_c4f9442f | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c7cca04f | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c7cca04f | comment |
Pushing Daisies was moved to Fridays after being Un-Canceled. It died another swift death shortly thereafter. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c7cca04f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_c7cca04f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Pushing Daisies | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_c7cca04f | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_ca03e3a5 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_ca03e3a5 | comment |
The second season of The Mole played this straight and averted it. The show not only got the Friday Night Death Slot, it aired only two weeks after 9/11, a time when most people were decidedly not in the mood to watch a cutthroat reality show. Three episodes of bad ratings later, the show was put on hiatus by ABC, and didn't re-air until the following summer, where it competed in its time slot against the first season of American Idol. Only due to good word of mouth and a loyal fanbase was the show not completely crushed. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_ca03e3a5 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_ca03e3a5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Mole | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_ca03e3a5 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_d3d31349 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_d3d31349 | comment |
Season 2 of the Tim Allen sitcom Last Man Standing was moved to Fridays from the original Tuesday slot, but the ratings improved from the tail end of Season 1 and stayed stable. ABC ordered five more episodes for Season 2 (bringing the total to 18) and renewed it for another season. The show managed to last for four more seasons on ABC, seeing peak ratings during the fourth and fifth seasons, before the network cancelled it. The next year Fox picked it up due to its strong ratings and scheduled it to continue in its 8 pm Friday time-slot. Having a lead that appeals to families (an audience ABC has thrived with on Fridays) helped. While LMS did well after switching to Friday nights, every show that was placed in the slot after it wound up getting cancelled. The streak was finally broken when Dr. Ken lasted the entire 2015-16 season and was renewed for a second season. |
|
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_d3d31349 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_d3d31349 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Last Man Standing | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_d3d31349 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_de48ce05 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_de48ce05 | comment |
The Happy Tree Friends television series lasted just 13 episodes, thanks to G4TV airing it at midnight on Monday nights. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_de48ce05 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_de48ce05 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Happy Tree Friends (Web Animation) | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_de48ce05 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_e036ebd3 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_e036ebd3 | comment |
Happy Endings was moved to this slot in its third season. Within a week of the move becoming official, it was reported the producers have been shopping around for a new network to air the show in the event that ABC cancels it. However, the ratings, already unacceptable by nearly any broadcast standard, dropped to such microscopic levels that when ABC did cancel it, no one would touch it (despite supposed interest from USA Network). | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_e036ebd3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_e036ebd3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Happy Endings | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_e036ebd3 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_e56b20ba | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_e56b20ba | comment |
Christianity-based shows usually get this timeslot if aired on networks not specifically catered to Christians. In the 1980s, reruns of Davey and Goliath aired during this timeframe, and in the 1990s, Adventures in Odyssey got this slot. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_e56b20ba | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_e56b20ba | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Davey and Goliath | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_e56b20ba | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_e6f01329 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_e6f01329 | comment |
The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin suffered from this timeslot on most stations that aired it, airing as early as 4:00 AM. This was probably one of the factors that lead to the franchise losing its' popularity. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_e6f01329 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_e6f01329 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_e6f01329 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_e7e37776 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_e7e37776 | comment |
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. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_e7e37776 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_e7e37776 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Firefly | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_e7e37776 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_e9e6d319 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_e9e6d319 | comment |
The Name's The Same, a Game Show that held a 7:30 Monday slot since it was Un-Canceled 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. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_e9e6d319 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_e9e6d319 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Name's The Same | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_e9e6d319 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_edac271f | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_edac271f | comment |
In 2011, former American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi premiered a new Bravo 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 8 pm Fridays, where it quietly finished its run. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_edac271f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_edac271f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| American Idol | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_edac271f | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_ef894e37 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_ef894e37 | comment |
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend survived its move from Mondays to Fridays in its second season, ultimately finishing with a four-season run. That said, it was an Acclaimed Flop and was among the lowest-rated shows to run that long. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_ef894e37 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_ef894e37 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Crazy Ex-Girlfriend | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_ef894e37 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f0272719 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f0272719 | comment |
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. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f0272719 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f0272719 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_f0272719 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f15f622e | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f15f622e | comment |
Aside from MacGyver (1985), successfully filling MNF's pre-game/post-game slot was an ongoing problem for ABC starting when the series began in 1970. This was largely due to the fact the network couldn't get many of their affiliates to carry the program they aired before or after the game. In its place, a number of these stations would run local sports programs for whatever college football team was popular in their part of the country while others would run syndicated game shows, reruns, or old movies. Also, the fact games sometimes ran long further discouraged some of ABC's stations in the Pacific and Mountain Time Zones from running the network's show after the game since doing so might end up bumping into the slot set aside for their local news broadcasts at 10 or 11 p.m. What this all meant is a series set to begin either before or after MNF was going to have significantly fewer affiliates airing it than any other show on ABC's schedule. That, in turn, meant fewer viewers and all-but-guaranteed low ratings thereby dooming the series from the beginning. That's why eventually ABC began using the slot to kill off shows that were either ailing in the ratings or they just didn't like. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f15f622e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f15f622e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| MacGyver (1985) | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_f15f622e | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f2046514 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f2046514 | comment |
The 2018 reboot of Charmed was shunted to Fridays for its second season, but was still able to procure a third season early renewal that also would see the network move the reboot back to its original Sunday slot for the 2020-21 midseason, where it stayed until being canceled in spring 2022. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f2046514 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f2046514 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Charmed (2018) | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_f2046514 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f3a97649 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f3a97649 | comment |
The Jim Henson Hour, Jim Henson's take on Walt Disney Presents, spent its first four weeks on Friday nights at 8:00pm in the Spring of 1989. This, along with Executive Meddling that resulted in a confusing show structure, led to extremely low ratings. NBC attempted to move the show to Sunday nights as a replacement for the series Spoony Spoon. The ratings for Henson Hour proved to be even lower for its fifth episode, and was quickly cancelled. NBC agreed to burn off the remaining episodes over the Summer, but only aired four of the remaining seven. An earlier attempt at promoting the series via a crossover with The Cosby Show proved to be pointless, as the Cosby appearance didn't air until a year after the cancellation of Henson Hour. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f3a97649 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f3a97649 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Jim Henson Hour | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_f3a97649 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f597f2d1 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f597f2d1 | comment |
Made in Jersey was cancelled after its second episode, after flopping in a New York-themed Friday programming block with Blue Bloods and CSI: NY on CBS. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f597f2d1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f597f2d1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Made In Jersey | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_f597f2d1 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f5d65e29 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f5d65e29 | comment |
Beauty and the Beast was an aversion for the first two seasons, and was only cut short by Executive Meddling and Linda Hamilton getting written out. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f5d65e29 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f5d65e29 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Beauty and the Beast (1987) | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_f5d65e29 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f693295f | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f693295f | comment |
A year later, this pattern would repeat with a remake of The Fugitive. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f693295f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f693295f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Fugitive | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_f693295f | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f8a7362 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f8a7362 | comment |
Midnight Caller was moved here in its third season, since its rival thirtysomething was beating it in demographics. It never recovered and wasn't renewed for a fourth. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f8a7362 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_f8a7362 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Midnight Caller | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_f8a7362 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_fff7f42 | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_fff7f42 | comment |
Similarly, Mega Man: Fully Charged was stuffed in a 6:30 slot on Sunday/Saturday mornings, and rarely, if ever, got any reruns. | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_fff7f42 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Friday Night Death Slot / int_fff7f42 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Mega Man: Fully Charged | hasFeature |
Friday Night Death Slot / int_fff7f42 |
The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.
| Friday Night Death Slot | processingCategory2 |
Creativity Leash | |
| Friday Night Death Slot | processingCategory2 |
Trivia | |
| ANSIStandardBroadcastTVSchedule | seeAlso |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| DollHouse | seeAlso |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Fastlane | seeAlso |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| SportsPreemption | seeAlso |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| UPN | seeAlso |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| YouAreHere | seeAlso |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| ptitlelxzn08ak | seeAlso |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Players / int_231cd9fe | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| The Ultimate Fighter / int_231cd9fe | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| 30 Rock / int_231cd9fe | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| Mic The Snare (Web Video) / int_231cd9fe | type |
Friday Night Death Slot | |
| fridaynightdeathslot | sameAs |
Friday Night Death Slot |
Copyright of DBTropes.org wrapper 2009-2013 DFKI Knowledge Management. Imprint. - Thanks to Bakken&Baeck for hosting. Contact.
Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.