A few notes on this data:
-- This was year three of the Cosby off-network strip. Most reruns show some ratings erosion after predominantly the same episodes are running in roughly the same time period for four or five cycles.
-- In many cases, the exorbitant license fees they were paying on a weekly basis prevented stations from moving it or even downgrading it, so while to Viacom the contributions to national ratings were still higher than they might have been on a weaker competitor, to the licensor they were not just disappointing they were underperforming expectations.
-- Viacom did a masterful job of creating a false perception that as they did on NBC audiences previously not watching any TV would add to the viewing pool in reruns. They also convinced network affiliates in top 50 markets that the show could improve local news ratings by showing how the NBC episodes were watched by a large proportion of folks who watched early and late local news.
Without getting too deep in the weeds with research detail, suffice to say a show that airs in prime time is that much more likely to have common viewership with something that airs at 6 or 11 than a show that runs in the afternoon--where many of those large market "Big Three" stations were forced to program it as they were enjoined at the time from programming off-network reruns in prime access.
-- Stations like WWOR and WGN which used the show in a fringe/access block as part of a sitcom block strategy saw better returns because more halo effect occurred within the genre vs., say, local news. But, again, at the prices they paid and the fact that they were billed on a weekly basis, making amorization a virtual impossibility, it was a loss leader.
-- The syndex exclusivity issues that were mentioned were not a result of superstation licensing of this show in particular. Viacom was upfront in all of their negotiations that no distant signal blackout would be enforced because they were selling national time and the superstations were crucial to optimizing their own sales efforts. Many station groups didn't bother reading the fine print. Not to brag, but my colleagues at WTTG Washington absolutely did and brought it to our attention. We never ran the show directly against either WWOR or WGN and our results vs. projections were far better than others'.
As many of you have accurately noted, 1990 was an especially tumultuous year in syndication. On top of all of the first-run game show disappointments, there was a flood of other sitcom reruns that hit the market at the same time, most of them being sold by the newly merger Warner Brothers-Lorimar-Telepictures. . IIRC, ALF, PERFECT STRANGERS, HEAD OF THE CLASS and THE HOGAN FAMILY also debuted that fall, and FULL HOUSE, which was perceived as a true winner, was set to follow it the following fall. If you wanted the hit, you often had to take several of the others. (That leveraging strategy was also applied to courtroom shows and TRUMP CARD when necessary).
PERSONALITIES was a compliment to A CURRENT AFFAIR that was also an internal response within FOX to have something somewhat less "tabloidy" and Los Angeles-centric versus what was still being mocked even in success as "the video New York Post". The owned-and-operateds were ordered to at least start it out adjacent to ACA. It was a pale imitation in every sense of the word. Soon after I was let go, the stations were able to point to terrible ratings and quickly went back to comedy lead-in.
I know we've gotten way off topic, but suffice to say yet again this is an example that rich people often did dumb things.
