Network Superiority

Highest Rated TV Shows by Network Over Time -- I graphed the percentage of top 30 television shows held by each network over time. We see that the 50s and 60s were dominated by CBS, ABC thrived in the 70s, and NBC in the late 80s. The networks were most competitive with one another in the 90s. In 1999, the three major networks had an equal number of top 30 shows. However since then, (apart from 2001), CBS has had a strong resurgence.

Percentage of the 30 Top Rated TV Shows by Network Over Time

But the raw number of shows a network has in the top 30 is a somewhat crude measure. What if one network only has one or two shows, but those shows are consistently rated #1? I made the following graph to look into this possibility. Each column is a year, and each box within that column is a show (ranked from 1st to 30th) colored by its network.

We see exactly the circustance we were worried about from 2005 to 2010 when Fox (which only had about 16% of the top 30 shows) consistently held the #1 and #2 ranked slots with American Idol (broadcast on Tuesday and Wednesday).

We also see exactly why the joke from 30 Rock about NBC's 2nd biggest priority being "Make it 1997 again through science or magic" lands so well.

Even Jack Donaghy couldn't best a year with Seinfeld, ER, and Friends.

Shows Ranked 1st to 30th Over Time Colored by Network

You can hover over data points in the graphs to see the top 30 shows of that year in the table below. All data are courtesy of wikipedia.org.

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