TELEVISION | 1991 | LISTICLE

35 Years Ago: Top 10 Rated U.S. Television Shows

Here are the television shows that had the highest Nielsen ratings for the 1991–1992 television season

Photo by Marcos Ramírez on Unsplash

In 1991, the 80s were over and the decade of the 90s was quickly revealing itself to be quite different.

The vibrant, loud clothes of the previous decade were giving way to a more comfortable, baggy and untucked look of the 90s. Technology was becoming a part of everyday life, and grunge music from Seattle was emerging.

What television shows were popular 35 years ago? They were a mixture of shows left over from the 80s and new, interesting series that represented the changing times.

Here are the top ten Nielsen rated shows from the 1991–1992 television seasons.

10. Coach, ABC (Average Viewers: 15.4 million)

Coach was an ABC comedy about the head football coach for the fictional Minnesota State Screaming Eagles, Hayden Fox played by Craig T. Nelson.

Fox had all the headaches of a modern head college football coach, plus he had to manage a quirky and sometimes dimwitted coaching staff, a college-age daughter, and a relationship with a local TV anchor.

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9. Major Dad, CBS (Average Viewers: 15.5 million)

CBS’s Major Dad explored what happens when a conservative Marine falls for a liberal, pacifistic journalist.

When they married, the rule-following marine had to deal with the chaos of life with his wife and her three daughters, while still navigating life in the military.

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8. Murder, She Wrote, CBS (Average Viewers: 15.6 million)

Murder, She Wrote was a murder/mystery drama that first aired in the 1980s on CBS. This drama was CBS’s top performing show for several seasons.

It starred Angela Lansbury as the clever mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. Fletcher tenaciously solves crime after crime with her cunning skills and infectious charm. There were a lot of murders in her hometown of Cabot Cove, Maine.

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7. Full House, ABC (Average Viewers: 15.7 million)

Full House ran for eight seasons starting in 1987. Its final episode was in 1995.

Widowed sports anchor Danny Tanner played by the late Bob Saget is trying to raise his three daughters with the help of his brother-in-law, Jesse Katsopolis, and childhood best friend, Joey Gladstone.

His youngest daughter was played by both Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. The show would begin a brief nationwide obsession with the Olsen twins.

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6. Designing Women, CBS (Average Viewers: 15.9 million)

Four Southern women work together as interior designers at a firm in Atlanta, Georgia in the CBS 80s sitcom, Designing Women. It starred Dixie Carter, Annie Potts, Delta Burke and Jean Smart.

In 1991, it was still popular, averaging almost 16 million viewers.

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5. Home Improvement, ABC (Average Viewers: 16.1 million)

This hilarious 1990s sitcom on ABC was set in suburban Detroit, Michigan.

Tim Allen played the hapless and accident-prone Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor. He hosted his own show, Tool Time. Of course, it wouldn’t have been near as funny without his sidekick Al played by Richard Karn.

4. Cheers, NBC (Average Viewers: 16.2 million)

Cheers was about a former Red Sox pitching star, Sam Malone, who became a bar owner once he retired from baseball. All the characters are cleverly written and hilarious. My favorite duo was the know-it-all mailman Cliff Clavin, and always-present bar regular, Norm Peterson.

Norm has some of the best one-liners in television history. For a list of my favorite Norm lines, you can follow this link: Norm!

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3. Murphy Brown, CBS (Average Viewers: 17.1 million)

First airing in 1988, Murphy Brown ran until 1998.

Candice Bergen played the investigative reporter Murphy Brown. She was surrounded by a group of fairly dysfunctional coworkers, but we loved them anyway.

The show covered some tough subjects such as alcoholism, cancer, and single parenthood. Although the show was very popular, some conservates criticized it based on morality.

Vice President Dan Quayle famously lambasted the character Murphy Brown for having a child out of wedlock. Quayle inadvertently helped boost the show’s popularity, and 38 million people tuned in for the birth of the baby.

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2. Roseanne, ABC (Average Viewers: 18.3 million)

The show Roseanne was always popular, because the Conners represented the average American family.

We argue, we struggle to pay our bills, we sometimes have drama, and we laugh together. The Conners were us. With an average of 18.3 million viewers, Roseanne was the second highest Nielsen rated show during the 1991–1992 season.

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1. 60 Minutes, CBS (Average Viewers: 20.2 million)

60 Minutes calls itself an investigative television magazine.

With over 50 years on the air, 60 Minutes is, of course, one of the longest running shows in television history. Meet the Press, which started in 1947, currently holds that record.

In 1991, it was the highest rating show on television according to the Nielsen ratings. In the 80s and 90s, 60 Minutes was rated in the top 10 year after year.

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If you are curious about the next ten, here they are:

11. Room for Two
12. Monday Night Football
13. Unsolved Mysteries
14. CBS Sunday Night Movie
15. Evening Shade
16. Northern Exposure
17. A Different World
18. The Cosby Show
19. Wings
20. America’s Funniest Home Videos Source

Perhaps the first question to come to your mind is, “Where is Seinfeld?” Seinfeld was a midseason replacement the previous year, and during the 1991–1992 season did not air a full season. By the next year, Seinfeld was a top ten hit show in the Nielsen ratings.

What were your favorite television shows from the early 90s? Is it on this list? Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments.

As always, thanks for reading!

If you like my listicles, you can find the complete list of them here, organized by subject: The Unabridged List of All of my Listicles

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