ListNook

CheruthCutestory Apr 19, 2026 +208

Caroline in the City. It was between Seinfeld and ER its first season. It ended that season number 4 and had 17 million people tune in. It was OK. Lea Thompson is likable but she didn’t have a ton of personality. The jokes weren’t that sharp. And her love interest was clearly gay. It was a basic generic sitcom. Not number 4 in the rankings worthy especially in the late 90s when there was a lot of strong tv. ETA: OK I assumed this meant lead in like a strong show that went right before it. But others are thinking strong lead in it. Sorry if I misunderstood. Although it still kind of works?

208

weeble182 Apr 19, 2026 +174

I think you're the only one currently who's commented and understood the question

174

GeekAesthete Apr 19, 2026 +71

I suspect the issue is that young listnookors who grew up on streaming don’t grasp what a lead-in is since they’ve never experienced a broadcast TV schedule.

71

Plenty_Structure_861 Apr 19, 2026 +67

Nah, they're the ones that misunderstood. You got it.

67

Avium Apr 19, 2026 +24

I read it the same way, honestly. I also agree about *Caroline in the City*. It was solidly okay.

24

GeekAesthete Apr 19, 2026 +22

You could throw in several of the 8:30 or 9:30 shows from NBC’s Thursday Night lineups: Veronica’s Closet and Suddenly Susan, certainly. A Different World was a big hit between Cosby and Cheers, but as soon as Cosby went off the air and A Different World moved to 8:00, it lost almost half its viewership and only lasted half a season in that time s***. Even Night Court—which I loved—would not have been such a big hit were it not conveniently couched between Cheers and Hill St Blues.

22

MikoSkyns Apr 19, 2026 +1

There was also a little while there where NBC was trying out shows with only a handful of episodes each, and none of them went anywhere. Like they knew people were not going to change the channel at 8:30 on Thursday so they were trying anything that would stick to the wall. So so many bad shows. Mark feuerstein was in several of them. NBC REALLY wanted to make him a star. If I recall correctly he ended up with some kind of news show sitcom or he steals a girl from someone else and the show didn't even last two seasons.

1

Toby_O_Notoby Apr 20, 2026 +1

What I find hilarious is that Veronica's Closet has been all but forgotten yet still got 20m viewers a week. In fact, it was cancelled because it dipped below that number and was considered a failure. By way of comparison, Game of Thrones is pretty much considered the last "monoculture" show and it never once got above 20m. Topped out at something like 19.4m for the finale.

1

Maximilian_Xavier Apr 19, 2026 +40

I was thinking the same thing. "lead in" And was also thinking so many shows to pick from in the 830 or 930 s*** on NBC for like 10 years.

40

zoom518 Apr 19, 2026 +16

Yeah, you can see how all those sitcoms faltered without the help of Seinfeld/Friends: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Must_See_TV?wprov=sfti1#Explosive_success_in_the_1990s_(1994%E2%80%932000)

16

Maximilian_Xavier Apr 19, 2026 +1

Oh, I was alive and watched them all. Then didn't follow them to new nights at all if they moved.

1

NoraCharles91 Apr 19, 2026 +1

Gosh, I haven't seen the words Veronica's Closet for the about 25 years! I remember scrolling past it on the TV guide as a kid and thinking it sounded so glamorous!

1

Maximilian_Xavier Apr 19, 2026 +1

I forgot it existed until he shared that list and I for sure watched all of it when on Thursdays.

1

slymm Apr 19, 2026 +12

There's lots of examples from Must See TV. Without looking it up, I think there was also "Suddenly Susan", "Just Shoot Me", and maybe Wings?

12

joeboo5150 Apr 19, 2026 +2

Wings was so damn good

2

RueTheQuais Apr 20, 2026 +1

Wings started on a Friday and moved to Thursdays for 4 seasons before moving to Tuesday. It was never seen as must see as the other shows but it did earn its place there.

1

sycasey Apr 19, 2026 +16

Just about everything they slotted between Friends and Seinfeld (8:30 s***) or Seinfeld and ER (9:30). Didn't matter how mediocre it was, it got big ratings. The Single Guy was another one like this.

16

BillyPotion Apr 19, 2026 +2

Awww I liked the Single Guy. Got canceled pretty quick though

2

sycasey Apr 19, 2026 +7

Like Caroline in the City, didn't survive once it was off of Thursday night. Also like Caroline . . . it was okay.

7

Particle_wombat Apr 19, 2026 +3

I remember when they revealed him as a love interest and I was so thrown off by their lack of chemistry and him coming across as a typical gay 90's character.

3

shaggyscoob Apr 19, 2026 +3

OMG, I haven't thought of that show since it left Thursday nights. Utterly forgettable. I remember nothing but that Lea Thompson was in it.

3

ontheweed Apr 19, 2026 +1

And a dude who always wore roller blades

1

CollateralSandwich Apr 20, 2026 +2

At first I tuned in for Lea. Every week after that it for was the neighbor lady who was in CATS. Hubba hubba. That actress was gorgeous

2

kirby2000 Apr 21, 2026 +2

Amy Pietz. She's still gorgeous.

2

benjaminhlogan Apr 19, 2026 +2

The Kenny Bania character is them writing about this, he only became a hit because Jerry went on before him. I kinda feel like the writers tanked the end of that last season on purpose the same way Jerry did in that episode.

2

ParksCity Apr 19, 2026 +70

Every NBC show from 1994 to 1998 that aired in between Friends and Seinfeld, and between Seinfeld and ER. Multiple top ten shows that would get cancelled soon after moving to a different night, where it was clear were only watching those shows to get to Seinfeld and ER.

70

Particle_wombat Apr 19, 2026 +12

We used to call it the pre-ER bathroom break

12

NeedsToShutUp Apr 19, 2026 +1

I liked Boston Common.

1

Plenty_Structure_861 Apr 19, 2026 +32

Well definitely not the Dana Carvey show, that's for sure. The Home Improvement lead in was a death sentence for them.

32

zowietremendously Apr 19, 2026 +56

The office is a the gayest show to ever exist.

56

Andrew1990M Apr 19, 2026 +15

Most sitcoms from 1980-2000 were just vehicles for someone’s stand up. They weren’t all bad, but a lot were held up entirely on the main character’s popularity.

15

sexandliquor Apr 19, 2026 +13

And I think Seinfeld was the only one that ever truly used that premise literally and effectively by having him actually do stand up bits as the wrap around book ends to episodes. It kept the premise of him being a comedian intact. Pretty much all the other sitcoms just tried to translate bits into an entire premise for a sitcom. Ray Romano told jokes about his family so let’s just make a family sitcom. I think Home Improvement’s general premise just started from Tim Allen literally doing that grunt and talking about tools, but it wasn’t even like a fully formed bit or his whole act. If I recall.

13

Randvek Apr 19, 2026 +19

For a while, that 8:30 Fox Sunday s*** was pretty damn coveted because you got to follow The Simpsons. I’m not going to say that stuff like King of the Hill or Futurama were popular because of the lead-in, but it sure helped.

19

mike10dude Apr 19, 2026 +1

I remember king of the hill and futurama being on at maybe 7 or 7:30 and that is why people would complain about them getting preempted for football when it went longer than usual

1

kloiberin_time Apr 19, 2026 +10

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip came on after Heroes and while I loved Studio 60, it's numbers declined when Heroes went on hiatus and The Black Donellys filled in, and was canceled when Heroes tanked in season 2.

10

jrodfantastic Apr 19, 2026 +9

Silk Stalkings & La Femme Nikita

9

EddieDantes22 Apr 20, 2026 +3

Take Step by Step out of the TGIF lineup and it dies within a season.

3

mike10dude Apr 22, 2026 +1

that happened when it moved to cbs same thing with family matters

1

__sonder__ Apr 19, 2026 +14

My Name is Earl was on after The Office

14

ablackcloudupahead Apr 19, 2026 +5

I loved My Name is Earl while it was out and I didn't start watching the office until season 5. At the time I watched everything on demand so I guess I never realized they aired right next to each other

5

LazloHollifeld Apr 19, 2026 +13

NBC from that time is such an odd outlier. They had great shows that were all praised yet the viewer counts stunk. I don’t understand how a network that was pulling fourth place in ratings trailing telemundo while airing things like the office, parks and rec, thirty rock and more which are all huge streaming and syndicating properties that fetched far more in royalties than the other shows that it was supposedly being trounced by at the time.

13

firesticks Apr 19, 2026 +6

So, I have was in my twenties during this era and would t****** everything. I have to wonder if some of these shows, which appealed so much to my demographic, were early victims of people cutting out cable but before we had streaming to track viewership. They were wildly popular but either for that reason or poor Nielsen coverage, it wasn’t being captured.

6

ihastheporn Apr 19, 2026 +2

you're overestimating how popular t****** was and still is. even now people don't pirate that much

2

mike10dude Apr 19, 2026 +1

I started torrenting around that time just because it was easier than using a vcr to record shows and I got something called the gameshark media player that let me watch video files from my computer on a playstation 2

1

Puzzled-Ad1564 Apr 19, 2026 +5

Seinfeld only got popular because it followed Cheers

5

Gilshem Apr 19, 2026 +14

And because it was hilarious with great actors.

14

DoodleBuggering Apr 19, 2026 +8

It struggled its first few seasons

8

Puzzled-Ad1564 Apr 19, 2026 +6

That didn’t help Arrested development. Seinfeld’s main reason for success was the Cheer lead in

6

Gilshem Apr 19, 2026 +2

That seems a really ambitious thing to declare. There’s no way to say with any certainty that the Cheers lead-in is why it became one of the best sitcoms ever.

2

Puzzled-Ad1564 Apr 19, 2026 +1

That’s not what I’m saying. It became the best sitcom ever because how funny and cleverly written it was. What I’m saying is it would have been canceled without Cheers because enough people wouldn’t have tuned in to watch it. It needed the lead in for people to watch it and realize how good it was.

1

Gilshem Apr 19, 2026 +2

How do you know no one would have watched it?

2

Puzzled-Ad1564 Apr 19, 2026 +1

Because seasons 1 and 2’s ratings were very low and the show almost got cancelled. Ratings didn’t pick up until it moved into the s*** right after Cheers.

1

Gilshem Apr 20, 2026 +1

Seinfeld only started airing on Thursdays in Season 4, and that was only three episodes. Seinfeld S4 was during Cheers final season, so there really isn’t much of a reason to think it got a boost from Cheers.

1

jogoso2014 Apr 19, 2026 +2

A Different World

2

Gilshem Apr 19, 2026 -3

The Mentalist was a fairly mid-show with a charismatic lead.

-3

JimmyTheJimJimson Apr 19, 2026 -39

Euphoria. You can’t tell me season 3 is popular not because of Sydney Sweeney and her b****.

-39

tvcneverdie Apr 19, 2026 +42

That's not what the question is asking...

42

gigashadowwolf Apr 19, 2026 +2

Yeah, Zendaya is the lead in that show!

2

Ruleoflawz Apr 19, 2026 +1

But i thought her b**** lead her in to every room?

1

ObviouslyTriggered Apr 19, 2026 -2

Not if she walks backwards.

-2

[deleted] Apr 19, 2026 -2

[deleted]

-2

dreadit-runfromit Apr 19, 2026 +1

The OP isn't asking about main characters.

1

bwestlie Apr 19, 2026 -34

House has got to be toward the top here.

-34

lazy_pig Apr 19, 2026 +1

I also was going to comment 'House MD' because I had the same interpretation.

1

Intelligent_Bite_323 Apr 19, 2026 -9

Why are you being downvoted. That is a very good answer.

-9

gigashadowwolf Apr 19, 2026 +22

Because OP meant "lead in" not "lead in it". They mean a show that follows another great show rather than a show with a great lead actor. Edit: Or maybe they meant it started out strong. I don't know, there are several ways to interpret this apparently.

22

mlmka58 Apr 19, 2026 -36

I think Friends should thank the Cosby Show

-36

BoringAccount4Work Apr 19, 2026 +22

The Cosby Show ended 2 years before Friends was even on the air

22

[deleted] Apr 19, 2026 -40

[deleted]

-40

gideon513 Apr 19, 2026 +15

How can a streaming show have a lead in program? lol

15

gigashadowwolf Apr 19, 2026 +2

I think they misread that as having a strong lead (actor) in it.

2

rhythmrice Apr 19, 2026 +1

I thought it meant the show was only popular because it started good

1

LightThatIgnitesAll Apr 19, 2026 -55

**Mr. Robot** Everyone else is Trash. And I guess **Peaky Blinders.**

-55

usable_dinosaur Apr 19, 2026 +4

Good ragebait I raged

4

KennyShowers Apr 19, 2026

I mean Christian Slater can’t be described as trash, but it is true that pretty much none of the other major actors went on to do much else of note. That said I still think they all do a good job in the show itself, and on top of that the show also has god-tier (for TV) photography and camerawork and art direction, way more to it past the lead.

0

TV shows that were popular only because they had a strong lead in?

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