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The "Friday night death slot" or "Friday evening death slot" is a perceived graveyard slot in American television. It implies that a television program in the United States scheduled on Friday evenings (typically, between 8:00 and 11:00 p.m. ET) is likely to be canceled.
The term possibly began as a reflection of certain programs' dominance of Friday night in the 1980s and 1990s, which resulted in decreased ratings for those scheduled at the same time.[1][2][3] By the 2000s, it was used in reference to the belief that young, single Americans rarely watch television on Friday or Saturday nights, thereby removing from the household what is considered the most lucrative demographic for advertisers.[4][5] With the collapse of the traditional network viewing model where viewers had to be in front of the TV to watch shows (and then the evolution from VCR or DVR capabilities to almost all shows being viewed increasingly through on-demand streaming media), the stigma of Friday night scheduling is much less evident or considered today than in the past.
Programs affected by the "death slot"
 | This section possibly contains original research. (June 2018) |
NBC
One of the earliest and most famous examples of the "Friday Night Death Slot" phenomenon was the original Star Trek on NBC.[6]
The second season of Star Trek aired on Fridays from 8:30–9:30 p.m. (Eastern Time). Although NBC discussed plans to move it to a 7:30–8:30 p.m. slot on Mondays for mid-season, that never occurred. The poor ratings in the time slot affected the show after it, Jerry Van Dyke's sitcom Accidental Family, leading to its failure after less than a season[7] and angering Van Dyke, who was desperate for a hit and openly (but unsuccessfully) campaigned for NBC to give the show a better time slot.[8] After Star Trek fans deluged NBC with a mail-in protest, producer Gene Roddenberry stated that he was promised the same 8:30–9:30 time slot for Season 3, but airing on Monday instead of Friday. However, that would have meant Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In had to start a half-hour later (moving from 9:00 to 9:30). Laugh-In producer George Schlatter saw no reason why his show, which was a ratings smash at the time, had to yield its slot to the poorly rated Star Trek, and he made no secret of his displeasure.[9] Star Trek instead remained on Fridays, moving to the even less desirable 10:00 p.m. timeslot (one that had been used mainly for filler and throwaway documentaries the previous season). Roddenberry lamented, "If the network wants to kill us, it couldn't make a better move."[6]
The following are examples of NBC shows that started on Friday nights and lasted for a few episodes, or were moved to Friday nights, lost the battle for television ratings, and were eventually canceled:
| Years aired | Series | Seasons lasted before cancellation |
|---|---|---|
| 1940–1968 | The Bell Telephone Hour | Last season, after 28 years on air. Already one of the last highbrow Golden Age of Television shows on the air, this final season consisted mostly of documentaries and not the concert performances seen and heard in the 27 prior seasons. The series moved back to radio at the end of the season, airing only in reruns. |
| 1965–1974 | The Dean Martin Show | Ninth and final season. (Martin would continue hosting Man of the Week Celebrity Roasts for NBC irregularly for the next decade.) |
| 1965–1967 | Laredo | Second and final season. |
| 1966–1969 | Star Trek | Last season, after 2 years on air at 8:30pm timeslot, third and final season moved to the 10:00pm timeslot. |
| 1967-1968 | Accidental Family | Cancelled midway through its only season. |
| 1974 | Lotsa Luck | Moved to Friday midway through its only season. |
| 1976–1977 | Serpico | First and only season. |
| 1977 | Sanford Arms | First and only season. Cancelled after only 4 weeks. |
| 1979–1980 | Eischied | First and only season. |
| 1979–1980 | Hello, Larry | First and part of the second season. Last 18 episodes were moved to Wednesdays in a failed attempt to boost ratings. |
| 1979–1980 | Shirley | First and only season. |
| 1980 | Pink Lady | Moved to Friday after its first episode, canceled four weeks after the move with one episode unaired. Widely considered one of the worst TV shows of all time. |
| 1981 | Sanford | Second and final season. Its predecessor Sanford & Son had aired, with greater success, on Fridays throughout much of its run. |
| 1982 | Cassie & Co. | First and only season. |
| 1982 | Jokebook | First and only season. Cancelled after three episodes. |
| 1982–1986 | Knight Rider | Fourth and final season. |
| 1983 | Manimal | First and only season. |
| 1983–1987 | The A-Team | Fifth and final season |
| 1984–1986 | Riptide | Third and final season |
| 1984–1989 | Highway to Heaven | Fifth and final season; last episodes burned off in summer 1989 |
| 1991–1993 | I'll Fly Away | Moved to Friday during its first season, in February 1992; cancelled in the middle of its second, with last episode airing February 5, 1993. |
| 1987–1993 | A Different World | Moved to Friday for last episode to air on NBC of its sixth and final season, air date July 9, 1993 |
| 1987–1997 | Unsolved Mysteries | Moved to Friday for its seventh season in the fall of 1994. The ninth season was the last one to air on NBC; the show moved to CBS for its tenth season in 1997, where it continued to air until its original run ended in 1999 after 11 seasons. Lifetime and Spike later revived the show on two different occasions. |
| 1988–1991 | Midnight Caller | Third and final season |
| 1988–1992 | Dear John | Fourth and final season |
| 1989 | The Jim Henson Hour | Cancelled midway through its only season. |
| 1999–2005 | Third Watch | Moved from Mondays to Fridays starting with the fifth episode of its fifth season, and ended its run after its sixth season |
| 2002–2003 | Boomtown | Moved from Sundays to Fridays for second season, and then cancelled after two episodes; remaining episodes burned off after Christmas |
| 2003 | Miss Match | Cancelled during its first and only season, airing only 11 of its 18 episodes in the U.S. |
| 2003 | Mister Sterling | First and only season |
| 2004–2005 | Medical Investigation | First and only season |
| 2005 | Law & Order: Trial by Jury | First and only season |
| 2006 | The Book of Daniel | First and only season |
| 2006 | Conviction | First and only season |
| 2006–2008 | 1 vs. 100 | Second season; last one to air on NBC. The show would be revived for GSN with a half-hour format in 2010, but was ultimately canceled in late 2011. |
| 2007–2012 | Chuck | Fifth and final season |
| 2008–2009 | Lipstick Jungle | Second and final season |
| 2010 | Outlaw | First and only season |
| 2011–2012 | Rock Center with Brian Williams | Moved to Fridays (the fourth time slot for the series) partway through its second and final season. |
| 2013–2014 | Dracula | First and only season |
| 2014–2016 | Undateable | Third and final season |
| 2014–2015 | Constantine | First and only season |
| 2015 | Truth Be Told | First and only season |
| 2018 | Midnight, Texas | Second season |
| 2020 | Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector | First and only season |
| 2021–2023 | Young Rock | Third and final season |
CBS
CBS was the most successful network on Friday nights in the 1980s due to their hit shows Dallas and Falcon Crest, but both shows were struggling by the end of the decade and were cancelled in the early 1990s. In an effort to revive Friday night television in the 1990s, and to compete with ABC's successful TGIF block of family comedies airing opposite it, CBS first attempted to compete with ABC launching a comedy night in the fall of 1992 with The Golden Palace (a spin-off/continuation of NBC's The Golden Girls), Major Dad and Designing Women, along with a new sitcom from Bob Newhart, Bob.[citation needed] The Golden Girls had been a top-10 hit on Saturday nights for NBC (though it had fallen to 30th in its final season), while Major Dad and Designing Women had also been top-10 hits on Monday nights, and Newhart's previous sitcom, Newhart, had spent most of its run in the top 30. Nevertheless, this effort failed, and only Bob was renewed for the 1993–1994 season, only to end in December 1993.[10] A later effort to counterprogram TGIF, the CBS Block Party (which included former TGIF series Family Matters and Step by Step, both of which were hits for several years while on ABC before both shows were canceled in 1997), met a similar fate in the fall of 1997.[11]
In 2013, CBS moved Vegas to Friday nights to make room for Golden Boy, another police drama. Both shows were eventually cancelled during their first year.
In general, however, CBS has found ways, particularly in the years following the cancellation of the Block Party, to be at least somewhat more successful in the Friday night time slots than its broadcast competitors.[12][13]
The following are all examples of CBS shows that either started on Friday nights and lasted a few episodes, or moved to Friday nights, lost the battle for television ratings, and were eventually cancelled:
| Years aired | Series | Seasons lasted before cancellation |
|---|---|---|
| 1955-1959 | The Phil Silvers Show | Fourth and final season.[14] |
| 1958–1960 | The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour | Last thirteen episodes. An hour-long continuation of I Love Lucy that aired sporadically as part of Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, dwindling ratings and the disintegrating marriage between Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz led to the show's end. |
| 1966–1973 | Mission: Impossible | Moved to Friday midway through its seventh and final season. |
| 1968–1970 | The Good Guys | Cancelled midway through its second and final season. |
| 1970 | Headmaster | Only season. Lasted 14 episodes. |
| 1971 | The New Andy Griffith Show | Only season. Last-minute replacement for Headmaster; lasted 10 episodes. One of many shows caught in the rural purge. |
| 1972–1973, 1977 |
The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour | Third season. The program would be moved off Friday nights midway through the season, which contributed to a major spike in viewership. Moved back to Friday nights during its sixth and final season in 1977, when ratings again fell. |
| 1973–1974 | Calucci's Department | First and only season. |
| 1973–1974 | Roll Out! | First and only season. |
| 1974 | Dirty Sally | First and only season. |
| 1974 | Planet of the Apes | First and only season. |
| 1975 | Big Eddie | First and only season. |
| 1975–1978 | Switch! | Moved to Friday and cancelled midway through its third and final season; remaining episodes were burned off during the summer of 1978. |
| 1976 | Sara | First and only season. |
| 1976 | Spencer's Pilots | First and only season. |
| 1976–1977 | Code R | First and only season. |
| 1977 | Hunter | First and only season. |
| 1977 | Nashville 99 | First and only season. |
| 1977–1978 | Logan's Run | First and only season. |
| 1986–1993 | Designing Women | Seventh and final season. |
| 1987 | The Popcorn Kid | First and only season. Lasted only 6 episodes. |
| 1989–1993 | Major Dad | Fourth and final season. |
| 1990 | Max Monroe: Loose Cannon | First and only season. |
| 1990 | The Bradys | First and only season. Dramatic sequel to The Brady Bunch, a sitcom that aired to more success in the 1970s on Fridays. |
| 1990–91 | Uncle Buck | Moved to Friday midway through its first and only season. |
| 1992–1993 | Bob | Second and final season. |
| 1992–1993 | The Golden Palace | First and only season; eighth and final season (only one on CBS) in the continuity of The Golden Girls storyline. |
| 1993 | The Boys | First and only season. |
| 1993 | The Building | First and only season. |
| 1993–1997 | Dave's World | Fourth and final season. |
| 1994–1995 | Under Suspicion | First and only season. |
| 1995 | Dweebs | First and only season. |
| 1996–2000 | Cosby | Moved to Friday midway through its fourth and final season. |
| 1997–1998 | Family Matters | Ninth and final season; only season to air on CBS. The show had been hugely successful as part of ABC's TGIF lineup on Friday nights for years, and its demise had more to do with the show having reached a natural stopping point by 1998. |
| 1997–1998 | Step by Step | Seventh and final season. Only season to air on CBS after declining ratings in seasons five and six; like "Family Matters", it was a hit for years on Friday nights for ABC. |
| 1997–1998 | The Gregory Hines Show | First and only season; only 15 episodes were aired out of 22 produced. |
| 1997 | Meego | First and only season; only 6 episodes were aired out of 13 produced. |
| 1997–1999 | Unsolved Mysteries | Last two seasons of the original series' run; only two seasons to air on CBS. The show was later revived by Lifetime and Spike on two different occasions. |
| 1997–2005 | JAG | Tenth and final season (2004). The series ran on CBS since the second season and moved to Fridays at the beginning of the ninth season. |
| 1999–2005 | 60 Minutes II | Last three months of the series' run, which had otherwise run on Wednesdays. The series was already heavily damaged by the Killian documents controversy by the time it moved to a burn-off slot on Fridays.[15] |
| 2000–2002 | That's Life | Second and final season. |
| 2001–2002 | The Ellen Show | Canceled during its first and only season; only 13 episodes were aired out of 18 produced. |
| 2002–2003 | Robbery Homicide Division | Canceled during its first and only season; only 10 episodes were aired out of 13 produced. |
| 2003–2005 | Joan of Arcadia | Second and final season. |
| 2004-2005 | Dr. Vegas | First and only season. |
| 2005–2007 | Close to Home | Second and final season. |
| 2007–2008 | Moonlight | First and only season. |
| 2008 | The Ex List | Canceled during its first and only season; only four episodes were aired out of 13 produced. |
| 2005–2011 | Medium | Seventh and final season. Two seasons were aired on CBS after it suffered declining ratings in season five on NBC. |
| 2010–2011 | The Defenders | Moved to Friday nights midway through its first and only season. |
| 2011–2012 | A Gifted Man | Canceled at the end of its first and only season despite high ratings in its timeslot. |
| 2012 | Made in Jersey | First and only season; canceled after two episodes. The remaining six episodes were aired on Saturday nights. |
| 2012–2013 | Vegas | Moved to Friday nights midway through its first and only season. |
| 2013 | The Job | First and only season. Canceled after two episodes due to extremely low ratings. |