History Main / FridayNightDeathSlot

* ''Series/HappyEndings'' was moved to this slot in its third season. Within a week of the move becoming official, it was reported the producers have been shopping around for a new network to air the show in the event that ABC cancels it.

** The show was then moved to {{Syfy}}, where it became a successful subversion once more: it remains one of SyFy's most popular shows.

* ''{{CSI NY}}'' lasted three seasons after being moved to Fridays, but it was obvious after the move that things were getting worse. The amount of episodes went down each season (23 to 18 to 17)and renewal was never a certain thing after the switch,so the writers started writing the season finales as [[SeriesFauxnale potential series finales]]. In the last two seasons,it was OnlyBarelyRenewed, with season 9 coming down to the fact that it was cheaper to produce than ''CSIMiami'' and that CBS wanted to try an NY themed programming block on Friday with ''BlueBloods'' and ''Made In Jersey''. 'NY' moved to an hour earlier, then moved back to its old slot when 'Jersey' flopped. In its final season, ratings fluctuated, but most eps still got 8 million viewers or so. However,CBS apparently wasn't impressed by the 'key demographic' numbers anymore and didn't give the series a 10th season. Melina Kanakaredes' departure may also have harmed things a bit, but the time slot was a huge factor as well, combined with CBS's lack of decent advertising.
* ''MadeInJersey'' on the other hand, didn't last more than a few episodes.

* Creator/{{Fox}} - Network owner News Corporation also owns [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox 20th CenturyFox]] and sister network Creator/MyNetworkTV.

* After SNICK was re-vamped into "SNICK House", ''KaBlam'' got removed from its saturday night timeslot to friday at eight.
** Though seeing as how it was a kids show, and Friday was one of the few nights where kids often got a chance to stay up late, a kids show airing on Fridays is probably the ''best'' you could do for it.

Another dimension of this explains not only why Friday is so neglected, but also why Thursday is the biggest night on TV. Advertisers realize that most American consumers do the majority of their weekly shopping on the weekends, and often do it on Friday. This means that advertisers are desperate to get their product on the airwaves on Thursday, before people go shopping the day after, and don't put as much effort into advertising on Friday (if someone goes shopping after work Friday afternoon, advertising on Friday night is too little, too late.)

Some networks and shows manage to find a surprising amount of success on Fridays, ranging from Creator/{{CBS}}'s ''Series/GhostWhisperer'' to Creator/{{NBC}}'s successful move of ''Series/LasVegas'' from Monday nights. ''GW'' is somewhat family-friendly and ''Vegas'' had a large, dependable fanbase, a mostly comedic style, and a lot of celebrity guest appearances along with the preexisting tendency to re-air it on Fridays anyway, so these aren't all ''that'' surprising, but fans of the shows certainly breathed a sigh of relief when they survived to be renewed. In addition, Creator/{{CBS}} in its history had numerous series that got great ratings for Friday, the lineup of ''TheIncredibleHulk'', ''TheDukesOfHazzard'' and ''Series/{{Dallas}}'' in the late 1970s and early 1980s are the major example. (Meanwhile, Saturday nights, which if anything are an even ''more'' iffy time for TV programming at present, were practically CBS's bread and butter in the '70s, thanks to a lineup that included shows like ''AllInTheFamily'', ''Series/{{Mash}}'', ''TheMaryTylerMooreShow'', ''TheBobNewhartShow'', and ''The Carol Burnett Show''.) Creator/{{ABC}}'s ''TGIF'' block in TheNineties, with such shows as ''FamilyMatters'', ''BoyMeetsWorld'', and ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'', was perhaps the most spectacular subversion of this, as it not only turned the entirety of Friday night into a moneymaker for the network, but also one of its few success stories in what was otherwise a bad decade for the network.

Some networks and shows manage to find a surprising amount of success on Fridays, ranging from Creator/{{CBS}}'s ''Series/GhostWhisperer'' to Creator/{{NBC}}'s successful move of ''Series/LasVegas'' from Monday nights. ''GW'' is somewhat family-friendly and ''Vegas'' had a large, dependable fanbase, a mostly comedic style, and a lot of celebrity guest appearances along with the preexisting tendency to re-air it on Fridays anyway, so these aren't all ''that'' surprising, but fans of the shows certainly breathed a sigh of relief when they survived to be renewed. In addition, Creator/{{CBS}} in its history had numerous series that got great ratings for Friday, the lineup of ''TheIncredibleHulk'', ''TheDukesOfHazzard'' and ''Series/{{Dallas}}'' in the late 1970s and early 1980s are the major example. (Meanwhile, Saturday nights, which is an even ''more'' iffy time for TV programming at present, were practically CBS's bread and butter in the '70s, thanks to a lineup that included shows like ''AllInTheFamily'', ''Series/{{Mash}}'', ''TheMaryTylerMooreShow'', ''TheBobNewhartShow'', and ''The Carol Burnett Show''.) Creator/{{ABC}}'s ''TGIF'' block in TheNineties, with such shows as ''FamilyMatters'', ''BoyMeetsWorld'', and ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'', was perhaps the most spectacular subversion of this, as it not only turned the entirety of Friday night into a moneymaker for the network, but also one of its few success stories in what was otherwise a bad decade for the network.

* After being renewed for a fourth season of only 13 episodes, ''Series/{{Community}}'' was moved to 8:30 on Fridays in what is presumed to be its final season. Along with the [[ExecutiveMeddling studio-mandated ouster]] of series creator/showrunner Creator/DanHarmon and several other prominent staff quitting, the resulting fan backlash may have been what motivated NBC to push Community's premier into 2013 with a more favorable Thursday night slot.

** Well, that series was doomed from the start, thanks to the aforementioned controversy. Apparently, you can only cover religion on television if you do a ''[[SeventhHeaven 7th Heaven]]''-style drama.

* Lest we think that Fox and CBS do most of the canceling here, let us not forget NBC's PoliceProcedural ''Raines'', a surprisingly good, somewhat subversive, more than a little weird series about a [[DefectiveDetective homicide detective]] who may or may not be seeing the ghosts of his latest assignments. The show was bumped from a prime Thursday night slot to Fridays at 9:00 Eastern after just two episodes. It quickly dropped from the #23 highest-ranked show to #63 and only five more episodes were aired before it was quietly cancelled. Despite being put next to ''Las Vegas'' in the lineup. Of course, it was also a midseason replacement, which never really bodes well for a series' longevity.

* ''{{CSI NY}}'' lasted three seasons after being moved to Fridays, but it was obvious after the move that things were getting worse. The amount of episodes went down each season (23 to 18 to 17)and renewal was never a certain thing after the switch,so the writers started writing the season finales as [[SeriesFauxnale potential series finales]]. In the last two seasons,it was OnlyBarelyRenewed, with season 9 coming down to the fact that it was cheaper to produce than ''CSIMiami'' and that CBS wanted to try an NY themed programming block on Friday with ''BlueBloods'' and ''Made In Jersey''. NY moved to an hour earlier, then moved back to its own slot when 'Jersey' flopped. In its final season, ratings fluctuated, but most eps still got 8 million viewers or so. However,CBS apparently wasn't impressed by the 'key demographic' numbers anymore and didn't give the series a 10th season. Melina Kanakaredes' departure may also have harmed things a bit, but the time slot was a huge factor as well, combined with CBS's lack of decent advertising.

More common and less surprising is the fact that Friday lineups do much better on cable. Such as Creator/AdultSwim's Friday lineup, USANetwork's airing of ''Series/{{Monk}}'' and ''{{Psych}}'' on Fridays, or more impressively, SciFi Channel's SciFi Friday lineup, which they claim is one of their "biggest" nights as far as ratings go; both the ''Series/StargateSG1'' and ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' TV series met with great success in this lineup, as did the imported new ''Series/DoctorWho'' and the 2000's version of ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'', and even the surprisingly successful re-airing of ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' in 2005, which managed to be their second-highest rated series during NovemberSweeps of that year, despite its easy availability on DVD. (That is, it ''was'' their biggest night, before they separated ''SG-1'' and ''Galactica'', canceled the former, moved the latter to Sundays, pretty much gave ''Series/DoctorWho'' away to [[Creator/TheBBC BBC America]], and generally built up more animosity towards the channel than existed towards them when they canceled ''Series/{{Farscape}}''. And then back again, since ''Series/{{Eureka}}'' is their most-watched show.'' ''{{Series/Merlin}}'' also did relatively well after being picked up from NBC in its second season, although its five year run ended in 2013.)

More common and less surprising is the fact that Friday lineups do much better on cable. Such as Creator/AdultSwim's Friday lineup, USANetwork's airing of ''Series/{{Monk}}'' and ''{{Psych}}'' on Fridays, or more impressively, SciFi Channel's SciFi Friday lineup, which they claim is one of their "biggest" nights as far as ratings go; both the ''Series/StargateSG1'' and ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' TV series met with great success in this lineup, as did the imported new ''Series/DoctorWho'' and the 2000's version of ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'', and even the surprisingly successful re-airing of ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' in 2005, which managed to be their second-highest rated series during NovemberSweeps of that year, despite its easy availability on DVD. (That is, it ''was'' their biggest night, before they separated ''SG-1'' and ''Galactica'', canceled the former, moved the latter to Sundays, pretty much gave ''Series/DoctorWho'' away to [[Creator/TheBBC BBC America]], and generally built up more animosity towards the channel than existed towards them when they canceled ''Series/{{Farscape}}''. And then back again, since ''Series/{{Eureka}}'' is their most-watched show.'' ''Series/{{Merlin}}'' also did relatively well after being picked up from NBC in its second season, although its five year run ended in 2013.)

More common and less surprising is the fact that Friday lineups do much better on cable. Such as Creator/AdultSwim's Friday lineup, USANetwork's airing of ''Series/{{Monk}}'' and ''{{Psych}}'' on Fridays, or more impressively, SciFi Channel's SciFi Friday lineup, which they claim is one of their "biggest" nights as far as ratings go; both the ''Series/StargateSG1'' and ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' TV series met with great success in this lineup, as did the imported new ''Series/DoctorWho'' and the 2000's version of ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'', and even the surprisingly successful re-airing of ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' in 2005, which managed to be their second-highest rated series during NovemberSweeps of that year, despite its easy availability on DVD. (That is, it ''was'' their biggest night, before they separated ''SG-1'' and ''Galactica'', canceled the former, moved the latter to Sundays, pretty much gave ''Series/DoctorWho'' away to [[Creator/TheBBC BBC America]], and generally built up more animosity towards the channel than existed towards them when they canceled ''Series/{{Farscape}}''. And then back again, since ''Series/{{Eureka}}'' is their most-watched show.'' ''Series/Merlin'' also did relatively well after being picked up from NBC in its second season, although its five year run ended in 2013.)

More common and less surprising is the fact that Friday lineups do much better on cable. Such as Creator/AdultSwim's Friday lineup, USANetwork's airing of ''Series/{{Monk}}'' and ''{{Psych}}'' on Fridays, or more impressively, SciFi Channel's SciFi Friday lineup, which they claim is one of their "biggest" nights as far as ratings go; both the ''Series/StargateSG1'' and ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' TV series met with great success in this lineup, as did the imported new ''Series/DoctorWho'' series, the 2000's version of ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'', and even the surprisingly successful re-airing of ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' in 2005, which managed to be their second-highest rated series during NovemberSweeps of that year, despite its easy availability on DVD. (That is, it ''was'' their biggest night, before they separated ''SG-1'' and ''Galactica'', canceled the former, moved the latter to Sundays, pretty much gave ''Series/DoctorWho'' away to [[Creator/TheBBC BBC America]], and generally built up more animosity towards the channel than existed towards them when they canceled ''Series/{{Farscape}}''. And then back again, since ''Series/{{Eureka}}'' is their most-watched show.)

* ''{{CSI NY}}'' lasted three seasons after being moved to Fridays, but the amount of episodes went down each season,and in the last two,it was OnlyBarelyRenewed. it still got 8 million viewers an episode,but CBS wasn't impressed by the 'key demographic' numbers anymore.

* ''{{CSI NY}}'' lasted three seasons after being moved to Fridays, but the amount of episodes went down each season,and in the last two,it was OnlyBarelyRenewed.
* ''MadeInJersey'' on the other hand, didn't last more than a few episodes.

* ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' (Creator/{{FOX}}) was bumped to Friday nights in its third season, after Christmas 2010 to make way for ''AmericanIdol''. To the surprise of some people, it was still renewed for a full season afterwards.

* In 2011, former ''AmericanIdol'' judge Kara [=DioGuardi=] premiered a new reality/competition series for aspiring songwriters on Monday nights, called ''Platinum Hit''. Midway through the series, amid low ratings and with little advance warning, Bravo threw in the towel -- and moved the series to 8pm Fridays, where it quietly finished its run.

* The second season of ''Series/TheMole'' not only got the FridayNightDeathSlot, it aired only ''two weeks after 9/11'', a time when most people were decidedly not in the mood to watch a cutthroat reality show. Three episodes of bad ratings later, the show was put on hiatus by Creator/{{ABC}}, and didn't re-air until the following summer, where it competed in its time slot against the first season of ''AmericanIdol''. Only due to good word of mouth and a loyal fan base was the show not completely crushed.

* ''Series/TwoGuysAGirlAndAPizzaPlace'' got this slot. However, unlike a lot of these examples, it wasn't moved to the spot because the network wanted to get rid of it. It was moved because it had proven to be quite popular in its Wednesday night slot and ABC thought the show's popularity would move with it and break the curse of the Friday night death slot. It didn't.

* Despite critical raves and an audience whose demographics would have today guaranteed its survival, ABC threw ''MaxHeadroom'' into the Death Slot in an effort to get rid of it by any means necessary. The whole situation surrounding the show is still regarded as a scandal by SF fans today.
* TwoGuysAGirlAndAPizzaPlace got this slot.
** However, unlike a lot of these examples, it wasn't moved to the spot because the network wanted to get rid of it. It was moved because it had proven to be quite popular in its Wednesday night slot and ABC thought the show's popularity would move with it and break the curse of the Friday night death slot. It didn't.

* ''{{Spider-Man The New Animated Series}}'' was aired on {{MTV}}'s Friday night slot. This seriously limited the audience, since younger kids were more likely to be watching the programming on CartoonNetwork and {{Nickelodeon}}, and older teens were usually out doing stuff on Friday nights. Unsurprisingly, the show only had one season despite the massive popularity of the [[Film/SpiderMan movies]], and even worse, was LeftHanging.

* ''{{Spider-Man The New Animated Series}}'' was aired on {{MTV}}'s Friday night slot. This limited the audience, since Younger kids were more likely to be watching the programming on CartoonNetwork and {{Nickelodeon}}, and older teens were usually out doing stuff on Friday nights. Unsurprisingly, the show only had one season despite the massive popularity of the [[Film/SpiderMan movies]], and even worse, was LeftHanging.

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** As mentioned in the introduction, Friday was the best slot for the network. So moving StargateUniverse to ''Tuesday'' was their version of the trope.

** Even more ironically, Sci Fi contributed to the original cancellation of ''Firefly'' by airing ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' in the same time slot, thus splitting the sci-fi loving audience. The split also negatively affected Farscape; it ended up being the show's last season (save for the ''Peacekeeper Wars'' miniseries.)

* Season 2 of the Tim Allen sitcom ''Series/LastManStanding'' was moved to Fridays from the original Tuesday slot but seems to be doing well enough as it recently got a back nine order. Having a lead that appeals to families (an audience ABC has thrived with on Fridays) helps.

* The return of ''LiveActionTV/{{Smash}}'' quickly circled the ratings drain in Season 2, so NBC announced in March 2013 that the remaining episodes would air on Saturdays rather than Tuesdays starting in April. ''TheOnion'''s A.V. Club joked that the announcement not admitting that the show would be cancelled -- and it was, come that May -- is the television equivalent of parents claiming their kid's dog is being sent off to a farm to live out its days when it's actually being put to sleep.

* The return of ''{{Smash}}'' quickly circled the ratings drain in Season 2, so NBC announced in March 2013 that the remaining episodes would air on Saturdays rather than Tuesdays come April. ''TheOnion'''s A.V. Club joked that the announcement not admitting that the show will be cancelled is the television equivalent of parents claiming their kid's dog is being sent off to a farm to live out its days when it's actually being put to sleep.

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* In the late 90s, a very well-acted, well-produced modern update of ''TheSixMillionDollarMan'' debuted on CBS. The show was titled ''Now And Again'', and featured an intricate and tightly-woven running premise, stellar acting by Eric Close and Dennis Haysbert, Kim Chan as one of the most surreal sociopaths in TV history, and frequent cameos by the likes of John Goodman and Mick Foley. It was an intelligent, thought-provoking show, which downplayed the premise's gimmick in favor of more real, dramatic interactions between the major characters. ...but its timeslot was 10pm on Friday, and it faded away with little fanfare after one season (at least a third of which never actually aired on CBS, and would only surface years later in syndication on SciFi.)