I’m not 100% sure about that. I don’t know the cable technology that would allow just hotels to have had access HBO, or just bars (or bars and hotels) to have access to ESPN. But, I remember there used to be, in addition to where the hotel would say “Best Western” for example, it would also say “free movies.”
I know muzak was separately piped into restaurants and malls that subscribed to it from a central location, but obviously that’s a different technology than going through a television or a cable.
I can see why HBO or ESPN would do that though, the hotels (and bars) would have paid a good deal for the exclusivity at the time.
People forget how popular Rhoda was in her prime. Her wedding episode had the second largest audience of any TV show up to that point. The show self-destructed shortly thereafter, due to a lot of bad creative decisions.
To me, the show had too many weaknesses:
1. It really had no hook except the tension between Rhoda and Joe. Once they were married, it had no place to go. And that marriage occurred too early in the series, thus ending all that “will they or won’t they” tension.
2. Unlike the best comedy shows developed by James Brooks, it never really developed a repertory cast that was worth watching. Neither Mary Tyler Moore nor Taxi even needed their putative central characters, Mary and Alex. The shows were even better when they let Louie and Jim and Latka and Ted Baxter and Sue Ann have major screen time. Rhoda, on the other hand …
Well, I don’t really remember anything interesting about any of the minor characters except the unseen Carlton the Doorman, and poor ol’ Joe was as dull as dishwater, as was Rhoda’s sister, so Valerie was basically the whole show.
The writers were smart enough to know that Joe needed to go away, but they seemed to dismiss him with vitriol. “America’s couple” wasn’t supposed to split up bitterly, and that seemed to tick off a lot of people who were emotionally invested in the couple. I think it would have been better to have Joe die in an accident and let Rhoda deal with the dating scene again as a widow still haunted by memories of her true love.
As I recall, the Rhoda-Joe breakup, coupled with the departure of Rhoda’s parents (for bigger parts elsewhere), sent the series into a ratings tailspin. It had been a top ten program, and then was all of a sudden not even in the top thirty.
But you’re right about that wedding episode. It really mesmerized America. I don’t suppose we’ll ever see another scripted series pull 50 million viewers in a single night. I guess the series finales of Seinfeld, Cheers and Friends marked the end of that era.
50 million is mind-boggling, especially since that was pre-VCR/on demand/streaming, so we had to watch it live to see it. (By comparison, ~19 million people watched the Game of Thrones finale in the first 24 hours it was available.)
On the other side though, there were only 3 commercial tv networks (ABC, NBC and CBS) and PBS. There was also an independent station and, in some larger markets, two independent stations.
HBO apparently started as early as 1973, but I think it was just for hotels at the time. I believe ESPN may have been just for bars initially, however, by the time CNN came along in the early 1980s, pay cable channels were coming along.
I’m not 100% sure about that. I don’t know the cable technology that would allow just hotels to have had access HBO, or just bars (or bars and hotels) to have access to ESPN. But, I remember there used to be, in addition to where the hotel would say “Best Western” for example, it would also say “free movies.”
I know muzak was separately piped into restaurants and malls that subscribed to it from a central location, but obviously that’s a different technology than going through a television or a cable.
I can see why HBO or ESPN would do that though, the hotels (and bars) would have paid a good deal for the exclusivity at the time.
People forget how popular Rhoda was in her prime. Her wedding episode had the second largest audience of any TV show up to that point. The show self-destructed shortly thereafter, due to a lot of bad creative decisions.
To me, the show had too many weaknesses:
1. It really had no hook except the tension between Rhoda and Joe. Once they were married, it had no place to go. And that marriage occurred too early in the series, thus ending all that “will they or won’t they” tension.
2. Unlike the best comedy shows developed by James Brooks, it never really developed a repertory cast that was worth watching. Neither Mary Tyler Moore nor Taxi even needed their putative central characters, Mary and Alex. The shows were even better when they let Louie and Jim and Latka and Ted Baxter and Sue Ann have major screen time. Rhoda, on the other hand …
Well, I don’t really remember anything interesting about any of the minor characters except the unseen Carlton the Doorman, and poor ol’ Joe was as dull as dishwater, as was Rhoda’s sister, so Valerie was basically the whole show.
The writers were smart enough to know that Joe needed to go away, but they seemed to dismiss him with vitriol. “America’s couple” wasn’t supposed to split up bitterly, and that seemed to tick off a lot of people who were emotionally invested in the couple. I think it would have been better to have Joe die in an accident and let Rhoda deal with the dating scene again as a widow still haunted by memories of her true love.
As I recall, the Rhoda-Joe breakup, coupled with the departure of Rhoda’s parents (for bigger parts elsewhere), sent the series into a ratings tailspin. It had been a top ten program, and then was all of a sudden not even in the top thirty.
But you’re right about that wedding episode. It really mesmerized America. I don’t suppose we’ll ever see another scripted series pull 50 million viewers in a single night. I guess the series finales of Seinfeld, Cheers and Friends marked the end of that era.
50 million is mind-boggling, especially since that was pre-VCR/on demand/streaming, so we had to watch it live to see it. (By comparison, ~19 million people watched the Game of Thrones finale in the first 24 hours it was available.)
On the other side though, there were only 3 commercial tv networks (ABC, NBC and CBS) and PBS. There was also an independent station and, in some larger markets, two independent stations.
HBO apparently started as early as 1973, but I think it was just for hotels at the time. I believe ESPN may have been just for bars initially, however, by the time CNN came along in the early 1980s, pay cable channels were coming along.