Other Cancellations
Nonrural-themed shows cancelled by CBS included sitcoms Family Affair and Hogan's Heroes in 1971, with the long-running My Three Sons ending in 1972. Variety shows that had been around since the late 1940s and early 1950s, such as The Jackie Gleason Show and The Ed Sullivan Show, were cancelled in 1970 and 1971, respectively; likewise, The Original Amateur Hour (a stalwart of network television since its debut, and before that on radio since 1934) ended on its own accord in 1970 due to the show's aging demographics. The Red Skelton Show was cancelled by CBS at the end the 1969-70 season, only to be picked up by NBC (the series' original network) for one more season. NBC would also revert Skelton's show to its original half-hour format in place of its more familiar hour-long format on CBS. By the end of 1972, Lucille Ball remained the only long-time star from television's golden era to still have her own show. Ball's show, Here's Lucy, still rated in the Nielsen top ten and would continue to pull in high ratings until its end in 1974. TV westerns were another genre that was fading in popularity. Apart from Gunsmoke and Bonanza, two prime-time staples which in 1971 had been on the air for a combined 28 years, most of the shows in the genre were already off the air at the time of the purge. NBC cancelled two of the remaining Westerns in 1971, The Virginian and The High Chaparral. Westerns had already been targeted for cancellation after concerns of violence led to pressure from parents' groups to tone down violence in television, and by 1969, no new Westerns were debuting.
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