Sledge Hammer! - Ratings and Second Season

Ratings and Second Season

Despite critical acclaim, Sledge Hammer! struggled in the ratings. This was due in large part to its being scheduled in the Friday 9 p.m. timeslot (popularly known as the Friday night death slot), against CBS's Dallas and NBC's Miami Vice, two of the most popular shows on television at the time. (In the first season episode "All Shook Up", Hammer remarks that it's a "terrible place" to be between a man from Dallas and a man from Miami, a reference to both shows. In his commentary on the first season DVDs, Alan Spencer remarks that the only series getting lower ratings than Sledge Hammer! was Fox's The Tracey Ullman Show. That actually applied to the second season.

In truth, Sledge Hammer! attracted weekly viewership of nineteen million viewers who followed the show religiously through its many time slot shifts. The fact that the series appealed to key target demographics also kept it on the schedule. Hammer! would invariably improve on any time slot the network placed it into.

Because ABC intended to cancel the series, the last episode of the first season ends with Hammer accidentally destroying the city when he attempts to disarm a stolen nuclear warhead; just before the explosion Hammer embarks on his infamous catchphrase "Trust Me.....". The last scene shows the "Beneath the Planet of the Apes"-style ruins of the city with Trunk's voice screaming "HAMMMMMMMER!", and a graphic flashed:

"To Be Continued... Next Season?"

However, this episode got much better than expected ratings, in large part because the network had moved the show to a better time slot. ABC changed its mind and renewed the show for a second season.

The first episode of the second season perfunctorily explained that it and following episodes were set "five years before" the explosion. Bill Bixby (of The Incredible Hulk fame) was brought in to direct numerous episodes. Doreau is Sledge's partner in the second season, a glaring (and unexplained) inconsistency, as the two are portrayed as meeting for the first time in the pilot episode. Another problem is that throughout the second season the show makes reference to contemporary events and TV series rather than those of 5 years before. This is more than likely a spoof of cop out endings to season-ending cliffhangers (a notorious example is Dallas's ninth season opener, where the previous season was revealed to be a dream).

One explanation that has been suggested is that the nuclear warhead which detonated at the end of the first season was an experimental model that was designed to only destroy buildings and not humans. Hence why Captain Trunk appears to have survived the explosion in the final shot so presumably Sledge and Dori did too. The city was therefore rebuilt after the explosion, season 1 was spread over the 5 year period leading up to it and those season 2 episodes which make contemporary references are set after the explosion. Writer/producer Alan Spencer has given this theory lukewarm endorsement saying it is 'as good as any'.

In the final moments of the final episode, Sledge asks Dori to marry him, but then claims he was only kidding. The viewer is left to imagine what happens next.

The second season suffered from another extremely undesirable time slot (this time against The Cosby Show), a reduced budget, and lowered filming standard (down to 16 mm film from the previous season's 35 mm). It was not renewed for a third season.

The episode "Wild About Hammer" sparked controversy when the epilogue satirized the trend of coloring black & white films. Following the commercial break, a disclaimer read, "The following tag was shot in black and white, then artificially recolored. We promise you will not be able to see the difference." The scene was intentionally altered not only in color, but also in tint, hue, brightness and contrast – prompting viewers to call their local ABC stations and complain about the broadcast quality. In response, Spencer recorded an apology message for ABC's phone lines.