Popularity
Despite the show's popularity, the series' ratings never made the top thirty in the yearly ratings charts. The Big Valley was canceled in 1969 as the TV western craze began to fade out to make room for more modern shows. In Ella Smith's 1973 biography, "Starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck," Smith noted that "Valley" had been cancelled by ABC mainly due to a poor time slot. In better times, the series had been enough of a hit to outlive various time slot rivals during its run (mainly on Monday nights at 10 p.m.), including "The Jean Arthur Show," "Run for Your Life" and "I Spy." According to Broadcasting magazine (September 27, 1965), its debut episode (actually Wednesday at 9 p.m., where the show aired for half-a-season) placed #39 in the Nielsen ratings for the week of September 13-19, 1965.
"Valley" was also ranked as one of the top five favorite new shows in viewer TVQ polling (the others were "Get Smart," "I Dream of Jeannie," "Lost in Space" and "F Troop"). Early into its second season, "Valley" was still a mid-range performer, placing #47 of 88 shows during the week of October 28, 1966, higher than such shows as "That Girl," "Daniel Boone," "Petticoat Junction" and "The Wild, Wild West." Indeed, "Valley" was popular enough to warrant at least three "TV Guide" covers. It also acted as a launching pad for two projected spinoffs from special episodes. A 1968 episode guest starring Van Williams was meant to lead to a "Rifleman"-like series titled "Rimfire." A March 1969 episode, "The Royal Road," guest-starring then-heartthrob Sajid Khan as a young rogue, was also hoped to lead to a series. But by that year the rising popularity of CBS's "The Carol Burnett Show" — and vocal complaints by Joey Bishop, ABC's late-night talk show host, that "Valley"'s faltering ratings weren't helping to provide his program with a proper lead-in — ultimately lead to the drama's demise. It was in syndication that "The Big Valley" would prove exceptionally popular in the U.S., Europe and Latin America.
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