How Did Seinfeld Grow Past Cheers on Thursday Nights?

David Rosenthal says that in February 1993, Seinfeld moved from Wednesday to Thursday and the ratings rose 57%. In one week it went from the 45th most popular show on television to the 5th.

David Rosenthal says a huge part of the jump was the time slot. Ben Gilbert says everyone at the network expected that a show after Cheers would get good ratings and still lose viewers on the way from Cheers to the next show. The only question was how large the drop-off would be. Ben Gilbert says Seinfeld gained audience over Cheers. It retained the Cheers audience, and new people tuned in just to see the next episode. David Rosenthal says on a first-run Thursday night it held the full lead-in. By the end of the season it was bigger. Ben Gilbert says it was the new anchor show, and David Rosenthal says it was the new king of the night.