As the Fall Season Begins, Will 4 Remain TV's Magic Number?
As the official 2014-2015 TV season kicks off on Monday, Sept. 22, we're about to find out whether TV's unofficial "Rule of 4" will strike again.
What's the "Rule of 4"? Quite simply, in the past few decades, years that ended in "4" have turned out to be game-changing seasons in network TV. In 1984, The Cosby Show premiered and immediately revived a moribund NBC, as well as the entire sitcom genre.
By 1994, NBC was struggling once again — until Friends and ER came along and made the Peacock Network an unstoppable force for the rest of the decade. By 2004, it was ABC on the ropes, until Lost and Desperate Housewives debuted and turned that network around.
Mon, Sep 22, 2014