I've just noticed that a number of the season 3 air dates don't correspond to being shown every week.

for example Hell week aired on 23 November and the next episode (blowout) aired on 21 December.

Also Thin ice on Feb 1 and then the next episode (Odd triple) airs Feb 29th.

I haven't checked the other seasons yet, just noticed this while looking for something in season 3.

Anyone have any ideas on why there would be big gaps between airings.. or is my list wrong?

They seem OK, I've just checked on tvtome. They're the same.

That is a good question. How can people decently follow a show in the US if there're like always two weeks in between?

Augh!

I'm guessing your dates are right.

I know from interviews and articles I've seen, one of the shows biggest complaints about the network... and one of the networks sheeriest glees was that they could jerk the shows schedule around.

It had a lot to do with Monday night football. And maybe to a lesser degree, what the other networks were airing.

So in spite of being jerked around and having a very distinct disadvantage against other shows which had regular weekly time slots, MacGyver still pulled off some good ratings.

Seems like an extra credit to me. I bet lots of shows wouldn't have been able to build a loyal fan base with an inconsistent schedule like that.

It HAD to be because of Monday Night Football! I can remember SO many times that MacGyver was not shown due to MNF! It made me so MAD!!!!

Yeah, a lot of times MacGyver got pre-empted for Monday Night Football or other sporting events. That would probably explain most discrepancies.
And though I don't care so much about football, I'm also a sports fan so I understand if a game goes long or if it's the SuperBowl or something. But it is annoying when MacGyver would get cut off because of that.
Yes, I would say a show that got bounced around in its schedule and got bumped due to sporting events and such, did very well to pull off a 7 year long run and maintained pretty good ratings throughout. That just goes to show the loyalty of the MacGyver fan base!

American TV networks usually suspended their regularly scheduled programming around any holidays where they would cram that week or two full of "Holiday Programming" so viewers who were Christmas shopping, visiting relatives or had other family obligations and who wouldn't be able to watch their regularly scheduled shows - wouldn't actually miss them... or so the thinking of network executives went...

Also there were certain weeks reserved for "Ratings wars". Networks would put up their best stuff (their words - not mine) and show it over and over again - and suspend regularly scheduled shows - to get the most viewers (again, their idea - not mine) so their commercial sponsors would be happy.

Hence... gaps in the weekly schedule.

Any of this make sense???

It had nothing to do with Monday Night football. When MacGyver aired on Mondays from September through December ( in fact I have 2 clips from commercials with MacGyver plugging MNF -, it aired the hour before MNF, on the same ABC channel, on the West Coast it followed MNF, airing around 9PM West Coast time - as MNF aired at 9 east coast time, but 6pm west coast time. Usually MacGyver aired on Wednesdays, but for those few seasons where it had monday and thursdays. The time thing was a big thing, it would jump from Wednesday at 8 to thursday at 8 or wednesday at 9 etc. From January through May it was Basketball playoffs - both college and pro that would pre-empt MacGyver, sometimes Hockey playoffs as in the early years of Mac, ABC had both. The end of November through December are awful times for any TV show around the USA, Thanksgiving through Christmas time, as either holiday specials or reruns air. The real problem was just ABC and the way they treated the show, always moving it around, sometimes during the same season

well, as much as I love MacGyver, I'm definitely there for the NBA playoffs! (Back in the '80s and early '90s when they were worth watching- I don't keep up with it really anymore... )

The same thing happened to Quantum Leap, at the hands of NBC.

And let's not even bring up poor WKRP in Cincinatti - that show got moved around a lot! (In 4 years of running, it was like in 12 different time slots! okay, I may be exaggerating a bit- but it's a pretty big number! )

And other shows like The Greatest American Hero had the same sort of issue- it's great when shows can persevere despite such setbacks, but sometimes great shows are killed early due to things like this.