Although Baretta entered its 4th season with strong ratings and an excellent timeslot (Wednesday evenings, just after the ABC ratings powerhouse Charlie's Angels and opposite such "soft" competition as NBC's Big Hawaii), things went downhill fairly rapidly thereafter. Perhaps the character of maverick undercover cop Tony Baretta had worn out its welcome, or perhaps viewers were growing weary of publicity surrounding the never-ending hostilities between series star Robert Blake and the network "suits." In addition, Blake was himself getting tired of the weekly series grind, and his lack of enthusiasm might have begun showing up on screen. Whatever the case, Baretta didn't even crack the "top 25 program" ratings during the 1977-78 season. ABC responded to this viewer dropoff with more than the usual quota of pre-emptions, and in February of 1978 the series lost its Wednesday-night berth to the more successful Starsky and Hutch. Relocated to Thursday evenings opposite CBS' unassailable Barnaby Jones, Baretta limped onward toward its inevitable cancellation, though ABC opted to rerun the series as part of the network's late-late-night manifest until the fall of 1979.
by Hal Erickson
synopsis
