I don't know what NBC was thinking, maybe that they could have the #8 show with little or no effort (which doesn't seem like much to aspire to). But it would naturally take a lot of promotion and care to keep the audience and make them follow the show to another network. Instead, the ratings fell by half and pretty much stayed there,

I recall that the highest SEARCH ratings on NBC were during a Gary Tomlin-written story that involved Jo's kidnapping. Now, that was hardly a new idea, but it should have demonstrated that there was an audience that wanted to see Mary Stuart fully involved in the story, and not just as Suzi's aunt.

DJ