Show Business: Show Business & Television: The Most Of 1980

Loudest Shot: The shooting of Dallas’ J.R. Ewing, which prompted three-quarters of the globe to ask: Who dunit?

Fastest Comeback: CBS, which defied all predictions and took the No. 1 spot in the ratings back from ABC, which had grabbed the title in 1976.

Biggest Sushi: NBC’s Shōgun which ranked just behind Roots (1977) as the highest-rating mini-series of all time.

Biggest Bomb: Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate, which cost 36 million but was pulled back from distribution after some unheavenly reviews.

Second Biggest Bomb: Sir Lew Grade’s Raise The Titanic! which could scarcely raise the curtain , let alone a paying audience.

Words Least Likely To Be Remembered: NBC President Fred Silverman’s statement July a year ago, that if he could not raise ratings significantly by Christmas 1980, someone else should be given “a shot at this job.” As of last week NBC was a distant third in the ratings, further behind, in fact, than it was last Christmas and the Christmas before.

Most Sadistic Show: ABC’s That’s Incredible, which, in the search for thrills and ratings, has caused one man nearly to lose a foot, another to burn his fingers to stumps, and a third to suffer several fractures and a ruptured aorta.

Biggest Omission: NBC’s coverage of the Moscow Summer Olympics, all 152 hours of which were canceled after the U.S. withdrew from the Games to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Oddest Couple. Tom Snyder and Rona Barrett who got along so famously as co-hosts of NBC’s Tomorrow that Miss Rona finally walked out in a huff.

Saddest Moment: The senseless murder of John Lennon by a fan, which silenced one of the most brilliant music makers of the century.