The serial was enormously successful, leading the weekly ratings and ending as the second-highest-rated show for the 1976–77 television season. Along with its enormous audience popularity, it also garnered critical praise, reaping 20 Emmy nominations and winning four Emmy Awards—two for acting achievement, one for directing, and one for musical score.

The success of Rich Man, Poor Man hinged on its employment of several innovative techniques. The narrative struck a unique combination that contained the lavish film-style production values of prestigious special-event programming while at the same time relying upon the “habit viewing” characteristic of a weekly series. Also, by setting the plots in the historical context of such developments as McCarthyism, the Korean War, campus riots, and the Civil Rights Movement, Rich Man, Poor Man suggested larger circumstances than those usually found in a traditional soap opera. However, the limited series also liberally took on a range of risqué melodramatic topics, including adultery, power struggles, and alcoholism. Another inventive concept introduced by Rich Man, Poor Man was the use of multiple, revolving guest stars throughout the series. While the three principal cast members were relatively unknown at the time, shuffling better-known actors throughout the series was a way to maintain interest and achieve some form of ratings insurance on the $6 million venture.

By invigorating the concept of adapting novels into television miniseries, Rich Man, Poor Man began a rapid proliferation of similar prime-time programming, including a sequel. The continuation, Rich Man, Poor Man: Book II, was a 21-part weekly series that began airing in the fall of 1976. Although the sequel was not as successful as its predecessor, the idea of extended televised adaptations of popular novels quickly became a component of network schedules. In the season following the debut of Rich Man, Poor Man, each of the major networks scheduled at least one miniseries, including an adaptation of Harold Robbins’s The Pirates and Alex Haley’s historical epic Roots.

Although eclipsed by the record-breaking 1977 miniseries Roots (aired January 1 through 30 on ABC), Rich Man, Poor Man nonetheless has staked a spot in television history. It helped to create a special niche for televised novels as an economically viable miniseries genre.