1989–90 United States network television schedule

The 1989–90 network television schedule for the four major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers primetime hours from September 1989 through August 1990. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1988–89 season.

Beginning this season, Fox started their prime time expansion starting with Mondays.

This is the first season to feature entirely closed captioning programs on the Big Four networks.

This was the first time that two programs were tied for the no. 1 spot in the Nielsen ratings.

PBS is not included; member stations have local flexibility over most of their schedules and broadcast times for network shows may vary.

New series are highlighted in bold.

All times are U.S. Eastern and Pacific Time (except for some live sports or events). Subtract one hour for Central, Mountain, Alaska and Hawaii–Aleutian times.

Each of the 30 highest-rated shows is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research.^[1]

Legend

•   Light blue indicates local programming.
•   Gray indicates encore programming.
•   Blue-gray indicates news programming.
•   Light green indicates sporting events.
•   Red indicates series being burned off and other regularly scheduled programs, including specials and movies.
•   Lime indicates the number-one most-watched program of the season.
•   Yellow indicates the top-10 most watched programs of the season.
•   Cyan indicates the top-20 most watched programs of the season.
•   Magenta indicates the top-30 most watched programs of the season.

Sunday

Network		7:00 p.m.	7:30 p.m.	8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.	10:30 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Life Goes On		Free Spirit	Homeroom	The ABC Sunday Night Movie
	Winter			America's Funniest Home Videos (5/20.9)	Free Spirit
	Mid-winter				Elvis
	Spring				America's Funniest Home Videos (R)
	Summer				The ABC Sunday Night Movie
	Mid-summer				Mr. Belvedere	The ABC Sunday Night Movie
	Late summer				Tim Conway's Funny America
CBS		60 Minutes (7/19.7)		Murder, She Wrote (13/17.7) (Tied with Chicken Soup)		CBS Sunday Movie (24/14.9) (Tied with Hunter)
Fox	Fall	Booker		America's Most Wanted	Totally Hidden Video	Married... with Children	Open House	The Tracey Ullman Show	It's Garry Shandling's Show
	Winter				The Simpsons (28/14.5) (Tied with Night Court and Doogie Howser, M.D.)
	Spring	The Outsiders						Booker
	Summer						In Living Color
NBC	Fall	Brand New Life		Sister Kate	My Two Dads	NBC Sunday Night Movie
	Late fall	The Magical World of Disney
	Winter			Ann Jillian	Sister Kate
	Spring	The Magical World of Disney
	Mid-spring	The Magical World of Disney		ALF (R)	227
	Summer	The Magical World of Disney
	Late summer	Ann Jillian	A Family for Joe	The Magical World of Disney

Note: In Living Color premiered Sunday, April 15, 1990 at 9:30 PM on Fox.

Monday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.	10:30 p.m.
ABC	Fall	MacGyver		Monday Night Football (10/18.1)
	Winter			The ABC Monday Night Movie
	Spring			China Beach		Capital News
	Mid-spring	The Young Riders		The ABC Monday Night Movie
	Summer	MacGyver
CBS	Fall	Major Dad	The People Next Door	Murphy Brown (27/14.7)	The Famous Teddy Z	Designing Women (22/15.3) (Tied with Full House)	Newhart
	Mid-fall		The Famous Teddy Z		Designing Women (22/15.3) (Tied with Full House)	Newhart	Doctor Doctor
	Winter		City
	Spring						His & Hers
	Mid-spring		Newhart			Special programming
	Summer		Sydney			Newhart	The Dave Thomas Comedy Show
	Mid-summer		Doctor Doctor			Saturday Night with Connie Chung
Fox		21 Jump Street		Alien Nation		Local programming
NBC	Fall	ALF	The Hogan Family	NBC Monday Night at the Movies
	Winter
	Spring	My Two Dads
	Mid-spring		Working Girl	Hunter (24/14.9) (Tied with CBS Sunday Movie)		Shannon's Deal
	Summer	ALF	The Hogan Family	NBC Monday Night at the Movies
	Mid-summer	Sister Kate	Working Girl

Tuesday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.	10:30 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Who's the Boss? (12/17.9)	The Wonder Years (8/19.2)	Roseanne (1/23.4) (Tied with The Cosby Show)	Chicken Soup (13/17.7) (Tied with Murder, She Wrote)	Thirtysomething
	Mid-fall				Coach (18/17.0)
	Winter
	Spring
	Summer
CBS	Fall	Rescue 911		Wolf		Island Son
	Winter			CBS Tuesday Night Movie
	Spring
	Summer
NBC	Fall	Matlock (20/16.6)		In the Heat of the Night (19/16.9)		Midnight Caller
	Winter
	Spring
	Summer					Real Life with Jane Pauley

Wednesday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.	10:30 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Growing Pains (21/15.4)	Head of the Class (26/14.8)	Doogie Howser, M.D. (28/14.5) (Tied with The Simpsons and Night Court)	Anything but Love	China Beach
	Winter
	Spring				The Marshall Chronicles	Equal Justice
	Mid-spring				Brewster Place
	Summer				Anything but Love	China Beach
CBS	Fall	Peaceable Kingdom		Jake and the Fatman		Wiseguy
	Mid-fall	Beauty and the Beast
	Winter	Grand Slam
	Spring	Normal Life	Sydney
	Mid-spring	Sydney	Normal Life			Special programming
	Summer	This Is America, Charlie Brown (R)
	Mid-summer	Newhart (R)	His & Hers			Top Cops
Fox	Mid-summer (begins July 25th, 1990)	Glory Days		Molloy	Various pilots	Local programming
NBC	Fall	Unsolved Mysteries (11/18.0)		Night Court (28/14.5) (Tied with The Simpsons and Doogie Howser, M.D.)	The Nutt House	Quantum Leap
	Mid-fall				My Two Dads
	Winter				Dear John (17/17.2)
	Spring				FM
	Late spring				Dear John (17/17.2)
	Summer			Singer & Sons
	Mid-summer			Night Court (28/14.5) (Tied with The Simpsons and Doogie Howser, M.D.)

Notes: Molloy aired at 9:00 p.m. on Fox from July 25 until August 15, 1990. Fox aired movies at 8:00 p.m. on an irregular basis.

Thursday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.	10:30 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Mission: Impossible		The Young Riders		Primetime Live
	Winter	Father Dowling Mysteries
	Spring			Twin Peaks
	Summer
CBS	Fall	48 Hours		Top of the Hill		Knots Landing
	Winter			Island Son
	Spring			Max Monroe: Loose Cannon
	Mid-spring			Falcon Crest
	Summer			Wiseguy		Wolf
	Mid-summer			Northern Exposure		The Eddie Capra Mysteries (R)
NBC	Fall	The Cosby Show (1/23.4) (Tied with Roseanne)	A Different World (4/21.1)	Cheers (3/22.7)	Dear John (17/17.2)	L.A. Law (16/17.4)
	Winter				Grand (15/17.6)
	Spring				Wings
	Summer				Seinfeld
	Mid-summer				Grand (15/17.6)

Notes: The Eddie Capra Mysteries, which CBS aired from July 26 to August 30, consisted of reruns of episodes from the 1978-79 NBC series.

Friday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.	10:30 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Full House (22/15.3) (Tied with Designing Women)	Family Matters	Perfect Strangers	Just the Ten of Us	20/20
	Winter
	Spring
	Summer				New Attitude
CBS	Fall	Snoops		Dallas		Falcon Crest
	Winter	Max Monroe: Loose Cannon
	Mid-winter	The Bradys
	Spring	Various programming		Bagdad Cafe	Sugar and Spice	Dallas
	Mid-spring	Small Talk	City
	Summer	Falcon Crest		CBS Friday Movie
	Mid-summer	Candid Camera	Bagdad Cafe	Newhart (R)	Wish You Were Here	Room for Romance
	Late summer	Prime Time Pets	Candid Camera
NBC	Early fall	Baywatch		NBC Friday Night at the Movies
	Fall			Hardball		Mancuso, F.B.I.
	Winter			True Blue
	Mid-winter			Nasty Boys
	Spring					Hardball
	Mid-spring	Mancuso, F.B.I.
	Late spring	Baywatch
	Summer	Bret Maverick (R)		The Yellow Rose (R)		Midnight Caller (R)
	Mid-summer	Quantum Leap (R)		Shannon's Deal (R)
	Late summer			Night Court (R)	Wings (R)

Notes: Bret Maverick, which aired on NBC, consisted of reruns of the series' 1981–82 network run. The Yellow Rose, which also aired on NBC, consisted of reruns of the series' 1983–84 network run.

Saturday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.	10:30 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Mr. Belvedere	Living Dolls	The ABC Saturday Mystery Movie
	Winter	Mission: Impossible
	Spring	H.E.L.P.
	Late spring	Sunset Beat
	Early summer	Elvis	Various programming
	Summer	Super Jeopardy!	Monopoly
	Late summer			China Beach (R)		Twin Peaks (R)
CBS	Fall	Paradise		Tour of Duty		Saturday Night with Connie Chung
	Winter
	Spring
	Summer			Beauty and the Beast		Tour of Duty
Fox	Fall	COPS	The Reporters		Beyond Tomorrow	Local programming
	Winter		Totally Hidden Video	The Reporters
	Spring			In Living Color	The Tracey Ullman Show
	Summer
NBC	Fall	227	Amen	The Golden Girls (6/20.1)	Empty Nest (9/18.9)	Hunter (24/14.9) (Tied with CBS Sunday Movie)
	Winter
	Spring	ALF
	Mid-spring	A Family for Joe	13 East			Carol and Company	Down Home
	Late spring	13 East	Amen
	Summer	227				Hunter (24/14.9) (Tied with CBS Sunday Movie)
	Mid-summer	Amen	13 East
	Late summer					Carol and Company	Various programming

Note: Comic Strip Live aired at 11:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m. on Fox.

By network

ABC

Returning series 20/20 The ABC Monday Night Movie ABC Mystery Movie (moved from Monday to Saturday) The ABC Sunday Night Movie Anything but Love China Beach Coach Father Dowling Mysteries (moved from NBC) Full House Growing Pains Head of the Class Just the Ten of Us MacGyver Mission: Impossible Mr. Belvedere Monday Night Football Perfect Strangers Roseanne Thirtysomething Who's the Boss? The Wonder Years

New series America's Funniest Home Videos * Brewster Place * Capital News * Chicken Soup Doogie Howser, M.D. Elvis * Equal Justice * Family Matters Free Spirit H.E.L.P. * Homeroom Life Goes On Living Dolls The Marshall Chronicles * Monopoly * New Attitude * Primetime Live Sunset Beat * Super Jeopardy! * Tim Conway's Funny America * Twin Peaks * The Young Riders

Not returning from 1988–89: ABC Saturday Night Movie Dynasty A Fine Romance Great Circuses of the World Have Faith HeartBeat Hooperman Incredible Sunday Knightwatch A Man Called Hawk Men Moonlighting Murphy's Law Police Story The Robert Guillaume Show Studio 5-B Thursday Night Baseball

CBS

Returning series 48 Hours 60 Minutes Beauty and the Beast CBS Sunday Movie Dallas Designing Women Doctor Doctor Falcon Crest Jake and the Fatman Knots Landing Murder, She Wrote Murphy Brown Newhart Paradise Tour of Duty Wiseguy

New series Bagdad Cafe * The Bradys * City * The Dave Thomas Comedy Show * The Famous Teddy Z Grand Slam * His & Hers * Island Son Major Dad Max Monroe: Loose Cannon * Normal Life * Northern Exposure * A Peaceable Kingdom The People Next Door Prime Time Pets * Rescue 911 Room for Romance * Saturday Night with Connie Chung Small Talk * Snoops Sugar and Spice * Sydney * Top Cops * Top of the Hill Wish You Were Here * Wolf

Not returning from 1988–89: Almost Grown Annie McGuire The Cavanaughs CBS Summer Playhouse Coming of Age Dirty Dancing Dolphin Cove The Equalizer First Impressions Hard Time on Planet Earth Heartland High Risk Jesse Hawkes Kate & Allie Live! Dick Clark Presents Live-In Raising Miranda Simon & Simon The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour TV 101 The Van Dyke Show West 57th

Fox

Returning series 21 Jump Street America's Most Wanted Beyond Tomorrow Cops It's Garry Shandling's Show Married... with Children The Reporters Totally Hidden Video The Tracey Ullman Show

New series Alien Nation Booker Comic Strip Live Glory Days * In Living Color * Molloy * Open House The Outsiders * The Simpsons *

Not returning from 1988–89: Duet

NBC

Returning series 13 East 227 ALF Amen Cheers The Cosby Show Dear John A Different World Empty Nest The Golden Girls The Hogan Family Hunter In the Heat of the Night L.A. Law The Magical World of Disney Matlock Midnight Caller My Two Dads + NBC Sunday Night Movie NBC Monday Night at the Movies Night Court Quantum Leap Unsolved Mysteries

New series Ann Jillian * Baywatch Brand New Life Carol & Company * Down Home * A Family for Joe * FM Grand * Hardball Mancuso, F.B.I. Nasty Boys * The Nutt House Real Life with Jane Pauley * Seinfeld * Shannon's Deal * Singer & Sons * Sister Kate True Blue * Wings * Working Girl *

Not returning from 1988–89: Baby Boom Day by Day Dream Street Family Ties Father Dowling Mysteries (moved to ABC) Highway to Heaven The Jim Henson Hour Knight & Daye Miami Vice Nearly Departed Nightingales One of the Boys Something Is Out There Sonny Spoon Tattingers/Nick & Hillary Unsub

Note: The * indicates that the program was introduced in midseason.

+ These shows returned as "backup" programming in midseason