SCHEDULES OF THE PAST: 1987-1988 Fridays

On Mondays, I take a look at schedules from yesteryear. Here's a look at Fridays in the 1987-88 season!

ABC	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	Full House	I Married Dora	Max Headroom		20/20
Oct
Nov			Mr. Belvedere	Pursuit of Happiness
Dec
Jan		Mr. Belvedere	The Thorns	Sledge Hammer!
Feb
Mar	Perfect Strangers	Full House	Mr. Belvedere	Family Man
Apr
May				I Married Dora

Although it wasn't known as TGIF yet, some of the eventual pieces of TGIF started to form on Friday nights on ABC in 1987-88. It started with the launch of Full House at 8pm. The family sitcom and its theme song have now become iconic but it didn't start strong, in fact it only placed at #71 for the year in the ratings. Its ratings improved late in its first season when Wednesday hit Perfect Strangers was moved to the night as the new lead-off and Full House shifted to 8:30pm. The original 8:30pm entry was I Married Dora, a sitcom about a single father who marries his housekeeper to keep her from being deported. The show starred Daniel Hugh Kelly and Elizabeth Pena and featured a young Juliette Lewis but is most notable for breaking the fourth wall to announce its cancellation in its final scene. The 9pm entry was originally Max Headroom, which had eked out a renewal. The odd dystopian satire was one of the lowest rated shows on TV and only lasted a few weeks before ABC yanked it for another sitcom hour. At 9pm was season four of Mr. Belvedere and it was followed by the new Pursuit of Happiness, a gentle comedy about a history professor at a Philadelphia college. It lasted just 10 episodes before being cancelled while Mr. Belvedere replaced I Married Dora at 8:30pm and there was yet another attempt at the 9pm hour. This time they started with a new comedy called The Thorns. It starred Tony Roberts and Kelly Bishop as a dysfunctional married couple in New York City. It was followed by Sledge Hammer! which had been struggling on Thursdays. This lineup also lasted approximately two months. When Perfect Strangers came to the night, Mr. Belvedere moved back to 9pm and another new sitcom was attempted, Family Man starred Richard Libertini and Mimi Kennedy and centered on a middle aged man married to a much younger wife. When Family Man was cancelled after seven episodes, repeats of the already cancelled I Married Dora returned to the night. The only steady hour of the night was 10pm. 20/20 had moved over from Thursdays to the slot it still occupies today.

CBS	8:00	9:00	10:00
Sep	Beauty and the Beast	Dallas	Falcon Crest
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May

Unlike some other nights of the week, CBS was completely steady on Friday nights with its lineup not changing for the entire season. 9pm and 10pm were the same as usual with season 11 of Dallas and season 7 of Falcon Crest. Both primetime soaps were certainly past their prime but still plugging along and still doing decently on Friday nights. At 8pm was a new and completely different entry. Beauty and the Beast was a take off on the fairy tale and centered on the relationship between a man-beast and a New York district attorney. The show also focused on an underground world in New York City for social outcasts. Starring Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton, the show quickly developed a cult following. It even received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama Series and Perlman was nominated as well. The show continues to have its cult following to this day and even inspired a remake on the CW in 2012.

NBC	8:00	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	Rags to Riches	Miami Vice		Private Eye
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb	Various Programs			Sonny Spoon
Mar	The Highwayman
Apr		Night Court	Beverly Hills Buntz	Miami Vice
May	Super Bloopers and New Practical Jokes	The Highwayman

NBC was all over the place on Friday nights. They started with a trio of dramas. Leading off was Rags to Riches, which had been renewed for a second season despite low season one ratings. Things did not get any better for the 1960s-set musical family drama and it was cancelled in January. At 9pm was season four of Miami Vice. The show was a flash in the pan hit in season two but by season four, it had lost a lot of its mojo and was quickly declining in the ratings while also undergoing creative retooling. It aired at 9pm until towards the end of the season when it moved to 10pm. The original 10pm entry was Private Eye, a crime drama set in 1950s Los Angeles about a former cop now working as a private eye. This was NBC's second attempt at a period crime drama in two years (along with Crime Story) and both were gone by the end of the 1987-88 season. Private Eye was replaced by Sonny Spoon, a crime drama starring Mario Van Peebles as a, you guessed it, private investigator. Although its first season consisted of just seven episodes that didn't do much, it did get renewed for a second season. When Miami Vice moved to 10pm, the first part of the night was revamped. At 8pm was the new The Highwayman, an action drama set in the "near future" about a mysterious group fighting crime and solving mysteries. The drama had first aired as a 1987 TV movie before being turned into a series but lasted just a couple months at 8pm before being replaced by a weekly version of the bloopers specials hosted by Dick Clark. It moved briefly to 9pm before cancellation. When it moved to 9pm, it replaced a short lived comedy hour consisting of Night Court on a new night and Beverly Hills Buntz starring Dennis Franz. Buntz was a comedy spinoff of the drama Hill Street Blues, which had ended the previous season. It was one of several shows that NBC labeled as "designated hitters" meaning they had no set timeslot and aired wherever maybe one or two months at a time. This list also included the sitcom Mama's Boy, which aired six episodes and never got a timeslot and Unsolved Mysteries, which eventually became a weekly series. Buntz aired sporadically for awhile but did have a run on Friday nights. Like Mama's Boy, it was cancelled at the end of the season and NBC abandoned the whole "designated hitter" idea.

Top Rated Friday Show in 1986-87: Night Court (#7) - mainly due to its Thursday airings
Lowest Rated Friday Show in 1986-87: Max Headroom (#101)

What would I have watched on Fridays in 1986-87?
Perfect Strangers and maybe Full House (if I'm being honest with myself). I think I would have watched Rags to Riches and would definitely have sampled Private Eye.

Tomorrow: Top 10 TV Theme Songs of the 90s!

Next Monday: A look at Saturdays in the 1987-88 season!