SCHEDULES OF THE PAST: 1988-1989 Saturdays

On Mondays, I take a look at schedules from yesteryear. Here's a look at Saturdays in the 1988-89 season!

ABC	8:00	9:00	10:00
Sep	Various Programs	Saturday Night Movie
Oct
Nov
Dec	Murphy’s Law
Jan	Saturday Night Movie		Murphy’s Law
Feb	Mission: Impossible	A Man Called Hawk
Mar
Apr			Men
May	A Man Called Hawk	Saturday Night Movie

ABC was starting from scratch on Saturday nights in 1988-89 as none of their shows that aired on the night in 1987-88 returned. It was a slow rollout thanks to, you guessed it, the Writer's Strike. Specials and movies occupied the night until December when Murphy's Law premiered. Starring George Segal as a former alcoholic turned insurance fraud investigator, it aired at 8pm for a short time and then 10pm before being cancelled after 12 episodes. The night didn't get another original series until February when Murphy's moved to 10pm. The new 8pm entry was the reboot of Mission: Impossible which had moved over from Sunday. It was followed by A Man Called Hawk, which was a spinoff of recently cancelled Saturday show Spenser: For Hire. Even though Spenser had only aired for three years and never found a mass audience, co-star Avery Brooks was well liked so he got his own show where his character moved to Washington DC but continued to fight crime. Mission: Impossible was renewed for a second season. A Man Called Hawk briefly moved to 8pm but was cancelled at the end of the season. Meanwhile at 10pm, Murphy's Law was replaced by Men, a drama about four men and their weekly poker game. The premise sounds a little soapy and a little bit like A Million Little Things. It lasted just five episodes and ABC closed out the season by bringing a movie back to the night.

CBS	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	First Impressions	Frank’s Place	Various Programs		West 57th
Oct	Live! Dick Clark Presents		Simon & Simon
Nov	Dirty Dancing	Raising Miranda
Dec
Jan	Dolphin Cove		Various Programs	Dirty Dancing
Feb			The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
Mar			TV 101
Apr	Paradise		Jesse Hawkes
May

CBS was all over the map for the first two hours of Saturday night though the 10pm hour remained stable with West 57th although it was the final season of the modestly rated newsmagazine. A whopping 10 different shows aired between 8-10pm during the season. First up was late summer series First Impressions starring Brad Garrett and reruns of the acclaimed but cancelled Frank's Place. They were briefly replaced by Live! Dick Clark Presents as a placeholder until the delayed Writer's Strike shows were ready. The lineup debuted in earnest at the very end of October. There may not be many who remember there was a TV show version of the classic film Dirty Dancing, but it led off the Saturday lineup for CBS. It was set at the same resort in the same summer but was sort of a revamped story. The show did not featured any members of the movie's cast but starred Melora Hardin and Patrick Cassidy. It could not recapture the magic of the movie and was cancelled early in 1989 after a brief move to 9:30pm. At 8:30pm was Raising Miranda, a family sitcom starring James Naughton who suddenly became a single father to a 15 year old when his wife left them. The show also featured a young Bryan Cranston and lasted just seven episodes. Meanwhile at 9pm was Simon & Simon. The long running drama had cheated death a couple times but this was the end of the road. The one time hit ended after eight seasons and 156 episodes. A new drama took over at 8pm in January and it had a unique premise. Dolphin Cove was set in Queensland, Australia and centered on a man who moved to Australia with his family after being hired by a man interested in perfecting human-dolphin communication. It lasted just eight episodes. Meanwhile at 9pm, there were two brief runs. The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour returned for a second season but lasted just a few weeks before being pulled and burned off in the summer. TV 101 replaced it after failing on Wednesday and Thursday. CBS gave this show plenty of chances but there just was no interest. There was yet another new lineup late in the season with Paradise moving over from Thursday nights for the end of its season. It was paired with Jesse Hawkes, a spinoff of the failed 1987-88 series High Mountain Rangers. That's another spinoff of a modestly to low rated show that aired on Saturdays this season. The San Francisco set crime drama once again starred Robert Conrad and his real life sons and lasted even less episodes than High Mountain Rangers.

NBC	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	Summer Olympics
Oct	227	Amen	The Golden Girls	Empty Nest	Hunter
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May		One of the Boys

NBC continued to dominate Saturday nights with a lineup that was shuffled some from the previous season with the departure of The Facts of Life. 227 moved up half an hour to 8pm. It did OK but was the lowest rated show of the block and perhaps not really capable of being a lead-in. Amen followed at 8:30pm, moving up an hour from its slot the previous two seasons. Not being behind The Golden Girls naturally led to a ratings drop but it did build on its lead-in. The crown jewel of the Saturday lineup continued to be The Golden Girls as it remained a Top 10 hit. The new entry came at 9:30pm and it was a backdoor spinoff of Golden. Empty Nest aired as a backdoor episode in the Fall of 1987 but was extensively revamped before it became a series. The version that made it to air starred Richard Mulligan as a recently widowed pediatrician and neighbor of The Golden Girls who had two adult daughters returning to live with him. The show was a huge hit with audiences, placing in the Top 10 just like its lead-in. It also did well critically with Mulligan winning the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor. 10pm continued to belong to Hunter, which was chugging along as a pretty successful Saturday drama. There was a new comedy added to the night late in the season. One of the Boys starred Maria Conchito Alonso as a woman from a wealthy Latin American family who came to the US. Although it did pretty well in the ratings thanks to a preview after The Golden Girls and airing on a successful night, it was still cancelled after just six episodes.

FOX	8:00	9:00	9:30
Sep	The Reporters	Beyond Tomorrow
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar		Cops	Beyond Tomorrow
Apr
May

The young FOX network had been trying lots of scripted programming on Saturdays but for its second full year, they went fully unscripted on the night. For much of the year, the show aired The Reporters and Beyond Tomorrow. The Reporters was a newsmagazine that dabbled in both some real news and some gossip fodder. Beyond Tomorrow was focused on science and technology and based on a popular Australian show. Beyond Tomorrow was reduced to half an hour late in the season to make room for Cops. The documentary style show focused on police officers became an iconic FOX show that aired on Saturdays for decades before finally leaving FOX in 2013. It was a cheap option that helped FOX get a foothold on Saturday nights.

Top Rated Saturday Show of 1988-89: The Golden Girls (#6)
Lowest Rated Saturday Show of 1988-89 (not including FOX): Raising Miranda (#102)

What would I have watched on Saturdays in 1988-89?
The Golden Girls and perhaps the other three comedies on the night for NBC - 227, Amen and Empty Nest. I would have also sampled Raising Miranda and might have checked out Dolphin Cove and Dirty Dancing.

Tomorrow: Top 10 TV Musical Performances!

Next Monday: A look at Sundays in 1988-89!