SCHEDULES OF THE PAST: 1988-1989 Sundays

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

ABC	7:00	8:00	9:00	10:00
Sep	Various Programs		Sunday Night Movie
Oct	Incredible Sunday	Mission: Impossible
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb		Studio 5-B
Mar	Great Circuses of the World	Various Programs
Apr		Moonlighting
May	Incredible Sunday

Despite the Writer's Strike, ABC was able to get its full Sunday lineup going quickly thanks to a unique reason. They started the night with the unscripted Incredible Sunday, a reboot of That's Incredible, which ran from 1980-1984 and centered on people performing stunts related to paranormal events. The unique show in the lineup was a reboot of Mission: Impossible once again starring Peter Graves. To get the reboot of the popular 1960s drama on the air sooner in the midst of the strike, ABC used scripts from the original series and remade them with slight updates. While the show did get on the air quicker, it may have not been the best creative decision though the show did eventually make new episodes. It was moved to Saturdays at midseason where it narrowly did get renewed for a second season. It was replaced on Sundays by Studio 5-B, a drama about a Canadian TV station starring Jeffrey Tambor and Wendy Crewson among others. It lasted just three episodes and only two in its Sunday slot and was the lowest rated show on the big three networks. In the spring, the 7pm slot went to another unscripted show, Great Circuses of the World, before Incredible Sunday returned to the night. At 8pm, specials took over after the cancellation of Studio 5-B until Moonlighting came to the night. After airing on Tuesdays for its entire run, the show had dropped quickly in ratings the Fall/Winter of 1988. ABC made a last ditch effort on Sundays but the ratings dropped more and stars Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd were ready to move on. It was cancelled after five seasons and 66 episodes. That's less than a normal five season show would have because they could never get all the episodes in on time during the season. Throughout the whole season, a movie aired from 9-11pm but ABC was third out of three in the Sunday movie competition.

CBS	7:00	8:00	9:00	10:00
Sep	60 Minutes	Murder, She Wrote	Sunday Night Movie
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May

CBS knew not to mess with success on Sunday nights as their lineup returned in tact. 60 Minutes was the network's top rated show while their movie topped the movies on both NBC and ABC. As for the Murder, She Wrote, series star Angela Lansbury expressed reservations about continuing the series and was threatening to hang it up. CBS made accommodations to keep their highly rated show on the air by building up supporting characters and allowing Lansbury to reduce her on screen appearances in some episodes as she sometimes only appeared in the beginning and end of an episode.

NBC	7:00	8:00	8:30	9:00	10:00
Sep	Summer Olympics
Oct	The Magical World of Disney	Various Programs		Sunday Night Movie
Nov		Family Ties	Day by Day
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May

It was NBC's turn to take the Disney Sunday anthology. Most recently known as The Disney Sunday Movie on ABC, NBC rechristened it as The Magical World of Disney and it returned to the same 7pm slot it had on ABC. Once they were able to get on the air after the Strike, a comedy hour returned to 8pm with the same combo that aired in the spring. Family Ties had made a successful move to Sundays the previous season, but this season it dropped quite a bit and NBC made the decision to end the series after seven seasons and 176 episodes. It doesn't get the same credit as Cheers and The Cosby Show, but it was certainly part of the reason NBC had a comedy renaissance. It hasn't done as well in syndication, perhaps because of how era-specific it was. Day by Day continued at 8:30pm but struggled to find an audience especially with its lead-in dropping. It did have an episode that has become notable though in its second season - "A Very Brady Episode" - which reunited six cast members of The Brady Bunch. Like ABC and CBS, a movie aired from 9-11pm.

FOX	7:00	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	21 Jump Street	America’s Most Wanted	Married… With Children	It’s Garry Shandling’s Show	The Tracey Ullman Show	Duet
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May

FOX had thrown a lot at the wall early on in its existence as a network but for 1988-89, they didn't make any changes to their lineup except for swapping The Tracey Ullman Show and Duet. The rest of the lineup remained in tact. Married... with Children was still doing well by FOX standards but nothing was really breaking out. They also still continued to air reruns of Showtime's It's Garry Shandling's Show as part of their regular lineup. All the FOX shows were renewed except for Duet, which was cancelled after three seasons.

Top Rated Sunday Show of 1988-89: 60 Minutes (#5)
Lowest Rated Sunday Show of 1988-89 (not including FOX): Studio 5-B (#104)

What would I have watched on Sundays in 1988-89?
Family Ties and probably Day by Day. I would have probably caught Murder, She Wrote and Mission: Impossible sometimes.

Tomorrow: Top 10 TV Vacations!

Next Monday: A look at Mondays in 1989-90!