SCHEDULES OF THE PAST: 1989-1990 Mondays

On Mondays, I take a look at schedules from yesteryear. Here's a look at Mondays in the 1989-90 season!

ABC	8:00	9:00	10:00
Sep	MacGyver	Monday Night Football
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan		Monday Night Movie
Feb
Mar
Apr		China Beach	Capital News
May		Monday Night Movie

For most of the season, ABC had the same plan on Monday nights as they had for the previous three seasons: MacGyver at 8pm followed by Monday Night Football in the fall and Monday Night Movie in the spring. The Fall 1989 season was the first that used the famous Hank Williams Jr. song for an intro for Monday Night Football. Late in the season, ABC made an attempt at a three hour drama lineup, getting rid of the movie. MacGyver continued to air at 8pm. The critically acclaimed China Beach continued to bounce around timeslots and landed at 9pm while the new Capital News aired at 10pm. Capital News was a DC-set newspaper drama starring Mark Blum and Lloyd Bridges. Although they were three dramas, they were not very compatible ones with the male-skewing action drama MacGyver, leading to the female-skewing critical darling China Beach leading into the old-skewing generic drama Capital News. The lineup lasted just three weeks before ABC went back to the Monday Night Movie for May sweeps. China Beach was renewed again but Capital News was quickly forgotten.

CBS	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30
Sep	Major Dad	The People Next Door	Murphy Brown	The Famous Teddy Z	Designing Women	Newhart
Oct
Nov		The Famous Teddy Z		Designing Women	Newhart	Doctor, Doctor
Dec
Jan
Feb		City
Mar						His & Hers
Apr
May		Newhart			Various Programs

Late in the 1988-89 season, CBS experimented with a three hour comedy lineup on Monday nights. That experiment continued for most of the 1989-90 season, one of the longest stretches ever a network has to committed to that kind of lineup. Three of the six comedies to start the season were new ones including the 8pm hour. Leading off was Major Dad starring Gerald McRaney as a conservative Marine who falls in love with a liberal journalist and brings in her three daughters. The show did decently in the lead-off spot but wasn't a breakout hit. It was much more successful than the 8:30pm occupant. The People Next Door, a sitcom that came from horror film creator Wes Craven and centered on a family man whose imagination was so vivid that things actually materialized. It was one of Craven's only forays into TV and was a flop, lasting only five episodes. Murphy Brown continued at 9pm. It was growing in the ratings but wasn't the smash it became yet though it headed in that direction after winning the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series this season. Another new sitcom followed at 9:30pm. The Famous Teddy Z starred Jon Cryer as a young man working in a talent agency who becomes the agent for a major star. Although the series struggled in the ratings and lasted just one season, it did have some critical acclaim and even won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor for Alex Rocco. Two veterans aired in the 10pm hour: Designing Women at 10pm and Newhart at 10:30pm. When The People Next Door quickly failed, Teddy Z moved to 8:30pm and Designing to 9:30pm while Newhart moved to 10pm. This all happened just a few weeks into the season. The new entry at 10:30pm was the second season of Doctor, Doctor, which had aired a six episode run in the Summer of 1989. The medical sitcom did not do well but did enough in a difficult timeslot to get a third season. It was replaced by His & Hers, a new sitcom starring Martin Mull and Stephanie Faracy as two marriage counselors who also happen to be married. It lasted just seven episodes before burning off the rest of the run in the summer. Meanwhile, The Famous Teddy Z was yanked from the lineup in January and replaced by City, a sitcom that brought Valerie Harper back to TV after her highly publicized departure from her own show Valerie a few years earlier. Harper played the city manager of an unnamed American city. City started strong but saw its ratings drop over time and it was not given a second season. When the 10pm comedy hour finally was abandoned, CBS moved Newhart to 8:30pm as it was ending after eight seasons and 184 episodes. Of course the series finale of Newhart was widely acclaimed and discussed as it famously made the series out to be a dream of Bob Newhart's character from his previous show. It helped a show that just sort of cruised along for years make a splash with its finale.

NBC	8:00	8:30	9:00	10:00
Sep	ALF	The Hogan Family	Monday Night Movie
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar	My Two Dads
Apr		Working Girl	Hunter	Shannon’s Deal
May	Various Programs

NBC started off the 1989-90 season with a familiar Monday night lineup: ALF, The Hogan Family and a movie. But things changed starting in March. ALF had been a Top 20 ratings success for NBC but was dropping in the ratings in its fourth season so NBC sent it off to Saturdays where it died a quick death. The Hogan Family also followed it out the door as the often retitled show was cancelled by NBC after five seasons. However, it got a reprieve when CBS picked it up for a sixth season but it only lasted one year on CBS. ALF was replaced on Mondays by My Two Dads, which bounced around the lineup an awful lot in its three years. After cheating death a couple times, it was cancelled at the end of the 1989-90 season. Just like ABC, NBC tried abandoning their movie on Mondays in April with a new scripted lineup. Following My Two Dads was Working Girl, a sitcom based on the hit Melanie Griffith movie and starring a young Sandra Bullock in the Griffith role. The sitcom was not as successful as the movie and was cancelled after just eight episodes, some of which ran in the summer. Of course Bullock went on to much bigger things become a huge movie star in the next decade. At 9pm was Hunter, which briefly moved over from Saturdays for no apparent reason other than to try to jump start the Monday lineup. It always did pretty well on Saturday but was not meant to be on Monday. At 10pm was the new Shannon's Deal, a legal dramedy centered on a self destructive formerly high powered lawyer played by Jamey Sheridan who starts a low rent practice. Although it struggled in the ratings, it was renewed for the following midseason.

FOX	8:00	9:00
Sep	21 Jump Street	Alien Nation
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May

FOX expanded its programming to Monday nights to start the 1989-90 season and they brought over a show that had led off their Sunday lineup since the network debuted to lead things off. 21 Jump Street was an early FOX legacy show and was brought over to try to kick off a new night of programming. However, the drama was in its fourth season and struggled in the ratings. It was cancelled by FOX after four seasons but lived on one more season in syndication, albeit without star Johnny Depp. The show has of course lived on thanks in part to Depp becoming a huge star and through the successful movie franchise based on the show. At 9pm was a new sci-fi drama Alien Nation, based on a 1988 film of the same name. The drama was set in the near future and was also part detective drama as it centered on a Los Angeles detective paired with a "newcomer" alien. Despite receiving some critical acclaim, FOX was in trouble financially at the end of the 1989-90 season and cancelled the series. It has since developed a cult following and also produced five TV movies for FOX that aired between 1994 and 1997.

Top Rated Monday Show of 1989-90: Designing Women (#22)

Lowest Rated Monday Show of 1989-90: Alien Nation (#91)

What would I have watched on Mondays in 1989-90?

Murphy Brown, Newhart, Designing Women. I'm sure I would have sampled the other Monday sitcoms for CBS especially Major Dad and City. Probably China Beach and maybe Capital News on ABC and I probably would have tried Working Girl on NBC and might have still been watching My Two Dads.

Tomorrow: Top 10 TV Weddings!

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