SCHEDULES OF THE PAST: 1989-1990 Saturdays

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

ABC	8:00	8:30	9:00	10:00
Sep	Mr. Belvedere	Living Dolls	Saturday Night Movie
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan	Mission: Impossible
Feb
Mar	H.E.L.P.
Apr	Sunset Beat
May	Elvis	Various Programs

After years of troubles on Saturday nights, ABC decided to make things a little easier on themselves by airing a movie from 9-11pm. They now only had the 8pm hour to worry about but they had a lot to worry about with that hour. They started by trying to open up a comedy hour on the night with Mr. Belvedere moving over from Friday nights to the lead-off slot. The long running comedy was on its last legs so that's never a good thing to try to put it as an anchor on a new night. It was pulled from the lineup in December and aired its final episodes in July as ABC had cancelled it after six seasons and 117 episodes. It was paired with Living Dolls, a show that had a backdoor pilot on Who's the Boss? Living Dolls starred Michael Learned and Leah Remini and included the screen debut of Halle Berry. Set in a modeling agency for teenage girls, it was yanked at the same time as Belvedere after garnering terrible reviews and ratings. The comedy block was replaced by Mission: Impossible, returning to the night. The high profile revival could never find an audience despite attempts on several nights. It was cancelled in February after two abbreviated seasons and would find more success as a feature film franchise starting in 1996. The next 8pm occupant was H.E.L.P., an emergency services drama set in Harlem (H.E.L.P. stood for Harlem Eastside Life-saving Program). It lasted just six weeks but that was better than the drama that replaced it. Sunset Beat was about LA cops posing as a motorcycle gang and it starred a young George Clooney. It lasted just two episodes before being yanked from the lineup while Sunday dramedy Elvis took the 8pm slot at the very end of the season.

CBS	8:00	9:00	10:00
Sep	Paradise	Tour of Duty	Saturday Night with Connie Chung
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May

CBS saw some stability with its Saturday night lineup although none of the shows were particularly successful. Paradise moved to Saturdays at the end of the previous season and continued at 8pm. The Western drama continued to have its supporters but struggled to find a mass audience. It was followed by Tour of Duty, which was similar to Paradise with its small but loyal fanbase. After cheating death its first two years, Tour was cancelled at the end of the season, ending its run at three seasons and 58 episodes. After newsmagazine West 57th aired in the 10pm slot for a couple years, a new newsmagazine took its place. Connie Chung had joined CBS News from NBC and hosted her own show called Saturday Night with Connie Chung. It aired the full season on Saturdays before moving to Mondays in the summer where a name change was necessary (obviously) so it became Face to Face with Connie Chung. Chung was a controversial anchor at times and an early target of Donald Trump years before he railed against many members of the media.

NBC	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30
Sep	227	Amen	The Golden Girls	Empty Nest	Various Programs
Oct					Hunter
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar	ALF
Apr	A Family For Joe	13 East			Carol & Company	Down Home
May	13 East	Amen

NBC had been dominant on Saturday nights for years but they were really only very successful in the 9pm hour in 1989-90. The rest of the night was starting to have some trouble. 9pm & 9:30pm remained dominant with The Golden Girls and Empty Nest both placing in the Top 10 again. At 8pm was the same lineup as the previous season to start: 227 and Amen. 227 was in its fifth season but its first without star Jackee Harry who had left the show and was only a recurring character. The series was cancelled after five seasons and 116 episodes. It was off the Saturday lineup by March, briefly replaced by ALF on a new night and then replaced by A Family for Joe, a sitcom about recently orphaned children who find a homeless man (yep, you read that right) to take care of them. The series starred Robert Mitchum and Juliette Lewis and Ben Savage were among the kids in the show. It lasted just nine episodes. Amen was temporarily replaced by 13 East, a medical sitcom that had a brief run in the summer of 1989. It returned in April but the surprising reprieve did not prove to be worth it as it was quickly moved to 8pm and then cancelled. Meanwhile at 10pm, Hunter aired for much of the season. The show had been a reliable Saturday performer for a long time but it was never a breakout hit and was losing some of its audience though it did still get renewed even though its season ended early. Late in the season, NBC decided to try something was being attempted quite a bit around this time: a three hour comedy block. After two preview episodes at 9:30pm, Carol & Company aired at 10pm. The series brought Carol Burnett back to TV and was a comedy anthology with the repertory cast performing different "playlets" each week. The series included big name guest stars and its cast included Anita Barone, Richard Kind, Jeremy Piven and a young Peter Krause. Airing in a tough slot, it did well enough to get a second season. At 10:30pm was Down Home, a sitcom about a NYC Executive (Judith Ivey) who returned to her small Texas hometown to help her father (Ray Baker). Even airing in the difficult 10:30pm slot, it also got renewed. Perhaps both shows benefited from airing so late in the season that NBC's expectations were lower.

FOX	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30
Sep	Cops	The Reporters		Beyond Tomorrow
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan		Totally Hidden Video	The Reporters
Feb
Mar
Apr			In Living Color	The Tracey Ullman Show
May

FOX went with an unscripted lineup for Saturday nights but the evolved from more drama to more comedy as the season went on. At 8pm was Cops, which moved up an hour to settle in a slot it would end up occupying for decades. It was initially followed by other holdover Saturday shows, newsmagazine The Reporters and science show Beyond Tomorrow. Tomorrow was cancelled in December and Totally Hidden Video moved over from Sundays while The Reporters moved to 9pm. Towards the end of the season, FOX moved in a different direction with the launch of sketch comedy series In Living Color at 9pm. The series was similar to Saturday Night Live but with a mostly black cast. Although FOX was still finding its way, this was a show that caught on with viewers quickly and helped move FOX forward at the beginning of the 90s. Its all star cast included Jim Carrey, David Alan Grier, Damon Wayans and creator Keenan Ivory Wayans while the "Fly Girls" dance troupe on the show included Carrie Ann Inaba and Rosie Perez. At the time, it was easily one of the coolest shows on TV and appealed to a much younger and more diverse demographic. It was paired with another sketch comedy show, The Tracey Ullman Show but Ullman, which had been on the air since FOX's beginnings, was at the end of its four year run so Color was sort of picking up the mantle in the sketch comedy corner on FOX.

Top Rated Saturday Show of 1989-90: The Golden Girls (#6)
Lowest Rated Saturday Show of 1989-90: Beyond Tomorrow (#96)

What would I have watched on Saturdays in 1989-90?
The Golden Girls and probably off and on with the other NBC comedies. I'm sure I would have sampled Carol and Company. 

Tomorrow: Top 10 Drama Series Finales!

Next Monday: A look at Sundays in the 1989-90 season!