SCHEDULES OF THE PAST: 1990-1991 Mondays

Welcome back to a new season on my blog! Look for posts every weekday! On Mondays, I take a look at schedules from yesteryear. Here's a look at Mondays in the 1990-91 season!

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

ABC had briefly tried to do something different on Mondays in 1989-90 but for 1990-91, it was back to normal with MacGyver leading off the night and Monday Night Football in the fall followed by a movie in the spring. Monday Night Football continued to be a strong ratings performer while MacGyver and the movie were more modest ones.

CBS	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	Uncle Buck	Major Dad	Murphy Brown	Designing Women	The Trials of Rosie O’Neill
Oct
Nov
Dec	Evening Shade
Jan
Feb					Various Programs
Mar
Apr					Northern Exposure
May

After doing a three hour comedy block for over a year, CBS went back to a more traditional Monday with a two hour comedy block followed by a drama. A new sitcom led off the night. Uncle Buck was a sitcom based on the popular 1989 film. Replacing John Candy as the titular character was Kevin Meaney. The series did not recapture the magic of the film and struggled out of the gate. It also was at the center of a pretty silly controversy when a child said the line "you suck!" and everyone clutched their pearls. Oh how times have changed. At the end of November, it swapped slots with Evening Shade, which had been overperforming on Friday nights. The Burt Reynolds sitcom was a better fit for Monday night and lasted the rest of the season in the lead-off slot. The lead-off sitcom from the previous season slid back half an hour as Major Dad took over the 8:30pm slot. The series underwent a re-tooling for the second season with a new setting and a couple new supporting characters. It also became surprisingly relevant at midseason with the outbreak of the Persian Gulf War. The crown jewel of the night was Murphy Brown which vaulted into the Top 10 in its third season as it was fresh off an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series. Designing Women followed at 9:30pm and had its highest rated season yet, also placing in the Top 10, but it had a lot of off-screen drama as well. In the summer of 1990, star Delta Burke complained to multiple media outlets about the work environment and a feud with co-star Dixie Carter. The drama spilled out everywhere and impacted not only Designing Women but the new Evening Shade (thanks to the shared creators) and Major Dad (which starred Burke's husband Gerald McRaney). After a very contentious season, Burke was let go after the 1990-91 season, the series' fifth. Another of the original stars, Jean Smart, also left the series at the end of the season so there were major changes coming for Women. The 10pm slot was originally slated for a second season of Face to Face with Connie Chung but Chung decided in the summer that she wanted to try to start a family and reduce her weekly newsmagazine to a series of specials. As a result, a show originally planned for midseason - The Trials of Rosie O'Neill - was rushed to air. Trials brought Sharon Gless back to CBS after her very successful run on Cagney & Lacey in the same time period. The Los Angeles-set legal drama struggled to catch on with viewers but did get renewed for a second season and also got an Emmy nomination for Gless. It was replaced at the end of the season by Northern Exposure, which had a critically acclaimed summer run in 1990. The quirky small town dramedy set in Alaska had a second eight episode season (doing eight episode seasons before that was popular!) and was renewed for a full season three.

NBC	8:00	8:30	9:00	10:00
Sep	The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air	Ferris Bueller	Monday Night Movie
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan		Blossom
Feb
Mar
Apr
May		Various Programs

NBC continued to have a comedy hour followed by a movie on Monday nights but they were starting from scratch with the comedy hour with two new shows that were an obvious push for a younger audience. At 8pm was The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air starring Will Smith. At the time, Smith was best known as a rapper who had already adopted the "Fresh Prince" persona. The show was one of the most anticipated heading into the fall season and of course has become iconic but it actually wasn't a huge hit out of the gate. In fact, it was considered a bit of a disappointment in the ratings in its first season and there was also behind the scenes drama with the original executive producers being replaced after some controversy about white writers writing for black families. The ratings were much more disappointing for its lead-out though. Ferris Bueller was a TV show based on the hit 1986 movie and starred Charlie Schlatter instead of Matthew Broderick. Similar to Uncle Buck, Bueller struggled with comparisons to the iconic film. The series, which also featured a young Jennifer Aniston, lasted just half a season before being cancelled. Check out more information on Ferris Bueller in my One Season Wonder post on Wednesday! Bueller was replaced on Mondays by another youth-oriented show, Blossom. Blossom had gotten a one-off preview that did well in the Summer of 1990 and it became a weekly series in January. Starring Mayim Bialik as a spunky teenager, the show was a much better fit with Fresh Prince than Bueller and the two comedies became a pair for years on Mondays. The 9-11pm slot continued to be devoted to a movie, which garnered decent ratings.

FOX	8:00	9:00
Sep	Monday Night Movie
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May

After airing dramas in 1989-90, FOX went with a movie for the entire season on Mondays. It did decent by FOX standards but FOX was still trying to gain a foothold on most nights.

Top Rated Monday Show of 1990-91: Monday Night Football (#6)

Lowest Rated Monday Show of 1990-91: FOX Monday Night Movie (#122)

What would I have watched on Mondays in 1990-91?

Murphy Brown, Designing Women, Evening Shade, Northern Exposure and of course Monday Night Football. I've never gotten into Fresh Prince even though many of my peers were/are big fans.

Tomorrow: Top 10 Friday Night Lights Characters!

Next Monday: A look at Tuesdays in the 1990-91 season!