SCHEDULES OF THE PAST: 1991-1992 Saturdays

On Mondays, I take a look at schedules from yesteryear. Here's a look at Saturdays in the 1991-92 season!

ABC	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	Who’s the Boss?	Growing Pains	The Young Riders		The Commish
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb	Capitol Critters	Who’s the Boss?	Perfect Strangers	Growing Pains
Mar	Who’s the Boss?	Billy
Apr
May	Saturday Night Movie

ABC tried something different on Saturday nights by bringing two of their long running and successful sitcoms over to the night. Who's the Boss (in its eighth season) and Growing Pains (in its seventh season) were brought over from the middle of the week to try to kickstart Saturday nights. Although they were getting up there in years, the two shows tried to help with the movie with the main characters getting together on Boss and a young Leonardo DiCaprio joining the cast of Growing Pains. They were initially followed by the third season of The Young Riders, which could never really break through despite some acclaim. In February, despite middling ratings for the sitcom hour, ABC doubled down with a two hour block called "I Love Saturday Night" that was clearly meant to be the Saturday answer to TGIF. Boss moved to 8:30pm and Pains moved to 9:30pm. At 8pm was Capitol Critters, an animated series about rodents living in the White House with a voice cast led by Neil Patrick Harris. It was one of many failed network attempts at their own version of The Simpsons and lasted just a few weeks before Boss moved back to 8pm and Billy moved over from Fridays at 8:30pm. Check back Wednesday for a One Season Wonder post on Capitol Critters! Meanwhile, another long-running sitcom joined the fray at 9pm as Perfect Strangers moved over from Fridays. The problem with moving all these shows to Saturday was that Saturdays were tough in general and many of these shows were past the point of being able to take control of a new night. By the end of the season, both Who's the Boss and Growing Pains ended their long runs. Perfect Strangers was renewed but it didn't air its six episode final season until the Summer of 1993. It was the end of an era for several sitcoms that defined ABC in the 1980s. Throughout the season, a new drama aired at 10pm. The Commish was a dramedy about an overweight police commissioner (played by Michael Chiklis) in upstate New York. The series was not a huge hit but it did well enough in the Saturday 10pm slot to become a fixture there in the early 1990s.

CBS	8:00	9:00	10:00
Sep	Saturday Night Movie		P.S. I Luv U
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan			Various Programs
Feb
Mar			The Boys of Twilight
Apr			The Trials of Rosie O’Neill
May

It was a pretty quiet year for CBS on Saturdays in 1991-92 as a movie aired from 8-10pm all season. The 10pm slot was more of a revolving door though. First up was P.S. I Luv U, an oddly titled series about a policeman and former con woman working as private detectives in Palm Springs, California. The series occasionally featured cameos from Sonny Bono, then the real-life mayor of Palm Springs. It was cancelled after 13 episodes. After a few months of no permanent series in the slot, The Boys of Twilight aired in the spring. Lasting just four episodes, the series starred Richard Farnsworth and Wilford Brimley as a sheriff and his deputy in the small town of Twilight, Utah. A few episodes of The Trials of Rosie O'Neill aired at the end of the season but the Sharon Gless drama was cancelled after two seasons. 

NBC	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	The Golden Girls	The Torkelsons	Empty Nest	Nurses	Sisters
Oct
Nov		Walter & Emily
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar		The Powers That Be
Apr
May		The Torkelsons

The Golden Girls had been the cornerstone of NBC's Saturday night lineup since its debut in 1985, airing in the 9pm slot. But in the Fall of 1991, The Golden Girls moved to 8pm. The series dropped quite a bit in the ratings with the move and the decision was made to end the series when Bea Arthur said she did not want to continue. The other three stars - Rue McClanahan, Betty White and Estelle Getty - did want to continue and did so on The Golden Place which (oddly) aired on CBS but more on that in a future post. Three different series aired at 8:30pm. First up was The Torkelsons, a sappy family sitcom that was an odd fit out of the more biting Golden Girls. The series aired at the beginning and end of the season on Saturday nights but was renewed for a completely retooled second season where it was renamed Almost Home. The next 8:30pm occupant was Walter & Emily, a series about grandparents (Brian Keith and Cloris Leachman) helping to raise their grandchild with their son. It lasted 13 episodes through the middle of the season. Before The Torkelsons returned, another new show aired at 8:30pm. The series came from David Crane and Marta Kauffman not too long before they collaborated on Friends. Centered on the career and family of a US Senator, the series boasted a cast and then and future stars including John Forsythe, Holland Taylor, Peter MacNicol, David Hyde Pierce and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Despite low ratings, it did get renewed for a second season. With The Golden Girls moving to 8pm, it was spinoff Empty Nest that took over the 9pm slot. Without the protected lead-in, the ratings dropped quite a bit though it was still the highest rated comedy in the block. It also led to its own spinoff, Nurses. So three of the four shows in the comedy block were part of the same universe. Nurses was set at the same Miami hospital where the lead character from Empty Nest worked. It was renewed but wasn't as big a hit as Empty Nest (which wasn't as big a hit as The Golden Girls). After a very late spring debut the previous season, Sisters aired in the 10pm slot the whole season.

FOX	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30
Sep	Cops	Cops	Totally Hidden Video	Best of the Worst
Oct
Nov			Charlie Hoover	Get A Life
Dec
Jan			Various Programs
Feb
Mar
Apr			Code 3	Various Programs
May

FOX's Saturday nights were mostly unscripted with a few scripted shows thrown in at one point. Cops moved up an hour and aired back to back episodes at 8pm all season. It would lay claim to this slot for many, many years after. The unscripted pairing of Totally Hidden Video and Best of the Worst aired in the 9pm hour for a short time before being replaced by a scripted block. Charlie Hoover starred Tim Matheson as a man whose voice in his head is an actual tiny man. The series was tied for the lowest rated show on TV and only lasted a couple months. The actor who played the voice in the head, Sam Kinison, was killed in a car accident just a few months after this show went off the air. It was paired with the second season of Get A Life, which moved to Sundays after Charlie Hoover was cancelled. There wasn't much permanence to the 9pm hour the rest of the year with various shows, including more Cops episodes sometimes, airing in the slots. Finally at the end of the season, another unscripted show - Code 3 - aired at 9pm.

Top Rated Saturday Show of 1991-92: Empty Nest (#21)

Lowest Rated Saturday Show of 1991-92: Best of the Worst/Charlie Hoover (#102)

What would I have watched on Saturdays in 1991-92?

The end of Who's the Boss?, Growing Pains and (almost the end of) Perfect Strangers. I might have given Capitol Critters a try but probably wouldn't have stuck with it. On NBC, most likely The Golden Girls and samplings of the new sitcoms. The Powers That Be sounds the most interesting of them.

Tomorrow: Top 10 I Love Lucy Characters!

Next Monday: A look at Sundays in the 1991-92 season!