SCHEDULES OF THE PAST: 1992-1993 Saturdays

On Mondays, I take a look at schedules from yesteryear. Here's a look at Saturdays in the 1992-93 season!

ABC	8:00	9:00	10:00
Sep	Covington Cross	Crossroads	The Commish
Oct
Nov	Saturday Night Movie
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar	The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles	Various Programs
Apr
May	Saturday Night Movie

ABC gave Saturday nights yet another try heading into the 1992-93 season despite years of failures on the night. They did actually have one returning show with 10pm's The Commish. Entering its second season, Commish kept the lights on in a very difficult slot for the Alphabet network. After trying comedies in 1991-92, ABC tried two new dramas from 8-10pm. At 8pm was Covington Cross, an historical drama set in 14th century England. The series was shot in England for an American TV series, especially at that time and it made for an expansive show. Check back Wednesday for a One Season Wonder post on Covington Cross! It was followed by Crossroads, a drama starring Robert Urich and Dalton James as a Manhattan father and son traveling around America on motorcycle. The new dramas both failed to make it to November (Crossroads was the lowest rated non-FOX show of the season) and ABC was left without much to air on Saturday nights. Most of the rest of the season from 8-10pm was filled up with movies and speicals though there was one final attempt to make The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles work before that series was cancelled after two seasons.

CBS	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	Frannie’s Turn	Brooklyn Bridge	Raven		Angel Street
Oct			Various Programs
Nov	Brooklyn Bridge	Saturday Night Movie
Dec	Various Programs		Saturday Night Movie
Jan	Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman		Raven		The Hat Squad
Feb			Various Programs
Mar			Various Programs		Raven
Apr			A League of Their Own	Brooklyn Bridge
May			Various Programs		Walker, Texas Ranger

CBS had a mess of a schedule on Saturdays during the 1992-93 season but by the end of the season, they had found two shows that would be the cornerstone of their Saturday night domination through much of the rest of the decade. It didn't start well though with a hodgepodge at the beginning of the season. At 8pm was Frannie's Turn and Brooklyn Bridge. Frannie was a Staten Island set sitcom about a homemaker and her family. It is most notable for being the first sitcom created by Chuck Lorre who of course has gone on to much more success. It was paired with Brooklyn Bridge, an acclaimed but ratings challenged dramedy in its second season. Frannie's Turn was gone from the lineup in October and Brooklyn in November but they lasted longer than the 10pm entry. Angel Street was a Chicago drama about two female detectives. Starring Robin Givens and Pamela Gidley, it only aired three episodes and just two on Saturday nights. At 9pm was Raven, a martial arts drama finishing up a summer run. It did enough to get renewed for midseason and reappeared in January followed by The Hat Squad, which had gotten booted from its Wednesday slot. Things went much better at 8pm though with the launch of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. The Jane Seymour drama, set in 1867, found an audience on Saturday night in a big way as it surprised everyone with big ratings. The series had been postponed from the fall and CBS was fairly pessimistic about it but it proved to be a savior for the network on the night. Another piece to their Saturday puzzle was discovered very late in the season in Walker, Texas Ranger. The Chuck Norris drama had an unusual plan as it aired three "pilot" episodes in the late spring that aided the CBS decision making process. Like Dr. Quinn, it connected with an older and more conservative audience though it was more appealing to the husbands of the wives who watched Dr. Quinn. It was picked up for a full season to air in the fall. The 9pm hour was still a conundrum and they tried sitcoms for a very short time in the spring with a TV adaptation of A League of Their Own and the return of Brooklyn Bridge. The League adaptation featured a mostly new cast but did have episodes directed by film director Penny Marshall and film star Tom Hanks. The comedy block lasted just three weeks. But CBS had found its 8pm and 10pm show so Saturdays were a big win.

NBC	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	Here And Now	Out All Night	Empty Nest	Nurses	Sisters
Oct
Nov		The Powers That Be
Dec
Jan	Empty Nest	Nurses
Feb	Almost Home			Mad About You
Mar					Reasonable Doubts
Apr
May	Various Programs				Sisters

NBC was in transition on Saturday nights in 1992-93 with The Golden Girls off the night after seven highly successful seasons. They were returning their 9-11pm block in tact though with Golden Girls spinoff Empty Nest, Empty Nest spinoff Nurses and the drama Sisters. The sitcoms saw pretty sizable drops in the ratings but they weren't the biggest problems of the night for NBC. The 8pm hour was pretty much dead on arrival to start the season. Here And Now starred Malcolm-Jamal Warner fresh off his eight year run on The Cosby Show. Cosby was one of the executive producers of the show, which starred Warner as a counselor at a youth center in Harlem. It was followed by Out All Night, which starred Patti LaBelle as a has-been singer opening a nightclub in Los Angeles. Out All Night was off Saturday night quicker than Here And Now but that's because it got a chance on Thursdays but NBC's 8pm hour didn't work at all for them. When Night moved, it was replaced by the second season of The Powers That Be. The political sitcom was well-liked by the network but couldn't find a mass audience and wasn't given a third chance. For a brief time, encores of Empty Nest and Nurses aired in the 8pm hour but the 8:30pm slot became a permanent one for Nurses when Mad About You moved over to the night (much to the chagrin of star Paul Reiser) and took the 9:30pm slot. At 8pm though was Almost Home, which was a completely retooled version of The Torkelsons. The series featured some of the same cast but a pretty revamped premise. It lasted a couple months and the second incarnation didn't fare any better. Also for a brief time, Reasonable Doubts replaced Sisters in the 10pm slot but that didn't last long as Doubts was cancelled after two seasons and Sisters returned to the slot.

FOX	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30
Sep	Cops	Cops	Code 3	The Edge
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb				Code 3
Mar
Apr
May

FOX stuck mostly in the unscripted realm on Saturday nights though they were a little inventive at 9:30pm to start the season. First off was an hour of Cops, which continued to be a low cost option. At 9pm was Code 3, which had aired at the tail end of the previous season and was also a cheap choice. At 9:30pm though was a sketch comedy series called The Edge. The series was in the same vein as Saturday Night Live or In Living Color and boasted a roster that included Jennifer Aniston, Wayne Knight, Julie Brown, Paul Feig and Alan Ruck. The series was not able to break through but it wasn't due to a lack of talent in front of the camera. It moved to Sundays at midseason where it lasted a few more months. Replacing it on Saturday nights was another airing of Code 3.

Top Rated Saturday Show of 1992-93: Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (#24)

Lowest Rated Saturday Show of 1992-93: The Edge (#131)

What would I have watched on Saturdays in 1992-93?

Brooklyn Bridge and A League of Their Own on CBS. I might have been a casual viewer of the whole NBC lineup but nothing really jumps out at me as a show I think I would have had "every week" interest in except maybe The Powers That Be.

Tomorrow: Top 10 Murphy Brown Characters!

Next Monday: A look at Sundays in the 1992-93 season!