SCHEDULES OF THE PAST: 1993-1994 Saturdays

Welcome back after a two week break! On Mondays, I take a look at schedules from yesteryear. Here's a look at Saturdays in the 1993-94 season!

ABC	8:00	8:30	9:00	10:00
Sep	Saturday Night Movie			The Commish
Oct
Nov	George	Where I Live	The Paula Poundstone Show
Dec	Saturday Night Movie
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May

ABC had a plan for Saturday night that wasn't going to get underway until November and by December, said plan was gone. A movie aired for the first couple months and was back in the 8-10pm hour a couple weeks later. For a brief time in November, there was an attempt at a comedy block. At 8pm was the new George, a family sitcom starring boxer George Foreman shortly before he launched his famous grills. It was followed by the second season of Where I Live, a show that had struggled on Fridays but had a lot of people singing its praises including Bill Cosby. The comedy block aired just three weeks before Where I Live was cancelled and George was sent to Wednesdays. An even bigger bomb followed with The Paula Poundstone Show which aired just two weeks and only one in its regular 9pm slot. Poundstone was a variety show with the comic at the center of it, but it was reportedly a mess behind the scenes. When it finally aired, it was savaged by critics and was gone very quickly so the whole block only aired together once. By the time December rolled around, ABC was back to a movie on the night and that's how it stayed the rest of the season. There was one regular series that held its own on Saturday and that was the third season of The Commish, which plugged along at 10pm with ratings that were passable for Saturday night.

CBS	8:00	9:00	10:00
Sep	Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman	Harts of the West	Walker, Texas Ranger
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb		Various Programs
Mar		The Road Home
Apr
May		Various Programs

NBC had dominated Saturday nights for much of the 80s and early 90s but the power was shifting to CBS in the 1993-94 season thanks to two dramas coming back from their midseason debuts in the 1992-93 season. Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman had been a breakout hit following its January premiere and returned in the lead-off slot. It continued to be a fan favorite and was credited with revitalizing the western genre, at least for a bit. It was clear that the show that was picked up to air after it was a direct response to the success of Dr. Quinn. Harts of the West was another western, albeit one with more of a comedic streak. It starred Beau Bridges and his father, Lloyd, as the operators of a dude ranch in Nevada. Despite the seeming compatibility with its lead-in, Harts lost a lot of the audience and was pulled from the lineup at midseason. It was eventually replaced with The Road Home, a gentle North Carolina-set family drama. It lasted just six weeks. There was more success for the other bookend. Walker, Texas Ranger had a four episode tryout in 1992-93 and returned for a full season in 1993-94. Although Chuck Norris was not the cult hero he eventually became, the show still had a loyal following and edged The Commish and Sisters in the battle of the 10pm dramas. Dr. Quinn and Walker both proved to be emblematic of CBS's success with audiences and failure with younger audiences throughout the 1990s.

NBC	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	The Mommies	Café Americain	Empty Nest	Nurses	Sisters
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan		Getting By
Feb
Mar	Blossom	The Mommies			Winnetka Road
Apr
May	The Mommies				Sisters

NBC was in its second post-Golden Girls year on Saturday night and trying to figure out what to do with a lineup that was sinking pretty quickly from its heyday. They tried two new sitcoms to lead off the night for a second year in a row. At 8pm was The Mommies starring comedians Caryl Kristensen and Marilyn Kentz as, you guessed it, moms. At 8:30pm was Cafe Americain, a France-set comedy starring Valerie Bertinelli. Neither show was very successful but Mommies did better than Americain and stayed on the night the whole season. Americain was pulled from the night and briefly resurfaced on Tuesday. It was replaced by Getting By, which had been airing on Tuesdays and struggling to find an audience. When Blossom briefly came over to the night in the spring, The Mommies moved to 8:30pm. Mommies did manage to eke out a renewal but was nowhere to be found on the fall schedule as NBC held it for midseason. The night was steadier in the 9pm hour with Empty Nest and its spinoff, Nurses. Empty Nest had once been a Top 10 hit when it aired behind The Golden Girls but it was sinking fast in the ratings. Both shows made additions to their casts: Nest added Estelle Getty in the same character she played on The Golden Girls and The Golden Palace while Nurses added Loni Anderson shortly after her high-profile breakup with Burt Reynolds. Empty Nest managed to get renewed but it was the end of the road for Nurses, which was cancelled after three seasons and 68 episodes. Sisters continued at 10pm with continued so-so ratings though the acclaim was still there with Sela Ward winning an Emmy for this season for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. It was briefly replaced by Winnetka Road, a drama about an interconnected group of people in suburban Chicago. Oddly, Sisters was set in a town called Winnetka but there doesn't appear to be any other connection between the two shows. Check back Wednesday for a One Season Wonder post on Winnetka Road.

FOX	8:00	8:30	9:00
Sep	Cops	Cops	The Front Page
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb			America’s Most Wanted
Mar
Apr
May

While FOX had gotten creative on Fridays with scripted programming, Saturdays continued to be a wasteland for unscripted offerings. Cops aired at 8pm and 8:30pm and was one of FOX's higher rated shows. Newsmagazine The Front Page aired for the first half of the season before swapping with Tuesday's America's Most Wanted and then FOX's Saturday lineup of Cops-Cops-America's Most Wanted was born. Though they occasionally tried other things, this is a lineup they would keep coming back to.

Top Rated Saturday Show of 1993-94: Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (#24)

Lowest Rated Saturday Show of 1993-94: The Paula Poundstone Show (#101)

What would I have watched on Saturdays in 1993-94?

Nothing too interesting for me here. Probably of all the networks, I would have been most drawn to NBC and would have at least watched their lineup on a casual basis. Maybe Where I Live on ABC but that's about it. The westerns on CBS would not have interested me.

Tomorrow: Top 10 8 Simple Rules Characters!

Next Monday: A look at Sundays in the 1993-94 season!