SCHEDULES OF THE PAST: 1994-1995 Fridays

On Mondays, I take a look at schedules from yesteryear. Here's a look at Fridays in the 1994-95 season!

ABC	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	Family Matters	Boy Meets World	Step by Step	Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper	20/20
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar		Sister, Sister		On Our Own
Apr
May		Boy Meets World		Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper

ABC found a winning formula for its TGIF lineup in the 1993-94 season and kept rolling with that lineup into the 1994-95 season. The kid friendly lineup of Family Matters, Boy Meets World, Step by Step and Hangin' with Mr. Cooper were not ratings monsters but they hit the sweet spot in the demographic they were going for. ABC kept that lineup in tact for much of the year but they did give Boy and Mr. Cooper a short break in the spring. This was a common practice back in those days to give a chance to new midseason shows but in this case, it was to give a chance to two shows that had struggled in the fall. Sister, Sister had aired on Fridays briefly in Spring 1994 but then didn't do well on Wednesdays earlier in the season. It was cancelled by ABC at the end of the season but was then picked up by the young WB network to go with its stable of black-led, youth-oriented sitcoms. It ended up running for four more years after its ABC cancellation. On Our Own aired for a short time at 9:30pm after failing on Sunday nights before being cancelled for good. By the end of the season, the tried and true lineup was back in tact. Throughout the season, the reliable 20/20 continued at 10pm.

CBS	8:00	9:00	10:00
Sep	Diagnosis: Murder	Under Suspicion	Picket Fences
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr		The Wright Verdicts
May		Burke’s Law

After some messy attempts at comedy blocks in recent years, CBS had found some modest success with a drama lineup on Fridays in the 1993-94 season so they continued that into 1994-95. Diagnosis: Murder returned at 8pm. The show was a very old skewing drama for CBS but they had done much, much worse in the lead-off slot on Friday night. A new drama aired at 9pm. Under Suspicion was a police drama set in Portland starring Karen Sillas. The series had a very similar premise to the famed UK drama Prime Suspect as it centered on a lone female detective among her  male colleagues. The series lasted much of the season and received decent reviews but it proved to be a crater in the lineup between two better performing dramas. It was replaced late in the season by The Wright Verdicts, a legal drama from Dick Wolf and starring Tom Conti and Margaret Colin.. The series made Under Suspicion look like a Nielsen smash as it tanked immediately in the ratings and was pulled from the night after three episodes. The final 9pm entry was Burke's Law at the end of its second and final season. Picket Fences continued at 10pm. The quirky drama was fresh off its second straight Emmy win for Outstanding Drama Series. Despite the high profile wins, the series really struggled to get beyond a niche audience which is why CBS basically hid it on Friday nights.homi

NBC	8:00	9:00	10:00
Sep	Dateline NBC	Friday Night Movie
Oct	Unsolved Mysteries	Dateline NBC	Homicide: Life on the Street
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May

NBC revamped its Friday nights for 1994-95 with a duo of unscripted shows to start the night. Unsolved Mysteries moved over to the night after many seasons on Wednesdays. The series was doing fine but NBC was ready to try something with more upside. It was paired with another edition of Dateline NBC as the network consolidated its newsmagazines all under the Dateline NBC moniker. Dateline NBC was also airing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays so you could see the beginning of the glut of newsmagazines. At 10pm was Homicide: Life on the Street in its first full season. The series had aired a nine episode first season (including a post-Super Bowl premiere) and then just a four episode second season. It finally got to air a full season but, like Picket Fences on CBS, NBC buried its critically acclaimed drama in a very low pressure slot.

FOX	8:00	9:00
Sep	M.A.N.T.I.S.	The X-Files
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar	VR.5
Apr
May

Some of the other networks had higher rated shows on Fridays but FOX had the night's buzziest show with The X-Files. The second year drama received a ton of press and was a big hit by FOX Friday night standards including a surprise win for Outstanding Drama Series at the 1995 Golden Globe Awards. After cancelling The Adventures of Briscoe County, Jr., FOX tried again down the genre road to find a match for Files. The first attempt was M.A.N.T.I.S., a series that had started as a TV movie the previous season. The premise was an unusual mash-up of sci-fi and race relations dramas but the series garnered negative attention for replacing many of its black cast members when the series went from a TV movie to a series. The series was re-tooled again when the ratings started to come in but it ultimately couldn't catch on in the way The X-Files or even Briscoe County did. It was replaced in March by VR.5, another sci-fi drama. This series was centered on the budding 90s technology of virtual reality where actions in the virtual world have an effect on the real world. The series aired just 10 episodes before it was pulled with three episodes remaining. It did out-rate M.A.N.T.I.S. and it has had a small and devoted group of cult fans in the years since.

Top Rated Friday Show of 1994-95: 20/20 (#17)

Lowest Rated Friday Show 1994-95: M.A.N.T.I.S. (#130)

What would I have watched on Fridays in 1994-95?

What I did watch in the Spring of 1995 on Fridays was the Nick at Nite lineup of I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, I Love Lucy and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. In a parallel universe, maybe the kid in me would have watched TGIF or if I was an adult then, I would have been torn between Picket Fences and Homicide: Life on the Street after probably still watching the Nick at Nite lineup.

Tomorrow: An Emmy Preview of the Lead Actress races!

Next Monday: A look at Saturdays in the 1994-95 season!