SCHEDULES OF THE PAST: 1994-1995 Wednesdays

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

ABC	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	Thunder Alley	All-American Girl	Roseanne	Ellen	Turning Point
Oct
Nov	Sister, Sister
Dec
Jan					Primetime Live
Feb
Mar
Apr	Roseanne	Ellen	Grace Under Fire	Coach
May

On Wednesdays in 1993-1994, ABC had mega-hit Home Improvement and TV's top rated new show, Grace Under Fire in the 9pm hour but the 8pm and 10pm hours were a mess. As mentioned in my Tuesday post, ABC sent its top two hits to Tuesday night to do battle with NBC while Roseanne left its long time Tuesday slot to become the new anchor on Wednesday. First up though in the 8pm hour, they had the second season of Thunder Alley. Alley was a success story airing behind Home Improvement repeats in the spring, but it wasn't ready to be an anchor and ABC had a quick hook for it because they had another show on the bench. It was pulled in November and replaced with Sister, Sister which had a brief run on TGIF the previous spring. Sister, Sister actually had lower ratings but ABC was a little more patient as it lasted until late in the spring. At 8:30pm was All-American Girl, a sitcom that was notable for being the first comedy centered on an Asian-American family. The series was simultaneously praised for its groundbreaking nature and criticized for Asian stereotypes. It was a vehicle for stand-up comedian Margaret Cho and though critics liked Cho, the series didn't get good reviews. It lasted much of the season but was cancelled and there wasn't another Asian American family sitcom on the air until Fresh Off the Boat two decades later in 2015, which is crazy. Roseanne did well in its move to a new night though the move and its age contributed to the biggest drop in its ratings up to that point. It was followed by Ellen, which had been renamed after it launched as These Friends of Mine in the spring. The series also went through an overhaul with its cast. All the changes plus its lead-in helped make it a successful new sitcom for ABC. Late in the season, ABC completely reorganized its comedy block with Roseanne and Ellen moving up an hour, Grace Under Fire returning to the night as the 9pm anchor and Coach moving back from Mondays. Newsmagazines shared the 10pm with Turning Point airing until the new year before being replaced by Primetime Live.

CBS	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	The Boys Are Back	Daddy’s Girls	Touched by an Angel		48 Hours
Oct
Nov		Various Programs
Dec	Various Programs	The Boys Are Back	Touched by an Angel
Jan	Women of the House	Hearts Afire	Double Rush	Love & War	Northern Exposure
Feb	Various Programs
Mar	The George Wendt Show	Double Rush	Various Programs
Apr			Wednesday Night Movie
May	Various Programs

CBS was a giant mess on Wednesdays in the 1994-95 season and nothing worked for them. Buckle in, this will be a long one. CBS's plan to start the season included two hours of new shows. The original plan was for The Nanny to stay as the 8pm lead-off show but they moved it to Mondays after it repeated well in the Summer of 1994. Instead, the lead off show was a new one - The Boys Are Back - marking the return to TV for sitcom vets Hal Linden and Suzanne Pleshette as an empty nest couple who have their adult children move back in. It was followed by Daddy's Girls, a sitcom starring Dudley Moore taking care of three daughters (including Keri Russell) after a divorce. Daddy's Girls was notable for being the first sitcom ever with an openly gay actor playing an openly gay character (Harvey Fierstein in a supporting role). Girls was panned critically and lasted just three episodes while Boys got slightly better reviews and lasted longer, making it to the New Year and then even getting a chance on Saturdays before being cancelled. At 9pm was Touched by an Angel. We all know the gentle spiritual drama starring Roma Downey and Della Reese eventually became a hit, but that seemed very unlikely in the Fall of 1994. It was a very troubled show in development and there were even rumors it would never make it to the air and be replaced by Christy as late as August 1994 when the pilot was getting re-tooled. Then it premiered to poor ratings and aired sporadically in the fall as it was pulled for November Sweeps. It's a, pardon the pun, small miracle that it didn't get cancelled but it flourished when it moved to Saturdays and then, eventually, Sundays. 48 Hours rounded out the initial lineup at 10pm. By January, CBS decided to completely revamp the night with an entirely new slate of shows from start to finish. A two hour comedy block aired from 8-10pm with the two new shows - Women of the House and Double Rush - serving as the anchors. Women of the House marked Delta Burke's return to TV as Suzanne Sugarbaker less than four years after she was fired in the same role on Designing Women. Check back Wednesday for a One Season Wonder post on Women of the House! Double Rush starred Robert Pastorelli as the head of a bicycle messaging service. In the half hour slots after the new shows were two shows that just couldn't quite get off the ground as new hits for the network and were sort of stumbling along in their third season: Hearts Afire and Love & War. Neither one was ever strong enough with a lead-in to make CBS think they could be anchors and that was further proven when the ratings collapsed for them and the new shows on Wednesday. Northern Exposure moved over at 10pm when CBS took it out of its longtime Monday home to make room for Chicago Hope. The entire comedy block was gone after a month while Exposure survived a few more months before being pulled and then cancelled after six seasons, a quiet end for the Emmy winning drama. One comedy from the failed block did resurface on Wednesdays as Double Rush returned in March and followed the new The George Wendt Show. Wendt returned to TV for the first time since Cheers with a show originally developed for NBC. The series starred Wendt as a garage owner and radio host. It lasted just six weeks and was pulled with two episodes remaining. Finally, CBS gave up and just went with specials at 8pm and a movie at 9pm to end the season.

NBC	8:00	9:00	10:00
Sep	The Cosby Mysteries	Dateline NBC	Law & Order
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb	Various Programs
Mar	The Cosby Mysteries
Apr
May	Various Programs

NBC made some changes to its Wednesday night lineup swapping out the unscripted Unsolved Mysteries for the scripted The Cosby Mysteries at 8pm. Mysteries marked the return of Bill Cosby to NBC just two years after the end of The Cosby Show. He played a retired member of the NYPD who helped consult on difficult cases. The series had some sporadic scheduling but did air for most of the season at 8pm. Even before Cosby's legacy was tarnished in recent years, this was never a show that got much attention in the career of the comedian. Although it hearkened back to his time on I Spy, it was not the Bill Cosby people were used to seeing in 1994 so he couldn't make it his version of Murder, She Wrote. NBC made a decision in 1994 to consolidate all of its newsmagazines under the Dateline NBC moniker so Now with Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric was gone and a new Wednesday edition of Dateline took over at 9pm. Brokaw and Couric stayed on board as this was the start of NBC's descent into newsmagazine madness in the mid-late 90s. Law & Order continued at 10pm and added Sam Waterston to the cast. He of course became one of the most iconic characters on Law & Order.

FOX	8:00	9:00
Sep	Beverly Hills, 90210	Models, Inc.
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan		Party of Five
Feb
Mar
Apr		Sliders
May

After two years, FOX broke up its successful pairing of Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place by sending Melrose to Mondays. The main reason was they had another show in the franchise ready to launch and they went the Melrose route by launching it the summer. Models, Inc. premiered in late June and aired through the summer and then into the fall. The spinoff, about a modeling agency, was more of a direct spinoff from Melrose despite airing behind 90210. After a so-so rated summer and fall, it switched places with the ratings-challenged but critically adored Party of Five in January. Party continued to struggle in the ratings but did get renewed, partly because of its critical adoration. The last entry on the night was a totally different type of show. Sliders was a sci-fi drama about travelers who can "slide" between parallel universes. Starring Jerry O'Connell and John Rhys-Davies among others, the series quickly became a hit with the sci-fi crowd and was renewed for a second season after outperforming both Models and Party in the ratings. How strange that the sci-fi drama proved to be the best performer after the soapy 90210. 

WB	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30
Sep	No WB Programming
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan	The Wayans Bros.	The Parent ‘Hood	Unhappily Ever After	Muscle
Feb
Mar
Apr
May

As mentioned in my Monday and Tuesday posts, there were two new networks in the 1994-95 season. While UPN aired on two nights, the WB network launched with just one night of programming and four comedies. The ratings were abysmal for the sitcoms but three of the four lived to see another season as the WB was patient with growing its audience plus they expanded to a new night (Sundays) and needed real estate. Leading off at 8pm was The Wayans Bros., which starred brothers Shawn and Marlon Wayans. The Harlem-set sitcom was an early signature show for the network. It was followed by The Parent 'Hood, another sitcom aimed at the black audience. It was also set in Harlem but focused on a more upper-middle class black family, which drew comparisons to The Cosby Show. At 9pm was Unhappily Ever After, a California-set family comedy about some maladjusted family members. All three sitcoms were at the bottom of the ratings but lasted several seasons (in fact, they all made it to their syndication goals, ending somewhere around 100 episodes in 1999). The only comedy from that first rollout to not make it was Muscle, which was a soap opera parody set in a New York City gym. The workplace comedy was the lowest rated show of the season and couldn't even meet the low threshold WB had for its shows.

Top Rated Wednesday Show of 1994-95: Home Improvement (#3)

Lowest Rated Wednesday Show of 1994-95: Muscle (#142)

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

Roseanne and Ellen. I probably would have tried out the many comedies that came and went on ABC and CBS with the most interest in Women of the House and Double Rush. Maybe Touched by an Angel and probably Law & Order most of the time plus the final season of Northern Exposure. And Party of Five while it was on the night.

Tomorrow: An Emmy Preview of the Supporting Actress Races!

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