SCHEDULES OF THE PAST: 1994-1995 Sundays

This is the final week for the "season" on my blog. I will be back with my third annual Benjamonster Awards in July and then back to regular posting in the fall. But before that, here's a look at Sundays in the 1994-95 season!

ABC	7:00	7:30	8:00	9:00	10:00
Sep	America’s Funniest Home Videos	On Our Own	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman	Sunday Night Movie
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan		America’s Funniest Home Videos
Feb
Mar
Apr
May

ABC's Sunday nights looked pretty similar to the previous season but a new sitcom took the place of the cancelled America's Funniest People. America's Funniest Home Videos returned at 7pm and was a steady performer but no longer a sensation. Lois & Clark continued at 8pm and that show was more of a sensation with critics and buzz but the actual ratings were pretty mediocre. At 7:30pm was On Our Own, a family comedy featuring the Smollett siblings (all six of them!) and Ralph Louis Harris. It seemed on paper like a family comedy would be a good match with Videos, but it didn't work out. It was pulled from Sunday nights in December and resurfaced briefly on TGIF in the spring. ABC opted to just go with a second half hour of America's Funniest Home Videos, which was the right call as it did better than the 7pm episode. ABC's movie at 9pm jumped ahead of the competing NBC movie but still trailed the CBS movie.

CBS	7:00	8:00	9:00	10:00
Sep	60 Minutes	Murder, She Wrote	Sunday Night Movie
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May

CBS continued with the usual lineup of 60 Minutes into Murder, She Wrote into a movie for the 1994-95 season. With very few exceptions, this had been the CBS Sunday lineup going back to 1986. But CBS wasn't satisfied. 60 Minutes dropped from #1 to #6 and Murder, She Wrote was still a Top 10 show, but the shows were skewing ancient so CBS made a big move for the 1995-96 season, but more on that when I do posts for that season.

NBC	7:00	8:00	9:00	10:00
Sep	Unsolved Mysteries	SeaQuest: DSV	Sunday Night Movie
Oct
Nov	Earth 2
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May

NBC had launched the high profile genre show SeaQuest DSV the previous season and despite so-so ratings, they doubled down on making Sunday night a genre night. After Unsolved Mysteries aired at 7pm for a few weeks, NBC premiered Earth 2, a futuristic drama set in 2192 and centered on a team that goes to an Earth-like planet to figure out a cure for an illness. The series debuted to strong ratings but the Sunday 7pom slot was a tough one for them and things went south. It was cancelled after one full season and has become a bit of a cult hit in the years since. SeaQuest DSV continued at 8pm but underwent some major cast changes. Four major cast members departed, some by choice and some not, while five new cast members joined. The series was on the verge of cancellation only to get a reprieve for a second straight season. It received criticism for being worse than the first season creatively too so it had to be considered a big surprise that it got a third season. NBC's move fell behind ABC's competing movie at 9pm.

FOX	7:00	7:30	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30
Sep	Fortune Hunter		The Simpsons	Hardball	Married With Children	Wild Oats
Oct	Encounters: The Hidden Truth					The George Carlin Show
Nov	The X-Files			The Simpsons
Dec	Encounters: The Hidden Truth
Jan	The Simpsons	Get Smart		House of Buggin’		Dream On
Feb
Mar	The Great Defender			The Critic
Apr	Various Programs
May						Married With Children

FOX made the big move in 1994-95 of returning The Simpsons to Sunday nights. After it was a breakout hit for the young FOX network, the network moved The Simpsons to Thursday nights in 1990 to do battle with The Cosby Show and the gamble mostly paid off as it helped FOX get a presence on Thursday nights but FOX wanted its big gun back on its big night as they had acquired an NFL package that was bound to boost Sundays so The Simpsons returned to the slot where it still airs today. While they had The Simpsons and the long running Married... With Children as the anchors, the rest of the night was a mess during the season with three fall shows quickly pulled. Fortune Hunter was an action drama that FOX thought would be a great lead-out of football at 7pm but that was a bad decision as it faltered quickly in the ratings and was cancelled in early October and replaced by filler until January when they launched a revival of Get Smart after reruns of The Simpsons. Predating the reboot and revival craze, the 60s sitcom was brought back and updated for the 90s. However, reviews were very poor and the series did not get any traction. It was gone after a couple months. The next 7pm hour attempt went even worse. The Great Defender was a legal drama with a solid cast including Peter Krause, Kelly Rutherford and Richard Kiley. Reviews were solid but it was a bomb out of the gate and pulled after a single episode. It did resurface in the summer but as a burn-off. FOX finally gave up with the 7pm hour for the last couple months of the season. The first 8:30pm entry was Hardball, a baseball sitcom starring Bruce Greenwood. The series was supposed to air in the heart of baseball season but 1994 was the year of the baseball strike and no World Series. It was cancelled by the end of October. Repeats of The Simpsons aired until January when House of Buggin' premiered. The sketch comedy show tried to fill the void left by In Living Color and featured a primarily Latino cast including John Leguizamo and Luis Guzman. The series lasted just ten episodes. The last 8:30pm entry was The Critic, which had aired on ABC for its first season. The show always seemed like a match for The Simpsons even when it was on ABC so the slotting of it made sense, but it didn't fare any better on its new network and was cancelled at the end of the season. On to 9:30pm, there was another failed sitcom to start the season. Wild Oats was a Chicago-set hang out sitcom starring Paul Rudd among others. The series was no Friends and was cancelled before the calendar even changed to October. FOX brought back The George Carlin Show for a second season and that lasted for awhile before being cancelled. FOX later tried airing broadcast-sanitized versions of HBO's comedy Dream On. The series came from the creators of Friends so perhaps FOX was trying to capitalize on the NBC sensation and also they just needed to air something with so many new sitcoms failing on the night.

Top Rated Sunday Show of 1994-95: 60 Minutes (#6)

Lowest Rated Sunday Show of 1994-95: The Great Defender (#134)

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

There was a lot to choose from on Sundays but not a lot I would have been interested in. I would have watched Get Smart no matter how bad it was. I might have checked out Murder, She Wrote sometimes and maybe some movies.

Tomorrow: An Emmy Preview of the Series Races!