SCHEDULES OF THE PAST: 1995-1996 Tuesdays

On Tuesdays, I take a look at schedules from yesteryear. Here's a look at Tuesdays in the 1995-96 season!

ABC	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	Roseanne	Hudson Street	Home Improvement	Coach	Murder One
Oct					NYPD Blue
Nov
Dec
Jan				Champs
Feb		Coach		Various Programs
Mar				The Dana Carvey Show
Apr
May		Ellen		Coach

ABC had made a big move in 1994-95 by sending Roseanne to Wednesdays and slotting Home Improvement as the new Tuesday 9pm anchor. In 1995-96, after the departure of Full House, Roseanne came back to the night but now as the 8pm anchor. The one time #1 sitcom was now in its eighth season and fell out of the Top 10 for the first time in its run. It was expected to be the final season but Roseanne Barr struck a late deal to return for a ninth season. Home Improvement continued to be one of TV's top shows at 9pm but it did see a drop in the ratings as well. In between the two anchor shows was a high profile newbie. Hudson Street marked the return of Tony Danza to TV and he was paired with Lori Loughlin, fresh off of Full House, in a romantic sitcom about a detective and reporter. The series started off pretty well in the ratings but quickly proved to be a hole between two hits and it was pulled off the night shortly after the New Year. Coach had always done well airing behind Home Improvement or Roseanne and it started the season airing behind Home but moved behind Roseanne when Hudson Street was yanked. Two new shows were tried out at 9:30pm. First up was Champs, a sitcom about a group of friends who were part of a high school basketball championship team twenty years earlier. It was a flop and lasted just four episodes. The last new entry was The Dana Carvey Show, a variety series starring the SNL alum. While it was a flop that only lasted eight episodes (one unaired), it has become a cult favorite thanks in part to a cast that included Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert and Bob Odenkirk before they became famous and a writing staff that included Louis C.K., Robert Carlock, Greg Daniels and the three actors already mentioned. It got off to an auspicious start with a sketch to kick off the first episode depicting then President Clinton breastfeeding babies, cats and dogs. That was an instant turn-off for some of the family-friendly crowd from Home Improvement. Late in the season, Coach returned to 9:30pm and Ellen aired a few new episodes at 8:30pm. NYPD Blue started its season later than the rest of the Tuesday lineup as usual so ABC used the slot to preview three episodes of their high profile new show Murder One before it moved to Thursdays. It got the series off to a good start but not good enough that it could withstand the ER competition on Thursdays. In late October, Blue returned fresh off a win for Outstanding Drama Series at the Emmys.

CBS	8:00	9:00	10:00
Sep	The Client	Tuesday Night Movie
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb	Various Programs
Mar	The Client
Apr
May	Various Programs

For several years, CBS had aired Rescue: 911 into a movie on Tuesday nights. The previous season they had tried a drama (Under One Roof) in the spring and for the fall of 1995, they went with a drama full time in the slot. The drama picked to try to get a stranglehold on Tuesdays was The Client, based on the John Grisham novel and movie of the same name. John Grisham was all the rage in 1990s with his books flying off the shelves and the movie adaptations being big blockbuster hits. So it was only natural that they try a TV show with the same property. The 1994 movie The Client was a hit with audiences and critics, earning an Academy Award nomination for Susan Sarandon. The series version did not include Sarandon or her co-star Tommy Lee Jones. It starred JoBeth Williams and John Heard. The series did not do very well in the ratings but managed to last a full 22 episodes (though it was pulled for both February and May sweeps). The Tuesday movie continued to take up the later two hours and only did alright for a movie night. CBS still needed to freshen this night up.

NBC	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	Wings	Newsradio	Frasier	The Pursuit of Happiness	Dateline NBC
Oct
Nov				Various Programs
Dec				The John Larroquette Show
Jan		3rd Rock From the Sun
Feb
Mar
Apr	3rd Rock From the Sun	Wings
May

NBC had stabilized Tuesday nights in the 1994-95 season with two solid comedy anchors, Wings and Frasier, making it a sort-of "lite" version of their Must See Thursday lineup. Frasier was coming off its second straight Outstanding Comedy Series win at the Emmys. At 8:30pm was a show that had premiered late in the previous season: Newsradio. The series continued to have similar ratings but NBC was never quite satisfied with the series (NBC President Warren Littlefield was reportedly never a fan). They shipped it off to Sundays at midseason and replaced it with 3rd Rock From the Sun, a comedy about a family of aliens starring John Lithgow and Jane Curtin. The pilot had been shot for ABC but the Alphabet Network didn't pick it up, instead opting for the similarly themed Aliens in the Family. Although 3rd Rock didn't quite fit the NBC brand, they picked it up and it worked out swimmingly for them. The show became an instant hit with critics and fans as it was one of the buzziest new shows of the 1995-96 season and won Lithgow an Emmy Award at the end of the first season. Meanwhile, ABC's alien show lasted just a couple episodes on Friday nights and it was emblematic of a time where everything NBC touched, even cast-offs from other networks, seemed to turn to gold. Later in the season, 3rd Rock was proving so strong that NBC even swapped it with Wings and let 3rd Rock be the 8pm anchor. Of course not everything NBC touched actually turned to gold and that was evident at 9:30pm with new comedy The Pursuit of Happiness. The series, about a lawyer having a mid-life crisis, lost a large portion of its Frasier lead-in and was cancelled less than two months into its run. Check back tomorrow for a One Season Wonder post on The Pursuit of Happiness! It was replaced by The John Larroquette Show, which had an ill-fated run on Saturdays to start the season. The series was like a poor man's Coach where it could do ok airing after hit shows but was not capable of being an anchor. Still, NBC left it in the 9:30pm slot for the rest of the season. Dateline NBC continued at 10pm for one of its several airings during the week.

FOX	8:00	9:00
Sep	Tuesday Night Movie
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May

FOX continued with a movie on Tuesday nights to modest ratings as they worried more about other nights.

UPN	8:00	8:30	9:00
Sep	Deadly Games		Live Shot
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan	Moesha	Minor Adjustments	Various Programs
Feb
Mar			The Paranormal Borderline
Apr
May

After cancelling nearly its whole lineup from Year 1, it was a complete re-start on Tuesdays for UPN. Two new dramas aired to start the season and neither one made it past a half season. At 8pm was Deadly Games, a sci-fi series about video game characters coming to life and enacting their deadly plans. The series, which included Christopher Lloyd in its cast and had Leonard Nimoy directing its pilot, was not a success but it has had a small cult following in the years since. Live Shot aired at 9pm and was set at a Los Angeles TV station. The series didn't make much of an impression and did not become a cult hit either. UPN started to find its brand in January with the launch of Moesha, a sitcom starring 16 year old recent R&B sensation Brandy Norwood. The sitcom managed to cut through a bit and was UPN's highest rated show besides Voyager. It was key to making UPN a hub for black-led sitcoms over the next several years. It was followed by Minor Adjustments which had the unusual move of changing networks midway through the season. It had aired on NBC in the fall and when the Peacock network cancelled the sitcom, UPN picked it up as a pair for Moesha. It wasn't as successful and had the dubious distinction of being cancelled by two different networks in the same season. An unscripted show, The Paranormal Borderline, aired at 9pm for the second half of the season and was mostly filler.

Top Rated Tuesday Show of 1995-96: Home Improvement (#7)

Lowest Rated Tuesday Show of 1995-96: Live Shot (#158)

What would I have watched on Tuesdays in 1995-96?

I would have been torn between ABC and NBC with a tilt towards NBC. I would have probably chosen Frasier over Home Improvement and, at this point in Roseanne's run, I would have probably chosen Wings. I would have been interested in Hudson Street but would have probably gone with Newsradio while Coach would have been my choice at 9:30 to start the season. I also would have checked out 3rd Rock from the Sun at midseason and perhaps I would have checked out The Client if I was eve rnot in a sitcom mood.

Tomorrow: A One Season Wonder look at The Pursuit of Happiness!

Next Tuesday: A look at Wednesdays in the 1995-96 season!