SCHEDULES OF THE PAST: 1996-1997 Tuesdays

On Tuesdays, I take a look at schedules from yesteryear. Here's a look at Tuesdays in the 1996-97 season!

ABC	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	Roseanne	Life’s Work	Home Improvement	Spin City	Various Programs
Oct					NYPD Blue
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb		Various Programs
Mar		Ellen			The Practice
Apr	Home Improvement	Soul Man			NYPD Blue
May		Roseanne

ABC headed into the 1996-97 season with the same three anchors on Tuesday night: a fading Roseanne and a still potent Home Improvement and NYPD Blue. Two new shows rounded out the fall lineup. At 8:30pm was Life's Work, a family sitcom starring Lisa Ann Walter. This was yet another sitcom centered around a stand-up personality like the shows that aired before and after it. It lasted until February when it was pulled from the lineup and eventually cancelled. The 9:30pm entry was more successful as it featured the heralded return of Michael J. Fox to network TV. The Family Ties actor had a middling film career after the Back to the Future franchise and was ready to come back to TV. The sitcom, which came from Bill Lawrence and Family Ties creator Gary David Goldberg, starred Fox as the Deputy Mayor of New York City. It wasn't a breakout hit some thought it might be but it was a strong new performer for ABC. NYPD Blue had a later start as usual while ABC previewed some other shows like Relativity. Roseanne was expected to end in the 1995-96 season but star Roseanne Barr had a change of heart and the show got a last minute reprieve. That led to a widely disliked final season that saw the ratings plummet for a former #1 show on TV. It ended with a whimper and was off the air for much of the final two months before airing its finale in May. Two shows had brief runs in the spring in favorable slots that led to them getting renewed. When Roseanne was on hiatus, ABC aired repeats of Home Improvement at 8pm and that led into the new sitcom Soul Man. The series, which starred Dan Aykroyd as a preacher and father, was set in the same world as Home Improvement and aired only three episodes in its first season. But those three episodes were strong enough to get it renewed. NYPD Blue went on hiatus for a short time to make room for the David E. Kelley drama The Practice. The legal drama did well enough in six episodes to get renewed.

CBS	8:00	9:00	10:00
Sep	Promised Land	Tuesday Night Movie
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May

CBS tried a new drama on Tuesday one season after The Client aired for the entire season but was cancelled at the end of the season. The new drama taking its place fared better as it was a spinoff of Touched by an Angel. By 1996, Angel had established itself as a solid performer and it broke out in the 1996-97 season. Promised Land was not a massive hit but it did seem to catch some of the Angel glow. It starred Gerald McRaney as a man sent on a road trip with his family by the Angel angels. It was another gentle drama for CBS coming one year after they tried to go more edgy with their programming. This was more in the CBS wheelhouse at the time. A movie continued from 9-11pm.

NBC	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	Mad About You	Something So Right	Frasier	Caroline in the City	Dateline NBC
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May

NBC had a very steady Tuesday night in the 1996-97 season and the only shows returning to the night were Frasier, coming off its third straight Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, and Dateline NBC rounding out the night. At 8pm was Mad About You with a third straight as an 8pm show leading off a different night. It had moved from Thursdays to Sundays to Tuesdays. The move to Tuesdays plus a season-long pregnancy arc led to a slight uptick in the ratings. A new family sitcom aired at 8:30pm. Something So Right was a sort-of Brady Bunch for the 90s that starred Jere Burns and Mel Harris. Although Mad About You was on its way to becoming a family show, NBC didn't really dabble much in family sitcoms and Something So Right was cancelled at the end of the season despite the strong timeslot. It was picked up by a network that had many more family sitcoms - ABC - for a second season but it didn't fare any better there. At 9:30pm was Caroline in the City, moving over from its cushy Thursday slot. There was an understandable drop for a show no longer between Seinfeld and ER, but it still did pretty well and was renewed for a third season.

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

FOX had a movie on Tuesdays for a third straight season. Not much to see here.

UPN	8:00	8:30	9:00
Sep	Moesha	Homeboys in Outer Space	The Burning Zone
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar		Social Studies
Apr
May		Homeboys in Outer Space

UPN had found its second successful show (relatively speaking) after Star Trek: Voyager with Moesha. The Brandy sitcom was the second highest rated show for the young netlet and firmly established as the 8pm anchor on Tuesday nights. It was first followed by the oddly titled Homeboys in Outer Space. The sci-fi/fantasy series was centered on two astronauts driving around space in a winged car in the 23rd century. The series was savaged by critics but did manage to last much of the season because UPN didn't have a lot on the bench. Check back tomorrow for a One Season Wonder look at Homeboys in Outer Space! It did take a hiatus for a short time to make room for Social Studies, a sitcom that starred Julia Duffy as a Manhattan boarding school administrator. It lasted just six episodes and was rerun in the summer but neither Homeboys nor Social made it to a second season. A drama aired at 9pm. The Burning Zone was a sci-fi drama about a task force investigating chemical and biological threats, which we were not as conscious about back in 1996. It received negative reviews and negative comparisons to The X-Files and while it lasted the full year, it was cancelled at the end of the season.

Top Rated Tuesday Show of 1996-97: Home Improvement (#9)

Lowest Rated Tuesday Show of 1996-97: The Burning Zone (#154)

What would I have watched on Tuesdays in the 1996-97 season?

I would have bounced between the ABC and NBC sitcoms from 8-10pm. Most interesting to me would have been Mad About You, Frasier and Spin City. It would have been a toss up between Life's Work and Something So Right at 8:30pm. I would have also watched NYPD Blue at 10pm.

Tomorrow: A One Season Wonder look at Homeboys in Outer Space!

Next Tuesday: A look at Wednesdays in the 1996-97 season!