SCHEDULES OF THE PAST: 1996-1997 Saturdays

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

ABC	8:00	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	Second Noah	Coach	Common Law	Relativity
Oct
Nov	Saturday Night Movie
Dec
Jan
Feb				Various Programs
Mar	Dangerous Minds	Saturday Night Movie
Apr	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman	Leaving L.A.		Gun
May	Saturday Night Movie

Once again, ABC was giving it the old college try on Saturday night. This was before the networks just gave up on Saturdays and even though ABC had year after year of Saturday fails in the 90s, they were trying again with two returning shows and two new shows. Second Noah aired at 8pm. The family drama was already on the ropes in the ratings and then its fate was sealed when ABC was purchased by Disney because Second Noah took place partly at Disney World's rival, Busch Gardens. It was followed by a comedy hour with Coach returning and in its ninth season followed by Common Law, a sitcom starring Greg Giraldo as a Latino lawyer at a mostly white firm. The first two hours of the night were yanked by November Sweeps (with Coach returning to mid-week) but the 10pm romance drama lasted a little bit longer. It was Relativity, starring Kimberly Williams and David Conrad as a young couple. Relativity came from the same producing team as the acclaimed but ratings challenged Thirtysomething and My So-Called Life but this one was actually created by a young Jason Katims. It wasn't quite as praised as the earlier series but it had the same ratings troubles. Check back tomorrow for a One Season Wonder post on Relativity! By February, ABC was airing movies and specials but they tried again with Saturday night programming late in the season. First, they aired a few weeks of Dangerous Minds, but in April they aired a trio of dramas starting with a transplanted Lois & Clark. The series had been a Sunday staple for several seasons but was quickly dropping in the ratings. It was followed by two new dramas. At 9pm was Leaving L.A., a dramedy set at the Los Angeles Coroner's Office. The drama was not a success (it was the lowest rated show of the "Big Three" networks) but its cast included Christopher Meloni, Melina Kanakaredes, Hilary Swank and Lorraine Toussaint. It was followed by Gun, an anthology that followed a .45 semi-automatic pistol as it traveled from place to place and person to person. Guest stars in the series included several big names like Carrie Fisher, Martin Sheen and Randy Quaid, and it counted Robert Altman as a producer. Something tells me the plot of this show would be a little more politically charged today. It lasted into May Sweeps while Lois & Clark and Leaving L.A. were pulled after just a few weeks and returned in the summer. And once again, ABC was back to the drawing board on Saturday nights.

CBS	8:00	9:00	10:00
Sep	Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman	Early Edition	Walker, Texas Ranger
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May

CBS had a good thing going on Saturday nights and that continued in the 1996-97 season even with a newbie in the middle as Touched by an Angel headed to Sundays. Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman remained at 8pm and Walker, Texas Ranger continued at 10pm. Walker was by far the highest rated Saturday show. In between was Early Edition, a drama starring Kyle Chandler as a Chicago man who received the newspaper a day early and then worked to prevent whatever he needed to based on the stories in the paper. The whimsical series was a little bit of an odd fit between two western dramas but it ultimately fit like a glove with the older, family audience CBS was courting. It outperformed Dr. Quinn in the ratings but was still well behind Walker.

NBC	8:00	9:00	10:00
Sep	Dark Skies	The Pretender	Profiler
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr	Various Programs
May

NBC had fallen from grace on Saturdays after dominating the night in the 80s and early 90s and they went in a totally different direction for the 1996-97 season. With comedies airing on five of the other six nights, NBC went with three new dramas that they dubbed the "Thrillogy." The attempt was to get a younger and more thrill-seeking crowd that wasn't watching the gentle dramas on CBS. At 8pm was Dark Skies, a sci-fi drama clearly aimed at fans of The X-Files. The complicated plot centered on an alternate history where aliens were living among us since the 1940s. It was followed by The Pretender, an action drama starring Michael T. Weiss as a man who was a genius impostor and able to infiltrate any job. Rounding out the night was Profiler, which starred Ally Walker working as a criminal profiler for the FBI. None of the three series were big hits but The Pretender and Profiler both delivered passable numbers and did enough to get renewed under the low expectations of a new Saturday night lineup. Dark Skies couldn't clear that low bar however and was cancelled towards the end of the season while NBC filled the hour with specials to end the season. Dark Skies has developed a little bit of a cult following like most shows of its kind, but it isn't one of those iconic short-lived sci-fi shows.

FOX	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30
Sep	Cops	Cops	Married… With Children	Love and Marriage
Oct
Nov			America’s Most Wanted
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar			Lawless
Apr			America’s Most Wanted
May

For a second straight year, FOX tried to do something different than Cops/Cops/America's Most Wanted on Saturday nights only to quickly resort to that lineup. Cops continued to occupy the 8pm hour but a comedy block aired at 9pm led by Married... With Children. Married had aired for nearly a decade on Sunday nights but the show was getting up there in years and FOX was moving in a new direction on Sundays with The X-Files. So Married came to Saturdays but the audience didn't follow. It was followed by new comedy Love & Marriage. The series was about a New Rochelle family and was the first series created by Amy Sherman (now Amy Sherman-Palladino) before Gilmore Girls and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel among others. The comedy lineup lasted just three weeks before FOX pulled it and went back to America's Most Wanted. Love & Marriage was cancelled while Married moved back to Sundays temporarily though the damage was done. Later in the season, FOX tried one more time with scripted programming on Saturdays with Lawless. The drama was about a motorcycle riding private investigator in Miami and starred former NFL player Brian Bosworth. The series was trashed by critics and became one of TV's infamous "one and done" shows as it was pulled after a single episode. It has more notoriety for that than it probably would have if it had lasted a few weeks. FOX went back to America's Most Wanted for the rest of the season.

Top Rated Saturday Show of 1996-97: Walker, Texas Ranger (#24)

Lowest Rated Saturday Show of 1996-97: Love and Marriage (#133)

What would I have watched on Saturdays in 1996-97?

I've always been curious about Early Edition though I've never watched it. I would have watched Coach for the short time it was on the night and I would have watched Relativity. I might have watched Second Noah from time to time. Of the three new NBC shows, only Dark Skies would have interested me a little bit.

Tomorrow: A One Season Wonder look at Relativity!

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