SCHEDULES OF THE PAST: 1997-1998 Mondays

On Tuesdays, I take a look at schedules from yesteryear. Here's a look at Mondays in the 1997-98 season!

ABC	8:00	9:00	10:00
Sep	Timecop	Monday Night Football
Oct
Nov	Various Programs
Dec
Jan	America’s Funniest Home Videos	20/20	The Practice
Feb
Mar
Apr	Push
May	America’s Funniest Home Videos

ABC continued to search for a proper lead-in to Monday Night Football as they had been unsuccessful since MacGyver went off the air in 1992. The newest attempt for Fall 1997 was sci-fi drama Timecop, based on the Jean-Claude Van Damme movie of the same name and set in the then-future 2007. None of the cast returned for the movie and the ratings were pretty terrible. It lasted just five weeks before it was pulled and specials aired in the 8pm hour for the rest of football season. ABC did not go with a movie as a replacement for football on Mondays, it went with a trio of shows. Following a short hiatus and the departure of Bob Saget, America's Funniest Home Videos returned to the lineup in the new time of Mondays at 8pm. The new hosts were John Fugelsang and Daisy Fuentes and while it wasn't a smash hit like it was in the early Saget days, it did well enough. The late 90s was the heyday for TV newsmagazines so 20/20 was ABC's big hit. The Thursday edition moved to Mondays and performed quite well at 9pm. Rounding out the new night was The Practice which had been critically acclaimed but languishing on Saturdays in its second season much to the chagrin of creator David E. Kelley. When it didn't die on Saturdays, ABC rewarded it with an upgrade to Mondays and the ratings started to climb. For a very short time, Videos was replaced by the new soapy drama Push. The series was about a group of young Olympic hopefuls and lasted just two weeks before being pulled from the schedule as Videos returned to 8pm.

CBS	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	Cosby	Everybody Loves Raymond	Cybill	George & Leo	Brooklyn South
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan			George & Leo	Style & Substance
Feb
Mar			The Closer	George & Leo
Apr				Murphy Brown
May					Various Programs

CBS made some changes to its Monday night lineup with the addition of a new comedy and a new drama to start the 1997-98 season. Cosby continued at 8pm and was followed by Everybody Loves Raymond at 8:30pm. Cosby had been the big push as the new comedy the previous fall but it was Raymond, buried in a Friday night slot originally, that became the breakout hit. Both had similar ratings in the 1997-98 ratings but they were on opposite trajectories. The 9pm hour was a little more of a mess. Cybill was the 9pm anchor but that was a show that never proved to do well in anchor slots. It was followed by George & Leo, a sitcom that brought Bob Newhart and Judd Hirsch back to TV as polar opposite fathers whose children marry each other. The series did not recapture the magic of the earlier, more successful series of the two stars but was famous for an episode called "The Cameo Show" featuring tons of brief appearances by co-stars of their previous sitcoms. Cybill was pulled from the night in January while George & Leo took over the 9pm slot. At 9:30pm was Style & Substance, a sitcom starring Jean Smart as a Martha Stewart-type character and Nancy McKeon as her producer. Before Smart joined the cast, the series was filmed with Kathleen Turner, who tested poorly. Julie Andrews was also approached but turned it down. It lasted just a short time, getting pulled before CBS broadcast the Winter Olympics in February. After the Olympics, George & Leo moved back to 9:30pm and CBS had a new hope for the troubled 9pm slot. The new entry was The Closer starring Tom Selleck as an advertising executive. After Selleck had a highly successful arc on Friends, a sitcom was developed for him and the cast also featured Ed Asner, Suzy Nakamura and David Kramholtz. Despite a decent amount of hype, it didn't land and was cancelled at the end of the season. Late in the season, Murphy Brown returned for a final run of episodes on the night where it had dominated for nine seasons. The series quietly came to an end several years past being a major part of the zeitgeist. After two and a half seasons, Chicago Hope was moved to Wednesdays as CBS tried a new drama on Monday night. Steven Bochco had moved his deal to CBS and launched the high profile Brooklyn South. The cop drama received a lot of attention for its violence and was the first broadcast show to receive the first TV-MA rating under the new ratings system. Unlike NYPD Blue several years earlier, the controversy did not lead to big ratings as it struggled to get a foothold. It made it all the way to April but was cancelled after one full season. Check back tomorrow for a One Season Wonder post on Brooklyn South!

NBC	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	Suddenly Susan	Fired Up	Caroline in the City	The Naked Truth	Dateline NBC
Oct
Nov
Dec		Jenny
Jan				Fired Up
Feb		Fired Up		The Naked Truth
Mar		House Rules
Apr				Various Programs
May		Various Programs

NBC completely revamped Monday nights for the 1997-98 season with a quartet of female-led sitcoms on a night they dubbed "Must She TV." All four shows had aired on Thursdays at one point but were now left to fend for themselves on Mondays and the results were tepid at best. The anchors were Suddenly Susan and Caroline in the City and both of them performed better than the shows that followed them and were the two that lived to see another season. Suddenly Susan was thrown to the wolves at 8pm but held up okay while Caroline was the highest rated show of the block. The shows at 8:30pm and 9:30pm were a bigger problem. Fired Up and The Naked Truth had both aired for short times in the 9:30pm Thursday slot and therefore placed in the Top 10 but they quickly proved to be frauds when they left their cushy timeslot. They bounced on and off the night through the season along with Jenny, which had moved over from Sunday and House Rules, a comedy about housemates living in Denver. All four shows were cancelled at the end of the season. For The Naked Truth, it was its second cancellation in three years. NBC had more success at 10pm with another night of Dateline NBC. This edition basically took the place of the Wednesday edition and proved to be a big hit in the ratings, much stronger than the comedies that preceded it. For NBC, this comedy block sort of was the point where the attention turned to NBC perhaps diluting the Must See TV brand with just too many comedies on the schedule.

FOX	8:00	8:30	9:00
Sep	Melrose Place		Ally McBeal
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr	Damon	Getting Personal
May

FOX captured the zeitgeist on Monday nights with its new show but first up was the sixth season of Melrose Place. The show was getting a little long in the tooth but still a decent performer even as it lost key cast members like Josie Bissett, Grant Show, Doug Savant and Courtney Thorne-Smith (Thorne-Smith stayed on FOX Mondays though as a cast member of the Melrose lead-out). At 9pm was the new Ally McBeal, an hour-long comedy from David E. Kelley and starring Calista Flockhart as a young lawyer. The show was an instant hit with critics and fans who embraced its quirky characters and storytelling. The show easily outperformed its lead-in and the coverage for the show even outdid its ratings. Melrose Place ended its season a little bit early and the hour was turned over to two comedies. Damon had a brief run on Sundays after The Simpsons to give it exposure before it led off Mondays at 8pm. The Damon Wayans sitcom was the bigger bet for FOX but it was the lead-out that was actually a little bit stronger in the ratings. Getting Personal was a Chicago-set workplace sitcom that starred Vivica A. Fox, Jon Cryer and Elliott Gould among others. At the end of the season, Damon was cancelled while Personal eked out a renewal.

UPN	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30
Sep	In the House	Malcolm & Eddie	Good News	Sparks
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr	The Love Boat: The Next Wave		Various Programs
May

UPN continued its Monday night comedy block with one new show replacing the cancelled Goode Behavior. In the House and Malcolm & Eddie continued in the 8pm hour. The new show was Good News at 9pm. It starred Dave Ramsey as a hip young pastor in Compton, CA and was one of two shows centered on a pastor airing on Monday nights in the 1997-98 season (the other being 7th Heaven on The WB). Good News was also notable for being the final new series produced by MTM Enterprises. It had been a long time since Mary Tyler Moore and Grant Tinker were directly involved with the company but they continued to produce shows until Good News as the company was sold to News Corporation and its library went to 20th Television. Second season sitcom Sparks aired at 9:30pm. The comedy block was yanked in April and the comedies aired at various points on Tuesdays except for Sparks, which was cancelled. Replacing the block on Mondays at 8pm was The Love Boat: The Next Wave. The series was a revival of the hit ABC series that ran from 1977-1986 and this one starred Robert Urich as the Captain while continuing to have lots of guest stars. It was a slightly better performer than the comedies and UPN's highest rated show besides Star Trek: Voyager so it got renewed for a second season. Specials aired at 9pm through the rest of the season.

WB	8:00	9:00	9:30
Sep	7th Heaven	Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb		Three
Mar
Apr		Kelly Kelly	Alright Already
May		7th Heaven

The WB was starting to get some hallmark shows for its network in its fourth year of existence. 7th Heaven continued at 8pm and nearly doubled its ratings from its first season to become the second highest rated show on the network (it was the highest until Dawson's Creek arrived at midseason). Buffy the Vampire Slayer continued at 9pm until mid-January when Buffy left the night to help launch a new night of programming for The WB on Tuesdays. Adventure drama Three took over the Monday 9pm slot. The series centered on three thieves who used their skills mostly for good and it featured a young Julie Bowen in the cast. It was cancelled after two months with five episodes left unaired. The WB very briefly tried a comedy block in April with the new Kelly Kelly and Sunday transplant Alright Already. Kelly Kelly was a family comedy starring Shelley Long and Robert Hays. The Monday block lasted just two weeks before the two comedies moved over to Sundays and The WB went with repeats of 7th Heaven to close out the season at 9pm.

Top Rated Monday Show in 1997-98: Monday Night Football (#5)

Lowest Rated Monday Show in 1997-98: Kelly Kelly (#172)

What would I have watched on Mondays in 1997-98?

I was watching 7th Heaven and sometimes Monday Night Football before I had to go to bed. If I was the age I am now, I would still have watched Football but also other things. I would have been more interested in the CBS comedy block than the NBC comedy block. Specifically, I would have watched Everybody Loves Raymond and I would have also been interested in George & Leo and Brooklyn South. Maybe I would have switched to The Practice when it came on the night in January.

Tomorrow: A One Season Wonder look at Brooklyn South!

Next Tuesday: A look at Tuesdays in the 1997-98 season!