SCHEDULES OF THE PAST: 1998-1999 Fridays

On Tuesdays, I take a look at schedules from yesteryear. Here's a look at Fridays in the 1998-99 season!

ABC	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	Two of a Kind	Boy Meets World	Sabrina the Teenage Witch	Brother’s Keeper	20/20
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr	Sabrina the Teenage Witch		Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place
May	Home Improvement		Sabrina the Teenage Witch

ABC took care of the new competing CBS family lineup in 1997-98 but the battle seemed to leave ABC's once powerful TGIF lineup in a weaker state. They tried to liven up the night by bringing the Olsen Twins back to the night for their first TV show since Full House went off the air in 1995. It seemed like a good bet because the Olsen Twins were still quite well known in pop culture but Two of a Kind was met with a shrug by audiences and was not capable of leading off the night. It was off the air in early April and marked the end of the vaunted Miller-Boyett productions. Two veterans followed with Boy Meets World at 8:30pm and Sabrina the Teenage Witch at 9pm while another new sitcom, Brother's Keeper, debuted at 9:30pm. Brother's Keeper was an Odd Couple-style sitcom about two brothers and starred William Ragsdale and Sean O'Bryan. It was the lowest rated show in the block but actually lasted longer on the night than Two of a Kind as it aired the full season before being cancelled. When Two of a Kind was pulled from the lineup, ABC put Sabrina at 8pm briefly and moved Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place over to the night at 9pm. To close the season, Sabrina returned to 9pm while repeats of the soon-to-depart Home Improvement aired at 8pm. Throughout the season, 20/20 continued to easily be Friday's top draw on any network with another Top 20 showing.

CBS	8:00	8:30	9:00	10:00
Sep	Kids Say the Darndest Things	Candid Camera	Buddy Faro	Nash Bridges
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan			The Magnificent Seven
Feb
Mar
Apr			Unsolved Mysteries
May			Various Programs

CBS failed miserably with their "Block Party" attempt to compete with TGIF in the 1997-98 season but they found some more reliable performers with throwaway programming that took the place of the failed sitcom lineup. The Bill Cosby hosted Kids Say the Darndest Things and the latest update to Candid Camera were a perfect fit with each other and cheap options that delivered decent enough ratings. They aired at 8pm throughout the year but the 9pm hour was a revolving door. First up was Buddy Faro, a crime drama starring Dennis Farina as a legendary private detective re-opening his agency. The series did not connect with viewers and was cancelled after eight episodes. Check back tomorrow for a One Season Wonder look at Buddy Faro! The second season of The Magnificent Seven followed in the slot and was a slight improvement over Buddy Faro but not strong enough to get the western drama a third season. Finally, the last regular 9pm occupant was Unsolved Mysteries. Once a big hit for NBC, it never really found a home on CBS and was cancelled after two CBS seasons (and 11 overall). It did return on Lifetime in the early 2000s and then on Netflix in 2020. Throughout the season, Nash Bridges continued to air at 10pm and it was easily the highest rated show of the night for CBS though it was still easily beaten by ABC's 20/20.

NBC	8:00	9:00	10:00
Sep	Dateline NBC	Various Programs	Homicide: Life on the Street
Oct		Trinity
Nov
Dec		Various Programs
Jan	Providence	Dateline NBC
Feb
Mar
Apr
May

On Friday nights in the 1998-99 season, NBC said goodbye to a Friday staple but also found a brand new Friday hit. To start the season though, their new show was a flop. Dateline NBC moved to 8pm and continued to be a strong performer. But it was no help to the new show at 9pm. Trinity was a family drama about a detective and his Irish Catholic family. Starring Louis Ferreira, Jill Clayburgh, John Spencer and Tate Donovan, the series lasted just four weeks before it was cancelled and Spencer signed on to The West Wing shortly after. Homicide: Life on the Street continued at 10pm. It never was a huge hit but continued to be a critical darling and carved out a nice run for itself. But that run was coming to an end. After cheating death many times, NBC cancelled the series at the end of the season ending its run after seven seasons and 122 episodes. A follow-up movie aired in 2000. While NBC was saying goodbye to Homicide, they did strike gold with a new series that debuted in January in the 8pm slot when Dateline moved back to 9pm. Providence was a gentle drama that seemed to be put in a sleepy timeslot with low expectations. It starred Melina Kanakaredes as a Los Angeles plastic surgeon who returns to her hometown of Providence, Rhode Island. To everyone's surprise, the series debuted to big ratings and became one of NBC's most successful new dramas in years as it landed in the Top 20 in the ratings for the years. It was, without a doubt, the most surprising ratings data point of any network in the 1998-99 season.

FOX	8:00	8:30	9:00
Sep	Living in Captivity	Getting Personal	Millennium
Oct	Brimstone
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar	Guinness World Records
Apr
May	Various Programs

FOX started the season off on Fridays with the odd pairing of a comedy hour and the dark Millennium. The comedy hour was not long for the world though. The two shows in the block were the new Living in Captivity and the returning Getting Personal. Captivity was about the residents of a gated California community while Getting Personal had been a borderline renewal as the Vivica A. Fox sitcom had been a late entry in the 1997-98 season. The comedy block lasted just a few weeks into the season before both were cancelled and FOX went in a completely different direction with a drama they had waiting on the bench. Brimstone was a dark drama about a dead police detective who is assigned by the Devil to bring 113 souls who had escaped to Earth back to Hell. Yep, that was the 8pm entry on Friday night to replace some banal sitcoms. Starring Peter Horton and Teri Polo, it was an improvement in the ratings and a better fit with Millennium but the problem was Millennium was having its own rating challenges. The series never broke out in the way The X-Files did and was on the chopping block by its third season. FOX ended up going in a different direction on Fridays and cancelled both Brimstone and Millennium. The unscripted Guinness World Records aired for a time at 8pm to end the season while Millennium was given some closure on an episode of The X-Files. 

UPN	8:00	9:00
Sep	No Friday Programming
Oct	The Love Boat: The Next Wave	Legacy
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar	America’s Greatest Pets
Apr
May

UPN expanded to Friday nights in the 1998-99 season by bringing The Love Boat: The Next Wave over from Mondays to kick off the night. It had been an OK first year performer by UPN standards on Mondays but it was not really ready to lead off a new night. It was paired with the new drama Legacy, a western set in post-Civil War America that starred Brett Cullen as a widower living with his family on a Kentucky horse farm. The series was one of the lowest rated series on TV in the 1998-99 season as UPN was not really the place for a gentle western family drama. It did last the full season at 9pm before being cancelled, however. In the spring, The Love Boat was pulled from the lineup and the unscripted America's Greatest Pets occupied the 8pm hour for the rest of the season. UPN had opened up Friday nights but they didn't find anything that would stick in their first foray on the night.

Top Rated Friday Show of 1998-99: 20/20 (#14)

Lowest Rated Friday Show of 1998-99: Legacy (#160)

What would I have watched on Fridays in 1998-99?

I was watching Nick at Nite and that might have still been my option if I was an adult back then. But I would also have checked out Buddy Faro and Providence and probably would have watched Homicide: Life on the Street. I'm also a sucker for Candid Camera so I would have checked that out occasionally.

Tomorrow: A One Season Wonder look at Buddy Faro!

Next Tuesday: A look at Saturdays in the 1998-99 season!