SCHEDULES OF THE PAST: 1998-1999 Thursdays

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

ABC	8:00	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	Various Programs	Thursday Night Movie
Oct	Vengeance Unlimited
Nov
Dec
Jan		Cupid		Various Programs
Feb
Mar	America’s Funniest Home Videos	The Drew Carey Show	Spin City
Apr
May	Thursday Night Movie

ABC stuck with its plan it used for the second half of the 1997-98 season on Thursdays to start the 1998-99 season with a drama leading into a movie. New drama Vengeance Unlimited took the 8pm slot. Vengeance Unlimited was a crime drama starring Michael Madsen and Kathleen York and it centered on a stranger serving justice to those ignored by the law. Check back tomorrow for a One Season Wonder post on Vengeance Unlimited! A movie aired throughout the fall but ABC brought over Cupid to 9pm in January after it had struggled on Saturday. Various programs aired at 10pm including several ABC News specials. By March, Vengeance Unlimited and Cupid had been pulled from the schedule. America's Funniest Home Videos aired at 8pm. The show was in its second season of the new incarnation hosted by John Fugelsang and Daisy Fuentes. It was cancelled at the end of the season but returned in 2001 for its long second act that continues to this day. Repeats of The Drew Carey Show and Spin City aired in the 9pm hour for a time and 10pm continued to be a grab bag so ABC had really given up on Thursdays for the rest of the season. A couple longer movies wrapped things up for the network in May. ABC would finally become a Thursday player again the next season with Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to that post!

CBS	8:00	9:00	10:00
Sep	Promised Land	Diagnosis Murder	48 Hours
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan	Diagnosis Murder	Turks
Feb
Mar
Apr	Promised Land
May		Diagnosis Murder

CBS continued to court the older viewers not watching NBC on Thursday nights and started the 1998-99 season with the same lineup as the 1997-98 season: gentle dramas Promised Land and Diagnosis Murder followed by newsmagazine 48 Hours. At midseason, Promised Land was pulled from the lineup and Diagnosis Murder moved to 8pm to lead into new drama Turks. Turks was a drama about an Irish American family of cops in Chicago, a sort of Blue Bloods but set in Chicago. The series starred William Devane but it ended up being his third failed network show since the end of Knots Landing (joining Phenom and The Monroes) as it was well below the numbers for both Promised Land and Diagnosis Murder. By the end of the season, the original lineup was back in tact but Promised Land was cancelled after three seasons. Its ratings weren't bad but CBS didn't see it with the potential to grow and made the decision to move on from the Touched by an Angel spinoff. 

NBC	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	Friends	Jesse	Frasier	Veronica’s Closet	ER
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr		Will & Grace
May

The 1998-99 season was a year of major transition for NBC's bulletproof Thursday night lineup. Seinfeld had left the building, ending its monumental run. It had gone out on top as the #1 show on TV in the 1997-98 season. The big question was what would take its place at 9pm on Thursday nights. NBC ultimately settled on moving Frasier over from Tuesday nights. It was a hit in its own right and was coming off a fifth straight win for Outstanding Comedy Series. While it didn't get Seinfeld numbers, it was still a very strong anchor for the Thursday night lineup and NBC still had five of the top six shows on TV. Frasier came in at #3 behind 10pm anchor ER and 8pm lead-off Friends. The only new entry on the night to start the season was Jesse at 8:30pm. The series starred Christina Applegate as a single mother living with her son in Buffalo. Although it had all the trappings of a timeslot hit, it was still a hit. Speaking of timeslot hits, Veronica's Closet continued at 9:30pm. The Kirstie Alley sitcom didn't seem like it would do any better than shows like Suddenly Susan or Caroline in the City when it left its cushy timeslot, but it did great between Frasier and ER. Late in the season, NBC tried out Will & Grace on Thursday nights. The freshman comedy had already been upgraded from Mondays to Tuesdays because of its potential and then got upgraded again to Thursdays when NBC saw the potential for it to become their next big hit. ER wrapped up the night at 10pm as TV's top show but it was also going through its own transition with George Clooney leaving the show after admirably staying through his contract even as he became a giant movie star.

FOX	8:00	9:00
Sep	World’s Wildest Police Videos	Fox Files
Oct
Nov		Various Programs
Dec		Fox Files
Jan
Feb		Various Programs
Mar		Fox Files
Apr
May	Various Programs

After years of trying scripted programming on Thursdays, FOX planned to do so again with a show called Hollyweird but a dispute between creator Shaun Cassidy and FOX in August 1998 led to Cassidy leaving the show and the show being put on the shelf for what proved to be forever. After that, FOX basically threw their hands up for Thursdays nights in the 1998-99 season with the unscripted duo of World's Wildest Police Videos and Fox Files (which aired on and off at 9pm). Both shows did nothing special in the ratings but were cheaper options than high profile scripted failures.

UPN	8:00	9:00
Sep	No Thursday Programming
Oct	Thursday Night Movie
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May

UPN expanded to Thursdays and Fridays in the 1998-99 season but they turned over Thursday nights to a weekly movie so there wasn't much to see.

WB	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30
Sep	The Wayans Bros.	The Jamie Foxx Show	The Steve Harvey Show	For Your Love
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr	Smart Guy
May	The Wayans Bros.

The WB also expanded to Thursdays for the 1998-99 season and they moved one of their comedy blocks to the new night as the beginning of the week was devoted to their burgeoning drama slate. The Wayans Bros. led things off at 8pm followed by The Jamie Foxx Show, The Steve Harvey Show and For Your Love. For Your Love had aired its first season on NBC but when it was cancelled, the WB picked it up for a second season. It proved to fit better on The WB with less pressure on it though obviously the ratings were lower than they had been on NBC. Smart Guy aired briefly at 8pm but The Wayans Bros. returned to the slot at the end of the season. Wayans was cancelled five seasons, bringing an abrupt end to the first show to ever air on The WB.

Top Rated Thursday Show of 1998-99: ER (#1)

Lowest Rated Thursday Show of 1998-99: UPN Thursday Movie (#151)

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

Just the NBC lineup. And I would have been happier to have Frasier as the 9pm anchor because I was never a big Seinfeld fan.

Tomorrow: A One Season Wonder look at Vengeance Unlimited!

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