SCHEDULES OF THE PAST: 1998-1999 Wednesdays

Welcome back to the blog after Spring Break! On Tuesdays, I take a look at schedules from yesteryear. Here's a look at Wednesdays in the 1998-99 season!

ABC	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	Dharma & Greg	Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place	The Drew Carey Show	The Secret Lives of Men	20/20
Oct
Nov
Dec				Whose Line is it Anyway?
Jan
Feb
Mar		It’s Like, You Know…		The Norm Show
Apr
May		Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place

ABC sent Spin City back to Tuesdays for the 1998-99 season because they had a show ready to take over the 8pm slot. Dharma & Greg had been a breakout freshman hit for the network and took over at 8pm while The Drew Carey Show remained a Top 20 show at 9pm. The half hour slots were a little more unsteady. Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place returned and moved up an hour to 8:30pm and aired there for most of the season. It was an OK performer but wasn't a show that seemed capable of growing into a bigger hit. It was replaced briefly in the spring by It's Like, You Know..., a comedy about a Manhattan writer who moves to Los Angeles to write about the Hollywood rich and elite. The show featured Jennifer Grey playing an exaggerated version of herself. The series dropped off quite a bit from the ratings Two Guys was getting but it still got renewed for a second season. At 9:30pm to start the season was The Secret Lives of Men, a comedy about three divorced men getting used to the bachelor life again. Starring Peter Gallagher, Bradley Whitford and Mitch Rouse, it lasted just a couple months before being cancelled, which freed Whitford up to sign on for The West Wing the following season. It was replaced by Whose Line is it Anyway?, which had premiered in Summer 1998 and was a surprise hit for the network. It was an easy fill-in for the network since the improv show was hosted by Drew Carey and made perfect sense airing after his sitcom. It finished its season in March and the last 9:30pm entry for the season was The Norm Show, a new sitcom vehicle for comedian Norm MacDonald. MacDonald played a former hockey player who was banned from the NHL and had to spend five years as a social worker to avoid jailtime. Also starring Laurie Metcalf, the series showed enough promise in the ratings to get renewed for a second season. Throughout the season, 20/20 aired at 10pm, one of the four nights 20/20 aired on in the 198-99 season.

CBS	8:00	8:30	9:00	10:00
Sep	The Nanny	Maggie Winters	To Have & To Hold	Chicago Hope
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan			60 Minutes II
Feb	Various Programs
Mar	Cosby	Payne
Apr	Everybody Loves Raymond
May	Various Programs

CBS was starting to have some real problems on Wednesdays and the 1998-99 season didn't help matters. The Nanny had been a popular show when it moved to Wednesdays in Fall 1996, but by the Fall of 1998, it was showing quite a decline in the ratings. It was paired with the new Maggie Winters, a comedy that brought Faith Ford back to CBS just months after her nearly decade-long run on Murphy Brown. Ford played the title character, a recently divorced woman who moved back to her small hometown in Indiana. Check back tomorrow for a One Season Wonder post on Maggie Winters! The pairing of The Nanny and Maggie Winters lasted until February when Maggie was cancelled and The Nanny was pulled from the lineup. The Nanny eventually returned in May for a one hour series finale and then burned off the rest of its unaired new episodes after the finale in the summer. The 8pm hour was a bit of a mess the rest of the season. Repeats of Cosby and Everybody Loves Raymond aired for a time at 8pm to give a solid lead-in to the new sitcom, Payne. Payne was based on the popular British sitcom Fawlty Towers and starred John Larroquette and JoBeth Williams. The series was the third attempt to recreate the British magic of Fawlty Towers and it fared the same as the first two as it was cancelled after one season. Starting off the season at 9pm was the new To Have & To Hold, a drama starring Moira Kelly and Jason Beghe as a newly married couple balancing their busy careers and relationship. The series was pulled for a couple weeks in November and then returned for just a couple more weeks before being cancelled for good in December. It was replaced by 60 Minutes II. In the late 90s, consolidating newsmagazines under one title was all the rage. NBC had done it with Dateline NBC, ABC was heading in that direction with 20/20 and now CBS was trying it with their stalwart 60 Minutes. While it didn't reach the heights of 60 Minutes, it was a big improvement in the slot for CBS and was their highest rated Wednesday show. Throughout the season, Chicago Hope aired at 10pm. It was getting up there in years but was still a decent performer especially for the difficult Wednesday 10pm slot.

NBC	8:00	9:00	9:30	10:00
Sep	Dateline NBC	3rd Rock From the Sun	Newsradio	Law & Order
Oct
Nov
Dec			Encore! Encore!
Jan		LateLine
Feb		Various Programs
Mar		World’s Most Amazing Videos
Apr
May

After its failures in 1997-98, NBC did not go with a four sitcom block on Wednesday nights. They played it safe to start the season with four returning shows. Dateline NBC aired at 8pm, one of the five nights the newsmagazine was airing on NBC in Fall 1998. Two veteran sitcoms followed in the 9pm hour. 3rd Rock From the Sun started the season at 9pm, which is where it had aired the previous season. That was pretty big news as the show was always bouncing around the lineup. Speaking of being bounced around the lineup, Newsradio aired at 9:30pm. The series was in its fifth season and dealing with an unspeakable tragedy as series co-star and the show's MVP Phil Hartman had been murdered by his wife in May 1998. The series had to work in the death of Hartman's character and brought in Jon Lovitz to fill the void. But it was clear the show would never be the same again. Both comedies were sent to Tuesdays before January to help out that night and Wednesdays were left with failing newbie Encore! Encore! and the second season of LateLine, which had been a borderline renewal at best the previous season. Both sitcoms tanked in the ratings and were cancelled before February Sweeps. The unscripted World's Most Amazing Videos was a cheap option that premiered in March and aired in the 9pm slot for the rest of the season. Law & Order continued to be the crown jewel of the Wednesday night lineup at 10pm and was much higher rated than the rest of the night.

FOX	8:00	9:00
Sep	Beverly Hills, 90210	Party of Five
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May

For a fourth consecutive season, Wednesday nights was the pairing of Beverly Hills, 90210 and Party of Five on FOX. Both shows were getting up there in years and Party of Five actually out-rated Beverly Hills for the 1998-99 season. FOX was going to have to do something about this night eventually but the 1998-99 season was not that time.

UPN	8:00	9:00
Sep	The Sentinel	Star Trek: Voyager
Oct	7 Days
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May

While The WB was starting to find more success stories, UPN wasn't really making a lot of headway in the ratings. In the fifth season of the network's existence, their highest rated show remained Star Trek: Voyager as it had since the beginning. They were struggling to find anything new that would break through. They cancelled the Wednesday night partner of Voyager, The Sentinel and tried a new drama in Fall 1998. 7 Days was a time travel, sci-fi show about a government operation that can send people seven days into the past to help avert disaster. Starring Jonathan LaPaglia, the series was UPN's third highest rated show of the season behind Voyager and Moesha and was renewed for a second season.

WB	8:00	9:00
Sep	Dawson’s Creek	Various Programs
Oct		Charmed
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May

The WB had been airing comedies on Wednesdays since the network debuted in January 1995. But they were finding more success with their roster of young-skewing dramas so Wednesday nights became a drama night for Fall 1998. Dawson's Creek was a breakout hit for the network when it debuted in January 1998 and so it moved from Tuesdays to Wednesdays to be a new anchor show for the network. It continued to be extremely popular with young viewers. It was paired with a new drama. Charmed was about a trio of sisters who are also witches. Starring Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano, the show broke WB records with its premiere numbers and quickly became another hit for the network with teens and twentysomethings. It was the third highest rated show on The WB for 1998-99 behind Dawson and 7th Heaven. 

Top Rated Wednesday Show of 1998-99: Law & Order (#13)

Lowest Rated Wednesday Show of 1998-99: 7 Days (#141)

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

I would probably have been mostly into the ABC lineup even though none of their sitcoms would have been "must see" for me. I probably would have watched Newsradio on NBC instead of The Secret Lives of Men and I would have stuck with NBC for Law & Order. I also would try to make room for Party of Five and would have sampled Maggie Winters and To Have & To Hold.

Tomorrow: A One Season Wonder look at Maggie Winters!

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