1989–90 United States network television schedule
The 1989–90 network television schedule for the four major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers primetime hours from September 1989 through August 1990. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1988–89 season.
Beginning this season, Fox started their prime time expansion starting with Mondays.
This is the first season to feature entirely closed captioning programs on the Big Four networks.
This was the first time that two programs were tied for the no. 1 spot in the Nielsen ratings.
PBS is not included; member stations have local flexibility over most of their schedules and broadcast times for network shows may vary.
New series are highlighted in bold.
All times are U.S. Eastern and Pacific Time (except for some live sports or events). Subtract one hour for Central, Mountain, Alaska and Hawaii-Aleutian times.
Each of the 30 highest-rated shows is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research.[1]
Legend
- Light blue indicates local programming.
- Gray indicates encore programming.
- Blue-gray indicates news programming.
- Light green indicates sporting events.
- Light purple indicates movies.
- Red indicates series being burned off and other regularly scheduled programs, including specials.
- Yellow indicates the top-10 most watched programs of the season.
- Cyan indicates the top-20 most watched programs of the season.
- Magenta indicates the top-30 most watched programs of the season.
Sunday
| Network | 7:00 p.m. | 7:30 p.m. | 8:00 p.m. | 8:30 p.m. | 9:00 p.m. | 9:30 p.m. | 10:00 p.m. | 10:30 p.m. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | Life Goes On | Free Spirit | Homeroom | The ABC Sunday Night Movie | ||||
| Winter | America's Funniest Home Videos (5/20.9) | Free Spirit | |||||||
| Mid-winter | Elvis | ||||||||
| Spring | America's Funniest Home Videos (R) | ||||||||
| Summer | The ABC Sunday Night Movie | ||||||||
| Mid-summer | Mr. Belvedere | The ABC Sunday Night Movie | |||||||
| Late summer | Tim Conway's Funny America | ||||||||
| CBS | 60 Minutes (7/19.7) | Murder, She Wrote (13/17.7) (Tied with Chicken Soup) | CBS Sunday Movie (24/14.9) (Tied with Hunter) | ||||||
| Fox | Fall | Booker | America's Most Wanted | Totally Hidden Video | Married... with Children | Open House | The Tracey Ullman Show | It's Garry Shandling's Show | |
| Winter | The Simpsons (28/14.5) (Tied with Night Court and Doogie Howser, M.D.) | ||||||||
| Spring | The Outsiders | Booker | |||||||
| NBC | Fall | Brand New Life | Sister Kate | My Two Dads | NBC Sunday Night Movie | ||||
| Winter | The Magical World of Disney | ||||||||
| Mid-winter | Ann Jillian | Sister Kate | |||||||
| Spring | ALF | 227 | |||||||
| Mid-spring | 227 | ALF | |||||||
| Summer | The Magical World of Disney | ||||||||
Note: In Living Color premiered Sunday April 15 at 9:30 PM on Fox.
Monday
| Network | 8:00 p.m. | 8:30 p.m. | 9:00 p.m. | 9:30 p.m. | 10:00 p.m. | 10:30 p.m. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | MacGyver | Monday Night Football (10/18.1) | ||||
| Winter | The ABC Monday Night Movie | ||||||
| Spring | China Beach | Capital News | |||||
| Mid-spring | The Young Riders | The ABC Monday Night Movie | |||||
| Summer | MacGyver | ||||||
| CBS | Fall | Major Dad | The People Next Door | Murphy Brown (27/14.7) | The Famous Teddy Z | Designing Women (22/15.3) (Tied with Full House) | Newhart |
| Mid-fall | The Famous Teddy Z | Designing Women (22/15.3) (Tied with Full House) | Newhart | Doctor Doctor | |||
| Winter | City | ||||||
| Spring | His & Hers | ||||||
| Mid-spring | Newhart | Various programming | |||||
| Summer | Sydney | Newhart | The Dave Thomas Comedy Show | ||||
| Mid-summer | Major Dad | Doctor Doctor | |||||
| Fox | 21 Jump Street | Alien Nation | Local programming | ||||
| NBC | Fall | ALF | The Hogan Family | NBC Monday Night at the Movies | |||
| Spring | My Two Dads | ||||||
| Mid-spring | Working Girl | Hunter (24/14.9) (Tied with CBS Sunday Movie) | Shannon's Deal | ||||
| Late spring | The Hogan Family | ||||||
| Summer | ALF | The Hogan Family | NBC Monday Night at the Movies | ||||
| Mid-summer | Working Girl | ||||||
Tuesday
| Network | 8:00 p.m. | 8:30 p.m. | 9:00 p.m. | 9:30 p.m. | 10:00 p.m. | 10:30 p.m. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | Who's the Boss? (12/17.9) | The Wonder Years (8/19.2) | Roseanne (1/23.1) (Tied with The Cosby Show) | Chicken Soup (13/17.7) (Tied with Murder, She Wrote) | Thirtysomething | |
| Mid-fall | Coach (18/17.0) | ||||||
| CBS | Fall | Rescue 911 | Wolf | Island Son | |||
| Spring | CBS Tuesday Night Movie | ||||||
| NBC | Fall | Matlock (20/16.6) | In the Heat of the Night (19/16.9) | Midnight Caller | |||
| Summer | Real Life with Jane Pauley | ||||||
Wednesday
| Network | 8:00 p.m. | 8:30 p.m. | 9:00 p.m. | 9:30 p.m. | 10:00 p.m. | 10:30 p.m. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | Growing Pains (21/15.4) | Head of the Class (26/14.8) | Doogie Howser, M.D. (28/14.5) (Tied with The Simpsons and Night Court) | Anything but Love | China Beach | |
| Spring | The Marshall Chronicles | Equal Justice | |||||
| Mid-spring | Brewster Place | ||||||
| Summer | Anything but Love | China Beach | |||||
| CBS | Fall | Peaceable Kingdom | Jake and the Fatman | Wiseguy | |||
| Mid-fall | Beauty and the Beast | ||||||
| Winter | Grand Slam | ||||||
| Spring | Normal Life | Sydney | |||||
| Mid-spring | Sydney | Normal Life | Knots Landing | ||||
| Summer | This Is America, Charlie Brown (R) | ||||||
| Mid-summer | Newhart (R) | His & Hers | Top Cops | ||||
| NBC | Fall | Unsolved Mysteries (11/18.0) | Night Court (28/14.5) (Tied with The Simpsons and Doogie Howser, M.D.) | The Nutt House | Quantum Leap | ||
| Mid-fall | My Two Dads | ||||||
| Winter | Dear John (17/17.2) | ||||||
| Spring | FM | ||||||
| Summer | Dear John (17/17.2) | ||||||
Notes: Seinfeld premiered July 5, 1989 at 9:30 p.m. on NBC. FM aired at 9:30 p.m. on NBC from August 23 to September 6, 1989. Glory Days aired at 8:00 p.m. on Fox from July 25 to August 2, 1990. Molloy aired at 9:00 p.m. on Fox from July 25 until August 15, 1990. Fox aired movies at 8:00 p.m. on an irregular basis.
Thursday
| Network | 8:00 p.m. | 8:30 p.m. | 9:00 p.m. | 9:30 p.m. | 10:00 p.m. | 10:30 p.m. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | Mission: Impossible | The Young Riders | Primetime Live | |||
| Winter | Father Dowling Mysteries | ||||||
| Spring | Twin Peaks | ||||||
| CBS | Fall | 48 Hours | Top of the Hill | Knots Landing | |||
| Winter | Island Son | ||||||
| Spring | Max Monroe: Loose Cannon | ||||||
| Mid-spring | Falcon Crest | ||||||
| Summer | Wiseguy | Wolf | |||||
| Mid-summer | Northern Exposure | The Eddie Capra Mysteries (R) | |||||
| NBC | Fall | The Cosby Show (1/23.1) (Tied with Roseanne) | A Different World (4/21.1) | Cheers (3/22.7) | Dear John (17/17.2) | L.A. Law (16/17.4) | |
| Winter | Grand (15/17.6) | ||||||
| Spring | Wings | ||||||
| Summer | Seinfeld | ||||||
| Mid-summer | Grand (15/17.6) | ||||||
Notes: The Eddie Capra Mysteries, which CBS aired from July 26 to August 30, consisted of reruns of episodes from the 1978-79 NBC series. FM premiered August 17, 1989 at 9:30 p.m. on NBC and aired its fifth episode on September 14.
Friday
| Network | 8:00 p.m. | 8:30 p.m. | 9:00 p.m. | 9:30 p.m. | 10:00 p.m. | 10:30 p.m. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | Full House (22/15.3) (Tied with Designing Women) | Family Matters | Perfect Strangers | Just the Ten of Us | 20/20 | ||
| Summer | New Attitude | |||||||
| CBS | Fall | Snoops | Dallas | Falcon Crest | ||||
| Winter | Max Monroe: Loose Cannon | |||||||
| Mid-winter | The Bradys | |||||||
| Spring | Various programming | Bagdad Cafe | Sugar and Spice | Dallas | ||||
| Mid-spring | Small Talk | City | ||||||
| Summer | Falcon Crest | CBS Friday Movie | ||||||
| Mid-summer | Candid Camera | Bagdad Cafe | Newhart (R) | Wish You Were Here | Room for Romance | |||
| Late summer | Prime Time Pets | Candid Camera | ||||||
| NBC | Fall | Baywatch | Hardball | Mancuso, F.B.I. | ||||
| Winter | True Blue | |||||||
| Mid-winter | Nasty Boys | |||||||
| Spring | Hardball | |||||||
| Mid-spring | Mancuso, F.B.I. | |||||||
| Summer | Bret Maverick (R) | The Yellow Rose (R) | Midnight Caller | |||||
Saturday
| Network | 8:00 p.m. | 8:30 p.m. | 9:00 p.m. | 9:30 p.m. | 10:00 p.m. | 10:30 p.m. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | Mr. Belvedere | Living Dolls | The ABC Saturday Mystery Movie | |||
| Winter | Mission: Impossible | ||||||
| Spring | H.E.L.P. | ||||||
| Late spring | Sunset Beat | ||||||
| Early summer | Elvis | Growing Pains | |||||
| Summer | Super Jeopardy! | Monopoly | |||||
| Late summer | China Beach | Twin Peaks | |||||
| CBS | Fall | Paradise | Tour of Duty | Saturday Night with Connie Chung | |||
| Summer | Beauty and the Beast | Tour of Duty | |||||
| Fox | Fall | COPS | The Reporters | Beyond Tomorrow | Local programming | ||
| Winter | Totally Hidden Video | The Reporters | |||||
| Spring | In Living Color | The Tracey Ullman Show | |||||
| NBC | Fall | 227 | Amen | The Golden Girls (6/20.1) | Empty Nest (9/18.9) | Hunter (24/14.9) (Tied with CBS Sunday Movie) | |
| Spring | ALF | ||||||
| Mid-spring | A Family for Joe | 13 East | Carol and Company | Down Home | |||
| Late spring | 13 East | Amen | |||||
| Summer | 227 | Singer & Sons | Hunter (24/14.9) (Tied with CBS Sunday Movie) | ||||
Note: Comic Strip Live aired at 11:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m. on Fox.
By network
ABC
CBS
Fox
NBC
Note: The * indicates that the program was introduced in midseason.
+ These shows returned as "backup" programming in midseason