1986–87 United States network television schedule

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:USTV The 1986–87 network television schedule for the three major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers primetime hours from September 1986 through August 1987. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1985–86 season.

Although Fox debuted as a fourth network effort in October 1986, the network waited until April 1987 to commence offering prime time programming, effectively deferring its first Fall programming season until September 1987.

PBS is not included, as member television stations have local flexibility over most of their schedule and broadcast times for network shows vary.

New series are highlighted in bold.

All times are U.S. Eastern Time 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.<ref name="BM2">Highest-rated series is based on the annual top-rated programs list compiled by Nielsen Media Research and reported in: Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (2007). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows (9th ed.). New York: Ballantine. Template:ISBN.</ref>

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		The Disney Sunday Movie				The ABC Sunday Night Movie (Occasionally in Stereo)
CBS	Fall	60 Minutes Template:Small		Murder, She Wrote Template:Small		CBS Sunday Movie Template:Small
	Winter					Designing Women	Nothing is Easy	Hard Copy
	Spring					CBS Sunday Movie Template:Small
	Summer
Fox	Spring Template:Small	21 Jump Street		Married... with Children	The Tracey Ullman Show	Mr. President	Duet	Local programming
	Summer				Duet Template:Small
NBC	Fall	Our House (Stereo)		Easy Street	Valerie	NBC Sunday Night at the Movies (Occasionally in Stereo) Template:Small
	Winter
	Spring			Rags to Riches
	Summer			Family Ties Template:Small	Specials

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 Template:Small
	Winter			The ABC Monday Night Movie
	Spring	Monday Night Baseball
	Summer
CBS	Fall	Kate & Allie Template:Small	My Sister Sam Template:Small	Newhart Template:Small	Designing Women	Cagney & Lacey
	Winter				The Cavanaughs
	Spring				Designing Women
	Summer
NBC	Fall	ALF (Stereo) Template:Small	Amazing Stories	NBC Monday Night at the Movies (Occasionally in Stereo) Template:Small
	Winter
	Spring		Valerie
	Summer

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? Template:Small	Growing Pains Template:Small	Moonlighting (Stereo) Template:Small		Jack and Mike
	Winter
	Spring					Max Headroom
	Summer					Spenser: For Hire
CBS	Fall	The Wizard		CBS Tuesday Night Movie
	Winter	Spies
	Spring	West 57th
	Summer	The Wizard
	Mid-summer	Simon & Simon		Houston Knights		Night Heat
NBC	Fall	Matlock (Stereo) Template:Small		Crime Story		1986
	Mid-fall			Hill Street Blues
	Winter					Remington Steele (Stereo)
	Spring			Gimme a Break!	Easy Street	Hill Street Blues
	Mid-spring				The Tortellis
	Summer			NBC Tuesday Night at the Movies (Occasionally in Stereo)

• Note: The Canadian-produced Night Heat usually aired on CBS' late night crime series block.

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	Perfect Strangers	Head of the Class Template:Small	Dynasty Template:Small		Hotel
	Winter
	Spring		Harry
	Mid-spring		Head of the Class Template:Small			Mariah
	Summer			MacGyver		Hotel
CBS	Fall	Together We Stand	Better Days	Magnum, P.I.		The Equalizer
	Late fall	The New Mike Hammer
	Winter
	Spring					Houston Knights
	Mid-spring	Roxie	Take Five
	Late spring	The New Mike Hammer
	Summer					The Equalizer
NBC	Fall	Highway to Heaven (Stereo) Template:Small		Gimme a Break!	You Again?	St. Elsewhere
	Winter				The Tortellis
	Spring			Night Court Template:Small		The Bronx Zoo
	Late spring				Easy Street
	Summer			The Facts of Life	Night Court Template:Small	St. Elsewhere

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	Our World		The Colbys		20/20
	Winter
	Spring			Jack and Mike
	Summer			Heart of the City
	Mid-summer	Starman		Our World
	Late summer	Sledge Hammer!	The Charmings
CBS	Fall	Simon & Simon		Knots Landing Template:Small		Kay O'Brien
	Mid-fall	The Twilight Zone	Simon & Simon		Designing Women	Knots Landing Template:Small
	Winter	Shell Game		Simon & Simon
	Mid-winter	The Wizard
	Spring
	Summer	Scarecrow and Mrs. King
	Mid-summer			CBS Thursday Night Movie
NBC	Fall	The Cosby Show (Stereo)	Family Ties (Stereo) Template:Small	Cheers Template:Small	Night Court Template:Small	Hill Street Blues
	Mid-fall					L.A. Law (Stereo) Template:Small
	Winter
	Spring				Nothing in Common
	Summer				The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd

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	Webster	Mr. Belvedere	Sidekicks	Sledge Hammer!	Starman
	Late fall			Dads	Gung Ho
	Winter			Gung Ho	Dads
	Mid-winter			The ABC Friday Night Movie
	Late winter	The Charmings	Webster
	Spring
	Summer	Sledge Hammer!	Mr. Belvedere
	Mid-summer	Webster
CBS	Fall	Scarecrow and Mrs. King		Dallas Template:Small		Falcon Crest Template:Small
	Winter
	Spring	Nothing Is Easy	The Popcorn Kid
	Summer	CBS Summer Playhouse				Hard Copy
	Mid-summer					Adderly
NBC	Fall	The A-Team		Miami Vice (Stereo) Template:Small		L.A. Law (Stereo) Template:Small
	Mid-fall					Crime Story
	Winter	Stingray
	Spring	Roomies	Amazing Stories			Stingray
	Summer	Stingray				Crime Story

• Note: The Canadian-produced Adderly was usually aired as part of CBS' late night crime series block.

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	Life with Lucy	The Ellen Burstyn Show	Heart of the City		Spenser: For Hire
	Late fall	Sidekicks	Sledge Hammer!
	Winter			Ohara
	Spring	Starman
	Late spring	Webster Template:Small	Sidekicks Template:Small	Gung Ho Template:Small	Dads Template:Small	Starman Template:Small
	Summer		The ABC Saturday Night Movie / Various programming
	Mid-summer	Animal Crack-Ups	The Ellen Burstyn Show	The ABC Saturday Night Movie
CBS	Fall	Downtown		The New Mike Hammer		The Twilight Zone
	Mid-fall	The Wizard
	Late fall	Downtown
	Winter	Outlaws		The CBS Saturday Night Movie
	Spring	The CBS Saturday Night Movie				West 57th
Fox	Summer Template:Small	Down and Out in Beverly Hills	The New Adventures of Beans Baxter	Werewolf	Karen's Song	Local programming
	Mid-summer	Werewolf		Down and Out in Beverly Hills
NBC	Fall	The Facts of Life	227 Template:Small	The Golden Girls (Stereo) Template:Small	Amen Template:Small	Hunter (Stereo) Template:Small
	Winter
	Spring		Sweet Surrender
	Late spring	227 Template:Small	Me & Mrs. C
	Summer	The Facts of Life Template:Small	227 Template:Small

By network

ABC

Template:Col-begin Template:Col-3 Returning Series

• 20/20
• The ABC Friday Night Movie
• The ABC Monday Night Movie
• The ABC Saturday Night Movie
• The ABC Sunday Night Movie
• The Colbys
• The Disney Sunday Movie
• Dynasty
• Growing Pains
• Hotel
• MacGyver
• Mr. Belvedere
• Monday Night Baseball
• Monday Night Football
• Moonlighting
• Perfect Strangers
• Spenser: For Hire
• Webster
• Who's the Boss?

Template:Col-3 New Series

• The ABC Saturday Night Movie
• Animal Crack-Ups * +
• The Charmings *
• Dads *
• The Ellen Burstyn Show
• Gung Ho *
• Harry *
• Head of the Class
• Heart of the City
• Jack and Mike
• Life with Lucy
• Mariah
• Max Headroom *
• Ohara *
• Our World
• Sidekicks
• Sledge Hammer!
• Starman

Template:Col-3 Not returning from 1985–86:

• The ABC Thursday Night Movie
• Benson
• Diff'rent Strokes
• The Fall Guy
• Hardcastle and McCormick
• Hollywood Beat
• The Insiders
• Lady Blue
• Life's Most Embarrassing Moments
• Lime Street
• The Love Boat
• Our Family Honor
• The Redd Foxx Show
• Ripley's Believe It or Not!
• Shadow Chasers

+ Animal Crack-Ups had a short run in prime time before moving to Saturday mornings in the fall of 1987.

CBS

Template:Col-begin Template:Col-3 Returning Series

• 60 Minutes
• Cagney & Lacey
• CBS Sunday Movie
• Dallas
• The Equalizer
• Falcon Crest
• Kate & Allie
• Knots Landing
• Magnum, P.I.
• The New Mike Hammer +
• Murder, She Wrote
• Newhart
• Scarecrow and Mrs. King
• Simon & Simon
• The Twilight Zone
• West 57th *

Template:Col-3 New Series

• Better Days
• The Cavanaughs *
• CBS Summer Playhouse *
• Designing Women
• Downtown
• Hard Copy *
• Houston Knights *
• Kay O'Brien
• My Sister Sam
• Outlaws *
• The Popcorn Kid *
• Roxie *
• Shell Game *
• Spies *
• Take Five *
• Together We Stand/Nothing Is Easy
• The Wizard

Template:Col-3 Not returning from 1985–86:

• Airwolf
• Bridges to Cross
• Charlie & Co.
• Crazy Like a Fox
• Fast Times
• Foley Square
• George Burns Comedy Week
• Hometown
• Leo & Liz in Beverly Hills
• Mary
• Melba
• Morningstar/Eveningstar
• Stir Crazy
• Tough Cookies
• Trapper John, M.D.

+ This was a revival of the 1984–1985 series following star Stacy Keach's release from prison on drug charges.

Fox

New Series

• 21 Jump Street
• Down and Out in Beverly Hills
• Duet
• Fox Night at the Movies
• Karen's Song
• Married... with Children
• Mr. President
• The New Adventures of Beans Baxter
• The Tracey Ullman Show
• Werewolf

NBC

Template:Col-begin Template:Col-3 Returning Series

• 1986
• 227
• The A-Team
• Amazing Stories
• Cheers
• The Cosby Show
• The Facts of Life
• Family Ties
• Gimme a Break!
• The Golden Girls
• Highway to Heaven
• Hill Street Blues
• Hunter
• Me & Mrs. C *
• Miami Vice
• NBC Sunday Night Movie
• NBC Monday Night at the Movies
• Night Court
• Remington Steele *
• St. Elsewhere
• Stingray *
• Valerie
• You Again?

Template:Col-3 New Series

• ALF
• Amen
• The Bronx Zoo *
• Crime Story
• The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd *
• Easy Street
• L.A. Law
• Matlock
• Nothing in Common *
• Our House
• Rags to Riches *
• Roomies *
• Sweet Surrender *
• The Tortellis *

Template:Col-3 Not returning from 1985–86:

• Alfred Hitchcock Presents (Moved to USA Network)
• All Is Forgiven
• Blacke's Magic
• Fathers and Sons
• Hell Town
• Knight Rider
• The Last Precinct
• Misfits of Science
• Punky Brewster ^
• Riptide
• Silver Spoons ^
• TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes

Note: The * indicates that the program was introduced in midseason. An ^ indicates a show that continued in first-run syndication after the network cancelled it.