1988–89 United States network television schedule

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:USTV The 1988–89 network television schedule for the four major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers primetime hours from September 1988 through August 1989. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1987–88 season.

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 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>

Writers' strike impact

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The 1988 Writers Guild of America strike lasted between March 7 and August 7. During the strike, production on scripted television series across all of the major television networks was suspended. The writers' strike forced the networks to postpone the start of the fall 1988 schedule later than usual; rather than the traditional late-September/early-October start, new and returning series had their premieres delayed until late October and into November. In the interim, the networks had to rely on a hodgepodge of programming, including reruns, films, entertainment and news specials, program-length political advertising, and unscripted original series (e.g. CBS' High Risk); NBC and ABC also benefited from sports programming (NBC relied on the Summer Olympics in September and the World Series in October, while ABC had postseason baseball coverage and moved up the start time for the early weeks of Monday Night Football from 9 p.m. ET to 8 p.m. ET to replace MacGyver, which was not yet ready with new episodes at the time). Even though previous strikes of Hollywood employees occurred in 1980 and 1981, those strikes only had a minor effect on the production of television programs that aired in the 1980–81 and 1981–82 seasons. The 1988–89 television season was thus the first of four television seasons to have its start delayed due to issues outside of the control of the major networks; further instances occurred in the 2001–02 season (due to the networks' news coverage of the September 11 attacks), the 2020–21 season (due to the suspension of television productions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic), and the 2023–24 season (due to the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes).

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	Incredible Sunday		Mission: Impossible (Stereo)		The ABC Sunday Night Movie (Occasionally in Stereo)
	Winter	Great Circuses of the World		Special programming
	Spring	Incredible Sunday		Moonlighting (Stereo)
	Summer			Have Faith Template:Small	The ABC Sunday Night Movie (Occasionally in Stereo)
	Late summer			MacGyver Template:Small		The ABC Sunday Night Movie (Occasionally in Stereo)
CBS		60 Minutes Template:Small		Murder, She Wrote (Stereo) Template:Small		CBS Sunday Movie (Occasionally in Stereo) Template:Small
Fox	Fall	21 Jump Street		America's Most Wanted	Married... with Children (Stereo)	It's Garry Shandling's Show	The Tracey Ullman Show	Duet (Stereo)	Local programming
	Winter
	Spring
	Summer				Totally Hidden Video	Married... with Children (Stereo) Template:Small	It's Garry Shandling's Show	The Tracey Ullman Show Template:Small	Duet (Stereo) Template:Small
NBC		The Magical World of Disney (Stereo)		Family Ties (Stereo)	Day by Day	NBC Sunday Night Movie (Occasionally in Stereo) Template:Small

Notes:

• Quantum Leap had a two-hour premiere Sunday, March 26, 1989, on NBC.
• The Jim Henson Hour briefly replaced The Magical World of Disney on May 14, 1989, and again between July 9-July 30.
• On ABC, A Fine Romance was supposed to air 8-9 p.m., but production delays amidst the strike forced the move to Thursdays.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref>

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	Monday Night Football Template:Small
	November	MacGyver		Monday Night Football Template:Small
	Winter			The ABC Monday Night Movie (Occasionally in Stereo)
	Mid-winter			The ABC Monday Mystery Movie* (Stereo) Template:Small
	Spring
	Summer
CBS	Fall	Newhart (Stereo)	The Cavanaughs	CBS Monday Night Movie (Occasionally in Stereo)
	Mid-fall		Coming of Age
	Winter		Kate & Allie	Murphy Brown (Stereo)	Designing Women	Almost Grown
	Spring	Live-In	Heartland			Newhart (Stereo)	Kate & Allie
	Summer	Kate & Allie Template:Small					Doctor Doctor
	Mid-summer	Kate & Allie Template:Small			Designing Women Template:Small		Newhart (Stereo) Template:Small
NBC	Fall	ALF (Stereo) Template:Small	The Hogan Family Template:Small	NBC Monday Night at the Movies (Occasionally in Stereo) Template:Small
	Winter
	Spring		Nearly Departed
	Mid-spring		The Hogan Family Template:Small
	Summer

(*) B.L. Stryker, Columbo, Gideon Oliver

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	Roseanne Template:Small	Moonlighting (Stereo)		Thirtysomething
	Late Winter		The Wonder Years (Stereo) Template:Small	Roseanne Template:Small	Anything but Love Template:Small
	Spring				Have Faith
	Summer				Coach
CBS	Fall	High Risk		CBS Tuesday Movie (Occasionally in Stereo)
	Late fall	TV 101
	Winter	Tour of Duty
	Spring
	Summer	CBS Summer Playhouse
NBC	Fall	Matlock (Stereo) Template:Small		NBC Tuesday Night at the Movies (Occasionally in Stereo)
	Mid-fall			In the Heat of the Night Template:Small		Midnight Caller (Stereo)
	Winter
	Spring
	Summer

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 Template:Small	Head of the Class Template:Small	The Wonder Years (Stereo) Template:Small	Hooperman	China Beach (Stereo)
	Late Winter			Coach
	Mid-spring				The Robert Guillaume Show
	Summer				Hooperman
CBS	Early fall	Live! Dick Clark Presents (Stereo)		The Equalizer		Wiseguy (Stereo)
	Fall	The Van Dyke Show	Annie McGuire
	Winter	TV 101
	Mid-winter	Hard Time on Planet Earth		Jake and the Fatman (Stereo)
	Spring
	Summer
NBC	Fall	Unsolved Mysteries (Stereo) Template:Small		Night Court Template:Small	Baby Boom	Tattingers (Stereo)
	Mid-fall				My Two Dads
	Winter					Nightingales (Stereo)
	Spring
	Mid-spring					Quantum Leap (Stereo)
	Summer				Knight & Daye	Miami Vice (Stereo)

• Note: Fox Night at the Movies premiered on May 17, 1989 with The Fly

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	Special programming
	Mid-fall	Knightwatch		Dynasty (Stereo)		Special programming
	Winter	A Fine Romance				HeartBeat
	Spring	Thursday Night Baseball
	Summer
CBS	Fall	48 Hours		CBS Thursday Night Movie (Occasionally in Stereo)
	Mid-fall			Paradise (Stereo)		Knots Landing Template:Small
	Winter			The Equalizer
	Spring
	Summer			The Cavanaughs	Coming of Age	The Equalizer Template:Small
	Mid-summer			The Equalizer		Knots Landing Template:Small
NBC		The Cosby Show (Stereo) Template:Small	A Different World (Stereo) Template:Small	Cheers Template:Small	Dear John Template:Small	L.A. Law (Stereo) Template:Small

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	Perfect Strangers	Full House	Mr. Belvedere	Just the Ten of Us	20/20
	Winter
	Spring
	Summer	Full House Template:Small	Mr. Belvedere Template:Small	Perfect Strangers Template:Small
CBS	Fall	Beauty and the Beast (Stereo)		Dallas (Stereo) Template:Small		Falcon Crest
	Winter
	Spring
	Summer			CBS Friday Movie (Occasionally in Stereo)
NBC	Fall	Sonny Spoon		Something Is Out There (Stereo)		Miami Vice (Stereo)
	Winter	Father Dowling Mysteries		Miami Vice (Stereo)		Unsub
	Spring	The Jim Henson Hour (Stereo)		Quantum Leap (Stereo)
	Mid-spring			Miami Vice (Stereo)		Dream Street
	Summer	Highway to Heaven (Stereo)		NBC Friday Night at the Movies (Occasionally in Stereo)

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	Murphy's Law		ABC Saturday Night Movie (Occasionally in Stereo)
	Mid-fall	ABC Saturday Night Movie (Occasionally in Stereo)				Murphy's Law
	Winter	Mission: Impossible (Stereo)		A Man Called Hawk
	Spring					Men
	Mid-spring	A Man Called Hawk		ABC Saturday Night Movie (Occasionally in Stereo)
	Summer
CBS	Early fall	First Impressions	Frank's Place Template:Small	Specials		West 57th
	Fall	Dirty Dancing	Raising Miranda	Simon & Simon
	Mid-fall	Live! Dick Clark Presents (Stereo)
	Winter	Dolphin Cove		Dirty Dancing	Raising Miranda
	Mid-winter			The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
	Late winter	TV 101
	Spring	Paradise (Stereo)		Jesse Hawkes
	Summer			Tour of Duty
Fox	Fall	The Reporters		Beyond Tomorrow		Local programming
	Winter			COPS	Beyond Tomorrow
	Spring	COPS	The Reporters
	Summer
NBC	Fall	227	Amen Template:Small	The Golden Girls (Stereo) Template:Small	Empty Nest (Stereo) Template:Small	Hunter (Stereo) Template:Small
	Winter
	Spring	One of the Boys
	Mid-spring	227	One of the Boys
	Late spring		Amen Template:Small
	Summer	My Two Dads	13 East

Note: On CBS, Frank's Place consisted of reruns of the 1987-88 sitcom. On ABC, ABC Saturday Mystery Movie was supposed to air 9-11 p.m., but production delays amidst the strike force the move to Mondays.<ref name=":0" />

By network

ABC

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

• 20/20
• The ABC Monday Night Movie
• ABC Saturday Night Movie
• The ABC Sunday Night Movie
• China Beach
• Dynasty
• Full House
• Growing Pains
• Head of the Class
• HeartBeat +
• Hooperman
• Just the Ten of Us
• MacGyver
• Mr. Belvedere
• Monday Night Football
• Moonlighting
• Perfect Strangers
• Who's the Boss?
• The Wonder Years

Template:Col-3 New Series

• The ABC Monday Mystery Movie *
• Anything But Love *
• Coach *
• A Fine Romance *
• Great Circuses of the World *
• Have Faith *
• Incredible Sunday
• Knightwatch
• A Man Called Hawk *
• Men *
• Mission: Impossible
• Murphy's Law
• Police Story
• The Robert Guillaume Show *
• Roseanne
• Studio 5-B *
• Thursday Night Baseball *

Template:Col-3 Not returning from 1987–88:

• The ABC Thursday Night Movie
• Buck James
• The Charmings
• The Disney Sunday Movie
• Dolly
• Family Man
• Hotel
• Hothouse
• I Married Dora
• Just in Time
• Max Headroom
• Monday Night Baseball
• Ohara
• Once a Hero
• Probe
• Pursuit of Happiness
• Sable
• The "Slap" Maxwell Story
• Sledge Hammer!
• Spenser: For Hire
• Supercarrier
• The Thorns

CBS

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

• 48 Hours
• 60 Minutes
• Beauty and the Beast
• CBS Summer Playhouse
• CBS Sunday Movie
• The Cavanaughs +
• Coming of Age
• Dallas
• Designing Women
• The Equalizer
• Falcon Crest
• Jake and the Fatman +
• Kate & Allie
• Knots Landing
• Murder, She Wrote
• Newhart
• Simon & Simon
• The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour +
• Tour of Duty +
• West 57th
• Wiseguy

Template:Col-3 New Series

• Almost Grown
• Annie McGuire
• Dirty Dancing
• Doctor Doctor *
• Dolphin Cove *
• First Impressions
• Hard Time on Planet Earth *
• Heartland *
• High Risk
• Jesse Hawkes *
• Live! Dick Clark Presents
• Live-In *
• Murphy Brown
• Paradise
• Raising Miranda
• TV 101
• The Van Dyke Show

Template:Col-3 Not returning from 1987–88:

• Blue Skies
• Cagney & Lacey
• Eisenhower & Lutz
• Everything's Relative
• Frank's Place
• High Mountain Rangers
• Houston Knights
• The Law & Harry McGraw
• Magnum, P.I.
• My Sister Sam
• The Oldest Rookie
• Trial and Error

Fox

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

• 21 Jump Street
• America's Most Wanted
• Duet
• It's Garry Shandling's Show
• Married... with Children
• The Tracey Ullman Show

Template:Col-3 New Series

• Beyond Tomorrow
• Cops *
• The Reporters
• Totally Hidden Video *

Template:Col-3 Not returning from 1987–88:

• Dirty Dozen: The Series
• Family Double Dare
• Mr. President
• The New Adventures of Beans Baxter
• Second Chance/Boys Will Be Boys
• Werewolf
• Women in Prison

NBC

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

• 227
• ALF
• Amen
• Cheers
• The Cosby Show
• Day by Day
• A Different World
• Family Ties
• The Golden Girls
• Highway to Heaven +
• The Hogan Family @
• Hunter
• In the Heat of the Night
• L.A. Law
• Matlock
• Miami Vice
• My Two Dads +
• NBC Sunday Night Movie
• NBC Monday Night at the Movies
• Night Court
• Sonny Spoon

Template:Col-3 New Series

• 13 East *
• Baby Boom
• Dear John
• Dream Street *
• Empty Nest
• Father Dowling Mysteries *
• The Jim Henson Hour *
• Knight & Daye *
• The Magical World of Disney
• Midnight Caller
• Nearly Departed *
• Nightingales *
• One of the Boys *
• Quantum Leap *
• Something is Out There
• Tattingers/Nick & Hillary
• Unsolved Mysteries
• Unsub *

Template:Col-3 Not returning from 1987–88:

• Aaron's Way
• Beverly Hills Buntz
• The Bronx Zoo
• Crime Story
• The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
• The Facts of Life
• The Highwayman
• J.J. Starbuck
• Our House
• Private Eye
• Rags to Riches
• St. Elsewhere
• A Year in the Life

Note: The * indicates that the program was introduced in midseason.

+ These shows returned as "backup" programming in midseason.

@ Formerly known as Valerie's Family.