1988–89 United States network television schedule

The following is the 1988–89 network television schedule for the four major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule 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. All times are Eastern and Pacific, with certain exceptions, such as ''Monday Night Football''.

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 given are in U.S. Eastern Time and Pacific Time (except for some live events or specials). Subtract one hour for Central and Mountain times.

Each of the 30 highest-rated shows is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research.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. .

: Yellow indicates the programs in the top 10 for the season.
: Cyan indicates the programs in the top 20 for the season.
: Magenta indicates the programs in the top 30 for the season.

Impact of the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike

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 three television seasons to have its start delayed due to issues outside of the control of the major networks; the next two instances occurred in the 2001–02 season (due to the networks' news coverage of the September 11 attacks) and the 2020–21 season (due to the suspension of television productions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic).

Sunday

* Note: Quantum Leap had a two-hour premiere Sunday, March 26, 1989, on NBC.
* Note: The Jim Henson Hour briefly replaced The Magical World of Disney on May 14, 1989, and again between July 9-July 30.

Monday

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

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Note: On CBS, ''Frank's Place'' consisted of reruns of the 1987-88 sitcom.

By network

ABC

Returning Series
*''20/20''
*''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''

New Series
*''The ABC 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'' *

Not returning from 1987–88:
*''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

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''

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''

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

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

New Series
*'' Beyond Tomorrow''
*'' Cops'' *
*'' The Reporters''

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

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''

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'' *

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''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1988-89 United States network television schedule
United States primetime network television schedules
1988 in American television
1989 in American television