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
[
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]
-
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
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]
Note
:
In Living Color
premiered Sunday April 15 at 9:30 PM on Fox.
Monday
[
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]
Tuesday
[
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]
Wednesday
[
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]
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
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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
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]
Saturday
[
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]
Note
:
Comic Strip Live
aired at 11:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m. on
Fox
.
By network
[
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]
- Returning series
|
- New series
|
Not returning from
1988?89
:
|
- Returning series
|
- New series
|
Not returning from
1988?89
:
|
- Returning series
|
- New series
|
Not returning from
1988?89
:
|
- Returning series
|
- New series
|
Not returning from
1988?89
:
|
Note: The * indicates that the program was introduced in midseason.
+ These shows returned as "backup" programming in midseason
References
[
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]
- ^
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.
ISBN
978-0-345-49773-4
.