1986–87 United States network television schedule

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, the Public Broadcasting Service, was in operation but the schedule was set by each local station.

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.^[1]

Legend

•   Light blue indicates local programming.
•   Gray indicates encore programming.
•   Blue-gray indicates news programming.
•   Light green indicates sporting events.
•   Red indicates series being burned off and other irregularly scheduled programs, including specials and movies.
•   Light gold indicates programming produced outside of the United States.
•  highlight  Yellow highlights indicates the top-10 most watched programs of the season.
•  highlight  Cyan highlights indicates numbers 11-20 most watched programs of the season.
•  highlight  Magenta highlights indicates numbers 21-30 most watched programs of the season.
•  highlight  Highlights indicates that it falls in multiple of the above categories.

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
CBS	Fall	60 Minutes (6/23.3)		Murder, She Wrote (4/25.4)		CBS Sunday Movie (16/18.6) (Tied with Matlock and The NBC Monday Movie)
	Winter					Designing Women	Nothing is Easy	Hard Copy
	Spring					CBS Sunday Movie (16/18.6) (Tied with Matlock and The NBC Monday Movie)
Fox	Spring (began April 5)	21 Jump Street		Married... with Children	The Tracey Ullman Show	Mr. President	Duet	Local programming
	Summer				Duet (R)
NBC	Fall	Our House		Easy Street	Valerie	NBC Sunday Night at the Movies (20/18.2)
	Spring			Rags to Riches
	Summer			Family Ties (R)	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 (18/18.4)
	Winter			The ABC Monday Night Movie
	Spring	Monday Night Baseball
CBS	Fall	Kate & Allie (19/18.3)	My Sister Sam (22/17.4) (Tied with L.A. Law)	Newhart (12/19.5)	Designing Women	Cagney & Lacey
	Winter				The Cavanaughs
	Spring				Designing Women
NBC	Fall	ALF (28/16.5) (Tied with Hunter)	Amazing Stories	NBC Monday Night at the Movies (17/18.6) (Tied with Matlock and The CBS Sunday Movie)
	Spring		Valerie

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? (10/22.0)	Growing Pains (8/22.7)	Moonlighting (9/22.4)		Jack and Mike
	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 (15/18.6) (Tied with The CBS Sunday Movie and The NBC Monday Movie)		Crime Story		1986
	Mid-fall			Hill Street Blues
	Winter					Remington Steele
	Spring			Gimme a Break!	Easy Street	Hill Street Blues
	Mid-spring				The Tortellis
	Summer			NBC Tuesday Night at the Movies

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 (30/16.4)	Dynasty (25/17.2) (Tied with Highway to Heaven)		Hotel
	Spring		Harry
	Mid-spring		Head of the Class (30/16.4)			Mariah
	Summer			MacGyver		Hotel
CBS	Fall	Together We Stand	Better Days	Magnum, P.I.		The Equalizer
	Late fall	The New Mike Hammer
	Spring					Houston Knights
	Mid-spring	Roxie	Take Five
	Late spring	The New Mike Hammer
	Summer					The Equalizer
NBC	Fall	Highway to Heaven (24/17.2) (Tied with Dynasty)		Gimme a Break!	You Again?	St. Elsewhere
	Winter				The Tortellis
	Spring			Night Court (7/23.2)		The Bronx Zoo
	Late spring				Easy Street
	Summer			The Facts of Life	Night Court (7/23.2)	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
	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 (26/16.8) (Tied with Miami Vice)		Kay O'Brien
	Mid-fall	The Twilight Zone	Simon & Simon		Designing Women	Knots Landing (26/16.8) (Tied with Miami Vice)
	Winter	Shell Game		Simon & Simon
	Mid-winter	The Wizard
	Summer	Scarecrow and Mrs. King
	Mid-summer			CBS Thursday Night Movie
NBC	Fall	The Cosby Show (1/34.9)	Family Ties (2/32.7)	Cheers (3/27.2)	Night Court (7/23.2)	Hill Street Blues
	Mid-fall					L.A. Law (21/17.4) (Tied with My Sister Sam)
	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
	Summer	Sledge Hammer!	Mr. Belvedere
	Mid-summer	Webster
CBS	Fall	Scarecrow and Mrs. King		Dallas (11/21.3)		Falcon Crest (23/17.3)
	Spring	Nothing Is Easy	The Popcorn Kid
	Summer	CBS Summer Playhouse				Hard Copy
	Mid-summer					Adderly
NBC	Fall	The A-Team		Miami Vice (27/16.8) (Tied with Knots Landing)		L.A. Law (21/17.9) (Tied with My Sister Sam)
	Mid-fall					Crime Story
	Winter	Stingray
	Spring	Roomies	Amazing Stories			Stingray
	Summer	Stingray				Crime Story

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 (R)	Sidekicks (R)	Gung Ho (R)	Dads (R)	Starman (R)
	Summer		The ABC Saturday Night Movie
	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 (started Jul. 11)	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 (14/18.9)	The Golden Girls (5/24.5)	Amen (13/19.4)	Hunter (28/16.5) (Tied with ALF)
	Spring		Sweet Surrender
	Late spring	227 (14/18.9)	Me & Mrs. C
	Summer	The Facts of Life (R)	227 (R)

By network

ABC

Returning Series 20/20 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?

New Series 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

Not returning from 1985–86: 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 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

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 *

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

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
• Karen's Song
• Married... with Children
• Mr. President
• The New Adventures of Beans Baxter
• The Tracey Ullman Show
• Werewolf

NBC

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?

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 *

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.

References

1. 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.