1987–88 United States network television schedule

The 1987–88 network television schedule for the four major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers primetime hours from September 1987 through August 1988. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1986–87 season.

Note: This is the first fall season for Fox, and the first year since 1958-59 that a fourth commercial television network (NTA) was broadcasting. Fox would air only two days a week until 1989.

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.

From February 13 to 28, 1988, all of ABC's primetime programming was preempted in favor of coverage of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.

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.
•   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

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	The Disney Sunday Movie		Spenser: For Hire		Dolly		Buck James
	Winter	The Disney Sunday Movie				The ABC Sunday Night Movie
	Spring	The Disney Sunday Movie		Supercarrier
	Mid-spring			Specials
	Summer			MacGyver
CBS		60 Minutes (8/20.6)		Murder, She Wrote (9/20.2)		CBS Sunday Movie (18/17.2)
Fox	Fall	21 Jump Street		Married... with Children	Various programming	The Tracey Ullman Show	Mr. President	Local programming
	Mid-fall			Werewolf	Married... with Children		Duet
	Winter					It's Garry Shandling's Show		The Tracey Ullman Show	Local programming
	Spring			America’s Most Wanted					Werewolf
NBC	Fall	Our House		Family Ties (17/17.3)	My Two Dads (20/16.9) (Tied with Valerie's Family)	NBC Sunday Night at the Movies (23/16.7) (Tied with Head of the Class)
	Spring				Day by Day (28/16.2)
	Summer	Rags to Riches			My Two Dads (20/16.9) (Tied with Valerie's Family)

• Note: The Wonder Years premiered January 31, 1988 after Super Bowl XXII.

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 (16/17.4)
	Winter			The ABC Monday Night Movie
	Summer	Monday Night Baseball
CBS	Fall	Frank's Place	Kate & Allie	Newhart (25/16.5)	Designing Women	Cagney & Lacey
	Mid-fall	Kate & Allie	Frank's Place
	Winter		Designing Women		Frank's Place	Wiseguy
	Spring				Eisenhower and Lutz
	Mid-spring					Cagney & Lacey
	Summer	Blue Skies		Kate & Allie	Designing Women	Wiseguy
NBC		ALF (10/18.8) (Tied with The Wonder Years)	Valerie's Family (20/16.9) (Tied with My Two Dads)	NBC Monday Night at the Movies (26/16.4)

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? (6/21.2)	Growing Pains (5/21.3)	Moonlighting (12/18.3) (Tied with L.A. Law)		Thirtysomething
	Winter		The Wonder Years (10/18.8) (Tied with ALF)
	Spring		Just the Ten of Us
	Summer		Perfect Strangers
	Mid-summer		Full House
CBS	Fall	Houston Knights		Jake and the Fatman		The Law & Harry McGraw
	Winter	48 Hours				Cagney & Lacey
	Spring	My Sister Sam	Trial and Error	Frank's Place	Coming of Age
	Mid-spring	Houston Knights		The CBS Tuesday Night Movie
	Summer	CBS Summer Playhouse
NBC	Fall	Matlock (14/17.8)		J.J. Starbuck		Crime Story
	Mid-fall			Hunter (28/16.1)
	Spring			In the Heat of the Night (19/17.0)
	Mid-spring			NBC Tuesday Night at the Movies
	Summer			J.J. Starbuck		NBC Summer Showcase
	Mid-summer			In the Heat of the Night (19/17.0)

Note: The Dictator was supposed to premiere March 15, 1988 at 8:30-9:00 on CBS, but My Sister Sam replaced it at the last minute due to the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike.

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 (23/16.7) (Tied with The NBC Sunday Night Movie)	Hooperman	The Slap Maxwell Story	Dynasty
	Winter	Growing Pains (5/21.5)
	Spring					HeartBeat
	Mid-spring				Just in Time
	Late spring					China Beach
	Summer		The Slap Maxwell Story		Just the Ten of Us	Spenser: For Hire
CBS	Fall	The Oldest Rookie		Magnum, P.I.		The Equalizer
	Winter	The Law & Harry McGraw
	Spring	The Smothers Brothers Show		Jake and the Fatman
	Summer	Jake and the Fatman		The Equalizer		Wiseguy
NBC	Fall	Highway to Heaven		A Year in the Life		St. Elsewhere
	Spring	Aaron's Way (30/16.0)		Highway to Heaven		A Year in the Life
	Mid-spring			A Year in the Life		The Bronx Zoo
	Late spring			Highway to Heaven		St. Elsewhere
	Summer	Highway to Heaven		The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd	Sara (R)	The Bronx Zoo
	Mid-summer			Night Court	The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd	St. Elsewhere

Note: Sara consisted entirely of reruns of the 1985 series.

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	Sledge Hammer!	The Charmings	The ABC Thursday Night Movie
	Winter	The Charmings	Growing Pains (R)
	Spring	Probe		Hotel		Buck James
	Follow-up	Max Headroom
	Summer	The ABC Thursday Night Movie				Hothouse
CBS	Fall	Tour of Duty		Wiseguy		Knots Landing
	Winter			Simon & Simon
	Spring	48 Hours
	Summer					Cagney & Lacey
NBC	Fall	The Cosby Show (1/27.8)	A Different World (2/25.0)	Cheers (3/23.4)	Night Court (7/20.8)	L.A. Law (12/18.3) (Tied with Moonlighting)
	Spring				The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
	Mid-spring				Night Court (7/20.8)

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	Full House	I Married Dora	Max Headroom		20/20
	Mid-fall			Mr. Belvedere	Pursuit of Happiness
	Winter		Mr. Belvedere	The Thorns	Sledge Hammer!
	Late winter	Perfect Strangers	Full House	Mr. Belvedere	The Thorns
	Spring				Family Man
	Summer				I Married Dora
CBS	Fall	Beauty and the Beast		Dallas (22/16.8)		Falcon Crest
	Summer			CBS Friday Movie
NBC	Fall	Rags to Riches		Miami Vice		Private Eye
	Winter	Night Court (R)	Family Ties			Sonny Spoon
	Spring	The Highwayman
	Mid-spring			Night Court (7/20.8)	Beverly Hills Buntz	Miami Vice
	Late spring	TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes		The Highwayman
	Summer			Sonny Spoon
	Mid-summer			Blacke's Magic

Note: Full House premiered Tuesday September 22, 1987 at 8:30 pm on ABC.

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	Once a Hero		Ohara		Hotel
	Mid-fall	Sable
	Late fall	Ohara		Sable
	Winter	Dolly		Ohara		Spenser: For Hire
	Spring	Probe
	Summer	Supercarrier				Hotel (R)
CBS	Fall	My Sister Sam	Everything's Relative	Leg Work		West 57th
	Mid-fall	The CBS Saturday Night Movie
	Winter	High Mountain Rangers		Houston Knights
	Mid-winter			Tour of Duty
	Summer	Kate & Allie (R)	Frank's Place (R)
Fox	Fall	Werewolf	The New Adventures of Beans Baxter	Second Chance	Duet	Local programming
	Mid-fall	Mr. President	Women in Prison	The New Adventures of Beans Baxter	Second Chance
	Winter	Boys Will Be Boys			Mr. President
	Spring	Family Double Dare	Boys Will Be Boys	Werewolf	Werewolf (R)
	Mid-spring			Dirty Dozen: The Series
	Summer		Family Double Dare
	Mid-summer	The Reporters		Mr. President (R)	Women in Prison (R)
NBC	Fall	The Facts of Life	227 (27/16.3)	The Golden Girls (4/21.8)	Amen (15/17.5)	Hunter (29/16.1)
	Late fall					J.J. Starbuck
	Spring					Hunter (28/16.1)

By network

ABC

Returning Series 20/20 The ABC Sunday Night Movie The Charmings The Disney Sunday Movie Dynasty Growing Pains Head of the Class Hotel MacGyver Max Headroom Mr. Belvedere + Monday Night Baseball Monday Night Football Moonlighting Ohara Perfect Strangers Sledge Hammer! Spenser: For Hire Who's the Boss?

New Series Buck James China Beach * Dolly Family Man * Full House HeartBeat * Hooperman Hothouse * I Married Dora Just in Time * Just the Ten of Us * Once a Hero Probe * Pursuit of Happiness Sable The "Slap" Maxwell Story Supercarrier * The Thorns * The Wonder Years * thirtysomething

Not returning from 1986–87: The Colbys Dads The Ellen Burstyn Show Gung Ho Harry Heart of the City Jack & Mike Life with Lucy Mariah Our World Sidekicks Starman Webster ^

An ^ indicates a show that came back in first-run syndication after a network cancellation.

CBS

Returning Series 60 Minutes Cagney & Lacey Candid Camera The Cavanaughs + CBS Summer Playhouse CBS Sunday Movie Dallas Designing Women The Equalizer Falcon Crest Houston Knights Kate & Allie Knots Landing Magnum, P.I. Murder, She Wrote My Sister Sam Newhart Simon & Simon + West 57th

New Series 48 Hours * Beauty and the Beast Blue Skies Coming of Age * Eisenhower and Lutz * Everything's Relative Frank's Place High Mountain Rangers * Jake and the Fatman The Law & Harry McGraw The Oldest Rookie The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour * Tour of Duty Trial and Error * Wiseguy

Not returning from 1986–87: Better Days Downtown Hard Copy Kay O'Brien The New Mike Hammer Outlaws The Popcorn Kid Roxie Scarecrow and Mrs. King Shell Game Spies Take Five Together We Stand/Nothing Is Easy The Twilight Zone The Wizard

Fox

Returning Series 21 Jump Street Duet It's Garry Shandling's Show Married... with Children Mr. President The New Adventures of Beans Baxter The Tracey Ullman Show Werewolf

New Series America's Most Wanted * Dirty Dozen: The Series * Family Double Dare * Second Chance/Boys Will Be Boys The Reporters Women in Prison

Not returning from 1986–87: Down and Out in Beverly Hills Karen's Song

NBC

Returning Series 227 ALF Amen The Bronx Zoo + Cheers The Cosby Show Crime Story The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd + The Facts of Life Family Ties The Golden Girls Highway to Heaven Hunter L.A. Law Matlock Miami Vice NBC Sunday Night Movie NBC Monday Night at the Movies Night Court Our House Rags to Riches St. Elsewhere Valerie's Family @

New Series Aaron's Way * Beverly Hills Buntz Day by Day * A Different World George Schlatter's Funny People * The Highwayman * In the Heat of the Night * J.J. Starbuck Mama's Boy My Two Dads Private Eye Sonny Spoon * A Year in the Life

Not returning from 1986–87: 1986 The A-Team Amazing Stories Easy Street Gimme a Break! Hill Street Blues Me & Mrs. C Nothing in Common Remington Steele Roomies Stingray Sweet Surrender The Tortellis You Again?

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

+ These shows returned as "backup" programming in midseason

@ Formerly Valerie.

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.