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.

This is the first fall season in which Fox aired prime-time programming (while it debuted in October 1986, it would only cover late nights until April 1987), making this the first full season since 1958-59 in which a fourth commercial television network (NTA) was broadcasting. Fox would air only two days a week (Saturdays and Sundays) until the spring of 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. Series ending their network runs are highlighted in italics.

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.
Red indicates series being burned off and other regularly scheduled programs, including specials and movies.
Lime indicates the number-one most-watched program of the season.
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.	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		Special programming
	Summer		MacGyver (R)
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	The Tracey Ullman Show	Duet	Local programming
	Winter		Werewolf		It's Garry Shandling's Show		The Tracey Ullman Show	Local programming
	Spring		America’s Most Wanted					Werewolf
	Summer		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)
	Winter			My Two Dads (20/16.9) (Tied with Valerie's Family)
	Spring			Day by Day (28/16.2)
	Summer	Rags to Riches (R)		My Two Dads (20/16.9) (Tied with Valerie's Family)

Note: The Wonder Years premiered January 31, 1988 after Super Bowl XXII. It's Garry Shandling's Show consisted on edited reruns of the Showtime series.

Monday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.
ABC	Fall	MacGyver		Monday Night Football (16/17.4)
	Winter			The ABC Monday Night Movie
	Spring			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		Designing Women	Cagney & Lacey
	Winter		Designing Women		Frank's Place	Wiseguy
	Spring				Eisenhower and Lutz	Wiseguy
	Mid-spring				Eisenhower and Lutz	Cagney & Lacey
	Summer	Blue Skies		Kate & Allie	Designing Women	Magnum, P.I. (R)
	Mid-summer	Newhart (25/16.5)	The Cavanaughs	Kate & Allie	Designing Women	Magnum, P.I. (R)
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.
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 (R)
	Mid-summer		Full House (R)
CBS	Fall	Houston Knights		Jake and the Fatman		The Law & Harry McGraw
	Winter	48 Hours		Jake and the Fatman		Cagney & Lacey
	Spring	My Sister Sam	Trial and Error	Frank's Place	Coming of Age	Cagney & Lacey
	Mid-spring	Houston Knights		The CBS Tuesday Night Movie
	Summer	CBS Summer Playhouse		The CBS Tuesday Night Movie
NBC	Fall	Matlock (14/17.8)		J.J. Starbuck		Crime Story
	Mid-fall			Hunter (28/16.1)
	Winter			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)		NBC Summer Showcase

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.
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)				Dynasty
	Spring					HeartBeat
	Mid-spring				Just in Time	HeartBeat
	Late spring				Just in Time	China Beach
	Summer				The Slap Maxwell Story	Spenser: For Hire (R)
	Late summer				The Slap Maxwell Story	China Beach
CBS	Fall	The Oldest Rookie		Magnum, P.I.		The Equalizer
	Winter	The Law & Harry McGraw		Magnum, P.I.
	Spring	The Smothers Brothers Show		Jake and the Fatman
	Summer	Jake and the Fatman		The Equalizer		Wiseguy (R)
NBC	Fall	Highway to Heaven		A Year in the Life		St. Elsewhere
	Winter	Highway to Heaven		A Year in the Life		St. Elsewhere
	Mid-winter	Aaron's Way (30/16.0)		Highway to Heaven		A Year in the Life
	Spring			A Year in the Life		The Bronx Zoo
	Mid-spring			Highway to Heaven		St. Elsewhere
	Summer	Highway to Heaven		The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd	Sara (R)	The Bronx Zoo
	Mid-summer	Special programming		George Schlatter's Funny People		St. Elsewhere
	Late summer	George Schlatter's Funny People		The NBC Wednesday Night Movie

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.
ABC	Fall	Sledge Hammer!	The Charmings	The ABC Thursday Night Movie
	Winter	The Charmings	Growing Pains (R)	The ABC Thursday Night Movie
	Spring	Probe		Hotel		Buck James
	Summer	The ABC Thursday Night Movie				Hothouse
CBS	Fall	Tour of Duty		Wiseguy		Knots Landing
	Winter	Tour of Duty		Simon & Simon
	Spring	48 Hours
	Summer	48 Hours				Cagney & Lacey (R)
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)
	Winter				Night Court (7/20.8)
	Spring				The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
	Mid-spring				Night Court (7/20.8)
	Summer				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.
ABC	Fall	Full House	I Married Dora	Max Headroom		20/20
	Mid-fall		I Married Dora	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
	Winter
	Spring
	Summer			CBS Friday Movie
NBC	Fall	Rags to Riches		Miami Vice		Private Eye
	Winter	Special programming				Sonny Spoon
	Late winter	The Highwayman				Sonny Spoon
	Spring	The Highwayman		Night Court (7/20.8)	Beverly Hills Buntz	Miami Vice
	Mid-spring	TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes (R)		The Highwayman
	Summer			Sonny Spoon
	Mid-summer			Blacke's Magic (R)

Note: Full House premiered Tuesday September 22, 1987 at 8:30 pm on ABC. TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes consisted on reruns of the 1984–86 series. Blacke's Magic consisted on reruns of the 1986 series.

Saturday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Once a Hero		Ohara		Hotel
	Mid-fall	Sable		Ohara
	Late fall	Ohara		Sable
	Winter	Dolly		Ohara		Spenser: For Hire
	Spring	Dolly
	Summer	Probe (R)
	Mid-summer	Supercarrier (R)				Hotel
	Late summer	Supercarrier (R)		Various programming		Spenser: For Hire
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
	Spring
	Summer	Kate & Allie (R)	Frank's Place (R)
	Late summer	First Impressions	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	Women in Prison	The New Adventures of Beans Baxter	Mr. President
	Spring	Family Double Dare	Boys Will Be Boys	Werewolf	Werewolf (R)
	Mid-spring		Boys Will Be Boys	Dirty Dozen: The Series
	Summer		Family Double Dare	Dirty Dozen: The Series
	Mid-summer	The Reporters		Various programming
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
	Winter					J.J. Starbuck
	Spring					Hunter (28/16.1)
	Summer					Hunter (28/16.1)

Note: Second Chance was retooled into Boys Will Be Boys.

By network

ABC

Returning Series

New Series

Not returning from 1986–87:

The ABC Friday Night Movie
The ABC Saturday Night Movie
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

New Series

Not returning from 1986–87:

Fox

Returning Series

New Series

America's Most Wanted *
Dirty Dozen: The Series *
Family Double Dare *
It's Garry Shandling's Show * (reruns)
Second Chance/Boys Will Be Boys
The Reporters
Women in Prison

Not returning from 1986–87:

NBC

Returning Series

New Series

Not returning from 1986–87:

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

+ These shows returned as "backup" programming in midseason

@ Formerly Valerie.

References

^ 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.

[BM2-1] 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.

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