1988–89 United States network television schedule

The 1988–89 network television schedule for the four major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States 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.

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.

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

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).

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.

Yellow highlights indicates the top-10 most watched programs of the season.

Cyan highlights indicates numbers 11-20 most watched programs of the season.

Magenta highlights indicates numbers 21-30 most watched programs of the season.

Highlights indicates that it falls in multiple of the above categories.

Sunday
Notes:
 * Quantum Leap had a two-hour premiere Sunday, March 26, 1989, on NBC.
 * The Jim Henson Hour briefly replaced The Magical World of Disney on May 14, 1989, and again between July 9-July 30.
 * On ABC, A Fine Romance was supposed to air 8-9 p.m., but production delays amidst the strike forced the move to Thursdays.

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

Saturday
Note: On CBS, Frank's Place consisted of reruns of the 1987-88 sitcom. On ABC, ABC Saturday Mystery Movie was supposed to air 9-11 p.m., but production delays amidst the strike force the move to Mondays.

ABC
Returning Series
 * 20/20
 * The ABC Monday Night Movie
 * ABC Saturday Night Movie
 * 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 Monday 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 *
 * Thursday Night Baseball *

Not returning from 1987–88:
 * The ABC Thursday Night Movie
 * 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
 * Totally Hidden Video *

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.