1984–85 United States network television schedule

The 1984–85 network television schedule for the three major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers primetime hours from September 1984 through August 1985. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1983–84 season.

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

Each of the 30 highest-rated shows released in May 1985 is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research.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}}.

New series are highlighted in bold.

Repeat airings or same-day rebroadcasts are indicated by {{small|(R)}}.

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.

Legend

{{Plainlist|

{{Color box|#C0C0C0|border=darkgray}} Gray indicates encore programming.
{{Color box|#6699CC|border=darkgray}} Blue-gray indicates news programming.
{{Color box|lightgreen|border=darkgray}} Light green indicates sporting events.
{{Color box|#FA8072|border=darkgray}} Red indicates series being burned off and other regularly scheduled programs, including specials and movies.
{{Color box|light white|border=darkgray|highlight|yellow}} Yellow highlights indicates the top-10 most watched programs of the season.
{{Color box|light white|border=darkgray|highlight|cyan}} Cyan highlights indicates numbers 11-20 most watched programs of the season.
{{Color box|light white|border=darkgray|highlight|magenta}} Magenta highlights indicates numbers 21-30 most watched programs of the season.
{{Color box|light white|border=darkgray|highlight|black}} Highlights indicates that it falls in multiple of the above categories.

}}

Sunday

colspan="2" style="background-color:#C0C0C0"\|Network ! style="background-color:#C0C0C0;text-align:center"\|7:00 p.m. ! style="background-color:#C0C0C0;text-align:center"\|7:30 p.m. ! style="background-color:#C0C0C0;text-align:center"\|8:00 p.m. ! style="background-color:#C0C0C0;text-align:center"\|8:30 p.m. ! style="background-color:#C0C0C0;text-align:center"\|9:00 p.m. ! style="background-color:#C0C0C0;text-align:center"\|9:30 p.m. ! style="background-color:#C0C0C0;text-align:center"\|10:00 p.m. ! style="background-color:#C0C0C0;text-align:center"\|10:30 p.m.
class="wikitable" style="width:100%;margin-right:0;text-align:center"
rowspan="5"\|ABC ! Fall \| colspan="2" rowspan="5" \| Ripley's Believe It or Not! \| colspan="2" \| Hardcastle and McCormick \| style="background:#FF00FF;" colspan="4"\|The ABC Sunday Night Movie {{small\|(21/17.5)}}
Late fall \| style="background:#FF00FF;" colspan="6" rowspan="4" \|The ABC Sunday Night Movie {{small\|(21/17.5)}} / Specials / Miniseries
Winter
Spring
Summer
rowspan="4" \| CBS ! Fall \| style="background:#FFFF00;" colspan="2" rowspan="4"\|60 Minutes {{small\|(4/22.2)}} \| style="background:#FFFF00;" colspan="2" rowspan="4"\|*Murder, She Wrote* {{small\|(8/20.1)}} \| The Jeffersons \| Alice \| style="background:#FF00FF;" colspan="2" rowspan="4"\|Trapper John, M.D. {{small\|(29/16.8)}}
Winter \| style="background:#FFFF00;" colspan="2" rowspan="3"\|*Crazy Like a Fox* {{small\|(10/19.9) (Tied with Falcon Crest)}}
Spring
Summer
colspan="2"\|NBC \| Silver Spoons \| *Punky Brewster* \| colspan="2"\|Knight Rider \| style="background:#FA8072;" colspan="4"\|NBC Sunday Night at the Movies

Note: Beginning December 16, ABC{{'}}s Sunday schedule between 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. varied, consisting of three-hour broadcasts of The ABC Sunday Night Movie, two-hour broadcasts of The ABC Sunday Night Movie starting at 8:00 p.m. with specials airing at 10:00 p.m., specials airing at 8:00 p.m. followed by a two-hour broadcast of The ABC Sunday Night Movie starting at 9:00 p.m., or miniseries or sports programming during the entire three-hour block.

Monday

class="wikitable" style="width:100%;margin-right:0;text-align:center"

colspan="2" style="background-color:#C0C0C0;text-align:center;width:15.5%;"|Network

! style="background-color:#C0C0C0;text-align:center"|8:00 p.m.

! style="background-color:#C0C0C0;text-align:center"|8:30 p.m.

! style="background-color:#C0C0C0;text-align:center"|9:00 p.m.

! style="background-color:#C0C0C0;text-align:center"|9:30 p.m.

! style="background-color:#C0C0C0;text-align:center"|10:00 p.m.

! style="background-color:#C0C0C0;text-align:center"|10:30 p.m.

rowspan="5"|ABC

! Fall

| colspan="2"|Call to Glory

| style="background:#FF00FF;" colspan="4" rowspan="2"|Monday Night Football {{small|(25/17.0)
(Tied with Remington Steele and Webster)}}

Late fall

| colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Hardcastle and McCormick

Winter

| style="background:#FA8072;" colspan="4" rowspan="2"|The ABC Monday Night Movie

Spring

Summer

| style="background:lightgreen;" colspan="6"|Monday Night Baseball

colspan="2"|CBS

| style="background:#FF00FF;" colspan="2"|Scarecrow and Mrs. King {{small|(22/17.1)
(Tied with TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes and The Fall Guy)}}

| style="background:#00FFFF;"|Kate & Allie {{small|(17/18.3)}}

| style="background:#00FFFF;"|Newhart {{small|(16/18.4)}}

| style="background:#FF00FF;" colspan="2"|Cagney & Lacey {{small|(26/16.9)}}

colspan="2"|NBC

| style="background:#FF00FF;" colspan="2"|TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes {{small|(22/17.1)
(Tied with Scarecrow and Mrs. King and The Fall Guy)}}

| style="background:#00FFFF;" colspan="4"|NBC Monday Night at the Movies {{small|(18/18.2)}}

Note: On ABC, Street Hawk was supposed to air 8:00-9:00 p.m., but production problems delayed the series' premiere.{{Cite news |date=September 3, 1984 |title=In Brief |pages=88 |work=Broadcasting |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/84-OCR/BC-1984-09-03-OCR-Page-0088.pdf |access-date=November 20, 2023}}

Tuesday