1989–90 United States network television schedule

The 1989–90 network television schedule for the four major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers primetime hours from September 1989 through August 1990. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1988–89 season.

Beginning this season, Fox started their prime time expansion starting with Mondays.

This is the first season to feature entirely closed captioning programs on the Big Four networks.

This was the first time that two programs were tied for the no. 1 spot in the Nielsen ratings.

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 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.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}}.

Legend

{{Plainlist|

{{Color box|#abbfff|border=darkgray}} Light blue indicates local programming.
{{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|#bf8fef|border=darkgray}} Light purple indicates movies.
{{Color box|#FA8072|border=darkgray}} Red indicates series being burned off and other regularly scheduled programs, including specials.
{{Color box|yellow|border=darkgray}} Yellow indicates the top-10 most watched programs of the season.
{{Color box|cyan|border=darkgray}} Cyan indicates the top-20 most watched programs of the season.
{{Color box|magenta|border=darkgray}} Magenta indicates the top-30 most watched programs of the season.

}}

Sunday

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

colspan="2" style="background-color:#C0C0C0;text-align:center"|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.

rowspan="7"|ABC

! Fall

| rowspan="7" colspan="2"|Life Goes On (Stereo)

| Free Spirit

| Homeroom

| rowspan="4" colspan="4" style="background:#bf8fef;"|The ABC Sunday Night Movie (Occasionally in Stereo)

Winter

| style="background:#FFFF00;" rowspan="6" |America's Funniest Home Videos {{small|(5/20.9)}}

| Free Spirit

Mid-winter

| Elvis

Spring

| style="background:#C0C0C0;"|America's Funniest Home Videos {{small|(R)}}

Summer

| colspan="5" style="background:#bf8fef;"|The ABC Sunday Night Movie (Occasionally in Stereo)

Mid-summer

| Mr. Belvedere

| rowspan="2" colspan="4" style="background:#bf8fef;"|The ABC Sunday Night Movie (Occasionally in Stereo)

Late summer

| Tim Conway's Funny America

colspan="2"|CBS

| style="background:#6699CC;" colspan="2"|{{highlight|60 Minutes {{small|(7/19.7)}}|#FFFF00}}

| style="background:#00FFFF;" colspan="2"|Murder, She Wrote (Stereo) {{small|(13/17.7)
(Tied with Chicken Soup)}}

| style="background:#bf8fef;" colspan="4"|{{highlight|CBS Sunday Movie (Occasionally in Stereo) {{small|(24/14.9)
(Tied with Hunter)}}|#FF00FF}}

rowspan="3"|Fox

! Fall

| rowspan="2" colspan="2"|Booker

| rowspan="3"|America's Most Wanted

| Totally Hidden Video

| rowspan="3"|Married... with Children

(Stereo)

| rowspan="3"|Open House

| rowspan="2"|The Tracey Ullman Show

| rowspan="2"|It's Garry Shandling's Show

Winter

| rowspan="2" style="background:#FF00FF;"|The Simpsons (Stereo) {{small|(28/14.5)
(Tied with Night Court and Doogie Howser, M.D.)}}

Spring

| colspan="2"|The Outsiders

| colspan="2"|Booker

rowspan="6"|NBC

! Fall

| colspan="2"|Brand New Life

| rowspan="2"|Sister Kate (Stereo)

| rowspan="2"|My Two Dads

| rowspan="6" colspan="4" style="background:#bf8fef;"|NBC Sunday Night Movie (Stereo)

Winter

| rowspan="4" colspan="2" style="background:#bf8fef;|The Magical World of Disney (Stereo)

Mid-winter

| Ann Jillian

| Sister Kate (Stereo)

Spring

| ALF (Stereo)

| 227

Mid-spring

| 227

| ALF (Stereo)

Summer

| colspan="4" style="background:#bf8fef;"|The Magical World of Disney (Stereo)

Note: In Living Color premiered Sunday April 15 at 9:30 PM on Fox.

Monday