1986–87 United States network television schedule

This was the United States television schedule on all three commercial television networks for the fall season beginning in September 1986. All times are Eastern and Pacific, with certain exceptions, such as Monday Night Football.

Although Fox debuted as a channel in fall 1986, its first fall season was not until 1987.

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

New series are highlighted in bold.

All times given are in U.S. Eastern Time and Pacific Time (except for some live events or specials). Subtract one hour for Central and Mountain times.

Each of the 30 highest-rated shows is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research.[1]

  Yellow indicates the programs in the top 10 for the season.

  Cyan indicates the programs in the top 20 for the season.

  Magenta indicates the programs in the top 30 for the season.

Sunday

Network		7:00 PM	7:30 PM	8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC		The Disney Sunday Movie				The ABC Sunday Night Movie
CBS	Fall	60 Minutes (#6 23.3/37)		Murder, She Wrote (#4 25.4/37)		CBS Sunday Movie (#16 18.6/29) (Tied with Matlock and The NBC Monday Movie)
	Mid-season					Designing Women	Nothing is Easy	Hard Copy
	Spring					CBS Sunday Movie (#16) (Tied with Matlock and The NBC Monday Movie)
Fox	Spring (began April 5)	21 Jump Street		Married... with Children	The Tracey Ullman Show	Mr. President	Duet	Local Programming
	Summer				Duet
NBC	Fall	Our House		Easy Street	Valerie	NBC Sunday Night at the Movies (#20 18.2/28)
	Spring			Rags to Riches
	Summer			Family Ties (#2)	Specials

Monday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	MacGyver		Monday Night Football (#18 18.4/30)
	Mid-season			The ABC Monday Night Movie
	Summer	Monday Night Baseball
CBS	Fall	Kate & Allie (#19 18.3/27)	My Sister Sam (#22 17.4/25) (Tied with L.A. Law)	Newhart (#12 19.5/28)	Designing Women	Cagney & Lacey
	Follow-up				The Cavanaughs
	Spring				Designing Women
NBC	Fall	ALF (#28 16.5/24) (Tied with Hunter)	Amazing Stories	NBC Monday Night at the Movies (#17 18.6/28) (Tied with Matlock and The CBS Sunday Movie)
	Spring		Valerie

Tuesday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	Who's the Boss? (#10 22.0/33)	Growing Pains (#8 22.7/33)	Moonlighting (#9 22.4/34)		Jack and Mike
	Spring					Max Headroom
	Summer					Spenser: For Hire
CBS	Fall	The Wizard		CBS Tuesday Night Movie
	Mid-season	Spies
	Spring	West 57th
	Summer	The Wizard
	Follow-up	Simon & Simon		Houston Knights		Night Heat
NBC	Fall	Matlock (#15 18.6/28) (Tied with The CBS Sunday Movie and The NBC Monday Movie)		Crime Story		1986
	Follow-up			Hill Street Blues
	Mid-season					Remington Steele
	Spring			Gimme a Break!	Easy Street	Hill Street Blues
	Follow-up				The Tortellis
	Summer			NBC Tuesday Night at the Movies

Wednesday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	Perfect Strangers	Head of the Class (#30 16.4/26)	Dynasty (#25 17.2/26) (Tied with Highway to Heaven)		Hotel
	Spring		Harry
	Follow-up		Head of the Class (#30)			Mariah
	Summer			MacGyver		Hotel
CBS	Fall	Together We Stand	Better Days	Magnum, P.I.		The Equalizer
	Follow-up	The New Mike Hammer
	Spring					Houston Knights
	Follow-up	Roxie	Take Five
	Follow-up	The New Mike Hammer
	Summer					The Equalizer
NBC	Fall	Highway to Heaven (#24 17.2/27) (Tied with Dynasty)		Gimme a Break!	You Again?	St. Elsewhere
	Winter				The Tortellis
	Spring			Night Court (#7)		The Bronx Zoo
	Follow-up				Easy Street
	Summer			The Facts of Life	Night Court (#7)	St. Elsewhere

Thursday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	Our World		The Colbys		20/20
	Spring			Jack and Mike
	Summer			Heart of the City
	Follow-up	Starman		Our World
	Follow-up	Sledge Hammer!	The Charmings
CBS	Fall	Simon & Simon		Knots Landing (#26 16.8/27) (Tied with Miami Vice)		Kay O'Brien
	Follow-up	The Twilight Zone	Simon & Simon		Designing Women	Knots Landing (#26) (Tied with Miami Vice)
	Mid-season	Shell Game		Simon & Simon
	Follow-up	The Wizard
	Summer	Scarecrow and Mrs. King
	Follow-up			CBS Thursday Night Movie
NBC	Fall	The Cosby Show (#1 34.9/53)	Family Ties (#2 32.7/49)	Cheers (#3 27.2/41)	Night Court (#7 23.2/35)	Hill Street Blues
	Follow-up					L.A. Law (#21 17.4/29) (Tied with My Sister Sam)
	Spring				Nothing in Common
	Summer				The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd

Friday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	Webster	Mr. Belvedere	Sidekicks	Sledge Hammer!	Starman
	Winter			Dads	Gung Ho
	Follow-up			Gung Ho	Dads
	Mid-season			The ABC Friday Night Movie
	Follow-up	The Charmings	Webster
	Summer	Sledge Hammer!	Mr. Belvedere
	Follow-up	Webster
CBS	Fall	Scarecrow and Mrs. King		Dallas (#11 21.3/34)		Falcon Crest (#23 17.3/30)
	Spring	Nothing Is Easy	The Popcorn Kid
	Summer	CBS Summer Playhouse				Hard Copy
	Follow-up					Adderly
NBC	Fall	The A-Team		Miami Vice (#27 16.8/27) (Tied with Knots Landing)		L.A. Law (#21) (Tied with My Sister Sam)
	Follow-up					Crime Story
	Winter	Stingray
	Spring	Roomies	Amazing Stories			Stingray
	Summer	Stingray				Crime Story

Saturday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	Life With Lucy	The Ellen Burstyn Show	Heart of the City		Spenser: For Hire
	Follow-up	Sidekicks	Sledge Hammer!
	Mid-season			Ohara
	Follow-up	Starman
	Summer	Webster	The ABC Saturday Night Movie
	Follow-up	Animal Crack-Ups	The Ellen Burstyn Show	The ABC Saturday Night Movie
CBS	Fall	Downtown		The New Mike Hammer		The Twilight Zone
	Follow-up			The CBS Saturday Night Movie
	Mid-season	Outlaws
	Summer	The CBS Saturday Night Movie				West 57th
Fox	Summer (started Jul. 11)	Down and Out in Beverly Hills	The New Adventures of Beans Baxter	Werewolf	Karen's Song	Local Programming
	Follow-up	Werewolf		Down and Out in Beverly Hills
NBC	Fall	The Facts of Life	227 (#14 18.9/32)	The Golden Girls (#5 24.5/41)	Amen (#13 19.4/33)	Hunter (#29 16.5/30) (Tied with ALF)
	Spring		Sweet Surrender
	Summer	227 (#14)	Me & Mrs. C
	Follow-up	The Facts of Life	227 (#14)

By network

ABC

Returning Series 20/20 The ABC Sunday Night Movie The ABC Monday Night Movie The Colbys The Disney Sunday Movie Dynasty Growing Pains Hotel MacGyver Mr. Belvedere Monday Night Baseball Monday Night Football Moonlighting Perfect Strangers Spenser: For Hire Webster Who's the Boss?

New Series Animal Crack-Ups * + The Charmings * Dads * The Ellen Burstyn Show Gung Ho * Harry * Head of the Class Heart of the City Jack and Mike Life with Lucy Mariah Max Headroom * Ohara * Our World Sidekicks Sledge Hammer! Starman

Not Returning From 1985-86 Benson Diff'rent Strokes The Fall Guy Hardcastle and McCormick Hollywood Beat Lady Blue Life's Most Embarrassing Moments Lime Street The Love Boat Our Family Honor Ripley's Believe It or Not! Shadow Chasers The Insiders

+ Animal Crack-Ups had a short run in prime time before moving to Saturday mornings in the fall of 1987.

CBS

Returning Series 60 Minutes Cagney & Lacey CBS Sunday Movie Dallas The Equalizer Falcon Crest Kate & Allie Knots Landing Magnum, P.I. The New Mike Hammer + Murder, She Wrote Newhart Scarecrow and Mrs. King Simon & Simon The Twilight Zone West 57th *

New Series Better Days The Cavanaughs * CBS Summer Playhouse Designing Women Downtown Hard Copy * Houston Knights * Kay O'Brien My Sister Sam Outlaws * The Popcorn Kid * Roxie * Shell Game * Spies Take Five * Together We Stand/Nothing Is Easy The Wizard

Not Returning From 1985-86 Airwolf Bridges to Cross Charlie & Co. Crazy Like a Fox Fast Times Foley Square George Burns Comedy Week Hometown Leo & Liz in Beverly Hills Mary Melba Morningstar/Eveningstar Stir Crazy Tough Cookies Trapper John, M.D.

+ This was a revival of the 1984-1985 series following star Stacy Keach's release from prison on drug charges.

Fox

New Series

• 21 Jump Street
• Down and Out in Beverly Hills
• Duet
• Karen's Song
• Married... with Children
• Mr. President
• The New Adventures of Beans Baxter
• The Tracey Ullman Show
• Werewolf

NBC

Returning Series 1986 227 The A-Team Amazing Stories Cheers The Cosby Show The Facts of Life Family Ties Gimme a Break! The Golden Girls Highway to Heaven Hill Street Blues Hunter Me & Mrs. C * Miami Vice NBC Sunday Night Movie NBC Monday Night at the Movies Night Court Remington Steele * St. Elsewhere Stingray * Valerie You Again?

New Series ALF Amen The Bronx Zoo * Crime Story The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd * Easy Street L.A. Law Matlock Nothing in Common * Our House Rags to Riches * Roomies * Sweet Surrender * The Tortellis *

Not Returning From 1985-86 Alfred Hitchcock Presents All Is Forgiven Blacke's Magic Fathers and Sons Hell Town Knight Rider The Last Precinct Misfits of Science Punky Brewster ^ Riptide Silver Spoons ^ TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes

Note: The * indicates that the program was introduced in midseason. An ^ indicates a show that continued in first-run syndication after the network cancelled it.

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.