The following is the 1997–98 network television schedule for the six major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1997 through August 1998. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1996–97 season. All times are Eastern and Pacific, with certain exceptions, such as Monday Night Football.
New series highlighted in bold.
Each of the 30 highest-rated shows is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research.[1] and [2]
- 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.
Other Legend
- Light blue indicates local programming.
- Gray indicates encore programming.
- Blue-gray indicates news programming.
- Light green indicates sporting events.
- Light Purple indicates movies.
- Red indicates series being burned off and other regularly scheduled programs, including specials.
PBS is not included; member stations have local flexibility over most of their schedules and broadcast times for network shows may vary.
From February 7 to 22, 1998, all of CBS' primetime programming was preempted in favor of coverage of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.
For new series debuting during the season, it would ultimately prove to be one of the weakest seasons in American television history, as only ten shows would be picked up for a second season. Of those ten shows, only five (Dharma & Greg, Two Guys and a Girl, Ally McBeal, For Your Love and Dawson's Creek) would last beyond three seasons, and would all end their runs within six seasons.
For its tenth and final season, onetime CBS powerhouse Murphy Brown was moved from its lifelong home of Monday nights to Wednesday, where it lost a significant number of viewers. For its last block of episodes in the spring, the show was put back into the familiar timeslot that it had once used to anchor the CBS Monday night lineup.
Sunday
editMonday
editTuesday
editWednesday
editThursday
edit| Network | 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 | Nothing Sacred | Cracker | 20/20 Thursday | |||
| Winter | Prey | The ABC Thursday Night Movie | |||||
| Spring | Various programming | ||||||
| Late spring | C-16 | Prey | ABC News programming | ||||
| Summer | Special programming | ABC News programming | Nightline in Primetime | ||||
| CBS | Promised Land | Diagnosis: Murder (22/9.8) | 48 Hours | ||||
| Fox | Fall | Living Single | Between Brothers | 413 Hope St. | Local programming | ||
| Winter | Various programming | Ask Harriet | New York Undercover | ||||
| Late winter | Various programming | ||||||
| Spring | World's Wildest Police Videos | Special programming | |||||
| Late spring | New York Undercover | ||||||
| Summer | Fox Files | ||||||
| NBC | Fall | Friends (4/16.1) | Union Square (8/13.6) | Seinfeld (1/21.7) | Veronica's Closet (3/16.6) | ER (2/20.4) | |
| Winter | Just Shoot Me! (12/11.9) | ||||||
| Summer | Suddenly Susan (R) | Just Shoot Me! (R) | |||||
NOTE: On Fox, Rewind was supposed to air 8-8:30, but it was cancelled due to production troubles.
Friday
edit| Network | 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 | Sabrina the Teenage Witch | Boy Meets World | You Wish | Teen Angel | 20/20 Friday (16/10.9) | |
| Winter | Sabrina the Teenage Witch (R) | Sabrina the Teenage Witch | |||||
| Spring | Boy Meets World (R) | ||||||
| Late spring | You Wish | Boy Meets World (R) | Teen Angel (R) | ||||
| CBS | Fall | Family Matters | Meego | The Gregory Hines Show | Step by Step | Nash Bridges | |
| Mid-fall | Special programming | Family Matters | |||||
| Winter | Kids Say the Darndest Things | The Gregory Hines Show | |||||
| Spring | Candid Camera | Unsolved Mysteries | |||||
| Late spring | Family Matters | Step by Step | |||||
| Summer | Unsolved Mysteries (R) | ||||||
| Fox | Fall | The Visitor | Millennium | Local programming | |||
| Winter | Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction | ||||||
| Summer | Getting Personal | Getting Personal (R) | |||||
| NBC | Fall | Players | Dateline Friday | Homicide: Life on the Street | |||
| Spring | Special programming | ||||||
| Late spring | Dateline Friday | NBA on NBC | |||||
| Early summer | NBC Friday Night Movie | ||||||
| Summer | NBC Friday Night Movie | Dateline Friday | |||||
Saturday
edit| Network | 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 | C-16 | Total Security | The Practice | |||
| Mid-fall | Special programming | ||||||
| Winter | Nothing Sacred | Cracker | ABC News Saturday Night | ||||
| Late winter | ABC Saturday Night Movie | ||||||
| Spring | Timecop | ABC Saturday Night Movie | |||||
| Summer | 20/20 | ||||||
| CBS | Fall | Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman | Early Edition | Walker, Texas Ranger (28/9.3) (Tied with Hiller and Diller) | |||
| Winter | The Magnificent Seven | ||||||
| Late winter | Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman | The Magnificent Seven | |||||
| Spring | Early Edition | ||||||
| Summer | Early Edition | The Magnificent Seven | |||||
| Fox | COPS | COPS (R) | America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back |
Local programming | |||
| NBC | Fall | The Pretender (R) | NBC Saturday Night Movie | ||||
| Mid-fall | The Pretender | Sleepwalkers | Profiler | ||||
| Late fall | Special programming | The Pretender | |||||
| Winter | All Star TV Bloopers | ||||||
| Spring | NBC Saturday Night Movie | ||||||
| Summer | All Star TV Bloopers | NBC Saturday Night Movie | |||||
By network
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Not returning from 1996–97:
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Not returning from 1996–97:
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Not returning from 1996–97:
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Note: The * indicates that the program was introduced in midseason.
References
edit- ^ 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.
- ^ "What ranked and what tanked". Entertainment Weekly Published in issue No. 434 May 29, 1998. May 29, 1998. Archived from the original on October 13, 2019. Retrieved April 8, 2020.