1997–98 United States network television schedule

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

Network		7:00 p.m.	7:30 p.m.	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		The Wonderful World of Disney				The ABC Sunday Night Movie
CBS		60 Minutes (7/13.8)		Touched by an Angel (6/14.2)		CBS Sunday Movie (9/13.1)
Fox	Fall	The World's Funniest!		The Simpsons (30/9.2) (Tied with Everybody Loves Raymond)	King of the Hill (23/9.7) (Tied with Mad About You)	The X-Files (19/10.6)		Local programming
	Winter				Damon
	Spring				King of the Hill (23/9.7) (Tied with Mad About You)
NBC	Fall	Dateline Sunday		Men Behaving Badly	Jenny	NBC Sunday Night Movie (27/9.4)
	Winter	Dateline Sunday
	Summer					Frasier (R)	Working (R)	Law & Order (R)
	Mid-summer					NBC Sunday Night Movie (27/9.4)
The WB	Fall	Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher	The Parent 'Hood	The Jamie Foxx Show	Unhappily Ever After	The Tom Show	Alright Already	Local programming
	Mid-fall				The Tom Show	Unhappily Ever After
	Winter		The Tom Show	The Parent 'Hood	The Jamie Foxx Show
	Spring		The Parent 'Hood (R)	Sister, Sister (R)
	Mid-spring	The Parent 'Hood (R)	Kelly Kelly
	Early summer	Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher (R)	The Parent 'Hood (R)
	Summer	The Parent 'Hood (R)			Smart Guy (R)		The Steve Harvey Show (R)

Monday

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	Timecop		Monday Night Football (5/15.0)
	Mid-fall	Special programming
	Winter	America's Funniest Home Videos		20/20 (21/10.0)		The Practice
CBS	Fall	Cosby (25/9.5) (Tied with Dharma & Greg)	Everybody Loves Raymond (30/9.2) (Tied with The Simpsons)	Cybill	George and Leo	Brooklyn South
	Winter			George and Leo	Style & Substance
	Late winter			The Closer	George and Leo
	Spring				Murphy Brown
	Late spring			Cybill	George and Leo (R)	Michael Hayes
	Summer		Everybody Loves Raymond (R)		Murphy Brown (R)	48 Hours
Fox	Fall	Melrose Place		Ally McBeal		Local programming
	Spring	Damon	Getting Personal
	Summer	Melrose Place
NBC	Fall	Suddenly Susan	Fired Up	Caroline in the City	The Naked Truth	Dateline Monday (14/11.4)
	Late fall		Jenny
	Winter		Fired Up
	Late winter		House Rules
	Summer		Caroline in the City (R)		Veronica's Closet
UPN	Fall	In the House	Malcolm & Eddie	Good News	Sparks	Local programming
	Spring	Love Boat: The Next Wave		Special programming
	Late spring			Clueless (R)
	Summer	In the House (R)	Malcolm & Eddie (R)	Good News (R)	Sparks (R)
The WB	Fall	7th Heaven		Buffy the Vampire Slayer
	Winter			Three
	Spring			7th Heaven (R)
	Late spring			Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Tuesday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	Home Improvement (Repeats)	Soul Man	Home Improvement (10/12.0) (Tied with Frasier)	Hiller and Diller (28/9.3) (Tied with Walker, Texas Ranger)	NYPD Blue (17/10.8) (Tied with NYPD Blue)
	Follow Up	Soul Man	Over the Top
	November	Grace Under Fire	Soul Man		Spin City (Repeats)
	Winter	The Drew Carey Show (Repeats)			Home Improvement (Repeats)
	Spring	Home Improvement (Repeats)	Something So Right		That's Life
	Follow Up		Soul Man		Something So Right
	Summer	Soul Man	Something So Right		Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place
	Mid-Summer	Home Improvement	Soul Man	Spin City	Dharma & Greg	Maximum Bob
CBS	Fall	JAG		Michael Hayes		Dellaventura
	Winter			CBS Tuesday Movie
	March			Public Eye with Bryant Gumbel		Four Corners
	Follow Up					48 Hours
	Summer			CBS Tuesday Movie
Fox	Fall	Fox Tuesday Night Movie				Local Programming
	Summer	King of the Hill (Repeats)	King of the Hill (Repeats)	Guinness World Records Primetime
NBC	Fall	Mad About You (23/9.7) (Tied with King of the Hill)	NewsRadio	Frasier (10/12.0) (Tied with Home Improvement)	Just Shoot Me! (12/11.9)	Dateline NBC (13/11.5)
	Spring		For Your Love		LateLine
	Follow Up		NewsRadio		Just Shoot Me! (12/11.9)
	Summer				3rd Rock from the Sun
UPN	Fall	Clueless	Moesha	Hitz	Head Over Heels	Local Programming
	Follow Up	Moesha	Clueless	Malcolm & Eddie	Hitz
	Winter				Clueless
	Spring				In the House
	Follow Up				Good News
	Summer		In the House
	Mid-Summer		Clueless	In the House	Clueless
The WB	Winter (began Jan. 20th)	Buffy the Vampire Slayer		Dawson's Creek
	Summer			Invasion America	Invasion America
	Mid-Summer			Dawson's Creek

Wednesday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	Spin City	Dharma & Greg (25/9.5) (Tied with Cosby)	The Drew Carey Show (15/11.1)	Ellen	Primetime Live (17/10.8) (Tied with NYPD Blue)
	Spring				Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place
	Summer				Ellen
	August				Whose Line Is It Anyway?
CBS	Fall	The Nanny	Murphy Brown	Public Eye with Bryant Gumbel		Chicago Hope
	Spring		Cybill	Michael Hayes
	Summer		The Simple Life	Public Eye with Bryant Gumbel
	Follow Up		Style & Substance
Fox	Fall	Beverly Hills, 90210		Party of Five		Local Programming
	Spring			Significant Others
	Follow Up			Party of Five
	Summer	Fox Wednesday Night Movie
NBC	Fall	The Tony Danza Show	Built to Last	3rd Rock from the Sun	Working	Law & Order (20/10.2)
	Follow Up	Dateline NBC
	December	3rd Rock from the Sun (Repeats)	The Tony Danza Show
	Winter		Seinfeld (Repeats)
	Spring	NewsRadio
	Follow Up	3rd Rock from the Sun (Repeats)	NewsRadio
	Summer	The Pretender
	August	Dateline NBC			Stressed Eric
UPN	Fall	The Sentinel		Star Trek: Voyager		Local Programming
	Late Fall	Star Trek: Voyager		The Sentinel
	Spring	The Sentinel		Star Trek: Voyager
The WB	Fall	Sister, Sister	Smart Guy	The Wayans Bros.	The Steve Harvey Show
	Spring	Smart Guy	Sister, Sister (Repeats)
	Summer		Smart Guy
	Mid-Summer	The Wayans Bros.	The Jamie Foxx Show

Thursday

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

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

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

ABC

Returning series 20/20 ABC Saturday Night Movie The ABC Sunday Night Movie The ABC Thursday Night Movie America's Funniest Home Videos Boy Meets World The Drew Carey Show Ellen Grace Under Fire Home Improvement Monday Night Football NYPD Blue The Practice Primetime Live Sabrina the Teenage Witch Something So Right (moved from NBC) Soul Man Spin City

New series ABC News Saturday Night C-16: FBI Cracker Dharma & Greg Hiller and Diller Maximum Bob * Nothing Sacred Over the Top Prey * Push * Teen Angel That's Life * Timecop Total Security Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place * The Wonderful World of Disney You Wish

Not returning from 1996–97: The ABC Monday Night Movie Arsenio Clueless (moved to UPN) Coach Common Law Dangerous Minds Family Matters (moved to CBS) Gun Hangin' with Mr. Cooper High Incident Leaving L.A. Life's Work Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Murder One Relativity Roseanne (revived and returned for 2017–18 for one season) Second Noah Spy Game Step by Step (moved to CBS) Townies Turning Point Vital Signs

CBS

Returning series 48 Hours 60 Minutes Candid Camera CBS Sunday Movie Chicago Hope Cosby Cybill Diagnosis Murder Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman Early Edition Everybody Loves Raymond Family Matters (moved from ABC) JAG Murphy Brown The Nanny Nash Bridges Promised Land Step by Step (moved from ABC) Touched by an Angel Unsolved Mysteries (moved from NBC) Walker, Texas Ranger

New series Brooklyn South The Closer * Dellaventura Four Corners * George and Leo The Gregory Hines Show Kids Say the Darndest Things * The Magnificent Seven * Meego Michael Hayes Public Eye with Bryant Gumbel The Simple Life * Style & Substance *

Not returning from 1996–97: Almost Perfect Dave's World EZ Streets Ink Life... and Stuff Mr. & Mrs. Smith Moloney Orleans Pearl Public Morals Temporarily Yours Feds

Fox

Returning series America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back Beverly Hills, 90210 Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction Cops Fox Tuesday Night Movie King of the Hill Living Single Melrose Place Millennium New York Undercover Party of Five The Simpsons The X-Files

New series 413 Hope St. Ally McBeal Ask Harriet * Between Brothers Damon * Fox Files * Fox Wednesday Night Movie Getting Personal * Rewind Significant Others * The Visitor The World's Funniest! World's Wildest Police Videos *

Not returning from 1996–97: Big Deal Lawless Love and Marriage Lush Life Married... with Children Martin Ned and Stacey Pacific Palisades Party Girl Pauly Roar Sliders

NBC

Returning series 3rd Rock from the Sun Caroline in the City Dateline NBC ER Fired Up Frasier Friends Homicide: Life on the Street Just Shoot Me! Law & Order Mad About You Men Behaving Badly The Naked Truth NBC Sunday Night Movie NewsRadio The Pretender Profiler Seinfeld Suddenly Susan

New series Built to Last For Your Love * House Rules * Jenny LateLine * Players Sleepwalkers Stressed Eric * The Tony Danza Show Union Square Veronica's Closet Working

Not returning from 1996–97: Boston Common Chicago Sons Crisis Center Dark Skies The Jeff Foxworthy Show The John Larroquette Show Mr. Rhodes Prince Street The Single Guy Something So Right (moved to ABC) Unsolved Mysteries (moved to CBS) Wings

UPN

Returning series Clueless (moved from ABC) In the House Malcolm & Eddie Moesha The Sentinel Sparks Star Trek: Voyager

New series Good News Head Over Heels Hitz Love Boat: The Next Wave *

Not returning from 1996–97: The Burning Zone Goode Behavior Homeboys in Outer Space Social Studies

The WB

Returning series 7th Heaven Buffy the Vampire Slayer The Jamie Foxx Show Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher The Parent 'Hood Sister, Sister Smart Guy The Steve Harvey Show Unhappily Ever After The Wayans Bros.

New series Alright Already Dawson's Creek * Invasion America * Kelly Kelly * Three * The Tom Show You're the One *

Not returning from 1996–97: Brotherly Love Kirk Life with Roger Savannah

Note: The * indicates that the program was introduced in midseason.

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.
2. "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.