Schedule Rewind: A look back at the Prime Time schedule from seasons past and network decisions impacting sci fi and fantasy shows.
The 1993-94 season did not offer much for sci fi TV fans to choose from on the broadcast networks. There were only four shows airing across the Big 3 networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) and two more on Fox which was then in its seventh full season of operation. But of those six shows airing, most are well-remembered genre entries, and in syndication a rare intersection of great shows occurred that season as well.
ABC
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (Sundays 8 PM EST)
Dinosaurs (Wednesdays 8 PM EST)
Premiering on ABC in the 1993-94 season was Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman which delivered a different take on the Superman story. It focused more on the relationship between Lois Lane and Clark Kent and less on the superhero storylines (which more require special effects and drive the budget up). Airing against Top 15 entry Murder She Wrote on CBS, Lois & Clark did not count as a huge hit for its network, but it did develop a notable following and the show ended up having a successful run of four seasons. Airing its final season that year on ABC was the puppet-animated comedy Dinosaurs. That one was pushed to a Summer start, though, with the final episodes carrying over to the 1994-95 season.
CBS
The eye network had nothing to offer sci fi and fantasy fans that season which should come as no surprise. It stuck to its formula of sitcoms and procedurals that appeal to its older-skewing audience. Space Rangers had appeared on the network’s schedule the prior mid-season, but disappeared quickly and was not brought back for a second season (more on that gem at Cult-SciFi.com). Sci fi fans may have found something to like in the boundary-pushing Picket Fences on Fridays at 10 PM EST which was in its second (and best) season that year (it was one of my favorites at that time). And that show even planned a cross-over with The X-Files the following year, but the networks and studios could not come to terms and it never happened.
NBC
seaQuest DSV (Sundays 8 PM EST)
Viper (Fridays 8 PM EST)
Premiering on NBC in the 1993-94 season was the highly anticipated seaQuest DSV which had Steven Spielberg’s name attached as executive producer, Roy Scheider in the lead role, and Rockne S. O’Bannon as creator (he had previously created Alien Nation and would go on to create Farscape). This underwater-adventure sci fi series had plenty of impressive credits and it delivered some decent science fiction stories in its first season. It aired in the difficult Sunday 8 PM EST slot, though, up against highly-rated Murder She Wrote on CBS and competing for the genre audience with Lois & Clark on ABC at the same hour. seaQuest DSV never proved the hit that NBC execs hoped for, but it did manage to stick around for three seasons. But, it changed up its format each year in an attempt to bolster viewer interest, which made it an overall inconsistent series that never achieved the classic status it could have had. (You can read more about the show at this link.)
Also premiering on NBC was the high-tech action-adventure series Viper which arrived at mid-season. That one followed the lead of NBC’s ’80’s hit Knight Rider with a yet another supercar as the highlight of the series (though this one lacked the personality of KITT). But it went for more of a sci fi angle, setting the show in the near future. It aired on Fridays, a night in which the networks had seen notable viewer attrition, and it competed with Brisco County on Fox for the genre audience. NBC cancelled the show at the end of the year, but it would later be revived in syndication where it would continue through a fourth season.
FOX
The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. (Fridays 8 PM EST)
The X-Files (Fridays 9 PM EST)
Fox was starting to compete with the Big 3 networks by this time and launched the show that would eventually help turn the fourth-place network into a contender. But when the paranormal investigations series The X-Files debuted in the Fall of 1993, it hardly seemed likely that it would prove to be a major force for sci fi TV. The first season was definitely a low-budget affair, and it did not attract much of an audience on Fridays at 9 PM EST. But it had a grittiness and creepiness about it that drew attention from critics. It also offered more than just the monster-of-week format as it had an ongoing story arc in the background focusing on a worldwide conspiracy to hide the existence of extraterrestrial beings. Fox took a chance on the low-rated show despite low ratings and gave it a second-season renewal (if only they had done the same with Firefly in 2002). Within a few years, The X-Files had turned into a Top 20 hit and even revived interest in sci fi across the broadcast networks to a degree. Definitely an example of where sticking with a show can pay off in the long run (you can read more about The X-Files at this link).
Fox was definitely a good network for genre fans in the 1993-94 season because in the hour preceding The X-Files was the wonderful sci fi western The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. Starring the chin himself Bruce Campbell (best known at that time for the Evil Dead movies), Brisco County proved to be a fun romp with action-packed western stories and a touch of sci fi. It started out its run with decent ratings for a Fox show at that time, but those began to slip as the season progressed. It was much more expensive to produce than The X-Files, and sadly network execs made the decision not to bring the show back for a second season. Fox would try several more sci fi shows in the Friday 8 PM EST hour over the next few seasons, most of which would also get cancelled after one season.
Also of note for 1993, Fox aired two sci fi TV movies in the Summer before the season began with plans to follow those up with more telefilms in the coming years. The space-survival movie Lifepod (loosely based on Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat) aired in June and the time-loop film 12:01 (based on the Richard Lupoff short story) bowed in early July. Both were actually well done for TV movies (you can read more about Lifepod at this link), and it would have been great to see Fox continue the initiative. Apparently, the ratings did not justify the production costs, though, and the network did not produce any more TV movies in that vein.
See the full broadcast network schedule for the 1993-94 season at this link.
Syndicated Shows of Note
Babylon 5
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
While the networks remained tentative towards genre shows in the 1993-94 season, sci fi TV continued to be well-represented in the syndication market. In fact, that season delivered a rare intersection of space-based shows that have gone on to be considered all-time classics of the genre. Star Trek: The Next Generation kicked off its seventh and final season in the Fall of 1993 while Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was entering its second season. Then in January, Babylon 5 began airing its first season on the syndicated PTEN network (the pilot movie had premiered in February 1993). That was the only season that all three shows would air at the same time and it truly delivered some memorable sci fi TV.
That season would also provide the beginnings of the long-running Hercules: The Legendary Journeys series. It was not called that at the time as it started out as a series of five television movies that introduced the characters and premise that would be carried on with the series. The first two of those five aired in Spring of 1994.
Syndication, cable, and the smaller broadcast networks (UPN and The WB) would continue to carry the genre through the rest of the 1990’s. Shows like Xena: Warrior Princess (Syndicated), Earth: Final Conflict (Syndicated), Star Trek: Voyager (UPN), and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (The WB) would all enjoy long runs while the broadcast networks continued to eschew and/or give the quick hook to sci fi and fantasy programming that decade and into the 00’s.
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Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.
