Schedule Rewind 1985-86: Anthology Shows Make a Brief Return on the Broadcast Networks

Schedule Rewind: A look back at the Prime Time schedule from seasons past and network decisions impacting sci fi and fantasy shows.

[Updated]

The decade of the 1980s proved to be mostly a wasteland for sci fi and fantasy television on the broadcast networks, but in Fall 1985 there was a brief flirtation with a revival of the anthology format which looked like it might give a boost to the genre. Perhaps the success of Tales from the Darkside in syndication spurred interest from network execs, and three separate anthology entries landed on the schedule as the season began. But their tenure would be brief and before long the networks would once again shy away from programming with genre elements.

ABC

MacGyver (Sundays 9:00 PM EST / Wednesdays 8:00 PM EST)
Shadow Chasers (Thursdays 8:00 PM EST)

ABC did not join in on the anthology revival and had only two offerings of interest to genre fans, both of which debuted that season. MacGyver kicked off its iconic run, and even though it would never be a Top 30 show, it proved to be a solid performer across its seven-year run. Less sci fi and more of a spy/adventure series, the show only had minor genre elements as it offered episodic stories with plenty of action that proved very palatable to the Prime Time audience. Richard Dean Anderson was of course perfect for the part and helped carry the series, and it would start to introduce some more sci fi elements later in its run. But at the time the show debuted, it only just barely counted as a genre entry. It started out competing against ratings juggernaut Murder, She Wrote on CBS (which ranked Number 3 for the season), and was moved to Wednesdays at 8 PM EST mid-year. In its second season, MacGyver would move to Mondays at 8 PM EST where it would remain a staple on the schedule for the rest of its run.

Shadow Chasers was a paranormal investigation drama and ABC’s attempt to capitalize on the success of Ghost Busters which had proven to be a Box Office hit the year prior. It came from Kenneth Johnson who had previously developed The Incredible Hulk for CBS and who had created the V mini-series for NBC. But the show was slotted into the Thursday 8 PM EST hour where it went up against the Number 1 and 2 shows of the year The Cosby Show and Family Ties. Not surprisingly, it failed to find much of an audience and ABC yanked it from the schedule after only nine of its thirteen episodes had aired.

CBS

The Twilight Zone (Fridays 8:00 PM EST)
Airwolf (Saturdays 8:00 PM EST)

With NBC bringing out its big budget and high-profile Amazing Stories anthology series (see below), CBS decided to counterprogram by digging into its vaults and reviving perhaps the great anthology of them all. And it sure seemed like a can’t-miss idea as it reworked some of the original stories while also adding plenty of new tales. But without Rod Serling involved (he had passed away a decade prior), the show lacked a strong guiding force, and it ended up seeming more like a corporate attempt to cash in on a recognized name than an honest attempt to create quality television. And while the revival did manage to produce some good episodes, it was very uneven overall and failed to find much of an audience. The show would disappear from the network’s schedule by the end of the 1986-87 season, though it would continue in syndication for another year (with a young J. Michael Straczynski very much involved with penning episodes).

Airwolf was in its second season and very much indicative of the type of genre entry the networks found palatable in the ’80s. The sci fi elements were linked to high-tech as with MacGyver‘s scientific improvisations on ABC and Knight Rider‘s supercar on NBC (see below). With Airwolf, it was a high-tech helicopter which the heroes used to fight the bad guy of the week and it involved little to nothing in the way of actual sci fi stories. Still, this one had some appeal to genre fans, especially with a dearth of other offerings from the broadcast networks. The show never proved to be a ratings hit and was cancelled by CBS at the end of the year after a two and a half season run. It would jump to syndication for its final year, but it went through some major casting changes at that point.

NBC

Amazing Stories (Sundays 9:00 PM EST)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (Sundays 9:30 PM EST)
Knight Rider (Fridays 9:00 PM EST)
Misfits of Science (Fridays 9:00 PM EST)

When NBC secured the deal with Steven Spielberg for Amazing Stories, it must have seemed like a sure thing. The king of the Box Office blockbusters had his name attached to the show and he would bring directors, writers, and actors onboard who usually shunned television work. The show was also given a sizable budget and a guaranteed two-year commitment upfront. Everything was in place for Spielberg to replicate his blockbuster success on the small screen. But then Amazing Stories premiered and proved rather . . . un-amazing. The look and feel of the series definitely delivered a cinematic experience, but for the most part the episodes just felt underdeveloped or flat-out empty (you can read more about the series at this link). The show did deliver a few gems across its run, but for the most part it underwhelmed and the audience started to tune out pretty quickly. NBC stuck with its two-year deal and the show remained on the schedule for the 1986-87 season, but the network bowed out after that.  (It would later get a revival on Apple TV+, though that would last only one season of six episodes.)

Immediately following Amazing Stories on Sundays was the reboot of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. That one drew heavily on stories from the original show and tended to deliver more in the way of mystery/suspense tales, but it was still of interest to genre fans. Apparently there was not enough nostalgia factor, though, and the show also failed to grab the attention of newer viewers. And the fact that it and Amazing Stories aired against top-rated Murder, She Wrote, while also competing for the genre audience with MacGyver, did not help either. Alfred Hitchcock Presents was off NBC’s schedule by the end of the year, though it would stick around a few more years in syndication.

Knight Rider was in its fourth season and that was a genre TV series that network executives could understand. It had a handsome lead as well as a cool car and lots of action, explosions, and car chases. The show never brought in much in the way of sci fi stories, but it still managed to attract the attention of the genre audience. Its popularity with the Prime Time audience was waning by that point though, and it wrapped up its four-year run at the end of the season.

Of more interest to sci fi fans on NBC that season was Misfits of Science. But that proto-superhero series was certainly out of place on the Prime Time schedule in 1985. The Superman movies were no longer drawing many people to the Box Office and Tim Burton’s Batman was still a few years away from taking over the big screen. Misfits of Science was also an original property and therefore lacked any name recognition. The quality of the episodes also varied widely and it had to contend with ratings-powerhouse Dallas on CBS in the Friday 9 PM EST hour. The show never developed more than a cult audience and was gone from the schedule by the end of the year.

Had the anthology reboot proven more successful, the networks might have been willing to consider adding more sci fi entries to the Prime Time schedule. ABC certainly would have been tempted to reboot The Outer Limits had both Amazing Stories and The Twilight Zone proven to be successful in the Nielsens. But neither show ended the season in the Top 30 and both were off the schedule by the end of the 1986-87 season. Just like when the networks flirted with big budget sci fi in the late ’70s (ABC’s Battlestar: Galactica and NBC’s Buck Rogers in the 25th Century), the viewership proved to be disappointing and both shows disappeared after truncated runs. Genre television would continue to have success in syndication in the ’80s, and Star Trek: The Next Generation would kick that to the next level in 1987 (more on that at this link). But after the failed attempt to reboot the anthology shows, the broadcast networks would once again shy away from sci fi TV.

More Schedule Rewinds At This link

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