1984–85 United States network television schedule

The 1984–85 network television schedule for the three major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers primetime hours from September 1984 through August 1985. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1983–84 season.

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

Each of the 30 highest-rated shows released in May 1985 is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research.^[1]

New series are highlighted in bold.

Repeat airings or same-day rebroadcasts are indicated by (R).

All times are U.S. Eastern and Pacific Time (except for some live sports or events). Subtract one hour for Central, Mountain, Alaska and Hawaii–Aleutian times.

Legend

Gray indicates encore programming.
Blue-gray indicates news programming.
Light green indicates sporting events.
Red indicates series being burned off and other regularly scheduled programs, including specials and movies.
highlight Yellow highlights indicates the top-10 most watched programs of the season.
highlight Cyan highlights indicates numbers 11-20 most watched programs of the season.
highlight Magenta highlights indicates numbers 21-30 most watched programs of the season.
highlight Highlights indicates that it falls in multiple of the above categories.

Sunday

Network		7:00 p.m.	7:30 p.m.	8:00 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Ripley's Believe It or Not!		Hardcastle and McCormick	The ABC Sunday Night Movie (21/17.5)
ABC	Late fall	Ripley's Believe It or Not!		The ABC Sunday Night Movie (21/17.5) / Specials / Miniseries
CBS	Fall	60 Minutes (4/22.2)		Murder, She Wrote (8/20.1)	The Jeffersons	Alice	Trapper John, M.D. (29/16.8)
CBS	Winter	60 Minutes (4/22.2)		Murder, She Wrote (8/20.1)	Crazy Like a Fox (10/19.9) (Tied with Falcon Crest)		Trapper John, M.D. (29/16.8)
NBC		Silver Spoons	Punky Brewster	Knight Rider	NBC Sunday Night at the Movies

Note: Beginning December 16, ABC's Sunday schedule between 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. varied, consisting of three-hour broadcasts of The ABC Sunday Night Movie, two-hour broadcasts of The ABC Sunday Night Movie starting at 8:00 p.m. with specials airing at 10:00 p.m., specials airing at 8:00 p.m. followed by a two-hour broadcast of The ABC Sunday Night Movie starting at 9:00 p.m., or miniseries or sports programming during the entire three-hour block.

Monday

Network		8:00 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Call to Glory	Monday Night Football (25/17.0) (Tied with Remington Steele and Webster)
	Late fall	Hardcastle and McCormick
	Winter	Hardcastle and McCormick	The ABC Monday Night Movie
	Summer	Monday Night Baseball
CBS		Scarecrow and Mrs. King (22/17.1) (Tied with TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes and The Fall Guy)	Kate & Allie (17/18.3)	Newhart (16/18.4)	Cagney & Lacey (28/16.9)
NBC		TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes (22/17.1) (Tied with Scarecrow and Mrs. King and The Fall Guy)	NBC Monday Night at the Movies (18/18.2)

Note: On ABC, Street Hawk was supposed to air 8:00-9:00 p.m., but production problems delayed the series' premiere.^[2]

Tuesday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Foul-Ups, Bleeps & Blunders	Three's a Crowd	Paper Dolls		Jessie
	Late fall	Three's a Crowd	Who's the Boss?	Glitter		Paper Dolls
	Winter			MacGruder and Loud		Call to Glory
	Late winter			MacGruder and Loud		Moonlighting
	Summer			Foul-Ups, Bleeps & Blunders	Hail to the Chief	Life's Most Embarrassing Moments
CBS	Fall	AfterMASH	E/R	The CBS Tuesday Night Movie
	Winter	The Jeffersons	Alice
	Spring	The Lucie Arnaz Show	The Jeffersons
	Summer	The Jeffersons	Alice (R)
NBC		The A-Team (6/21.9)		Riptide (14/19.2)		Remington Steele (25/17.0) (Tied with Monday Night Football and Webster)

Wednesday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.
ABC	Fall	The Fall Guy (22/17.1) (Tied with Scarecrow and Mrs. King and TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes)		Dynasty (1/25.0)		Hotel (12/19.7) (Tied with Cheers)
ABC	Summer	Rock 'n' Roll Summer Action		Dynasty (1/25.0)		Hotel (12/19.7) (Tied with Cheers)
CBS	Fall	Charles in Charge	Dreams	The CBS Wednesday Night Movie
	Winter	Charles in Charge	E/R
	Spring	Double Dare
	Summer	I Had Three Wives
NBC	Fall	Highway to Heaven (19/17.7)		The Facts of Life	It's Your Move	St. Elsewhere
	Winter				Sara
	Spring				Double Trouble (R)

Thursday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.
ABC	Fall	People Do the Craziest Things	Who's the Boss?	Glitter		20/20
	Winter	The ABC Thursday Night Movie
	Spring	Wildside		Eye to Eye
	Mid-spring	Who's the Boss?	Mr. Belvedere	Street Hawk
	Summer	The ABC Thursday Night Movie
CBS		Magnum, P.I. (15/19.1)		Simon & Simon (7/21.8)		Knots Landing (9/20.0)
NBC		The Cosby Show (3/24.2)	Family Ties (5/22.1)	Cheers (12/19.7) (Tied with Hotel)	Night Court (20/17.6)	Hill Street Blues (30/16.6)

Friday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Benson	Webster (25/17.0) (Tied with Monday Night Football and Remington Steele)	Hawaiian Heat		Matt Houston
	Winter	Benson		Street Hawk
	Late winter	Webster (25/17.0) (Tied with Monday Night Football and Remington Steele)	Mr. Belvedere	Benson	Off the Rack
	Spring		Mr. Belvedere			Me and Mom
	Summer	The Comedy Factory	Webster (R)			Me and Mom
CBS	Fall	The Dukes of Hazzard		Dallas (2/24.7)		Falcon Crest (10/19.9) (Tied with Crazy Like a Fox)
	Winter	Detective in the House
	Spring	The Dukes of Hazzard (R)
NBC	Fall	V		Hunter		Miami Vice
	Winter	Code Name: Foxfire		V
	Spring	The Best Times		Half Nelson

Saturday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.
ABC		T. J. Hooker		The Love Boat		Finder of Lost Loves
CBS	Fall	Airwolf		Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer		Cover Up
	Winter	Otherworld		Airwolf
	Spring	Charles in Charge	E/R (R)
	Mid-spring	Cover Up				Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer
	Summer	Airwolf (R)		Various programming
NBC	Fall	Diff'rent Strokes	Gimme a Break!	Partners in Crime		Hot Pursuit
	Mid-fall		Double Trouble	Gimme a Break!	Spencer	Partners in Crime
	Winter				It's Your Move	Berrenger's
	Spring				Under One Roof	Hunter
	Summer	Our Time	It's Your Move (R)		Mama's Family (R)
	Mid-summer	Diff'rent Strokes (R)	Our Time		Mama's Family (R)
	Late summer	Gimme a Break! (R)	The Facts of Life (R)		Our Time

By network

ABC

Returning Series

New Series

The ABC Thursday Night Movie
Call to Glory
The Comedy Factory *
Eye to Eye *
Finder of Lost Loves
Glitter
Hail to the Chief *
Hawaiian Heat
Jessie
MacGruder and Loud *
Me and Mom *
Mr. Belvedere *
Moonlighting *
Off the Rack *
Paper Dolls
People Do the Craziest Things
Rock 'n' Roll Summer Action *
Street Hawk *
Three's a Crowd
Who's the Boss?
Wildside *

Not returning from 1983–84:

CBS

Returning Series

New Series

Not returning from 1983–84:

NBC

Returning Series

New Series

Not returning from 1983–84:

Bay City Blues
Boone
Buffalo Bill
Comedy Zone
The Duck Factory
First Camera
For Love and Honor
Jennifer Slept Here
Legmen
Mama's Family
Manimal
The Master
Mr. Smith
The New Show
People Are Funny
Real People
The Rousters
Summer Sunday U.S.A.
We Got It Made
The Yellow Rose

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

References

^ 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.
^ "In Brief" (PDF). Broadcasting. September 3, 1984. p. 88. Retrieved November 20, 2023.

[BM2-1] 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] "In Brief" (PDF). Broadcasting. September 3, 1984. p. 88. Retrieved November 20, 2023.

[1]

[2]