A lot happened in the year 1989, including the debut of a TV sitcom in which nothing happened. That show, of course, was Seinfeld, and we’ll be doing a deep dive into this iconic comedy over the coming weeks.
But first, to get a sense of the times and trends that helped shape this series, here’s a quick look at the other notable television programs that premiered in 1989.
Shining Time Station
Shining Time Station is an American children’s television series jointly created by British television producer Britt Allcroft and American television producer Rick Siggelkow. The series was produced by Quality Family Entertainment (the American branch of The Britt Allcroft Company), in association with Catalyst Entertainment in seasons 2 and 3, for New York City’s PBS station WNET, and was originally taped in New York City during its first season and in Toronto during the rest of its run. It incorporated sequences from the British television show Thomas & Friends, which was in turn based on the books of The Railway Series written by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry.
The series aired on PBS from January 29, 1989, until June 11, 1993, with four hour-long “Family Specials” premiering in primetime throughout 1995. Elements from the show were incorporated into the 2000 Thomas and Friends film Thomas and the Magic Railroad. The initial 1989 season featured a cast that included Ringo Starr as Mr. Conductor, Didi Conn as Stacy Jones, Brian O’Connor as Horace Schemer, Leonard Jackson as Harry Cupper, Jason Woliner as Matt Jones and Nicole Leach as Tanya Cupper. The show was retooled for the second (1991) and third (1993) seasons, with only Conn and O’Connor reprising their prior roles. George Carlin replaced Starr as Mr. Conductor, while Erica Luttrell, Ari Magder, Danielle Marcot, and Tom Jackson joined the primary cast in newly created roles.
In addition to the three main seasons, a Christmas special featuring the original cast, aired in 1990, and four “family specials” aired in 1995 featuring the second cast. Providing the musical numbers for the show was “The Jukebox Band”, a group of puppets. In 1996, only Carlin appeared in a spin-off series called Mr. Conductor’s Thomas Tales, which featured only six episodes with five Thomas stories and one Music video each. The station Interior was kept for the spin-off.
Coach
Coach is an American sitcom television series that aired for nine seasons on ABC from February 28, 1989 to May 14, 1997, with a total of 200 half-hour episodes. The series stars Craig T. Nelson as Hayden Fox, head coach of the fictional NCAA Division I-A Minnesota State University Screaming Eagles football team. For the last two seasons, Coach Fox and the supporting characters coached the Orlando Breakers, a fictional National Football League expansion team. The program also starred Jerry Van Dyke as Luther Van Dam and Bill Fagerbakke as Michael “Dauber” Dybinski, assistant coaches under Fox. The role of Hayden’s girlfriend (and later wife) Christine Armstrong, a television news anchor, was played by Shelley Fabares.
Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers
Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers is an American animated adventure comedy television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. Created by Tad Stones and Alan Zaslove, it featured established Disney characters Chip ‘n’ Dale in a new setting. The series premiered on The Disney Channel on March 4, 1989, after the episode “Catteries Not Included” aired on August 27, 1988, as a preview. The series continued in September with a two-hour special, Rescue Rangers: To the Rescue, later divided into five parts to air as part of the weekday run. The final episode aired on November 19, 1990.
On September 18, 1989, the series entered national syndication. It aired afternoons along with and following DuckTales on a network that would become Fox before transferring to a new channel. TaleSpin, a series based on characters from The Jungle Book, was added to the lineup, just before The Disney Afternoon aired on this new channel, following Rescue Rangers. From 1990 to 1993, reruns were aired as a part of The Disney Afternoon. It was syndicated on Toon Disney upon launch in 1998 but was removed a decade later. The entire run became available (as one season) as part of Disney+ as of its launch on November 12, 2019, fully remastered in high definition. The series was initially released on Blu-ray on January 25, 2022, via Disney Movie Club, then everywhere else on February 15, 2022.
Quantum Leap
Quantum Leap is an American science fiction television series, created by Donald P. Bellisario, that premiered on NBC and aired for five seasons, from March 26, 1989, to May 5, 1993. The series stars Scott Bakula as Dr. Sam Beckett, a physicist who involuntarily leaps through spacetime during experiments in time travel, by temporarily taking the place of other people to correct what he consistently discovers were historical mistakes. Dean Stockwell co-stars as Admiral Al Calavicci, Sam’s womanizing, cigar-smoking companion and best friend, who appears to him as a hologram and researches and shapes his opinions of the past. The series features a mix of humor, drama, romance, social commentary, and science fiction. It was ranked number 19 on TV Guide’s “Top Cult Shows Ever” in 2007. A revival series was ordered by NBC, which premiered on September 19, 2022.
The All-New Mickey Mouse Club
Reruns of the original The Mickey Mouse Club began airing on The Disney Channel with the channel’s 1983 launch. While the show was popular with younger audiences, the Disney Channel executives felt it had become dated over the years, particularly as it was aired in black-and-white. Their answer was to create a brand-new version of the club, one targeted at contemporary audiences. Notably, the all-new “club-members” would wear Mouseketeer varsity jackets instead of iconic Mickey Mouse ears. This show was called The All-New Mickey Mouse Club (also known as “MMC” to fans). This version of the series is notable for featuring a number of cast members who went on to achieve global success in music and acting: Ryan Gosling, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, future NSYNC band members Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez, Keri Russell, Deedee Magno, future En Vogue member Rhona Bennett, Nikki DeLoach, and Chase Hampton. Nick Carter was selected to join the program at the age of 12, however, he decided to join the developing boy band, Backstreet Boys.
Throughout the run, Fred Newman was the main adult co-host from the beginning of the series until season 6. In the first season, Newman was joined by other co-host Mowava Pryor. She was then replaced by Terri Eoff from the fourth season until the sixth season. By the show’s final season (1994), two original members Chase Hampton and Tiffini Hale became the co-hosts. This was the first version of the club to have any studio audience, though a moderately small group. Former Mouseketeer Don Grady guest-starred in the season 1 finale. Grady, along with fellow Mouseketeers Annette Funicello, Bobby Burgess, Tommy Cole, Sharon Baird, and Sherry Alberoni were reunited on the 100th episode, during the show’s third season. Funicello later appeared on the show again, in an interview with the Mouseketeer Lindsey Alley.
Saved by the Bell
Saved by the Bell is an American television sitcom created by Sam Bobrick for NBC. The series premiered, in primetime, on August 20, 1989, a Sunday night. Targeted at kids and teens, Saved by the Bell was broadcast in the United States on Saturday mornings, later as the flagship series in NBC’s TNBC lineup. A retooling of the Disney Channel series Good Morning, Miss Bliss, the show follows a group of high school friends and their principal at the fictional Bayside High School in Los Angeles. Primarily focusing on lighthearted comedic situations, it occasionally touches on serious social issues, such as drug use, driving under the influence, homelessness, remarriage, death, women’s rights, and environmental issues. The series starred Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Dustin Diamond, Lark Voorhies, Dennis Haskins, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Elizabeth Berkley, and Mario Lopez.
The series ran for four seasons, airing its final episode, again in primetime, on May 22, 1993, a Saturday night. The show spawned two spin-off series: Saved by the Bell: The College Years (1993–1994), a primetime series that follows several of the characters to college, and Saved by the Bell: The New Class (1993–2000), a Saturday morning series that follows a new group of students at Bayside High School. The series also spawned two TV movies, Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style in 1992 and Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas in 1994. In later years, Saved by the Bell has been classified as educational and informational. The show was named one of the “20 Best School Shows of all Time” by AOL TV.
Doogie Howser, M.D.
Doogie Howser, M.D. is an American medical sitcom that ran for four seasons on ABC from September 19, 1989, to March 24, 1993, totaling 97 episodes. Created by Steven Bochco and David E. Kelley, the show stars Neil Patrick Harris in the title role as a teenage physician who balances the challenge of practicing medicine with the everyday problems of teenage life.
Baywatch
Baywatch is an American action drama television series about lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, and Hawaii, starring David Hasselhoff. It was created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz, and Gregory J. Bonann, who produced the show throughout its 11-season run. The series focuses on both professional and personal challenges faced by the characters, portrayed by a large rotating ensemble cast that notably includes Pamela Anderson, Alexandra Paul, Gregory Alan Williams, Jeremy Jackson, Parker Stevenson, David Chokachi, Billy Warlock, Erika Eleniak, David Charvet, Yasmine Bleeth, and Nicole Eggert.
The show was canceled after its first season on NBC, but survived through syndication and later became the most-watched television series in the world, with a weekly audience of over 1.1 billion viewers despite consistently negative critical reviews, earning it a reputation as a pop cultural phenomenon and frequent source of allusion and parody. The show ran in its original title and format from 1989 to 1999. From 1999 to 2001, with a setting change and large cast overhaul, it was known as Baywatch: Hawaii. It spawned a spin-off series, Baywatch Nights, which aired for two seasons from 1995 to 1997, and a 2017 feature film adaptation.
Family Matters
Family Matters is an American television sitcom that debuted on ABC on September 22, 1989, and ended on May 9, 1997. However it moved to CBS, where it was shown from September 19, 1997, to July 17, 1998. A spin-off of Perfect Strangers, the series revolves around the Winslow family, a middle-class African-American family living in Chicago, Illinois. Midway through the first season, the show introduced the Winslows’ nerdy neighbor Steve Urkel (Jaleel White), who was originally scripted to appear as a one-time character. However, he quickly became the show’s breakout character (and eventually the main character), joining the main cast.
Running for nine seasons, Family Matters became the second-longest-running live action U.S. sitcom with a predominantly African-American cast, behind only The Jeffersons (11 seasons). It aired for 215 episodes, being ranked third, behind only Tyler Perry’s House of Payne (280+ as of 2021), and The Jeffersons (253). Family Matters was the last live-action scripted primetime show that debuted in the 1980s to leave the air; the only scripted show that started in the 1980s and lasted longer in continuous production was The Simpsons.
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional town of Springfield and parodies American culture and society, television, and the human condition. The family was conceived by Groening shortly before a solicitation for a series of animated shorts with producer James L. Brooks. He created a dysfunctional family and named the characters after his own family members, substituting Bart for his own name; he thought Simpson was a funny name in that it sounded similar to “simpleton”. The shorts became a part of The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. After three seasons, the sketch was developed into a half-hour prime time show and became Fox’s first series to land in the Top 30 ratings in a season (1989–1990).
Since its debut on December 17, 1989, more than 750 episodes of the show have been broadcast. It is the longest-running American animated series, longest-running American sitcom, and the longest-running American scripted primetime television series, both in terms of seasons and number of episodes. A feature-length film, The Simpsons Movie, was released in theaters worldwide on July 27, 2007, and grossed over $527 million, with a sequel in development as of 2018. The series has also spawned numerous comic book series, video games, books, and other related media, as well as a billion-dollar merchandising industry. The Simpsons is a joint production by Gracie Films and 20th Television.
The Simpsons received widespread acclaim throughout its early seasons in the 1990s, which are generally considered its “golden age”. Since then, it has been criticized for a perceived decline in quality. Time named it the 20th century’s best television series, and Erik Adams of The A.V. Club named it “television’s crowning achievement regardless of format”. On January 14, 2000, the Simpson family was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It has won dozens of awards since it debuted as a series, including 35 Primetime Emmy Awards, 34 Annie Awards, and 2 Peabody Awards. Homer’s exclamatory catchphrase of “D’oh!” has been adopted into the English language, while The Simpsons has influenced many other later adult-oriented animated sitcom television series.
SCREEN TIME WITH SAM 