What was the origional FOX lineup?
 

I vaguely remember Beans Baxter, Married w. Children and Tracy Ullman. What was the FOX origional lineup, and could we get a brief description of each show?

Was Beans Baxter one of the originals? I didn't think so...

Duet was, though... right?

Found it:

21 Jump Street
Married...With Children
Duet
Mr. President
The Tracey Ullman Show

This was the basic line up on Sunday from April-July 1987, give or take a bit of tweaking.

In July, they added a 2nd night (Saturday) with:

Down And Out In Beverly Hills
The New Adventures Of Beans Baxter
Werewolf
Karen's Song

All the details: http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~a...987to1990.html

They started with Married with Children and Tracy Ullman in April of 1987. A week later, they added 21 Jump Street.

Then they added (over the next few weeks):

• Duet, which was a romantic comedy that eventually morphed into Open House (workplace comedy set in a real-estate agency)
• Down and Out in Beverly Hills, a sitcom based on the Nick Nolte/Richard Drefus/Bette Midler movie
• Mr. President, a sitcom starring George C. Scott and Madeline Kahn as the President and First Lady, and Conrad ("Mr. Drummond") Bain as the VP.
• New Adventures of Beans Baxter, a sitcom about a teenager who learns his dad was a spy and becomes a spy himself
• Werewolf, a drama about ... well, a werewolf
• Karen's Song, a sitcom starring Patty Duke and a then-unknown Teri Hatcher about a 40-something divorcee dating a 20-something guy

That lineup continued during the summer; in the fall of 1987, they added two more shows:

• Second Chance, a sitcom starring a then unknown Matthew Perry about a guy who dies about 30-years in the future. He's too good for Hell and too bad for Heaven, so they send him back to 1987 to serve as a guardian angel for his teenaged-self (played by Perry). Later, they wrote out the guardian angel and turned it into Boys Will Be Boys
• Women In Prison, a sitcom whose title pretty much says it all.

In the spring of 1988, they added America's Most Wanted, It's Garry Shandling's Show, and Family Double Dare.

That more or less takes us through the first year of Fox.

I still miss Beans Baxter. Kurtwood Smith is the bomb, yo.

What are the odds of that guy ever getting a gig on Fox again?

'It's Garry Shandling's Show' was hilarious!

How many of you actualy could get Fox back then?

About the same as the odds of me putting my foot in your ass!

Duet wasn't half bad.

Herman's Head is still a classic to this day!

I remember when they started doing weekdays, it was Alien Nation, Monday Nights at 9pm.

They had some other good stuff in their early years like "Parker Lewis Can't Lose," which was clearly inspired by the Ferris Beuler movie. Yet when Ferris had its own spin-off show on NBC, it flopped. Go figure.

Alas, most of what Fox had on back then is better than most of the drivel they have today.

21 Jump Street. Man, I miss that show. :) Watched every episode - and drooled over Johnny Depp for years - and then they added Richard Grieco, in case one really hot guy wasn't enough. Wasn't until Buffy (with Angel and Spike) that two such hot guys were on one show. Will definitely pick up 21 Jump Street when it comes out on dvd.

So does anyone know what year Fox aired the Ben Stiller show?

I remember when Fox was on channel 50(if I remember right) in Detroit many moons ago. I think CBS was on channel 2 back then.

now Fox is on 2 and CBS is on 15.

of course this is/was on Comcast.

So then it must be soon after the end of that page's schedule (Jan 1990) that Fox started broadcasting during the week, since The Simpsons started around that time on Thursday nights. And weren't Martin and Living Single also on Thursday nights at that time? Also I think that was around when In Living Color started as well.

But then I'm moving a bit too far forward from the original lineup. :)

For some reason, one of my favorite Satruday Night Live bits was the time on Weekend Update when Dennis Miller put up pictures of Depp and Grieco on screen, and started shouting:

Depp!
Grieco!
Depp and Grieco!
Grieco and Depp!
Depp and Grieco!
Grieco!
Depp!
Depp and Grieco!

Do you remember Grieco's 21 Jump Street spinoff: Booker?

Whatever happened to Grieco, anyway?

1992-1993

In answer to another poster, the Simpsons started with a Christmas Special in December of 1989 and became a regular series in the spring of 1990.

In Living Color also started in the spring of 1990; Parker Lewis started in the fall of 1990; Martin started during the 1992-1993 season (it had an August debut); and Living Single started during the 1993-1994 season (also with an August debut).

The other early Fox successes nobody has mentioned yet were Beverly Hills 90210 (debuted in the fall of 1990) and Cops (debuted in March of 1989).

What about Parker Lewis Can't Lose...I loved that show.

oh and the simpsons started on sunday at 8 for season 1, and then went to thursday seasons 2-3 to go up against the cosby show (learned that through the commentaries.

I still miss Bakersfield, P.D. :(

Parker Lewis was great too, although I became a fan when it was on USA (I think?) in the mid-90s. Too late to save it on Fox.

Both of these should be prime candidates for DVD. They could put the entire series on just a few DVDs.

Just to nitpick, the Simpsons actually started as a recurring short on The Tracy Ulman Show.

If you count the stint on the Tracy Ullman Show, The Simpsons is the only show that has been on for the entire life of the network. (any network?)

D

Miller's bit ended with the line "You know, I'm the furthest thing from gay, but those two boys...are HOT!"

And I loved Booker. What a fun show. I have one episode on VHS somewhere (with special guest star Ben Vereen) but I have no idea where. I would definitely buy a box set of its one season.

I did. I didn't watch Married with Children, but I watched literally everything else in those early days. It was definitely on in April 1987 (I remember, sadly, being excited about the impending debut of Down and Out in Beverly Hills), so I'd imagine it was on from the first day.