1986 Fall TV Season Sneak Peek

Here's a blast from the past.

The major networks have announced their new fall season. I've watched previews of many of the new shows on the internet, and I'm interested in many of the shows. In fact, I don't know when I've been interested in so many new shows in a long time. (That's another post for another day.)

Thinking about the 2016 fall season, I thought it would be fun to take a look at another fall season, more specifically the 1986 TV season - 30 years ago.

When I was young, I never knew what new TV series were making their debut in the fall until the Fall Season TV Guide issue came out, usually a few weeks before the new season started. I was always excited to see what shows would make their debut that year, and wonder which shows would become hits and which ones would fade into that black hole of canceled shows no one would remember in years to come.

In those days there was no internet where you could watch preview of the pilots. You only had a synopsis of each series with a picture of the main characters. From those few sentences, and one picture, I would decide which shows I would be willing to take a chance on.

Here is a list of the shows that started 30 years ago, the fall of 1986, See how many of these shows sound familiar to you (these were only on the three major networks: ABC, CBS and NBC):

• Valerie (with Valerie Harper and Jason Bateman)
• Perfect Strangers (with Bronson Pinchot and mark Linn-Baker)
• You Again? (with Jack Klugman and John Stamos)
• The Heart of the City (with Christina Applegate)
• Life with Lucy (with Lucille Ball, who else?)
• Downtown (with Mariska Hargitay and Robert Englund)
• The Ellen Burstyn Show (with Ellen Burstyn, Elaine Strich and Megan Mullaly)
• Amen (with Sherman Hemsley and Clifton Davis)
• Our House (with Wilford Brimley, Deidre Hall, Shannen Doherty and Chad Allen)
• Easy Street (Jack Elam and Loni Anderson)
• Alf (with Alf)
• My Sister Sam (with Pam Dawber and Rebecca Schaeffer)
• Designing Women (with Delta Burke, Jean Smart, Dixie Carter and Annie Potts)
• The Wizard
• Matlock (with Andy Griffith)
• Crime Story
• Jack and Mike (with Shelley Hack)
• Together We Stand (with Elliot Gould and Dee Wallace)
• Head of the Class (with Howard Hesseman)
• Better Days (with Raphael Sbarge)
• Kay O'Brien 
• Side Kicks (with Gil Gerard)
• Sledge Hammer!
• Starman (with Robert Hays)
• L.A. Law (with Jimmy Smits, Harry Hamlin, Corbin Bernsen and Jill Eikenberry)

As with any new TV season, a few shows were renewed after their first season, a few had a good run before being canceled, a few are still in syndication, and the majority of them have been lost in obscurity.

Do you remember watching any of these shows? Did any of them become a favorite?