The Fox TV Network: The Early Days

[Faulkner]

The sad news about Luke Perry’s death made me a bit nostalgic about the early days of Fox, which I watched more than any broadcast network as a kid. I’m sure that’s true for a lot of late GenXers and early millennials, who watched Married... with Children, The Tracey Ullman Show, In Living Color, The Simpsons, Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, Alien Nation, Cops, and later series like Martin, Living Single, BH90210, and Melrose Place. I thought it might be fun to remember some off-the-beaten-path series that don’t get a lot of love these days. Like, for instance, Herman’s Head.

 

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[SFK]

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[Soaplovers]

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[DRW50]

I loved early Fox. Duet, Married With Children, Tracey Ullman Show...I even tried to watch that Rosie O'Donnell and Fran Drescher sitcom. Then a few years later, In Living Color. 

 

It's mostly been [!@#$%^&*] for about 25 years now.

[Bright Eyes]

Not early Fox, but I did love short term shows Tru Calling and Point Pleasant. 

[juniorz1]

I LOVED Herman's Head- was just talking about it recently in fact.   Another gem of early FOX days- Get A Life! with Chris Elliot.   That sitcom embodied his odd sense of humor more than anything else he's ever done.  I remember he used to die at the end of every episode, at least in the early eps.

 

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The BABES intro was another fave of mine.  So tasteless.  So FOX.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ssgOyL0JLM

Edited March 5, 2019 by juniorz1

[Gray Bunny]

Sunday nights on FOX... I remember it well. Wasn't that their only night when they first started out in '87? 

 

I liked Herman's Head. I loved when Maureen McCormick guest-starred.... good Christ, I forgot about Babes, LOL. 

 

90210 really helped broaden their weeknight broadcasts. I think when 90210 moved to Wednesdays, that was the first time they included Wednesday as an offering to their affiliates. 

 

Parker Lewis Can't Lose, Drexel's Class (starring Dabney Coleman) ... ah memories of my childhood. Of course, Married... with Children, Simpsons, Tracey Ullman, Duet, Open House, etc. 

 

FOX gave me my Must-See-TV growing up, with 90210 and Melrose Place, along with Party of Five, Models Inc., etc. 

[victoria foxton]

I remember 21 Jump Street starting at 7 pm.  Early Fox did have a nice menagerie of different shows. Adding something new to primetime tv of that era.  I fondly remember all those shows you guys have mentioned.  I remember everyone at my school. Taking about 90210 the next day.

Edited March 5, 2019 by victoria foxton

[BetterForgotten]

The X-Files was their first top 15 ratings hit, I believe, and after that you could just see what little respect or regard they had for the early years of the network. It was weird. 

[SoapDope]

Another early show I remember. It was like Friends before Friends.

 

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[Khan]

Early FOX was a repository of truly bizarre series.  Anyone else remember "Whoops!" or "Good Grief"?

[victoria foxton]

Anyone remember Téa Leoni's Flying Blind?  

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[SoapDope]

There was also that talk show spoof Nigh Stand with Dick Dietrich (played by Timothy Stack). He would always accidentally say something off color or that had sexual innuendo and the audience would laugh and he would say " No people No", That's not what I meant. 

 

 

 

[Faulkner]

There was Garry Shandling’s pre-Larry Sanders show, which is probably now best remembered for Gilda Radner’s appearance.

 

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I loved Get A Life! For me, it’s still his best work.

 

And, of course, Roc, which seems largely forgotten but was consistently a huge show among black viewers.

 

 

The later intro, which featured the En Vogue-performed theme, was so ‘90s.

 

 

[Soaplovers]

Here is another interesting show in the early 90s...

 

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