Editing 1988 in American television (section)

===Debuting this year===

The following is a list of shows that premiered in 1988.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Date
! Title
! Network
|-
| January 2
| ''[[High Mountain Rangers]]'' 
|rowspan="2"|[[CBS]]
|-
|rowspan="2"|January 4
| ''[[Blackout (game show)|Blackout]]'' 
|-
| ''[[The World of David the Gnome]]''
| [[Nick Jr.]]
|-
| January 11
| ''[[T. and T.]]''
| [[Broadcast syndication|Syndication]]
|-
| January 15
| ''[[The Thorns (TV series)|The Thorns]]''
| [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
|-
| January 17
| ''[[The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh]]'' 
|[[Disney Channel|The Disney Channel]] and [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
|-
| January 18
| ''[[Home (1988 TV series)|Home]]''
| [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
|-
| January 19
| ''[[48 Hours (TV series)|48 Hours]]'' 
|[[CBS]]
|-
| January 31
| ''[[The Wonder Years]]'' 
|[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
|-
| February 6
| ''[[Count Duckula]]''
|[[Nickelodeon]]
|-
| February 7
| ''[[America's Most Wanted]]'' 
|[[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]]
|-
| February 29
| ''[[Day by Day (American TV series)|Day by Day]]'' 
|rowspan="2"|[[NBC]]
|-
|rowspan="2"| March 6
| ''[[In the Heat of the Night (TV series)|In the Heat of the Night]]'' 
|-
| ''[[Supercarrier (TV series)|Supercarrier]]'' 
|rowspan="2"|[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
|-
| March 7
| ''[[Probe (1988 TV series)|Probe]]'' 
|-
| March 9
| ''[[Aaron's Way]]'' 
|[[NBC]]
|-
| March 14
| ''[[Eisenhower and Lutz]]'' 
|rowspan="3"|[[CBS]]
|-
|rowspan="2"| March 15
| ''[[Coming of Age (1988 TV series)|Coming of Age]]'' 
|-
| ''[[Trial and Error (TV series)|Trial and Error]]'' 
|-
| March 23
| ''[[HeartBeat (1988 TV series)|HeartBeat]]''
|[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
|-
| April 1
| ''[[Denver, the Last Dinosaur]]''
|[[Syndication (television)|Syndication]]
|-
| April 6
| ''[[Just in Time (TV series)|Just in Time]]'' 
|rowspan="3"|[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
|-
|rowspan="2"| April 26
| ''[[China Beach]]'' 
|-
| ''[[Just the Ten of Us]]'' 
|-
| May 8
| ''[[Something Is Out There]]''
|[[NBC]]
|-
| June 13
| ''[[Blue Skies (1988 TV series)|Blue Skies]]''
|[[CBS]]
|-
| July 1
| ''[[Don't Just Sit There]]''
|[[Nickelodeon]]
|-
| August 6
| ''[[Yo! MTV Raps]]'' 
|[[MTV]]
|-
| August 22
| ''[[Later (talk show)|Later with Bob Costas]]''
|[[NBC]]
|-
| August 27
|''[[Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (TV series)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]''
|[[Disney Channel]]
|-
| September 3
| ''[[Kids' Court]]''
|[[Nickelodeon]]
|-
|rowspan="2"| September 5
| ''[[Fun House (American game show)|Fun House]]''
|rowspan="2"|[[Syndication (television)|Syndication]]
|-
| ''[[Relatively Speaking (game show)|Relatively Speaking]]''
|-
|rowspan="7"| September 10
| ''[[A Pup Named Scooby-Doo]]'' 
|rowspan="2"|[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
|-
| ''[[The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil]]''
|-
| ''[[ALF Tales]]'' 
|rowspan="3"|[[NBC]]
|-
| ''[[Baby Boom (American TV series)|Baby Boom]]'' 
|-
| ''[[The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley]]'' 
|-
| ''[[Beyond Tomorrow (TV series)|Beyond Tomorrow]]''
|[[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]]
|-
| ''[[Police Academy (TV series)|Police Academy]]''
|rowspan="4"|[[Syndication (television)|Syndication]]
|-
|rowspan="3"| September 12
| ''[[Sweethearts (American game show)|Sweethearts]]''
|-
| ''[[USA Today#USA Today: The Television Show|USA Today: The Television Series]]''
|-
| ''[[Wipeout (1988 American game show)|Wipeout]]''
|-
|rowspan="5"| September 17
| ''[[Katts and Dog|Rin Tin Tin: K-9 Cop]]''
|[[Freeform (TV channel)|CBN Family Channel]]
|-
| ''[[Garfield and Friends]]'' 
|rowspan="3"|[[CBS]]
|-
| ''[[Hey Vern, It's Ernest!]]'' 
|-
| ''[[Superman (TV series)|Superman]]'' 
|-
| ''[[Fantastic Max]]''
| [[Broadcast syndication|Syndication]]
|-
| September 19
| ''[[C.O.P.S.]]''
|rowspan="3"|[[Syndication (television)|Syndication]]
|-
| October 1
| ''[[Monsters (American TV series)|Monsters]]'' 
|-
| October 2
| ''[[Marvel Action Universe]]'' 
|-
|rowspan="2"| October 4
| ''[[The American Experience]]'' 
|[[PBS]]
|-
| ''[[High Risk (TV series)|High Risk]]'' 
|[[CBS]]
|-
| October 6
| ''[[Dear John (American TV series)|Dear John]]'' 
|rowspan="2"|[[NBC]]
|-
| rowspan="4" | October 8
| ''[[Empty Nest]]'' 
|-
| ''[[Freddy's Nightmares]]''
| rowspan="4" |[[Syndication (television)|Syndication]]
|-
| ''[[The Munsters Today]]''
|-
| ''[[Superboy (TV series)|Superboy]]''
|-
| October 10
| ''[[War of the Worlds (1988 TV series)|War of the Worlds]]'' 
|-
| October 15
| ''[[Capital Gang]]''
|[[CNN]]
|-
| October 18
| ''[[Roseanne (TV series)|Roseanne]]'' 
|[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
|-
| October 23
| ''[[Mission: Impossible (1988 TV series)|Mission: Impossible]]'' 
|[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
|-
| October 25
| ''[[Midnight Caller]]'' 
|rowspan="2"|[[NBC]]
|-
|rowspan="3"| October 26
| ''[[Tattingers]]'' 
|-
| ''[[Annie McGuire (TV series)|Annie McGuire]]'' 
|rowspan="4"|[[CBS]]
|-
| ''[[The Van Dyke Show]]'' 
|-
| October 27
| ''[[Paradise (American TV series)|Paradise]]'' 
|-
| October 29
| ''[[Dirty Dancing (1988 TV series)|Dirty Dancing]]'' 
|-
| November 2
| ''[[Murphy's Law (American TV series)|Murphy's Law]]'' 
|[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
|-
| November 5
| ''[[Raising Miranda]]'' 
|[[CBS]]
|-
| November 11
| ''[[Knightwatch]]'' 
|[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
|-
| November 14
| ''[[Murphy Brown]]'' 
|[[CBS]]
|-
| November 24
| ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' 
|[[WUCW|KTMA-TV]]
|-
| November 27
| ''[[Almost Grown (TV series)|Almost Grown]]'' 
|rowspan="2"|[[CBS]]
|-
| November 29
| ''[[TV 101]]'' 
|-
| November 30
| ''[[Good Morning, Miss Bliss]]'' 
|[[Disney Channel]]
|}