Instead, Schlatter turned to TV. In 1990, he was tapped to embody the wise-cracking high school student "Ferris Bueller" in the short-lived NBC sitcom based on the hit movie starring Matthew Broderick. The same year, Schlatter's distinctive, if a bit squeaky, voice was first utilized for animated character work with "Captain Planet" (TNT). He later lent his vocals to the role of the tadpole in "Fish Police" (CBS, 1992). Additionally, the actor has appeared in a handful of TV-movies ranging from the comedy "Stormy Weathers" (ABC, 1992), opposite Cybill Shepherd, and the actioner "Sunset Heat" (HBO, 1992), alongside Dennis Hopper. When it seemed that Schlatter would be relegated to the "whatever happened to" file, he was cast in 1995 as Dr Jesse Travis, the sidekick to Van Dyke's Dr Mark Sloan on "Diagnosis Murder".