She played the role of superficial Mallory Keaton on the television sitcom Family Ties from 1982 to 1989. Mallory was presented as a vacuous airhead, which was fodder for jokes and teasing from her brother Alex (Michael J. Fox). In 1984, Bateman starred on the Tales from the Darkside television series in the episode "Mookie and Pookie." Bateman hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live during its 13th season in 1988. That year, she starred in the lead role of Satisfaction, a film about an all-girl band that also starred Julia Roberts and Liam Neeson. Bateman starred as the lead vocalist and also performed the vocals on the soundtrack.

Bateman made a brief comeback in the 1996-97 NBC sitcom version of the British TV comedy Men Behaving Badly with Rob Schneider and Ron Eldard, but left after a contract dispute. She has appeared in several made-for-TV movies and despite frequent past public declarations she would never do a nude scene, she finally did just that in 2005 in the Show