1977–78 United States network television schedule: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Latest revision as of 09:09, 1 August 2024

The following is the 1977–78 network television schedule for the three major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1977 through August 1978. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1976–77 season. All times are Eastern and Pacific, with certain exceptions, such as Monday Night Football.

New fall series are highlighted in bold. Series ending their original runs are in italics.

Each of the 30 highest-rated shows is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research.^[1]

Yellow indicates the programs in the top 10 for the season.

Cyan indicates the programs in the top 20 for the season.

Magenta indicates the programs in the top 30 for the season.

PBS, the Public Broadcasting Service, was in operation, but the schedule was set by each local station. On ABC, debuting news brief, airs all seven nights at 9:58, pm.

Sunday

Network		7:00 PM	8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM
ABC	Fall	The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries	The Six Million Dollar Man		The ABC Sunday Night Movie (20/20.8) (Tied with The Waltons)
ABC	Winter	The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries	How the West Was Won (11/22.5)
CBS	Fall	60 Minutes (4/24.4) (Tied with Charlie's Angels and All in the Family)	Rhoda (25/20.1)	On Our Own (29/19.6)	All in the Family (4/24.4) (Tied with 60 Minutes and Charlie's Angels)	Alice (8/23.2) (Tied with MASH*)	Kojak
	December						The Carol Burnett Show
	Spring						Dallas
	Summer						Switch
NBC	Fall	The Wonderful World of Disney			The Big Event (30/19.4)
NBC	Winter	The Wonderful World of Disney	Project U.F.O. (19/21.2)		The Big Event (30/19.4)

NOTE: On NBC, Off the Wall and C.P.O. Sharkey were supposed to air at 8:00-9:00 p.m., but the former was canceled before it aired due to action by Universal Television, the show's producer.^[2]^[3]

Monday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM
ABC	Fall	The San Pedro Beach Bums		ABC NFL Monday Night Football (16/21.5)
	Winter	Lucan		The ABC Monday Night Movie (24/20.3)
	Follow-up	The Six Million Dollar Man		The ABC Monday Night Movie (24/20.3)
	Spring	Sugar Time!	Monday Night Baseball
CBS	Fall	Young Dan'l Boone		The Betty White Show	Maude	Rafferty
	Follow-up	Logan's Run		MASH* (8/23.2) (Tied with Alice)	One Day at a Time (10/23.0)	Switch
	Winter	Logan's Run				Lou Grant
	Follow-up	Good Times	Baby I'm Back
	Summer	The Jeffersons	Good Times
NBC		Little House on the Prairie (7/24.1)		NBC Monday Night at the Movies (15/21.7)

Tuesday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM
ABC	Fall	Happy Days (2/31.4)	Laverne & Shirley (1/31.6)	Three's Company (3/28.3)	Soap (13/22.0)	Family (26/19.9) (Tied with The Incredible Hulk and Welcome Back, Kotter)
	Spring				Soap (13/22.0)	Having Babies
	Follow-up				The Harvey Korman Show	Having Babies
	Summer				Carter Country	20/20
CBS	Fall	The Fitzpatricks		MASH* (8/23.2) (Tied with Alice)	One Day at a Time (10/23.0)	Lou Grant
	Winter	Celebrity Challenge of the Sexes	The Shields and Yarnell Show	CBS Tuesday Night Movie
	Spring	Sam	The Shields and Yarnell Show	CBS Tuesday Night Movie
NBC	Fall	The Richard Pryor Show		Man from Atlantis		Police Woman
	Follow-up	Man from Atlantis		Mulligan's Stew		Police Woman
	Winter	Chuck Barris Rah Rah Show		Event and miniseries programming
	Spring	Rollergirls	Joe & Valerie	Event and miniseries programming

Wednesday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	10:00 PM
ABC	Fall	Eight Is Enough (12/22.2)		Charlie's Angels (4/24.4) (Tied with 60 Minutes and All in the Family)	Baretta
ABC	Winter	Eight Is Enough (12/22.2)			Starsky & Hutch
CBS	Fall	Good Times	Busting Loose	The CBS Wednesday Night Movies
	Follow-up	Good Times	Szysznyk
	Spring	The Amazing Spider-Man
NBC	Fall	The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams		The Oregon Trail	Big Hawaii
	Follow-up			The Black Sheep Squadron	Police Woman
	Summer			Headliners With David Frost	Police Woman

Thursday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM
ABC	Fall	Welcome Back, Kotter (26/19.9) (Tied with The Incredible Hulk and Family)	What's Happening!!	Barney Miller (17/21.4) (Tied with Fantasy Island)	Carter Country	The Redd Foxx Comedy Hour
	Winter		Fish		Carter Country	Baretta
	Spring		Fish		A.E.S. Hudson Street	Baretta
CBS		The Waltons (20/20.8) (Tied with The ABC Sunday Night Movie)		Hawaii Five-O (23/20.4)		Barnaby Jones (22/20.6)
NBC	Fall	CHiPs		Man from Atlantis		Rosetti and Ryan
	November			James at 15		What Really Happened to the Class of '65?
	February			James at 16
	March			The Black Sheep Squadron
	Spring	The Hanna-Barbera Happy Hour		The Runaways		Police Woman
	May	CHiPs		James at 16		Police Woman

Friday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	10:00 PM
ABC		Donny & Marie		The ABC Friday Night Movie
CBS	Fall	The New Adventures of Wonder Woman		Logan's Run	Switch!
	Follow-up			The CBS Friday Night Movie
	Winter			The Incredible Hulk (26/19.9) (Tied with Family and Welcome Back, Kotter)	Husbands, Wives & Lovers
NBC	Fall	Sanford Arms	Chico and the Man	The Rockford Files	Quincy, M.E.
	October	C.P.O. Sharkey	Chico and the Man
	Winter	Quark	C.P.O. Sharkey
	Spring			Richie Brockelman, Private Eye
	April			The Rockford Files
	Summer	C.P.O. Sharkey	Chico and the Man	The Rockford Files

Saturday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM
ABC	Fall	Fish	Operation Petticoat	Starsky & Hutch		The Love Boat (14/21.9)
	November	Tabitha		Starsky & Hutch		The Love Boat (14/21.9)
	Winter	What's Happening!!		The Love Boat (14/21.9)		Fantasy Island (17/21.4) (Tied with Barney Miller)
	Spring	Mel & Susan Together
	June	Free Country	ABC Comedy Special
	Summer	Family
CBS	Fall	The Bob Newhart Show	We've Got Each Other	The Jeffersons	The Tony Randall Show	The Carol Burnett Show
	Winter	The Bob Newhart Show	The Tony Randall Show	The Jeffersons	Maude	Kojak
	Spring	The Jeffersons	The Ted Knight Show	Another Day	Maude	Kojak
NBC		The Bionic Woman		NBC Saturday Night at the Movies

By network

ABC

Returning Series

New Series

20/20
A.E.S. Hudson Street *
Carter Country
Fantasy Island *
Free Country *
The Harvey Korman Show *
Having Babies *
The Love Boat
Lucan
Mel & Susan Together *
Operation Petticoat
The Redd Foxx Comedy Hour *
The San Pedro Beach Bums
Soap
Tabitha

Not returning from 1976–77:

CBS

Returning Series

60 Minutes
Alice
All in the Family
Barnaby Jones
The Bob Newhart Show
Busting Loose
The Carol Burnett Show
Good Times
Hawaii Five-O
The Jeffersons
Kojak
M*A*S*H
Maude
The New Adventures of Wonder Woman (moved from ABC)
One Day at a Time
Rhoda
The Shields and Yarnell Show
Switch
Szysznyk
The Tony Randall Show (moved from ABC)
The Waltons

New Series

Not returning from 1976–77:

All's Fair
The Andros Targets
Ball Four
The Blue Knight
Code R
Delvecchio
The Diahann Carroll Show
Doc
Executive Suite
Hunter
The Jacksons
The Keane Brothers Show
Loves Me, Loves Me Not
The Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr. Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Nashville 99
Phyllis
Spencer's Pilots
The Sonny and Cher Show
Starland Vocal Band Show
The Tony Orlando and Dawn Rainbow Hour
Who's Who
A Year at the Top

NBC

Returning Series

New Series

Big Hawaii
CHiPs
Chuck Barris Rah Rah Show *
The Hanna-Barbera Happy Hour *
James at 15
Joe & Valerie *
Man from Atlantis
Mulligan's Stew *
The Oregon Trail
Project U.F.O. *
Quark
The Richard Pryor Show
Richie Brockelman, Private Eye *
Rollergirls *
Rosetti and Ryan
The Runaways *
Sanford Arms
What Really Happened to the Class of '65? *

Not returning from 1976–77:

3 Girls 3
Comedy Time
Emergency!
The Fantastic Journey
Gemini Man
Gibbsville
The Kallikaks
Kingston: Confidential
Lanigan's Rabbi
McCloud
The McLean Stevenson Show
McMillan & Wife
NBC's Best Sellers
The NBC Sunday Mystery Movie
Police Story
The Practice
The Quest
Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected
Sanford and Son
Serpico
Sirota's Court
Van Dyke and Company

Note: The * indicates that the program was introduced in midseason.

References

^ Highest-rated series is based on the annual top-rated programs list compiled by Nielsen Media Research and reported in: Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (2007). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows (9th ed.). New York: Ballantine. ISBN 978-0-345-49773-4.
^ "Fall line-ups now complete; emphasis is on comedy and specials" (PDF). Broadcasting. May 9, 1977. p. 28. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
^ "In Brief" (PDF). Broadcasting. June 13, 1977. p. 33. Retrieved November 8, 2023.

Additional sources

Castleman, H. & Podrazik, W. (1982). Watching TV: Four Decades of American Television. New York: McGraw-Hill. 314 pp.
McNeil, Alex. Total Television. Fourth edition. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-024916-8.
Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (1985). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows (3rd ed.). New York: Ballantine. ISBN 0-345-31864-1.

[BM2-1] Highest-rated series is based on the annual top-rated programs list compiled by Nielsen Media Research and reported in: Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (2007). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows (9th ed.). New York: Ballantine. ISBN 978-0-345-49773-4.

[2] "Fall line-ups now complete; emphasis is on comedy and specials" (PDF). Broadcasting. May 9, 1977. p. 28. Retrieved November 8, 2023.

[3] "In Brief" (PDF). Broadcasting. June 13, 1977. p. 33. Retrieved November 8, 2023.

[1]

[2]

[3]

@@ Line 62: / Line 62: @@
 | bgcolor="#00FFFF" colspan="2" | '''''[[Project U.F.O.]]''''' (19/21.2)
 |}
-'''NOTE''': On NBC, ''Off the Wall'' and ''[[C.P.O. Sharkey]]'' were supposed to air 8:00-9:00 p.m., but the former show was cancelled due to action by Universal Television, the show's producer before it ever begin.<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 9, 1977 |title=Fall line-ups now complete; emphasis is on comedy and specials |pages=28 |work=[[Broadcasting & Cable|Broadcasting]] |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/77-OCR/BC-1977-05-09-OCR-Page-0028.pdf |access-date=November 8, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=June 13, 1977 |title=In Brief |pages=33 |work=[[Broadcasting & Cable|Broadcasting]] |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/77-OCR/BC-1977-06-13-OCR-Page-0033.pdf |access-date=November 8, 2023}}</ref>
+'''NOTE''': On NBC, ''Off the Wall'' and ''[[C.P.O. Sharkey]]'' were supposed to air at 8:00-9:00 p.m., but the former was canceled before it aired due to action by [[Universal Television]], the show's producer.<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 9, 1977 |title=Fall line-ups now complete; emphasis is on comedy and specials |pages=28 |work=[[Broadcasting & Cable|Broadcasting]] |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/77-OCR/BC-1977-05-09-OCR-Page-0028.pdf |access-date=November 8, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=June 13, 1977 |title=In Brief |pages=33 |work=[[Broadcasting & Cable|Broadcasting]] |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/77-OCR/BC-1977-06-13-OCR-Page-0033.pdf |access-date=November 8, 2023}}</ref>
 == Monday ==
@@ Line 405: / Line 405: @@
 {{col-3}}
 '''Returning Series'''
-*''[[The ABC Sunday Night Movie]]''
+*''The ABC Friday Night Movie''
+*''The ABC Monday Night Movie''
 *''[[ABC NFL Monday Night Football]]''
+*''[[The ABC Sunday Night Movie]]''
 *''[[Baretta]]''
 *''[[Barney Miller]]''
@@ Line 446: / Line 448: @@
 {{col-3}}
 '''Not returning from [[1976–77 United States network television schedule|1976–77]]:'''
+*''The ABC Tuesday Night Movie''
 *''[[The Bionic Woman]]'' (moved to NBC)
 *''[[Blansky's Beauties]]''
@@ Line 501: / Line 504: @@
 *'''''[[Husbands, Wives & Lovers]]''''' *
 *'''''[[The Incredible Hulk (1978 TV series)|The Incredible Hulk]]''''' *
-*'''''[[Logan's Run (TV series)|Logan's Run]]''
+*'''''[[Logan's Run (TV series)|Logan's Run]]'''''
 *'''''[[Lou Grant (TV series)|Lou Grant]]'''''
 *'''''[[On Our Own (1977 TV series)|On Our Own]]'''''
@@ Line 581: / Line 584: @@
 '''Not returning from [[1976–77 United States network television schedule|1976–77]]:'''
 *''[[3 Girls 3]]''
+*''[[Comedy Time]]''
 *''[[Emergency!]]''
 *''[[The Fantastic Journey]]''