1971–72 United States network television schedule
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This was the television schedule on all three United States television networks for the fall season beginning in September 1971. All times are Eastern and Pacific, with a few exceptions, such as Monday Night Football. This season would be the first time the prime time schedule would be shortened to three hours (with the exception of Sunday and Tuesday), giving the 7:30 p.m. slot back to local stations, as implemented in the Prime Time Access Rule.
New fall series are highlighted in bold.
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.
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) was in operation, but the schedule was set by each local station.
Sunday
| Network | 7:30 PM | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Local | The F.B.I. (17/22.4) | The ABC Sunday Night Movie (26/20.8) | |||||
| CBS | Fall | The CBS Sunday Night Movies | Cade's County | Local | ||||
| Summer | The Life of Leonardo da Vinci | |||||||
| NBC | The Wonderful World of Disney (19/22.0) | The Jimmy Stewart Show | Bonanza (20/21.9) | The Bold Ones: The New Doctors / The Lawyers | ||||
60 Minutes aired at 6:00-7:00 pm on CBS from January to June 1972.
Monday
| Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | Nanny and the Professor | Local | ABC NFL Monday Night Football (25/20.9) | |||
| Winter | Monday Night Special | The ABC Monday Night Movie | |||||
| CBS | Fall | Gunsmoke (4/26.0) | Here's Lucy (10/23.7) | The Doris Day Show (23/21.2) | My Three Sons | Arnie | |
| Winter | The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour (27/20.2) | ||||||
| NBC | Fall | Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (22/21.4) | NBC Monday Night at the Movies | ||||
| Summer | The Baseball World of Joe Garagiola (8:00) / Monday Night Baseball (8:15) | ||||||
Tuesday
| Network | 7:30 PM | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | The Mod Squad (21/21.5) | Movie of the Week (5/25.6) | Marcus Welby, M.D. (3/27.8) | |||||
| CBS | Fall | The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour | Hawaii Five-O (12/23.6) | Cannon (28/19.8) | Local | |||
| Summer | The Jerry Reed When You're Hot You're Hot Hour | |||||||
| Follow-up | The John Byner Comedy Hour | |||||||
| NBC | Fall | Ironside (15/23.0) | Sarge | The Funny Side | Local | |||
| Follow-up | Sarge | The Funny Side | Nichols | |||||
| Winter | The Search for the Nile | |||||||
| Summer | Ponderosa | |||||||
Note: The NBC 1972 summer series Ponderosa consisted of reruns of Bonanza episodes from the 1967-1970 period. More recent reruns of Bonanza also aired that summer under the show's original name in its regular Sunday evening time slot.
Wednesday
| Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | Bewitched | The Courtship of Eddie's Father | The Smith Family | Shirley's World | The Man and the City | |
| Winter | The Courtship of Eddie's Father | ABC Comedy Hour | The Persuaders! | Local | |||
| Spring | The Smith Family | The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine | |||||
| Summer | The Super | The Corner Bar | ABC Comedy Hour Presents the Kopykats | ||||
| CBS | Fall | The Carol Burnett Show (23/21.2) | Medical Center (13/23.5) | Mannix (7/24.8) | |||
| Summer | The David Steinberg Show | ||||||
| NBC | Adam-12 (8/23.9) | The NBC Mystery Movie: Columbo / McCloud / McMillan & Wife (14/23.2) | Night Gallery | ||||
Note: The ABC 1972 summer series ABC Comedy Hour Presents the Kopykats consisted of reruns of ABC Comedy Hour from earlier in the year.
Thursday
| Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Alias Smith and Jones | Longstreet | Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law | ||||
| CBS | Fall | Bearcats! | CBS Thursday Night Movie | ||||
| Winter | Me and the Chimp | My Three Sons | |||||
| NBC | Fall | The Flip Wilson Show (2/28.2) | Nichols | The Dean Martin Show | |||
| Follow-up | Ironside | ||||||
| Summer | Dean Martin Presents the Bobby Darin Amusement Co. | ||||||
Friday
| Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | The Brady Bunch | The Partridge Family (16/22.6) | Room 222 (28/19.8) | The Odd Couple | Love, American Style | ||
| CBS | The Chicago Teddy Bears | O'Hara, U.S. Treasury | The New CBS Friday Night Movies (30/19.5) | ||||
| NBC | Fall | The D.A. | World Premiere Movie | Local | |||
| Winter | Sanford and Son (6/25.2) | ||||||
Saturday
| Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | Getting Together | Movie of the Weekend | The Persuaders! | |||
| Winter | Bewitched | The Sixth Sense | |||||
| Summer | The Ken Berry "Wow" Show | ||||||
| CBS | Fall | All in the Family (1/34.0) | Funny Face (8/23.9) | The New Dick Van Dyke Show (18/22.2) | The Mary Tyler Moore Show (10/23.7) | Mission: Impossible | |
| Winter | The Mary Tyler Moore Show | Arnie | |||||
| NBC | Fall | The Partners | The Good Life | NBC Saturday Night at the Movies | |||
| Winter | Emergency! | ||||||
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.
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.