1972–73 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 1972. All times are Eastern and Pacific, with a few exceptions, such as Monday Night Football.
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.
Note: This was the first full season in which all networks, on every day of the week except for Sunday, started airing programs at 8:00 instead of 7:30, as dictated by the FCC under its Prime Time Access Rule, intended to increase diversity in programming.
PBS, the Public Broadcasting Service, 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. (29/19.2) | The ABC Sunday Night Movie (23/20.0) | |||||
CBS | Fall | Anna and the King | M*A*S*H | The Sandy Duncan Show | The New Dick Van Dyke Show | Mannix | Local | |
Winter | The New Dick Van Dyke Show | Mannix | Barnaby Jones (25/19.9) | |||||
NBC | The Wonderful World of Disney (9/23.5) | NBC Sunday Mystery Movie: Columbo / McCloud / McMillan and Wife / Hec Ramsey (5/24.2) |
Night Gallery | Local |
60 Minutes aired at 6:00-7:00 pm on CBS from January to June 1973.
Monday
Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | Fall | The Rookies (23/20.0) | ABC NFL Monday Night Football (18/21.0) | ||||
Winter | ABC Monday Night Movie (29/19.2) | ||||||
CBS | Gunsmoke (7/23.6) | Here's Lucy (15/21.9) | The Doris Day Show | The New Bill Cosby Show | |||
NBC | Fall | Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In | NBC Monday Night at the Movies (28/19.3) | ||||
Summer | The Baseball World of Joe Garagiola (8:00) / Monday Night Baseball (8:15) |
Tuesday
Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | Temperatures Rising | ABC Tuesday Movie of the Week (17/21.5) | Marcus Welby, M.D. (13/22.9) | |||
CBS | Maude (4/24.7) | Hawaii Five-O (3/25.2) | The New CBS Tuesday Night Movies | |||
NBC | Bonanza | The Bold Ones: The New Doctors | NBC Reports |
Wednesday
Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | Fall | The Paul Lynde Show | ABC Wednesday Movie of the Week (25/19.9) | The Julie Andrews Hour | |||
Winter | Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law | ||||||
Summer | Thicker than Water | ||||||
Follow-up | Love Thy Neighbor | ||||||
CBS | Fall | The Carol Burnett Show (22/20.3) | Medical Center (19/20.6) | Cannon (14/22.4) | |||
Spring | Dan August | ||||||
NBC | Adam-12 (11/23.3) | NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie: Madigan / Cool Million / Banacek | Search |
Note: Dan August consisted of reruns of the 1970-1971 ABC series.
Thursday
Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | Fall | The Mod Squad | The Men: Assignment Vienna / The Delphi Bureau / Jigsaw |
Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law | |||
Winter | Kung Fu (29/19.2) | The Streets of San Francisco | |||||
CBS | The Waltons (19/20.6) | CBS Thursday Night Movie | |||||
NBC | Fall | The Flip Wilson Show (12/23.1) | Ironside (10/23.4) | The Dean Martin Show | |||
Summer | The Helen Reddy Show | Dean Martin Presents Music Country |
Friday
Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | Fall | The Brady Bunch | The Partridge Family (19/20.6) | Room 222 | The Odd Couple | Love, American Style | |
Summer | Love Thy Neighbor | ||||||
CBS | Fall | The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour | The CBS Friday Night Movies | ||||
Follow-up | Mission: Impossible | ||||||
Summer | 60 Minutes | ||||||
NBC | Fall | Sanford and Son (2/27.6) | The Little People (25/19.9) | Ghost Story | Banyon | ||
Winter | Circle of Fear |
Saturday
Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | Fall | Alias Smith and Jones | The Streets of San Francisco | The Sixth Sense | |||
Winter | Here We Go Again | A Touch of Grace | The Julie Andrews Hour | The Men: Assignment Vienna / The Delphi Bureau / Jigsaw | |||
Summer | The Paul Lynde Show | The Strauss Family | |||||
Follow-up | The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour | ||||||
CBS | Fall | All in the Family (1/33.3) | Bridget Loves Bernie (5/24.2) | The Mary Tyler Moore Show (7/23.6) | The Bob Newhart Show (16/21.8) | Mission: Impossible | |
Follow-up | The Carol Burnett Show | ||||||
Summer | Mission: Impossible | ||||||
NBC | Emergency! | NBC Saturday Night at the Movies |
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.