1976–77 United States network television schedule
The following is the 1976–77 network television schedule for the three major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1976 through August 1977. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1975–76 season. All times are Eastern and Pacific, with certain 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.
PBS, the Public Broadcasting Service, was in operation, but the schedule was set by each local station.
The Muppet Show (syndicated in the U.S.) premiered this season.
Sunday
| Network | 7:00 PM | 7:30 PM | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | Cos | The Six Million Dollar Man (7/24.2) | The ABC Sunday Night Movie (8/23.4) (Tied with Baretta and One Day at a Time) | |||||
| Winter | Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries | ||||||||
| CBS | Fall | 60 Minutes (18/21.9) (Tied with Hawaii Five-O) | The Sonny and Cher Show | Kojak | Delvecchio | ||||
| Winter | Rhoda | Phyllis | Switch | ||||||
| Summer | Starland Vocal Band Show | ||||||||
| NBC | The Wonderful World of Disney | NBC Sunday Mystery Movie: Columbo / McCloud / McMillan / Quincy, M.E. / Lanigan's Rabbi (beginning winter) | The Big Event (6/24.4) | ||||||
Monday
| Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | The Captain and Tennille | ABC NFL Monday Night Football (22/21.2) | ||||
| Winter | The ABC Monday Night Movie (3/26.0) | ||||||
| Spring | The Brady Bunch Variety Hour | Most Wanted | The Feather and Father Gang | ||||
| Summer | The ABC Monday Night Comedy Special | Monday Night Baseball | |||||
| August | Holmes & Yoyo | ||||||
| Follow-up | The ABC Monday Night Comedy Special | ||||||
| CBS | Fall | Rhoda | Phyllis | Maude | All's Fair | Executive Suite | |
| Winter | The Jeffersons (24/21.0) | Busting Loose | The Andros Targets | ||||
| Summer | The Shields and Yarnell Show | The Sonny and Cher Show | |||||
| August | Szysznyk | ||||||
| NBC | Little House on the Prairie (15/22.3) (Tied with The Waltons) | NBC Monday Night at the Movies (20/21.8) | |||||
Note: The Brady Bunch Variety Hour previously aired on a sporadic basis starting in November 1976, before becoming a weekly series in February 1977.
Tuesday
| Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | Happy Days (1/31.5) | Laverne & Shirley (2/30.9) | Rich Man, Poor Man Book II (21/21.6) | Family | ||
| Winter | Eight is Enough (23/21.1) | ||||||
| Summer | Rich Man, Poor Man | ||||||
| Follow-up | The ABC Tuesday Night Movie | ||||||
| CBS | Fall | The Tony Orlando and Dawn Rainbow Hour | M*A*S*H (4/25.9) | One Day at a Time (8/23.4) (Tied with The ABC Sunday Night Movie and Baretta) | Switch! | ||
| Winter | Who's Who | Kojak | |||||
| Summer | The Family Holvak | ||||||
| Mid-Summer | The Jack Benny Show | Phyllis | |||||
| NBC | Baa Baa Black Sheep | Police Woman | Police Story | ||||
Note: On ABC, the 1977 summer miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man consisted of reruns of the 1976 miniseries. On CBS, The Family Holvak consisted of reruns of the 1975 NBC series before being replaced by a four-week run of The Jack Benny Show (with Phyllis in the 8:30 slot), featuring episodes from its 1963-64 season.
Wednesday
| Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | The Bionic Woman (14/22.4) | Baretta (8/23.4) (Tied with The ABC Sunday Night Movie and One Day at a Time) | Charlie's Angels (5/25.8) | |||
| Summer | Donny & Marie | ||||||
| Follow-up | Eight is Enough | Charlie's Angels | Baretta | ||||
| CBS | Fall | Good Times (26/20.5) | Ball Four | All in the Family (12/22.9) | Alice (30/20.0) | The Blue Knight | |
| Follow-up | The Jeffersons | CBS Wednesday Night Movies | |||||
| Winter | The Jacksons | ||||||
| Spring | Loves Me, Loves Me Not | ||||||
| Summer | Alice | ||||||
| Follow-up | Busting Loose | ||||||
| NBC | Fall | The Practice | NBC Movie of the Week | The Quest | |||
| December | C.P.O. Sharkey | The McLean Stevenson Show | Sirota's Court | The Practice | |||
| Winter | The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams | C.P.O. Sharkey | The McLean Stevenson Show | Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected | |||
| Spring | Sirota's Court | Kingston: Confidential | |||||
| Summer | 3 Girls 3 | ||||||
| Follow-up | C.P.O. Sharkey | The Kallikaks | Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected | ||||
Thursday
| Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | Welcome Back, Kotter (13/22.7) | Barney Miller (17/22.2) | The Tony Randall Show (29/20.1) | The Nancy Walker Show | The Streets of San Francisco | |
| Winter | What's Happening!! (25/20.9) | Barney Miller (17/22.2) | The Tony Randall Show (29/20.1) | Westside Medical | |||
| Spring | Three's Company (11/23.1) | ||||||
| CBS | The Waltons (15/22.3) (Tied with Little House on the Prairie) | Hawaii Five-O (18/21.9) (Tied with 60 Minutes) | Barnaby Jones | ||||
| NBC | Fall | Gemini Man | NBC's Best Sellers | Van Dyke and Company | |||
| Follow-up | Van Dyke and Company | Gibbsville | |||||
| Winter | The Fantastic Journey | NBC's Best Sellers | |||||
| Summer | Specials | NBC Thursday Night at the Movies | |||||
Note: NBC was supposed to have aired Snip (a sitcom starring David Brenner) on Thursdays at 9:30-10 with The Practice preceding it in the 9-9:30 slot, but Snip never aired. On August 28, NBC did a "massive reshuffling" of its schedule and pulled the series.[2]
Friday
| Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Donny & Marie | The ABC Friday Night Movie (28/20.2) | |||||
| CBS | Fall | Spencer's Pilots | The CBS Friday Night Movies | ||||
| Winter | Code R | The Sonny & Cher Show (Jan.-Mar.) | Executive Suite | ||||
| Follow-up | Hunter | ||||||
| April | Nashville 99 | ||||||
| Follow-up | The CBS Friday Night Movies | ||||||
| Summer | A Year at the Top | The Keane Brothers Show | |||||
| NBC | Fall | Sanford and Son (27/20.3) | Chico and the Man | The Rockford Files | Serpico | ||
| Winter | Quincy, M.E. | ||||||
Note: A special program, Campaign '76, aired on CBS from 7:30 to 8:00 p.m. from September to early November in preparation for the 1976 presidential election.
Saturday
| Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | Holmes & Yoyo | Mr. T and Tina | Starsky and Hutch | Most Wanted | ||
| Winter | Blansky's Beauties | Fish | Dog and Cat | ||||
| Summer | Wonder Woman | The Feather and Father Gang | |||||
| Follow-up | Fish | Sugar Time! | Most Wanted | ||||
| CBS | Fall | The Jeffersons (24/21.0) | Doc | The Mary Tyler Moore Show | The Bob Newhart Show | The Carol Burnett Show | |
| Follow-up | The Mary Tyler Moore Show | The Bob Newhart Show | All in the Family (12/22.9) | Alice (30/20.0) | |||
| Spring | The Andros Targets | ||||||
| Summer | Switch | ||||||
| Follow-up | The Diahann Carroll Show | ||||||
| NBC | Emergency! | NBC Saturday Night at the Movies | |||||
By network
ABC
CBS
NBC
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.
- ^ "Programs Cancelled Before They Premiered - TVObscurities".
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.