1975–76 United States network television schedule

The 1975–76 network television schedule for the three major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers the primetime hours from September 1975 through August 1976. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series canceled after the 1974–75 season.

This was the first season since 1971 in which a four-hour Sunday night schedule was implemented.

This was also the first season for the 22-hour weekly prime-time schedule (four hours on Sunday, three hours each on Monday through Saturday). It remains in effect to this day.

PBS is not included as member stations have local flexibility over most of their schedules, and broadcast times for network shows may vary.

Each of the 30 highest-rated shows released in May 1976 is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research.^[1]

New series are highlighted in bold.

All times are U.S. Eastern and Pacific Time (except for some live sports or events). Subtract one hour for Central, Mountain, Alaska and Hawaii–Aleutian times.

Legend

•   Gray indicates encore programming.
•   Blue-gray indicates news programming.
•   Light green indicates sporting events.
•   Red indicates series being burned off and other regularly scheduled programs, including specials and movies.
•  highlight  Yellow highlights indicates the top-10 most watched programs of the season.
•  highlight  Cyan highlights indicates numbers 11-20 most watched programs of the season.
•  highlight  Magenta highlights indicates numbers 21-30 most watched programs of the season.
•  highlight  Highlights indicates that it falls in multiple of the above categories.

Sunday

Network		7:00 p.m.	7:30 p.m.	8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.	10:30 p.m.
ABC		The Swiss Family Robinson		The Six Million Dollar Man (9/24.3)		The ABC Sunday Night Movie (13/23.0)
CBS	Fall	Three for the Road		Cher		Kojak (20/21.8)		Bronk
	Winter	60 Minutes		The Sonny & Cher Show (23/21.2)
	Summer			Johnny Cash and Friends				Cannon
NBC	Fall	The Wonderful World of Disney		The Family Holvak		The NBC Mystery Movie: Columbo / McCloud / McMillan & Wife / McCoy
	Winter			Ellery Queen

Note: As of the 2022–23 television season, since December 1975, 60 Minutes has continually aired at the same 7:00 PM ET (or after sporting event overrun) time slot on CBS.

Monday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.	10:30 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Barbary Coast		Monday Night Football
	Mid-fall	Mobile One
	Winter	On the Rocks	Happy Days	The ABC Monday Night Movie (10/24.2)
	Spring		Good Heavens (16/22.5) (Tied with Starsky and Hutch)	Barbary Coast		Rich Man, Poor Man (2/28.0)
	Mid-spring	Good Heavens (16/22.5) (Tied with Starsky & Hutch)	Monday Night Baseball
	Summer	Viva Valdez
CBS		Rhoda (7/24.4) (Tied with Sanford and Son)	Phyllis (6/24.5)	All in the Family (1/30.1)	Maude (4/25.0)	Medical Center
NBC	Fall	The Invisible Man		NBC Monday Night at the Movies
	Winter	The Rich Little Show		Joe Forrester		Jigsaw John
	Summer	The John Davidson Show
	July	Comedy Theatre

Tuesday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.	10:30 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Happy Days (11/23.9)	Welcome Back, Kotter (18/22.1)	The Rookies		Marcus Welby, M.D.
	Winter		Laverne & Shirley (3/27.5)
	Spring					Family
	Summer			Specials
CBS	Fall	Good Times (24/21.0)	Joe and Sons	Switch		Beacon Hill
	Winter		Popi	M*A*S*H (14/22.9) (Tied with The Waltons)	One Day at a Time (12/23.1)	Switch
	Spring	The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show	Good Times (24/21.0)
	Summer	I've Got a Secret
	Mid-summer	Popi
NBC	Early fall	Movin' On		Police Story		Joe Forrester
	Fall			Police Woman (30/20.2)
	Winter					City of Angels

Note: Beginning March 9, Family was added onto ABC's lineup, replacing Marcus Welby, M.D..

Wednesday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.	10:30 p.m.
ABC	Fall	When Things Were Rotten	That's My Mama	Baretta (22/21.3)		Starsky & Hutch (16/22.5) (Tied with Good Heavens)
	Winter	The Bionic Woman (5/24.9)
	Spring	Wonder Woman
	Late spring	The Bionic Woman (5/24.9)
CBS	Fall	Tony Orlando and Dawn		Cannon		Kate McShane
	Winter					The Blue Knight
	Summer	The Jacksons	The Kelly Monteith Show
NBC	Fall	Little House on the Prairie		Doctors' Hospital		Petrocelli
	Winter			Chico and the Man (25/20.8)	The Dumplings
	Spring			The Best of Sanford and Son	Chico and the Man (25/20.8)	Hawk
	Mid-spring				Fay

Note: The Best of Sanford and Son consisted of reruns of Sanford and Son from earlier seasons; Sanford and Son continued to air in its normal Friday 8:00-8:30 time slot during The Best of Sanford and Son's run. Hawk consisted of reruns of the 1966 ABC television series.

Thursday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.	10:30 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Barney Miller	On the Rocks	The Streets of San Francisco (26/20.7) (Tied with The Bob Newhart Show and Donny & Marie)		Harry O
	Winter	Welcome Back, Kotter (18/22.1)	Barney Miller
	Summer		What's Happening!!
CBS	Fall	The Waltons (14/22.9) (Tied with M*A*S*H)		CBS Thursday Night Movie
	Late fall			Hawaii Five-O		Barnaby Jones
NBC	Fall	The Montefuscos	Fay	Ellery Queen		Medical Story
	Winter	Grady	The Cop and the Kid	NBC Thursday Night at the Movies
	Spring	The Mac Davis Show

Friday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.	10:30 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Mobile One		The ABC Friday Night Movie
	Mid-fall	Barbary Coast
	Winter	Donny & Marie (26/20.7) (Tied with The Bob Newhart Show and The Streets of San Francisco)
CBS	Fall	Big Eddie	M*A*S*H (14/22.9) (Tied with The Waltons)	Hawaii Five-O		Barnaby Jones
	Winter	Sara		The CBS Friday Night Movie
NBC	Early fall	Sanford and Son (7/24.4) (Tied with Rhoda)	Chico and the Man (25/20.8)	The Rockford Files		Police Woman (30/20.2)
	Fall					Police Story
	Winter		The Practice

Saturday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.	10:30 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell		S.W.A.T.		Matt Helm
	Winter	Almost Anything Goes!				Bert D'Angelo/Superstar
CBS	Fall	The Jeffersons (21/21.5)	Doc	The Mary Tyler Moore Show (19/21.9)	The Bob Newhart Show (26/20.7) (Tied with Donny & Marie and The Streets of San Francisco)	The Carol Burnett Show (29/20.5)
	Summer		Ivan the Terrible
NBC		Emergency!		NBC Saturday Night at the Movies

By network

ABC

Returning Series The ABC Monday Night Movie The ABC Sunday Night Movie Almost Anything Goes Baretta Barney Miller Happy Days Harry O Marcus Welby, M.D. Monday Night Baseball (moved from NBC) Monday Night Football The Rookies The Six Million Dollar Man The Streets of San Francisco S.W.A.T. That's My Mama

New Series The ABC Friday Night Movie Barbary Coast Bert D'Angelo/Superstar * The Bionic Woman * Donny & Marie * Family * Good Heavens * Laverne & Shirley * Matt Helm Mobile One On the Rocks Rich Man, Poor Man * Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell Starsky & Hutch * The Swiss Family Robinson Viva Valdez * Welcome Back, Kotter When Things Were Rotten

Not returning from 1974–75: The ABC Saturday Night Movie ABC Tuesday Movie of the Week ABC Wednesday Movie of the Week Caribe Get Christie Love! Hot l Baltimore The Jim Stafford Show Karen Keep on Truckin' Kodiak Kolchak: The Night Stalker Kung Fu Nakia The New Land The Odd Couple Paper Moon The Sonny Comedy Revue The Texas Wheelers

CBS

Returning Series 60 Minutes * All in the Family Barnaby Jones Big Eddie The Bob Newhart Show Cannon The Carol Burnett Show Cher Good Times Hawaii Five-O I've Got a Secret * The Jeffersons Johnny Cash and Friends Kojak M*A*S*H The Mary Tyler Moore Show Maude Medical Center Rhoda CBS Thursday Night Movie Tony Orlando and Dawn The Waltons

New Series Beacon Hill The Blue Knight * Bronk The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show * Doc Ivan the Terrible * The Jacksons * Joe and Sons Kate McShane The Kelly Monteith Show * One Day at a Time * Phyllis Popi * Sara * The Sonny and Cher Show * Switch Three for the Road

Not returning from 1974–75: Apple's Way The Dick Cavett Show The Friday Comedy Special Friends and Lovers Frigidaire Spring Feature Gunsmoke Khan! Manhattan Transfer The Manhunter Mannix Planet of the Apes Sons and Daughters

NBC

Returning Series Chico and the Man Columbo Emergency! Little House on the Prairie The Mac Davis Show McCloud McMillan & Wife Movin' On The NBC Mystery Movie NBC Monday Night at the Movies NBC Saturday Night at the Movies Petrocelli Police Story Police Woman The Rockford Files Sanford and Son The Wonderful World of Disney

New Series City of Angels * Comedy Theatre * The Cop and the Kid * Doctors' Hospital The Dumplings * Ellery Queen The Family Holvak Fay Grady * The Invisible Man Jigsaw John * Joe Forrester The John Davidson Show * McCoy Medical Story The Montefuscos NBC Thursday Night at the Movies The Practice * The Rich Little Show *

Not returning from 1974–75: Adam-12 Amy Prentiss Archer Ben Vereen...Comin' At Ya The Bob Crane Show Born Free The Gladys Knight & the Pips Show Ironside Lucas Tanner Monday Night Baseball (moved to ABC) Sierra The Smothers Brothers Show Sunshine

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