1972–73 United States network television schedule

The following is the 1972–73 network television schedule for the three major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1972 through August 1973. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1971–72 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.

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

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) (Tied with The ABC Monday Movie and Kung Fu)		The ABC Sunday Night Movie (23/20.0) (Tied with The Rookies)
CBS	Fall	Anna and the King	*MASH**	The Sandy Duncan Show	The New Dick Van Dyke Show	Mannix		Local
CBS	Winter	The New Dick Van Dyke Show	*MASH**	Mannix		Barnaby Jones (25/19.9) (Tied with The Little People and The ABC Wednesday Movie of the Week)
NBC	Fall	The Wonderful World of Disney (9/23.5)		The NBC Sunday Mystery Movie (Columbo / McCloud / McMillan and Wife / Hec Ramsey) (5/24.2) (Tied with Bridget Loves Bernie)			Night Gallery
	Spring						Escape
	April						Night Gallery

Note: 60 Minutes aired at 6:00-7:00 pm on CBS from January to June 1973.

Monday

Network		8:00 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM
ABC	Fall	The Rookies (23/20.0) (Tied with The ABC Sunday Night Movie)	ABC NFL Monday Night Football (18/21.0)
ABC	Winter		ABC Monday Night Movie (29/19.2) (Tied with The F.B.I. and Kung Fu)
CBS	Fall	Gunsmoke (7/23.6) (Tied with The Mary Tyler Moore Show)	Here's Lucy (15/21.9)	The Doris Day Show	The New Bill Cosby Show
CBS	Spring	Gunsmoke (7/23.6) (Tied with The Mary Tyler Moore Show)	Here's Lucy (15/21.9)	The Doris Day Show	Medical Center
NBC	Fall	Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In	NBC Monday Night at the Movies (28/19.3)
NBC	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
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 Movie
NBC	Fall	Bonanza		The Bold Ones: The New Doctors		NBC Reports / First Tuesday* / NBC White Paper / America: A Personal History of the United States
NBC	Winter	NBC Tuesday Night at the Movies

* formerly Chronolog^[2]^[3]

Wednesday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	10:00 PM
ABC	Fall	The Paul Lynde Show	ABC Wednesday Movie of the Week (25/19.9) (Tied with Barnaby Jones and The Little People)		The Julie Andrews Hour
	Winter	The Paul Lynde Show			Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law
	Summer	Thicker than Water
	August	Love Thy Neighbor
CBS	Fall	The Carol Burnett Show (22/20.3)		Medical Center (19/20.6) (Tied with The Partridge Family and The Waltons)	Cannon (14/22.4)
	Winter	The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
	Spring	The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour		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	9:00 PM	10:00 PM
ABC	Fall	The Mod Squad	The Men: Assignment Vienna / The Delphi Bureau / Jigsaw	Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law
ABC	Winter	The Mod Squad	Kung Fu (29/19.2) (Tied with The ABC Monday Movie and The F.B.I.)	The Streets of San Francisco
CBS		The Waltons (19/20.6) (Tied with The Partridge Family and Medical Center)	CBS Thursday Night Movie
NBC	Fall	The Flip Wilson Show (12/23.1)	Ironside (10/23.4)	The Dean Martin Show
NBC	Summer	The Helen Reddy Show	Ironside (10/23.4)	Dean Martin Presents Music Country

Friday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM
ABC	Fall	The Brady Bunch	The Partridge Family (19/20.6) (Tied with The Waltons and Medical Center)	Room 222	The Odd Couple	Love, American Style
	Summer		The Odd Couple		Love Thy Neighbor
	Follow-up		The Odd Couple		The Corner Bar
CBS	Fall	The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour		The CBS Friday Night Movie
	December	Mission: Impossible
	Summer	60 Minutes
NBC	Fall	Sanford and Son (2/27.6)	The Little People (25/19.9) (Tied with Barnaby Jones and The ABC Wednesday Movie of the Week)	Ghost Story		Banyon
NBC	Winter	Sanford and Son (2/27.6)		Circle of Fear		The Bobby Darin Show

Note: Ghost Story was retooled slightly and retitled Circle of Fear (under the same production team) with the episode broadcast January 5, 1973.

Saturday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 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
	May		The Paul Lynde Show	The Strauss Family
	Summer		The Paul Lynde Show	The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour
CBS	Fall	All in the Family (1/33.3)	Bridget Loves Bernie (5/24.2) (Tied with The NBC Sunday Mystery Movie)	The Mary Tyler Moore Show (7/23.6) (Tied with Gunsmoke)	The Bob Newhart Show (16/21.8)	Mission: Impossible
	December					The Carol Burnett Show (22/20.3)
	Summer					Mission: Impossible
NBC		Emergency!		NBC Saturday Night at the Movies

By network

ABC

Returning Series

New Series

The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour *
Here We Go Again *
The Julie Andrews Hour
Kung Fu
Love Thy Neighbor *
The Men: Assignment Vienna / The Delphi Bureau / Jigsaw
The Paul Lynde Show
The Rookies
The Strauss Family *
The Streets of San Francisco
Temperatures Rising
Thicker than Water *
A Touch of Grace *

Not returning from 1971–72:

CBS

Returning Series

New Series

Not returning from 1971–72:

Arnie
Bearcats!
Cade's County
The Chicago Teddy Bears
The David Steinberg Show
The Don Rickles Show
Funny Face
The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour
The Jerry Reed When You're Hot You're Hot Hour
The John Byner Comedy Hour
The Life of Leonardo da Vinci
Me and the Chimp
My Three Sons
O'Hara, U.S. Treasury
Suspense Theatre

NBC

Returning Series

New Series

Banacek
Banyon
The Bobby Darin Show
Cool Million
Dean Martin Presents Music Country *
Escape *
Ghost Story/Circle of Fear
Hec Ramsey
The Helen Reddy Show *
The Little People/The Brian Keith Show
Love Thy Neighbor
Madigan
The Magician *
NBC Reports
Search

Not returning from 1971–72:

The D.A.
Dean Martin Presents the Bobby Darin Amusement Co.
The Funny Side
The Good Life
The Jimmy Stewart Show
NBC Reports
Nichols
The Partners
Sarge

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.
^ "Major news project mapped by NBC-TV" (PDF). Broadcasting. March 20, 1972. p. 43. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
^ Gent, George (1972-03-15). "N.B.C.‐WTV Investigative Series Planned for Prime Time in Fall". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-11-20.

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] "Major news project mapped by NBC-TV" (PDF). Broadcasting. March 20, 1972. p. 43. Retrieved November 20, 2023.

[3] Gent, George (1972-03-15). "N.B.C.‐WTV Investigative Series Planned for Prime Time in Fall". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-11-20.

[1]

[2]

[3]

1972–73 United States network television schedule

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

By network

ABC

CBS

NBC

References

Additional sources

G. S. Pradeep

Braille

Bacardi

Mr. Midnight

Acciaio Corten

Enema

Lalamove

Hikikomori

Tirta (permainan video)

Stasiun Rikuzen-Yokoyama

Erra Fazira

Loren Gray

Pianoro delle Kerguelen

Changsha

Transportasi di Beijing

Rosidi

Sachsen-Römhild

Paul von Hindenburg

Surah An-Naba’

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