The following is the 1997–98 network television schedule for the six major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1997 through August 1998. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1996–97 season. All times are Eastern and Pacific, with certain exceptions, such as Monday Night Football.
New series highlighted in bold.
Each of the 30 highest-rated shows is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research.[1] and [2]
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.
Other Legend
Light blue indicates local programming.
Gray indicates encore programming.
Blue-gray indicates news programming.
Light green indicates sporting events.
Light Purple indicates movies.
Red indicates series being burned off and other regularly scheduled programs, including specials.
PBS is not included; member stations have local flexibility over most of their schedules and broadcast times for network shows may vary.
From February 7 to 22, 1998, all of CBS' primetime programming was preempted in favor of coverage of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.
For new series debuting during the season, it would ultimately prove to be one of the weakest seasons in American television history, as only ten shows would be picked up for a second season. Of those ten shows, only five (Dharma & Greg, Two Guys and a Girl, Ally McBeal, For Your Love and Dawson's Creek) would last beyond three seasons, and would all end their runs within six seasons.
For its tenth and final season, onetime CBS powerhouse Murphy Brown was moved from its lifelong home of Monday nights to Wednesday, where it lost a significant number of viewers. For its last block of episodes in the spring, the show was put back into the familiar timeslot that it had once used to anchor the CBS Monday night lineup.
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. ISBN978-0-345-49773-4.
