1978–79 United States network television schedule
This was the television schedule on all three commercial television networks in the United States for the fall season beginning in September 1978. All times are Eastern and Pacific.
New fall series are highlighted in bold. Series ending their original runs are in italics.
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.
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 | The Hardy Boys Mysteries | Battlestar Galactica | The ABC Sunday Night Movie | ||||||
CBS | Fall | 60 Minutes (6/25.5) | Mary | All in the Family (9/24.9) | Alice (13/23.2) | Kaz | |||
Follow-up | All in the Family (9/24.9) | Alice (13/23.2) | Kaz | Dallas (29/15.4) | |||||
Spring | One Day at a Time | Alice (13/23.2) | Stockard Channing in Just Friends (26/20.2) | The Mary Tyler Moore Hour | |||||
Summer | The Jeffersons | Moses the Lawgiver | |||||||
Follow-up | Kaz | ||||||||
NBC | Fall | The Wonderful World of Disney | The Big Event | Lifeline | |||||
Winter | Weekend |
Notes: On CBS, the premiere (and only) episode of Co-Ed Fever aired on February 4 from 10:30 to 11:00 p.m., after which the show was cancelled. Moses the Lawgiver was a rerun of the 1975 miniseries.
Monday
Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | Fall | Welcome Back, Kotter | Operation Petticoat | ABC NFL Monday Night Football (28/19.8) | |||
Winter | Salvage 1 | How the West Was Won | |||||
Summer | Monday Night Baseball | ||||||
CBS | Fall | WKRP in Cincinnati | People | M*A*S*H (7/25.4) | One Day at a Time (18/21.6) | Lou Grant (30/19.7) | |
Winter | Flatbush | ||||||
NBC | Little House on the Prairie (14/23.1) | NBC Monday Night at the Movies (21/20.9) |
Tuesday
Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | Fall | Happy Days (3/28.6) | Laverne & Shirley (1/30.5) | Three's Company (2/30.3) | Taxi (9/24.9) | Starsky and Hutch | ||
Spring | The Ropers (8/25.2) | 13 Queens Boulevard | ||||||
Summer | Detective School | |||||||
CBS | The Paper Chase | The CBS Tuesday Night Movies | ||||||
NBC | Fall | Grandpa Goes to Washington | The Big Event | |||||
Winter | Cliffhangers: Stop Susan Williams/The Secret Empire/The Curse of Dracula |
Wednesday
Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | Eight Is Enough (11/24.8) | Charlie's Angels (12/24.4) | Vega$ (23/20.6) | ||||
CBS | Fall | The Jeffersons | In the Beginning | The CBS Wednesday Night Movies | |||
Winter | The Incredible Hulk | One Day at a Time | The Jeffersons | Kaz | |||
Summer | Dorothy | Hanging In | The CBS Wednesday Night Movies | ||||
NBC | Fall | Dick Clark's Live Wednesday | NBC Wednesday Night at the Movies | ||||
Winter | Supertrain | NBC Novels for Television: From Here to Eternity/Studs Lonigan/Wheels | |||||
Spring | Real People | ||||||
Summer | Laugh-In | Various |
Notes: The Wheels segment of NBC Novels for Television was a rerun of the 1978 television miniseries. Laugh-In consisted of reruns of the 1977 television series.
Thursday
Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | Fall | Mork & Mindy (3/28.6) | What's Happening!! (28/19.8) | Barney Miller (15/22.6) | Soap (19/21.3) | Family | |
Winter | Angie (5/26.7) | ||||||
CBS | Fall | The Waltons | Hawaii Five-O | Barnaby Jones (24/20.5) | |||
Spring | The Chisholms | ||||||
NBC | Fall | Project U.F.O. | Quincy, M.E. | W.E.B. | |||
Follow-up | David Cassidy: Man Undercover | ||||||
Winter | Little Women | Mrs. Columbo | |||||
Spring | Harris and Company | ||||||
Follow-up | Whodunnit? | Highcliffe Manor | Presenting Susan Anton | ||||
Follow-up | Hizzonner | Whodunnit? | |||||
Summer | NBC Novels for Television: The Innocent and the Damned |
Note: The NBC Novels for Television segment The Innocent and the Damned was a rerun of the 1977 television miniseries Aspen.
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 | |||||
CBS | Fall | The New Adventures of Wonder Woman | The Incredible Hulk | Flying High | |||
Winter | The Dukes of Hazzard (20/21.0) | Dallas (15/22.6) | |||||
NBC | Fall | The Waverly Wonders | Who's Watching the Kids | The Rockford Files | The Eddie Capra Mysteries | ||
Follow-up | Diff'rent Strokes (27/19.9) | ||||||
Winter | Brothers and Sisters | Turnabout | Hello, Larry | $weepstake$ | |||
Follow-up | Hello, Larry | Brothers and Sisters | Turnabout | ||||
Spring | The Rockford Files | The Duke | |||||
Summer | The Eddie Capra Mysteries | ||||||
Follow-up | The Facts of Life |
Saturday
Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | Fall | Carter Country | Apple Pie | The Love Boat (17/22.1) | Fantasy Island (22/20.8) | ||
Follow-up | Welcome Back, Kotter | Carter Country | |||||
Winter | Delta House | Welcome Back, Kotter | |||||
Spring | What's Happening!! | Delta House | |||||
Summer | Battlestar Galactica | ||||||
CBS | Fall | Rhoda | Good Times | The American Girls | Dallas | ||
Winter | The White Shadow | CBS Movie | |||||
Spring | The Bad News Bears | Billy | |||||
NBC | Fall | CHiPs (25/20.3) | Various | Sword of Justice | |||
Winter | The Rockford Files | ||||||
Spring | Supertrain |
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.