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 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 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
	October		The Jeffersons (24/21.0)	The CBS Wednesday Night Movie
	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
	July			C.P.O. Sharkey	Comedy Time
	August				The Kallikaks	Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected

NOTE: On NBC, Comedy Time was a summer anthology series composed of unsold television pilots that aired on Wednesdays in July and on Thursdays on July 21 and 28, August 25, and September 1.

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
	November	Van Dyke and Company				Gibbsville
	Winter	The Fantastic Journey		NBC's Best Sellers
	Summer	Comedy Time / Specials		NBC Thursday Night at the Movies

Notes: NBC originally planned to air Snip (a sitcom starring David Brenner) on Thursdays at 9:30 with The Practice preceding it at 9:00. On August 28, NBC announced a "massive reshuffling" of its schedule and pulled Snip,^[2] which never aired.

Comedy Time was a summer anthology series composed of unsold television pilots that aired on NBC on Wednesdays in July and on Thursdays on July 21 and 28, August 25, and September 1.

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 Movie
	Winter	Code R		The Sonny & Cher Show		Executive Suite
	Follow-up					Hunter
	April			Nashville 99
	Follow-up			The CBS Friday Night Movie
	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 & Hutch		Most Wanted
	Winter	Blansky's Beauties	Fish			Dog and Cat
	Summer	Wonder Woman				The Feather and Father Gang
	Follow-up	Mr. T and Tina	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
	October	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

Returning Series The ABC Friday Night Movie The ABC Monday Night Movie ABC NFL Monday Night Football The ABC Sunday Night Movie Baretta Barney Miller The Bionic Woman Donny & Marie Family Happy Days Laverne & Shirley Monday Night Baseball Starsky & Hutch The Six Million Dollar Man The Streets of San Francisco Welcome Back, Kotter

New Series The ABC Tuesday Night Movie Blansky's Beauties * The Brady Bunch Hour * The Captain and Tennille Charlie's Angels Cos Dog and Cat * Eight Is Enough * The Feather and Father Gang * Fish * Future Cop * The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries * Holmes & Yoyo How the West Was Won * Mr. T and Tina Most Wanted The Nancy Walker Show Rich Man, Poor Man Book II Sugar Time! Three's Company * The Tony Randall Show Westside Medical * What's Happening!! Wonder Woman *

Not returning from 1975–76: Almost Anything Goes Barbary Coast Bert D'Angelo/Superstar Good Heavens Harry O Marcus Welby, M.D. Matt Helm Mobile One On the Rocks Rich Man, Poor Man The Rookies Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell S.W.A.T. The Swiss Family Robinson That's My Mama When Things Were Rotten Viva Valdez

CBS

Returning Series 60 Minutes All in the Family Barnaby Jones The Blue Knight The Bob Newhart Show The Carol Burnett Show Doc Good Times Hawaii Five-O The Jacksons The Jeffersons Kojak M*A*S*H The Mary Tyler Moore Show Maude One Day at a Time Phyllis Rhoda The Sonny and Cher Show Switch The Tony Orlando and Dawn Rainbow Hour The Waltons

New Series Alice All's Fair The Andros Targets * Ball Four Busting Loose * Code R * Delvecchio The Diahann Carroll Show * Executive Suite Hunter * The Keane Brothers Show * Loves Me, Loves Me Not * The Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr. Show Nashville 99 * The Shields and Yarnell Show * Spencer's Pilots Starland Vocal Band Show * Szysznyk * Who's Who * A Year at the Top *

Not returning from 1975–76: Beacon Hill Big Eddie Bronk The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show Cannon CBS Thursday Night Movie Cher Ivan the Terrible I've Got a Secret Joe and Sons Johnny Cash and Friends Kate McShane The Kelly Monteith Show Medical Center Popi Sara Three for the Road

NBC

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

New Series 3 Girls 3 * Baa Baa Black Sheep The Big Event Comedy Time * C.P.O. Sharkey * The Fantastic Journey * Gemini Man Gibbsville * The Kallikaks * Kingston: Confidential * Lanigan's Rabbi * The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams * The McLean Stevenson Show * NBC's Best Sellers * The Quest Quincy, M.E. * Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected * Serpico Sirota's Court * Van Dyke and Company

Not returning from 1975–76: City of Angels Comedy Theatre (returned in 1979) 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 The Mac Davis Show McCoy Medical Story The Montefuscos Movin' On Petrocelli The Rich Little Show

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