1979–80 United States network television schedule

The following is the 1979–80 network television schedule for the three major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1979 through August 1980. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1978–79 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.

  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	Fall	Out of the Blue	A New Kind of Family	Mork & Mindy (27/20.2)	The Associates	The ABC Sunday Night Movie (29/20.0) (Tied with Tenspeed and Brown Shoe, Vega$ and Knots Landing)
	November	Salvage 1
	Winter	Galactica 1980		Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (29/20.0) (Tied with The ABC Sunday Night Movie, Vega$ and Knots Landing)
	Summer			When the Whistle Blows
CBS		60 Minutes (1/28.4)		Archie Bunker's Place* (11/22.9)	One Day at a Time (10/23.0)	Alice (4/25.3) (Tied with M*A*S*H)	The Jeffersons (8/24.3)	Trapper John, M.D. (19/21.2)
NBC	Fall	Disney's Wonderful World		The Big Event				Prime Time Sunday
	Summer			CHiPs		The Big Event

(*) Formerly known as All in the Family.

Monday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	240-Robert		ABC NFL Monday Night Football
	Winter	Repeats		The ABC Monday Night Movie
	Follow-up	Laverne & Shirley	Angie	Stone		Family
	Spring	That's Incredible! (3/25.8)		Family		Stone
	Summer	One in a Million	Monday Night Baseball
CBS	Fall	The White Shadow		M*A*S*H (4/25.3) (Tied with Alice)	WKRP in Cincinnati (22/20.7)	Lou Grant
	Winter				House Calls (14/22.1) (Tied with Real People)
	Follow-up	WKRP in Cincinnati (22/20.7)	The Last Resort
	Spring		The Stockard Channing Show		Flo (7/24.4)
	Summer		Phyl & Mikhy		House Calls
NBC		Little House on the Prairie (16/21.8)		NBC Monday Night at the Movies

Tuesday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	Happy Days (17/21.7)	Angie	Three's Company (2/26.3)	Taxi (13/22.4)	The Lazarus Syndrome
	Follow-up					Hart to Hart
	Winter		One in a Million
	February		Goodtime Girls
	March		Laverne & Shirley
CBS	Fall	California Fever		The CBS Tuesday Night Movies
	Follow-up			Hawaii Five-O		Paris
	Winter	The White Shadow
	Follow-up			The CBS Tuesday Night Movies
NBC	Fall	The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo		NBC Tuesday Night at the Movies
	Spring			The Big Show			United States

Wednesday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC		Eight Is Enough (12/22.8)		Charlie's Angels (20/20.9) (Tied with Barney Miller)		Vega$ (29/20.0) (Tied with Tenspeed and Brown Shoe, The ABC Sunday Night Movie and Knots Landing)
CBS	Fall	The Last Resort	Struck by Lightning	The CBS Wednesday Night Movies
	October		The Bad News Bears
	November	Young Maverick
	March	Beyond Westworld
NBC	Fall	Real People (14/22.1) (Tied with House Calls)		Diff'rent Strokes (26/20.3)	Hello, Larry	The Best of Saturday Night Live (repeats)
	Spring					From Here to Eternity
	Summer					Quincy, M.E.

Thursday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	Laverne & Shirley	Benson (23/20.6) (Tied with The Love Boat)	Barney Miller (20/20.9) (Tied with Charlie's Angels)	Soap (25/20.5)	20/20
	Winter	Mork & Mindy (27/20.2)
	Spring				The Associates
	Follow-up				The Ropers
CBS	Fall	The Waltons		Hawaii Five-O		Barnaby Jones
	Winter			Barnaby Jones		Knots Landing (29/20.0) (Tied with Tenspeed and Brown Shoe, The ABC Sunday Night Movie and Vega$)
	Spring	Palmerstown, U.S.A.				The Contender
	Summer	The Waltons
NBC	Fall	Buck Rogers in the 25th Century		Quincy, M.E.		Kate Loves a Mystery*
	Winter					Skag
	Spring					The Rockford Files
	Summer			NBC Thursday Night at the Movies
	Follow-up	Games People Play

(*) Formerly known as Mrs. Columbo

Friday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	Fantasy Island (28/20.1)		The ABC Friday Night Movie
	Winter	B.A.D. Cats
	Spring	When the Whistle Blows
	Summer	The ABC Friday Night Movie				Tenspeed and Brown Shoe
	Follow-up	Benson	Goodtime Girls	The ABC Friday Night Movie
CBS		The Incredible Hulk		The Dukes of Hazzard (9/24.1)		Dallas (6/25.0)
NBC	Pre-Fall	Hello, Larry	The Facts of Life	Various Programming
	Fall	Shirley		The Rockford Files		Eischied
	Spring	Here's Boomer	The Facts of Life	Pink Lady
	Follow-up		Me and Maxx	Various Programming
	Summer		Hello, Larry	The Rockford Files		A Man Called Sloane

Saturday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	The Ropers	Detective School	The Love Boat (23/20.6) (Tied with Benson)		Hart to Hart
	Follow-up					Fantasy Island (28/20.1)
	December		A New Kind of Family
	Winter	One in a Million	The Ropers
	Spring	Angie	Goodtime Girls
CBS	Fall	Working Stiffs	The Bad News Bears	Big Shamus, Little Shamus		Paris
	Follow-up	Various Programming		The CBS Saturday Night Movies
	Winter	The Chisholms
	Spring	The Tim Conway Show		Hawaii Five-O		Hagen
	Follow-up			CBS Saturday Movie
	Summer	The Bad News Bears	The Stockard Channing Show
	July	One Day at a Time	The Bad News Bears
	Follow-up	Universe
NBC	Fall	CHiPs (18/21.5)		B. J. and the Bear		A Man Called Sloane
	Winter					Prime Time Saturday
	Spring	B. J. and the Bear		Sanford	Me and Maxx
	Follow-up				Joe's World
	Summer	Buck Rogers in the 25th Century		Various			Good Time Harry

Note: In November 1979, CBS took Paris off their Saturday night lineup before scheduling it in the 10:00-11:00 pm time slot on Tuesdays beginning December 4.

By network

ABC

Returning Series

• 20/20
• The ABC Friday Night Movie
• The ABC Monday Night Movie
• ABC NFL Monday Night Football
• The ABC Sunday Night Movie
• Angie
• Barney Miller
• Charlie's Angels
• Eight Is Enough
• Family
• Fantasy Island
• Happy Days
• Laverne & Shirley
• The Love Boat
• Monday Night Baseball
• Mork & Mindy
• The Ropers
• Salvage 1
• Soap
• Taxi
• Three's Company
• Vega$

New Series

• 240-Robert
• The Associates
• B.A.D. Cats *
• Benson
• Detective School
• Galactica 1980 *
• Goodtime Girls *
• Hart to Hart
• The Lazarus Syndrome
• A New Kind of Family
• Nobody's Perfect *
• One in a Million *
• Out of the Blue *
• Stone *
• Tenspeed and Brown Shoe *
• That's Incredible! *
• When the Whistle Blows *

Not returning from 1978–79:

• 13 Queens Boulevard
• Apple Pie
• Battlestar Galactica
• Carol Burnett & Company
• Carter Country
• Delta House
• Doctors' Private Lives
• Donny & Marie
• Friends
• The Hardy Boys Mysteries
• How the West Was Won
• Lucan
• The MacKenzies of Paradise Cove
• Makin' It
• Operation Petticoat
• Starsky & Hutch
• Welcome Back, Kotter
• What's Happening!!

CBS

Returning Series

• 60 Minutes
• Alice
• The Bad News Bears
• Barnaby Jones
• The Chisholms
• Dallas
• The Dukes of Hazzard
• Hawaii Five-O
• The Incredible Hulk
• The Jeffersons
• Lou Grant
• M*A*S*H
• One Day at a Time
• The Waltons
• The White Shadow
• WKRP in Cincinnati

New Series

• Archie Bunker's Place
• Beyond Westworld *
• Big Shamus, Little Shamus
• California Fever
• The Contender *
• Flo *
• Hagen *
• House Calls *
• Knots Landing
• The Last Resort
• Palmerstown, U.S.A. *
• Paris
• Phyl & Mikhy *
• The Stockard Channing Show *
• Struck by Lightning
• That's My Line *
• The Tim Conway Show *
• Trapper John, M.D.
• Universe *
• Walter Cronkite's Universe *
• Working Stiffs
• Young Maverick

Not returning from 1978–79:

• All in the Family
• The Amazing Spider-Man
• The American Girls
• Billy
• Dorothy
• Flatbush
• Flying High
• Good Times
• Hanging In
• In the Beginning
• Just Friends
• Kaz
• Married: The First Year
• Mary
• The Mary Tyler Moore Hour
• Miss Winslow and Son
• Moses the Lawgiver
• The New Adventures of Wonder Woman
• The Paper Chase
• Rhoda
• Time Express

NBC

Returning Series

• B.J. and the Bear
• The Big Event
• CHiPs
• Diff'rent Strokes
• Disney's Wonderful World
• Hello, Larry
• Kate Loves a Mystery
• Little House on the Prairie
• NBC Monday Night at the Movies
• Quincy, M.E.
• Real People
• The Rockford Files

New Series

• The Big Show *
• Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
• Eischied
• The Facts of Life *
• From Here to Eternity *
• Good Time Harry *
• Here's Boomer *
• Joe's World *
• A Man Called Sloane
• Me and Maxx *
• The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo
• Pink Lady
• Sanford *
• The Six O'Clock Follies *
• Skag *
• Shirley
• United States *

Not returning from 1978–79:

• Brothers and Sisters
• Cliffhangers
• Comedy Theatre
• David Cassidy: Man Undercover
• Dick Clark's Live Wednesday
• The Eddie Capra Mysteries
• Grandpa Goes to Washington
• Harris and Company
• Highcliffe Manor
• Hizzonner
• Joe & Valerie
• Laugh-In
• Lifeline
• Presenting Susan Anton
• Project U.F.O.
• The Runaways
• Supertrain
• $weepstake$
• Sword of Justice
• Turnabout
• W.E.B.
• The Waverly Wonders
• Weekend
• Who's Watching the Kids
• Whodunnit?
• The Wonderful World of Disney

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

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.