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.

Lime indicates the number-one watched program for the season.

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 shows repeats or encore programming.
• Blue-gray indicates news programming.
• Light green indicates sporting events.
• Red indicates series being burned off and other irregularly scheduled programs, including specials and movies.

PBS, the Public Broadcasting Service, was in operation but the schedule was set by each local station.

Sunday

(*) Served as a continuation/spin-off of All in the Family.

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

(*) Formerly known as Mrs. Columbo

Friday

Saturday

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
• '
• 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.

References

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. .
• Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (1985). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows (3rd ed.). New York: Ballantine. .