1978–79 United States network television schedule

1978 in American television 1979 in American television

List of American television programs currently in production

Daytime: 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81

Prime time: 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81

Late night: 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81

The following is the 1978–79 network television schedule for the three major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1978 through August 1979. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1977–78 season. All times are Eastern and Pacific, with certain exceptions, such as Monday Night Football.

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 is not included; member stations have local flexibility over most of their schedules and broadcast times for network shows may vary.

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	The Hardy Boys Mysteries		Battlestar Galactica		The ABC Sunday Night Movie (15/22.6) (Tied with Barney Miller)
	Winter	The Osmond Family Hour
CBS	Fall	60 Minutes (6/25.5)		Mary		All in the Family (9/24.9) (Tied with Taxi)	Alice (13/23.2)	Kaz
	Follow-up			All in the Family (9/24.9) (Tied with Taxi)	Alice (13/23.2)	Kaz		Dallas (29/15.4)
	Spring				One Day at a Time (18/21.6)	Alice (13/23.2)	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						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. Mr. Dugan was supposed to premiere March 11, 1979 between All in the Family and Alice but due to black Congressmembers' criticism of it after a preview for them, the show was never broadcast. On NBC, the Centennial miniseries aired as part of The Big Event.

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	Monday Night Football (28/19.8) (Tied with What's Happening!!)
	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)
	Follow-up	The White Shadow
	Winter	Billy	Flatbush		WKRP in Cincinnati
	Spring	The White Shadow
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) (Tied with Mork & Mindy)	Laverne & Shirley (1/30.5)	Three's Company (2/30.3)	Taxi (9/24.9) (Tied with All in the Family)	Starsky & Hutch
	Spring					The Ropers (8/25.2)	13 Queens Boulevard
	Summer		Detective School
CBS	Preliminary	The Amazing Spider-Man
	Official	The Paper Chase
NBC	Fall	Grandpa Goes to Washington
	Winter	Cliffhangers: Stop Susan Williams/The Secret Empire/The Curse of Dracula
	Summer	The Runaways

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
	Follow-up		Good Times
	Winter	The Incredible Hulk		One Day at a Time (18/21.6)	The Jeffersons	Kaz
	Follow-up	The Amazing Spider-Man
	Spring	Married: The First Year
	Follow-up	The Jeffersons	Miss Winslow and Son
	Summer	All in the Family	Good Times
	Follow-up	Dorothy	Hanging In
NBC	Fall	Dick Clark's Live Wednesday
	Winter	Supertrain		: From Here to Eternity/Studs Lonigan/Wheels
	Spring	Real People
	Summer	Laugh-In		Various

Notes: The Wheels segment of was a rerun of the 1978 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) (Tied with Happy Days)	What's Happening!! (28/19.8) (Tied with Monday Night Football)	Barney Miller (15/22.6) (Tied with The ABC Sunday Night Movie)	Soap (19/21.3)	Family
	Winter		Angie (5/26.7)
	Spring					Doctors' Private Lives
	Follow-up					Family
	Summer					20/20
CBS	Fall	The Waltons		Hawaii Five-O		Barnaby Jones (24/20.5)
	Spring	The Chisholms
	Follow-up	Time Express
	Summer	The Waltons
NBC	Fall	Project U.F.O.		Quincy, M.E.		W.E.B.
	Follow-up					David Cassidy: Man Undercover
	Winter					Mrs. Columbo
	Spring	Harris and Company
	Follow-up	Whodunnit?	Highcliffe Manor			Presenting Susan Anton
	Follow-up	Hizzonner	Whodunnit?
	Summer					:
	Follow-up	Project U.F.O.				David Cassidy: Man Undercover

Note: Mork & Mindy had a one-hour premiere on September 14, 1978.

Note: The segment The Innocent and the Damned was a rerun of the 1977 television miniseries .

Note: Coasttocoast was supposed to air Thursdays 10:00-11:00PM, but NBC's new boss Fred Silverman canceled the show.

Friday[]

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	Donny & Marie
	Winter	Makin' It	What's Happening!! (28/19.8) (Tied with Monday Night Football)
	Spring	Family
	Follow-up	The MacKenzies of Paradise Cove
	Summer	Operation Petticoat	Welcome Back, Kotter
CBS	Fall	The New Adventures of Wonder Woman		The Incredible Hulk		Flying High
	Winter			The Dukes of Hazzard (20/21.0)		Dallas
	Summer	The Incredible Hulk
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		Joe & Valerie
	Follow-up		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

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!! (28/19.8) (Tied with Monday Night Football)	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			B. J. and the Bear		The Rockford Files
	Spring					Supertrain

By network[]

ABC[]

CBS[]

NBC[]

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. 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.