1980–81 United States network television schedule

1980 in American television 1981 in American television

List of American television programs currently in production

Daytime: 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83

Prime time: 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83

Late night: 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83

The following is the 1980–81 network television schedule for the three major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1980 through August 1981. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1979–80 season. All times are Eastern and Pacific, with certain exceptions, such as Monday Night Football.

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

Note: An actors' strike hindered the ability to start airing shows in a timely manner. The shows in the schedule were the first to air new episodes in their respective time periods as they bowed in between late August and December 31, 1980. Some of the new shows intended for a fall launch did not debut until 1982 or 1983, if at all.

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	Those Amazing Animals (Sep.)		Local and paid political programming		The ABC Sunday Night Movie (24/19.4) (Tied with CHiPs)
	Follow-up			Charlie's Angels
	Spring			Specials
CBS		60 Minutes (3/27.0)		Archie Bunker's Place (13/21.4)	One Day at a Time (11/22.0)	Alice (7/22.9)	The Jeffersons (6/23.5)	Trapper John, M.D. (17/20.7) (Tied with Fantasy Island and Diff'rent Strokes)
NBC		Disney's Wonderful World		CHiPs (24/19.4) (Tied with The ABC Sunday Night Movie)

Note: On ABC, local and paid political programming aired in the 8-9 p.m. hour from September till November.

Monday[]

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	That's Incredible! (22/20.5)		Monday Night Football (20/20.6) (Tied with Laverne & Shirley)
	Winter			Dynasty		Foul Play
	Spring					Soap
	Summer	Specials	Monday Night Baseball
CBS	Fall	Flo	Ladies' Man (Oct.)	M*A*S*H (4/25.7)	House Calls (8/22.4) (Tied with Three's Company)	Lou Grant (27/19.1)
	Spring	Private Benjamin
	Summer		The Tim Conway Show
NBC	Fall	Little House on the Prairie (10/22.1)		NBC Monday Night at the Movies (29/18.8)
	Summer			Flamingo Road		The Last Convertible

Note: Private Benjamin premiered April 6, 1981, at 8:00-8:30 pm on CBS.
Soap ran for three-and-a-half seasons on ABC in a 30-minute format. It was pulled from the Wednesday night schedule in January 1981 and returned on Mondays from March to April, when the final 12 episodes of the series ran as six 60-minute installments.

Tuesday[]

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	Happy Days (15/20.8) (Tied with Too Close for Comfort)	Laverne & Shirley (20/20.6) (Tied with Monday Night Football)	Three's Company (8/22.4) (Tied with House Calls)	Too Close for Comfort (Nov.) (15/20.8) (Tied with Happy Days)	Hart to Hart (23/19.9)
	Summer				It's a Living
CBS	Fall	Local and paid political programming
	Follow-up	The White Shadow
	Winter	That's My Line
	Spring	Palmerstown, U.S.A.
	Summer	Checking In	Flo
NBC	Fall					(Oct.)
	Follow-up	Lobo		B. J. and the Bear
	Winter					Flamingo Road
	Spring			Nero Wolfe

Note: On CBS, local and paid political programming aired in the 8-9 p.m. hour between September and November. On NBC, aired 8-10 p.m. from September till November.

Wednesday[]

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	Eight Is Enough		Taxi	Soap	Vega$
	Spring	The Greatest American Hero (Mar.)		Aloha Paradise (Feb.)		American Dream (May)
	Summer	Charlie's Angels		The ABC Summer Movie
	Follow-up/Post-Season			Vega$		Dynasty
CBS		Enos (Nov.)
NBC	Fall	Real People (12/21.5)		Movie of the Week
	Follow-up			Diff'rent Strokes (17/20.7) (Tied with Fantasy Island and Trapper John, M.D.)	The Facts of Life (26/19.3)	Quincy, M.E.

Note: The Greatest American Hero Debuts on March 18, 1981, at 8:00pm on ABC

Note: NBC's Movie of the Week aired 9-11 p.m. between September and November.

Note: The Facts of Life Season 2 begins Wednesday, November 19, 1980, at 9:30 on NBC.

Thursday[]

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	Mork & Mindy	Bosom Buddies (Nov.)	Barney Miller	It's a Living (Oct.)	20/20
	Winter				Taxi
CBS	Fall	The Waltons (30/18.6)
	Follow-up			Magnum, P.I. (Dec.) (14/21.0)		Knots Landing (28/19.0)
	Spring	Checking In	Park Place
	Follow-up	The Waltons
NBC	Fall	Games People Play
	Winter	Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

Note: aired 9-11 p.m. from September till the end of November. Magnum, P.I. had a 2-hour premiere on December 11, 1980.

Friday[]

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC		Benson	I'm a Big Girl Now (Oct.)
CBS		The Incredible Hulk		The Dukes of Hazzard (2/27.3)		Dallas (1/34.5)
NBC	Fall					(Sep.)
	Follow-up	Marie (Dec.)		(Dec.)
	Winter	Harper Valley PTA	Sanford	Nero Wolfe
	Follow-up		The Brady Brides
	Spring		Sanford
	Follow-up			Specials

Note: aired 8-10 p.m. through October and November.

Saturday[]

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	Local and paid political programming		The Love Boat (5/24.3)		Fantasy Island (17/20.7) (Tied with Trapper John, M.D. and Diff'rent Strokes)
	Follow-up	Breaking Away (Nov.)
	Winter	Charlie's Angels
	Follow-up	240-Robert
	Spring	Eight Is Enough
CBS	Fall	WKRP in Cincinnati	The Tim Conway Show
	Follow-up			Freebie and the Bean (Dec.)		Secrets of Midland Heights (Dec.)
	Spring					Riker
	Summer	Enos
NBC	Fall	Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters (Nov.)		NBC Saturday Night at the Movies
	Winter			Walking Tall		Hill Street Blues

Note: aired 9-11 p.m. through the end of November.

By network[]

ABC[]

CBS[]

NBC[]

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

References[]