Prime Time Slot Television
The prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television show. It is used by the major television networks to broadcast their season's nightly programming. Alex Salvi continues to host After Hours with Alex Salvi debuting tonight at 8 pm PT slot. Tipping Point with Liz Wheeler was scheduled, and announced internally to our staff, to move to the 9 pm. View the MSNBC schedule today and catch your favorite shows as they air. See the MSNBC schedule tonight or plan to watch daily TV broadcasts and news. IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities: IMDbPro Get Info Entertainment Professionals Need: Kindle Direct Publishing Indie Digital & Print Publishing Made Easy Amazon Photos Unlimited Photo Storage Free With Prime: Prime Video Direct Video Distribution Made Easy: Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands: Amazon Warehouse Great Deals on Quality Used Products. Of the 27 prime time games the Colts have played since 2012, 20 have been on the road. Only seven have happened at Lucas Oil Stadium, a fact that frustrates Indianapolis owner Jim Irsay to no end.
- Prime Time Slot Television Show
- Prime Time Slot Television Shows
- Prime Time Slot Television Series
- Prime Time Slot Television Schedule
This was the television schedule on all three United States television networks for the fall season beginning in September 1972. All times are Eastern and Pacific, with a few 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.
Note: This was the first full season in which all networks, on every day of the week except for Sunday, started airing programs at 8:00 instead of 7:30, as dictated by the FCC under its Prime Time Access Rule, intended to increase diversity in programming.
PBS is not included; member stations have local flexibility over most of their schedules and broadcast times for network shows may vary.
Sunday[edit]
| Network | 7:30 PM | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Local | The F.B.I. (29/19.2) (Tied with The ABC Monday Movie and Kung Fu) | The ABC Sunday Night Movie (23/20.0) (Tied with The Rookies) | |||||
| CBS | Fall | Anna and the King | M*A*S*H (46/17.4) | The Sandy Duncan Show | The New Dick Van Dyke Show | Mannix | Local | |
| Winter | The New Dick Van Dyke Show | Mannix | Barnaby Jones (25/19.9) (Tied with The Little People and The ABC Wednesday Movie of the Week) | |||||
| NBC | The Wonderful World of Disney (9/23.5) | The NBC Sunday Mystery Movie (Columbo / McCloud / McMillan and Wife / Hec Ramsey) (5/24.2) (Tied with Bridget Loves Bernie) | Night Gallery | |||||
Note:60 Minutes aired at 6:00-7:00 pm on CBS from January to June 1973.
Monday[edit]
| Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | The Rookies (23/20.0) (Tied with The ABC Sunday Night Movie) | ABC NFL Monday Night Football (18/21.0) | ||||
| Winter | ABC Monday Night Movie (29/19.2) (Tied with The F.B.I. and Kung Fu) | ||||||
| CBS | Fall | Gunsmoke (7/23.6) (Tied with The Mary Tyler Moore Show) | Here's Lucy (15/21.9) | The Doris Day Show (37/18.6) | The New Bill Cosby Show (58/15.0) | ||
| Spring | Medical Center | ||||||
| NBC | Fall | Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (51/16.7) | NBC Monday Night at the Movies (28/19.3) | ||||
| Summer | The Baseball World of Joe Garagiola (8:00) / Monday Night Baseball (8:15) | ||||||
Tuesday[edit]
| Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Temperatures Rising (48/17.3) | ABC Tuesday Movie of the Week (17/21.5) | Marcus Welby, M.D. (13/22.9) | ||||
| CBS | Maude (4/24.7) | Hawaii Five-O (3/25.2) | The New CBS Tuesday Night Movies (36/18.1) | ||||
| NBC | Fall | Bonanza (50/17.0) | The Bold Ones: The New Doctors (60/14.7) | NBC Reports (74/9.3) | |||
| Winter | NBC Tuesday Night at the Movies | First Tuesday (72/9.6) | |||||
Wednesday[edit]
| Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | The Paul Lynde Show | ABC Wednesday Movie of the Week (25/19.9) (Tied with Barnaby Jones and The Little People) | The Julie Andrews Hour | |||
| Winter | Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law | ||||||
| Summer | Thicker than Water | ||||||
| Follow-up | Love Thy Neighbor | ||||||
| CBS | Fall | The Carol Burnett Show (22/20.3) | Medical Center (19/20.6) (Tied with The Partridge Family and The Waltons) | Cannon (14/22.4) | |||
| Winter | The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour | ||||||
| Spring | Dan August | ||||||
| NBC | Adam-12 (11/23.3) | NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie: Madigan / Cool Million / Banacek | Search | ||||
Note:Dan August consisted of reruns of the 1970-1971 ABC series.
Thursday[edit]
| Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | The Mod Squad (54/16.2) | The Men: Assignment Vienna / The Delphi Bureau / Jigsaw | Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law | |||
| Winter | Kung Fu (29/19.2) (Tied with The ABC Monday Movie and The F.B.I.) | The Streets of San Francisco | |||||
| CBS | The Waltons (19/20.6) (Tied with The Partridge Family and Medical Center) | CBS Thursday Night Movie (36/18.7) | |||||
| NBC | Fall | The Flip Wilson Show (12/23.1) | Ironside (10/23.4) | The Dean Martin Show (49/17.1) | |||
| Summer | The Helen Reddy Show | Dean Martin Presents Music Country | |||||
Friday[edit]
| Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | The Brady Bunch | The Partridge Family (19/20.6) (Tied with The Waltons and Medical Center) | Room 222 | The Odd Couple | Love, American Style | |
| Summer | The Odd Couple | Love Thy Neighbor | |||||
| Follow-up | The Corner Bar | ||||||
| CBS | Fall | The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour | The CBS Friday Night Movies | ||||
| Follow-up | Mission: Impossible | ||||||
| Summer | 60 Minutes | ||||||
| NBC | Fall | Sanford and Son (2/27.6) | The Little People (25/19.9) (Tied with Barnaby Jones and The ABC Wednesday Movie of the Week) | Ghost Story | Banyon | ||
| Winter | Circle of Fear | ||||||
Note:Ghost Story was retooled slightly and retitled Circle of Fear (under the same production team) with the episode broadcast January 5, 1973.
Saturday[edit]
| Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | Alias Smith and Jones / Kung Fu | The Streets of San Francisco | The Sixth Sense | |||
| Winter | Here We Go Again | A Touch of Grace | The Julie Andrews Hour | The Men: Assignment Vienna / The Delphi Bureau / Jigsaw | |||
| Summer | The Paul Lynde Show | The Strauss Family | |||||
| Follow-up | The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour | ||||||
| CBS | Fall | All in the Family (1/33.3) | Bridget Loves Bernie (5/24.2) (Tied with The NBC Sunday Mystery Movie) | The Mary Tyler Moore Show (7/23.6) (Tied with Gunsmoke) | The Bob Newhart Show (16/21.8) | Mission: Impossible | |
| Follow-up | The Carol Burnett Show (22/20.3) | ||||||
| Summer | Mission: Impossible | ||||||
| NBC | Emergency! | NBC Saturday Night at the Movies | |||||
By network[edit]
ABC[edit]
Returning Series | New Series
| Not Returning From 1971-72 |
CBS[edit]
Returning Series | New Series | Not Returning From 1971-72 |
NBC[edit]
Returning Series | New Series | Not Returning From 1971-72 |
Prime Time Slot Television Show
References[edit]
Prime Time Slot Television Shows
- ^Highest-rated series is based on the annual top-rated programs list compiled by Nielsen Media Research and reported in: Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (2007). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows (9th ed.). New York: Ballantine. ISBN978-0-345-49773-4.
Additional sources[edit]
- 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. ISBN0-14-024916-8.
- Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (1985). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows (3rd ed.). New York: Ballantine. ISBN0-345-31864-1.
Did you ever wonder why certain TV shows are aired on certain days and times instead of others? The answer is not a random choice, but how networks break down the number of programming hours in a day and insert the programs they believe will attract the most viewers to those that are headed for the programming dumpster. The first term you need to know is “dayparting.” One you see how TV networks divide their day, you will know the definition.
- Sign-on
- Early morning news
- Early morning
- Late morning
- Daytime television
- Early fringe
- Lunchtime news
- Early afternoon
- Late afternoon
- Early evening
- Evening news
- Prime time
- Late-night news
- Late night television
- Graveyard slot
- Sign-off
- Late fringe
- Post late-fringe
The two categories that should be most familiar to you are Prime Time and Late Night Television. Notice that news takes up 4 of the 16 major categories. Anything after the late night shows is basically filler time for people who can’t go to sleep. If your favorite show ends up in the Prime Time slot, which always starts after the evening news, you can be sure there are a lot of other people watching it as well. If your fave shows has been moved from Prime Time it is not a good sign for its future.
Much of this you are already familiar with, so to look deeper into the reason for your show being moved around there are a few new terms you need to know.
One of the strategies that people are familiar with is called tentpoling. This is when a new or wobbly program needs some exposure, so a highly successful program is placed in front or back of it, hoping viewers will stick around to see what the new program is about. Showtime did this with success by placing the questionably titled SMILF after its popular Shameless series. It has been one of Showtime’s most successful shows this past season. The opposite of tentpoling is hammocking, where a struggling show will be placed between two popular shows to give it a boost. Just because your favorite show is in the middle of two good shows does not necessarily mean it is popular.
Prime Time Slot Television Series
Did you notice that sometimes networks will run two different sitcoms back to back? This is called block programming, and the purpose is simple. Networks believe that people who like sitcoms will stay put and watch one sitcom after another without changing the station. Even if one sitcom is much better than the other, you may still find them blocked together.
Prime Time Slot Television Schedule
There are other factors that will determine a program’s placement, such as the actor playing the lead role changing. Often, a show that changes its lead actor or actress will find itself in a new time slot until it is proven audiences will follow the show regardless of who is leading. This also explains why TV networks pay so much money to the key stars on TV shows to keep them in their best time slots.