1971–72 United States network television schedule

Legend

• Gray indicates encore programming.
• Blue-gray indicates news programming.
• Light green indicates sporting events.
• Red indicates series being burned off and other regularly scheduled programs, including specials and movies.
• Lime highlights indicates the number-one most watched program of the season.
• Yellow highlights indicates the top-10 most watched programs of the season.
• Cyan highlights indicates numbers 11-20 most watched programs of the season.
• Magenta highlights indicates numbers 21-30 most watched programs of the season.
• Highlights indicates that it falls in multiple of the above categories.

Sunday

Note: 60 Minutes aired at 6:00-7:00 pm on CBS from January to June 1972.

Monday

Tuesday

Note: The NBC 1972 summer series Ponderosa consisted of reruns of Bonanza episodes from the 1967-1970 period. More recent reruns of Bonanza also aired that summer under the shows original name in its regular Sunday evening time slot. NBC Action Playhouse consisted of reruns from Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, with new introductions by Peter Marshall.

Wednesday

Note: The ABC 1972 summer series ABC Comedy Hour Presents the Kopykats consisted of reruns of ABC Comedy Hour from earlier in the year.

Thursday

Note: My World and Welcome to It consisted of reruns of NBC's 1969-70 sitcom.

Friday

• formerly First Tuesday

Saturday

By network

[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]

Returning Series

• The ABC Monday Night Movie
• ABC Movie of the Week
• ABC NFL Monday Night Football
• The ABC Sunday Night Movie
• Alias Smith and Jones
• Bewitched
• The Brady Bunch
• The Courtship of Eddie's Father
• The F.B.I.
• Love, American Style
• Marcus Welby, M.D.
• The Mod Squad
• Nanny and the Professor
• The Odd Couple
• The Partridge Family
• Room 222
• The Smith Family

New Series

• The ABC Comedy Hour *
• The Corner Bar *
• Getting Together
• The Ken Berry 'Wow' Show *
• Longstreet
• The Man and the City
• The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine *
• Monday Night Special *
• Movie of the Weekend
• Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law
• The Persuaders!
• Shirley's World
• The Sixth Sense *
• The Super *

Not returning from 1970–71:

• Barefoot in the Park
• Dan August
• Danny Thomas in Make Room for Granddaddy
• The Immortal
• It Was a Very Good Year
• The Johnny Cash Show
• The Lawrence Welk Show (moved to syndication)
• Let's Make a Deal (remained on its daytime lineup)
• Matt Lincoln
• The Most Deadly Game
• The Newlywed Game (remained on its daytime lineup)
• The Pearl Bailey Show
• The Reel Game
• The Silent Force
• That Girl
• This Is Tom Jones
• The Val Doonican Show
• The Young Lawyers
• The Young Rebels

[[CBS]]

Returning Series

• 60 Minutes
• All in the Family
• Arnie
• The Carol Burnett Show
• CBS Thursday Night Movie
• The Doris Day Show
• The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour
• Gunsmoke
• Hawaii Five-O
• Here's Lucy
• Mannix
• The Mary Tyler Moore Show
• Medical Center
• Mission: Impossible
• My Three Sons
• The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
• Suspense Theatre

New Series

• Bearcats!
• Cade's County
• Cannon
• The Chicago Teddy Bears
• The David Steinberg Show *
• The Don Rickles Show *
• Funny Face *
• The Jerry Reed When You're Hot You're Hot Hour *
• The John Byner Comedy Hour *
• The Life of Leonardo da Vinci *
• Me and the Chimp *
• The New Dick Van Dyke Show
• O'Hara, U.S. Treasury

Not returning from 1970–71:

• Animal World
• The Beverly Hillbillies
• The CBS Newcomers
• Comedy Playhouse
• The Ed Sullivan Show
• Family Affair
• The Governor & J.J.
• Green Acres
• Headmaster
• Hee Haw (moved to syndication)
• Hogan's Heroes
• The Ice Palace
• The Interns
• The Jim Nabors Hour
• Lassie (moved to syndication)
• Mayberry R.F.D.
• The New Andy Griffith Show
• Storefront Lawyers
• The Tim Conway Comedy Hour
• To Rome with Love

[[NBC]]

Returning Series

• Adam-12
• Bonanza
• The Bold Ones
• Columbo
• The Dean Martin Show
• The Flip Wilson Show
• Ironside
• McCloud
• Monday Night Baseball
• NBC Action Playhouse
• NBC Monday Night at the Movies
• The NBC Mystery Movie
• NBC Saturday Night at the Movies
• Night Gallery
• Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
• The Wonderful World of Disney

New Series

• The D.A.
• Dean Martin Presents the Bobby Darin Amusement Co. *
• Emergency! *
• The Funny Side
• The Good Life
• The Jimmy Stewart Show
• McMillan & Wife
• Nichols
• The Partners
• Sanford and Son *
• Sarge

Not returning from 1970–71:

• The Andy Williams Show
• The Bill Cosby Show
• Bracken's World
• The Des O'Connor Show
• The Don Knotts Show
• Four in One
• From a Bird's Eye View
• The High Chaparral
• Julia
• Kraft Music Hall
• Make Your Own Kind of Music
• The Men from Shiloh
• The Name of the Game
• Nancy
• NBC Comedy Theater
• The Psychiatrist
• The Red Skelton Show
• San Francisco International Airport
• Strange Report
• Wild Kingdom

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. .

References

1. 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. {{ISBN. 978-0-345-49773-4.
2. O'Connor, John J.. (1971-11-07). "Television". The New York Times.