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. Series ending this season are highlighted in italics.
The highest-rated show for the year is colored in lime. The top ten highest-rated shows are colored in yellow. The top 20 highest-rated shows are colored in cyan. The top 30 most-watched programs are colored in magenta.
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, the Public Broadcasting Service, was in operation, but the schedule was set by each local station.
Contents |
| Network | 7:30 PM | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Local Programming | The F.B.I. #30 19.2 rating | The ABC Sunday Night Movie #23 20.0 rating | ||||
| CBS | Anna and the King | M*A*S*H | The Sandy Duncan Show | The New Dick Van Dyke Show | Mannix | Local Programming | |
| NBC | The Wonderful World of Disney #9 23.5 rating | NBC Sunday Mystery Movie: Columbo / McCloud / McMillan & Wife / Hec Ramsey #6 24.2 rating |
Night Gallery | Local Programming | |||
| Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | The Rookies #24 20.0 rating | ABC NFL Monday Night Football #18 21.0 rating | ||||
| CBS | Gunsmoke #8 23.6 rating | Here's Lucy #15 21.9 rating | The Doris Day Show | The New Bill Cosby Show | ||
| NBC | Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In | NBC Monday Night at the Movies #28 19.3 rating | ||||
| Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Temperatures Rising | ABC Tuesday Movie of the Week #17 21.5 rating | Marcus Welby, M.D. #13 22.9 rating | |||
| CBS | Maude #4 24.7 rating | Hawaii Five-O #3 25.2 rating | The New CBS Tuesday Night Movies | |||
| NBC | Bonanza | The Bold Ones: The New Doctors | NBC Reports | |||
| Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | The Paul Lynde Show | ABC Wednesday Movie of the Week #27 19.9 rating | The Julie Andrews Hour | |||
| CBS | The Carol Burnett Show #22 20.3 rating | Medical Center #21 20.6 rating | Cannon #14 22.4 rating | |||
| NBC | Adam-12 #11 23.3 rating | NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie: Madigan / Cool Million / Banacek | Search | |||
| Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | The Mod Squad | The Men: Assignment Vienna / The Delphi Bureau / Jigsaw | Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law | |||
| CBS | The Waltons #20 20.6 rating | The CBS Thursday Night Movies | ||||
| NBC | The Flip Wilson Show #12 23.1 rating | Ironside #10 23.4 rating | The Dean Martin Show | |||
| Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | The Brady Bunch | The Partridge Family #19 20.6 rating | Room 222 | The Odd Couple | Love, American Style | |
| CBS | The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour | The CBS Friday Night Movies | ||||
| NBC | Sanford and Son #2 27.6 rating | The Little People #26 19.9 rating | Ghost Story | Banyon | ||
Note: Ghost Story became Circle Of Fear in January.
| Network | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Alias Smith and Jones | The Streets of San Francisco | The Sixth Sense | |||
| CBS | All in the Family #1 33.3 rating | Bridget Loves Bernie #5 24.2 rating | The Mary Tyler Moore Show #7 23.6 rating | The Bob Newhart Show #16 21.8 rating | Mission: Impossible | |
| NBC | Emergency! | NBC Saturday Night at the Movies | ||||
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