# TV channels with a multihour major lineup on a specific day **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 11, 2017, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-channels-with-a-multihour-major-lineup-on-a-specific-day/804160 "2017-12-11T00:48:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-channels-with-a-multihour-major-lineup-on-a-specific-day/804160/1 "2017-12-11T00:48:10Z")
When I was a kid ABC had TGIF on friday. The shows would vary (full house, perfect strangers, family matters, etc), but it meant 2 hours of friday night sitcoms followed by 20/20. In the mid to late 90s, NBC had must see thursday which has Seinfeld and Friends, plus whatever other shows they could fit in that time slot to build them up. Sunday has always had a lot of shows on Fox. Right now it is various animation shows, but when I was younger it was Married with Children and other shows. I remember as a teenager, on saturday night there’d be a police lineup on Saturday on Fox. They’d have several episodes of cops followed by America’s most wanted. I don’t get cable or satellite, and haven’t used them in a while. Are there other days where a particular channel has a lot of hit shows back to back, and basically make a multi hour viewing event? ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-channels-with-a-multihour-major-lineup-on-a-specific-day/804160/2 "2017-12-11T01:05:49Z")
Some candidates > **[What was the best network television lineup ever?](https://www.metv.com/lists/what-was-the-best-network-television-lineup-ever)** > > What was the greatest night of television ever? We count down, from the early days of black & white to "Must See TV." ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-channels-with-a-multihour-major-lineup-on-a-specific-day/804160/3 "2017-12-11T01:53:58Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > When I was a kid ABC had TGIF on friday. The shows would vary (full house, perfect strangers, family matters, etc), but it meant 2 hours of friday night sitcoms followed by 20/20. > > In the mid to late 90s, NBC had must see thursday which has Seinfeld and Friends, plus whatever other shows they could fit in that time slot to build them up. > > Sunday has always had a lot of shows on Fox. Right now it is various animation shows, but when I was younger it was Married with Children and other shows. > > I remember as a teenager, on saturday night there’d be a police lineup on Saturday on Fox. They’d have several episodes of cops followed by America’s most wanted. > > I don’t get cable or satellite, and haven’t used them in a while. > > Are there other days where a particular channel has a lot of hit shows back to back, and basically make a multi hour viewing event? Sure. Back in the early 1970, ABC had kid-focused shows from 7:30 (The Brady Bunch) through 9 (the other shows were Nanny and the Professor and The Partridge Family). In the early 1980s, The Love Boat and Fantasy Island dominated Saturday night. In the later 1980s NBC was hugely successful on Thursday with Cosby, Family Ties, Cheers, Night Court and L A Law ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-channels-with-a-multihour-major-lineup-on-a-specific-day/804160/4 "2017-12-11T01:58:15Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Some candidates > > [What was the best network television lineup ever?](http://www.metv.com/lists/what-was-the-best-network-television-lineup-ever) That article talks about CBS Saturdays in 1974-1975, but 1973-1974 was even more of a blockbuster with M_A_S\*H following All in the Family. You know how TV programmers complain no one watches TV on Saturday night? From 1971-1976 at least two (more often three) of the top 10 programs were CBS comedies on Saturday night. College kids during those years built parties around watching CBS on Saturday night. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-channels-with-a-multihour-major-lineup-on-a-specific-day/804160/5 "2017-12-11T02:04:58Z")
Here’s a trip down memory lane: > **[1966–67 United States network television schedule](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966%E2%80%9367_United_States_network_television_schedule)** > > The following is the 1966–67 network television schedule for the three major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1966 through August 1967. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1965–66 season. > 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 Resea... I selected 1966–67, which IMHO represented the decade’s peak of TV programming. The only thing missing is, unfortunately, _ **McHale’s Navy** _ on Tuesday nights (right after _ **Combat!** _), which was replaced by _ **The Rounders** _. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-channels-with-a-multihour-major-lineup-on-a-specific-day/804160/6 "2017-12-11T03:14:21Z")
NBC had a pretty good night in Fridays in 1974 - “Sanford and Son” “Chico and the Man” “Rockford Files” and “Police Women” - three of which were top 30 series for that season. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-channels-with-a-multihour-major-lineup-on-a-specific-day/804160/7 "2017-12-11T17:15:29Z")
Saturday morning cartoons often tried to brand themselves in that way, to keep kids from changing the channel. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-channels-with-a-multihour-major-lineup-on-a-specific-day/804160/8 "2017-12-11T17:22:43Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Saturday morning cartoons often tried to brand themselves in that way, to keep kids from changing the channel. Like this one: [The Krofft Supershow - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Krofft_Supershow) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS\_TmRtoO2k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS_TmRtoO2k) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-channels-with-a-multihour-major-lineup-on-a-specific-day/804160/9 "2017-12-11T22:33:38Z")
David Letterman once said something like “NBC could put melting cheese on between _Friends_ and _Seinfeld_ and it’d still make the top ten.” Melting cheese would probably have gotten better ratings than _Suddenly Susan_ or _Veronica’s Closet_. If you have a lineup that can plop in really horrible shows and still win the night, you are on fire. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-channels-with-a-multihour-major-lineup-on-a-specific-day/804160/10 "2017-12-12T01:40:23Z")
The Thursday night prime time lineup on ABC is the Shonda Rhimes block which ABC markets as “Thank God It’s Thursday” or TGIT.