1996–97 United States network television schedule

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:USTV The 1996–97 United States network television schedule for the six major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers the primetime hours from September 1996 to August 1997. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series canceled after the 1995–96 season.

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

Each of the 30 highest-rated shows released in May 1997 is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research.<ref name="BM2">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. Template:ISBN.</ref>

New series highlighted in bold.

Repeat airings or same-day rebroadcasts are indicated by Template:Small.

All times are U.S. Eastern and Pacific Time (except for some live sports or events). Subtract one hour for Central, Mountain, Alaska and Hawaii–Aleutian times.

All sporting events air live in all time zones in U.S. Eastern time, with local and/or late-night programming (including Fox affiliates during the 10 p.m. ET/PT hour) by affiliates after game completion.

Legend

Template:Plainlist

Sunday

Network		7:00 p.m.	7:30 p.m.	8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.
ABC	Fall	America's Funniest Home Videos		Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman		The ABC Sunday Night Movie
	Winter	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman		America's Funniest Home Videos
	Spring	America's Funniest Home Videos		ABC News programming
	Late spring	Second Noah		America's Funniest Home Videos
CBS		60 Minutes Template:Small		Touched by an Angel Template:Small		CBS Sunday Movie Template:Small
Fox	Fall	Big Deal		Fox Movie Special				Local programming
	Mid-fall	Married... with Children Template:Small	Married... with Children	The Simpsons	Ned & Stacey	The X-Files Template:Small
	Winter	Special programming			King of the Hill
	Spring	Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction			King of the Hill
NBC	Fall	Dateline NBC		3rd Rock from the Sun Template:Small	Boston Common	NBC Sunday Night Movie Template:Small
	Spring				3rd Rock from the Sun Template:Small
	Summer				NewsRadio Template:Small
The WB	Fall	Kirk	Brotherly Love	The Parent 'Hood	The Steve Harvey Show	Unhappily Ever After	Life with Roger	Local programming
	Mid-fall	Brotherly Love Template:Small
	Winter	Brotherly Love	Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher
	Late Spring	Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher Template:Small	The Parent 'Hood Template:Small	The Steve Harvey Show Template:Small			The Wayans Bros. Template:Small
	Summer			Buffy the Vampire Slayer Template:Small
	Late summer			The Jamie Foxx Show Template:Small

Monday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Dangerous Minds		Monday Night Football Template:Small
	Winter	Dangerous Minds		The ABC Monday Night Movie
	Late winter	Spy Game
	Spring	Relativity
	Mid-spring	Special programming
	Summer	World of Discovery Template:Small
	Mid-summer	Monday Night Football Preseason
CBS	Fall	Cosby Template:Small	Pearl	Murphy Brown	Cybill Template:Small	Chicago Hope Template:Small
	Mid-fall		Ink	Murphy Brown	Cybill Template:Small
	Winter		Everybody Loves Raymond	Cybill Template:Small	Ink
	Spring		Murphy Brown		Ink
	Late spring		Everybody Loves Raymond Template:Small		Murphy Brown Template:Small
Fox	Fall	Melrose Place		Party Girl	Lush Life	Local programming
	Mid-Fall			Special programming
	Winter			Ned and Stacey	Married... with Children
	Late winter			Married... with Children	Pauly
	Late Spring	MADtv Primetime	The Ruby Wax Show	Married... with Children Template:Small
	Summer	Various programming		Roar
NBC	Fall	The Jeff Foxworthy Show	Mr. Rhodes	The NBC Monday Movie Template:Small
	Spring	The Jeff Foxworthy Show	Boston Common	The NBC Monday Movie Template:Small
	Late spring	The NBC Monday Movie Template:Small				Dateline NBC
	Summer	Suddenly Susan Template:Small	Fired Up Template:Small	Caroline in the City Template:Small	Wings Template:Small	Dateline NBC
UPN	Fall	In the House	Malcolm & Eddie	Goode Behavior	Sparks	Local programming
UPN	Winter	In the House	Malcolm & Eddie	Sparks	Goode Behavior
The WB	Fall	7th Heaven		Savannah
The WB	Winter	7th Heaven		Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Note: On CBS, the debut of Ink was delayed by a month due to production problems, resulting in another new sitcom, Pearl, which aired temporarily in its slot before moving to its own originally designated Wednesday time period in late October.

Tuesday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Roseanne	Life's Work	Home Improvement Template:Small	Spin City Template:Small	NYPD Blue Template:Small
	Winter		Ellen Template:Small			NYPD Blue Template:Small
	Late winter		Ellen Template:Small			The Practice
	Spring	Home Improvement Template:Small	Soul Man			NYPD Blue Template:Small
	Late spring	Roseanne	Life's Work
	Summer	Roseanne	Grace Under Fire Template:Small
CBS		Promised Land		CBS Tuesday Movie
Fox		Fox Tuesday Night Movie				Local programming
NBC	Fall	Mad About You Template:Small	Something So Right	Frasier Template:Small	Caroline in the City Template:Small	Dateline Tuesday Template:Small
	Summer		The Naked Truth Template:Small		Caroline in the City Template:Small
	Mid-summer		NewsRadio Template:Small		Just Shoot Me! Template:Small
UPN	Fall	Moesha	Homeboys in Outer Space	The Burning Zone		Local programming
	Winter		Social Studies
	Spring		Homeboys in Outer Space
	Summer		Social Studies Template:Small	Malcolm & Eddie Template:Small	In the House Template:Small

Wednesday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Ellen Template:Small	Townies	Grace Under Fire	The Drew Carey Show Template:Small	Primetime Live Template:Small
	Winter	Grace Under Fire	Coach	The Drew Carey Show Template:Small	Ellen Template:Small
	Late winter				Arsenio
	Spring				Ellen Template:Small
CBS	Fall	The Nanny	Almost Perfect	CBS Wednesday Movie
	Mid-fall		Pearl	CBS Wednesday Movie
	Winter		Pearl	Coast to Coast		Orleans
	Late winter		Temporarily Yours	Feds		EZ Streets
	Spring		Various programming	CBS Wednesday Movie
	Late spring		Pearl	CBS Wednesday Movie
	Summer		Murphy Brown Template:Small	Coast to Coast		48 Hours
Fox	Fall	Beverly Hills, 90210		Party of Five		Template:Small
	Winter			Party of Five
	Spring			Pacific Palisades
	Summer	Template:Small		Pacific Palisades
NBC	Fall	Wings	The John Larroquette Show	NewsRadio	Men Behaving Badly	Law & Order Template:Small
	Mid-fall		Template:Small
	Winter		Chicago Sons
	Late winter	NewsRadio	Chicago Sons	Wings	Just Shoot Me!	Prince Street
	Spring		The Single Guy Template:Small		Men Behaving Badly	Law & Order Template:Small
	Mid-spring		Template:Small		Men Behaving Badly	Law & Order Template:Small
	Summer		Men Behaving Badly	NBA on NBC
	Mid-summer		Template:Small	Wings	Chicago Sons	Law & Order Template:Small
	Late summer	NBC Wednesday Night Movie				Law & Order Template:Small
UPN		The Sentinel		Star Trek: Voyager		Local programming
The WB	Fall	Sister, Sister	Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher	The Wayans Bros.	The Jamie Foxx Show
	Winter		Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher	The Wayans Bros.	The Jamie Foxx Show
	Spring		Smart Guy	The Jamie Foxx Show	The Wayans Bros.
	Summer		The Parent 'Hood Template:Small
	Mid-summer		The Steve Harvey Show Template:Small
	Late summer		Smart Guy	The Wayans Bros.	The Steve Harvey Show Template:Small

Note: On CBS, due to the effect of the debut delay of Ink on Monday, the first month of the new season on this night aired Almost Perfect at 8:30 p.m., followed by CBS Wednesday Movies at 9 p.m. The originally planned fall Wednesday lineup took shape at the end of October with Pearl taking over at 8:30 p.m., Almost Perfect moving to 9 p.m., Public Morals debuting at 9:30 p.m., and EZ Streets debuting at 10 p.m. This lasted for only one week in late October. CBS cancelled Public Morals after it aired the 1st, and only, episode. This meant Almost Perfect would soon be cancelled. EZ Streets would be given a 2nd chance in the spring.

Thursday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.
ABC	Fall	High Incident		Murder One		Turning Point
	Winter			The ABC Thursday Night Movie
	Late winter			Vital Signs		Turning Point
	Summer			Turning Point		ABC News programming
CBS	Fall	Diagnosis: Murder		Moloney		48 Hours
CBS	Summer	Promised Land Template:Small		Diagnosis: Murder Template:Small		48 Hours
Fox		Martin	Living Single	New York Undercover		Local programming
NBC	Fall	Friends Template:Small	The Single Guy Template:Small	Seinfeld Template:Small	Suddenly Susan Template:Small	ER Template:Small
	Winter		The Single Guy Template:Small		The Naked Truth Template:Small	ER Template:Small
	Late winter		Suddenly Susan Template:Small		The Naked Truth Template:Small	Law & Order Template:Small
	Spring		Suddenly Susan Template:Small		Fired Up Template:Small	ER Template:Small
	Late spring		Men Behaving Badly Template:Small		Suddenly Susan Template:Small
	Summer		Men Behaving Badly Template:Small		3rd Rock from the Sun Template:Small

Friday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM
ABC	Fall	Family Matters	Sabrina the Teenage Witch	Clueless	Boy Meets World	20/20 Template:Small
	Mid-fall		Boy Meets World	Sabrina the Teenage Witch	Clueless
	Late Winter				Step by Step
	Spring	Step by Step			Clueless Template:Small
	Summer	Step by Step			Hangin' with Mr. Cooper
CBS	Fall	Dave's World	Everybody Loves Raymond	Mr. & Mrs. Smith		Nash Bridges
	Late fall			Special programming
	Winter			JAG
	Spring	JAG		Orleans
	Late spring	Dave's World	Life... and Stuff	JAG Template:Small
	Summer	Ordinary Extraordinary		JAG Template:Small
Fox	Fall	Sliders		The X-Files Template:Small		Local programming
Fox	Mid-fall	Sliders		Millennium		Local programming
NBC	Fall	Unsolved Mysteries		Dateline NBC Template:Small		Homicide: Life on the Street
	Winter					Crisis Center
	Spring					Homicide: Life on the Street
	Late spring					Profiler Template:Small
	Summer					Homicide: Life on the Street Template:Small

Note: CBS picked up JAG after NBC cancelled it due to low ratings and it became a success afterwards.

This is the last season of Family Matters and Step by Step and the only season of Clueless to air on ABC's TGIF block, until the following season, the former two shows were picked up by CBS and Clueless moved to UPN on Tuesdays.

Saturday

Network		8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Second Noah		Coach	Common Law	Relativity
	Mid-fall	The ABC Saturday Night Movie				Relativity
	Winter	Dangerous Minds		The ABC Saturday Night Movie
	Spring	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman		Leaving L.A.		Gun
	Late spring	Family Matters Template:Small	Hangin' with Mr. Cooper	Dangerous Minds Template:Small		Spy Game
	Summer	Family Matters Template:Small	Hangin' with Mr. Cooper	Special programming		The Practice Template:Small
CBS		Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman		Early Edition		Walker, Texas Ranger Template:Small
Fox	Fall	COPS	COPS Template:Small	Married... with Children	Love and Marriage	Local programming
Fox	Mid-fall	COPS	COPS Template:Small	America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back		Local programming
NBC	Fall	Dark Skies		The Pretender		Profiler
	Spring	Special programming		The Pretender		Profiler
	Summer	The Pretender		NBC Saturday Night At The Movies

Note: America's Most Wanted would return in November at 9:00 on Fox. Married... with Children moved to Sundays at 7-8pm in November, Mondays at 9:30 in January, and Mondays at 9pm in February. Lawless which aired on March 27, 1997, replacing the second half of America's Most Wanted was canceled after one episode.