Wouldn't it be fun if the major 4 networks did "Primetime Throwback Thursdays". It would change every Thursday and air from 8pm to 11pm (with the exception of FOX which would end at 10pm).
This would be my first Thursday if I could schedule it:

ABC:
8: Bewitched
8:30: The Brady Bunch
9: Happy Days
9:30: Laverne & Shirley
10: Charlie's Angels

NBC:
8: ALF
8:30: Cheers
9: Wings
9:30: The Golden Girls
10: Unsolved Mysteries

CBS:
8: I Love Lucy
8:30: Green Acres
9: The Twilight Zone
9:30: All in the Family
10: Murder, She Wrote

FOX:
8: That '70s Show
8:30: Married with Children
9: The X-Files

Yeah,it would be fun and a good idea. Show some REAL television one night a week. I'd watch or tape some of it,and I almost never watch the big networks anymore.Personally though I'd limit it to mainly 1950s-80s TV shows with a couple of 1990s shows thrown in.

I would love that! I wouldn't be surprised if the ratings for Throwback Thursday were higher than the rest of the week.

I would love that! I wouldn't be surprised if the ratings for Throwback Thursday were higher than the rest of the week.
I wouldn't be surprised either.

Wouldn't it be fun if the major 4 networks did "Primetime Throwback Thursdays". It would change every Thursday and air from 8pm to 11pm (with the exception of FOX which would end at 10pm).
This would be my first Thursday if I could schedule it:

ABC:
8: Bewitched
8:30: The Brady Bunch
9: Happy Days
9:30: Laverne & Shirley
10: Charlie's Angels

NBC:
8: ALF
8:30: Cheers
9: Wings
9:30: The Golden Girls
10: Unsolved Mysteries

CBS:
8: I Love Lucy
8:30: Green Acres
9: The Twilight Zone
9:30: All in the Family
10: Murder, She Wrote

FOX:
8: That '70s Show
8:30: Married with Children
9: The X-Files

I would be all for it!!! Though, instead of The Brady Bunch substitute with That Girl.

I think it would work too, only I would put it on Fridays or Saturdays when the competition is very weak and there's nothing else to watch.

I'm not sure, but I believe that this idea has been tried before by either TV Land or Nick at Nite sometime in the late 90s, when both channels knew how to program themselves. They would take one night of the week, likely a Saturday, call it "TV Time Warp", and devote the whole night to a date in history and put on the best lineup from that date, like ABC's great Friday shows from the early 70s, or a Wednesday night lineup from CBS in the mid-60s, which would have "Dick Van Dyke" following "The Beverly Hillbillies".

I also saw something like this on the Internet a few years ago, except the web page was removed before I had a chance to download it. It was a series of videos that were on a different site from YouTube and they were called "Net Nights". They were roughly about 3 hours long and each contained a typical night from the past of primetime shows from one of the networks, including the original commercials. If I can find the link, I'll post it for you but it might be very hard to find. If I was doing my own "TV Time Warp", I would use these lineups:

ABC

Fridays - 1970s

7:30 Brady Bunch
8:00 Partridge Family
8:30 Room 222
9:00 That Girl
9:30 Odd Couple
10:00 Love American Style

Tuesdays - 1970s

8:00 Happy Days
8:30 Laverne & Shirley
9:00 Three's Company
9:30 Taxi

Thursdays - 1979-80

8:00 Mork & Mindy (taking over for "Welcome Back Kotter", which I would put in at 7:30 pm to make up my fantasy schedule)
8:30 Benson
9:00 Barney Miller
9:30 Soap


Thursdays - 1962-63

This lineup ran for one season only and it may be the most underrated group in history:

7:30 Ozzie & Harriet
8:00 Donna Reed Show
8:30 Leave It To Beaver
9:00 My Three Sons
9:30 McHale's Navy


NBC

Must See TV Thursdays

1980s

8:00 Cosby Show
8:30 Family Ties
9:00 Cheers
9:30 Night Court

1990s

8:00 Friends
8:30 Mad About You
9:00 Seinfeld
9:30 Frasier

CBS

Saturdays - 1970s

8:00 All In The Family
8:30 MASH
9:00 Mary Tyler Moore
9:30 Bob Newhart Show
10:00 Carol Burnett Show

Sundays - 1980s

8:00 Archie Bunker's Place
8:30 Alice
9:00 One Day At A Time
9:30 The Jeffersons

Mondays - 2000s

8:00 How I Met Your Mother
8:30 The Big Bang Theory
9:00 Two & A Half Men

By sheer coincidence, these are the only series that I still watch in primetime today, and by this time next year, only one will be left.


Wednesdays - 1965-66

Another great underrated one season lineup:

7:30 Lost In Space
8:30 Beverly Hillbillies
9:00 Green Acres
9:30 The Dick Van Dyke Show


Notice how each network has one great schedule for every day of the week. Since you can now watch most of these series on demand in some form, they are all perfect for binge-watching and you can re-create these lineups any time you wish. But I'd still rather see them all on TV!

ABC
8:00pm - Roseanne
8:30pm - Who's the Boss
9:00pm - Dynasty
10:00pm - Charlie's Angels

CBS
8:00pm - Maude
8:30pm - The Jeffersons
9:00pm - M*A*S*H
9:30pm - Mary Tyler Moore Show
10:00pm - Kojak

FOX
8:00pm - The Simpsons
8:30pm - Married with Children
9:00pm - The X-Files

NBC
8:00pm - Friends
8:30pm - Frasier
9:00pm - Seinfeld
9:30pm - Cheers
10:00pm - ER

Wouldn't it be fun if the major 4 networks did "Primetime Throwback Thursdays". It would change every Thursday and air from 8pm to 11pm (with the exception of FOX which would end at 10pm).
This would be my first Thursday if I could schedule it:

ABC:
8: Bewitched
8:30: The Brady Bunch
9: Happy Days
9:30: Laverne & Shirley
10: Charlie's Angels

NBC:
8: ALF
8:30: Cheers
9: Wings
9:30: The Golden Girls
10: Unsolved Mysteries

CBS:
8: I Love Lucy
8:30: Green Acres
9: The Twilight Zone
9:30: All in the Family
10: Murder, She Wrote

FOX:
8: That '70s Show
8:30: Married with Children
9: The X-Files




So you think the networks would pre-empt current shows every week for TBT? No It would not be a good idea lol

I think they should try it once a month to see if it would work. I've always felt they should show the schedule for a Thursday from a different year on each network.

I like the idea of a Throwback or Retro night of programming; perhaps on Friday or Saturday when viewership is already typically lower and they wouldn't be losing much revenue. Nostalgia is popular right now so it makes sense to do this.

Here is what I'd do, I'd have it air Friday and Saturday nights, from 7pm-11pm. Each of the broadcast networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX) would participate. If it were popular it would make sense that shows would rotate in and out on occasion. Only programs aired between the 1950's and 1999 would be eligible to participate.

ABC:

7-11 on Friday Nights:

7pm:The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet (representing the 1950's)
730: Leave It to Beaver (representing the 1950's)
8pm: Surfside 6 (representing the 1960's)
830: The Untouchables (representing the 1960's)
9pm: Charlies Angels (representing the 1970's)
10pm: Marcus Welby, M.D. (representing the 1970's)


ABC

7-11 on Saturday Nights:

7pm: Happy Days (representing the 1970's)
730: The Odd Couple (representing the 1970's)
8pm: Moonlighting (representing the 1980's)
9pm: Growing Pains (representing the 1980's)
930: Roseanne (representing the 1990's)
10: NYPD Blue (representing the 1990's)


NBC

7-11 on Friday Nights:

7pm: I Married Joan (representing the 1950's)
730: The Aldrich Family (representing the 1950's)
8pm: I Dream of Jeannie (representing the 1960's)
830: The Monkees (representing the 1960's)
9pm: McCloud (representing the 1970's)
10: McMillan & Wife (representing the 1970's)

7-11 on Saturday Nights:

7pm: Chico and The Man (representing the 1970's)
730: Cheers (representing the 1980's)
8pm: The Cosby Show (representing the 1980's)
830: The Golden Girls (representing the 1980's)
9pm: E.R. (representing the 1990's)
10pm: Law & Order (representing the 1990's)


CBS:


7-11 on Friday Nights:

7pm: I Love Lucy (representing the 1950's)
730: Father Knows Best (representing the 1950's)
8pm: Perry Mason (representing the 1960's)
9pm: The Mary Tyler Moore Show (representing the 1970's)
930: All In The Family (representing the 1970's)
10pm: Medical Center (representing the 1970's)

7-11 on Saturday Night

7pm: Kojak (representing the 1970's)
8pm: M.A.S.H. (representing the 1970's)
830: Kate & Allie (representing the 1980's)
9pm: Designing Women (representing the 1980's)
10pm: Chicago Hope (representing the 1990's)

FOX

7-11 on Friday Nights

7pm: The New Adventures of Beans Baxter (representing the 1980's)
730: Parker Lewis Can't Loose (representing the 1990's)
8pm: Married with... Children (representing the 1980's and 1990's)
830: Roc (representing the 1990's)
9pm: Living Single (representing the 1990's)
930: Ned & Stacey (representing the 1990's)
10pm: In Living Color (representing the 1990's)

7-11 on Saturday Nights:

7pm: Totally Hidden Video (representing the 1980's and 1990's)
730: The Simpsons (representing the 1980's and 1990's)
8pm: 21 Jump Street (representing the 1980's)
9pm: Beverly Hills, 90210 (representing the 1990's)
10pm: The X-Files (representing the 1990's)

I'm not sure, but I believe that this idea has been tried before by either TV Land or Nick at Nite sometime in the late 90s, when both channels knew how to program themselves. They would take one night of the week, likely a Saturday, call it "TV Time Warp", and devote the whole night to a date in history and put on the best lineup from that date

It was TV Land. I remember them doing goofy stuff like having a "1973 time warp" and then playing a 1976 episode of Sanford & Son. :confused:

ABC sitcoms
7:00 Ozzie and Harriet
7:30 The Patty Duke Show
8:00 Benson
8:30 Bewitched
9:00 The Wonder Years
9:30 Home Improvement
10:00 Coach
10:30 Barney Miller

ABC dramas
7:00 Greatest American Hero
8:00 The Love Boat
9:00 Charlie's Angels (original)
10:00 The Practice

CBS sitcoms and game shows
7:00 The Andy Griffith Show
7:30 Petticoat Junction
8:00 I Love Lucy
8:30 Family Affair
9:00 WKRP in Cincinnati
9:30 $100,000 Pyramid
10:00 Murphy Brown
10:30 Newhart

CBS dramas
7:00 Early Edition
8:00 Lou Grant
9:00 Diagnosis Murder
10:00 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

NBC sitcoms
7:00 Family Ties
7:30 The Facts of Life
8:00 Mad About You
8:30 Wings
9:00 Frasier
9:30 Dag
10:00 Blossom
10:30 Night Court

NBC dramas and game shows
7:00 Weakest Link
8:00 Fame
9:00 Dragnet
9:30 Adam-12
10:00 Matlock

FOX
7:00 Guiness World Records Primetime
8:00 Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction?
9:00 Greed
10:00 Party of Five

That would be cool but I know the networks would never go for it. They seem to prefer airing the new stuff that is never going to last.