CBS was iffy about AITF at the end of season 1 and was going to place the show on Mondays at 10:30pm. Then the show was #1 during summer reruns and then placed on saturdays at 8pm

CBS was iffy about AITF at the end of season 1 and was going to place the show on Mondays at 10:30pm. Then the show was #1 during summer reruns and then placed on saturdays at 8pm

The story of the CBS fall schedule for 1971-72 is an interesting one. At the beginning of February rumors began appearing in print that CBS was going to cancel all its rural programs, why they greenlighted The New Andy Griffith Show for January of 71 I’ll never know. As the weeks went by it was reported that CBS had at least three schedules and possibly as many as six under consideration for the fall 71. The week of March 15 CBS released its schedule, this is the way Monday looked:

Gunsmoke 8pm

Here's Lucy 9pm

The Doris Day Show 9:30

Arnie 10pm

All in the Family 10:30

On the surface this didn't make a whole lot of sense, Arnie had not performed well in its first season, in fact sandwiched between two hit series it barely survived, it was between Arnie and Mayberry RFD which would be renewed. My Three Sons was scheduled for Saturday at 8pm. I believe that CBS was just using this schedule as a placeholder. Family had just been on for two months at this point in time, CBS still wasn’t sure if advertisers would be willing to buy the show considering the sometimes controversial nature of the show, and of course the audience which was just starting to grow was still a question mark. There was also the FCC to consider, what would the reaction be if the show was scheduled earlier in the evening. In late August this write-up appeared in Broadcasting magazine concerning the news that Arnie was moving to Monday at 10:30 with All in the Family moving to the My Three Sons timeslot, with that series moving to the previously announced Arnie timeslot:

"With the 1971 -72 entries all but in the starting gate for a new season, CBS -TV has made three changes in the time periods of returning series in the network's prime -time schedule for the fall. All in the Family goes out of Monday evenings, 10:30 -11, and into Saturday night at 8 -8:30. My Three Sons moves from Saturday, 8 -8:30, to Monday at 10. Arnie, originally scheduled for Mondays at 10, switches to 10:30, on the same night.
The changes put All in the Family in the My Three Sons slot, My Three Sons
in the Arnie slot, and Arnie in the All in the Family slot. Reportedly the purpose of the moves is to give the network sequential family programing on Monday nights, with Gunsmoke, Here's Lucy, and Doris Day leading into My Three Sons and Arnie. The biting, satirical All in the Family presumably would inject a jarring break in this sequence of programing".

The write-up seems to have a bit of a raised eyebrow, scheduling All in the Family that late at night against the second half of Monday Night Football with those other shows as lead-ins never made any sense.

The story of the CBS fall schedule for 1971-72 is an interesting one. At the beginning of February rumors began appearing in print that CBS was going to cancel all its rural programs, why they greenlighted The New Andy Griffith Show for January of 71 I’ll never know. As the weeks went by it was reported that CBS had at least three schedules and possibly as many as six under consideration for the fall 71. The week of March 15 CBS released its schedule, this is the way Monday looked:

Gunsmoke 8pm

Here's Lucy 9pm

The Doris Day Show 9:30

Arnie 10pm

All in the Family 10:30

On the surface this didn't make a whole lot of sense, Arnie had not performed well in its first season, in fact sandwiched between two hit series it barely survived, it was between Arnie and Mayberry RFD which would be renewed. My Three Sons was scheduled for Saturday at 8pm. I believe that CBS was just using this schedule as a placeholder. Family had just been on for two months at this point in time, CBS still wasn’t sure if advertisers would be willing to buy the show considering the sometimes controversial nature of the show, and of course the audience which was just starting to grow was still a question mark. There was also the FCC to consider, what would the reaction be if the show was scheduled earlier in the evening. In late August this write-up appeared in Broadcasting magazine concerning the news that Arnie was moving to Monday at 10:30 with All in the Family moving to the My Three Sons timeslot, with that series moving to the previously announced Arnie timeslot:

"With the 1971 -72 entries all but in the starting gate for a new season, CBS -TV has made three changes in the time periods of returning series in the network's prime -time schedule for the fall. All in the Family goes out of Monday evenings, 10:30 -11, and into Saturday night at 8 -8:30. My Three Sons moves from Saturday, 8 -8:30, to Monday at 10. Arnie, originally scheduled for Mondays at 10, switches to 10:30, on the same night.
The changes put All in the Family in the My Three Sons slot, My Three Sons
in the Arnie slot, and Arnie in the All in the Family slot. Reportedly the purpose of the moves is to give the network sequential family programing on Monday nights, with Gunsmoke, Here's Lucy, and Doris Day leading into My Three Sons and Arnie. The biting, satirical All in the Family presumably would inject a jarring break in this sequence of programing".

The write-up seems to have a bit of a raised eyebrow, scheduling All in the Family that late at night against the second half of Monday Night Football with those other shows as lead-ins never made any sense.


If they was that Iffy about the show you would think they would just not put it on the schedule at all lol The show would have defiintely been off the air before Christmas if it aired at 1030pm