CBS replaced Lucille Ball's Here's Lucy with her Mame co-star Bea Arthur's Maude. See how this jarring change worked out for the network.

https://episode30.com/2025/08/05/monday-nights-at-9-cbs-goes-from-lucy-to-maude-in-the-1970s/

Wouldn't it be five hours a week, not four, that was returned to the affiliates with the access hour at 7:00 Monday-Friday?

Thanks for reading! In 1971 the networks gave back an hour on Sunday and a half hour on Monday through Saturday, for a total of 4 hours. They were not programming 7-7:30 on Monday through Saturday, so that doesn't count.