1980–81 United States network television schedule

The following is the 1980–81 network television schedule for the three major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1980 through August 1981. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1979–80 season. All times are Eastern and Pacific, with certain exceptions, such as Monday Night Football.

New series are highlighted in bold.

Each of the 30 highest-rated shows is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research.

  Yellow indicates the programs in the top 10 for the season.

  Cyan indicates the programs in the top 20 for the season.

  Magenta indicates the programs in the top 30 for the season.

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

Note: An actors' strike hindered the ability to start airing shows in a timely manner. The shows in the schedule were the first to air new episodes in their respective time periods as they bowed in between late August and December 31, 1980. Some of the new shows intended for a fall launch did not debut until 1982 or 1983, if at all.

Sunday

Network		7:00 PM	7:30 PM	8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	Those Amazing Animals		Local and paid political programming		The ABC Sunday Night Movie (24/19.4) (Tied with CHiPs)
	November			Charlie's Angels
	Spring			Specials
CBS		60 Minutes (3/27.0)		Archie Bunker's Place (13/21.4)	One Day at a Time (11/22.0)	Alice (7/22.9)	The Jeffersons (6/23.5)	Trapper John, M.D. (17/20.7) (Tied with Fantasy Island and Diff'rent Strokes)
NBC		Disney's Wonderful World		CHiPs (24/19.4) (Tied with The ABC Sunday Night Movie)		The Big Event

Note: On ABC, local and paid political programming aired in the 8-9 p.m. hour from September till November.

Monday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	That's Incredible! (22/20.5)		Monday Night Football (20/20.6) (Tied with Laverne & Shirley)
	Winter			Dynasty		Foul Play
	Spring					Soap
	Summer	Specials	Monday Night Baseball
CBS	Fall	Flo	Ladies' Man (Oct.)	M*A*S*H (4/25.7)	House Calls (8/22.4) (Tied with Three's Company)	Lou Grant (27/19.1)
	Spring	Private Benjamin
	Follow-up		The Two of Us
	Summer		The Tim Conway Show
NBC	Fall	Little House on the Prairie (10/22.1)		NBC Monday Night at the Movies (29/18.8)
	Summer			Flamingo Road		The Last Convertible

Note: Private Benjamin premiered April 6, 1981, at 8:00-8:30 pm on CBS.
Soap ran for three-and-a-half seasons on ABC in a 30-minute format. It was pulled from the Wednesday night schedule in January 1981 and returned on Mondays from March to April, when the final 12 episodes of the series ran as six 60-minute installments.

Tuesday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	Happy Days (15/20.8) (Tied with Too Close for Comfort)	Laverne & Shirley (20/20.6) (Tied with Monday Night Football)	Three's Company (8/22.4) (Tied with House Calls)	Too Close for Comfort (Nov.) (15/20.8) (Tied with Happy Days)	Hart to Hart (23/19.9)
	Summer				It's a Living
CBS	Fall	Local and paid political programming		The CBS Tuesday Night Movies
	November	The White Shadow
	Winter	That's My Line
	Spring	Palmerstown, U.S.A.
	Summer	Checking In	Flo
NBC	Fall	NBC Tuesday Night at the Movies				The Steve Allen Comedy Hour (Oct.)
	November	Lobo		B. J. and the Bear
	Winter					Flamingo Road
	Spring			Nero Wolfe

Note: On CBS, local and paid political programming aired in the 8-9 p.m. hour between September and November. On NBC, NBC Tuesday Night at the Movies aired 8-10 p.m. from September till November.

Wednesday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	Eight Is Enough		Taxi	Soap	Vega$
	Spring	The Greatest American Hero (Mar.)		Aloha Paradise (Feb.)		American Dream (May)
	Summer	Charlie's Angels		The ABC Summer Movie
	Follow-up			Vega$		Dynasty
CBS		Enos (Nov.)		The CBS Wednesday Night Movies
NBC	Fall	Real People (12/21.5)		Movie of the Week
	November			Diff'rent Strokes (17/20.7) (Tied with Fantasy Island and Trapper John, M.D.)	The Facts of Life (26/19.3)	Quincy, M.E.

Note: The Greatest American Hero debuted on March 18 at 8:00pm on ABC.

Note: NBC's Movie of the Week aired 9-11 p.m. between September and November.

Note: The Facts of Life Season 2 began on November 19 at 9:30 on NBC.

Thursday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	Mork & Mindy	Bosom Buddies (Nov.)	Barney Miller	It's a Living (Oct.)	20/20
	Winter				Taxi
CBS	Fall	The Waltons (30/18.6)		CBS Thursday Movie Special
	December			Magnum, P.I. (14/21.0)		Knots Landing (28/19.0)
	Spring	Checking In	Park Place
	May	The Waltons (30/18.6)
NBC	Fall	Games People Play		NBC Thursday Night at the Movies
	Winter	Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

Note: CBS Thursday Movie Special aired 9-11 p.m. from September till the end of November. Magnum, P.I. had a 2-hour premiere on December 11, 1980.

Friday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	Benson	I'm a Big Girl Now (Oct.)	The ABC Friday Night Movie
	Summer		The Krypton Factor
CBS		The Incredible Hulk		The Dukes of Hazzard (2/27.3)		Dallas (1/34.5)
NBC	Fall	NBC Friday Night at the Movies				NBC Magazine with David Brinkley (Sep.)
	December	Marie		Number 96
	Winter	Harper Valley PTA	Sanford	Nero Wolfe
	Follow-up		The Brady Brides
	Spring		Sanford
	Follow-up			Specials
	Summer		Comedy Theater

Note: NBC Friday Night at the Movies aired 8-10 p.m. during October and November.

Saturday

Network		8:00 PM	8:30 PM	9:00 PM	9:30 PM	10:00 PM	10:30 PM
ABC	Fall	Local and paid political programming		The Love Boat (5/24.3)		Fantasy Island (17/20.7) (Tied with Trapper John, M.D. and Diff'rent Strokes)
	November	Breaking Away
	Winter	Charlie's Angels
	Follow-up	240-Robert
	Spring	Eight Is Enough
CBS	Fall	WKRP in Cincinnati	The Tim Conway Show	The CBS Saturday Night Movies
	December			Freebie and the Bean		Secrets of Midland Heights
	Follow-up			Flo	Ladies' Man	Concrete Cowboys
	Spring		Flo	Concrete Cowboys		Riker
	Follow-up	Enos		The CBS Saturday Night Movies
NBC	Fall	Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters (Nov.)		NBC Saturday Night at the Movies
	Winter			Walking Tall		Hill Street Blues
	Follow-up			The Gangster Chronicles
	Spring			B.J. and the Bear		Walking Tall
	Summer					Games People Play

Note: The CBS Saturday Night Movies aired 9-11 p.m. through the end of November.

By network

ABC

Returning Series

• 20/20
• 240-Robert
• The ABC Friday Night Movie
• The ABC Sunday Night Movie
• Barney Miller
• Benson
• Charlie's Angels
• Eight Is Enough
• Fantasy Island
• Happy Days
• Hart to Hart
• Laverne & Shirley
• The Love Boat
• Monday Night Baseball
• Monday Night Football
• Mork & Mindy
• Soap
• Taxi
• That's Incredible!
• Three's Company
• Vega$

New Series

• ABC Summer Movie
• Aloha Paradise *
• American Dream *
• Bosom Buddies
• Breaking Away
• Dynasty *
• Foul Play *
• The Greatest American Hero *
• The Krypton Factor *
• I'm a Big Girl Now
• Making a Living
• Those Amazing Animals
• Too Close for Comfort

Not returning from 1979–80:

• The ABC Monday Night Movie
• Angie
• The Associates
• B.A.D. Cats
• Detective School
• Family
• Galactica 1980
• Goodtime Girls
• The Lazarus Syndrome
• A New Kind of Family
• Nobody's Perfect
• One in a Million
• Out of the Blue
• The Ropers
• Salvage 1
• Stone
• Tenspeed and Brown Shoe
• When the Whistle Blows

CBS

Returning Series

• 60 Minutes
• Alice
• Archie Bunker's Place
• Dallas
• The Dukes of Hazzard
• Flo
• House Calls
• The Incredible Hulk
• The Jeffersons
• Knots Landing
• Lou Grant
• M*A*S*H
• One Day at a Time
• Palmerstown, U.S.A.
• Phyl & Mikhy
• That's My Line
• The Tim Conway Show
• Trapper John, M.D.
• Walter Cronkite's Universe
• The Waltons
• The White Shadow
• WKRP in Cincinnati

New Series

• Checking In *
• Concrete Cowboys *
• Enos
• Freebie and the Bean
• Ladies' Man
• Magnum, P.I.
• Nurse *
• Park Place *
• Private Benjamin *
• Riker *
• Secrets of Midland Heights
• The Two of Us *

Not returning from 1979–80:

• The Bad News Bears
• Barnaby Jones
• Beyond Westworld
• Big Shamus, Little Shamus
• California Fever
• The Chisholms
• Hagen
• Hawaii Five-O
• The Last Resort
• Paris
• The Stockard Channing Show
• Struck by Lightning
• Universe
• Working Stiffs
• Young Maverick

NBC

Returning Series

• B.J. and the Bear
• The Big Event
• Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
• CHiPs
• Diff'rent Strokes
• Disney's Wonderful World
• The Facts of Life
• Little House on the Prairie
• Lobo
• NBC Monday Night at the Movies
• Quincy, M.E.
• Real People
• Sanford

New Series

• Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters
• The Brady Brides *
• Comedy Theater *
• Flamingo Road *
• Games People Play
• The Gangster Chronicles *
• Harper Valley PTA *
• Hill Street Blues
• Marie
• NBC Magazine
• Number 96 *
• Nero Wolfe *
• The Steve Allen Comedy Hour
• Walking Tall

Not returning from 1979–80:

• The Big Show
• Eischied
• From Here to Eternity
• Good Time Harry
• Hello, Larry
• Here's Boomer
• Joe's World
• A Man Called Sloane
• Me and Maxx
• Kate Loves a Mystery
• Pink Lady
• The Rockford Files
• Skag
• Shirley
• United States

Note: The * indicates that the program was introduced in midseason.