This was the television schedule on all three United States television networks for the fall season beginning in September 1972. All times are Eastern and Pacific, with a few exceptions, such as Monday Night Football.
New fall 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.
Note: This was the first full season in which all networks, on every day of the week except for Sunday, started airing programs at 8:00 instead of 7:30, as dictated by the FCC under its Prime Time Access Rule, intended to increase diversity in programming.
PBS, the Public Broadcasting Service, was in operation, but the schedule was set by each local station.
60 Minutes aired at 6:00-7:00 pm on CBS from January to June 1973.
Note: Dan August consisted of reruns of the 1970-1971 ABC series.