1996–97 United States network television schedule

The 1996–97 United States network television schedule for the six major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers the primetime hours from September 1996 to August 1997. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series canceled after the 1995–96 season.

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

Each of the 30 highest-rated shows released in May 1997 is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research.

New series highlighted in bold.

Repeat airings or same-day rebroadcasts are indicated by (R).

All times are U.S. Eastern and Pacific Time (except for some live sports or events). Subtract one hour for Central, Mountain, Alaska and Hawaii-Aleutian times.

All sporting events air live in all time zones in U.S. Eastern time, with local and/or late-night programming (including Fox affiliates during the 10 p.m. ET/PT hour) by affiliates after game completion.

Legend

 * 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.

Other Legend
 * Light blue indicates local programming.
 * Gray indicates encore programming.
 * Blue-gray indicates news programming.
 * Light green indicates sporting events.
 * Light Purple indicates movies.
 * Red indicates series being burned off and other scheduled programs, including specials.

Monday
Note: On CBS, the debut of Ink was delayed by a month due to production problems, resulting in another new sitcom, Pearl, which aired temporarily in its slot before moving to its own originally designated Wednesday time period in late October.

Wednesday
Note: On CBS, due to the effect of the debut delay of Ink on Monday, the first month of the new season on this night aired Almost Perfect at 8:30 p.m., followed by CBS Wednesday Movies at 9 p.m. The originally planned fall Wednesday lineup took shape at the end of October with Pearl taking over at 8:30 p.m., Almost Perfect moving to 9 p.m., Public Morals debuting at 9:30 p.m., and EZ Streets debuting at 10 p.m. This lasted for only one week in late October. CBS cancelled Public Morals after it aired the 1st, and only, episode. This meant Almost Perfect would soon be cancelled. EZ Streets would be given a 2nd chance in the spring.

Friday
Note: CBS picked up JAG after NBC cancelled it due to low ratings and it became a success afterwards.

This is the last season of Family Matters and Step by Step and the only season of Clueless to air on ABC's TGIF block, until the following season, the former two shows were picked up by CBS and Clueless moved to UPN on Tuesdays.

Saturday
Note: America's Most Wanted would return in November at 9:00 on Fox. Married... with Children moved to Sundays at 7-8pm in November, Mondays at 9:30 in January, and Mondays at 9pm in February. Lawless which aired on March 27, 1997, replacing the second half of America's Most Wanted was canceled after one episode.

ABC

 * Returning series
 * 20/20
 * The ABC Monday Night Movie
 * The ABC Sunday Night Movie
 * The ABC Saturday Night Movie
 * The ABC Thursday Night Movie
 * America's Funniest Home Videos
 * Boy Meets World
 * Coach
 * The Drew Carey Show
 * Ellen
 * Family Matters
 * Grace Under Fire
 * Hangin' with Mr. Cooper
 * High Incident
 * Home Improvement
 * Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
 * Monday Night Football
 * Murder One
 * NYPD Blue
 * Primetime Live
 * Roseanne
 * Second Noah
 * Step by Step
 * Turning Point


 * New series
 * Arsenio
 * Clueless
 * Common Law
 * Dangerous Minds
 * Gun
 * Leaving L.A.
 * Life's Work
 * The Practice
 * Relativity
 * Sabrina the Teenage Witch
 * Soul Man
 * Spin City
 * Spy Game
 * Townies
 * Vital Signs


 * Canceled/Ended
 * Aliens in the Family
 * Before They Were Stars
 * Buddies
 * Champs
 * Charlie Grace
 * The Commish
 * The Dana Carvey Show
 * The Faculty
 * Hudson Street
 * The Jeff Foxworthy Show (moved to NBC)
 * The Marshal
 * Maybe This Time
 * The Monroes
 * Muppets Tonight
 * The Naked Truth (moved to NBC)
 * World's Funniest Videos

CBS

 * Returning series
 * 48 Hours
 * 60 Minutes
 * Almost Perfect
 * CBS Sunday Movie
 * Chicago Hope
 * Cybill
 * Dave's World
 * Diagnosis Murder
 * Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
 * JAG (moved from NBC)
 * Murphy Brown
 * The Nanny
 * Nash Bridges
 * Touched by an Angel
 * Walker, Texas Ranger


 * New series
 * Cosby
 * Early Edition
 * Everybody Loves Raymond
 * EZ Streets
 * Feds
 * Ink
 * Life... and Stuff
 * Mr. & Mrs. Smith
 * Moloney
 * Orleans
 * Pearl
 * Promised Land
 * Public Morals
 * Temporarily Yours


 * Canceled/Ended
 * American Gothic
 * Bless This House
 * The Bonnie Hunt Show
 * Can't Hurry Love
 * Central Park West
 * The Client
 * Courthouse
 * Due South
 * Dweebs
 * High Society
 * The Louie Show
 * Matt Waters
 * Murder, She Wrote
 * My Guys
 * Picket Fences
 * Rescue 911
 * New York News

Fox

 * Returning series
 * America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back
 * Beverly Hills, 90210
 * Cops
 * Fox Tuesday Night Movie
 * Living Single
 * Married... with Children
 * Martin
 * Melrose Place
 * Ned and Stacey
 * New York Undercover
 * Party of Five
 * The Simpsons
 * Sliders
 * The X-Files


 * New series
 * Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction
 * Big Deal
 * King of the Hill
 * Lawless
 * Love and Marriage
 * Lush Life
 * Millennium
 * Pacific Palisades
 * Party Girl
 * Pauly
 * Roar


 * Canceled/Ended
 * The Crew
 * Encounters: The Hidden Truth
 * Kindred: The Embraced
 * L.A. Firefighters
 * The Last Frontier
 * Local Heroes
 * Misery Loves Company
 * Partners
 * The Preston Episodes
 * Profit
 * Saturday Night Special
 * The Show
 * Space: Above and Beyond
 * Strange Luck
 * Too Something
 * What's So Funny?

NBC

 * Returning series
 * 3rd Rock from the Sun
 * Boston Common
 * Caroline in the City
 * Dateline NBC
 * ER
 * Frasier
 * Friends
 * Homicide: Life on the Street
 * The Jeff Foxworthy Show (moved from ABC)
 * The John Larroquette Show
 * Law & Order
 * Mad About You
 * The Naked Truth (moved from ABC)
 * NBC Sunday Night Movie
 * The NBC Monday Movie
 * NewsRadio
 * Seinfeld
 * The Single Guy
 * Unsolved Mysteries
 * Wings


 * New series
 * Chicago Sons
 * Crisis Center
 * Dark Skies
 * Fired Up
 * Just Shoot Me!
 * Men Behaving Badly
 * Mr. Rhodes
 * The Pretender
 * Prince Street
 * Profiler
 * Something So Right
 * Suddenly Susan


 * Canceled/Ended
 * Brotherly Love (moved to The WB)
 * The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (returning on HBO Max in 2020)
 * The Home Court
 * Hope and Gloria
 * In the House (moved to UPN)
 * JAG (moved to CBS)
 * Malibu Shores
 * The Pursuit of Happiness
 * seaQuest 2032
 * Sisters

UPN

 * Returning series
 * In the House (moved from NBC)
 * Moesha
 * The Sentinel
 * Star Trek: Voyager


 * New series
 * The Burning Zone
 * Goode Behavior
 * Homeboys in Outer Space
 * Malcolm & Eddie
 * Social Studies
 * Sparks


 * Canceled/Ended
 * Deadly Games
 * Live Shot
 * Minor Adjustments
 * Nowhere Man
 * The Paranormal Borderline
 * Swift Justice

The WB

 * Returning series
 * Brotherly Love (moved from NBC)
 * Kirk
 * The Parent 'Hood
 * Savannah
 * Sister, Sister
 * Unhappily Ever After
 * The Wayans Bros.


 * New series
 * 7th Heaven
 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer
 * The Jamie Foxx Show
 * Life with Roger
 * Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher
 * Smart Guy
 * The Steve Harvey Show


 * Canceled/Ended
 * Cleghorne!
 * First Time Out
 * Pinky and the Brain (moved to Kids' WB in daytime)
 * Simon