Comedy Time

Comedy Time is an American anthology television series that aired on NBC in the summer of 1977. In a mix of 30-minute and 60-minute episodes, it aired unsold television pilots for situation comedies.

Background
The practice of television executives of ordering dozens of pilots for proposed television series each year – far more than their networks could possibly broadcast as series – created a sizable body of unsold pilots that had never aired. Packaging these unsold pilots in anthology series and airing them during the summer provided television networks with a way of both providing fresh programming during the summer rerun season and recouping at least some of the expense of producing them. Comedy Time was one of these series, aired by NBC in the summer of 1977, and it consisted of unsold pilots for situation comedies. Stars appearing in the series included Bill Bixby, Michael Constantine, Barbara Feldon, and Annie Potts.

Broadcast history
Comedy Time premiered on July 6, 1977, as a 30-minute show airing a single unsold pilot from 9:30 to 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesdays. On July 21, it became a twice-a-week program when a 60-minute version of the show premiered, airing two unsold pilots between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. on Thursdays. The 30-minute Wednesday episodes came to an end after the broadcast of July 27, and the 60-minute Thursday broadcast went into hiatus after the episode that aired on July 28. The Thursday broadcasts resumed on August 25, and Comedy Time′s run ended a week later with the episode aired on September 1. In all, Comedy Time broadcast 12 unsold pilots during its run.

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