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A graveyard slot (or death slot) is a time period in which a

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

audience is very small compared to other times of the day, and therefore broadcast programming is considered far less important. Graveyard slots are usually in the early morning hours of each day, when most people are asleep. With little likelihood of a substantial viewing audience during this daypart, providing useful

television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

ming during this time is usually considered unimportant; some broadcast stations go off the air during these hours, and some

audience measurement Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites. Sometim ...

systems do not collect measurements for these periods. Some broadcasters may do engineering work at this time. Others use broadcast automation to pass-through network feeds unattended, with only broadcasting authority-mandated personnel and emergency anchors/reporters present at the local station overnight. A few stations use "we're always on" or a variant to promote their 24-hour operation as a selling point, though as this is now the rule rather than the exception it was in the past, it has now mainly become a selling point for a station's website instead.

Programming

The most well-known graveyard slot in most parts of the world is the overnight television slot, after

late night television Late night television is one of the dayparting, dayparts in television broadcast programming. It follows prime time and precedes the overnight television show graveyard slot. The slot generally runs from about 11:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. Eastern Tim ...

and before

breakfast television Breakfast television (Europe, Canada, and Australia) or morning show (United States) is a type of news or infotainment television programme that broadcasts live in the morning (typically scheduled between 5:00 and 10:00a.m., or if it is a ...

/morning show (between 2:00 and 6:00a.m.). During this time slot, most people are asleep, leaving only

insomnia Insomnia, also known as sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder in which people have trouble sleeping. They may have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep as long as desired. Insomnia is typically followed by daytime sleepiness, low energy, ...

cs, intentionally nocturnal people, and irregular shift workers as regular potential audiences. Because of the small number of people in those categories, the overnight shift was historically ignored as a revenue opportunity, although increases in irregular shifts have made overnight programming more viable than it had been in the past. In the United States, for example, research has shown that the number of televisions in use at 4:30a.m. doubled from 1995 to 2010 (8% to 16%). Since the advent of home video recording, some programs in this slot may be transmitted mainly with time-shifting in mind; in the past, the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

offered specialized overnight strands such as BBC Select (an often-encrypted block providing airtime for specialized professional programmes), and the

BBC Learning Zone The BBC Learning Zone (previously The Learning Zone) was an educational strand run by the BBC as an overnight service on BBC Two. It shows programming aimed at students in Primary, Secondary and Higher Education and to adult learners. Viewers ...

(which broadcast academic programmes, such as from the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

). The BBC's current "Sign Zone" strand broadcasts repeat programmes with in-vision interpretation in

British Sign Language British Sign Language (BSL) is a sign language used in the United Kingdom (UK), and is the first or preferred language among the Deaf community in the UK. Based on the percentage of people who reported 'using British Sign Language at home' on ...

. Some channels may carry adult-oriented content in the graveyard slot, depending on local regulations. Live events from other time zones (most often sports) may sometimes fall in overnight slots, such as daytime events from the Asia-Pacific region on channels in the Americas, and prime-time events from the Americas on channels in Europe for example. Some

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

-oriented streaming services (such as Crunchyroll) have arrangements with Japanese networks to premiere episodes at the same time as their domestic television airings, often falling within the overnight hours in the Americas. Since the 1980s, graveyard slots, once populated by broadcasts of syndicated

rerun A rerun or repeat is a rebroadcast of an episode of a radio or television program. There are two types of reruns – those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Variations In the United Kingdom, the word ...

s and old

movies A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

, have increasingly been used for program-length infomercials or

simulcasting Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...

home shopping Home shopping is the electronic retailing and home shopping channels industry, which includes such billion dollar television-based and e-commerce companies as Shop LC, HSN, Gemporia, TJC, QVC, eBay, ShopHQ, Buy.com and Amazon.com, as well as ...

channels, which provide a media outlet with revenue and a source of programming without any programming expenses or the possible malfunctions which might come with going off-the-air. In addition, the graveyard slots can also be used as dumping grounds for government-mandated

public affairs programming In broadcasting, public affairs radio or television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of televi ...

, as well as in-house programming a station group is mandated by their parent company to carry that would otherwise be unpalatable in prime timeslots. One example of the latter mandated by

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, ...

in the United States is ''The Right Side'', a public affairs program hosted by political commentator

Armstrong Williams Armstrong Williams (born February 5, 1962) is an American political commentator, entrepreneur, author, and talk show host. Williams writes a nationally syndicated conservative newspaper column, has hosted a daily radio show, and hosts a nationa ...

(who has business interests with Sinclair) that is typically aired by Sinclair-affiliated stations, and is intended to air in weekend late morning slots as a complement to the national networks'

Sunday morning talk show A Sunday morning talk show is a television program with a news/ talk/ public affairs–hybrid format that is broadcast on Sunday mornings. This type of program originated in the United States, and has since been used in other countries. Overview T ...

s. However, ''The Right Side'' is often programmed in graveyard slots on most Sinclair stations who locally choose to instead fill the weekend morning slots with educational shows, paid programming (including religious programs and real estate presentation shows), weekend morning newscasts and local public affairs programming, or have no scheduling room due to network sports telecasts. Graveyard slots are also used by U.S. television stations as a de facto "death slot" for syndicated programs that either failed to find an audience or which a station acquired but otherwise has no room to air in a more appropriate time slot where the program would otherwise benefit. In previous years, the most often seen original programming in the overnight period were low-rated daytime talk shows and game shows being burned off. In many cases where a television station carries an irregularly-scheduled special event, breaking news or severe weather coverage that preempts a network or syndicated program, the station may elect to air the preempted programming in a graveyard slot during the same broadcast day to fulfill their contractual obligations. In markets with sports teams whose coaches' and team highlights shows preempt programs in the prime access hour before primetime, the overnight period also allows a preempted program to air in some form on a station without penalty to the syndicator, or for stations to air network programming preempted for local-interest programming,

breaking news Breaking news, interchangeably termed late-breaking news and also known as a special report or special coverage or news flash, is a current issue that broadcasters feel warrants the interruption of scheduled programming or current news in orde ...

or weather, or sporting events. In a number of larger and middle markets in the United States,

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...

, which started as a general network in 2006 meant for primetime clearance, but due to the failure of its original programming schedule, eventually became a programming service carrying nightly rerun blocks of syndicated programming from broadcast networks and cable channels, has seen its timeslot downgraded to the graveyard slot. Generally, this is done as the stations of MyNetworkTV have become part of duopolies with major network affiliate stations (and even those owned by its parent company,

Fox Television Stations Fox Television Stations, LLC (FTS; alternately Fox Television Stations Group, LLC), is a group of television stations located within the United States, which are owned-and-operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of the Fox Co ...

) and those stations have used the MyNetworkTV affiliates to carry extended primetime local newscasts and local sports which provide steadier ratings and revenue than MyNetworkTV's non-original schedule. The overnight period is also noted for the prevalence of cheaply produced local advertisements which allow an advertiser to purchase time on the station for a low cost, advertisements for services of a sexual nature (such as premium-rate adult rate entertainment services, adult entertainment venues, and adult products from companies such as Adam & Eve),

direct response advertising Direct may refer to: Mathematics * Directed set, in order theory * Direct limit of (pre), sheaves * Direct sum of modules, a construction in abstract algebra which combines several vector spaces Computing * Direct access (disambiguation), a ...

for products and services (often marketed "

As Seen On TV As seen on TV is a generic nameplate for products advertised on television in the United States for direct-response mail-order through a toll-free telephone number. ''As Seen on TV'' advertisements, known as infomercials, are usually 30-minute sho ...

") otherwise seen during infomercials, and

public service announcements A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, ...

(such as those commissioned by the

Ad Council The Advertising Council, commonly known as the Ad Council, is an American nonprofit organization that produces, distributes, and promotes public service announcements on behalf of various sponsors, including nonprofit organizations, non-governme ...

) airing in these time slots due to the reduced importance of advertising revenue.

Network overnight programming

The

Big Three television networks In the United States, there are three major traditional commercial broadcast television networks — CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System), NBC (National Broadcasting Company), and ABC (American Broadcasting Company) — that due to their lon ...

in the United States all offer regular programming in the overnight slot. Both

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

and

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

carry overnight newscasts with some repackaged content from the day's previous network news broadcasts, with an emphasis on sports scores from West Coast games that typically conclude after 1a.m. ET and international financial markets with the ending of the Australasian and beginning of the European trading day, all of which takes place between 2 and 5a.m. ET, while NBC (which dropped its overnight news in the late 1990s) replays the fourth hour of ''Today''. Each network also produces its early morning newscast at 4a.m. ET so that it may be tape-delayed to air as a lead-in to local news. A growing trend in the United States is an increasingly early local newscast, which now begins as early as 4:00a.m. in some major

markets Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: * Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand * Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, a ...

, targeting those who work early shifts or are returning from late shifts; this early newscast would fit into the overnight daypart rather than

. The graveyard slots' lack of importance sometimes benefits programs; producers and program-makers can afford to take more risks, as there is less

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive reven ...

at stake. For example, an unusual or

niche Niche may refer to: Science *Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development *Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species *Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...

program may find a chance for an audience in a graveyard slot (a current day example is

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...

's ''

FishCenter Live ''FishCenter Live'' (also shortened to ''FishCenter'' or ''FC Live'' or just ''FCL'') was an American talk show hosted by Dave Bonawits, Andrew Choe, Matt Harrigan, Christina Loranger, and Max Simonet. It premiered on the official website of Ad ...

'', which features games projected onto the video image of an aquarium), or a formerly popular program that no longer merits an important time slot may be allowed to run in a graveyard slot instead of being removed from the schedule completely. However, abusing this practice may lead to

channel drift Channel drift or network decay is the gradual shift of a television network away from its original programming, to either target a newer and more profitable audience, or to broaden its viewership by including less niche programming. Often, this ...

if the demoted programs were presented as channel stars at some time. Up until 2014, some cable networks would broadcast educational programing that educators can tape as part of

Cable in the Classroom Cable in the Classroom was an American division of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association that assisted the cable television industry in providing educational content to schools. The organization was founded in 1989. A Canadian organ ...

during these hours.

Examples

Japan

Japanese over-the-air stations broadcast

late night anime In Japan, refers to anime series broadcast on television late at night or in the early hours of the morning, usually between 10 PM and 4 AM local time. Overview Late night anime is targeted towards Otaku from teens to adult audiences. One of the ...

almost exclusively, starting in the

Late night television Late night television is one of the dayparting, dayparts in television broadcast programming. It follows prime time and precedes the overnight television show graveyard slot. The slot generally runs from about 11:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. Eastern Tim ...

slot at 11:00p.m., but bridging the graveyard slot and running until 4:00a.m.. Because advertising revenue is scant in these time slots, the broadcasts primarily promote DVD versions of their series, which may be longer, uncensored, and/or have added features like commentary tracks, side stories and epilogues.

United Kingdom

In the UK, overnight is from 12:30 to 6:00a.m.

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

showed ''Sign Zone'' from 2000 to 2013 during this time before simulcasting with

BBC World News BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and ...

(in a 3-way simulcast between

BBC News Channel BBC News (also known as the BBC News Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel for BBC News. It was launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 5:30 pm as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic telev ...

and

for the second part). Nowadays, ''BBC World News'' comes on usually after midnight or 1a.m. depending on which films or programmes are broadcast usually followed by weather for the week ahead. BBC Two shows ''Sign Zone'' and repeats for the first part and then closes down, which is marked in schedules as "This is BBC Two".

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

shows ''

Ideal World Ideal World is a British TV shopping channel, broadcasting on Freeview, Satellite, Cable and online, with transactional websites, broadcast from studios in Peterborough. History Ideal World has its origins in the 1980s as a mail order compan ...

'' and then a repeats before showing ''Unwind with ITV/STV'' until 5:05 am on weekdays followed by '' Tipping Point'', and 6a.m. at the weekend.

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

shows repeats and films during these hours. Channel 5 shows ''Supercasino'' and some repeats. Most digital channels during this time either go off air or show simulcast with shopping channels and some stay on the air. The

simulcasts with

during these hours. Notable examples of digital channels are

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...

and BBC Four, which stay on the air until 4am and then close down, marked in schedules are ''This is BBC Three'' and ''This is BBC Four'' respectively. Many channels, mostly kids channels, broadcast their former series during overnight hours.

United States

Outside of the traditional overnight slots, various examples of graveyard slots in the United States exist. While the reasons vary, often these time periods are viewed with much lower interest from programmers as opposed to other periods of the day (particularly prime time from Monday to Thursday nights).

Weekdays, noon to 1 p.m.

Before the 1970s, this slot was often viewed as a popular "lunch slot" where daytime shows such as ''

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given gene ...

'' were popular with a larger-than-average audience that included both college and high school students and employees either returning home or eating at a restaurant on their lunch break, in addition to the traditional American daytime audience of stay-at-home housewives. However, as the 1970s dawned many network affiliates began introducing local midday newscasts which resulted in the time slot becoming a "death slot". Local news in this slot usually consists of stories from the morning newscast repeated with spare updating (including local political meetings), business and consumer news segments (including live stock market prices), farm reports in mainly rural markets, and community interest segments where organizations are highlighted in an interview setting, along with paid placement

advertorial An advertorial is an advertisement in the form of editorial content. The term "advertorial" is a blend (see portmanteau) of the words "advertisement" and "editorial." Merriam-Webster dates the origin of the word to 1946. In printed publications, t ...

segments for businesses. Stations that do not carry news in this slot usually air syndicated fare or an infomercial; in numerous cases,

educational programs An educational program is a program written by the institution or ministry of education which determines the learning progress of each subject in all the stages of formal education. See also * Philosophy of education *Curriculum In education ...

can be buried in this slot or any other daytime slot as a form of

malicious compliance Malicious compliance (also known as malicious obedience) is the behavior of strictly following the orders of a superior despite knowing that compliance with the orders will have an unintended or negative result. The term usually implies following ...

with the mandate for such programs. Mainly to accommodate affiliates in the Central and Mountain time zones that choose to air local news at noon in their respective markets,

and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

still offer options for affiliates to air ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, ...

'' and '' Days of Our Lives'' at noon Eastern (11 a.m. Central), but actual participation in this varies by individual station. After the 1970s ended, there were very few network programs that had survived for more than a year in the noon timeslot, including '' Ryan's Hope'' and ''

Super Password ''Password Plus'' and ''Super Password'' are American TV game shows that aired separately between 1979 and 1989. Both shows were revivals of ''Password'', which originally ran from 1961 to 1975 in various incarnations. With only subtle differen ...

''. However, there have been numerous network programs that have aired in the second half hour of this timeslot; examples include ''The Young and the Restless'' (whose first half hour has dominated the timeslot since 1988), '' Sunset Beach'', and ''

Port Charles ''Port Charles'' (commonly abbreviated as ''PC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from June 1, 1997, to October 3, 2003. It was a spin-off of the series ''General Hospital'', which has been running since 1963 and takes pl ...

''. The latter two were canceled after a few years on the air; since the mid-2000s, the 12:30 p.m. timeslot on most NBC and ABC affiliates has been usually filled with local news and lifestyle programs.

Weekdays, 4 to 5 p.m.

When the noon time slot became unfavorable in the late 1970s, networks began doubling up airings of their noon shows at 4p.m.. However, this time slot had also quickly become unfavorable as many stations chose to preempt network offerings in favor of more lucrative syndicated programs during this time, including nationally syndicated talk shows hosted by Mike Douglas,

Merv Griffin Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr. (July 6, 1925 – August 12, 2007) was an American television show host and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer, later appearing in film and on Broadway. From 1965 to 1986 he hosted his own t ...

Dinah Shore Dinah Shore (born Frances Rose Shore; February 29, 1916 – February 24, 1994) was an American singer, actress, and television personality, and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during ...

and

Phil Donahue Phillip John Donahue (born December 21, 1935) is an American media personality, writer, film producer and the creator and host of ''The Phil Donahue Show''. The television program, later known simply as ''Donahue'', was the first talk show forma ...

(all of which were primarily entertainment-focused with the exception of Donahue's which focused on serious subject matters including politics and cultural issues). As a result, the networks were faced with increasingly fewer affiliates airing network programs in this time slot and eventually abandoned this practice, with ABC canceling the soap opera ''Edge of Night'' at the end of 1984 and CBS ending production on ''

Press Your Luck ''Press Your Luck'' is an American television game show created by Bill Carruthers and Jan McCormack. It premiered on CBS daytime on September 19, 1983, and ended on September 26, 1986. The format is a retooling of an earlier Carruthers productio ...

'' in the late summer of 1986, while the networks still continued to program occasional afterschool specials for children until 1996. During the 1980s, a slew of newer nationally syndicated talk shows made their debut, with the most prominent example being ''

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicago, Illinois. Produced ...

''. Originally a locally based morning show in Chicago, ''Oprah'' made its debut as a nationally syndicated talk show in 1986 and soon came to dominate the time slot in many markets. Since the 1990s, the expansion of local television news has led to stations without major syndicated hits choosing to offer local news in this hour. By 2012, most networks' daytime programming had ended at 3p.m. Eastern, and many stations have begun offering up to three hours of local news, interrupted either by a 4:30 syndicated program or the 6:30 network news.

Friday night death slot

Perhaps the most infamous example of a graveyard slot, ironically, has been during prime time on Friday nights since the 1990s. Before this decade, several television series during the late 1970s and 1980s (and well into the early 1990s) had become widely popular among the viewing audiences, and these programs including ''

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

'' and '' Falcon Crest'' on CBS and ''

Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs, two M ...

'' on NBC became so popular that most programs that were scheduled against them were doomed to cancellation because of the competition, which marked the beginning of a phenomenon known as the "Friday night death slot."Katherine Phillips. "Witty sitcoms scheduled in Friday night death slot," ''Richmond Times-Dispatch'', March 28, 1986, page 46: ''"ABC is sending two of this season's brightest new sitcoms to certain death at the hands of J.R. Ewing and his ''Dallas'' clan."''John Voorhees. "ABC reshuffles schedule for ratings but deals only two new shows," ''The Seattle Times'', December 13, 1985, page C5: "''Also being dropped is ''Our Family Honor,'' the ABC series that has had the distinction of being the lowest-rated Nielsen show almost every week since its debut. It is in the Friday night death slot of 10 pm, against ''Miami Vice'' and ''Falcon Crest.'Knight-Ridder News Service. 'Family Honor' ditched for 'Spenser', ''Lexington Herald-Leader'' (KY), October 19, 1985, page C6: ''"''Spenser: For Hire,'' the above-par detective series starring Robert Urich, is being moved out of the Friday-night death slot opposite ''Miami Vice'' and ''Falcon Crest.'' ... To make room for "Spenser," ABC is taking "Our Family Honor" off the air uesdays at least for a while and perhaps permanently.'' However, as the 1990s progressed, fewer viewers (particularly those in the much-sought after 18-49 demographic) stayed home to watch television on Friday nights, leading to a revival of the phrase in a new context in that a series on Friday was still more likely to lose money and lag in viewership compared to shows on other nights, regardless of its direct competition. More importantly, with

media conglomerate A media conglomerate, media group, or media institution is a company that owns numerous companies involved in mass media enterprises, such as music, television, radio, publishing, motion pictures, theme parks, or the Internet. According to th ...

s now owning both television networks and film studios (e.g. Comcast's ownership of

and

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

under its

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primaril ...

umbrella), the former now especially tends to downplay programming by corporate demand to attract moviegoers to theaters on the traditional opening night for major films. Because of this trend, networks have since programmed inexpensive reality programming or

news magazine A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio or television program, usually published weekly, consisting of articles about current events. News magazines generally discuss stories, in greater depth than do newspapers or n ...

s on this night instead of scripted programs. Consequently, scripted programs that do end up airing on Friday night have often been moved there from more lucrative Monday-Thursday evening time slots due to poor performance, and this is often an indication that the series is facing cancellation, with its fate set in some cases either by extenuating circumstances or by certain goals for the producer or distributor in mind. The former was the case in the 200405 season with the ABC family sitcom '' 8 Simple Rules'', whose ratings declined following the death of lead actor and protagonist

John Ritter Johnathan Southworth Ritter (September 17, 1948 – September 11, 2003) was an American actor. Ritter was a son of the singing cowboy star Tex Ritter and the father of actors Jason and Tyler Ritter. He is known for playing Jack Tripper on the ...

, while the latter pertained to the Fox sitcom ''

'Til Death ''Til Death'' is an American sitcom which aired on the Fox network from September 7, 2006, to June 20, 2010. The series was created by husband and wife team Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa, who were also the writers and executive producers. The ...

'', which was kept alive on Friday nights well into the 2009–10 season to garner enough episodes for an ultimately short-lived

syndication Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

deal. Since 2005, CBS is the only major network that continues to air a full line-up of first-run scripted programming on Fridays, and has become successful on this night over the last 20 years with a number of successful (if older-skewing) serials and police procedurals featuring veteran actors, with former ''Miami Vice'' lead actor

Don Johnson Donnie Wayne Johnson (born December 15, 1949) is an American actor, producer and singer. He played the role of James "Sonny" Crockett in the 1980s television series ''Miami Vice'', for which he won a Golden Globe, and received a Primetime Emm ...

(in the titular role for '' Nash Bridges'' during the 1990s) and former ''

Magnum, P.I. ''Magnum, P.I.'' is an American crime drama television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator (P.I.) living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from December 11, 1980 to May 8, 1988 during its first-run broadcast on ...

'' lead

Tom Selleck Thomas William Selleck (; born January 29, 1945) is an American actor. His breakout role was playing private investigator Thomas Magnum in the television series '' Magnum, P.I.'' (1980–1988), for which he received five Emmy Award nominations ...

(playing the lead character in Blue Bloods since 2010) among the more prominent examples. Its semi-sister network,

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

(co-owned with

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...

WarnerMedia Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

subsidiary) has also maintained an entire primetime schedule of younger-skewing scripted fantasy and action dramas since 2010, with similar success. Historically,

had notable success on Friday evenings with its '' TGIF'' lineup beginning in 1989, with its popular newsmagazine ''20/20'' serving as a lead-out, but the programming block's ratings began to wane in the late 1990s, in part also influenced by a botched attempt by CBS (called the ''

CBS Block Party ''CBS Block Party'' (referred to on-air as the ''CBS Friday Night Block Party'') was a programming block that aired on the CBS television network during the 1997–1998 television season. The block was similar to, and was intended as direct com ...

'') to compete full-force with ABC during the 1997–98 season before it eventually abandoned this strategy in favor of the aforementioned primetime serials. Despite being a known graveyard slot, there have been notable exceptions to this rule, with ''

The Brady Bunch ''The Brady Bunch'' is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz that aired from September 26, 1969, to March 8, 1974, on ABC. The series revolves around a large blended family with six children. The show aired for five seasons and, afte ...

'', '' Sanford and Son'', ''

Full House ''Full House'' is an American television Situation comedy, sitcom created by Jeff Franklin for American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The show is about widowed father Danny Tanner who enlists his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis and childhood best ...

'', '' Homicide: Life on the Street'', '' Reba'', ''

Numb3rs ''Numbers'' (stylized as ''NUMB3RS'') is an American crime drama television series that was broadcast on CBS from January 23, 2005, to March 12, 2010, for six seasons and 118 episodes. The series was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heu ...

'', '' Ghost Whisperer'', ''

CSI: NY ''CSI: NY'' (''Crime Scene Investigation: New York'', stylized as ''CSI: NY/Crime Scene Investigation'') is an American police procedural television series that ran on CBS from September 22, 2004, to February 22, 2013, for a total of nine seaso ...

'', ''

WWE SmackDown ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that as of currently airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Fox Deportes sim ...

,'' ''Last Man Standing'', '' Shark Tank'', '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' and the aforementioned ''Blue Bloods'' among the more notable examples. In addition, a handful of cable channels have also had success with Friday night programming, with the most prominent being Disney Channel which since 2006 has aired a number of scripted sitcoms that appeal to a pre-teen audience including ''

Wizards of Waverly Place ''Wizards of Waverly Place'' is an American fantasy teen sitcom created by Todd J. Greenwald that aired on Disney Channel for four seasons between October 2007 and January 2012. The series centers on Alex Russo (Selena Gomez), a teenage wiza ...

'', ''

Phineas & Ferb ''Phineas and Ferb'' is an American animated musical-comedy television series created by Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh for Disney Channel and Disney XD. Produced by Disney Television Animation, the series was originally broadcast as ...

'', ''

The Suite Life on Deck ''The Suite Life on Deck'' is an American teen sitcom that aired on Disney Channel from September 26, 2008 to May 6, 2011. It is a sequel/spin-off of the Disney Channel Original Series ''The Suite Life of Zack & Cody''. The series follows twin b ...

'', '' Jessie'' and ''

Girl Meets World ''Girl Meets World'' is an American comedy television series created by Michael Jacobs and April Kelly that premiered on Disney Channel on June 27, 2014. The series ran for three seasons, consisting of 72 episodes, and concluded on January 20 ...

'', and has largely served as somewhat of a successor to sister network ABC's original ''TGIF'' lineup (albeit with a younger audience in comparison). Many cable networks, including Disney Channel as well as

Hallmark Channel The Hallmark Channel is an American television channel owned by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., which in turn is owned by Hallmark Cards, Inc. The channel's programming is primarily targeted at families, and features a mix of television movies a ...

, also premiere original made-for-TV movies on this night several times per year as an attempt to keep potential movie-goers at home.

Saturday nights

Until the 1990s, many popular series also aired on Saturdays, with more notable examples including '' Gunsmoke'', '' Have Gun - Will Travel'',''

All in the Family ''All in the Family'' is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS for nine seasons, from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. Afterwards, it was continued with the spin-off series ''Archie Bunker's Place'', which picked up where ''All in ...

'', ''

The Mary Tyler Moore Show ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (also known simply as ''Mary Tyler Moore'') is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns and starring actress Mary Tyler Moore. The show originally aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977. Mo ...

'', ''

The Bob Newhart Show ''The Bob Newhart Show'' is an American sitcom television series produced by MTM Enterprises that aired on CBS from September 16, 1972, to April 1, 1978, with a total of 142 half-hour episodes over six seasons. Comedian Bob Newhart portrays a p ...

'' and ''

The Carol Burnett Show ''The Carol Burnett Show'' is an American variety/sketch comedy television show that originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 279 episodes, and again with nine episodes in fall 1991. It starred Carol Burnett, Har ...

'' during the 1960s and 1970s on CBS, as well as '' The Facts of Life'', and '' The Golden Girls'' and its numerous spin-offs on NBC during the 1980s and early 1990s; most networks maintained a full schedule (though the night was also often used for airing movies and select sporting events). During the 1990s, many successful programs aired during this decade as well including ''

Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman ''Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman'' is an American Western drama television series created and executive produced by Beth Sullivan and starring Jane Seymour, who plays Dr. Michaela Quinn, a physician who leaves Boston in search of adventure in the O ...

'', ''

Early Edition ''Early Edition'' is an American fantasy comedy-drama television series that aired on CBS from September 28, 1996, to May 27, 2000. Set in Chicago, Illinois, it follows the adventures of a man who mysteriously receives each ''Chicago Sun-Times' ...

'' and ''

Walker, Texas Ranger ''Walker, Texas Ranger'' is an American action crime television series created by Leslie Greif and Paul Haggis. It was inspired by the film '' Lone Wolf McQuade'', with both this series and that film starring Chuck Norris as a member of the ...

'' on CBS, '' The Pretender'' and '' Profiler'' on NBC, and '' Cops'' and '' America's Most Wanted'' on Fox. Since then however, a similar situation to Friday nights emerged, with the same issue of fewer viewers available to watch television on Friday nights now extending to Saturday nights as well. For that reason, the mainstream U.S. networks have largely abandoned original programming on Saturday nights in favor of reruns, with only CBS maintaining a limited presence anchored by its newsmagazine '' 48 Hours''. The last major efforts to program Saturday nights on the Big Three networks ended in 2001, when CBS canceled ''Walker, Texas Ranger'' and NBC failed with the original incarnation of the

XFL XFL may refer to: Sports * XFL (2001), a defunct American football league that played its only season in 2001 * XFL (2020), a professional American football league Vehicles * Bell XFL Airabonita, a 1940 U.S. Navy experimental interceptor aircra ...

. Fox continued to air ''Cops'' and ''America's Most Wanted'' on Saturday nights until both programs ended their Fox runs between 2011 and 2013 (with ''Cops'' moving to what is now

Paramount Network Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles. The channel was ...

and ''America's Most Wanted'' moving to Lifetime, where it remained until its cancellation in 2013). Between 2017 and 2019, CBS aired the Canadian/French co-production '' Ransom'' on Saturday nights during the middle of the television season. In recent years, a new trend has emerged where a show that is considered to be a ratings failure (or is already canceled) is moved to Saturday nights to finish airing its original episodes, with the

miniseries ''

Harper's Island ''Harper's Island'' is an American horror mystery limited series created by Ari Schlossberg for CBS. Schlossberg, Jeffrey Jackson Bell and Jon Turteltaub served as executive producers. The series features an ensemble cast led by Elaine Cassidy ...

'' in 200809, NBC's '' The Firm'' in 201112, and ABC's ''

The Alec Baldwin Show ''The Alec Baldwin Show'' is an American talk show hosted by actor Alec Baldwin that premiered on March 4, 2018, on ABC. The series is Baldwin's second talk show following 2013's '' Up Late with Alec Baldwin'' on MSNBC and the first prime-time ...

'' and CBS's '' Million Dollar Mile'' in 2018–19 being some of the most notable examples. Otherwise, the night is used by the networks to air encore presentations of their weekday primetime series' most recent episode, or in ABC's case broadcasts of more recent theatrical movies, as well as to air sports programming including college football (e.g. SEC on CBS) on all of the major networks, NBA basketball on ABC, until 2021,

NHL hockey ''NHL Hockey'' (titled ''EA Hockey'' outside North America) is an ice hockey video game by EA Sports. Released in 1991 for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, it is the first game in the ''NHL'' series. Cover Glenn Healy who was then a goaltender fo ...

on NBC, and, until 2019, UFC mixed martial arts fights on Fox. Local stations also use the night to carry specialized local news programs, including documentaries and political debates, where it would otherwise air their affiliate network's encore repeats. Despite being a known graveyard time period, some channels have gained or maintained success on Saturday nights. Perhaps (and arguably) the most famous example has been NBC's late night program ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...

'', which has been a staple of that network (and also that of the United States' pop culture conscience) since its 1975 debut, and has gone on to launch the careers of dozens of comedians and other actors. Other notable exceptions include

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

, which has successfully aired a Saturday primetime lineup of first-run programming aimed at pre-teens and teenagers since August 1992 (which has included popular series such as ''

Clarissa Explains It All ''Clarissa Explains It All'' is an American teen sitcom created by Mitchell Kriegman for Nickelodeon. In the series, Clarissa Darling ( Melissa Joan Hart), is a teenager who addresses the audience directly to explain the things that are happenin ...

'', ''

All That ''All That'' is an American sketch comedy television series created by Brian Robbins and Michael Tollin, Mike Tollin. The series originally aired on Nickelodeon from April 16, 1994, to October 22, 2005, lasting ten seasons, and was produced by ...

'', ''

Kenan & Kel ''Kenan & Kel'' is an American buddy comedy sitcom created by Kim Bass. The show originally aired on the Nickelodeon network for four seasons, from July 15, 1996, to July 15, 2000. Set in Chicago, Illinois, the series follows mischievous Kenan R ...

'', '' iCarly'', and ''

Victorious ''Victorious'' (stylized as ''VICTORiOUS'') is an American sitcom created by Dan Schneider that originally aired on Nickelodeon, debuting on March 27, 2010, and concluding on February 2, 2013 after four seasons. The series revolves around asp ...

''), and Syfy, which has had respectable success with made-for-TV movies that regularly air during Saturday primetime. To this day, many television stations in the United States have often filled their Saturday (and Sunday) late night slots with off-network syndicated reruns of primetime serials, long-form interview programs (including ''

Entertainers with Byron Allen ''Entertainers with Byron Allen'' (formerly ''EntertainmentStudios.com'') is an American interview television series hosted by Byron Allen, which usually aired in syndication during low-profile weekend time slots, such as early afternoons agains ...

'' and ''

In Depth with Graham Bensinger Graham Michael Bensinger (born August 17, 1986) is an American journalist and entrepreneur known for his eponymous show ''In Depth with Graham Bensinger''. Bensinger is known for interviewing a number of personalities in American sports, and won an ...

''), movie showcases (including horror-themed ''

Svengoolie ''Svengoolie'' is an American hosted horror movie television program. The show features horror and science fiction films and is hosted by the eponymous character Svengoolie, who was originally played by Jerry G. Bishop from 1970 to 1973, before ...

'' and B-movie showcase ''

Off Beat Cinema ''Off Beat Cinema'' is a two-hour hosted movie show that airs on television stations throughout the United States in late-night time slots. It originated from WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York from its launch on Sunday October 31, 1993 until July 2 ...

''), and weekend editions of infotainment news programs (often with curated segments repackaged from earlier in the week or, in the case of '' Entertainment Tonight'', special retrospect editions focused on a single topic).

Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production and distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's unit Sony Pictures Entertainme ...

, for instance, offers a selection of episodes from the previous season's runs of its popular weekday game shows ''Wheel of Fortune'' and ''

'' to air on weekends, usually airing in their traditional weekday slots. Historically, music and variety shows such as ''

Hee Haw ''Hee Haw'' is an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with the fictional rural "Kornfield Kounty" as the backdrop. It aired first-run on CBS from 1969 to 1971, in syndication from 1971 to 1993, and on TNN from 1 ...

'', ''

The Lawrence Welk Show ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years, from 1951 to 1955, then nationally for another 16 years on ABC from 1 ...

'', ''

Don Kirshner's Rock Concert ''Don Kirshner's Rock Concert'' is an American television music variety show that ran during the 1970s and early 1980s, created and produced by Don Kirshner and syndicated to television stations, initially through Viacom Enterprises, and later ...

'', ''Solid Gold'', ''

Showtime at the Apollo ''Showtime at the Apollo'' (formerly ''It's Showtime at the Apollo'' and ''Apollo Live'') is an American variety show that first aired in syndication from September 12, 1987 to May 24, 2008. In 2018, the series returned on Fox with Steve Harvey ...

'' and '' Soul Train'', as well as weekly competition programs including '' American Gladiators'' and ''

Star Search ''Star Search'' was an American television show that was produced by T.P.E./Rysher Entertainment from 1983 to 1995, hosted by Ed McMahon, and created by Al Masini. A relaunch was produced by 2929 Productions from 2003 to 2004. On both versio ...

'', also often filled weekend late night time slots (in many cases either complementing or even competing against ''Saturday Night Live''). During the weekends, the prime access hour also featured popular weekly syndicated series including ''

The Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and featuring the Muppets. The series originated as two pilot episodes produced by Henson for ABC in 1974 and 1975. While neither episode was moved forward as a s ...

'' during the 1970s and the movie review program ''At the Movies'' (known most famously under its original title of '' Siskel & Ebert'') during the 1980s up to the 2000s.

Weekend mornings and afternoons

Because people generally stay out later on Friday and Saturday nights than other nights of the week, people also tend to sleep in longer on weekend mornings. The weekend morning 57a.m. time slot is the most common time for stations to air public affairs and (on Sundays)

televangelism Televangelism ( tele- "distance" and "evangelism," meaning " ministry," sometimes called teleministry) is the use of media, specifically radio and television, to communicate Christianity. Televangelists are ministers, whether official or self-pr ...

programs. Nationally syndicated specialty news programs, including ''Matter of Fact'' (hosted by former NBC News and CNN anchor

Soledad O'Brien María de la Soledad Teresa O'Brien (born September 19, 1966) is an American broadcast journalist and executive producer. Since 2016, O'Brien has been the host for ''Matter of Fact with Soledad O'Brien,'' a nationally syndicated weekly talk show ...

and mandated to air on stations owned by its production company,

Hearst Television Hearst Television, Inc. (formerly Hearst-Argyle Television) is a broadcasting company in the United States owned by Hearst Communications. From 1998 to mid-2009, the company traded its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ...

) and '' Full Measure'' (hosted by former CBS News anchor

Sharyl Attkisson Sharyl Attkisson (born 1961) is an American journalist and television correspondent. She hosts the Sinclair Broadcast Group TV show '' Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson''. Attkisson is a five-time Emmy Award winner, and a Radio Television Digi ...

and mandated to air on stations owned by its production company,

), also air during weekend morning timeslots in many markets, often complementing their affiliate networks' and local stations' Saturday morning news programs and

Sunday morning talk shows A Sunday morning talk show is a television program with a news/ talk/ public affairs–hybrid format that is broadcast on Sunday mornings. This type of program originated in the United States, and has since been used in other countries. Overview T ...

. As has been the case since the beginning of television, the major networks have also generally programmed weekend afternoons with sporting events. That being the case, particularly when no sporting events are airing (either from the networks or from syndicated distributors such as Raycom Sports), there is very little incentive to watch television after Saturday morning news and educational programs or

end, especially when a local team (particularly an NFL or college football team of either local or regional interest) is airing on one station, prompting other stations to outright refuse to put on competitive programming. Most stations in this situation air infomercials, movies, or little-watched syndicated fare in this slot, and often use this time period to air educational and public affairs programming mandated either by station groups or federal broadcast regulations, as well as regional lifestyle programs such as ''

Texas Country Reporter ''Texas Country Reporter'' is a weekly syndicated television program, hosted and produced by Bob Phillips and Kelli Phillips, which airs in all twenty-two Texas media markets, generally on weekends, and nationally on the satellite/cable channel ...

'' which has been a weekend staple on most television stations serving the U.S. state of Texas since the 1970s. Prior to 2016, when it was not carrying content from sister network

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

aired reality programming reruns in the late afternoon slot; one such program that aired in that slot was '' Million Dollar Mind Game''.

Sunday nights (78p.m. and 1011p.m. during the NFL season)

Because of overruns from

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) games, Sunday afternoon broadcasters

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

(in the earlier slot) and, to a lesser extent, CBS (in the latter slot) have had difficulty launching shows in these time slots. To handle overruns, Fox and CBS both use different strategies to handle prime time programming, with other networks attempting various means of counterprogramming to meet parity on the night: * Fox, which primarily carries Sunday afternoon NFC road games, originally preempted its programming in the early time slot if an NFL game overran its time slot, often to the frustration of fans of series such as ''

King of the Hill ''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It aired its original non-syndicated run from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, and centers on the Hills, an Am ...

'' and '' Malcolm in the Middle'', who often had episodes joined in progress or unseen in the Eastern or Central time zones until they were seen again during summer reruns after games ended. Fox has since addressed the issue by clearing out the time slot completely for an NFL

post-game show A post-game, postgame, or post-match show is a TV or radio presentation that occurs immediately after the live broadcast of a major sporting event. Contents may include: * replays of key moments in the game. * interviews with players, coaches and ...

titled ''The OT'' during the NFL regular season and setting aside a portion for short-run animated series under its '' Animation Domination'' (or, from 2014 to 2019, ''

Sunday Funday Sunday Funday may refer to: * ''Sunday Funday'' (TV program), a Philippine variety show *Sunday Funday (block) Fox Sunday Night is the former branding of the Sunday night primetime lineup on the Fox network, which featured a mix of animated and ...

'') block, though mid-season replacement series have still had problems finding an audience in the time slot. * CBS, which holds the rights to most Sunday afternoon AFC road games, protects its acclaimed newsmagazine '' 60 Minutes'' by delaying its entire prime time broadcast programming schedule if a game overruns, resulting in the show scheduled for the 10p.m. Eastern slot being pushed well past its original start time and occasionally being bumped to allow local CBS affiliates to air their local newscasts as close to 11p.m. Eastern as possible. After a series of new programs failed in that time slot, beginning in 2010 CBS attempted to stabilize it by moving an established series (usually one co-owned

CBS Media Ventures CBS Media Ventures, Inc. (formerly CBS Television Distribution, Inc. and CBS Paramount Domestic Television, Inc.) is an American television distribution company owned by CBS Studios, part of CBS Entertainment Group, a division of Paramount Glo ...

already offers to stations in off-network syndication) there, starting with ''

CSI: Miami ''CSI: Miami'' (''Crime Scene Investigation: Miami'') is an American police procedural drama television series that ran from September 23, 2002 until April 8, 2012 on CBS. Featuring David Caruso as Lieutenant Horatio Caine, Emily Procter as Dete ...

'' which moved from its original Monday night slot to Sunday nights; ''CSI: Miami'' was nonetheless canceled after two seasons in its Sunday time slot. For the 2019–20 season, CBS used the 10p.m. slot to wrap up two of its veteran series with the final season of ''Madam Secretary'' airing in the fall followed by the final season of ''

Criminal Minds ''Criminal Minds'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series created and produced by Jeff Davis. The series premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005, and originally concluded on February 19, 2020; it was revived in 2022. It ...

'' (which once served as a lead-out to Super Bowl XLI in 2007) in the winter and spring, while for the 2020-21 season it aired what ultimately turned out to be the final season of '' NCIS: New Orleans''. * NBC holds the '' Sunday Night Football'' contract that takes up the entire night during the fall and early winter, and carries the pre-game show ''

Football Night in America ''Football Night in America'' (''FNIA''), branded for sponsorship purposes as ''Football Night in America served by Applebee's'', is an American pre-game show that is broadcast on NBC, preceding its broadcasts of Sunday night and postseason Natio ...

'' within the 7 p.m.-8 p.m. timeslot. Per NFL broadcast rules, the pre-game show utilizes a carousel reporting format to cover early games (approximately 1p.m. Eastern) before the conclusion of late (4p.m. Eastern) NFL games (including most games on the West Coast), and then transitions to a quick rundown before focusing on the upcoming game within the last twenty minutes before the game starts. After their NFL coverage ends in mid-January, NBC airs ''

Dateline NBC ''Dateline NBC'' is a weekly American television news magazine/reality legal show that is broadcast on NBC. It was previously the network's flagship general interest news magazine, but now focuses mainly on true crime stories with only occasio ...

'' in the 7p.m. slot for the rest of the season along with some limited first-run and encore programming. When the network carried the rights to Sunday afternoon AFC games from 1965 (when it acquired the television rights to the AFC's predecessor, the American Football League, from ABC) until losing those rights to CBS in 1998, the latter-day issues with regards to CBS were virtually nonexistent since most NBC programs in the 7p.m. Eastern slot usually trailed ''60 Minutes'' on CBS; in the 1990s NBC attempted to compete full-force with ''60 Minutes'' with a string of unsuccessful hard newsmagazines before relying on the lighter or

true crime True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events. The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 pe ...

-focused ''Dateline''. The most significant programming controversy during NBC's run as the AFC broadcaster came in 1968 during a high-profile West Coast game that prematurely ended broadcast in the Eastern and Central time zones to accommodate a made-for-TV adaptation of ''

Heidi ''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published in 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' (german: Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre) and ''Heidi: How She Use ...

''. * ABC, which has not carried regular season NFL games since the move of ''

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, A ...

'' to sister network ESPN in 2006, has for most of its history since the 1990s carried ''

America's Funniest Home Videos ''America's Funniest Home Videos'', also called ''America's Funniest Videos'' (abbreviated as ''AFV''), is an American video clip television series on ABC, based on the Japanese variety show ''Fun TV with Kato-chan and Ken-chan''. The show featur ...

'', a relatively low-cost and low-risk program popular for family viewing, in the early time slot. More recently, ABC has had somewhat greater success later in the evening with scripted dramas (e.g. ''

The Practice ''The Practice'' is an American legal drama television series created by David E. Kelley centering on partners and associates at a Boston law firm. The show ran for eight seasons on ABC, from March 4, 1997, to May 16, 2004. It won an Emmy in ...

'' and '' Brothers & Sisters''). The NFL's preference in 2005 for a marquee Sunday night game as opposed to Mondays, which became difficult to envision due to the success of such aforementioned scripted dramas (at the time, ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into s ...

'' and '' Desperate Housewives'') as well as the then-recently launched ''Dancing with the Stars'', played a factor in ''Monday Night Football'' moving to ESPN in 2006. While some ABC affiliates occasionally simulcast ''Monday Night Football'' if a local team is playing (due to NFL rules requiring broadcast stations in team markets to simulcast national games not carried on network television), many others (including ABC's

owned-and-operated stations In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...

) have deferred to rival stations in their market due to conflicts involving the live performance stages of ''Dancing with the Stars'' which air on Monday nights (in 2022, as part of a move to free up its schedule for occasional network simulcasts of ''Monday Night Football'', ABC dropped ''Dancing with the Stars'' and moved it exclusively to

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

, replacing it with the prerecorded '' Bachelor in Paradise'' on its fall lineup). *

(and in the past

The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on terrestrial television, broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture be ...

) has had varied scheduling strategies since the network's 1995 launch involving Sunday evenings. From 1995 until 2001, The WB aired new programming (usually sitcoms) in the 7 p.m. slot, and then from 2001 until 2007, aired encore programming ('' Seventh Heaven'', ''

Gilmore Girls ''Gilmore Girls'' is an American Comedy drama, comedy-drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and starring Lauren Graham (Lorelai Gilmore) and Alexis Bledel (Rory Gilmore). The show debuted on October 5, 2000, on The WB and beca ...

'' and '' Reba'') under the secondary titles ''Beginnings'' and ''Easy View''. In the 2007–08 season, it featured

entertainment programs (''

CW Now ''CW Now'' is a news program/news magazine series which premiered on The CW on September 23, 2007. It was a brand extension of the syndicated Telepictures news magazine ''Extra'', and featured anchors and correspondents from that show, including ...

'' and '' Online Nation'') that were widely considered a failure, with sitcom repeats taking over the slot mid-season. In 2008–09, the slot carried ''

In Harm's Way ''In Harm's Way'' is a 1965 American epic war film produced and directed by Otto Preminger and starring John Wayne, Kirk Douglas and Patricia Neal, with a supporting cast featuring Henry Fonda in a lengthy cameo, Tom Tryon, Paula Prentiss, Stanle ...

'', a reality series from the timeslot's lessee (

Media Rights Capital MRC II Distribution Company L.P., doing business as MRC (formerly Media Rights Capital), is an American film and television studio. Founded by Mordecai (Modi) Wiczyk and Asif Satchu, the company funds and produces film and television programming. ...

) also considered a failure, and after that season, the CW returned Sunday evenings to their affiliates, leaving the night completely until returning in 2018–19. Unlike the other remaining networks, The CW chose to not program the 7 p.m. hour on Sunday evenings, maintaining the 8–10 p.m. window it programs throughout the rest of the week. *

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...

, which merged with The WB to form The CW in 2006, generally never programmed Sunday nights, with its only contribution to the night being in early 2001 lower-tier

football games on Sunday evenings during the league's only season in its first iteration. Its ''de jure'' successor

has never programmed the night.

Opposite popular annual programming specials

Programs such as the

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

(on ABC since 1976), the Super Bowl and the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

(on NBC at least partially since 1988) have been known to draw so many viewers that almost all efforts to counterprogram against them have failed. As such, broadcasters have traditionally countered these events with either reruns or movies. In past years, seasonal airings of popular classic films such as ''Gone with the Wind'', '' The Wizard of Oz'' and ''The Ten Commandments'' have also been known to draw sizable audiences. The Super Bowl has historically attracted more unusual fare (such as

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily ...

's ''

Puppy Bowl The ''Puppy Bowl'' is an annual television program on Animal Planet that mimics an American football game similar to the Super Bowl, using puppies. Shown each year on Super Bowl Sunday, the show consists of footage of a batch of puppies at play ...

'', a football-themed special featuring

puppies A puppy is a juvenile dog. Some puppies can weigh , while larger ones can weigh up to . All healthy puppies grow quickly after birth. A puppy's coat color may change as the puppy grows older, as is commonly seen in breeds such as the York ...

at play), with most aiming to counter the halftime show to emulate Fox's success with its live ''

In Living Color ''In Living Color'' is an American sketch comedy television series that originally ran on Fox from April 15, 1990 to May 19, 1994. Keenen Ivory Wayans created, wrote and starred in the program. The show was produced by Ivory Way Productions in ...

'' special in 1992. However, as all four major commercial networks now have some tie to the

's television deals (current through

Super Bowl LVII Super Bowl LVII is the upcoming championship game of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2022 NFL season. The game is scheduled to be played on February 12, 2023, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. It will be the fourth Super B ...

in 2023, with all but ABC alternating to air the game), major networks have aired little to no new original programming on the night of the Super Bowl under an unsaid

gentleman's agreement A gentlemen's agreement, or gentleman's agreement, is an informal and legally non-binding agreement between two or more parties. It is typically oral, but it may be written or simply understood as part of an unspoken agreement by convention or th ...

Opposite dominant television series

On occasion, a regularly scheduled program may have this kind of dominant drawing power. Notable examples have included NBC's Thursday primetime schedule in the 1980s and 1990s that featured ''

The Cosby Show ''The Cosby Show'' is an American television sitcom co-created by and starring Bill Cosby, which aired Thursday nights for eight seasons on NBC between September 20, 1984, until April 30, 1992. The show focuses on an upper middle-class Africa ...

'', '' Seinfeld'' and '' ER'', and ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' during its original run's peak on Fox from the mid-2000s to the early 2010s (simultaneous with the peak of

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early ...

in the U.S. during that period) - each of which was dubbed a "Death Star" by the other networks because of their prolonged dominance in the ratings, consistently ranking among the most watched broadcasts in U.S. television history. Many programs that competed against such shows often either flopped or (in the case of an existing series) saw their ratings decline significantly to the brink of cancellation.

Australia and New Zealand

In Australia and New Zealand, overnight is from midnight until 6:00am, and this slot generally consists of US sitcoms and dramas which ended up failing in their home market but need to air in some form to justify the network's investment, or archived content, along with teleshopping programmes, lower-tier US syndicated newsmagazines, and US

programmes delayed to fill the remainder of the slot.

Content requirements

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, federal regulations require television channels and radio stations to carry a certain percentage of

Canadian content Canadian content (abbreviated CanCon, cancon or can-con; ) refers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requirements, derived from the Broadcasting Act of Canada, that radio and television broadcasters (includ ...

. It is common for most privately owned television channels to air the bulk of their mandatory Canadian content in such graveyard slots (especially weekday mornings and Saturday nights), ensuring they can meet their required percentages of Canadian programming while leaving room for more popular foreign programming in other time periods. For over-the-air

terrestrial television Terrestrial television or over-the-air television (OTA) is a type of television broadcasting in which the signal transmission occurs via radio waves from the terrestrial (Earth-based) transmitter of a TV station to a TV receiver having an ante ...

stations, the overnight hours are generally ''not'' subject to

requirements, allowing some opportunity for niche or experimental programming during those hours, although most commonly infomercials air instead. Canadian radio stations have similar practices regarding broadcasts of Canadian music, known pejoratively as the "

beaver hour Canadian content (abbreviated CanCon, cancon or can-con; ) refers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requirements, derived from the Broadcasting Act of Canada, that radio and television broadcasters (includ ...

". For the most part in modern times however, Canadian content requirements are filled easily by television stations throughout the week through local newscasts and magazine programming, along with licensed versions of American programs such as ''

ET Canada ''ET Canada'' (previously referred to as ''Entertainment Tonight Canada'') is a Canadian entertainment news television series, using the same format as the American entertainment newsmagazine '' Entertainment Tonight''. ''ET Canada'' is a broadca ...

''. Likewise, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, some stations attempt to bury mandated E/I educational television programming in graveyard slots, though under current regulations by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

(FCC),

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television show, television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during ...

must air during times when children are awake (current standards as of 2019 state between 6:00a.m. and 10:00p.m.). Thus, these channels will "bury" E/I programs in the middle of a block of infomercials during

daytime television Daytime is a block of television programming taking place during the late-morning and afternoon on weekdays. Daytime programming is typically scheduled to air between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., following the early morning da ...

hours, when most children are either at school or (on weekends) asleep or participating in

youth sports Youth sports is any sports event where competitors are younger than adult age, whether children or adolescents. Youth sports includes school sports at primary and secondary level, as well as sports played outside the education system, whether i ...

, scouting or other activities, and are unlikely to ever see them, though a loophole allowing more advertising for shows targeted to teenage audiences means that most 2010s E/I programming has been generic documentary, game show, dramatic, or profile programming unlikely to be of interest to most children. Recent changes to E/I standards by the FCC on July 10, 2019 will also result in individual stations being given the option to carry up to 52 hours of E/I content that consists of either specials or short-form content, as well as digital subchannels no longer being required to carry E/I programming and individual stations being allowed to shift up to 13 hours of E/I programming per quarter (52 hours annually) over to a digital subchannel, which will likely result in further attrition of the already low audience shares for E/I programming in the United States.

References

External links

{{Dayparting Audience measurement Radio broadcasting Television terminology Television programming