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The 2001–02 network television schedule for the six major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers the primetime hours from September 2001 through August 2002. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series canceled after the 2000–01 season.
PBS is not included; member stations have local flexibility over most of their schedules and broadcasts times for network shows may vary. Also not included are stations affiliated with Pax TV, as its schedule is composed mainly of syndicated reruns although it also carried a limited schedule of first-run programs.
Each of the 30 highest-rated shows released in May 2002 is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research.[1]
New series are 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.
From February 8 to 24, 2002, all of NBC's primetime programming was preempted in favor of coverage of the 2002 Winter OlympicsinSalt Lake City.
During the week of September 11, 2001, the major television networks aired continuous news coverage of the September 11 attacks. The news coverage preempted the networks' primetime schedules between September 11 and September 15, with regular programming resuming on September 16. As a result of the preemptions, the programs that were set to begin airing new seasons in mid-September had their premieres delayed until late September and early October. The Amazing Race was the first program to premiere in the 2001–02 season; the show's first season premiered on September 5, but had its second episode postponed from September 12 to September 19 due to the aforementioned news coverage. As a result of the scheduling oddities that were necessitated by the news coverage, the 2001–02 season was the second of four instances where the start of the season was delayed due to issues outside of the control of the major television networks; the other instances were the 1988–89 season (due to the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike) and the 2020–21 season (due to a suspension of television productions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic). The next major disruption to the primetime television schedules of the major television networks would not occur until the 2007–08 season, which was affected by the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike.
The 53rd Primetime Emmy Awards, which were planned for September 16, were initially postponed to October 7, but news coverage of the United States invasion of Afghanistan prompted the awards to be postponed for a second time; the awards would be eventually held on November 4.
NOTE: Fox aired 2 episodes of The Chamber in mid-January 2002. During the fall, Futurama and King of the Hill were preempted by overruns of NFL games. On The WB, Lost in the USA was supposed to air at 7–8, but it was cancelled due to 9/11 problems.
Note: On ABC, The Runner was supposed to start when ESPN Monday Night Football concludes, but it was cancelled due to production problems.
Note: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Roswell moved to UPN from The WB this season.
| Network | 8:00 p.m. | 8:30 p.m. | 9:00 p.m. | 9:30 p.m. | 10:00 p.m. | 10:30 p.m. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | My Wife & Kids | According to Jim | The Drew Carey Show | Whose Line is it Anyway? | 20/20 Downtown | |
| Winter | The Job | ||||||
| Spring | George Lopez | ||||||
| Mid-spring | According to Jim | ||||||
| Late spring | My Adventures in Television | ||||||
| Early summer | The Drew Carey Show (R) | ||||||
| Summer | My Wife & Kids | ||||||
| CBS | Fall | 60 Minutes II (30/7.7) (Tied with Family Law) |
The Amazing Race | Wolf Lake | |||
| Mid-fall | Special programming | ||||||
| Winter | CBS Wednesday Movie | ||||||
| Late winter | The Amazing Race | 48 Hours | |||||
| Spring | CBS Wednesday Movie | ||||||
| Summer | Big Brother | 48 Hours | |||||
| Fox | Fall | Malcolm in the Middle (R) | Grounded for Life | Various programming | Local programming | ||
| Mid-fall | The Bernie Mac Show | Titus | |||||
| Winter | That '80s Show | ||||||
| Spring | Greg the Bunny | ||||||
| Mid-spring | Various programming | ||||||
| Late spring | American Idol: The Search for a Superstar | ||||||
| Summer | 30 Seconds to Fame | Special programming | |||||
| Mid-summer | 30 Seconds to Fame | ||||||
| NBC | Fall | Ed | The West Wing (8/11.4) | Law & Order (5/12.6) | |||
| Summer | Special programming | ||||||
| UPN | Fall | Star Trek: Enterprise | Special Unit 2 | Local programming | |||
| Winter | Special programming | ||||||
| Spring | Wolf Lake | ||||||
| Mid-spring | Various programming | ||||||
| Late spring | Wolf Lake (R) | ||||||
| Summer | Buffy the Vampire Slayer (R) | ||||||
| The WB | Fall | Dawson's Creek | Felicity | ||||
| Winter | Glory Days | ||||||
| Spring | Felicity | ||||||
| Late spring | Dawson's Creek (R) | ||||||
| Summer | WB Wednesday Movie | ||||||
NOTE: When ABC announced their 2001 Fall Schedule, originally the plan was for The Job to air after The Drew Carey Show starting in mid-September and NYPD Blue would air in the 10pm ET timeslot after 20/20 Downtown returned to Friday nights in late December.[2] However, after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, ABC decided to not air The Job until 2002 because the show was set in New York City. In October, when the sitcom Bob Patterson was not doing well in the ratings on Tuesday nights, they moved the show to the Wednesday 9:30pm ET timeslot and put NYPD Blue in the Tuesday 9pm ET timeslot.
| Network | 8:00 p.m. | 8:30 p.m. | 9:00 p.m. | 9:30 p.m. | 10:00 p.m. | 10:30 p.m. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | Whose Line Is It Anyway? | Whose Line Is It Anyway? (R) | Who Wants to Be a Millionaire | Primetime | ||
| Summer | ABC Big Picture Show | ||||||
| CBS | Fall | Survivor (6/11.8) | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2/14.5) | The Agency | |||
| Winter | Various programming | ||||||
| Late winter | Survivor (6/11.8) | ||||||
| Spring | The Price is Right Salutes | ||||||
| Summer | Big Brother | ||||||
| Fox | Fall | Special programming | Local programming | ||||
| Mid-fall | Family Guy | The Tick | Temptation Island | ||||
| Winter | Family Guy (R) | ||||||
| Late winter | King of the Hill (R) | Futurama (R) | |||||
| Spring | Fox Thursday Night Movie | ||||||
| Summer | Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction | The Pulse | |||||
| NBC | Fall | Friends (1/15.0) | Inside Schwartz (16/9.8) (Tied with Judging Amy) |
Will & Grace (9/11.0) (Tied with Leap of Faith) |
Just Shoot Me! (18/9.3) | ER (3/14.2) | |
| Mid-fall | Various programming | ||||||
| Late fall | Inside Schwartz (16/9.8) (Tied with Judging Amy) | ||||||
| Winter | Will & Grace (R) | ||||||
| Late winter | Leap of Faith (9/11.0) (Tied with Will & Grace) | ||||||
| Spring | Friends (R) | ||||||
| Late spring | Various programming | ||||||
| Summer | Scrubs (R) | ||||||
| Mid-summer | The Rerun Show | ||||||
| Late summer | Various programming | ||||||
| UPN | WWF Thursday Night SmackDown! | Local programming | |||||
| The WB | Fall | Popstars | Charmed | ||||
| Late fall | Popstars | Maybe It's Me (R) | |||||
| Winter | Various programming | ||||||
| Spring | Gilmore Girls (R) | ||||||
| Late spring | The Jamie Kennedy Experiment (R) | ||||||
| Summer | Reba (R) | The Jamie Kennedy Experiment (R) | Off Centre (R) | ||||
| Network | 8:00 p.m. | 8:30 p.m. | 9:00 p.m. | 9:30 p.m. | 10:00 p.m. | 10:30 p.m. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | The Mole: The Next Betrayal | Thieves | Once and Again | ||||||
| Mid-fall | America's Funniest Home Videos | |||||||||
| Late fall | Various Specials | |||||||||
| Winter | 20/20 | |||||||||
| Spring | Various programming | |||||||||
| Summer | Whose Line Is It Anyway? (R) | |||||||||
| CBS | Fall | The Ellen Show | Various programming | That's Life | 48 Hours | |||||
| Mid-fall | Various programming | The Ellen Show | ||||||||
| Late fall | Special programming | |||||||||
| Winter | JAG (R) | First Monday | ||||||||
| Spring | Various programming | |||||||||
| Late spring | 48 Hours | CBS Friday Night Movie | ||||||||
| Summer | Various programming | |||||||||
| Fox | Fall | Dark Angel | Pasadena | Local programming | ||||||
| Mid-fall | 24 (R) | |||||||||
| Winter | That '70s Show (R) | Various programming | Dark Angel | |||||||
| Spring | Dark Angel (R) | The X-Files (R) | ||||||||
| Summer | Invasion of the Hidden Cameras | |||||||||
| NBC | Fall | Providence (27/7.9) (Tied with Fear Factor and Law & Order: Criminal Intent) |
Dateline NBC (25/8.1) (Tied with Baby Bob) |
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (12/10.4) | ||||||
| Spring | Dateline Friday (25/8.1) (Tied with Baby Bob) | |||||||||
| Summer | Dateline NBC (25/8.1) (Tied with Baby Bob) |
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (R) | ||||||||
| UPN | UPN's Night at the Movies | Local programming | ||||||||
| The WB | Fall | Sabrina the Teenage Witch | Maybe It's Me | Reba | Raising Dad | |||||
| Winter | Raising Dad | Maybe It's Me | ||||||||
| Summer | Sabrina the Teenage Witch (R) | Raising Dad (R) | ||||||||
NOTE: Fox aired The Chamber on January 25, 2002, after two preview airings on past Sunday nights. The show was cancelled after its Friday night airing.
| Network | 8:00 p.m. | 8:30 p.m. | 9:00 p.m. | 9:30 p.m. | 10:00 p.m. | 10:30 p.m. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | ABC Saturday Night Movie | ||||||
| CBS | Fall | Touched by an Angel | Citizen Baines | The District | |||
| Mid-fall | Various programming | ||||||
| Summer | Big Brother | The District (R) | The Agency (R) | ||||
| Fox | COPS | COPS (R) | America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back |
Local programming | |||
| NBC | Special programming | NBC Saturday Night Movie | |||||
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Returning series
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New series
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Not returning from 2000–01:
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Returning series
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New series
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Not returning from 2000–01:
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Returning series
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New series
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Not returning from 2000–01:
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Returning series
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New series
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Not returning from 2000–01:
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Note: The * indicates that the program was introduced in midseason.
