The Chris Moeller Archives

Chris plays network executive

During my down time at work today, I came up with this exercise: We'll consider the greatest television shows of all-time and place the best of the best on a network prime-time schedule. We've got 22 hours of television a week to fill-- 7 to 10 central time, plus the 6 to 7 revolution on Sundays. But here's the imposed limitation-- the shows in question can only be scheduled on a night and time in which they originally aired, at least on a semi-regular basis. Think of it as an All-Star team, or All-Star line-up, which it is, and no performer can play out of position.

Below you'll find the results of my exercise-- personal favorites on an evening to evening schedule that leaves no time remaining for a social life of any kind. Now that Tivo, digital recording, and Netflix are combining to make time slots obsolete anyway, perhaps we can consider this list the final, definitive record. If your favorite show doesn't appear, chances are it originally aired on a Sunday or Monday night, as those slots, I found, were loaded for bear. I believe every show is scheduled within at least one half hour of its most common and noted timeslot, or at least in a slot where it aired for a single season (a la "Roseanne").

"Moonlighting" gets credit for being the only show on the list that I can confirm actually referenced its time slot during the show, but "60 Minutes" accurately describes its time slot. Thankfully for the flexibility of this project, though unfortunate at the time, "Newsradio" and "WKRP in Cincinnati" were shuffled frequently across the schedule during their broadcast runs, but in my alternate universe, their producers will never have to worry again about being relocated in the TV Guide.

I'm terribly pleased with these results, particularly the rhythm of each evening's schedule. For added fun, imagine each weeknight slate followed by the late night stylings of Carson, Letterman, and Costas, and you'll sleep right through "The Price is Right" the next day.

It's a weeklong TV Festival of the imagination!


Sunday
6-7-- 60 Minutes (CBS)
7-7:30-- The Simpsons (FOX)
7:30-8-- King of the Hill (FOX)
8-9-- The Sopranos (HBO)
9-10-- Deadwood (HBO)

Monday
7-7:30-- The Andy Griffith Show (CBS)
7:30-8-- Newhart (CBS)
8-8:30-- M*A*S*H (CBS)
8:30-9-- The Bob Newhart Show (CBS)
9-10-- Northern Exposure (CBS)

Tuesday
7-7:30-- Roseanne (ABC)
7:30-8-- Newsradio (NBC)
8-9-- Moonlighting (ABC)
9-10-- Frontline (PBS)

Wednesday
7-7:30-- WKRP in Cincinnati (CBS)
7:30-8-- Frasier (NBC)
8-8:30-- The Larry Sanders Show (HBO)
8:30-9-- Taxi (ABC-NBC)
9-10-- Lost (ABC)

Thursday
7-7:30-- The Cosby Show (NBC)
7:30-8-- Cheers (NBC)
8-8:30-- Seinfeld (NBC)
8:30-9-- 30 Rock (NBC)
9-10-- LA Law (NBC)

Friday
7-8-- (This time set aside for human contact)
8-9-- Dallas (CBS)
9-10-- Bill Moyers Journal (PBS)

Saturday
7-7:30-- The Honeymooners (CBS)
7:30-8-- The Golden Girls (NBC)
8-9-- The Carol Burnett Show (CBS)
9-10-- Hawaii Five-O (CBS)


Shop for the complete season DVDs of your favorites at Amazon.com!

posted by CM @ 8:21 PM