Schedule Rewind: A look back at the Prime Time schedule from seasons past and network decisions impacting sci fi and fantasy shows.
The 1975-76 season was a particularly sparse one for sci fi and fantasy television, with the few genre entries airing mostly of the superhero (Wonder Woman) or quasi-superhero (The Six Million Dollar Man) variety. But one show of interest did arrive in syndication, and it even challenged other broadcast network entries in Prime Time for a brief period.
ABC
The Six Million Dollar Man (Sundays 8 PM EST)
Barbary Coast (Mondays 7 PM EST)
The Bionic Woman (Wednesdays 7 PM EST)
Wonder Woman (Wednesdays 7 PM EST)
Bionic fever was definitely strong on ABC in the 1975-76 season as The Six Million Dollar Man entered its third season while the network and spin-off series The Bionic Woman had its debut that year. Both ended the season in the Top 10 with the parent series at Number 9 and the upstart new show landing at Number 5. Both of these shows were indicative of the type of genre entry the networks were tolerant of at that time. They were somewhat procedural based and focused on people with extraordinary powers, but they were not too heavy on the sci fi elements.
Joining that formula that year was Wonder Woman which started as a movie of the week and then aired a handful of episodes at the end for the season. That first season for that one would actually carry over into Fall 1976, though ABC would cancel it after only ten additional episodes aired (CBS would then pick up the show for two additional seasons, read more about the series at this link.) The only other show of interest to sci fi fans on ABC was Barbary Coast which starred William Shatner and Doug McClure. That western/spy romp had some similarities to The Wild Wild West but very little in the way of the sci fi elements that we saw in the ’60’s series. It disappeared after less than one season, airing against stiff competition from popular sitcoms on CBS.
CBS
No Genre Entries
CBS had little interest in sci fi/fantasy shows during the 1975-76 season after the expensive failure of the Planet of the Apes TV series from the prior year. But within a couple of years, it would go heavy on superhero shows after saving Wonder Woman from cancellation and adding The Incredible Hulk and The Amazing Spider-Man to its schedule.
NBC
The Invisible Man (Mondays 7 PM EST)
NBC had only one genre entry to offer sci fi fans during the season, and it disappeared from the schedule by January. The Invisible Man had plenty of talent onboard when it debuted as a movie-of-the-week the prior spring. It was created by Harve Bennett (who would later shepherd the first four Star Trek films) and he co-wrote the pilot script along with a young Steven Bochco (Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law). And Man from UNCLE veteran David McCallum was onboard in the lead role. The pilot had a darker, more cynical feel to it, but by the time the series premiered it had adopted the same quasi-superhero approach as The Six Million Dollar Man. It delivered procedural stories with the Invisible Man using his invisibility to solve the case of the week. The show aired on Mondays at 7 PM against Top 10 sitcoms on CBS and it also competed for the genre audience with Barbary Coast on ABC. It would be gone by mid-season, though NBC would take another stab with the invisibility gimmick the next year with the equally short-lived Gemini Man. (Read more about The Invisible Man at this link.)
Syndication
Space: 1999 morphed out of early plans to produce a second season of the alien-invasion series UFO as creators Gerry and Sylvia Anderson took some of their early ideas and turned the new show into an epic space journey. It focused on the inhabitants of Moonbase: Alpha after the Moon is torn from the Earth’s orbit and sent hurtling into space, and it drew inspiration from both Star Trek and 2001: A Space Odyssey (you can read more about the show at this link). The entire first season was financed by ITV in Britain and filmed in advance with hopes that an American network would pick it up. It was definitely ambitious for its time with state-of-the-art special effects and a full-on sci fi premise.
But U.S. networks balked at the series, in part because network execs just did not get the genre at the time (and still today) and also because they had no say in the production since the first season was already completed. It was sold into syndication instead, and several affiliates felt like it had more promise than some of the shows the networks had scheduled for Prime Time in the Fall of 1975. The affiliates aired Space: 1999 in Prime Time hours, preempting the programming that the networks had set to run in those hours. And it drew good viewership at first, but the networks eventually forced the affiliates to boot the show out of the Prime Time hours.
ALSO READ: Eight Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Space: 1999
That resulted in the series getting shuffled to afternoon slots on the weekends where it was often preempted by sporting events. A second season was produced, though the show was put through major changes in an attempt to increase its appeal to the American audience. But all it really needed was better scheduling. The second season also typically aired on the weekends and the show was cancelled before it could make it to a third year. But for a brief time, Space: 1999 was the highlight of the Fall 1975 season–especially for sci fi fans–and perhaps could have lasted longer if given a regular timeslot that allowed it to build its audience.
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Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.
