Oct 24, 2016 4 min read

For a brief, shining moment in the mid-70s, the “family hour” reigned.

Under the 1975 Federal Communications Commission policy, the networks were told to offer family-friendly programming during the first hour of prime time (8 to 9 p.m.).

And so it was that in 1976, networks kicked off their evening lineups with a mish-mash of G-rated offerings, including light drama such as “The Six Millon Dollar Man,” “Little House on the Prairie” and “The Waltons,” sitcoms ranging from “Happy Days” and “Laverne and Shirley” to “Welcome Back Kotter” and “Good Times,” and variety shows featuring Sonny and Cher, Tony Orlando and Dawn and even the Captain and Tennille.

Later that year, the FCC policy was declared unconstitutional, and networks once again could dictate their own schedule.

CBS was the first to budge, slating “Archie Bunker’s Place” at 8 p.m. Sunday. (It was Norman Lear who first balked at the family- hour ruling, which moved his wildly popular “All in the Family” from 8 to 9 p.m.) For the most part, though, the family-hour concept did an extremely slow disappearing act (many viewers never knew it had been canned).

Ten years after the official family-hour demise, networks still dedicated much of the time period to families, with sitcoms such as “Alf,” “Webster,” “Mr. Belvedere,” “Growing Pains” and inoffensive dramas such as “Highway To Heaven,” “McGyver” and “Murder She Wrote.”

But when cable exploded, the family hour vanished. As younger audiences explored the likes of the Disney Channel and Nickleodeon, and adults drifted to more adult-oriented cable offerings, networks collectively circled the wagons and readjusted their schedules to attract advertiser-friendly 18- to 49-year-old viewers.

Forty years later, networks are welcoming back 1976.

Encouraged by solid ratings for ABC’s Wednesday sitcoms, NBC’s “The Voice” and CBS’s “Big Bang Theory,” the networks this season are expanding comedy blocks and cautiously tiptoeing back into family dramas.

So far, so good.

The highest-rated new drama of the season is NBC’s “This Is Us,” which, to everyone’s surprise, even builds on the significant audience handed to it by “The Voice.” The network also crept back into the Thursday comedy game with “Superstore” and “The Good Place.”

ABC boldly jumped from one two-hour comedy block to two without a misstep. The Wednesday “Goldbergs,” “Speechless,” “Modern Family” and “blackish” lineup is a hit, and Tuesday’s patchwork quilt of “The Middle,” “American Housewife,” “Fresh Off the Boat” and “The Real O’Neals” is off to a decent start as well.

CBS, which still focuses on procedural drama, nonetheless is attempting to nurture along comedy blocks on Monday and Thursday, though it would be a stretch to insinuate any of those shows, save perhaps “Big Bang Theory,” are family series.

The CW is home to multiple three-dimensional comic book series, and Fox is, for the most part, without direction.

Nonetheless, give networks credit for trying to win back the family audience. In today’s TV world, they could become a very profitable niche.

In what may be unprecedented in terms of time frame, networks have already given a full season pickup to eight new shows. They are CBS’s “McGyver,” “Kevin Can Wait” and “Bull,” NBC’s “This Is Us,” Fox’s “Lethal Weapon” and ABC’s “Speechless” and “Designated Survivor.” In light of the popularity of this past summer’s game shows and reality programming, it’s no surprise that CBS canceled two of its three summer dramas, “Brain Dead” and “American Gothic.” “Zoo” will be back.

The top 25 overall television shows in the most recent ratings were all network offerings. Exempting sports programming, the 18- to 49-year-old age group winners were, in order, “Empire,” “Big Bang Theory,” “The Simpsons,” “The Voice,” “This Is Us,” “The Voice,” “Modern Family,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Kevin Can Wait” and “Survivor.”

It’s still too early to declare any single series a hit. With more new series to come, and sampling of some new shows still underway, much ratings settling has yet to occur.