2001–02 United States network television schedule

The following is the **2001–02 network television schedule** for the six major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 2001 through August 2002. All times are Eastern and Pacific, with certain exceptions, such as *Monday Night Football*.

From February 8 to 24, 2002, all of NBC's primetime programming was preempted in favor of coverage of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

PBS is not included; member stations have local flexibility over most of their schedules and broadcast times for network shows may vary.

## Impact on the September 11 attacks

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 14, with regular programming resuming on September 15. 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 three 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.

## Sunday

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.

## Monday

Note: On ABC, *The Runner* was supposed to start when *ESPN Monday Night Football* concludes, but it was cancelled due to production problems.

## Tuesday

Note: *Buffy the Vampire Slayer* and *Roswell* moved to UPN from The WB this season.

## Wednesday

NOTES: 1. 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. However, after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, ABC decided to not air The Job until mid-season 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.

2. *That '80s Show* premiered midseason on January 23 on Fox in the 8:00pm ET timeslot.

## Friday

**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.

## Saturday

 ABN
 CBS
 Follow Up
 Mid-summer
 DuMont
 Fox
 NBC