2020–21 United States network television schedule
The 2020–21 network television schedule for the five major English-language commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers the prime time hours from September 2020 to August 2021. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series canceled after the 2019–20 television season. Fox was the first to announce its fall schedule on May 11, 2020, followed by The CW on May 14, CBS on May 19, NBC on June 16, and ABC on June 17, 2020. PBS is not included at all, as member television  stations have local flexibility over most of their schedules and broadcast times for network shows may vary. Ion Television and MyNetworkTV are also not included because both network schedules comprise syndicated reruns. This is the last season that The CW did not program primetime on Saturday evenings. New series are highlighted in bold. 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. Each of the 30 highest-rated shows is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research. Impact  of the COVID-19 pandemic. Each of the major television networks in the United States had initially planned for their upfront presentations to be made to the public in mid-May, a tradition going back to the Golden Age of Television. Due to concerns caused by COVID-19, most major networks and cable network groups canceled their public upfront events due to both public health concerns, and stay-at-home orders which effectively prevented them from going forward. It was expected most of the upfront announcements would be either press releases or virtual video events via videotelephony, and could be delayed due  to pilots being unable to be produced, along with an overall decline in advertising. NBC carried traditional upfront content on July 16, 2020, blended in as a part of "", though a majority of the network's affiliates pre-empted the event (it aired the next day as a special airing across all of NBCUniversal's cable networks at the same time in primetime). On May 1, the Television Critics Association cancelled its summer 2020 press tour, originally scheduled for July 28 through August 13 (during the now-rescheduled 2020 Summer Olympics), as the organization was unsure it could occur at  all due to public gathering restrictions and an anticipated lack of any scripted programming output, even in pilot form, to promote by that time period. The TCA cancellation complicated any plans by the networks to build buzz about their upcoming schedules, while the move of the 2020 Summer Olympics to 2021 nullified any plans NBC had to use the Games to lead into their new television season. Delays in production as a result of the pandemic resulted in many shows being pushed over from their intended Summer 2020 premieres. CBS was the first network to push the thirty-second season  premiere of "The Amazing Race" as a part of its contingency plan to preserve programming for fall. The same day, ABC announced that it had delayed the sixteenth season of its summer staple series "The Bachelorette" to a tentative fall launch, while sister-series "Bachelor in Paradise" had been postponed indefinitely. The following month, Fox and The CW followed suit by announcing that both the networks would be delaying most of their original scripted premieres to a cycle beginning in January 2021, and their fall lineup would consist primarily of acquisitions and delayed summer series. In light of further delays  in production, CBS moved up "S.W.A.T." to a fall premiere to replace "Survivor", while the latter had been postponed its production of the forty-first season to spring 2021 and was replaced by aforementioned "The Amazing Race". On August 26, 2020, the network further modified its schedule by deciding to push the premieres of all scripted programming to November and air acquired and encore programming in Early fall instead. Similarly, NBC altered its schedule on August 12, 2020 by replacing "The Voice" with "American Ninja Warrior" on Monday nights. On September 16, 2020, ABC announced that the network would not  be moving forward with the second season of "Stumptown", a decision that came in reversal to its May 2020 renewal. COVID-related production delays that would not have allowed the series to be ready for telecast before April 2021 (the end of the broadcast season) were cited as the primary reason behind the cancellation. Because of the pandemic-related production halts, this is the third time in the history of American television where the start of the television season was delayed due to issues outside of the control of the major television networks; the last two instances occurred in the  1988–89 season (which was delayed due to the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike) and the 2001–02 season (which was affected by news coverage of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001). By network. Note: Series that were originally intended to air in 2019–20 but were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic are indicated using . ABC. Returning series: New series: Not returning from 2019–20: CBS. Returning series: New series: Not returning from 2019–20: The CW. Returning series: New series: Not returning from 2019–20: Fox. Returning series: New series: Not returning from 2019–20: NBC. Returning series: New series: Not returning from  2019–20: