Comedy Time

Comedy Time is an American anthology television series that aired on NBC in the summer of 1977. In a mix of 30-minute and 60-minute episodes, it aired unsold television pilots for situation comedies.

The practice of television executives of ordering dozens of pilots for proposed television series each year – far more than their networks could possibly broadcast as series – created a sizable body of unsold pilots that had never aired.^[1] Packaging these unsold pilots in anthology series and airing them during the summer provided television networks with a way of both providing fresh programming during the summer rerun season and recouping at least some of the expense of producing them.^[1]Comedy Time was one of these series, aired by NBC in the summer of 1977,^[2] and it consisted of unsold pilots for situation comedies.^[2] Stars appearing in the series included Bill Bixby, Michael Constantine, Barbara Feldon, and Annie Potts.^[2]

Comedy Time premiered on July 6, 1977, as a 30-minute show airing a single unsold pilot from 9:30 to 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesdays.^[2] On July 21, it became a twice-a-week program when a 60-minute version of the show premiered, airing two unsold pilots between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. on Thursdays.^[2] The 30-minute Wednesday episodes came to an end after the broadcast of July 27, and the 60-minute Thursday broadcast went into hiatus after the episode that aired on July 28.^[2] The Thursday broadcasts resumed on August 25, and Comedy Time′s run ended a week later with the episode aired on September 1.^[2] In all, Comedy Time broadcast 12 unsold pilots during its run.^[2]

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