| Genre: | Anthology series |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 8 |
| Runtime: |
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| Channel: | NBC |
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 â far more than their networks could possibly broadcast as series â 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 Timeâēs 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]
SOURCES [1] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]