The following is the 1978–79 network television schedule for the three major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1978 through August 1979. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1977–78 season. All times are Eastern and Pacific, with certain exceptions, such as Monday Night Football.

New fall series are highlighted in bold. Series ending their original runs are in italics.

Each of the 30 highest-rated shows is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research.^[1]

  Yellow indicates the programs in the top 10 for the season.

  Cyan indicates the programs in the top 20 for the season.

  Magenta indicates the programs in the top 30 for the season.

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

Notes: On CBS, the premiere (and only) episode of Co-Ed Fever aired on February 4 from 10:30 to 11:00 p.m., after which the show was cancelled. Moses the Lawgiver was a rerun of the 1975 miniseries. Mr. Dugan was supposed to premiere March 11, 1979 between All in the Family and Alice but due to black Congressmembers' criticism of it after a preview for them, the show was never broadcast. On NBC, the Centennial miniseries aired as part of The Big Event.

Notes: The Wheels segment of NBC Novels for Television was a rerun of the 1978 miniseries. Laugh-In consisted of reruns of the 1977 television series.

Notes: Mork & Mindy had a one-hour premiere on September 14, 1978.

Comedy Theatre, an anthology series of unsold television pilots for situation comedies last seen in the summer of 1976, returned for its second and last season.

The NBC Novels for Television segment The Innocent and the Damned was a rerun of the 1977 television miniseries Aspen.

Coasttocoast was supposed to air Thursdays 10:00-11:00PM, but NBC's new boss, Fred Silverman, canceled the show.

Note: The * indicates that the program was introduced in midseason.

• Castleman, H. & Podrazik, W. (1982). Watching TV: Four Decades of American Television. New York: McGraw-Hill. 314 pp.
• McNeil, Alex. Total Television. Fourth edition. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-024916-8.
• Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (1985). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows (3rd ed.). New York: Ballantine. ISBN 0-345-31864-1.