2001–02 United States network television schedule

The 2001–02 network television schedule for the six major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers the primetime hours from September 2001 to August 2002. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series canceled after the 2000–01 season. PBS is not included; member stations have local flexibility over most of their schedules and broadcasts times for network shows may vary. Also not included are stations affiliated with Pax TV, as its schedule is composed mainly of syndicated reruns although it also carried a limited schedule of first-run programs. Each of the 30 highest-rated shows released in May 2002 is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research. 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.

Impact of 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 15, with regular programming resuming on September 16. 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 four 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), the 2020–21 season (due to a suspension of television productions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic), and the 2023–24 season (due to a series of strikes that affected both the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA). 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.

Legend

Light blue indicates local programming. Gray indicates encore programming. Blue-gray indicates news programming. Light green indicates sporting events. Red indicates series being burned off and other irregularly scheduled programs, including specials and movies. Yellow highlights indicates the top-10 most watched programs of the season. Cyan highlights indicates numbers 11-20 most watched programs of the season. Magenta highlights indicates numbers 21-30 most watched programs of the season. Highlights indicates that it falls in multiple of the above categories.

Schedule

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

NOTE: 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 2002 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.

Thursday

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

By network