The 2004–05 network television schedule for the six major English-language commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers the prime time hours from September 2004 to August 2005. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series canceled after the 2003–04 television season.

Beginning this season, largely resulting from continuing declines in prime time television viewership on that night of the week, the major networks ceased producing original scripted programs for broadcast on Saturday evenings (an exception being ABC's The Wonderful World of Disney, although it often featured rebroadcast material, mainly in the form of Disney theatrical films). From this point on, Saturday prime time network schedules would instead consist of nonfiction reality-based programs, rebroadcasts of scripted prime time series (most commonly featuring dramatic series), unaired episodes of de facto cancelled series that were being "burned off" after having been pulled from their previous timeslot on a different night, theatrical or made-for-television movies, and/or sporting events (which became increasingly common in the time period beginning with the 2012–13 season).

PBS is not included, as member television stations have local flexibility over most of their schedules and broadcast times for network shows may vary. Pax TV (now Ion Television) is also not included; although the network aired a few original first-run series, Pax's schedule at the time consisted primarily of syndicated reruns and movies.

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

New series are highlighted in bold.

Repeat airings or same-day rebroadcasts are indicated by (R).

All times are U.S. Eastern and Pacific Time, except for certain live events (such as Monday Night Football) that are broadcast simultaneously in all time zones. Subtract one hour for Central, Mountain, Alaska, and Hawaii-Aleutian times.

All sporting events air live in all time zones, with local and/or late-night programming (including those normally aired by Fox affiliates during the 10:00 p.m. ET/PT hour) being shown after the game's completion.

Legend

Sunday

Monday

Note: Fox originally scheduled Athens (a drama series that was to center on the lives of a group of young adults in a fictional New England college town) as a midseason replacement in the 8:00 p.m. ET slot; however, the network cancelled the series last-minute.

Tuesday

Notes:

• NBC originally intended for Average Joe to air on its Fall schedule in the 8:00 p.m. ET slot; it chose to delay the reality dating series to Summer. The network originally scheduled The Contender to premiere on March 1, 2005 in the 8:00 p.m. ET slot, but opted to delay its premiere to March 9, before switching timeslots with American Dreams, which had been airing on Sundays during that hour.
• Fox originally intended to air a Fall run of legal drama The Jury (which premiered on June 8) in its existing Tuesday slot prior to November; however on July 27, it cancelled the series due to low ratings. (The two remaining episodes of its 10-episode order aired as scheduled on July 30 and August 6.)

Wednesday

Note: Fox originally intended for Method & Red to remain in the 9:30 p.m. ET slot, but cancelled it due to low ratings. The network also intended to air Life on a Stick at 8:30 p.m. ET and The Bernie Mac Show at 9:30 p.m. ET in midseason, but ultimately chose instead to air That '70s Show and Life on a Stick in those respective timeslots.

Thursday

Note: Fox originally intended to place Tru Calling in the 9:00 p.m. ET slot, but elected to push up its second season to Spring and run North Shore in the Fall instead.

Friday

Notes:

• Fox originally planned to keep The Jury on Fridays, while also slotting The Next Great Champ as its lead-in in the 8:00 p.m. ET hour; because of The Jury's cancellation, The Complex: Malibu was picked up last-minute to occupy the slot. The network also originally scheduled The Inside in the 8:00 p.m. ET hour (leading into Jonny Zero) for midseason.
• The WB originally scheduled the sitcom Commando Nanny in the 9:30 p.m. ET slot; however, it was cancelled prior to the start of the Fall schedule due to production difficulties, resulting in its substitution by Blue Collar TV.

Saturday

By network

Renewals and cancellations

References