CBN's actual schedule 40 years ago

In Sunday's Top Ten, I mentioned a 1984 mention of CBN's ratings surge and added a comment about how it showed The 700 Club about 5 times a day. Well, the channel had a great lineup surrounding the religious programming. For context, let's look at the schedule on the Christian Broadcast Network 40 years ago tonight.

We'll start at 6:30 because 6:00 has a rerun of game show Treasure Hunt hosted by Geoff Edwards. 6:30 brings The Rifleman, a show we heartily endorsed last season.

Next up: Here Come the Brides, which to me doesn't hold up next to some of these other programs, but it was not one you saw everywhere, so it's cool CBN had it.

I Spy aired at 8:00. It's a cool show, and could you blame CBN for thinking the show fit in with its family values message in 1984?

700 Club follows and is on for a whopping 90 minutes.

Classic TV resumes at 10:30 with My Little Margie. For many years, this was the only place I ever saw the series.

11:00 is Another Life. Now, this is interesting: A nightly soap and CBN original that was syndicated as well as aired on the channel.

Now is when it really gets good: Late night on CBN.

11:30 is Best of Groucho, AKA You Bet Your Life. Excellent choice!

Burns and Allen follows at midnight. Tremendous program.

12:30 is Jack Benny, and I needn't tell you this is a classic.

I think that 11;30-1:00 block is up there with any block on Nick at Nite in its prime.

1:00 is I Married Joan, and CBN must have really loved it because it also aired earlier at 2:30 as a lead-on to The 700 Club.

1:30 is Love That Bob, a series that is mostly forgotten today but is often pretty funny, though I will grant that Bob Cummings and his character might not be for everyone.

2:00 is Bachelor Father, a program I enjoyed on those occasions when Young Master Brooks was up that late. It was not prominent for years, then RTV brought it back (the glory days when it showed old Universal library shows), followed by Antenna TV later.

It's followed by Life of Riley, another forgotten show that is quite enjoyable. I believe CBN showed the William Bendix episodes (a local NY station I got showed the Jackie Gleason episodes for a while in a super-early timeslot).

Then classic TV ends at 3 because it's time for The 700 Club again.

Is that a pretty good schedule or what? It would change over the years, and a few would drop out and others would come in, but CBN, not Nick at Nite, was my favorite cable source for vintage TV for several years.