The Ten Commandments (1956) made its television premiere on ABC on Sunday, February 18 1973. Just as it does today, ABC showed the movie in its entirety that night. For the most part ABC has always aired the film in its entirety on a single nights, although there have been at least two instances in which ABC divided The Ten Commandments into two parts. The first time was upon its second airing in 1974, when the first part aired on Sunday, February 17 and the second part on Monday, February 18. A second instance in which The Ten Commandments aired in two parts was in 1997, when it aired on Sunday, March 30 and Monday, March 31.
Since it s television debut, ABC has changed the time of year when they air The Ten Commandments. Although today the movie is associated with Passover and Easter, it made its premiered on Presidents Day weekend in 1973 and it aired in conjunction with President's day in 1974 as well. It was in 1975 that The Ten Commandments began airing on Easter Sunday. The Ten Commandments aired on Sunday nights until 2006, when it was moved to Saturday might. Since then, with but a few exceptions, it has aired on the Saturday before Easter. Among the exceptions to this was 2023, when it aired on April 1, eight days before Palm Sunday, because the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs fell that day.
Since The Ten Commandments made its television debut in 1973, there has been only one year in which ABC did not air it. That year was 1999, when ABC decided that they did not want to disrupt their Sunday night lineup (which included the hit show The Practice). As a result ABC received a number of phone calls from irate viewers for whom watching The Ten Commandments had become a family tradition. ABC has aired it once a year ever since.I have to think it will continue to air annually as long as there are broadcast networks.
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