Python hadn't made it to this side of the pond yet, but Marty Feldman snagged a contract with ABC to do a summer replacement show. Back then, it was raw numbers, not demographics, that drove advertisers dollars. It wasn't picked up for regular season.
A few years later, ABC tried with a late night special of clips from Python, but the way they did it was a poor imitation of the show. I liked the bits that I had seen, and when I got a chance to see the real show a year later, I fell in love with it. 1976.