our group treat it like church. we do it once a week or feel guilty.

Sometimes there are issues; but we miss very few sessions.

some things are more important than gaming. but really; how many things? Children that need you and work. does anything else trump gaming? even a significant other can wait while you game for one day.

one thing that helped for us was assuming that the whole day would be for gaming; from the time we could all get together until people started falling out. Planning it that way prevents any problems that might be caused by timing, and you get to start whenever the last person needed arrives (we have a rule that the GM and three players have to be present to begin)

Its all about the metagame man. Make rules for the real world. make tables for common events. (whenver dave's girlfreind calls, roll on the weather chart; whenever sally has to go pick up her kids check for random encounters... stuff like that) Make the whole day a vaction from standard reality. make it a holiday.

Have you considered twice a month, at the same time(s)?
I've played Cthulhu alternating Sundays and it worked well, but game time was brief. We had 4-5 hours every other week. Needless to say, there was a lot done outside of the game sessions. GREAT GAME

Another option is 2 games running, alternating weeks, say a space game and a fantasy game. That way things don't get boring.

The best way to run a game that has 2 week breaks is a) cliffhangers or b) out-of-game time. Each session MUST begin on-time and when time is up, that 'episode' is over, so the OOG time can happen.

As a 34 yr old guy w/a 9-5 job, I prefer playing on a weeknight or possibly a Sunday night. Played in a Mage RPG on Sunday afternoons, and it was OK when it rained -- but otherwise I miss the outdoors & sunlight of the weekends too much.

So Wed nights 8-midnight, or 6-11pm or something? :D

That is way too late to start. What time do you end for the night so to speak.