1957–58 United States network television schedule

The 1957–58 United States network television schedule was for the period that began in September 1957 and ran through March 1958.

As in previous seasons, both CBS and ABC continued to add Westerns to their schedule, filling prime time with as many "oaters" (as they were derisively called) as possible. In addition to several returning Westerns which the network retained on its fall 1957 schedule, ABC's new western series included Sugarfoot and Broken Arrow on Tuesday nights, Tombstone Territory on Wednesdays, Colt .45 on Fridays, and Maverick on Sundays.

ABC, third in the network Nielsen ratings, placed its new Western Maverick in a difficult time slot: Sunday night against two hit series: The Steve Allen Show on NBC, and The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS. ABC aired Maverick a half-hour before the other two programs began; the strategy was designed to "hook the audience before it fell into its usual viewing habits".[1]

NBC, late to the Western format, also began plugging Westerns into its fall schedule. New NBC Western series debuting in the 1957–58 season included Wagon Train, The Restless Gun, and The Californians (though one NBC executive insisted The Californians is not a Western but a drama set in California in the 1850s).[1]

Another programming shift occurred at NBC: the network's flagship news program, The Huntley-Brinkley Report, moved to the 7:15 PM weekday timeslot, for the first time going head to head against both ABC's and CBS's news programs.[2] The face-off between the three networks' news programs would become the standard model for U.S. broadcast television; the three networks still air their network news programs against one another.

1958 saw a number of executive changes at the networks; these presidential shifts would affect the network television schedules. Oliver Treyz became the president of ABC on February 17, Louis Cowan became the president of CBS on March 12, and NBC programmer Robert Kintner became the president of NBC on July 11. Dr. Allen B. DuMont resigned as chairman of the board of the DuMont Broadcasting Corporation on May 13, and the name of the company was changed to Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation. According to Castleman and Podrazik (1982) the final DuMont Network program, Monday Night Fights aired for the last time on August 4, 1958, carried on only five stations nationwide.[1] NBC's Kraft Television Theatre, which had debuted in 1947 and was the oldest program still left on television, was cancelled in spring 1958. It was the dawn of a new era in television; producer David Susskind, who had produced KTT at the end, would call 1958 "the year of the miserable drivel".[1]

New fall series are highlighted in bold. Series ending are highlighted in italics

Each of the 30 highest-rated shows is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research.[3]

     Yellow indicates the programs in the top 10 for the season.
     Cyan indicates the programs in the top 20 for the season.
     Magenta indicates the programs in the top 30 for the season.

Sunday

Network 7:00 PM 7:30 PM 8:00 PM 8:30 PM 9:00 PM 9:30 PM 10:00 PM 10:30 PM
ABC 1957 You Asked For It Maverick Bowling Stars (formerly on NBC as National Bowling Champions) Open Hearing All-American Football Game of the Week (Football) Scotland Yard Local Programming
1958 Local Programming Adventure at Scott Island (formerly on CBS as Harbormaster) The Mike Wallace Interview
CBS Lassie (22/27.8) The Jack Benny Program (28/27.1) / Bachelor Father The Ed Sullivan Show (27/27.3) General Electric Theater (7/31.5) Alfred Hitchcock Presents (12T/30.3) The $64,000 Challenge What's My Line?
NBC 1957 The Original Amateur Hour Sally The Steve Allen Show (Color) The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (Color) The Loretta Young Show (30/26.6) Local Programming
1958 Noah's Ark (Color)(repeats) No Warning The Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé Show (Color) The Chevy Show (Color) Decision

Monday

Network 7:00 PM 7:30 PM 8:00 PM 8:30 PM 9:00 PM 9:30 PM 10:00 PM 10:30 PM
ABC 1957 7:00 Local / 7:15 John Daly and the News American Bandstand The Guy Mitchell Show Bold Journey The Voice of Firestone Lawrence Welk's Top Tunes and New Talent Local Programming
1958 Polka-Go-Round
Anybody Can Play This is Music
CBS 7:00 Local / 7:15 Douglas Edwards with the News* The Adventures of Robin Hood The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts The Danny Thomas Show (2/35.3) December Bride (9/30.7) Studio One in Hollywood
NBC 1957 7:00 Local / 7:15 The Huntley-Brinkley Report* The Price Is Right (Color) The Restless Gun (8/31.4) Tales of Wells Fargo (3/35.2) Twenty One (26/27.6) Turn of Fate (Alcoa Theatre)/Goodyear Theatre Suspicion
1958 Haggis Baggis (Color)

Tuesday

Network 7:00 PM 7:30 PM 8:00 PM 8:30 PM 9:00 PM 9:30 PM 10:00 PM 10:30 PM
ABC 1957 7:00 Local / 7:15 John Daly and the News Cheyenne (12T/30.3) / Sugarfoot (23T/27.7) The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (6/32.6) Broken Arrow Telephone Time The West Point Story Local Programming
1958 Confession (1958/59 season advance)
CBS 7:00 Local / 7:15 Douglas Edwards with the News Name That Tune The Phil Silvers Show The Eve Arden Show To Tell the Truth The Red Skelton Show (15/28.9) (Sporadically in Color) The $64,000 Question (19T/28.1) Assignment: Foreign Legion
NBC 1957 7:00 Local / 7:15 The Huntley-Brinkley Report The Nat King Cole Show The Eddie Fisher Show (Color)/The George Gobel Show (Color) Meet McGraw The Bob Cummings Show The Californians Local Programming
1958 The Investigator (Color) Dotto

Wednesday

Network 7:00 PM 7:30 PM 8:00 PM 8:30 PM 9:00 PM 9:30 PM 10:00 PM 10:30 PM
ABC Fall 7:00 Local / 7:15 John Daly and the News Disneyland Tombstone Territory The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet The Walter Winchell File 10:00 The Wednesday Night Fights /10:45 Famous Fights
Winter Date with the Angels
Follow-up The Betty White Show
CBS 1957 7:00 Local / 7:15 Douglas Edwards with the News I Love Lucy (repeats) The Big Record The Millionaire (17/28.5) I've Got a Secret (5/33.4) Armstrong Circle Theatre/The United States Steel Hour
1958 Leave It to Beaver The Big Record
NBC Fall 7:00 Local / 7:15 The Huntley-Brinkley Report Wagon Train (23T/27.7) Father Knows Best (23T/27.7) Kraft Television Theatre (Color) This Is Your Life (19T/28.1) Local Programming
Summer It Could Be You

Thursday

Network 7:00 PM 7:30 PM 8:00 PM 8:30 PM 9:00 PM 9:30 PM 10:00 PM 10:30 PM
ABC 7:00 Local / 7:15 John Daly and the News Circus Boy Zorro (30/26.6) The Real McCoys (30/26.6) The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom O.S.S. Navy Log Local Programming
CBS 1957 7:00 Local / 7:15 Douglas Edwards with the News Sgt. Preston of the Yukon Harbormaster (Later moved to ABC) Climax!/Shower of Stars Playhouse 90
1958 I Love Lucy (repeats)
NBC Fall 7:00 Local / 7:15 The Huntley-Brinkley Report Tic-Tac-Dough (Color) You Bet Your Life (10/30.6) Dragnet The People’s Choice The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford (14/29.7) The Lux Show Starring Rosemary Clooney (Color) The Jane Wyman Show
Summer Music Bingo

From January 2 to June 26, 1958, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, starring David Janssen, aired for a second season on the CBS Thursday schedule at 8 p.m. Eastern.

Friday

Network 7:00 PM 7:30 PM 8:00 PM 8:30 PM 9:00 PM 9:30 PM 10:00 PM 10:30 PM
ABC Fall 7:00 Local / 7:15 John Daly and the News The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin The Adventures of Jim Bowie The Patrice Munsel Show The Frank Sinatra Show Date with the Angels Colt .45 Local Programming
Winter The Walter Winchell File
CBS 1957 7:00 Local / 7:15 Douglas Edwards with the News Leave It to Beaver Trackdown Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre (21/27.9) Mr. Adams and Eve Schlitz Playhouse (formerly Schlitz Playhouse of Stars) The Lineup (18/28.4) Person to Person
1958 Dick and the Duchess (repeats)
NBC 7:00 Local / 7:15 The Huntley-Brinkley Report Saber of London The Court of Last Resort The Life of Riley M Squad The Thin Man 10:00 Gillette Cavalcade of Sports / 10:45 Red Barber's Corner

Saturday

Network 7:00 PM 7:30 PM 8:00 PM 8:30 PM 9:00 PM 9:30 PM 10:00 PM 10:30 PM
ABC 1957 Local Programming Keep It In The Family Country Music Jubilee Lawrence Welk's Dodge Dancing Party The Mike Wallace Interview Local Programming
1958 The Dick Clark Show (Later renamed as Dick Clark's Saturday Night Beechnut Show) Midwestern Hayride
CBS 1957 Local Programming Perry Mason Dick and the Duchess The Gale Storm Show (16/28.8) Have Gun – Will Travel (4/33.7) Gunsmoke (1/43.1) Local Programming
1958 Top Dollar
NBC 1957 Local Programming People Are Funny (29/27.0) The Perry Como Show (11/30.5)(Color) The Polly Bergen Show/Club Oasis The Gisele MacKenzie Show What's It For? Your Hit Parade (Color)
1958 The Bob Crosby Show (Color) Club Oasis with Spike Jones Turning Point (repeats) The Original Amateur Hour The Joseph Cotten Show (repeats)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Castleman, Harry; Walter J. Podrazik (1982). Watching TV: Four Decades of American Television. New York: McGraw-Hill. pp. 109–115. ISBN 0-07-010269-4.
  2. Castleman, H. and Podrazik, W. (1984) The TV Schedule Book: Four Decades of Network Programming from Sign-on to Sign-off. McGraw-Hill. pg 79-82. ISBN 0-07-010277-5
  3. Highest-rated series is based on the annual top-rated programs list compiled by Nielsen Media Research and reported in: Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (2007). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows (9th ed.). New York: Ballantine. ISBN 978-0-345-49773-4.

Further reading

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