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 1957-1958 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
The highest-rated show for the year is highlighted in lime. The top ten rated programs are highlighted in yellow. The top 20 rated programs are highlighted in cyan. The top 30 rated programs are highlighted in magenta..[3] Each of the 30 highest-rated shows is listed with its (rank/rating) as determined by Nielsen Media Research.[4]
Schedule[]
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 | Open Hearing | All-American Football Game of the Week | Scotland Yard | Local Programming | |
| 1958 | Local Programming | Adventure at Scott Island (formerly 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 | 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) | ||||||||
- In some areas, Douglas Edwards with the News and The Huntley-Brinkley Report aired at 6:45 p.m.
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 | 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 | |||
| 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 | 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 | |||
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 | The Real McCoys | 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 | 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 | |
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 | 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 | |
| CBS | 1957 | 7:00 Local / 7:15 Douglas Edwards with the News | Leave It To Beaver | Trackdown | Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater (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 | ||
- Saber of London, with Donald Gray in the lead role, entered its seventh season with a new name, its fourth, and a new network, NBC. It had run on ABC from 1951-1954 and 1955-1957, under three previous titles, Mystery Theater, Inspector Mark Saber--Homicide Detective, and The Vise.
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 | ||||
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 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.
- ↑ 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
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1957.htm
Further readings[]
- McNeil, Alex. Total Television. Fourth edition. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-024916-8.
- Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (1964). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows (3rd ed.). New York: Ballantine. ISBN 0-345-31864-1.
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