1962–63 United States network television schedule

This was the television schedule on all three networks for the fall season beginning in August 1962.

Television historians Harry Castleman and Walter Podrazik (1982) state, "Despite all the promises of programming reform made by television executives in May, 1961, the 1962-1963 schedule turned out to be business as usual". Castleman and Podrazik point out that although the three networks had added generally well-made public-affairs and news programs to their schedules, there were "too many of them and their sheer number diluted the audience and stretched resources far too thin to allow quality productions each week". CBS aired CBS Reports and Eyewitness, NBC broadcast Chet Huntley Reporting and David Brinkley's Journal, while ABC had Bell and Howell Close-up and the Howard K. Smith show.

New fall series are highlighted in bold. All times are Eastern and Pacific. The highest-rated show for the year is colored in gold, while the two second-highest appear in silver. Uniquely for this season there were two second-place series, as there was a tie. Each of the 30 highest-rated shows is listed with its (rank/rating) as determined by Nielsen Media Research.

Sunday

PM	7:00	7:30	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30
ABC	Father Knows Best (repeats)	The Jetsons	Hollywood Special				The Voice of Firestone	Howard K. Smith: News and Comment
CBS	Lassie (23.3 rating, #21)	Dennis the Menace	The Ed Sullivan Show (25.3 rating, #14)		The Real McCoys	General Electric True	Candid Camera (31.1 rating, #2)	What's My Line? (25.6 rating, #13)
NBC	Ensign O'Toole	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (22.3 rating, #24)		Car 54, Where Are You?	Bonanza (29.8 rating, #4)		The Du Pont Show of the Week

Monday

PM	7:00	7:30	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30
ABC	Local	Cheyenne		The Rifleman	Stoney Burke		Ben Casey (28.7 rating, #7)
CBS	7:00 Local / 7:15 Walter Cronkite with the News*	To Tell the Truth (23.3 rating, #20)	I've Got a Secret (24.9 rating, #16)	The Lucy Show (29.8 rating, #5)	The Danny Thomas Show (28.7 rating, #8)	The Andy Griffith Show (29.7 rating, #6)	The New Loretta Young Show	Stump the Stars
NBC	7:00 Local / 7:15 The Huntley-Brinkley Report*	It's a Man's World		Saints and Sinners		The Price is Right	David Brinkley's Journal	Local

• In some areas, Walter Cronkite with the News and The Huntley-Brinkley Report aired at 6:45 p.m.(ET). Stump the Stars was formerly Pantomime Quiz.

Tuesday

PM	7:00	7:30	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30
ABC	Local	Combat!		Hawaiian Eye		The Untouchables		Bell and Howell Closeup
CBS	7:00 Local / 7:15 Walter Cronkite with the News	Marshal Dillon (Gunsmoke repeats)	The Lloyd Bridges Show	The Red Skelton Hour (31.1 rating, #3)		The Jack Benny Program (26.2 rating, #12)	The Garry Moore Show (23.3 rating, #19)
NBC	7:00 Local / 7:15 The Huntley-Brinkley Report	Laramie		Empire		The Dick Powell Show		Chet Huntley Reporting

Wednesday

PM	7:00	7:30	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30
ABC	Local	Wagon Train (22.0 rating, #25)		Going My Way		Our Man Higgins	Naked City
CBS	7:00 Local / 7:15 Walter Cronkite with the News	CBS Reports		The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis	The Beverly Hillbillies (36.0 rating, #1)	The Dick Van Dyke Show (27.1 rating, #9)	Armstrong Circle Theatre/ The United States Steel Hour
NBC	7:00 Local / 7:15 The Huntley-Brinkley Report	The Virginian (21.7 rating, #26)			Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall		The Eleventh Hour

Thursday

PM	7:00	7:30	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30
ABC	Local	The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet	The Donna Reed Show	Leave It to Beaver	My Three Sons (21.0 rating, #28)	McHale's Navy	Alcoa Premiere
CBS	7:00 Local / 7:15 Walter Cronkite with the News	Mr. Ed	Perry Mason (22.4 rating, #23)		The Nurses		The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
NBC	7:00 Local / 7:15 The Huntley-Brinkley Report	The Wide Country		Dr. Kildare (26.2 rating, #11)		Hazel (25.1 rating, #15)	The Andy Williams Show

Friday

PM	7:00	7:30	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30
ABC	Local	The Gallant Men		The Flintstones (20.5 rating, #30)	I'm Dickens, He's Fenster	77 Sunset Strip		Local
CBS	7:00 Local / 7:15 Walter Cronkite with the News	Rawhide (22.8 rating, #22)		Route 66 (21.3 rating, #27)		Fair Exchange		Eyewitness
NBC	7:00 Local / 7:15 The Huntley-Brinkley Report	International Showtime		Sing Along with Mitch		Don't Call Me Charlie!	The Jack Paar Program

On CBS, season four of The Twilight Zone aired at 9:30 during mid-season, replacing Fair Exchange.

Saturday

PM	7:00	7:30	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30
ABC	Beany and Cecil	The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show		Mr. Smith Goes to Washington	The Lawrence Welk Show		10:00 The Fight of the Week / 10:45 Make That Spare
CBS	Local	Jackie Gleason and his American Scene Magazine (24.1 rating, #17)		The Defenders (23.9 rating, #18)		Have Gun – Will Travel (20.8 rating, #29)	Gunsmoke (27.0 rating, #10)
NBC	Local	Sam Benedict		The Joey Bishop Show	NBC Saturday Night at the Movies

References

• Castleman, H. & Podrazik, W. (1982). Watching TV: Four Decades of American Television. New York: McGraw-Hill. 314 pp.
• McNeil, Alex. Total Television. Fourth edition. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-024916-8.
• Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (2007). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows (9th ed.). New York: Ballantine. ISBN 0-345-31864-1.