1961–62 United States network television schedule: Difference between revisions

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The 1961–62 United States network television schedule was for the period that began in September 1961 and ran through April 1962.

The previous season had been excoriated by FCC chairman Newton Minow in May 1961. Minow had criticized poor programs and weak network schedules, calling television a "vast wasteland" and calling on television executives to try harder to develop innovative and interesting television programs.^[1]

Television historians Castleman and Podrazik (1982) believe the 1961-1962 season marked a comeback for television, as the networks rearranged their schedules to accommodate the critics. They point out CBS's high-quality legal drama The Defenders, NBC's medical drama Dr Kildare, CBS's The Dick Van Dyke Show, and ABC's medical drama Ben Casey as bright spots in the new TV schedule. Despite the praise for these four series, the authors also highlight several less worthy series which debuted during the 1961-1962 season: Room for One More, Window on Main Street, Hazel ("possibly the dumbest family in TV history"), and the truly terrible The Hathaways ("possibly the worst series ever to air on network TV").^[1]

NBC lured Disney's popular anthology series from ABC; Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color premiered on September 24, 1961. The color programs were a change from the previous ABC programs, which had been seen in black and white.^[1]

NBC also added a movie night to its schedule; the network paid $25 million for the rights to broadcast 50 20th-Century Fox films on Saturday nights. In April 1962, ABC followed suit when it added its own Sunday night movie to its schedule.^[1]

All times are Eastern and Pacific. New fall series are highlighted in bold. The highest-rated show for the year is colored in gold. The second highest-rated show is colored in silver. The third highest-rated show is colored in bronze. The 4th and 5th highest-rated shows are colored in lime. The 6th-10th highest-rated shows are colored in yellow. The 11th-20th highest-rated shows are colored in cyan. The 21st-30th highest-rated shows are colored in magenta. Rankings determined by Nielsen Media Research. ^[2]

Sunday

PM	7:00	7:30	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30
ABC	6:30 Maverick (partial repeats)	Follow the Sun		Lawman	Bus Stop		Adventures in Paradise
CBS	Lassie	Dennis the Menace	The Ed Sullivan Show		General Electric Theater	The Jack Benny Program	Candid Camera	What's My Line?
NBC	The Bullwinkle Show	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color*		Car 54, Where Are You?	Bonanza		The Du Pont Show of the Week

formerly Walt Disney Presents

Note: Mister Ed, previously syndicated, aired on CBS 6:30-7 PM.

Monday

PM	7:00	7:30	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30
ABC	Expedition!	Cheyenne		The Rifleman	Surfside 6		Ben Casey
CBS	7:00 Local / 7:15 Douglas Edwards with the News*	To Tell the Truth	Pete and Gladys	Window on Main Street	The Danny Thomas Show	The Andy Griffith Show	Hennesey	I've Got a Secret
NBC	7:00 Local / 7:15 The Huntley-Brinkley Report*	Local	National Velvet	The Price Is Right	87th Precinct		Thriller

In some areas, Douglas Edwards with the News and The Huntley-Brinkley Report aired at 6:45 p.m.(ET).

Tuesday

PM	7:00	7:30	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
ABC	Local	The Bugs Bunny Show	Bachelor Father	Calvin and the Colonel	The New Breed		Alcoa Premiere
CBS	7:00 Local / 7:15 Douglas Edwards with the News	Marshal Dillon (Gunsmoke repeats)	The Dick Van Dyke Show	The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis	The Red Skelton Show	Ichabod and Me	The Garry Moore Show
NBC	7:00 Local / 7:15 The Huntley-Brinkley Report	Laramie		Alfred Hitchcock Presents	The Dick Powell Show		Cain's Hundred

Wednesday

PM	7:00	7:30	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30
ABC	Local	The Steve Allen Show		Top Cat	Hawaiian Eye		Naked City
CBS	7:00 Local / 7:15 Douglas Edwards with the News	The Alvin Show	Father Knows Best (repeats)	Checkmate		Mrs. G. Goes to College	Armstrong Circle Theatre / The United States Steel Hour
NBC	7:00 Local / 7:15 The Huntley-Brinkley Report	Wagon Train		The Joey Bishop Show	Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall		The Bob Newhart Show	David Brinkley’s Journal

Note: Mrs. G. Goes to College moved to Thursday nights in January as The Gertrude Berg Show.

Thursday

PM	7:00	7:30	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
ABC	Local	The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet	The Donna Reed Show	The Real McCoys	My Three Sons	Margie /starting April 19 The Law and Mr. Jones	The Untouchables
CBS	7:00 Local / 7:15 Douglas Edwards with the News	Frontier Circus		The Bob Cummings Show	The Investigators		CBS Reports
NBC	7:00 Local / 7:15 The Huntley-Brinkley Report	Outlaws		Dr. Kildare		Hazel	Sing Along with Mitch

Friday

PM	7:00	7:30	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30
ABC	Local	Straightaway	The Hathaways	The Flintstones	77 Sunset Strip		Target: The Corruptors!
CBS	7:00 Local / 7:15 Douglas Edwards with the News	Rawhide		Route 66		Father of the Bride	The Twilight Zone	Eyewitness*
NBC	7:00 Local / 7:15 The Huntley-Brinkley Report	International Showtime		The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor		The Bell Telephone Hour / The Dinah Shore Show		Here and Now

* formerly Eyewitness To History

Saturday

PM	7:00	7:30	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
ABC	Matty's Funday Funnies	The Roaring 20s	Leave It to Beaver	The Lawrence Welk Show		10:00 The Fight of the Week / 10:45 Make That Spare
CBS	Local	Perry Mason	The Defenders		Have Gun — Will Travel	Gunsmoke
NBC	Local	Tales of Wells Fargo	The Tall Men	NBC Saturday Night at the Movies

Room for One More aired on ABC from January to July 1962, 8-8:30 p.m.

Beginning January 6th, Matty's Funday Funnies became Matty's Funnies With Beany & Cecil.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Castleman, Harry (1982). Watching TV: Four Decades of American Television. New York: McGraw-Hill. pp. 147–153. ISBN 0-07-010269-4. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^ http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1961.htm

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 (1984). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows (3rd ed.). New York: Ballantine. ISBN 0-345-31864-1.

[CP1982-1] Castleman, Harry (1982). Watching TV: Four Decades of American Television. New York: McGraw-Hill. pp. 147–153. ISBN 0-07-010269-4. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

[BM2-2] ttp://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1961.htm

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 NBC also added a movie night to its schedule; the network paid $25 million for the rights to broadcast 50 20th-Century Fox films on Saturday nights. In April 1962, ABC followed suit when it added its own Sunday night movie to its schedule.<ref name="CP1982"/>
-All times are Eastern and Pacific. New fall series are highlighted in '''bold'''. The highest-rated show for the year is colored in <span style="background-color:gold">'''gold'''</span>. The second highest-rated show is colored in <span style="background-color:silver">'''silver'''</span>. The third highest-rated show is colored in <span style="background-color:goldenrod">'''bronze'''</span>.<ref name="BM2">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.</ref>
+All times are Eastern and Pacific. New fall series are highlighted in '''bold'''. The highest-rated show for the year is colored in <span style="background-color:gold">'''gold'''</span>. The second highest-rated show is colored in <span style="background-color:silver">'''silver'''</span>. The third highest-rated show is colored in <span style="background-color:goldenrod">'''bronze'''</span>.  The 4th and 5th highest-rated shows are colored in <span style="background-color:lime">'''lime'''</span>.  The 6th-10th highest-rated shows are colored in <span style="background-color:yellow">'''yellow'''</span>.  The 11th-20th highest-rated shows are colored in <span style="background-color:cyan">'''cyan'''</span>.  The 21st-30th highest-rated shows are colored in <span style="background-color:magenta">'''magenta'''</span>.  ''Rankings determined by [[Nielsen Media Research]]''.  <ref name="BM2">http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1961.htm</ref>
 == Sunday ==
@@ Line 32: / Line 32: @@
 |-
 ! [[CBS]]
-| [[Lassie (1954 TV series)|Lassie]]
+| bgcolor="cyan" | [[Lassie (1954 TV series)|Lassie]]
-| [[Dennis the Menace (TV series)|Dennis the Menace]]
+| bgcolor="cyan" | [[Dennis the Menace (TV series)|Dennis the Menace]]
-| colspan="2" | [[The Ed Sullivan Show]]
+| bgcolor="cyan" colspan="2" | [[The Ed Sullivan Show]]
 | [[General Electric Theater]]
 | [[The Jack Benny Program]]
-| [[Candid Camera]]
+| bgcolor="yellow" | [[Candid Camera]]
 | [[What's My Line?]]
 |-
 ! [[NBC]]
 | '''[[The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show|The Bullwinkle Show]]'''
-| colspan="2" | [[Walt Disney anthology television series|Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color]]*
+| bgcolor="magenta" colspan="2" | [[Walt Disney anthology television series|Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color]]*
-| '''[[Car 54, Where Are You?]]'''
+| bgcolor="cyan" | '''[[Car 54, Where Are You?]]'''
 | bgcolor="silver" colspan="2" | [[Bonanza]]
 | colspan="2" | '''[[Du Pont|The Du Pont Show of the Week]]'''
@@ Line 49: / Line 49: @@
 *formerly ''[[Walt Disney Presents]]''
+Note: [[Mister Ed]], previously syndicated, aired on CBS 6:30-7 PM.
 == Monday ==
@@ Line 66: / Line 68: @@
 | [[Expedition!]]
 | colspan="2" | [[Cheyenne (1955 TV series)|Cheyenne]]
-| [[The Rifleman]]
+| bgcolor="magenta" | [[The Rifleman]]
 | colspan="2" | [[Surfside 6]]
-| colspan="2" | '''[[Ben Casey]]'''
+| bgcolor="cyan" colspan="2" | '''[[Ben Casey]]'''
 |-
 ! [[CBS]]
@@ Line 75: / Line 77: @@
 | [[Pete and Gladys]]
 | '''[[Window on Main Street]]'''
-| [[The Danny Thomas Show]]
+| bgcolor="yellow" | [[The Danny Thomas Show]]
-| [[The Andy Griffith Show]]
+| bgcolor="yellow" | [[The Andy Griffith Show]]
 | [[Hennesey]]
 | [[I've Got a Secret]]
@@ Line 84: / Line 86: @@
 | Local
 | [[National Velvet (TV series)|National Velvet]]
-| [[The Price Is Right]]
+| bgcolor="magenta" | [[The Price Is Right]]
 | colspan="2" | '''[[87th Precinct (TV series)|87th Precinct]]'''
 | colspan="2" | [[Thriller (U.S. TV series)|Thriller]]
@@ Line 116: / Line 118: @@
 | [[Gunsmoke|Marshal Dillon]] (Gunsmoke repeats)
 | '''[[The Dick Van Dyke Show]]'''
-| [[The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis]]
+| bgcolor="magenta" | [[The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis]]
-| [[The Red Skelton Show]]
+| bgcolor="yellow" | [[The Red Skelton Show]]
 | '''[[Ichabod and Me]]'''
-| colspan="2" | [[The Garry Moore Show]]
+| bgcolor="cyan" colspan="2" | [[The Garry Moore Show]]
 |-
 ! [[NBC]]
@@ Line 160: / Line 162: @@
 | 7:00 Local / 7:15 [[The Huntley-Brinkley Report]]
 | bgcolor="gold" colspan="2" | [[Wagon Train]]
-| '''[[The Joey Bishop Show (sitcom)|The Joey Bishop Show]]'''
+| bgcolor="magenta" | '''[[The Joey Bishop Show (sitcom)|The Joey Bishop Show]]'''
-| colspan="2" | [[Kraft Music Hall (TV series)|Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall]]
+| bgcolor="magenta" colspan="2" | [[Kraft Music Hall (TV series)|Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall]]
 | '''[[The Bob Newhart Show]]'''
 | '''[[NBC News|David Brinkley’s Journal]]'''
@@ Line 184: / Line 186: @@
 | Local
 | [[The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet]]
-| [[The Donna Reed Show]]
+| bgcolor="magenta" | [[The Donna Reed Show]]
-| [[The Real McCoys]]
+| bgcolor="cyan" | [[The Real McCoys]]
-| [[My Three Sons]]
+| bgcolor="cyan" | [[My Three Sons]]
 | '''[[Margie (TV series)|Margie]]''' /starting April 19 [[The Law and Mr. Jones]]
 | colspan="2" | [[The Untouchables (1959 TV series)|The Untouchables]]
@@ Line 200: / Line 202: @@
 | 7:00 Local / 7:15 [[The Huntley-Brinkley Report]]
 | colspan="2" | [[Outlaws (1960 TV series)|Outlaws]]
-| colspan="2" | '''[[Dr. Kildare]]'''
+| bgcolor="yellow" colspan="2" | '''[[Dr. Kildare]]'''
-| '''[[Hazel (TV series)|Hazel]]'''
+| bgcolor="lime" | '''[[Hazel (TV series)|Hazel]]'''
-| colspan="2" | [[Sing Along with Mitch]]
+| bgcolor="cyan" colspan="2" | [[Sing Along with Mitch]]
 |}
@@ Line 222: / Line 224: @@
 | '''[[Straightaway]]'''
 | '''[[The Hathaways]]'''
-| [[The Flintstones]]
+| bgcolor="magenta" | [[The Flintstones]]
 | colspan="2" | [[77 Sunset Strip]]
 | colspan="2" | '''[[Target: The Corruptors!]]'''
@@ Line 228: / Line 230: @@
 ! [[CBS]]
 | 7:00 Local / 7:15 [[CBS Evening News|Douglas Edwards with the News]]
-| colspan="2" | [[Rawhide (TV series)|Rawhide]]
+| bgcolor="cyan" colspan="2" | [[Rawhide (TV series)|Rawhide]]
 | colspan="2" | [[Route 66 (TV series)|Route 66]]
 | '''[[Father of the Bride]]'''
@@ Line 266: / Line 268: @@
 ! [[CBS]]
 | Local
-| colspan="2" | [[Perry Mason (TV series)|Perry Mason]]
+| bgcolor="lime" colspan="2" | [[Perry Mason (TV series)|Perry Mason]]
-| colspan="2" | '''[[The Defenders (TV series)|The Defenders]]'''
+| bgcolor="magenta" colspan="2" | '''[[The Defenders (TV series)|The Defenders]]'''
-| [[Have Gun — Will Travel]]
+| bgcolor="magenta" | [[Have Gun — Will Travel]]
 | bgcolor="goldenrod" colspan="2" | [[Gunsmoke]]
 |-
@@ Line 275: / Line 277: @@
 | colspan="2" | [[Tales of Wells Fargo]]
 | '''[[The Tall Men (TV series)|The Tall Men]]
-| colspan="4" | '''[[NBC Saturday Night at the Movies]]'''
+| colspan="4" | '''NBC Saturday Night at the Movies'''
 |}
 ''[[Room for One More (TV series)|Room for One More]]'' aired on ABC from January to July 1962, 8-8:30 p.m.