1955–56 United States network television schedule

The 1955–56 network television schedule for the four major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1955 through March 1956. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1954–55 season.

The $64,000 Question had debuted on CBS during summer 1955 and became the #1 program on U.S. television. The three networks "rushed to copy this latest hit format, quickly filling prime time with similar contests".[1] (It would not be until fall 1958 that it would be confirmed that several of these new quiz shows were rigged.)[1]

For years, ABC had "struggled to cobble together a TV schedule",[2] but following the network's major success with Disney-produced series Disneyland in 1954, other Hollywood film companies began embracing television. MGM assembled clips for MGM Parade on ABC; ABC also hired Warner Bros. for a Tuesday night program called Warner Brothers Presents. The hour-long umbrella series featured TV adaptations of three Warner Brothers movies: Cheyenne, Casablanca, and Kings Row. Of the three new series, only Cheyenne was a hit with viewers, and ABC began contracting with other Hollywood studios for Westerns.[1] Immediately following Warner Brothers Presents, ABC scheduled The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. This Western was also produced in conjunction with a Hollywood studio: Desilu Productions.

CBS had its own Western hit with Gunsmoke, which also debuted in fall 1955. Over the next few years, "the rush to Westerns had become a virtual stampede so that, by the fall of 1959, viewers had their choice from a staggering twenty-eight different Western-based prime time series."[1] Around 1955, live drama anthologies, the staple of early television programming, were being phased out by the networks in favor of filmed fare: Westerns, police dramas, quiz shows, and adventure series.[1]

The struggling DuMont Television Network offered little during the 1955–56 television season. DuMont's final program line-up consisted of What's the Story on Wednesday nights at 9:30 and Boxing From St. Nicholas Arena on Monday nights at 9:00.[1] By September 23, What's the Story was off the air.[3] DuMont honored its few remaining network commitments until August 6, 1956, when it ceased operations as a major television network.[4] DuMont hoped to go into independent television production; the company's studio facilities and Electronicam system were used to produce CBS's The Honeymooners during the 1955–56 season. DuMont's loss was ABC's gain, as some of DuMont's most popular programs, including Life Is Worth Living, Chance of a Lifetime, Life Begins at Eighty, and Down You Go, found their way onto ABC's 1955–56 prime time schedule.

The crumbling and eventual death of the old DuMont Network meant the 1955–56 television season would be the first year in which the three major remaining U.S. television networks would be the only full-time commercial participants in prime time, a situation that was to remain for the next 31 years, until Fox entered prime time on Sunday, April 5, 1987.

This was the first season that CBS and NBC aired some of their prime-time programs in color.

New series are highlighted in bold.

All times are U.S. Eastern and Pacific time (except for some live sports or events). Subtract one hour for Central and Mountain times.

Each of the 30 highest-rated shows is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research.[5]