1962–63 United States network television schedule
The following is the 1962–63 network television schedule for the three major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1962 through August 1963. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1961–62 season.
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Summary
Television historians Harry Castleman and Walter Podrazik (1982) state, "Despite all the promises of programming reform made by television executives in May, 1961" (the month of Newton Minow's landmark speech "Television and the Public Interest"), "the 1962–63 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".[1] CBS aired CBS Reports and Eyewitness, NBC broadcast Chet Huntley Reporting, David Brinkley's Journal and Actuality Specials, while ABC had Bell and Howell Close-up and the Howard K. Smith show.[1] Despite Minow's complaints that the sitcoms of the era were "totally unrealistic" and his disdain for cartoons, the new sitcoms of 1962 were even more hostile to Minow's stated taste and were frequently "stretching further than ever for their situations"; increasingly fantastical premises such as hillbillies in the city (The Beverly Hillbillies) and cartoons set a century into the future (The Jetsons, ABC's first regularly-scheduled TV series to air in color) were among the new offerings.[2]
This was the first season that ABC aired some of their prime-time programs in color.
Schedule
New fall series are highlighted in bold. All times are Eastern and Pacific.
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 | Fall | Father Knows Best (repeats) | The Jetsons (In COLOR) | Hollywood Special (Sporadically in COLOR) | The Voice of Firestone | Howard K. Smith: News and Comment | |||
| Winter | Local | ||||||||
| CBS | Lassie (19/23.3) (Tied with The Garry Moore Show and To Tell the Truth) |
Dennis the Menace | The Ed Sullivan Show (14/25.3) | The McCoys | GE True* | Candid Camera (2/31.1) (Tied with The Red Skelton Show) |
What's My Line? (13/25.5) | ||
| NBC | Ensign O'Toole | Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (24/22.3) (In COLOR) | Car 54, Where Are You? | Bonanza (4/29.8) (Tied with The Lucy Show) (In COLOR) |
The Du Pont Show of the Week | ||||
* formerly known as General Electric Theater * McKeever and the Colonel aired Sundays at 6:30-7 on NBC. * The Bullwinkle Show aired Sundays at 5:30-6 on NBC. * Password aired Sundays at 6:30-7 on CBS.
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 | Fall | Local | Cheyenne | The Rifleman | Stoney Burke | Ben Casey (7/28.7) (Tied with The Danny Thomas Show) | |||
| Winter | The Dakotas | ||||||||
| CBS | 7:00 Local / 7:15 Walter Cronkite with the News* | To Tell the Truth (19/23.3) (Tied with The Garry Moore Show and Lassie) |
I've Got a Secret (16/24.9) | The Lucy Show (4/29.8) (Tied with Bonanza) |
The Danny Thomas Show (7/28.7) (Tied with Ben Casey) |
The Andy Griffith Show (6/29.7) | The New Loretta Young Show | Stump the Stars | |
| NBC | Fall | 7:00 Local / 7:15 The Huntley–Brinkley Report* | It's a Man's World (Sporadically in COLOR) | Saints and Sinners | The Price is Right (In COLOR) | David Brinkley's Journal (Sporadically in COLOR) | Local | ||
| Winter | NBC Monday Night at the Movies (most in COLOR) | The Art Linkletter Show | |||||||
* 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
| 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 | Local | Combat! | Hawaiian Eye | The Untouchables | Bell and Howell Closeup | ||||
| CBS | Fall | 7:00 Local / 7:15 Walter Cronkite with the News | Marshal Dillon | The Lloyd Bridges Show | The Red Skelton Show (2/31.1) (Tied with Candid Camera) |
The Jack Benny Show (11/26.2) (Tied with Dr. Kildare) |
The Garry Moore Show (19/23.3) (Tied with To Tell the Truth and Lassie) | ||
| Summer | The Keefe Brasselle Show | ||||||||
| NBC | 7:00 Local / 7:15 The Huntley–Brinkley Report | Laramie (In COLOR) | Empire (In COLOR) | The Dick Powell Show | Chet Huntley Reporting | ||||
Note: The CBS series Marshal Dillon consisted of reruns of episodes of Gunsmoke.
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 | Local | Wagon Train (25/22.0) | 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 (1/36.0) | The Dick Van Dyke Show (9/27.1) | Armstrong Circle Theatre/ The United States Steel Hour | ||
| NBC | 7:00 Local / 7:15 The Huntley–Brinkley Report | The Virginian (26/21.7) (In COLOR) | Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall (In COLOR) | The Eleventh Hour | ||||
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 | Local | The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet | The Donna Reed Show | Leave It to Beaver | My Three Sons (28/21.0) | McHale's Navy | Alcoa Premiere | ||
| CBS | Fall | 7:00 Local / 7:15 Walter Cronkite with the News | Mister Ed | Perry Mason (23/22.4) | The Nurses | The Alfred Hitchcock Hour | |||
| Winter | Twilight Zone | The Nurses | |||||||
| NBC | 7:00 Local / 7:15 The Huntley–Brinkley Report | Wide Country | Dr. Kildare (11/26.2) (Tied with The Jack Benny Show) |
Hazel (15/25.1) (In COLOR) | The Andy Williams Show (In COLOR) | ||||
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 | Local | The Gallant Men | The Flintstones (30/20.5) (In COLOR) | I'm Dickens, He's Fenster | 77 Sunset Strip | Local | ||
| January | The Valiant Years | Father Knows Best (repeats) | |||||||
| Spring | Cheyenne | ||||||||
| CBS | Fall | 7:00 Local / 7:15 Walter Cronkite with the News | Rawhide (22/22.8) | Route 66 (27/21.3) | Fair Exchange | Eyewitness | |||
| Winter | The Alfred Hitchcock Hour | ||||||||
| NBC | Fall | 7:00 Local / 7:15 The Huntley–Brinkley Report | International Showtime | Sing Along with Mitch (In COLOR) | Don't Call Me Charlie! | The Jack Paar Program (In COLOR) | |||
| Winter | The Price Is Right (In COLOR) | ||||||||
| Summer | The Lively Ones | ||||||||
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 | Fall | Beany and Cecil* (In COLOR) | 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 | |||
| Winter | The Gallant Men | ||||||||
| Spring | Hootenanny | ||||||||
| CBS | Fall | Local | The Jackie Gleason Show (17/24.1) | The Defenders (18/23.9) | Have Gun – Will Travel (29/20.8) | Gunsmoke (10/27.0) | |||
| Summer | The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (repeats) | ||||||||
| NBC | Local | Sam Benedict | The Joey Bishop Show (In COLOR) | NBC Saturday Night at the Movies (In COLOR) | |||||
- Formerly known as Matty's Funnies with Beany and Cecil.
By network
ABC
CBS
NBC
Note: The * indicates that the program was introduced in midseason.
References
- Castleman, Harry; Walter J. Podrazik (1982). Watching TV: Four Decades of American Television. New York: McGraw-Hill. pp. 147–153. ISBN 0-07-010269-4.
- "Television: The Coming Season". Time. July 27, 1962. Archived from the original on February 19, 2011. Retrieved 2010-11-21.
The producers of The Flintstones have a new family called The Jetsons, who live in outer space.
- 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.
- 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.