1956 ABC, CBS, NBC FALL SCHEDULES (WED-SAT)

[gregg75]

Continuaton of Sun-Tue listing. (year end ranking)
WEDNESDAY
7:00
ABC Kukla, Frank & Ollie
CBS & NBC local
7:15
ABC John Daly And The News
CBS Douglas Edwards And The News
7:30
ABC Disneyland (#14) (Disney)
CBS Giant Step (Bert Parks game show???)
NBC Coke Time With Eddie Fisher (music,variety) I don't think this would be a title today!!!
7:45
NBC Huntley - Brinkley Report
8:00
CBS Arthur Godfrey And His Friends
NBC Adventures Of Hiram Holliday (comedy/adventure with Wally Cox)
8:30
ABC Navy Log (survival war stories)
NBC Father Knows Best
9:00
ABC Ozzie And Harriet
CBS The Millionaire (#13) (drama)
NBC Kraft Television Theatre
9:30
ABC Ford Theatre (drama)
CBS I've Got A Secret (#7)
10:00
ABC Wednesday Night Fights
CBS The United States Steel Hour (drama)
NBC This Is Your Life (Ralph Edwards)
10:30
NBC Twenty One (game show)

THURSDAY
7:00
ABC Kukla, Fran And Ollie
CBS & NBC local
7:15
ABC John Daly And The News
CBS Douglas Edwards And The News
8:00
ABC Circus Time (variety)
CBS Bob Cummings Show (sitcom)
NBC You Bet Your Life (#17) (Groucho Marx game show)
8:30
CBS Climax (#26) (mystery)
NBC Dragnet (#11)
9:00
ABC Wire Service (drama)
NBC The People's Choice (sitcom)
9:30
CBS Playhouse 90 (drama plays)
NBC Ford Show With Tennesse Ernie Ford (#19)
10:00
ABC Ozark Jubilee (first TV show to feature Country music)
NBC Lux Video Theatre (comedy/drama plays)

FRIDAY
7:00
ABC Kukla, Fran And Ollie
CBS & NBC local
7:15
ABC John Daly And The News
CBS Douglas Edwards And The News
7:30
ABC Adventures Of Rin Tin Tin
CBS My Friend Flicka
NBC Coke Time With Eddie Fishe
7:45
NBC Huntley - Brinklley Report
8:00
ABC Adventures Of Jim Bowie (western)
CBS West Point Story (drama)
NBC Life Of Riley (comedy, starring Jackie Gleason)
8:30
ABC Crossroads (???)
CBS Dick Powell's Zane Grey Thetare (western)
NBC Walter Winchell Show (radio show that didn't work on TV, cancelled after 6 episodes)
9:00
ABC Treasure Hunt (game show)
CBS Crusader (adventure/drama)
NBC Joseph Cotton Show (courtroom drama)
9:30
ABC The Vise (suspense)
CBS Schlitz Playhouse (comedy/drama plays)
NBC The Big Story (crime show)
10:00
ABC Ray Anthony Show (band music)
CBS The Lineup (#15) (police drama)
NBC Gilette Calvacade Of Sports (mostly boxing)
10:30
CBS Person To Person (Edward R. Murrow interviews)
10:45
NBC Red Barber's Corner (sports, I went to college with his grandaughter - University Florida)

SATURDAY
7:00
ABC & NBC local
CBS Beat The Clock
7:30
ABC Famous Film Festival (British movies)
CBS The Buccaneers (ship drama)
NBC People Are Funny (#21) (game show)
8:00
CBS Jackie Gleason Show (#29)
NBC Perry Como Show (#9)
9:00
ABC Lawrence Welk's Dodge Dancing Party (He's on twice a week!!! somebody get me some Geratol)
CBS Gale Storm Show (sitcom)
NBC Caesar's Hour (live sketch comedy show)
9:30
CBS Hey Jeannie (sitcom)
10:00
ABC Masquerade Party (game show, What's My Line rip-off ???)
CBS Gunsmoke (#7)
NBC George Gobel Show (homespun comedy)
10:30
ABC local
CBS High Finance (????)
NBC Your Hit Parade

********It appears westerns were just starting to appear. The sitcom was earning it's stripes for future dominance. Lots of drama plays were presented instead of all the drama shows we are used to today. Music was also a big part of this era as were game shows (even though we later learned
some weren't legit). I doubt anyone ever won $250,000 on Break The Bank (don't tell Regis).

 

[gregg75]

I've looked over this weekly schedule and determined that Wednesday night, seems to be my favorite.

I'd probably have gone GIANT STEP/cbs, HIRAM HOLLIDAY/nbc, FATHER KNOWS BEST/nbc, OZZIE & HARRIET/abc, I'VE GOT A SECRET/cbs, THIS IS YOUR LIFE/nbc and TWENTY ONE/nbc.

It looks like Sunday may have been the highest ratings night though (with the #2, 3, 6, 10, 22, 24 and 26 shows on that night). Sunday would have been my close second.

 

[bpatrick]

"Crossroads" was a drama anthology about the work of
various ministers; all the stories were true, and a different
minister was the subject each week. Surprisingly, the show
lasted two seasons and had a fairly decent clearance rate
for ABC at the time, especially in the South, where religious
programming tends to do best anyway.

And no, no one ever won $250,000 on "Break The $250,000
Bank"; most of the winners were in the $10-50,000 range.
Come to think of it, I don't think anyone has won a million on
Meredith's version of "Millionaire" since 2003.

 

[bpatrick]

A few other tidbits:

"Giant Step" was a big-money quiz show for kids ages
roughly 10-14, from the producers of "The $64,000 Question."
One contestant, math and science whiz Robert Strom, parlayed
his appearance on "Giant Step" into one on "Question" during a
period when, to compete with "Twenty-One," it added three more
$64,000 questions for a potential top prize of $256,000. Strom
stopped with $192,000; his parents felt the pressure was getting
to him.

Walter Winchell's show was not his news-and-gossip radio show,
but an Ed Sullivan-type variety show. Well, we all know who mastered
that format; Winchell tried again on ABC in 1960 with no better luck.

Lawrence Welk was, as noted, on two nights a week: his familiar
Saturday-night show and a talent show on Mondays. At the time,
ABC had visions of doing the same thing with Ted Mack, since he
had once been a bandleader; "Amateur Hour" would air one night a
week, and "The Ted Mack Show" (like Welk's Saturday hour) on another
night. One night in January 1957 ABC gave "The Ted Mack Show" a
special airing in "Amateur Hour"'s slot; the critics were universally kind,
saying it was better than Welk's show, but it happened to be the night
of Elvis' third appearance on Sullivan, the "shoot him from the waist up"
appearance, and hardly anyone was watching Mack. "The Ted Mack Show"
never came to fruition; by the summer of '57 he was back on NBC, where
he'd been last seen in a 1955 daytime show. Then from 1958 on, except
for six months on ABC in 1960, he'd be on CBS, mostly on Sunday afternoons.

 

[bpatrick]

"High Finance" was a game show created and hosted by Dennis James.
Contestants answered questions about current events; they were given
an initial stake and could "invest" (wager) any part of it unless and until
they went broke. The end game was similar to that of "Sale Of The Century":
winners could buy a prize or come back the next week and try to earn more
for something even bigger (if they came back and lost, they won no prizes).

You also have a question mark surrounding "Masquerade Party". The idea for
the show is actually rooted in an idea that was tossed around, then abandoned,
for the Mystery Guest segment of "What's My Line?"--to have the guest wear
a disguise. Celebrity guests on "Masquerade Party" appeared in costumes that
suggested a clue to their identities; each of the four panelists could ask up to
five questions (twenty questions, get it?), and the celebrity could win up to
$300 for his or her favorite charity. The show was noted for two particularly
quick identifications: Gloria Swanson, who came dressed as a Keystone Kop
(the clue: her career had started in a Keystone Kops picture); livid at the
ease with which she'd been unmasked, she unwittingly got the producers to
place a minimum of one minute on the game. The second was the Three Stooges,
who came on disguised as the Gabor sisters, but Moe, Larry, and Curly Joe were
hard to disguise.

"Masquerade Party" is remembered for its turnover of panel (nineteen during its
1952-60 network run) and emcees (six: Bud Collyer, Douglas Edwards--the same,
Peter Donald, Eddie Bracken, Robert Q. Lewis, and Bert Parks). Stefan Hatos and
Monty Hall bought the rights to the show for syndication in 1974; Richard Dawson
was host; Bill Bixby, Lee Meriwether, and Nipsey Russell were the panelists. A new
feature allowed two members of the studio audience to try to identify one of the
guests after the panelists finished questioning. That version lasted only one season,
and it wouldn't be long afterwards that Dawson would be hosting the show that will
always be identified with him: "Family Feud".