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Retro: Fall 1959, 50 years ago

My annual look at what the networks were running
50 years ago. From Castleman and Podrazik, "The
TV Schedule Book." New shows in CAPS.

MON ABC 7:30 Shirley Temple's Storybook (reruns)/
Cheyenne
8:30 BOURBON STREET BEAT (will shift
locale from New Orleans to Miami
the following year and become
Surfside 6)
9:30 ADVENTURES IN PARADISE
10:30 Man With A Camera (Charles Bronson's
only series)
11 PM (Local)

CBS 7:30 Masquerade Party (thrown into the breach
after CBS canceled "Name That Tune" as
part of its purging of all shows giving away
more than $1000)
8 PM The Texan
8:30 Father Knows Best (last season of new shows,
but will air in primetime reruns until 1963)
9 PM Danny Thomas Show
9:30 Ann Sothern Show (she's Katy O'Connor,
assistant manager of the Bartley House Hotel)
10 PM HENNESEY (a winner for Jackie Cooper)
10:30 DUPONT SHOW WITH JUNE ALLYSON
11 PM (Local)

NBC 7:30 Richard Diamond, Private Detective
8 PM LOVE AND MARRIAGE (William Demarest, pre-
"My Three Sons," played in this sitcom)
8:30 Tales Of Wells Fargo
9 PM Peter Gunn
9:30 Alcoa/Goodyear Theater
10 PM Steve Allen Plymouth Show
11 PM (Local)
11:15 Jack Paar Show (Tonight Show)
1 AM (Local)

TUE ABC 7:30 Sugarfoot/Bronco
8:30 Wyatt Earp
9 PM The Rifleman
9:30 PHILIP MARLOWE (Phil Carey, better
known as Asa Buchanan on "One Life
To Live," plays the famous detective)
10 PM Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond
10:30 Keep Talking (Merv Griffin and Monty Hall
emceed this game show at different times)
11 PM (Local)

CBS 7:30 (Local)
8 PM DENNIS O'KEEFE SHOW
8:30 DOBIE GILLIS (Bob Denver as Maynard G.
Krebs was saying "You rang?" five years
before Ted Cassidy)
9 PM TIGHTROPE (Mike Connors, pre-"Mannix,"
and just as tough)
9:30 Red Skelton Show
10 PM Garry Moore Show
11 PM (Local)

NBC 7:30 LARAMIE
8:30 FIBBER McGEE AND MOLLY (abysmal reworking
of the classic radio show)
9 PM Arthur Murray Party ("put a little fun in your life...
try dancing")
9:30 FORD STAR TIME
10:30 (Local)
11:15 Jack Paar Show
1 AM (Local)

WED ABC 7:30 Court Of Last Resort
8 PM CHARLEY WEAVER'S HOBBY LOBBY (he was
a do-it-yourself enthusiast and should have
been at home hosting this version of a radio
favorite, but no such luck)
8:30 Ozzie And Harriet
9 PM HAWAIIAN EYE
10 PM Wednesday Night Fights
11 PM (Local)

CBS 7:30 The Lineup (failed attempt to expand to an hour)
8:30 MEN INTO SPACE (more docudrama than sci-fi,
but was popular in reruns in the early days of
the space program)
9 PM The Millionaire (John Beresford Tipton must have
been running out of money because this is the
last season of new episodes)
9:30 I've Got A Secret
10 PM U.S. Steel Hour/Armstrong Circle Theater
11 PM (Local)

NBC 7:30 Wagon Train
8:30 The Price Is Right (Bill Cullen)
9 PM Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall
10 PM This Is Your Life
10:30 WICHITA TOWN (movie Western legend Joel McCrea
and his son Jody starred in this Western)
11 PM (Local)
11:15 Jack Paar Show
1 AM (Local)

THU ABC 7:30 Gale Storm Show (taken from CBS)
8 PM Donna Reed Show
8:30 The Real McCoys
9 PM Pat Boone Chevy Showroom
9:30 THE UNTOUCHABLES
10:30 TAKE A GOOD LOOK (Ernie Kovacs' self-proclaimed
"satire of a game show")
11 PM (Local)

CBS 7:30 To Tell The Truth
8 PM BETTY HUTTON SHOW
8:30 JOHNNY RINGO
9 PM Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater (he and June
Allyson, married to each other, appeared on
the same network)
9:30 Playhouse 90/THE BIG PARTY (the latter had
celebrities "hosting a party" where other
stars did their respective things--a mishmash)
11 PM (Local)

NBC 7:30 LAW OF THE PLAINSMAN
8 PM Bat Masterson
8:30 JOHNNY STACCATO (John Cassavetes' only series)
9 PM Bachelor Father (after alternating with Jack Benny
for two years on CBS, it becomes a weekly series,
and will migrate to ABC in 1961)
9:30 The Ford Show Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford
10 PM You Bet Your Life
10:30 Lawless Years (similar to "The Untouchables" in that
both are set in Prohibition times--it stars James Gregory,
Inspector Luger on "Barney Miller")
11 PM (Local)
11:15 Jack Paar Show
1 AM (Local)

FRI ABC 7:30 Walt Disney Presents (who could have guessed
that Disney would eventually own ABC?)
8:30 MAN FROM BLACKHAWK (Robert Rockwell, post-
"Our Miss Brooks," gets a more macho role as an
insurance investigator in the Old West)
9 PM 77 Sunset Strip
10 PM ROBERT TAYLOR IN THE DETECTIVES
10:30 Black Saddle
11 PM (Local)

CBS 7:30 Rawhide
8:30 HOTEL DEPAREE (Earl Holliman, pre-"Police Woman,"
is Sundance--not Butch Cassidy's pal--who blinds his
adversaries with silver coins in his hatband that reflect
the sun. Wonder what happens when it rains?)
9 PM Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse/
Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz Show (Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour)
10 PM TWILIGHT ZONE (and you thought there was nothing
good on Friday nights)
10:30 Person To Person
11 PM (Local)

NBC 7:30 People Are Funny
8 PM THE TROUBLESHOOTERS (watch for Olympic decathlon
star Bob Mathias in his only series)
8:30 Bell Telephone Hour/NBC SPECIALS
9:30 M Squad
10 PM Gillette Cavalcade Of Sports (boxing)
10:45 Jackpot Bowling (Milton Berle becomes host the
following year)
11 PM (Local)
11:15 Jack Paar Show
1 AM (Local)

MON-FRI
ABC 12 N Restless Gun (reruns)
12:30 Love That Bob (Bob Cummings reruns)
1 PM Music Bingo ("Jeopardy!" announcer Johnny
Gilbert hosts this game show)
1:30 (Local--no way ABC goes against "ATWT")
2 PM Day In Court
2:30 Gale Storm Show (reruns)
3 PM Beat The Clock
3:30 Who Do You Trust?
4 PM American Bandstand
5:30 Rin Tin Tin (Mon, Wed)
My Friend Flicka (Tue, Fri)
ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS (Thu)
6 PM (Local)
6:45 John Daly And The News (may be seen at 7:15)
7 PM (Local)

CBS 8 AM CBS News (Richard Hottelet)
8:15 Captain Kangaroo
9 AM (Local)
10 AM On The Go (Art Linkletter's son Jack broadcasts
from locations all over California and Nevada)
10:30 December Bride (reruns)
11 AM I Love Lucy (reruns)
11:30 Top Dollar
NOTE: Top Dollar is canceled in October, and CBS's
morning lineup becomes:
10 AM RED ROWE SHOW (CBS thought this personality from
its LA station would be the new Arthur Godfrey--
didn't happen)
10:30 On The Go
11 AM I Love Lucy
11:30 December Bride

12 N Love Of Life
12:30 Search For Tomorrow
12:45 Guiding Light
1 PM CBS News
1:05 (Local)
1:30 As The World Turns
2 PM For Better Or Worse
2:30 Art Linkletter's House Party
3 PM Big Payoff (reruns of "The Millionaire"
take over the slot in October)
3:30 The Verdict Is Yours
4 PM Brighter Day
4:15 Secret Storm
4:30 Edge Of Night (should be EDDDDGGGE Of Night)
5 PM (Local)
6:45 Douglas Edwards With The News (may be seen at
7:15)
7 PM (Local)

NBC 6 AM Continental Classroom
7 AM Today (Dave Garroway)
9 AM (Local)
10 AM Dough Re Mi (Gene Rayburn, pre-"Match Game," hosts)
10:30 Treasure Hunt (pre-Barris, with Jan Murray)
11 AM The Price Is Right
11:30 Concentration
12 N Tic Tac Dough (Letterman's original announcer, Bill
Wendell, has replaced scandal-scarred Jack Barry)
12:30 It Could Be You
1 PM (Local--NBC isn't going against "ATWT" either)
2 PM Queen For A Day
2:30 The Thin Man (reruns)
3 PM Young Dr. Malone
3:30 From These Roots
4 PM THE HOUSE ON HIGH STREET
4:30 SPLIT PERSONALITY (Tom Poston as a game-show
host? Sounds implausible, but that's what happens
here.)
5 PM (Local)
6:45 Huntley-Brinkley Report (may be seen at 7:15)
7 PM (Local)

SAT ABC 12 N LUNCH WITH SOUPY SALES
12:30 (Local)
5 PM All Star Golf
6 PM (Local)
7:30 Dick Clark Beechnut Show
8 PM JOHN GUNTHER'S HIGH ROAD (a throwback to
TV's earliest days--a travelogue--pre-empted
on many stations)
8:30 Leave It To Beaver (moving into perhaps its
best-remembered timeslot, where it stays
until 1962)
9 PM Lawrence Welk's Dodge Dancing Party
(Geritol will become sponsor the next year)
10 PM Jubilee U.S.A.
11 PM (Local)

CBS 8 AM Captain Kangaroo (reruns)
9 AM (Local)
10 AM Heckle And Jeckle
10:30 Mighty Mouse Playhouse
11 AM I Love Lucy (reruns)
11:30 The Lone Ranger (reruns)
12 N Sky King (reruns)
12:30 CBS News (Robert Trout)
1 PM (Local)
7:30 Perry Mason
8:30 Wanted: Dead Or Alive
9 PM MR. LUCKY (a good show that meets a
premature end--sponsors don't like the
fact that Lucky runs a casino, even though
he keeps the games honest--watch for
Ross Martin as Lucky's friend Andamo)
9:30 Have Gun, Will Travel
10 PM Gunsmoke
10:30 Markham (a good vehicle for Ray Milland
as a private eye)
11 PM (Local)

NBC 10 AM Howdy Doody
10:30 Ruff And Reddy
11 AM Fury
11:30 Circus Boy (reruns)
12 N True Story
12:30 Detective's Diary (Saber of London reruns)
1 PM Watch Mr. Wizard
1:30 (Local)
1:45 FOOTBALL TIME
2 PM NCAA Football
4:45 Kemper Scoreboard (time approximate)
5 PM NBA Basketball (in season)
7 PM (Local--time approximate)
7:30 BONANZA (gets slaughtered by Perry Mason,
moves to Sundays in 1961, and gets sweet
revenge by slaughtering Mason in 1966)
8:30 THE MAN AND THE CHALLENGE
9 PM THE DEPUTY (one of Henry Fonda's two failures--
the other is "The Smith Family" in the early '70s)
9:30 FIVE FINGERS (spy show with pre-"Voyage To The
Bottom Of The Sea" David Hedison)
10:30 It Could Be You
11 PM (Local)

SUN ABC 12 N Johns Hopkins File 7
12:30 Bishop James A. Pike
1 PM College News Conference
1:30 (Local)
3 PM Open Hearing
3:30 CHAMPIONSHIP BRIDGE (Charles Goren)
4 PM Paul Winchell Show
4:30 Broken Arrow (reruns)
5 PM MATTY'S FUNDAY FUNNIES
5:30 The Lone Ranger (apparently these are new)
6 PM (Local)
7 PM Colt .45
7:30 Maverick (James Garner's last season, before
he leaves in a contract dispute)
8:30 Lawman
9 PM THE REBEL (Johnny Yuma...was the rebel)
9:30 THE ALASKANS (sorry, Sarah Palin wasn't
born yet)
10:30 DICK CLARK'S WORLD OF TALENT (how many
shows did this guy do anyway?)
11 PM (Local)

CBS 10 AM Lamp Unto My Feet
10:30 Look Up And Live
11 AM The U.N. In Action
11:30 Camera Three
11:55 CBS News (Harry Reasoner)
12 N (Local)
12:30 Face The Nation
1 PM (Local)
1:45 Pro Football Kickoff
2 PM NFL Football
4:30 Leonard Bernstein And The New
York Philharmonic (time approximate)
5:30 GE College Bowl
6 PM Small World (Edward R. Murrow interviews
various world leaders)
6:30 The Twentieth Century (Walter Cronkite, R.I.P.)
7 PM Lassie
7:30 DENNIS THE MENACE
8 PM Ed Sullivan Show
9 PM General Electric Theater
9:30 Alfred Hitchcock Presents
10 PM Jack Benny/George Gobel
10:30 What's My Line?
11 PM CBS News
11:15 (Local)

NBC 1:30 Frontiers Of Faith
2 PM NBA SPOTLIGHT
2:15 NBA Basketball (in season)
4:15 Ask Washington (time approximate)
4:30 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP GOLF
5:30 Time Present: Chet Huntley Reporting
6 PM Meet The Press
6:30 Saber Of London
7 PM RIVERBOAT (IIRC, this was Burt Reynolds'
first series)
8 PM SUNDAY SHOWCASE
9 PM Dinah Shore Chevy Show ("see the USA in
your Chevrolet")
10 PM Loretta Young Show
10:30 (Local)
 
Howdy Doody moved to Saturday only from 1956-60..I don't believe Sea Hunt was ever on a network, though it is likely some stations aired Sea Hunt locally in place of network fare...
 
Right on both counts. Howdy Doody received a
drubbing at the hands of Mickey Mouse and moved
to Saturdays in June 1956, staying there until September
1960; the last episode is a classic in itself: the only time
Clarabelle ever spoke on camera, to say, "Goodbye, kids."

The person who thought Sea Hunt was on Sundays either
lived where it came on then or saw it on another posting.
It was a syndicated show.
 
radioman148 said:
Still, shouldn't it have been on one of those days during the week?

Sea Hunt was not broadcast by ABC, CBS or NBC, hence it's not on any of
the three schedules.

The program was syndicated to individual stations so each station decided
when to air it, based on timeslots each needed to fill--before or after prime,
a prime time half-hour when the net was "dark" (e.g.: 7:30-8pm ET Tuesday
on a CBS affiliate), or if they did not clear a particular network show.
 
Question: If Rocky and His Friends didn't debut until November of that year, what exactly was the checkerboard schedule for the 5:30 slot before then?
 
You're right; my bad. I don't have any schedules
from October 1959 but I do know that the "Mickey
Mouse Club" ended in late September. The Thursday
slot may have been open for a few weeks. I'll defer
to someone else.
 
bpatrick said:
You're right; my bad. I don't have any schedules
from October 1959 but I do know that the "Mickey
Mouse Club" ended in late September. The Thursday
slot may have been open for a few weeks. I'll defer
to someone else.

Tim Lones may be able to tell us since he has Cleveland schedules
going back to the '40s. If he knows what was on WEWS and/or
WAKR he may be able to answer your question.
 
bpatrick said:
Right on both counts. Howdy Doody received a drubbing at the hands of Mickey Mouse and moved to Saturdays in June 1956, staying there until September 1960; the last episode is a classic in itself: the only time Clarabelle ever spoke on camera, to say, "Goodbye, kids."

In New York City, it was the end of the weekday afternoon Howdy Doody, combined with the recent opening of the Hollywood studios' respective film libraries to television, that catapulted WRCA-TV (now WNBC) into the movie showcase business, with what started on June 4, 1956 as Evening Theatre and then became Movie 4 on Feb. 3, 1957 (this date verified by an ad in that day's New York Times), running until April 26, 1974. (Sidebar: The original host of this movie show was Johnny Andrews, who later, in the fall of 1965, was given a weather segment on WCBS-TV, only one year after that station sacked longtime "weather girl" Carol Reed.)
 
oldiesfan6479 said:
radioman148 said:
Still, shouldn't it have been on one of those days during the week?

Sea Hunt was not broadcast by ABC, CBS or NBC, hence it's not on any of
the three schedules.

The program was syndicated to individual stations so each station decided
when to air it, based on timeslots each needed to fill--before or after prime,
a prime time half-hour when the net was "dark" (e.g.: 7:30-8pm ET Tuesday
on a CBS affiliate), or if they did not clear a particular network show.

OK, thanks for the clarification. Being quite young at the time I remember Sea Hunt being on in Chicago on Sunday nights at 9:30PM CST on WNBQ Chicago's NBC owned.
 
Ok..Here's what I came up with...

Sept. 21-25 was the last week of the old schedule, according to the Cleveland TV Guide

WEWS-5. WICU-12 Erie amd WKST-45 New Castle, Pa. carried:

MWF-Mickey Mouse Club
TuTh-Adventure Time:

Here is the listing for Thursday, Sept. 24, 1959

5;30 5-12-45 Adventure Time

"Sexret Of Mystery Lake" Conclusion
-------------------------
Last Show Of The Series:For the Next Three Weeks Rin Tin Tin will be seen at this time Tuesday and "Rocky and His Friends" will be seen Thursdays. After that, Rocky and His Friends will be seen Tuesdays and Thursdays..

Friday September 25, 1959

5:30 5-12-45 Mickey Mouse Club
--------------------------
Last Show Of The Series. Beginning Next Week, "Rin Tin Tin" will be seen Mondays and Fridays and "My Friend Flicka" Wednesday..

For the weeks of Sept. 28, Oct. 5 and 12 the lineup was like this..

Mon-Tue-Fri Rin Tin Tin
Wed My Friend Flicka
Thurs-Rocky and His Friends


October 19 and after the lineup was

Mon and Fri. Rin Tin Tin
Tue and Thur Rocky and His Friends
Wed My Friend Flicka

Side Note:By The end of October (possibly before) WEWS-5 carried a daily hour of the Three Stooges from 5:30-6:30 expanding from a 6PM start earlier in the fall..Preempting the ABC shows..


Hope this helps make it somewhat clear..
 
Another note:

According to The TV Guide 1959-60 Fall Preview issue, "Rocky and His Friends" was scheduled to premiere Tuesday, Sept. 29, and air on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but as of the last week of 1959 "Rocky" was still seen only on Thursdays..
 
Tim L said:
Here is the listing for Thursday, Sept. 24, 1959

5;30 5-12-45 Adventure Time

"Sexret Of Mystery Lake" Conclusion
-------------------------
Last Show Of The Series:For the Next Three Weeks Rin Tin Tin will be seen at this time Tuesday and "Rocky and His Friends" will be seen Thursdays. After that, Rocky and His Friends will be seen Tuesdays and Thursdays..

Did you mean to say "Secret of Mystery Lake"?
 
Tim from Springfield said:
Tim L said:
Here is the listing for Thursday, Sept. 24, 1959

5;30 5-12-45 Adventure Time

"Secret Of Mystery Lake" Conclusion
-------------------------
Last Show Of The Series:For the Next Three Weeks Rin Tin Tin will be seen at this time Tuesday and "Rocky and His Friends" will be seen Thursdays. After that, Rocky and His Friends will be seen Tuesdays and Thursdays..

Did you mean to say "Secret of Mystery Lake"?
Yep..I really wish they let us edit for more than a few minutes..
 
First, thanks for clearing up the "Rocky And
His Friends" issue; Castleman and Podrazik
were probably using schedules from early
in the season, since they didn't take into
account the CBS daytime changes in mid-
October.

"Secret Of Mystery Lake" had a most unlikely
star: Groucho's announcer, George Fenneman,
as a naturalist working with a young girl around
a lake in Tennessee and solving a mystery of some
sort (I've never seen this serial). It was one of
the very few times Fenneman tried his hand at
acting.
 
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