Retro: Network TV, Summer 1962

[bpatrick]

For those who want to compare the Mississippi
schedules Russell Wells posted against the networks.
For consistency's sake, I'm converting these to
Central Time. New shows are in CAPS. From
Castleman & Podrazik, "The TV Schedule Book."

MONDAY ABC 6:30 The Cheyenne Show
(Cheyenne, Bronco)
7:30 Law Of The Plainsman
(reruns)
8 PM Surfside 6
9 PM Ben Casey
10 PM ABC News Final
10:10 (Local)

CBS 6:30 To Tell The Truth
7 PM Pete And Gladys
7:30 Father Knows Best (reruns)
8 PM Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (reruns)
9 PM Hennesey
9:30 I've Got A Secret
10 PM (Local)

NBC 6:30 (Local)
7 PM National Velvet
7:30 Price Is Right
8 PM 87th Precinct
9 PM ACTUALITY SPECIALS (reruns)
10 PM (Local)
10:15 Tonight Show (the interim between
Paar and Carson, with weekly guest
hosts)
12 M (Local)

TUESDAY ABC 6:30 Bugs Bunny
7 PM Bachelor Father
7:30 The New Breed
8:30 Yours For A Song
9 PM Alcoa Premiere/Fred
Astaire Presenting
10 PM ABC News Final
10:10 (Local)

CBS 6:30 Marshal Dillon (Gunsmoke reruns)
7 PM Password
7:30 Dobie Gillis
8 PM Comedy Spot
8:30 Ichabod And Me
9 PM Talent Scouts
10 PM (Local)

NBC 6:30 Laramie
7:30 Alfred Hitchcock Presents
8 PM Dick Powell Show
9 PM Cain's Hundred
10 PM (Local)
10:15 Tonight Show
12 M (Local)

WEDNESDAY ABC 6:30 Howard K. Smith
7 PM Focus On America
7:30 Top Cat
8 PM Hawaiian Eye
9 PM Naked City
10 PM ABC News Final
10:10 (Local)

CBS 6:30 The Alvin Show
7 PM Window On Main Street
(Robert Young's one failure)
7:30 Checkmate
8:30 Dick Van Dyke Show
9 PM U.S. Steel Hour/
Armstrong Circle Theater
10 PM (Local)

NBC 6:30 Wagon Train
7:30 The Rebel (reruns)
8 PM Kraft Mystery Theater
9 PM Play Your Hunch
9:30 David Brinkley's Journal
10 PM (Local)
10:15 Tonight Show
12 M (Local)

THURSDAY ABC 6:30 Ozzie And Harriet
7 PM Donna Reed Show
7:30 Real McCoys
8 PM My Three Sons
8:30 The Law And Mr. Jones
9 PM The Untouchables
10 PM ABC News Final
10:10 (Local)

CBS 6:30 Accent On An American
Summer
7 PM Frontier Circus
8 PM Brenner (reruns)
8:30 Zane Grey Theater (reruns)
9 PM CBS Reports/CBS NEWS SPECIALS
10 PM (Local)

NBC 6:30 The Outlaws
7:30 Dr. Kildare
8:30 THE LIVELY ONES
9 PM Sing Along With Mitch
10 PM (Local)
10:15 Tonight Show
12 M (Local)

FRIDAY ABC 6:30 Margie (not My Little Margie)
7 PM The Hathaways
(Reruns of The Roaring Twenties replaced
these two shows in late summer.)

7:30 Flintstones
8 PM 77 Sunset Strip
9 PM Target: The Corruptors
10 PM ABC News Final
10:10 (Local)

CBS 6:30 Rawhide
7:30 Route 66
8:30 Father Of The Bride
9 PM Twilight Zone
9:30 Eyewitness
10 PM (Local)

NBC 6:30 International Showtime
7:30 Robert Taylor's Detectives
8:30 Purex Summer Specials (reruns)
9:30 Chet Huntley Reporting
10 PM (Local)
10:15 Tonight Show
12 M (Local)

SATURDAY ABC 11 AM Bugs Bunny Show
11:30 (Local)
6 PM Beany And Cecil
6:30 Calvin And The Colonel
7 PM Room For One More
7:30 Leave It To Beaver
8 PM Lawrence Welk
9 PM Fight Of The Week
9:45 SATURDAY SPORTS FINAL
(time approximate)
10 PM (Local)

CBS 8 AM Captain Kangaroo (reruns)
9 AM Alvin And The Chipmunks
9:30 Mighty Mouse
10 AM Magic Land Of Allakazam
10:30 Roy Rogers (reruns)
11 AM Sky King (reruns)
11:30 CBS News (Robert Trout)
12 N (Local)
1 PM Baseball Game Of The Week
4 PM (Local) (time approximate)
6:30 Perry Mason
7:30 The Defenders
8:30 Have Gun, Will Travel
9 PM Gunsmoke
10 PM (Local)

NBC 8:30 Pip The Piper
9 AM Shari Lewis Show
9:30 King Leonardo
10 AM Fury (reruns)
10:30 Make Room For Daddy (reruns)
11 AM Mr. Wizard
11:30 (Local)
1 PM NBC Major League Baseball
4 PM (Local) (time approximate)
5 PM Saturday Night Report
5:15 (Local)
6:30 Tales Of Wells Fargo
7:30 The Tall Man
8 PM NBC Saturday Night At The
Movies
10 PM (Local) (or whenever the movie ends)

SUNDAY ABC 2:30 Editor's Choice
3 PM Issues And Answers
3:30 (Local)
4 PM Wide World Of Sports
5:30 (Local, after the cancellation of
Maverick)
6:30 Follow The Sun
7:30 Hollywood Special (original name for
The ABC Sunday Night Movie)
9:30 Lawman
10 PM (Local)

CBS 9 AM Lamp Unto My Feet
9:30 Look Up And Live
10 AM Camera Three
10:30 (Local)
11:30 Washington Conversation
(short-lived replacement for
Face The Nation)
11:55 CBS News
12 N (Local)
1 PM Baseball Game Of The Week
4 PM (Local) (time approximate)
4:30 Amateur Hour
5 PM The Twentieth Century
5:30 Mr. Ed
6 PM Lassie
6:30 Dennis The Menace
7 PM Ed Sullivan
8 PM GE Theater
8:30 WHO IN THE WORLD
9 PM Candid Camera
9:30 What's My Line?
10 PM News
10:15 (Local)

NBC 12:30 Frontiers Of Faith
1 PM NBC Major League Baseball
4 PM (Local) (time approximate)
4:30 Patterns In Music
5 PM Meet The Press
5:30 This Is NBC News
6 PM Bullwinkle
6:30 Walt Disney's Wonderful
World Of Color
7:30 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE (summer
replacement for Car 54, Where
Are You?)
8 PM Bonanza
9 PM DuPont Show Of The Week
10 PM (Local)


MON-FRI ABC some stations follow Central Time, others
follow Eastern Time

11 AM/10 AM Tennessee Ernie Ford Show
11:30/10:30 Yours For A Song
12 N/11 AM Jane Wyman Presents (reruns)
12:30/11:30 Camouflage
12:55/11:55 News
1 PM/12 N (Local)
2 PM/1 PM Day In Court
2:30/1:30 Seven Keys
3 PM/2 PM Queen For A Day
3:30/2:30 Who Do You Trust?
4 PM/3 PM American Bandstand
4:50/3:50 American Newsstand
5 PM/4 PM (Local)
6 PM/5 PM ABC Evening Report (fed every
15 minutes until 6:30 Central,
remaining time is local)

CBS 8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM Calendar
9:30 I Love Lucy (reruns)
10 AM The Verdict Is Yours
10:30 The Brighter Day
10:55 News
11 AM Love Of Life
11:30 Search For Tomorrow
11:45 Guiding Light
12 N (Local)
12:30 As The World Turns
1 PM Password
1:30 Art Linkletter's House Party
2 PM Millionaire (reruns)
2:30 To Tell The Truth
2:55 News
3 PM Secret Storm
3:30 Edge Of Night
4 PM (Local)
5:45 or 6:15 CBS Evening News,
otherwise (Local)

NBC 7 AM Today
9 AM Say When!
9:30 Play Your Hunch
10 AM Price Is Right
10:30 Concentration
11 AM Your First Impression
11:30 Truth Or Consequences
11:55 News
12 N (Local)
1 PM Jan Murray Show
1:25 News
1:30 Loretta Young Theater (reruns)
2 PM Young Dr. Malone
2:30 Our Five Daughters
3 PM Make Room For Daddy (reruns)
3:30 Here's Hollywood
3:55 News
4 PM (Local)
5:45 or 6:15 Huntley-Brinkley Report
otherwise (Local)

 

[oldiesfan6479]

For consistency's sake, I'm converting these to Central Time.

Good thing you didn't try to convert them to Mountain Time.
It would have been a mess.

You'd probably have variances for each market. Would a given show
be that night's, or last week's? And what was network feed (live or
tape-delayed) vs. 16mm film?

 

[bpatrick]

I remember (and note, I lived in the Eastern time zone
in 1962, as I do today) delayed live or taped shows being
on film; we got "Ted Mack's Amateur Hour" in Raleigh on
at least a week's delay...on film. I remember that fall,
"Pantomime Quiz" was revived on CBS as "Stump The Stars."
WFMY Greensboro carried it in pattern on Monday nights
at 10:30, on tape. WRAL Raleigh (an ABC affiliate with a
hole to fill on Friday nights at 10:30, taking a show WTVD
didn't want) carried it on film on a week's delay. "To Tell
The Truth" and "I've Got A Secret" are two more which aired
in Raleigh on delay and on film.

I seem to recall Lawrence Welk being seen on film on every
station that didn't carry him in pattern on Saturday nights.
Occasionally, PBS shows episodes from the late '50s or early
'60s, and they are on film; anything after 1965 is on tape.

 

[TexasTuner]

Any indication of what shows were in color? I know NBC was getting into it pretty heavy in the early 1960's (going to full color around 1965) but I wondered how much ABC and CBS did, if any?

Texas Tuner

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

I always enjoyed "The Lively Ones" with Vic Damone on NBC-TV on Thursday nights both that 1962 Summer and also the following summer. The program took a somewhat different look at the musical performances. Rather than just having Peter Nero playing a selection on the piano, they showed him doing it with a moving radar dish in the background. It's also easy to remember the sponsor of the show was the Ford Motor Co. The song "The Lively Ones" sung by Damone used different words in its advertisements to urge people to buy a Ford.

 

[bpatrick]

On NBC: "Play Your Hunch," "The Price Is Right,"
"Your First Impression," "The Jan Murray Show,"
"Tales Of Wells Fargo," some movies, "Meet The
Press," "The Bullwinkle Show," "Walt Disney's
Wonderful World Of Color," "Bonanza," "The DuPont
Show Of The Week," "Laramie," "David Brinkley's
Journal," "Sing Along With Mitch," "The Tonight Show."

On ABC: "The Flintstones" in selected markets; "The
Jetsons" would be the first color series carried on the
full network starting that fall.

No color shows on CBS. They would be 50% color
by the 1965-66 season; ABC would be 40%.

 

[bpatrick]

"The Lively Ones" was also known for its
unique settings for its guests; for example,
Benny Goodman and his combo performed
on the steps of the Capitol in Washington, DC.
The show was a critical hit and must have done
pretty well in the ratings to be aired two summers
in a row.

BTW, Ford "owned" Thursday 9:30-10 on NBC
for years; it sponsored the show "The Lively Ones"
replaced in the summers of '62 and '63--"Hazel"--
and, before that, the "Ford Theater" in the '50s
and "The Ford Show Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford"
(1956-61). Likewise, Chevrolet "owned" the preceding
half-hour on ABC, sponsoring "The Pat Boone Chevy
Showroom" in the late '50s, then "My Three Sons" and
"Bewitched" (the last alternating with Quaker Oats).

 

[wbhist]

Any indication of what shows were in color? I know NBC was getting into it pretty heavy in the early 1960's (going to full color around 1965) but I wondered how much ABC and CBS did, if any?

ABC did zilch color until the fall of 1962 with the premiere of The Jetsons, and only then all color programming they had (i.e. very, very little) was on film. CBS still harbored bitterness over the failure of its color system and only did color on very special occasions (i.e. The Wizard of Oz). The only thing that brought CBS around to color, in 1965, was the introduction of Norelco's three-Plumbicon PC-60 camera* and Ampex's high-band color VR-2000 quad VTR.

* Chuck Pharis' website said that the distinguishing characteristic of the PC-60 vs. the subsequent PC-70 was that "the PC-60 has round applied handles on the camera body [whereas t]he PC-70 has square built in handles on the camera body." Actually, the first PC-70's, from within the first months of its introduction in early 1966, had the same "round applied handles on the camera body" as opposed to the "square built-in handles on the camera body" that turned up after late 1966. But another distinguishing characteristic of the PC-60 was a stainless(?) steel metal belt in the middle of the camera body, with small Philips and Norelco logos printed on. PC-70's, by contrast, had a dark belt in the middle the camera body and a large "Norelco" logo plate (not unlike the "(RCA)" and "Television" plates of many a B&W I/O TK-10/11/30/31/60 camera). This can be a might confusing to many. CBS bought the bulk of their PC-70's in early 1966, this is why you see many pictures of what may appear at first glance to be PC-60's because of those "round applied handles," but with the dark belt and large "Norelco" logo plates, from the late 1960's into the 1970's.

 

[Stanislav]

According to Ed Reitan's excellent website, colorcasts were so infrequent at CBS in the 50's and early 60's that much equipment maintenance and alignment/adjustment had to be done when a rare color broadcast was scheduled, as none of the color equipment was even regularly powered up.