1963–64 United States network television schedule
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The following is the 1963–64 network television schedule for the three major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1963 through August 1964. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1962–63 season.
ABC began its new fall schedule a week early, beating CBS and NBC out of the starting gate. New series debuting this week included sci-fi anthology The Outer Limits, police/lawyer series Arrest and Trial, drama The Fugitive, and game show 100 Grand.[1] ABC also completely revamped its Friday night schedule, with two new series: detective show Burke's Law, sitcom The Farmer's Daughter, and returning boxing program The Fight of the Week. Fight would mark the end of boxing on network television. Weekly boxing telecasts had debuted on network TV in 1940 and had enjoyed a run on all networks at various times, but after September 11, 1964, weekly primetime boxing series would disappear entirely from network television.[1] ABC introduced two variety hours that fall with The Jimmy Dean Show and the short lived The Jerry Lewis Show.[2]: 697, 702
CBS's success with rural comedies The Andy Griffith Show and The Beverly Hillbillies had convinced the network that rural sitcoms would continue to be popular. As a result, CBS president James Aubrey added what some critics described as an "endless procession of country clones [of] the wildly successful Beverly Hillbillies" to the network's schedule. Petticoat Junction, from the same producers of Hillbillies, debuted on September 24.[1] CBS also brought two show business veterans to weekly variety television that year with The Judy Garland Show and The Danny Kaye Show.
Westerns continued to be popular on television, and all three networks scheduled several Western series. NBC, in particular, retained a number of Westerns on its fall 1963 schedule: two returning series The Virginian and Bonanza, and new series Temple Houston, and Redigo. NBC's Western-heavy schedule would pay off, as Bonanza again became the second highest-rated TV series in the Nielsen ratings that year; The Virginian reached #17. CBS's Gunsmoke reached #20.[2] However, some Westerns from the previous season were cancelled, some examples are Laramie and Empire, which due to low ratings.
On July 17, 1963, NBC removed The Robert Taylor Show from the lineup due to conflicts between the producers and the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
All times are Eastern and Pacific. New fall series are highlighted in bold.
Each of the 30 highest-rated shows is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research.[2]
Two landmark events occurred during this network TV season. The first was the JFK assassination, which took place on Friday, November 22, 1963. Many programs that were originally scheduled to air in prime time on that weekend had to be pushed back to the following weekend due to all three networks broadcasting news coverage that would last until November 26.[citation needed]
The second event was the live American debut of The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964. An estimated 73 million people tuned in to watch the Fab Four perform on the program, which made it one of the highest rated TV episodes in the history of prime-time television.[citation needed]
- Yellow indicates the top 10 programs for the season.
- Cyan indicates the top 20 programs for the season.
- Magenta indicates the top 30 programs for the season.
Sunday
[edit]| 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 Travels of Jaimie McPheeters | Arrest and Trial | 100 Grand | ABC News Reports | |||
| October | Laughs For Sale | ||||||||
| Winter | Local | ||||||||
| Spring | Empire (In COLOR) reruns | ||||||||
| CBS | Fall | Lassie (12/25.0) (Tied with I've Got a Secret and The Jack Benny Show) |
My Favorite Martian (10/26.3) | The Ed Sullivan Show (8/27.5) | The Judy Garland Show | Candid Camera (7/27.7) | What's My Line? (24/22.6) (Tied with To Tell the Truth) | ||
| Spring | The Celebrity Game | Made in America | |||||||
| Summer | Brenner | ||||||||
| NBC | The Bill Dana Show | Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (21/23.0) (In COLOR) | Grindl | Bonanza (2/36.9) (In COLOR) | The DuPont Show of the Week | ||||
Notes: Mister Ed aired on CBS from 6:30 to 7 p.m. 100 Grand only lasted three weeks, and was replaced by Laughs For Sale, which ran until December 1963. In April 1964, The Celebrity Game was added to CBS' primetime lineup. Empire on ABC consisted of reruns of the 1962-63 NBC TV series. Brenner on CBS consisted of ten new episodes — the first produced for the show since 1959 — followed by reruns of episodes first aired in 1959 and 1961.
Monday
[edit]| Network | 7:30 PM | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | The Outer Limits | Wagon Train (In COLOR) | Breaking Point | |||||
| CBS | Fall | To Tell the Truth (24/22.6) (Tied with What's My Line?) |
I've Got a Secret (12/25.0) (Tied with Lassie and The Jack Benny Show) |
The Lucy Show (6/28.1) | The Danny Thomas Show (9/26.7) | The Andy Griffith Show (5/29.4) | East Side/West Side | |
| Summer | Vacation Playhouse | |||||||
| NBC | NBC Monday Night at the Movies (most in COLOR) | Hollywood and the Stars | Sing Along with Mitch (In COLOR) | |||||
Notes: Beginning in September, CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite (formerly Walter Cronkite with the News) and The Huntley-Brinkley Report expanded to a half-hour, airing weekdays at 6:30 p.m. Vacation Playhouse was an anthology series made up entirely of unsold television pilots.
Tuesday
[edit]| Network | 7:30 PM | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Combat! | McHale's Navy (22/22.8) (Tied with Hazel) |
The Greatest Show on Earth (In COLOR) | The Fugitive (28/21.7) | |||||
| CBS | Fall | Marshal Dillon (Gunsmoke repeats) | The Red Skelton Show (11/25.7) | Petticoat Junction (4/30.3) | The Jack Benny Show (12/25.0) (Tied with I've Got a Secret and Lassie) |
The Garry Moore Show | |||
| Summer | High Adventure with Lowell Thomas | ||||||||
| NBC | Fall | Mr. Novak | Redigo (In COLOR) | The Richard Boone Show | The Bell Telephone Hour / The Andy Williams Show (In COLOR) | ||||
| Winter | You Don't Say! (In COLOR) | ||||||||
Note: The 1964 CBS summer series High Adventure with Lowell Thomas consisted of reruns of specials which had aired under that title during the late 1950s. In January 1964, Redigo was cancelled and replaced with You Don't Say!.
Wednesday
[edit]| Network | 7:30 PM | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (29/21.6) | The Patty Duke Show (18/23.9) | The Price Is Right | Ben Casey | Channing | ||
| Follow-up | The Farmer's Daughter | |||||||
| CBS | Fall | Chronicle / CBS Reports | Glynis | The Beverly Hillbillies (1/39.1) | The Dick Van Dyke Show (3/33.3) | The Danny Kaye Show (30/21.5) (Tied with Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre) | ||
| Winter | Tell It to the Camera | |||||||
| Summer | Suspense | On Broadway Tonight | ||||||
| NBC | The Virginian (17/24.0) (In COLOR) | Espionage | The Eleventh Hour | |||||
Thursday
[edit]| Network | 7:30 PM | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | The Flintstones (In COLOR) | The Donna Reed Show (16/24.5) | My Three Sons (27/21.9) | The Jimmy Dean Show | The Edie Adams Show / The Sid Caesar Show | Local | |
| Winter | ABC News Reports | |||||||
| Spring | Ensign O'Toole | The Jimmy Dean Show | ||||||
| CBS | Password | Rawhide | Perry Mason (26/22.1) | The Nurses | ||||
| NBC | Fall | Temple Houston | Dr. Kildare (19/23.6) | Hazel (22/22.8) (Tied with McHale's Navy) (In COLOR) |
Kraft Suspense Theatre (In COLOR) / Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall (once a month) (In COLOR) | |||
| Summer | Ford Presents the New Christy Minstrels (In COLOR) | |||||||
Note: Ensign O'Toole on ABC consisted of reruns of the 1962-1963 NBC situation comedy. On NBC, The Robert Taylor Show was supposed to air at 7:30-8:30, but it was never aired and replaced by Temple Houston on the schedule at the last minute.
Friday
[edit]| Network | 7:30 PM | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | 77 Sunset Strip | Burke's Law | The Farmer's Daughter | 10:00 The Fight of the Week / 10:45 Make That Spare | |||
| Follow-up | The Price is Right | |||||||
| Winter | Destry | |||||||
| CBS | The Great Adventure | Route 66 | Twilight Zone | The Alfred Hitchcock Hour | ||||
| NBC | Fall | International Showtime | Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (30/21.5) (Tied with The Danny Kaye Show) (Dramatic episodes in COLOR; the monthly Bob Hope variety specials were in black-and-white) |
Harry's Girls | The Jack Paar Program (In COLOR) | |||
| Winter | That Was the Week That Was (In COLOR) | |||||||
| Summer | On Parade | |||||||
Note: 77 Sunset Strip on ABC ended February 7, 1964, replaced the next week by Destry. On December 6, 1963, The Farmer's Daughter was put on another day and timeslot, and put The Price Is Right at 9:30pm.
Saturday
[edit]| Network | 7:30 PM | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 9:00 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Fall | Hootenanny | The Lawrence Welk Show | The Jerry Lewis Show (ends 11:30) | ||||
| January | The Hollywood Palace | Local | ||||||
| CBS | Fall | The Jackie Gleason Show (15/24.6) | The New Phil Silvers Show | The Defenders | Gunsmoke (20/23.5) | |||
| December | The Defenders | The New Phil Silvers Show | ||||||
| Summer | The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (repeats) | Summer Playhouse | ||||||
| NBC | The Lieutenant | The Joey Bishop Show (In COLOR) | NBC Saturday Night at the Movies (In COLOR) | |||||
Notes: ABC-TV Presents: The Hollywood Palace debuted on January 4, 1964, replacing The Jerry Lewis Show.
On CBS, Summer Playhouse was a summer anthology series consisting of unsold television pilots.
By network
[edit]Note: The * indicates that the program was introduced in midseason. The ** indicates that the program ran only for a partial season.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Castleman, Harry; Walter J. Podrazik (1982). Watching TV: Four Decades of American Television. New York: McGraw-Hill. pp. 162–170. ISBN 0-07-010269-4.
- ^ a b c 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 (1984). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows (3rd ed.). New York: Ballantine. ISBN 0-345-31864-1.