The following is the 1957âÂÂ58 network television schedule for the four major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1957 through March 1958. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1956âÂÂ57 season.
As in previous seasons, both CBS and ABC continued to add Westerns to their schedule, filling prime time with as many "oaters" (as they were derisively called) as possible. In addition to several returning Westerns which the network retained on its fall 1957 schedule, ABC's new western series included Sugarfoot and Broken Arrow on Tuesday nights, Tombstone Territory on Wednesdays, Colt .45 on Fridays, and Maverick on Sundays.
ABC, third in the network Nielsen ratings, placed its new Western Maverick in a difficult time slot: Sunday night against two hit series: The Steve Allen Show on NBC, and The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS. ABC aired Maverick one half-hour prior to the Allen and Sullivan programs; the strategy was designed to "hook the audience before it fell into its usual viewing habits". This risky approach proved successful, as CBS' powerhouse Sunday night lineup slipped in the ratings, with Sullivan's show barely missing the top 30 after being among the ten most-watched programs of the previous season.
NBC, late to the Western format, also began plugging Westerns into its fall schedule. New NBC Western series debuting in the 1957âÂÂ58 season included Wagon Train, The Restless Gun, and The Californians (though one NBC executive insisted The Californians was not a Western but a drama set in California in the 1850s).
Another programming shift occurred at NBC: the network's flagship news program, The Huntley-Brinkley Report, moved to the 7:15 PM weekday timeslot, for the first time going head to head against both ABC's and CBS's news programs. The face-off between the three networks' news programs would become the standard model for U.S. broadcast television; the three networks still air their network news programs against one another.
1958 saw a number of executive changes at the networks; these presidential shifts would affect the network television schedules. Oliver Treyz became the president of ABC on February 17, Louis G. Cowan became the president of CBS on March 12, and NBC programmer Robert Kintner became the president of NBC on July 11. Dr. Allen B. DuMont resigned as chairman of the board of the DuMont Broadcasting Corporation on May 13, and the name of the company was changed to Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation. According to Castleman and Podrazik (1982) the final DuMont Network program, Monday Night Fights aired for the last time on August 4, 1958, carried on only five stations nationwide. NBC's Kraft Television Theatre, which had debuted in 1947 and was the oldest program still left on television, was cancelled in spring 1958. It was the dawn of a new era in television; producer David Susskind, who had produced KTT at the end, would call 1958 "the year of the miserable drivel".
Each of the 30 highest-rated shows is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research.
Notes:
Notes:
Notes:
Notes:
Returning Series
New Series
Not returning from 1956âÂÂ57:
Returning Series
New Series
Not returning from 1956âÂÂ57:
Not returning from 1956âÂÂ57:
Returning Series
New Series
Not returning from 1956âÂÂ57:
New series
Note: The * indicates that the program was introduced in midseason.