1956–57 United States network television schedule

1956 in American television 1957 in American television

List of American television programs currently in production

Morning: 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59

Daytime/afternoon: 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59

Prime time: 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59

Late night: 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59

Overnight: 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59

The following is the 1956–57 network television schedule for the three major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1956 through March 1957. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1955–56 season.

The 1956–57 network television schedule continued the trend of the previous season, with two of the three major U.S. television networks (ABC and CBS) scheduling more and more westerns and adventure series during prime time. In addition to its current stable of Westerns, which included Cheyenne, The Lone Ranger, and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, ABC scheduled two new Western TV series: Broken Arrow and The Adventures of Jim Bowie, while CBS added Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre to its line-up, which already included Gunsmoke and Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. Castleman and Podrazik (1984) called the rush to schedule Western series on network television during this era "a virtual stampede".^[1]

CBS "inherited Sunday afternoon NFL contests from the defunct DuMont network in the fall of 1956". Accordingly, "the expansion into Sunday sports by CBS (and NBC) meant that the traditional afternoon 'egghead' slots for highbrow programming had to be broken up, pushing those shows into the few odd spots still open in the day, or eliminating them completely. This reflected the networks' shift in emphasis during the mid-1950s, slanting television much more toward broad-based popular entertainment. Increasingly, this meant television programming produced in Hollywood [...] In 1957, the amount of prime time programming originating on the West Coast jumped from 40% to 71%."^[1] a change in no small part accelerated by the fact DuMont produced a large portion of its programming in Chicago and to a lesser extent Washington in addition to New York.

NBC, behind CBS in the network Nielsen ratings, hired Robert Kintner to revamp NBC's schedule. According to Castleman and Podrazik (1982), NBC's plan was to launch a program which would compete directly with CBS's second most popular series, The Ed Sullivan Show, on Sunday, the most heavily viewed TV night: "Sullivan's show was popular enough to boost the ratings of the programs on both before and after his; as a result, CBS had a chain of hits to begin the evening." NBC's strategy was designed to weaken CBS's Sunday night line-up. NBC's new program, The Steve Allen Show, debuted in the summer to get a head start on the competition.^[2] Although the two programs enjoyed a fierce rivalry, Sullivan's program would remain wildly popular, finishing second among all TV programs in the ratings that year, while Allen's show missed the top 30.^[3]

Beginning this season, NBC had at least one show in color for every day of the week.

Each of the 30 highest-rated shows is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research.^[4]

• New series are highlighted in bold.
• Repeat airings or same-day rebroadcasts are indicated by (R).
• All times are U.S. Eastern and Pacific Time (except for some live sports or events). Subtract one hour for Central, Mountain, Alaska and Hawaii–Aleutian times.

Network	7:00 p.m.	7:30 p.m.	8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.	10:30 p.m.
ABC	You Asked for It	The Original Amateur Hour		Press Conference	Omnibus			Local programming
CBS	Lassie (24/29.5)	The Jack Benny Show (10/32.3) / Private Secretary (25/29.0)[a]	The Ed Sullivan Show (2/38.4)		General Electric Theater (3/36.9)	Alfred Hitchcock Presents (6/33.9)	The $64,000 Challenge (22/29.7) (Tied with The Phil Silvers Show)	What's My Line? (26/28.9) (Tied with Climax!)
NBC	Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers	Circus Boy	The Steve Allen Show		Goodyear Television Playhouse (In COLOR) / The Alcoa Hour (In COLOR)[a]		The Loretta Young Show	National Bowling Championships

Notes:

• On NBC, Hallmark Hall of Fame (In COLOR) aired as a monthly series, 7:30–9 p.m.
• On CBS, Air Power, narrated by Walter Cronkite, aired from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on November 11, 1956, and from 6:30 to 7:00 p.m. from November 18, 1956 to May 5, 1957.

Network		7:00 p.m.	7:30 p.m.	8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.	10:30 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Kukla, Fran and Ollie (7:00) / John Daly and the News (7:15)	Bold Journey	The Danny Thomas Show[b]	The Voice of Firestone	Life Is Worth Living	Lawrence Welk's Top Tunes and New Talent		Local programming
	Mid-winter		Wire Service
CBS	Fall	Local programming (7:00) / Douglas Edwards with the News (7:15)[c]	The Adventures of Robin Hood (20/30.3)	The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (28/27.8)	Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts (12/31.9)	I Love Lucy (1/43.7)	December Bride (5/35.2)	Studio One
	Summer				Richard Diamond, Private Detective
NBC	Fall	Local programming	The Golden Touch of Frankie Carle (7:30) / Huntley-Brinkley Report (7:45)	The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (Sporadically in COLOR)	Stanley	Medic	Robert Montgomery Presents (In COLOR)		Local programming
	Spring				Tales of Wells Fargo

Notes:

• On NBC, Producers' Showcase (COLOR) aired as a monthly series, from 8–9:30 p.m.
• On March 18, 1957, the popular Western series Tales of Wells Fargo debuted, replacing Stanley Monday nights on NBC at 8:30 PM EST.
• From July 1 to September 23, 1957, the summer series Richard Diamond, Private Detective, starring David Janssen, aired on CBS at 8:30-9 p.m. It returned for a second irregular season on the CBS Thursday schedule from January 2 to June 26, 1958.

Network		7:00 p.m.	7:30 p.m.	8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.	10:30 p.m.
ABC		Kukla, Fran and Ollie (7:00) / John Daly and the News (7:15)	Cheyenne / Conflict[a]		The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (18/31.0)	Broken Arrow	Du Pont Theater	It's Polka Time	Local programming
CBS		Local programming (7:00) / Douglas Edwards with the News (7:15)	Name That Tune (30/27.2)	The Phil Silvers Show (22/29.7) (Tied with The $64,000 Challenge)	The Brothers	The Herb Shriner Show	The Red Skelton Show (In COLOR)(15/31.4) (Tied with The Lineup)	The $64,000 Question (4/36.4)	Do You Trust Your Wife?
NBC	Fall	Local programming	The Jonathan Winters Show (7:30) / Huntley-Brinkley Report (7:45)	The Big Surprise	Noah's Ark (In COLOR)	The Jane Wyman Show	Armstrong Circle Theatre / The Kaiser Aluminum Hour[a]		Break the $250,000 Bank (In COLOR)
	Spring				Panic!
	Summer		The Andy Williams and June Valli Show (7:30) / Huntley-Brinkley Report (7:45)				Summer Playhouse (R)	The Nat King Cole Show

Notes:

• On March 5, 1957, the suspense drama Panic! replaced Noah's Ark, a Jack Webb production, on the NBC schedule.
• On NBC, Summer Playhouse was a summer anthology series made up of reruns of episodes of other anthology series.

Network		7:00 p.m.	7:30 p.m.	8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.	10:30 p.m.
ABC		Kukla, Fran and Ollie (7:00) / John Daly and the News (7:15)	Disneyland (13/31.8) (Tied with The Millionaire)		Navy Log	The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet	Ford Theatre	The Wednesday Night Fights
CBS	Fall	Local programming (7:00) / Douglas Edwards with the News (7:15)	Pick the Winner	The Arthur Godfrey Show (Sporadically in COLOR)[d]		The Millionaire (13/31.8) (Tied with Disneyland)	I've Got a Secret (7/32.7) (Tied with Gunsmoke)	The United States Steel Hour / The 20th Century Fox Hour[a]
	November		Giant Step
	Summer		My Friend Flicka (R)	The Vic Damone Show
NBC		Local programming	Coke Time with Eddie Fisher (7:30) / Huntley-Brinkley Report (7:45)	The Adventures of Hiram Holliday	Father Knows Best	Kraft Television Theatre (In COLOR)		This Is Your Life	Twenty-One

Note:

• On CBS, Pick the Winner aired as an interim U.S. election coverage series in September and October from 7:30 to 8 p.m. It previously had aired in 1952.

Network		7:00 p.m.	7:30 p.m.	8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.	10:30 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Kukla, Fran and Ollie (7:00) / John Daly and the News (7:15)	The Lone Ranger	Circus Time		Wire Service		Ozark Jubilee
	December							Air Time '57	Local programming
	Mid-winter					The Danny Thomas Show	Bold Journey
	Spring							Telephone Time
	Summer			Cowtown Rodeo			Compass / Industries for America[e]	Focus
CBS		Local programming (7:00) / Douglas Edwards with the News (7:15)	Sergeant Preston of the Yukon	The Bob Cummings Show	Climax! (26/28.9) (Tied with What's My Line?) (In COLOR)		Playhouse 90
NBC	Fall	Local programming	The Dinah Shore Show (7:30) / Huntley-Brinkley Report (7:45)	You Bet Your Life (17/31.1)	Dragnet (11/32.1)	The People's Choice	The Ford Show (19/30.7)	Lux Video Theatre (In COLOR)
	Summer		The Andy Williams and June Valli Show (7:30) / Huntley-Brinkley Report (7:45)

Note:

• On CBS, Shower of Stars (In COLOR) aired once a month, 8:30–9:30 p.m.

Network		7:00 p.m.	7:30 p.m.	8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.	10:30 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Kukla, Fran and Ollie (7:00) / John Daly and the News (7:15)	The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin	The Adventures of Jim Bowie	Crossroads	Treasure Hunt	The Vise	The Ray Anthony Show
	Spring							The Ray Anthony Show	Date with the Angels
	Summer							The Big Beat
CBS	Fall	Local programming (7:00) / Douglas Edwards with the News (7:15)	My Friend Flicka	The West Point Story	Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre	Crusader	Schlitz Playhouse[f]	The Lineup (15/31.4) (Tied with The Red Skelton Show)	Person to Person
	Winter					Mr. Adams and Eve
	Late winter		Various specials
DMN	Fall	Local programming			Ethel Barrymore Theatre[g]	Local programming
	Winter	Local programming
NBC	Fall	Local programming	Coke Time with Eddie Fisher (7:30) / Huntley-Brinkley Report (7:45)	The Life of Riley (Sporadically in COLOR)	The Walter Winchell Show	The Joseph Cotten Show[h]	The Big Story	Gillette Cavalcade of Sports (10:00) / Red Barber's Corner (10:45) (In COLOR)
	Spring			Blondie
	Summer						The Big Moment

Notes:

• On CBS, Mr. Adams and Eve premiered on January 4, 1957.
• On NBC, The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (In COLOR) aired once a month, 10–11 p.m.

Network		7:00 p.m.	7:30 p.m.	8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.	10:30 p.m.
ABC	Fall	Local programming	Famous Film Festival			Lawrence Welk's Dodge Dancing Party		Masquerade Party	Local programming
	Summer					The Billy Graham Crusade
CBS	Fall	Beat the Clock	The Buccaneers	The Jackie Gleason Show (29/27.6)		The Gale Storm Show	Hey, Jeannie!	Gunsmoke (7/32.7) (Tied with I've Got a Secret)	High Finance
	Winter								Local programming
	Spring	My Friend Flicka (R)
	Mid-spring	Beat the Clock
	Summer								The Jimmy Dean Show
NBC	Fall	Local programming	People Are Funny (21/30.2)	The Perry Como Show (9/32.6) (In COLOR)		Caesar's Hour		The George Gobel Show	Your Hit Parade (In COLOR)
	Summer			The Julius LaRosa Show (In COLOR)		The George Sanders Mystery Theater	Dollar a Second	Encore Theatre (R)	Adventure Theater
	Mid-summer						Various programming	Dollar a Second

Notes:

• On NBC, Saturday Color Carnival (COLOR) aired as a monthly series, 9:00–10:30 p.m.
• The 1957 version of the NBC summer series Encore Theatre consisted of reruns of episodes of Ford Theatre.

Note: The * indicates that the program was introduced in midseason.

• 1956–57 United States network television schedule (daytime)
• 1956–57 United States network television schedule (late night)

• McNeil, Alex. Total Television. Fourth edition. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-024916-8.
• Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (1964). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows (3rd ed.). New York: Ballantine. ISBN 0-345-31864-1.