1950–51 United States network television schedule

The 1950–51 United States network television schedule began in September of 1950 and ended in the spring of 1951. This season became the first in which primetime was entirely covered by the networks. It was also the inaugural season of the Nielsen rating system. Late in the season, the coast-to-coast link was in service.

In September 1950 NBC added two live variety series, Four Star Revue and The Colgate Comedy Hour, to its fall schedule. These programs were a network effort to bring NBC's most popular radio stars to television; talent included Eddie Cantor, Jack Carson, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Jimmy Durante, Danny Thomas, Ed Wynn, Bob Hope and Fred Allen. The two new star-studded series were scheduled directly against two of CBS's most popular programs: Four Star Revue went up against Arthur Godfrey and Friends on Wednesday nights, while The Colgate Comedy Hour was slated against Toast of the Town. NBC was confident that its strategy would pay off.[1]

CBS answered NBC's schedule with big radio stars and variety programs of its own, bringing in Frank Sinatra and (in occasional specials) Bing Crosby, Jack Benny, and Edgar Bergen. "Despite the big budget variety shows in its schedule, though, CBS felt that situation comedy was actually a more stable television form that would be easier to exploit in the long run."[1]

In many time slots, the underfunded DuMont Network did not bother to compete against NBC's or CBS's hit series, instead airing what some TV historians have called "time-filler". For example: "During its long run [The Johns Hopkins Science Review] was scheduled against such hit shows as Break the Bank [and] Dragnet, programs from which its network had little chance of luring away viewers."[2] During fall 1950, The Court of Current Issues and The Johns Hopkins Science Review aired at the same time as the most heavily viewed program on television, NBC's Texaco Star Theater. Given the competition, DuMont's Tuesday night public-affairs programming attracted virtually no audience. The network had some success with a crime drama that had debuted in January the previous season titled Inside Detective (later retitled Rocky King Detective), which became one of the longest-running series on the network. Another DuMont series to debut during the season, Star Time, while short-lived, is remembered for including a television version of the popular radio sketches The Bickersons, and for being an early example of a sponsored network series to feature an African-American as a regular (jazz pianist Teddy Wilson, a familiar member of the Benny Goodman Sextet).

New fall series are highlighted in bold.

Legend

Light blue indicates local programming..
Blue-gray indicates news programming.
Light green indicates sporting events.
Light purple indicates movies.
Red indicates irregularly-scheduled programs, including specials.

Each of the 30 highest-rated shows is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research.[3]

Lime indicates the #1 most watched programs of the season
Yellow indicates the top-10 most watched programs of the season
Cyan indicates the top-20 most watched programs of the season
Magenta indicates the top-30 most watched programs of the season

Sunday

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	Paul Whiteman's Goodyear Revue	Showtime U.S.A.	Hollywood Premiere Theatre	Sit or Miss	Soap Box Theater	The Marshall Plan in Action	Life Begins at Eighty	Youth on the March
CBS	The Gene Autry Show	This Is Show Business / The Jack Benny Program	Toast of the Town (15/36.5)		The Fred Waring Show		Celebrity Time	What's My Line?
DMN	Star Time		Rhythm Rodeo	Local Programming	The Arthur Murray Party		They Stand Accused
NBC	Leave It to the Girls	The Aldrich Family (16/36.1)	The Colgate Comedy Hour (5/42.0)		The Philco Television Playhouse (3/45.3)		Garroway at Large	Take a Chance

Note: On CBS, beginning in January, The Jack Benny Program aired as occasional specials once every six to eight weeks.

Hopalong Cassidy (9/39.9) aired on NBC, 6–7 p.m.

Monday

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	Club Seven	Hollywood Screen Test	Treasury Men in Action	Dick Tracy	The College Bowl	On Trial	Feature Film
CBS	The Stork Club	CBS Television News (7:30) The Perry Como Show (7:45)	Lux Video Theatre (30/31.5) (Tied with The Speidel Show)	Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts (8/40.6)	The Horace Heidt Show	The Goldbergs	Studio One (24/33.8)
DMN	Captain Video and His Video Rangers	Manhattan Spotlight (7:30) The Susan Raye Show (7:45)	Visit With the Armed Forces	The Al Morgan Show	Wrestling From Columbia Park Arena
NBC	Kukla, Fran and Ollie	The Mohawk Showroom (7:30) Camel News Caravan (7:45)	The Speidel Show (30/31.5) (Tied with Lux Video Theatre)	The Voice of Firestone	Lights Out (19/35.6) (Tied with Armstrong Circle Theatre and Big Town)	Robert Montgomery Presents (11/38.8) /Musical Comedy Time		Who Said That?

Tuesday

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	Club Seven	The Beulah Show	The Game of the Week	Buck Rogers	The Billy Rose Show	Can You Top This?	Life Begins at Eighty	Roller Derby
CBS	The Stork Club	7:30 CBS Television News / 7:45 The Faye Emerson Show	Sure as Fate/Prudential Family Playhouse		The Vaughn Monroe Show	Suspense	Danger	We Take Your Word
DMN	Captain Video and His Video Rangers	7:30 Manhattan Spotlight / 7:45 The Joan Edwards Show	Court of Current Issues	The Johns Hopkins Science Review	Cavalcade of Bands		Star Time
NBC	Kukla, Fran and Ollie	7:30 The Little Show / 7:45 Camel News Caravan	Texaco Star Theater (1/61.6)		Fireside Theatre (2/52.6)	Armstrong Circle Theatre (19/35.6) (Tied with Lights Out and Big Town)	The Original Amateur Hour (26/33.4) (Tied with Pabst Blue Ribbon Bouts)

Wednesday

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	Club Seven	Chance of a Lifetime	First Nighter	Don McNeill's TV Club	Wrestling From the Rainbo in Chicago
CBS	The Stork Club	7:30 CBS Television News / 7:45 The Perry Como Show	Arthur Godfrey and His Friends (18/35.9)		Teller of Tales	The Web	Pabst Blue Ribbon Bouts (26/33.4) (Tied with The Original Amateur Hour)
DMN	Captain Video and His Video Rangers	7:30 The Most Important People / 7:45 Local Programming	Local Programming		Famous Jury Trials	The Plainclothesman	Broadway to Hollywood – Headline Clues	Local Programming
NBC	Kukla, Fran and Ollie	7:30 The Mohawk Showroom / 7:45 Camel News Caravan	Four Star Revue		Kraft Television Theatre (14/37.0)		Break the Bank	Stars Over Hollywood

Thursday

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	Club Seven	The Lone Ranger (7/41.2)	Stop the Music (23/34.0)		Holiday Hotel	Blind Date	I Cover Times Square	Roller Derby
CBS	The Stork Club	7:30 CBS Television News / 7:45 The Faye Emerson Show	The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show/Starlight Theatre	The Show Goes On	The Alan Young Show (22/34.4)	Big Town (19/35.6) (Tied with Armstrong Circle Theatre and Lights Out)	Truth or Consequences	The Nash Airflyte Theater
DMN	Captain Video and His Video Rangers	7:30 Manhattan Spotlight / 7:45 The Joan Edwards Show	Local Programming		The Adventures of Ellery Queen	Local Programming
NBC	Kukla, Fran and Ollie	7:30 The Little Show / 7:45 Camel News Caravan	You Bet Your Life (17/36.0)	Hawkins Falls	Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge		Martin Kane, Private Eye (12/37.8)	The Wayne King Show

Wayne King was seen only on NBC's Midwest Network.

Friday

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	Club Seven	Life with Linkletter	Twenty Questions	Pro Football Highlights	Pulitzer Prize Playhouse		Penthouse Party	Studs' Place
CBS	The Stork Club	7:30 CBS Television News / 7:45 The Perry Como Show	Mama (10/39.7)	Man Against Crime (13/37.4)	Ford Theater/Magnavox Theater		Star of the Family	Beat the Clock
DMN	Captain Video and His Video Rangers	7:30 The Most Important People / 7:45 The Susan Raye Show	Local Programming	Hold That Camera	Hands of Murder	Rocky King, Inside Detective	Cavalcade of Stars
NBC	Kukla, Fran and Ollie	7:30 The Mohawk Showroom / 7:45 Camel News Caravan	Quiz Kids	We, the People	Bonny Maid Versatile Varieties	The Big Story (25/33.7) / The Clock	10:00 Gillette Cavalcade of Sports (6/41.3) / 10:45 Greatest Fights of the Century

Saturday

Network	7:00 p.m.	7:30 p.m.	8:00 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	10:00 p.m.	10:30 p.m.
ABC	Sandy Dreams	Life with the Erwins	Paul Whiteman's TV Teen Club	Roller Derby
CBS	6:30 The Big Top	7:30 The Week in Review / 7:45 The Faye Emerson Show	The Ken Murray Show (28/32.1)	The Frank Sinatra Show	Sing It Again	Local Programming
DMN	Captain Video and His Video Rangers	Local Programming	Country Style	Saturday Night at the Garden
NBC	The Hank McCune Show	One Man's Family	The Jack Carter Show	Your Show of Shows (4/42.6)		Your Hit Parade (29/32.0)

Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town began on June 16, 1951, and concluded its 42-episode run at 9 p.m. on CBS on April 12, 1952.

gollark: Although it never actually got much use beyond as a fun toy, sadly.

gollark: It's mostly used on SC, though, where ender chest bulk item-stealing is against the rules.

gollark: The thing is designed to only leave items in insecure public ender chests for ~0.1 seconds at most.

gollark: How fast did they check each channel, 10 times a second?

gollark: You would have to scan too fast.

References

Castleman, Harry; Walter J. Podrazik (1982). Watching TV: Four Decades of American Television. New York: McGraw-Hill. pp. 53–62. ISBN 0-07-010269-4.
Heldenfels, R. D. (1994) Television's Greatest Year: 1954. New York: Continuum, pg 177–178. ISBN 0-8264-0675-0
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.

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.

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[CP1982-1] Castleman, Harry; Walter J. Podrazik (1982). Watching TV: Four Decades of American Television. New York: McGraw-Hill. pp. 53–62. ISBN 0-07-010269-4.

[Heldenfels3-2] Heldenfels, R. D. (1994) Television's Greatest Year: 1954. New York: Continuum, pg 177–178. ISBN 0-8264-0675-0

[BM2-3] 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.