# 1950 in American television

This is a list of American television-related events in 1950.

## Events

| Date | Event | Ref. |
| May | The television production company Desilu Productions was founded by Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. | |
| October 10 | CBS' color television system is approved by the Federal Communications Commission. This approval goes in effect on November 20. | |

### Other information

One million American households were reported to own a television set in 1950.

## Television programs
### Debuts

| Date | Debut | Network | Notes/Ref. |
| January 4 | Abe Burrows' Almanac | CBS | |
| January 7 | The Ken Murray Show | CBS | |
| January 7 | Rocky King, Detective | DuMont | |
| January 13 | Life Begins at Eighty | NBC | |
| January 17 | Cavalcade of Bands | DuMont | |
| January 28 | Dinner Date | DuMont | |
| January 30 | Robert Montgomery Presents | NBC | |
| February 2 | What's My Line? | CBS | |
| February 25 | Your Show of Shows | NBC | |
| March 9 | Space Patrol | ABC | |
| March 19 | Windy City Jamboree | DuMont | |
| March 23 | Beat the Clock | CBS | |
| April | Adventure Playhouse | DuMont | |
| April | Screen Mystery | DuMont | |
| April 5 | Joey Faye's Frolics | CBS | |
| April 6 | The Alan Young Show | CBS | |
| April 9 | Starlit Time | DuMont | |
| April 15 | Buck Rogers | ABC | |
| April 19 | Stage 13 | CBS | |
| April 29 | The Trap | CBS | |
| May | Frontier Theatre | DuMont | |
| May 21 | Mama Rosa | ABC | |
| May 29 | Broadway Open House | NBC | |
| June 6 | Armstrong Circle Theatre | NBC | |
| June 17 | Hawkins Falls | NBC | |
| July 1 | Big Top | CBS | |
| July 3 | Visit with the Armed Forces | DuMont | |
| July 3 | The Hazel Scott Show | DuMont | |
| July 4 | The Joan Edwards Show | DuMont | |
| July 4 | Sure as Fate | CBS | |
| July 7 | Detective's Wife | CBS | |
| July 10 | Your Hit Parade | NBC | Migrated from radio |
| July 11 | The Web | CBS | |
| July 23 | The Gene Autry Show | CBS | |
| July 29 | Country Style | DuMont | |
| August 1 | Crusader Rabbit | First-run Syndication | |
| August 6 | Rhythm Rodeo | DuMont | |
| August 27 | Hold That Camera | DuMont | |
| September 2 | Star Time | DuMont | |
| September 2 | The Twinkle in Your Eye | DuMont | |
| September 2 | Chez Paree Revue | DuMont | |
| September 5 | The Cisco Kid | First-run Syndication | |
| September 6 | Stars Over Hollywood | NBC | First television series produced by Revue Productions |
| September 7 | Truth or Consequences | CBS | Migrated from radio |
| September 10 | The Colgate Comedy Hour | NBC | |
| September 11 | The Adventures of Paddy the Pelican | ABC | |
| September 11 | Dick Tracy | ABC | |
| September 11 | Treasury Men in Action | ABC | |
| September 18 | The Speidel Show | NBC | Later retitled The Paul Winchell Show |
| September 21 | The Nash Airflyte Theater | CBS | |
| September 26 | Danger | CBS | |
| October | Eloise Salutes the Stars | DuMont | |
| October 2 | Lux Video Theatre | CBS | |
| October 2 | The Susan Raye Show | DuMont | |
| October 2 | Tom Corbett, Space Cadet | CBS | |
| October 3 | Beulah | ABC | |
| October 3 | The Billy Rose Show | ABC | |
| October 4 | Four Star Revue | NBC | |
| October 4 | You Bet Your Life | NBC | Migration from radio |
| October 5 | Big Town | CBS | Migration from radio |
| October 6 | Pulitzer Prize Playhouse | ABC | |
| October 7 | Saturday Night at the Garden | DuMont | |
| October 7 | The Frank Sinatra Show | CBS | |
| October 10 | Prudential Family Playhouse | CBS | |
| October 12$^{:280–281}$ | The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show | CBS | Migration from radio |
| October 15 | The Gabby Hayes Show | NBC | |
| October 18 | Somerset Maugham TV Theatre | CBS | |
| October 18 | The Most Important People | DuMont | |
| October 19 | The Adventures of Ellery Queen | DuMont | |
| October 21 | The Stu Erwin Show | ABC | |
| October 22 | Our Secret Weapon: The Truth | DuMont | |
| October 28 | The Jack Benny Program | CBS | Migration from radio |
| November 4 | Your Story Theatre | DuMont | |
| December 4 | The First Hundred Years | CBS | |
| December 10 | The Bigelow Theatre | CBS | |
| December 22 | Charlie Wild, Private Detective | CBS | |
| December 29 | You Asked for It | DuMont | |

### Change in Network Affiliation

| Show | Moved from | Moved to |
| The Arthur Murray Party | ABC | Dumont |
| The Johns Hopkins Science Review | CBS | Dumont |
| The Bigelow Theatre | CBS | Dumont |

### Ending this year

| Date | Show | Network | Debut | Notes |
| January 2 | And Everything Nice | DuMont | March 15, 1949 | |
| January 3 | The Sonny Kendis Show | CBS | April 18, 1949 | |
| January 10 | The O'Neills | DuMont | September 6, 1949 | |
| January 26 | The Front Page | CBS | September 29, 1949 | |
| February 4 | Spin the Picture | DuMont | June 4, 1949 | |
| March 11 | Mary Kay and Johnny | NBC | 1947 | Series began on DuMont |
| March 25 | Television Theatre | CBS | June 2, 1950 | |
| March 29 | Abe Burrows' Almanac | CBS | January 4, 1950 | |
| March 30 | The Black Robe | NBC | May 18, 1949 | |
| April 9 | Bowling Headliners | DuMont | December 26, 1948 (on ABC) | |
| April 12 | Joey Faye's Frolics | CBS | April 5, 1950 | |
| April 21 | The Little Revue | ABC | September 4, 1949 | |
| May | Adventure Playhouse | DuMont | April 1950 | |
| May 22 | Newsweek Views the News | DuMont | November 7, 1948 | |
| June 11 | Mama Rosa | ABC | May 21, 1950 | |
| June 14 | Easy Aces | DuMont | December 14, 1949 | |
| June 18 | Windy City Jamboree | DuMont | March 19, 1950 | |
| June 23 | Actors Studio | CBS | September 26, 1948 | |
| June 24 | The Trap | CBS | April 29, 1950 | |
| June 25 | Colgate Theatre | NBC | January 3, 1949 | |
| June 26 | The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre | NBC | September 27, 1948 | |
| June 28 | Stage 13 | CBS | April 19, 1950 | |
| July 4 | The Ed Wynn Show | CBS | September 22, 1949 |
| August 11 | People's Platform | CBS | August 17, 1948 |
| September | Frontier Theatre | DuMont | May | |
| September 29 | The Hazel Scott Show | DuMont | July 3, 1950 | |
| September 29 | Detective's Wife | CBS | July 7, 1950 | |
| October 8 | Think Fast | ABC | March 26, 1949 | |
| October 13 | The Adventures of Paddy the Pelican | ABC | September 11, 1950 | |
| October 15 | Believe It or Not! | DuMont | March 1, 1949 | |
| October 23 | Mysteries of Chinatown | ABC | December 4, 1949 | |
| October 24 | The Joan Edwards Show | DuMont | July 4, 1950 | |
| November 19 | Starlit Time | DuMont | April 9, 1950 | |
| November 20 | The Susan Raye Show | DuMont | October 2, 1950 | |
| November 25 | Country Style | DuMont | July 29, 1950 | |
| December 1 | TV Shopper | DuMont | November 1, 1948 | |
| December 15 | Hold That Camera | DuMont | August 27, 1950 | |
| Unknown date | Cartoon Teletales | ABC | 1948 | |
| Unknown date | The Vincent Lopez Show | DuMont | March 7, 1949 | Returned in 1957 on CBS |
| Unknown date | Amateur Boxing Fight Club | DuMont | September 1949 | |
| Unknown date | Boxing from Sunnyside Gardens | DuMont | September 1949 | |
| Unknown date | You Are an Artist | NBC | May 13, 1946 | |
| Unknown date | Your Witness | ABC | September 19, 1949 | |
| Unknown date | Chez Paree Revue | DuMont | September 2, 1950 | |

## Television stations
### Station launches

| Date | City of License/Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation |
| February 15 | San Antonio, Texas | KEYL | 5 | CBS (primary) DuMont/Paramount/ABC (secondary) |
| February 15 | Syracuse, New York | WSYR-TV | 3 | NBC |
| February 21 | Ames/Des Moines, Iowa | WOI-TV | 5 | CBS (primary) NBC (secondary) |
| March 27 | Louisville, Kentucky | WHAS-TV | 9 (now 11) | CBS (primary) ABC (secondary) |
| April 2 | Norfolk, Virginia | WTAR-TV | 3 | NBC (primary) ABC/DuMont (secondary) |
| May 1 | Lansing, Michigan | WJIM-TV | 6 | CBS (primary) NBC/ABC/DuMont (secondary) |
| June 1 | Kalamazoo/Grand Rapids, Michigan | WKZO-TV | 3 | CBS (primary) NBC/ABC/DuMont (secondary) |
| July 1 | Rock Island/Moline, Illinois Bettendorf/Davenport, Iowa | WHBF-TV | 4 | CBS (primary) NBC/DuMont (secondary) |
| September 30 | Nashville, Tennessee | WSM-TV | 4 | NBC (primary) ABC/CBS/DuMont (secondary) |

### Network affiliation changes

| Date | City of license/Market | Station | Channel | Old affiliation | New affiliation | Notes/Ref. |
| Unknown date | Dallas, Texas | KBTV | 8 | DuMont | NBC | |