1959–60 United States network television schedule

The following is the **1959–60 network television schedule** for the four major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1959 through March 1960. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1958–59 season.

By the end of the 1950s, the four major U.S. television networks had basically given up direct control of their TV programs. According to TV historians Castleman and Podrazik (1982), ABC allowed Warner Brothers studios to fill 30% of its fall 1959 schedule. The networks "acted as mere conduits", with Warner, Talent Associates, Revue Studios, Ziv, Screen Gems, 20th Century-Fox, Goodson-Todman, and Desilu Studios producing nearly everything on the networks; with rare exceptions, only network news and sports were still produced in-house.

By fall 1959 what the Hollywood studios were producing were mostly Westerns. According to Castleman and Podrazik (1984), "the rush to Westerns had become a virtual stampede so that, by the fall of 1959, viewers had their choice from a staggering thirty-three different Western-based prime time series." Westerns were popular with audiences, but critics lamented the loss of other program formats, which had quietly vanished from the three networks' schedules. The addition of Westerns and game shows came at the direct expense of the live dramatic anthology series seen during the Golden Age of Television. Following the Quiz Game scandal of the previous season, only *What's My Line* and *Front Page Challange* would remain, and such Celebrity driven panel shows would be seen in Prime Time for a few seasons to come.

All times are Eastern and Pacific. New fall series are highlighted in **bold**.

The official schedule was set by each network before the start of the official fall season. The fall season is from September to November in the U.S.. The mid-season schedule is listed under the official fall season lineup of each network. The mid-season schedule is from December 1959 to May 1960.

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

## Sunday

**Notes:** The CBS 1960 summer series *Lucy in Connecticut* consisted of reruns of *I Love Lucy* from the final 13 episodes of the 1956-57 season when the Lucy and Ricky Ricardo characters made their home in Westport, Connecticut. On ABC, the 1959-60 winter series *21 Beacon Street* consisted of reruns of NBC's 1959 summer series.

## Monday

(\*) In some areas, *Douglas Edwards with the News* and *The Huntley-Brinkley Report* aired at 6:45 p.m. (\*\*) Formerly known as *The Steve Allen Show*

New episodes of *Richard Diamond, Private Detective*, starring David Janssen, during the season were split, with some airing on NBC from October 1959 to January 1960 on Mondays at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time, and the remainder on NBC on Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. Eastern from June to September 1960.

## Tuesday

**Notes:** *Gas Company Playhouse* and *NBC Playhouse* alternated weekly. *Gas Company Playhouse*, hosted by Julia Meade, consisted of reruns of *Goodyear Television Playhouse*, *The David Niven Show*, *Colgate Theater*, and *Alcoa Theatre*. *NBC Playhouse*, hosted by Jeanne Bal, consisted of reruns of episodes of *The Loretta Young Show* in which Loretta Young had not starred.

New episodes of *Richard Diamond, Private Detective*, starring David Janssen, were split during the 1959–1960 season, with some airing on NBC from October 1959 to January 1960 on Mondays at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time, and the remainder on NBC on Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. Eastern from June to September 1960.

## Wednesday

**Note:** On ABC, *Music For a Spring Night* was the summer 1959 series *Music For a Summer Night* renamed. It reverted to the name *Music For a Summer Night* in May 1960.

## Thursday

**Note;** The ABC 1960 summer series *The Jeannie Carson Show* consisted of reruns of the 1956-1957 CBS situation comedy *Hey, Jeannie!*