1963–64 United States network television schedule

The following is the **1963–64 network television schedule** for the four major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1963 through August 1964. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1962–63 season.

ABC began its new fall schedule a week early, beating CBS and NBC out of the starting gate. New series debuting this week included sci-fi anthology *The Outer Limits*, police/lawyer series *Arrest and Trial*, drama *The Fugitive*, and game show *100 Grand*. ABC also completely revamped its Friday night schedule, with three new series: detective show *Burke's Law*, sitcom *The Farmer's Daughter*, and boxing program *The Fight of the Week*. *Fight* would mark the end of boxing on network television. Weekly boxing telecasts had debuted on network TV in 1940 and had enjoyed a run on all networks at various times, but after September 11, 1964, weekly primetime boxing series would disappear entirely from network television. ABC introduced two variety hours that fall with *The Jimmy Dean Show* and the short lived *The Jerry Lewis Show*.

CBS's success with rural comedies *The Andy Griffith Show* and *The Beverly Hillbillies* had convinced the network that rural sitcoms would continue to be popular. As a result, CBS president James Aubrey added what some critics described as an "endless procession of country clones [of] the wildly successful *Beverly Hillbillies*" to the network's schedule. *Petticoat Junction*, from the same producers of *Hillbillies*, debuted on September 24. CBS also brought two show business veterans to weekly variety television that year with Judy Garland and Danny Kaye.

Westerns continued to be popular on television, and all three networks scheduled several Western series. NBC, in particular, retained a number of Westerns on its fall 1963 schedule: two returning series *The Virginian* and *Bonanza*, and new series *Temple Houston*, and *Redigo*. NBC's Western-heavy schedule would pay off, as *Bonanza* again became the second highest-rated TV series in the Nielsen ratings that year; *The Virginian* reached #17. CBS's *Gunsmoke* reached #20.

On July 17, 1963, NBC removed *The Robert Taylor Show* from the lineup due to conflicts between the producers and the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

On March 4, 1964, the American Broadcast Network (ABN) made it's debut, bringing the total number of networks to five.

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

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

This network TV season is also notable for being the season when the JFK Assassination took place on Friday, November 22, 1963. Many programs that were originally scheduled to air on that weekend on all three networks (and on the day of the assassination) on prime time had to be pushed back to the following weekend due to all three networks doing news coverage that would last until November 26.

This became a landmark TV season when The Beatles made their American debut on the **Ed Sullivan Show** on February 9, 1964. An estimated 73 million people tuned in to watch the Fab Four perform on the show, which made it one of the highest rated TV episodes in the history of prime time television.

## Sunday

Notes: *Mister Ed* aired on CBS from 6:30 to 7 p.m. *100 Grand* only lasted three weeks, and was replaced by *Laughs For Sale*, which ran until December 1963. On April 1964, *The Celebrity Game* was added to CBS' primetime lineup. *Empire* on ABC consisted of reruns of the 1962-63 NBC TV series. *Brenner* on CBS consisted of ten new episodes — the first produced for the show since 1959 — followed by reruns of episodes first aired in 1959 and 1961.

## Monday

 CBS
(Tied with *What's My Line?*)
(Tied with *Lassie* and *The Jack Benny Show*)

Note: Beginning in September, *CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite* (formerly *Walter Cronkite with the News*) and *The Huntley-Brinkley Report* expanded to a half-hour, airing weekdays at 6:30 p.m

## Tuesday

**Note:** The 1964 CBS summer series *High Adventure with Lowell Thomas* consisted of reruns of specials which had aired under that title during the late 1950s. In January 1964, *Redigo* was cancelled and replaced with *You Don't Say!*.

## Thursday

**Note:** *Ensign O'Toole* on ABC consisted of reruns of the 1962-1963 NBC situation comedy. On NBC, *The Robert Taylor Show* was supposed to air at 7:30-8:30, but it was never aired and replaced by *Temple Houston* on the schedule at the last minute.

## Friday

Note: *77 Sunset Strip* on ABC ended February 7, 1964, replaced the next week by *Destry*. On December 6, 1963, *The Farmer's Daughter* was put on another day and timeslot, and put *The Price Is Right* at 9:30pm.

## Saturday

 Winter
 ABN (Beginning March 7)
 CBS
 Follow-up
 Summer
 DuMont

Note: *ABC-TV Presents: The Hollywood Palace* debuted on January 4, 1964, replacing *The Jerry Lewis Show*.