The following is the1956–57 network television schedule for the three major English language commercialbroadcast networks in the United States. The schedule coversprimetime hours from September 1956 through March 1957. The schedule is followed by alist per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the1955–56 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 andCBS) scheduling more and morewesterns andadventure series duringprime time. In addition to its current stable of Westerns, which includedCheyenne,The Lone Ranger, andThe Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, ABC scheduled two new Western TV series:Broken Arrow andThe Adventures of Jim Bowie, while CBS addedDick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre to its line-up, which already includedGunsmoke andSergeant 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 defunctDuMont network in the fall of 1956". Accordingly, "the expansion into Sunday sports by CBS (andNBC) 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]

NBC, behind CBS in the networkNielsen ratings, hiredRobert 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 ahead 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.

New fall series are highlighted inbold, while shows ending their runs are highlighted initalics.

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

  Yellow indicates the programs in the top 10 for the season.

  Cyan indicates the programs in the top 20 for the season.

  Magenta indicates the programs in the top 30 for the season.

Notes: On NBC,Hallmark Hall of Fame (COLOR) aired as a monthly series, 7:30–9 p.m.

On CBS,Air Power, narrated byWalter 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.

On NBC,Producers' Showcase (COLOR) aired as a monthly series, from 8–9:30 p.m. On CBS, in some areas,Douglas Edwards with the News aired at 6:45 p.m.

On March 18, 1957, the popular Western seriesTales of Wells Fargo debuted, replacingStanley Monday nights on NBC at 8:30 PM EST.

From July 1 to September 23, 1957, the summer seriesRichard Diamond, Private Detective, starringDavid 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.

NOTE: On March 5, 1957, the suspense dramaPanic! replacedNoah's Ark, aJack Webb production, on the NBC schedule.

On NBC,Summer Playhouse was a summeranthology series made up of reruns of episodes of other anthology series.

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 in1952.

Note: On ABC,Compass andIndustries for America shared the 9:30–10:00 p.m. time slot from June to July 1957.Compass aired only in markets where the local affiliate did not choose to air local programming.Industries for America continued to air in the time slot until September 1957.

Note: On CBS,Mr. Adams and Eve premiered on January 4, 1957.

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 seriesEncore Theatre consisted of reruns of episodes ofFord Theatre.

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

• 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.

• United States primetime network television schedules
• 1956 in American television
• 1957 in American television

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