The following is the1960–61 network television schedule for the three major English language commercialbroadcast networks in the United States. The schedule coversprimetime hours from September 1960 through March 1961. The schedule is followed by alist per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the1959–60 season.

New fall series are highlighted inbold. All times are Eastern and Pacific.

Each of the 30 highest-rated shows is listed with its rank and rating as determined byNielsen Media Research.^[1]

  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.

Note: ABC aired the interimThe Walter Winchell Show at 10:30 p.m. from early October until early November.

Notes: On CBS,Presidential Countdown aired as an interim series, 10:30–11 p.m. in September and October until the November 8th election. In some areas,Douglas Edwards with the News andThe Huntley-Brinkley Report aired at 6:45 p.m.Peter Gunn moved from NBC to ABC in the fall of 1960. The episodes ofBrenner that ran on CBS in the summer of 1961 consisted of two previously unaired episodes produced in 1959 and reruns of episodes broadcast during the summer of 1959.

NOTES: This is the first broadcast ofThe Bugs Bunny Show.

OnCBS,Comedy Spotlight consisted of reruns of episodes ofGeneral Electric Theater.

* formerlyYou Bet Your Life

Note: On NBC,The Campaign and the Candidates aired as an interim series, 9:30–10:30 p.m., from mid-September until the November 8 election.

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

Between January and June 1960, the1960 Writers Guild of America strike took place, affecting the fall schedule. The networks had numerous holes, which were mostly filled with unscripted material, some of which included political programs in anticipation of the forthcoming1960 United States presidential election. CBS gave the unprecedented step of showing episodes from previous seasons of popular series. Some timeslots however (particularly that of 10:30-11) were ceded to stations.

On May 9, 1961, at the annual convention of theNational Association of Broadcasters newFederal Communications Commission chairmanNewton Minow delivered "Television and the Public Interest," a scathing speech directed at the "procession of game shows, violence, audience participation shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, Western badmen, Western goodmen, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and cartoons, and, endlessly, commercials, many screaming, cajoling, and offending, and, most of all, boredom [...] Is there one network president in this room who claims he can't do better?"^[2] Minow called TV a "vast wasteland"; the phrase was picked up by the press and resulted in bad publicity for the networks and for the television industry as a whole. According to television historians Castleman and Podrazik (1982), the networks were in a bind, though: they had already purchased their fall 1961 programs and had locked in their 1961–62 schedules. "The best the networks could do was slot a few more public affairs shows, paint rosy pictures for 1962–63, and prepare to endure the barrage of criticism they felt certain would greet the new season."^[2]

• Castleman, H. & Podrazik, W. (1982).Watching TV: Four Decades of American Television. New York: McGraw-Hill. 314 pp.
• McNeil, Alex.Total Television. Fourth edition. New York: Penguin Books.ISBN 0-14-024916-8.
• Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (2007).The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows (9th ed.). New York: Ballantine.ISBN 0-345-31864-1.

• United States primetime network television schedules
• 1960 in American television
• 1961 in American television

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from March 2025