1957–58 United States network television schedule

The following is the 1957–58 network television schedule for the four major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1957 through March 1958. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1956–57 season.

As in previous seasons, both CBS and ABC continued to add Westerns to their schedule, filling prime time with as many "oaters" (as they were derisively called) as possible. In addition to several returning Westerns which the network retained on its fall 1957 schedule, ABC's new western series included Sugarfoot and Broken Arrow on Tuesday nights, Tombstone Territory on Wednesdays, Colt .45 on Fridays, and Maverick on Sundays.

ABC, third in the network Nielsen ratings, placed its new Western Maverick in a difficult time slot: Sunday night against two hit series: The Steve Allen Show on NBC, and The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS. ABC aired Maverick one half-hour prior to the Allen and Sullivan programs; the strategy was designed to "hook the audience before it fell into its usual viewing habits".

NBC, late to the Western format, also began plugging Westerns into its fall schedule. New NBC Western series debuting in the 1957–58 season included Wagon Train, The Restless Gun, and The Californians (though one NBC executive insisted The Californians is not a Western but a drama set in California in the 1850s).

Another programming shift occurred at NBC: the network's flagship news program, The Huntley-Brinkley Report, moved to the 7:15 PM weekday timeslot, for the first time going head to head against both ABC's and CBS's news programs. The face-off between the three networks' news programs would become the standard model for U.S. broadcast television; the three networks still air their network news programs against one another.

1958 saw a number of executive changes at the networks; these presidential shifts would affect the network television schedules. Oliver Treyz became the president of ABC on February 17, Louis G. Cowan became the president of CBS on March 12, and NBC programmer Robert Kintner became the president of NBC on July 11. Dr. Allen B. DuMont resigned as chairman of the board of the DuMont Broadcasting Corporation on May 13, and the name of the company was changed to Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation. According to Castleman and Podrazik (1982) the final DuMont Network program, Monday Night Fights aired for the last time on August 4, 1958, carried on only five stations nationwide. NBC's Kraft Television Theatre, which had debuted in 1947 and was the oldest program still left on television, was cancelled in spring 1958. It was the dawn of a new era in television; producer David Susskind, who had produced KTT at the end, would call 1958 "the year of the miserable drivel".

New fall series are highlighted in bold. Series ending are highlighted in italics

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


 * 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.

Sunday
Notes: On CBS, Air Power, narrated by Walter Cronkite, aired from 6:30 to 7:00 p.m. from May 4 to October 19, 1958. It consisted entirely of reruns of the series from the 1956–1957 season.

On NBC, the summer anthology series Decision consisted of a mix of unsold television pilots and reruns of episodes of The Ford Television Theatre, Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, and Screen Directors Playhouse.

Monday

 * In some areas, Douglas Edwards with the News and The Huntley-Brinkley Report aired at 6:45 p.m.

Tuesday
Confession, with host Jack Wyatt, began as a local program in the Dallas, Texas, market in early 1957. It premiered as a summer replacement on ABC on June 19, 1958, in advance of the 1958–59 television season.

Thursday
From January 2 to June 26, 1958, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, starring David Janssen, aired for a second season on the CBS Thursday schedule at 8 p.m. Eastern. It returned to the air for a third season from February to September 1959.

Friday

 * Saber of London, with Donald Gray in the lead role, entered its seventh season with a new name, its fourth, and a new network, NBC. It had run on ABC from 1951 to 1954 and 1955 to 1957 under three previous titles: Mystery Theater, Inspector Mark Saber&mdash;Homicide Detective, and The Vise. Saber of London was later replaced in the 7:30 Friday time slot on NBC on April 25, 1958, by the western series, Jefferson Drum, starring Jeff Richards.

Saturday
Notes: On NBC, Club Oasis, which had a different host for each episode, became Club Oasis with Spike Jones during the summer of 1958 when Spike Jones became the permanent host. Opening Night consisted of reruns of episodes of the ABC series Ford Theatre from the 1956–1957 season. The Polly Bergen Show and Club Oasis alternated in the time slot, each show airing every other week. During the summer of 1958, Opening Night and Club Oasis with Spike Jones alternated in the time slot, each show airing every other week. Turning Point was a dramatic anthology series consisting of two unsold pilots and reruns of episodes from other series. The Joseph Cotten Show consisted of reruns of the 1956–1957 series On Trial.

ABC
Returning Series
 * The Adventures of Jim Bowie
 * The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
 * The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
 * Bachelor Father
 * The Billy Graham Crusade
 * Bold Journey
 * Broken Arrow
 * Cheyenne
 * Circus Boy (Moved from NBC)
 * Confession
 * Country Music Jubilee
 * Date with the Angels
 * Disneyland
 * Famous Fights
 * John Daly and the News
 * Jubilee USA
 * Lawrence Welk's Dodge Dancing Party
 * Lawrence Welk's Top Tunes and New Talent
 * The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
 * Make Me Laugh
 * Midwestern Hayride
 * Navy Log
 * Open Hearing
 * Telephone Time
 * The Voice of Firestone
 * The Wednesday Night Fights
 * The West Point Story (moved from CBS)
 * You Asked For It
 * Zorro

New Series
 * All-American Football Game of the Week
 * American Odyssey *
 * The Andy Williams Show
 * Anybody Can Play/Anyone Can Play
 * The Betty White Show
 * Bowling Stars (moved from NBC as National Bowling Championships)
 * Campaign Roundup *
 * Colt .45
 * Confession
 * Cowtown Rodeo *
 * The Dick Clark Show *
 * The Frank Sinatra Show *
 * The Guy Mitchell Show
 * Harbourmaster
 * Keep It in the Family
 * Lawrence Welk's Plymouth Show
 * Love That Jill *
 * Make Me Laugh *
 * Maverick
 * The Mike Wallace Interview
 * O.S.S.
 * The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom
 * The Patrice Munsel Show
 * Polka Go-Round *
 * Scotland Yard
 * Sugarfoot
 * This is Music *
 * Tombstone Territory
 * The Walter Winchell File

Not returning from 1956–57:
 * Air Time '57
 * The Big Beat
 * The Billy Graham Crusade
 * Circus Time
 * Compass
 * Conflict
 * Crossroads
 * Deadline for Action
 * Focus
 * Industries for America
 * It's Polka Time
 * Kukla, Fran and Ollie
 * Life Is Worth Living
 * The Lone Ranger
 * Masquerade Party
 * Omnibus
 * Press Conference
 * The Ray Anthony Show
 * Treasure Hunt
 * The Vise (Moved to NBC and retitled Saber of London)

CBS
Returning Series
 * The $64,000 Challenge
 * The $64,000 Question
 * The Adventures of Robin Hood
 * Alfred Hitchcock Presents
 * Armstrong Circle Theatre
 * Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts
 * Climax!
 * The Danny Thomas Show
 * December Bride
 * Douglas Edwards and the News
 * The Ed Sullivan Show
 * The Gale Storm Show
 * General Electric Theatre
 * The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
 * Gunsmoke
 * I Love Lucy
 * I've Got a Secret
 * The Jack Benny Show
 * Lassie
 * Masquerade Party
 * The Millionaire
 * Mr. Adams and Eve
 * Person to Person
 * The Phil Silvers Show
 * Playhouse 90
 * The Red Skelton Show
 * Richard Diamond, Private Detective
 * Schlitz Playhouse
 * Sergeant Preston of the Yukon
 * Shower of Stars
 * The Spike Jones Show
 * Studio One in Hollywood
 * To Tell the Truth
 * The United States Steel Hour
 * What's My Line
 * Zane Grey Theatre

New Series
 * Assignment: Foreign Legion *
 * Bachelor Father
 * Bid 'n' Buy *
 * The Big Record
 * The Boing Boing Show
 * Climax!
 * Dick and the Duchess
 * DuPont Show of the Month
 * The Eve Arden Show
 * Frontier Justice *
 * Have Gun — Will Travel
 * High Adventure
 * Leave It to Beaver
 * Perry Mason
 * Shower of Stars
 * Top Dollar *
 * Trackdown
 * The Twentieth Century

Not returning from 1956–57:
 * The 20th Century Fox Hour
 * The Bob Cummings Show (moved to NBC)
 * The Brothers
 * Dr. Christian
 * The Garry Moore Show
 * Giant Step
 * The Herb Shriner Show
 * Hey, Jeannie! (Moved to first-run syndication)
 * High Finance
 * My Friend Flicka
 * Pick the Winner
 * Private Secretary
 * The Vincent Lopez Show
 * You're On Your Own

Dumont
Not returning from 1956–57:
 * Ethel Barrymore Theatre

NBC
Returning Series
 * The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
 * American Profile
 * The Art Linkletter Show
 * Bachelor Father
 * The Bell Telephone Hour
 * The Bob Cummings Show (moved from CBS)
 * Chet Huntley Reporting
 * Circus Boy
 * The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
 * Dragnet
 * Father Knows Best
 * The Ford Show
 * The George Gobel Show
 * Gillette Cavalcade of Sports
 * Goodyear Theatre
 * The Huntley–Brinkley Report
 * It's a Great Life
 * The Jack Benny Program
 * Kraft Television Theatre
 * The Lux Show Starring Rosemary Clooney
 * The Life of Riley
 * Meet McGraw
 * The Nat King Cole Show
 * Noah's Ark
 * Omnibus (moved from ABC)
 * The Original Amateur Hour
 * People Are Funny
 * The People's Choice
 * The Perry Como Show
 * Red Barber's Corner
 * Richard Diamond, Private Detective
 * Saber of London (Moved from ABC, formerly known as The Vise)
 * The Steve Allen Show
 * Tales of Wells Fargo
 * This Is Your Life
 * Twenty-One
 * Wide Wide World
 * You Bet Your Life
 * Your Hit Parade

New Series
 * The Big Game *
 * The Bob Crosby Show *
 * The Californians
 * Club Oasis with Spike Jones *
 * Colgate Theatre *
 * The Court of Last Resort
 * Decision *
 * Dotto
 * Dragnet
 * The Eddie Fisher Show
 * The Gisele MacKenzie Show
 * The Investigator *
 * It Could Be You *
 * The Jane Wyman Show
 * Jefferson Drum *
 * The Lux Show Starring Rosemary Clooney
 * M Squad
 * Music Bingo *
 * No Warning!
 * The Price Is Right
 * The Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé Show
 * The Subject is Jazz *
 * Suspicion
 * The Thin Man
 * This is Music *
 * Tic-Tac-Dough
 * Turn of Fate (Alcoa Theatre)
 * Wagon Train
 * What's It For?

Not returning from 1956–57:
 * The Adventures of Hiram Holiday
 * The Andy Williams and June Valli Show
 * The Big Moment
 * The Big Story
 * Blondie
 * Break the $250,000 Bank
 * Caesar's Hour
 * Circus Boy (Moved to ABC)
 * Dollar a Second
 * The Jonathan Winters Show
 * The Joseph Cotten Show
 * The Julius LaRosa Show
 * The Kaiser Aluminum Hour
 * National Bowling Championships (moved to ABC as Bowling Stars)
 * Panic!
 * Producer's Showcase
 * Robert Montgomery Presents
 * Saturday Color Carnival
 * Stanley
 * Summer Playhouse
 * Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers
 * The Web
 * Wire Service

NTA
New series
 * How to Marry a Millionaire
 * Man Without a Gun
 * Premiere Performance

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