The following is the 1963–64 network television schedule for the three 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.[1] ABC also completely revamped its Friday night schedule, with two new series: detective show Burke's Law, sitcom The Farmer's Daughter, and returning 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.[1] ABC introduced two variety hours that fall with The Jimmy Dean Show and the short lived The Jerry Lewis Show.[2]: 697, 702
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.[1] CBS also brought two show business veterans to weekly variety television that year with The Judy Garland Show and The Danny Kaye Show.
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.[2] However, some Westerns from the previous season were cancelled, some examples are Laramie and Empire, which due to low ratings.
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.
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.[2]
Two landmark events occurred during this network TV season. The first was the JFK assassination, which took place on Friday, November 22, 1963. Many programs that were originally scheduled to air in prime time on that weekend had to be pushed back to the following weekend due to all three networks broadcasting news coverage that would last until November 26.[citation needed]
The second event was the live American debut of The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964. An estimated 73 million people tuned in to watch the Fab Four perform on the program, which made it one of the highest rated TV episodes in the history of prime-time television.[citation needed]
Yellow indicates the top 10 programs for the season.
Cyan indicates the top 20 programs for the season.
Magenta indicates the top 30 programs for the season.
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. In 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.
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!.
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.
^ abcHighest-rated series is based on the annual top-rated programs list compiled by Nielsen Media Research and reported in: Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (2007). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows (9th ed.). New York: Ballantine. ISBN978-0-345-49773-4.
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. ISBN0-14-024916-8.
Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (1984). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows (3rd ed.). New York: Ballantine. ISBN0-345-31864-1.