1950 in American television

List of years in American television:
1949–50 United States network television schedule
1950–51 United States network television schedule
List of American television programs currently in production

This is a list of American television-related events in 1950.

Events

Date Event Ref.
May The television production company Desilu Productions was founded by Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball.
October 10 CBS' color television system is approved by the Federal Communications Commission. This approval goes in effect on November 20.

Other information

One million American households were reported to own a television set in 1950.

Television programs

Debuts

Date Debut Network Notes/Ref.
January 4 Abe Burrows' Almanac CBS
January 7 The Ken Murray Show CBS
January 7[1] Rocky King, Detective DuMont
January 13 Life Begins at Eighty NBC
January 17 Cavalcade of Bands DuMont
January 28 Dinner Date DuMont
January 30 Robert Montgomery Presents NBC
February 2 What's My Line? CBS
February 25 Your Show of Shows NBC
March 9 Space Patrol ABC
March 19 Windy City Jamboree DuMont
March 23 Beat the Clock CBS
April Adventure Playhouse DuMont
April Screen Mystery DuMont
April 5 Joey Faye's Frolics CBS
April 6 The Alan Young Show CBS
April 9 Starlit Time DuMont
April 15[2][3] Buck Rogers ABC
April 19 Stage 13 CBS
April 29 The Trap CBS
May Frontier Theatre DuMont
May 21 Mama Rosa ABC
May 29 Broadway Open House NBC
June 6[4] Armstrong Circle Theatre NBC
June 17 Hawkins Falls NBC
July 1 Big Top CBS
July 3 Visit with the Armed Forces DuMont
July 3 The Hazel Scott Show DuMont
July 4 The Joan Edwards Show DuMont
July 4 Sure as Fate CBS
July 7 Detective's Wife CBS
July 10 Your Hit Parade NBC Migrated from radio
July 11[5] The Web CBS
July 23[6] The Gene Autry Show CBS
July 29 Country Style DuMont
August 1[7] Crusader Rabbit First-run Syndication
August 6 Rhythm Rodeo DuMont
August 27 Hold That Camera DuMont
September 2 Star Time DuMont
The Twinkle in Your Eye DuMont
Chez Paree Revue DuMont
September 5 The Cisco Kid First-run Syndication
September 6 Stars Over Hollywood NBC First television series produced by Revue Productions
September 7 Truth or Consequences CBS Migrated from radio
September 10 The Colgate Comedy Hour NBC
September 11[8] The Adventures of Paddy the Pelican ABC
September 11 Dick Tracy ABC
September 11[9] Treasury Men in Action ABC
September 18 The Speidel Show NBC Later retitled The Paul Winchell Show
September 21 [10] The Nash Airflyte Theater CBS
September 26[11] Danger CBS
October Eloise Salutes the Stars DuMont
October 2[12] Lux Video Theatre CBS
October 2 The Susan Raye Show DuMont
October 2 Tom Corbett, Space Cadet CBS
October 3 Beulah ABC
October 3[13] The Billy Rose Show ABC
October 4[14] Four Star Revue NBC
October 4 You Bet Your Life NBC Migration from radio
October 5 Big Town CBS Migration from radio
October 6 Pulitzer Prize Playhouse ABC
October 7 Saturday Night at the Garden DuMont
October 7 The Frank Sinatra Show CBS
October 10[15][16] Prudential Family Playhouse CBS
October 12 [17]: 280–281  The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show CBS Migration from radio
October 15[18] The Gabby Hayes Show NBC
October 18[19] Somerset Maugham TV Theatre CBS
October 18 The Most Important People DuMont
October 19 The Adventures of Ellery Queen DuMont
October 21 The Stu Erwin Show ABC
October 22 Our Secret Weapon: The Truth DuMont
October 28[20] The Jack Benny Program CBS Migration from radio
November 4 Your Story Theatre DuMont
December 4 The First Hundred Years CBS
December 10 The Bigelow Theatre CBS
December 22 Charlie Wild, Private Detective CBS
December 29 You Asked for It DuMont

Change in Network Affiliation

Show Moved from Moved to
The Arthur Murray Party ABC Dumont
The Johns Hopkins Science Review CBS Dumont
The Bigelow Theatre CBS Dumont

Ending this year

Date Show Network Debut Notes
January 2 And Everything Nice DuMont March 15, 1949
January 3 The Sonny Kendis Show CBS April 18, 1949
January 10 The O'Neills DuMont September 6, 1949
January 26 The Front Page CBS September 29, 1949
February 4 Spin the Picture DuMont June 4, 1949
March 11 Mary Kay and Johnny NBC 1947 Series began on DuMont
March 25 Television Theatre CBS June 2, 1950
March 29 Abe Burrows' Almanac CBS January 4, 1950
March 30 The Black Robe NBC May 18, 1949
April 9 Bowling Headliners DuMont December 26, 1948 (on ABC)
April 12 Joey Faye's Frolics CBS April 5, 1950
April 21 The Little Revue ABC September 4, 1949
May Adventure Playhouse DuMont April 1950
May 22 Newsweek Views the News DuMont November 7, 1948
June 11 Mama Rosa ABC May 21, 1950
June 14 Easy Aces DuMont December 14, 1949
June 18 Windy City Jamboree DuMont March 19, 1950
June 23 Actors Studio CBS September 26, 1948
June 24 The Trap CBS April 29, 1950
June 25 Colgate Theatre NBC January 3, 1949
June 26 The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre NBC September 27, 1948
June 28 Stage 13 CBS April 19, 1950
July 4 The Ed Wynn Show CBS September 22, 1949
August 11 People's Platform CBS August 17, 1948
September Frontier Theatre DuMont May
September 29 The Hazel Scott Show DuMont July 3, 1950
September 29 Detective's Wife CBS July 7, 1950
October 8 Think Fast ABC March 26, 1949
October 13 The Adventures of Paddy the Pelican ABC September 11, 1950
October 15 Believe It or Not! DuMont March 1, 1949
October 23 Mysteries of Chinatown ABC December 4, 1949
October 24 The Joan Edwards Show DuMont July 4, 1950
November 19 Starlit Time DuMont April 9, 1950
November 20 The Susan Raye Show DuMont October 2, 1950
November 25 Country Style DuMont July 29, 1950
December 1 TV Shopper DuMont November 1, 1948
December 15 Hold That Camera DuMont August 27, 1950
Unknown date Cartoon Teletales ABC 1948
The Vincent Lopez Show DuMont March 7, 1949 Returned in 1957 on CBS
Amateur Boxing Fight Club DuMont September 1949
Boxing from Sunnyside Gardens DuMont September 1949
You Are an Artist NBC May 13, 1946
Your Witness ABC September 19, 1949
Chez Paree Revue DuMont September 2, 1950

Television stations

Station launches

Date City of License/Market Station Channel Affiliation Notes/Ref.
February 15 San Antonio, Texas KEYL 5 CBS (primary)
DuMont/Paramount/ABC (secondary) 		[21]
Syracuse, New York WSYR-TV 3 NBC
February 21 Ames/Des Moines, Iowa WOI-TV 5 CBS (primary)
NBC (secondary)
March 27 Louisville, Kentucky WHAS-TV 9
(now 11) 		CBS (primary)
ABC (secondary) 		[22]
April 2 Norfolk, Virginia WTAR-TV 3 NBC (primary)
ABC/DuMont (secondary)
May 1 Lansing, Michigan WJIM-TV 6 CBS (primary)
NBC/ABC/DuMont (secondary)
June 1 Kalamazoo/Grand Rapids, Michigan WKZO-TV 3
July 1 Rock Island/Moline, Illinois
Bettendorf/Davenport, Iowa 		WHBF-TV 4 CBS (primary)
NBC/DuMont (secondary)
September 30 Nashville, Tennessee WSM-TV 4 NBC (primary)
ABC/CBS/DuMont (secondary)

Network affiliation changes

Date City of license/Market Station Channel Old affiliation New affiliation Notes/Ref.
Unknown date Dallas, Texas KBTV 8 DuMont NBC

Births

Main article: 1950 in television § Births

Deaths

Main article: 1950 in television § Deaths

References

  1. ^ Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946 – Present (Seventh Edition), Ballantine Books, 1999, page 866.
  2. ^ Garyn G. Roberts, in Ray B. Browne and Pat Browne (.ed) The Guide To United States Popular Culture. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 2001. ISBN 0879728213 (p.120)
  3. ^ "Buck Rogers -". Buck Rogers. Archived from the original on February 4, 2005. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  4. ^ McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television (4th ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. pp. 56–57. ISBN 0-14-02-4916-8.
  5. ^ The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946–Present. Ballantine Books. 2003. p. 1286. ISBN 0-345-45542-8.
  6. ^ Woolery, George W. (1985). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part II: Live, Film, and Tape Series. The Scarecrow Press. pp. 189–192. ISBN 0-8108-1651-2.
  7. ^ "Debunking The Myths: Crusader Rabbit and Walt Disney" Cartoon Research
  8. ^ "Paddy the Pelican". TV Acres. Archived from the original on April 26, 2015. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  9. ^ "Debuts, Highlights, Changes (Continued)". Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index. September 10, 1950. p. 2. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
  10. ^ McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television (4th ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. p. 20. ISBN 0-14-02-4916-8.
  11. ^ McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present (4th ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. p. 196. ISBN 0-14-02-4916-8.
  12. ^ Lux Video Theatre (PDF). Radio-TV Mirror. October 1951. pp. 46–49. Retrieved 29 January 2012. (PDF)
  13. ^ Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle F. (2009). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present. Random House Publishing Group. p. 147. ISBN 9780307483201. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  14. ^ "Four Star/All Star Revue". www.classictvinfo.com. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  15. ^ Kear, Lynn; Rossman, John (2008). The Complete Kay Francis Career Record: All Film, Stage, Radio and Television Appearances. McFarland. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-786-43198-4.
  16. ^ "CBS-TV Drama Folds, Licked By M. Berle". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. February 24, 1951. p. 4. ISSN 0006-2510.
  17. ^ Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (June 24, 2009). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present (Ninth ed.). New York: Ballantine Books. p. 526. ISBN 978-0-3074-8320-1. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  18. ^ Wilborn Hampton, Horton Foote: America’s Storyteller, page 106 - 107, Free Press, 2009
  19. ^ Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle F. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present. Random House Publishing Group. p. 1269. ISBN 978-0-307-48320-1. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  20. ^ Green, David B. (2014-10-28). "This Day in Jewish History // 1950: Jack Benny Takes Act to TV, Grumbling All the Way". Haaretz.
  21. ^ "Hollywood shows on KEYL". San Antonio Light. February 19, 1950. p. 54.
  22. ^ "WHAS-TV bows; second Louisville outlet." Broadcasting – Telecasting. March 27, 1950, pg. 68.