The following is the 1958–59 network television schedule for the three major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1958 through March 1959. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1957–58 season.

According to television historians Castleman and Podrazik (1982), the networks' schedules were thrown "into complete chaos" by the quiz show scandals that erupted during the later months of 1958. At first only one series, Dotto, was implicated in the game-fixing charges. Ed Hilgemeier, a contestant on the program, filed a complaint with the show's sponsor, Colgate-Palmolive. Colgate withdrew its sponsorship of the Tuesday evening (on NBC) and daytime (on CBS) versions of Dotto halfway through the summer, and the show did not appear on either network's fall 1958 schedule.

The $64,000 Challenge (on CBS) similarly did not appear that fall, and by November, The $64,000 Question (also CBS) and Twenty-One (NBC) were also removed from the network schedules, amidst accusations of game rigging. NBC's primetime Tic-Tac-Dough lasted through December. According to Castleman and Podrazik, "NBC and CBS were adamant in their own statements of innocence" since they only aired, and did not produce, the rigged series. They also claimed the cancellations were due to low ratings, not because of game-fixing accusations. ABC had few game shows on its 1958–59 schedule, and "eagerly pointed out" its innocence in the quiz show mess. The network affirmed its commitment to Westerns, which could not be rigged.

Western TV series continued to be popular with audiences, and for the first time, the three highest-rated programs on television, CBS's Gunsmoke and, Have Gun – Will Travel alongside NBC's Wagon Train were all Westerns. ABC's new series, The Rifleman even hit #4, quite a feat for a network which had had no series in the top 30 five years earlier.

Although ABC, CBS, and NBC remained the largest television networks in the United States, they were not the only companies operating television networks during this era. In May 1958, Ely Landau, president of the NTA Film Network, announced an NTA Film Network schedule for the 1958–59 season. The schedule consisted of three and a half hours of programs on Friday nights: Man Without a Gun at 7:30, followed by This is Alice at 8:00, then How to Marry a Millionaire at 8:30, and Premiere Performance, a package of films from the network's minority shareholder 20th Century Fox, from 9:00 to 11:00. Although the NTA Film Network had over 100 affiliate stations, only 17 agreed to air the Friday night schedule "in pattern" (during the scheduled time). Other NTA Network affiliates carried the network's programs whenever they had available slots, and outside of Gun, Alice, Millionaire and Performance, NTA's programs were aired whenever the local stations preferred. National Educational Television (NET), the predecessor to PBS founded in 1952, also allowed its affiliate stations to air programs out of pattern.

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

Legend

Schedule New series are highlighted in bold. All times are U.S. Eastern and Pacific time (except for some live sports or events). Subtract one hour for Central and Mountain times.

Sunday Network7:00 p.m.7:30 p.m.8:00 p.m.8:30 p.m.9:00 p.m.9:30 p.m.10:00 p.m.10:30 p.m. ABCFall You Asked For It Maverick (6/30.4) The Lawman (27/26.0) Colt .45 Encounter NovemberWinter Deadline for Action CBS Fall Lassie The Jack Benny Program / Bachelor Father The Ed Sullivan Show General Electric Theater (25/26.7)(Tied with Name That Tune) Alfred Hitchcock Presents (24/26.8) The $64,000 Question What's My Line?November Keep TalkingFebruary Richard Diamond, Private Detective June That's My Boy NBC Fall Saber of London Northwest Passage (In COLOR) The Steve Allen Show (In COLOR) The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (In COLOR) The Loretta Young Show Winter The Music Shop (In COLOR) Mid-springThe Steve Allen Show (In COLOR) Pete Kelly's BluesSummer Midwestern Hayride (In COLOR) Suspicion Dragnet The Chevy Show (In COLOR)

Notes: The Canadian-produced anthology series Encounter aired only five episodes on ABC before cancellation. Deadline for Action on ABC consisted of reruns of episodes that starred Dane Clark of the 1956–1957 series Wire Service. From February to September 1959, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, starring David Janssen, aired for a third and final season on CBS, on the Sunday schedule at 10 p.m. Eastern. It switched to NBC and returned to the air for a fourth season during the 1959–60 television season.

Monday Network7:00 p.m.7:30 p.m.8:00 p.m.8:30 p.m.9:00 p.m.9:30 p.m.10:00 p.m.10:30 p.m. ABC Fall Local programming (7:00) / Polka Go-Round Bold Journey The Voice of Firestone Anybody Can Play This is Music / Local programming (10:45) December Tales of the Texas Rangers Polka Go-Round The Patti Page Oldsmobile Show Late winter Dr. I.Q. Spring This is Music Summer Polka Go-Round Pantomime QuizTop Pro Golf CBSFall Local programming (7:00) / Name That Tune (25/26.7)(Tied with General Electric Theater) The Texan (15/28.2) Father Knows Best (13/28.3)(Tied with Zane Grey Theater) The Danny Thomas Show (5/32.8) The Ann Sothern Show (21/27.0)(Tied with Sugarfoot and The Perry Como Show) Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse Summer Frontier Justice The Joseph Cotten Show NBCFall Local programming (7:00) / Tic-Tac-Dough (In COLOR) The Restless Gun Tales of Wells Fargo (7/30.2) Peter Gunn (16/28.0)(Tied with Wanted: Dead or Alive) Alcoa Theatre / Goodyear Television Playhouse The Arthur Murray Party (In COLOR) Winter Buckskin

Note: The Westinghouse Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show aired once a month at 10–11 p.m. Summer reruns aired as The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.

Tuesday Network7:00 p.m.7:30 p.m.8:00 p.m.8:30 p.m.9:00 p.m.9:30 p.m.10:00 p.m.10:30 p.m. ABC Fall Local programming (7:00) / The Cheyenne Show: Bronco (18/27.9) / Sugarfoot (21/27.0)(Tied with The Ann Sothern Show and The Perry Como Show) The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (10/29.1) The Rifleman (4/33.1) Naked City Confession / Local programming (10:45) Winter Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond CBS Fall Local programming (7:00) / Stars in Action Keep Talking To Tell the Truth The Arthur Godfrey Show The Red Skelton Show (In COLOR) (12/28.5) The Garry Moore Show Mid-fall The Invisible Man Summer Mystery Playhouse Peck's Bad Girl The Andy Williams Show NBC Fall Local programming (7:00) / Dragnet The George Gobel Show (In COLOR) / The Eddie Fisher Show (In COLOR) Colgate Theatre The Bob Cummings Show The Californians Late fall The George Burns ShowSummer Northwest Passage (In COLOR) Steve Canyon The Jimmie Rodgers Show (In COLOR) Fanfare The David Niven Show

Notes: Bronco was a replacement for Cheyenne, which had temporarily ceased production as Clint Walker walked out of the series. Confession, with host Jack Wyatt, which had begun as a local program in the Dallas, Texas, market in early 1957, premiered as a summer replacement on ABC on June 19, 1958, in advance of the 1958–59 television season. It ended on January 13, 1959, and was succeeded on January 20, 1959, by the paranormal anthology series Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond. Stars in Action consisted of repeats of assorted anthology series. Number Please was supposed to premiere on CBS on September 30, 1958, but it was pulled at the last minute.

Wednesday Network7:00 p.m.7:30 p.m.8:00 p.m.8:30 p.m.9:00 p.m.9:30 p.m.10:00 p.m.10:30 p.m. ABC Fall Local programming (7:00) / Lawrence Welk's Plymouth Show The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet The Donna Reed Show The Patti Page Oldsmobile Show The Wednesday Night Fights December Accused Summer Music For a Summer Night CBS Fall Local programming (7:00) / Twilight Theater Pursuit The Millionaire (30/25.6) I've Got a Secret (9/29.8) Armstrong Circle Theatre / The United States Steel Hour Summer Keep Talking Trackdown / The United States Steel Hour NBCFall Local programming (7:00) / Wagon Train (2/36.1) The Price is Right (In COLOR) (11/28.6) Milton Berle starring in the Kraft Music Hall (In COLOR) Bat Masterson This Is Your Life (29/25.8) Summer The Dave King Show (In COLOR)

Notes: Twilight Theater consisted of reruns of assorted anthology series. On CBS, Armstrong by Request aired in place of Armstrong Circle Theatre from July 8 to September 16, 1959, alternating with United States Steel Hour, consisting of reruns of six documentary dramas which originally had aired on Armstrong Circle Theatre during the 1958–1959 season.

Thursday Network7:00 p.m.7:30 p.m.8:00 p.m.8:30 p.m.9:00 p.m.9:30 p.m.10:00 p.m.10:30 p.m. ABCFall Local programming (7:00) / Leave It to Beaver Zorro The Real McCoys (8/30.1) The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom The Rough Riders Traffic Court / Local programming (10:45)Summer Leave It to Beaver CBS Fall Local programming (7:00) / I Love Lucy December Bride Yancy Derringer Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre (13/28.3)(Tied with Father Knows Best) Playhouse 90 Summer The Invisible Man NBC Fall Local programming (7:00) / Jefferson Drum The Ed Wynn Show Twenty-One Behind Closed Doors The Ford Show (20/27.2) (In COLOR) You Bet Your Life Masquerade Party (In COLOR) October Concentration November It Could Be YouWinter Steve Canyon Spring The Lawless Years Oldsmobile Music Theatre Laugh Line Summer Too Young to Go Steady 21 Beacon Street NTA Jazz Party

The 90-minute series Jazz Party aired from May 8 to December 25, 1958, on WNTA-TV Thursdays at 9pm ET and was offered to NTA Film Network affiliates during the 1958 fall season. It was a successor to a similar program on the NYC DuMont station WABD, Art Ford's Greenwich Village Party, as the DuMont Network was ceasing operations.

Friday Network7:00 p.m.7:30 p.m.8:00 p.m.8:30 p.m.9:00 p.m.9:30 p.m.10:00 p.m.10:30 p.m. ABC Fall Local programming (7:00) / The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin Walt Disney Presents Man with a Camera 77 Sunset Strip / Local programming (10:45) MarchTombstone Territory CBS Fall Local programming (7:00) / Your Hit Parade Trackdown The Jackie Gleason Show The Phil Silvers Show Schlitz Playhouse / Lux Playhouse The Lineup Person to Person Winter Rawhide (28/25.9)Summer Rawhide I Love Lucy The Original Amateur Hour NBCFall Local programming (7:00) / Buckskin The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen (In COLOR) M Squad The Thin Man Gillette Cavalcade of Sports (10:00) / Fight Beat (10:45)Winter Northwest Passage (In COLOR) Gillette Cavalcade of Sports (10:00) / Phillies Jackpot Bowling (10:45)Summer Pete Kelly's Blues Colgate Western Theatre NTA Man Without a Gun This is Alice How to Marry a Millionaire Premiere Performance

Notes:

On January 9, Phillies Jackpot Bowling premiered in the 10:45-11 p.m. spot on NBC. On March 13 Tombstone Territory replaced Man with a Camera on the ABC schedule. On NBC, the summer anthology series Colgate Western Theatre consisted of repeats of Western dramas originally aired on other anthology series, primarily General Electric Theatre and Schlitz Playhouse.

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