What's on TV? Saturday, March 9, 1957

Have you heard the one about the man who never missed a day of work until one day when he fell into a routine? I'm here all week, folks!

Seriously, I am a creature of habit. Even when it comes to watching classic television; we never binge-watch, but stick to one episode a week, if possible on the night of the week when the program generally aired. This might explain why this week's TV listing is running on Wednesday, rather than Monday, for if you looked in at the start of the week (and if you didn't, why not?), you know that was the day of my entry in the TV Sidekick Blogathon. Now, I could have simply posted this later in the day, or on Tuesday, but holding to that Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule is important. It's a routine I've become comfortable with over the years, and I try to keep to it whenever possible. This week it was possible, and so you're getting Monday's edition today. Think of it as a special Wednesday version.

	KRLD, Channel 4 (Dallas) (CBS)
	Morning
	08:00a	Johnny Jupiter
	08:30a	Captain Kangaroo
	09:30a	SMU College of the Air
	10:30a	Texas Rangers
	11:00a	Mighty Mouse
	11:30a	Buffalo Bill, Jr.
	Afternoon
	12:00p	The Lone Ranger
	12:30p	Sky King
	01:00p	NHL Hockey – Detroit Red Wings vs. Boston Bruins (last show of the series)
	03:15p	Open Door
	03:30p	Jill Corey
	03:45p	TV Bible School
	04:00p	Cartoons
	04:15p	Questions That Count
	04:30p	Boston Blackie
	05:00p	Famous Playhouse
	05:30p	Big “D” Jamboree
	Evening
	06:00p	Death Valley Days
	06:30p	The Buccaneers
	07:00p	Jackie Gleason
	08:00p	Oh! Susanna
	08:30p	Hey, Jeannie!
	09:00p	Gunsmoke
	09:30p	You’re On Your Own
	10:00p	The Brothers
	10:30p	The Gourmet
	11:00p	Wrestling

Johnny Jupiter is a kids' program I hadn't heard of before, which was as good a reason as any for me to look at this late-'50s Saturday lineup. It has a checkered history, running first on DuMont and then ABC before going off the air in 1954. The always-reliable Wikipedia mentions that the ABC episodes survived, and so I suspect they may have gone into syndication, explaining why it's showing up here. Either that, or KRLD was just picking up the transmissions as they were ricocheting off of the planet Jupiter. What you see here is apparently from DuMont.

	WBAP, Channel 5 (Fort Worth) (NBC)
	Morning
	08:30a	Let’s Teach
	09:00a	Howdy Doody
	09:30a	Captain Midnight
	10:00a	Fury
	10:30a	Bobby Peters
	11:00a	Six Gun Theater – “Colorado Serenade”
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Farm News
	12:30p	Florian Zabach
	01:00p	This is the Answer
	01:30p	NBA Basketball ­– Fort Wayne Pistons vs. St. Louis Hawks
	03:30p	Saturday Matinee – “Kit Carson”
	05:30p	Frankie Laine
	05:55p	Weather (Gene Reynolds)
	Evening
	06:00p	Kit Carson
	06:30p	All Star Theater
	07:00p	Perry Como (guests Ethel Merman, the Mills Brothers) (color)
	08:00p	Caesar's Hour
	09:00p	George Gobel (guests Jack Carson, Erin O’Brien)
	09:30p	Your Hit Parade
	10:00p	Texas News
	10:15p	Weather
	10:25p	News (Jack Nunnery)
	10:30p	Movietime U.S.A. – “The Saint in Palm Springs”

The prime time lineup would have been considered a strong one. We have Perry Como, with one of the rare color broadcasts of the time (on NBC, of course), followed by Caesar's Hour, Sid Caesar's follow-up to the hit Your Show of Shows. Caesar's Hour never achieved quite the heights of  the earlier show, though. Then there's George Gobel's variety show, which at one time was one of the top-rated programs on television, and ran from 1954 to 1960.

	KCEN, Channel 6 (Temple) (NBC)
	Morning
	08:55a	Program Previews
	09:00a	Howdy Doody
	09:30a	I Married Joan
	10:00a	Fury
	10:30a	Cowboy Theater
	11:30a	Watch Mr. Wizard
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Fun and Non-Such
	12:30p	Herald of Truth
	01:00p	Navy Diary
	01:30p	NBA Basketball ­– Fort Wayne Pistons vs. St. Louis Hawks
	03:30p	Family Theater
	04:00p	Workshop for Living
	04:20p	Movie – “Rogue of the Plains”
	05:20p	News, Weather, Sports (local)
	05:35p	Senator Jarrad Secrest
	05:45p	Safety Film
	Evening
	06:00p	Bluebonnet Barn Dance
	06:30p	People Are Funny
	07:00p	Perry Como (guests Ethel Merman, the Mills Brothers) (color)
	08:00p	Sid Caesar
	09:00p	George Gobel (guests Jack Carson, Erin O’Brien)
	09:30p	Your Hit Parade
	10:00p	News (Ted Lumpkin)
	10:10p	Weather (Jim Pridgeon)
	10:15p	Sports (Ted Lumpkin)
	10:20p	Late Date Theater – “Woman in His Life”

You're not seeing things on that NBA Game of the Week. The Detroit Pistons did at one point, in fact, call Fort Wayne, Indiana home. In fact, up until 1948, they were called the Zollner Pistons after their owner, Fred Zollner. This is their last season in Fort Wayne though; next year they move to Detroit, which they've called home ever since.  Their opponents are the St. Louis Hawks, who started out representing the Tri-Cities of Moline and Rock Island, Illinois, and Davenport, Iowa, before moving to Milwaukee, and then St. Louis, where they'll win the NBA championship next season. In 1968 they'll move once again, this time to Atlanta.

	WFAA, Channel 8 (Dallas) (NBC, ABC)
	Morning
	08:00a	Agriculture on Parade
	08:15a	Cowboy Classics – “Courageous Avenger”
	09:15a	Off to Adventure (color)
	09:30a	I Married Joan
	10:00a	His Honor Homer Bell
	10:30a	Cowboy Theater
	11:30a	Tales of the Frontier
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Quiz ‘em on TV
	01:00p	Foreign Legionnaires
	01:30p	NBA Basketball ­– Fort Wayne Pistons vs. St. Louis Hawks
	03:30p	Bowling Time
	04:30p	Jungle Jim
	05:00p	Odd Man Out
	05:30p	My Little Margie
	Evening
	06:00p	Stars of Grand Ole Opry
	06:30p	People Are Funny
	07:00p	The Star and the Story
	07:30p	Uncommon Valor
	08:00p	Lawrence Welk
	09:00p	Ozark Jubilee (guests Brenda Lee, Jim Edward and Maxine and Bonnie Brown, Speedy Haworth and Slim Wilson)
	09:30p	Science Fiction Theater
	10:00p	Frontier
	10:30p	News (Joe Templeton)
	10:45p	Sports (Jerry Haynes)
	11:00p	Channel 8 Theater – “Sabre Jet”

You might have noticed the 9:30am listing, I Married Joan. I wonder about that; even in the 1950s, where there are more live-action Saturday morning shows than later on, that seems like a very adult program. Not in terms of its themes or its seriousness; it's a sitcom starring Joan Davis and Jim Backus. No, I just mean that it was in prime time for three seasons, and it doesn't involve stories about children, like Fury or National Velvet or Sky King. It would be like putting Dick Van Dyke on Saturday mornings. There was a fair share of slapstick to it though; maybe kids liked that the way they do the Three Stooges. 

	KWTX, Channel 10 (Waco) (CBS, ABC)
	Morning
	08:30a	Captain Kangaroo
	09:30a	Mighty Mouse
	10:00a	Winky Dink and You
	10:30a	Let’s Explore
	11:00a	News (local)
	11:30a	Let’s Teach
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Plan for the Future
	12:15p	Camp Fire Circle
	12:30p	Wild Bill Hickok
	01:00p	NHL Hockey – Detroit vs. Boston (last show of the series)
	03:15p	Report to the People
	03:30p	The Big Picture (Army)
	04:00p	Superman
	04:30p	Eddy Arnold
	05:00p	This is the Life
	05:30p	Home Folks Frolic
	Evening
	06:00p	Wire Service
	07:00p	Jackie Gleason
	08:00p	Lawrence Welk
	09:00p	Gunsmoke
	09:30p	Hey, Jeannie!
	10:00p	News, Weather, Sports (local)
	10:30p	You’re On Your Own
	11:00p	Million Dollar Theater – “Down Missouri Way”

I've talked about the lack of local programming today, although the morning and afternoon "news" shows seem to fill part of that gap. But local variety shows, such as Home Folks Frolic, don't seem to be as common. That's how Lawrence Welk started out, you know, as a local show host. I remember the polka show on KCMT, Channel 7, called Chmielewski Funtime. I hope, for their sake, Home Folks Frolic was better.

	WFJZ, Channel 11 (Fort Worth) (Ind.)
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Channel 11 Extra
	12:30p	Telerama
	01:00p	Million Dollar Matinee – “Lady, Let’s Dance”
	02:30p	New Horizons
	03:15p	Dude Ranchers
	03:30p	Hollywood Off-Beat
	04:00p	Movie – Western
	05:00p	Teen Club
	Evening
	06:00p	Championship Bowling
	07:00p	San Francisco Beat
	07:30p	Charles Boyer Theater
	08:00p	Million Dollar Movie – “Penitentiary”
	09:30p	News, Weather (local)
	09:45p	Boxing – Turner vs. Gwin (taped March 4)
	10:30p	Command Performance – “Appointment in Berlin”

You remember Channel 5's 10:30pm movie, "The Saint in Paul Springs"? It stars George Sanders, who played Simon Templar, aka The Saint, in five movies, this being the last. At the very same time, George Sanders stars in "Appointment in Berlin" here on Channel 11. And it's not even his birthday! I always enjoyed his performances, which were invariably dry, especially in his comedies, such as "A Shot in the Dark." He suffered from poor health in his later years and committed suicide in 1972, saying he was bored with life. I hope, for his sake, he was not in his right mind when he did it. TV