1960
My Three Sons vs. Angel vs. Bachelor Father on Thursday 9:00 p.m. (ET)
In the fall of 1960, there was just one timeslot in which sitcoms were scheduled against each other. Oddly, that slot (Thursday at 9:00) had not two, but three, sitcoms battling head to head to head.
NBC’s Bachelor Father was the only veteran show in the slot. The John Forsythe series was in its second season on NBC after running two years on CBS. CBS countered with a new show, Angel, from I Love Lucy creator/producer/head writer Jess Oppenheimer. ABC landed movie star Fred McMurray and I Love Lucy regular William Frawley to star in a new sitcom called My Three Sons.
ABC had the advantage, as McMurray and Frawley were known commodities. Angel, on the other hand, had no familiar faces in the cast. While Bachelor Father was a returning show, it never hit the top 30 during its run. In addition, My Three Sons was slotted between established hits The Real McCoys and The Untouchables.
Predictably, My Three Sons dominated the slot, finishing in 13th place, and going on to an incredible 12-year run. Both The Real McCoys and The Untouchables landed in the top 10. Oppenheimer couldn’t recreate the magic of I Love Lucy, and Angel was moved up an hour at mid-season before being cancelled at season’s end. NBC dropped Bachelor Father for the fall of 1961, but Rasputin-like, it just wouldn’t die. More on that in the next showdown.
Winner: My Three Sons
1961
Bachelor Father vs. The Dick Van Dyke Show on Tuesday at 8:00
Having been dropped by both CBS and NBC, ABC was the only home left for Bachelor Father. The third place network thought the fifth year series was good enough to earn a slot on its struggling lineup. CBS countered with a new sitcom, The Dick Van Dyke Show. Despite coming from the same company as the network’s hits, The Danny Thomas Show and The Andy Griffith Show, CBS didn’t show much faith in Van Dyke’s series, putting it in a too-early slot with reruns of Gunsmoke as its lead-in.
Neither show performed well. NBC’s western Laramie easily won the slot. CBS moved The Dick Van Dyke Show to a more appropriate slot, Wednesday at 9:30, at mid-season. Bachelor Father was cancelled by ABC at the end of the season. With no fourth network to pick it up, the series ended its run at five seasons. When The Dick Van Dyke Show didn’t perform much better in a later timeslot, CBS announced the series’ cancellation. However, Executive Producer Sheldon Leonard talked its sponsor into renewing the show, leaving it to face another sitcom showdown.
Winner: No One
The Real McCoys vs. The Bob Cummings Show on Thursday at 8:30
Debuting in 1957, The Real McCoys was ABC’s first big sitcom hit. Airing five years before The Beverly Hillbillies, the series portrayed a poor West Virginia family who moved to California. Having finished in 5th place during the 1960-61 season, it presented a scheduling dilemma for ABC’s rival networks. CBS scheduled a return to TV for Bob Cummings, whose last sitcom ran for five seasons. NBC added the new medical show Dr. Kildare to its lineup.
The sitcom showdown was no contest. Though The Real McCoys dropped to 14th place, it was still a hit. Oddly, ABC sold the series to CBS in 1962, although it was wearing thin and CBS dropped it after its only season on the network. Lacking the charm and solid supporting cast of the previous version of The Bob Cummings Show, the struggling new Cummings sitcom moved up an hour in February, by which time it was titled The New Bob Cummings Show. CBS did not renew it for the fall of 1962.
Dr. Kildare’s success was the main reason for the drop in The Real McCoys’ ratings, and a factor in The Bob Cummings Show’s failure, as the new medical series landed in 9th place in the Nielsens.
Winner: The Real McCoys
Margie vs. Hazel on Thursday at 9:30
Dr. Kildare was also a factor in this sitcom showdown, as it provided a strong lead-in for NBC’s new sitcom, Hazel. However, ABC’s new sitcom, Margie, also had an advantageous lead-in in 11th place My Three Sons.
Even though both shows had good timeslots, viewers obviously preferred Hazel, starring Academy Award winner Shirley Booth. Margie, set in the 1920s with a no-name cast, moved to Fridays in the spring and did not return the next season. Hazel finished an impressive 4th place in the ratings in its inaugural season, and would go on to a five-year run.
Winner: Hazel
1962
The Dick Van Dyke Show vs. Our Man Higgins on Wednesday at 9:30
After returning from the dead, The Dick Van Dyke Show got an incredible break. Remaining in the same slot as it finished the 1961-62 season in, it got a new lead-in. That show, The Beverly Hillbillies, quickly shot to the top spot in the ratings and remained there for two seasons. New viewers discovered The Dick Van Dyke Show and liked what they saw. It finished 9th in the ratings, jumping to 3rd place a year later.
ABC’s new Our Man Higgins, starring Stanley Holloway as an English butler in America, never had a chance. Following an unsuccessful TV version of the classic movie Going My Way that got whomped by The Beverly Hillbillies, it lasted only one season.
Winner: The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet vs. Mr. Ed on Thursday at 7:30
Somehow still hanging in there in its 11th season on ABC, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet led off the network’s Thursday night lineup, as it had done the previous season. CBS moved its previously syndicated, then pre-prime time series, Mr. Ed, into the slot for the fall of 1962.
The first of five sitcoms airing on ABC on Thursdays, Ozzie and Harriet, bested Mr. Ed, the only CBS sitcom on the night. By spring, Mr. Ed retreated to its previous Sunday at 6:30 home and lasted until 1966, mostly airing in early timeslots. Ozzie and Harriet moved to Wednesday the next season and placed 29th in the ratings, its first and only top 30 finish. Like Mr. Ed, it lasted until 1966.
Winner: The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
McHale’s Navy vs. Hazel on Thursday at 9:30
At the end of ABC’s Thursday five-comedy block, the network debuted McHale’s Navy, a service sitcom starring Academy Award winner Ernest Borgnine and a young Tim Conway. It had the unenviable task of going up against Hazel, the number four hit from the previous season.
Led-in by 11th place Dr. Kildare, Hazel remained a hit in 15th place. While it easily won the slot, Hazel’s ratings weren’t as strong this season, in part due to its new sitcom competition. McHale’s lead-in, My Three Sons, dropped to 28th place that season. Still, McHale did well enough for ABC to renew it and move the show to Tuesday. The next season it moved up to 22nd place, where it was coincidentally tied with Hazel. McHale’s Navy ran four seasons on ABC, as did Hazel on NBC. CBS picked up Hazel for a fifth and final season after it ended its run on NBC.
Winner: Hazel
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington vs. The Joey Bishop Show on Saturday at 8:30
The Joey Bishop Show had the good fortune to follow TV’s number one show, Wagon Train, on NBC in the fall of 1961. As a result, it finished 24th in the ratings, enough to win renewal, but slightly disappointing given how many viewers it lost from its lead-in.
Going into its second season, the show underwent a near-total revamp. It was now shot in front of a studio audience, Bishop’s character was given a new life as a married talk show host, and the series would debut an entirely new supporting cast. It also moved to a new timeslot, Saturday at 8:30, without the Wagon Train lead-in. ABC debuted a TV sitcom adaptation of the legendary movie Mr. Smith Goes To Washington in the slot.
It was an uphill battle for Mr. Smith. Not only was its source material not a comedy, but it was impossible to live up to Jimmy Stewart’s amazing performance. While Fess Parker was a successful TV star before and after his attempt at playing Mr. Smith, neither he nor the show succeeded in this version. ABC cancelled it after one season.
While no longer getting the ratings it did on Wednesday, The Joey Bishop Show remained in the top 40 and won renewal for a third season on NBC, staying in the same Saturday timeslot. It would run for one more year on the network, followed by one final season on CBS. While Bishop won the sitcom showdown, his series did not win the timeslot. The winner was the CBS drama The Defenders, which finished in 18th place in the Nielsen Ratings.
Winner: The Joey Bishop Show
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