Last week I wrote about the Top 10 Specials of the 1964-1965 Season and today I revisit that season with the Top 20 shows in the teenage demographic. Specifically, viewers between the ages of 12 and 17. An article in the June 1965 issue of Television Magazine revealed that that program with the highest percentage of teenage viewers was ABC’s Shindig. Teenagers made up 17.6% of its audience while women were 32.9%, men 26.3% and children 23.3%. Next was NBC’s Hullabaloo with 17.1% followed by ABC’s The Patty Duke Show and My Three Sons, both with 15.1%.
The program with the most teenage viewers was the CBS broadcast of The Wizard of Oz on January 17th, 1965, which was watched by more than seven million teenagers (and, as Television Magazine revealed, 26 million children). For the record, at the time teenagers between the age of 12 and 17 made up just 11.7% of the population of the United States. Here’s the list as it appeared in Television Magazine, ranked by total teenage viewers:
## | Program | Net | Teen Viewers | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | The Wizard of Oz (Special) | CBS | 7,170,000 | 12.4 | |
2. | Bewitched | ABC | 5,190,000 | 13.7 | |
3. | Bonanza | NBC | 4,670,000 | 12.4 | |
4. | My Three Sons | ABC | 4,450,000 | 15.1 | |
5. | Shindig | ABC | 4,370,000 | 17.6 | |
6. | The Patty Duke Show | ABC | 4,320,000 | 15.1 | |
7. | Gilligan’s Island | CBS | 4,160,000 | 11.8 | |
8. | No Time for Sergeants | ABC | 3,900,000 | 14.4 | |
9. | Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color | NBC | 3,840,000 | 9.9 | |
10. | The Addams Family | ABC | 3,760,000 | 11.2 | |
11. | The Fugitive | ABC | 3,680,000 | 11.8 | |
12. | Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. | CBS | 3,640,000 | 10.1 | |
13. | My Favorite Martian | CBS | 3,620,000 | 11.1 | |
14. | The Donna Reed Show | ABC | 3,610,000 | 13.3 | |
15. | Combat | ABC | 3,570,000 | 10.6 | |
16. | The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet | ABC | 3,520,000 | 14.5 | |
17. | The Munsters | CBS | 3,480,000 | 11.6 | |
18. | The Dick Van Dyke Show | CBS | 3,470,000 | 10.8 | |
19. | Peyton Place II | ABC | 3,240,000 | 12.7 | |
20. | Hullabaloo | NBC | 3,200,000 | 17.1 |
And here’s the list reordered by the percentage of teenage viewers:
## | Program | Net | Teen Viewers | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Shindig | ABC | 4,370,000 | 17.6 | |
2. | Hullabaloo | NBC | 3,200,000 | 17.1 | |
3. | My Three Sons | ABC | 4,450,000 | 15.1 | |
4. | The Patty Duke Show | ABC | 4,320,000 | 15.1 | |
5. | The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet | ABC | 3,520,000 | 14.5 | |
6. | No Time for Sergeants | ABC | 3,900,000 | 14.4 | |
7. | Bewitched | ABC | 5,190,000 | 13.7 | |
8. | The Donna Reed Show | ABC | 3,610,000 | 13.3 | |
9. | Peyton Place II | ABC | 3,240,000 | 12.7 | |
10. | The Wizard of Oz (Special) | CBS | 7,170,000 | 12.4 | |
11. | Bonanza | NBC | 4,670,000 | 12.4 | |
12. | Gilligan’s Island | CBS | 4,160,000 | 11.8 | |
13. | The Fugitive | ABC | 3,680,000 | 11.8 | |
14. | The Munsters | CBS | 3,480,000 | 11.6 | |
15. | The Addams Family | ABC | 3,760,000 | 11.2 | |
16. | My Favorite Martian | CBS | 3,620,000 | 11.1 | |
17. | The Dick Van Dyke Show | CBS | 3,470,000 | 10.8 | |
18. | Combat | ABC | 3,570,000 | 10.6 | |
19. | Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. | CBS | 3,640,000 | 10.1 | |
10. | Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color | NBC | 3,840,000 | 9.9 |
Source:
“Television A Go Go.” Television Magazine. Jun. 1965: 38-41; 50-52.
Yes, “SHINDIG!” was indeed popular with teens in its first season (much as Fox’s “AMERICAN IDOL” and the new musical drama “GLEE” are these days)- and ABC foolishly diminshed that appeal by trying to stretch it to TWO nights a week in the fall of 1965 (a la “PEYTON PLACE”): Thursdays and Saturdays at 7:30pm(et). Well, that gambit didn’t work, and the show was cancelled in January 1966.
NBC made the same mistake with “HULLABALOO”; instead of keeping it on Tuesday nights as an hour-long series, they rescheduled it as a half-hour on Mondays at 7:30pm for the fall of ’65 {replacing a proposed sitcom version of Elvis Presley’s 1964 movie “Kissin’ Cousins”, starring Edd Byrnes in Elvis’ role}. That, too, fell by the wayside, ending in the summer of ’66.
Too bad more teens didn’t watch “NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS”, or it might have been renewed for a second season [it was scheduled opposite “THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW”, which was too popular for most of its competition to survive for long].
“MY THREE SONS” was bought by CBS from producer Don Fedderson for the fall of 1965, moving it to their network, where it flourished for another seven years, with a large number of teens continuing to tune in.
“THE PATTY DUKE SHOW” continued for another season, but disagreements with United Artists (and supposedly Patty) over a fourth season ended the series in 1966. ABC had hoped “GIDGET” would retain her teen audience when it appeared after Patty at 8:30pm on Wedenesdays, but the ratings said otherwise. Actually, Sally Field’s audience increased during the summer of ’66, but the network had already cancelled the series. That’s why they ordered “THE FLYING NUN” for the fall of ’67.
Moving ‘THE ADVENTURES OF OZZIE & HARRIET” to Wednesdays win the fall of ’65 was a bad decision on ABC’s part- how’d YOU like to compete with “LOST IN SPACE” and “THE VIRGINIAN”? A move to Saturdays in mid-season [against JACKIE GLEASON and “FLIPPER”??] sealed the show’s fate, and the Nelsons wanted to take some time off after appearing on radio and TV for 22 consecutive years…
“Lost In Space” was a new show, so maybe ABC thought that “Ozzie & Harriet” could compete in that timeslot.
But on the other hand, didn’t Ozzie Nelson announce in 1965 that the show was going to end it’s run in the spring of 1966 anyway?
there was a variety show broadcast during the summer of 1964 it was the blank blank show all variety comedy singing dancing I cany think uf who blank was and its bumming me out
So calculating the percentage of teenage viewers to total viewers:
The Wizard of Oz special – 57.823 million
Bewitched – 37.883 million
Bonanza – 37.661 million
My Three Sons – 29.470 million
Shindig – 24.830 million
The Patty Duke Show – 28.609 million
Gilligan’s Island – 35.254 million
No Time for Sergeants – 27.083 million
Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color – 38.788 million
The Addams Family – 33.571 million
The Fugitive – 31.186 million
Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. – 36.040 million
My Favorite Martian – 32.613 million
The Donna Reed Show – 27.143 million
Combat – 33.679 million
The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet – 24.276 million
The Munsters – 30.000 million
The Dick Van Dyke Show – 32.130 million
Peyton Place II – 25.512 million
Hullabaloo – 18.713 million