The 1949–50 network television schedule for the four major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1949 through March 1950. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1948–49 season. This was the first season in which all four networks offered at least some prime time programming all seven nights of the week. The schedule below reflects the fall lineup as it all settled into place throughout October 1949, before any subsequent time changes were made and additional new series appeared in November. New series are highlighted in bold. Notable debuts during the season included The Plainclothesman with its unusual camera work, the popular The Lone Ranger (which is one of the few 1940s television series to be given a DVD release), The Ed Wynn Show (a short-lived series featuring popular performers as guests and the first variety show from the West Coast), and the unsuccessful series The Life of Riley, one of the first sitcoms to be produced on film as opposed to live transmission. Continuing from the prior season were the highly popular variety series Toast of the Town, the critically well-received and popular anthology series Studio One, the critically panned but popular Captain Video and His Video Rangers which was one of the earliest sci-fi TV series, the well received by critics and viewers anthology series Kraft Television Theater, the popular Kukla, Fran and Ollie, and the popular in some regions drama/comedy The Goldbergs (which is also one of the few 1940s television series to be given a DVD release).

Legend

Light blue indicates local programming. Blue-gray indicates news programming. Light green indicates sporting events. Light purple indicates movies.

Sunday

Monday

Notes: Beginning July 18, 1949, The Magic Cottage aired on DuMont Monday through Friday from 6:30 to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time. On NBC, The Black Robe aired at various times on Mondays from August through October 1949.

Tuesday

Notes: Beginning July 18, 1949, The Magic Cottage aired on DuMont Monday through Friday from 6:30 to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Wednesday

Notes: Beginning July 18, 1949, The Magic Cottage aired on DuMont Monday through Friday from 6:30 to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Thursday

Notes: Beginning July 18, 1949, The Magic Cottage aired on DuMont Monday through Friday from 6:30 to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time. On NBC, The Black Robe aired from 8:00 to 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time from January to March 1950. The Wayne King Show was seen only on NBC's Midwest Network.

Friday

Notes: Beginning July 18, 1949, The Magic Cottage aired on DuMont Monday through Friday from 6:30 to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Saturday

Notes: In the half-hour preceding prime time, ABC aired one of the first television westerns, The Marshal of Gunsight Pass, with 22 live episodes between March 12 and September 30, 1950. From January 28 to July 29, 1950, Dinner Date With Vincent Lopez aired Saturdays from 8 to 8:30pm ET on DuMont. On NBC, The Black Robe aired from 10:00 to 10:30 p.m. on Saturday from November to December 1949 after airing at various times on Monday from August to October 1949. Your Show of Shows premiered at 9:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, February 25, 1950.

By network

ABC

Returning Series New Series Not returning from 1948–49:

CBS

Returning Series New Series Not returning from 1948–49:

DuMont

Returning series New series Not returning from 1948–49:

NBC

Returning Series New Series Not returning from 1948–49: Note: The * indicates that the program was introduced in midseason.