The Jack Carter Show

The Jack Carter Show: Summary

Airs Next:NBC at Saturday 8:00 PM (60 min.)
Status:Ended
Premiered:February 15, 1950
Last Aired:June 2, 1951
Show Categories:Variety Shows, Comedy

This series was part of NBC's big Saturday Night Revue with The Jack Carter Show being the first hour of the extravaganza. Telecast from Chicago, young comedian Jack Carter headed up this comedy/variety series. (The other part of the Revue was Your Show of Shows with Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca from New York.)
Carter opened with a comedy monologue before launching into comedy sketches and songs from guests. The series specialized in satires of other programs, giving Uncle Miltie, Arthur Godfrey and the like a working over.
This program was initially telecast from Chicago as a result of protests lodged by the Dumont network with the FCC. NBC planned to beam the full 2-1/2 hours of programming from New York to its affilates in both the East Coast and the Midwest. At the time there was only one coaxial cable connecting the East networks with the Midwest networks and only one program at a time could be sent in each direction. This would prevent Dumont from airing its one Saturday night hit, Cavalcade of Stars, any farther west than Pittsburg. Dumont argued that NBC could effectively monopolize the network business just by spending the most money to buy the most time on the coax. The FCC's solution was for NBC to give up the east-to-west feed during the first hour of primetime. This allowed Dumont to send Calvacade to the Midwest. NBC, however, still came out a winner since the FCC said it could use the west-to-east feed. NBC simply based The Jack Carter Show in Chicago, sending it out live to both the East and Midwest anyway.
After a strong start, the ratings began to sag, so The Jack Carter Show moved to New York in the fall where it finished its run. This series was part of NBC's big Saturday Night Revue with The Jack Carter Show being the first hour of the extravaganza. Telecast from Chicago, young comedian Jack Carter headed up this comedy/variety series. (The other part of the Revue was Your Show of Shows with Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca from New York.)
Carter opened with a comedy monologue before...