First show of the 15th Season

Name: First show of the 15th Season
Released: 1961-09-17

TV Flash files “First show of the 15th Season” as the first listed hour of season 15 — The Ed Sullivan Show (1948–1971) on CBS, season 15, episode 1, aired 1961-09-17, 60 min.

From the desk

How this hour is filed

This leaf is S15E01: listed hour 298 of 690 in the The Ed Sullivan Show guide, first listed hour of season 15. It aired 1961-09-17 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “scheduled: Pearl Bailey; Edgar Bergen; etc.” (S14E40). Next is “From Las Vegas: Danny Thomas; Della Reese; Crosby Brothers” (S15E02). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.

No original recap on file. TV Flash does not invent plots for missing hours. Title, airdate, and the hour filing above are the magazine record for this leaf.

Viewer FAQ

Where does First show of the 15th Season sit in the The Ed Sullivan Show guide?

S15E01 is listed hour 298 of 690 — first listed hour of season 15, season 15 episode 1.

When did The Ed Sullivan Show S15E01 air?

First show of the 15th Season aired 1961-09-17 and is listed at 60 minutes.

Where should I start?

If you want heat, start with Elvis’s first 1956 booking, then the Beatles on February 9, 1964. If you want the machine itself, glance at the 1948 opener, then jump to the crime scenes.

In the series

Why this series still plays

Filed by Vivian Cross · The Carpet Report · Show package

Sunday as a rope line: Sullivan’s clipboard decided who got to be loud in the living room. Watch the bookings as foreign policy — Elvis cropped, Beatles admitted, lyrics policed — and the feuds that still read like a publicist calling a freeze-out a scheduling conflict.

Flash: it is Sunday, the set is a Sunday best, and a man who looks like your accountant is about to decide whether America gets to scream. The Ed Sullivan Show was not a variety hour. It was a rope line with a full orchestra. Booking was foreign policy. One slot could mint a legend; one freeze-out could send a comic back to the Catskills with a publicist already calling it a misunderstanding. The museum wants a civic story about shared culture. I want the clipboard. Who got the eight o’clock heat. Who got the…

Open the The Ed Sullivan Show package · Season 15 hub

Filed against

Ed Sullivan as Host
Ed Sullivan ruled Sunday night variety as the stone-faced kingmaker who put the Beatles — and every comic who needed a break — in American living rooms. Booking wars and censorship dust-ups made him hero or villain depending on the week.…
Ray Bloch as Orchestra leader
Ray Bloch led the orchestra on The Ed Sullivan Show — Sunday as a rope line with strings, a bandleader under twenty-three years of living-room gatekeeping. Booking was foreign policy; the downbeat was Bloch’s. TV Flash still hears the…
Ralph Paul as Announcer
Ralph Paul announced The Ed Sullivan Show — the Sunday-night voice that told a nation who was about to be loud. Booking was foreign policy; the clipboard was Ed’s. Paul was the rope line’s spoken architecture. TV Flash still hears the…

Also in season 15

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