''Calendar'' was a weekday news and information daytime program aimed at women, which aired in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

CBS Television CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

from 1961 to 1963. The program was co-hosted by

Harry Reasoner Harry Truman Reasoner (April 17, 1923 – August 6, 1991) was an American journalist for CBS and ABC News, known for his adroit use of language as a television commentator, and as a founder of the long-running ''60 Minutes'' program. Over th ...

and

Mary Fickett Mary Fickett (May 23, 1928 – September 8, 2011) was an American actress, best known for her roles in the American television dramas, ''The Nurses'', ''The Edge of Night'' — as Sally Smith (1961), and as Dr. Katherine Lovell (1967–68) — a ...

Madeline Amgott Madeline Rochelle Amgott (August 31, 1921 – July 19, 2014) was an American television news producer. A pioneer of early television news, Amgott was one of the first, and only, women to produce television news shows during the mid-1950s and 1960 ...

, who became one of the first women to produce television news during the 1950s and 1960s, helped create the show. CBS scheduled the half-hour program in the 10 a.m. timeslot on the East Coast. Since the network then believed women were the primary audience for daytime television, it created a substantive information program geared toward a female audience. Each show began with Reasoner giving a summary of the latest news and then introducing the topic for the day, which was presented by Fickett. A review in ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

'' commended Reasoner for not oversimplifying the news and noted that Fickett contributed "as another intelligent questioner and commentator" rather than someone who just represented "the woman's side." ''Calendars topics were diverse, ranging from national politics to interior decorating. The mood of the program was relaxed despite its serious ambition. During an interview with a designer of modern furniture, Reasoner asked, "What would you say if I said you were giving us 'fake simplicity'?" The designer responded, "I'd say you're being offensive." And on a day when the topic was redrawing voting districts to equalize representation between urban and rural regions, Fickett introduced the segment by acknowledging it was a subject that "sounds weighty for this time of the morning" before assuring viewers that she herself had found it interesting.

References

* Gilbert Seides, Review: Calendar, ''TV Guide'' (1-7 September 1962), p. 14
Harry Reasoner biography at Infoplease.com

External links

''Calendar'' (TV series) at IMDBAn example episode
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calendar (Tv Series) 1961 American television series debuts 1963 American television series endings CBS original programming 1960s American television news shows