January 24 - Steve Allen makes his final appearance as host of NBC's "The Tonight Show". He is replaced by Jack Lescoulie, with the show's format being changed to be more like "Today" than the talk/variety show format "Tonight" had under Allen.
Lescoulie was a flop, so NBC hired Al "Jazzbo" Collins to serve as emcee in June. But Collins didn't last very long; NBC was already planning to replace him with a new host and go back to the original format.
September 7 - NBC introduces an animated version of its famous "living color" peacock logo.
February 16 - In the UK, the "Toddlers' Truce" (an arrangement whereby there were no TV broadcasts between 6 PM and 7 PM, to allow parents to put their children to bed!) was abolished. It had been a major stumbling block to the success of ITV.
Front Page Challenge, television's longest continuously running panel show starts airing on the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) for the next 38 years.
Cyprus began a limited television service, serving only three hours a day, twice-weekly. By 1960, a full service was launched.