This chart traces the Sunday ratings of the WCCO-TV program Axel and His Dog from May 1955 (when the Sunday edition began) through August 1956 (when it ended). Ratings for the competing programs on KSTP-TV and WTCN-TV are also included. The rating is the percentage of all television sets in the metro area (whether being watched or not) which are tuned to a particular show.

The Y axis shows the timeline, and the X axis represents the average rating that each show achieved for that particular month. The vertical lines that occasionally bisect the chart indicate points when the schedule of Axel and His Dog was changed. This usually resulted in the show facing different competing programs.

Axel was so popular by 1955 that WCCO-TV wanted to air his show every day of the week. Axel and His Dog -- like virtually all television in those days -- was live but Clellan Card didn't want to work on Sundays, so a way to pre-record the program was needed. Videotape was not yet available, but 16mm film was already being used for news footage. This method was tested and proved successful, so for a year and a half the Sunday morning edition of the show was filmed on Thursday afternoons. These programs make up the great majority of the more than 80 episodes of Axel and His Dog that survive today.

Axel usually won his time period on Sundays, though not always. His ratings were decent but not spectacular, and by August 1956 WCCO-TV evidently decided the Sunday edition wasn't worth the trouble and cancelled it.