Navy Log is an American drama anthology series that initially aired for one season on CBS. It relates the greatest survival war stories in the history of the United States Navy. This series premiered on September 20th, 1955, but the following year, it was moved to ABC, where it aired until September 25th, 1958. The program aired for a total of three seasons and 102 episodes.
December Bride is an American sitcom that aired on the CBS television network from 1954 to 1959, adapted from the original CBS radio network series that aired from June 1952 through September 1953. December Bride centered around the adventures of Lily Ruskin, a spry widow played by Spring Byington, who was not, in fact, a […]
Caesar’s Hour is a live, hour-long American sketch comedy television program that aired on NBC from 1954 until 1957. The program starred, among others, Sid Caesar, Nanette Fabray, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris, Janet Blair and Milt Kamen, and featured a number of cameo roles by famous entertainers such as Joan Crawford and Peggy Lee. Caesar’s Hour expanded on the format of Your Show of Shows with many sketches running a half-hour or more, including […]
Medic is an American medical drama that aired on NBC beginning in 1954. Medic was television’s first doctor drama to focus attention on medical procedures. Created by its principal writer James E. Moser, Medic tried to create realism (The Doctor and City Hospital had not) which would typify medical shows from then on. Moser had previously written for the radio shows Dragnet and Dr. Kildare. He went on to write […]
The Tony Martin Show is a 15-minute weekly musical variety television series hosted by entertainer Tony Martin, which aired in NBC prime time from April 26th, 1954, to February 27th, 1956. It was produced by Bud Yorkin and featured the singing group The Interludes and the Hal Bourne and David Rose orchestras, the latter affiliated with The Red Skelton Show. Martin began each episode with a song at […]
Topper is an American fantasy sitcom based on the 1937 film of the same name, itself based on the novels by Thorne Smith. The series was broadcast on CBS from October 9th, 1953 to July 15th, 1955, and stars Leo G. Carroll in the title role. Sophisticated but stuffy Cosmo Topper is the vice president […]
The Big Picture is an American documentary television program which aired on ABC-TV from 1951 to 1964. The series consisted of documentary films produced by the United States Army Signal Corps Army Pictorial Service, showing weaponry, battles, and biographies of famous soldiers. The half-hour weekly program featured famous or before-they-were-famous actors and actresses in quality […]
The Dotty Mack Show is an American variety show originally broadcast on the now defunct DuMont Television Network in 1953, and on ABC from 1953 to 1956. The program, produced and distributed from Cincinnati, aired Monday at 10:45 pm on most DuMont affiliates until July 1953, when it moved to Tuesdays at 9:30 pm. Originally […]
I Love Lucy is a landmark American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15th, 1951, to May 6th, 1957, on CBS. After the series ended in 1957, however, a modified version continued for three more seasons with 13 one-hour specials, running from 1957 to 1960, known first as The Lucille Ball-Desi […]
The Goodyear Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was telecast live on NBC from 1951 to 1957 during the “Golden Age of Television.” Sponsored by Goodyear, Goodyear alternated sponsorship with Philco, and the Philco Television Playhouse was seen on alternate weeks. In 1955, the title was shortened to The Goodyear Playhouse and it […]
Burns and Allen, an American comedy duo consisting of George Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen, worked together as a comedy team in vaudeville, films, radio and television and achieved great success over four decades. Burns and Allen met in 1922 and first performed together at the Hill Street Theatre in Newark, New Jersey, continued in small town vaudeville theaters, married in Cleveland on January 7, 1926, and moved up […]
Robert Montgomery Presents is an American dramatic television series which was produced by NBC from January 30th, 1950 until June 24th, 1957. The live show had several sponsors during its seven-year run, and the title was altered to feature the sponsor, usually Lucky Strike cigarettes, for example, Robert Montgomery Presents Your Lucky Strike Theater, ….The Johnson’s Wax Program, and so on. Initially offering hour-long […]
The Camel News Caravan was a 15-minute American television news program aired by NBC News from February 14th, 1949, to October 26th, 1956. Sponsored by the Camel cigarette brand and anchored by John Cameron Swayze, it was the first NBC news program to use NBC filmed news stories rather than movie newsreels. On February 16, 1954, the Camel News Caravan became the first news program broadcast in color, making use of 16mm color film.In early […]
Kukla, Fran and Ollie is an early American television show using puppets, originally created for children but soon watched by more adults than children. It did not have a script and was entirely ad-libbed. It first aired from 1947 to 1957. Burr Tillstrom was the creator and only puppeteer on the show, which premiered as […]
Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts (also known as Talent Scouts) is an American radio and television variety show which ran on CBS from 1946 until 1958. Sponsored by Lipton Tea, it stars Arthur Godfrey, who was also hosting Arthur Godfrey and His Friends at the same time. The concept for the show was that Godfrey had several “talent scouts” who brought their discoveries onto […]
Studio One is an American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. In 1948, Markle made a quantum leap from radio to television. Sponsored by Westinghouse Electric Corporation, the television series was seen on CBS (which Westinghouse owned between 1995 and 2000), from 1948 through 1958, under several variant titles: Studio One […]
Douglas Edwards was America‘s first network news television anchor, anchoring CBS‘s first nightly news broadcast from 1948–1962, which was later to be titled CBS Evening News. In 1948, as CBS’s top correspondents and commentators shunned the fledgling medium of television, Edwards was chosen to present regular CBS television news programs and to host CBS’s television coverage of the 1948 Democratic […]
The Voice of Firestone is a long-running radio and television program of classical music. The show featured leading singers in selections from opera and operetta. Originally titled The Firestone Hour, it was first broadcast on the NBC Radio network on December 3rd, 1928 and was later also shown on television starting in 1949. The program […]
It’s about time, it’s about space, about two men in the strangest place.
It’s About Time is an American fantasy/science-fiction comedy TV series that aired on CBS for one season of 26 episodes in 1966–1967. The series was created by Sherwood Schwartz, and used sets, props and incidental music from Schwartz’s other television series in production at the time, Gilligan’s Island.
Two astronauts, Mac (Frank Aletter) and Hector (Jack Mullaney), travel faster than the speed of light, resulting in being sent back in time to prehistoric days. There, they have to adjust to living with a cave family led by Shad (Imogene Coca) and Gronk (Joe E. Ross). (In the pilot Coca’s name was credited as Shag; when CBS censors realized that in England the term ‘shag’ was common slang meaning “to have sex,” they changed her name to ‘Shad’). Their children were 18-year-old Mlor (Mary Grace) and 14-year-old Breer (Pat Cardi). The chief of the tribe, Boss (Cliff Norton) and his right-hand man Clon (Mike Mazurki) were always suspicious of the astronauts.
Ratings were impressive for the first few weeks on the air, but they soon plunged. Show creator Sherwood Schwartz came to the conclusion that three factors were the cause of the decline in audience interest:
Repetition of the astronauts being in danger from dinosaurs, clubs, spears, volcanoes, and cavemen.
An unattractive look to the show (e.g., caves, dirt streets, etc.).
The cave dwellers speaking a primitive form of English that was difficult to listen to.
For these reasons, after eighteen episodes set in prehistoric times, the series was retooled beginning with the January 22, 1967 episode. Essentially reversing the premise which had been followed the first half of the season, the astronauts repair their space capsule and return to 1967, with Shad, Gronk, and their children in tow. The prehistoric family must begin adjusting to life in the 1960s, reacting to the unfamiliar surroundings, and setting up home in 20th-century New York City. For example, one episode had Gronk and Shad learning to write their names and signing them for many salesmen who brought “presents,” which later had to be paid for. Eight episodes were produced with this new premise before the series was cancelled at the end of the season.
The punk rock band X incorporated some of the lyrics of the show’s theme song into their song “I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts” for the album More Fun in the New World, as a commentary on the direction of 1980s music: “Glitter-disco-synthesizer night school/All this noble savage drum, drum, drum/Astronauts going back in time to hang out with the cave people/It’s about time/It’s about space/It’s about some people in the strangest place.”
The Johnny Cash Show was an American television music variety show hosted by Johnny Cash. The Screen Gems 58-episode series ran from June 7th, 1969 to March 31st, 1971 on ABC; it was taped at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. The show reached No. 17 in the Nielsen ratings in 1970. Cash opened each […]
This Is Tom Jones was an ATV variety series starring Tom Jones. The series was exported to the United States by ITC Entertainment and was networked there by ABC. The series ran between 1969 and 1971 to total 65 color episodes. Jones was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for “Best Actor In a Television […]
The Time Tunnel is a 1966–1967 U.S. color science fiction TV series, written around a theme of time travel adventure. The show was creator-producer Irwin Allen’s third science fiction television series, released by 20th Century Fox and broadcast on ABC. The show ran for one season of 30 episodes. Project Tic-Toc is a top secret […]
Camp Runamuck is an American sitcom which aired on NBC during the 1965-1966 television season. The series was created and executive produced by David Swift, and aired for 26 episodes. The series related the wacky goings-on at the titular boys’ summer camp, and at Camp Divine, its girls counterpart across the lake. Runamuck was run […]
The Reporter is an American drama series that aired on CBS from September 25th to December 18th, 1964. The series was created by Jerome Weidman and developed by executive producers Keefe Brasselle and John Simon. The series stars Harry Guardino as Danny Taylor, a reporter for the fictitious New York Globe newspaper. Guardino’s co-stars were […]
Gomer Pyle, USMC is an American situation comedy that originally aired on CBS from September 25th, 1964, to May 2nd, 1969. The series was a spin-off of The Andy Griffith Show, and the pilot episode was aired as the season finale of the fourth season of its parent series on May 18th, 1964. The show […]
The Entertainers is a one-hour American variety show that aired on CBS from September 25th, 1964 through March 27th, 1965. The series, produced by Joe Hamilton, featured three stars, Hamilton’s wife Carol Burnett, Caterina Valente, and Bob Newhart. Each week, the series, originating from New York, presented comedy sketches and musical numbers performed by a […]
12 O’Clock High (also known as Twelve O’Clock High) is an American drama series set in World War II. This TV series originally broadcast on ABC for two-and-one-half seasons from September 18th, 1964, through January 13th, 1967 and was based on the motion picture Twelve O’Clock High (1949). The series was a co-production of 20th […]
Valentine’s Day is a 1964 ABC sitcom that aired from September 18th, 1964 until April 30th, 1965. The series starred Tony Franciosa as Valentine Farrow, a swinging Manhattan publishing executive, and Jack Soo, later of Barney Miller as Rocky Sin, Farrow’s poker-playing con-artist valet. The show was created by Hal Kanter and lasted only one […]
The Addams Family is an American television series based on the characters in Charles Addams’ New Yorker cartoons. The 30-minute series was shot in black-and-white and aired for two seasons on ABC from September 18th, 1964, to April 8th, 1966, for a total of 64 episodes. It is often compared to its CBS rival, The […]
Jonny Quest debuted on ABC at 7:30PM EDT on Friday, September 18th, 1964. This prime time animated TV series is an American science fiction adventure television series about a boy who accompanies his scientist father on extraordinary adventures. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for Screen Gems, and created and designed by comic book artist […]
The Flintstones is an animated, prime-time American television sitcom cartoon that was broadcast from September 30th, 1960, to April 1st, 1966, on ABC. The show was produced by Hanna-Barbera. The Flintstones was about a working-class Stone Age man’s life with his family and his next-door neighbor and best friend. Battery Operated Fred Flintstone’s Bedrock Band, Alps Co., Japan, 1962 Winston! Smoke a Winston! Yabba […]
The Huntley-Brinkley Report (sometimes known as The Texaco Huntley-Brinkley Report, for one of its early sponsors) was the NBC television network’s flagship evening news program from October 29th, 1956, until July 31st, 1970. It was anchored by Chet Huntley in New York City, and David Brinkley in Washington, D.C. It succeeded the Camel News Caravan, […]
The Vise is a half-hour dramatic anthology television series which aired at 9:30 p.m. EST on Fridays on ABC from December 1955 to June 1957. Produced in London and hosted by Australian actor Ron Randell, the suspense series depicted people unwittingly trapped in “the vise” of fate due to their own actions, usually of a criminal nature. Each episode boasted a different cast and was an entity […]
Crusader (sometimes erroneously listed as The Crusader) is a half-hour black-and-white American adventure/drama series that aired on CBS for two seasons from October 7th, 1955 to December 28th, 1956. The series stars Brian Keith as the fictitious free-lance journalist Matt Anders, whose mother’s death in a World War II Nazi concentration camp in German-occupied Poland […]
Crossroads is an American television anthology series based on the activities of clergymen from different denominations. It aired from October 1955 to June 1956 on ABC. The series’ second season aired from October 1956 to June 1957 in syndication. The episodes, which often had deep spiritual themes, were usually set in the 1950s, but some were framed for an earlier era. The series […]
The Adventures of Champion is an American children’s Western series that aired from September 23rd, 1955 to March 3rd, 1956 for 26 episodes on CBS. In the United Kingdom, the series was re-broadcast under the title Champion the Wonder Horse. The series starred Barry Curtis as 12-year-old Ricky North, who lived on his uncle’s ranch […]
John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly (generally known as John Charles Daly or simply John Daly (February 20th, 1914 – February 24th, 1991) was an American journalist, game show host and radio personality, probably best known for hosting the panel show What’s My Line?. He was the vice president of ABC during the 1950s. On December […]
The first incarnation of the Walt Disney anthology television series, commonly called The Wonderful World of Disney, premiered on ABC on Wednesday night, October 27th, 1954 under the name Disneyland. The same basic show has since appeared on several networks under a variety of titles. Originally hosted by Walt Disney himself, the series presented animated cartoons and other material (some […]
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin is an American children’s television program. The show ran for five seasons on ABC on Friday evenings from October 1954 to May 1959, airing 166 episodes. ABC reran the series on late afternoons from September 1959 to September 1961. It starred child actor Lee Aaker as Rusty, a boy orphaned in an Indian raid, […]
The $64,000 Question is an American game show broadcast from 1955–1958, which became embroiled in the scandals involving TV quiz shows of the day. The $64,000 Challenge (1956–1958) was its popular spin-off show. The $64,000 Question premiered June 7th, 1955 on CBS-TV, sponsored by cosmetics maker Revlon and originating from the start live from CBS-TV Studio 52 in New York (later the disco-theater Studio […]
The Martha Raye Show is an hour-long comedy/variety show which aired live on NBC from January 23rd, 1954, to May 29th, 1956. The series was hosted by Martha Raye, a Montana native, who often called herself “The Big Mouth.” Her boyfriend on the program and a foil for her humor was portrayed by retired middleweight boxer Rocky Graziano. Nat Hiken, her writer and director, went on […]
The Danny Thomas Show (known as Make Room for Daddy during the first three seasons) is an American sitcom which ran from 1953-1957 on ABC and from 1957-1964 on CBS. A revival series known as Make Room for Granddaddy aired on ABC from 1970-1971. In March 1953, Danny Thomas first signed the contract for the show with ABC and chose Desilu Studios to film it using its three-camera method. […]
My Favorite Husband is the name of an American radio program and network television series. The original radio show, co-starring Lucille Ball, was the initial basis for what evolved into the groundbreaking TV sitcom I Love Lucy. The series was based on the novels Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage (1940) and Outside Eden (1945) written by Isabel Scott Rorick, which had previously been adapted […]
Name That Tune is an American television game show that put two contestants against each other to test their knowledge of songs. Premiering in the United States on NBC Radio in 1952, the show was created and produced by Harry Salter and his wife Roberta. Name That Tune ran from 1953 to 1959 on NBC and CBS in prime time. The first hosts were Red Benson […]
Meet Millie, a situation comedy about a wisecracking Manhattan secretary from Brooklyn, made a transition from radio to television in the early 1950s. In the live television version, Mom and Millie were living in Jackson Heights, Queens. The popularity of this series led to a four-year run on CBS television. The show opened with the […]
Cavalcade of America is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented a musical, such as an adaptation of Show Boat, and condensed biographies of popular composers. It was initially broadcast on radio from 1935 to 1953, and later on television from 1952 to 1957. Originally on CBS, […]
The Dinah Shore Show is an American variety show which was broadcast by NBC from November 1951 to January 1956, sponsored by General Motors’ Chevrolet division. For most of the program’s run, it aired from 7:30 to 7:45 Eastern Time on Tuesday and Thursday nights, rounding out the time slot which featured the network’s regular […]
The Red Skelton Show is an American variety show that was a television staple for two decades, from 1951 to 1971. The host of the show, Richard Bernard “Red” Skelton, who had previously been a radio star, had appeared in several motion pictures as well. Although his television series is largely associated with CBS, where it appeared for more than fifteen years, it actually began and […]
Big Town is a popular long-running radio drama series which was later adapted to both film and television and a comic book published by DC Comics. When Big Town moved to television, the program was telecast live, but in 1952 the production switched to film after the move from New York City to Hollywood. The television series ran on CBS from 1950 through 1954, continuing on NBC from 1955 through 1956. Repeat episodes aired on […]
Armstrong Circle Theatre is an American anthology drama television series which ran from 1950 to 1957 on NBC, and then until 1963 on CBS. It alternated weekly with The U.S. Steel Hour. The series featured original dramas by noted writers, although sometimes comedies were shown. Its guidelines specifically called for the avoidance of violence. Originally a half-hour production, in 1955 the show expanded […]
Fireside Theater is an American anthology drama series that ran on NBC from 1949 to 1958, and was the first successful filmed series on American television. Stories were low budget and often based on public domain stories or written by freelance writers such as Rod Serling. While it was panned by critics, it remained in the top ten most popular shows for most of its run. It […]
Kukla, Fran and Ollie is an early American television show using puppets, originally created for children but soon watched by more adults than children. It did not have a script and was entirely ad-libbed. It first aired from 1947 to 1957. Burr Tillstrom was the creator and only puppeteer on the show, which premiered as […]
Milton Berle was an American comedian and actor. As the host of NBC’s Texaco Star Theater (1948–55), he was the first major American television star and was known to millions of viewers as “Uncle Miltie” and “Mr. Television” during TV’s golden age. Berle would revive the structure and routines of his vaudeville shows for his debut on TV. His first TV series was The […]
The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an American children’s television series that originally aired on NBC from September 15th, 1968 through February 23rd, 1969. Produced by Hanna-Barbera and based on the classic Mark Twain characters, the program starred its three live-action heroes, Huck Finn (Michael Shea), Becky Thatcher (LuAnn Haslam), and Tom Sawyer (Kevin […]
In 1955, the same year the radio show ended, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon premiered as a television series. Mainly filmed at Ashcroft, Colorado, the series was telecast on CBS from September 29th, 1955, to September 25th, 1958.
Richard Simmons starred as Sgt. Preston, and was supported by Yukon King and Rex, now played by real animals. The dog cast as King was not a husky, however, but a large Alaskan Malamute. Charles Livingstone, who had worked on the radio version, directed several episodes. Though no plot lines seem to have been re-used from the radio show, they were generally built upon the same themes. The same few buildings were regularly seen as part of many settlements in the shows. The additional visual component of the snowy Yukon, however, did give the television version a different feel but like all such films when filmed on a stage set, the frosty breath of people in Arctic conditions could not be simulated. Generally, however, there was an outdoor feel though a few times shadows on the skyline could be seen. Genuine outdoor scenes were added to give the show some reality though the viewer could not help but notice a sameness to them as they were all filmed in the same area and reused at times.
The first two seasons were produced by Trendle-Campbell-Meurer, and the show was broadcast in the same time slot as ABC’s The Lone Ranger. In its last season, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon was purchased and produced by the Jack Wrather Corporation.
In 1955, the Quaker Oats company gave away land in the Klondike as part of the Klondike Big Inch Land Promotion which was tied in with the television show. Genuine deeds each to one square inch of a lot in Yukon Territory, issued by Klondike Big Inch Land Co. Inc., were inserted into Quaker’s Puffed Wheat and Puffed Rice cereal boxes.