Mayberry R.F.D. is an American television series produced as a spin-off and direct continuation of The Andy Griffith Show. When star Andy Griffith decided to leave his series, most of the supporting characters returned for the new program, which ran for three seasons (78 episodes) on the CBS Television Network from 1968–1971. During the final season of The Andy Griffith Show, widower farmer Sam Jones (Ken […]
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 and Republican conventions. The term “anchor” would not be used until 1952, when CBS News chief Sig Mikelson would use it to describe Walter Cronkite’s role in the network’s political convention coverage.
At first, Edwards would be eclipsed by John Cameron Swayze of NBC News’s Camel News Caravan, but he would eventually regain his ratings lead. By the mid-1950s, the nightly 15-minute newscast Douglas Edwards with the News was watched by nearly 30 million viewers.
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 in the American Southwest. Ricky’s uncle, Sandy North, was played by Jim Bannon. Ricky’s companions were a wild stallion, Champion, and a German Shepherd, Rebel, played by Blaze. The television program used characters similar to those in the 1949-50 radio serial, The Adventures of Champion. The radio serial told of young Ricky West (rather than Ricky North), who was raised on a ranch by his adoptive Uncle Smoky. Ricky was often accompanied by his German Shepherd, Rebel.
Beginning in 1950, The Gene Autry Show, a western/cowboy television series, aired for 91 episodes on CBS. The Adventures of Champion was a prime time spinoff for the 1955-1956 season. In real life, the Wonder Horse, Champion, was owned by Gene Autry who, over many years, owned a succession of celebrity horses bearing the same name. The horse starring in The Adventures of Champion was known as Television Champion, or TV Champ, for short. He was distinguished by his chestnut coat, blond mane and tail, four white stockings and broad white facial blaze. TV Champ made frequent appearances with Autry in films and television during the 1950s.
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 […]
The Adventures of Robin Hood is a British television series comprising 143 half-hour, black and white episodes broadcast weekly between 1955 and 1959 on ITV. It stars Richard Greene as the outlaw Robin Hood and Alan Wheatley as his nemesis, the Sheriff of Nottingham. The show followed the legendary character Robin Hood and his band of merry men in Sherwood Forest and the surrounding vicinity. While some episodes dramatised the traditional Robin Hood […]
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 […]
The Phil Silvers Show, originally titled You’ll Never Get Rich, was a situation comedy which ran on CBS from 1955 to 1959 for 142 episodes, plus a 1959 special. The series starred Phil Silvers as Master Sergeant Ernest G. Bilko of the United States Army. The series was created and largely written by Nat Hiken, and won three consecutive Emmy Awards for Best Comedy Series. The show […]
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 […]
Warner Bros. Presents is the umbrella title for three series telecast as part of the 1955-56 season on ABC: Cheyenne, a new Western series that originated on Presents, and two based on classic Warner Bros. films, Casablanca and Kings Row. At first, Warner Bros., like most other Hollywood studios, had seen television as a threat that it wished would disappear. Jack Warner tried to dismiss it as a mere passing fad, but by […]
Medical Horizons is a public affairs television series, focusing on advancements in medical technology, which aired on ABC from September 12th, 1955 to March 5th, 1956. The program, broadcast live, sometimes offered surgical scenes as well as information about new medical equipment. The series was hosted for the first four episodes by Quincy Howe. He […]
Famous Film Festival was an American television prime-time movie series that aired Sunday nights from 7:30-9:00 pm (ET) on ABC during the 1955-56 television season. In 1955, ABC obtained the rights to broadcast 35 British movie titles. These included Great Expectations (1946), Brief Encounter (1945), Odd Man Out (1947), Caesar and Cleopatra (1945), The Red […]
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television. […]
It’s Always Jan is an American situation comedy starring Janis Paige, which aired on CBS in the 1955-1956 season. It was the lead-in program at 9:30 p.m. Eastern on Saturday evenings to the first season of the long-running western, Gunsmoke, starring James Arness. The program centers on war widow and single mother Jan Stewart and her two single female roommates, secretary Pat Murphy (Patricia Bright), […]
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp is a western television series loosely based on the life of frontier marshal Wyatt Earp. The half-hour black-and-white program aired for 229 episodes on ABC from 1955 to 1961 and featured Hugh O’Brian in the title role. O’Brian was chosen for the role in part because of his […]
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 […]
MGM Parade is the title of a documentary television series produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and broadcast by the ABC network during the 1955-56 season on Wednesdays at 8:30pm (E.S.T.), under the alternate sponsorship of American Tobacco (Pall Mall), and General Foods (Instant Maxwell House). Hosted by George Murphy (September 14th, 1955 – March 7th, 1956), Walter Pidgeon (March 14th – May 2nd, 1956) and other MGM stars, the series […]
The Lawrence Welk Show is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years (1951–55), then nationally for another 27½ years via the ABC network (1955–71). In 1951, The Lawrence Welk Show started as a local program on KTLA-TV in Los […]
The Johnny Carson Show is a 1955-56 half hour prime time television variety show starring Johnny Carson. While working as a staff writer on The Red Skelton Show, local Los Angeles television comedian Carson filled in as host when Skelton was injured during a show rehearsal. As a result of Carson’s performance, CBS created the primetime variety program The Johnny Carson Show, a traditional potpourri of comedy, music, dance, […]
For thirteen weeks during the summer of 1955, Julius La Rosa had a three-times-a-week television series, The Julius La Rosa Show, featuring Russ Case and his Orchestra. The Julius La Rosa Show aired in an hour-long format in the summers of 1956 and 1957 at 8 p.m. Eastern on Saturdays on NBC as a seasonal replacement for The […]
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 […]
Damon Runyon Theatre is an American television program that presented dramatized versions of Damon Runyon‘s short stories. Hosted by Donald Woods, the program, sponsored by Anheuser-Busch‘s Budweiser beer, aired for a total of 39 episodes on CBS from April 1955 through February 1956 (repeats continued through June).
Appointment with Adventure is a half-hour adventure dramatic anthology television series broadcast live on CBS from 1955-1956. The program has no host. It aired at 10 p.m. EST on the Sunday evening schedule between the better known Alfred Hitchcock Presents and What’s My Line? It ran opposite The Loretta Young Show on NBC and Life […]
Star Tonight, an American television anthology series, aired on ABC from February 1955 to August 1956. It consisted of 80 total episodes, 30 from 1955 and 50 from 1956. Each episode was a self-contained story, usually adapted from famous plays, short-stories or novels by some of the writers of the day. It was designed as a showcase for […]
Coke Time with Eddie Fisher is an American musical variety television series starring singer Eddie Fisher which was broadcast by NBC on Wednesday nights in early prime time from 1953 to 1957. The program was aired from 7:30 to 7:45 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesdays and Fridays, and was not seen during the summer months.
The program was initially hosted by Don Ameche with Freddy Robbins as the announcer, but in late October 1953 Ameche left the program and Robbins became its host. As could have been surmised from the title, the program was sponsored by Coca-Cola. The house band was Axel Stordahl and His Orchestra, and beginning in 1956 the singing group The Echoes appeared as a permanent backup group for Fisher and his frequent guest stars. The program was generally presented live, but was occasionally filmed in advance or shot on location. Coke Time with Eddie Fisher was last aired on February 22nd, 1957, although the series was by then sponsored by Standard Brands‘ Planters peanuts, as Coca-Cola previously cancelled their sponsorship during 1956 due to a dispute with bottlers over a proposed larger Coke bottle.
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 Series – Musical or Comedy” in 1969.
The show also featured comedy sketches by the Ace Trucking Company improvisational group, featuring Fred Willard and Patti Deutsch, among others.
My Living Doll is an American science fiction sitcom that aired for 26 episodes on CBS from September 27th, 1964 to March 17th, 1965. This series was produced by Jack Chertok and was filmed at Desilu studios by Jack Chertok Television, Inc., in association with the CBS Television Network. The series was unusual in that it was bought by the network without a formal pilot film (at the request of CBS’ president, James T. Aubrey), due to the success of Chertok’s previous series, My Favorite Martian.
The series starred Bob Cummings as Dr. Bob McDonald, a psychiatrist who is given care of Rhoda Miller, a lifelike android (played by Julie Newmar) in the form of a sexy, Amazonian female, by her creator, a scientist who did not want her to fall into the hands of the military.
Rhoda’s real name is AF 709, and she is a prototype robot that Dr. Carl Miller (Henry Beckman) built for the U.S. Air Force. Through a series of mishaps, the robot ends up in the care of Dr. Miller’s friend, Air Force psychiatrist Bob McDonald, when Miller is transferred to Pakistan. Bob is initially reluctant but soon becomes intrigued by the experiment of educating this sophisticated but naive robot. Bob’s initial goal is to teach Rhoda how to be a “perfect” woman, which he defines as one who “does what she’s told” and “doesn’t talk back.” He also strives to keep her identity secret from the world.
The Munsters is an American television sitcom depicting the home life of a family of benign monsters. The series originally aired on Thursday at 7:30pm on CBS from September 24th, 1964, to May 12th, 1966. Seventy episodes were produced.
The series stars Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster and Yvonne De Carlo as his wife, Lily Munster. The show was a satire of both traditional monster movies and the wholesome family fare of the era, and was produced by the creators of Leave It to Beaver. It ran concurrently with the similarly themed The Addams Family.
The Munsters was broadcast weekly on BBC1 in the UK. It was cancelled after ratings dropped to a low due to the premiere of ABC’s Batman, which was in color. Though ratings were low during its initial two-year run, The Munsters found a large audience in syndication. This popularity warranted a spin-off series, as well as several films, including one with a theatrical release.
The Gene Autry Show is an American western/cowboy television series which aired for 91 episodes on CBS from July 23rd, 1950 until August 7th, 1956, originally sponsored by Wrigley’s Doublemint chewing gum.
Series star Gene Autry had already established his singing cowboy character on radio and the movies. Now he and his horse Champion were featured in a weekly television series of western adventures. Gene’s role changed almost weekly from rancher, to ranch hand, to sheriff, to border agent, etc. Gene’s usual comic relief and sidekick, Pat, was played by Pat Buttram, better known to later television viewers as “Mr Haney” on “Green Acres”. During the first season, Gene’s sidekick was played by Chill Wills twice (as Chill) and by Fuzzy Knight four times (as Sagebrush). These two actors even wore Pat’s costume. Alan Hale, Jr.(a.k.a. – “The Skipper” from “Gilligan’s Island”) played a bad guy in several episodes of Seasons 1 and 2, but he also played Gene’s sidekick, Tiny, in two episodes of Season 1.
By this time, Autry had established his own production company, Flying ‘A’ Productions, and acted as executive director for the series.
The series lasted five seasons. The first four were in black and white, and the final season (thirteen episodes) was in color. Color was experimented with in two episodes of the first season. The theme song Back In the Saddle Again was written by Autry and Ray Whitley and sung by Autry.
Among the guest stars, Nan Leslie and Mike Ragan were cast in different roles four times from 1950 to 1955.