The Loretta Young Show
Letter to Loretta (also known as The Loretta Young Show) is an American anthology drama series telecast on NBC from September 1953 to June 1961 for a total of 165 episodes. The filmed show was hosted by Loretta Young who also played the lead in various episodes. Letter to Loretta was sponsored by Procter & Gamble from 1953 through 1960. The final season’s sponsor was Warner-Lambert’s Listerine. The program […]
Huntley – Brinkley Report
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, […]
Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers
Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers is a television series broadcast in the United States by NBC during its 1956-57 season. In a period in which much of the programming on U.S. television consisted of westerns, Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers could best be described as an “eastern”. It consisted of the adventures of […]
Circus Boy
Circus Boy is an American action/adventure/drama series that aired in prime time on NBC, and then on ABC, from 1956 to 1958. It was then rerun by NBC on Saturday mornings, from 1958 to 1960. Set in the late 1890s, the title of the series refers to a boy named Corky. After his parents, “The […]
Encore Theatre
Encore Theatre, a dramatic anthology series first telecast July 7th, 1956 and ran through September 14th, 1957. Encore Theatre was just that, an encore presentation of the various anthology programs available that aired on Saturday nights at 10:00pm. Encore Theatre was the summer replacement for the George Globel Show and ran in the summer of […]
The Kaiser Aluminum Hour
The Kaiser Aluminum Hour is a dramatic anthology television series which was broadcast in prime time in the United States during the 1956-57 season by NBC. The Kaiser Aluminum Hour was shown on alternate Tuesday nights at 9:30 pm Eastern time in rotation with the longer-running Armstrong Circle Theatre, with the first broadcast airing on July 3rd, 1956 and the final one on June […]
The Vise
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 […]
The Alcoa Hour
The Alcoa Hour is an American anthology television series that was aired live on NBC from 1955 to 1957. The series was sponsored by Alcoa. Like the Philco Television Playhouse and Goodyear Television Playhouse that had preceded it, The Alcoa Hour was a one-hour live dramatic anthology series presenting both original stories and adaptations of […]
The Big Surprise
The Big Surprise is a television quiz game show broadcast in the United States by NBC from October 8th, 1955 to June 9th, 1956 and from September 18th, 1956 to April 2nd, 1957. It was hastily created by NBC in response to the overwhelming ratings success of The $64,000 Question, which had premiered on CBS in Summer 1955 and almost instantly became a smash hit. The Big Surprise […]
The People’s Choice
The People’s Choice is an American television situation comedy that aired on NBC from 1955 to 1958, primarily sponsored by The Borden Company. It stars Jackie Cooper as Socrates “Sock” Miller, an ex-Marine and a young politician in fictitious New City, California. Sock has a basset hound named “Cleo”, whose thoughts (voiced by Mary Jane Croft), as she balefully observes Sock’s dilemmas, are recorded on the soundtrack […]
The 20th Century Fox Hour
The 20th Century Fox Hour is an American drama anthology series televised in the United States on CBS from 1955 to 1957. Presenting both originals and remakes, The 20th Century Fox Hour was telecast on Wednesday nights at 10pm, alternating each week with The U.S. Steel Hour. Many of the programs were shortened versions of […]
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the time the show premiered on October 2nd, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades. Alfred Hitchcock Presents is well known for its title sequence. The camera fades in on a simple line-drawing caricature of Hitchcock’s rotund […]
Sargeant Preston of the Yukon
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 Phil Silvers Show
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 […]
Gunsmoke
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. […]
The Lawrence Welk Show
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 Julius LaRosa Show
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
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 […]
Ozark Jubilee
Ozark Jubilee is the first U.S. network television program to feature country music’s top stars, and featured performers located in Springfield, Missouri which has long emulated Nashville, Tennessee as a center of American country music. The weekly live stage show premiered on ABC-TV on January 22nd, 1955, was renamed Country Music Jubilee on July 6th, […]
The Millionaire
The Millionaire is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from January 19th, 1955, to June 8th, 1960, originally sponsored by Colgate-Palmolive. The series explored the ways sudden and unexpected wealth changed life for better or for worse and became a five-season hit during the Golden Age of Television. The Millionaire told the stories of people who were given one million […]
