Most Fans Can’t Recognize These 50s TV Shows — Can You?

The Bob Cummings Show was a sitcom starring Bob Cummings, which was produced from January 2, 1955, to September 15, 1959. The Bob Cummings Show was the first series to debut as a midseason replacement. The program began with a half-season run on NBC, then ran for two full seasons on CBS, and returned to NBC for its final two seasons.

The Cisco Kid was a half-hour American Western television series starring Duncan Renaldo in the title role, the Cisco Kid, and Leo Carrillo as the jovial sidekick, Pancho. Cisco and Pancho were technically desperados, wanted for unspecified crimes, but instead viewed by the poor as Robin Hood figures who assisted the downtrodden when law enforcement officers proved corrupt or unwilling to help.

My Little Margie was a television situation comedy starring Gale Storm and Charles Farrell that alternated between CBS and NBC from 1952 to 1955. The series was created by Frank Fox and produced in Los Angeles, California, at Hal Roach Studios by Hal Roach, Jr., and Roland D. Reed. My Little Margie premiered on CBS as the first summer replacement for I Love Lucy on June 16, 1952, under the sponsorship of Philip Morris cigarettes.

Sunday Night Theatre was a long-running series of televised live television plays screened by BBC Television from early 1950 until 1959. The productions for the first five years or so of the run were re-staged live the following Thursday, partly because of technical limitations in this era, and the theatrical basis of early television drama. Some of the earliest collaborations between Rudolph Cartier and Nigel Neale were produced for this series, including Arrow to the Heart (1952, 1956) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1954).

Gunsmoke was a 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. When aired in the UK, the television series was initially titled Gun Law, later reverting to Gunsmoke.

Amos ‘n’ Andy was a radio and television sitcom set in Harlem, Manhattan’s historic black community. The original radio show, which ran from 1928 until 1960, was created, written and voiced by two white actors, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, who played Amos Jones (Gosden) and Andrew Hogg Brown (Correll) as well as incidental characters. When the show moved to television, black actors took over the majority of the roles; white characters were infrequent.

The Loretta Young Show was a anthology drama television series broadcast on Sunday nights from September 2, 1953, to June 4, 1961, on NBC for a total of 165 episodes. The series was hosted by actress Loretta Young, who also played the lead in various episodes. It was sponsored by Procter & Gamble for its first seven seasons, from 1953 to 1960. For its eighth and final season, from 1960 to 1961, the series was sponsored by Warner-Lambert’s Listerine.

Adventures in Paradise was a television series created by James Michener which ran on ABC from 1959 until 1962, starring Gardner McKay as Adam Troy, the captain of the schooner Tiki III, which sailed the South Pacific looking for passengers and adventure. USA Network aired reruns of this series between 1984 and 1988. The plots deal with the romantic and detective adventures of Korean War veteran Troy.

The Phil Silvers Show, originally titled You’ll Never Get Rich, was a sitcom which ran on CBS from 1955 to 1959. A pilot called “Audition Show” was made in 1955, but never broadcast. 143 other episodes were broadcast – all half-an-hour long except for a 1959 one-hour live special. The series starred Phil Silvers as Master Sergeant Ernest G. Bilko of the United States Army.

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends is the blanket title for an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959, to June 27, 1964, on the ABC and NBC television networks. Produced by Jay Ward Productions, the series is structured as a variety show, with the main feature being the serialized adventures of the two title characters, the anthropomorphic flying squirrel Rocky and moose Bullwinkle.

The Abbott and Costello Show was a television sitcom starring the popular comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. The program premiered in syndication in the fall of 1952 and ran two seasons, to the spring of 1954. Each season ran 26 episodes. The series is considered to be among the most influential comedy programs in history. In 1998 Entertainment Weekly praised the series as one of the “100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time”.

Adventures of Superman was a television series based on comic book characters and concepts that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created in 1938. The show was the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California on RKO-Path√© stages and the RKO Forty Acres back lot. Cereal manufacturer Kellogg’s sponsored the show.

The Yogi Bear Show was an animated television series about the misadventures of picnic basket stealing bear Yogi in Jellystone Park. The show debuted in syndication on January 30, 1961, and ran for 33 episodes until January 6, 1962, and included two segments, Snagglepuss and Yakky Doodle. The show had a two-year production run.

The Twilight Zone was a media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, suspense, and psychological thriller, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist, and usually with a moral. A popular and critical success, it introduced many Americans to common science fiction and fantasy tropes.

George Leslie Goebel was an American humorist, actor, and comedian. He was best known as the star of his own weekly comedy variety television series, The George Gobel Show, broadcasting from 1954 to 1959 on NBC, and on CBS from 1959 to 1960, (alternating in its final season with The Jack Benny Program). He was also a familiar panelist on the NBC game show Hollywood Squares.

Dragnet was a television series, based on the radio series of the same name, both created by their star, Jack Webb. Both shows take their name from the police term dragnet, which means a system of coordinated measures for apprehending criminals or suspects. Webb reprised his radio role of Los Angeles police detective Sergeant Joe Friday. Ben Alexander co-starred as Friday’s partner, Officer Frank Smith.

Leave It to Beaver was a sitcom about an inquisitive and often na√Øve boy, Theodore “The Beaver” Cleaver, and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood. The show also starred Barbara Billingsley and Hugh Beaumont as Beaver’s parents, June and Ward Cleaver, and Tony Dow as Beaver’s brother Wally. The show has attained an iconic status in the United States, with the Cleavers exemplifying the idealized suburban family of the mid-20th century.

Climax! was a television anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary Costa. It was one of the few CBS programs of that era to be broadcast in color. Many of the episodes were performed and broadcast live, and although the series was transmitted in color, only black-and-white kinescope copies of some episodes survive to the present day.

What’s My Line? is a panel game show that originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967. The game requires celebrity panelists to question a contestant in order to determine his or her occupation, i.e., “line [of work],” with panelists being called on to identify a weekly celebrity “mystery guest” with specificity.

The Mickey Mouse Club was a variety television show that aired intermittently from 1955 to 1996 and returned in 2017 to social media. Created by Walt Disney and produced by Walt Disney Productions, the program was first televised for three seasons, from 1955 to 1958, by ABC. This original run featured a regular but ever-changing cast of mostly teen performers. ABC broadcast reruns weekday afternoons during the 1958–1959 season, airing right after American Bandstand.

The Danny Thomas Show (titled Make Room for Daddy for its first three seasons) was a sitcom that ran from 1953 to 1957 on ABC and from 1957 to 1964 on CBS. Episodes regularly featured music by Danny Thomas, guest stars and occasionally other cast members as part of the plot. 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.

Bat Masterson was an American Western television series which showed a fictionalized account of the life of real-life marshal/gambler/dandy Bat Masterson. The title character was played by Gene Barry and the half-hour black-and-white shows ran on NBC from 1958 to 1961. The series was produced by Ziv Television Productions. Bat is a nickname for Masterson’s first name, Bartholemew.

Felix the Cat was a funny-animal cartoon character created in the silent film era. The anthropomorphic black cat with his black body, white eyes, and giant grin, coupled with the surrealism of the situations in which his cartoons place him, combine to make Felix one of the most recognized cartoon characters in film history. Felix was the first character from animation to attain a level of popularity sufficient to draw movie audiences.

Lawman was a western television series originally telecast on ABC from 1958 to 1962. The series was set in Laramie, Wyoming during 1879 and the 1880s. Warner Bros. already had several western series on the air at the time, having launched Cheyenne with Clint Walker as early as 1955. The studio continued the trend in 1957 with the additions of Maverick with James Garner and Jack Kelly, Colt .45 with Wayde Preston, and Sugarfoot with Will Hutchins.

Bonanza was an NBC television western series that ran from 1959 to 1973. Bonanza is NBC’s longest-running western, and ranks overall as the second-longest-running western series on U.S. network television (behind CBS’s Gunsmoke), and within the top 10 longest-running, live-action American series. The show is set in the 1860s and it centers on the wealthy Cartwright family that live in the vicinity of Virginia City, Nevada, bordering Lake Tahoe. The show is known for presenting pressing moral dilemmas.

Fury was a western television series that aired on NBC from 1955 to 1960. It stars Peter Graves as Jim Newton, who operates the Broken Wheel Ranch in California; Bobby Diamond as Jim’s adopted son, Joey Clark Newton, and William Fawcett as ranch hand Pete Wilkey. Roger Mobley co-starred in the two final seasons as Homer “Packy” Lambert, a friend of Joey’s.

The Lawrence Welk Show was a televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years, from 1951 to 1955, then nationally for another 16 years on ABC from 1955 to 1971, followed by 11 years in first-run syndication from 1971 to 1982. Repeat episodes are broadcast in the United States by Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) stations.

Candid Camera was a popular and long running hidden camera reality television series. Versions of the show appeared on television from 1948 until 2014. Originally created and produced by Allen Funt, it often featured practical jokes, and initially began on radio as The Candid Microphone on June 28, 1947.

Truth or Consequences was an American game show originally hosted on NBC radio by Ralph Edwards (1940–1957) and later on television by Edwards (1950–1954), Jack Bailey (1954–1956), Bob Barker (1956–1975), Steve Dunne (1957-58), Bob Hilton (1977–1978) and Larry Anderson (1987–1988). The television show ran on CBS, NBC and also in syndication. The premise of the show was to mix the original quiz element of game shows with wacky stunts.

You Bet Your Life was a comedy quiz series that aired on both radio and television. The original and best-known version was hosted by Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers, with announcer and assistant George Fenneman. The show debuted on ABC Radio on October 27, 1947, then moved to CBS Radio debuting October 5, 1949, before making the transition to NBC-TV and NBC Radio on October 4, 1950.

The Public Defender was a half-hour 69-episode television dramatic series starring Reed Hadley (1911–1974) as Bart Matthews, an attorney for the indigent. The series aired on CBS from March 11, 1954, to June 23, 1955, a season and a half. The series was sponsored by Philip Morris cigarettes; by the middle of its second season, Revlon cosmetics became an alternate sponsor.

Sea Hunt was an action adventure television series that aired in syndication from 1958 to 1961 and was popular in syndication for decades afterwards. The series originally aired for four seasons, with 155 episodes produced. It stars Lloyd Bridges as former United States Navy frogman Mike Nelson, and was produced by Ivan Tors.

Perry Mason was a legal drama series originally broadcast on CBS television from September 21, 1957, to May 22, 1966. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles criminal-defense lawyer who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner. Many episodes are based on stories written by Gardner.

The Rifleman was a Western television program starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son Mark McCain. It was set in the 1870s and 1880s in the fictional town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show was filmed in black and white, in half-hour episodes. The Rifleman aired on ABC from September 30, 1958, to April 8, 1963, as a production of Four Star Television.

December Bride was a 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 on the adventures of Lily Ruskin, a spry widow played by Spring Byington, who was not, in fact, a “December” (rather old) bride but very much desired to become one if the right man would come along.

A highway patrol is either a police unit created primarily for the purpose of overseeing and enforcing traffic safety compliance on roads and highways, or a detail within an existing local or regional police agency that is primarily concerned with such duties. They are also referred to in many countries as traffic police, although in other countries this term is more commonly used to refer to foot officers on point duty who control traffic at junctions.

Wagon Train was a Western series that first aired on September 18, 1957 and would eventually place the TV show in the number one spot in the Nielsen ratings. The series format attracted big name guest stars who would appear in major roles as travelers in the large wagon train or in the settlements they passed by or visited.

The Lone Ranger was a western drama television series that aired on the ABC Television network from 1949 to 1957, with Clayton Moore in the starring role. Jay Silverheels, a member of the Mohawk Aboriginal people in Canada, played The Lone Ranger’s Indian companion Tonto. John Hart replaced Moore in the title role from 1952 to 1954 due to a contract dispute.

Truth or Consequences was a game show originally hosted on NBC radio by Ralph Edwards (1940–1957) and later on television by Edwards (1950–1954), Jack Bailey (1954–1956), Bob Barker (1956–1975), Steve Dunne (1957-58), Bob Hilton (1977–1978) and Larry Anderson (1987–1988). The television show ran on CBS, NBC and also in syndication. The premise of the show was to mix the original quiz element of game shows with wacky stunts.

Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts (also known as Talent Scouts) was an American radio and television variety show which ran on CBS from 1946 until 1958. Sponsored by Lipton Tea, it starred Arthur Godfrey, who was also hosting Arthur Godfrey and His Friends at the same time.

Tom and Jerry was an animated series of short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. It centers on a rivalry between its two title characters, Tom, a cat, and Jerry, a mouse, and many recurring characters, based around slapstick comedy. In its original run, Hanna and Barbera produced 114 Tom and Jerry shorts for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1940 to 1958.

American Bandstand was a music-performance and dance television program that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as the program’s producer. It featured teenagers dancing to Top 40 music introduced by Clark; at least one popular musical act‚Äîover the decades, running the gamut from Jerry Lee Lewis to Run‚ÄìD.M.C.‚Äîwould usually appear in person to lip-sync one of their latest singles.

Father Knows Best was a sitcom starring Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Elinor Donahue, Billy Gray, and Lauren Chapin. The series, which first began on radio in 1949, aired for six seasons with a total of 203 episodes. The series debuted on CBS in October 1954. It ran for one season and was canceled the following year. The series was picked up by NBC, where it remained for three seasons. After a second cancellation in 1958, the series was picked up yet again, by CBS, where it aired until May 1960.

The United States Steel Hour was an anthology series which brought hour long dramas to television from 1953 to 1963. The television series and the radio program that preceded it were both sponsored by the United States Steel Corporation (U. S. Steel). The series originated on radio in the 1940s as Theatre Guild on the Air.

The Perry Como Show made its debut September 17, 1955, with the following announcement from announcer Frank Gallop: “We assume everyone can read, so we will not shout at you.” The Perry Como Show was rated as number seven in the Nielsen top ten after it had been on the air for two months. The program became one of the first color television programs with its 1956 season premiere; it was also the only NBC television show in the Nielsen top ten for the 1956-1957 season.

Beulah was a situation-comedy series that ran on CBS Radio from 1945 to 1954, and on ABC Television from 1950 to 1952. The show is notable for being the first sitcom to star an African American actress. The show was controversial for its caricatures of African Americans.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents was a television anthology series that was hosted and produced by Alfred Hitchcock; the program aired on CBS and NBC between 1955 and 1965. It featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the time it premiered on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades. Time magazine named it one of “The 100 Best TV Shows of All Time”.

Have Gun – Will Travel was a Western television series that aired on CBS from 1957 through 1963. It was rated number three or number four in the Nielsen ratings every year of its first four seasons. The show was one of the most successful shows in television history. It was one of the few television shows to spawn a successful radio version. The radio series debuted November 23, 1958.

Milton Berle was a comedian and actor. Berle’s career as an entertainer spanned over 80 years, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and television. As the host of NBC’s Texaco Star Theater (1948‚Äì55), 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.

The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok was a Western television series which ran for eight seasons from 1951 through 1958. The Screen Gems series began in syndication, but ran on CBS from 1955 through 1958, and, at the same time, on ABC from 1957 through 1958. The Kellogg’s cereal company was the show’s national sponsor. The series was also exported to Australia during the late-1950s.

The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis was a sitcom that aired on CBS from September 29, 1959, to June 5, 1963. The series and several episode scripts were adapted from the “Dobie Gillis” short stories written by Max Shulman since 1945, and first collected in 1951 under the same title as the subsequent TV series.

The Red Skelton Show is an American television comedy/variety show that, from 1951 to 1971, was an entertainment staple and an institution to a generation of viewers. It was second to Gunsmoke (1955–1975) and third to The Ed Sullivan Show (1948–1971) in the ratings during that time. Although his television series is largely associated with CBS, where it appeared for more than sixteen years, it actually began and ended on NBC.

Zorro was an action-adventure western series produced by Walt Disney Productions. Based on the Zorro character created by Johnston McCulley, the series premiered on October 10, 1957 on ABC. The final network broadcast was July 2, 1959. Seventy-eight episodes were produced, and 4 hour-long specials were aired on the Walt Disney anthology series between October 30, 1960 and April 2, 1961.

I’ve Got a Secret was a panel game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS television. Created by comedy writers Allan Sherman and Howard Merrill, it was a derivative of Goodson-Todman’s own panel show What’s My Line? Instead of celebrity panelists trying to determine a contestant’s plan(s), the panel tries to determine a contestant’s “secret”: something that is unusual, amazing, embarrassing or humorous about that person/people.

I Married Joan was a situation comedy that aired on NBC from 1952 to 1955. It starred veteran vaudeville, film, and radio comedian-comedy actress Joan Davis as the manic, scatterbrained wife of a mild-mannered community judge, the Honorable Bradley Stevens (Jim Backus).

The Three Stooges were a vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best known for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures that have been regularly airing on television since 1958. Their hallmark was physical farce and slapstick. Six stooges appeared over the act’s run: Moe Howard and Larry Fine were mainstays throughout the ensemble’s nearly fifty-year run and the pivotal “third Stooge” was played by Shemp Howard, Curly Howard, Shemp Howard again, Joe Besser, and Curly Joe DeRita.

Texaco Star Theatre was an American comedy-variety show, broadcast on radio from 1938 to 1949 and telecast from 1948 to 1956. It was one of the first successful examples of American television broadcasting, remembered as the show that gave Milton Berle the nickname “Mr. Television”.

The Buccaneers was a 1956 Sapphire Films television drama series for ITC Entertainment, broadcast by CBS in the US and shown on ATV and regional ITV companies as they came on air during the infancy of ITV in the UK. Starring Robert Shaw as Dan Tempest, the series, aimed at children, followed the adventures of Tempest and his crew of former pirates as they made their way across the seven seas in Sultana.

Dennis the Menace was a sitcom based on the Hank Ketcham comic strip of the same name and preceding The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday evenings on CBS from October 1959 to July 1963. The series stars Jay North as Dennis Mitchell; Herbert Anderson as his father, Henry; Gloria Henry as his mother, Alice; Joseph Kearns as George Wilson; Gale Gordon as George’s brother, John Wilson; Sylvia Field as George’s wife, Martha Wilson; and Sara Seegar as John’s wife, Eloise Wilson.

The Jackie Gleason Show is the name of a series of American network television shows that starred Jackie Gleason, which ran from 1952 to 1970, in various forms.

Playhouse 90 was a television anthology drama series that aired on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. The show was produced at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California. Since live anthology drama series of the mid-1950s usually were hour-long shows, the title highlighted the network’s intention to present something unusual: a weekly series of hour-and-a-half-long dramas rather than 60-minute plays.

The Dinah Shore Chevy Show was a variety series hosted by Dinah Shore, and broadcast on NBC from October 1956 to May 1963. The series was sponsored by the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors and its theme song, sung by Shore, was “See the U.S.A. in Your Chevrolet”, which continued to be used in Chevrolet advertising for several more years after the cancellation of the show.

Davy Crockett was a five-part serial which aired on ABC from 1954‚Äì1955 in one-hour episodes, on the Disneyland series. The series stars Fess Parker as real-life frontiersman Davy Crockett and Buddy Ebsen as his friend, George Russel. This series and film are known for the catchy theme song, “The Ballad of Davy Crockett”.

Laramie was a Western television series that aired on NBC from 1959 to 1963. A Revue Studios production, the program originally starred John Smith as Slim Sherman; Robert Fuller as Jess Harper; Hoagy Carmichael as Jonesy; and Robert L. Crawford, Jr. as Andy Sherman. Actress Spring Byington was later added to the cast. STARZ!’s Westerns Channel and the Grit network began airing the series in July 2015.

Maverick is an American Western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins and originally starring James Garner. The show ran for five seasons from September 22, 1957, to July 8, 1962, on ABC.

General Electric Theater was an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric’s Department of Public Relations.

The Roy Rogers Show was a Western television series that broadcast 100 episodes on NBC for six seasons between December 30, 1951 and June 9, 1957. The show starred Roy Rogers as a ranch owner, Dale Evans as the proprietress of the Eureka Caf√© and Hotel in fictional Mineral City, and Pat Brady as Roy‚Äôs sidekick and Dale’s cook. Brady’s jeep Nellybelle at times had a mind of her own and sped away driverless with Brady in frantic pursuit on foot. Earlier, during the show’s 1952 episodes, the jeep was called Nellybelle.

Studio One was a radio anthology drama series that was also adapted to television. It was created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. It aired under several variant titles: Studio One in Hollywood, Studio One Summer Theatre, Westinghouse Studio One and Westinghouse Summer Theatre.

Wanted Dead or Alive was a Western television series starring Steve McQueen as the bounty hunter Josh Randall. It aired on CBS for three seasons in 1958–61. The black-and-white program was a spin-off of a March 1958 episode of Trackdown, a 1957–59 western series starring Robert Culp. Both series were produced by Four Star Television in association with CBS Television.

Lassie was a television series that follows the adventures of a female Rough Collie dog named Lassie and her companions, both human and animal. The fifth longest-running U.S. primetime television series after The Simpsons, Gunsmoke, Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, the show chalked up 17 seasons on CBS before entering first-run syndication for its final two seasons. Initially filmed in black and white, the show transitioned to color in 1965.

The Donna Reed Show was a sitcom starring Donna Reed as the middle-class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz co-stars as her pediatrician husband Dr. Alex Stone, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children, Mary and Jeff. The show originally aired on ABC from September 24, 1958 to March 19, 1966. When Fabares left the show in 1963, Petersen’s younger sister, Patty Petersen, joined the cast as adopted daughter Trisha.

I Love Lucy was a sitcom that originally ran on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957. The show starred Lucille Ball, her real-life husband Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. It followed the life of Lucy Ricardo (Ball), a middle class housewife in 1950s New York City, who either concocted plans with her best friends (Vance & Frawley) to appear alongside her bandleader husband Ricky Ricardo (Arnaz) in his nightclub, or tried numerous schemes to mingle with, or be a part of show business.

The Ed Sullivan Show was a television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie. In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide’s 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. In 2013, the series finished No. 31 in TV Guide Magazine’s 60 Best Series of All Time.

The Life of Riley was an radio situation comedy series of the 1940s that was adapted into a 1949 feature film, a 1950s television series, and a 1958 comic book. An unrelated radio show with the name Life of Riley was a summer replacement show heard on CBS from April 12, 1941, to September 6, 1941. The CBS program starred Lionel Stander as J. Riley Farnsworth and had no real connection with the more famous series that followed a few years later.

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet was a sitcom, which aired on ABC from October 3, 1952 through April 23, 1966, and starred the real-life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television, where it continued its success, initially running simultaneously on radio and TV. The series starred the entertainment duo of Ozzie Nelson and his wife, singer Harriet Nelson, and their sons, David and Ricky.

Our Miss Brooks was a sitcom starring Eve Arden as a sardonic high-school English teacher. It began as a radio show broadcast on CBS from 1948 to 1957. When the show was adapted to television (1952‚Äì56), it became one of the medium’s earliest hits. In 1956, the sitcom was adapted for the big screen in the film of the same name.

The Real McCoys was a sitcom co-produced by Danny Thomas’s Marterto Productions in association with Walter Brennan and Irving Pincus’s Westgate Company. The series aired for six seasons, five on the ABC-TV network from 1957‚Äì62 and a final year, 1962‚Äì63 on CBS. Set in the San Fernando Valley of California, the series was filmed in Hollywood at Desilu studios.

The Honeymooners was a television sitcom created by and starring Jackie Gleason, based on a recurring comedy sketch of the same name that had been part of his variety show. It followed the day to day life of New York City bus driver Ralph Kramden (Gleason), his wife Alice (Audrey Meadows), and his best friend Ed Norton (Art Carney) as they get involved with various scenarios in their day to day living.

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp was the first Western television series written for adults, premiering four days before Gunsmoke on September 6, 1955. It is loosely based on the life of frontier marshal Wyatt Earp. The half-hour, black-and-white program aired for six seasons (229 episodes) on ABC from 1955 to 1961, and featured Hugh O’Brian in the title role.

Peter Gunn was a private eye television series, starring Craig Stevens as Peter Gunn with Lola Albright as his girlfriend Edie Hart, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1958, to 1960 and on ABC in 1960-1961. The series was created by Blake Edwards, who, on occasion, was also writer and director.

The Adventures of Robin Hood is a television series comprising 143 half-hour, black and white episodes broadcast weekly between 1955 and 1959 on ITV. It starred 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 tales, most were original dramas created by the show’s writers and producers.

Looney Tunes was an animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. from 1930 to 1969 during the golden age of American animation, alongside its sister series Merrie Melodies. It was known for introducing such famous cartoon characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Tweety, Sylvester, Granny, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Marvin the Martian, Pepé Le Pew, Speedy Gonzales, Tasmanian Devil, Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote and many others.

Cheyenne was an American Western television series of 108 black-and-white episodes broadcast on ABC from 1955 to 1963. The show was the first hour-long Western, and was the first hour-long dramatic series of any kind, with continuing characters, to last more than one season. It was also the first series to be made by a major Hollywood film studio which did not derive from its established film properties.

The Untouchables was a crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on the ABC Television Network, produced by Desilu Productions. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized Ness’ experiences as a Prohibition agent, fighting crime in Chicago in the 1930s with the help of a special team of agents handpicked for their courage, moral character, and incorruptibility, nicknamed the Untouchables.

Bachelor Father was a sitcom starring John Forsythe, Noreen Corcoran and Sammee Tong. The series first premiered on CBS in September 1957 before moving to NBC for the third season in 1959. The series’ fifth and final season aired on ABC for the rest of the show’s run. A total of 157 episodes were aired. The series was based on “A New Girl in His Life,” which aired on General Electric Theater on May 26, 1957.

The Jack Benny Program, starring Jack Benny, was a radio-TV comedy series that ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th-century American comedy. The television show was a seamless continuation of Benny’s radio program, employing many of the same players, the same approach to situation comedy and some of the same scripts.

The Last of the Mohicans was a 1957 historical period drama television series made for syndication by ITC Entertainment and Normandie Productions. It ran for one season of 39 half-hour monochrome episodes. The series is available on DVD and some episodes on VHS. The series was set in New York’s Hudson Valley in the 1750s but was filmed in Canada.

The Invisible Man was a British black-and-white science fiction/adventure/espionage television series that aired on ITV from September 1958 to July 1959. It was aired on CBS in the United States, running two seasons and totalling 26 half-hour episodes. In this version, the deviation from the novel went as far as changing the main character’s name from Dr. Griffin to Dr. Peter Brady who remained a sane man, not a power-hungry lunatic as in the book or the 1933 film adaptation.

The Millionaire was a anthology series that aired on CBS from 1955 to 1960. The series, produced by Don Fedderson and Fred Henry, explored the ways that sudden and unexpected wealth changed life, for better or for worse, and became a five-season hit during the Golden Age of Television. It told the stories of people who were given one million dollars ($9.14 million in 2017 dollars) from a benefactor who insisted they never knew him, with one exception.

Captain Kangaroo was a children’s television series that aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS from October 3, 1955, until December 8, 1984, making it the longest-running nationally broadcast children’s television program of its day. In 1986, the American Program Service integrated some newly produced segments into reruns of past episodes, distributing the newer version of the series on PBS until 1993.

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, sometimes called The Burns and Allen Show, was a half-hour television series broadcast from 1950 to 1958 on CBS. It stars George Burns and Gracie Allen, one of the most enduring acts in entertainment history. Burns and Allen were headliners in vaudeville in the 1920s, and radio stars in the 1930s and 1940s.

Hawaiian Eye was a detective television series that ran from October 1959 to April 1963 on the ABC television network. Private investigator Tracy Steele (Anthony Eisley) and his half-Hawaiian partner, Tom Lopaka (Robert Conrad), own Hawaiian Eye, a combination detective agency and private security firm, located in Honolulu, Hawaii. Their principal client is the Hawaiian Village Hotel, which in exchange for security services, provides the agency with a luxurious private compound on the hotel grounds.