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Dec.16, 1951-Sept.6, 1959 NBC

This is the city. Los Angeles, California. I work here... I carry a badge."

At the beginning of the 1950’s, most television success stories were either comedy or variety programs. This all changed with the introduction of Dragnet, a tough, no-nonsense program that invented and defined the ever-popular ‘cop show’ genre for television. Its combination of gritty drama and detailed police work helped it become a two-time hit and also made its star/creator Jack Webb a major figure in the television pantheon of tough guys.


CAST

Sergeant Joe Friday-----Jack Webb
Sergeant Ben Romero (1951)-Barton Yarborough
Sergeant Ed Jacobs (1952) -Barney Philips
Officer Frank Smith (1952)-Herbert Ellis
Officer Frank Smith (1952-59)-Ben Alexander


Press Play to hear the theme song





1951-1957

At age 25, after the death of Eben Kent, Clark moved to Metropolis and landed a job as reporter for The Daily Planet. When danger loomed he quickly changed from Clark Kent to Superman, leapt out a convenient window, and flew to the rescue! Clark's boss at the newspaper was blustery editor Perry White, whose most common expletive was "Great Ceasar's ghost!" Jimmy Olson was the ambitious, but timid, young cub reporter, and Lois Lane was the top reporter on the paper.

CAST

Superman/Clark Kent--------George Reeves
Lois Lane (1952)-----------Phyllis Coates
Lois Lane (1953-57)--------Noel Neill
Jimmy Olsen ---------------Jack Larson
Perry White (1952-57)------John Hamilton
Inspector Bill Henderson (1952-57)-Robert Shayne






Oct.2, 1955-Sept.25, 1960
"Good Evening"


There are people around today who will still fall to the ground, quaking in fear, at the mere sight of Alfred Hitchcock’s portly silhouette. Not that we blame them. When that deadpan British film director—“The Master of Suspense”—walked onto the screen, you could be sure that your fingernails would be raking the underside of the couch before the hour was through. Hitchcock had earned his heart-stopping credentials through feature films like The Lady Vanishes, Spellbound, Notorious, Strangers on a Train, Rear Window and Dial M for Murder, and in 1955, the Master brought his macabre sense of horror and humor to the small screen.


HOST
Alfred Hitchcock





Sept.21,1957-Sept.4,1966

"But Mr. Mason, he was dead when I got there!"

Perry Mason was television's most successful and longest running lawyer series. For nine seasons Erle Stanley Gardner's famous defense attorney solved murder mysteries in the courtroom. With the aid of his personal investigator Paul Drake and his devoted secretary Della Street, Perry always managed to piece together the puzzle just in time to thwart District Attorney Hamilton Burger, his perpetual adversary. The format was certainly predictable, which may have accounted for much of its appeal. Every case culminated in a courtroom trial, and every trial culminated in the guilty party taking the witness stand, only to break down in a dramatic confession under Mason's battering cross- examination. Often the deciding clue would be rushed into the courtroom at the last moment by Paul Drake. At the end of every episode, Perry, Della, and Paul would gather to recap and explain what had led to the solution, a neat little coda which often sorted things out for confused viewers. Mason never lost a case and it seemed that the accumulated frustrations made D.A. Burger determined to convict at least on of Perry's clients.


CAST

Perry Mason-------Raymond Burr
Della Street------Barbara Hale
Paul Drake--------William Hopper
Hamilton Burger---William Talman