The practice of television executives of ordering dozens of pilots for proposed television series each year – far more than their networks could possibly broadcast as series – created a sizable body of unsold pilots that had never aired. Packaging these unsold pilots in
anthology series and airing them during the summer provided television networks with a way of both providing fresh programming during the summer rerun season and recouping at least some of the expense of producing them. Along with
Summer Fun,
Preview Tonight was one of two such series to air on ABC during the summer of 1966. Stars appearing in the series included
Van Williams,
Hal Holbrook,
Jessica Walter,
Robert Reed, and
Bert Convy. ==Broadcast history==