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.
Summer Playhouse was one of these series.
Don Fedderson produced
Summer Playhouse, and
Steve Allen,
Jimmy Durante, and
Fred MacMurray were among its notable stars. ==Broadcast history==