The first
Ford Theatre on U.S. television appeared on October 17, 1948, near the beginning of regularly scheduled
prime time network programming. It was an hour-long drama, broadcast live, as was most television of the era. This series used primarily
Broadway actors. The program began as a monthly series, switching to biweekly a year later, in alternation on Friday nights at 9:00 pm
Eastern time with the
54th Street Revue. During this period, programming included adaptations of
Little Women, with
June Lockhart and
Kim Hunter, and
One Sunday Afternoon, with
Burgess Meredith and
Hume Cronyn. During the following season, the final season for the program on CBS, the alternation in the same time slot was with
Magnavox Theater. Garth Montgomery was the producer, with Carl Beier as associate producer. Franklin Schaffner was the director. A half-hour filmed
Ford Theatre returned to the airwaves on
NBC for the
1951–52 season on Thursday nights at 9:30 pm Eastern. At this time, production was moved from New York to
Hollywood, and featured actors based there rather than on Broadway. Some of these programs were comedies instead of dramas. Performers appearing during this era included
Frank Bank,
Scott Brady,
Claudette Colbert,
Charles Coburn,
Ed Hinton,
Vivi Janiss,
Peter Lawford,
Sam Levene,
Ida Lupino,
Thomas Mitchell,
Dennis Morgan,
Karen Sharpe,
Ann Sheridan,
Barry Sullivan, and
Beverly Washburn. Also appearing for the first time together were
Ronald Reagan and
Nancy Davis, in an episode entitled "First Born," which first aired on February 3, 1953. In October 1954,
Ford Theatre became the first network television series to be filmed regularly in color. During this period,
Ford Theatre finished in the
Nielsen ratings at number 30 for the 1952–1953 season, number seven in 1953–1954, number 9 in 1954–1955, and number 13 in 1955–1956. After four seasons on NBC, the program was shown for a final season on
ABC during the
1956–57 season. The time slot was changed to Wednesdays at 9:30 pm. The last prime time broadcast of
Ford Theatre was on July 10, 1957. From 9:00 to 9:30 p.m. on Saturdays during the summer of 1958, NBC broadcast the anthology series
Opening Night, which consisted entirely of reruns of episodes of
Ford Theatre from the 1956–1957 season. First aired on June 14, 1958,
Opening Night was broadcast every other week, alternating in its time slot with
Club Oasis with Spike Jones.
Episodes Season 1 (1948–49) Season 2 (1949–50) }}
Season 3 (1950–51) Season 4 (1952–53) Season 5 (1953–54) Season 6 (1954–55) Season 7 (1955–56) Season 8 (1956–57) ==See also==