1950s popular and long running shows which have disappered from the air

Life of Riley (w/William Bendix)
Schlitz Playhouse
G.E. Theater
December Bride
Whirlybirds
Dragnet (black and white)
The Lineup (syndicated title San Francisco Beat)
Armstrong Circle Theater
Racket Squad
My Little Margie
Oh Susannah (aka The Gale Storm Show)
Sky King
The Big Picture
Topper
You Bet Your Life (aka The Best of Groucho)
Love That Bob
The People's Choice
People Are Funny
The Big Story
M Squad
The Texan
Private Secretary
The Ann Sothern Show
United States Steel Hour
Hennesey
Adventures in Paradise
Richard Diamon, Private Detective

 

I have all of that one on DVD, and it's a remarkable release-- well worth the money!

 

I worked on that release. Unfortunately, at the time, Universal hadn't done a full inventory and Timeless had to source elements through collectors. One episode, we only had a 3rd or 4th generation copy. Many of the others were sourced from my 16mm film transfers to VHS.

 

RetroTV runs Ozzie and Harriet.

 

B-but, Law & Order has been running steadily since, what, 1952, right...?

 

Well, still, I think you did a great job (as well as all those who put it together), and I'm pleased to have that release the way it is in my collection (mainly for reasons that I think Lee Marvin is one of the best stars I've ever seen play, and I have really enjoyed what he did there as Lt. Frank Ballinger of the titular fictional squad of the Chicago Police).

 

...December Bride was an early example of a long-running series that didn't syndicate well.

 

Eh, Twilight Zone, Dick Van Dyke, The Honeymooners, and I Love Lucy did fine in B&W and are still on the air to some degree. But there's not a lot of B&W beyond that.

 

My TV memory starts around 1963 and I remember watching quite a few of those shows in reruns in New York, but I don't recall December Bride airing at any point when I was watching. Even the long ago withdrawn and buried early seasons of Make Room For Daddy I remember vaguely on NBC afternoon reruns.

 

Life with Elizabeth, Betty White’s early ‘50s show (with Del Moore) is another. I remember them cutting them up in the early ‘60s and showing them as 15-minute programs (yes, there were 15-minute shows in the early days).

 

Add "Leave it to Beaver", "The Andy Griffith Show", "The Munsters", "The Addams Family", and even the first few seasons of "The Beverly Hillbillies" to that list too.

Okay, four of the shows I mentioned aren't/weren't 50s sitcoms, but they had a good run despite being B&W shows (and two of them being "two season wonders" to boot).

Still, what you say is true-Not a whole lot of B&W sitcom programming went over well in syndication. There are quite a few B&W Westerns that seem to be played to this day though, shows like "Gunsmoke", "The Rifleman", Bat Masterson", "The Lone Ranger", and "Wagon Train".

 

Father Knows Best is the one that really died. Huge hit, forgotten today.

Some of these were early 1960s shows. They may have been in B&W, but more of the cultural references were closer to the color programs than the 1950s shows.

I am not a Western fan, a lot of the dramas were Westerns. Not interested. If I want B&W drama, I'll watch an old movie.

 

I used to be completely in the same boat as you, until two Westerns came along to change that-- Have Gun, Will Travel, and Wanted: Dead or Alive. To this day, those are my two favorites of that genre, and always will be-- no other Westerns have even come close!

 

M Squad lives on in spirit

 

Most of these live on about as well as you'd expect after 60 years, if not better. Is there really an audience for People Are Funny kinescopes?

At this point what audience these shows will find is basically limited to the historically minded or 70+ yr old nostalgists.

A few of these are worth reviving. Richard Diamond is notable for making a star of 26 yr old David Janssen, and allowing him to show the comic sense he was forced to suppress on The Fugitive. RD is one of my top 3 private eye full name half hours, along with Mike Hammer and Johnny Staccato (I find Peter Gunn somewhat overrated).

The Texan is a well produced, moody little western with one of my oater favorites of the period, Rory Calhoun. RC has a charmingly caddish sense of humor that he wasn't really allowed to show in the handful of episodes I've seen, but he's always worth watching. Supposedly The Texan was going to be renewed for a third season but Calhoun pulled the plug, b/c he wanted to make movies and have a lighter workload. It was a bad career move.

I've never seen The Lineup, although I have seen the great movie version directed by Don Siegel.

You'd think there'd be a small but loyal audience for the Dragnets of the '50s, but these have never really been promoted since the color version came along.

Ditto for M Squad.

 

Donna Reed, too. Those shows were big for those of us who were around back then, but they're meaningless for most people under 30. I think series like that captured a world that hasn't existed for a long time.

 

Not a long running show really. Fell into public domain as Guild Films is long out of business.

 

Airs every weekday on ME-TV and has run for years on THIS-TV.

 

I'd love to see more of these "lost" shows get re-run on MeTV or Antenna TV and get official DVD releases.

 

I'm almost 55, I can't relate to Donna Reed. So it's a lot more than under 30.

 

I have been watching it the last month and I am kind of surprised how much I like it. Low budget to be sure but Broderick Crawford is good. Apparently a drunken terror at times too with a number of DWIs

There is also “Route 66” which is on Amazon prime. Somehow the concept: producer going to places to scout, having writers do stories using that location and filming there. Maybe it works better in idea than what actually is made but that is my own taste.