Fireside Theatre
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Fireside Theatre | |
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Genre | Anthology drama |
Written by | <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> |
Directed by | <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> |
Presented by | <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
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Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 10 |
No. of episodes | 268/92 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Producer(s) | <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
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Camera setup | Single-camera |
Running time | 30 mins |
Production company(s) | <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
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Release | |
Original release | April 5, 1949 May 22, 1958 [citation needed] |
–
External links | |
[{{#property:P856}} Website] |
Fireside Theatre (later known as Jane Wyman Presents the Fireside Theatre, Jane Wyman Theatre, The Jane Wyman Show and Jane Wyman Presents) is an American anthology drama series that ran on NBC from 1949 to 1958, and was the first successful filmed series on American television. 1949 to 1955 productions were low-budget and often based on public domain stories. While it was panned by critics, it remained in the top ten most popular shows for most of this period. Later episodes (1955-1958) were written by freelance writers such as Rod Serling, Aaron Spelling and . For the 8th season (1955-1956) Jane Wyman became the host and producer making it only the second filmed network drama anthology to be hosted by a woman. It predated the other major pioneer of filmed TV in America, I Love Lucy, by two years.
Contents
Overview
Fireside Theatre was created by Frank Wisbar, who also wrote and directed many episodes.[1] He was the producer and director for the program's first six years, resigning on December 6, 1954, and leaving when his contract expired on February 15, 1955.[2] From 1952 to 1958, the program was presented by a host. This role was first filled by Wisbar (1952–1953), then by Gene Raymond (1953–1955), and finally by the person most associated with the series in the public mind, Jane Wyman (1955–1958). When episodes of this program were rerun on ABC during the summer of 1963, it was under the title Jane Wyman Presents; during the period first-run episodes were hosted by Wyman, the series was sometimes known as The Jane Wyman Show.
One of Fireside Theatre's most notable offerings was a 1951 condensed version of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, featuring Ralph Richardson as Ebenezer Scrooge for the only time on American television. He later recreated the role on a spoken word Caedmon Records LP album, with Paul Scofield as narrator. It has since been released on CD.[3]
The Doubleday Book Club also ran a playscripts club called The Fireside Theatre.
Episodes
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Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
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First aired | Last aired | |||
1 | 12 | April 5, 1949 | June 28, 1949 | |
2 | 41 | September 6, 1949 | June 27, 1950 | |
3 | 46 | August 29, 1950 | August 21, 1951 | |
4 | 44 | August 28, 1951 | June 24, 1952 | |
5 | 39 | September 30, 1952 | June 30, 1953 | |
6 | 44 | September 1, 1953 | June 29, 1954 | |
7 | 43 | September 7, 1954 | June 28, 1955 |
Cast
As an anthology series, Fireside Theatre had no regular cast, just a series of guest stars:
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- Claude Akins
- Keith Andes
- John Archer
- Barry Atwater
- Phyllis Avery
- Parley Baer
- Gene Barry
- Frances Bavier
- William Bendix
- Richard Beymer
- Whit Bissell
- Gloria Blondell
- Neville Brand
- Frank Cady
- Rod Cameron
- Macdonald Carey
- Jack Carson
- Jeannie Carson
- Anthony Caruso
- George Chandler
- Dane Clark
- Gary Clarke
- Imogene Coca
- Hans Conried
- Jeanne Cooper
- Robert O. Cornthwaite
- Joseph Cotten
- Linda Darnell
- John Dehner
- Albert Dekker
- Reginald Denny
- Francis De Sales
- Lawrence Dobkin
- John Doucette
- Paul Douglas
- Stephen Dunne
- Dan Duryea
- Vince Edwards
- Jack Elam
- Richard Erdman
- Bill Erwin
- Felicia Farr
- William Fawcett
- Frank Ferguson
- Joe Flynn
- Bruce Gordon
- Dabbs Greer
- Virginia Gregg
- Virginia Grey
- Kevin Hagen
- Don Haggerty
- Charles Herbert
- Louis Jean Heydt
- William Hopper
- Vivi Janiss
- Carolyn Jones
- Henry Jones
- Gail Kobe
- Jack Kruschen
- Fernando Lamas
- Charles Lane
- John Larch
- Peter Lawford
- Peter Leeds
- Yvonne Lime
- Betty Lynn
- Hugh Marlowe
- Lee Marvin
- Mercedes McCambridge
- Jayne Meadows
- Ralph Meeker
- Gary Merrill
- Eve Miller
- George Montgomery
- Dennis Morgan
- Jeff Morrow
- Don Murray
- Burt Mustin
- Jeanette Nolan
- Margaret O'Brien
- Doris Packer
- Larry Pennell
- Vincent Price
- Maudie Prickett
- Ainslie Pryor
- Stuart Randall
- Gilman Rankin
- Lydia Reed
- Addison Richards
- Peter Mark Richman
- Roy Roberts
- Gilbert Roland
- Ruth Roman
- Herbert Rudley
- Roberta Shore
- Everett Sloane
- Arthur Space
- Aaron Spelling
- Jan Sterling
- Craig Stevens
- Karl Swenson
- Nita Talbot
- Gloria Talbott
- Tom Tryon
- Ann Tyrrell
- Minerva Urecal
- Herb Vigran
- Beverly Washburn
- Jesse White
- Frank Wilcox
- Cara Williams
- Marie Windsor
- Fay Wray
- Keenan Wynn
Reception
Critical response
Billboard magazine praised an episode titled "The Lottery", saying that the cast "all turned in taut, exciting performances to make Lottery a real winner".[4] Unlike most episodes of the series, this episode aired live.
In 1954, Billboard voted it fourth-best filmed network drama series, ahead of the more fondly remembered General Electric Theater; however, Billboard's list excluded "mystery" shows (which was a separate list topped by Dragnet).[5]
Ratings
Fireside Theatre became a hit for NBC, always in the Top 30 shows at the end of each TV season, until the 1956–1957 season, when its ratings slumped. After this, it never again regained its top spot.
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Fireside Theatre on NBC. (Note: In the United States, each network television season starts in September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.)
Season | TV season | Ranking | Viewers (in millions) |
---|---|---|---|
2nd | 1950–1951 | #2 | 5.365 |
3rd | 1951–1952 | #7 | 6.594 |
4th | 1952–1953 | #10 | 8.282 |
5th | 1953–1954 | #9 | 9.464 |
6th | 1954–1955 | #20 | 9.547 |
7th | 1955–1956 | #24 | 10.121 |
References
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Amazon: Fireside Theater.
- ↑ The Billboard, 1 Sep 1951. Page 3.
- ↑ The Billboard, 31 Jul 1954. Page 14.
- Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows
Further reading
- Lafferty, William. "'No Attempt at Artiness, Profundity, or Significance': 'Fireside Theater' and the Rise of Filmed Television Programming." Cinema Journal (1987): 23–46 online.
- Seger, Linda. "When Women Call the Shots" Henry Holt and Company (1996): 26, 31-32, 45, 58-59
External links
- Use mdy dates from September 2023
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- Articles with unsourced statements from December 2020
- Pages using infobox television with unknown parameters
- Pages with broken file links
- 1949 American television series debuts
- 1958 American television series endings
- 1940s American anthology television series
- 1950s American anthology television series
- American Broadcasting Company original programming
- 1940s American drama television series
- 1950s American drama television series
- Black-and-white American television shows
- English-language television shows
- NBC original programming