Drama · 1950s
The 1950s account for 12 of the 575 drama shows here, and 14 opening sequences.
CBS carries the most, with six.
Two of them rebuilt their titles mid-run.
12 shows14 sequences
1 sequence
Bonanza
A burning map and four men riding out of it — one of the first title sequences designed to show off colour television, which is precisely why it looks like that.
- Season 1
2 sequences
As the World Turns
The turning globe that gave American daytime its most-copied image, over fifty-four years.
- Season 41
- Season 52
2 sequences
Guiding Light
Seventy-two years on radio and television between them — the longest-running story ever told in any medium.
- Season 44
- Season 51
1 sequenceRawhide
A cattle drive that never arrives, with Frankie Laine's theme and a young Clint Eastwood.
- Season 1
1 sequenceThe Rifleman
A widowed rancher and his son, opened by twelve rounds fired down a street in under ten seconds.
- Season 1
1 sequenceWagon Train
A wagon company crossing to California, and the series Gene Roddenberry pitched Star Trek against.
- Season 1
1 sequenceHave Gun – Will Travel
A gunfighter who advertises in the newspaper, and one of the first westerns to open on a business card.
- Seasons 1–6
1 sequenceSky King
An Arizona rancher who catches criminals from a twin-engined aeroplane, out of the radio serial.
- Season 1
1 sequenceSea Hunt
Lloyd Bridges as a freelance diver, and the most successful syndicated series of its decade.
- Season 1
1 sequenceSearch for Tomorrow
Thirty-five years of American daytime, and the serial that was on air before most of the networks carrying it were.
- Season 1
1 sequenceThe Cisco Kid
The first television series filmed in colour, three years before anyone in America could receive it.
- Season 1
1 sequencePlayhouse 90
Ninety minutes of live original drama every week, and the anthology from which Rod Serling, John Frankenheimer and most of the era's writers emerged.
- Season 1