Drama · 1950s
12 shows14 sequences
1 sequenceBonanza
1959–1973NBCDrama
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 sequencesAs the World Turns
1956–2010CBSDrama
The turning globe that gave American daytime its most-copied image, over fifty-four years.
- Season 41
- Season 52
2 sequencesGuiding Light
1952–2009CBSDrama
Seventy-two years on radio and television between them — the longest-running story ever told in any medium.
- Season 44
- Season 51
1 sequenceRawhide
1959–1965CBSDrama
A cattle drive that never arrives, with Frankie Laine's theme and a young Clint Eastwood.
- Season 1
1 sequenceThe Rifleman
1958–1963ABCDrama
A widowed rancher and his son, opened by twelve rounds fired down a street in under ten seconds.
- Season 1
1 sequenceWagon Train
1957–1965NBC / ABCDrama
A wagon company crossing to California, and the series Gene Roddenberry pitched Star Trek against.
- Season 1
1 sequenceHave Gun – Will Travel
1957–1963CBSDrama
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
1951–1962NBC / ABCDrama
An Arizona rancher who catches criminals from a twin-engined aeroplane, out of the radio serial.
- Season 1
1 sequenceSea Hunt
1958–1961SyndicationDrama
Lloyd Bridges as a freelance diver, and the most successful syndicated series of its decade.
- Season 1
1 sequenceSearch for Tomorrow
1951–1986CBS / NBCDrama
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
1950–1956SyndicationDrama
The first television series filmed in colour, three years before anyone in America could receive it.
- Season 1
1 sequencePlayhouse 90
1956–1960CBSDrama
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