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Colgate Theatre (1958 TV series)

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Not to be confused with Colgate Theatre (1949 TV series).
Colgate Theatre
GenreAnthology series
Presented byBill Goodwin
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes8
Production
Running time30 minutes
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseAugust 19 (1958-08-19) –
October 7, 1958 (1958-10-07)

Colgate Theatre is a 30-minute dramatic anthology television series broadcast on NBC during the summer and early autumn of 1958. It consisted entirely of unsold television pilots.

Background

The practice of television executives of ordering dozens of pilots for proposed television series each year – far more than their networks could possibly broadcast as series – created a sizable body of unsold pilots that had never aired.[1] Packaging these unsold pilots in anthology series and airing them during the summer provided television networks with a way of both providing fresh programming during the summer rerun season and recouping at least some of the expense of producing them.[1]

Colgate Theatre was one such series.[2] Using the same name as an earlier anthology series of live dramas NBC had broadcast in 1949–1950, it was a last-minute replacement for the quiz show Dotto, which ended on August 12, 1958 amid accusations that it was rigged during the 1950s quiz show scandals. Colgate Theatre served as a filler for the sponsor of Dotto, Colgate-Palmolive, until The George Burns Show premiered on October 14, 1958.

Bill Goodwin was the host of Colgate Theatre.[3] Stars appearing in the series included Walter Brennan, Claudette Colbert, Joanne Dru, Vera Miles, Ricardo Montalbán, and Jane Russell.[1][4]

Broadcast history

Colgate Theatre ran for eight episodes on eight consecutive weeks in the summer and early autumn of 1958 on Tuesday evenings from 9:30 to 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time.[1][2][4] It premiered on August 19,[1][4] and its last episode aired on October 7.[4]

Episodes

  • Adventures of a Model (August 19, 1958)
  • The Last Marshal, starring James Craig (August 26, 1958)
  • Tonight in Havana (September 2, 1958)
  • Strange Counsel [Mr. Tutt] (September 9, 1958)
  • The Fountain of Youth (September 16, 1958) directed by Orson Welles
  • MacGreedy's Woman (September 23, 1958)
  • Welcome to Washington/The Claudette Colbert Show (September 30, 1958) written by Inez Asher
  • If You Knew Tomorrow (October 7, 1958)
  1. ^ a b c d e "UNSOLD PILOTS ON TELEVISION, 1956–1966". tvobscurities.com. Television Obscurities. 15 August 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  2. ^ a b Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7. P. 199.
  3. ^ "Bill Goodwin, 47, Announcer on Radio, Dies". Chicago Tribune. May 10, 1958. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d Jay, Robert (2 June 2016). "Status of Colgate Theatre (1958)". tvobscurities.com. Television Obscurities. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
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