John Ericson

  • 1956
    Appointment with Adventure

    Appointment with Adventure

    Appointment with Adventure

    6.0 1956 HD

    Appointment with Adventure is a half-hour adventure/dramatic anthology television series broadcast live on CBS from 1955-1956. The program has no host. It aired at 10 p.m. EST on the Sunday evening schedule between the better known Alfred Hitchcock Presents and What's My Line? It ran opposite The Loretta Young Show on NBC and Life Begins at Eighty, a panel discussion series hosted by Jack Barry on ABC. The series aired fifty-three episodes, having premiered on April 3, 1955, near the end of the regular 1954-1955 television season. It ran throughout the spring and summer of 1955 and began its fall run on October 2, 1955, concluding new segments on April 1, 1956. In effect, the series ran for a full year without the summer rebroadcast period standard for most programs. Episodes centered upon wars in U.S. history as well as dramatizations from events from many places throughout the world, then and in the past. In the episode which aired on May 1, 1955, Polly Bergen, Dane Clark, and Hugh Reilly starred in "Rendezvous in Paris." Tony Randall and Jack Klugman, fifteen years prior to their television roles as Felix Unger and Oscar Madison, respectively, in ABC's The Odd Couple, appeared with Gena Rowlands, later on NBC's 87th Precinct, in the September 4, 1955, episode entitled "The Pirate's House." Randall also appeared two months earlier in the Appointment with Adventure episode "Caribbean Cruise."

    Appointment with Adventure
  • 1960
    Playhouse 90

    Playhouse 90

    Playhouse 90

    7.5 1960 HD

    Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California. Since live anthology drama series of the mid-1950s were usually hour-long shows, the title highlighted the network's intention to present something unusual, a weekly series of hour-and-a-half dramas rather than 60-minute plays. Playhouse 90 began as a pitch by Frank Stanton—the formidable, forward-thinking right-hand man to CBS chairman William S. Paley—during a brainstorming session for program ideas. The project was ultimately developed by Hubbell Robinson, a CBS vice president who received no screen credit on Playhouse 90 but is often described as its creator.

    Playhouse 90
  • 1961
    Shirley Temple's Storybook

    Shirley Temple's Storybook

    Shirley Temple's Storybook

    5.0 1961 HD

    Shirley Temple's Storybook is an American children's anthology series hosted and narrated by actress Shirley Temple. The series features adaptations of fairy tales like Mother Goose and other family-oriented stories performed by well-known actors, although one episode, an adaptation of The House of the Seven Gables, was meant for older youngsters. The first season of sixteen black-and-white and colored episodes aired on NBC between January 12, 1958 and December 21, 1958 as Shirley Temple's Storybook. Thirteen episodes of the first season re-ran on ABC beginning on January 12, 1959. The second season of twenty-five color episodes aired on NBC as The Shirley Temple Show between September 18, 1960 and July 16, 1961 in much the same format that it had under its original title. Temple's three children made their acting debuts in the last episode of the first season, "Mother Goose". When a stagehand said 'shit' during a "Mother Goose" rehearsal, Temple had him fired, telling the stunned cast it was a children's show–although no children were present during the rehearsal. Three of the first season episodes were done live, and each of the three took ten days of preparation. Temple read each script and made suggestions for improvement if necessary.

    Shirley Temple's Storybook
  • 1959
    The Restless Gun

    The Restless Gun

    The Restless Gun

    5.0 1959 HD

    The Restless Gun is an American western television series that appeared on NBC between 1957 and 1959, with John Payne in the role of Vint Bonner, a wandering cowboy in the era after the American Civil War. A skilled gunfighter, Bonner is an idealistic person who prefers peaceful resolutions of conflict wherever possible. He is gregarious, intelligent, and public-spirited. The half-hour black-and-white program aired seventy-eight episodes. Jeanne Bates appeared in varying roles with Payne in five episodes of The Restless Gun. The Restless Gun theme song begins: "I ride with the wind, my eyes on the sun, and my hand on my restless gun..." The song composer is probably Paul Dunlap, credited as the primary series composer, but could have been contributed to by either of the two other series composers, Dave Kahn and Stanley Wilson, also. Two versions are currently posted on YouTube, but neither posting lists any composer or performance credits.

    The Restless Gun
  • 1966
    Honey West

    Honey West

    Honey West

    7.071 1966 HD

    After her father's death, Honey West takes over his high-tech private-detective firm, assisted by rugged Sam Bolt--and her pet ocelot Bruce.

    Honey West
  • 1971
    Bedknobs and Broomsticks

    Bedknobs and Broomsticks

    Bedknobs and Broomsticks

    7.027 1971 HD

    Three children evacuated from London during World War II are forced to stay with an eccentric spinster. The children's initial fears disappear when they find out she is in fact a trainee witch.

    Bedknobs and Broomsticks