The Ford Television Theatre

The Ford Television Theatre
Dan Duryea in the presentation of Double Exposure, 1953
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	8
No. of episodes	245
Production
Running time	24–26 minutes
Production company(s)	Ford Motor Company (Live episodes) Screen Gems Television (Filmed episodes)
Distributor	Sony Pictures Television
Release
Original network	CBS (1948–1951) NBC (1952–1956) ABC (1956–1957)
Picture format	Black-and-white Color (1954–1956)
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	October 17, 1948 (1948-10-17) – June 26, 1957 (1957-06-26)

Ford Theatre, spelled Ford Theater for the radio version and known as Ford Television Theatre for the TV version, was a radio and television anthology series broadcast in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s. At various times the television series appeared on all three major television networks, while the radio version was broadcast on two separate networks and on two separate coasts. Ford Theatre was named for its sponsor, the Ford Motor Company, which had an earlier success with its concert music series, The Ford Sunday Evening Hour (1934–42).

Ford Theater as a radio series lasted for only two seasons. Its first season was broadcast from New York City on NBC with such actors as Ed Begley, Shirley Booth, Gary Merrill, Everett Sloane and Vicki Vola. This season ran from October 5, 1947 to June 27, 1948. Due to poor ratings, Ford moved the show to Hollywood and CBS for the second season, where top Hollywood actors headed the casts. This season, which lasted from October 8, 1948 to July 1, 1949, received much higher ratings. However, with television rising in popularity, Ford decided to end its radio show and focus solely on television.

The first Ford Theatre on U.S. television appeared on October 17, 1948, near the dawn of regularly scheduled primetime network programming. It was an hour-long drama, broadcast live, as was most television of the era. This series used primarily Broadway actors. The program began as a monthly series, switching to biweekly a year later, in alternation on Friday nights at 9:00 pm Eastern time with the 54th Street Revue. During this period, programming included adaptations of Little Women, with June Lockhart and Kim Hunter, and One Sunday Afternoon, with Burgess Meredith and Hume Cronyn. During the following season, the final season for the program on CBS, the alternation in the same time slot was with Magnavox Theater.