Schedule Rewind: The 1951-52 Season Was Lights Out for One of the First Sci Fi/Fantasy TV Shows

Schedule Rewind: A look back at the Prime Time schedule from seasons past and network decisions impacting sci fi and fantasy shows.

The 1951–52 season represented an early period when the major broadcast networks had full prime-time schedules, though sci-fi/fantasy had not yet established itself as a major television genre (that would come a decade later, in the 1960s). There were four broadcast networks during the first half of the 1950s—ABC, CBS, NBC, and DuMont—and each had a full lineup of shows covering the 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM EST hours, with some programming starting as early as 7:00 PM. Only four sci-fi/fantasy shows were airing in the 1951–52 season, along with one other that might interest genre fans. But by the end of the season, one pioneering series would be off the air.

ABC

Space Patrol (Monday to Saturday Afternoons)
Tales of Tomorrow (Fridays 9:30 PM EST)

The Alphabet Network had two sci-fi shows on its schedule that season, though one did not air during prime time. Space Patrol followed in the footsteps of DuMont’s popular kiddie space opera Captain Video and His Video Rangers (more on that below), having premiered in 1950. It aired primarily in the afternoons and sometimes in the mornings, depending on how local affiliates scheduled it. The show ran fifteen-minute episodes Monday through Friday, with a thirty-minute installment on Saturdays (duplicating the same format as Captain Video). It would remain popular for several more years and eventually wrapped up in 1955.  (You can read more about the show at this link.)

Tales of Tomorrow premiered on ABC during the 1951–52 season, likely inspired by the popularity of the anthology series Lights Out (more on that below). Unlike the NBC entry, this anthology focused primarily on science fiction, with less emphasis on supernatural and horror elements. It adapted notable genre works such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, H.G. Wells’ The Crystal Egg, and Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It also featured stories by prominent contemporary sci-fi authors, including Theodore Sturgeon, Fredric Brown, and Arthur C. Clarke. The series would continue for a second season, ultimately producing 85 episodes before entering reruns for many years. (You can read more about the show at this link.)

NBC

Lights Out (Monday 9:00 PM EST)

Lights Out was based on the radio series of the same name and presented anthology stories with science fiction, supernatural, and horror elements, along with episodes rooted more firmly in mystery and suspense. It first appeared on television in 1946, when networks had little prime time programming to offer, serving either as a trial run or a way to promote the radio show. The series returned as a regular program in the summer of 1949 and was in its third year during the 1951–52 season.

The previous season, Lights Out ranked as the 19th most-watched show on television. However, NBC shuffled its lineup, and viewership declined in its third season due to a weaker lead-in and direct competition from the debut season of I Love Lucy on CBS, which ranked as the third most-watched show that year. NBC could have moved Lights Out to a less competitive time slot and continued it for a fourth season, but instead chose not to commission additional episodes. There was no formal announcement regarding the show’s cancellation that I am aware of, but this effectively stands as the first cancellation of a sci-fi/fantasy series that had lasted more than a year by one of the major broadcast networks.  (You can read more about the show at this link.)

CBS

Suspense (Tuesday 9:30 PM EST)

CBS had very little to offer genre fans during the 1951–52 season, a trend that would largely continue well into the 21st century. The network did air the anthology series Suspense, which featured occasional supernatural and horror-themed episodes. Like Lights Out, it was based on a popular radio program, though it leaned more heavily toward mystery and suspense, as its title suggested. That said, the series did adapt some genre material, including Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and featured notable horror actors such as Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. The show was in its fourth season during 1951–52 and would continue for two more years (and perhaps Lights Out could have enjoyed a similar lengthy run if its network had not given up on it).

DuMont

Captain Video and His Video Rangers (Monday to Friday 7:00 PM EST, Saturday Afternoons)

The perpetually struggling DuMont Network debuted Captain Video and His Video Rangers in the summer of 1949, and it counts as the first ongoing sci-fi television series, beating the ongoing run of Lights Out by about a month. Captain Video delivered classic kiddie space opera, with straight-as-an-arrow heroes battling galactic villains on a regular basis, and it established the template that many non-anthology sci-fi series would follow throughout the 1950s.

The show produced fifteen-minute episodes airing Monday through Friday, along with a thirty-minute installment on Saturdays, a format later adopted by Space Patrol. Captain Video proved quite popular but ultimately came to an end when the DuMont Network shut its doors. DuMont had struggled financially from the outset, and those difficulties finally forced it off the air by the mid-1950s. Unfortunately, most of the network’s programming archives were discarded in later years, and only a handful of episodes of Captain Video are known to survive.

Throughout the rest of the decade, sci-fi and fantasy remained scarce in prime time, with fewer than a handful of options available in any given season. By the 1960s, however, the networks began taking more chances and greenlighting additional genre programming, ushering in what would become the first Golden Age of sci fi television.   You can read more about that at this link.

More Schedule Rewinds At This link

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