Lassie
Lassie is a popular television show from the United States that chronicles the exploits of a female Rough Collie dog named Lassie and her traveling companions, both human and animal. Television broadcasts of the show began on September 12, 1954, and continued until March 24, 1973. Robert Maxwell, the show's producer, and Rudd Weatherwax, the animal trainer, were the brains behind the project. The show, which is now considered to be one of the longest-running on television, originally aired on CBS for a total of seventeen seasons before going into first-run syndication for its final two seasons. The show's first episodes, shot in black and white, did not air until 1965; the next year, color episodes began airing. The first 10 seasons of the show are dedicated to following Lassie as she navigates the challenges of life in a rural town. The fictional eleven-year-old Jeff Miller, his mother, and his grandfather are Lassie's initial human companions. Seven-year-old Timmy Martin and his adoptive parents take over as Lassie's primary human companions in the fourth season of the show. In the eleventh season, as Lassie's antics on the farm come to an end, she moves on to new adventures in the wilderness with a series of Rangers from the United States Forest Service. Lassie eventually finds a new home in a children's home for the final two seasons of her run on a syndicated television show after she spent the previous year wandering without human leads. When it initially aired, Lassie was met with positive reviews from critics, and it went on to win two Emmy Awards in its first few years on television. Emmy nominations were submitted for the roles of stars Jan Clayton and June Lockhart. During the life of the show, various types of merchandise were developed, including books, a Halloween costume, apparel, toys, and more. The show's longtime sponsor, Campbell's Soup, provided two prizes, and thousands of copies of each were given out to viewers. The multi-part program Lassie's Great Adventure was turned into a feature film and released in August of 1963 under the same name. Jon Provost, who had previously starred in the show Lassie, made his return to the small screen in the role of Steve McCullough in the television series The New Lassie, which debuted in 1989. A few of the episodes have been compiled onto DVDs.
Released: 1954-09-12