Suspense is an American television anthology series that ran on CBS Television from 1949 to 1954. It was adapted from the radio program of the same name which ran from 1942 to 1962.

Series overview

The show was broadcast live from New York City to stations on CBS's eastern and midwestern networks. Kinescope recordings were made for transmission via KTTV in Hollywood. It was sponsored by the Auto-Lite corporation, and each episode was introduced by host Rex Marshall, who promoted Auto-Lite spark plugs, car batteries, headlights, and other car parts. Some of the early scripts were adapted from Suspense radio scripts, while others were original for television. Like the radio program, many scripts were adaptations of literary classics by well-known authors. Classic authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Agatha Christie, and Charles Dickens all had stories adapted for the series, while contemporary authors such as Roald Dahl and Gore Vidal also contributed. Many notable actors appeared on the program, including Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Cloris Leachman, Brian Keith, Franchot Tone, Robert Emhardt, Leslie Nielsen, Felicia Montealgre Bernstein and Lloyd Bridges. The ninety existing episodes are available today on three DVD box sets. Tubi is also streaming episodes of the show. In 1949, Marvel Comics began publishing Suspense comics licensed from CBS; a box on the cover of the first eleven issues (out of 29 total issues) read "Based on gripping CBS radio - television series".

Critical response

A review in The New York Times of the program's premiere episode, "Revenge", commended the "great technical skill" of mixing filmed segments with live studio shots, a technique that the review labeled a "novel aspect". Beyond that, however, reviewer Jay Gould found little to like about the episode, which he wrote was "a badly contrived piece of trivia", described elsewhere in the review as having "a drab story and an inexcusably poor supporting cast". Even so, he wrote that with improvements "the mystery show should be a serviceable staple on video." The trade publication Variety commented in a review of the same episode that "Suspense made an inauspicious debut" on television, comparing the episode to a B film. The reviewer blamed a "weakly motivated" adaptation for causing the direction and acting to suffer. Robert Stevens, who produced and directed, was cited for failing to add excitement to an already weak script.

Episodes

Season 1 (1948-1949)

Season 2 (1949-1950)

Season 3 (1950-1951)

Season 4 (1951-1952)

Season 5 (1952-1953)