They Stand Accused
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox television They Stand Accused is an American dramatized court show,[1] the first live courtroom drama on television.[2]
The program began as Cross Question on CBS in January 1949,[2] ending in April 1949.[3] The show was "Chicago's first regular contribution to the CBS television network".[4] The program originated from WGN-TV, and CBS dropped it when that station became an affiliate of the DuMont Television Network.[5] It was broadcast on DuMont from September 11, 1949, to October 5, 1952, and again from September 9 to December 30, 1954.[6]
Overview
The series was recorded in a courtroom presided over by attorney Charles Johnston and broadcast live from Chicago's WGN-TV, with jurors chosen from the studio audience.[7] On most DuMont affiliates, They Stand Accused aired Sundays at 9pm ET during the 1949-1950 television season, then Sundays at 10pm ET, and then Thursdays at 8pm ET during 1954.
Lloyd Ellingwood was the director.[8] William C. Wines, assistant attorney general of Illinois, wrote the program's dramatizations.[9]
Reception
Reviewer Jack Gould wrote in The New York Times that They Stand Accused was "one of the more remarkable and consistently absorbing programs on television".[10] He complimented the program's combination of documentary and dramatic styles and its way of having a natural appearance despite its "careful preparation".[10]
Episode status
At least two episodes exist: the December 23, 1950, episode is held in the J. Fred MacDonald collection at the Library of Congress, while an episode from late 1954 ("The Johnny Roberts Story") can be viewed online at the Internet Archive.[11]
See also
- List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network
- List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts
- 1949-50 United States network television schedule
- 1950-51 United States network television schedule
- 1951-52 United States network television schedule
- 1954-55 United States network television schedule
References
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- ↑ McNeil, Alex (1980). Total Television (4th ed.). New York: Penguin Books. Template:ISBN.
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- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ "The Johnny Roberts Story", Internet Archive
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Bibliography
- David Weinstein, The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004) Template:ISBN
- Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows, Third edition (New York: Ballantine Books, 1964) Template:ISBN
External links
- Template:Trim/ Template:Trim at IMDbTemplate:EditAtWikidataScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:WikidataCheck
- DuMont historical website
- Late-1954 episode "The Johnny Roberts Story" at the Internet Archive
- They Stand Accused at CVTA
- Pages with script errors
- 1949 American television series debuts
- 1954 American television series endings
- American crime television series
- American legal drama television series
- Black-and-white American television shows
- DuMont Television Network original programming
- American English-language television shows
- Dramatized court shows
- American live television series