The Red Buttons Show

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox television | image = | caption = | genre = Variety show<br />Sitcom | creator = Marlo Lewis | director = Burt Shevelove | developer = CBS | presenter = | starring = Red Buttons | voices = | narrator = | theme_music_composer = Elliot Lawrence | open_theme = | end_theme = | composer = Mitch Miller | country = United States | language = English | num_seasons = 3 | num_episodes = | list_episodes = | executive_producer = Marlo Lewis | producer = Al Span | editor = | location = | camera = | company = | runtime = 30 min. | network = CBS<br />NBC | first_aired = {{Start date|1952|10|14}} | last_aired = {{End date|1955}} | related = }} '''''The Red Buttons Show''''' is a variety show/sitcom, which premiered on the CBS television network on October 14, 1952,<ref>{{cite news |title=This Week (Cont'd) |url=https://archive.org/details/rossreportstele25ross/page/n30/mode/1up?view=theater |access-date=February 10, 2022 |work=Ross Reports |date=October 12, 1952 |page=2}}</ref> and ran for two years on that network, moving to NBC for the final 1954–55 season.

The series finished #11 for the 1952–1953 season in the Nielsen ratings and #12 in 1953–1954.<ref>{{cite web |title=TV Ratings: United States |url=http://www.fiftiesweb.com/tv-ratings.htm |website=The Fifties Web |access-date=February 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120730043147/http://www.fiftiesweb.com/tv-ratings.htm |archive-date=July 30, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Format== The CBS run of the series featured monologues, dance numbers, and sketches with Red and the other series regulars. The characters played by Red included the boxer Rocky Buttons, the Kupke Kid, the Sad Sack, and Keeglefarven. When the series was canceled by CBS, it moved to NBC which at first kept it as a variety show. When the ratings remained low, the program was overhauled and turned into a sitcom with Red playing himself as a TV comic. Phyllis Kirk played his wife, Bobby Sherwood played the director of Red's program and Paul Lynde played the network's vice president.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present|date=2003 |publisher=Ballantine Books|isbn=0-345-45542-8}}</ref>

==CBS regulars== *Red Buttons *Dorothy Jolliffe *Pat Carroll *Beverly Dennis *Allan Walker *Joe Silver *Betty Ann Grave

==NBC regulars== *Red Buttons *Phyllis Kirk *Paul Lynde as Mr. Standish *Bobby Sherwood *Nelson Case, announcer<ref>Alicoate, Jack, Ed. (1955). ''The 1955 Radio and Television Yearbook''. Radio Daily Corp. P. 1173.</ref>

==Production== Bill Davenport and Johnny Green were writers for the NBC version.<ref>{{cite news |title=Other Network Changes & Additions |url=https://archive.org/details/rossreportstele47ross/page/n6/mode/1up?view=theater |access-date=April 14, 2023 |work=Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index |date=January 31, 1955 |page=1}}</ref> It was sponsored by Pontiac.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=March 16, 1955 |page=27 |title=Buttons Mulling '55-'56 Status |magazine=Variety |url=https://archive.org/details/variety197-1955-03/page/n180/mode/1up?view=theater |accessdate=April 16, 2023}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{IMDb title|44291}} *The Red Buttons Show at [http://www.classictvhits.com/show.php?id=757 Classic TV & Movie Hits] *The Red Buttons Show theme song lyrics at [http://www.classicthemes.com/50sTVThemes/themePages/redButtons.html Classic Themes]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Red Buttons Show}} Category:1950s American variety television series Category:1950s American sitcoms Category:1952 American television series debuts Category:1955 American television series endings Category:American television series revived after cancellation Category:Black-and-white American television shows Category:CBS sitcoms Category:NBC sitcoms