| Genre: | Anthology series |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 10 |
| Runtime: | 30 minutes |
| Channel: | ABC |
G.E. Summer Originals,[1] referred to in some sources as General Electric Summer Originals, is an American anthology television series that aired on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the summer of 1956. The 30-minute episodes consisted of unsold television pilots.[2] [3]
Among stars appearing in the unsold pilots were Ronald Reagan, James Mason, Vera Miles, Hugh Beaumont, and Barbara Billingsley. Their directors included feature directors Budd Boetticher and Don Weis.
By the mid-1950s, the practice of television executives of ordering dozens of pilots for proposed television series each year — far more than their networks could possibly broadcast as series — had created a sizable body of unsold pilots that had never aired.[1] By 1954, the American television industry had begun to consider the idea of packaging these unsold pilots in anthology series and airing them during the summer, providing television networks with a way of both providing fresh programming during the summer rerun season and recouping at least some of the expense of producing them.[1]
On June 8, 1956, the New York Times reported that the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) would begin airing a package of unsold pilots that summer under the title G.E. Summer Originals, adding that "the problem of what to do with ‘pilot’ or sample films of projected television series that previously have failed to sell has been solved."[1] [4] The series premiered on the evening of July 3, 1956, at exactly the same time as another anthology series of unsold pilots, Sneak Preview on NBC, thus becoming one of the first two series of unsold pilots to air in the United States.[1]
G.E. Summer Originals ran for 10 episodes over the course of 12 weeks in the summer of 1956, airing on ABC from 9:00 to 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday evenings.[1] It premiered on July 3,[1] [5] and its last episode aired on September 18.[5] It was preempted on August 14 and 21 by ABC's coverage of the 1956 Democratic National Convention.[5]