Status of Stars Over Hollywood

Stars Over Hollywood was a half-hour dramatic series based on the long-running radio program of the same name. It aired on NBC on Wednesdays from 10:30PM to 11PM during the 1950-1951 season. It premiered on September 6th, 1950 and the final new episode was shown on May 16th, 1951. There were apparently 37 episodes produced rather than the standard 39, which seems unusual. The last overall broadcast of the series was a repeat on August 29th, 1951.

The following status guide has been compiled primarily from contemporary television listings in The New York Times as well as several online episode guides, including The Classic TV Archive and the Internet Movie Database. Unfortunately, The New York Times never marked episodes as repeats and only occasionally included episode titles. Both online sources indicate “Girl or Ghost” aired on May 2nd, 1951 while The New York Times has it airing as the third episode of the series on September 20th, 1950. It may have been pre-empted or repeated.

The UCLA Film & Television Archive has two episodes of the series in its collection while The Paley Center for Media has one. Remember: just because specific archives/museums don’t have every episode of Stars Over Hollywood, that doesn’t mean the episodes are lost.

# Episode Title Airdate Status
1 “Beauty is a Joy” 09/06/1950  
2 “Grady Everett for the People” 09/13/1950  
3 “Girl or Ghost” 09/20/1950  
4 “Not a Bad Guy” 09/27/1950  
5 “Some Small Nobility” 10/04/1950  
6 “Rock Against the Sea” 10/11/1950  
7 “Texas Parson” 10/18/1950  
8 “Showdown” 10/25/1950  
9 “A Model Young Lady” 11/01/1950  
10 “Midnight” 11/08/1950  
11 “This Little Pig Cried” 11/15/1950  
12 “Winter Love” 11/22/1950  
13 “Landing at Daybreak” 11/29/1950  
14 “Small Town Story” 12/06/1950  
15 “My Rival is My Fiddle” 12/13/1950 UCLA
16 “Merry Christmas for Sweeney” 12/20/1950 Paley
17 “Never Trust on Redhead” 12/27/1950  
18 “My Nephew Norwell” 01/03/1951  
19 “The Ace of Spades” 01/10/1951  
20 “Yang Yin and Mrs. Wiswell” 01/17/1951  
21 “Moon on Wires” 01/24/1951  
22 “Cutie Pie” 01/31/1951  
23 “The Return of Van Sickle” 02/07/1951 UCLA
24 “Hand on My Shoulder” 02/14/1951  
25 “Son of the Rock” 02/21/1951  
26 “Autumn Leaves” 02/28/1951  
27 “When the Devil is Sick” 03/07/1951  
28 “Prison Doctor” 03/14/1951  
29 Unknown Episode (Repeat?) 03/21/1951  
30 “Old Mother Hubbard” 03/28/1951  
31 “Pearls from Paris” 04/04/1951  
32 “Tails for Jeb Mulcahy” 04/11/1951  
33 “The Kirbys” 04/18/1951  
34 “Pretty Boy” 04/25/1951  
35 “Girl or Ghost” (Repeat?) 05/02/1951  
36 “The Devil You Know” 05/09/1951  
37 “Nor Gloom of Night” 05/16/1951  

The second episode of the series, “Grady Everett for the People,” was reportedly the first television script sold by Rod Serling. A copy of the episode circulates among private collectors.

Revised November 2nd, 2015


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7 Replies to “Status of Stars Over Hollywood”

  1. All of the episodes in this series were frequently repackaged by MCA/Revue in different anthology “packages” (under different titles) over the years; in fact, MCA managed to lease most of those episodes to ABC in the 1952-’53 season under several different anthology titles [Brooks and Marsh’s “COMPLETE DIRECTORY TO PRIME-TIME NETWORK AND CABLE TV SHOWS, 1946-Present” mentions “This Little Pig Cried” as one of the episodes in those “packages”]. As late as September 1965, “Texas Parson” appeared on a local station as a Saturday afternoon repeat, in the Salt Lake City, Utah viewing area.

    1. Landing at Daybreak was seen as late as September 27, 1968 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN viewing are a.

  2. Stars Over Hollywood was a great early anthology program. I have Autumn Leaves and Return of Van Sickle in my 16mm collection. This series was as the previous comentor stated repackaged under several series titles.

  3. At least one episode of this show wound up airing with the opening title of the One Step Beyond series.

    1. That would be “Midnight”, and it’s on a One Step Beyond DVD on Delta 82 748, Out-of-print. Good luck if you can find it!

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