| 1947-1960 | NBC | Howdy Doody | "Buffalo Bob" Smith, Bob Keeshan | Buffalo Bob, Clarabell the Clown, Flub-a-Dub, Princess Summerfall Winterspring | children's variety show featuring a freckled cowboy puppet and an audience of children known as the Peanut Gallery |
| 1948-1971 | CBS | The Ed Sullivan Show | - | - | variety show that famously featured performances by Elvis and The Beatles |
| 1949-1957 | ABC | The Lone Ranger | Clayton Moore, Jay Silverheels | Tonto, Silver, Scout | western about a masked Texas Ranger and his Native American companion |
| 1951-1957 | CBS | I Love Lucy | Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, William Frawley | Lucy Ricardo, Ricky Ricardo, Ethel Mertz, Fred Mertz | a housewife, who dreams of being a performer, is married to a Cuban bandleader |
| 1952-present | NBC | The Today Show | Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Jenna Bush Hager, Katie Couric, Bryant Gumbel, Matt Lauer, Deborah Norville, Barbara Walters, Jane Pauley, Al Roker, Willard Scott | - | news and talk morning show |
| 1954-1973 | CBS | Lassie | June Lockhart | Timmy Martin, Jeff Miller | family drama about a female Collie dog |
| 1954-present | NBC | The Tonight Show | Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Fallon, Ed McMahon, Joan Rivers, Doc Severinsen | - | late night talk show |
| 1955-1956 | CBS | The Honeymooners | Jackie Gleason, Art Carney | Ralph Kramden, Alice Kramden, Ed Norton | sitcom about a bus driver and his wife and friends who live in Bensonhurst, an area of Brooklyn |
| 1955-1975 | CBS | Gunsmoke | James Arness, Amanda Blake | Marshall Matt Dillon, Miss Kitty | western set in Dodge City, Kansas in the 1870s |
| 1956-1963 | syndication | Popeye the Sailor | - | Olive Oyl, Bluto, Wimpy | cartoon about a sailor who gets strong when he eats spinach |
| 1958-1959 | syndication | The Three Stooges | Larry Fine, Moe Howard, Curly Howard, Shemp Howard, Joe DeRita | Larry, Curly, Moe, Shemp | a trio of bumbling, short-tempered laborers attempt everyday tasks that inevitably devolve into physical slapstick and verbal insults |
| 1959-1964 | CBS | The Twilight Zone | Rod Serling | - | sci-fi horror anthology |
| 1959-1973 | NBC | Bonanza | Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Pernell Roberts | Ben Cartwright, Little Joe Cartwright, Adam Cartwright, Eric "Hoss" Cartwright | western about a ranch owner and his sons who operate Ponderosa Ranch near Virginia City, Nevada |
