The run
- Network
- ABC
- Years active
- 1964–1965
- Surviving broadcasts
- 256
- Genre
- theatre
Theater Five was ABC's attempt to revive radio drama during the early 1960s. The series name was derived from its time slot, 5:00 PM. Running Monday through Friday, it was an anthology of short stories, each about 20 minutes long.
Restoration quality — measured from the surviving files
Source collection
Old Time Radio Researchers Group
Rights
Public domain — no renewed US copyright
Cataloguing
Air dates and notes from the Archive item record
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
2 dated broadcasts across 2 years on the air, with 1 year where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1965, in original transmission order.
- 1. Mama's Girl · 1 Jun 1965
- 2. Noose of Pearls · 2 Jun 1965
- 3. Untrue Confession · 4 Jun 1965
Joey
30 Jul 1965 · 20 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 30 July 1965. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Big Deal on Sutton East
29 Jul 1965 · 22 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 29 July 1965. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Death Watch
28 Jul 1965 · 21 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 28 July 1965. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Spy Sister Sarri
27 Jul 1965 · 21 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 27 July 1965. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
In Absence of All Intelligent Life
26 Jul 1965 · 20 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 26 July 1965. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Whatever Happened to the 5 -25
23 Jul 1965 · 20 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 23 July 1965. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Jazz Festival
22 Jul 1965 · 20 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 22 July 1965. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
In Time of Trouble
21 Jul 1965 · 21 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 21 July 1965. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Same seasons
theatre on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
What it became
Theatre of the mind
Full-cast drama with a live orchestra and a studio full of sound effects. Lux Radio Theater and the CBS Radio Workshop are the direct ancestors of scripted podcast fiction.
Lineage is written by our editors, not inferred from listening data.
Descendants
Working in the tradition of Theater Five
Modern series carrying this form forward.
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