# Half-Hour TV dramas **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 1, 2016, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-hour-tv-dramas/744810 "2016-02-01T03:26:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-hour-tv-dramas/744810/21 "2016-02-02T21:59:20Z")
Sex and the City I was always amazed at how much ground they could cover in only 1/2 hour-- usually a story thread for each of the three main characters. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-hour-tv-dramas/744810/22 "2016-02-02T22:07:15Z")
Room 222 Skippy the Bush Kangaroo The Forest Rangers ripcord sky king ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-hour-tv-dramas/744810/23 "2016-02-02T23:40:27Z")
I guess Ash vs. Evil Dead is listed as a comedy horror, but it was very unusual for being a half-hour. 90% of shows in its genre are a hour, but it was only half. Close, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-hour-tv-dramas/744810/24 "2016-02-03T00:30:40Z")
Flipper ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-hour-tv-dramas/744810/25 "2016-02-03T01:03:31Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > Any others half hour dramas? Anything contemporary? Quite a common format in the UK, especially for children’s programmes, news programmes, and soap operas. Of course, we have far fewer adverts, and none on the BBC. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-hour-tv-dramas/744810/26 "2016-02-03T04:07:31Z")
_Batman_ (1966), _Superman_ (1952), _The Lone Ranger_ (1949) and _Jonny Quest_ were all 30 minutes. I include _JQ_ because it was originally an evening show and never had a laugh track. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-hour-tv-dramas/744810/27 "2016-02-04T16:52:14Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > _Batman_ (1966), _Superman_ (1952), _The Lone Ranger_ (1949) and _Jonny Quest_ were all 30 minutes. I include _JQ_ because it was originally an evening show and never had a laugh track. I’ll give you that _Superman_ has some cheesy melodrama, as did _The Lone Ranger_, but they were essentially an action-adventure and a western. And _Jonny Quest_ was just a silly (and bad) Hanna-Barbera cartoon, like _The Flintstones_. And you can’t possibly consider the Adam West _Batman_ series drama?!? It was the dictionary definition of over-the-top, self-aware camp. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-hour-tv-dramas/744810/28 "2016-02-04T22:35:59Z")
Do anthology series count? I assume so due to Twilight Zone mentions, so Amazing Stories Monsters Tales From the Darkside Tales From the Crypt ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-hour-tv-dramas/744810/29 "2016-02-04T22:44:49Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > And you can’t possibly consider the Adam West _Batman_ series drama?!? It was the dictionary definition of over-the-top, self-aware camp. You could make a case for _The Green Hornet_, though. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-hour-tv-dramas/744810/30 "2016-02-04T23:03:18Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > You could make a case for _The Green Hornet_, though. Yes, despite the crossover, that show took things much more seriously. It’s also another of the shows that was once a radio drama. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-hour-tv-dramas/744810/31 "2016-02-05T02:36:35Z")
Someone mentioned soaps. The half-hour format was, I believe also done on the evening soaps, Peyton Place, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-hour-tv-dramas/744810/32 "2016-02-05T03:11:44Z")
[Previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=605615), started by me about 5 years ago ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-hour-tv-dramas/744810/33 "2016-02-05T04:34:48Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > And you can’t possibly consider the Adam West _Batman_ series drama?!? It was the dictionary definition of over-the-top, self-aware camp. And for a fifth-grader who’d just celebrated his 11th birthday, it was **totally awesome!** \* 🆒 \*Of course, we didn’t talk like that back in those days… ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-hour-tv-dramas/744810/34 "2016-02-05T04:36:06Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > _Jonny Quest_ was just a silly (and bad) Hanna-Barbera cartoon. Also **totally awesome!** 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-hour-tv-dramas/744810/35 "2016-02-05T06:13:20Z")
Desilu Studios cranked out hundreds of generic half-hour TV dramas, which aired as part of quite a few series like Alfred Hitchcock, Loretta Young and Twilight Zone. The producers of series like that would just buy shows with appropriate themes from Desilu, which was owned by Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-hour-tv-dramas/744810/36 "2016-02-05T08:10:26Z")
_The Littlest Hobo_ had a half-hour format, as I recall. All the incarnations of _Degrassi_ (_The Kids of Degrassi Street_, _Degrassi Junior High_, _Degrassi High_, and _Degrassi: The Next Generation_) have been half-hour dramas. Ditto _My Secret Identity_, the 1974 series _[Swiss Family Robinson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Family_Robinson_%281974_TV_series%29)_, _The Edison Twins_, and _The Rez_. (Why, yes, I did watch a lot of CBC and CTV in the 1980s and 1990s.) ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-hour-tv-dramas/744810/37 "2016-02-05T13:28:07Z")
I’m surprised I didn’t think of this before, but the Claire Danes TV series _ **My So Called Life** _ (from, eek!, 20 years ago now!) was a true half-hour drama. And although it was supposedly aimed at older teens it wasn’t a cheesy ‘teen’ drama like Nickelodeon’s stuff. It was a mature, well written, adult dramatic series (and a pretty good one too). Half the show dealt with the adult parents’ lives as much as their kids’. ---
**Author:** ![bmasters1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@bmasters1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmasters1)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-hour-tv-dramas/744810/38 "2016-02-05T18:42:44Z")
_M Squad_ (1957-60 NBC cop show w/Lee Marvin) was a half-hour series. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-hour-tv-dramas/744810/39 "2016-02-05T18:59:51Z")
The first season of _Naked City_ was 30 minutes (39 episodes) before expanding to one hour. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-hour-tv-dramas/744810/40 "2016-02-05T19:28:25Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > I’m surprised I didn’t think of this before, but the Claire Danes TV series _ **My So Called Life** _ (from, eek!, 20 years ago now!) was a true half-hour drama. And although it was supposedly aimed at older teens it wasn’t a cheesy ‘teen’ drama like Nickelodeon’s stuff. It was a mature, well written, adult dramatic series (and a pretty good one too). Half the show dealt with the adult parents’ lives as much as their kids’. No, it was a full hour (or, rather 47 minutes, which was what was considered an hour in those days). Still a great show, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-hour-tv-dramas/744810.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/half-hour-tv-dramas/744810.md?page=3)