On January 27th 1927, a new radio network--the United Independent Broadcasters--made its debut in the US. Several months later, the Columbia Phonograph Company took over the nearly bankrupt UIB and renamed the network the Columbia Broadcasting System. But it took the talent and money of William S. Paley, the 26-year-old son of a cigar maker, to turn CBS into a formidable rival--both in radio and television.

Paley’s strengths were finding good managers and scouting for new talent--bringing such stars as Bing Crosby and Kate Smith on the air. That instinct served CBS well as it grew and prospered. By the late 1940’s, CBS passed NBC in radio popularity (largely because Paley “raided” NBC for such top-rated stars as Jack Benny and George Burns & Gracie Allen). CBS would eventually find equal success in television. Between 1955 and 1976, CBS was America’s top-rated network in both prime time and daytime. CBS also earned the nickname “the Tiffany network” because of the number of high-quality series on its schedule; they helped deflect critical barbs of such programmes as “Mr. Ed,” “Gilligan’s Island” and “Me and The Chimp.” Hotel owner and businessman Larry Tisch bought enough stock to take over CBS in 1986; under his leadership, CBS fell to third place in prime time--the first time the network had ever lagged behind NBC and ABC. (By this time, Paley was essentially a figurehead chairman; he died in 1990.) Today, CBS is owned by media conglomerate Viacom--a company that began as CBS’ syndication arm, and now owns--among other properties--Paramount studios, the MTV, Nickelodeon and TNN cable networks, the UPN broadcast network and the Blockbuster video rental chain.

In keeping with my similar profiles of NBC and ABC, these are what I believe the most significant programmes of CBS during its television history--and no series that premiered after 1990 are included. Here they are in chronological order:

1. Toast Of The Town/The Ed Sullivan Show (1948-1971): Ed Sullivan couldn’t sing, dance or act. But he could spot new and fresh talent, and that’s why his variety show outlasted the competition. First called “Toast of the Town” in its debut year of 1948, Sullivan provided something for everyone--circus acts for the kids; rock and roll for teens; comedy, drama and traditional music for adults. Many performers got their start on Sullivan’s New York stage. Elvis Presley had appeared on other TV shows, but when he appeared on “Sullivan,” ratings went through the roof. Same thing happened in February 1964 when The Beatles performed for the first time before an American audience. But ratings eventually declined and CBS cancelled “Sullivan” in 1971. Sullivan himself died in 1974 of cancer, but his legacy--entertainment for the whole family--may not be equalled in this multi-channel universe.

2. See It Now (1951-1958): The late, great Edward R. Murrow--who helped CBS become a force in radio news--came to TV in 1951 with this early version of what today would be called a newsmagazine. “See It Now” began in 1951 as a Sunday afternoon programme, but moved to prime time in April 1952. Murrow and his producer, Fred Friendly, tackled many tough issues on the show--most notably a profile on Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy that eventually led to the end of “McCarthyism” and its “hunt” for communists. But shows about red-bating lawmakers and the potential dangers of cigarettes did not sit well with Bill Paley; by 1955, CBS was a commercial television force and “See It Now” lost its regular prime time slot, appearing as occasional specials. CBS’ commercial slant under Paley and his second-in-command Frank Stanton clashed with Murrow’s believe that the medium should teach and inform; by 1958, Paley and Murrow had a public falling-out over what CBS should provide to viewers. In 1961, Murrow left the network to take a post in the new Kennedy administration. Fortunately, Paley and Murrow patched up their friendship as Murrow became ill; he died of lung cancer in 1965. Edward R. Murrow’s legacy to broadcast journalism--and to CBS--remains as strong as ever.

3. I Love Lucy (1951-1957): Bill Paley’s strategy to compete with NBC was to offer different programming--such as half-hour scripted situation comedies, versus live variety shows. “Lucy” was not the first TV sitcom, but it became the model for the shows that would follow. It almost never got on the air. Lucille Ball was willing to move her CBS Radio comedy “My Favorite Husband” to television, only if her real-life husband, Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz, played her spouse. Paley and other CBS executives believed that viewers would not accept the redheaded Ball and the Latino Arnaz as a married couple, but they eventually gave in. It was a smart move: “I Love Lucy” became television’s top-rated series, and in reruns, probably the most popular single programme of all time. In front of the cameras was the wonderful clowning of Ball; the able assistance of Arnaz; and the strong support of co-stars Vivian Vance and William Frawley. Behind the scenes, “Lucy” was one of the first shows to be filmed using three cameras before a live studio audience (A number of modern sitcoms are still produced the same way.) And Desi Arnaz was a very sharp businessman; the couple’s production company Desilu soon became a leading supplier of television series for CBS and the other networks. “Lucy” ended its run as a half-hour series in 1957; occasional hour-long specials featured the Ricardos and Merzes until 1960, when Lucy and Desi filed for divorce. Lucy eventually made a successful return to television, helped by Vivian Vance and Gale Gordon. But without Desi, she couldn’t recapture the magic that made “I Love Lucy” so special.

4. (The) Guiding Light (1952-Present)/As The World Turns (1956-Present): They were called “soap operas” for one simple reason: The major sponsors were (and continue to be) soap and detergent makers, who pitched their cleaning products to stay-at-home housewives. When these shows began on radio, each programme was 15 minutes long. But CBS was the first network to make the soaps work on TV; with the backing of soap maker Proctor & Gamble, “The Guiding Light” easily made the move from radio to video and continues today as the longest-running entertainment programme of any type on American TV. In 1956, CBS and P&G launched “The Edge Of Night” and “As The World Turns”--the first 30-minute daytime dramas. Critics felt it was overkill, thinking fans would not sit and watch the trials and tribulations of soap plots for half an hour. But viewers soon embraced the longer format; “Night” ran on both CBS and ABC through 1984, while “World” became daytime television’s top-rated series from 1958 until 1978--a record that still holds today. These days, another CBS soap--”The Young And The Restless” --dominates the Nielsen charts. But “World” and “Guiding Light” (“The” was removed from GL in the late 1970’s) remain vital parts of the CBS daytime schedule--and fans still get into a lather five days a week.

5. The $64,000 Question (1955-1958): Producer Lou Cowan’s idea was to showcase the “common man with uncommon knowledge.” And the top prize--$64,000--was truly big money back in 1955. Hosted by actor Hal March, “Question” was an instant hit when CBS premiered the show that summer; a year later, it briefly displaced “I Love Lucy” as America’s top-rated series. The “isolation booth” was born on this show; so was the gimmick of taking questions from an IBM computer. Viewers embraced the big money winners; some of them also played on the show’s spin-off, “The $64,000 Challenge”. And not surprisingly, there were countless imitators. (“Question” also propelled Cowan to the presidency of the CBS television network). But there was trouble behind the scenes: Sponsor Charles Revson of Revlon cosmetics allegedly pressured staffers to dump contestants he thought were unattractive or boring. Staffers say a young psychologist named Joyce Brothers was not liked by Revson; her genuine knowledge of boxing allowed her to win the $64,000 and gave her a stepping stone to pop culture fame. (Revson had denied any role in contestant manipulation.) By 1958, viewers became tired of the format--low ratings and rumours of behind-the-scenes rigging spelled the end of “The $64,000 Question” and most other big-money quizzers. A year later, the “quiz show scandals” knocked off nearly every game show from the US airwaves. Lou Cowan was deposed as CBS network president. Federal laws enacted in the wake of the scandals made it a crime to rig a game show. But the concept of big money quizzers made a brief comeback in the US and other countries with “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” in the late 1990’s--high stakes without the behind-the-scenes manipulation.

6. The Honeymooners (1955-1956): He was known as “The Great One,” and few performers deserved that title more than Jackie Gleason. After an unsuccessful year as the title character on the first TV version of “The Life Of Riley,” Gleason became host of “Cavalcade of Stars” on the weaker and now-defunct DuMont Network. Two years later, CBS hired Gleason for five times his weekly DuMont salary--and Gleason brought his June Taylor Dancers, regular player Art Carney and a new actress (Audrey Meadows) to replace Pert Kelton as Alice Kramden on the occasionally shown sketch “The Honeymooners.” By 1955, Gleason was second only to “Lucy” in the ratings; “The Honeymooners” saga of bus driver Ralph Kramden, long-suffering wife Alice and Carney’s portrayal of friend Ed Norton (plus Joyce Randolph as Ed’s wife Trixie) was the main reason for the show’s success. Its unusual portrayal of a lower-middle-class couple and their upstairs friends was not only funny, but heart-warming too. In the fall of 1955 (thanks to a new contract with Buick automobiles), Gleason dropped the hour-long variety show and turned “The Honeymooners” into a half-hour filmed sitcom. CBS executives were nervous; the Saturday night timeslot Gleason had dominated was ripe for takeover by NBC, which slotted singer Perry Como against “Honeymooners” and the show that followed, the Gleason-produced vaudeville programme “Stage Show.” Como and “The Honeymooners” drew an equal number of viewers, but at 8:30 p.m., many “Honeymooners” fans avoided “Stage Show” and began switching over to Perry for the final half-hour. By the fall of ‘56, Gleason returned to his old hour-long variety format (all but ignoring “The Honeymooners”). It was no use; Como was the new Saturday champ. Gleason would make a successful return to CBS in 1962 with his new variety programme, “The American Scene Magazine.” And in 1966, Gleason and Carney (along with Sheila MacRae as Alice and Jane Kean as Trixie) recreated "The Honeymooners” with live musical sketches--in color--as part of the renamed “Jackie Gleason Show”. But for die-hard fans, the “Classic 39” of the 1955-56 season remain--in Ralph Kramden’s words--“the greatest.”

7. Gunsmoke (1955-1975): By the early 1950’s, Americans were getting a more “adult” view of the venerable Western through such movies as “High Noon” and “Shane,” focusing on heroes that dared to have feet of clay and all-too-human flaws. CBS Radio had its own version of the grown-up oater, “Gunsmoke,” which debuted in 1952. Starring the voice of William Conrad as Marshall Matt Dillion of Dodge City, Kansas, “Gunsmoke” became a hit with listeners. When CBS decided to bring the series to television, Conrad was considered too rotund for the video Matt Dillion; the network wanted America’s number one cowboy--John Wayne--in the role. Wayne refused--but he did suggest a young actor under contract to his production company named James Arness; and Wayne agreed to introduce the first episode, as an endorsement of its basic appeal. “Gunsmoke” didn’t do well at first, but by its second season the show was a top-ten regular; in the fall of 1957, it became the highest-rated series on television, as viewers kept up with the stories of Matt, Miss Kitty (Amanda Blake); Doc Adams (Milburn Stone); Chester Goode (Dennis Weaver) and later Festus (Ken Curtis). “Gunsmoke’s” success led to dozens of other Westerns on CBS and the other networks. By the mid-1960’s, “Gunsmoke’s” ratings fell and the show was canceled. But in a surprise move (forced by Bill Paley, who adored the series) “Gunsmoke” was renewed and moved from its late Saturday night timeslot to Mondays at 7:30. The show returned to the top ten and ran until 1975, becoming the longest running series with continuing characters in the history of American TV. A few “Gunsmoke” reunion films aired during the 1980’s, proving that this simple Western still had a hold on the public fancy. In reruns, it still does.

8. Playhouse 90 (1956-1959): Despite signs live television dramas were on the wane, CBS took a big chance with this weekly 90-minute anthology series. As a result, “Playhouse 90” is the programme most remembered when people talk about the “Golden Age” of American television in the 1950’s. “Playhouse 90’s” reputation was secured with its second broadcast, the classic Rod Serling play “Requiem For A Heavyweight,” starring a young Jack Palance. And there were others: “The Miracle Worker”; Mickey Rooney’s "The Comedian”; “The Days Of Wine And Roses”; “Point Of No Return”; “Judgment At Nuremberg”. But by 1959, live drama gave way to episodic series on film; “Playhouse 90” was cut back to air on alternate weeks with a lame celebrity show called “The Big Party”; by January 1960 it was gone as a regular series--a victim of changing tastes and the trend toward filmed series programmes. “Playhouse 90” was more than the symbol of TV’s “Golden Age”; it was a polished and rare gem.

9. The Andy Griffith Show/Mayberry RFD (1960-1971): The small town of Mayberry, North Carolina was an unlikely location for classic television comedy. But every week for more than a decade, Americans paid a visit to the sleepy community to see what was up with the townsfolk. Andy Griffith--a successful standup comic and actor--first played Sheriff Andy Taylor in a February 1960 episode of “The Danny Thomas Show.” Griffith’s performance won high raves and ratings; Thomas and executive producer Sheldon Leonard, with a boost from sponsor General Foods, put “The Andy Griffith Show” on CBS’ Monday night schedule in the fall of 1960. With the wonderful Don Knotts as Deputy Barney Fife, Ronnie Howard as Andy’s son Opie and Frances Bavier as Aunt Bee (plus a number of gifted characters who made up Mayberry), “The Andy Griffith Show” never left the top ten during its eight-year run, even after Knotts left the series in 1965 and the show went to color. (“Griffith” also spawned a very successful spin-off, “Gomer Pyle, USMC.”) In 1968 Andy Griffith decided to call it quits just as the series became number one in the ratings. Its successor, “Mayberry, RFD”--which starred Ken Berry as councilman and single dad Sam Jones--did well too. But CBS’ purge of rural-oriented shows in 1971 spelled the end of “RFD,” despite top-20 ratings. “The Andy Griffith Show” continues to find devoted fans in reruns. More than ever, Mayberry has become a mandatory stop for Americans yearning for a slower, easier time not so long ago.

10. The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966): As with “Andy Griffith,” Danny Thomas had a hand in getting this show on the air. But it was writer-performer Carl Reiner who started it all with a pilot called “Head Of The Family,” which starred himself as a television variety show writer; it never sold and ended up on a 1960 CBS summer graveyard show called “Comedy Spot.” Enter Thomas’ producer, Sheldon Leonard, who loved everything about the show--except Reiner. Leonard’s suggestion to Reiner was to catch the hit Broadway musical “Bye Bye Birdie” and check out a talented singer, dancer and comedian named Dick Van Dyke. Leonard’s instinct proved right on the mark. With Van Dyke as TV comedy writer Rob Petrie; Morey Amsterdam and Rose Marie as coworkers Buddy and Sally; and Reiner heading the show’s production and writing team (plus occasionally appearing as egotistical variety host Alan Brady), “Dick Van Dyke” couldn’t help but succeed. Especially when the producers hired an actress Thomas referred to as “the girl with no nose, three names and a great big smile” to play Rob’s wife Laura--Mary Tyler Moore. “DVD” was notable for its adult humor and situations, rising above the standard fill-in-the-blank sitcoms of the early 1960’s to become a critical and Emmy favorite. (It was nearly canceled in its first season due to low ratings; only a threat by sponsor Proctor & Gamble to pull all its ads from CBS’ powerful daytime lineup kept the show on the air.) “DVD” left the airwaves in 1966 because the cast and producers wanted to move on while the show was still at the top of its game. The major players went on to other projects with varying degrees of success, but “Dick Van Dyke” can be considered a true American television classic.