Fireside Theatre
Bitter Grapes
TV Flash files “Bitter Grapes” as a desk essential hour — Fireside Theatre (1949–1958) on NBC, season 7, episode 1, aired 1955-04-26, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S07E01: listed hour 8 of 8 in the Fireside Theatre guide, the only listed hour of season 7. It aired 1955-04-26 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Man of the Comstock” (S06E10). No later hour is listed in this guide.
Essential hour: “Bitter Grapes”. Bitter Grapes: late-pack named hour, the most-watched 1950s anthology tasting like a closer the canon forgot to toast.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Bitter Grapes sit in the Fireside Theatre guide?
S07E01 is listed hour 8 of 8 — the only listed hour of season 7, season 7 episode 1.
When did Fireside Theatre S07E01 air?
Bitter Grapes aired 1955-04-26 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with whatever surviving filmed half-hours you can find, Wyman-hosted if that is the door. The Nielsen-ghost story is the context.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Fireside Theatre is the ratings ghost of early television: a filmed half-hour anthology giant, later hosted by Jane Wyman, that once dominated Nielsen lists and now sits half-forgotten. Watch it now to see how filmed drama anthologies conquered the 1950s — and how a most-watched show can still vanish from the conversation.
The half-hour looks like a living room and behaved like a factory. Fireside Theatre (NBC, 1949–1958), Frank Wisbar's filmed anthology giant, later hosted by Jane Wyman, earlier by Gene Raymond, is the ratings ghost of early television: among the top-rated programs of the early 1950s seasons, now half-forgotten. Proved filmed drama anthologies could dominate Nielsen lists. One of early TV's most-watched shows. The work is industrial filmed drama, not a lost-masterpiece cult — which is exactly why the forgetting is…
Filed against
- Gene Raymond as Host
Gene Raymond hosted Fireside Theatre when filmed half-hour anthologies still ate Nielsen lists — a 1950s ratings giant that now sits half-forgotten beside later Jane Wyman evenings. TV Flash files him as the welcome-mat of early filmed…
- Jane Wyman as Host
Jane Wyman’s host weather on Fireside Theatre made a 1950s catalog anthology giant feel like a living-room brand, then Falcon Crest turned the late-career stare into Angela Channing’s vineyard coups. TV Flash files her as the host who…