Lassie
Inheritance
TV Flash files “Inheritance” as a desk essential hour — Lassie (1954–1973) on CBS, season 1, episode 1, aired 1954-09-12, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E01: listed hour 1 of 591 in the Lassie guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 1954-09-12 (30 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “Arithmetic” (S01E02). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Essential hour: “Inheritance”. Inheritance opens the collie franchise: loyalty as weekly serial, a branded bark already outranking the humans on the call sheet.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Inheritance sit in the Lassie guide?
S01E01 is listed hour 1 of 591 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 1.
When did Lassie S01E01 air?
Inheritance aired 1954-09-12 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start in the early Jeff or Timmy household eras, when the boy-and-collie contract is clearest, rather than treating every later caretaker stretch as required.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Lassie is the collie who saved more kids than most sitcom dads: loyalty as a weekly serial, Jeff then Timmy, a revolving human cast around one branded bark. Watch it now as the animal-star franchise that defined family adventure across two decades — training lore, collie succession, and devotion as the whole plot engine.
The silhouette is fur and a look. Not a gown, not a tag, not the timeline's joke about a dog: a collie centered on the call sheet while humans revolve. *Lassie* ran on CBS from 1954 into the early 1970s — 591 episodes, 19 seasons, loyalty as a weekly serial. Early child-star eras include Tommy Rettig's Jeff and Jan Clayton's Ellen, then Jon Provost's Timmy and June Lockhart's Ruth. Multiple trained collies portrayed the brand. The bark outranked the wardrobe, which is a kind of image management the stan accounts…
Filed against
- Tommy Rettig as Jeff Miller
Tommy Rettig was Jeff Miller on Lassie — the boy in the first collie era, loyalty as a weekly serial, a revolving human cast around one branded bark. Jeff then Timmy; the dog stayed the franchise. TV Flash files him as 1950s…
- Jan Clayton as Ellen Miller
Jan Clayton’s Ellen Miller mothered Lassie’s first television household — collie loyalty as a weekly serial, Jeff then the revolving humans around one branded bark. 1950s family adventure with a dog as the franchise. TV Flash files her as…
- Jon Provost as Timmy Martin
Jon Provost’s Timmy Martin made Lassie a boy-and-collie liturgy — loyalty as a weekly serial, Jeff then Timmy, a revolving human cast around one branded bark. Animal-star franchise that defined family adventure across two decades. TV…
- June Lockhart as Ruth Martin
June Lockhart mothered two American fantasies without blinking: Ruth Martin on Lassie, then the Robinson household on Lost in Space. Collie loyalty as a weekly serial; Irwin Allen’s space-opera danger with a stowaway and a clanking robot.…