David O. Selznick Presents

David O. Selznick Presents
Show name	David O. Selznick Presents
Creator	David O. Selznick
Developer	David O. Selznick
Starring	various
Country	United States
Language	English
Num episodes	13
Executive producer	David O. Selznick
Runtime	60 minutes
Company	Selznick Releasing Organization
Network	NBC
First aired	1958
Last aired	1958

David O. Selznick Presents is an American television anthology series produced and presented by film producer David O. Selznick, broadcast in 1958. The series adapted literary works and original teleplays into hour-long dramatic episodes, drawing on Selznick's film industry experience and collaborations with writers, directors, and actors from Hollywood, Broadway, and television. It aired on NBC during a period of rapid network expansion, intersecting with contemporary series and film adaptations.

Overview

David O. Selznick, noted for his work on Gone with the Wind and collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, established the series to bring prestige television adaptations to a national audience on NBC. The anthology format followed traditions exemplified by Playhouse 90, The Philco Television Playhouse, and Studio One, aiming to merge literary adaptation practices associated with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and RKO Radio Pictures with the episodic reach of American Broadcasting Company competitors. Selznick leveraged relationships with screenwriters who had worked on Rebecca and with directors active at Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures to attract talent from Broadway ensembles and Hollywood studios.

Production and Development

Selznick initiated development amid negotiations with NBC executives and agents including figures tied to William Fox's legacy and the reorganized RKO Pictures. Pre-production involved sourcing rights from authors represented by agencies linked to Maxwell Perkins-era publishing, and commissioning adaptations of works associated with Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, E. M. Forster, and contemporaries. Production utilized crews from studios with affiliations to Samuel Goldwyn and technical personnel who had engineered cinematography on films at Universal Pictures. Directors contracted to helm episodes included veterans who had credits at Columbia Pictures and newcomers from Television Directors Guild rosters. The budget reflected Selznick's feature-film sensibilities, with investment in set design and soundtrack composition tapping composers tied to MGM Records and orchestrators who had worked with Bernard Herrmann and Max Steiner.

Episodes and Format

The single-season run comprised 13 hour-long episodes broadcast weekly, each self-contained and introduced under Selznick's name. Adaptations ranged from classic short stories to contemporary novellas, with titles adapted from authors such as Rudyard Kipling, John Steinbeck, William Faulkner, and Graham Greene. The format alternated studio-bound productions with location shoots emulating Selznick's cinematic tendencies, occasionally staging sequences at backlots formerly used by Selznick International Pictures and in exteriors near Burbank, California and Culver City, California. Episodes employed a prologue-and-epilogue structure, often featuring voice-over narration—a device used in films like Spellbound—and varied between realist dramas, period pieces, and psychological thrillers reminiscent of work by Hitchcock collaborators. Each installment ran approximately 50 to 52 minutes, allowing for commercial breaks under NBC's sponsorship arrangements with advertisers linked to R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and consumer brands promoted by Procter & Gamble.

Cast and Crew

The series showcased guest stars drawn from a wide pool of performers under contract or freelancing across stage and screen, including actors with credits alongside Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and James Stewart. Directors and writers involved had pedigrees connected to Irving Thalberg-era production teams and television auteurs who later worked on series like The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Producers and line producers included executives experienced at RKO and MGM; costume designers and set decorators had histories with Paramount Pictures musicals and 20th Century-Fox dramas. Behind the camera, cinematographers with backgrounds at Universal-International and editors who had cut features for Samuel Goldwyn Productions contributed to the series’ filmic look.

Reception and Legacy

Upon broadcast, critical response referenced Selznick's earlier successes and compared the show to contemporary prestige programs on CBS and ABC. Reviews in periodicals noted the series' cinematic ambitions alongside television scheduling challenges posed by ratings battles with shows on CBS and competitors airing variety programs starring performers like Ed Sullivan and Jackie Gleason. Despite laudatory remarks for production values and occasional performances, the series had limited commercial traction and concluded after one season. Its legacy includes influence on later anthology projects and a model for film producers crossing into television production, anticipated by later efforts from producers at Warner Bros. Television, Paramount Television, and independent producers such as Aaron Spelling. The series is cited in studies of mid-20th-century media transitions involving figures like David O. Selznick's contemporaries Samuel Goldwyn and Louis B. Mayer.

Home Media and Availability

Physical and broadcast archives retain select kinescope and videotape elements associated with the series in collections linked to institutions such as the Library of Congress and university libraries housing Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences materials. Commercial home media releases have been sporadic, with occasional episode screenings at retrospectives organized by TCM and film festivals honoring producers like Selznick. Licensing inquiries historically routed through corporate successors to Selznick's production entities and rights holders with ties to MGM and legacy studio catalogs determine availability for streaming platforms and physical distribution.

Category:American anthology television series