The Witness (TV series)


The Witness is an American television show broadcast on the CBS network in the United States from September 29, 1960 to January 26, 1961, in which a fictional "Committee" of lawyers cross-examined actors portraying actual people from the recent past of the United States who had been considered criminal or suspicious.

Production

David Susskind was the executive producer, Murray Susskind and Nick Mayo were line producers, and the production company was Talent Associates. The show was created and written by Irve Tunick, and filmed in the CBS studios in New York City.

Scheduling

The show initially was on Thursdays in the 7:30-8:30 PM timeslot; in December 1960 it was moved to the 9 PM E. T. slot on Thursdays. Seventeen episodes were produced and broadcast. The pilot episode was never aired. A planned eighteenth episode may also have never aired.

Background

The premise of the show was explained in the opening narration:

Regular Cast

Verne Collett played the Court Reporter.
William Griffis played the Court Clerk.
The Committee Members were played by members of the New York Bar — not all of them appeared together in every episode:

Episodes/stars/air dates

  • Pilot episode: "Arnold Rothstein" starring Telly Savalas
  • Episode 1.1: "Lucky Luciano" starring Telly Savalas
  • Episode 1.2: "Jimmy Walker" starring Murray Hamilton
  • Episode 1.3: ?
  • Episode 1.4: ?
  • Episode 1.5: Roger 'The Terrible' Touhy starring Telly Savalas
  • Episode 1.6: "Police Lt. Charles Becker" starring Nehemiah Persoff
  • Episode 1.7: , the Jewish mobster, starring Sam Levene
  • Episode 1.8: Jimmy Hines starring Albert Dekker
  • Episode 1.9: Al Capone
  • Episode 1.10: ?
  • Episode 1.11: ?
  • Episode 1.13: ?
  • Episode 1.14: ?
  • Episode 1.15: Ma Barker starring Joan Blondell
  • Episode 1.16 Dillinger starring Warren Stevens
  • Episode 1.17 Shoeless Joe starring Biff McGuire

Critical reception

When the show first came on the air, TIME magazine said:
The Witness is one of the more exciting shows to appear on TV in a long time. Packaged by David Susskind, it effectively utilizes a formula first laid out by more modest shows like Day in Court and The Verdict Is Yours: the simulated hearing or trial. The first episode grilled a fictional "Lucky" Luciano. While the case did not unfold too coherently, and the crowd noises in the simulated hearing room were badly overdone, the program spectacularly captured the disorderly drama of committee hearings, with all their rambling language and flashing anger. Telly Savalas, a comparatively unknown actor, was superb as Luciano—full of gutter cynicism, arrogance, brutality, and yet at moments pathetic. The show's spontaneity derived partly from the fact that the lawyers involved were real, some of the best courtroom performers in New York, who ad-libbed much of their argument.

However, several months later, daily newspaper television columns disagreed—for example:
Despite medical care and extensive surgery, CBS' "The Witness" series will succumb after the Feb. 2 show. The end, when it comes, is the result of faulty ratings which even a change of climate—from an earlier to a later slot in the Thursday night schedule—failed to improve.