I too remember some of the episodes when I was a kid growing up,but by far out of all the "Lassie" series that ever depicted the true meaning of a boy and his dog was that of "Jeff's Collie". My friend and I had a debate is which who was the best character of all the shows and to our decision we came with Tommy Rettig for his performance to the show. He brings a astounding depth of passion and emotion to his character and by far this was the original and the first series that really brought "Lassie" out in the open and the first ever to do so during the early 50's. When Rettig left the show in 1957,he was replaced by actor Jon Provost and the tone set the collie along with his new family,The Martin's. The family consisted of June Lockhart and Hugh Reilly as the father. In other words during this run,and in some of the episodes with Provost who played Timmy,it was always up to Lassie to get him out of a tight situation and boy was Timmy one hard headed individual at times when it came to staying out of trouble! Good girl,Lassie! When the 1960's came along the collie went into another direction where during this time the Martin family would move to another country and this time Lassie was taken up by park ranger Corey Stuart played by Robert Bray and in this one Lassie had to defend her honor by helping out Ranger Stuart at times and in a two part episode called "The Tempest" it goes into that detail where Lassie fights for survival in a barron land when the Ranger is seriously hurt after a tragic accident(worth seeing and its in color). By the end of the 1960's,Ranger Stuart and Lassie went their separate ways,and the collie would take up with another family by the 1968-1969 season and from there her services would be needed once more and thus end the shows' trimuph run making it one of the all time children's shows ever.
Lassie made her debut on CBS-TV on September 12,1954 and remained with the network for the next seventeen seasons on Sunday nights where a total of 547 episodes were produced with Seasons 1 thru 11 producing 385 episodes in black and white until May 16,1965(which includes the Miller Years, the Martin Years and the eleventh season until Ranger Corey Stuart). On September 12, 1965 the series made the jump to color for 206 episodes until its last association with CBS on March 21,1971 when the show was part of the network's infamous purge of cancellation shows. After it was canceled by CBS in the spring of 1971 the series went into national syndication on October 7, 1971 where 44 episodes were produced until the final episode of the series on March 24, 1973. In all a total of 591 episodes were produced. The show's sponsor was the Campbell Soup Company throughout its entire 19 year run.
Originally written on January 7, 2001 but was revised on September 12, 2019 for its commemorate 65th anniversary.
Lassie made her debut on CBS-TV on September 12,1954 and remained with the network for the next seventeen seasons on Sunday nights where a total of 547 episodes were produced with Seasons 1 thru 11 producing 385 episodes in black and white until May 16,1965(which includes the Miller Years, the Martin Years and the eleventh season until Ranger Corey Stuart). On September 12, 1965 the series made the jump to color for 206 episodes until its last association with CBS on March 21,1971 when the show was part of the network's infamous purge of cancellation shows. After it was canceled by CBS in the spring of 1971 the series went into national syndication on October 7, 1971 where 44 episodes were produced until the final episode of the series on March 24, 1973. In all a total of 591 episodes were produced. The show's sponsor was the Campbell Soup Company throughout its entire 19 year run.
Originally written on January 7, 2001 but was revised on September 12, 2019 for its commemorate 65th anniversary.