The Superman TV show starring George Reeves as the man of steel ran for six seasons. The show’s first two seasons (episodes 1-52) were filmed in black and white, and seasons three through six were filmed in color but were not televised in color until 1965 when the series was syndicated to local TV stations. The show’s first and last first-run air dates were September 19, 1952, and April 28, 1958.
George Reeves played Clark Kent/Superman, with Jack Larson as Jimmy Olsen, and John Hamilton as Perry White. Phyllis Coates played Lois Lane in the first season, with Noel Neill stepping into the role in the second (1953) and later seasons.
Episodes cost roughly $15,000 apiece. Money was saved in various ways including simply changing wall hangings to turn Clark’s office into Lois’s office, thus dispensing with additional set construction. In the last seasons, there were fewer exterior location shoots, and episodes were filmed almost entirely in the studio. Reeves’s red, blue, and yellow Superman costume was originally brown, gray, and white so that it would come through in appropriate gray tones on black-and-white film.
Throughout the last 50 episodes, a lackadaisical attitude toward flubbed lines prevailed, ascribed to deterioration of morale among cast and crew, the added expense of color filming and salary disputes. Producer Whitney Ellsworth later admitted: “Sometimes there was just garbage in the rushes, but we were often forced to use what we had, rather than relight the set and go again.”
George Reeves died in 1959 at age 45 from a gunshot wound. The official finding was suicide, but some believe he was murdered or the victim of an accidental shooting. SOURCE: Wikipedia
Loved that show when I was a little one! Even now, when my pup stretches out full on the floor on his belly, with front legs straight ahead, I catch myself humming the theme song! Haha! We are pretty silly here.