List of Lassie episodes
Encyclopedia
Lassie (1954 TV series)
Lassie is an American television series that follows the adventures of a female Rough Collie named Lassie and her companions, human and animal. The show was the creation of producer Robert Maxwell and animal trainer Rudd Weatherwax and was televised from September 12, 1954, to March 24, 1973...
television series. Created by Robert Maxwell, Lassie premiered on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
on September 12, 1954, where it aired for seventeen seasons, before moving to first run syndication for its final two seasons. The final episode of the series aired on March 24, 1973. Maxwell also acted as the show's producer until 1957, when Jack Wrather
Jack Wrather
John Devereaux "Jack" Wrather, Jr. , was a petroleum millionaire who became a television producer and later diversified by investing in broadcast stations and resort properties...
purchased the production company and show. He would be the show's producer for the rest of its run. The series continue to air in rerun syndication, off and on, for another fifty years. In syndication, the episodes in which Lassie was paired with the Miller family were often aired under the name Jeff's Collie, while the years with the Martin family were sometimes aired under the name Timmy and Lassie.
The five hundred and eighty-eight episode series is generally broken into six parts, based on the ownership of Lassie. The "Miller years" comprise the first three seasons of the series, and part of the fourth, during which Lassie is owned by Jeff Miller (Tommy Rettig
Tommy Rettig
Thomas Noel "Tommy" Rettig was an American child actor,computer software engineer, and author. Rettig is best remembered for portraying the character "Jeff Miller" in the first three seasons of CBS's Lassie television series, from 1954–1957, later seen in syndicated re-runs as Jeff's Collie...
). In the middle of the fourth season, the unexpected death of George Cleveland was mirrored in the show with the unexpected death of his character "Gramps." The farm is sold to the Martin family, which also adopts Ellen Miller's foster child Timmy (Jon Provost
Jon Provost
Jon Provost is a former child actor of film and television. He is best known for his role as young Timmy Martin in the CBS series, Lassie....
) and Jeff gives Lassie to Timmy to help him cope. The "Martin years" would run until 1964. At the opening of the tenth season, a job transfer sees the Martins moving to Australia and having to leave Lassie behind. After a brief stay with family friend Cully Wilson, Lassie joins Corey Stuart (Robert Bray
Robert Bray
Robert E. Bray was an American film and television actor probably best remembered for his role as the forest ranger Corey Stuart in the long-running CBS series Lassie.-Life and career:...
), a ranger with the United States Forestry Service. Early in the fifteenth season, Stuart is badly injured in a forest fire, however Lassie remains with the forest service under the care of fellow rangers Scott Turner (Jed Allan
Jed Allan
Jed Allan is an American actor.- Daytime television roles :Allan has starred in several soap operas. He is perhaps best known for his role as Don Craig on Days of our Lives, which he played from 1971 to 1985. He gained a new audience when he played C.C...
) and Bob Erickson (Jack De Mave). The "Ranger years" ended at the end of the sixteenth season. For the seventeen season Lassie is inexplicably alone with no human handlers, wandering from place to play helping people and other animals as needed before moving on. The "Lassie Alone" year would be the series' last on CBS, which canceled the series after a the prime time slot was moved in 1971 to 8 pm EST, and there was no place left in the schedule where CBS thought the series might be well received. The final two seasons, the "Holden Ranch years" sees the wandering Lassie setteling down at a ranch for troubled children.
Seasons
| Season | Eps. | Originally aired | |Season | Eps. | Originally aired | |Season | Eps. | Originally aired | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 | 1954 – 1955 | 2 | 38 | 1955 – 1956 | 3 | 39 | 1956 – 1957 | |||||
| 4 | 40 | 1957 – 1958 | 5 | 39 | 1958 – 1959 | 6 | 37 | 1959 – 1960 | |||||
| 7 | 36 | 1960 – 1961 | 8 | 36 | 1961 – 1962 | 9 | 32 | 1962 – 1963 | |||||
| 10 | 29 | 1963 – 1964 | 11 | 32 | 1964 – 1965 | 12 | 32 | 1965 – 1966 | |||||
| 13 | 28 | 1966 – 1967 | 14 | 28 | 1967 – 1968 | 15 | 28 | 1968 – 1969 | |||||
| 16 | 22 | 1969 – 1970 | 17 | 22 | 1970 – 1971 | 18 | 20 | 1971 – 1972 | |||||
| 19 | 24 | 1972 – 1973 | |||||||||||