The 50's and 60's saw a lot of great shows that, for one reason or another, only lasted one year. Someone needs to release a DVD anthology of some of those shows, for many have substantial entertainment value. This show is one of those great shows. Each week was a new story with a new character for Barbara to play. They were generally gripping and very entertaining. I think, specifically of "The Choice" with Robert Horton where a deranged man terrorizes Barbara in a remote pub. It was clearly the inspiration (indeed the rough draft) for "The Shining" but I don't think it is ever recognized as such. If you can get your hands on episodes, you won't be disappointed.

If the season long run of "The Judy Garland Show" is a disappointment and one of the great mysteries of T.V. history, the single season of "The Barbara Stanwyck Show" is a close second. As a screen star, she had a successful career, and while never a too box office draw, she had a huge following and always excellent notices. Crew members loved her, and if they were to have been Oscar voters, she might easily have won at least one of her four in nominations, and possibly have been nominated for more.In this weekly anthology show, Stanwyck hosted and usually starred in the hour long dramas, that with one exception, were self contained. The only exception was her semi-recurring role of an American adventuress solving various heinous crimes in the orient. Other styles ranged from light drama to romantic melodrama and to her own personal favorite genre, the western. Of course, when she returned to T.V. in a hit series it of course was a western. The show featured many fellow veterans who added spice to whatever genre they were hired to perform in. So for 20 something mini-movies, they are all worth seeing, and with Stanwyck at the helm, always memorable.

53-year-old Barbara Stanwyck, her days as a romantic movie lead at an end, jumped into television with gusto in this outstanding anthology series which rather shockingly only ran one season, 1960-61. Ms. Stanwyck played a different character each week (with the exception of a few episodes playing Hong Kong export dealer "Little Jo") in programs that range from murder melodramas to westerns to semi-comedies. Stanwyck gives each episode her all and brings these little dramas up to the level of mini movies, some of them with excellent stories that could have easily played out in a feature film. I can only imagine why this program lasted just one season, changing tastes by the public most likely (anthology series were on the way out) particularly in regards to older actresses (besides Stanwyck, Loretta Young, June Allyson, and Ann Sothern's shows were also canceled that fall.) Fortunately, the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences recognized her superb work and awarded her the first of three Emmys she would receive (one for her later, successful series THE BIG VALLEY in 1965, another for her work in the mini-series THE THORN BIRDS in 1984.) Fifteen episodes from the 36 produced released in a DVD set in 2009 (it appears the survival status of quite a few episodes is uncertain) that show, as if there was any doubt, that Barbara Stanwyck is just as captivating an actress on the small screen as she was on the big one.

This was an excellent show. One can see easily how Stanwyck got an Emmy for it. Unfortunately, at the time she finally agreed to do an anthology show, they stopped making them and this one was canceled after a year. I have seen about half of them and they are excellent. The best ones are comedy ones and she reminds us how funny she was. In particular, Confession i think it was called, with Leon Ames and a young Peter Falk, is hilarious. Truly a black comedy episode, very funny. The other episodes are very good too, a little bit of everything, comedies, westerns, romances, court room stuff, adventure (with three with same character of adventurer Josephine Little). And lots of great Stanwyck performances playing strong, neat ladies. It is too bad it was not made a few years earlier and then we could have watched a lot more episodes. She made a lot of this show, by the way, in one season, I think over 35 episodes. That is more than some cable shows air in 3-4 seasons nowadays.