Initially offering hour-long dramas adapted from successful Hollywood films, the series was hosted and produced by Robert Montgomery.

Warner Bros. produced the film The Letter (1940), and after the TV broadcast studio executives considered suing NBC and others connected with the program for copyright infringement.

[3] During its first season, the movie adaptations included Rebecca, The Egg and I, Dark Victory and Montgomery's Ride the Pink Horse.

Over the following seasons it adapted highly respected works but also showcased new writers and original dramas written expressly for the series.

On Christmas Eve 1956, in a departure from its usual non-musical format, the series telecast Gian-Carlo Menotti's opera Amahl and the Night Visitors, which had already become an annual television event.