In the years after World War II, Susskind was a talent agent for Century Artists, ultimately ending up in the powerhouse Music Corporation of America's fairly newly minted television program department, managing Dinah Shore, Jerry Lewis, and others.
In 1953-54, Talent Associates produced Jamie starring a young Brandon deWilde, fresh off his success in George Stevens' Shane (1953), for ABC.
De Wilde together with veteran character actor Ernest Truex, told the story of aging Grandpa McHummer striking a bond with young Jamie, his recently orphaned grandson.
By 1963, Susskind had a reputation as a maverick, one of the last producers willing to stand up to the ever more powerful TV networks; his East Side/West Side, a hard-hitting dramatic series starring George C. Scott, began on CBS in 1963 and won fairly high critical praise.
In an era when race relations was a volatile subject in the United States, East Side/West Side featured Cicely Tyson in one of the first major regular roles for an African-American actress in a primetime drama, and the series dealt a few times with issues facing African-Americans, as well as other urban issues such as drug addiction and abortion, leading to some affiliates in Southern states not clearing the program.
Talent Associates continued with television and motion picture projects, including producing duties on Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, the 1974 film, and McMillan & Wife, the 1971-1977 TV series.
The company also ventured into game shows, packaging the original version of Supermarket Sweep, and its successor The Honeymoon Race; as well as The Generation Gap; and an unsold pilot, King of the Hill.