[5] The research staff of The Black Robe regularly went around New York City seeking potential participants for the show.
"From Harlem to the Bowery, from Hell's Kitchen to the East River" staff members asked "people in bars, on street corners, on busses and in the subway" if they might want to be on TV.
[4] Although The Black Robe "received a number of commendations for its public service and humanitarian work", it lasted only 10 months because it lacked a sponsor.
[2] A review in the trade publication Billboard praised the assortment of non-actor characters but commented that "the program goes overboard" in its efforts to achieve realistic images and dialog.
[8] Jack Gould wrote in The New York Times that The Black Robe was "a remarkably successful example of television's peculiar ability to project absolute realism and naturalness.