Hallmark Hall of Fame

Hallmark Hall of Fame, originally called Hallmark Television Playhouse, is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas Citybased greeting card company. It is the longest-running prime-time series in the history of television; it began airing in 1951 and is still currently in production. Since 1954, all of its productions have been broadcast in color. It was one of the first video productions to telecast in color, a rarity in the 1950s. Many television films have been shown on the program since its debut, though the program began with live telecasts of dramas and then changed to videotaped productions before finally changing to filmed ones. The series has received eighty-one Emmy Awards, dozens of Christopher and Peabody Awards, nine Golden Globes, and Humanitas Prizes. Once a common practice during the formative years of American television, it is one of the last remaining television programs where the title includes the name of its sponsor. Unlike other long-running TV series still on the air, it differs in that it broadcasts only occasionally and not on a weekly broadcast programming schedule. The Hall of Fame films are made with production values and a budget that is comparable to that of a feature film. History