Comedy•Drama

The Best Episodes of Startime

Every episode of Startime ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Startime!

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Startime, an anthology of drama, comedy and variety, was one of the first American television shows broadcast in color.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    Startime Season 1 Episode 8 - Merman on Broadway
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    S1:E8

    Ethel Merman presents showtunes from her Broadway hits, with Hollywood stars Tab Hunter and Fess Parker, and comedian Tom Poston. Bobby Sherwood's trumpet accompanies one Merman number.

    Director:Greg Garrison
    Writers:Joe Bigelow, A.J. Russell

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  2. Startime Season 1 Episode 33 - The Nanette Fabray Show
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    S1:E33

    An original musical, 'So Help Me, Aphrodite', with Nanette Fabray starring as Sally, a diner waitress owned by Ernest Jones, who earnestly wants to marry her. But Sally dreams of being famous — like Marie Antoinette or Pocahontas.

    Director:Bob Henry
    Writer:Danny Arnold

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  3. Startime Season 1 Episode 5 - The Dean Martin Show
    9.0/10(15 votes)

    S1:E5

    An hour of songs, dances and comedy with Dean Martin as the host and his guests are Frank Sinatra, Mickey Rooney, and the dance team of Augie and Margo.

    Director:Jack Donohue
    Writers:Herbert Baker, Robert O'Brien

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  4. Startime Season 1 Episode 20 - Closed Set
    8.9/10(17 votes)

    S1:E20

    Hollywood starlet Julie Forbes has used ruthless and vindictive tactics to reach the top and maintains her popularity in the same manner. After a succession of stereotyped films, she decides to make a 'quality' film and hires a young, sensitive director, Cliff Harriston. However, when he rebuffs her advances, she aims to ruin him by using her power and influence to turn the film into 'just another Julie Forbes picture'.

    Director:Robert Stevens
    Writer:Gavin Lambert

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  5. Startime Season 1 Episode 6 - The Wicked Scheme of Jebal Deeks
    8.2/10(24 votes)

    S1:E6

    A disgruntled bank employee executes an elaborate corporate sabotage against his employers.

    Director:Franklin J. Schaffner
    Writer:John D. Hess

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  6. Startime Season 1 Episode 3 - The Turn of the Screw
    7.9/10(112 votes)

    S1:E3

    In a mid-19th century Essex country house, a young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted by ghosts and that the children are being possessed.

    Director:John Frankenheimer
    Writer:James Costigan

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Startime

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  7. Startime Season 1 Episode 14 - The Man
    7.8/10(28 votes)

    S1:E14

    In a small town, elderly Mrs. Gillis, who in a large Victorian home, receives a visit from a man just out of the army. He's seeking a job and a place to stay, and he knew the woman's late son, so she gives him room and board and small tasks to do. Slowly though, he becomes more and more aggressive and paranoid until it's obvious he's a psychopath that wants to get rid of her and take over the house.

    Director:Robert Stevens
    Writer:James P. Cavanagh

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  8. Startime Season 1 Episode 26 - The Young Juggler
    7.6/10(10 votes)

    S1:E26

    Medieval French monks find a freezing, ill juggler and take him in. Upon recovering, the impoverished man wishes to illustrate his tremendous gratitude.

    Director:Ted Post
    Writer:Ted Post

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  9. Startime Season 1 Episode 7 - George Burns in the Big Time
    7.0/10(15 votes)

    S1:E7

    A musical variety episode featuring comedians and performers George Burns, Jack Benny, Eddie Cantor, and George Jessel reliving their early days in vaudeville.

    Director:Dick Darley
    Writer:Mac Benoff

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  10. Startime Season 1 Episode 27 - Incident at a Corner
    7.0/10(262 votes)

    S1:E27

    A school crossing guard reprimands the PTA president for careless driving. He is later dismissed from his job on the basis of an anonymous note accusing him of being too friendly with little schoolgirls.

    Director:Alfred Hitchcock
    Writer:Charlotte Armstrong

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  11. Startime Season 1 Episode 2 - The Jazz Singer
    6.6/10(57 votes)

    S1:E2

    A young Jewish man is torn between tradition and individuality when his old-fashioned family objects to his career as a jazz singer.

    Director:Ralph Nelson
    Writer:Oliver Crawford

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  12. Startime Season 1 Episode 21 - Talent Scouts
    1.2/10(110 votes)

    S1:E21

    Dave Garroway hosts this showcase for several talented young show-business professionals, each 'sponsored' by an established performer.

    Director:Grey Lockwood
    Writer:George Foster

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  13. Startime Season 1 Episode 1 - The Wonderful World of Entertainment
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E1

    A musical variety show revolving around the music of the 1930s through 1950s, in which the history of show business—including motion pictures, radio, television, and vaudeville—is used as a thread to hold together the songs, sketches, and dances.

    Directors:Kirk Browning, Bob Fosse
    Writer:Larry Gelbart

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  14. Startime Season 1 Episode 4 - The Secret World of Kids
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E4

    Art Linkletter's variety episode pays tribute to children with guests Richard M. and his mother Hannah Nixon; comedian Ed Wynn; motion picture actors Ann Blyth and Vincent Price; child performers Jon Provost of Lassie, Teddy Rooney, and Angela Cartwright of The Danny Thomas Show; the Mitchell Boys Choir; and animal performers Lassie and Jerry. Includes a modern television version of Tom Sawyer, a skit on the importance of the first baby, musical and dance numbers, interviews with children and with Richard Nixon and his mother on the Vice President's childhood, and Vincent Price's talented chimpanzee.

    Director:Dick McDonough
    Writers:Dick Wesson, Paul Henning

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  15. Startime Season 1 Episode 9 - Something Special
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E9

    Two lonely singles are paired by a matrimonial bureau.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writer:Sol Saks

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  16. Startime Season 1 Episode 10 - My Three Angels
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E10

    Three convicts escaping from Devil's Island take refuge with a struggling storekeeper and his family, and are able to help them out of their straits.

    Director:Bretaigne Windust
    Writers:Sam Spewack, Bella Spewack

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  17. Startime Season 1 Episode 11 - Cindy's Fella
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E11

    Peddler Azel Dorsey and a drifter wander into a town and help young Cindy find her prince, in this old-west take on the Cinderella fable.

    Director:Gower Champion
    Writer:Jameson Brewer

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  18. Startime Season 1 Episode 12 - Christmas Startime with Leonard Bernstein
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E12

    A musical Christmas celebration featuring Leonard Bernstein, the New York Philharmonic, Marian Anderson, the Schola Cantorum, the Choir of St. Paul's Cathedral in London and others.

    Director:Roger Englander
    Writer:Leonard Bernstein

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  19. Startime Season 1 Episode 13 - Meet Cyd Charisse
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E13

    A musical variety show starring dancer Cyd Charisse, with guest stars Eve Arden; James Mitchell; Charisse's husband, singer Tony Martin; and a company of over twenty dancers. Includes Charisse and Mitchell in a dramatic ballet set on the Hong Kong waterfront, involving an ill-fated romance between an Oriental entertainer and a thief; Charisse and Mitchell in a romantic dance story set to Gershwin's 'Love Walked In'; Martin in song and dance numbers with Charisse and two featured dancers; and Arden and Ray Kellogg educating coffeehouse beatniks on the culture of the flapper generation.

    Director:Jack Donohue
    Writer:Irvin Graham

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  20. Startime Season 1 Episode 15 - The Dean Martin Show
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E15

    Dean Martin returns to host; appearing in this show: musical comedy star Nanette Fabray, pianist André Previn, and singer Fabian.

    Director:Jack Donohue
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Startime Season 1 Episode 16 - Crime, Inc.
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E16

    A survey employing dramatic recreations show how organized crime has infiltrated legitimate business and labor organizations.

    Director:Delbert Mann
    Writer:Luther Davis

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  22. Startime Season 1 Episode 17 - The Wonderful World of Jack Paar
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E17

    Jack Paar hosts a show in the casual style of his late-hours stanza. Guests include singer Pat Suzuki, comics Jonathan Winters and Alice Pearce, dancer Betty Bruce, pantomimist Harry Minno, mimic singer Duke Hazlett, a novelty act called the Strong Brothers, and Jack's young daughter Randy.

    Director:Greg Garrison
    Writers:Paul Keyes, Bob Howard

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  23. Startime Season 1 Episode 18 - The Greatest Man Alive
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E18

    An elderly inhabitant of a dingy Manhattan apartment, decides that his life has been a failure and prepares to hang himself when a researcher calls.

    Directors:Bretaigne Windust, Gordon Rigsby
    Writer:Tony Webster

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  24. Startime Season 1 Episode 19 - The Swingin' Years
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E19

    Ronald Reagan hosts a celebration of the big band era of the 1930s and 1940s.

    Director:Barry Shear
    Writers:Frank Waldman, Tom Waldman

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  25. Startime Season 1 Episode 22 - Jeff McCleod, the Last Reb
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E22

    Set within the twenty-four hours of April 17, 1865, in and around the Tressler farm in Missouri, Confederate soldier Captain Jeff McCleod has been wounded and left for dead on a small Missouri battlefield. He is found by 15-year-old Yankee boy Jannie, and brought home to a household of women who, reluctantly, hide McCleod in the cellar and lie about his presence to a search party of Union soldiers.

    Director:Paul Nickell
    Writers:Douglas Heyes, William D. Gordon

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Best Episodes Summary

"Merman on Broadway" is the best rated episode of "Startime". It scored 10/10 based on 1 votes. Directed by Greg Garrison and written by Joe Bigelow, A.J. Russell, it aired on 11/24/1959. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "The Nanette Fabray Show".