The show won every major award in broadcasting, becoming the "gold-standard" of American Television.
The show began as a live program, then switched to videotape in the 1960s, and finally to film (and on-location filming) in the early 1970s.
During its first two years on the air, the show was a weekly series, and was called "Hallmark Television Playhouse".
Beginning with the live telecast of the opera "Amahl and the Night Visitors" on December 24, 1951, Hallmark has sponsored a series of dramatic specials which, since 1952, have aired under the title "Hallmark Hall of Fame." From 1952 to 1955 Hallmark also presented "Hallmark Hall of Fame," a weekly half-hour dramatic anthology series hosted by Sarah Churchill. The first broadcast, "Dr. Serocold," was aired in January 1952 under the title "Hallmark Television Theatre." This series also ran under the title "Hallmark Summer Theatre" in July and August 1952.
The paint was still wet on NBC's (then) new Television Soundstages in Burbank California, when the show began broadcasting.