When the show first was broadcast in 1949, Ralph Bellamy was still appearing on Broadway in "Detective Story" and would be rushed by squad car to the theater, which held the curtain on broadcast nights as late as 9:00 to accommodate the actor.
The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. was the sponsor and even held an interest and a copyright on the series. The Mike Barnett character was often shown smoking, and at the end of the live versions Ralph Bellamy would drop the character, don reading glasses and address the camera with a list of veterans' hospitals to which the sponsor was donating cigarettes that particular week.
The final broadcast (over NBC) was on 26 August 1956.