Negotiating Civil Rights in Prime Time: A Production and Reception History of CBS's East Side/West Side

This article examines a controversial 1963-1964 socially relevant drama series that engaged viewers, critics, and television industry personnel with issues around Kennedy-era liberalism. The article specifically looks at two celebrated episodes dealing with race—one about the plight of ghetto inhabitants, the other about white fears when blacks begin moving into an all-white suburban neighborhood. Using viewer mail in series producer David Susskind's collected papers, the article examines how mostly Northern, white viewers used the show to make sense of changes in race relations in the midst of the civil rights movement. Using internal production memos and other sources, the article also charts the difficulties encountered by the show's producers in getting a series about “urgent issues” onto the airwaves.