The Twentieth Century

The Twentieth Century
The Twentieth Century
	Composer Harold Arlen and singer Tony Bennett rehearsing for a 1964 program about Arlen's works
Genre	Documentary
Written by
Directed by	(1961-1966); Willard Van Dyke (1961-1965); Nicholas Webster (1960-1965); (1961); (1961-1963); (1961-1962); Harry Rasky (1963); Burton Benjamin (1964); (1966)
Narrated by	Walter Cronkite
Composer	Paul Creston
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	9
No. of episodes	121
Production
Producers	Burton Benjamin;
Running time	30 minutes
Release
Original network	CBS

The Twentieth Century was a documentary television program sponsored by the Prudential Insurance Company that ran on the CBS network from 20 October 1957 until 4 January 1970. It was hosted by Walter Cronkite. The opening and closing theme music was written by composer George Antheil. The program presented filmed reports on news and cultural events that were important for the development of the 20th century. The show did not just present the events, but also interpreted them. Such subjects as World War I and major assassinations were presented in context.

On 20 January 1967, the show, sponsored by Union Carbide ("The Discovery Company"), was renamed The 21st Century. The show's focus changed to the future and to what humankind could look forward to. The 21st Century was cancelled after three seasons (its final broadcast was on 4 January 1970). The reason given was that the writers had run out of things to talk about.^{[citation needed]} However, CBS may have wished to replace it with a more commercially successful program.

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