Insight (American TV series)

Insight is an American religious-themed weekly anthology series that aired in syndication from October 1960 to 1983. Insight holds a unique place in the history of public service television programming. Produced by Paulist Productions in Los Angeles, it was an anthology series, using an eclectic set of storytelling forms including comedy, melodrama, and fantasy to explore moral dilemmas.

The series was created by Catholic priest Ellwood E. "Bud" Kieser, the founder of Paulist Productions. A member of the Paulist Fathers, an evangelistic Catholic order of priests, he worked in the entertainment community in Hollywood as a priest-producer and occasional host, using television as a vehicle of spiritual enrichment. Many of the episodes of the series were videotaped at Television City Studios and then Metromedia Square.

It was the longest-running syndicated weekly show until Soul Train took over in 1996, and ran until 2008 (only Entertainment Tonight, Wheel Of Fortune, Jeopardy! & Extra have longer runs). It is also the longest-running religious drama program ever.

Overview
Early episodes were produced at CBS Television City. They were largely videos of Kieser speaking, similar to Fulton J. Sheen's East Coast program. By the second season Kieser switched to dramatizing stories; the approach was more humanist, than strictly Catholic. Actor Patrick McGeehan narrated several episodes. Actress Lola Lane sold the Paulists a property on Pacific Coast Highway that had previously belonged to her late husband, director Roland West.

Typically shown on Sunday mornings or late night, the program aired nationally for well over two decades. Often stations aired Insight in order to meet the Federal Communications Commission's public interest standard for broadcast television. In its heyday Insight was played in syndication on over 195 stations. Occasionally it was even broadcast at prime-time in major markets as "holiday specials".

Contributing artists
The anthology format and the religious nature of the program attracted a wide variety of actors, directors and writers to work on the series, drawn by the show’s reputation for consistently stretching the creative boundaries of television. In many cases they donated their talents and time.

Actors

 * Jack Albertson
 * Elizabeth Ashley
 * Ed Asner (4 episodes )
 * John Astin
 * Diane Baker
 * Joy Bang
 * Billy Barty
 * Meredith Baxter
 * Ed Begley
 * Ed Begley, Jr.
 * Carl Betz
 * Bill Bixby
 * Tom Bosley
 * Beau Bridges
 * Albert Brooks
 * Gary Burghoff
 * Carol Burnett
 * Terry Burnham
 * Michael Burns (six episodes)
 * Joseph Campanella
 * Elisha Cook Jr.
 * Robert Culp
 * Ann B. Davis
 * Laura Dern
 * Melinda Dillon (four episodes)
 * Ivan Dixon
 * James Doohan
 * Patty Duke
 * Irene Dunne
 * Wesley Eure
 * Marty Feldman
 * Norman Fell
 * Peter Fonda
 * John Forsythe
 * Anne Francis
 * Vincent Gardenia
 * Beverly Garland
 * Frank Gorshin
 * Louis Gossett Jr.
 * Harold Gould
 * Mark Hamill
 * Barbara Hale
 * Jonathan Harris
 * Bob Hastings
 * Celeste Holm
 * Ron Howard
 * Jeffrey Hunter
 * Ann Jillian
 * Brian Keith
 * Ricky Kelman
 * Lance Kerwin
 * Jack Klugman
 * Steve Landesberg
 * Robert Lansing
 * Michael Learned
 * Harvey Lembeck
 * Michael Lembeck
 * June Lockhart
 * Randolph Mantooth
 * William Marshall
 * Nan Martin
 * Raymond Massey
 * Walter Matthau
 * Tim Matheson
 * Maureen McCormick
 * Vera Miles
 * Roger Mobley
 * Ricardo Montalbán
 * Juanita Moore
 * Greg Morris
 * Bill Mumy
 * Lois Nettleton
 * Bob Newhart
 * Nichelle Nichols
 * Carroll O'Connor
 * Alan Oppenheimer
 * Eve Plumb
 * Allan Rich
 * John Ritter
 * Marion Ross
 * Maggie Roswell
 * William Shatner
 * Michael Shea
 * Martin Sheen
 * Henry Silva
 * Ann Sothern
 * James Stacy
 * Guy Stockwell
 * Barry Sullivan
 * Meg Tilly
 * Cicely Tyson
 * Dick Van Patten
 * Cindy Williams
 * Flip Wilson
 * William Windom
 * Deborah Winters
 * Jane Wyman
 * Keenan Wynn
 * Dick York
 * Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
 * Kate Klugman

Directors

 * Lew V. Adams
 * Richard C. Bennett
 * Richard Beymer
 * Robert Butler
 * Hal Cooper
 * Marc Daniels
 * Linda Day
 * Mel Ferber
 * Arthur Hiller
 * Lamont Johnson
 * Buzz Kulik
 * Norman Lloyd
 * J.D. Lobue
 * John Meredyth Lucas
 * Delbert Mann
 * John Newland
 * Daniel Petrie
 * Ted Post
 * Michael Ray Rhodes
 * Seymour Robbie
 * Jay Sandrich
 * Ralph Senensky
 * Jack Shea
 * Paul Stanley

Writers

 * Bernard Abbene
 * William Peter Blatty
 * Michael Crichton
 * John T. Dugan
 * Harry Julian Fink
 * Jack Hanrahan
 * Fr. Ellwood Kieser CSP
 * John Meredyth Lucas
 * Lan O'Kun
 * William P. McGivern
 * John McGreevey
 * James E. Moser
 * Gilbert Ralston
 * Michael Ray Rhodes
 * Rod Serling
 * Terrance Sweeney
 * E. Sarsfield Waters
 * Stanford Whitmore
 * John Rester Zodrow

Awards and nominations
Offbeat and experimental by design, the series won numerous Emmy Awards and received critical praise for addressing social issues. Insight was nominated for the Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Religious Programming in 1972 and 1973, and won the category every year from 1981 to 1984.

In 2003, UCLA Film and Television Archive became custodian of Paulist Productions’ physical inventory of Insight videos and films. "'Insight' represents something that doesn’t exist anymore: faith-based, scripted, quality TV programming, delivered free to television stations for broadcast,” said Father Frank Desiderio, Kieser's successor at Paulist Productions. Episodes are available for purchase from the Paulist Press.