Atom Squad was a live science-fictional 15-minute TV series broadcast by the NBC network, July 6, 1953 to January 22, 1954, Monday-Friday, 5:00 to 5:15 PM EST. The National Broadcasting Company or NBC is an American television broadcasting company based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ...

The Atom Squad was a secret government agency which dealt with Cold War threats to US security involving radiation and nuclear weapons. The cast and sets reminded youthful viewers of Captain Video, and for very good reason! The Atom Squad scientists, Steve Elliot and Dave Fielding, were played by Robert Cortleigh and Bob Hastings, their chief by Bram Nossem. Bob Hastings played "Hal, the Ranger's brother" on Captain Video and was the actual brother of The Video Ranger, Don Hastings, while Bram Nossem had played the first incarnation of Captain Video's arch-nemesis, Dr. Pauli. It's even stranger than that, because the last actor to play Dr. Pauli was named Stephen Elliot, not to be confused with "Steve Elliot," the leading Atom Squad agent! To add to the confusion, Bob Hastings also appeared on Tom Corbett, Space Cadet. Captain Video and His Video Rangers was the first of the American outer space television shows, beginning on the DuMont network on June 27, 1949. ... Captain Video and His Video Rangers was the first of the American outer space television shows, beginning on the DuMont network on June 27, 1949. ... Don Hastings as Dr. Bob Hughes Donald Francis Hastings (born April 1, 1934 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American actor. ... Tom Corbett is the main character in a series of stories that were depicted in television, radio, books and newspaper strips of the 1950s. ...

The Atom Squad's secret New York headquarters lab also looked very much like Captain Video's secret mountain headquarters control room, except that the Atom Squad, with an NBC rather than DuMont budget, had many more controls and flashing lights on their panels. The program's opening sequence showed a man in a "radiation suit" lumbering very slowly toward the camera, a fairly accurate representation of the cramped and not-very-action-packed story that usually followed.

Story lines were usually completed in 5, or sometimes 10 broadcasts. Paul Monash was the chief writer for the series and possibly its creator. The foes of the Atom Squad were usually mad scientists and evil Communist spies and saboteurs. However, the Squad ran into aliens from outer space in at least three different story lines.

ATOM SQUAD originated from the studios of WPTZ in Philadelphia. The director was Joe Behar, and producers were Larry White and later Adrian Samish. (Since Larry White was the director for the first couple of years of CAPTAIN VIDEO, it is tempting to suppose that this is the same White; it would explain the many similarities between the programs -- however, Larry White is a common name.)

While ATOM SQUAD kinescopes were probably made, for West Coast rebroadcast, none are known to survive today. The series did not appear to have a sponsor and no tie-in toys or premiums are known to exist.

External links

• Atom Squad Episode Guide
• Broadcast Pioneers: Atom Squad