Original cast members for the TV program included Eileen Wilson, Snooky Lanson, Dorothy Collins, and a wholesome array of young fresh-scrubbed "Hit Parade Singers and Dancers." Gisele MacKenzie joined the cast in 1953.

     The TV version featured the top seven tunes of the week and several Lucky Strike extras. These extras were older, more established popular songs that were very familiar to audiences. The top seven tunes were presented in reverse order, not unlike the various popular music countdowns currently heard on radio. The top three songs were presented with an extra flourish, and audience members would speculate among themselves as to which tunes would climb to the top three positions and how long they would stay there.

     The continuing popularity of certain songs over a multiple-week period had never been a problem for the radio version of the program with its top ten list. Regular listeners were willing to hear a repeat performance of last week's songs, perhaps with a differ­ ent vocalist than the previous week to provide variation. The television Hit Parade attempted to dramatize each song with innovative skits, elaborate sets, and a large entourage of performers. Creating new skits for longer-running popular songs proved much more difficult on television, particularly when we recall such hits from the period as "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window" and "Shrimp Boats Are Coming."

     A much more serious problem facing the program was the changing taste in American popular music. Rock 'n' roll was displacing the syrupy ballads  that had been the mainstay of popular music during the 1930s and 1940s. The earlier music had a multigenera­tional appeal, and the radio version of Your Hit Parade catered to a family audience. The rock music of the 1950s was clearly targeted to younger listeners and actually thrived on the disdain of its older critics.

     Further, much of the popularity of the faster-paced rock hits was dependent on complex instrumental arrangements and the unique styling of a particular artist or group. Rock music's first major star, the brooding, sensuous Elvis Presley, was a sharp contrast to these date styles of Snooky Lanson and Dorothy Collins. As rock (and Presley) gained in popularity, the ratings for Your Hit Parade plummeted. The cast was changed in 1957, and the show was temporarily canceled in 1958, then revived under new management with Dorothy Collins and Johnny Desmond. Despite these changes, the program was simply out of touch with the current musical scene, and the last program was broadcast on April 24, 1959.