From 1953 through 1956, CBS News aired Person to Person, but it was independently owned and produced by John Aaron, Jesse Zousmer, and Murrow. Tensions inside CBS began when Fred Friendly, Murrow’s producer of See It Now, accused Murrow of capitalizing on the remote, in-home, investigative news interviews done with political leaders, and pioneered by Friendly, on See It Now. Although the remote, in-home interview was not new, Person to Person’s approach differed substantially from other CBS projects. Murrow anticipated criticism of the series’ lack of news-directed discussion. But that was not, in fact, its intended purpose.

Murrow wanted the series to “revive the art of conversation.” But the image was as significant as the conversation. Employing from two to six cameras, a program opened up different parts of an individual’s home. This was a historical step to building the cult of the personality in news programs. The personalities were divided into two camps, with the entertainment and sports figures in one; the second camp included all others, such as artists, writers, politicians, lawyers, scientists, and industrialists.

Given the period in which it was produced, the series’ success was as much technological as human. Regardless of the series’ news value, it took time and effort to reach people who were otherwise inaccessible. Murrow’s “guests” lived in different locations marked by distinctive terrain. Thus, in a time of presatellite technology, a prerequisite to introducing them to Americans via television was a line-of-sight transmission from the guest home to a telephone microwave transmission tower. The production crew always conquered terrain barriers. Although the crew received notoriety for shearing off part of a hill to achieve line of sight, they most frequently broke records for building tall relay towers for onetime remotes, the first adjacent to the Kutcher’s Hotel in Monticello, New York, enabling interviews with boxers-in-training Rocky Marciano and Ezzard Charles.

The guests were maintained in constant visual and aural contact through advance placement of large video cameras in different rooms. It was also necessary to obtain FCC approval for a special high-frequency wireless microphone that could be attached to the guests. Each program periodically used a split-screen image, a new experience for many television viewers.

For the live program to proceed smoothly in real time, some rehearsal was required. From 1953, interviews and statements by Murrow made it common knowledge that cue questions were used before the show so that guests could be “talked through” the movements to be made from room to room. Thus, certain questions were prepared, but answers were spontaneous. The visit to Marlon Brando’s home, for example, began outside at night, with a stunning view of Los Angeles. From there it moved to his living room, and finally, to a downstairs area where friends waited to play some music with Brando. A home’s content was part of a guest’s personality, so the camera frequently stopped to reveal a picture on the wall, vases, and other objects of interest. In the early days of the series, guests pointing out possessions of special value interrupted discussion, sometimes making the series more of a gallery of art objects. And many times a show’s success depended on how comfortable both the guest and the host were with the arrangement. Inevitably, the spontaneous nature of the discussion or awkwardness of a situation generated embarrassing moments, such as Julie Harris folding diapers as she spoke, or Maria Callas throwing Murrow off guard by innocently noting she liked the quality of lingerie in the United States. Perhaps for these reasons, the producers valued those infrequent visits to “homes” that had more news value, such as the warden’s home on Alcatraz Island, or an old lighthouse.

The series and Murrow received frequent criticism. Respected television critics, including Harriet Van Horne, Philip Mintoff, Gilbert Seldes, and John Lardner, pointed to Murrow’s petty, aimless chatter, arguing that television demanded more substance and depth, especially from someone of Murrow’s journalistic background. For Murrow’s colleagues, the series diverted his valuable time and energy from other projects and added an unnecessary burden. When Collingwood took over as host, these critics quietly accepted the series for what it purported to be.

But Murrow steadfastly defended the series. When an author, such as Walter White, mentioned a new book, book sales increased. Thousands of viewers requested a one-sentence, 57-word Chinese proverb read by Mary Martin, which she had engraved in a rug. If two or three children committed themselves to piano lessons after seeing Van Cliburn, Murrow believed the criticism to be worth taking. Moreover, the range and variety of people interviewed was unprecedented for network television at the time. One three-week period in 1957 included interviews with the political cartoonist Herbert Block, media market researcher A.C. Nielsen, and Robert F. Kennedy, chief council of the Senate’s Select Committee.

In 1956 CBS Television bought the series from Murrow, at that time its sole owner. However, because Person to Person with Murrow made a large profit for CBS, it continued to be the center of conflict between Murrow and management. Person to Person elevated its host to celebrity status with the public, and some at the network resented the fact that the series placed Murrow in a powerful position. Frank Stanton accused Person to Person’s production practices of deceit and dishonesty, claiming guests were coached in questions. This charge, coming after the quiz show scandals and directly attacking Murrow’s integrity, resulted in a public airing of personality conflicts that hurt CBS’s image and further estranged Murrow from the executive branch at the network. A public respectful of Murrow as host, however, did not rush to condemn him for taking risks on other shows, such as his methodical criticism of Senator McCarthy. Fidel Castro’s appearance on Person to Person had the potential to alienate viewers who considered him a communist dictator, and the program attracted government criticism of CBS, but Murrow survived the resulting criticism. Person to Person’s success in the ratings translated to Collingwood as host, continuing to feed the public’s appetite for the celebrity interview. When Collingwood began, the series added the attraction of overseas interviews, filmed or taped.

Person to Person first generated many of the arguments still lodged by critics of today’s talk shows, arguments questioning the primacy of the individual in news and the role of a voyeuristic camera as a compelling approach to news. But before the series began, Murrow insisted on a thorough respect for the home of guests “invaded” by the camera. Unlike the series to follow, Murrow and the camera did not confront guests with questions constituting an inquiry. Both Murrow and Collingwood permitted their guests to direct the conversations, which accounted for a meandering pace. The hosts’ respect for the public figure in a private setting and avoidance of emotional confrontations created a unique ambiance in this programming genre, and Person to Person stands as a vital example of television’s potential for personal, individualized communication.