''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 News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...

and

cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human Society, societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, and habits of the ...

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

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

s 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. However, CBS may have wished to replace it with a more commercially successful program.

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* * * * 1957 American television series debuts 1970 American television series endings CBS original programming 1950s American television news shows 1960s American television news shows 1970s American television news shows 1950s American documentary television series 1960s American documentary television series 1970s American documentary television series Black-and-white American television shows Films scored by Laurence Rosenthal Cultural depictions of Jawaharlal Nehru Cultural depictions of Indira Gandhi {{hist-documentary-stub