The Big Picture (American TV series)
The Big Picture is an American documentary TV show that aired from 1951 to 1964, with some later episodes shown irregularly until 1971. It was created by Albert Gannaway Jr. and David Burkey and produced by the U.S. Army Signal Corps and the Army Pictorial Service. The idea was to turn Army film footage into engaging TV documentaries for commercial networks.
The first 13-episode run was on CBS in late 1951 and focused on the Korean War. The show soon expanded to cover a wide range of topics, including military history, weapons and gear, training exercises, cooperation with allies, and Army sports. It was filmed at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York. The host was Master Sergeant Stuart Queen, with various well-known narrators providing the voice for the segments, such as Audie Murphy, Lorne Greene, Robert Mitchum, Alexander Scourby, Walter Cronkite, Raymond Massey, and Ronald Reagan.
In the early years the program was shot in 35mm black-and-white; by the 1960s it used 16mm color film. The Big Picture aired on many TV stations—over 366 outlets across CBS, ABC, and DuMont—and produced 828 episodes. Because it was an official U.S. government work, it is in the public domain and not eligible for copyright.
The National Archives and Records Administration offers individual episodes for free through Amazon and the Internet Archive. Some episodes and clips are also available on YouTube, and DVDs can be copied for free at NARA’s College Park facility in Maryland.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 16:50 (CET).