The Prudential Family Hour of Stars offered seven solid seasons of concert music, the fare well-known melodies from the operatic stage and from popular charts. The shows included short dramatic sketches on the lives of Beethoven, Schubert, and other composers, revealing how a piece just performed had been written.

After a gradual erosion of audience, the Family Hour of Stars opened with no break in con-tinuity. Unfortunately, this had much the same sound as half a dozen "Hollywood glitter" shows then on the air. Periodic bonus stars (Ray Milland, Kirk Douglas, etc.) supplemented the regular Prudential "family" for variety, and original stories were fresher than standard film fare. But the sound was the same, due to the glut of such programming on CBS and the other networks as well.