2000 Plus
March 15, 1950 – January 2, 1952 · 32 broadcasts
2000 Plus was radio's first ongoing adult science-fiction anthology -- a half-hour of original stories imagining life in "the years beyond 2000 A.D." that debuted on the Mutual Broadcasting System on 15 March 1950, roughly a month ahead of the better-remembered Dimension X. It was the creation of producer-writer Sherman H. Dryer, working with partner Robert Weenolsen; where its rivals adapted published magazine stories, 2000 Plus wrote its own, week after week -- flying saucers over an Air Force base, a liner adrift among the meteors, a serum that turns men into titans, a veteran home from the Martian War. A rotating repertory of New York radio actors (Lon Clark, Joseph Julian, Ralph Bell, Bryna Raeburn, Luis van Rooten, a young Mason Adams) played the parts; Ken Marvin announced with such conviction that listeners half-believed the predictions. Elliott Jacoby composed the music and Emerson Buckley -- later a noted opera conductor -- led it. The run wandered across Mutual's schedule and ended on weak ratings by January 1952. Perhaps ninety broadcasts were made; only about a dozen survive. It is remembered less for out-writing its competition than for getting there first.
Episode Spine
Grouped by year. Jump to the full list below, or open a season on its own page.
1950
1951
2000 Plus was radio's first ongoing adult science-fiction anthology -- a half-hour of original stories imagining life in "the years beyond 2000 A.D." that debuted on the Mutual Broadcasting System on 15 March 1950, roughly a month ahead of the better-remembered Dimension X. It was the creation of producer-writer Sherman H. Dryer, working with partner Robert Weenolsen; where its rivals adapted published magazine stories, 2000 Plus wrote its own, week after week -- flying saucers over an Air Force base, a liner adrift among the meteors, a serum that turns men into titans, a veteran home from the Martian War. A rotating repertory of New York radio actors (Lon Clark, Joseph Julian, Ralph Bell, Bryna Raeburn, Luis van Rooten, a young Mason Adams) played the parts; Ken Marvin announced with such conviction that listeners half-believed the predictions. Elliott Jacoby composed the music and Emerson Buckley -- later a noted opera conductor -- led it. The run wandered across Mutual's schedule and ended on weak ratings by January 1952. Perhaps ninety broadcasts were made; only about a dozen survive. It is remembered less for out-writing its competition than for getting there first.