Editing Climax! (section)

{{Short description|American anthology TV series}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| image                = Dennis O'Keefe Phyllis Kirk Lloyd Bridges 1954.JPG
| caption              = [[Dennis O'Keefe]], [[Phyllis Kirk]], and [[Lloyd Bridges]] in "Edge of Terror", 1955.
| alt_name             = '''''Climax Mystery Theater'''''
| genre                = [[Anthology series|Anthology]]
| director             = [[John Frankenheimer]]<br>[[Ida Lupino]]<br>[[Arthur Hiller]]<br>Allen Reisner<br>[[Ralph Nelson]]<br>[[Buzz Kulik]]<br>[[Paul Nickell]]<br>[[William H. Brown Jr.]]<br>[[David Swift (director)|David Swift]]<br>[[Jack Smight]]<br>[[Don Medford]]<br>Anthony Barr
| presenter            = [[William Lundigan]] (1954&ndash;1958)<br>[[Mary Costa]] (1956&ndash;1958)
| theme_music_composer = [[Leith Stevens]]
| opentheme            =
| composer             = [[Jerry Goldsmith]]<br>[[Bernard Herrmann]]<br>[[Alex North]]
| country              = United States
| language             = English
| num_seasons          = 4
| num_episodes         = 166
| list_episodes        = 
| executive_producer   = Albert R. Broccoli{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}} 
| producer             = [[Martin Manulis]]<br>[[Bretaigne Windust]]
| camera               = Television Film
| runtime              = 47&ndash;50 minutes
| channel              = [[CBS]]
| first_aired          = {{Start date|1954|10|07}}
| last_aired           = {{End date|1958|06|26}} 
}}

'''''Climax!''''' (later known as '''''Climax Mystery Theater''''') is an American television [[anthology series]] that aired on [[CBS]] from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by [[William Lundigan]] and later co-hosted by [[Mary Costa]]. It was one of the few CBS programs of that era to be broadcast in color, using the massive TK-40A color cameras pioneered and manufactured by [[RCA]], and used primarily by CBS's rival network, [[NBC]] (the broadcasting division of RCA). Many of the episodes were performed and broadcast live, but, although the series was transmitted in color, only black-and-white [[Kinescope#Eastman Television Recording Camera|''kinescope'']] copies of some episodes survive to the present day. The series finished at #22 in the [[Nielsen ratings]] for the 1955–1956 season and #26 for 1956–1957.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://classictvguide.com/tvratings/index.htm|title=ClassicTVguide.com: TV Ratings|publisher=classictvguide.com|access-date=2018-03-14}}</ref>