The Ronald Reagan Show (Napoleon's World)

The Ronald Reagan Show was a program airing every Friday night from 5:00 to 6:00 PM on NBC, hosted by Ronald Reagan. It was the first program of its kind - a weekly political forum, which had a format utilized for 23 years, from its first airing in June of 1958 until it was changed into Tonight with Ronald Reagan alongside its move to 7 PM on Saturdays in 1981. The show pioneered the oft-imitated "forum stye" format, in which Reagan opened the show with a summary of the week's events, then invited two or three analysts - often academics, political experts or businessmen - from different ends of the political spectrum to debate the week's events as well as overarching current events. Reagan was the moderator, despite his clear preference for the opinions of his conservative guests. Reagan would then have two guests whom he would interview, often politicians, and then ended the program with his own thoughts and opinions, known unoffically as Ronnie's Remarks.

The show dominated the Friday evening timeslot from 1958 until 1981, and the admiration for Reagan and his endorsement of conservative candidates on his program is considered influential in the sixteen years of Nationalist control of the White House in the 1960's and 70's. In 1981, due to sagging ratings, the network moved Reagan to 7 PM on Saturdays to open their Friday slot for more lucrative programming, and titled their new program, with a much less interview-heavy format, Tonight with Ronald Reagan.

Despite not being a political figure, Reagan was recognized as one of the most influential Americans of the era due to his television program and less-politicized daily radio shows during the workweek, and his program is considered one of the most successful, if not the most successful, in the history of television. Numerous public schools are named after him thanks to grants given by Reagan to public school districts to enhance their broadcast journalism programs.