Lansing first appeared on TV on "Kraft Television Theatre" in 1956. In the 1961–1962 television season, Lansing was cast as Detective Steve Carella on NBC's "87th Precinct" series, based on the Ed McBain detective novels. His costars were Gena Rowlands, Ron Harper, Gregory Walcott, and Norman Fell. Also in 1961, he played Jed Trask, a troubled shooter, in the "Bonanza" episode, "Cutthroat Junction". He guest starred in two other episodes of the NBC's western series: "Danger Road" (1970) as Gunny O'Riley and "Heritage of Anger" (1972) as John Dundee. He played Doc Holliday in an episode of NBC's "The Tall Man", with Barry Sullivan and Clu Gulager. Lansing would star alongside Clu Gulager again in a 1965 episode of NBC's "The Virginian" TV series titled "The Brothers". Again on NBC, in 1966, Lansing guest-starred as General Custer in a three episode segment of "Branded" called "Call to Glory".