Goldstone was noted for the momentum and "fifteen-minute cliffhangers" that he brought to TV pilots such as ' ("Where No Man Has Gone Before", 1966), "Ironside", and '. His later career helped pioneer the concept of "thirty-second attention span" pacing over detailed content in his dramatizations of Rita Hayworth, Calamity Jane, and the Kent State shootings for which he won the Emmy. He directed several feature films, including the large-scale suspense "Rollercoaster" (1977).