Mitchell Hadley's Blog: It's About TV!, page 104
December 25, 2020
True story
THE MYSTICAL NATIVITY (DETAIL), SANDRO BOTTICELLI, c. 1500-1501
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the Light of men. That Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the Light, that all might believe through him. He was not himself the Light, but came to bear witness to the Light.
The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. There is one who enlightens every soul born into the world; he was the true Light.
The Gospel According to St. John 1-14
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‘Ex Ore Infantium’By Francis Thompson (1859–1907)
LITTLE Jesus, wast Thou shyOnce, and just so small as I?And what did it feel like to beOut of Heaven, and just like me?Didst Thou sometimes think of there,And ask where all the angels were?I should think that I would cryFor my house all made of sky;I would look about the air,And wonder where my angels were;And at waking ’twould distress me—Not an angel there to dress me! Hadst Thou ever any toys,Like us little girls and boys?And didst Thou play in Heaven with allThe angels that were not too tall,With stars for marbles? Did the thingsPlay Can you see me? through their wings?And did thy Mother let Thee spoilThy robes, with playing on our soil?How nice to have them always newIn Heaven, because ’twas quite clean blue! Didst Thou kneel at night to pray,And didst Thou join thy hands, this way?And did they tire sometimes, being young,And make the prayer seem very long?And dost Thou like it best, that weShould join our hands to pray to Thee?I used to think, before I knew,The prayer not said unless we do.And did thy Mother at the nightKiss Thee, and fold the clothes in right?And didst Thou feel quite good in bed,Kiss’d, and sweet, and thy prayers said? Thou canst not have forgotten allThat it feels like to be small:And Thou know’st I cannot prayTo Thee in my father’s way—When Thou wast so little, say,Couldst Thou talk thy Father’s way?—So, a little Child, come downAnd hear a child’s tongue like thy own;Take me by the hand and walk,And listen to my baby-talk.To thy Father show my prayer(He will look, Thou art so fair),And say: ‘O Father, I, thy Son,Bring the prayer of a little one.’ And He will smile, that children’s tongueHas not changed since Thou wast young!
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Finally, in a lighter vein, what would Christmas be without a visit to the world of Twin Cities children's television and the immortal Axel, with his famed rendition of "The Night Before Christmas." Yes, it's Christmas morning, but it's the spirit that counts, right?
And from Lunch With Casey , here's Casey (Roger Awsumb) with "Vinter Undervear."
To all of you, my sincere and heartfelt wish for a blessed and very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, until we meet again! TV
December 23, 2020
Around the dial
What better way to start this week's journey than with a Christmas episode! At The Horn Section, Hal looks at the Love That Bob! episode "Bob's Christmas Party," which appropriately aired on December 24, 1957. I think this is one you might want to check out.
Continuing in the Christmas vein, at Cult TV Blog John recalls Carry On Stuffing, the 1972 Christmas TV-movie based on the legendary "Carry On" movies. It's a unique take on Christmas shows, but if you're familiar with "Carry On," you'll get it.
Who is John McGiver? He's one of those character actors you'd recognize if you saw him, and he's good in everything he's in. I remember him most from his ill-fated turn in The Manchurian Candidate, but as David reminds us at Comfort TV, he has a very impressive television resume , including a star turn in his own series.
Alfred Hayes' final script for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour is "The Photographer and the Undertaker," starring Jack Cassidy, Harry Townes and Alfred Ryder, which aired in March 1965. You can read all about it in Jack's latest Hitchcock Project at bare•bones e-zine.
At Fire-Breathing Dimetroden Time, it's a look at the late-1980s version of The Twilight Zone, and the 1988 remake of "A Game of Pool," with Esai Morales and Maury Chaykin assaying the roles originally played by Jack Klugman and Jonathan Winters. Without having seen the redo, it's impossible to think that it could match the original, but there are some very interesting differences in store for those comparing the two.
Speaking of, Shadow & Substance makes the very good point that 2020 seems as if it's been one long Twilight Zone episode (and not a very good one at that), so it's appropriate that Syfy has the schedule up for its 2020-21 New Year's marathon . There are some fine episodes there for you to dip in and out of during those two days.
NBC's classic Western series The Virginian, with each episode checking in at an epic 90 minutes, first hit the airwaves in 1962. At Television's New Frontier: The 1960s, we can see how the series differs from the book that inspired it, and how that first year lacked the distinction one might look for.
And a great way to complete the tour is with Season's Greetings from a couple of our favorite sites. At Garroway at Large, Jodie has some exciting news regarding the progress of the Garroway bio; meanwhile, Vote for Bob Crane provides updates , good and not-so-good (and some pretty tantalizing news), on the personal and Bob-oriented fronts, along with a heartfelt wish for a better 2021. Can I get an amen on that?
I'll have a special Christmas post on Friday, but if you have better things to do that day (and I hope you do!), take your time getting to it. There are twelve days of Christmas, you know. TV
December 21, 2020
What's on TV? Friday, December 24, 1954
As I mentioned on Saturday, I’ve saved all our Christmas Eve content for today, which means we’ll have a little more written content than usual because there’s plenty to cover. Let’s get started, shall we?
2 WBBM (CBS) MORNING 6:40 Today’s Thoughts 6:45 Farm Daily—Menard 7:00 Morning Show—Jack Paar 9:00 Gary Moore—Variety Guests: Brick Church Bell Choir of New York 10:30 Strike It Rich—Quiz 11:00 Valiant Lady—Serial 11:15 Love of Life—Serial 11:30 Search for Tomorrow 11:45 Guiding Light—Serial AFTERNOON 12:00 Portia Faces Life—Serial 12:15 Road of Life—Serial 12:30 Welcome Travelers 1:00 Robert Q. Lewis—Variety 1:30 Linkletter’s House Party 2:00 Big Payoff—Quiz 2:30 Bob Crosby—Music Guests: The Modernaires, Joan O’Brien 3:00 Brighter Day—Serial 3:15 Secret Storm—Serial 3:30 On Your Account—Quiz 4:00 Shopping with Miss Lee 4:15 UN in Action—Discussion 4:30 Looking Forward—Talks 5:00 Range Rider—Adventure 5:30 Gene Autry—Western EVENING 6:00 Sports—Bob Elson 6:15 News—Julian Bentley 6:30 News—Doug Edwards 6:45 Perry Como—Music 7:00 MAMA—Comedy-Drama 7:30 TOPPER—Comedy 8:00 PLAYHOUSE OF STARS “Day of Good News” 8:30 OUR MISS BROOKS 9:00 LINE-UP—Police Drama 9:30 PERSON TO PERSON 10:00 NEWS AND WEATHER 10:15 IN TOWN TONIGHT 10:25 SPORTS—Art Mercier 10:30 NEWS—Harrington 10:45 KUP’S SHOW—Irv Kupcinet 11:00 The Howard Miller Show 11:30 Christmas Morning Service SPECIAL From Boys’ Town Chapel, Boys’ Town, Nebraska 12:00 The Howard Miller Show 1:00 News Bulletins
WBBM doesn’t waste any time getting to the point. Bandleader Jose Melis plays “Sleigh Ride” and other Christmas music on Jack Paar’s morning show; that’s followed by Garry Moore’s show, with a Christmas newsreel by the cast, and carols by the Brick Church Bell Choir of New York. Robert Q. Lewis gets into the act with his afternoon variety show; “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers” and “White Christmas” are on the docket. Christmas episodes of Topper, Our Miss Brooks, and even the San Francisco-based police show Line-Up make up a pleasant Eve for families wrapping presents, putting up the tree, having family for dinner, or getting ready for church. (The evening’s rounded out by Edward R. Murrow’s Person to Person, and I wouldn’t put it past him to have recorded an interview with Santa Claus at the North Pole.) Speaking of church, CBS’s annual Christmas Eve religious service comes from the famous Boys’ Town Chapel in Boys’ Town, Nebraska. No, Spencer Tracy isn’t there, but Msgr. Nicholas Wegner, the priest who succeeded Tracy’s Fr. Edward J. Flanagan, is.
Although we can't tell from the listings, you can bet that holiday preparations play a big part on the soaps, especially since they're broadcast live. (Considering how slowly those plots moved, it's probably been Christmas Eve all week,) And I'm betting that Red Buttons is doing something as well; maybe he's changed "Ho ho, hee hee, hah hah" to just "Ho Ho Ho!" for the occasion.
Later on, it's The Liberace Show, and though TV Guide doesn't say, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it was this episode , in which Lee celebrates the season with brother George, the rest of the cast, and their families. The evening finishes off with a special program by the Milwaukee Council of Churches, preceeding the Midnight Mass from St. Robert’s Roman Catholic Church in Shorewood, Wisconsin. And then it's off to bed, before Santa arrives on the scene.5 WNBQ (NBC) MORNING 7:00 Today—Dave Garroway 9:00 Ding Dong School—Kids 9:30 A Time to Live—Serial 9:45 Three Steps to Heaven 10:00 Home—Women’s News 11:00 Betty White Show 11:30 Feather Your Nest—Quiz AFTERNOON 12:00 Noontime Comics—Kids 12:30 Bob & Kay—Interviews 1:00 Home Cooking—Recipes 1:30 That Wonderful Age 2:00 Greatest Gift—Serial 2:15 Golden Windows 2:30 One Man’s Family 2:45 Miss Marlowe—Serial 3:00 Hawkins Falls—Serial 3:15 First Love—Serial 3:30 World of Mr. Sweeney 3:45 Modern Romances “Christmas, ’54,” conclusion 4:00 Pinky Lee—Kids 4:30 Howdy Doody—Puppets 5:00 Elmer the Elephant—Kids 5:30 Close-up—Music EVENING 6:00 Weather—Clint Youle 6:05 News—Jack Angell 6:10 Sports—Joe Wilson 6:15 Dorsey Connors—Travel 6:20 Alex Dreier—Features 6:25 Tony Weitzel—Comments 6:30 Eddie Fisher—Music 6:45 News—John C. Swayze 7:00 RED BUTTONS—Comedy 7:30 WALT’S WORKSHOP—Crafts 8:00 BIG STORY—Drama 8:30 DEAR PHOEBE—Comedy 9:00 SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS SPECIAL (Replaces boxing tonight) 9:30 GREATEST MOMENTS 9:45 SPORTS FILMS—Kiernan 10:00 WEATHER—Clint Youle 10:00 DORSEY CONNORS—Ideas 10:15 NEWS—Jack Angell 10:30 SPORTS—Norman Barry 10:45 HERBIE MINTZ—Music 11:00 Christmas Eve Service SPECIAL From St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Manhattan 12:00 To Be Announced
WTMJ and WNBQ are both NBC affiliates, but that doesn't mean all the shows are the same. One that is, though, is The Big Story, and tonight it tells the true tale of a newspaperman who “hears a woman’s scream and the sound of an object hitting the waters of the Potomac.” That’s fine as far as it goes, but if she winds up being rescued by a man named Clarence, I’m changing the channel. Later, w
hile WTMJ celebrates midnight in Milwaukee, NBC is in New York City for Midnight Mass from America’s most famous Catholic Church, St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Before NBC began broadcasting Midnight Mass from the Vatican in 1974, their broadcast from St. Patrick’s was a Christmas Eve tradition; the story goes that one year, a nameless network executive suggested the priests might want to shave later in the day to cut down on the five o'clock shadow for the cameras.7 WBKB (ABC) MORNING 7:00 Chicago Parade—Variety 8:00 Breakfast Club—McNeill 9:00 Women and the World 9:30 Play House—Kids 10:00 Creative Cookery—Recipes 10:55 News—Ulmer Turner 11:00 Danny O’Neil Show 11:45 News—Ulmer Turner AFTERNOON 12:00 Happy Pirates—Kids’ Fun 12:55 News—Ulmer Turner 1:00 The Doctor Answers—Talks 1:15 TV Dental Clinic 1:30 The Tom Duggan Show 2:30 Double Features—Films (1) “Half Hour” (2)”Winter Love” 3:30 News—Ulmer Turner 3:35 Time for Uncle Win—Kids 4:00 Pied Piper—Kids 4:30 Garfield Goose and Friend 5:00 Santa’s North Pole Review 5:30 Jungle Adventure—Film 5:45 News—Austin Kiplinger 5:50 Sports—Jack Drees 5:55 Weather—Wayne Griffin EVENING 6:00 Kukla, Fran and Ollie 6:15 News—John Daly 6:30 Rin Tin Tin—Adventure 7:00 OZZIE HARRIET 7:30 RAY BOLGER SHOW 8:00 DOLLAR A SECOND—Game 8:30 THE VISE—Film Drama 9:00 CAPTURED—Drama 9:30 MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY 10:00 MOVIE—Christmas Film “Beyond Tomorrow” 11:00 News—Ulmer Turner 11:05 Weather—Wayne Griffin 11:10 Tom Duggan—Comments 12:00 MOVIE—Double Feature (1) “White Violet” (2) “No Strings Attached”
I’m sure there’s more holiday content here than meets the eye, we’re still reminded this is Christmas Eve. At 4:30 p.m. it’s Christmastime on the legendary Chicagoland kids’ show Garfield Goose and Friends; that’s followed by Santa’s North Pole Review, although it had better be on tape, since Santa should be out doing his rounds by now. Ozzie and Harriet and The Ray Bolger Show lead the way with primetime Christmas episodes, and at 10:00 p.m. it’s the 1940 Christmas movie Beyond Tomorrow, which reads something like a cross between A Christmas Carol and Wings of Desire, with Here Comes Mr. Jordan thrown in. There are no late-night church services, and the midnight movie, even though it’s a double-feature, lacks any Christmas content, and that’s kind of a disappointment.
WGN’s Christmas Eve concert features the Symphony of the Air, the former NBC Symphony. Tonight’s concert, done without a conductor, is called “A Gift to the Giver,” and is an appreciation to those who’ve contributed to keep the orchestra going. That’s followed by a repeat of the Mabel Beaton Marionettes and The Spirit of Christmas, still presented by Illinois Bell. At 10:00 p.m., it’s the Chicago TV premiere of Alastair Sim’s beloved Christmas Carol (known in England as Scrooge), and that leads into the 11:30 telecast of the Midnight Mass from Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, a tradition which continues on WGN to this day. And that’s a wonderful way to bring Christmas Eve to a close. TV
December 19, 2020
This week in TV Guide: December 18, 1954
As I've said many times before (many, many times), these Christmas editions of TV Guide are among my favorites. Next week we'll be looking at Christmas Day 1971, while this week takes us right up to the Eve of the big day—you can just feel the excitement build! I'll have more about the Christmas Eve programs in Monday's retro TV listing, but until then we've got plenty to look at:
Saturday leads off with the much-loved special The Spirit of Christmas (5:00 p.m, WNBQ), with the Mabel Beaton marionettes. It consists of two stories: an interpretation of "The Night Before Christmas," and a devout rendition of "The Nativity." It was originally broadcast in Philadelphia and spread throughout the country, sponsored without commercial interruption by local telephone companies (in this case, brought to you "With the Holiday Best Wishes of Illinois Bell Telephone Company.") or shown in schools (before Christmas was made persona non grata in the public education system). Alexander Scourby brings his distinguished voice as host, and narrates "The Night Before Christmas." The Spirit of Christmas is fondly remembered by several generations who grew up with this as part of their annual Christmas viewing; as you'll find with many of this week's shows, it's available on DVD, and can be seen on YouTube .
Saturday continues with Oldsmobile's December Showcase presentation of Victor Herbert's perennial holiday favorite, the operetta "Babes in Toyland" (8:00 p.m. CT, NBC), using the framing device of a little girl, lost in a department store, being entertained by a story-telling Santa while waiting for her mother to find her. Dave Garroway is our Santa, Dennis Day is Tommy Tucker, the hero of the original Herbert story, Wally Cox is Grumio, the bumbling assistant toymaker, and Jack E. Leonard is the evil Silas Barnaby. The show survives in a B&W kinescope , but it was originally broadcast in brilliant color. The evening ends with The Cheaters (12;05 a.m., WBBM) a screwball comedy (though it's listed in the guide as a drama) that sounds like a Yuletide knockoff of the far more successful My Man Godfrey with Joseph Schildkraut in the William Powell role. It was a Christmas standard for many years, having fallen into the public domain.
Sunday afternoon's cultural ghetto presents a holiday alternative to the NFL on DuMont (Cleveland vs. Detroit, 1:00 p.m.), beginning with Bishop Fulton Sheen's "No Room at the Inn" (1:00 p.m., WNBQ), a special Christmas broadcast in support of the World Missions of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, for which Bishop Sheen is the national director. At 3:00 p.m. on NBC's Zoo Parade, the humans and animals of Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo gather for the show's fifth annual Christmas celebration, with host Marlin Perkins (pre-Wild Kingdom) reading from his book One Magic Night, a fantasy about Christmas and animals. At 4:00 p.m., CBS's Omnibus presents a Christmas tryptich of stories and music from the Cloisters in New York. The program comprises the medieval play "The Second Shepherd's Play," singing by the Vienna Choir Boys, and a reading of Christmas stories for children, presented by Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. Unfortunately, and in an early demonstration of the need for VCRs, this is up against the Hallmark Hall of Fame's annual presentation of Amahl and the Night Visitors on NBC, with Bill McIver in his third appearance as the crippled shepherd boy whose faith and generosity brings about a miracle. (You can see McIver in the role in the
commercially released 1955 production
.) Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians give us
a pleasant half-hour
of Christmas music on General Electric Theater (8:00 p.m., CBS, and in color!), and the evening concludes with seasonal storylines on Father Knows Best (9:00 p.m., CBS) and The Loretta Young Show (9:00 p.m., NBC). Monday begins a parade of Christmas episodes from series looking to get in on the fun. On Caesar's Hour (7:00 p.m., NBC), Sid and Nanette Fabray play a married couple faced with spending their first Christmas apart. Voice of Firestone (7:30 p.m., ABC) presents opera soprano Eleanor Steber in a half hour of Christmas music both sacred and secular, while Medic (8:00 p.m., NBC) and December Bride (8:30 p.m, CBS) both stage their plots during the season. Dinah Shore (6:30 p.m., NBC) and Jo Stafford (6:45 p.m., CBS) both dedicate their 15-minute Tuesday shows to festive singing, while Meet Corliss Archer (7:30 p.m., CBS), Meet Millie (8:00 p.m., CBS), Fireside Theater (8:00 p.m., NBC, with Dorothy Malone), Armstrong Circle Theater (8:30 p.m., NBC), Life with Father (9:00 p.m., CBS) and It's a Great Life (9:30 p.m., NBC, with Frances Bavier) all use Christmas as a backdrop for their plots.
On Wednesday, Arlene Francis' Home (10:00 a.m., NBC) continues its Christmas week with "gift suggestions for college and career girls," poetry from the Bible, read by Beatrice Straight and Kevin McCarthy, and a Christmas play by students from Edgemont School in Montclair, New Jersey. Moving to primetime, Disneyland's 1954 Christmas Show, "a tribute to our Latin American neighbors," sees Donald Duck on a tour of South America with some of his fans, including Pablo the penguin, Jose Carioca the debonair parrot, and others. (6:30 p.m., ABC)
Thursday's highlight comes courtesy of CBS's showcase for spectaculars, Shower of Stars (7:30 p.m., brought to you by Chrysler and broadcast in color!) It's a musical rendering of A Christmas Carol, with a score by Bernard Herrmann, script and lyrics by Maxwell Anderson, and starring ◀ Fredric Marsh as Scrooge and Basil Rathbone as Marley, with an all-star supporting cast (including Bonnie Franklin as one of the little Cratchits). It's perhaps the most lavish version of A Christmas Carol to appear on television, and the first one anywhere to be done in color. In the good news-bad news department, there's no surviving color version of the program, but you can watch it in a B&W kinescope. If you already know how the story ends, go to NBC at 8:00 p.m. as Joe Friday and Frank Smith investigate the strange theft of the Baby Jesus from a church's Nativity scene in the annual Dragnet Christmas episode "The Big Little Jesus." t t t
So why does Imogene Coca look so dour on the cover of this week's issue? Well, she's a worrier (something I can identify with), and her new series (Saturday nights on NBC) gives her plenty to worry about. For one thing, the show—her first solo venture after Your Show of Shows—is off to a shaky start in the ratings, leaving Coca to turn the reins of the series over to NBC. Her typical weekday consists of reading mail, answering letters and studying scripts, all before breakfast, and spending the afternoon in rehearsals and conferences with writers and directors, before heading home for dinner and watching some TV. (It helps that she pounds down up to 20 cups of coffee a day.)
On Saturday, the day of the show, she memorizes scripts, in-between interruptions by press agents, show aides, neighbors, and phone calls. She and her husband leave for the theater around 1 p.m., where she deals with missing scenery, ripped costumes and changing choreography. She works in some time to wash her hair, and nervously nibbles on a ham sandwich. "This is the worst time for me," she says. "This is the time my stomach always starts to churn. I'm thankful our show is black-and-white. I'd hate to turn green on color TV." No wonder she looks like she does on the cover.
Alas, the effort will be in vain. Like her former co-star Sid Caesar, Coca is unable to replicate the magic of Your Show of Shows, and The Imogene Coca Show lasts only one season. Nevertheless, her place in television history has been secured.
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You might find this a little hard to believe, I know, but apparently you can't trust everything you see on television. (And we're not even to the quiz show scandals yet.)
The incident that brought this to light, which occurred a few weeks ago, occured on an episode of the aforementioned Shower of Stars, with singer Mario Lanza as special guest. What Mario did was insist to the press that he was actually singing on the program, when in fact he was lip-synching to a record the whole time. Lanza, like Richard Nixon, discovered the real crime is always in the cover-up, or the denial. The process, the technical term for which is dubbing, is actually a common practice in the entertainment industry, and Donald O'Connor is credited as being the first star to bring it to television. Since then, it's become a favorite on shows like The Colgate Comedy Hour and The Milton Berle Show. Jo Stafford decides which of her songs should be dubbed based on the amount of physical movement involved in the performance, and Les Paul and Mary Ford say it's impossible to reproduce the sound of dozens of voices and electric guitars without help. Not everyone feels this way, though. Dinah Shore says she'd "rather be caught dead" than synch her songs, and other performers—Perry Como, Eddie Fisher, Martha Wright, and the cast of Your Hit Parade, to name a few—say they're "foursquare" against it. Naturally, there are pros and cons to the whole thing; Stafford thinks the quality is most important, while Shore believes it destroys the intimacy of television, the very thing we've talked so often about at this site. And in a comment that foreshadows why the quiz show scandal was such a big deal to so many people, Dinah adds that "On TV you're offering your whole personality—and you can't pre-record that." Or pretend that you know all the answers, for that matter.
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There are some non-Christmas highlights this week, believe it or not. Ed Sullivan has a star-studded lineup on Sunday's Toast of the Town (7:00 p.m., CBS) , with apperances from Hollywood by Frank Sinatra, Gloria Grahame, Olivia de Haviland, Broderick Crawford, Charles Bickford, Robert Mitchum and director Stanley Kramer, all of whom are currently shooting the movie Not as a Stranger. In addition, James Mason and his seven-year-old daughter Pamela appear in Star of Bethlehem, a short that Mason produced and directed. (Of course, you can see it on YouTube.) Back in New York, Ed's joined by Sam Levenson, Patti Page, Julius LaRosa, and the Chordettes. Too bad there's no Hollywood Palace for comparison.
You can see more stars on the Look Magazine Awards (Saturday, 7:30 p.m., NBC), as the magazine presents its annual TV awards to the year's best shows and stars. The catagories aren't given (if, in fact, there are any), but we've got a list of the honorees: George Gobel, Fred Coe, Jack Webb, John Cameron Swayze, Groucho Marx, Ding Dong School, Cavalcade of Sports, Omnibus, Garry Moore, Tost of the Town, See It Now, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, and the United States Steel Hour. Not a bad lineup, if you ask me.
Robert Montgomery Presents (Monday, 8:30 p.m., NBC) begins a multi-part adaptaton of David Copperfield (one of Dickens' other stories) with Rex Thompson as the Copper man. WGN presents a Chicago Symphony concert on Wednesday (8:00 p.m.), conducte by the orchestra's legendary maestro, Fritz Reiner. No Christmas music, but they do perform Beethoven's 6th, certainly a star turn if ever there was. There's also the regular weekly assortment of boxing matches—two on Monday night, one on Wednesday (taking Christmas Eve off), but aside from the entertainment factor, there are no fighters of note. And among local movies, there's the Sherlock Holmes classic Dressed to Kill (Tuesday, 10:00 p.m., WGN, part of a week of Chicago TV debuts), with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as literature's most famous crimefighting duo (until Batman and Robin, that is.)
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Finally, speaking of that great detective, there's a new, syndicated Sherlock Holmes series on your television set, and this week Ronald Howard, son of the late actor Leslie, talks about his unique take on role. Unlike Rathbone's high-strung and kinetic Holmes, Howard says, "Mine has a more ascetic quality, is deliberate, very definitely unbohemian, and is underplayed for reality." Producer Sheldon Reynolds says Howard's portrayal more closely resembles that of the early Holmes stories, before Arthur Conan Doyle tired of him. And that's not all there is different about this series. Holmes' trusty sidekick, Dr. John Watson, is not the "perennial brainless bungler" of other versions. As played by H. Marion Crawford, this Watson is "a normal man, solid on his feet, a medical student who gives valuable advice." In other words, according to Reynolds, "a perfect foil to Holmes' youthful buoyancy." Howard says he wants to make Holmes a fallible hero, and I have to admit that I prefer my Holmes to be on the omniscient side, but there's still a warmth to his portrayal that's won him praise from Holmes fans.There are 39 half-hour episodes in the series, and it's actually pretty good. I wouldn't put it in the same category as the mercurial characterization by Jeremy Brett, and it doesn't have the charm of the Rathbone movies, but given the difficulty in fitting a Holmes story into 30 minutes (not to mention that only a few are based on Doyle stories; most of them are originals penned by American writers), it's a worthy addition to the Holmes canon. And you don't need a detective to discover that. TV
December 18, 2020
TV Jibe: The true meaning of Christmas
If you've come here looking for the regular Friday tour of the classic TV blogs, don't panic; I'm saving it for next Wednesday, as part of our Christmas week programming. In the meantime, enjoy this reminder of what Christmas is all about.
TV
TV
December 16, 2020
Hogan's Heroes - the final episode
Idon't think I've ever given an old piece a bump to the top; to be sure, I've resussitated a few old pieces here and there, if they prove to be timely in their subject matter (or if I prove to be untimely in my ability to come up with something new), but usually once I write something, it becomes part of the archives, destined to be found only by people looking for it (or stumbling upon it). Today, though, I make an exception.
A few years ago—almost nine now, if you can believe it—I wrote what I thought was a fanciful little piece speculating on what would have happened if one of my favorite shows, Hogan's Heroes, had been given a final episode. Today, of course, it would go without saying; just about any series that isn't cancelled in the middle of its first season gets the chance to have the last word. Back then, though, that generally wasn't the case. But if there were ever a series that deserved a closing episode, it's Hogan. After all, the concept is a closed circuit; we all know that World War II ended, and so the heroes' time in Stalag 13 would have come to an end as well. Additionally, there's the unique dymanic of the relationship between the captors and captives, especially that between Hogan and Klink, that really begs a "rest of the story" story. And, being a comedy, we can be pretty sure that it won't be a tragic end that befalls these much-loved characters.
Over the years, this post has continued to get comments; two, in fact, in the last couple of weeks. I have no other essay that can make that claim, which I think speaks less to my skill as a writer and more to the enduring popularity of Hogan's Heroes. However, because it was originally published so long ago, it occurs to me that very few of you have had the chance to see this continuing discussion in the combox. Therefore, for your pleasure, as well as that of those who'd like to offer their own scenario on how Hogan's Heroes ends, I thought I'd bump it back to the top. And so, we return to February 21, 2012, and an episode that never was.
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I've never been embarrassed to admit that Hogan's Heroes was, and remains, one of my all-time favorites. It was the first series I got in its entirety on DVD; the acting was superb, the writing spot-on, the plots often literate and clever and frequently downright hilarious. The cast—Bob Crane as Hogan, Werner Klemperer as Klink, John Banner as Schultz, Klink’s nemeses General Burkhalter and Major Hochstetter (Leon Askin and Howard Caine) and the whole cast of heroes (Robert Clary, Richard Dawson, Larry Hovis, Ivan Dixon and Kenneth Washington)—were uniformly great.
The last episode, airing on July 4, 1971 could have been any particular episode from that final season, and in fact there’s no reason to think it was conceived any other way. A seventh season had been expected, and so the show's cancellation came as something of a surprise, but, in fact, it had been around for six years and, like most extended-run shows, was beginning to show its age, and the ratings had begun to fade. In other words, a perfect candidate for a wrap-up episode.
So what would that final episode have been like? Well, many of the major events of the war had come and gone during Hogan’s run (though not necessarily in linear order) including D-Day. The Allies might have come to liberate the camp, or they might simply have terminated Hogan’s assignment (the POWs, you recall, were stationed at Stalag 13, posing as prisoners but in reality operating a massive underground commando and espionage ring). Myself, I prefer to think of the series concluding with the end of the war; Burkhalter and Hochstetter, being true believers in the Nazi regime, probably would have been taken prisoner themselves by the Allies. (In reality, they might have committed suicide, but let’s not make this too realistic.) Hogan and his men probably would have vouched for Schultz, who really was just a working man at a job he didn’t particularly like, and possibly even Klink, who when all was said and done didn’t really bear the POWs any real malice; he was too incompetent to have done too much harm. The men would have been lauded as true heroes for their daring behind-the-lines escapades, none more so than Colonel Robert Hogan himself. Already a full colonel, it’s reasonable to assume that Hogan would have come out of the war at least a Brigadier General, with a brilliant future should he decide to stay in the service. The Army, recognizing what it had on its hands, would have made the most of the photogenic, dynamic Hogan. (An earlier episode had actually involved the brass bringing Hogan back home, cashing in on his accomplishments by having him lead bond drives throughout the country.)
And where do things go from there? There certainly would have been a book about such an audacious assignment, just as there was with A Bridge Too Far, A Man Called Intrepid, The Great Escape and other true war stories, probably called, simply, Hogan’s Heroes, by General Robert Hogan as told to David Halberstam. In due course, a movie would have been made based on the book, and it’s fun to speculate on who would have played Hogan in the movie. (Greg Kinnear, anyone? Probably more likely Kirk Douglas.) Hogan might have served in Korea, flying the same kinds of bomber missions he flew in Europe during WWII; on the other hand, he probably would have already been back in Washington, with a high-level job in the Pentagon.
Come the early 60s, Hogan would still have been only about 50. JFK, who also recognized talent when he saw it, might have made Hogan his Air Force aide, working directly out of the White House. (I'll bet they would have had some adventures together.) Our co-blogger Steve suggests that Hogan might have been in charge of the Bay of Pigs invasion, which would have meant that the fiasco would have been averted, Castro toppled, and Cuba liberated. Without Castro and the CIA working behind the scenes, JFK doesn’t meet his death at the hands of conspirators in Dallas, and as we all know that means no expanded war in Vietnam. (Yeah, right.)
See how easy this is? The world as we know it changes completely! Kennedy goes through with his plan to dump LBJ from the ticket in 1964, choosing instead the charismatic Senator from Minnesota, Hubert Humphrey. Bobby lives, not being shot in the ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, because it is JFK’s loyal Vice President Humphrey who becomes the unanimous choice to continue the legacy of the New Frontier. (Bobby continues as Senator from New York, even providing consultation with that young Clinton fellow from Arkansas who’d had his picture taken with JFK that time. Bobby and Bill fly to Hollywood often and hang out with friends.
The Republicans, of course, turn to Richard Nixon as the best bet to unseat Humphrey and end eight years of Democratic dominance. In a peaceful campaign prosperity becomes the number one issue, and the voters decide to give the Republicans and their tax breaks a chance, electing Nixon as president. True to form, Nixon immediately sees an opportunity to wreak havoc on his enemies, even authorizing a burglary at Democratic headquarters at the Watergate. (What was that about history changing?) The country in a shambles, being led by the president who pardoned the man responsible for it, the people turn to someone they can trust: Robert Hogan, the now-retired military hero, the man who has always stayed above politics, the most trusted man in America (next to Walter Cronkite). And with him, the charismatic former actor and governor of California, Ronald Reagan. What a match! Hogan and Reagan – or is it Reagan and Hogan? Whatever. Happy days are here again.
All that from a simple half-hour sitcom. See why it’s so important for series to have final episodes? You can never tell how history could turn out differently. TV
December 14, 2020
What's on TV? Sunday, December 17, 1972
When you live in the Pacific time zone, football Sunday gets off to an early start, as you can see from this week's Bay Area listings. I've been to San Francisco a couple of times, and I never could get used to live events starting so early—and, conversely, taped prime time programs ending at 11:00 p.m. instead of 10:00. I think Central time is just ingrained in me. And speaking of prime time, does anyone else remember when CBS and ABC used to have the late Sunday news? I remember seeing it late night, just before sign-off , but these stations show it ahead of or instead of the late local news. Trust me though: there's more to these listings than the late news.2 KTVU (SF) (Ind.)
MORNING
7:50 NEWS
8:00 NFL GAME OF THE WEEK
8:30 ORAL ROBERTS
9:00 REX HUMBARD
10:00 12 O’CLOCK HIGH—Drama
11:00 BROTHER BUZZ—Children
11:30 MI CASA, TU CASA—Children
AFTERNOON
12:00 ON THE SQUARE—Discussion
1:00 DIALOGUE
1:30 OUR MEN IN THE CAPITOL
2:00 MOVIE—Comedy “All Hands on Deck” (1961)
4:00 MOVIE—Drama BW “The Story of Esther Costello” (1957)
EVENING
6:00 WORLD OF SURVIVAL
6:30 UNTAMED WORLD
7:00 MOVIE—Drama“Madame X” (1966)
9:00 ISLANDS IN THE SUN
9:30 EXPLORERS—Documentary
10:00 HEAD ON
11:00 ALL THE PEOPLE
3 KCRA (SAC) (NBC)
MORNING
7:00 THIS IS THE LIFE—Drama
7:30 INSIGHT—Drama
8:00 BROTHER BUZZ—Children
8:30 CALIFORNIA U.S.A.—Discussion
9:00 CAPITOL AND CLERGY—Discussion
9:30 REAL McCOYS—Comedy BW
10:00 PRO FOOTBALLKansas City Chiefs at Atlanta Falcons
AFTERNOON
1:00 MOVIE—Drama BW“The Iron Man” (1951)
2:30 CHAMPIONS
3:30 MOVIE—Drama“The Caine Mutiny” (1954)
EVENING
6:00 CHRIST IS BORN
7:00 YOU ASKED FOR IT
7:30 WORLD OF DISNEY
8:30 HEC RAMSEY—Crime Drama
10:00 NIGHT GALLERY
10:30 RIVALS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
11:30 JOHNNY CARSONGuests: Burt Reynolds, Buddy Rich, Albert Brooks
4 KRON (SF) (NBC)
MORNING
5:55 NEWS
6:00 MICHIGAN
6:30 AGRICULTURE U.S.A.
7:00 GREEN THUMB
7:30 HERITAGE—Val King
8:00 GIT BOX TICKLE—Children
9:00 FOOTBALL TODAY—Alexander
9:30 MEET THE PRESS
10:00 PRO FOOTBALLKansas City Chiefs at Atlanta Falcons
AFTERNOON
1:00 GIFT OF TIME
1:30 FORUM—Ray Taliaferro
2:00 COMMUNITY CIRCLE
2:30 SPEAK OUT—Valentine
3:00 ALMA DE BRONCE
3:30 HIGH CHAPARREL—Western
4:30 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
5:30 NEWS
EVENING
6:00 NBC NEWS—John Chancellor
6:30 LASSIE—Drama
7:00 WILD KINGDOM
7:30 WORLD OF DISNEY
8:30 HEC RAMSEY—Crime Drama
10:00 NIGHT GALLERY
10:30 PROTECTORS
11:00 NEWS
11:30 SUSPENSE THEATRE
12:30 NEWS
5 KPIX (SF) (CBS)
MORNING
6:30 THE ANSWER—Religion
7:00 NAVY FILM—Documentary
7:30 YOUR FUTURE IS NOW
8:00 VOICE IN THE BELLSSpecial[“Lamp Unto My Feet” is pre-empted]
8:30 LOOK UP AND LIVE
9:00 VIBRATIONS FOR A NEW PEOPLE
10:00 CAMERA THREE
10:30 MOVIE—Comedy BW“The Big Noise” (1944)
AFTERNOON
12:00 SPORTS CHALLENGE—Quiz Green Bay Packers vs. Boston Celtics
12:30 NFL TODAY
1:00 PRO FOOTBALLDetroit Lions at Los Angeles Rams
3:45 PRO FOOTBALL REPORT
4:00 NEWSMAKER ‘72
4:30 FACE THE NATION
5:00 MOVIE—Musical“Bye Bye Birdie” (1963)
EVENING
7:00 NEWS—Williams/Somers
7:30 SEASON’S GREETINGS FROM MIKE DOUGLASSpecial: Guests: Cliff Robertson, Louis Nye, Joan Fontaine, Marilyn Michaels
8:30 SANDY DUNCAN—Comedy
9:00 DICK VAN DYKE
9:30 MANNIX
10:30 ALL TOGETHER NOW
11:00 NEWS
11:30 CBS NEWS—Dan Rather
11:45 MOVIE—Drama BW“Tiger Baby” (English; 1959)
6 KVIE (SAC) (PBS)
AFTERNOON
4:00 SESAME STREET
5:00 MISTER ROGERS
5:30 ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children
EVENING
6:00 CARRASCOLENDAS—Education
6:30 EFFICIENT READING
7:00 SLEEPING BEAUTY—BalletSpecial
8:30 FRENCH CHEF
9:00 MASTERPIECE THEATRE“The Moonstone” Chapter 2
10:00 FIRING LINEGuests: Hodding Carter III, Clarke Reed
7 KGO (SF) (ABC)
MORNING
7:00 VOICE OF AGRICULTURE
7:30 THIS IS THE LIFE—Drama
8:00 WHAT’S ON EARTH?—Religion
8:30 MOVIE—Comedy BW“Whistling in Brooklyn” (1943)
9:30 WEE PALS—Children
10:00 CURIOSITY SHOP—Children
11:00 BULLWINKLE
11:30 MAKE A WISH—Children
AFTERNOON
12:00 FOOTBALL BOWLS PREVIEWSpecial
12:30 CHRISTMAS ISSpecial
1:00 DIRECTIONS
1:30 ISSUES AND ANSWERS
2:00 BAY SCENE
2:30 LA RAZA
3:00 DIG IT WITH ALBERT
3:30 CRISIS—Drama
4:30 MOVIE—Drama“The Challenge” (1970)
EVENING
6:00 NEWS—Davis/Sanchez
6:30 ON THE SPOT—Interview
7:00 CALL OUT
7:30 PARENT GAME
8:00 FBI
9:00 PORTRAIT: THE WOMAN I LOVESpecial
10:00 OF MEN AND WOMEN Special
11:00 NEWS
11:30 ABC NEWS—Bill Beutel
11:45 MOVIE—Science Fiction BW“Revenge of the Creature” (1955)
1:15 NEWS
9 KQED (SF) (PBS)
AFTERNOON
5:20 HOW DO YOUR CHILDREN GROW?
5:50 KOLTANOWSKI ON CHESS BW
EVENING
6:20 CALL IN
6:25 BOOK BEAT
6:55 CALL IN
7:00 SLEEPING BEAUTY—BalletSpecial
8:30 CALL IN
8:40 FRENCH CHEF
9:10 CALL IN
9:15 MASTERPIECE THEATRE“The Moonstone” Chapter 2
10:05 CALL IN
10:15 FIRING LINEGuests: Hodding Carter III, Clarke Reed
11:15 SPEAKING FREELY
10 KXTV (SAC) (CBS)
MORNING
6:00 HUMAN DIMENSION
6:30 HERALD OF TRUTH
7:00 LIVING WORD
7:15 SACRED HEART
7:30 LIFT EVERY VOICE
8:00 VOICE IN THE BELLSSpecial[“Lamp Unto My Feet” is pre-empted]
8:30 LOOK UP AND LIVE
9:00 I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES
9:30 PRO FOOTBALL PRE-GAME SHOW
10:00 PRO FOOTBALLGreen Bay Packers at New Orleans Saints
AFTERNOON
1:00 PRO FOOTBALLDetroit Lions at Los Angeles Rams
4:00 MOVIE—DramaTime approximate. “Island of the Blue Dolphins” (1964)
5:30 NEWS
EVENING
6:30 FACE THE NATION
7:00 AMAZING WORLD OF KRESKIN
7:30 ANNA AND THE KING—Comedy-Drama
8:00 M*A*S*H—Comedy
8:30 SANDY DUNCAN—Comedy
9:00 DICK VAN DYKE
9:30 MANNIX
10:30 EYE ON—Report
11:00 NEWS
11:30 MOVIE—Adventure BW“Captain Blood” (1935)
12 KHSL (CHICO) (ABC, CBS)
MORNING
7:30 OLD TIME GOSPEL HOUR
8:30 REVIVAL FIRES—Religion
9:00 HERALD OF TRUTH—Religion
9:30 PRO FOOTBALL PRE-GAME SHOW
10:00 PRO FOOTBALLGreen Bay Packers at New Orleans Saints
AFTERNOON
1:00 PRO FOOTBALLDetroit Lions at Los Angeles Rams
4:00 COLLEGE BOWLS PREVIEWSpecial
4:30 FACE THE NATION
5:00 NEWS
5:30 ANNA AND THE KING—Comedy-Drama
EVENING
6:00 ALIAS SMITH AND JONES
7:00 DELPLHI BUREAU—Crime Drama
8:00 M*A*S*H—Comedy
8:30 SANDY DUNCAN—Comedy
9:00 DICK VAN DYKE
9:30 MANNIX
10:30 NEWS
11:00 CBS NEWS—Dan Rather
11:15 TRAVEL TIME
13 KOVR (SAC) (ABC)
MORNING
6:00 NEWS
6:15 SACRED HEART
6:30 THIS IS THE LIFE
7:00 FAITH FOR TODAY
7:30 DAY OF DISCOVERY
8:00 MISS PAT’S PLAYROOM
8:30 ORAL ROBERTS
9:00 LA VOZ DE LA RAZA
10:30 TENNESSEE TUXEDO—Children
11:00 JONNY QUEST
11:30 MAKE A WISH—Children
AFTERNOON
12:00 FOOTBALL BOWLS PREVIEWSpecial
12:30 CESAR’S WORLD—Travel
1:00 PRIMUS—Adventure
1:30 ISSUES AND ANSWERS
2:00 STATE CAPITOL
2:30 URBAN LEAGUE PRESENTS
3:00 SPORTS ACTION PRO-FILE
3:30 OUTDOORSMAN—Bal Lange
4:00 ROOKIES—Crime Drama
5:00 IT TAKES A THIEF
EVENING
6:00 HIGH CHAPARRAL—Western
7:00 LAWRENCE WELK
8:00 FBI
9:00 PORTRAIT: THE WOMAN I LOVESpecial
10:00 OF MEN AND WOMEN Special
11:00 ABC NEWS—Bill Beutel
11:15 MOVIE—Crime Drama BW“Nowhere to Go” (English; 1958)
1:00 NEWS
19 KLOC (MODESTO) (Ind.)
MORNING
11:00 PEDRO GELI BW
11:30 STANISLAUS COUNTY SCHOOLS BW
AFTERNOON
12:00 GOOD NEWS—Religion BW
12:30 UPPER ROOM CHURCH BW
1:00 HOUSE OF DELIVERANCE—Religion BW
1:30 GOSPEL SINGING JUBILEE—Music BW
2:00 SING ALONG WITH AUDREY BW
2:30 I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES BW
3:00 CHURCH OF CHRIST HUGHSON BW
3:30 CHURCH OF CHRIST RIVERBANK BW
4:00 VOICE OF EVANGELISM BW
5:00 REX HUMBARD—Religion BW
EVENING
6:00 NOTICIERO
6:30 LUCECITA BW
7:30 LA CRIADA BIEN CRIADA
8:00 EL CARRUAJE—Novela
9:00 Y AMORA SILVIA—Variadades BW
10:00 PANORAMA—Variadades BW
36 KGSC (SJ) (Ind.)
MORNING
9:00 MOVIE—Spanish BW
11:00 ALABEMOS AL SENOR
11:15 NOTICIERO
11:30 CYNTHIA—Drama BW
AFTERNOON
12:00 DICHA ROBADA—Drama
12:30 INFORMACION Y TEMAS
1:00 INSIGHT—Drama
1:30 ESTA ES LA VIDA
2:00 EL ABISMO—Novela BW
2:30 MOVIE—Spanish BW
5:00 MOVIE—Comedy BW“Little Miss Marker” (1934)
EVENING
6:30 MOVIE—Drama BW“The Sign of the Cross” (1932)
9:00 UNTOUCHABLES—Drama BW
10:00 MOVIE—Comedy BW“Spooks Run Wild” (1941)
11:30 REAL McCOYS—Comedy BW
40 KTXL (SAC) (Ind.)
MORNING
6:40 DAVEY AND GOLIATH
7:00 THE CHAPPEL HOUR—Religion
7:30 MIDEAST ANALYSIS
8:00 REX HUMBARD—Relgion
9:00 CAP’N MITCH’S SUNDAY CARTOONS
9:30 JOHNNY SOKKO—Cartoon
10:00 BANANA SPLITS
10:30 ULTRAMAN—Cartoon
11:00 REAL ESTATE OPEN HOUSE
AFTERNOON
1:00 MOVIE—Drama BW“Back to Bataan” (1945)
3:00 ROLLER DERBY
4:00 WRESTLING
5:00 LOWELL THOMAS—Travel
5:30 UNTAMED WORLD
EVENING
6:00 WILD KINGDOM
6:30 LASSIE—Drama
7:00 THIS IS YOUR LIFEThe Carpenters
7:30 MOVIE—Drama BW“Citizen Kane” (1941)
10:00 JOHNNY MANN’S STAND UP AND CHEERGuest: Jo Anne Worley
10:30 REX HUMBARD—Religion
11:30 OLD TIME GOSPEL
12:30 MIDEAST ANALYSIS
44 KBHK (SF) (Ind.)
MORNING
7:30 REVIVAL FIRES—Religion
8:30 KIMBA—Cartoon
9:00 BANANA SPLITS
9:30 SPEED RACER—Cartoon
10:00 POPEYE—Cartoon
10:30 THREE STOOGES—Comedy BW
11:00 FLINTSTONES
11:30 MR. ED—Comedy BW
AFTERNOON
12:00 MOVIE—Drama BW“Stage Fright”
2:00 MOVIE—Drama BW“Jackpot” (English; 1962)
3:30 MOVIE—Mystery BW“The People Against O’Hara” (1951)
5:30 ONE STEP BEYOND BW
EVENING
6:00 LUCY-DESI COMEDY HOUR BW
7:00 MOVIE—Mystery BW“Laura” (1944)
9:00 FATHER KNOWS BEST BW
9:30 BLACK RENAISSANCE
10:00 ONE STEP BEYOND BW
10:30 MOVIE—Mystery BW“Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” (1939)
TV
December 12, 2020
This week in TV Guide: December 16, 1972
We've
already looked
at the story of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, aka Edward Windsor and Wallis Simpson, when it was a multi-part miniseries in 1980. Time isn't always linear though, as you might have noticed if you've been reading this feature the last few years. Just because 1972 comes before 1980 doesn't mean that we actually get to it first. (I wrote that other piece about the Duke and Duchess at the start of this year, and frankly I'm surprised they're running even that close to each other.) And so we find ourselves making a big deal about The Woman I Love, an hour-long drama airing Sunday at 9:00 p.m. PT on ABC.This might be the first big American TV drama about the "Love Affair of the Century," and so it's understandable that it would be on this week's cover. That, and also because the couple are being played by Richard Chamberlain and Faye Dunaway, and even though Chamberlain hadn't yet ascended to his Shogun/Thorn Birds-era status as King of the Miniseries, he's still glamorous enough to match wits with Dunaway.
Basil Boothroyd's background story tends to concentrate on the political crisis instigated by Edward's romance with the twice-divorced Wallis; he says that the king "never for a moment considered" the alternative of retaining the throne and giving up "the woman I love," and doesn't consider the post-abdication live of the Duke and Duchess. While religious objection to the marriage is seen today as outdated, especially considering the marital situation of Prince Charles, it was in fact the primary reason for the crisis in the first place; for his part, Edward was, in the eyes of some historians, bluffing with his abdication threat, in a failed power play to retain the throne and marry Wallis. As far as the romance is concerned, I've read accounts on both sides; most historians suggest that the couple remained in love until Edward's death earlier in 1972, but at the same time Edward yearned to live a more meaningful life, one that never came, as the couple became mainstays of café society. It's probably just as well that this story ends where that story begins, for while the political machinations (particularly by Prime Minister Baldwin) are fascinating, they're no match in the end for a royal love story, are they? Just ask the Hallmark Channel.
t t t
Throughout the 60s and early 70s, TV Guide's weekly reviews were written by the witty and acerbic Cleveland Amory. Whenever we get the chance, we'll look at Cleve's latest take on the shows of the era. We've seen throughout the years that Cleveland Amory has an antipathy toward shows lacking originality. A show that isn't good but at least tries to be different always has it over a show that is neither good nor original. Welcome to Bridget Loves Bernie, the CBS sitcom about the Catholic girl (Bridget, played by Meredith Baxter) married to the Jewish boy (Bernie, also known as David Birney). It is, says Cleve, "pretty awful." In other words, it's not the "Love Affair of the Century."
It's not that the marriage itself doesn't have problems, he says. For one thing, "they're always either talking about [love] or smooching so much they couldn't talk anyway," and I can certainly understand how that might get a little tiresome after, say, half an episode. No, as with many marriages in the real world, the problem here lies with the families of the young marrieds. "There ought to be a law on TV against in-laws on TV who live in," as in the case of Bernie's parents (as well as a maiden uncle) who run a deli right below where the happy couple lives; meanwhile, Bridget's parents (and a brother who's also a priest, making him—what, Father Brother?) may not live with them, but "they're always there, whenever the show needs them—and also when it doesn't." There's always Bernie's friend Otis, "the show's nonresident black," which pretty much means every box of the stereotypical sitcom has been checked.
This show was controversial when it aired in 1972; the idea of interfaith marriage was a much thornier situation than it is today, when pretty much anything goes. Nonetheless, it might have been better had the controversy surrounded the lack of support given to the cast: Birney is a likable Berney, says Amory (I'm surprised he didn't have a name joke there), and as Bridget, Baxter is pretty. The in-laws are pretty good as well, barring Audra Lindley as Bridget's mom, who's a bit much, but she's supposed to be. Where the show falls short is in the plotting, which leads to stories that are, as far as I can tell, dumb more than anything else. There is, for instance, the one where the couple broke their bed. (It's probably better that we're not told how this happened.) Each family, of course, buys them a new bed, and they buy themselves a new bed as well. A water bed, apparently, because it leaked, "just like the plot." And then there's this week's episode, which Cleve fortunately doesn't get to, in which the families quarrel about whether to celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah. He recalls plots like this with "a stabbing pain," and even without watching it, I'm beginning to feel it myself. It's not that there isn't a place for a show like this, he concludes: "what's a nice soap opera like you doing in prime time?" Bridget may love Bernie, and Bernie may love Bridget, but the viewers only loved them 24 episodes worth.
t t t
Christmas is just over a week away, so we can't be surprised that holiday programs have their own section in the week's highlights.On Sunday afternoon, Christmas Is (12:30 p.m. PT, KGO) finds a schoolboy transported to the Nativity, where he encounters innkeeper Hans Conreid. John Huston narrates the documentary Christ is Born (6:00 p.m., KCRA), filmed on location in the Holy Land. Season's Greetings from Mike Douglas (7:30 p.m., KPIX) finds the talk show veteran ringing in the season with Cliff Robertson, Louis Nye, Joan Fontaine, and Marilyn Michaels. The gang at the 4077th celebrates Christmas on M*A*S*H (8:00 p.m., CBS), while KBHK has a Father Knows Best Christmas episode at 9:00 p.m.
Monday, PBS repeats The Plot to Overthrow Christmas (6:00 p.m.) a re-creation of a studio broadcast of Norman Corwin's 1938 verse play about the Devil's plan to kill off Santa. On Bill Cosby's variety show (10:00 p.m., CBS) George Kirby plays the three Ghosts of A Christmas Carol (as Pearl Bailey, Bette Davis, and Flip Wilson's Geraldine), and Bill thinks back to Christmases past. Tuesday, it's Pete Seeger's New England holiday show (6:00 p.m., PBS), with gospel and folk artists including the great Doc Watson. Temperatures Rising has its first (and last) Christmas episode (8:00 p.m., ABC)
Wednesday offers some great choices: The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour (8:00 p.m., CBS) has a Yule-themed show with guest star William Conrad, who plays Santa, a Christmas Eve bill collector, and a lodge owner where the Bonos vacation for the holidays. Christmas music abounds! At the same time on PBS, it's A New England Christmas, a festive, Currier and Ives-like look at Christmas memories in Maine. Julie Andrews has the Christmas edition of her weekly show at 8:30 on ABC, with James Stewart as the featured guest, plus cameos by Jack Cassidy, Cass Elliot, Joel Grey, Carl Reiner, and Rich Little as Jack Benny playing Scrooge.
Thursday night, PBS has A Joyful Noise (8:00 p.m.), "a holiday package of carols and folk songs" with the
Beers Family
,
Brenda Joyce
, and the Sounds of Joy. Later, it's Dean Martin's Christmas show (10:00 p.m., NBC), and Dean is joined by Glenn Ford, Lynn Anderson, and the Golddiggers. On Friday, Lawrence Welk hosts his annual Christmas show (7:00 p.m., syndicated), while KRCR shows The Night the Animals Talked (7:30 p.m.) the story of what happened on a December night 2000 years ago when the animals—well, I guess you can figure that one out for yourselves. The score is by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn, and although it doesn't figure in this cartoon, one of their best-known songs is "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" Yuletide stories pop up on The Little People, where Brian Keith faces being replaced as Santa in the Christmas pageant (8:30 p.m., NBC), and The Partridge Family (8:30 p.m., ABC), as the Partridges are told an Old West Christmas tale by an old prospector (Dean Jagger).t t t
Dwight Whitney has an interesting interview this week with Gary Crosby, son of Bing, semiregular on Adam-12, and feeling "good about myself" for the first time in his life. Now, with no disrespect intended to Gary, he's not what's interesting about this interview; in fact, I'm not quite sure why he's being interviewed, since he's got nothing particularly timely to promote. No, what we're interested in, nearly 50 years hence, is what Gary has to say about his illustrious father.
When asked by Dwight Whitney whether or not he loved his father as he was growing up, Gary replies, "We worshiped him. What he thought was everything. . . Maybe he'd send us to our room for some minor infraction. 'Now you guys stay there for the next two hours,' he'd say. He could leave town and we'd still be sitting in the same position." When asked about Crosby's reputation for being insensitive, even cold, Gary disagrees: "Absolutely wrong. He was tremendously sensitive and he cared deeply. He just had a rough time showing it." He admits that while parts of his childhood did come across like the American Dream, it wasn't always good. "As we grew older, terrific arguments developed over girls, cars, curfews. My rage was constant."
The Crosbys, from 1952: (l-r) Philip, Gary, Bing, Lindsay, DennisHe does detail difficulties he had with his father, such as the time the elder Crosby sent son Lindsay's Christmas presents back unopened, simply because Lindsay had chosen to spend Christmas with Gary in Las Vegas. "I got madder than Linny did, holding love out on us like that!" Gary says. "And it took a long time to smooth that one out." Eventually it does get smoothed out; Gary says that the love of his wife Barbara is what helped tear down the wall that Gary's built around himself; "She had to teach me to show affection." And his relationship with his father is much better; "I know he loves us. I'll grab him and he'll grab me back. . .Now he can even say, 'You know, Gary, maybe I was a little too strict with you kids.'"Now, you'll recall that it was Gary who made headlines in 1983 with his book Going My Own Way, in which he accused his father of having abused him when he was a boy. The stain on the elder Crosby's memory is one that's hung around since, although I have to wonder how many of today's generation are even aware of it (or know who Bing Crosby was, for that matter). The accusation was simply taken as fact back then, even though two of Gary's three brothers took issue with it, and Crosby biographer Gary Giddins has said he's never found any evidence to back it up.
Despite the affectionate way in which Gary talks of his father here, it doesn't necessarily contradict that story. Of course, many abused children love their parents deeply, as if they could win their love. Perhaps Gary, as part of his continuing efforts to overcome his alcoholism, had to learn that he wasn't entirely to blame for those conflicts with his father. In later years, Bing would talk about how he had made mistakes with his first family, mistakes that he was determined to rectify after he married Kathryn (his first wife, Dixie, had died of cancer). Anyway, it would have been terribly difficult for Gary to make those accusations while Bing was still alive, although waiting until after Bing's death did make it impossible for his father to respond to them.
Remember how important context is; many disciplinary methods that were that were tried and true back then are unacceptable today, and the stern father of yesteryear is a borderline monster now. Consider also that since this article appeared, Gary divorced not only Barbara, whom he'd given credit for helping him turn his life around, but two subsequent wives. Gary Crosby was, by his own admission, a troubled man, and while it's entirely possible that he was telling the truth in his book, it's equally possible that he exaggerated what had happened (Bing didn't deny his faults), either for effect or because that's what he'd come to believe. I don't pretend to know the truth, but I lean toward the reading that Bing Crosby was, like all of us, human; and Gary Crosby, like all of us, struggled to explain why his life turned out the way it did.
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I promised you there was more to the week than just Christmas programming and so there is, beginning on Sunday with the world's greatest ballet dancer, Rudolf Nureyev, joining the National Ballet of Canada in Tchaikovsky's immortal ballet The Sleeping Beauty (7:00 p.m., PBS). It's also the final weekend of the NFL season, which means there's no Monday Night Football; this was done in the early seasons because it was possible one of the teams might have to turn around and play in a playoff game on Saturday. ABC carries forth the spirit, and keeps the time slot warm, with the first college bowl game of the year, the Liberty Bowl (6:00 p.m.), pitting Georgia Tech and Iowa State, with the men from Atlanta winning, 31-30.
Tuesday's ABC Theatre presentation of "If You Give a Dance You Gotta Pay the Band" (8:30 p.m.), a gritty, hard-hitting drama about life in the ghetto, features young Larry Fishburn as one of the stars. At this point, he's only 11 years old, and it's his first screen credit. From 1974 to 1976, he'll play Joshua Hall on One Life to Live; during that run, he makes the movie Cornbread, Earl and Me, billed as Laurence Fishburne III. (The lack of an e at the end of his last name in 1972 is either a typo on TV Guide's part or one of the styling changes in his name.) In 1979, he's one of the crewmembers of the hopeless trip up the river in Apocalypse Now; as time goes on, he's nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for playing Ike Turner in What's Love Got to Do With It, wins a Featured Actor Tony for Two Trains Running and takes home an Emmy for TriBeCa. He's starred in movies like The Matrix and TV series such as CSI, and he continues to have quite a career. I wonder if anyone saw it coming from this 11-year-old in 1972? Also on Tuesday, a whimsical episode of Hawaii Five-O (8:30 p.m., CBS) features Andy Griffith as head of a family of con artists who find themselves in over their heads when one of their victims turns out to be one of the island's leading gangsters. Ol' Barn ain't gonna bail you out of this one, Andy.On Wednesday, ABC's Movie of the Week (9:30 p.m.) demonstrates everything that's wrong with the post-Vatican II Catholic Church, in The Weekend Nun, a based-on-true-events story of a nun who's also a probation office, and is forced to ask herself where she does the most good: the convent or the mean streets. Now, don't get me wrong; I've got nothing against probation officers, who I'm sure perform an important job for the community, even though I've never had to make use of one myself. The point is that a nun already has a full-time job, or at least she did until the Church tried to become more "relevant" in the modern world. That job was called praying, and it just might be every bit as effective in keeping delinquents out of trouble. And Thursday, Charlton Heston stars as an aging cowboy facing changing times in a hard world in Will Penny (9:00 p.m., CBS), a role that I recall Heston saying was one of the more satisfying of his career.
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In the odds and ends department, the Teletype reports that Telly Savalas is joining the list of stars in detective movies with an upcoming CBS TV-movie Cojack, with Jose Ferrer and Marjoe Gortner. When that movie does air, on March 8, 1973, it's with Ned Beatty instead of Ferrer, and the character's name is spelled "Kojack." By the time the series begins that October, it's Kojak, the name that we know and love, baby.
And last but certainly not least, the Teamsters is trying to "polish its image" by sponsoring a CBS special on Christmas night, Opening Night U.S.A., hosted by Ed McMahon. It is, according to the network, the first time a labor union has ever sponsored a prime-time show. Why does the Teamsters—the union headed by Jimmy Hoffa, who's spent the last four years in federal prison and will step down as its president in June—need to polish its image? I think I've asked and answered my own question. The ironic part of this story is that there's a good chance that the strike against CBS by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers might still be in progress, with technicians on the picket lines, leaving management to see to it that there is an opening night for Opening Night. Apparently, according to Richard K. Doan, the union isn't bothered by crossing that line. TV
December 11, 2020
Around the dial
Do you remember the NBC prime-time soap Number 96 ? It was a sensation in Australia in 1972, where the night it premiered was known as "the night Australian TV lost its virginity" due to the copious amounts of sex (including full-frontal nudity) for which the show would become infamous. An American version of the series, also known as Number 96, premiered in 1980; NBC billed it as "The series they tried to ban in Australia!" but despite this, and even though I no longer lived in the World's Worst Town™, I have absolutely no memory of the series, which was much tamer than its Aussie counterpart. (Even so, you can bet the young viewers in the picture above wouldn't have been watching it at that age) Good thing Television.AU is here to rectify the gap in my knowledge. By the way, for those of you familiar with our Twin Cities TV listings, you might recognize that the ad for the American version used at Television.AU comes from the Minnesota State Edition of TV Guide. What do you know, even KCMT carried it!
At Comfort TV, David explains how those classic Christmas episodes are bringing him more pleasure than usual this year, and I know just what he means; I believe that it was in 2001 that WPIX brought back the Yule Log because it was comfort food for people after a traumatic year, and the same goes this year. Check out the episodes that are particularly meaningful to him .
Staying with the Yule theme, at Christmas TV History Joanna lists some of the best Christmas variety shows , including classic episodes available for streaming. This is a genre that really gives me pleasure each year, because so many of them contain the lavish Currier & Ives-type Christmas trappings that have come to define the holiday; they're also not afraid to point out the sacred nature of the day.
Let's hope that Christmas doesn't make you want to give someone a whoopin', at least not the kind that Hondo gives. This week at The Horn Section, Hal reviews the 17th and final episode, "Hondo and the Rebel Hat," which proves you shouldn't mess with a man's hat.
At Silver Scenes, the Metzinger Sisters provide a nice review of the career of character actor Joe Flynn , most memorable in McHale's Navy, but a standout in almost every part he plays. Like John Banner, Flynn was an actor who really knew how to steal a scene, and although Joey Bishop apparently didn't like that, there were plenty of more secure actors who profited by having him alongside.
I'm ashamed that although I've read a great deal about the British sci-fi character Quatermaas, I've only seen a part of one of the movies, which means I'm doing a gross disservice to the classic series. John goes in-depth on the 1955 The Quatermaas Xperiment , the beginning of adult science fiction on television, at this week's Cult TV Blog.
If you're like me—and by that, I mean that you have an appreciation for the Rat Pack—you'll want to check out Alain's Facebook page dedicated to Frank, Dean and Sammy. What better way to establish your credentials as a cool customer? In conjunction with this, you might want to check out the new book Deconstructing the Rat Pack: Joey, The Mob, and the Summit , by Richard A. Lertzman and Lon Davis, which has some in-depth info on Joey Bishop, including both of his television shows.
And in case you missed it, my 2020 Holiday Gift Guide is up; be sure to take advantage of some great shopping ideas! TV
December 9, 2020
Your 2020 Christmas Gift Guide!
Oone of the more wonderful things about the most wonderful time of the year is that, thanks to our friend the internet, you don't necessarily have to head for the mall on December 24 to get that last-minute gift. With that thought, and keeping in mind some of you might even be looking for a treat for yourself, here are some suggestions for gifts to please the classic TV fan you know and love. I've included the appropriate links to take you to where you can place your order.
Since this is my website, I'm going to cast any modesty aside and start off with my three books, all of which are available in either paperback or for the Kindle. The Electronic Mirror: Wbat Classic TV Tells Us About Who We Were and Who We Are (and Everything In-Between) is my collection of essays on classic television and the effect it's had on American pop culture. Many of the essays come from right here on It's About TV, but The Electronic Mirror also includes ones that were written exclusively for the book. I've also thoughtfully put them together in a narrative form, arranged by subject, so you can see how certain things have changed throughout the years. You can read it from cover-to-cover, or just pick out a story here and there for those times when you've got a few minutes to spare. (In other words, while you're in the bathroom.)
As many of you know, I also write about things other than television; for instance, there's my novel The Collaborator, which tells the story of a conflict for control of the Catholic Church between a liberal pope and traditional cardinal. Any resemblance between this story and current affairs is, well, up to you. And if you're not in the mood to deal with the battle for your eternal soul, there's The Car , in which a man becomes obsessed with trying to find the owner of an abandoned car, and nothing is quite what it seems to be. All of these books can be inscribed as you like; just send me an email.
Assuming, as I do, that you all already own all my books, may I recommend David Hofstede's new book, When Television Brought Us Together. It's a look at why so many Americans find themselves left out in the cold when it comes to today's television, and reminds us of when classic shows could bring us together in more ways than one.
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of talking with William Bartlett , the author of a terrific coffee table book that might just find its way to your nightstand, NBC and 30 Rock: A View from Inside . It's a vivid history of the Peacock Network, lavishly illustrated, and sure to make you feel as if you're right there in the studio with some of television's greatest stars.
Among the many biographies of television stars, I always recommend Bob Crane: The Definitive Biography by Carol M. Ford, Dee Young, and Linda J. Groundwater. It's a much-needed corrective that sets the story straight on the life and times of a very talented, very complex man
If you'd rather watch TV than read about it, one of the recent purchases that I've really enjoyed watching is The Eleventh Hour , the 1962-64 NBC psychiatric drama starring Wendell Corey and Jack Ging as two men dedicated to patients whose illnesses don't always show on the outside. Unfortunately, Warners hasn't seen fit to release the second season (yet), in which Ralph Bellamy replaces Corey, but Corey's humane and often moving portrayal of Dr. Theodore Bassett makes the first season a must.
One of my favorite Friday night pleasures is watching Robert Conrad and Ross Martin bringing a little bit of James Bond to the old West in The Wild Wild West . The individual seasons on Amazon are reasonably priced, but if you want the four-season box set, try Ebay or one of your favorite second-hand dealers. You'll find the effort well worth it.
Two classics from the early 1960s made it onto DVD this year: the first seasons of ABC's medical drama Ben Casey , with Vincent Edwards (two volumes and outrageously priced, but it is Christmas); and the much-admired NBC drama Mr. Novak , with James Franciscus as the earnest young teacher. As a bonus, you should pick up the excellent book Mr. Novak: An Acclaimed Television Series, by Chuck Harter. (Read my interview with Chuck here .)
As for some old favorites, there's a trio of British shows you'll want if you don't have them already: the companion series Danger Man and The Prisoner , both starring Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake, and The Avengers , with Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg. (And don't stop there; make the effort to find the episodes with Honor Blackman and Linda Thorson.)
To round out your shopping, I refer you to the guide at one of my go-to sites, Television Obscurities , where you can find excellent gift ideas for both recent and vintage shows.
As I mentioned, the links above are to Amazon, but there are deals to be had out there, and a little investigative work can probably produce them. Regardless, all the ingredients are here for you to make that someone special a little happier come Christmas morning. TV
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Insightful commentary on how classic TV shows mirrored and influenced American society, tracing the impact of iconic series on national identity, cultural change, and the challenges we face today.
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