Mitchell Hadley's Blog: It's About TV!, page 123

Shows I've Been Watching: January, 2020

Shows I’ve Watched: Shows I’ve Bought: The Eleventh HourPlayhouse 90
Perry Mason
Hogan's Heroes Star Trek: The Original SeriesBatman Columbo: The Complete Series
There's a thin line in the writing business between inspiration and plagiarism. One day you think you’ve come up with a great idea; the next day (or month or year) you discover not only that it wasn’t original, it also mirrors very closely something that someone else had already written—and better than yours. Sometimes when you run across a particularly good idea, you forget to put it in quotation marks, and the next thing you know somebody’s lawyer is on the line claiming you stole something from their client. Fortunately, that’s something I haven’t had to worry about during my writing career, primarily because I haven’t sold enough books to give anybody a chance to accuse me of theft.

That’s plagiarism. Inspiration is what we’re onto today, though, and I’ll be completely honest in admitting to stealing a brilliant idea from one of my favorite writers, Nick Hornby. Hornby writes a regular column for the magazine The Believer in which he reviews both the books he’s read in a given month, and the books he’s bought. Sometimes they’re the same books, and you’ll be fascinated to find out how one book from an author can lead you to another, and another, until you find you’ve read four or five of their books in a row. Other times, the books he’s bought but hasn’t yet read get no mention at all; rest assured, however, that they’ll probably be popping up in a future column.

It occurred to me the other day that there’s no reason why this can’t be done with television shows as well as books. (That, plus the fact I didn’t have anything else ready to post this week.) It requires a few adjustments, of course; considering how many television shows exist as streaming options, why, I figured, should I limit myself simply to shows I’d purchased? Why not include those that I’ve become aware of, even if I haven’t viewed them yet? That is, after all, why the “Watch Later” button was invented. And since the shows we watch often stretch out over months, if not years (we haven’t fallen into the binge mode yet), it might be appropriate to revisit a show I’ve already written about when it starts another season, or takes a particularly wicket plot twist.

That’s a wordy way to introduce you to what I hope will become a regular feature here, “Shows I’ve Been Watching.” It might appear monthly, or every other month, or whenever I feel I’ve got enough material to write something. Depending on the reactions of you, the readers, it might have a very short shelf life, or it might provoke intense and stimulating discussion. Rebuttals are welcome, of course, as well as suggestions—if you’ve got something you think ought to be on the futures list, the comments section is the place for you to make your case. Some of my favorite shows, ones I might never have thought of watching on my own, came from recommendations. I can’t promise I’ll take you up on them, but I can guarantee I’ll take them seriously.

(Talking about wordy, that added a few dozen more words, didn’t it?)

The golden TV Guide , the one that introduced me to the pleasures of reading about old TV shows, gave me the first hint I’d had to a psychological drama on NBC, The Eleventh Hour. The episode I read about in that issue came from February 1964, the show’s second, and last, season, when Ralph Bellamy was the lead. Unfortunately, that season hasn’t yet come out on DVD, but the first season, in which Wendell Corey starred, has. (Jack Ging, the young doctor to Corey and Bellamy’s wizened veterans, a la Dr. Kildare, the series from which The Eleventh Hour was spun off, co-starred in both seasons.) Having watched and liked all the available episodes of a similar ABC program, Breaking Point (which in turn was a spin-off from Dr. Kildare’s television rival, Ben Casey, complete with the young doc/old doc dimension), I figured this was my thing, and after a couple of years of deliberation, it found itself under the Christmas tree in December.

Wendell Corey (far left), with Steven Hill (center)
in "There Are Dragons in this Forest"In The Eleventh Hour—the title comes from the decisive point at which a patient either breaks or starts on the road to recovery—Corey plays Dr. Theodore Bassett, a psychiatrist in private practice whose cases often involve patients brought to him by the legal system. In the first episode, for instance, Vera Miles plays a woman who’s killed her husband; Bassett’s job is to discover whether or not she was legally insane at the time. A second episode features Steven Hill as an American soldier accused of desertion in the final days of World War II, who has been apprehended after 17 years and returned to America to face court-martial. Bassett, working with attorney Lloyd Bochner, tries to uncover what caused Hill, a decorated soldier, to leave his unit and marry a German woman, despite already having a wife back home. It’s a fascinating character study of a man struggling with what he perceives as the life that has been chosen for him, all of which is exposed by Bassett’s insistence that he and his (German) wife recreate the events surrounding their initial meeting.

Given Wendell Corey’s tortured personal life, including a long and unsuccessful battle with alcoholism, it’s understandable that he was replaced by Bellamy for the second season, but it’s unfortunate as well. I quite like his character, who exhibits a strong belief in the power of psychiatry (offset by a healthy cynicism), and combines both a deep sympathy for his patients and the necessary distance he has to maintain to be objective. He’s also not afraid to admit to his colleague, psychologist Dr. Paul Graham (Ging) that he isn’t always sure he’ll be successful. This is particularly evident in an episode starring Barbara Rush and David Janssen as a formerly married couple; Rush’s character, Linda Kincaid, was previously hospitalized for a nervous breakdown after attempting suicide, and a series of recent events appears to suggest the same thing could be happening again. In the climactic scene Dr. Bassett drops his sympathetic demeanor to coldly demand that Linda confront the evidence of what she’s supposed to have done. In a robotic manner, she says that she must have done all these things; what else could it be? Baloney, Bassett snaps at her. You don’t believe you did any of these things, do you? Stunned, Linda starts to fight back; no, she says, I didn’t try to kill myself. I wouldn’t do any of those things, I wouldn’t hurt my daughter that way. To which Bassett, softly and warmly, replies, “I know.” In breaking her, he has forced her to stand up for herself, and prove to herself what Bassett has already figured out: there is nothing wrong with her; her ex-husband, Janssen, was behind it all in an effort to get her committed and win custody of their daughter. (Janssen’s performance, full of gestures, tics, and repression, is masterful; you can easily imagine this marital drama evolving into murder without Bassett’s intervention. Oh, wait…)

There’s something stirring about one man standing up for someone in trouble, a lone individual insisting in the face of unanimous opposition that things aren’t always what they seem. It’s the kind of appeal that, as I’ve pointed out in the past, fuels a series like Perry Mason. If there’s one quarrel I have with the show, and it may be rectified in subsequent episodes, it’s that, unlike Breaking Point, the resolutions that come in each case seem to be conclusive, rather than the often ambiguous endings of the former series, in which a patient is presented with a road map to recovery, but the ultimate outcome is often left in doubt. It may be a little more than a nit, but not enough to dissuade my opinion that The Eleventh Hour has been, so far, a wise investment.

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Who knew that there’d be a treasure trove of Studio One and Playhouse 90 episodes on YouTube? Well, yes, we know that you can find almost anything on YouTube; still, it’s not that common for drama series from the 1950s and ‘60s, especially ones that were often broadcast live, to still exist. And while we’re a long way from having access to all of these episodes (at least through the public domain), it’s a pleasure to go back to a time when the claustrophobic atmosphere provided by small sets and dark lighting contributed with the pressure of a live performance to give television an energy that rivaled that of live theater.

Last week, we watched an episode of Playhouse 90 from 1959, “Judgment at Nuremberg.” Like “Twelve Angry Men,” “Judgment at Nuremberg” started out as a teleplay before moving to the big screen; unlike “Angry Men,” writer Abby Mann added a substantial amount of material to the movie version of “Nuremberg,” perhaps due to the influence of producer-director Stanley Kramer, who never met a social cause he didn’t feel could be expanded to three hours—twice as long as the TV version, and not nearly as tightly written.

Maximillian Schell as Hans RolfeThe star of the Playhouse 90 version, as was the case in the subsequent big-screen iteration, is Maximillian Schell, in the role of Hans Rolfe, attorney for one of four German judges accused of perverting justice by upholding Nazi laws against Jews. (Although he represents only one of the defendants, Ernst Janning, he speaks for the other three defendants and their lawyers.) Schell is nothing short of brilliant, raising disquieting points about the moral equivalency regarding the acts for which the judges (including a much more Germanic Werner Klemperer) stand accused. In one uncomfortable instance, Rolfe reads from a judicial opinion upholding the enforced sterilization of mentally handicapped people, lest they produce more “defects” that the state will be forced to take care of. Only at the conclusion does he reveal the author of the opinion: Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, in the case Buck v. Bell . You can’t have it both ways, Rolfe repeatedly insists: if we (speaking for all Germans) didn’t know what Hiitler and his cronies were up to, you can’t very well hold us responsible; on the other hand, if we did know about the concentration camps, then what about you, the Allies, who had ample evidence of the camps’ existence, and yet did nothing about them. I’ve always had doubts about the morality of war crimes trials and the issue of post facto law; this story does nothing to dissuade those doubts, although Abby Mann might not have intended to do so. (I should note here that actual footage of the concentration camps, including the countless dead bodies of inmates, is included—perhaps the first time many in the viewing audience had seen it.)

Claude Raines, in the Spencer Tracy role as the American chief judge Dan Haywood, does a fine job, although his character isn’t nearly as fleshed out as in the movie. Paul Lukas, as Janning (in the role played by Burt Lancaster), shows a nobility to accept his fate, even as he fails (at least in Haywood’s eyes) to provide a convincing rationale for what happened. The replica courtroom, which serves as the setting for most of the drama, is filled with period detail, including the men providing simultaneous translation for both Germans and Americans (a detail ingeniously incorporated in both the television and movie versions). As I said, there’s a snap and crackle to this production that keeps it from dragging; one can debate which version better tells the story, but as my wife remarked when it was over, how often does television today provide such well-written, literate, adult dramas?

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Since cutting the cord, we no longer have MeTV, which means we have to resort to watching our DVD versions of shows such as Hogan’s Heroes and Perry Mason, and after doing this for a while, you notice just how much there is missing from these episodes. The syndicated cuts over the years is bad enough, but you get the feeling that MeTV has cut even more out of them, rendering some plotlines virtually incomprehensible. Some of the Mason and Hogan episodes seem brand-new, filled with scenes not viewed for years, giving the overall story a completely different feel. It's not quite like finding loose change in your couch after a party, but it's still pretty cool.

That's one reason why the "Shows Bought" column contains titles like Columbo and Star Trek,  shows that you can see for free on over-the-air channels. There's another reason, one that we picked up on last week, when we noticed that Perry Mason had disappeared from Prime Video, having become the property of CBS All-Access; The Twilight Zone is another series that's headed for CBS. I don't have a problem with his; after all, CBS owns the rights, and I can understand perfectly why they need reliable, commercially attractive properties to convince viewers to spend money on their subscription service. This is probably going to become more and more common, until the streaming business reaches a critical mass and begins to collapse upon itself like a black hole; what happens after that is anyone's guess, unless you're Neil deGrasse Tyson.

The point is that if you really, really want to make sure you've got access to watch your favorite TV shows whenever you want, your only choice is to own them. Even YouTube isn't safe, whenever they undertake one of their periodic reviews of copyright holders. No, you have to have them in your possession, on some sort of physical media or hard drive, if you want to enjoy that luxury. Is it worth it, though? Can you be sure you'll watch them often enough to make owning them pay? Can you take the chance there will still be a resell market if you don't? Perhaps we'll have some answers next month. TV  

What's on TV? Thursday, February 4, 1960

Here's something I haven't encountered in a TV Guide before: the stations are listed in descending order. Maybe some of you collectors have seen this, but it's a first for me, and let me tell you, it's a bit disconcerting when it comes to keeping track of things. We persevere, though. Part of the reason I chose to spotlight today is that it gives us a chance to see some programs we don't ordinarily run across; in addition to the Chevalier show I mentioned on Saturday, we've got Johnny Staccato, the jazz detective series starring John Cassavetes, Betty Hutton's eponymous sitcom, and Pat Boone's prime time show, when he was the youngest star ever to host his own variety show. And speaking of sitcoms, at 7:00 p.m. on WHEN, The Phil Silvers Show features one of the most famous episodes in TV history: Bilko being called upon to defend a chimpanzee in a court-martial .

The listings come from the Binghamton issue.

40 WINR (Binghamton) (All networks)
    MORNING   
    6:30 CONTINENTAL CLASSROOM  COLOR Chemistry: Relative Reactivities of Some Lighter Elements
    7:00 TODAY—GarrowayGuest: Pat Hingle
    9:00 CARTOON CAROUSEL—Kids
    9:30 JANET DEAN—Variety
  10:00 DOUGH RE MI
  10:30 PLAY YOUR HUNCH
  11:00 PRICE IS RIGHT  COLOR 
  11:30 CONCENTRATION
  AFTERNOON 
  12:00 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES—Game
  12:30 IT COULD BE YOU  COLOR 
    1:00 LIBERACE—Music
    1:30 SHERLOCK HOLMES
    2:00 QUEEN FOR A DAY
    2:30 THIN MAN
    3:00 YOUNG DR. MALONE
    3:30 FROM THESE ROOTS
    4:00 HOUSE ON HIGH STREET—Drama
    4:30 SPLIT PERSONALITY
    5:00 GIANT CARTOON CAROUSEL
     EVENING    
    6:15 WEATHER, SPORTS, NEWS
    6:45 NEWS—Huntley, Brinkley
    7:00 BRAVE EAGLE—Western
    7:30 PLAINSMAN—Western
    8:00 BAT MASTERSON
    8:30 JOHNNY STACCATO
    9:00 BACHELOR FATHER
    9:30 ERNIE FORD  COLOR Guest: Andy Devine
  10:00 GROUCHO MARXGuest: Doodles Weaver
  10:30 COLONEL FLACK—Comedy
  11:00 NEWS
  11:25 JACK PAAR—Variety
    1:00 NEWS


28 WBRE (Wilkes-Barre) (NBC)
    MORNING   
    6:00 CONTINENTAL CLASSROOM Physics: Electronic Charge and Mass
    6:30 CONTINENTAL CLASSROOM  COLOR Chemistry: Relative Reactivities of Some Lighter Elements
    7:00 TODAY—GarrowayGuest: Pat Hingle
    9:00 NEWS
    9:05 CARTOON CARNIVAL  COLOR 
    9:30 KITCHEN MAGIC—Recipes
  10:00 DOUGH RE MI
  10:30 PLAY YOUR HUNCH
  11:00 PRICE IS RIGHT  COLOR 
  11:30 CONCENTRATION
  AFTERNOON 
  12:00 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES—Game
  12:30 IT COULD BE YOU  COLOR 
    1:00 SCIENCE FICTION THEATER
    1:30 WAY OF LIFE—Drama
    2:00 QUEEN FOR A DAY
    2:30 THIN MAN
    3:00 YOUNG DR. MALONE
    3:30 FROM THESE ROOTS
    4:00 HOUSE ON HIGH STREET—Drama
    4:30 SPLIT PERSONALITY
    5:00 LAUREL AND HARDY
    5:25 POPEYE THEATER  COLOR 
     EVENING    
    6:00 HIGHWAY PATROL—Police
    6:30 NEWS
    6:45 NEWS—Huntley, Brinkley
    7:00 SEA HUNT—Adventure
    7:30 PLAINSMAN—Western
    8:00 BAT MASTERSON
    8:30 JOHNNY STACCATO
    9:00 BACHELOR FATHER
    9:30 ERNIE FORD  COLOR Guest: Andy Devine
  10:00 GROUCHO MARXGuest: Doodles Weaver
  10:30 LAWLESS YEARS-Police
  11:00 NEWS
  11:15 JACK PAAR—Variety


22 WDAU (Scranton) (CBS)
    MORNING   
    6:00 BILL BENNETT—Farm News
    6:30 TELEVISION SEMINAR
    7:00 NEWS, WEATHER, SPORTS
    7:30 AMOS ‘N’ ANDY—Comedy
    8:00 NEWS
    8:15 CAPTAIN KANGAROO
    9:00 SUSIE—Comedy
    9:30 BURNS AND ALLEN—Comedy
  10:00 RED ROWE—Variety
  10:30 ON THE GO
  11:00 I LOVE LUCY
  11:30 DECEMBER BRIDE
  AFTERNOON 
  12:00 LOVE OF LIFE—Serial
  12:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW
    1:00 NEWS
    1:05 OUR MISS BROOKS—Comedy
    1:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS
    2:00 FOR BETTER OR WORSE
    2:30 HOUSEPARTY—Linkletter
    3:00 MILLIONAIRE—Drama
    3:30 VERDICT IS YOURS
    4:00 BRIGHTER DAY—Serial
    4:15 SECRET STORM—Serial
    4:30 EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial
    5:00 EARLY SHOW
     EVENING    
    6:00 AMOS ‘N’ ANDY—Comedy
    6:30 WHIRLYBIRDS—Adventure
    7:00 NEWS, WEATHER
    7:15 NEWS
    7:30 TO TELL THE TRUTH
    8:00 BETTY HUTTON—Comedy
    8:30 JOHNNY RINGO—Western
    9:00 ZANE GREY—Western
    9:30 MARKHAM—Mystery
  10:00 MAURICE CHEVALIER—Songs
  11:00 NEWS
  11:30 MOVIE—ComedyMillion Dollar Movie: “As Good as Married” (1937)
    1:00 NEWS
    1:05 MOVIE—AdventureLate Late Show: “Crossed Swords” (1954)


18 WSYE (Elmira) (ABC-NBC)
    MORNING   
    6:30 CONTINENTAL CLASSROOM  COLOR Chemistry: Relative Reactivities of Some Lighter Elements
    7:00 TODAY—GarrowayGuest: Pat Hingle
    9:00 ALL-STAR THEATER
    9:30 LADIES’ DAY—Russell
  10:00 DOUGH RE MI
  10:30 PLAY YOUR HUNCH
  11:00 PRICE IS RIGHT  COLOR 
  11:30 CONCENTRATION
  AFTERNOON 
  12:00 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES—Game
  12:30 JIM DELINE—Variety
    1:00 MOVIE—DramaHollywood Matinee: “The Night Before the Divorce” (1942)
    2:30 THIN MAN
    3:00 YOUNG DR. MALONE
    3:30 FROM THESE ROOTS
    4:00 HOUSE ON HIGH STREET—Drama
    4:30 SPLIT PERSONALITY
    5:00 HUCKLEBERRY HOUND
    5:30 ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS—Cartoons
     EVENING    
    6:00 COLT .45—Western
    6:30 NEWS
    7:00 CLUB 18
    7:30 RIFLEMAN—Western
    8:00 DONNA REED
    8:30 JOHNNY STACCATO
    9:00 BACHELOR FATHER
    9:30 ERNIE FORD  COLOR Guest: Andy Devine
  10:00 GROUCHO MARXGuest: Doodles Weaver
  10:30 MANHUNT—Drama
  11:00 NEWS
  11:30 JACK PAAR—Variety
    1:00 NEWS


16 WNEP (Scranton) (ABC)
    MORNING   
    8:45 NEWS
    9:00 HATCHY MILATCHY—Nancy
  11:00 SEARCH FOR ROMANCE
  11:55 NEWS
  AFTERNOON 
  12:00 RESTLESS GUN—Western
  12:30 LOVE THAT BOB!—Comedy
    1:00 ABOUT FACES—Ben Alexander
    1:30 MR. AND MRS. NORTH
    2:00 DAY IN COURT—Drama
    2:30 GALE STORM—Comedy
    3:00 BEAT THE CLOCK—Collyer
    3:30 WHO DO YOU TRUST?—Quiz
    4:00 AMERICAN BANDSTAND
    5:00 THREE STOOGES—Comedy
    5:25 FELIX THE CAT—Cartoon
    5:30 ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS—Cartoons
     EVENING    
    6:00 LIFE OF RILEY—Comedy
    6:30 HUCKLEBERRY HOUND
    7:00 NEWS—John Daly
    7:15 NEWS
    7:30 GALE STORM—Comedy
    8:00 DONNA REED
    8:30 REAL McCOYS—Comedy
    9:00 PAT BOONE—VarietyGuest: Zsa Zsa Gabor
    9:30 UNTOUCHABLES—Drama
  10:30 ERNIE KOVACS—Panel
  11:00 NEWS
  11:20 MOVIE—MysteryThe Big Movie: “Haunted Honeymoon” (1940)


12 WNBF (Binghamton) (ABC-CBS)
    MORNING   
    6:45 TODAY’S FARM—Agriculture
    7:00 BREAKFAST TIME
    8:00 NEWS
    8:15 CAPTAIN KANGAROO
    9:00 TREASURE HOUSE—Kids
    9:15 CARTOON TIME
    9:30 EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial
  10:00 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW
  10:15 GUIDING LIGHT
  10:30 I MARRIED JOAN
  11:00 I LOVE LUCY
  AFTERNOON 
  12:00 THREE STOOGES—Comedy
  12:25 NEWS—Brenner
  12:30 HOMEMAKING AND YOU
    1:00 HEART OF THE HOME
    1:25 NEWS
    1:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS
    2:00 DAY IN COURT—Drama
    2:30 GALE STORM—Comedy
    3:00 BEAT THE CLOCK—Collyer
    3:30 VERDICT IS YOURS
    4:00 BRIGHTER DAY—Serial
    4:15 SECRET STORM—Serial
    4:30 AMERICAN BANDSTAND
    5:00 POPEYE THEATER—Graham
     EVENING    
    6:00 NEWS, WEATHER
    6:15 RALPH CARROLL
    6:30 DEATH VALLEY DAYS—Drama
    7:00 U.S. BORDER PATROL
    7:30 MILLIONAIRE—Drama
    8:00 DONNA REED
    8:30 REAL McCOYS—Comedy
    9:00 PAT BOONE—VarietyGuest: Zsa Zsa Gabor
    9:30 UNTOUCHABLES—Drama
  10:30 THEATRE TIME
  11:00 NEWS
  11:20 MOVIE—DramaWorld’s Best Movie: “Steamboat ‘Round the Bend” (1935)


 8  WHEN (Syracuse) (CBS-ABC)
    MORNING   
    7:00 BREAKFAST BAR—O’Donnell
    8:00 NEWS
    8:15 CAPTAIN KANGAROO
    9:00 THESE THINGS WE SHARE
    9:10 PARTY LINE
    9:20 MAGIC TOY SHOP—Kids
    9:45 GAL NEXT DOOR—Larson
  10:00 RED ROWE—Variety
  10:30 ON THE GO
  11:00 I LOVE LUCY
  11:30 DECEMBER BRIDE
  AFTERNOON 
  12:00 LOVE OF LIFE—Serial
  12:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW
    1:00 ONE FOR THE SHOW—Larson
    1:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS
    2:00 FOR BETTER OR WORSE
    2:30 HOUSEPARTY—Linkletter
    3:00 MILLIONAIRE—Drama
    3:30 VERDICT IS YOURS
    4:00 BRIGHTER DAY—Serial
    4:15 SECRET STORM—Serial
    4:30 EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial
    5:00 MOVIE—DramaEarly Show: “Stromboli” (Italian; 1950)
     EVENING    
    6:30 NEWS
    6:45 NEWS—Douglas Edwards
    7:00 PHIL SILVERS SHOW
    7:30 TO TELL THE TRUTH
    8:00 BETTY HUTTON—Comedy
    8:30 JOHNNY RINGO—Western
    9:00 ZANE GREY—Western
    9:30 MARKHAM—Mystery
  10:00 MAURICE CHEVALIER—Songs
  11:00 NEWS
  11:20 MOVIE—Western“Surrender” (1950)


 3  WSYR (Syracuse) (ABC-NBC)
    MORNING   
    6:30 CONTINENTAL CLASSROOM  COLOR Chemistry: Relative Reactivities of Some Lighter Elements
    7:00 TODAY—GarrowayGuest: Pat Hingle
    9:00 ALL-STAR THEATER
    9:30 LADIES’ DAY—Russell
  10:00 DOUGH RE MI
  10:30 PLAY YOUR HUNCH
  11:00 PRICE IS RIGHT  COLOR 
  11:30 CONCENTRATION
  AFTERNOON 
  12:00 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES—Game
  12:30 JIM DELINE—Variety
    1:00 MOVIE—DramaHollywood Matinee: “The Night Before the Divorce” (1942)
    2:30 THIN MAN
    3:00 YOUNG DR. MALONE
    3:30 FROM THESE ROOTS
    4:00 HOUSE ON HIGH STREET—Drama
    4:30 SPLIT PERSONALITY
    5:00 HUCKLEBERRY HOUND
    5:30 ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS—Cartoons
     EVENING    
    6:00 COLT .45—Western
    6:30 NEWS
    7:00 LOCK UP—Mystery
    7:30 RIFLEMAN—Western
    8:00 DONNA REED
    8:30 JOHNNY STACCATO
    9:00 BACHELOR FATHER
    9:30 ERNIE FORD  COLOR Guest: Andy Devine
  10:00 GROUCHO MARXGuest: Doodles Weaver
  10:30 MANHUNT—Drama
  11:00 NEWS
  11:30 JACK PAAR—Variety
    1:00 NEWS
TV  

This week in TV Guide: January 30, 1960

What are we to make of this week's cover story, "Can Ratings Be Fixed?" Does it imply that the ratings system is broken, that networks and advertisers pay far too much attention to them, sacrificing admirable but low-rated programs at the altar of profitability and popularity? Or do we understand "fixed" to have the same meaning as "rigged," that the integrity of the ratings system has intentionally been breached so the  figures reflect something other than the truth, all to profit an unknown someone in position to tamper with the numbers? Oh, the uncertainty of it all.

As it turns out, according to Bob Stahl, it's a little bit of everything. In addition to those choices above, the overriding question, one on everyone's mind, is: "How can electronic gadgets in only 1050 homes measure accurately what 112,000 viewers are watching?" A Senate investigating committee is looking into it (yes, they don't have anything better to do than that), for as Oklahoma Senator Mike Monroney says, "[t]he struggle for rating supremacy led to rigging of TV quiz programs." Put that way, compared to the constant threat of nuclear war, I guess it is an important question.

The fact is, as is the case with alcohol, guns, technology, and, well, television, the ratings are neither good nor bad, but neutral. "They serve a useful and necessary purpose in the business," Stahl points out. "The fault lies in the way ratings are constantly misused." Max Banzhaf, advertising director of the Armstrong Cork Co. (sponsors of Armstrong Circle Theater), says that ratings are "designed to serve only as a guide in making program judgments," but that "too often [they're] used as a substitute for judgment. ABC President Oliver Treyz says ratings are "only one factor in any program decision." Answering critics who claim networks are too eager to jump on the bandwagon and copycat successful shows, NBC Vice President Hugh M. Beville Jr. replies, "Is it wrong to give the people what they say they want?"

Counters historian (and Kennedy confidant) Arthur Schlessinger, "The television industry must see its job, not as that of catering to the worst or even the average taste of its audiences, but in part as that of elevating taste." And Marion B. Harper Jr., president of the imposing McCann-Erickson ad agency, says that networks "must telecast more shows of quality than the ratings indicate the public wants to see." (We touched on this question of who decides what quality is  last week .)

Garry Moore, who's been on TV long enough to know a thing or two about ratings, raises this question: "Is a comedian any funnier when he gets a 30 [rating] than when he gets a 20?" As an example, "[s]uppose the comedian gets a 20 when he has a really good show. His audience will talk up the show to friends; more people will tune in the following week. So he may get a 30 rating that second week and not have as good a show. Wouldn't that mean he was funnier with a 20 rating than with a 30?" Yes, the ratings are necessary, but they "don't show whether viewers buy the sponsor's product." As to the question of whether or not the ratings are rigged, Sen. Monroney says they aren't. "[W]e concluded that rating samples are inadequate, that ratings receive far too much emphasis in the industry, [but] we never charged that ratings were rigged." It's possible that television could see something akin to the payola scandals that rocked the radio world, but unlikely.

Unsurprisingly, reports Stahl, "There is no clear-cut answer to all of this." Broadcasters and advertisers need to be taught how to use the ratings correctly, and, says Beville, since the press aren't experts enough to write about them, "ratings should have no place in the press." Dr. Frank Stanton, president of CBS, offers the final word: beyond ratings, the networks need to know something more: what people want to look at. "We need constantly to know what the audience things we ought to be doing." To that end, they're conducting their own public-opinion polls, but I'm not sure that's necessary, because we all know what the audience thinks the networks should be doing: putting on better shows.

t  t  t
If you think we're done with Garry Moore because of that little quote above, you've got another think coming. He's looking pretty satisfied on the cover, and for good reason: his Tuesday night variety show has more than held its own against NBC's heavily promoted Startime specials despite the latter's massive budget advantage ($250,000 per show, as opposed to Moore's $100,000), and I've Got a Secret, the panel show he's emceed all these years, is doing "quite all right" against NBC's Perry Como Show. (You'll notice ABC's not even in the discussion, which is par for the course in these days.)

"You can't run scared," Moore says of the doomsayers predicting disaster for both of his prime-time shows at the hands of well-funded competitors. Of his Tuesday night show, he says that "we expected very rough competition and we were prepared for it." It's true that Showtime got off to a good start, but Moore credited the loyalty of his viewers for his show's success. "People were familiar with our show from last year and I guess a lot of them liked it." It doesn't hurt either that the supporting cast includes Durward Kirby, Allen Funt and his Candid Camera, and Carol Burnett. "I guess the most important thing is to have faith in what you've all learned over the years and not start running around scared when the ratings slip a point or two."

Regarding that $100,000 per show budget, Moore provides an example of how that money doesn't really go very far. "Nine years ago if we wanted a smoke effect for some kind of a skit, somebody would borrow a bucket from the janitor and get 40 cents' worth of dry ice from the drugstore. Today you've got to have three special-effects men and a hand-forged bucket and the tab is $40. That's the way it goes." Multiply that by thousands, and now we know why simple things cost so much nowadays.

Moore closes with a great take on the quiz show scandals. Asked if they were embarrassed, he says, "Of course we were embarrassed. Embarrassed because no one bothered to investigate us." Apparently giving away $80 per show doesn't attract much attention. But Moore wouldn't have it any other way. "I turned down a job as host on a big-money quiz show because I figured that, on it, I wouldn't be a host at all. I'd be a croupier."

t  t  t
Invariably, one of the programming victims of the ratings game is the cultural/educational genre. These shows haven't disappeared from TV completely, but with few exceptions they've been relegated to the Sunday ghetto, This week is a good example, beginning with CBS's famed trio of Sunday morning religious and cultural shows. At 10:00 a.m. ET, Lamp Unto My Feet presents "Far God and Country," a documentary on the role of religion and the Scriptures in American politics during the Revolutionary War. At 10:30 a.m., it's Look Up and Live, with "The Betrayal," the final episode in the five-part series "Images of the Bible." Finally, at 11:00 a.m., Camera Three has scenes from Colette's novelette The Vagabond, interpreted in dramatic and dance sequences. Following that bloc, CBS continues with the CBS Television Workshop, an hour-long anthology series that ran on Sundays throughout 1960. This week's presentation is the drama "Heart of a King," but the program also utilized Afredo Antonini and the CBS Symphony Orchestra for opera and classical music programs.

Speaking of, the culture continues at 3:15 p.m. on NBC (following the NBA game of the week between Detroit and Boston), with NBC Opera Theatre's live, color special of Mascagni's one-act opera Cavalleria Rusticana. The title might not be familiar to you, but this might be: the Intermezzo, one of the most famous orchestral pieces in opera, used in all kinds of movies including Raging Bull.


Following the opera, it's back to CBS at 4:30 p.m., with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, on Ford's Sunday Musical Showcase. While Bernstein is famous for his Young People's Concerts,* he's also a frequent teacher and commentator on classical music; in this program, "The Creative Performer," guest Igor Stravinsky conducts the Philharmonic, with pianist Glenn Gould and Met soprano Eileen Farrell. And after that, it's NBC, with G-E College Bowl at 5:30 p.m. (Case Western Reserve University of Cleveland vs. Purdue; the Boilermakers win, 260-15).

*He's also famous for having written the music for On the Town and West Side Story. Well, it didn't hurt.

None of these shows—none—would be on television today, save some niche cable station, and I'm not even sure about that. Nor am I sure that there's any network television on Sundays outside of prime time, save the political talk shows and sports. And where are those "public affairs" programs? Well, Meet the Press is on at 6:00 p.m.—prime time!

Bernstein is just fortunate that in Ford, he has a big sponsor supporting his show. Hallmark is another big sponsor, which is why Hallmark Hall of Fame airs in color on NBC Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. It's not one of those saccharine pieces of drivel you see on the Hallmark Channel, either; it's Shakespeare's The Tempest, starring Maurice Evans, Richard Burton, Lee Remick, Roddy McDowall, and Tom Poston. Don't worry; I promise I'm not going to go off on one of my toots about this. I'm saving that for a Wednesday piece of its own.

What else? Well, there is sports this weekend, though not the volume we have today. At 2:00 p.m. Saturday, the NHL game of the week has the Detroit Red Wings vs. the Bruins at Boston Garden, while at 2:30 p.m. NBC counters with the NBA matchup between the Philadelphia Warriors (before they moved to San Francisco) and New York Knicks from Madison Square Garden. Sunday night, CBS presents a two-hour retrospective on "The Fabulous Fifties," hosted by Henry Fonda, with an all-star cast including Jackie Gleason, Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews, Mike Nichols and Elaine May, Betty Comdon and Adolph Green, and news highlights with Arthur Godfrey, Roger Bannister (the first sub-four-minute mile), Navy Captain William Anderson (who sailed his submarine, the Nautilus, under the polar ice cap), and Edmund Hillary (conqueror of Mount Everest). Eric Sevareid provides commentary.

On Thursday night, the great French star Maurice Chevalier stars in a one-man show on CBS (10:00 p.m.), performing all his favorites, including "Thank Heaven for Little Girls," which he sings to some special members of the audience, including the daughters of Joan Crawford and Jack Paar. Friday, it's a one-man performance of another kind, as Art Carney stars in three one-act plays: Sean O'Casey's "A Pound on Demand," "Where the Cross is Made" by Eugene O'Neill, and "Red Peppers" by Noel Coward. (8:00 p.m., NBC, and in color, of course.) Elaine Stritch guest stars in "Red Peppers," doing a couple of song-and-dance numbers with Carney. Carney's singled out for praise in one of our Letters to the Editor as well, for his recent performance in "Cal Me Back." Anyone who thinks he's just Ed Norton has another think coming. Also on Friday, Robert Conrad makes a brief cross-over appearance as Hawaiian Eye's Tom Lopaka in "Who Killed Cock Robin?" on 77 Sunset Strip. WB's always good that way.

t  t  t
Interesting note in Burt Boyer's column about how Robert Young wants this to be the last year for Father Knows Best. When you figure that Young started out on the show in 1949 when it was on radio (he was the only member of the cast to make the transition to television), he's already been Jim Anderson for 11 years. Not only does Young want to do something different, his TV daughter, Elinor Donahue, is getting other offers herself. It's said that Young is looking for $11 million to sell a network the show's inventory of close to 250 episodes. As it turns out, this is Young's final season, and while I don't know how much he wound up getting, Father Knows Best ran for another three years in prime time; two seasons on NBC, and a final season on ABC. Think about that: three years of reruns in prime time, and additional years as part of ABC's daytime schedule.* The only similar example I can think of is Marshal Dillon, the name for the half-hour episodes that CBS ran on Tuesdays from 1961 to 1964 (while Gunsmoke was still in first-run), and then in syndication.

*It was an episode of Father Knows Best that was running on ABC affiliates in the Mountain and Pacific time zones at 1:30 p.m. ET on November 22, 1963, when President Kennedy was assassinated. The ABC footage on YouTube shows a follow-up voiceover bulletin interrupting the next to last scene of the episode, "Man About Town," before returning for some commercials and the wrap-up. Knowing what we do now about what the post-JFK years are like, it's actually kind of poignant. I do wonder what happened with Bud and the illusionist, though. 

Then, there's Dwight Whitney's note on Edd Byrnes, one of the stars of 77 Sunset Strip. Byrnes has joined the impressive ranks of Warner Bros. talent, past and present, who've been engaged in contract disputes with the studio, and consequently he's on suspension. In the meantime, he's taken a job as a greeter at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. He's making $400 a week, which equals what he made playing Kookie. (No wonder he's upset with his contract!) Says Byrnes of his temporary career change, "The bills were piling up. I need the money."

t  t  t
"Introducing Pat Crowley" in
the role of the Kookie.Finally, this week's starlet is Pat Crowley, who, aside from her good looks, is known as someone who doesn't pine for her own TV series. She likes being a free-lancer, she explains; comparing it to a gym, she says it allows her to "work out on a different kind of bar bell every week." She's already been a success on the Great White Way, selected as "one of Broadway's most promising new personalities," and after a brief stint with movies ("The timing wasn't good," she explains. "Kookies weren't fashionable.*), she tried her hand at the small screen, and with appearances on Wanted—Dead or Alive, 77 Sunset Strip, and Maverick, she hasn't looked back.

*Except, as we've seen, on Sunset Strip.

She can afford to be choosy, since she's married to a Los Angeles attorney named Gregory Hookstratten. He's better known as Ed "The Hook" Hookstratten, and as one of the biggest legal names in Hollywood, he boasted of clients including Johnny Carson, Elvis Presley, Vin Scully, Joey Bishop, Bryant Gumbel, Tom Snyder, and Dick Enberg. He was general counsel for the Los Angeles Rams, fixed a DUI for Fred Silverman without it getting in the papers, and negotiated contracts for many a celebrity. All that, and Pat Crowley too (even though they wound up getting divorced). Quite an adventure, wouldn't you say? TV  

Around the dial

True dat, huh? Anyway, Love That Bob! is back, and that's pretty exciting! This week, " Bob Becomes a Genius ," and Hal tells us all about it at The Horn Section. It's only the fifth episode in the series, but Bob's playboy character is already well-established.

At Comfort TV, David offers a fond remembrance of John Karlen, who came on the scene in Dark Shadows and won an Emmy for Cagney and Lacey. In particular, David examines how the death of Karlen's character in Dark Shadows changed the show completely —a first in the Comfort TV Era?

As John points out at Cult TV, the Jon Pertwee era of Doctor Who was rarely as good as it was when The Doctor's nemesis, The Master, appears—and boy, does he appear in Terror of the Autons . It's a terrific episode with a healthy skepticism about technology. We could use a little of that today.

"The New Exhibit" is the focus of this week's Twilight Zone Vortex, and it's an intriguing episode, with the great Martin Balsam in a killer's row display at a wax museum. Ultimately the episode fails to make the concept pay off, but it's still far from a failure.

Sterling Silliphant is back on the job at the Hitchcock show, and Jack's back on the case with his Hitchcock Project at bare•bones e-zine. This week's episode is " The Return of the Hero ," a very unusual Hitchcock with an unforgettable conclusion—and no cheeky comments by the host afterward.

"A Hitch in Time" has nothing to do with Alfred Hitchcock; it's a 1978 children's movie from England, and as Silver Scenes reveals, the professor who's invented the time machine that he and a couple of schoolkids use to travel—well, it's none other that that old time traveler himself, Patrick Troughton.

And finally, at Classic Film and TV Café, Rick gives us seven delightful things to know about Eva Gabor , including #2: playing Lisa Douglas on Green Acres was "the best six years of my life...I adored every minute of it." She wasn't the only one, I'm sure. TV  

TV Jibe: Favorite show

 TV  

What's on TV? Tuesday, January 23, 1973

We've had issues from Philadelphia before, and issues from New York City, but this may be the first time we've ever done one that has both. And for 15 cents; can you believe it? Let's find out if it's true that when you double your pleasure, you double your fun.



 2  WCBS (NEW YORK) (CBS)
MORNING
    6:20 NEWS
    6:30 DONNA REED
   7 AM CBS NEWS—John Hart
   8 AM CAPTAIN KANGAROO
   9 AM JOHN BARTHOLOMEW TUCKERGuest: Otto Preminger
 10 AM JOKER’S WILD—Game
  10:30 PRICE IS RIGHT
 11 AM GAMBIT—Game
  11:30 LOVE OF LIFE
AFTERNOON
  Noon WHERE THE HEART IS
  12:25 CBS NEWS—Edwards
  12:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW
   1 PM WHAT’S MY LINE?Gene Shalit, Arlene Francis, Gene Rayburn, Melba Tolliver
    1:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS
   2 PM GUIDING LIGHT
    2:30 EDGE OF NIGHT
   3 PM LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING
    3:30 SECRET STORM
   4 PM VIN SCULLY—VarietyJack Carter, Anna Chakrin
    4:30 MIKE DOUGLASMuhammad Ali, David Hartman, Gretchen Wyler, Tommy Hutton
EVENING
   6 PM NEWS
   7 PM CBS NEWS—Walter Cronkite
    7:30 I’VE GOT A SECRETMarty Milner, Richard Dawson, Henry Morgan, Anita Gillette, Betty White
   8 PM MAUDE—Comedy
    8:30 HAWAII FIVE-O
    9:30 ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR AWARDSSpecial: Host Ed Sullivan
 11 PM NEWS
  11:30 MOVIE—Crime Drama“The Trygon Factor” (1967)
    1:20 MOVIE—Comedy“My Man Godfrey” (1957)
    3:10 MOVIE—Drama BW “The Steel Helmet” (1951)
Last week we had the tenth annual Entertainer of the Year awards, hosted by George Burns. This week we go back seven years, to the third annual presentation, hosted by Ed Sullivan. It's still a star-studded affair, though, with Liza Minnelli, Duke Ellington, Sammy Davis Jr., and "still more singers."

 3  KYW (PHILADELPHIA) (NBC)
MORNING
    6:10 FARM MARKET REPORT
    6:15 NEWS BW 
    6:20 MAKING OF A PRIEST
    6:50 FARM, HOME AND GARDEN
   7 AM TODAY
   9 AM SOMERSET
    9:30 JEOPARDY
 10 AM DINAH SHOREDoc and Evonne Severinsen
  10:30 CONCENTRATION
 11 AM SALE OF THE CENTURY
  11:30 HOLLYWOOD SQUARESMarty Allen, John Davidson, Arthur Godfrey, Michael Landon, Rose Marie, Denise Nicholas, Karen Valentine, Wally Cox, Paul Lynde
AFTERNOON
  Noon NEWS
  12:30 MARCIAROSE
    1:30 THREE ON A MATCH—Game
   2 PM DAYS OF OUR LIVES
    2:30 DOCTORS
   3 PM ANOTHER WORLD
    3:30 RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE
   4 PM MIKE DOUGLASMuhammad Ali, David Hartman, Gretchen Wyler
    5:30 NEWSWATCH
EVENING
   6 PM NEWS
    6:30 NBC NEWS—John Chancellor
   7 PM WHAT’S MY LINE?Jack Cassidy, Arlene Francis, Sherrye Henry
    7:30 ADVENTURER
   8 PM THE INCREDIBLE FLIGHT OF THE SNOW GEESESpecial
   9 PM AMERICASpecial: Part 6, “A Fireball in the Night”
 10 PM NBC REPORTSSpecial: Nuclear Arms—How Much is Enough?
 11 PM NEWS
  11:30 JOHNNY CARSONGuest: Joan Rivers
   1 AM NEWS
    1:05 HIGHWAY PATROL BW 
I've mentioned before that KCMT, the single commercial station available in the World's Worst Town™, was primarily an NBC affiliate and a secondary ABC affiliate. When Alistair Cook's documentary series America premiered in 1972, KCMT chose instead to show Marcus Welby, M.D., ABC's highly rated series. It was only later in the run, once KCMT could see the acclaim that America was getting, that they decided to air the series, joining the story in progress. 

 4  WNBC (NEW YORK) (NBC)
MORNING
    6:30 THE ETHNIC AMERICAN
   7 AM TODAY
   9 AM NOT FOR WOMEN ONLY
    9:30 TRUTH OR CONSEQUNCES
 10 AM DINAH SHOREDoc and Evonne Severinsen
  10:30 CONCENTRATION
 11 AM SALE OF THE CENTURY
  11:30 HOLLYWOOD SQUARESMarty Allen, John Davidson, Arthur Godfrey, Michael Landon, Rose Marie, Denise Nicholas, Karen Valentine, Wally Cox, Paul Lynde
AFTERNOON
  Noon JEOPARDY
  12:30 WHO, WHAT OR WHERE—Game
  12:55 NBC NEWS—Floyd Kalber
   1 PM IT’S YOUR BETDick and Jeri Enberg, Gary and Barbara Crosby
    1:30 THREE ON A MATCH—Game
   2 PM DAYS OF OUR LIVES
    2:30 DOCTORS
   3 PM ANOTHER WORLD
    3:30 RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE
   4 PM SOMERSET
    4:30 MOVIE—Drama BW “Lonely Are the Brave” (1962)
EVENING
   6 PM NEWS
   7 PM NBC NEWS—John Chancellor
    7:30 POLICE SURGEON
   8 PM THE INCREDIBLE FLIGHT OF THE SNOW GEESESpecial
   9 PM AMERICASpecial: Part 6, “A Fireball in the Night”
 10 PM NBC REPORTSSpecial: Nuclear Arms—How Much is Enough?
 11 PM NEWS
  11:30 JOHNNY CARSONGuest: Joan Rivers
   1 AM NEWS
    1:15 MOVIE—Drama BW “Wrecking Crew” (1942)
I had high hopes that The Wrecking Crew was the Dean Martin version from 1968, where he plays swinging spy Matt Helm; unfortunately, it's this movie instead. It might be very good; it's just not what I'm in the mood for right now.

 5  WNEW (NEW YORK) (Ind.)
MORNING
    6:30 UNDERDOG
   7 AM SUPER HEROES
    7:30 FLINTSTONES
   8 AM BUGS BUNNY
    8:30 FLYING NUN—Comedy
   9 AM GREEN ACRES
    9:30 MOTHERS-IN-LAW—Comedy
 10 AM I LOVE LUCY—Comedy BW 
  10:30 HAZEL—Comedy
 11 AM ANDY GRIFFITH—Comedy
  11:30 MIDDAY LIVE
AFTERNOON
   1 PM MOVIE—Musical“Centennial Summer” (1946)
   3 PM CASPER
    3:30 HUCKLEBERRY HOUND
   4 PM BUGS BUNNY
    4:30 LOST IN SPACE
    5:30 FLINTSTONES
EVENING
    6:30 I LOVE LUCY—Comedy BW 
   7 PM ANDY GRIFFITH—Comedy BW 
    7:30 THAT GIRL—Comedy
   8 PM HOGAN’S HEROES—Comedy
    8:30 MERV GRIFFINJean Nidetch, Adelle Davis, Vincent Price, Rhonda Fleming
 10 PM NEWS
 11 PM ALFRED HITCHCOCK—Drama BW 
  11:30 MOVIE—Drama“The Sharkfighters” (1956)
   1 AM MOVIE—Mystery BW “Sherlock Holmes Faces Death” (1943)
    2:30 MOVIE—Musical“Centennial Summer” (1946)
    4:35 SEA HUNT—Adventure BW 
    5:05 MOVIE—Comedy BW “Bowery Bombshell” (1946)
Sherlock Holmes may be facing death, but you can bet that Basil Rathbone will face it down.

 6  WPVI (PHILADELPHIA) (ABC)
MORNING
    6:30 OPERATION ALPHABET BW 
   7 AM TARGET
    7:25 NEWS
    7:30 CAPTAIN NOAH
   9 AM LUCILLE RIVERS—Sewing
    9:10 CONNIE ROUSSIN
    9:25 NEWS
    9:30 LOVE, AMERICAN STYLE
10 AM PHIL DONAHUE
11 AM PASSWORDElizabeth Montgomery, Bert Convy
  11:30 BEWITCHED
AFTERNOON
  Noon NEWS
  12:30 SPLIT SECOND—Game
   1 PM ALL MY CHILDREN
    1:30 LET’S MAKE A DEAL
   2 PM NEWLYWED GAME
    2:30 DATING GAME
   3 PM GENERAL HOSPITAL
    3:30 ONE LIFE TO LIVE
   4 PM I LOVE LUCY—Comedy BW 
    4:30 BIG VALLEY—Western
    5:30 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES
EVENING
   6 PM NEWS
    6:30 ABC NEWS—Smith/Reasoner
   7 PM TO TELL THE TRUTH
    7:30 WILD KINGDOM
   8 PM MARCUS WELBY, M.D.
   9 PM NBA ALL-STAR GAMESpecial: Live from Chicago
  11:30 NEWS
    Mid. DICK CAVETTTime approximate. Guests: Sen. Barry Goldwater, Germaine Greer, Lt. Col. Anthony B. Herbert
    1:30 TARGET
Up until the mid-1970s, the NBA played its All-Star Game on Tuesday nights, before moving it to Sunday, where it remains to this day. Why Tuesday? Easy—the weekend was prime scheduling time as far as selling tickets was concerned, and at this point the league was still very much dependent on the revenue from ticket sales. By staging the All-Star Game on Tuesday, teams could play on Sunday, take off three days for the game, and come back on Thursday, without missing a weekend beat.


 7  WABC (NEW YORK) (ABC)
MORNING
    6:30 LISTEN AND LEARN—Psychiatry BW 
   7 AM A.M. NEW YORK
   9 AM MOVIE—Musical“Call Me Madam” (1953)
  11:30 BEWITCHED
AFTERNOON
  Noon PASSWORDElizabeth Montgomery, Bert Convy
  12:30 SPLIT SECOND—Game
   1 PM ALL MY CHILDREN
    1:30 LET’S MAKE A DEAL
   2 PM NEWLYWED GAME
    2:30 DATING GAME
   3 PM GENERAL HOSPITAL
    3:30 ONE LIFE TO LIVE
   4 PM LOVE, AMERICAN STYLE
    4:30 MOVIE—Comedy“Hotel Paradiso” (English; 1966)
EVENING
   6 PM NEWS
   7 PM ABC NEWS—Smith/Reasoner
    7:30 SAFARI TO ADVENTURE
   8 PM MARCUS WELBY, M.D.
   9 PM NBA ALL-STAR GAMESpecial: Live from Chicago
  11:30 NEWS
    Mid. DICK CAVETTTime approximate. Guests: Sen. Barry Goldwater, Germaine Greer, Lt. Col. Anthony B. Herbert
    1:30 MOVIE—Drama BW “The Other Woman” (1954)
Elizabeth Montgomery and Bert Convy seem to be an ideal matchup for Password, especially since Liz starred in one of ABC's biggest hits ever, and the network still airs reruns in daytime. Right before Password, in fact.  

 9  WOR (NEW YORK) (Ind.)
MORNING
    7:30 NEWS BW 
   8 AM GARNER TED ARMSTRONG
    8:30 JOANNE CARSON’S VIPsGuest: Sheila Macrae
   9 AM JOE FRANKLIN
 10 AM ROMPER ROOM
 11 AM STRAIGHT TALK
AFTERNOON
  Noon HERMANOS CORAJES—Novela BW 
  12:55 NOTICIAS
   1 PM MOVIE—Western BW “Massacre at Sand Creek” (1956)
    2:30 JOURNEY TO ADVENTURE
   3 PM MILLIONAIRE
    3:30 MOVIE—Drama BW “Pittsburgh” (1942)
    5:30 NEWS
EVENING
   6 PM BEVERLY HILLBILLIES—Comedy BW 
    6:30 HAVE GUN—WILL TRAVEL—Western BW 
   7 PM IT TAKES A THIEF—Adventure
   8 PM ABA BASKETBALLNew York Nets vs. Indiana Pacers
  10:30 MILLIONAIRE
 11 PM BORIS KARLOFF PRESENTS THRILLER—Drama BW 
    Mid. MOVIE—Mystery BW “Mysterious Mr. Moto” (1938)
    1:25 JOE FRANKLIN
    2:25 NEWS
Oh yes, it's easy to forget that the NBA's not the only pro basketball game in town. Even while the All-Star Game is in progress, the rival ABA plays on tonight, and while the New York Nets were a very good team with Julius Erving, they don't have Dr. J yet, and so they're not a very good team. The Indiana Pacers, led by George McGinnis, are a very good team, and they're headed for the ABA title this year.


10 WCAU (PHILADELPHIA) (CBS)
MORNING
   6 AM SUNRISE SEMESTER
    6:30 WHAT DO YOU KNOW?—Quiz
   7 AM CBS NEWS—John Hart
   8 AM CAPTAIN KANGAROO
   9 AM BETTY HUGHESGuest: Buckminster Fuller
    9:30 IT’S YOUR BETMr. and Mrs. Joe Flynn, Rhonda Fleming. Host: Lyle Waggoner
 10 AM JOKER’S WILD—Game
  10:30 PRICE IS RIGHT
 11 AM GAMBIT—Game
  11:30 LOVE OF LIFE
AFTERNOON
  Noon WHERE THE HEART IS
  12:25 CBS NEWS—Edwards
  12:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW
   1 PM WHAT’S HAPPENING
    1:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS
   2 PM GUIDING LIGHT
    2:30 EDGE OF NIGHT
   3 PM LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING
    3:30 SECRET STORM
   4 PM VIN SCULLY—VarietyJack Carter, Anna Chakrin
    4:30 MOVIE—Musical“The Opposite Sex” (1956)
EVENING
   6 PM NEWS
   7 PM CBS NEWS—Walter Cronkite
    7:30 JOHNNY MANN’S STAND UP AND CHEERHugh O’Brian
   8 PM MAUDE—Comedy
    8:30 HAWAII FIVE-O
    9:30 ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR AWARDSSpecial: Host Ed Sullivan
 11 PM NEWS
  11:30 MOVIE—Crime Drama“The Trygon Factor” (1967)
    1:20 MOVIE—Western “Calamity Jane and Sam Bass” (1949)
    3:05 GIVE US THIS DAY
    3:10 MOVIE—Comedy“The Lady Takes a Flyer” (1957)
Why did I not know that Vin Scully used to have an afternoon variety show on CBS? (Checks date.) Oh yes, it's because I was living in the World's Worst Town™ at the time; I had virtually no idea what was on any network other than NBC. That's two snide references to the World's Worst Town™ in the same article; is that some kind of a record? It's understandable; the memories remain in the system and flare up, like a malaria attack.


11 WPIX (NEW YORK) (Ind.)
MORNING
   7 AM POPEYE
    8:30 NEW ZOO REVUE
   9 AM BACHELOR FATHER—Comedy BW 
    9:30 LUCILLE RIVERS—Sewing
    9:40 JACK LaLANNE—Exercise
  10:10 NEWS
  10:30 PUERTO RICAN NEW YORKER
 11 AM FOCUS: NEW JERSEY
  11:30 ROCKY AND FRIENDS
AFTERNOON
  Noon FELIX THE CAT
  12:30 GALLOPING GOURMET
   1 PM MOVIE—Western BW “California Passage” (1950)
    2:30 LUCILLE RIVERS—Sewing
    2:40 ABBOTT AND COSTELLO—Comedy BW 
   3 PM POPEYE AND FRIENDS
    3:30 MAGILLA GORILLA
   4 PM SPIDERMAN
    4:30 MUNSTERS—Comedy BW 
   5 PM SUPERMAN—Adventure BW 
    5:30 BATMAN—AdventureGuest villain: Julie Newmar (Catwoman)
EVENING
   6 PM GILLIGAN’S ISLAND—Comedy
    6:30 BEAT THE CLOCKGene Rayburn
   7 PM I DREAM OF JEANNIE—Comedy
    7:30 COURTSHIP OF EDDIE’S FATHER—Comedy-Drama
   8 PM NANNY AND THE PROFESSOR—Comedy
    8:30 GET SMART—Comedy
   9 PM DRAGNET
    9:30 DRAGNET
 10 PM NEWS
 11 PM PERRY MASON BW 
    Mid. BURNS AND ALLEN
  12:30 NEWS—Roy Whitfield
WPIX makes a pretty good retro station, doesn't it? Of course, back in 1973 most of these shows were fairly contemporary; Nanny and the Professor, for example, didn't leave the network until the end of 1971.


12 WHYY (PHILADELPHIA) (PBS)
MORNING
   9 AM SESAME STREET
AFTERNOON
    1:30 ELECTRIC COMPANY
   4 PM SESAME STREET
   5 PM MISTER ROGERSGuest:  John Reardon
    5:30 ELECTRIC COMPANY
EVENING
   6 PM HODGEPODGE LODGE
    6:30 EYE ON DELAWARE BW 
   7 PM HATHAYOGA—Exercise
    7:30 ON TOP OF IT
   8 PM RELIDADES
    8:30 BILL MOYERS’ JOURNAL
   9 PM BEHIND THE LINES—Analysis
    9:30 BLACK JOURNAL
 10 PM FIRING LINE
 11 PM EYE ON DELAWARE BW 
John Reardon, who was a semi-regular on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (as "Reardon") was a singer with the New York City and Metropolitan Operas between 1954 and 1977; he also performed on Broadway with Phil Silvers.

13 WNET (NEW YORK) (PBS)
MORNING
   7 AM MAGGIE AND THE BEAUTIFUL MACHINE
    7:30 51ST STATE—Patrick Watson
   9 AM SESAME STREET
AFTERNOON
    1:30 ELECTRIC COMPANY
   3 PM SHADINGS
    3:30 MAGGIE AND THE BEAUTIFUL MACHINE
   4 PM SESAME STREET
   5 PM MISTER ROGERSGuest: John Reardon
    5:30 ELECTRIC COMPANY
EVENING
   6 PM HODGEPODGE LODGE
    6:30 YOUR FUTURE IS NOW
   7 PM ERICA
    7:15 THEONIE
    7:30 51ST STATE—Patrick Watson
   8 PM RELIDADES
    8:30 BILL MOYERS’ JOURNAL
   9 PM BEHIND THE LINES—Analysis
    9:30 BLACK JOURNAL
 10 PM CORONATION STREET
  10:30 51ST STATE—Patrick Watson
 11 PM MOVIE—Drama
The 51st State, WNET's nighttime news program (the "51st state" was New York City itself) was one of the station's landmark programs; when it debuted in 1972, it was as an open-ended program in which the content would drive the running time. Later this year, it will be cut back from daily to weekly status, but still still continued on to 1976.


17 WPHL (PHILADELPHIA) (Ind.)
AFTERNOON
  12:45 BULLETIN BOARD
   1 PM MOVIE—Drama BW “Illicit” (1931)
    2:30 GALLOPING GOURMET
   3 PM WEE WILLIE WEBBER
    3:30 ASTRO BOY
   4 PM MARINE BOY
    4:30 GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE
   5 PM SPIDERMAN
    5:30 ULTRA MAN
EVENING
   6 PM PATTY DUKE—Comedy BW 
    6:30 GOMER PYLE, USMC
   7 PM HIGH CHAPARRAL—Western
   8 PM OF LANDS AND SEAS—Travel
   9 PM MOVIE—Western“This Savage Land” (1968)
 11 PM MOVIE—Drama BW “World for Ransom” (1954)
   1 AM BULLETIN BOARD
The Wee Willie Webber Colorful Cartoon Club ran on WPHL from 1965 to 1975, hosted by Philadelphia television personality Bill Webber. The cartoons listed after Wee Willie Webber, such as Astro Boy and Marine Boy, are actually part of the cartoon club; the show generally ran at least three hours.


29 WTAP (PHILADELPHIA) (Ind.)
MORNING
   9 AM JACK LaLANNE—Exercise
    9:30 LUCILLE RIVERS—Sewing
    9:40 ALL ABOUT CRAFTS
    9:55 COVERUP WITH ADELE
 10 AM PARSLEY, SAGE, JANI AND LOVE
  10:30 ROMPER ROOM
 11 AM DENNIS THE MENACE—Comedy BW 
  11:30 MOTHERS-IN-LAW—Comedy
AFTERNOON
  Noon HAZEL—Comedy
  12:30 WHO, WHAT OR WHERE—Game
  12:55 NBC NEWS—Floyd Kalber
   1 PM JOANNE CARSON’S VIPs
    1:30 NOT FOR WOMEN ONLY
   2 PM MAYBERRY R.F.D.—Comedy
    2:30 GREEN ACRES—Comedy
   3 PM PETTICOAT JUNCTION—Comedy
    3:30 THREE STOOGES AND CARTOONS
    4:30 SUPERMAN
   5 PM PLEASE DON’T EAT THE DAISIES—Comedy
    5:30 NANNY AND THE PROFESSOR—Comedy
EVENING
   6 PM I DREAM OF JEANNIE—Comedy
    6:30 COURTSHIP OF EDDIE’S FATHER—Comedy-Drama
   7 PM THAT GIRL
    7:30 DRAGNET—Crime Drama
   8 PM HOGAN’S HEROES—Comedy
    8:30 SAFARI—Travel
    9:30 PASSPORT TO ADVENTURE
 10 PM NEWSPROBE
 11 PM BOWLING FOR DOLLARS
  11:30 N.Y.P.D.—Crime Drama
    Mid. BOWLING
   1 AM COVERUP WITH ADELE
Joanne Carson, hostess of Joanne Carson's VIPs, was, as you might expect, once married to Johnny Carson; and while that doesn't exactly make her unique, it was good enough, along with her own experience in early 1960s television, to help land her this fitness and interview show. Fun fact: she's interred next to her very good friend Truman Capote.


48 WKBS (PHILADELPHIA) (Ind.)
MORNING
  11:15 NEWS—Marty Jacobs
  11:30 DELAWARE VALLEY TODAY
AFTERNOON
  Noon NEW ZOO REVUE
  12:30 PAUL DIXON SHOW
   1 PM MOVIE—Drama BW “A Woman Rebels” (1936)
   3 PM UNDERDOG
    3:30 YOGI BEAR
   4 PM SPEED RACER
    4:30 MUNSTERS—Comedy BW 
   5 PM FLINTSTONES
EVENING
   6 PM GILLIGAN’S ISLAND—Comedy BW 
    6:30 STAR TREK—Drama
    7:30 DICK VAN DYKE—Comedy BW 
   8 PM McHALE’S NAVY—Comedy BW 
    8:30 MERV GRIFFINJean Nidetch, Adelle Davis, Vincent Price, Rhonda Fleming
 10 PM PERRY MASON BW 
 11 PM MOVIE—Drama BW “Dr. Socrates” (1935)
Who, you might ask, was Jean Nidetch? None other than the founder of Weight Watchers. That probably explains why she's appearing just after the first of the year. Vincent Price and Rhonda Fleming are described as "health buffs" rather than actors; Adelle Davis was a famed author and nutritionist. TV  

This week in TV Guide: January 20, 1973

On Saturday, after having been reelected by one of the biggest landslides in American political history, Richard M. Nixon and Spiro T. Agnew will be sworn in for second terms as President and Vice President of the United States. Less than 19 months later, each of them will have resigned due to scandals that predated the election. That's the context for this week's issue.

All three networks are providing coverage of the Inaugural and parade; while NBC and CBS are also having late-night wrap-ups of the balls. On ABC it's Howard K. Smith and Harry Reasoner, while Walter Cronkite and Eric Sevareid are in the CBS booth, and John Chancellor and David Brinkley are on NBC. (Richard K. Doan points out that it's the first time for Reasoner and Chancellor anchoring inaugural coverage; I suppose this is what happens when you're covering a story that only happens every four years.) Because the inaugural falls on a Saturday, NBC's also planning an hour of prime-time highlights for those who were out and about during the day, The networks estimate it'll cost about $3 million to cover the day's events, about the same as they spent in 1969. For that investment, they're figuring on a viewing audience of over 30 million. Four years later, we'll be replaying the same scene, but by then the characters will have changed dramatically—something that nobody watching the events today could possibly have imagined. History has a way of playing tricks on us, doesn't it?

Speaking of history, there are two occasions when we're invariably reminded of something that makes America stand out from other countries throughout history. It happens when a president dies in office, and again when a new president takes the oath of office on January 20, and you can take it to the bank that at least one broadcaster somewhere will take a moment to reflect on the greatness and wonder of a nation where such a peaceful transition of power routinely takes place: without challenge or revolution. Not to be a Debbie Downer, but I wonder—I just wonder—just how much longer we'll be saying that.

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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 series of the era. 

If you're searching for something good to watch on TV tonight, your search isn't going to end with Search, says Cleveland Amory. In fact, this series was originally supposed to be called Probe, until the producers found out someone else already had the rights to that title. The search for a new title wound up being self-fulfilling; "So much for what's good about this show." Ouch! "What's bad about it is that it is just one more of those revolving-trio things in which, in alternating weeks, three different zeroes—we mean heroes—strong-arm and brainstorm their way through muscle-bound plots."

The three zeroes—er, heroes—are played by Hugh O'Brian, Tony Franciosa, and Doug McClure, with Burgess Meredith as the constant who provides our boys with the tools they need to complete their mission, thanks to ear implants through which they receive information from home base, which is still, for some reason, still called Probe. Through a mass of screens, scanners and computers, Meredith and his team are able to tip off the agents when someone is lying, when an adrenalin surge indicates possible violence ahead, or when their own body heat may be tipping off where they are.

This gimmick might work, Cleve notes, "if the plots did. But they don't." True, O'Brien often rises above the material, but that's because "he's often in a helicopter." The dialogue is painfully painful; in one episode, guest-star Barbara Feldon discovers that the initials of McClure's character's name, C.R. Grover, stand for "Christopher Robin," she replies, "I think it's winsome. I wish I had a cuddly name." Bad plots and bad dialogue usually make for a bad combination, and in the case of Probe, that is, Search, the mixture fuels a run of 23 episodes. For creator Leslie Stevens, who'd previously made The Outer Limits, it's an obvious case of better luck last time.

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And now, some news of interest from this week's TV Teletype:

In April, Raymond Burr is Pope John XXIII in ABC's special A Man Called John; I covered that back here . Mia Farrow's landed one of the most sought-after roles in Hollywood: she'll be playing Daisy Buchanan in the big-screen version of The Great Gatsby, starring Robert Redford. Meanwhile, Lee Marvin takes on Eugene O'Neill in The Iceman Cometh, with Fredric March, Robert Ryan and Jeff Bridges. Glenn Corbett is doing The Stranger, an NBC pilot about an astronaut stranded on a strange planet; unfortunately for Glenn, it doesn't go anywhere from there.*

*Although it provides plenty of fodder for MST3K.

As long as we're talking about pilots, Lee Majors took some time off from Owen Marshall to film an ABC movie that, although it's not billed as such, proves so popular that, unlike The Stranger, it does become a series. It's called Cyborg here, but by the time it makes it to TV, it's called The Six Million Dollar Man. ABC's busy; in the works as well is an ABC Theatre docudrama about the U.S.S. Pueblo which, although it isn't mentioned here, will star Hal Holbrook as Captain Lloyd Bucher. Holbrook wins two Emmys for the role (one as Best Dramatic Actor, the other as Actor of the Year), and the movie wins five overall. And then there's the two-part movie QBVII, starring Ben Gazzara (and also some actor named Anthony Hopkins), which you'll see this spring. As I commented after seeing it, its VI hours of my life I'll never get back.

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You might have read about the brawl that broke out earlier this week in a college basketball game between Kansas State and Kansas. In an amazing coincidence, we have an article this week about the epidemic of brawls in—college basketball. In "The Big Brawl Era," Al Stump looks at increasing violence in the college game: not just involving players, but fans as well. At a game last January at the University of Minnesota, a fight between Ohio State and Minnesota players featured fans coming on the court to attack Ohio State players.* At Kansas, officials were held prisoner in their dressing room by more than 100 people until they were rescued by the police. A game in Berkeley between Cal and USC was forfeited to the Trojans after Cal fans littered the court with eggs, apple cores, beer cans, and shoes. Maryland coach Lefty Driesell was knocked flat by rioters at North Carolina. Perry Wallace of Vanderbilt, the first black player in the SEC, had a knife thrown at him at Alabama.

*I remember that game well, being 12 years old and living in Minneapolis at the time; the Gophers got a bad rap on that one. One of the Minnesota players involved in the fight, who escaped punishment, went on to play another sport: Dave Winfield.

I suppose it's natural that the fans have become rougher, considering the amount of violence that aniti-war students are exercising on campus, but USC coach Bob Boyd thinks television deserves its share of blame for what's going on. "Commentators exaggerate the wild side. They deliberately build up feuds, fouling and fighting. They emphasize close-in shots of irate coaches and overexcited fans and junk flying. The cumulative effect is to increase hard feelings and cause a beef next time the same clubs play. I'm no censor . . . but why does TV have to show fist fights in their entirety?"

Counters Dan Shedrick, head of Coliseum Sports, which produces college basketball telecasts, "Boyd and our other critics are acting like censors. We pay colleges $20,000 and more for rights fees to one contest. Nothing in the contract states that we shouldn't cover a free-for-all. The reality of sport is involved here, and our policy is to let it all hang out, raw-journalism style, in any gym where we buy the package." Alan Lubell, an executive at Coliseum competitor TVS, agrees. "We have an obligation to report, even if they burn the barn down. We didn't create this scene. There may be news management in other telecast sports, but not with us."

In a cautionary film made for television, John Wooden, coach of champion UCLA, looks out at a game being played in an empty arena. "It could come to this," he says to the camera. "This is what could happen if we don't stop the violence in the game." It still could.

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ABC's latest late-night strategy is Wide World of Entertainment, four rotating elements* that each air for one week, and the big news is the return of Jack Paar. The network's hope, according to The Doan Report, is that Paar's old magic can help topple the reigning King, Johnny Carson. Jack Paar Tonite's debut week produces mixed results: Paar was tops in New York, while Carson dominated Los Angeles. The networks were at a loss to explain, but it seems obvious to me that Paar's sophisticated touch appeals to the East Coast, while Carson's more laid-back, Hollywood-based shows are more the Left Coast's style.

*In addition to Paar and Cavett, the other two elements are Wide World Mystery, and Wide World Comedy. One of the mystery elements is the British series Thriller, not to be confused with the Boris Karloff-hosted show of the early '60s. It explains why, during this era, we see Boris Karlof Presents Thriller in the listings, to differentiate between the two. That solves one of life's questions for me.]=

This week, however, belongs to Dick Cavett, who returns with a terrific guest list: Monday's 60-minute show (shortened due to part two of the network's movie, How the West Was Won) has Paul Newman and John Huston, while Tuesday features Barry Goldwater, Germaine Greer, and former Lt. Col. Anthony Herbert, in the headlines for accusing his superiors of abusing Vietnam POWs. The next three nights are devoted to Dick's famed single-guest shows: Wednesday with Sir Laurence Olivier, Thursday with Orson Welles, and Friday with Ray Charles. Those shows were fascinating for two reasons: first, the intimacy of a 90 minute conversation with a single guest; and second, how that intimacy is increased by airing the interviews in a late night setting. That's something Jack Paar understood as well. Paar, by the way, reappears on Saturday night (10:00 p.m. ET, ABC) with a prime-time interview of "Three Remarkable Women": Ethel Kennedy (widow of Bobby), Jane Goodall (and her husband, Hugo Van Lawick), and Broadway star Mary Martin.

Speaking of returns, Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore return Sunday in a repeat at of their 1969 variety special, Dick Van Dyke and the Other Woman (9:30 p.m., CBS), while NBC counters with Return to Peyton Place (10:00 p.m.), a prime-time edition of the daytime series. I guess you can go home again. And for the rest of the week:

Mike Connors, star of Mannix, has a nice turn on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour (Wednesday, 8:00 p.m., CBS). He gets to return to his acting roots as a heavy by laying a ganster boss, a Gestapo officer, and an evil adviser to a queen.

NET Opera Theater, seen at various times and on various stations throughout the week, presents the Japanese opera "The Death Goddess," the story of "an unhappy undertaker who is granted the power to save the dying. His new-found power makes him rich, but he broods over the evil deeds of those he saves." It's written for TV; I wonder how much play it got afterward?

On Friday (9:00 p.m., ABC), composer Burt Bacharach hosts an hour of music staged on the set of the upcoming musical Lost Horizon (music by, ironically, Burt Bacharach!), with The 5th Dimension (or, as the ad for the show says, "The Fifth Dimension"), Richard Harris, Bobby Van, and Chris Evert. Not quite SCTV territory, but if you'd thrown in Andrea Martin as Mother Teresa, you'd have been there.

We don't often get to see a movie featured on MST3K in its natural habitat, but Friday night's late movie on CBS is Moon Zero Two (11:30 p.m.), starring James Olson and Catherine Von Schell, and Judith Crist's review gives us ample evidence as to how the movie wound up on the Satellite of Love: "Anyone 6 or under suffering from insomnia or parental ultrapermissiveness might enjoy Friday's Moon Zero Two, made in England in 1969 with the claim that it was the 'first space Western.' The year is 2021 and Hopalong Cassidy would cringe at the dumb goings-on."

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Saturday night is a powerhouse for CBS, and Bob Newhart's right at the center of it. Through the pages of TV Guide, we've seen Newhart's TV career evolve over the years; there was his eponymously-named variety show in 1961, and he was one of the rotating hosts of the comedy-variety series The Entertainers in 1964, before CBS finally figured out what to do with the buttoned-down star. Now, his sitcom is a hit, and according to Dwight Whitney, he's stopped worrying about having to go back to accounting or selling shoes. Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but not much; he used to worry about hecklers during his nightclub days, he worried at first that a sitcom wasn't the right way to go ("I kept saying no. Kind of reflex, I guess. Then one day I asked myself why."), worried that success would be fleeting and he'd have to fall back on other ways to make a buck ("How do you tell your children you were a game-show host?"). Now, as a remarkably well-adjusted comedian, he takes his success with the same low-key grace as always. It's good to see a good guy succeed. And after all, how bad can life be when your TV-wife is Suzanne Pleshette? Bob definitely married up in that case, didn't he?

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Finally, this week's starlet is trying to emerge from an identity crisis. He bears the unlikely name of Cheryl Jean Stoppelmoor, and during her early professional days she adopted the name Cherie Moore, back when she toured the area around her hometown of Huron, South Dakota, singing with bands. (As Cherie Moore, she also does a turn singing the voice of Melody on Josie and the Pussycats; you can look it up .) Now she's in Hollywood, doing commercials and regularly appearing in guest spots on various TV shows, and she's back to Cheryl Jean Stoppelmoor. "Once people know my name, they don't forget it. After all, they don't say 'Engelbert Who?' Cherie Moore sounds phony, like the old Hollywood."

Cheryl's definitely from the new Hollywood, and she's got the ambition to succeed. She'd love to play one of the big rooms in Las Vegas; "It's kind of an ego thing to be up there in front of people, to make them feel through you." She says that "Whatever I do, I want to do it best," but she's also realistic; "If it doesn't work out or stars messing up my head, I'll get out. I don't want to be 30 years old and want to kill myself." Not to worry, Cheryl Jean; there's no threat of that. Although she's vowed that she "intends to remain" Cheryl Stoppelmoor, she'll marry producer David Ladd (son of Alan Ladd) later in the year, and take his last name. And it's as Cheryl Ladd that she'll star in Charlie's Angels, and remain a star for nearly 50 years, to this very day. It's one of those starlet stories that you dream about running across. And now you can say you read about her when. TV  

Around the dial

Full disclosure: I was never a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Oh, there was a time after the horror of Star Trek V when I thought TNG showed a level of gravitas that the movie sadly lacked; but after about a year, I'd had more than I could take and quit watching. My wife hung in there for another year or so before she did the same. So perhaps I'm not the right person to judge what makes an awful episode of TNG, but you'll still want to check out Rob Bricken's article at Gismodo about the amazing number of terrible episodes the series had while still managing to be good.

At The Ringer, Brian Phillips has a typically thoughtful piece on the fascination that murder holds for us , on television as well as podcasts. As Phillips says, "we can’t ask 'where is murder going?' without also asking 'where are we?'" You'll want to read the rest.

There aren't many entertainment sites more iconic than the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and this week at Comfort TV, David celebrates the classic TV stars who have their star on the Walk —and the many who should have them, but don't.

It's F Troop Friday at The Horn Section, and Hal's focus this week is on the season two episode "Bye, Bye, Balloon," with Harvey Korman as the aptly named balloon expert Colonel Heindrich von Zeppel.

At The Secret Sanctum of Captain Video, it's the exciting conclusion of the Untouchables comic book story "The Conspirators,"  with comic-book Eliot Ness looking every bit as tough as Robert Stack does on-screen. (For part one, go here .)

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet  is in its tenth season as 1961 rolls around, and that's the focus of the latest Television's New Frontier: The 1960s. Well, that and the transient nature of the Nelson boys' girlfriends.

The
Carol looks back at the origins of Bob Crane: The Authorized Biography, especially the need to broadcast the true story of Bob's life in order to counter the distortions of Auto Focus, at Bob Crane: Life and Legacy, You can also catch the latest episode of "Flipside," the podcast hosted by Carol and her co-author, Linda Groundwater.

Finally, Jim Lehrer died yesterday at 85. Like his partner Robert MacNeil, Jim Lehrer was one of the last of the old-time reporters on network news; whether or not you agreed with the opinions on The MacNeil/Lehrer Report, it was always a stimulating show, one with the gravitas that's completely gone from network news today, not to mention the rest of television.

Where will this week's TV Guide take us? Tune in tomorrow and find out. TV  

On censorship

It's all the rage, censorship. China does it, Russia does it, the Internet does it, the government does it. There's a difference between censorship and "censorship," of course, between not being able to get your TV show on the air and being jailed or killed for having shown it. The word's been cheapened through overuse, and I suppose I'm about to add to it. What is censorship, anyway? Is it when you regulate the amount of sex and violence in TV shows and movies, or is it when you regulate the amount on the evening news? The networks used to employ censors ; they probably still do, although it's hard to say what they do nowadays. They decided what was acceptable and what crossed the line.

That's part of it, deciding where "the line" is, and if it were only about sex and violence, it would be hard enough to say. There are other lines out there though, and people eager to help you decide what shows are best for you, what you ought to watch. In a TV Guide from 1967, editor Merrill Panitt reports on an interesting suggestion by Democratic Representative Torbert Macdonald that schools should teach children courses in "critical viewing" of television. As children watch anywhere from six to 40 hours of TV a week*, often indiscriminately and uncritically, they need to be taught the importance of "selecting programs and evaluating what they see."

*I hate to think of where I might have fallen on that spectrum.

Panitt agrees with this idea in principle; after all, it would be good not only for the children but, as they grow older and audiences become more critical of what they watch, it could potentially be good for improving programming as well. But, on the other hand, he points to the words of a New York TV executive who reminds us that "If we produce shows that bore children to death, TV can teach them nothing" because they won't be watching it.

Acknowledging the truth of the statement, the editorial notes that "we doubt that if the proposed school courses are set up they will signal the total extinction of Batman, Gomer Pyle, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Monkees.*"  In much the same way as a balanced nutritional diet doesn't try to eliminate every treat from the menu, there's always going to be room for "elements of nonsense, fantasy and Walter Mittyism." However, the hope is that "the courses would probably cut down the volume of this stuff and get a wider audience for some of the more constructive material now being offered to children."

*Intriguing, their choice of shows, don't you think? I own half of them.

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I suppose my attitude toward censorship (the lesser type, that is, the kind that decides what we see on TV) vacillates between libertarian and churlish, and one of the reasons I can’t quite make up my mind is that it’s not as straightforward as it ought to be.

As you know if you're a regular reader, the controversy about the quality of programming is one that's raged for years, often in the pages of TV Guide, and the timing of this editorial would fit right in with the general debate. We're used, therefore, to seeing TV Guide express concern, for example, about the TV diet that children are fed. On the other hand, TV Guide has frequently been against the idea of controlling the content of programming, particularly when it emanates from outside bodies such as the government. The shorthand for this. although we could have a protracted discussion on this at a later date, is censorship. We'll use that word because it comes up frequently in these conversations, and TV Guide itself used it when discussing the content that appears on television.

One of the arguments made by those against censorship, for example TV Guide's Edith Efron, is that it absolves the viewer of his or her own responsibility in the matter. If the government, or some other authority, decrees that thus-and-such shouldn't be show on television, then you’re spared having to decide whether or not you would have watched it if it had been broadcast. This leads to a lot of righteous breast-beating from some parts, people who might say “of course I’d never watch a public execution if it were televised,” secure in the knowledge that they’ll be true to their word—they won’t watch it, since it isn't televised. But as Joyce Carol Oates once wrote, when the demon beckons, “You won't know until it beckons. To you. So long as it temps others you can judge—can sneer—can express shock, disgust, outrage, and prim disdain—the usual emotions of punitive people. But you won't know. I didn't." Or, put another way, someone once said that the difference between an honest man and a man of integrity is that the man of integrity does the right thing even when no one is watching.

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So one argument against censorship is that we should require the viewer to make choices, keeping in mind that ultimately, the market decides, and insofar as the market is a bellwether for public opinion, the public gets what they want. (That doesn't mean that society is prepared to accept the consequences emanating from those decisions, but there you go.) The other argument you hear, and this is probably the more prevalent one, is that “if you don’t like what you see on TV, change the channel. Nobody’s forcing you to watch it.” This is true, insofar as it goes; however, it's a truth that exists in the laboratory, outside of the real world, which is where most of us spend most of our time. And there, it's not so easy.

For one thing, even if we don't watch "that kind of thing," we have to live in a world where other people do, and to the extent that it affects their behavior, we have to live with the result. I've always found this argument most compelling when it comes to shows that objectify women. If men are constantly exposed to shows that portray women as nothing more than sex objects (either willingly or unwillingly), then it’s more likely that’s how men will see them. That's dehumanizing enough, but add a dollop or two of violence to the mix, and then see what happens. If we're taught not to show restraint, isn't that what eventually happens?

However, even here, the question arises as to whether or not we can be sure that watching this kind of behavior on television does, in fact, affect the viewer’s external behavior. For instance, I love watching Road Runner cartoons. In every single one of them, something hideous happens to Wile E. Coyote—he’s blown up, has an anvil dropped on his head, falls off a cliff; you get the idea. Pound for pound, these cartoons might be among the most violent things ever seen on TV. But can you demonstrate that there's a correlation between me watching these cartoons and me becoming a violent, anti-social person? I doubt it, because it isn't true.*

*The violent part, anyway. As for the anti-social part, I suppose the jury is still out.

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And yet, there’s something about the smell test here that supports the overall contention. After all, why do advertisers bother to put commercials on television if they don’t think the viewer’s behavior (in this case, their shopping habits) will be influenced by it? It’s somewhat fatuous to argue that viewers who fall for commercials—blatant attempts to get them to buy Product X, with no bones made as to why it’s being shown—will have the discernment to filter out the behavioral messages presented in their favorite shows. Isn't it?

So while I don’t accept the premise that viewers are completely influenced by their environment, neither do I think they can be totally unfazed by it. There has to be a residue that rubs off on them, the difference being the moral and philosophical background the viewer brings into it. And with that, we're back to the question of personal responsibility. One would like to think that people with well-formed consciences (or at the very least people who understand and appreciate the value of a civil society) will be able to watch television with a discerning eye; they neither become hostage to the behavior shown on screen nor do they accept programs that promote a message at odds with that of the wider society. And that brings us back to critical thinking.

Now, I'm all for critical thinking (or, if you want to be precise, critical viewing); I think it's a skill in short supply nowadays, and schools ought to be teaching kids how to think. But too often nowadays education is about teaching kids what to think; the mechanics of thought have been sacrificed in the interests of pushing the correctness of thought. And who decides what is correct? The whole idea has the whiff of elitism, the idea that people in general have to be taught not how to watch TV, but how to watch the right programs. And who determines what makes a program "right"? I'm thinking here of everything from HGTV's decision a few years ago to ax a show hosted by two brothers who opposed gay marriage * to Southern stations that routinely preempted shows in the 1950s and '60s because they portrayed blacks and whites interacting . Is this how we want to teach "critical viewing"? Will it improve the viewing experience? Does it provide us with more varied, well-rounded programming? Or is it simply another form of censorship? It has the potential for mischief written all over it—anyone besides me comparing this to how schools teaching about nutrition has led to governments trying to ban supersized soft drinks?

*Proving once again that HGTV will never have a show entitled "Interior Design for Heterosexual Males."

Now, perhaps I'm not the right person to be talking about this, given that I'm a great fan of, for example, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., but while I'm all for better programming on television, I do have a problem with the idea of labeling shows as ones a viewer "shouldn't watch" simply because they're not "good" for you, for whatever reason. To me, it sounds a whole lot more like taking medicine than watching television, and while I appreciate what medicine can do for me when I'm not feeling well, that's not why I usually watch TV. I once read an article about how book discussion clubs aren't necessarily a good thing because they can force you to focus more on your reaction to a book than what the book actually says, and consequently you become more self-aware, becoming the focal point yourself rather than the book you're ostensibly reading for pleasure or enlightenment.
t  t  t
I confess I don't have a ready answer for any of this, and I'm not sure I would even if I weren't working under a deadline to get this piece up. It's clear that the libertarian answer, inviting though it may be, has flaws when it's applied to the real world. It's equally clear that whenever an outside authority gets involved, be it school or bureaucracy, there's an inevitable level of bias involved that tends to taint the experience.
The best I can offer, and it's hardly an original thought, is that we expose people to different types of experiences throughout their lives, not pushing them toward preferring one over the other, but simply allowing them to witness the variety. One popular idea making the rounds is that the graying of classical music audiences can be related to the lack of music appreciation being taught in schools today. Putting aside the question of who bears the responsibility for this failure (schools, administrators, classical music organizations, taxpayers, all of the above), there's no doubt that in my case, being exposed to classical music at an early age made an impression that continues to pay dividends. I'd suggest that exposing people to theater, drama, comedy, and other art forms without forcing them down their throats would be one way of educating potential viewers to become more discerning, or at least more varied, in their television tastes. If that means developing a palate like mine*, running the gamut from Hogans Heroes to The Grand Tour to The Prisoner to Doctor Who to MST3K, and including things like Masterpiece Theatre, Live from Lincoln Center, Great Performances and other shows that might be considered highbrow, then at least we'd have a varied programming schedule out there, instead of the pablum we're generally served.

*I'm not advocating that, by the way.  My tastes could easily give you an upset stomach.  

However, the fact remains that in a market-based economy, the market will determine what's on television—and it won't include high culture. Unless and until networks (both commercial and cable) and advertisers decide otherwise, shows with niche audiences and low ratings will be consigned to the trash heap, and most of our programs will simply be pallid clones of what's already gone before. Extend this to other forms of entertainment—books, movies, music—and what we're left with isn't a pretty picture. And that's why we should care.  TV  

What's on TV? Wednesday, January 23, 1980

We've looked at several editions of TV Guide from the Cincinnati area, but this is the first time, I believe, that we've seen Cincinnati from the point of view of the Kentucky edition. Well, change is good. A notice at the beginning of the day's listings reminds us that there's a chance the State of the Union might be given tonight, but no need to fear: it was given on Monday instead, so what you see here is as it was. And if you don't believe me, believe Fred Sanford.



 3  WAVE (LOUISVILLE) (NBC)
MORNING
    6:30 TODAY IN WAVE COUNTRY
   7 AM TODAY—Tom BrokawGuest: Otto Preminger
   9 AM MORNING SHOW
    9:30 DOCTORS—Serial
 10 AM CARD SHARKS—Game
  10:30 HOLLYWOOD SQUARESRobert Fuller, Bernie Kopell, Rich Little, Vincent Price, Leslie Uggams, Charlie Callas, Didi Conn
 11 AM HIGH ROLLERS—Game
  11:30 WHEEL OF FORTUNE—Game
AFTERNOON
  Noon MIDDAY
  12:30 MIKE DOUGLASCo-host Donna Pescow. Guests: John McCook, Paul Pape, Lou Ferrigno, Charlene Tilton, Stephanie Mills
    1:30 WOMEN LIKE US—RollinSpecial: Host Betty Rollin
    2:30 ANOTHER WORLD
   4 PM MOVIE—Musical“Finian’s Rainbow” (1968) Conclusion
    5:30 NEWS
EVENING
   6 PM NEWS
    6:30 NBC NEWS—Chancellor/Brinkley
   7 PM PLAY THE PERCENTAGES—Game
    7:30 $1.98 BEAUTY SHOWJudges: Leslie Nielsen, Ja’net DuBois, Louis Nye. Host: Rip Taylor
   8 PM REAL PEOPLE
   9 PM DIFF’RENT STROKES
    9:30 HELLO, LARRY
 10 PM BEST OF SATURDAY NIGHT LIVEHostess: Lily Tomlin. Musical guest: James Taylor
 11 PM NEWS
  11:30 TONIGHTGuest host David Letterman, Linda Lavin, Jose Feliciano
   1 AM TOMORROW—Snyder
Yes, it's the infamous Hello, Larry. You know, I never saw that show, but I've heard from people that its reputation is overblown, that it wasn't nearly as bad as it's made out to be. But, as John Ford might put it, when the legend becomes fact, print the legend.


 5  WLWT (CINCINNATI) (NBC)
MORNING
    5:50 GOOD MORNING
   6 AM PTL CLUB—Religion
   7 AM TODAY—Tom BrokawGuest: Otto Preminger
   9 AM PHIL DONAHUE
 10 AM CARD SHARKS—Game
  10:30 HOLLYWOOD SQUARESRobert Fuller, Bernie Kopell, Rich Little, Vincent Price, Leslie Uggams, Charlie Callas, Didi Conn
 11 AM DOCTORS—Serial
  11:30 MIDDAY
AFTERNOON
  Noon BOB BRAUN—Variety
    1:30 WOMEN LIKE US—RollinSpecial: Host Betty Rollin
    2:30 ANOTHER WORLD
   4 PM STARSKY & HUTCH—Crime Drama
   5 PM STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO—Crime Drama
EVENING
   6 PM NEWS
    6:30 NBC NEWS—Chancellor/Brinkley
   7 PM HOLLYWOOD SQUARES—GameVic Tayback, Paul Lynde, Priscilla Barnes, Isabel Sanford, Melissa Sue Anderson, Diana Canova
    7:30 FAMILY FEUD—Game
   8 PM REAL PEOPLE
   9 PM DIFF’RENT STROKES
    9:30 HELLO, LARRY
 10 PM BEST OF SATURDAY NIGHT LIVEHostess: Lily Tomlin. Musical guest: James Taylor
 11 PM NEWS
  11:30 TONIGHTGuest host David Letterman, Linda Lavin, Jose Feliciano
   1 AM TOMORROW—Snyder
Bob Braun had been a regular on Ruth Lyons ' 50-50 Club since 1957, and when Lyons retired in 1967, Braun took over the timeslot and held it until 1984. According to the always-reliable Wikipedia , the show "had the highest Arbitron and Nielsen ratings of any live entertainment/information program in the Midwest."


 9  WCPO (CINCINNATI) (CBS)
MORNING
    5:30 PRAYING THE ROSARY
    5:45 FARM NEWS
   6 AM SUNRISE SEMESTERMedia in America
    6:30 ED ALLEN—Exercise
   7 AM WEDNESDAY MORNING—Bob Scheiffer
   8 AM CAPTAIN KANGAROOGuest: Steve Martin
   9 AM UNCLE AL
 10 AM YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS—Serial
  10:30 WHEW!—GameJay Johnson, Joan Prather
  10:55 CBS NEWS—Edwards
 11 AM PRICE IS RIGHT—Game
AFTERNOON
  Noon NOON REPORT
   1 PM SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial
    1:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial
    2:30 GUIDING LIGHT—Serial
    3:30 ONE DAY AT A TIME
   4 PM MOVIE—Musical“It’s a Bikini World” (1967)
EVENING
   6 PM NEWS
    6:30 CBS NEWS—Cronkite
   7 PM 7 O’CLOCK REPORT
    7:30 EDWARD & MRS. SIMPSON—DramaDebut
   9 PM ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR AWARDSSpecial: Host George Burns
  10:30 PILOT
 11 PM NEWS
  11:30 YOUR TURN: LETTERS TO CBS NEWSSpecial
    Mid. MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN—Serial
  12:30 MOVIE—Thriller“The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver” (Made-for-TV; 1977)
    2:15 NEWS
10:30: Pilot. It doesn't get any more generic than that.


11 WHAS (LOUISVILLE) (CBS)
MORNING
   6 AM ED ALLEN—Exercise
     6:30 LOUISVILLE TONIGHT
   7 AM WEDNESDAY MORNING—Bob Scheiffer
   8 AM CAPTAIN KANGAROOGuest: Steve Martin
   9 AM SEARCH FOR TOMORROW
    9:30 YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS—Serial
 10 AM OMELET—Metz/Lyles
  10:30 LOVE OF LIFE—Serial
 11 AM PRICE IS RIGHT—Game
AFTERNOON
  Noon NEWS
  12:30 BOB BRAUN—Variety
    1:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial
    2:30 GUIDING LIGHT—Serial
    3:30 ONE DAY AT A TIME
   4 PM CAROL BURNETT AND FRIENDS—Comedy
    4:30 BRADY BUNCH—Comedy
   5 PM ANDY GRIFFITH—Comedy BW 
    5:30 M*A*S*H
EVENING
   6 PM NEWS
    6:30 CBS NEWS—Cronkite
   7 PM LOUISVILLE TONIGHT
    7:30 EDWARD & MRS. SIMPSON—DramaDebut
   9 PM ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR AWARDSSpecial: Host George Burns
  10:30 PILOT
 11 PM NEWS
  11:30 YOUR TURN: LETTERS TO CBS NEWSSpecial
    Mid. MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN—Serial
  12:30 MOVIE—Thriller“The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver” (Made-for-TV; 1977)
    2:15 NEWS
I really like this idea of a half-hour show dedicated to viewer feedback. I suppose social media has eclipsed the need for a show like this, but it would be nice to be able to filter out all the crude bloviating and get some thoughtful feedback.

12 WKRC (CINCINNATI) (ABC)
MORNING
   6 AM HEALTH FIELD
    6:30 ASK YOUR LAWYER
   7 AM GOOD MORNING AMERICA—David Hartman
   9 AM EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial
    9:30 $20,000 PYRAMID—GameJo Anne Worley, Sal Viscuso
 10 AM MIKE DOUGLASCo-host Anne Murray. Guests: Martin Sheen, Ruth Buzzi, the Spinners
 11 AM LAVERNE & SHIRLEY
  11:30 FAMILY FEUD—Game
AFTERNOON
  Noon EXTRA!
  12:30 RYAN’S HOPE—Serial
   1 PM ALL MY CHILDREN
   2 PM ONE LIFE TO LIVE
   3 PM GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial
   4 PM DINAH AND FRIENDS
    4:30 AFTERSCHOOL SPECIAL—ChildrenSpecial: "Make Believe Marriage"
    5:30 NEWS
EVENING
    6:30 ABC NEWS—Frank Reynolds
   7 PM TIC TAC DOUGH—Game
    7:30 PM MAGAZINE
   8 PM EIGHT IS ENOUGH
   9 PM CHARLIE’S ANGELS—Crime Drama
 10 PM VEGA$—Crime Drama
 11 PM NEWS
  11:30 LOVE BOAT
  12:40 BARETTA—Crime Drama
By this time, Charlie's Angels has only one of the original Angels left: Jaclyn Smith. I was never a fan of the show; remember that when it started, I was living in The World's Worst Town™. Nevertheless, it would be a shame if people only thought of the movie versions when they hear the name.


15 WKPC (LOUISVILLE) (PBS)
MORNING
    7:15 A.M. WEATHER
    7:30 SESAME STREET—Children
    8:30 ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children
 11 AM ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children
AFTERNOON
  Noon SESAME STREET—Children
   3 PM 3-2-1 CONTACT—Children
    3:30 HODGEPODGE LODGE
   4 PM SESAME STREET—Children
   5 PM MISTER ROGERS—Children
    5:30 ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children
EVENING
   6 PM 3-2-1 CONTACT—Children
    6:30 OVER EASY—Hugh Downs
   7 PM MacNEIL/LEHRER REPORT
    7:30 DICK CAVETTGuest: Elaine Stritch
   8 PM GREAT PERFORMANCES—Drama“Molière,” Part 3
   9 PM EVERY FOUR YEARS—DocumentaryDebut
 10 PM HUDSON RIVER—DocumentarySpecial
 11 PM DICK CAVETTGuest: Elaine Stritch
  11:30 ABC CAPTIONED NEWS
Every Four Years is a series covering the upcoming presidential election. Back then, it was like a promise, a guarantee. Nowadays it sounds more like a threat.

18 WLEX (LEXINGTON) (NBC)
MORNING
   6 AM PTL CLUB—Religion
   7 AM TODAY—Tom BrokawGuest: Otto Preminger
   9 AM PHIL DONAHUE
 10 AM CARD SHARKS—Game
  10:30 HOLLYWOOD SQUARESRobert Fuller, Bernie Kopell, Rich Little, Vincent Price, Leslie Uggams, Charlie Callas, Didi Conn
 11 AM HIGH ROLLERS—Game
  11:30 DOCTORS—Serial
AFTERNOON
  Noon NEWS
  12:30 BOB BRAUN—Variety
    1:30 WOMEN LIKE US—RollinSpecial: Host Betty Rollin
    2:30 ANOTHER WORLD
   4 PM SUPERMAN—Adventure
    4:30 MUNSTERS—Comedy BW 
   5 PM BEVERLY HILLBILLIES BW 
    5:30 NEWS
EVENING
   6 PM NEWS
    6:30 NBC NEWS—Chancellor/Brinkley
   7 PM SANFORD AND SON—Comedy
    7:30 CAROL BURNETT AND FRIENDS—Comedy
   8 PM REAL PEOPLE
   9 PM DIFF’RENT STROKES
    9:30 HELLO, LARRY
 10 PM BEST OF SATURDAY NIGHT LIVEHostess: Lily Tomlin. Musical guest: James Taylor
 11 PM NEWS
  11:30 TONIGHTGuest host David Letterman, Linda Lavin, Jose Feliciano
   1 AM TOMORROW—Snyder
Otto Preminger, a guest on Today, was one of the great film directors of all time, and an occasional actor. His last directing job was the 1979 movie The Human Factor, based on the novel by Graham Greene. I wonder if this appearance was on behalf of the movie; otherwise, I can't think of why he'd be on the show.

19 WXIX (CINCINNATI) (Ind.)
MORNING
    6:15 PERSPECTIVE
   7 AM ROMPER ROOM—Children
    7:30 BUGS AND PORKY—Cartoons
   8 AM WOODY WOODPECKER—Cartoons
    8:30 FLINTSTONES—Cartoon
   9 AM TOM & JERRY—Cartoons
    9:30 STAR BLAZERS—Cartoon
 10 AM DENNIS THE MENACE BW 
  10:30 BEWITCHED—Comedy
 11 AM MY THREE SONS—Comedy
  11:30 COURTSHIP OF EDDIE’S FATHER
AFTERNOON
  Noon MEDICAL CENTER
   1 PM MOVIE—Comedy“Paper Lion” (1968)
   3 PM POPEYE—Cartoons
    3:30 FLINTSTONES—Cartoon
   4 PM TOM & JERRY—Cartoons
    4:30 GILLIGAN’S ISLAND
   5 PM BRADY BUNCH—Comedy
    5:30 MARY TYLER MOORE—Comedy
EVENING
   6 PM CAROL BURNETT AND FRIENDS—Comedy
    6:30 HAPPY DAYS AGAIN—Comedy
   7 PM M*A*S*H
    7:30 ALL IN THE FAMILY
   8 PM MOVIE—Comedy“The Quiet Man” (1952)
  10:30 CROSS-WITS—GameGuests: Gordon Jump, Phyllis Diller, Peter Isacksen, Vicki Lawrence
 11 PM LIFE AND TIMES OF EDDIE ROBERTS—Serial
  11:30 M*A*S*H
    Mid. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE
  12:30 BARETTA—Crime Drama
Paper Lion, the 1:00 p.m. movie, is based on the wonderful  non-fiction book of the same name by George Plimpton. It has its moments, but aside from the fact it changes the facts somewhat, it asks us to buy Alan Alda as Plimpton. Or, rather, Alan Alda as someone trying to be a professional football player. Sorry, but I ain't buying it.

27 WKYT (LEXINGTON) (CBS)
MORNING
   7 AM WEDNESDAY MORNING—Bob Scheiffer
   8 AM CAPTAIN KANGAROOGuest: Steve Martin
   9 AM BUGS BUNNY AND FRIENDS
    9:30 FLINTSTONES—Cartoon
 10 AM BEAT THE CLOCK—GameBob Seagren, Don Sutton
  10:30 WHEW!—GameJay Johnson, Joan Prather
  10:55 CBS NEWS—Edwards
 11 AM PRICE IS RIGHT—Game
AFTERNOON
  Noon LOVE OF LIFE—Serial
  12:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial
   1 PM YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS—Serial
    1:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial
    2:30 GUIDING LIGHT—Serial
    3:30 ONE DAY AT A TIME
   4 PM GOMER PYLE, USMC
    4:30 MY THREE SONS—Comedy
   5 PM ANDY GRIFFITH—Comedy BW 
    5:30 NEWS
EVENING
    6:30 CBS NEWS—Cronkite
   7 PM PM MAGAZINE
    7:30 M*A*S*H
   8 PM MONTE CARLO CIRCUSSpecial: Hosts Telly Savalas, Lynda Carter 
   9 PM ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR AWARDSSpecial: Host George Burns
  10:30 PILOT
 11 PM NEWS
  11:30 YOUR TURN: LETTERS TO CBS NEWSSpecial
    Mid. MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN—Serial
  12:30 MOVIE—Thriller“The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver” (Made-for-TV; 1977)
It's an all-sports edition of Beat the Clock, with Olympic gold medal-winning pole vaulter Bob Seagren and Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Don Sutton.

32 WLKY (LOUISVILLE) (ABC)
MORNING
    6:30 ROMPER ROOM—Children
   7 AM GOOD MORNING AMERICA—David Hartman
   9 AM PHIL DONAHUE
 10 AM GREEN ACRES—Comedy
  10:30 EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial
 11 AM LAVERNE & SHIRLEY
  11:30 FAMILY FEUD—Game
AFTERNOON
  Noon $20,000 PYRAMID—GameJo Anne Worley, Sal VIscuso
  12:30 RYAN’S HOPE—Serial
   1 PM ALL MY CHILDREN
   2 PM ONE LIFE TO LIVE
   3 PM GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial
   4 PM HAPPY DAYS AGAIN—Comedy
    4:30 AFTERSCHOOL SPECIAL—ChildrenSpecial: "Make Believe Marriage"
    5:30 NEWS
EVENING
   6 PM ABC NEWS—Frank Reynolds
    6:30 TIC TAC DOUGH—Game
   7 PM JOKER’S WILD—Game
    7:30 MAKE ME LAUGH
   8 PM EIGHT IS ENOUGH
   9 PM CHARLIE’S ANGELS—Crime Drama
 10 PM VEGA$—Crime Drama
 11 PM NEWS
  11:30 MAKE ME LAUGH—Game
    Mid. LOVE BOAT
    1:10 BARETTA—Crime Drama
If one were to look at the always-reliable Wikipedia entry on Make Me Laugh, they might get the idea that this was one of the longest-running shows on television. "First episode date: March 20, 1958. Final episode date: February 10, 1998." That, of course, is before you actually read the entry, and find out that the 40 years cover four different versions of the show. This one, the second version, is hosted by Bobby Van and runs from 1979-80. Go here to find out what it was all about.


41 WDRB (LOUISVILLE) (Ind.)
MORNING
    7:45 NEWS
   8 AM NEW ZOO REVUE
    8:30 BUGS BUNNY—Cartoon
   9 AM PTL CLUB—Religion
 11 AM NEWS/INTROSPECT
  11:30 HEALTH FIELD
AFTERNOON
  Noon 700 CLUB—Religion
    1:30 ROSS BAGLEY—Religion
   2 PM PARTRIDGE FAMILY—Comedy
    2:30 BULLWINKLE—Cartoon
   3 PM PRESTO AND FRIENDS
    4:30 GILLIGAN’S ISLAND
   5 PM BEWITCHED—Comedy
    5:30 I LOVE LUCY—Comedy BW 
EVENING
   6 PM SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN—Adventure
   7 PM GOOD TIMES—Comedy
    7:30 SANFORD AND SON—Comedy
   8 PM JIM ROCKFORD, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR—Crime Drama
   9 PM MERV GRIFFINGuests: Bill Cosby, Jack Jones, the Dancing Machine ensemble, Gov Robert List (R-NV), the Duncan Sisters, backgammon champion Wayne Araki, Joe Williams ;   10:30 ODD COUPLE—Comedy
 11 PM BENNY HILL—Comedy
  11:30 MOVIE—Comedy “Billie” (1965)
You might wonder why Merv has the governor of Nevada as a special guest. It's because Merv's in Las Vegas this week.

62 WTVQ (LEXINGTON) (ABC)
MORNING
    5:30 700 CLUB—Religion
   7 AM GOOD MORNING AMERICA—David Hartman
   9 AM GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial
 10 AM IRONSIDE—Crime Drama
 11 AM LAVERNE & SHIRLEY
  11:30 FAMILY FEUD—Game
AFTERNOON
  Noon $20,000 PYRAMID—GameJo Anne Worley, Sal VIscuso
  12:30 RYAN’S HOPE—Serial
   1 PM ALL MY CHILDREN
   2 PM ONE LIFE TO LIVE
   3 PM BRADY BUNCH—Comedy
    3:30 TOM & JERRY—Cartoons
   4 PM DR. WHO—Science Fiction
    4:30 AFTERSCHOOL SPECIAL—ChildrenSpecial: "Make Believe Marriage"
    5:30 NEWS
EVENING
   6 PM ABC NEWS—Frank Reynolds
    6:30 TIC TAC DOUGH—Game
   7 PM HAPPY DAYS AGAIN—Comedy
    7:30 NEWLYWED GAME
   8 PM EIGHT IS ENOUGH
   9 PM CHARLIE’S ANGELS—Crime Drama
 10 PM VEGA$—Crime Drama
 11 PM NEWS
  11:30 LOVE BOAT
  12:40 BARETTA—Crime Drama
That's Doctor Who to you.


 E  KENTUCKY EDUCATIONAL NETWORK
MORNING
    8:15 A.M. WEATHER
AFTERNOON
    3:30 OVER EASY—Hugh DownsGuest: Sam Levenson
   4 PM SESAME STREET—Children
   5 PM MISTER ROGERS—Children
    5:30 ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children
EVENING
   6 PM 3-2-1 CONTACT—Children
    6:30 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
   7 PM MacNEIL/LEHRER REPORT
    7:30 1980 KENTUCKY GENERAL ASSEMBLY
    8:30 DICK CAVETTGuest: Elaine Stritch
   9 PM GREAT PERFORMANCES—Drama“Molière,” Part 3
 10 PM EVERY FOUR YEARS—DocumentaryDebut
The Kentucky Educational Network comprises seven stations throughout the state. Until we get to the cable era, this is the only time I've run across a letter instead of a number in the channel indicator. You learn something new every day. TV