Mitchell Hadley's Blog: It's About TV!, page 126

This week in TV Guide: December 18, 1971

Let's start off the week with a couple of true Christmas classics.

First up is Richard Williams' magnificent animation version of A Christmas Carol. TV Guide's pictorial takes us behind the scenes to show the process behind the animated special. The animators base their drawings on John Leach's illustrations in the first edition of Dickens' story, as well as old engravings of 19th-century London. Studies are made on things even as small as the items on Scrooge's desk.

And then there's one of the highlights of the special: the stunning opening shot, in which "[t]he camera will focus on Scrooge's home and then pan dramatically down the facade of the building to the lighted window of the room occupied by the old skinflint." An artist works on the details of the scene, "using an old engraving as his source of authentic architectural details." Best of all, perhaps, the story features Alastair Sim recreating his 1951 film role as Scrooge; Michael Hordern, who played Marley's Ghost in the movie, does so here as well. Sir Michael Redgrave is the narrator.

The special airs Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. CT on ABC, and in a mere half-hour it does a remarkable job of condensing the story without losing any of the important details, let alone the flavor. At the end of the article, the author posits that viewers will decide "whether it is a 'Carol' to be remembered." The Motion Picture Academy certainly thought so; shortly after the airing, A Christmas Carol was released in theaters, and wound up winning the 1972 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.* Viewers thought so as well; despite its brevity, it remains one of the most-loved of all Carol adaptations. Richard Williams discusses it below:


*Not everyone was a fan, however; controversy about the eligibility of a film that had been initially broadcast on television resulted in a change to Academy rules, requiring all films to premiere in theaters first. We might think of it today as the "Netflix Rule."

Now we come to the CBS movie special at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, one which TV Guide labels "A potential Christmas classic," and they're not wrong. It's The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, the pilot for The Waltons, written by and based on the novel by Earl Hamner Jr., with Academy Award winner Patricia Neal as Olivia Walton, Richard Thomas as John-Boy, and Andrew Duggan as John Walton. Ellen Corby, Judy Norton, and Mary Elizabeth McDonough will join Thomas when The Waltons becomes a weekly series in September 1972.

As Dick Adler writes in his profile of Patricia Neal, this is a homecoming in more ways than one. It's the first time she's really been before the cameras in Hollywood since her trio of massive strokes in 1965; The Subject Was Roses, her storied comeback after a three-year recovery, was shot in New York. Having been born in a small Kentucky town, she can identify not only with Hamner's characters, but having lived through the Depression, having lived through a Christmas with "no money in the house, snow outside and FDR on the radio." And though she's done several dramas for British TV (she's lived for many years in England with her husband, writer Roald Dahl ), this is her first appearance on American television in over a decade. It is, to be sure, a memorable one.

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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. 

We begin Cleveland Amory's review of McCloud with the image of Dennis Weaver galloping down a New York street while riding a horse. (I don't imagine it was Wall Street; otherwise, he would have been riding either a bull or a bear.) Worry not, Cleve assures us, for while the show is not played narrowly, it's not played that broadly, either. But, he says, it is played well. The cop from the sticks—or, at least, Taos, New Mexico—teaches the city boys a thing or two. "It's kind of a one-joke premise, but these days, what television premises aren't?"

The joys of McCloud begin with Dennis Weaver, who plays "a terrific country slicker." He gets the nut cases, "but what he does with them makes wonderful little comic vignettes." Case in point: a man asking for police protection because of constant assaults by women. "With them," he says, "I am a sex object. "Replies McCloud, with wonderfully live deadpan, 'Well, it's a curse, all right.'" Weaver is aided by "the wonderful exasperation of J.D. Cannon, as McCloud's chief."

Not all the stories are plausible; in fact, most of them strain some level of credulity. But, in these days when so much of television looks and sounds so much alike, "there's something about that li'l ol' boy that relieves it—even when you can't quite believe it."

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Friday is Christmas Eve, and it's the last chance for weekly series to air their Christmas-themed episodes in. Let's take a look at a few of them.

Remember Getting Together, the Partridge Family spin-off starring Bobby Sherman and Wes Stern? Here's Saturday's episode (7:00 p.m., ABC), "Tale of an old-fashioned Christmas... in a run-down mountain cabin without heat, electricity or plumbing." And on Arnie (8:30 p.m, CBS), "A holiday tale about giving and receiving traces Arnie's anxiety over a Christmas bonus." Nothing for Mission: Impossible, though it wouldn't be hard to come up with something: "Responding to the dying declaration of a mob hitman, Phelps and his IMF team launch a scheme to protect a toymaker from being taken over by an Eastern syndicate." See how easy it is?

On Monday's daytime rerun of The Dick Van Dyke Show (4:30 p.m., KSTP), "'The Alan Brady Show Presents' a Christmas musicale" in which Laura joins the writing staff in showing off their talents. One of the best scenes features the four of them performing "I Am a Fine Musician."


On Adam-12 (7:00 p.m., NBC) reruns it's annual Christmas episode: "Tales of Christmas: a robbed Santa, an unwed mother caught shoplifting, an infant lost in a mountain area." Henry Fonda's single-season police-family drama The Smith Family (8:00 p.m., ABC) invites viewers to spend "Christmas with the Smith Family: the children are out of town, Betty has a touch of the blues and Chad's handling everything from shoplifting to a jail break." Hollywood Television Theatre hearkens back to the Golden Age of Radio Drama (Thursday, 8:00 p.m., PBS) with a re-creation of Norman Corwin's radio verse play "The Plot to Overthrow Christmas," about the Devil's plan to kill off Santa Claus. John McIntyre plays the Devil, who's joined in his efforts by Nero, Ivan the Terrible, Caligula, and Simon Legree. I've heard the radio version; it may sound like a comedy, but it isn't. And Christmas Eve brings perhaps the best of them all, The Odd Couple's classic Christmas episode (8:30 p.m., ABC) as "Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' gets the comic treatment: Oscar's dreaming that he's Scrooge in a nightmare populated by Felix and their poker-playing pals." (Read more about it  here .)

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The holidays also mean college football bowl season, starting Saturday with CBS's coverage of the Sun Bowl (12:00 noon), pitting LSU against Iowa State. And with the NFL regular season at a close, the Liberty Bowl slides into the Monday Night Football timeslot (8:00 p.m, ABC), pitting Arkansas against Tennessee.

What else have we got here? Well, Edith Efron's visit to Boston's respected PBS station WGBH yields this interesting observation from Greg Harney, executive producer of The Advocates, which I remember has being a very interesting show: "In our first year, we mostly had liberal advocates, activist types. It dawned on me we weren't clarifying the issues, we were muddying them up! We were trying to polarize within the liberal position! All we were attracting were the Eastern-liberal-leftist viewers!" So, Harney hired a strong conservative advocate, William Rusher , publisher of National Review. "It turns out that Rusher and [William F.] Buckley aren't splinter-groups spokesmen at all! They represent the point of view of millions of people. We've doubled our mail. And the show has become one of the few that he whole PBS system cherishes." They were shocked, shocked, to find out there was another legitimate point of view out there, and that, my friends, is how Boris Johnson and Donald Trump wind up being elected.

The Doan Report mentions that Merv Griffin's return to syndication with Metromedia after his run at CBS could be trouble for—David Frost. Merv will take Frost's prime-time slots on Metromedia's channels in New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., and Frost could wind up being moved to late evening, where he could wind up in competition with Johnny Carson and Dick Cavett. Group W says the show is not in jeopardy, but it will go off the air next year. There's also a report on cable-TV, where the future appears bright; the Alfred E. Sloan Foundation says that cable could bring "as many as 40 channels into 40 to 60 per cent of all American homes," and that the competition with broadcast TV will be good for viewers. And ABC is talking about cutting commercials back on Saturday morning kids' shows, from six minutes per half hour to four. The reason for the the discussion? The FTC is cracking down on children's TV, and ABC is floating the idea in hopes that the Commission picks up on it; they're "not likely" to do it on their own "for competitive reasons."

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Saturday at 2:00 p.m., WTCN carries the 40th Annual Santa Claus Lane Parade, taped November 25. Mickey Mouse is the star, along with Pat Boone, Johnny Mathis, Kent McCord, Gisele McKenzie, Wayne Newton, Lou Rawls, Robert Reed, Rudy Vallee, and the casts of Arnie, Room 222, The Doris Day Show, Nanny and the Professor, and many others! This parade is still around, known today as the Hollywood Christmas Parade . True story: Gene Autry, riding in the parade one year, heard a couple of excited children pointing further down the parade route and crying, "Here comes Santa Claus! Here comes Santa Claus!" And Gene, as smart a businessman as ever there was, thought to himself, "That gives me an idea . . ."

Speaking of Mickey Mouse, he's back Sunday in the live-action "Disney on Parade" on The Wonderful World of Disney (6:30 p.m., NBC). On Masterpiece Theatre (8:00 p.m., PBS), it's the final episode of Tolstoy's "Resurrection"; next week, it's a two-hour adaptation of "Cold Comfort Farm" starring none other than Alastair Sim; too bad that couldn't have been on this week, isn't it? Will Geer is the guest star on Bonanza (8:00 p.m., NBC); the next time we see him, he'll be sliding into Edgar Bergen's role as Grandpa on The Waltons.

Monday, Burt Lancaster hosts An American Christmas: Words and Music (7:00 p.m., PBS), with James Earl Jones, the Columbus Boychoir, the Harlem Children's Chorus, a series of short films, and more. That's followed at 8:00 p.m. by the special Christmas in Boys' Town, with the Boys' Town Choir.

Tuesday, NBC follows President Nixon around the White House for December 6, 1971: A Day in the Presidency (6:30 p.m., hosted by John Chancellor). What was going on back then? Henry Kissinger talks to the president about the India-Pakistan conflict (they're joined later by General William Westmoreland, Secretary of State William Rogers, and CIA director Richard Helms); Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew discuss a revenue-sharing bill; and Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau arrives for a conference and state dinner. At 8:30 p.m., CBS preempts Cannon for The Comedians, with Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Tony Randall, Don Adams, Peggy Cass, and Ron Carey.

Wednesday night at 9:00 p.m., Notre Dame travels to Los Angeles to take on UCLA in one of college basketball's great rivalries (WTCN/syndicated, probably by TVS; since school is on Christmas break, I would have stayed up to watch this). It's the first time the two have played since the Fighting Irish ended UCLA's 44-game winning streak in January; UCLA, led by Bill Walton and Henry Bibby, roars out to a 53-16 halftime lead, en route to a 114-56 win. The Bruins won't lose again until January 1974, when their 88-game winning streak ends, once again at the hands of Notre Dame.

Thursday night CBS continues the tradition of year-end reviews with part one of a two-part look back (8:00 p.m.), with Walter Cronkite leading the correspondents on a survey of the economy, the Supreme Court, prison riots, and jockeying for the upcoming elections. At 9:00 p.m., Jonathan Winters plays a "wisecracking Santa" (is there any other kind?) on The Dean Martin Show; and at 12:30 a.m., David Frost's guests are Joy Piccolo, Gale Sayers, and Dick Butkus—remember, it was just last month that Brian's Song premiered on ABC.

Friday is Christmas Eve, and CBS presents a rerun of the touching J.T. (7:00 p.m.), the touching Peabody-award winning story of a shy black youngster (Kevin Hooks) determined to nurse a mangy, one-eyed and half-starving alley cat back to health. I wonder why Hallmark doesn't do any movies like this?


If you've already seen it, check out Mitch Miller's Christmas show (7:00 p.m., WTCN), with Leslie Uggams and Diana Trask; it was originally broadcast in 1961. Don't ask me why, but I distinctly remember we were watching this before doing our Christmas Eve tree. As we pass into late night, with Santa coming our way, NBC gives Johnny Carson the night off; first, Skitch Henderson hosts a half-hour of holiday music with the Robert Shaw chorale (10:30 p.m.), followed by Midnight Mass live from St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. CBS's traditional church service is the candlelight service from the True Light Lutheran Church in New York City's Chinatown (11:00 p.m.), followed at midnight by Christmas gospel music from the Greater Zion Church of God in Christ in Philadelphia. And what better possible way could there be to end Christmas Eve than with KSTP's showing of Miracle on 34th Street, the greatest Christmas movie ever? That's a gift anyone would be happy to find under the tree on Christmas morning. TV  

Around the dial

No more secret missions for work this year, so let's get back to basics and see what's new in the classic TV blogosphere.

First up is David at Comfort TV, who gives us a tantalizing idea of what his Brady Bunch book might have been, offering us a sample chapter . That's a book I would have had on my bookshelf.

A joke in the Hadley household is that if a television episode has a lot of speechifying and pontificating, it must have been written by Sterling Silliphant. Seriously, though, Sillliphant was a very talented writer, as Jack reminds us at bare•bones e-zine with his Hitchcock Project look at the outstanding first-season episode "Never Again." 

Let's go across the pond to Cult TV Blog, where John reviews an episode of the surreal British sketch comedy show of the 1970s,  The Goonies . I think the "Playgirl Club" sketch will give you a pretty good idea of what the show's all about.

My primary exposure to the British actor John Thaw was through the superb 1990s detective series Inspector Morse, but Rick at Classic Film & TV Café points out that he should also be remembered for his work in a much different series, Kavanagh, Q.C.

The Secret Sanctum of Captain Video has a fitting tribute to the late Rene Auberjonois , who was best known from Benson and Deep Space Nine, but I recall him as well from some fine documentary voiceovers through the years.

Meanwhile, A Shroud of Thoughts looks at the life and career of actor Ron Leibman , whom I still remember from Kaz, but he, too, did much, much more.

At Garroway at Large, Jodie takes a look at a small book called You Don’t Say! …Or Do You? Read about the role this book had in the career of a young man named Dave Garroway.

It's time for another The Twilight Zone Magazine flashback at The Twilight Zone Vortex, and Jordon's looking at the August, 1982 issue, one that includes Ben Herndon's interview with former TZ producer Douglas Heyes.

I'm always kind of amused to see Death Valley Days described in TV Guide listings as "drama," when, as Television's New Frontier: the 1960s points out, it could be considered perhaps "the first realistic western TV program." Read here about the 1961 season.

I always enjoyed TV Guide's year-end look back, and when it was the review of a decade, that made it even better. The Television Obscurities review of 1989 continues with the December 9, 1989 issue that looks at a very active decade.

Tomorrow's active as well, so be sure to stop back and see what's what. TV  

A "Christmas Carol" the likes of which you've never seen

INT. A ROOM - MORNING.

SCROOGE lies slumped on the floor, his hands locked around the bedpost. For a moment the reality of the situation escapes him; then, looking around, he realizes that he is in his own bedroom. There are the bedcurtains; they haven't been torn down after all! The walls, the pictures - they're all his!


SCROOGEMy bed! My room! I'm alive! 
(Beginning to dance around the room)
I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future! The Spirits of all three will live within me. I'm as light as a feather, I'm as happy as an angel, I'm as merry as a schoolboy.
(He staggers slightly, as if lightheaded)
I'm as giddy as a drunken man. But what day is it? I don't know how long I've been among the Spirits. I don't know anything!

Hearing the chimes of the church bells outside, SCROOGE stops. 


SCROOGEIs it? Could it still be Christmas Day?

He runs to the window and throws it open, and he is stopped in his tracks. His mouth falls open. If he was confused a moment ago, now he is utterly shocked.

CUT TO:
EXT. STREET OUTSIDE SCROOGE'S WINDOW. SCROOGE'S P.O.V.

Everything that is familiar to SCROOGE is gone. Across from his home rises a large glass skyscraper. Below him are people walking on sidewalks lining the sides of paved streets, wearing close in a style he has never before seen. Moving across his view from right to left is a red double-decker bus. As his eyes dart back and forth he sees a jet aircraft streaking across the clear blue sky, the sunlight glinting off its silver skin.

CLOSE SHOT SCROOGE

His lips are moving, but nothing comes out. He shakes his head, his hands pressed against either side. Finally he speaks.


SCROOGEIt...it...it must be the result of being with the Spirits. Well, yes, a shock to the system such as this is bound to cause confusion. Yes, that must be it.

SHOT OF STREET OUTSIDE WINDOW. WE SEE SOMEONE WALKING PAST SCROOGE'S HOME.

CLOSE SHOT SCROOGE.


SCROOGEHere, let me ask that young woman out there.
(Raising his voice)
Excue me, miss. Can you tell me what is today?

MEDIUM SHOT PEDESTRIAN. 

We can see that despite the long hair, the young woman is, in fact, a YOUNG MAN.


YOUNG MAN
What? You talkin' to me?


SCROOGEExcuse me, my good man, I meant no offense. It's just - it's just...
(Motions to head, tugs on own hair)
Your hair, I'm afraid, well I mistook you for a young lady.


YOUNG MANWhatever.
(Under his breath)
Sod off, old man.

He begins to walk away.


SCROOGEWait!


YOUNG MAN(Impatiently)
Yeah?


SCROOGECan you tell me what day today is?


YOUNG MANWhat day it is? Are you barmy?


SCROOGE(Insistent)
Today! What day is today?


YOUNG MANWhy, It's Christmas Day. Whatdy'a think?


SCROOGE(As if to himself)
Then it is still Christmas Day. I haven't missed it. But - (looking around at the inexplicable sights) what is all this?
(To YOUNG MAN)
What kind of place is this?

CLOSE SHOT YOUNG MAN


YOUNG MANWhat kind of nutter are you? This is London!


SCROOGE(Confused)
London?

The YOUNG MAN again begins to walk away.


SCROOGE(Suddenly)
Young man!

LONG VIEW YOUNG MAN, AS SEEN FROM OVER SCROOGE'S SHOULDER.


YOUNG MAN(Exasperated)
Now what?


SCROOGE(Desperately)
The year. What year is it?


YOUNG MANWhat year is it? First he wants to know the day, now the year. You really musta got rat-arsed last night!

CLOSE SHOT SCROOGE


SCROOGENever mind all that. What year is it.

CLOSE SHOT YOUNG MAN


YOUNG MAN(Deciding he may as well humor SCROOGE)
Why, it's 1993!
(Sotto voce)
Wanker!

CLOSE SHOT SCROOGE - HIS CONFUSED EXPRESSION GIVES WAY TO HORROR AS HE LISTENS TO THE VOICE ECHOING SUDDENLY IN THE ROOM.


VOICE OF GHOST(Mocking)
Yes, Ebenezer, you asked to be returned to Christmas Day, and I have done that. But you didn't say which Christmas!
(Laughs malevolently)


NARRATOR(Voice over)
Presenting Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge, the world's most famous miser.

FAST PAN AROUND SCROOGE'S BEDROOM TO ROD SERLING, IN SUIT AND TIE, HIS HANDS FOLDED IN FRONT OF HIM, A COPY OF "A CHRISTMAS CAROL" TUCKED UNDER HIS ARM.


ROD SERLINGFor over a century, every Christmas, the story of Scrooge's journey through his own personal reclamation has played out, in book, on stage and in film, thrilling millions of people around the world. But whenever you enter the ghostly fog of time travel, you're apt to discover that the rules can change without warning, and leave you in a place you weren't expecting. Tonight Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge is about to find out that clocks can run forward as well as backward, that the end is sometimes the beginning, and that this particular time, the road from ruin to redemption will take him through: The Twilight Zone.

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Admit it: you'd like to see the rest of this story sometime, wouldn't you? TV  

What's on TV? Wednesday, December 13, 1967

There are a number of specials on tonight, but only one that into the Christmas category, and that's the Andy Williams Christmas Show. Andy doesn't have a regular weekly series this season, but you can count on him to be back for the holidays, because you can't have Christmas without Andy, his brothers, and the Osmonds. Over at ABC, The Desperate Hours is part of the network's occasional David Susskind-produced series of classic movie remakes; it stars George Segal in the Humphrey Bogart role, with Arthur Hill replacing Fredric March as the protagonist. Better to stick with the original, I think. And while it isn't a special, having Groucho Marx host Kraft Music Hall feels like an event, doesn't it?



 2  KTCA (EDUC.)
Morning
    9:00 CLASSROOM—Education
  11:30 ARNOLD TOYNBEE—Interview
Afternoon
  12:00 FILM FEATURE
  12:35 CLASSROOM
    3:00 SUPERVISION CONCEPTS
    3:40 TEACHING SPANISH
    4:00 INNOVATION
    4:30 CONTINENTAL COMMENT
    5:00 KINDERGARTEN—Marron
    5:30 TEACHING ENGLISH
Evening
    6:30 SUPERVISION PSYCHOLOGY
    7:00 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE
    7:30 INQUIRY—Richard Vogel
    8:00 LAW INSTRUCTION   COLOR 
    8:30 HAMLINE UNIVERSITY
    9:00 TO BE ANNOUNCED
    9:30 STUDENT MIND
  10:00 PROFILE—Discussion
  10:30 ANTIQUES—Education


 3  KDAL (DULUTH) (CBS)
Morning
    7:00 NEWS—Joseph Benti   COLOR 
    7:55 NEWS
    8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO—Children   COLOR 
    9:00 CANDID CAMERA—Comedy
    9:30 BEVERLY HILLBILLIES—Comedy
  10:00 CHRISTMAS SHOPPER
  10:30 DICK VAN DYKE
  11:00 LOVE OF LIFE—Serial   COLOR 
  11:25 NEWS   COLOR 
  11:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial   COLOR 
  11:45 GUIDING LIGHT—Serial   COLOR 
Afternoon
  12:00 TOWN AND COUNTRY—Becker
  12:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial   COLOR 
    1:00 LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING   COLOR 
    1:30 HOUSE PARTY   COLOR Guest: Jack Bailey
    2:00 TO TELL THE TRUTH—Game   COLOR 
    2:25 NEWS   COLOR 
    2:30 EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial   COLOR 
    3:00 SECRET STORM—Serial   COLOR 
    3:30 MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety   COLOR Guests: Barbara Rush, Irvin Shulman, John Raitt, the Allen Brothers, Irwin Corey
    5:00 McHALE’S NAVY—Comedy
    5:30 NEWS—Walter Cronkite   COLOR 
Evening
    6:00 NEWS
    6:30 LOST IN SPACE—Adventure   COLOR 
    7:30 BEVERLY HILLBILLIES—Comedy   COLOR 
    8:00 GREEN ACRES   COLOR 
    8:30 HE & SHE—Comedy   COLOR 
    9:00 DUNDEE AND THE CULHANE—Western   COLOR Last show of the series. On Dec. 27, Jonathan Winters brings a weekly variety hour to this time spot.
  10:00 NEWS
  10:25 EDITOR’S CHOICE
  10:30 WAGON TRAIN—Western   COLOR 
  12:00 RIFLEMAN—Western


 4  WCCO (CBS)
Morning
    6:00 SUNRISE SEMESTER—Education
    6:30 SIEGFRIED—Children
    7:00 CLANCY—Children   COLOR 
    8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO—Children   COLOR 
    9:00 DR. YOUNGDAHL
    9:30 MERV GRIFFIN—Variety   COLOR Guests: Dick Gregory, Joey Villa, Lillian Briggs, Look All-American football team
  10:00 ANDY GRIFITH
  10:30 DICK VAN DYKE
  11:00 LOVE OF LIFE—Serial   COLOR 
  11:25 NEWS   COLOR 
  11:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial   COLOR 
  11:55 GUIDING LIGHT—Serial   COLOR 
Afternoon
  12:00 NEWS   COLOR 
  12:20 SOMETHING SPECIAL   COLOR 
  12:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial   COLOR 
    1:00 LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING   COLOR 
    1:30 HOUSE PARTY   COLOR Guest: Jack Bailey
    2:00 TO TELL THE TRUTH—Game   COLOR  
    2:25 NEWS   COLOR 
    2:30 EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial   COLOR 
    3:00 SECRET STORM—Serial   COLOR 
    3:30 BEVERLY HILLBILLIES—Comedy
    4:00 MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety   COLOR Guests: George Jessel, the Clancy Brothers and, Tommy Makem, the Barry Sisters, Mr. Blackwell, Trudy Baker
    5:30 NEWS—Walter Cronkite   COLOR 
Evening
    6:00 NEWS   COLOR 
    6:30 LOST IN SPACE—Adventure   COLOR 
    7:30 BEVERLY HILLBILLIES—Comedy   COLOR 
    8:00 GREEN ACRES   COLOR 
    8:30 HE & SHE—Comedy   COLOR 
    9:00 DUNDEE AND THE CULHANE—Western   COLOR Last show of the series. On Dec. 27, Jonathan Winters brings a weekly variety hour to this time spot.
  10:00 NEWS   COLOR 
  10:30 BUD GRANT—Football   COLOR 
  10:40 MARSHAL DILLON—Western
  11:10 MOVIE—Adventure   COLOR “Zarak” (1957)


 5  KSTP (NBC)
Morning
    6:15 DAVID STONE—Music   COLOR 
    6:30 CITY AND COUNTRY   COLOR 
    6:55 DOCTOR’S HOUSE CALL—James Rogers Fox   COLOR 
    7:00 TODAY   COLOR Guests: Willie Morris , Frank Conroy ,  Ted DeGrazia
    9:00 SNAP JUDGMENT   COLOR Guests: Phyllis Diller, Gene Rayburn
    9:25 NEWS   COLOR 
    9:30 CONCENTRATION—Game   COLOR 
  10:00 PERSONALITY   COLOR Celebrities: Pat Carroll, Joan Fontaine, Arthur Treacher, Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows
  10:30 HOLLYWOOD SQUARES—Game   COLOR Guest celebrities: Bill Bixby, Glenn Ford, Art Linkletter, Della Reese, Vivian Vance
  11:00 JEOPARDY—Game   COLOR 
  11:30 EYE GUESS—Game   COLOR 
  11:45 NEWS   COLOR 
Afternoon
  12:00 NEWS   COLOR 
  12:15 DIALING FOR DOLLARS—Game   COLOR 
  12:30 LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game   COLOR 
    1:00 DAYS OF OUR LIVES—Serial   COLOR 
    1:30 DOCTORS—Serial   COLOR 
    2:00 ANOTHER WORLD—Serial   COLOR 
    2:30 YOU DON’T SAY!—Game   COLOR 
    3:00 MATCH GAME   COLOR Guests: Shelly Berman, Carol Lawrence
    3:25 NEWS   COLOR 
    3:30 DIALING FOR DOLLARS—Game   COLOR 
    4:30 OF LANDS AND SEAS   COLOR 
    5:25 NEWS—Gene Berry   COLOR 
    5:30 NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley   COLOR 
Evening
    6:00 NEWS   COLOR 
    6:30 VIRGINIAN   COLOR 
    8:00 MUSIC HALL   COLOR Host: Groucho Marx. Guests: Soupy Sales, Dick Cavett, Burns and Schreiber, Clair and McMahon, Times Square Two
    9:00 ANDY WILLIAMS—Variety   SPECIAL    COLOR 
  10:00 NEWS C
  10:30 JOHNNY CARSON—Variety   COLOR Guest: John Glenn
  12:00 SKI SCENE—Morris   COLOR 
  12:15 MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY   COLOR 


 6  WDSM (DULUTH) (NBC)
Morning
    7:00 TODAY   COLOR Guests:  Willie Morris ,  Frank Conroy ,  Ted DeGrazia
    9:00 JACK LA LANNE
    9:25 NEWS   COLOR 
    9:30 CONCENTRATION—Game   COLOR 
  10:00 PERSONALITY   COLOR Celebrities: Pat Carroll, Joan Fontaine, Arthur Treacher, Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows
  10:30 HOLLYWOOD SQUARES—Game   COLOR Guest celebrities: Bill Bixby, Glenn Ford, Art Linkletter, Della Reese, Vivian Vance
  11:00 JEOPARDY—Game   COLOR 
  11:30 EYE GUESS—Game   COLOR 
  11:55 NEWS   COLOR 
Afternoon
  12:00 VIRGINIA GRAHAM—Interviews
  12:30 LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game   COLOR 
    1:00 DAYS OF OUR LIVES—Serial   COLOR 
    1:30 DOCTORS—Serial   COLOR 
    2:00 ANOTHER WORLD—Serial   COLOR 
    2:30 YOU DON’T SAY!—Game   COLOR 
    3:00 MATCH GAME   COLOR Guests: Shelly Berman, Carol Lawrence
    3:25 NEWS   COLOR 
    3:30 SNAP JUDGMENT   COLOR 
    3:55 BOZO AND HIS PALS   COLOR 
    4:55 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES—Game   COLOR 
    5:25 BUSINESS BOARD   COLOR 
    5:30 NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley   COLOR 
Evening
    6:00 NEWS, ROCKY TELLER   COLOR 
    6:30 VIRGINIAN   COLOR 
    8:00 MUSIC HALL   COLOR Host: Groucho Marx. Guests: Soupy Sales, Dick Cavett, Burns and Schreiber, Clair and McMahon, Times Square Two
    9:00 ANDY WILLIAMS—Variety   SPECIAL    COLOR 
  10:00 NEWS   COLOR 
  10:30 JOHNNY CARSON—Variety   COLOR Guest: John Glenn
  12:00 DANGER IS MY BUSINESS—Documentary   COLOR 


 6  KAUS (AUSTIN) (ABC)
Morning
    9:30 FAMILY GAME
  10:00 TEMPTATION   COLOR 
  10:25 CHILDREN’S DOCTOR—Dr. Lendon Smith   COLOR 
  10:30 HOW’S YOUR MOTHER-IN-LAW?—Game   COLOR 
  11:00 EVERYBODY’S TALKING—Game Celebrities: Pat Carroll, Michael Landon, Paul Lynde
  11:30 DONNA REED—Comedy
Afternoon
  12:00 FUGITIVE—Drama
    1:00 NEWLYWED GAME   COLOR 
    1:30 DREAM GIRL   COLOR 
    1:55 NEWS   COLOR 
    2:00 GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial   COLOR 
    2:30 DARK SHADOWS—Serial   COLOR 
    3:00 DATING GAME   COLOR 
    3:30 FILM FEATURE
    4:00 CHEYENNE—Western
    5:00 NEWS—Jennings   COLOR 
    5:30 HAVE GUN—WILL TRAVEL
Evening
    6:00 NEWS
    6:30 CUSTER—Western   COLOR 
    7:30 SECOND HUNDRED YEARS—Comedy   COLOR 
    8:00 DESPERATE HOURS   SPECIAL    COLOR The network movie is pre-empted
  10:00 NEWS
  10:30 JOEY BISHOP—Variety   COLOR 
  12:00 NEWS


 7  KCMT (ALEXANDRIA) (NBC, ABC)
Morning
    7:00 TODAY   COLOR Guests:  Willie Morris ,  Frank Conroy ,  Ted DeGrazia
    9:00 SNAP JUDGMENT   COLOR Guests: Phyllis Diller, Gene Rayburn
    9:25 NEWS   COLOR 
    9:30 CONCENTRATION—Game   COLOR 
  10:00 PERSONALITY   COLOR Celebrities: Pat Carroll, Joan Fontaine, Arthur Treacher, Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows
  10:30 HOLLYWOOD SQUARES—Game   COLOR Guest celebrities: Bill Bixby, Glenn Ford, Art Linkletter, Della Reese, Vivian Vance
  11:00 JEOPARDY—Game   COLOR 
  11:30 EYE GUESS—Game   COLOR 
  11:55 NEWS   COLOR 
Afternoon
  12:00 NEWS
  12:20 TRADING POST
  12:30 LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game   COLOR 
    1:00 DAYS OF OUR LIVES—Serial   COLOR 
    1:30 DOCTORS—Serial   COLOR 
    2:00 ANOTHER WORLD—Serial   COLOR 
    2:30 YOU DON’T SAY!—Game   COLOR 
    3:00 MATCH GAME   COLOR Guests: Shelly Berman, Carol Lawrence
    3:25 NEWS   COLOR 
    3:30 GENERAL HOSPITAL
    4:00 WELCOME INN—Variety
    4:30 FANTASTIC FOUR—Cartoons
    5:00 VIC THE VIKING—Children
    5:30 NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley   COLOR 
Evening
    6:00 NEWS
    6:30 VIRGINIAN   COLOR 
    8:00 MUSIC HALL   COLOR Host: Groucho Marx. Guests: Soupy Sales, Dick Cavett, Burns and Schreiber, Clair and McMahon, Times Square Two
    9:00 ANDY WILLIAMS—Variety   SPECIAL    COLOR 
  10:00 NEWS
  10:30 JOHNNY CARSON—Variety   COLOR Guest: John Glenn


 8  WDSE (DULUTH) (EDUC.)
Afternoon
    5:00 KINDERGARTEN—Marron
    5:30 SUPERVISION PSYCHOLOGY
Evening
    6:00 COMPASS—Travel   COLOR 
    6:30 WHAT’S NEW—Children
    7:00 YOUR DOLLAR’S WORTH
    9:45 FILM SHORT
  10:00 ON THE RECORD


 9  KMSP (ABC)
Morning
    7:30 MORNING SHOW   COLOR 
    8:00 FAMILY GAME
    8:30 NATIONAL VELVET—Drama
    9:00 ROMPER ROOM   COLOR 
    9:30 GYPSY ROSE LEE   COLOR 
  10:00 TEMPTATION
  10:25 CHILDREN’S DOCTOR—Dr. Lendon Smith   COLOR 
  10:30 HOW’S YOUR MOTHER-IN-LAW?—Game   COLOR 
  11:00 EVERYBODY’S TALKING—Game Celebrities: Pat Carroll, Michael Landon, Paul Lynde
  11:30 DONNA REED—Comedy
Afternoon
  12:00 FUGITIVE—Drama
    1:00 NEWLYWED GAME   COLOR 
    1:30 DREAM GIRL   COLOR 
    1:55 NEWS   COLOR 
    2:00 GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial   COLOR 
    2:30 DARK SHADOWS—Serial   COLOR 
    3:00 DATING GAME   COLOR 
    3:30 MOVIE—Drama “Bright Road” (1953)
    4:55 NEWS—Jerry Smith   COLOR 
    5:00 NEWS—Jennings   COLOR 
    5:30 LEAVE IT TO BEAVER—Comedy
Evening
    6:00 McHALE’S NAVY—Comedy
    6:30 CUSTER—Western   COLOR 
    7:30 SECOND HUNDRED YEARS—Comedy   COLOR 
    8:00 DESPERATE HOURS   SPECIAL    COLOR The network movie is pre-empted
  10:00 NEWS   COLOR 
  10:30 MOVIE—Western “Dallas” (1950)
  12:20 JOEY BISHOP—Variety   COLOR 


10 WDIO (DULUTH) (ABC)
Morning
    8:50 COLOR BARS   COLOR 
    8:55 MR. MAGOO—Cartoons
    9:00 ROMPER ROOM—Children
    9:30 FAMILY GAME
  10:00 TEMPTATION
  10:25 CHILDREN’S DOCTOR—Dr. Lendon Smith   COLOR 
  10:30 HOW’S YOUR MOTHER-IN-LAW?—Game   COLOR 
  11:00 EVERYBODY’S TALKING—Game Celebrities: Pat Carroll, Michael Landon, Paul Lynde
  11:30 DONNA REED—Comedy
Afternoon
  12:00 FUGITIVE—Drama
    1:00 NEWLYWED GAME   COLOR 
    1:30 DREAM GIRL   COLOR 
    1:55 NEWS   COLOR 
    2:00 GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial   COLOR 
    2:30 DARK SHADOWS—Serial   COLOR 
    3:00 DATING GAME   COLOR 
    3:30 HOLIDAY HOUSE—Women
    4:00 MOVIE—Drama“Lost Lagoon” (1958)
    5:30 NEWS—Peter Jennings   COLOR 
Evening
    6:00 NEWS
    6:30 CUSTER—Western   COLOR 
    7:30 SECOND HUNDRED YEARS—Comedy   COLOR 
    8:00 DESPERATE HOURS   SPECIAL    COLOR The network movie is pre-empted
  10:00 NEWS
  10:25 MOVIE—Drama“I Was a Shoplifter” (1950)
  12:00 JOEY BISHOP—Variety   COLOR 



10 KROC (ROCHESTER) (NBC)
Morning
    7:00 TODAY   COLOR Guests:  Willie Morris ,  Frank Conroy ,  Ted DeGrazia
    9:00 SNAP JUDGMENT   COLOR Guests: Phyllis Diller, Gene Rayburn
    9:25 NEWS   COLOR 
    9:30 CONCENTRATION—Game   COLOR 
  10:00 PERSONALITY   COLOR Celebrities: Pat Carroll, Joan Fontaine, Arthur Treacher, Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows
  10:30 HOLLYWOOD SQUARES—Game   COLOR Guest celebrities: Bill Bixby, Glenn Ford, Art Linkletter, Della Reese, Vivian Vance
  11:00 JEOPARDY—Game   COLOR 
  11:30 EYE GUESS—Game   COLOR 
  11:55 NEWS   COLOR 
Afternoon
  12:00 NEWS
  12:15 MEMOS FROM MARY BEA
  12:30 LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game   COLOR 
    1:00 DAYS OF OUR LIVES—Serial   COLOR 
    1:30 DOCTORS—Serial   COLOR 
    2:00 ANOTHER WORLD—Serial   COLOR 
    2:30 YOU DON’T SAY!—Game   COLOR 
    3:00 MATCH GAME   COLOR Guests: Shelly Berman, Carol Lawrence
    3:25 NEWS   COLOR 
    3:30 DOODLES THE CLOWN—Children
    4:00 MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety   COLOR Guests: Carol Channing, Arlene Francis, Central Park Zoo
    5:30 NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley   COLOR 
Evening
    6:00 NEWS
    6:30 VIRGINIAN   COLOR 
    8:00 MUSIC HALL   COLOR Host: Groucho Marx. Guests: Soupy Sales, Dick Cavett, Burns and Schreiber, Clair and McMahon, Times Square Two
    9:00 ANDY WILLIAMS—Variety   SPECIAL    COLOR 
  10:00 NEWS
  10:30 JOHNNY CARSON—Variety   COLOR Guest: John Glenn


11 WTCN (IND.)
Morning
    8:55 NEWS—Gil Amundson
    9:00 CARTOON CARNIVAL   COLOR 
    9:30 ED ALLEN TIME   COLOR 
  10:00 MR. BLACKWELL   COLOR 
  10:30 BACHELOR FATHER—Comedy
  11:00 BRUNCH BUNCH—Women
  11:30 COOKING WITH HANK
  11:45 NEWS—Gil Amundson
Afternoon
  12:00 LUNCH WITH CASEY—Children
    1:00 MOVIE—Drama“The Abductors” (1957)
    2:30 WOODY WOODBURY—Variety   COLOR Guests: Peter Breck, Greta Thyssen, Dick Contino, the Irish Rovers
    4:00 POPEYE AND PETE
    4:30 CASEY AND ROUNDHOUSE
    5:30 FLINTSTONES   COLOR 
Evening
    6:00 GILLIGAN’S ISLAND—Comedy
    6:30 PERRY MASON—Drama
    7:30 ALFRED HITCHCOCK—Drama
    8:00 PRO HOCKEY—North Stars   COLOR Los Angeles at MinnesotaRegular programs are pre-empted
  11:00 NEWS, WEATHER, SPORTSTime approximate
  11:30 MOVIE—Comedy“Appointment for Love” (1941)



12 KEYC (MANKATO) (CBS)
Morning
    7:30 NEWS—Joseph Benti   COLOR 
    7:55 FILM SHORT
    8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO—Children   COLOR 
    9:00 JACK LA LANNE   COLOR 
    9:30 BEVERLY HILLBILLIES—Comedy
  10:00 ANDY GRIFITH
  10:30 DICK VAN DYKE
  11:00 LOVE OF LIFE—Serial   COLOR 
  11:25 NEWS   COLOR 
  11:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial   COLOR 
  11:45 GUIDING LIGHT—Serial   COLOR 
Afternoon
  12:00 NEWS
  12:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial   COLOR 
    1:00 LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING   COLOR 
    1:30 HOUSE PARTY   COLOR Guest: Jack Bailey
    2:00 TO TELL THE TRUTH—Game   COLOR 
    2:25 NEWS   COLOR 
    2:30 EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial   COLOR 
    3:00 SECRET STORM—Serial   COLOR 
    3:30 CANDID CAMERA—Comedy
    4:00 SOUNDS OF CHRISTMAS—Music   COLOR Winthrop High School Choir
    5:00 COMMUNITY CAMPUS—Mankato
    5:30 NEWS—Walter Cronkite   COLOR 
Evening
    6:00 NEWS
    6:30 LOST IN SPACE—Adventure   COLOR 
    7:30 BEVERLY HILLBILLIES—Comedy   COLOR 
    8:00 GREEN ACRES   COLOR 
    8:30 BANDWAGON—Music
    9:00 DUNDEE AND THE CULHANE—Western   COLOR Last show of the series. On Dec. 27, Jonathan Winters brings a weekly variety hour to this time spot.
  10:00 NEWS
  10:40 HE & SHE—Comedy   COLOR 
  11:10 ALFRED HITCHCOCK
TV  

This week in TV Guide: December 9, 1967

It's a little more than two weeks until Christmas, and the networks start to ramp up their holiday presentations. After all, it isn't too late to plug those last-minute gift ideas! (And if you're looking for one this year, look no further .)

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For once, we're actually looking at a football weekend more like the ones we know today. We're still in the two-league, two-network era, and NBC (AFL) and CBS (NFL) battle on both Saturday and Sunday; in the meantime, ABC counters with the final college football game of the regular season, Florida vs. Miami at the Orange Bowl. (1:00 p.m. CT) It's interesting how Miami is referred to here as "Miami of Florida," as they often were back then. In those days they were a good but not great college team, and the Miami that everyone usually thought of in the college game was Miami of Ohio.*

*Known as the "Cradle of Coaches", having produced, among others, Paul Brown, Sid Gillman, Woody Hayes, Ara Parseghian, Bo Schembechler, Weeb Ewbank and Jim Tressel. You could start a coaching hall of fame right there.

It's also interesting to see pro football on Saturday. The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 prohibits the NFL from playing televised games on Saturdays until the second Saturday in December (which, in 1967, was December 9)*, the rationale being that the college season would be over by the second Saturday. Of course, back then it was also unusual to have a college game as late as December 9. How unusual? Well, 1967 was the last year that the college national champion was selected before the bowl season; from 1968 on, the Associated Press would take their final poll following the January 1 games. But on December 9, 1967, the national champion had already been chosen, the poll having been taken following the November 25 games. (The champ that year was USC, by the way; most of the top-ranked teams concluded their season on November 25.) The fact that regular season games continue to be played after the final poll—well, it's hard to explain, particularly on a TV blog. It's probably an existential thing.

*The act didn't apply to the AFL, since they were in only their second season and were hardly an antitrust threat in 1961, and they played occasional Saturday games on TV throughout their history.

NBC offers viewers three of the four AFL games played that weekend, and had the early game on Saturday, the Bills vs. the Patriots in Boston at 1:00 p.m. (On head-to-head against Florida-Miami, one of the very few times you'll ever see pro and college football on at the same time.) CBS has the late game, a key late-season matchup between the Packers and Rams in Los Angeles (3:00 p.m.). The Rams take it, 27-24, but the Packers win a playoff rematch two weeks later,  28-7, en route to yet another championship.

Sunday offers us a rare opportunity for two network doubleheaders. As part of the post-merger TV contract, the primary networks of the two conferences alternate doubleheaders, but there were no such rules in 1967, and both NBC and CBS take full advantage. The AFL doubleheader seen in the Minnesota market is Kansas City vs. New York at 1:00 p.m,, followed by Oakland at Houston, joined in progress at 4:00 p.m.  (Oakland wins 19-7; the two teams will meet again on New Year's Eve in the AFL Championship, won by Oakland 40-7)  The NFL twin-bill also starts at 1:00 p.m., with the hometown Vikings playing the Bears in Chicago, followed at 4:00 p.m. (again in progress) with the Cleveland Browns and the St. Louis Cardinals in St. Louis.*

*The new Cleveland Browns, not to be confused with the team now calling itself the Baltimore Ravens; and the St. Louis Cardinals, not to be confused with either the Los Angeles Rams, the Arizona Cardinals, or the St. Louis baseball Cardinals. Again, to my younger readers—it's complicated.

And then there's this howler of a typo: Sunday night the Minnesota North Stars are in Pittsburgh for a hockey game against, we're told, the Pittsburgh Pipers. No, you're right—the hockey team in Pittsburgh was called then, as it is now, the Penguins. So who are the Pipers? You'd be right to be confused; they're the ABA team in Pittsburgh. Basketball, not hockey. The Pittsburgh Pipers would win the first ABA championship, but would then relocate the following season to—you guessed it—Minnesota. That move didn't work out so well, so the Pipers headed back to Pittsburgh for 1969. They then changed their name to the Condors. And a couple years later they folded altogether. As I said above, it's complicated.

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During the 60s, the Ed Sullivan Show and The Hollywood Palace were the premiere variety shows on television. Whenever they appear in TV Guide together, we'll match them up and see who has the best lineup..
Sullivan: In the midst of Ed's 20th anniversary year, CBS goes all out, honoring the veteran showman by renaming it's Broadway theater, Studio 50, in his honor. Guests from some of Ed's earliest shows are scheduled to appear tonight. Pearl Bailey, who first graced Ed's stage in 1948 and is now starring in Broadway's "Hello, Dolly"; opera star Robert Merrill (1951); Gwen Verdon (1953); and Alan King (1956). Los Ninos Cantores, an Argentine singing group, are making their "Sullivan Show" debut. New York's Mayor John V. Lindsay officiates at the unveiling of the theater's new marquee. Also on hand: the famed Emerald Society pipe bands of New York City's fire and police departments.

Palace: Tiajuana Brass leader Herb Alpert explores new sounds in music. Guests: Liza Minnelli, the Baja Marimba Band, Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66, composer Burt Bacharach, jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery, and singing songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. A film segment by Palace writer Steven H. Stern conjures up visions to match the music.

Where to start? This week we see a real dichotomy between the past and the present. The Palace lineup is about as hip as you can get; you can probably hear most of it on one of those Time-Life '60s collections. For the time, this would have been a very strong show, but that film-segment-conjuring-up-visions bit really gives me pause. If there's anything worse than psychedelia, it's psychedelia produced by the establishment. This does not sound good.

Ed, on the other hand, pulls out all the old warhorses. It's not particularly creative or challenging, and it was probably a bit hoary in spots, but hey—that's entertainment. Points off for John Lindsay's appearance, though. It's not a time for politicians to be making speeches, and they could have done just as well by having CBS chief Bill Paley do the honors.

So who gets the nod? I would have been a youngster back when this was on, but I'm an old fart now.  However, nobody likes an old fart. The verdict: Palace, though I'm not offended if you disagree.

And here's a clip from that Palace to help you decide.


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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.

The Carol Burnett Show is one of the most revered shows of the era, but was it always thus? Not according to Cleveland Amory. He describes Carol as "an odd choice for an emcee. In the first place, a little of her goes a long way, and a lot of her—her muggings, tongue-outs, etc.—often goes the wrong way."

He rips many of the sketches, especially one in which Carol plays "Luci Brains" (a takeoff on Luci Baines Johnson) being interviewed by F. Lee Korman (based on F. Lee Bailey's short-lived interview show Good Company), which included "such offensive lines as 'Mah daddy's real busy, but he sends Hubert Humphrey down to play with the baby.'" And then there's the two sketches with Carol and Nanette Fabray which, Cleve says, "really took the cake." Both the sketches "were so equally overdone that they ended in a dead heat between unfunniness and tastelessness." He also sighs at her running jokes about her appearance and the handsomeness of Lyle Waggoner, and sees her Q&A with the audience as "transparently plotted and planned."

But lest we think he has nothing to say in praise of Burnett, he reminds us that "there are fine things" about the show. He likes the autograph book at the end, very much likes Lyle Waggoner and Vicki Lawrence (as well as a guest spot by Tim Conway), and says that Carol's "at her very best when she's just herself—she is obviously a very nice person—yet she gives us so little of this that it's positively infuriating." Perhaps as time went on (this is the show's first season, after all), she started to do just that, becoming the Carol Burnett we know and love; or maybe that was the real Carol—the "muggings, tongue-outs"—all along, and Amory just didn't recognize it. Regardless, it's the critic's lot to be remembered by very few, while Carol Burnett remains remembered—and loved—by millions.

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Isn't that a great ad for GE on the left? I always loved those Lighted Ice lights—have a few of them in my possession from the early '60s (still work, although we don't use them anymore; don't want to burn them out), and you can find them in many antique stores and on eBay this time of year. I don't have a great regard for GE products nowadays; I think their appliances are cheap and poorly made, but I'll always love those ads. 

Lawrence Welk "serves up a holiday sampler" on Saturday night (7:30 p.m., ABC), and A Charlie Brown Christmas (6:30 p.m., CBS) makes its third yuletide appearance on Sunday, already considered a classic. Also on Sunday, NBC presents the Radio City Music Hall Christmas special (8:00 p.m.), probably not as flashy as the ones they do today, but it features the Doodletown Pipers and the US Military Academy's Glee Club. Plus, there are the Rockettes; really, what else do you need?

Nancy Sinatra stars in her first TV special on Monday (7:00 p.m., NBC), but she's going to need some help from her dad and his friends—Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr.—to carry the load for a full hour. Danny Thomas is on Monday as well (8:00 p.m., NBC), with Hans Conried, Eve Arden, Kurt Kasznar, Shirley Jones, Gale Gordon, and Ken Berry. Neither of these are Christmas specials per se, although as I've mentioned before, the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is rife with opportunities for advertisers to hawk their wares. 

Andy Williams' Christmas show is Wednesday night (9:00 p.m., NBC), featuring wife Claudine Longet, the Williams brothers, the Osmonds, and the whole Williams clan. Quite a few clips from this show are in the Andy Williams Christmas DVD that came out a few years ago, which I highly recommend. Bob Hope's Christmas special (the stateside version) airs on Thursday night (7:30 p.m., NBC); footage of him entertaining the troops will appear in another special after Christmas. 

The local stations aren't missing—the infamous (to me, at least) Channel 7 presents a 3½ hour telethon called "Jingle Bells," starting at 10:30 Friday night, to raise money for food banks. They were still doing this show in the '70s, when I got Channel 7 while living in The World's Worst Town™. The show was awful, but the cause was a good one. And KEYC, Channel 12 in Mankato. has what I find to be a poignant reminder of how we used to celebrate Christmas—local high schools and colleges singing Carols and other Christmas music, nightly at 10:30. I wonder if they're even allowed to say the word "Christmas" in public schools nowadays?

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Frank Sutton, Sergeant Carter on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.*, is the subject of an interesting, un-bylined profile. Sutton discusses the differences between himself and his character, particularly his personal discomfort with how hard he sometimes has to be on Gomer, and his rejection of the military-tinged violence existing in the present culture. In that context he talks about his efforts to raise his son, Joey, now 12, to be "not a bully and not a sissy but 'all boy.'" "Guns, violence and war are evil and horrible. I didn't want my kid to be hostile." And so when Joey was three, Sutton wouldn't allow him to accept a birthday present of a toy tommy gun.

*Not to be confused with Larry Hovis, Sergeant Carter on Hogan's Heroes. That both shows are on CBS only adds to any possible rupture of the time-space continuum. 

At the same time, Sutton emphasized the importance of knowing how to defend yourself, teaching Joey both boxing and judo, and reminding him of the "Marine Corps thing: Don't be afraid of being hit." He describes his son at 12 as being a pacifist, as Sutton had wanted him to be; I know there are gradations of pacifists that accept the idea of self-defense and those that don't, but regardless of how one uses the word it seems Sutton had the right idea: raise your son to be a man.

Most telling, and most illustrative of the difference between the '60s and today, is when Sutton talks about his trip to entertain the troops in Vietnam. "My identification was with the young, healthy guys fighting. I wanted to be a part of it. I know what it means to die in a rice paddy with the stink and the filth. [Sutton served in the Pacific in World War II.] I saw boys all shot up. I saw a quadruple amputee and blind. When I got back everybody put me down. You'd think I was practically a Nazi. I am surrounded by dovish people in my business." Very interesting that Sutton draws a distinction between being a pacifist and being a dove. And a shameful reminder of how Vietnam veterans were treated when they returned from the war, and how those who supported them were seen. At least in that regard we've evolved in the right direction.

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There are a couple of features on California Governor Ronald Reagan; first, NET's Sunday night show PBL has a segment on Reagan's Chubb Fellowship visit to Yale University; then, on Tuesday, CBS Reports broadcasts "What About Ronald Reagan?" in an attempt to discover "just how far below the surface Reagan's appeal runs." Reagan was elected governor in 1966, and at this point he's rumored to be a possible candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 (as he was; finishing third to Nixon and Rockefeller).

The media was always fascinated, perhaps even obsessed, with Reagan, and never really understood either him or his appeal. I can't say this for certain, but I suspect the premise of NET's segment was "fish out of water"—the actor and bumpkin Reagan on the campus of the oh-so-sophisticated Ivy League campus. Likewise, the description of CBS's special sounds like the network's examining a lab specimen rather than the governor of the nation's second-largest state.

Thirteen years later, Ronald Reagan would be elected President of the United States—and the media still didn't understand him. Some things they never do figure out.

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Finally, and tangentially political, there's the social event of the season: the White House wedding of President Johnson's daughter Lynda Bird* to Captain Charles Robb, who went on to become a governor and then U.S. senator from Virginia. (I don't imagine LBJ's connections hurt him any.) The networks give us extensive coverage of the President escorting Lynda down the staircase and processing into the East Room (TV cameras weren't allowed at the ceremony itself), as well as the happy couple walking under the crossed swords.  NBC's coverage is at 4:00 p.m., CBS and NBC follow at 6:00 p.m.

*Only the seventh First Daughter to be married in the White House.

All three networks feature male-female anchor teams—after all, you couldn't expect to understand the social niceties without having the feminine touch, right? Marya McLaughlin was CBS's first on-air female reporter. She wanted to cover politics, and did—usually having to cover the "Women of Washington." We've mentioned Nancy Dickerson of NBC before, a crack political reporter whom TV Guide used for a fashion show, complete with NBC microphone. ABC's Marlene Sanders was the first woman to report from the field in Vietnam, and her son is Jeffrey Toobin, CNN's legal correspondent.

I can't say this for sure, but I'm confident that all three were capable of more than covering Washington's social scene. TV  

TV Jibe: best of both worlds

Yes, I'm well aware it's Friday, and you're expecting a trip "Around the Dial." However, a different kind of trip—another secret mission on behalf of my employer—calls for a visit to the land of TV Jibe, courtesy of The New Yorker. I'll make it up to you next week.

  TV  

Looking for the perfect holiday gift? How about "The Electronic Mirror"!

Now that Thanksgiving has passed, it's prime Christmas shopping season. Are you still hunting for that perfect gift? Or, like the people on the Black Friday commercials, are you thinking about a little treat for yourself? Allow me to suggest The Electronic Mirror: What Classic TV Tells Us About Who We Were and Who We Are (and Everything In-Between). After all, you wouldn't be here if you didn't already like classic television, right? So why not take advantage of it?

The Electronic Mirror looks at how classic TV acts as a time capsule, telling us how life used to be, and in many cases how things got the way they are today. It contains the best of what I've written for It's About TV!, along with many new essays written expressly for the book. Not only does it feature many of your favorite shows and stars, it also places them in context, explaining their meaning and significance. As Carol Ford (Bob Crane: The Definitive Biography) says, "You won't watch TV the same way again!"  Best of all, you'll have fun along the way. If you like It's About TV!, you'll love The Electronic Mirror. And at $12.95 (plus shipping, unless you're a Prime member) it won't break the bank.

The link above takes you to the Amazon link, but The Electronic Mirror is also available at Barnes & Noble.com, as well as many other online retailers. And if you really want to make it a special gift, how about a signed copy? After you've placed your order, just send me an email (the address is on the sidebar) with your address, telling me who it's for and how you'd like it signed, and I'll send you a bookplate that you can insert in your copy. Don't be shy; I won't bite!

I'm very proud of The Electronic Mirror, and I'm confident you and your favorite classic TV fan will enjoy this trip through television history. If you've already got it (and if you haven't, why not?), consider one of my novels, The Collaborator or The Car, available here . You'll want the complete Mitchell Hadley collection of books, for sure, so order now, in time for your gift-giving! TV  

What's on TV? Friday, December 9, 1960

This may be the last time we see the TV listings without some kind of Christmas special (then again, it may not be; you don't expect me to know what's on tap for next week, do you), but it has familiar faces (Rawhide, Route 66, and The Twilight Zone on CBS alone), not to mention one of Frank Baxter's famous science shows. And then there are the ones you might not recognize, such as CBS's The Garlund Touch , which I confess I have never heard of prior to this very minute. But then, I don't pretend to know everything—or even most things. I just try to get by.

This week's listings are from the Minneapolis-St. Paul edition.



 2  KTCA (EDUC.)
   MORNING   
    9:15 YA HABLAMOS ESPANOL
    9:30 NATIONALISM AND COLONIALISM—Discussion
  10:15 YA HABLAMOS ESPANOL
  10:30 LANGUAGE—Education
  11:00 YA HABLAMOS ESPANOL
  AFTERNOON 
    1:30 FROM THE RECORD SHOP
    1:50 KOMM, LACH UND LERNE
    2:05 SCIENCE—Education
    2:30 MAPS—Education
     EVENING    
    6:15 SING HI SING LO—Bash Kennett
    6:30 AMERICAN MIND—Education
    7:00 THIS IS YOUR P.T.A.—Bangstrom
    7:30 LAB 30—Science
    8:00 CARLETON HOUR—Education
    8:30 FACES OF PERFECTION—Art
    9:00 REPERTORY THEATER—Drama
    9:30 FACULTY BOARD—Education
  10:00 BIG PICTURE—Army
  10:30 BACKGROUND—News Analysis
  10:40 TO BE ANNOUNCED
I know I've pointed this out in the past, but you have to ask about the quality of education at Carleton College , when The Carleton Hour lasts only 30 minutes.

 4  WCCO (CBS)
    MORNING   
    7:00 FLYING SAUCER—Siegfried
    8:00 NEWS—Richard C. Hottelet
    8:15 CAPTAIN KANGAROO
    9:00 NEWS—Dean Montgomery
    9:10 DR. REUBEN K. YOUNGDAHL
    9:20 WHAT’S NEW?—Arle Haeberle
    9:30 VIDEO VILLAGE—Monty Hall
  10:00 I LOVE LUCY—Comedy
  10:30 CLEAR HORIZONS—Serial
  11:00 LOVE OF LIFE—Serial
  11:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial
  11:45 GUIDING LIGHT—Serial
  AFTERNOON 
  12:00 NEWS—Dave Moore
  12:15 SOMETHING SPECIAL—Merriman
  12:20 WEATHER—Bud Kraehling
  12:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial
    1:00 FULL CIRCLE—Serial
    1:30 HOUSE PARTY—Art LinkletterGuest: Lt. Col. William H. Rankin
    2:00 MILLIONAIRE—Drama
    2:30 VERDICT IS YOURS—Drama
    3:00 BRIGHTER DAY—Serial
    3:15 SECRET STORM—Serial
    3:30 EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial
    4:00 AROUND THE TOWN—Haeberle
    4:30 SANTA CLAUS PARTY
    4:45 BOZO THE CLOWN—Children
    5:00 AXEL AND DOG—Clellan Card
    5:30 CLANCY THE COP—Children
    5:55 SPORTS—Rollie Johnson
     EVENING    
    6:00 NEWS—Dean Montgomery
    6:10 WEATHER—Bud Kraehling
    6:15 NEWS—Douglas Edwards
    6:30 RAWHIDE—Western
    7:30 ROUTE 66—Adventure
    8:30 GARLUND TOUCH—Mystery
    9:00 TWILIGHT ZONE—Drama
    9:30 EYEWITNESS TO HISTORY
  10:00 NEWS—Dave Moore
  10:15 WEATHER—Bud Kraehling
  10:20 SPORTS—Dick Enroth
  10:30 MOVIE—Comedy“Wee Geordie” (English; 1955)
Lieutenant Colonel William H. Rankin , Art Linkletter's guest on House Party, talks about "parachuting from a disabled jet." That's underselling it a bit; Rankin, the author of The Man Who Rode the Thunder, is "the only known person to survive a fall from the top of a cumulonimbus thunderstorm cloud." The jump, from a height of 47,000 feet, took 40 minutes from beginning to end, due to wind, hail, and torrential rain—among other things.

 5  KSTP (NBC)
    MORNING   
    6:00 CONTENENTAL CLASSROOM   COLOR Chemistry: “An Equilibrium Constant”
    6:30 CONTENENTAL CLASSROOM   COLOR Modern Algebra: “Powers and Roots”
    7:00 DAVE GARROWAY—Variety
    9:00 DOUGH RE MI—Quiz
    9:30 PLAY YOUR HUNCH   COLOR 
  10:00 PRICE IS RIGHT—Cullen   COLOR 
  10:30 CONCENTRATION—Contest
  11:00 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES
  11:30 IT COULD BE YOU   COLOR 
  11:55 NEWS—Ray Scherer
  AFTERNOON 
  12:00 NEWS—John MacDougall
  12:15 WEATHER—Johnny Morris
  12:20 TREASURE CHEST—Variety
    1:00 JAN MURRAY—Contest   COLOR 
    1:30 LORETTA YOUNG—Drama
    2:00 YOUNG DOCTOR MALONE—Serial
    2:30 FROM THESE ROOTS—Drama
    3:00 MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY
    3:30 HERE’S HOLLYWOOD—InterviewGuests: Bill Leyden, Connie Francis
    4:00 MY LITTLE MARGIE—Comedy
    4:30 T.N. TATTERS—Children
    5:15 TOPPER
    5:45 NEWS—Huntley, Brinkley
     EVENING    
    6:00 NEWS—Bob Ryan
    6:15 WEATHER—Johnny Morris
    6:30 DAN RAVEN—Mystery
    7:30 WESTERNER—Drama
    8:00 SCIENCE SERIES—Documentary   SPECIAL   COLOR “The Thread of Life”
    9:00 MICHAEL SHAYNE—Mystery
  10:00 NEWS—John MacDougall
  10:15 WEATHER—Johnny Morris
  10:20 SPORTS—Dick Nesbitt
  10:30 JACK PAAR—Variety
  12:00 NEWS—Roger Krupp
We might have gone over this before, but it's interesting to see Today not only listed as "Dave Garroway" (it was, after all, The Dave Garroway Today Show), but to have it classified as "Variety." I think that fits the show very well. 

 9  KMSP (IND.)
    MORNING   
    9:50 CHAPEL OF THE AIR
    9:55 NEWSBEAT—Tony Parker
  10:00 PHYSICAL CULTURE—La Lanne
  10:30 MOVIE—Adventure“The Kid from Kansas” (1941)
  11:30 I MARRIED JOAN—Comedy
  AFTERNOON 
  12:00 KARTOONTIME—Children
  12:30 CHUCK CARSON—Variety
    1:00 FOLLOW THAT MAN—Mystery
    1:30 RACKET SQUAD—Police
    2:00 MOVIE—Comedy-Mystery“There’s That Woman Again” (1939)
    4:00 HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE—Comedy
    4:30 MR. ADAMS AND EVE—Comedy
    5:00 SUSIE—Comedy
    5:30 OUR MISS BROOKS—Comedy
     EVENING    
    6:00 LOONEY TUNERS CLUB—Children
    7:00 CANNONBALL—Adventure
    7:30 FLIGHT—Drama
    8:00 STORIES OF THE CENTURY
    8:30 CALIFORNIANS—Western
    9:00 MOVIE—Drama“Shanghai Story” (1954)
  10:35 NEWS—Paul Sevareid
  10:50 SPORTS—Tony Parker
  10:55 WEATHER—Jere Smith
  11:00 MOVIE—Melodrama“Scandal, Inc.” (1956)
I don't think I've ever seen Jack LaLanne's program referred to as Physical Culture, although it's a perfectly appropriate moniker. Jack was always about more than just exercise; he saw physical fitness as part of an overall holistic approach to physical and mental health. 

11 WTCN (ABC)
    MORNING   
    7:40 AMERICANS AT WORK
    7:55 FARM NEWS—Frank Seifert
    8:00 GOOD MORNING, MINNESOTA!
    8:30 CARTOONS—Children
    9:00 ROMPER ROOM—Miss Betty
    9:45 SHAPE UP—Louraine Larson
  10:15 PEOPLE AND PLACES—Lindman
  10:30 LIFE OF RILEY—Comedy
  11:00 MORNING COURT—Drama
  11:30 LOVE THAT BOB!—Comedy
  AFTERNOON 
  12:00 TEXAN—Western
  12:30 BEAT THE CLOCK—Bud Collyer
    1:00 ABOUT FACES—Ben Alexander
    1:30 PAUL COATES—Interview
    2:00 DAY IN COURT—Drama
    2:30 ROAD TO REALITY—Drama
    3:00 QUEEN FOR A DAY—Bailey
    3:30 WHO DO YOU TRUST—Quiz
    4:00 AMERICAN BANDSTAND—ClarkGuests: The Viscounts
    5:00 CASEY JONES WITH POPEYE
    5:30 RIN TIN TIN—Adventure
     EVENING    
    6:00 WHIRLYBIRDS—Adventure
    6:30 MATTY’S FUNDAY FUNNIES
    7:00 HARRIGAN AND SON—Comedy
    7:30 FLINTSTONES—Cartoon
    8:00 77 SUNSET STRIP—Mystery
    9:00 DETECTIVES—Robert Taylor
    9:30 CLOSEUP!—Documentary   SPECIAL “Law and Mr. Jones” will not be seen tonight.
  10:00 NEWS—Chick McCuen
  10:15 WEATHER—Stuart A. Lindman
  10:20 SPORTS—Beutel, Horner
  10:30 TWO FACES WEST—Western
  11:00 MOVIE—DramaTheater 11: “Desert Fury” (1947)
  12:30 NEWS—Jerry Rosholt

The Viscounts, Dick Clark's guests on American Bandstand, are there to play "Wabash Blues," but their best-known (and only) hit is " Harlem Nocturne ," which we all recognize as the theme from Stacy Keach's Mike Hammer. TV  

This week in TV Guide: December 3, 1960

The holiday season from Thanksgiving to New Year has always been a big time for television, with all kinds of specials and events making the rounds.

This week the big production is the TV revival of Peter Pan, with Mary Martin and Cyril Ritchard reprising their famed roles from the last TV airing five years ago. (It was also done in 1955.) Those previous shows were live, but this one is not only on tape, but in color, and it’s this version that has been broadcast ever since. I recorded it off TV some time in 1989 or 1990, the last time it was on broadcast TV (in a somewhat edited version, to make more room for commercials, don’t you know) and it’s that version you see below.

A companion article discusses how for the last four weeks Mary Martin has been commuting between Broadway, where she does eight performances a week of The Sound of Music, the Helen Hayes Theater, which NBC has rented for Peter Pan rehearsals, and the NBC studios in Brooklyn, where most of the program is taped. The network is hoping to make an annual Christmas presentation of Peter Pan, which Martin enthusiastically endorses. She was reluctant at first to take on yet another televised staging—"Not while playing 'The Sound of Music,' which by itself is a full-time job.” But the public demand has been so great—“So many children have grown up since we did it last"—that Martin was unable to resist. "When NBC came along and said it had a sponsor and a time and everything else all set, I just couldn’t say no. Now I’m glad I didn’t," she says. "I seem to get more energy from it than I had when I was just doing eight 'Sound of Music' performances a week."

All three versions of Mary Martin as Peter Pan are available on DVD; the blu-ray of the 1960 telecast includes the 1955 and 1956 telecasts as extras.


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So that really is special; let's see what else this week has to offer.

Saturday belongs to sports, starting at 1:00 p.m. on NBC with the New York Knickerbockers and the Syracuse Nationals from Syracuse. The Knicks are in the second of a seven-season playoff drought, which isn’t easy when three of the four teams in each conference make the playoffs. The Nats, who make the playoffs despite finishing three games under .500 (but still 17 games ahead of the Knicks), are in their third-from-last season in Syracuse, after which they flee the small-market city for Philadelphia, where they become the 76ers. On ABC, it’s the final regular-season college football game, as Duke travels to Los Angeles to take on UCLA. Saturday night, The Fight of the Week (9:00 p.m,. ABC) has Gene Fullmer defending his world middleweight crown against the ageless Sugar Ray Robinson from Los Angeles. Fullmer, who is fighting Robinson for the third time (out of four), retains the title in a 15-round draw.

Ed Sullivan's guests on Sunday (7:00 p.m., CBS) are comedian Mort Sahl, singer Jane Morgan, the dance team of Rod Alexander and Carmen G. Rickle, the ventriloquist act of Layne and Velvel, and 11-year-old Spanish singer Joselito. Is this the Joselito they're talking about? If so, theI y fudged his age a little, didn't they? I think I'd opt for Dinah Shore's show, broadcast in color (8:00 p.m., NBC), with Charles Boyer, pianist Victor Feldman's jazz trio, and members of the French Opera Comique ballet troup. And if you're not in the mood for variety, go with G.E. Theater (8:00 p.m., CBS), with host Ronald Reagan starring with Coleen Gray in the story of a woman fighting for her husband's affections with the memory of his late first wife. There's also Something Special (9:00 p.m., NBC), a special looking at childhood, which is indeed special, hosted by Robert Young and Arlene Francis, and featuring guests Janet Blair, Nat King Cole, Ernie Ford, Dave Garroway, Sam Levenson, Art Linkletter, Garry Moore, Jane Wyatt, and the Little Angels vocal quartet of small children.

Did they really mean to spell "Santa Claus" that way?There's nothing really special about Monday night's programming, but the Play of the Week (8:30 p.m., syndicated) has perhaps the strangest story of the week, starring Nancy Walker and Margarlo Gillmore. Let me read it to you: "Two eccentric ladies, staunch Republicans who cling to the glories of the past, have created a series of elaborate devices to shut the present out of their lives. They've retreated to a hotel apartment at the beginning of Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration. Now their armor is due for a dent when one of them gets a yen to have a man around the house." Kind of reminds you of those Japanese soldiers they used to find hiding in caves twenty years after the end of the war, thinking the war was still on. I wonder if this is supposed to take place in modern day, or if it's just some time during the FDR administration? I wonder if it's supposed to be funny?

Tuesday's Alfred Hitchcock Presents (7:30 p.m., NBC) has Barbara Bel Geddes and Alexander Scourby in the dark tale of a man who, after having finally married the "right girl," decides he's too set in his ways to get married after all. I don't know about you, but this doesn't sound good to me at all. I haven't seen this episode yet, so I'm not sure how good it is, but if Alexander Scourby sat down and simply read the script out loud, it would be worth watching. Something else worth watching is tonight's episode of The Tom Ewell Show (8:00 p.m., CBS), featuring special guest star Dick Powell playing himself. The premise of the series has Tom as a real estate agent, and tonight Tom is trying to talk Dick into using city-owned property as locations for his show. Something tells me this isn't going to work out, either. On a special Open End (9:00 p.m., NBC), David Susskind discusses comedy with Joey Bishop, George Burns, Jimmy Durante, Buddy Hackett, and Groucho Marx. The show only runs an hour, though, which kind of makes a hash of the title, doesn't it?

Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall is a nice way to spend Wednesday, with Perry's guests Steve Lawrence, Juliet Prowse, and the Kingston Trio. (8:00 p.m., NBC) Hawaiian Eye (8:00 p.m., ABC) features a guest appearance from John Van Dreelen , whom I'm confident you'd recognize if you saw him—he was always on TV in the 1950s and 60s. Even without reading the description or watching the episode, I can tell you he has to be the bad guy in this episode, because he always is. Hold on, let me look at the description—yep, he is.

Thursday belongs mostly to Peter Pan, but I wouldn't overlook what follows: on The Ford Show (8:30 p.m., NBC), Ernie welcomes singer Jimmie Rodgers, along with the candidates for 1961 Rose Bowl Queen. And at 9:00 p.m. on CBS, Charles Collingwood chats first with Polly Bergen and then Spike Jones on Person to Person.

On Friday, Dr. Frank Baxter is the host for another in the Bell Systems Science Series, "The Thread of Life (8:00 p.m., NBC), answering questions such as "Why do things taste different to different people? Why are there more color-blind men than women? What determines whether a baby will be a boy or a girl?" The answers to most of these questions can be found in the mysterious "Thread of Life": DNA. Details of the show can be found in the mysterious "Memories of Your Life:" YouTube:


t  t  t
TV Teletype notes that Rod Serling is putting the finishing touches on a new Western called The Loner, starring Bob Cummings. The Loner does in fact make the schedule as a series, but it’s with Lloyd Bridges in the title role. It lasts only one season, and Serling himself had decidedly mixed feelings about it, but the critics are kinder to it today; it's even come out on DVD.

There are also rumors that the Academy Awards are headed for a new home, leaving its longtime venue at Hollywood's Pantages Theater in favor of the larger Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. "[T]he industry's sentimentalists [are] up in arms" about the move, but the Oscars head to Santa Monica anyway. Within a decade, the show is on the move again, to the more glamorous Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. I seem to recall the show's producer, Gower Champion, referring to the Civic Auditorium as a "dreary barn," which helps explain his desire for a move; today, they're held in the Academy's own Dolby Theater, and it's the show that's dreary.

And in New York, ABC announces plans for a January 29 debut of its new Sunday afternoon series, The American Professor, “designed to improve the public’s understanding of the teacher’s role in our society.” The series never did make it to air, at least not under this name; despite series like NBC's Watch Mr. Wizard and ABC's later Science All-Stars, you have to wonder how successful a show like this could be. Given that weekend television is now dominated by sports, the idea of a show like this, even on PBS, is probably nonexistent.

t  t  t
This week, Cindy Adams takes a look at the life of the television gag writer. It’s centered in the office of Goodman Ace, one of the best of TV’s early humor writers, who’d made his name (and much of his success) in radio. He’s joined by his cohorts, Selma Diamond (the best-known female writer, who many of you might recognize from being in front of the camera on Night Court), Jay Burton, who’s written jokes for many of Hollywood’s best, and a couple of Canadian comics, Frank Peppiatt and John Aylesworth. Their output will be seen on camera in an upcoming Perry Como show.

The scene, as presented by Adams, doesn’t look all that different from what one sees later on the Dick Van Dyke show: Ace working from behind the desk, Diamond sprawled in a chair, and the other three in various stages of repose on the couch. They’re in the midst of trying to come up with something for Perry and his guest star, Jack Paar. The jokes are, put mildly, terrible. ("Tomorrow Shirley Temple’s doing 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' but because she’s running a little late it’ll only be 'Snow White and the Five Dwarfs.'")

The group plows through scenario after scenario, none of them catching fire. Finally, there’s a gag about Paar interviewing a woman with a Southern accent who’s making her first trip to New York. She’s seen Grant’s Tomb, the Battery, the Statue of Liberty. Paar asks her where she’s from. “Brooklyn,” she says. I get the joke; we're all tourists in our own home cities, but it is kind of a weak one. Nevertheless, it sets them off, and they come up with a series of jokes featuring Brooklyn as the punch line.

It's an interesting enough article, I suppose, but what's more interesting is, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story. John Aylesworth and Frank Peppiatt had many credits, including working with Andy Williams and Frank Sinatra, but it was as producers that they achieved their biggest fame. The show they created? Hee Haw.

t  t  t
This week's starlet is June Blair, who gets a two-page spread;  TV Guide says she’s 24, although the always-reliable Wikipedia would put her age at 27. She’s got a number of TV credits under her slim-wasted belt so far, including Sea Hunt, Bat Masterson, M Squad, and Lock Up, as well as a credit the article doesn’t mention, Playboy’s Playmate of the Month for January 1957. (I'm sure she must have been quite fetching.) Her career seems to have tailed off after the '60s, with her biggest role—in real-life as well as show business—being David Nelson’s on- and off-screen wife in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.

Someone who didn't fade away is America's Sweetheart, Shirley Temple, and she's on the cover this week, plugging Sunday's episode of The Shirley Temple Show, "The Indian Captive," with Steve Cochran and Cloris Leachman. She's Shirley Temple Black now, and thought she's retired from the business until coming back for Shirley Temple's Storybook, which ran for one season on NBC and then in reruns on ABC. After the reruns ran their course, the show reverted back to NBC with a new title, a new format, and more starring roles from Shirley.

Even without acting, she's maintaining a very busy life, serving on the boards of various charities and non-profits ("Last year I put in over 300 volunteer hours.") many of them children-oriented. She's also started to dabble in politics; "I've developed a major interest in world affairs," she says. "Conversationally, I'm not afraid of anything."

She certainly makes her mark there; after an unsuccessful run for Congress in 1967, she serves as a delegate to the United Nations, two-time U.S. Ambassador (first to Ghana, and later to Czechoslovakia), and Chief of Protocol of the United States. I don't doubt that she could be the most successful former child actor of all.

t  t  t
Christmas always seems to bring out the best in food, and My-T-Fine pudding reminds us that it’s never too early to start preparing for those holiday parties with the little touch that makes things extra-special. Sadly, the term “go gay for the holiday” would have a completely different meaning nowadays.


Watches make excellent gifts - would you argue with Tab Hunter?


How about another recipe? With the holidays upon us, it’s never too early to start preparing the menu for those parties with your friends, and what could be better than some Festive Glazed Ham?

Heat a canned, cooked, boneless ham of appropriate size according to directions. When almost completely heated, pour over it one jar of melted cherry preserves – or cherry jelly – blended with ¼ cup of brandy. Baste several times. Serve hot or chilled with smooth curried mustard cream.

Curried Mustard Cream ½ tsp. curry powder 1 tsp. prepared mustard 1 cup whipped cream Salt and pepper.

Mix mustard, curry powder, salt and pepper. Add to whipped cream, stirring until well-blended. Hollowed-out lemons make attractive serving cups.

Don't ever let it be said that this isn't your one-stop Christmas entertainment address. TV  

Around the dial

If you think about that cartoon above, it comes awfully close to cannibalism, don't you think? I mean, look at the leg on the plate? I suppose it could be a chicken leg, although that seems to be bad enough. At least the turkey has both of his; if it looked like he only had one, I think that might have been too much.

So how was your Thanksgiving? Hopefully yours was as satisfying as ours. Despite yesterday's tryptophan mainline, we're back today with the highlights from the week, and we'll start at Comfort TV, where David looks at five classic shows that deserved one more season . Hard to argue with any of them; of the five that David discusses in detail, I'd probably opt for Ellery Queen, which deserved more episodes on general principle alone.

Have you ever wondered why some period movies--Holiday Inn is one that comes to mind--joke about what day Thanksgiving falls on? Martin Grams tells the story of how a squabble between Republicans and Democrats led to the country having to  choose between two Thanksgivings . See, this bitter infighting is nothing new. . .

And now on to Christmas! At Silver Scenes, we have  a review of the new book , Mister Rogers' Neighborhood: A Visual History, a wonderful look at the much-loved show. Tom Hanks notwithstanding, you almost don't need a movie in order to provide the vivid images that make such a difference.

After a long absence, British TV Detectives returns with The Inspector Lynley Mysteries , a series that I confess to never having seen, though I've seen it on the programming guide many times; I suppose that doesn't count, though, does it?

At The Ringer, Alison Herman and Miles Surrey debate whether or not streaming series should be released weekly or all at once . My own opinion is that once a series is structured for binge viewing, it tends toward serialization; the self-contained episode is replaced by one long story, spread out over several episodes that can be watched one after another. That often leads to overtones of soap operas. But again, that's just my opinion; YMMV.

At Garroway at Large, Jodie uses a small clipping from the Pittsburgh Press of 1939 to serve as a reminder that nobody's perfect , no matter how big a star they are, or are going to be. It should also remind us not to be intimidated by the famous; after all, they are just like us.

Bob Sassone uses a recent encounter at a store to point out how much millennials miss with "their complete lack of interest in anything that happened before Saved by the Bell premiered." He's not talking about television here; he just uses the show as a reference point. But as someone who sees great cultural value in classic television, I share his frustration, and wonder just what it means for the future.

And as you get ready for your post-Black Friday shopping, let Television Obscurities offer you a gift guide to items for that lover of short-lived television shows. (If you need any other suggestions, just click here .) TV