Mitchell Hadley's Blog: It's About TV!, page 138

How TV complements your lifestyle

Recently I was browsing through a bookstore that I’ve been known to frequent from time to time, doing what I usually do when I’m in a bookstore: looking for television shows on DVD. To be clear, that’s not all I do in a bookstore; I look for books as well, and not just books about TV. However, considering people apparently don’t read much anymore, you’re apt to find all kinds of different things in bookstores nowadays, including jigsaw puzzles.

On this particular trip, I saw one puzzle that billed itself as a booklover’s puzzle, with various sayings and mottoes pronouncing the joy of reading. One of them, though, caught my attention. It said, “Kill Your TV.” Setting aside the fact that your television isn’t a living, breathing thing (Alexa notwithstanding), this seemed unduly harsh to me. I mean, I understand the sentiment behind it: there’s a natural tendency for people to look at television (or video games, or movies) as the enemy of reading, as if the whole thing was some type of zero-sum game, with us all being lulled into a form of somnambulism through the aphrodisiac of mindless viewing. (Of course, if we really were somnambulists, we wouldn’t be couch potatoes, but we’ll let that slide for awhile.) And I'll admit I've been tempted to impart destruction on my television a time or two hundred, but that usually has to do with the banality of what I'm watching, not the medium itself.

So I’ll grant you the possibility, but it seems to me that if you’re predisposed to sit on a comfy couch starring inertly at a lighted screen, whether it’s your TV, your laptop, your phone, or something else, then you’ve got a problem to begin with, one that has to do with neither television nor books. We used to call this “sloth,” which has since been replaced with “lazy bum,” but the point is the same; if you’re so inclined to begin with, you’re probably not going to pick up a volume of Aristophanes, or even Danielle Steele, just because someone tells you to turn off the electronics.

Setting up this false dichotomy, this zero-sum with television and books as polar ends of a magnet, is unfortunate for two reasons: first, because it reinforces this snobbish idea that television is for some reason not deserving of serious consideration as a creative form (something I'm constantly fighting against); and second, because both really serve the same purpose: to augment the quality of one’s life. As you probably know, when it comes to the number of hours of television I’ve watching in my lifetime—especially during my adolescence—I consider myself second to none. And yet I never saw television and books as competing for my attention. Often, after watching something on TV, I’d find myself, in the words of the old CBS campaign, wanting to “read more about it.” Over the years, I’ve stocked my shelves with volumes on subjects ranging from the Titanic to Howard Hughes to space exploration to politics, all because of something I saw on television. Likewise, I’ve found hours of pleasure watching programs that I sought out because of something I’d read, with the opportunity to learn more, to see for myself what the author had written about. (And of course it helps when one has the ability, as I do, to watch TV and read at the same time.)

The point is that reading and watching television exist as complimentary forms of media. They both provide the opportunity to be educated, entertained, and enlightened. That old aphorism I keep pulling out about how television can’t be all dessert applies to books as well; a steady diet of romance novels and cheap detective thrillers isn’t likely to do much more for you than constantly watching sitcoms and reality shows. True, it might make you a little more literate, or more than a little more if you’re reading Chandler or Hammett, but a discriminating lineup of television shows and books can work together to make you a more well-rounded person. You can learn about the history of ancient Greece, or learn how to build a sunroom for your house. You can read a biography of Mozart, or watch—and listen to—one of his operas. You can cheer for your team on the weekend, and during the week find out how that team’s owners are fleecing the public. Anthony Bourdain and Eugene Fodor may no longer be with us, but their works still have the ability to take us to other lands, and Carl Sagan can take us right out of the universe, in either medium. They can even encourage you to contemplation. (It’s true that there are a lot of bad things out there, both on television and in books, so you need to make sure your choices compliment your own personal code of ethics and morals, but you can say that about any form of entertainment or education.)

So, as someone with a foot in each camp, I urge book lovers to show television some love as well. It’s not an either-or proposition; we’re creatures of images as well as words. And as for those who keep throwing potshots at TV—well, that’s little more than being a couch potato of the mind. TV  

How TV compliments your lifestyle

Recently I was browsing through a bookstore that I’ve been known to frequent from time to time, doing what I usually do when I’m in a bookstore: looking for television shows on DVD. To be clear, that’s not all I do in a bookstore; I look for books as well, and not just books about TV. However, considering people apparently don’t read much anymore, you’re apt to find all kinds of different things in bookstores nowadays, including jigsaw puzzles.

On this particular trip, I saw one puzzle that billed itself as a booklover’s puzzle, with various sayings and mottoes pronouncing the joy of reading. One of them, though, caught my attention. It said, “Kill Your TV.” Setting aside the fact that your television isn’t a living, breathing thing (Alexa notwithstanding), this seemed unduly harsh to me. I mean, I understand the sentiment behind it: there’s a natural tendency for people to look at television (or video games, or movies) as the enemy of reading, as if the whole thing was some type of zero-sum game, with us all being lulled into a form of somnambulism through the aphrodisiac of mindless viewing. (Of course, if we really were somnambulists, we wouldn’t be couch potatoes, but we’ll let that slide for awhile.) And I'll admit I've been tempted to impart destruction on my television a time or two hundred, but that usually has to do with the banality of what I'm watching, not the medium itself.

So I’ll grant you the possibility, but it seems to me that if you’re predisposed to sit on a comfy couch starring inertly at a lighted screen, whether it’s your TV, your laptop, your phone, or something else, then you’ve got a problem to begin with, one that has to do with neither television nor books. We used to call this “sloth,” which has since been replaced with “lazy bum,” but the point is the same; if you’re so inclined to begin with, you’re probably not going to pick up a volume of Aristophanes, or even Danielle Steele, just because someone tells you to turn off the electronics.

Setting up this false dichotomy, this zero-sum with television and books as polar ends of a magnet, is unfortunate for two reasons: first, because it reinforces this snobbish idea that television is for some reason not deserving of serious consideration as a creative form (something I'm constantly fighting against); and second, because both really serve the same purpose: to augment the quality of one’s life. As you probably know, when it comes to the number of hours of television I’ve watching in my lifetime—especially during my adolescence—I consider myself second to none. And yet I never saw television and books as competing for my attention. Often, after watching something on TV, I’d find myself, in the words of the old CBS campaign, wanting to “read more about it.” Over the years, I’ve stocked my shelves with volumes on subjects ranging from the Titanic to Howard Hughes to space exploration to politics, all because of something I saw on television. Likewise, I’ve found hours of pleasure watching programs that I sought out because of something I’d read, with the opportunity to learn more, to see for myself what the author had written about. (And of course it helps when one has the ability, as I do, to watch TV and read at the same time.)

The point is that reading and watching television exist as complimentary forms of media. They both provide the opportunity to be educated, entertained, and enlightened. That old aphorism I keep pulling out about how television can’t be all dessert applies to books as well; a steady diet of romance novels and cheap detective thrillers isn’t likely to do much more for you than constantly watching sitcoms and reality shows. True, it might make you a little more literate, or more than a little more if you’re reading Chandler or Hammett, but a discriminating lineup of television shows and books can work together to make you a more well-rounded person. You can learn about the history of ancient Greece, or learn how to build a sunroom for your house. You can read a biography of Mozart, or watch—and listen to—one of his operas. You can cheer for your team on the weekend, and during the week find out how that team’s owners are fleecing the public. Anthony Bourdain and Eugene Fodor may no longer be with us, but their works still have the ability to take us to other lands, and Carl Sagan can take us right out of the universe, in either medium. They can even encourage you to contemplation. (It’s true that there are a lot of bad things out there, both on television and in books, so you need to make sure your choices compliment your own personal code of ethics and morals, but you can say that about any form of entertainment or education.)

So, as someone with a foot in each camp, I urge book lovers to show television some love as well. It’s not an either-or proposition; we’re creatures of images as well as words. And as for those who keep throwing potshots at TV—well, that’s little more than being a couch potato of the mind. TV  

What's on TV? Thursday, May 22, 1969

I never cease to be fascinated by these New York City TV Guides, even when—as is the case today—there's nothing particularly important or distinctive being broadcast. For someone who grew up in the Midwest, far from the Center of the Universe, it's easy to be impressed by the names on the local news: Jim Hartz, who would succeed Frank McGee as host of Today; Dr. Frank Field, the meteorologist who always updated NBC's viewers on the latest hurricane; Kyle Rote, sports anchor and former star for the New York football Giants; Bob McAllister, who would go on to host Wonderama. And then there are variety shows, hosted by stars like Donald O'Connor and Allen Ludden, that we never got to see in the Twin Cities. Even today, looking at these listings, you get a feeling that you've reached the Big Time—something that you never quite felt here. Perhaps that's why Mary Tyler Moore meant so much to us.

 2  WCBS (CBS)
Morning
    6:30 BLACK HERITAGE—History  COLOR 
    7:00 NEWS—Joe Benti  COLOR 
    8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO  COLOR 
    9:00 LEAVE IT TO BEAVER—Comedy
    9:30 DONNA REED—Comedy
  10:00 LUCILLE BALL—Comedy  COLOR 
  10:30 BEVERLY HILLBILLIES  COLOR 
  11:00 ANDY GRIFFITH—Comedy  COLOR 
  11:30 DICK VAN DYKE—Comedy
Afternoon
  12:00 LOVE OF LIFE  COLOR 
  12:25 NEWS—Edwards  COLOR 
  12:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial  COLOR 
    1:00 GALLOPING GOURMET  COLOR 
    1:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial  COLOR 
    2:00 LOVE IS A MANY-SPLENDORED THING—Serial  COLOR 
    2:30 GUIDING LIGHT  COLOR 
    3:00 SECRET STORM  COLOR 
    3:30 EDGE OF NIGHT  COLOR 
    4:00 LINKLETTER SHOW  COLOR Guest: Charles Metz
    4:30 MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety  COLOR Guests: Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson, Josephine Premice
Evening
    6:00 NEWS—Jim Jensen  COLOR 
    7:00 NEWS—Walter Cronkite  COLOR 
    7:30 ANIMAL WORLD—Wildlife  COLOR 
    8:00 JONATHAN WINTERS  COLOR Guests: Tom and Dick Smothers, Paul Lynde, Marvin Gaye, Mickie Finn revue[Last show of the series. Next week: reruns of “The Prisoner”]
    9:00 MOVIE—Drama  COLOR “In the Cool of the Day” (1963)
  10:45 TO BE ANNOUNCED
  11:00 NEWS—Bob Young  COLOR 
  11:30 MOVIE—Drama“The Mob” (1951)
    1:15 NEWS  COLOR 
    1:20 MOVIE—Adventure  COLOR “Beyond Mombasa” (English; 1956)
    3:10 MOVIE—Adventure“The Secret Ways” (1961)


 3  WTIC (HARTFORD) (CBS)
Morning
    6:00 BLACK HERITAGE—History  COLOR 
    6:30 ON THE AGENDA  COLOR 
    7:00 NEWS—Joe Benti  COLOR 
    8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO  COLOR 
    9:00 HAP RICHARDS  COLOR 
    9:15 HUCKLEBERRY HOUND  COLOR 
    9:30 MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY
  10:00 LUCILLE BALL—Comedy  COLOR 
  10:30 DONALD O’CONNOR—Variety  COLOR Guests: William Shatner, Cesar Danova, Genevieve Bujold, Lew Parker, Betty Kean, Brian Foley
Afternoon
  12:00 LOVE OF LIFE  COLOR 
  12:25 NEWS—Edwards  COLOR 
  12:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial  COLOR 
    1:00 GIRL TALK  COLOR Guests: Jacqueline Bertrand, Dr. Herbert Otto
    1:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial  COLOR 
    2:00 LOVE IS A MANY-SPLENDORED THING—Serial  COLOR 
    2:30 GUIDING LIGHT  COLOR 
    3:00 SECRET STORM  COLOR 
    4:00 RANGER STATION  COLOR 
    4:30 HAZEL—Comedy  COLOR 
    5:00 PERRY MASON—Mystery
Evening
    6:00 WEATHER  COLOR 
    6:05 SPORTS—Ehrlich  COLOR 
    6:15 NEWS  COLOR 
    6:30 NEWS—Walter Cronkite  COLOR 
    7:00 MOVIE—Drama  COLOR “The Proud Rebel” (1958)
    9:00 MOVIE—Drama  COLOR “In the Cool of the Day” (1963)
  10:45 TO BE ANNOUNCED
  11:00 NEWS—Bill Hanson  COLOR 
  11:15 WEATHER  COLOR 
  11:20 SPORTS—Webster  COLOR 
  11:25 MOVIE—Double Feature1. “The Bad Seed” (Drama; 1956) 2. “Washington Story” (Drama; 1952)


 4  WNBC (NBC)
Morning
    6:30 EDUCATION EXCHANGE  COLOR 
    7:00 TODAY
    9:00 FOR WOMEN ONLY  COLOR 
    9:30 JOAN RIVERS  COLOR Guest: Rodney Dangerfield
  10:00 IT TAKES TWO—Game  COLOR Guests: Jack Carter, Marty Ingles, Mark Slade, and their spouses
  10:25 NEWS—Dickerson  COLOR 
  10:30 CONCENTRATION  COLOR 
  11:00 PERSONALITY—Game  COLOR Celebrities: George Jessel, Joan Rivers, Jacqueline Susann, Sally Ann Howes
  11:30 HOLLYWOOD SQUARES  COLOR Guests: Jack Cassidy, Shirley Jones, Gypsy Rose Lee, Kay Medford, Jan Murray, Wally Cox, Paul Lynde, Rose Marie, Charley Weaver
Afternoon
  12:00 JEOPARDY—Game  COLOR 
  12:30 EYE GUESS—Game  COLOR 
  12:55 NEWS—Newman  COLOR 
    1:00 PDQ—Game  COLOR Guests: Ken Berry, Jackie Joseph, Dick Patterson
    1:30 HIDDEN FACES  COLOR 
    2:00 DAYS OF OUR LIVES—Serial  COLOR 
    2:30 DOCTORS—Serial  COLOR 
    3:00 ANOTHER WORLD  COLOR 
    3:30 YOU DON’T SAY!—Game  COLOR Guests: Gail Fisher, Buddy Greco
    4:00 MATCH GAME  COLOR Guests: James Brown, Rita Moreno
    4:25 NEWS—Kalber  COLOR 
    4:30 MOVIE—Comedy“Spare the Rod” (English; 1961)
Evening
    6:00 NEWS—Lew Wood  COLOR 
    6:30 MY FAVORITE MARTIAN  COLOR 
    7:00 NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley  COLOR 
    7:30 DANIEL BOONE—Adventure  COLOR 
    8:30 IRONSIDE—Crime Drama  COLOR 
    9:30 DRAGNET—Crime Drama  COLOR 
  10:00 DEAN MARTIN  COLOR Guests: Lena Horne, George Gobel, Skiles and Henderson, the Golddiggers
  11:00 NEWS—Jim Hartz  COLOR 
  11:10 WEATHER—Frank Field  COLOR 
  11:15 NEWS—Jim Hartz  COLOR 
  11:25 SPORTS—Kyle Rote  COLOR 
  11:30 JOHNNY CARSON  COLOR 
    1:00 NEWS—Bob Teague  COLOR 
    1:15 MOVIE—Drama  COLOR “Saadia” (1954)


 5  WNEW (IND.)
Morning
    7:30 YOGA FOR HEALTH
    8:00 ALVIN—Children  COLOR 
    8:30 BOB McALLISTER  COLOR 
    9:30 MARINE BOY—Children  COLOR 
  10:00 MOVIE—Comedy “Hard Boiled Mahoney” (1947)
  11:00 MY LITTLE MARGIE—Comedy
  11:30 MOVIE—Western“Along the Great Divide” (1951)
Afternoon
    1:30 MOVIE—Drama “The Mortal Storm” (1940)
    3:30 MERV GRIFFIN—Variety  COLOR Guests: Robert Merrill, Kenneth Tynan, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Ronnie Dyson
    5:00 CRUSADER RABBIT  COLOR 
    5:30 FLINTSTONES  COLOR 
Evening
    6:00 McHALE’S NAVY—Comedy
    7:00 I LOVE LUCY—Comedy
    7:30 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES—Game  COLOR 
    8:00 PAY CARDS!—Game  COLOR Guest: Doc Severinson
    8:30 ALLEN LUDDEN—Variety  COLOR Guests: Tom Kennedy, Hendra and Ullett, Thelma Houston, Back Porch Majority
  10:00 NEWS—Bill Jorgensen  COLOR 
  11:00 MOVIE—Comedy“Duck Soup” (1933)
  12:30 DONALD O’CONNOR—Variety  COLOR Time approximate. Guests: Tom Vaughn, Rod McKuen, Lou Mosconi, Gunilla Hutton, Sidney Miller
    2:00 NEWS


 7  WABC (ABC)
Morning
    7:00 MORNING SHOW  COLOR 
    8:30 GIRL TALK  COLOR Guests: Jacqueline Bertrand, Dr. Herbert Otto
    9:00 ANNIVERSARY GAME  COLOR 
    9:30 BEAT THE ODDS  COLOR 
  10:00 MOVIE—Drama“As the Sea Rages” (West German-Yugoslavian-American; 1959)
Afternoon
  12:00 BEWITCHED—Comedy
  12:30 FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK  COLOR Guests: Marty Allen, Stu Gilliam, Lee Grant, Meredith MacRae, Jan Murray
  12:55 CHILDREN’S DOCTOR  COLOR 
    1:00 DREAM HOUSE  COLOR 
    1:30 LET’S MAKE A DEAL  COLOR 
    2:00 NEWLYWED GAME  COLOR 
    2:30 DATING GAME  COLOR 
    3:00 GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial  COLOR 
    3:30 ONE LIFE TO LIVE  COLOR 
    4:00 DARK SHADOWS  COLOR 
    4:30 MOVIE—Drama“Underworld, U.S.A.” (1960)
Evening
    6:30 NEWS—Roger Grimsby  COLOR 
    7:00 NEWS—Frank Reynolds  COLOR 
    7:30 FLYING NUN—Comedy  COLOR 
    8:00 THAT GIRL—Comedy  COLOR 
    8:30 BEWITCHED—Comedy  COLOR 
    9:00 TOM JONES  COLOR Guests: George Burns, John Davidson, Sally Ann Howes, the Dave Clark Five
  10:00 SUSPENSE THEATRE—Drama  COLOR 
  11:00 NEWS—Roger Grimsby  COLOR 
  11:30 JOEY BISHOP  COLOR Guest: Burt Lancaster
    1:00 MOVIE—Drama“Operation Warhead” (English; 1961)


 8  WNHC (NEW HAVEN) (ABC)
Morning
    6:10 NEWS
    6:15 DAVEY AND GOLIATH  COLOR 
    6:30 WAY OUT  COLOR 
    7:00 MR. GOOBER  COLOR 
    9:00 STEVE ALLEN—Variety  COLOR Guests: Abbe Lane, Louis Nye, Caroline Richter, Ike Cole and his trio
  10:30 MERV GRIFFIN  COLOR 
  11:30 JOAN RIVERS  COLOR Guests: Dick Shawn, Sidney Drazen
Afternoon
  12:00 BEWITCHED—Comedy
  12:30 FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK  COLOR Guests: Marty Allen, Stu Gilliam, Lee Grant, Meredith MacRae, Jan Murray
  12:55 CHILDREN’S DOCTOR  COLOR 
    1:00 DREAM HOUSE  COLOR 
    1:30 LET’S MAKE A DEAL  COLOR 
    2:00 NEWLYWED GAME  COLOR 
    2:30 DATING GAME  COLOR 
    3:00 GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial  COLOR 
    3:30 ONE LIFE TO LIVE  COLOR 
    4:00 MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety  COLOR Guests: Troy Donahue, Martha Raye
    5:30 I LOVE LUCY—Comedy
Evening
    6:00 NEWS—Bob Norman  COLOR 
    6:10 WEATHER—Carroll  COLOR 
    6:15 NEWS—Bob Norman  COLOR 
    6:20 SPORTS—Galiette  COLOR 
    6:30 NEWS—Frank Reynolds  COLOR 
    7:00 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES—Game  COLOR 
    7:30 FLYING NUN—Comedy  COLOR 
    8:00 THAT GIRL—Comedy  COLOR 
    8:30 BEWITCHED—Comedy  COLOR 
    9:00 TOM JONES  COLOR Guests: George Burns, John Davidson, Sally Ann Howes, the Dave Clark Five
  10:00 OUTCASTS—Western  COLOR 
  11:00 NEWS—Thompson  COLOR 
  11:10 WEATHER—Bob Jones  COLOR 
  11:15 NEWS—Thompson  COLOR 
  11:20 SPORTS--Galiette  COLOR 
  11:30 JOEY BISHOP  COLOR Guest: Burt Lancaster
    1:00 NEWS


 9  WOR (IND.)
Morning
    7:55 NEWS AND WEATHER
    8:00 BONNIE PRUDDEN  COLOR 
    8:30 CARTOONS  COLOR 
    9:00 ROMPER ROOM  COLOR 
  10:00 BOZO’S CIRCUS  COLOR 
  11:00 JOURNEY TO ADVENTURE  COLOR 
  11:30 STOCK MARKET  COLOR 
Afternoon
    3:00 FIRESIDE THEATER—Drama
    3:30 LORETTA YOUNG—Drama
    4:00 MOVIE—Adventure  COLOR “The Defeat of Hannibal” (Italian; 1960)
Evening
    6:00 GILLIGAN’S ISLAND—Comedy
    6:30 I SPY—Drama  COLOR 
    7:30 DIVORCE COURT—Drama  COLOR 
    8:00 BASEBALL  COLOR New York Mets at Atlanta Braves
  11:00 MOVIE—Drama“Edge of the City” (1957)
    1:00 JOE FRANKLIN  COLOR Guest: Roderick Thorpe
    2:00 NEWS


11 WPIX (IND.)
Morning
    7:20 NEWS  COLOR 
    7:30 TV HIGH SCHOOL
    8:00 BIOGRAPHY—Documentary
    8:30 WINKY DINK/HERCULES—Children  COLOR 
    9:00 KRAZY KAT—Children  COLOR 
    9:30 JACK LA LANNE  COLOR 
  10:00 DAVID WADE—Cooking  COLOR 
  10:30 STEVE ALLEN—Variety  COLOR Guests: Jane Russell, Avery Schreiber, Ken Greenwald, Larry Hefner
  11:50 NEWS  COLOR 
Afternoon
  12:00 UNDERDOG—Children  COLOR 
  12:30 ROCKY—Children  COLOR 
    1:00 LITTLE RASCALS  COLOR 
    1:30 MOVIE—Adventure “The Scarlet Spear” (1954)
    3:00 CAPTAIN SCARLET  COLOR 
    3:30 SPEED RACER  COLOR 
    4:00 ABBOTT AND COSTELLO
    4:30 THREE STOOGES  COLOR 
    5:00 SUPERMAN—Adventure  COLOR 
    5:30 MUNSTERS—Comedy
Evening
    6:00 F TROOP—Comedy  COLOR 
    6:30 VOYAGE—Adventure  COLOR 
    7:30 HONEYMOONERS—Comedy
    8:00 PATTY DUKE—Comedy
    8:30 POLITICAL DEBATE  SPECIAL   COLOR Republican Mayoral Debate
    9:30 PASSWORD—Game  COLOR Guests: Amanda Blake, Ray Bolger
  10:00 DR. KILDARE—Drama
  11:00 NEWS—Lee Nelson  COLOR 
  11:35 MOVIE—Comedy“Man in the Moon” (English; 1956)
    1:05 NEWS—Lee Nelson  COLOR 


13 WNDT (NET)
Morning
    8:55 CLASSROOM
Afternoon
  12:00 CLASSROOM—Education
    4:30 LITTLE ADAM  COLOR 
    4:45 FRIENDLY GIANT—Children
    5:00 MISTEROGERS—Children
    5:30 WHAT’S NEW—Children
Evening
    6:00 TV HIGH SCHOOL
    6:30 THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION
    7:00 NEW JERSEY SPEAKS
    7:30 TO BE ANNOUNCED
    8:00 NEWS IN PERSPECTIVE  COLOR 
    9:00 SOUL!—Variety  COLOR Guests: Clarence Carter, Dee Dee Sharp
  10:00 NEWSFRONT—Mitchell Krauss


31 WNYC (IND.)
Morning
  10:00 SIGHT AND SOUND—Music  COLOR 
  10:30 FILM  COLOR 
  11:00 INTERNATIONAL INTERVIEW  COLOR 
  11:30 TRAVELOGS  COLOR 
Afternoon
  12:30 MUSIC RECITAL  COLOR 
    1:30 INTERLUDE
    3:00 FILMS  COLOR 
    4:00 AROUND THE CLOCK  COLOR 
    4:30 BIG PICTURE—Army  COLOR 
    5:00 FILM
    5:30 CONSULTATION—Medicine
Evening
    6:00 IT’S FUN TO READ—Discussion
    6:30 NEWS—Paul Manacher  COLOR 
    6:45 FILM  COLOR 
    7:00 STAFF LETTER—Documentary
    7:30 ON THE JOB—Fire Department
    8:00 FILMS
    8:30 ONE TO ONE—Art
    9:00 MAN AND THE UNIVERSE
    9:30 NEWS—Herbert Boland  COLOR 
    9:45 ITALIAN PANORAMA
  10:00 GERMAN—Lessons



47 WNJU (NEWARK) (IND.)
Afternoon
    5:00 NEWS IN SPANISH
    5:10 MOVIE—Western“Camino Sangreinto” (1943)
Evening
    6:30 OUR LADY OF FATIMA—Serial
    7:00 MARIA—Serial  COLOR 
    8:00 MYRTA SILVA  COLOR 
    9:30 SPANISH DRAMA
  10:00 NEWS—Kevin Corrigan  COLOR 
  10:15 VARIETY SHOW  COLOR 
  11:15 COUNTRY GIRL—Serial
  11:45 HAWKEYE—Western
  12:15 NEWS—Arturo Rodriguez
  TV  

This week in TV Guide: May 17, 1969

The biggest bomb of the season? How about one of the biggest fiascoes in the history of television? You've read about it before, you might even have seen it, but this week we get a chance to learn first-hand, from a contemporary account, about the disaster that was Turn-On.

In the event that this is all new to you, Turn-On's first—and last—episode aired February 5 of this year on ABC. As Richard K. Doan and Joseph Finnigan report in this week's lead story, the viewers who turned in to the series' premiere—"16 or 17 million"—"were so violently turned off by what they saw that the network had to call off the series the next day." The authors dryly note that "Not many series have played one-night stands." Within two days of its airing, 75 ABC affiliates—roughly half the network—told executives they'd no longer air the series. Critics referred to it as "dirty," "vulgar," and irreverent."

Part of the problem, the authors point out, might have been that viewers expected a show more like Laugh-In, which is not surprising considering it was created by Laugh-In vets George Schlatter and Ed Friendly. Instead, viewers wound up with "a crude fraud," and found themselves "repelled or confused or antagonized by it." One female viewer said "All I can remember is the word 'sex,' in huge letters, pounding across the screen," a scene that lasted several minutes, while guests Tim Conway and Bonnie Boland "flitted in and out of the picture, mugging suggestively at each other, to the tune of throbbing electronic sounds building in intensity." "There were no pros—only antis," says Gene McCurdy of Philadelphia's WFIL-TV. "We canceled the show right away." Baltimore station WJZ reported calls running three to one against, and said they'd have refused to carry it again even if the network didn't cancel it. New Haven's WNHC even aired an announcement before the show stating it was "for mature viewers"

Again, we're confronted with one of my favorite sayings, Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose: the more things change, the more they stay the same. Take this quote, for example, from Robert Doubleday of KATV in Little Rock, Arkansas. He was one of the most outspoken critics of Turn-On, receiving letters of support from viewers around the country who'd read about his comments. If only, he said, the network had listened to people like him warning them that "most people still have standards of taste and morality." "It would be a good idea," he says in the money quote, "to load those people who do those TV series into Greyhound buses and take them on a trip across the country to show them how the rest of the people live." Red America before the term was coined.

The producers, Friendly and Schlatter, refuse to acknowledge that their show was a bomb; in fact, "It was really not a show; it was an experience, a happening." (Only someone from the TV industry or a political scientist could come up with doubletalk like that.) They didn't mean to offend; it was provocative, adult, sophisticated comedy. "But the fact that it was taken off doesn't mean it was unsuccessful. It only means it's going to take a little time before we can do it again." In other words, when the stupid yokels out there grow up.

One participant in the fiasco, speaking on condition of anonymity, offers a contrary viewpoint. "There were 300 jokes in that show, enough to offend everybody, regardless of race, religion or national origin. We just went totally wrong in our judgment. . . There were two things basically wrong with it: there wasn't any sort of identification with the audience—just a bunch of strangers up there insulting everything you believe in. And secondly, it wasn't funny enough."

I suspect Turn-On wouldn't be nearly as controversial today, but it also probably wouldn't be the same show that was aired in 1969. It would be cruder, more tasteless, more explicit. And it would probably be just as offensive today as it was 50 years ago. You can bet there'd be a network that would take a chance on it, though—nobody in Hollywood ever went broke by pitching an idea that offends people like us.

t  t  t
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..
Ed Sullivan: Tonight Ed's live show features Lisa Minnelli; Mike Douglas; the 5th Dimension; and comics Bill Dana, Joan Rivers and George Carlin. Also on hand: the West Point Glee Club and Vino Venito, balancing act.

Hollywood Palace: An all-comedy potpourri is hosted by Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, with fellow comedians Ron Gaylord and Burt Holiday; banjo-playing pantomimist Gene Sheldon; double-talking Simmy Bow; telephone gossip Betty Walker; and stand-up comics Jackie Gayle and Irwin C. Watson.

I have to admit that I have never heard of most of Rowan and Martin's guests, which is probably a shortcoming of my own. On the other hand, I have heard of all of Ed's guests (except for Vino Venito), and there are some pretty big names there. Actually, I guess they're all pretty big. Which makes this week pretty easy: a unanimous victory for Sullivan.

t  t  t
.Throughout the 60s and early 70s, TV Guide's weekly reviews were written by the witty and acerbic Cleveland Amory. Whenever we get the chance, we'll look at Cleve's latest take on the series of the era. 

There's no sense trying to paraphrase the opening of Cleveland Amory's review of The King Family, so let's just go with it:

"The last time we reviewed the King Family, we told you there were 36 of them—which made, on our screen, about one King per five square inches or, on the other hand, 10 square inches per two square Kings. In any case, since that time, there are a great many more of them. On the whole, however, and to their credit, they do not seem nearly so square."

It's common knowledge that Tina Cole, best-known as Don Grady's wife on My Three Sons, was one of the "King Cousins," the younger generation of family members most responsible for rounding those square corners. But they're not the only reason this show has taken on a more contemporary sound, The Sisters, the other regulars, even Alvino Rey, have all taken on the new era; in one recent show, Cleve recounts that Candy Conkling ("she's a King, too") sang "Frank Mills" from the Broadway musical Hair. It might sound ridiculous, but "it actually wasn't."

The only sour note, notes Amory, comes with the notes of so much of modern music, which he calls "just plain hard of hearing." Some of it, like recent Oscar nominees "Star!" "Funny Girl," and "For Love of Ivy" just don't cut it. The Bottom Line, says Cleve, is this: "If the Kings can't sing it/there's something wrong/and not with the Kings/but with the song."

t  t  t
The guest lineup of the week has to be on Kup's Show, hosted by Irv Kupcinet. (Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., WNYC) Try this on for size: Mel Brooks; Academy Award nominee Lynn Carlin (Faces); actors Gene Barry, Robert Young and Edy Williams; singer Lou Rawls; General Omar Bradley; porucers Robert Wise and Carl Foreman; former Pueblo crewman Richard Roggola; Yale President Kingman Brewster Jr., and John Gregory Dunne, author of The Studio.

If you're wondering how Kup was able to cram so many guests (and diverse ones at that!) into one show, it helps that it was three hours. But even that wasn't always enough. In the early days of At Random (the show's original name), the program would begin at midnight, and would end whenever conversation ran out—which sometimes wasn't until 5:30 a.m. It was, Kupcinet would say, all about "the lively art of conversation," something that's sadly lacking in television today. Of course, this presumes that you'd be able to find guests today who were capable of sustaining a conversation for more than a few minutes. When you consider that Kupcinet would never ask his guests about their latest movies ("We tried to make it meaningful."), they'd have even less to talk about. Can you imagine how stimulating a program like that must have been? Even when the standard length for a talk show was 90 minutes, you'd have occasions when the host and a guest would run out of time right in the middle of a good conversation. But to have an open-ended show like this one used to be? Better than informercials, I'd say.

I'm sure our loyal reader Mike Doran has some additional stories about Kup that he could tell. But the remarkable story of the murder of Kupcinet's daughter Karyn , and the various theories about it (including one linking her to the JFK assassination) would be worthy of a James Ellroy novel.

t  t  t
What else is interesting this week? Well, on Saturday it's the second jewel of horse racing's Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes, from Baltimore (5:00 p.m. ET, CBS). Kentucky Derby winner Majestic Prince goes two for two with a narrow victory over Arts and Letters, before losing to the same horse by 5½ lengths in the Belmont.

At 12:49 p.m. Sunday, Apollo 10 lifts off in the final dress rehearsal before July's scheduled moon mission, with 10's lunar module coming within 50,000 feet of the moon's surface. Needless to say, all three networks are planning extensive coverage. Also on Sunday, the characters from Walt Kelly's comic strip Pogo make their television debut in an animated musical special (8:30 p.m., NBC).

Monday night, comedian Alan King hosts his own comedy special (8:00 p.m., NBC, preempting Laugh-In), with guests Buddy Hackett, Linda Lavin and Karen Morrow. Considering the problems Sammy Davis Jr. had when he couldn't host his own NBC series for a period of time before and after his special on ABC, I wonder if Laugh-In's preemption had anything to do with Rowan and Martin hosting The Hollywood Palace the previous Saturday? Probably not, just the idle thought of a tired mind.

On Tuesday at 1:30 p.m., WNEW presents the movie The Winning Team, with Ronald Reagan starring as Hall of Fame pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander, co-starring Doris Day, and featuring a number of baseball stars playing themselves, including Bob Lemon, Hank Sauer and Gene Mauch. If you remember  Terry Cashman's song "Talkin' Baseball" (real title: "Willie, Mickey, and the Duke), written in 1981, the lyric, "And the great Alexander is pitching again in Washington" is a reference to this movie.

Wednesday features the rerun of Yul Brynner's Oscar-winning performance in The King and I (8:30 p.m., ABC), a movie which Judith Crist calls "that loveliest of Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals," with brilliant performances by Brynner and Deborah Kerr. If you're not up for that, and I probably wouldn't have been, try a repeat of Jack Benny's February birthday bash (10:00 p.m., NBC), with guest stars Lucille Ball, Dan Blocker, Lawrence Welk, Dennis Day, Don Wilson, Jerry Lewis, and Ann-Margret.

Jonathan Winters' short-lived CBS series goes off the air on Thursday (8:00 p.m.); his final guests are the Smothers Brothers (who also appear on Glen Campbell's show this week), Paul Lynde (who also appears on Jerry Lewis' show this week), Marvin Gaye, and Mickie Finn's musical revue. At the other end of the scale, Tom Jones moves to Thursdays this week (9:00 p.m., ABC), with guests John Davidson, George Burns, Sally Ann Howes, and The Dave Clark Five.

Each network features some fine guest stars on Friday night's programs; Michael Dunn is the evil Dr. Loveless in The Wild Wild West (7:30 p.m., CBS), an episode that also features Susan Seaforth, who'll become far better known as one of the great soap opera stars of all time. At the same time on ABC, it's the documentary "The Singers," featuring profiles of Aretha Franklin and Gloria Loring—not quite on the same scale, but we'll let it pass for now. And on The Name of the Game (8:30 p.m., NBC), Robert Young, Anne Baxter, and Ralph Meeker are among the stars in a drama about a right-wing reactionary (Young) marshaling a private army to fight the race war.

t  t  t
Finally, a letter to the editor. Helen Harris, of Los Angeles, writes in to praise the recent 60 Minutes interview with Theodore Roosevelt's daughter, Alice Longworth. "She is bright, witty and sharp. But why must she be so unkind? If I were a Washingtonian, I would steer away from her like the plague."

Alice Roosevelt Longworth, daughter of a president and widow of a speaker of the House of Representatives, one of the great figures of Washington society, knew every president from Benjamin Harrison to Gerald Ford. "Many were intimate friends," the Washington Post once said, "others were intimate enemies." She was famous for her wit, and her tart and acerbic tongue; her devastating impression of "Poor Cousin Eleanor" Roosevelt was a favorite at her tea parties.

Her most famous saying (and my personal favorite) is, "If you can't say something good about someone, sit right here by me." Of Wendell Willkie, she once said, "He sprang from the grass roots of the country clubs of America." and she remarked that Calvin Coolidge "looks as though he's been weaned on a pickle." Of journalist Dorothy Thompson: "Dorothy is the only woman in history who has had her menopause in public and made it pay." In what could be a commentary on today's generation, she remarked that, "I've always believed in the adage that the secret of eternal youth is arrested development." Of her father, whom she adored, she commented that he "always wanted to be the corpse at every funeral, the bride at every wedding and the baby at every christening." (TR once said that, "I can be President of the United States, or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do both.")

It's a mark of her reputation that some of the quotes attributed to her were actually said by others—they just sounded like something she'd say. She admitted she wasn't the author of the devastating comment on Thomas Dewey, "How can you vote for a man who looks like a bridegroom on a wedding cake?" "She said she merely spread it around, or 'gave it currency,' out of respect for the phrase."

Perhaps only Winston Churchill and Dorothy Parker could rival the sharpness of her wit and her tongue. Ms. Harris wondered why Washingtonians didn't stay away from her, but presidents were known to change seating arrangements at state dinners in order to have her placed next to them. (LBJ had an attractive young woman moved to make room for her; when an aide told him he didn't know what he'd be missing, he replied, "Ah but I know what I'm getting.") Alice Roosevelt Longworth died in 1980; I wonder—I just wonder—what she'd have to say about Washington today? TV  

Around the dial

Does the Dali Lama read It's About TV?I think most of us who are of a certain age got their introduction to many classic movies by seeing them on television, and so it's fitting that Classic Film and TV Cafe helps celebrate National Classic Movie Day with five favorite films from the 1950s . And if that's not enough, Once Upon a Screen  chips in as well. How many of these did you first see on TV?

And how many of these did you first hear on TV ? It's the conclusion to David's 100 most memorable songs introduced by classic TV at Comfort TV. And yes, this list is filled with classics that will give you an earworm if you're not careful.

Back to movies for a sec; RealWeegieMidget has some great stills from Joan Crawford's appearance on The Man from U.N.C.L.E., one of several two-part episodes over the run of the series that were turned into theatrical releases.

At Garroway at Large, Jodie takes us back to the premiere of Today, and gives us what may be our best (and certainly most fascinating) look at what the RCA Exhibition Hall , home of the Today set, looked like. The set only made up a small part of that large building, after all.

The Horn Section is back to Love That Bob!, with this week's episode being " Bob Tangles With Ruthie ," first broadcast in 1957. Bob Cummings is, I think, an often-overlooked TV star of the 1950s and 60s, and it's good to be reminded how funny this show was.

The Broadcast Archives at the University of Maryland links to this Vanity Fair story about how Carl Reiner went toe-to-toe with CBS over the content of a classic Dick Van Dyke episode, and almost left the series because of it . Of such things is television history made.

Television's New Frontier: the 1960s has made it to Maverick in 1961 , in which the show's  fourth and fifth seasons are seen. Creator Roy Huggins and star James Garner have both left, but with Jack Kelly still carrying the water (along with Roger Moore and a very brief appearance by Robert Colbert), the series still manages to hit some of the highs it was always known for.

And finally, two entertainment giants died this week, Doris Day and Tim Conway. I seldom have the time anymore to do the kinds of obituaries I like to do, but at A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence has fine appreciations of both Conway and Day . We won't see their likes again. TV  

Arlene Dahl's Beauty Spot, circa 1966

When you've seen as many of TV Guide's listings from the 1960s as I have, you get used to certain things that probably haven't been on TV in at least 40 years. One of those things is the daytime five-minute newsbreak. All three networks aired these, primarily in the '60s and '70s, and the faces of these brief news updates were quite well-known: Edwin Newman and Floyd Kalber on NBC, Douglas Edwards on CBS, and Marlene Sanders on ABC, among others. In the mid-60s, however, ABC had a five-minute break of another kind.

It was called Arlene Dahl's Beauty Spot; in last Monday's listing, it aired at 3:25 p.m. CT. Arlene Dahl, the host, was a Hollywood actress who achieved quite a bit of success thanks to her talent and her, well, anatomic assets.* However, she was no dumb blonde—actually, she was a redhead, but you get what I mean—and in 1954, while her acting career was still going strong she branched out into Arlene Dahl Enterprises, marketing cosmetics and designer lingerie. She also had her own syndicated newspaper beauty column, and later she became vice president of an advertising agency. Somewhere in there, she also gave birth to Lorenzo Lamas; her husband at the time (the second of six) was Fernando Lamas who undoubtedly looked marvelous.

*She's also yet another celebrities who hales from Minneapolis, graduating from Washburn High School, which is where I might have gone had we remained here during my teen years, rather than being exiled to the World's Worst Town™. She was a few years ahead of me, of course.

On September 27, 1965 the five-minute Arlene Dahl's Beauty Spot began on ABC; it would run until June 24, 1966, following Never Too Young, and later, Dark Shadows. Here are a couple of episodes, to give you an idea of what to expect the next time you see Arlene Dahl in the daytime listings.



Arlene Dahl is still alive today, at age 93. After all, we grow them hearty here in Minnesota. TV  

What's on TV? Thursday, May 19, 1966

What is there to say about this week's listings, which come from the Minnesota State Edition? Well, there are a couple of things that are exceptions to TV Guide's style guide: The Saint, at 3:30 p.m. on KDAL, and The Baron, at 9:00 p.m. on ABC, both include the article "The," and the network's afternoon soaper A Time for Us has the article "A"—these are very rare for the magazine. I can only remember a few exceptions like this; not quite sure why they pop up here, since they could easily have done without—see that listing for Untouchables in the picture above? I won't say that these are the kinds of things that keep me awake at night; if they did, my life would be even more pathetic than it sometimes seems. It's just that, well, inquiring minds want to know. Oh well—enjoy the rest of the day, and try not to think too hard about it.



 2  KTCA (EDUC.)
Morning
    9:10 CLASSROOM—Education
Afternoon
    5:00 KINDERGARTEN—Education
    5:30 ECONOMICS—John R. Coleman
Evening
    6:00 GERMAN—Wolfgang Tarba
    6:30 SOCIAL STATISTICS—Francis
    7:40 MEDIEVAL HISTORY—Hoyt
    8:30 COLLEGE CONCERT
    9:00 TRAILS WEST—Loehr
    9:30 TOWN AND COUNTRY
  10:00 PSYCHOLOGY—LaBerge


 3  KDAL (DULUTH) (CBS)
Morning
    7:35 FARM AND HOME
    7:45 TREETOP HOUSE—Miss Jane
    8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO—Children
    9:00 I LOVE LUCY
    9:30 McCOYS—Comedy
  10:00 ANDY GRIFFITH—Comedy
  10:30 BINGO—Game
  11:00 LOVE OF LIFE
  11:25 NEWS
  11:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial
  11:45 GUIDING LIGHT—Serial
Afternoon
  12:00 TOWN AND COUNTRY—Becker
  12:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial
    1:00 PASSWORDCelebrities: June Lockhart, Bob Crane
    1:30 HOUSE PARTY  COLOR Guests: Jinx Kragen, Nick Lucas
    2:00 TO TELL THE TRUTH—Panel
    2:25 NEWS—Edwards
    2:30 EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial
    3:00 SECRET STORM—Serial
    3:30 THE SAINT—Mystery
    4:30 SUPERMAN—Adventure
    5:00 YOGI BEAR—Cartoons  COLOR 
    5:30 NEWS—Walter Cronkite  COLOR 
Evening
    6:00 NEWS
    6:30 MUNSTERS
    7:00 GILLIGAN’S ISLAND—Comedy  COLOR 
    7:30 MY THREE SONS—Comedy  COLOR 
    8:00 MOVIE—Drama  COLOR Thursday Night Movie: ”Parrish” (1960)
  10:15 NEWS
  10:30 MOVIE—Drama “Interlude”  (1957)


 4  WCCO (CBS)
Morning
    6:00 SIEGFRIED—Children
    7:00 TREE HOUSE—Children
    7:30 CLANCY AND COMPANY
    8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO—Children
    9:00 DR. REUBEN K. YOUNGDAHL
    9:05 NEWS—Dean Montgomery
    9:10 MIKE DOUGLAS—VarietyGuests: John Raitt, Dr. Joyce Brothers
  10:00 ANDY GRIFFITH—Comedy
  10:30 DICK VAN DYKE
  11:00 LOVE OF LIFE
  11:25 NEWS
  11:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial
  11:45 GUIDING LIGHT—Serial
Afternoon
  12:00 NEWS
  12:15 SOMETHING SPECIAL
  12:25 WEATHER—Bud Kraehling
  12:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial
    1:00 PASSWORDCelebrities: June Lockhart, Bob Crane
    1:30 HOUSE PARTY  COLOR Guests: Jinx Kragen, Nick Lucas
    2:00 TO TELL THE TRUTH—Panel
    2:25 NEWS—Edwards
    2:30 EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial
    3:00 SECRET STORM—Serial
    3:30 I LOVE LUCY—Comedy
    4:00 MOVIE—Adventure  COLOR “Way of a Gaucho” (1952)
    5:30 NEWS—Walter Cronkite  COLOR 
Evening
    6:00 NEWS
    6:30 OUTDOOR SPORTS—Johnson
    7:00 GILLIGAN’S ISLAND—Comedy  COLOR 
    7:30 MY THREE SONS—Comedy  COLOR 
    8:00 MOVIE—Drama  COLOR Thursday Night Movie: ”Parrish” (1960)
  10:15 NEWS
  10:45 MOVIE—Comedy  COLOR “Fast and Sexy” (French-Italian; 1960)
  12:40 MOVIE—Comedy“Bonnie Scotland” (1935)


 5  KSTP (NBC)
Morning
    6:00 CONTINENTAL CLASSROOM
    6:30 CITY AND COUNTRY  COLOR 
    7:00 TODAY  COLOR Guests: Judith Crist, Kay Armen
    9:00 EYE GUESS—Game  COLOR 
    9:25 NEWS—Newman
    9:30 CONCENTRATION—Game
  10:00 MORNING STAR—Serial  COLOR 
  10:30 PARADISE BAY—Serial  COLOR 
  11:00 JEOPARDY—Game  COLOR 
  11:30 LET’S PLAY POST OFFICE—Game  COLOR 
  11:55 NEWS
Afternoon
  12:00 NEWS AND WEATHER  COLOR 
  12:15 DIALING FOR DOLLARS—Game  COLOR 
  12:30 LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game  COLOR 
  12:55 NEWS—Floyd Kalber
    1:00 DAYS OF OUR LIVES—Serial  COLOR 
    1:30 DOCTORS
    2:00 ANOTHER WORLD—Serial
    2:30 YOU DON’T SAY!—Game  COLOR Celebrities: Dan Rowan, Dick Martin
    3:00 MATCH GAME  COLOR Celebrities: Julia Meade, Roger Smith
    3:25 NEWS
    3:30 DIALING FOR DOLLARS—Game  COLOR 
    4:30 SUGARFOOT—Western
    5:25 DOCTOR’S HOUSE CALL—James Rogers Fox  COLOR 
    5:30 NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley  COLOR 
Evening
    6:00 NEWS  COLOR 
    6:30 DANIEL BOONE—Adventure  COLOR 
    7:30 POLITICAL HUMOR  SPECIAL   COLOR “A Funny Thing Happened to Me on the Way to the White House”
    8:30 MICKIE FINN’S  COLOR Guests: Roberta Sherwood, Don Lanning
    9:00 DEAN MARTIN  COLOR Guests: Gisele MacKenzie, Tommy Sands and the McGuire Sisters, Jack Carter, Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop, the Treniers
  10:00 NEWS  COLOR 
  10:30 JOHNNY CARSON  COLOR 
  12:15 MOVIE—Western“Apache Woman” (1955)


 6  WDSM (DULUTH) (NBC)
Morning
    7:00 TODAY  COLOR Guests: Judith Crist, Kay Armen
    9:00 EYE GUESS—Game  COLOR 
    9:25 NEWS—Newman
    9:30 CONCENTRATION—Game
  10:00 MORNING STAR—Serial  COLOR 
  10:30 PARADISE BAY—Serial  COLOR 
  11:00 JEOPARDY—Game  COLOR 
  11:30 LET’S PLAY POST OFFICE—Game  COLOR 
  11:55 NEWS
Afternoon
  12:00 GIRL TALK—Panel
  12:30 LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game  COLOR 
  12:55 NEWS—Floyd Kalber
    1:00 DAYS OF OUR LIVES—Serial  COLOR 
    1:30 DOCTORS
    2:00 ANOTHER WORLD—Serial
    2:30 YOU DON’T SAY!—Game  COLOR Celebrities: Dan Rowan, Dick Martin
    3:00 MATCH GAME  COLOR Celebrities: Julia Meade, Roger Smith
    3:25 NEWS
    3:30 JACK LA LANNE  COLOR 
    4:00 BOZO AND HIS PALS  COLOR 
    5:30 NEWS, ROCKY TELLER  COLOR 
Evening
    6:00 NEWS—Huntley, Brinkley  COLOR 
    6:30 DANIEL BOONE—Adventure  COLOR 
    7:30 POLITICAL HUMOR  SPECIAL   COLOR “A Funny Thing Happened to Me on the Way to the White House”
    8:30 MICKIE FINN’S  COLOR Guests: Roberta Sherwood, Don Lanning
    9:00 DEAN MARTIN  COLOR Guests: Gisele MacKenzie, Tommy Sands and the McGuire Sisters, Jack Carter, Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop, the Treniers
  10:00 NEWS  COLOR 
  10:20 JOHNNY CARSON  COLOR 


 6  KMMT (AUSTIN) (ABC)
Morning
  10:00 SUPERMARKET SWEEP—Game
  10:30 DATING GAME
  11:00 DONNA REED—Comedy
  11:30 FATHER KNOWS BEST
Afternoon
  12:00 BEN CASEY—Drama
    1:00 CONFIDENTIAL FOR WOMEN—Serial
    1:30 A TIME FOR US—Serial
    1:55 NEWS—Marlene Sanders
    2:00 GENERAL HOSPITAL
    2:30 NURSES—Serial
    3:00 NEVER TOO YOUNG
    3:25 ARLENE DAHL  COLOR 
    3:30 WHERE THE ACTION IS—Variety Performers: Billy Joe Royal, Freddie and the Dreamers, Keith Allison
    4:00 CAPTAIN ATOM—Children
    5:30 RIFLEMAN—Western
Evening
    6:00 NEWS—Bob Young
    6:15 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER
    6:30 BATMAN—Adventure  COLOR 
    7:00 GIDGET—Comedy  COLOR 
    7:30 DOUBLE LIFE—Comedy  COLOR 
    8:00 BEWITCHED—Comedy
    8:30 PEYTON PLACE
    9:00 THE BARON—Adventure  COLOR 
  10:00 NEWS
  10:30 UNTOUCHABLES—Drama
  11:30 NEWS


 7  KCMT (ALEXANDRIA) (NBC, ABC)
Morning
    7:00 TODAY  COLOR Guests: Judith Crist, Kay Armen
    9:00 EYE GUESS—Game  COLOR 
    9:25 NEWS—Newman
    9:30 CONCENTRATION—Game
  10:00 MORNING STAR—Serial  COLOR 
  10:30 PARADISE BAY—Serial  COLOR 
  11:00 JEOPARDY—Game  COLOR 
  11:30 LET’S PLAY POST OFFICE—Game  COLOR 
  11:55 NEWS
Afternoon
  12:00 NEWS
  12:20 TRADING POST—Jon Haaven
  12:30 LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game  COLOR 
  12:55 NEWS—Floyd Kalber
    1:00 DAYS OF OUR LIVES—Serial  COLOR 
    1:30 DOCTORS
    2:00 ANOTHER WORLD—Serial
    2:30 YOU DON’T SAY!—Game  COLOR Celebrities: Dan Rowan, Dick Martin
    3:00 MATCH GAME  COLOR Celebrities: Julia Meade, Roger Smith
    3:25 NEWS
    3:30 GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial
    4:00 FATHER KNOWS BEST
    4:30 WELCOME INN—Variety
    5:00 HUCKLEBERRY HOUND
    5:30 NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley  COLOR 
Evening
    6:00 NEWS
    6:30 DANIEL BOONE—Adventure  COLOR 
    7:30 POLITICAL HUMOR  SPECIAL   COLOR “A Funny Thing Happened to Me on the Way to the White House”
    8:30 MICKIE FINN’S  COLOR Guests: Roberta Sherwood, Don Lanning
    9:00 DEAN MARTIN  COLOR Guests: Gisele MacKenzie, Tommy Sands and the McGuire Sisters, Jack Carter, Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop, the Treniers
  10:00 NEWS
  10:30 FUGITIVE—Drama
  11:30 UNEXPECTED—Drama


 8  WDSE (DULUTH) (EDUC.)
Morning
    9:10 CLASSROOM—Education
Afternoon
    5:00 KINDERGARTEN—Education
    5:30 THEATER 30—Drama
Evening
    6:00 SCHOOL STORY—Documentary
    6:30 U.S.A.—Photography
    7:00 U.S.A.—Photography
    7:30 IT’S WHAT’S HAPPENING
    8:00 MEASURE OF MAN—Discussion
    8:30 COLLEGE CONCERT
    9:00 WRITTEN WORD—Language
    9:30 TOWN AND COUNTRY
  10:00 NEWS IN PERSPECTIVE


 9  KMSP (ABC)
Morning
    7:30 MY LITTLE MARGIE—Comedy
    8:00 HENNESEY—Comedy
    8:30 KIT CARSON—Western
    9:00 ROMPER ROOM—Miss Betty
  10:00 SUPERMARKET SWEEP—Game
  10:30 DATING GAME
  11:00 DONNA REED—Comedy
  11:30 FATHER KNOWS BEST
Afternoon
  12:00 BEN CASEY—Drama
    1:00 CONFIDENTIAL FOR WOMEN—Serial
    1:30 A TIME FOR US—Serial
    1:55 NEWS—Marlene Sanders
    2:00 GENERAL HOSPITAL
    2:30 NURSES—Serial
    3:00 NEVER TOO YOUNG
    3:25 ARLENE DAHL  COLOR 
    3:30 WHERE THE ACTION IS—Variety Performers: Billy Joe Royal, Freddie and the Dreamers, Keith Allison
    4:00 ROUTE 66—Drama
    5:00 NEWS—Bob Young
    5:15 NEWS AND WEATHER
    5:30 LEAVE IT TO BEAVER—Comedy
Evening
    6:00 McKEEVER—Comedy
    6:30 BATMAN—Adventure  COLOR 
    7:00 GIDGET—Comedy  COLOR 
    7:30 DOUBLE LIFE—Comedy  COLOR 
    8:00 BEWITCHED—Comedy
    8:30 PEYTON PLACE
    9:00 THE BARON—Adventure  COLOR 
  10:00 NEWS
  10:30 MOVIE—Police  COLOR “I Died a Thousand Times” (1955)


10 WDIO (DULUTH) (ABC)
Morning
  10:00 SUPERMARKET SWEEP—Game
  10:30 DATING GAME
  11:00 DONNA REED—Comedy
  11:30 FATHER KNOWS BEST
Afternoon
  12:00 BEN CASEY—Drama
    1:00 CONFIDENTIAL FOR WOMEN—Serial
    1:30 A TIME FOR US—Serial
    1:55 NEWS—Marlene Sanders
    2:00 GENERAL HOSPITAL
    2:30 NURSES—Serial
    3:00 NEVER TOO YOUNG
    3:25 ARLENE DAHL  COLOR 
    3:30 WHERE THE ACTION IS—Variety Performers: Billy Joe Royal, Freddie and the Dreamers, Keith Allison
    4:00 MOVIE—Drama“Reform School Girl” (1959)
    5:30 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER
    5:45 NEWS—Bob Young
Evening
    6:00 REBEL—Western
    6:30 BATMAN—Adventure  COLOR 
    7:00 GIDGET—Comedy  COLOR 
    7:30 DOUBLE LIFE—Comedy  COLOR 
    8:00 BEWITCHED—Comedy
    8:30 PEYTON PLACE
    9:00 THE BARON—Adventure  COLOR 
  10:00 NEWS
  10:15 MOVIE—Melodrama“Fright” (1957)


10 KROC (ROCHESTER) (NBC)
Morning
    7:00 TODAY  COLOR Guests: Judith Crist, Kay Armen
    9:00 EYE GUESS—Game  COLOR 
    9:25 NEWS—Newman
    9:30 CONCENTRATION—Game
  10:00 MORNING STAR—Serial  COLOR 
  10:30 PARADISE BAY—Serial  COLOR 
  11:00 JEOPARDY—Game  COLOR 
  11:30 LET’S PLAY POST OFFICE—Game  COLOR 
  11:55 NEWS
Afternoon
  12:00 NEWS
  12:15 SHOW AND TELL—Mary Bea
  12:30 LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game  COLOR 
  12:55 NEWS—Floyd Kalber
    1:00 DAYS OF OUR LIVES—Serial  COLOR 
    1:30 DOCTORS
    2:00 ANOTHER WORLD—Serial
    2:30 YOU DON’T SAY!—Game  COLOR Celebrities: Dan Rowan, Dick Martin
    3:00 MATCH GAME  COLOR Celebrities: Julia Meade, Roger Smith
    3:25 NEWS
    3:30 BACHELOR FATHER—Comedy
    4:00 LONE RANGER—Western
    4:30 LEAVE IT TO BEAVER—Comedy
    5:00 WOODY WOODPECKER
    5:30 NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley  COLOR 
Evening
    6:00 NEWS
    6:30 DANIEL BOONE—Adventure  COLOR 
    7:30 POLITICAL HUMOR  SPECIAL   COLOR “A Funny Thing Happened to Me on the Way to the White House”
    8:30 MICKIE FINN’S  COLOR Guests: Roberta Sherwood, Don Lanning
    9:00 DEAN MARTIN  COLOR Guests: Gisele MacKenzie, Tommy Sands and the McGuire Sisters, Jack Carter, Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop, the Treniers
  10:00 NEWS
  10:30 JOHNNY CARSON  COLOR 


11 WTCN (IND.)
Morning
  10:15 NEWS—Gil Amundson
  10:30 MOVIE—Musical“Waikiki Wedding” (1937)
  11:55 NEWS—Gil Amundson
Afternoon
  12:00 LUNCH WITH CASEY—Children
    1:00 MOVIE—Musical“Paris Honeymoon” (1948)
    2:30 MEL’S NOTEBOOK—Interview
    3:00 GIRL TALK—Panel Guests: Gloria Swanson, Ann Miller, Dorothy Manners
    3:30 AMOS ‘N’ ANDY—Comedy
    4:00 POPEYE AND PETE—Children
    4:30 CASEY AND ROUNDHOUSE
    5:30 WHIRLYBIRDS—Adventure
Evening
    6:00 DEATH VALLEY DAYS—Drama  COLOR 
    6:30 BOLD JOURNEY—Travel
    7:00 WILD CARGO—Travel  COLOR 
    7:30 TRUE ADVENTURE  COLOR 
    8:00 MOVIE—War Drama“Glory at Sea” (English; 1953)
    9:30 NEWS, WEATHER, SPORTS
  10:00 MOVIE—Drama“Middle of the Night” (1959)




  TV  

This week in TV Guide: May 14, 1966

What better way to kick the week off than with a look at the undisputed heavyweight Chairman of the Board?

Leslie Radditz' article, which accompanies an encore presentation of  Sinatra's acclaimed NBC special A Man and His Music on Sunday (9:00 p.m. CT), looks at Sinatra at 50. In many ways, Radditz notes, Sinatra "seems to be reaching new peaks." He complains about not getting enough sleep, about his current Vegas gig being about two weeks too long, about lousy service in the hotel dining room. But then, when he gets onstage—well, as Radditz says, "the old excitement is there." Comments from women in the audience bear this out: "It's the eyeball-to-eyeball contact that gets me," one says. "I'll bet there isn't a place in that room where you wouldn't feel he was looking at you." Adds another, "His animal attraction is amazing."

Sunday's Sinatra special, which had originally aired the previous November, bears it out. It's just an hour of Frank singing—no skits, no forced banter, just Sinatra, with two of his best collaborators, Gordon Jenkins and Nelson Riddle, providing the orchestral backing. The show's available on DVD , and if you're a Sinatra fan you need to have it. Looking through some of the songs is like reading the notes on a Greatest Hits album: "I've Got You Under My Skin," "I Get a Kick Out of You," "It Was a Very Good Year," "Young at Heart," "Come Fly with Me," "Lady is a Tramp," "You Make Me Feel So Young," "One For My Baby." He closes the show with his longtime theme, "Put Your Dreams Away."  "My Way" and "New York, New York"? He hasn't even recorded those yet. Yes, Frank Sinatra still has some very good years ahead of him.

Here's a sample from A Man and His Music:


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No Hollywood Palace this week, preempted by a "Holiday on Ice" show hosted by Milton Berle. However, that doesn't mean we don't have some variety for you. Sullivan himself has a pretty good lineup (7:00 p.m., CBS), headlined by Alan King, Kate Smith, and dancer Peter Gennero. Frank's Rat Pack pal Dean Martin, on NBC Thursday night (9:00 p.m.), has singers Gisele MacKenzie, Tommy Sands and the McGuire Sisters, comedian Jack Carter, and Sherri Lewis and Lamb Chop. Red Skelton's Tuesday show (7:30 p.m., CBS) features Petula Clark, who was so big back in the early '60s that she's on twice this week—she's also a co-headliner on NBC's Best on Record program (Monday, 8:00 p.m., NBC), featuring performances by winners from March's Grammy Awards.

While we're at it, let's take a closer look at that Grammys show. The listing for it reads "The annual Grammy awards are presented," and mentions that Dinah Shore will be giving the Golden Achievement award to Duke Ellington. But we know it isn't the awards show itself—that was on March 15, in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Nashville. So what gives?  Well, believe it or not, the Grammy award ceremony wasn't broadcast live on TV until 1971—prior to that, a series of annual specials, called Best on Record, showcased the winners in the major categories, performing their winning tunes. It wasn't about the competition; who knows whether or not they named the losing nominees on the show? It was all about the music. And in that sense, it's no different than the Grammys today. Nobody really turns on the show to see the lame jokes from the presenters, the envelope opened, the four losers on screen while the winner tearfully accepts the award. No—people want the performances, and that's what this show gives them. Maybe they should consider this format every year?

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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 Avengers, Cleveland Amory writes, "is so British you don't have to be British to understand it—but it helps." Understand? I'm not sure I do, but we'll leave it at that for the time being.

As  I recounted a few years ago , it apparently took the British public a while to figure out that The Avengers was a satire, but with the passage of a couple of years, Cleve has no such problem—"Each of the episodes we've seen has involved not only individual satires of the old days, but also general satires of modern life." He at least acknowledges the presence of Patrick Macnee as John Steed (well, after all, he's only the glue that holds the whole series together), but he more than notices Diana Rigg in the unforgettable role of Mrs. Emma Peel, "the swinging girl of today and the forward-looking woman of tomorrow." "Pretty good, what?" says Amory, and adds, "make no mistake, she's both pretty and good."

He goes on to joke about a few more British-type jokes; cucumber sandwiches, "brollys," and "By Jove," but doesn't really say much more about the show. And I suppose that's a good thing—if you've read these capsule summaries over the years, one thing you know is that the more Cleve has to say about your show, the more you'll regret it. Understand?

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Keeping on the theme of British television, there's Robert Musel's (yes, this one's for you, Mike Doran!) profile of "the incorruptible" Patrick McGoohan, star of the decidedly more serious Danger Man or, as it's known in these parts, Secret Agent. McGoohan hasn't yet ventured into what will become his most famous role, that of Number Six in The Prisoner, but it's not hard to see the genesis of that show as he riffs on his television philosophy. "Every real hero since Jesus Christ has been moral," he says, a statement that will come as absolutely no surprise to those who've noticed the occasional Messianic parallel in Number Six's actions. He adds that he will not let John Drake, his character in Danger Man (and perhaps  alter ego of Number Six ?), do anything he would not do himself.

McGoohan's a man who knows what he believes in and isn't afraid to say so.  "When I first started the series," he tells Musel, "they wanted me to carry a gun and have an affair with a different girl in each episode.  I wasn't going to do that. I simply will not appear in anything offensive.  I won't accept bad language or eroticism."  That doesn't mean he's against romance on screen; "Romance is the finest for of entertainment...It's something you create in the mind of the viewer."  Rather, it's his philosophy toward television itself, and its responsibility to the viewer.  "What I object to is promiscuous sex which is anti-romance.  Television is watched by so many people, children and grandmothers among them, that it has a moral obligation to its audience."

McGoohan's a demanding man to work with, but "generally liked by his crew because they recognize him as a professional who could, if he had to, light a set or edit a film or even design a production."  I suspect it also doesn't hurt that he has a clear idea of what he wants in a series.  All in all, we get a picture of a man with an ego, a man with vision and the determination to bring it to fruition, a man with a pure artistic integrity.  It's hard not to respect a man like that.

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What else is there to talk about this week?

Well, if you're a sports fan, there's not much to look forward to this week.  The Dodgers and Pirates meet in NBC's Saturday Game of the Week (1:00 p.m.), and the Twins take on the Yankees in a local broadcast Friday night at 7:00 p.m. on Channel 11.  Otherwise you've got swimming, wrestling, bowling, ice-dancing and hydroplane races to look forward to.  Oh, and Sam Snead offers tips on how to avoid sand traps.

Many of the weekly series have started the rerun season, so there's not a lot new there either.  Even the week's biggest show (except for Frank, that is) comes up a cropper. That's the scheduled launch of Gemini IX, which was slated to take off on Tuesday morning as the second-half of a space doubleheader.  The day was to begin with the launch of an Atlas-Agena target vehicle at 10:00 a.m., followed at 11:40 a.m. by the Gemini launch.  The Gemini, manned by Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan, would then catch up with, rendezvous and dock with the Agena, a crucial component that had to be understood and mastered prior to the forthcoming Apollo flights.

However, as you can see here , the launch of the Agena didn't exactly come off as planned; Mission Control lost contact with the vehicle after the Atlas booster failed, and the Agena plunged into the Atlantic.  The Gemini flight was postponed until the following month, when a replacement vehicle was launched.  Gemini IX finally took off on June 3, and while it didn't quite come off without a hitch, it was still a success.


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Another of the fashion spreads that TV Guide features from time to time, and this week our model is Joan Hackett.  Hackett, a woman of unconventional beauty, has had a pretty good career, winning awards for her work on stage and showing up regularly on a variety of movies and television shows and series.  This article has nothing to do with that, of course; for TV Guide, Hackett makes a perfect model for the English-styled fashions popularized by the ultra-chic New York shop Paraphernalia .


SOURCE: HADLEY TV GUIDE COLLECTIONThe store, which opened multiple locations and remained around in one form or another until the late 70s, is quite a story itself.  As for Hackett, her career continues on the upswing, with critical plaudits for the TV adaptation of Mourning Becomes Electra followed by Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for her work in her last movie, Only When I Laugh; in 1983 she will die of ovarian cancer.

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That seems like kind of a down note to end on, so let's take a look at a movie that sounds so awful, you have to smile at it.  It's 1958's Attack of the Puppet People , starring two actors who really ought to have known better, John Hoyt (many television shows) and John Agar (Shirley Temple's first husband; how far we've fallen since then, hmm?), and I swear to you that this is the real description of the movie, which airs on Channel 5 at 12:45 a.m. on Saturday night/Sunday morning:  "A toymaker carries his occupation to an extreme.  He shrinks people and locks them in a dollhouse."

Shockingly, the always-reliable Wikipedia says that the movie, which was shot under the working title The Fantastic Puppet People,  "has had a generally poor reception amongst critics."  It was rushed into production to capitalize on the recent popularity of The Incredible Shrinking Man, but something tells me that no amount of time would have helped this flick out.


Perhaps it makes more sense with the Spanish subtitles. But I keep waiting for three silhouettes to appear on the bottom of the screen.

Finally, there's this from Hugh Downs. According to the Doan Report, Hugh was speaking before The Advertising Club of New York last week, and and his comments were, shall we say, less than flattering.

Talking about so-called "high-irritation" commercials—and isn't that all of them nowadays?—Downs says, "Viewers, particularly the younger ones, are insulted by the patronage implicit in this sea of video silliness, and there's mounting evidence that they are rejecting this kind of advertising." One-joke commercials are "repeated to a point of great unfunniness." And to those who counter that, after all, it works, Downs says, "This isn't my point. It may work for a while longer, but while it's working it may be doing heavy harm to the credibility of advertising." Hugh Downs turned 98 earlier this year, and although he said these words over 50 years ago, he could say the same thing today. TV  

Around the dial

T he Kuklapolitan Opera! I just like the way that sounds! And having Kukla, Fran and Ollie doesn't hurt; at Garroway at Large, Jodie takes us back to Dave Garroway (doing Milton Cross!) and Arthur Fieldler as they join the Kuklapolitans for "St. George and the Dragon."

We're into the Top 40 at Comfort TV, as David continues the countdown of the 100 most memorable songs introduced by classic TV. I've really enjoyed reading this series, and I'm happy to say (or admit) that I recognize most of these!

"Coming, Mama" is the sixth-season episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents that is Jack's latest entry in the Hitchcock Project at bare-bones e-zine. It's about—well, let's just say it's a typical Hitchcock story with a twist, and leave it at that...

At The Twilight Zone Vortex, Jordan continues his look at the new TZ on CBS All-Access; this week, it's "Not All Men," and Jordan offers what I think is a very perceptive critique of the episode's weaknesses and the themes it presents. Even if you don't have All-Access, it's worth reading the opinion of someone who knows their Zone.

Television Obscurities continues the year-long look at TV Guide 1989; it's the May 6 issue , celebrating television's 50th birthday, with some wonderful articles and powerful images that take us all the way back to television's beginning, as well as our own history.

At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence has a very good look at the noir roots of Perry Mason . Raymond Burr, of course, cut his teeth in noir, often as a heavy, which I think makes his portrayal of Mason even more intimidating—imagine what it must have been like facing him in the witness box. TV  

It's not like it's the end of the world or anything...

When Ted Turner started CNN way back in 1980, it was with the promise that the network "would stay on until the end of the world." Now, according to several news stories, it transpires that CNN is downsizing its staff through voluntary buyout options , with the possibility of layoffs to follow. Given how CNN itself is dying in the ratings, it’s hardly a surprise that something like this is happening; it seems to me as if the network lost its way some time ago. Nonetheless, no matter what one’s opinions on CNN are, it’s always sad to see something like this happen—I’ve been on the wrong end of corporate layoffs myself, and it’s seldom ever a pleasant experience.

Despite all this, one can't help but note the irony of it all, especially when considering the video below: the infamous, oft-rumored and apparently confirmed , “Doomsday Video” that Turner had prepared for broadcast at the end of the world.


You may well have seen the video since it first surfaced a little over four years ago. The premise is just bizarre—it sounds like something you’d see on The Simpsons, doesn’t it? In fact, it's more than a little unsettling to watch. (Having the band play "Nearer My God to Thee" is a nice touch, though.) It’s also somewhat problematic theologically, whatever your beliefs. My own thought is that the Second Coming probably won't need breaking news to announce it. But who knows? It’s not as if there's any precedent to go by.

Now, CNN is not the only network to have thought about the potential of this story; the late Roger Ailes once mentioned that Fox would be there to provide live coverage when the end comes (“God to World: It’s OVER”), and I suspect MSNBC would be of the same mind (“World to End: Women, minorities affected the most”). No word if they have a similar video locked away in a secret vault.

Whatever—but if CNN still plans to air this tape when the world ends, it would first behoove them to make sure that the network doesn’t end before the world does. TV