Mitchell Hadley's Blog: It's About TV!, page 15
February 22, 2025
This week in TV Guide: February 26, 1977
If you require any evidence that it's never too early to start thinking about the new Fall Season, look no further than this week's co-cover story by Bill Davidson, who explains that what you see in the fall may depend on what you watch in the spring.Last spring, ABC had what it felt was a promising new series in development, called Family. Were it to be handled in the conventional manner, with a pilot thrown into the usual March "selling season" to compete with cop dramas and sitcom pilots, it probably would have been lost in the shuffle, relegated to that category of new series marked for "early elimination." Instead, ABC programming head Fred Silverman suggested making just six episodes, and starting the series in that March period. Some of his colleagues thought the idea was crazy; usually, early tryouts come in the summer, and then only with comedy and variety shows, not dramas. But Family was an immediate hit with critics, and slowly built up an audience that guaranteed it a spot in the fall schedule. "The public," Davidson says, "had helped make the programming decision."
The other networks noticed this, and so this March you, the viewer, will be treated to a number of new shows receiving a limited tryout to see what they're made of. ABC, having pioneered the technique, has several in mind, including three episodes of How the West Was Won, marking the return of James Arness to series television; Eight Is Enough, based on the best-seller by columnist Tom Braden; Westside Medical, a "throwback" to Marcus Welby and Medical Center; and Future Cop, with Ernest Borgnine and John Amos. Well, two out of four ain't bad. NBC and CBS plan to follow suit. The upshot for September: "A lot of old junk in the new shows—and some quality."
Expect the miniseries to contine as a TV staple. ABC, the network that popularized the genre, is placing big hopes on Washington: Behind Closed Doors, based "loosely" on John Erlichman's novel; ABC hopes to develop it into a permanent series. CBS plans to counter with Adolf Hitler, based on John Toland's massive (and excellent, I might add) biography, and NBC has A Man Called Intrepid and Boys and Girls Together* in the planning stage.*Although NBC announced the project, Boys and Girls Together never made it past the talking stage.
As for more conventional fare, NBC plans a revival of Laugh-In, and has high hopes for The Richard Pryor Show, starring "one of the funniest men alive." (We all know how that turned out.) ABC has its own variety show in the works starring former Sanford and Son star Redd Foxx. The network, smarting over having turned down Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, also has its own soap spoof, called, appropriately enough, Soap. CBS is betting you'll like Ed Asner enough to follow him to the coast in a drama about a big-city newspaper editor, Lou Grant. And NBC hopes that some of the magic from The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman will rub off on its own sci-fi spectacular, The Man from Atlantis.
As for how all this turns out, Davidson says that the audience can help make the final decision. You'll get more of the same "if you don't exercise your prerogative and turn in the higher-qualoity material that appears in the tryout season that lies just ahead."
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On weeks when we can, we'll match up two of the biggest rock shows of the era, NBC's The Midnight Special and the syndicated Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, and see who's better, who's best.Kirshner: Performers include the Staples, Donna Summer, the Group with No Name, the comedy team of Jim Samuels and Marty Cohen, and comics Tim Thomerson and Gary Muledeer. Selections include "Love Me, Love Me, Love Me," "Pass It On" (Staples); "Come with Me," "Could It Be Magic?" (Donna); "Baby Love," "It's a Wonder" (Group with No Name).
Special: Guest hosts K.C. and the Sunshine Band are joined by Gordon Lightfoot, Heart, ABBA, Jose Feliciano and comic Andy Kaufman. Highlights: "Shake Your Booty" (K.C., Sunshine Band); "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" (Gordon); "Magic Man" (Heart); "Dancing Queen" (ABBA).
There's no question about this week, at least in my mind. Regardless of what one's personal tastes might be, The Midnight Special has some of the biggest names of the era; if you want to know what the late 1970s were all about, you can do a lot worse than K.C., Lightfoot, Heart, and ABBA. (By the way, have you ever heard the interview that Minneapolis-St. Paul radio host TD Mischke did with an Edmund Fitzgerald expert, where Mischke sang every question to the tune of Lightfoot's song? Here it is.) And even though I'm no fan of Andy Kaufman, he was definitely a conversation piece back then. It's a resounding win for The Special.
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"Trashsport" is loosely defined as "An event designed to entertain television viewers that is supposedly a sport but has no real sporting content." No decade did trashsports better than the 1970s, and in the lull between football and baseball, we get some prime examples of it, starting on Sunday with Superteams (1:00 p.m., ABC), as members of the Minnesota Vikings and Oakland Raiders face off in a series of athletic competitions such as Hawaiian rowing, the obstacle course, and the always popular Tug-of-War. Superteams was a spin-off of Superstars, a competition that actually did have a purpose, of sorts: to determine who was the best all-around athlete from among a group of the world's top athletes competing in events other than their own. According to TV Guide, this week the Vikings "get another shot at their Super Bowl XI vanquishers," but somehow, I don't think winning this competition would have really made up for losing the Super Bowl, do you?On opposite Superteams is another example of the genre, Challenge of the Sexes (1:00 p.m., CBS), in which top athletes from around the world—yes, male vs. female, you've got it—compete in their own sports. This week, former Davis Cup and U.S. champion Pancho Gonzales takes on former Wimbledon champion Althea Gibson, while Olympic gold medealist Shiela Young races against Erhard Keller in speed skating. You can argue that these are, at least, legitimate sporting competitions, but the "battle of the sexes" component reeks of gimmickry.
These, however, rank as elite athletic events when compared to the ultimate in trashsports, Challenge of the Network Stars (Tuesday, 9:00 p.m., ABC). Howard Cosell does nothing to enhance his reputation in hosting this collection of all-star competitors including Jacyln Smith, Sonny Bono, Kevin Dobson, Karen Grassle, Dan Haggarty, Penny Marshall, and more, representing their respective networks in relay races, baseball throwing, a nearest-to-the-pin golf tournament, volleyball, and, of course, the ubiquitous tug-of-war. Most mentions of Network Stars events tend to focus on the female participants, especially the ones wearing tight-fitting uniforms.
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This is the edition I have And now for some real sports: Lawrence Ritter, in one of those great "Background" articles that TV Guide used to publish, shares the story behind the writing of The Glory of Their Times, his acclaimed book on the early days of baseball, made into a documentary that premieres next week on PBS. (And you thought PBS only discovered baseball thanks to Ken Burns.) The project, to capture the memories of men who played the game in the big leagues 60, 70, even 80 years ago, was not an easy one. "I was searching for a few remaining old men who had been forgotten for years by virtually everyone except a rapidly dwindling number of other old men—who, as kids in short pants, had watched in awe and delight as the men I now sought performed on distant summer afternoons in rickety ballparks," Ritter writes. With little in the way of resources to consult—many of them had no Social Security records, there were no pensions, and even the Baseball Hall of Fame failed to reply to Ritter's inquiries—Ritter resorted to the public library, looking through phone books from the towns where the players had been born, reasoning that many of them may have returned home, or might have relatives still living there. And, surprisingly, it often worked.
That doesn't mean everything was easy, though; Ritter recounts the adventures that he encountered attempting to track down Sam Crawford, an outfield for the Detroit Tigers who played with, and was compared to, Ty Cobb. Lead after lead failed him, until he found himself in Baywood Park, California, sitting in the laundromat watching the clothes spin. "Seated next to me was a tall, elderly gentleman reading a frayed paperback. Idly, I asked if he had ever heard of Sam Crawford, the old ballplayer. "Well, I should certainly hope so," he said, "bein' as I'm him."
The Glory of Their Times is now considered a classic of baseball literature, in print virtually uninterrupted since its publication in 1966. Ritter, who travelled 75,000 miles between 1962 and 1966 to interview his subjects, paid royalties well into the 1980s to the 22 men profiled in the book. The documentary, which was produced by Ritter and Bud Greenspan, was rejected for years before premiering on PBS. The Glory of Their Times, both book and movie, tell of a magic time, both in sports and in America, one we're not likely to ever see again.
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Usually, it's the national movie week that takes center stage, but a couple of local flicks take the prize this week, beginning on Saturday with The Hospital (4:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m., KTTV in Los Angeles), Paddy Chayefsky's blistering satire that does for the medical profession what Network will later do for television. George C. Scott is outstanding as a hospital administrator confronted with striking doctors, dying patients, and incompetence all the way around; his performance is so good that the Motion Picture Acadamy had to nominate him for Best Actor, one year after he'd declined the award for Patton; Diana Rigg is her usual winsome self as the daughter of a comatose patient. For something a little more tame, try Mary Tyler Moore (8:00 p.m., CBS), where Lou, Murray, and Ted, down in their cups, each wonder what it would be like married to Mary.On Sunday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—the same RFK Jr. who's been in the headlines just a bit lately—helps rehabilitate a young golden eagle on The American Sportsman (2:30 p.m., ABC). Also on today's show: golfer Lee Trevino and journalist Grits Gresham fish for big-mouth bass in Sonora, Mexico. Late night, it's Sammy and Company (11:30 p.m., KNBC), Sammy Davis Jr.'s variety show, with the Lennon Sisters, Della Reese, Gary Muledeer, singer Walter Jackson, and the Rev. Bob Harrington, "the 'Chaplain of Bourbon Street'." Even later, it's Once upon a Dead Man (11:40 p.m., KNXT), the pilot for McMillian and Wife, with, of course, Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James.
Monday gives us the second big local movie presentation, Battle of the Bulge (8:00 p.m., KTLA), the epic depiction of the famed World War II battle, with an all-star cast (and I'm not kidding), including Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw, Robert Ryan, Dana Andrews, George Montgomery, Charles Bronson, and James MacArthur. I remember seeing this in the theater when it came out, which would have made me five; I also have a book about the battle that I got specifically because of my interest in the movie. What kid wouldn't be fascinated by a battle fought in the snow?
I know Police Woman has a lot of fans. I watched it back in the day, but I always had a hard time taking it seriously as a "crime drama," and Tuesday's episode (9:00 p.m., NBC) is one reason why: "Pepper assumes the role of a porn queen following the murder of an actress who played in hard-core films." I fully realize that these kinds of undercover investigations do occur, but am I being too cynical in thinking that there's more than a little titilation factor involved in this episode? It's followed by a Police Story episode featuring Gabe Kaplan (!) as a narc officer "whose bizarre work habits—which include the use of a female mannequin on stakeouts—convince his stuffy lieutenant that he is genuinely insane." (10:00 p.m., NBC) That the "stuffy lieutenant" is played by Norman Fell makes this idea work, but this, too, sounds a little gimmicky. Meanwhile, over on CBS, a 1975 episode of Kojak features Sylvester Stallone as a young cop being investigated for an on-the-job shooting. (10:00 p.m,. CBS) The success of Rocky had nothing, I'm sure, to do with deciding to rerun a two-year-old episode.
Wednesday is a night of specials on ABC, beginning at 8:00 p.m., as America's latest skating sweetheart, Dorothy Hamill, parlays her gold metal into a prime-time variety special, with Beau Bridges, ballet star Edwards Villella, and the Carpenters. That's fofllowed at 9:00 p.m. by the John Denver Special, Thank God I'm a Country Boy, a country-themed hour featuring Glen Campbell, Roger Miller, Mary Kay Place, and Johnny Cash. And to top it off at 10:00 p.m., it's the Barry Manilow Special, with the emphasis on Manilow's greatest hits, plus Penny Marshall and Barry's backup trio, Lady Flash. I tell you, nothing says more about the 1970s and its stars than this lineup. A more interesting choice might be the Mobil Showcase presentation Minstrel Man (9:00 p.m., CBS), a made-for-TV movie that looks at ragtime, black vaudeville, and the challenges met by black entertainers at the turn of the century. Judith Crist calls it "engrossing and entertaining," offering "first-rate" performances.
An ad for Thursday's 6th Annual Las Vegas Entertainment Awards (10:00 p.m., NBC) led me on a brief search that reveals the event still exists , at least in name. (Note to organizers: if this event is as big a deal as you make out, it might be a good idea for your website to include a tab on, you know, its history. I guess it's true that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.) Gabe Kabplan, Barbara Eden, and Wayne Newton are the hosts, while Bobbie Gentrie and Sammy Davis Jr. are among the entertainers; there are also highlights from the Vegas shows "Folies Bergere" and "Bare Touch of Vegas."
Remember how I said that Wednesday night's specials represented the 1970s in a nutshell? Well, we have another contender for that honor: The Brady Bunch Hour (Friday, 9:00 p.m., ABC), the inconceivable attempt to turn the much-loved half-hour sitcom into an hour-long variety show. I don't suppose I should pick on it, if that's what I was doing; it did last nine episodes, after all. (Including a different episode that aired on Sunday!) And who among us wouldn't give up a successful career as an architect for a chance to star in a genre that was already in trouble? With Rip Taylor as a next-door neighbor? Vincent Price and puppets H.R. Pufinstuf and Kiki Bird are the guests. (The show's produced by Sid and Marty Krofft.) Fortunately, you can opt instead for the aformementioned The Man from Atlantis (9:00 p.m., NBC), starring Patrick Duffy and Belinda J. Montgomery. It's the first of four movies to air this spring, leading to a 13-episode run in the fall. There are many people who still think of this show first when they think of Patrick Duffy.l l l
MST3K alert: Agent for H.A.R.M. (English; 1966) A creeping blob from outer space transforms human flesh into fungus. Mark Richman, Wendell Corey, Carl Esmond. (Sunday, 1:55 a.m., KNXT in Los Angeles) Peter Mark Richman, Wendell Corey: what are you doing here? H.A.R.M. was, apparently, initially supposed to serve as a pilot for a new series, but wound up in theatrical release instead. My favorite review comes from The New York Times, which called it an "anemic James Bond imitation." I don't believe this is currently part of the MST3K episodes that run on TV; all-in-all, probably a good thing. TV
February 21, 2025
Around the dial
Now that's my kind of car!We lead off the week at Comfort TV, where David reviews the TV career of the late Tony Roberts , who first came to my attention as one-half of the legal series Rosetti and Ryan , co-starring with Squire Fridell; I was a captive viewer from back in the days of the one-station in the World's Worst Town™.
RealWeegieMidget is back on the TV-movie circuit with the 1984 teleflick Obsessive Love , which stars Yvette Mimieux and Simon MacCorkindale and carries with it more than a whiff of Fatal Attraction. It's part of the " So Bad It's Good " Blogathon, which perhaps tells you all you need to know.
At bare•bones e-zine, Jack's Hitchcock Project continues apace with the seventh-season story " The Children of Alda Nuova ," Robert Wallsten's adaptation of his own short story, with Jack Carson starring as a criminal who makes a wrong turn into a wrong town.
Let's continue with crime, as John wraps up his "Private Detective Season" at Cult TV Blog with 1967's The Big M , with all the requisite sleaze that P.I.s thrive on. John also looks at some additional series, including the very good Philip Marlowe, Private Eye, with Powers Boothe.
At The Saturday Evening Post, Bob Sassone's "News of the Week" includes two pertinent questions about the TV ratings system : is it accurate, and does it even matter? Read the story, and stick around for this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees.
Travalanche has an excellent look back at the ubiquitqious John Charles Daly , urbane moderator of What's My Line?, anchor of ABC's evening news program, and one of my absolute favorite television persons ever. I may be coming up on 65, but I still say that I want to be like him when I grow up.
It's only tangentially related to classic TV, but unless you've been under a rock for the last couple of years, you know about the disintegration of cable television. Variety has an in-depth look at the future of Comcast , including USA Network (which produced many an original show in the day), and what it may bode for the industry as a whole.
Speaking of, it looks as if the long relationship between ESPN and Major League Baseball is over at the end of the upcoming season. Did MLB undervalue its product? And what could this mean for a new television partner? Sports Media Watch has all the details , including what happens to ESPN .
Wrapping things up with The View from the Junkyard, Roger continues his episode-by-episode review of The New Avengers, with " The Tale of the Big Why ," an example of how the series handles comedy with a deft touch—unlike, perhaps, the original. TV
February 19, 2025
When giants ruled the news
I couldn't help but notice this factoid the other day, regarding the amount of trust Americans have in the way the mass media reports the news. As you can see from the chart below, the number who think that the media reports the news "fully, accurately and fairly" is pretty much at an all-time low, while the corresponding number who have no trust and confidence in the media is at an all-time high. It's a measure of how far we've come from the days when Walter Cronkite was the "most trusted man in America." The peak of American trust in the news media occurs in the mid-1970s—in the wake of Watergate and the Vietnam War—when over 70 percent had a "great deal/fair amount" of trust in what they saw on television news, heard on the radio, or read in newspapers; today, it's less than 40 percent.
This isn't any great surprise to those who've been paying attention over the last few years. Indeed, in many of the classic television groups I belong to, people lament the state of today's news and long for the days of the giants, names like Cronkite, Huntley and Brinkley, Brokaw, Jennings, Reynolds, and others. Back then, so the story goes, they gave us the news "they way it was" in an era of "honest, true media reporting," when news anchors "didn’t give their opinion of the news" and could be counted on to give us reporting that was neutral, unbiased, straightforward, and true.
Of course, we ought to know better than this. As someone once observed, one of the interesting things about nostalgia is being old enough to remember how things were received at the time. And at that time—the Sixties, let's say, into the early Seventies—there was plenty of controversy about the news media. Remember Vice President Agnew's speech on the "Nattering Nabobs of Negativism"? That comment, and the positive response to it by many in America—the "Silent Majority," they were called—should remind us that at the time, the talking heads of the news, the anchor men, were seen as anything but neutral, unbiased, or straightforward. Granted, subsequent events, and the widespread cynicism that was borne from them, appeared to justify much of the news coverage in the 1960s, leading to the high approval rating that we see in the first years of the chart.
The accusation most frequently leveled against network newscasters was that they were presenting personal commentary, not identified as such, under the guise of reporting. It was enough to get Frank Reynolds sacked from the ABC Evening News; Reynolds, a passionate man about whom it could be said that at times he wore his heart on his sleeve, answered that "I think your program has to reflect what your basic feelings are. I'll plead guilty to that."* ABC came to be known during the Vietnam years, sardonically, as the "Administration Broadcasting Company," due in large part to Howard K. Smith's staunch support for the War. This was, mind you, the same Howard K. Smith who had been sacked at CBS after a documentary on the civil rights riots in Birmingham that he had sought (and failed) to conclude with Smith quoting Edmund Burke that, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing," *Listen to Reynolds opining on the need for gun control during ABC's coverage of Robert F. Kennedy's shooting; no matter how you feel about the issue, you have to wince a little at interjecting this kind of commentary into a breaking news situation.
NBC, anchored by the team of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, was often thought to be the most liberal of the three networks. Brinkley, answering the charge that his reporting lacked objectivity, countered, "If I were objective, or if you were objective, or if anyone was, we would have to be put away in an institution because we'd be some kind of vegetable. Objectivity is impossible to a human being." Huntley, who had to backtrack from unflattering comments he'd made about Richard Nixon during an interview, insisted that he "never allowed his opinions to influence newscasts." His greatest controversy, perhaps, came after delivering a commentary in which he said that "the nation’s meat industry was 'sick' and that one of the consumer's greatest problems was 'too much fat in our beef' "; at the same time, he promoted "Chet Huntley’s Nature Fed Beef," which touted "quality and flavor, plus low fat and high protein." NBC ordered Huntley to "trim his name and face" from the product. 
And Cronkite, the most trusted man in America, found himself in the eye of the storm throughout the decade, from his controversial 1968 commentary following the Tet Offensive in which he pronounced the Vietnam War a "stalemate" and called for the United States to negotiate a way out*, to his tête-à-tête with Chicago's mayor Richard Daley during the 1968 Democratic Convention, when Cronkite called Daley's police force "a bunch of thugs," only to be accused of going soft on Daley in their interview the following night in an attempt to paper things over—a moment which Brinkley would refer to as "the low-water mark" of Cronkite’s career. Following that Tet commentary, Cronkite's critics would call him a traitor, and worse; his longetivity and avuncular nature would burnish his reputation over the years, but for a significant segment of the viewing audience, he would always remain a picture of liberal bias. And lest we forget, CBS's Daniel Schorr and Marvin Kalb were both on the list of Nixon's political opponents.*According to this article, Cronkite's importance in the rise of public opposition to the war has been greatly overstated through the years. It should also be noted that Eric Sevareid, Cronkite's CBS colleague and commentator, had come to much the same conclusion about Vietnam in 1966, two years earlier. Nonetheless, LBJ was moved to pronounce that Cronkite was "out to get" him.
Now, my point in all this isn't to dump on these news giants. I grew up watching them give the evening news. Chet and David are still my favorite anchor team; I have the greatest admiration for Frank Reynolds, even though I frequently disagree with him; and Cronkite never came across as confused or misinformed. Harry Reasoner and Howard K. Smith were steady and authoritative, the closest team to Huntley and Brinkley. Peter Jennings was an excellent anchor, but you also respected him as, first and foremost, a reporter; he wasn't likely to make a statement such as free speech being a catalyst for the Holocaust, for example. As were so many others who gave the network news its credbility through the years: Frank McGee, Bill Ryan, John Chancellor, Jules Bergman, Robert MacNeil, Hughes Rudd, Liz Trotta, Marlene Sanders, and oftentimes Dan Rather. And don't forget Jim McKay; his work during the Munich Olympic Massacre in 1972 was as good as anything any reporter has ever done on live television.
You have to keep in mind, however, that no matter what you read, no matter what people remember when they talk about Cronkite, Brokaw, Jennings, et al, the news media has never not been controversial, never not subjected to accusations of bias. But what these news giants all had in common is that they did their jobs with a gravitas and professionalism that presumed a knowledge and command of events; their broadcasts presented hard news, done with a sense of authority, even elegance. One recalls Huntley, while giving a report on the Profumo affair in England in the 1960s, referring to Christine Keeler, not as a prostitute, but as a trollop; you got the idea that using the word "prostitute" was too common, beneath Huntley's dignity as a newsman. Yes, they had their biases; yes, there were probably too many times when they crossed the line between reporting and commentary. But for the most part, you didn't get the feeling that they were intentionally misrepresenting the news, distorting the truth, fabricating the stories, or simply suffering from incompetence. Whatever one might have thought of their opinionating, they couldn't be accused of disguising their motives or misleading the public as to where they stood.
Compare this to what we see too often on what passes for the news today. You get the impression, watching them emote, leading with their feelings, openly manipulating the facts by the very nature of the stories they choose, redefining news itself as "human interest." Granted, the way in which we get our news has changed irreversably; between social media and 24/7 news channels, the evening news can never be what it once was, a half hour roundup of the day's headlines. But there's just this sense that the people giving us the news, whether on the networks or cable, are not, for the most part, serious people. Instead, they give the impression of having gotten their jobs based on their looks, their smile, the way they dress, how they read off a teleprompter, or to fill in the blanks on a diversity checklist. Many critics suggest that the news anchors of the past would be appalled by the state of today's news, and I don't doubt this for a minute.
No, the point of this, and, I can assure you, there is a point, is that we don't have to pretend that the Cronkites, the Brinkleys, the Jenningses, were beyond reproach, that they never made mistakes, that they always and everywhere toed the line in an impartial, neutral manner. As reporters, they would insist that we present them as they were, not as we might want them to be. It is enough to say that they were giants, that they represented a time that seems long ago, and that we probably will never see their likes again. TV
February 17, 2025
What's on TV? Wednesday, February 23, 1955
Tonight's highlight is the Kraft Television Theatre presentation "The Emperor Jones" (9:00 p.m., NBC), Eugene O'Neill's 1920 tragedy about a Pullman porter who winds up being dictator of an island in the Carribbean. Ossie Davis stars in the title role, with Evelyn Ellis and Curtis James making up part of the predominently black cast; Everett Sloane costars as a white trader who appears at the beginning and end of the play. It would have been unusual for a television drama in 1955 to feature an almost entirelly black cast, let alone one with a black actor in the starring role (and believe me, Jones dominates the play); I wonder if there were stations in the South that refused to show it? That wasn't a problem in this Philadelphia edition.-3- WPTZ (NBC) MORNING 6:45 Thought for Today 6:50 Market Reports, Weather 7:00 Today—Dave Garroway 8:55 Today with Mr. Rivets 9:00 Let Scott Do It—Variety 10:00 Ding Dong School 10:30 Way of the World 10:45 Operation Blackboard 11:00 Home—Women’s News AFTERNOON 12:00 Tennessee Ernie 12:30 Feather Your Nest—Quiz 1:00 MOVIE—Mystery Hollywood Playhouse: “Riverside Murder” 2:20 Mac McGuire Show 2:30 Television Kitchen—Recipes 3:00 The Greatest Gift—Serial 3:15 Golden Windows—Serial 3:30 One Man’s Family 3:45 Miss Marlowe—Serial 4:00 Hawkins Falls—Serial 4:15 First Love—Serial 4:30 World of Mr. Sweeney 4:45 Modern Romances 5:00 Pinky Lee Show 5:30 Howdy Doody EVENING 6:00 Fun House—Pete Boyle 6:30 MOVIE—Crime Award Theater: “I Became a Criminal” 7:25 NEWS—Taylor Grant 7:30 EDDIE FISHER 7:45 NEWS—John Cameron Swayze 8:00 I MARRIED JOAN 8:30 MY LITTLE MARGIE—Comedy 9:00 KRAFT THEATRE—Drama COLOR “The Emperor Jones” 10:00 THIS IS YOUR LIFE 10:30 THE FALCON—Drama 11:00 News—Taylor Grant 11:10 Sports—Claude Haring 11:15 Weather—Jack Pyle 11:20 Tonight in Philadelphia 11:30 Tonight—Stevel Allen Guests: Roy Elderidge, Bill Harris, Ben Webster 1:00 Thought for Tomorrow
-6- WFIL (ABC, Du Mont) MORNING 8:00 Your Morning Male 8:55 News—Chuck Harrison 9:00 Breakfast Club—Variety Guests: Gary Mann, Jeannie McKeon 11:00 Science Is Fun—Education “Bouncing Waves” 11:15 University of the Air “Spanish” 11:35 University of the Air “Psychology of Adolescence” AFTERNOON 12:00 Chief Halftown Cartoons 12:30 MOVIE—Western Movie Matinee: “I Shot Billy the Kid” 1:50 Features for Women 2:00 Robert Q. Lewis—Variety 2:30 At Home—Features 3:00 Bandstand—Bob Horn 5:00 Hopalong Cassidy Show EVENING 6:30 Rainbow Theater 6:45 Newsreel—Frank Hall 6:55 Weather—Francis Davis 7:00 STUDIO 57—Drama “The Haver Technique” 7:30 DISNEYLAND “Davy Crockett at the Alamo” 8:30 STU ERWIN—Comedy 9:00 MASQUERADE PARTY Panelists: Bobby Sherwood, Ilka Chase, Buff Cobb, Ogden Nash. Emcee: Peter Donald 9:30 WHO SAID THAT? Panelists: Kitty Carlisle, June Lockhart, Bob Considine, Jimmy Nelson. Host: John Daly 10:00 STOP THE MUSIC—Quiz 10:30 EDDIE CANTOR—Comedy 11:00 Newsreel—Frank Hall 11:10 Weather—Francis Davis 11:15 MOVIE—Mystery Night Owl Theater: “Meeting at Midnight”
-8- WGAL (Lancester) (CBS, NBC, ABC, Du Mont) MORNING 7:00 Today—Dave Garroway 9:00 College of the Air “A Tour Through South America” 9:30 Hymns of Faith—Music 9:45 Spotlight on the Stars 10:00 Ding Dong School 10:30 Way of the World 10:45 Music of the West 11:00 The Brighter Day—Serial 11:15 Valiant Lady—Serial 11:30 Strike It Rich—Quiz AFTERNOON 12:00 TV Farmer—Crop Data 12:15 Love of Life—Serial 12:30 News of the World 12:40 Regional News—Whalen 12:45 The Guiding Light 1:00 Portia Faces Life—Serial 1:15 Road of Life—Serial 1:30 Welcome Travelers 2:00 From the Kitchen Door 2:30 Search for Tomorrow 2:45 Today with Kay—Features 3:00 The Big Payoff—Quiz 3:30 One Man’s Family 3:45 Miss Marlowe—Serial 4:00 Hawkins Falls—Serial 4:30 On Your Account 5:00 Slapstick Theater 5:15 House Party—Fun 5:30 Howdy Doody EVENING 6:00 Wild Bill Hockok—Western 6:30 Sports, Weather, News 7:30 EDDIE FISHER 7:45 NEWS—John Cameron Swayze 8:00 ARTHUR GODFREY AND HIS FRIENDS—Variety Guests: Frank Parker, Lu Ann Simms, The McGuire Sisters, Janette Davis, The Mariners 9:00 KRAFT THEATRE—Drama COLOR “The Emperor Jones” 10:00 BOXING—Miami Kid Gavilan vs. Hector Constance 10:45 SLANTS ON SPORTS 11:00 Eleventh Hour News 11:10 Regional News 11:15 Two for the Money—Quiz 11:45 Tonight—Steve Allen
10 WCAU (CBS) MORNING 7:00 Morning Show—Jack Paar Guests: Johnny Desmond, Edith Adams 8:55 Mister & Missus—Features 9:45 Portia Faces Life—Serial 10:00 Garry Moore—Variety 10:30 Arthur Godfrey Time 11:30 Strike It Rich—Quiz AFTERNOON 12:00 Valiant Lady—Serial 12:15 Love of Life—Serial 12:30 Search for Tomorrow 12:45 The Guiding Light 1:00 Woman’s World—Features 1:30 Welcome Travelers 2:00 Cinderella Week-end—Quiz 2:30 House Party—Fun 3:00 The Big Payoff—Quiz 3:30 Bob Crosby—Music 4:00 The Brighter Day—Serial 4:15 Secret Storm—Serial 4:30 On Your Account 5:00 Junior Hi-jinx—Willie 5:30 Frontier Justice—Drama EVENING 6:00 MOVIE—Drama Early Show: “Hollow Triumph” 6:55 News—John Facenda 7:00 I LED THREE LIVES—Drama 7:30 NEWS—Douglas Edwards 7:45 PERRY COMO—Songs 8:00 ARTHUR GODFREY AND HIS FRIENDS—Variety Guests: Frank Parker, Lu Ann Simms, The McGuire Sisters, Janette Davis, The Mariners 9:00 THE MILLIONAIRE 9:30 I’VE GOT A SECRET Guest: Robert Merrill. Panelists: Jayne Meadows, Bill Cullen, Henry Morgan, Faye Emerson. Emcee: Garry Moore 10:00 BOXING—Miami Kid Gavilan vs. Hector Constance 10:45 SPORTS—Bill Campbell 11:00 News—John Facenda 11:10 Weather—Phil Sheridan 11:15 Sports Final—Jack Whitaker 11:25 Five Minutes More—Variety 11:30 MOVIE—Drama Late Show: “Hollow Triumph”
12 WDEL (Wilmington) (Independent) AFTERNOON 3:00 Paul Dixon Show 4:00 Film Feature—Drama Matinee Movie: Part 3—“Catherine the Great” 4:30 Aunt Kate’s Kitchen 5:00 MOVIE—Western Boots and Saddles: “Dude Bandit” EVENING 6:00 It’s Time for Jack 6:30 News—6:30 Edition 6:45 Weatherman—Fariss 6:50 Time Out—George Frick 7:00 CAPT. VIDEO—Adventure 7:15 NEWS—Morgan Beatty 7:30 MOVIE—Fantasy Evening Playhouse: “Angel on My Shoulder” 9:00 BIG PICTURE—Army Film 9:30 CAVALCADE OF AMERICA “The Hostage” 10:00 MOVIE—Fantasy Evening Playhouse: “Angel on My Shoulder” 11:30 Headline Roundup 11:40 Sports Today—Al Barclay
TV
February 15, 2025
What's on TV? February 19, 1955
At this point in time, television, as we know it, has been around for less than a decade. TV Guide, the arbiter of such things, published its first national issue less than two years ago. So when the topic of global television is brought up, it's an understandably awesome concept. And yet, as Herman Lowe points out this week, it might be closer to happening than you think.The exciting prospect of television being beamed across the Atlantic via a series of microwave relay stations is thought to be four to ten years away. It won't be easy, nor will it be cheap; construction costs are estimated at a minimum of $75 to $100 million. AT&T's Ultra High Frequency microwave, which could cast signals as far as 300 miles, could expedite things, in terms both of cost and time. (Of course, the Early Bird satellite is still ten years away, and it is this satellite technology that revolutionizes the industry and makes live worldwide broadcasts possible. Given that Sputnik itself is two years in the future, it's no surprise that satellites don't enter the discussion.) Assuming that the technology works, Lowe wonders just what pieces need to be filled in to make global television a reality.
Western Europe has made great strides with its eight-nation Eurovision network, which has transmitted several simultaneous transmissions to Britain, France, West Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and Switzerland. There are hopes that Sweden and Spain will be able to join before the end of the year, and as soon as Luxembourg and the Saar get up and running, they should be easy to add as well. The Soviet Union has, it is believed, seven stations, and they've enquired about joining Eurovision; Poland, with one station, and Czechoslovakia, which hopes to be on the air before next year, could join them. French Morocco has started a television operation at Casablanca, and it would be easy enough to connect North Africa to the continent via coax cable or microwave; Egypt and South Africa are expected to have operational stations sometime this year. See how easy it is?
In the Western Hemisphere, last year's World Series was broadcast to Cuba via microwave, with the signal being extended via a relay facility on a DC-3—a forecast of satellite technology, in a way; experiments are continuing to see if regular service can be supplied without benefit of the relay. (I wonder what difference that might have made in terms of Castro and the Cuban revolution.) The U.S. is already linked with Canada, and a link that runs from Dallas to Mexico City would connect up stations in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. The Philippines and Thailand each have a station, and Japan is expected to join them shortly; discussions are already in progress to link Japan and the Philippines. India, Turkey, and Australia expect to be on the air later this year.Nowadays we'd call this the Global Community, and what I find interesting about all this is how far along it already is, and how fast it seems to be progressing. I'm old enough to remember the awe inspired by Early Bird, and the sporting events that came to us Live via Early Bird Satellite. Believe me, it made any event special, and in the 1960s, there were a lot of them—not just sports but news, town hall meetings, cultural events, and more. I suppose it must seem terribly ho-hum to those who have grown up with the internet and cell phones, but in reading this article, one can sense that the anticipation is palpable, that the possibilities from such technology are unlimited. It may well be that technology will yet turn out to be the instrument of our destruction, either literally or figuratively, but back in 1955 the sky was the limit.
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Also on the cover this week is the reigning king of comedy, Sid Caesar. After catapulting to fame with Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris on Your Show of Shows, he's now moved on to a show of his own, Caesar's Hour, along with Reiner and Morris; Coca's place has been filled by comedienne Nanette Fabray. But what's it like now that Sid is his own boss?
The cast of Caesar's HourFor one thing, says Kathy Pedell, an $85,000 a week budget has allowed him to indulge some of his whims, such as sharing a stage with Benny Goodman, which he accomplished earlier this season. Music has always been a passion of his; growing up, friends recall him as being somewhat morose, with only two real interests in life: astronomy and music. Back then, he studied at Julliard for six months and aspired to play the clarinet in a symphony orchestra, but most of his professional experience came playing the sax for Charlie Spivak, Shep Fields, and Claude Thornhill. Things changed during World War II when he met composer Vernon Duke, who urged him to accept a part in his musical review—not as a musician, but as a comedian. You know the rest.Friends say he's more relaxed since splitting with Coca and producer Max Liebman to go on his own; although the ratings were beginning to slide, he says that what made the split inevitable was "the indicision that tied me in knots." That relaxation doesn't seem to extend to his home life, though; he works from 10 a.m. to midnight, and when he gets home, he's so tired that "I won’t walk from here to there. Not unless I can calculate what it’s worth and am sure it’s worth it."
Throughtout his life, Caesar has been an astute observer of fhuman behavior, which he has translated to his skits. He generally relies on physical humor—gestures and grunts—to convey comedic situations, but he's also a master of doublespeak, able to mimic the sounds of a foreign language after hearing it for as little as 15 minutes and make it sound convincingly like actual words. But for all his success (Pedell describes it as "enough statuettes, ribbons, scrolls and citations to stock a dozen mantelpieces."), he still seems driven, immune to the pleasures which that success should have brought him. Says a former associate, "You know, he’s the kind of a guy who sits in the back of his chauffeur-driven limousine and says, 'Gee, I wish I had a hot dog.' The funny thing is—he really means it."
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On the Teletype, reports that CBS's Father Knows Best was slated for a March cancellation appear to be uncertain; the report is that the series "may get another chance." The series survives due to a new sponsor, Scott Paper, and resumes in the fall on a new network, NBC; it runs for another five seasons, and finishes up back where it started, on CBS. NBC says Groucho Marx will be appearing in one of the spectaculars produced by the aforementioned Max Liebman in April, but if that ever happened, there's no record of it in the files of the series Max Liebman Presents. What's that they say about the best-laid plans?
In Washington, House Speaker Sam Rayburn remains adamant that there will be no television coverage of House sessions or committee hearings. He believes that cameras would be a distraction to members of the House, and perhaps for good reason: during last month's telecast of President Eisenhower's State of the Union address, cameras picked up "a foreign Ambassador obviously sleeping during the message, another of the dignified Speaker scratching his nose, and still others of Senators talking together during the speech." (Your tax dollars at work.) Ironically, when C-SPAN comes along with gavel-to-gave coverage of Congress, it's the Senate, not the House, that initially balks. Eventually, the Senate goes along, on C-SPAN2.
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You may recall that Lincoln's Birthday was celebrated in last week's issue; this week, it's George Washington's turn. The Father of Our Country is feted on The Christophers (Saturday 9:30 a.m., WFIL), as John Daly, Fred Allen, Ella Raines, and Thelma Ritter provide dramatic readings using Washington's own words. If that's too early in the morning for you, stick around for Texaco Star Theater (9:30 p.m., NBC), as host Donald O'Connor welcomes Boris Karloff—song-and-dance man.
The WFIL studio is taken over by cars on Sunday for the third annual Auto Show (2:00 p.m.), showcasing "America's smartest cars, along with sleek European cars" such as Jaguar, Volkswagen, Hillman Minx, Triumph, Sunbean, and Porsche, are on display during the two-and-a-half broadcast. Wouldn't you like to see some of those old beauties? Later in the afternoon, the George Washington tributes continue with Hallmark Hall of Fame's presentation, "Martha Custis Washington" (5:00 p.m., NBC), which tells the story of the young widow and mother of two who becomes America's first First Lady.
Colgate Comedy Hour comes to us from New Orleans this week (8:00 p.m., NBC), with host Gordon MacRae celebrating Marti Gras with Louis Armstrong, Peggy Lee, and comedian Gene Sheldon. Meanwhile, on Toast of the Town (8:00 p.m., CBS), Ed Sullivan is in London to host a tribute to the great English actress and musical comedy performer, the late Gertrude Lawrence, with an all-star lineup including Helen Hayes, Metropolitan Opera star Lily Pons, actress Judith Anderson, actress Sarah Churchill, and others.
One thing I don't think you can argue about is that early morning television was much more interesting, not to mention more fun, back in the 1950s Take Monday morning, for example; our cover star, Sid Caesar, is one of Dave Garroway's guests on Today (7:00 a.m., NBC), while Johnny Desmond and Edie Adams are the vocalists on Jack Paar's Morning Show (7:00 a.m., CBS). I'd take that over today's morning shows anytime.We're back on the early morning beat Tuesday, as Today honors Washington's Birthday with its annual trip to Mount Vernon, Virginia. (I've been there myself; terrific place to visit.) In primetime, Boris Karloff makes his second appearance of the week in the comedy-mystery "A Sting of Death" on the anthology series The Elgin Hour (9:30 p.m., ABC). In his review of the season's drama anthologies, Robert Stahl calls Elgin "one of the brighter series" of the season, with an "adventuresome spirit." (By the by, Stahl rates Philco Television Playhouse as television's top anthology series; Philco, in its final season after a seven-year run, can boast Paddy Chayefsky's original version of "Marty" and the Broadway productions of Horton Foote's "Trip to Bountiful" and N. Richard Nash's "The Rainmaker" as successes.
Wednesday's highlight comes courtesy of Disneyland (7:30 p.m., ABC). It's " Davy Crockett at the Alamo ," the third of five Crockett adventures made by Disney between 1954 and 1955. Fess Parker stars as the great frontiersman, with Buddy Ebsen as his sidekick George Russel, and Kenneth Tobey as James Bowie. "Davy Crockett at the Alamo" is, appropriately, the final segment of Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier, the theatrical movie made from the first three Crockett stories. And opera star Robert Merrill, who appeared on The Milton Berle Show on NBC Tuesday night, spans nights and networks to play the celebrity with the secret on I've Got a Secret (9:30 p.m., CBS).
David Niven, one of the four stars of Four Star Playhouse, plays author Robert Louis Stevenson in "Tusitala," the story of the author's life on Samoa. (Thursday, 9:30 p.m., CBS) "Tusitala" is Samoan for "teller of tales," which certainly describes Stevenson. And on WCAU's Late Show (11:30 p.m.), it's the 1937 movie You Only Live Once, directed by Fritz Lang, with Henry Fonda and Sylvia Sidney. Only don't tell James Bond.
In the sports netherworld, between the end of football and the start of baseball, boxing dominates the scene, and on Friday the main event pits world featherweight champion Sandy Saddler*, making his first title defense in three years, against the number one contender, Teddy Davis, live from Madison Square Garden. (10:00 p.m., NBC) It's not that Saddler was inactive; he fought a a total of 163 times, winning 145 times. Most of his fights during his time as featherweight champion were 10-round non-title bouts, sometimes against fighters from other weight classes.
*Fun fact: Sandy Saddler's nephew is Grandmaster Flash.
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Having looked at the King of Television Comedy earlier in this issue, it seems appropriate to wrap things up with the "Grand Old Lady of Television," Faye Emerson. Unlike Sid Caesar, who remains a legend in comedy circles even though he may have been forgotten by the general public, I'm not sure how many people know, or remember, Faye Emerson. The "Grand Old Lady" title comes honestly, though: she's been on television for more than five years, and, as she points out, "that's about the length of television's own career." During that time, she's been "a panelist, moderator, critic, interviewer, accessory and actress."Emerson started out in show business when she was still in her teens, making her first movie appearance in 1941. Her transition "from actress to interviewer" came in 1948, while she was married to Elliott Roosevelt, son of FDR. (The two were brought together by Howard Hughes.) She was interviewed at the Democratic National Convention and found the questioning so banal that "As far as I could see, all you had to do was talk. So I figured this was for me." (She didn’t think of Eleanor Roosevelt as a mother-in-law, she said, but more as "a woman of the world who belonged to the world." She never gave up on acting, thought, with appearances on various dramatic anthologies and Broadway productions, as well as hosting her own interview shows. (She also found time to divorce Roosevelt and marry bandleader Skitch Henderson.) Last year, she added the title of columnist to her duties, writing a nationally syndicated column. She reads all the daily newspapers, a habit she got into when she was a panelist on the quiz show Who Said That? "But I’m no intellectual; just curious."
These days, she's a regular panelist on I've Got a Secret. She has also, unexpectedly, turned up as something of an arbiter of women's fashion on TV. In those early days, she was known as "the girl with the plunging neckline," a label she vehemently rejects. "I wore my own clothes when I started on late evening shows, and they were clothes appropriate to that time of day. Evening clothes, of course, are cut low; but I also wore a lot of high necklines. And I never wore anything in bad taste." Unlike some of today's stars, she might have added; in one of her recent columns, she said that "TV isn't necessarily like a Turkish bath," and that "The less said, the better, about some things that go on after 10 P.M." It's an issue she'd rather stay out of, though, "because it is keeping alive what is distasteful to me. I can well remember the days when people said all a girl had to do was to 'cut her dresses low like Fayzie' and she was an actress." But would they have wound up as the Grand Old Lady of Television? TV
February 14, 2025
Around the dial
A Happy Valentine's Day to one and all. In the spirit of the season, so to speak, the picture above personifies me spending quality time with my first love. And where has it gotten me, you ask? Of course, if you're reading these words, you already know the answer.Onward to Cult TV Blog, where John continues "Private Detective Season" with the mid-80s British series Bulman, and the episode " Pandora's Many Boxes ." Bulman's one of those maverick P.I.s who don't follow the rules, which is just fine with me, and it provides an excellent snapshot of its time, which the best shows always do.
Garry Berman returns with the third in a series of stars who've gone " from hits to flops ," and there are more than you might think. Of course, you don't get to be a star unless you take chances, and some of them don't work out. How many of these failed series do you remember?
Roger continues his recap of The New Avengers at A View from the Junkyard with " To Catch a Rat ," another quality episode in the series revival. In addition to being a thriller revolving around amnesia, it's a philosophical reminder of just how important one's memory is to their own identity.
There was a time when Susan Oliver seemed to be on just about every television show you tuned in to, and Travalanche looks back at her road to success, including some of her more memorable roles (including, of course, the "Green Chick" in Star Trek).
One of the great things about the Criterion Channel is the access it gives you to movies and genres you might never have known about, let alone watched. For me, the great revelation was Japanese Noir, and Maddy writes at Classic Film and TV Corner about one of the best, Akira Kurosawa's Stray Dog , with the great Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura.
On the subject of movies, at Classic Film & TV Cafe, Rick looks at Buchanan Rides Alone , one of the six "Ranown Cycle" Westerns made by Randolph Scott, directed by Budd Boetticher, and written by Burt Kennedy. Merits of the movie aside, I'm reminded of the night of the 1992 New Hampshire Presidental Primary, when Pat Buchanan was running against Bush Sr. and the GOP establishment. TNT was airing this movie, and I wondered then if they appreciated the irony of the title. TV
February 12, 2025
If I ran the network, part 6
When the idea first came into my head, there weren't a lot of series about serial-killers on television. (That there's even such a genre says something about our society, I think, but we'll save that for another day.) I was sure, however, that there was a place for the idea, if it were done correctly, in a manner that would confound those thinking they were getting something more conventional, more in line with what they were used to seeing.Thus was born "Jack the Ripper: The Series."
That wouldn't have been the final title, of course. For one thing, I wasn't interested in doing a period piece, at least not that period. I also wasn't interested in a series set in England. And anyway, what more is there to say about the real Jack the Ripper that hasn' t already been said? I mean, if the idea that the Ripper might have been a member of the royal family doesn't shock you, then what's the use? It made for a good working title, though, and as far as explaining the concept goes, it'd be a great elevator pitch. So it stays as a place-holder.
In rejecting a period piece, I also rejected setting it in a contemporary timeframe, when so much of modern investigative and forensic work is conducted in the lab, online, or through psychological profiling. No, what I wanted to see was good, old-fashioned police work, where pavements are pounded and shoe leather is worn out, where informants are consulted and every lead has to be followed up. As for the location, probably a nameless American city with a population of several million people, as opposed to a small town where the character pool would be relatively limited and the focus of the investigation would narrow rapidly. Both of these were details to be determined later.
The series would work something like this: in the pilot (a two-hour special), we'd meet three or four characters, people from various walks of life. We'd learn about them: what they did, what their lives were like, what they did at home and on the job, and how those factors might possibly bring them within the circle of a serial killer. At first, as each one is murdered, the crimes are investigated as unrelated killings, but by the end of the pilot, the police realize they're dealing with a serial killer. For however many epsodes the series runs, we'd see the investigation progress, through the eyes of the task force formed to coordinate the strategy, the detectives looking for clues, the reporters covering the story, or some other aspect of the case.
In the meantime, the killings continue, usually at the rate of one per episode, but never more than two. Each week we'd be introduced to two or three potential Ripper victims. As in the pilot, they'd be the focus of the episode, similar to character-driven dramas like The Untouchables, Naked City and The FBI. Sometimes their activities would be shown simultaneously on split-screens (a la 24), other times we'd switch between their stories and the progress of the investigation. Throughout the episode, viewers would be left wondering what threat might be waiting around the corner, at a dark bus stop, or in the shadows next to the garage.
As for the identity of the Ripper, it could be male or female, one person or two—we wouldn't know until the final episode, although sharp-eyed viewers would pick up clues after every murder that would allow them to play along with the detectives in creating a profile that would suggest various suspects. Along the way there will be false leads, red herrings, and brick walls encountered. It could be that one of the guest stars, one we feared might be a victim, becomes a suspect instead. It could be the delivery person who brings coffee or donuts to the detectives, one of the reporters, or even one of the detectives. We might receive glimpses of the killer in various episodes without realizing it, and we might have some parts of the story seen through the eyes of the killer, without revealing their identity.
As the murders continue, the detectives would begin to establish a pattern, that would produce a list of suspects; that list would be added to or narrowed down over the course of the series. Some suspects might reappear in multiple episodes, while others come and go in the course of an hour. There could be cliffhanger endings in which the detectives pursue a suspect who eludes them; that suspect might be cleared later, or remain on the list. In one of those episodes where we see things through the eyes of the killer, we might see him come close to being captured, have the intended victim escape, or have the plan inadvertently thwarted, with the intended never knowing how close he or she came to becoming a statistic.
There'd also be room for some episodes that break the mold. For instance, there might be an episode in which, with the killer not having struck for several months, the case appears to be on the verge of going cold. There could be a story in which a psychic is brought in to try and identify who might be behind the crimes. We could see a reporter working on a trap that would catch the killer; and there'd probably be one illustrating the pressure mounting on the department to capture the Ripper, with that pressure being passed down to the detectives. Speaking of which, since in real life these crimes often take place over extended periods of time, we'll probably see three or four years pass over the course of the series, during which time new detectives come on the case while others are transferred, get killed on the job, retire, or otherwise move on.
Admittedly, there are some ideas that have to be worked out before we can go into production. For one thing, we'd have to give the viewers characters they can care about, to keep them tuning in each week; therefore, the potential victims have to be compelling, fully-formed charcters, with viewers becoming invested in their stories (some of them might be real SOBs, people you'd want to be victims). And there'd have to be characters among the detectives that would be the main protagonists, people the viewers would be rooting for. Unlike The Killer, under no circumstances would the Ripper ever be considered the protagonist, even if he did wind up killing someone who deserved it.
To be sure, "Jack the Ripper: The Series" is a long way from being a polished idea, although that never stopped a network from greelighting a series. There are some things about it that I really liked, though: the way it combined serial storytelling, with the arc continuing through the whole series, and episodic television, with a new victim being killed each week. And while we've seen serial killers come and go on TV in the years since, I don't know how many Rippers have carried that series without being the lead character—or, for that matter, without even being identified. And how many series have carried such a serial killer investigation through an entire season, with the killings continuing each week?
It might not be an idea a network would pick up today, but there would always be a place for it on HBC. No matter what it was called. TV
February 10, 2025
What's on TV? Monday, February 7, 1972
One of Edwin Newman's guests on this morning's Today is former British politican Sir Oswald Mosley, promoting his autobiography My Life, a man whose life would make a terrific miniseries. He was, over the years, a member of Parliament; leader of the British Fascist movement (for which he spent time in prison); married Diana Mitford, sister of writer Jessica Mitford (their 1936 marriage was held in Joseph Goebbels' home in Berlin); was an early proponent of European nationalism; and was father to Max Mosley, the future head of the governing body for Formula 1 auto racing, who himself became involved in a Nazi-themed sex scandal in 2008. How could that interview have fit into a ten-minute segment? The listings come from the Eastern New England edition.-2- WGBH (BOSTON) (PBS) MORNING 8:30 A LOOK AT US 9:00 PARLONS FRANCAIS 9:15 WORLD OF SCIENCE -C- 9:30 RIPPLES -C- 9:45 PHYSICS DEMONSTRATIONS -C- 10:00 SESAME STREET -C- 11:00 FOR THE LOVE OF ART 11:30 QUE PASA? -C- AFTERNOON 12:00 WORD WORKERS, INC. -C- 12:15 STEPPING INTO MELODY 12:30 TO BE ANNOUNCED 1:00 MATHEMAGIC 1:15 HOW CAN I TELL YOU -C- 1:30 ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children 2:00 PLACES IN THE NEWS 2:20 WHAT’S MY THING? 3:00 PSYCHOLOGY II—Education 3:30 MAGGIE -C- 4:00 SESAME STREET -C- 5:00 MISTER ROGERS -C- 5:30 ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children -C- EVENING 6:00 HODGEPODGE LODGE -C- 6:30 FRENCH CHEF -C- 7:00 NEWS AND COMMENT -C- 7:30 THE REPORTERS 8:00 BOSTON SYMPHONY -C- Special 10:00 ADVOCATES—Debate -C-
-3- WTIC (HARTFORD) (CBS) MORNING 6:00 SUNRISE SEMESTER -C- Chemistry: Salts and acids 6:30 YOUR COMMUNITY -C- 7:00 CBS NEWS—John Hart -C- 8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO -C- 9:00 HAP RICHARDS -C- 9:15 YOGI BEAR -C- 9:30 LUCILLE BALL -C- 10:00 MOVIE—Musical -C- “Has Anybody Seen My Gal?” (1952) 11:30 LOVE OF LIFE -C- AFTERNOON 12:00 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER -C- 12:25 CBS NEWS—Douglas Edwards -C- 12:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW -C- 1:00 VIRGINIA GRAHAM -C- Guests: George Maharis, Mochael Constantine, Fran Jeffries 1:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS -C- 2:00 LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING -C- 2:30 GUIDING LIGHT -C- 3:00 MY THREE SONS -C- 3:30 RANGER STATION -C- 4:00 FAMILY AFFAIR -C- 4:30 ANDY GRIFFITH -C- 5:00 BIG VALLEY -C- 5:55 WHAT’S HAPPENING -C- EVENING 6:00 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER -C- 6:30 CBS NEWS—Walter Cronkite -C- 7:00 MOVIE—Drama -C- “The Ipcress File” (English; 1965) 9:00 HERE’S LUCY -C- 9:30 DORIS DAY -C- 10:00 SONNY & CHER COMEDY HOUR -C- Guests: Mike Connors, Jean Stapleton 11:00 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER -C- 11:25 MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. -C- 12:25 STARTIME -C- “Guilty or Not Guilty”
-4- WBZ (BOSTON) (NBC) MORNING 6:15 SIGN ON SEMINAR -C- “Furniture” 6:45 DAILY ALMANAC -C- 7:00 TODAY -C- Guest host: Edwin Newman. Guest: Sir Oswald Mosley [Interrupted for local news and weather at 7:25 and 8:25.] 8:30 XI OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES -C- Special: Women’s free skating, men’s downhill, hockey 9:00 FOR WOMEN TODAY -C- Guests: Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson 10:00 DINAH SHORE -C- 10:30 CONCENTRATION -C- 11:00 SALE OF THE CENTURY -C- 11:30 HOLLYWOOD SQUARES -C- Mel Brooks, Barbara Feldon, Peter Lawford, Paul Lynde, Rose Marie, Vincent Price AFTERNOON 12:00 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER -C- 12:30 DAVID FROST -C- Guests: Sen. Barry Goldwater, Lee Grant, Donald Pleasence, Dawn 2:00 DAYS OF OUR LIVES -C- 2:30 DOCTORS -C- 3:00 ANOTHER WORLD -C- 3:30 BRIGHT PROMISE -C- 4:00 SOMERSET -C- 4:30 MIKE DOUGLAS -C- Co-host: Elke Sommer. Guests: Sergio Franchi, Edmond and Curly EVENING 6:00 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER -C- 7:00 CBS NEWS—John Chancellor -C- 7:30 YOU ASKED FOR IT -C- 8:00 XI OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES -C- Special: Biathlon, men’s figure skating, hockey, luge [“Laugh-In” will not be seen.] 9:00 MOVIE—Drama “A Rage to Live” (1965) 11:00 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER -C- 11:30 XI OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES -C- Special: Woman’s giant slalom, biathlon [Johnny Carson will not be seen.] 1:00 NEWS -C- 1:05 MOVIE—Drama “The Unknown Man" (1951)
-5- WCVB (BOSTON) (ABC) MORNING 6:00 SUNRISE SEMESTER -C- Chemistry: Salts and acids 6:30 FARMING -C- 6:45 WE BELIEVE -C- 7:00 CBS NEWS—John Hart -C- 8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO -C- 9:00 ROMPER ROOM -C- 9:30 CLASSROOM FIVE 10:00 LUCILLE BALL -C- 10:30 MY THREE SONS -C- 11:00 FAMILY AFFAIR -C- 11:30 LOVE OF LIFE -C- AFTERNOON 12:00 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER -C- 12:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW -C- 1:00 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES -C- 1:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS -C- 2:00 LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING -C- 2:30 GUIDING LIGHT -C- 3:00 SECRET STORM -C- 3:30 EDGE OF NIGHT -C- 4:00 GOMER PYLE, USMC -C- 4:30 TO TELL THE TRUTH -C- Panel: Kitty Carlisle, Peggy Cass, Bill Cullen, Nipsey Russell 5:00 PERRY MASON EVENING 6:00 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER -C- 6:30 CBS NEWS—Walter Cronkite -C- 7:00 WHAT’S MY LINE? -C- Panel: Arlene Francis, Allen Ludden, Phyllis Newman, Soupy Sales 7:30 FIVE REPORTS -C- 8:00 GUNSMOKE -C- 9:00 HERE’S LUCY -C- 9:30 DORIS DAY -C- 10:00 SONNY & CHER COMEDY HOUR -C- Guests: Mike Connors, Jean Stapleton 11:00 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER -C- 11:30 MERV GRIFFIN -C- 1:00 CHEYENNE
-6- WTEV (NEW BEDFORD) (ABC) MORNING 6:30 JACK LaLANNE -C- 6:45 NEWS -C- 7:00 F TROOP 7:30 LEAVE IT TO BEAVER 8:00 FLYING NUN -C- 8:25 NEWS 8:30 COMMUNITY -C- 9:00 ROMPER ROOM -C- 9:30 MOVIE GAME -C- Guests: Gloria DeHaven, Myrna Loy, Cameron Mitchell, Stefanie Powers, Barbara Sharma, Alan Sues 10:00 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES -C- 10:30 GILLIGAN’S ISLAND 11:00 MOTHERS-IN-LAW -C- 11:30 THAT GIRL -C- AFTERNOON 12:00 BEWITCHED -C- 12:30 PASSWORD -C- Guests: Carol Burnett, Elizabeth Montgomery 1:00 ALL MY CHILDREN -C- 1:30 LET’S MAKE A DEAL -C- 2:00 NEWLYWED GAME -C- 2:30 DATING GAME -C- 3:00 GENERAL HOSPITAL -C- 3:30 ONE LIFE TO LIVE -C- 4:00 LOVE, AMERICAN STYLE -C- 4:30 FLINTSTONES -C- 5:00 GET SMART -C- 5:30 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHRE -C- EVENING 6:00 ABC NEWS—Howard K. Smith, Harry Reasoner -C- 6:30 PRIMUS -C- 7:00 HOGAN’S HEROES -C- 7:30 DR. SIMON LOCKE—Drama -C- 8:00 BUDAPEST CIRCUS -C- Special: Hosts Bill Bixby, Brandon Cruz 9:00 MOVIE—Adventure -C- “Ice Station Zebra” (1968), Conclusion 10:30 MARTY FELDMAN COMEDY MACHINE -C- Special: Guests: Art Carney, Lonnie Shor, Skiles and Henderson, Honey Cone singers 11:00 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER -C- 11:30 DICK CAVETT -C-
-7- WNAC (BOSTON) (CBS) MORNING 6:20 FARM AND MARKET REPORT 6:25 UNDERSTANDING OUR WORLD 6:55 NEWS 7:00 MAJOR MUDD -C- 9:00 PAUL BENZAQUIN -C- Guest: Frank Capra 10:00 MOVIE—Mystery “Chase a Crooked Shadow” (1958) 11:30 THAT GIRL -C- AFTERNOON 12:00 VIRGINIA GRAHAM -C- 12:30 PASSWORD -C- Guests: Carol Burnett, Elizabeth Montgomery 1:00 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER -C- 1:30 LET’S MAKE A DEAL -C- 2:00 NEWLYWED GAME -C- 2:30 DATING GAME -C- 3:00 GENERAL HOSPITAL -C- 3:30 ONE LIFE TO LIVE -C- 4:00 MOVIE—Comedy “Our Man in Havana” (English; 1959) EVENING 6:00 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER -C- 6:30 ABC NEWS—Howard K. Smith, Harry Reasoner -C- 7:00 DICK VAN DYKE 7:30 LET’S MAKE A DEAL -C- 8:00 BUDAPEST CIRCUS -C- Special: Hosts Bill Bixby, Brandon Cruz 9:00 MOVIE—Adventure -C- “Ice Station Zebra” (1968), Conclusion 10:30 MARTY FELDMAN COMEDY MACHINE -C- Special: Guests: Art Carney, Lonnie Shor, Skiles and Henderson, Honey Cone singers 11:00 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER -C- 11:30 DICK CAVETT -C-
-8- WTNH (NEW HAVEN) (ABC) MORNING 6:10 DAVEY AND GOLIATH -C- 6:25 EIGHTH DAY -C- 6:55 NEWS -C- 7:00 CARTOON -C- 8:00 NEW ZOO REVUE—Children -C- 8:30 DONNA REED 9:00 PHIL DONAHUE -C- Guest: Melvin Belli 10:00 CONN-TACT -C- 11:00 LUCILLE RIVERS—Sewing -C- 11:10 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER -C- 11:30 THAT GIRL -C- AFTERNOON 12:00 BEWITCHED -C- 12:30 PASSWORD -C- Guests: Carol Burnett, Elizabeth Montgomery 1:00 WHAT’S MY LINE? -C- Panel: Bennett Cerf, Arlene Francis, Soupy Sales, Natalie Bruner 1:30 LET’S MAKE A DEAL -C- 2:00 NEWLYWED GAME -C- 2:30 DATING GAME -C- 3:00 GENERAL HOSPITAL -C- 3:30 ONE LIFE TO LIVE -C- 4:00 LOVE, AMERICAN STYLE -C- 4:30 I LOVE LUCY 5:00 I DREAM OF JEANNIE -C- 5:30 DRAGNET -C- EVENING 6:00 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER -C- 6:30 ABC NEWS—Howard K. Smith, Harry Reasoner -C- 7:00 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES -C- 7:30 THIS IS YOUR LIFE -C- Chad Everett 8:00 BUDAPEST CIRCUS -C- Special: Hosts Bill Bixby, Brandon Cruz 9:00 MOVIE—Adventure -C- “Ice Station Zebra” (1968), Conclusion 10:30 MARTY FELDMAN COMEDY MACHINE -C- Special: Guests: Art Carney, Lonnie Shor, Skiles and Henderson, Honey Cone singers 11:00 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER -C- 11:30 DICK CAVETT -C-
-9- WMUR (MANCHESTER) (ABC) MORNING 10:30 MOVIE—Western “Roll On, Texas Moon” (1946) 11:30 THAT GIRL -C- AFTERNOON 12:00 BEWITCHED -C- 12:30 PASSWORD -C- Guests: Carol Burnett, Elizabeth Montgomery 1:00 ALL MY CHILDREN -C- 1:30 LET’S MAKE A DEAL -C- 2:00 NEWLYWED GAME -C- 2:30 DATING GAME -C- 3:00 GENERAL HOSPITAL -C- 3:30 ONE LIFE TO LIVE -C- 4:00 LOVE, AMERICAN STYLE -C- 4:30 UNCLE GUS 5:30 McHALE’S NAVY EVENING 6:00 ABC NEWS—Howard K. Smith, Harry Reasoner -C- 6:30 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER 7:00 MOVIE—Adventure -C- “Adventures of Robin Hood” (1938) 9:00 MOVIE—Adventure -C- “Ice Station Zebra” (1968), Conclusion 10:30 MARTY FELDMAN COMEDY MACHINE -C- Special: Guests: Art Carney, Lonnie Shor, Skiles and Henderson, Honey Cone singers 11:00 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER 11:30 DICK CAVETT -C-
10 WJAR (PROVIDENCE) (NBC) MORNING 6:25 TV CLASSROOM 6:55 NEWS -C- 7:00 TODAY -C- Guest host: Edwin Newman. Guest: Sir Oswald Mosley [Interrupted for local news and weather at 7:25 and 8:25.] 8:30 XI OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES -C- Special: Women’s free skating, men’s downhill, hockey 9:00 DAVID FROST -C- Guests: Sen. Barry Goldwater, Lee Grant, Donald Pleasence, Dawn 10:00 DINAH SHORE -C- 10:30 CONCENTRATION -C- 11:00 SALE OF THE CENTURY -C- 11:30 HOLLYWOOD SQUARES -C- Mel Brooks, Barbara Feldon, Peter Lawford, Paul Lynde, Rose Marie, Vincent Price AFTERNOON 12:00 JEOPARDY -C- 12:30 WHO, WHAT OR WHERE—Game -C- 1:10 NEWS -C- 1:00 TALKBACK -C- 1:30 THREE ON A MATCH -C- 2:00 DAYS OF OUR LIVES -C- 2:30 DOCTORS -C- 3:00 ANOTHER WORLD -C- 3:30 BRIGHT PROMISE -C- 4:00 SOMERSET -C- 4:30 I LOVE LUCY 5:00 WILD WILD WEST -C- EVENING 6:00 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER -C- 7:00 CBS NEWS—John Chancellor -C- 7:30 TO TELL THE TRUTH -C- Panel: Kitty Carlisle, Peggy Cass, Bill Cullen, Gene Shalit 8:00 XI OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES -C- Special: Biathlon, men’s figure skating, hockey, luge [“Laugh-In” will not be seen.] 9:00 MOVIE—Drama “A Rage to Live” (1965) 11:00 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER -C- 11:30 XI OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES -C- Special: Woman’s giant slalom, biathlon [Johnny Carson will not be seen.]
12 WPRI (PROVIDENCE) (CBS) MORNING 6:00 SUNRISE SEMESTER -C- Chemistry: Salts and acids 7:00 CBS NEWS—John Hart -C- 8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO -C- 9:00 DIALING FOR DOLLARS -C- 9:30 DIRECT QUSTION -C- 10:00 LUCILLE BALL -C- 10:30 MY THREE SONS -C- 11:00 FAMILY AFFAIR -C- 11:30 LOVE OF LIFE -C- AFTERNOON 12:00 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER -C- 12:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW -C- 1:00 ALL ABOUT FACES -C- 1:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS -C- 2:00 LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING -C- 2:30 GUIDING LIGHT -C- 3:00 SECRET STORM -C- 3:30 EDGE OF NIGHT -C- 4:00 MOVIE—Adventure -C- “The Pink Jungle” (1968) EVENING 6:00 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER -C- 6:30 CBS NEWS—Walter Cronkite -C- 7:00 WHAT’S MY LINE -C- Panel: Bert Convy, Arlene Francis, Dina Merrill, Soupy Sales 7:30 I DREAM OF JEANNIE -C- 8:00 GUNSMOKE -C- 9:00 HERE’S LUCY -C- 9:30 DORIS DAY -C- 10:00 SONNY & CHER COMEDY HOUR -C- Guests: Mike Connors, Jean Stapleton 11:00 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER -C- 11:30 MOVIE—Comedy -C- “Under the Yum Yum Tree” (1963)
27 WSMW (WORCESTER) (Ind.) AFTERNOON 12:00 MOVIE—Comedy “Brother Rat” (1938) 2:00 BOLD JOURNEY 2:30 ED ALLEN -C- 3:00 TODAY’S WOMAN -C- 3:25 CONSUMER FIGHTS BACK -C- 3:30 KIDS’ KORNER -C- 4:00 BOZO’S BIG TOP -C- 4:30 TIMMY AND LASSIE 5:00 POPEYE -C- 5:30 LAUREL AND HARDY EVENING 6:00 PETTICOAT JUNCTION -C- 6:30 MOVIE—Drama “Winged Victory” (1944) Part 1 8:30 MANTRAP -C- 9:00 BIG TIME WRESTLING -C- 10:00 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER -C- 10:25 CONSUMER FIGHTS BACK -C- 10:30 PETTICOAT JUNCTION -C- 11:00 NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER -C- 11:30 MOVIE—Drama “The Fabiani Affair” (French; 1962)
36 WSBE (PROVIDENCE) (PBS) MORNING 8:00 HIGH SCHOOL LITERATURE 8:30 VAMOS A LATINA AMERICA 9:00 MEET THE ARTS 9:30 LISTEN AND SAY 9:45 LET’S INVESTIGATE 10:00 SESAME STREET -C- 11:00 LIVING THINGS 11:30 MATHEMAGIC AFTERNOON 12:00 YOUR FOOD DOLLAR 12:30 VAMOS A LATINA AMERICA 1:00 ALL ABOUT YOU 2:00 PLACES IN THE NEWS 2:30 URBAN CONSERVATION 3:00 HOW DO YOUR CHILDREN GROW? 3:30 URBAN CONSERVATION 4:00 SESAME STREET -C- 5:00 MISTER ROGERS -C- 5:30 ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children -C- EVENING 6:00 HODGEPODGE LODGE -C- 6:30 HIGH SCHOOL LITERATURE 7:00 GUITAR—Lessons 7:30 SHOWCASE 8:00 BANGLADESH: BIRTH OF A NATION Special 10:00 NET PLAYHOUSE—Biography -C- “Harriet”
38 WSBK (BOSTON) (Ind.) MORNING 11:10 NEWS -C- 11:20 JACK LaLANNE -C- 11:30 LUCILLE RIVERS—Sewing -C- AFTERNOON 12:00 JEOPARDY -C- C 12:30 WHO, WHAT OR WHERE—Game -C- 12:55 NBC NEWS—Floyd Kalber -C- 1:00 OZZIE AND HARRIET 1:30 THREE ON A MATCH -C- 2:00 TOM LARSON -C- 3:00 PORKY PIG -C- 3:30 MAGILLA GORILLA/PETER POTOMAS -C- 4:00 BUGS BUNNY/ROAD RUNNER -C- 4:30 THREE STOOGES -C- 5:30 MUNSTERS EVENING 6:00 I DREAM OF JEANNIE -C- 6:30 McHALE’S NAVY 7:00 HOGAN’S HEROES -C- 7:30 I DREAM OF JEANNIE -C- 8:00 DANIEL BOONE -C- 9:00 PHIL DONAHUE -C- Guest: Adam Clayton Powell 10:00 OF LANDS AND SEAS -C- 11:00 MOVIE—Mystery “Man from Cairo” (1953)
53 WEDN (NORWICH) (PBS) MORNING 8:30 WESTERN CIVILIZATION -C- 9:00 A MATTER OF FICTION -C- 9:20 THIS IS CONNECTICUT 9:40 ALL ABOUT YOU 10:00 SESAME STREET -C- 11:00 ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children -C- AFTERNOON 12:00 MAGGIE -C- 12:30 MISTER ROGERS -C- 1:00 A MATTER OF FICTION -C- 1:20 EN FRANCAIS—Lessons 1:35 YES, NO, MAYBE 1:55 MATHEMAGIC 2:10 THIS IS CONNECTICUT 2:30 YOU AND EYE 3:00 COMMUNICATIONS AND EDUCATION 3:30 DESIGNING WOMEN -C- 4:00 SESAME STREET -C- 5:00 MISTER ROGERS -C- 5:30 ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children -C- EVENING 6:00 HODGEPODGE LODGE -C- 6:30 GUITAR—Lessons 7:00 FREE-FOR-ALL 7:30 CONNECTICUT NEWSROOM 8:00 HOLLYWOOD TELEVISION THEATRE -C- Special: “U.S.A.” 10:30 BOOK BEAT -C- Guest: Jon Appleby
56 WKBG (BOSTON) (Ind.) MORNING 11:15 NEWS TALK -C- 11:30 11:45 NEW ZOO REVUE—Children -C- OUR CHANGING COMMUNITY AFTERNOON 12:00 KIMBA -C- 12:30 UNDERDOG -C- 1:00 GALLOPING GOURMET -C- Guests: Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller 1:30 MOVIE—Biography “Rembrandt” (1936) 3:00 KIMBA -C- 3:30 YOGI BEAR -C- 4:00 FLINTSTONES -C- 4:30 SPEED RACER -C- 5:00 LOST IN SPACE -C- EVENING 6:00 FLINTSTONES -C- 6:30 GILLIGAN’S ISLAND 7:00 I LOVE LUCY 7:30 DRAGNET -C- 8:00 MOVIE—Western -C- “Rio Conchos” (1964) 10:00 IT TAKES A THIEF -C- 11:00 ONE STEP BEYOND 11:30 MOVIE—Drama “Armored Attack” (1943)
TV
February 8, 2025
This week in TV Guide: February 5, 1972
We begin this week with a personal memory, if you'll permit. I realize that for most people, NBC has been the network of the Olympics for many years, but if you're my age, you can remember when the Olympics meant ABC, Jim McKay, and "Up Close and Personal" coverage. The history of the Olympics on American TV only goes back to 1960, when CBS provided minimal coverage of both the Summer and Winter Olympics. ABC made its first appearance with the 1964 Winter Games, while NBC carried the Summer Games. My first experience with the Olympics was in 1968, and both of them were on ABC, so by 1972 I'd come to expect to find them there. However, this year's Winter Olympics, from Sapporo, Japan, are on NBC, and with the network planning extensive live coverage, the fourteen-hour time difference between Japan and New York has necessitated a most unusual broadcasting schedule. The network has divided its weekday lineup into three segments, starting with a 30-minute broadcast at 8:30 a.m. ET, preempting the last half-hour of Today. Primetime shows (which include live coverage of skiing and speed skating) are on Monday and Tuesday nights for an hour each, and a two-hour broadcast on Thursday.* Daily coverage concludes with 90-minute broadcasts at 11:30 p.m., preempting The Tonight Show. Things are somewhat more expansive on the weekend, with four-and-a-half hours on Saturday and three hours on Sunday.
*In case you're wondering what programs were so important that they couldn't be preempted on Wednesday or Friday, they were Columbo and Night Gallery (Wednesday) and Friday Night at the Movies on Friday. (Two Mules for Sister Sara, FYI.) Even in the middle of the Olympics, a network has to have its priorities in order.
In total, the network presents 36 hours of coverage across the 12 days of competition; by contrast, the NBC family of networks provided close to 3,000 hours of coverage of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, across 19 days. For absolutists, I'm sure today's broadcasts provide a bonanza. I'm a meat-and-potatoes, just-the-facts kind of guy, though, and back when I watched the Olympics, I was only interested in seeing medal-winning performances, not all the preliminaries or various features; I think that the advent of saturation coverage was when I started to lose interest in the Olympics; I haven't watched them since, I'd guess, the 1990s, and I don't have any plans to take them up again any time soon. Maybe NBC could offer a "skinny package" of coverage on one of their streaming platforms, but even then I don't think I could be convinced to tune in to some of the newer "sports."
There's a closing irony about this though, as there is about almost everything. The theme to NBC's Olympic coverage, written by John Denver, Bill Danoff, and Taffy Nivert, was called " Victory Is Peace ." It only took eight months, until the Summer Olympics in Munich, for that to come crashing down .
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From 1963 to 1976, TV Guide's weekly reviews were written by the witty and acerbic Cleveland Amory. Whenever they appear, we'll look at Cleve's latest take on the shows of the era. Of the many tough lessons learned in the process of being Cleveland Amory, TV critic, one stands out this week: "[B]eware of any show which is titled Somebody's Something. It's inclined not to be anybody's anything." Case in point is Rod Serling's Night Gallery. And if you don't see where he's going with this review, he continues: "Most episodes contain three separate stories, so if you don't like the first, you can always look forward to the next two. On the other hand, if you don't like either the first or the second, you can always look forward to the third. By the same token, if you don't like the first or the second or the third—well, look at it this way, it's over."
The problems with Night Gallery are legion: the stories are often either overwritten, or overacted, or overproduced—and, on occasion, all three. Most of the episodes are based on overworked gimmicks, and on the rare occasions when the show threatens to succeed, something gets in the way. Two episodes come to mind, both written by Serling: one in which a man from the future sents his deformed son to anothet planet in accordance with "The Federal Conformity Act of 1993." (The story Cleve's referring to "The Different Ones," according to IMDb.) "It could have been touching," Amory says, "but, being in this show, it wasn't." The other story he references is undoubtedly "Green Fingers," with Elsa Lanchester as a woman who refuses to sell her cottage to a developer. "Again, it had its points—aside from the fact that, like so many stories here, it didn't really have an end." It's important, Cleve says, that stories like this have an end; it's not good enough that they are ending.
What this show really strives for, Amory believes, is the sort of sensation one got from Alfred Hitchcock Presents, "And it really is infurating, 50 years after Hitchcock, to have something not anywhere near as good." It's particularly puzzling that "such drivel" manages to attract name stars. We know from Serling's own comments that he had major problems with Night Gallery, and became frustrated with elements such as the comic blackout sketches, which he felt distorted the entire program. Several of his scripts were rejected, and when NBC ruled out any Twilight Zone-type philosophical stories, Serling commented that "These people are taking what could have been a good series and they're so commercializing it it's not going to be commercial." For better or worse, Serling knew what he wanted Night Gallery to be, and I'm not at all sure he wouldn't have agreed with Cleveland Amory on the results."
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Elizabeth Baur is, as Dick Adler relates in this week's cover story, the new face on Ironside, and I can remember, during one of my occasional forays into viewership, wondering what had happened to the blonde I'd seen before. Was it the same actress, with a new hair color? (Well, you can't always expect sophisticated analysis at that age.)It's true that there had previously been a blonde, Emmy-winning Barbara Anderson, for the previous four seasons. But she'd left the show, rather surprisingly, to get married and try her luck with movies, and so Baur, who had previously been on the Western series Lancer, was selected from a large group of contenders. You'd be forgiven for thinking she hadn't made much of an impression at first, though; the first three episodes of the season had already been written for Anderson when Baur came on-board, so neither she nor the writers had much of an opportunity to establish her character. That has since changed, and she's flourishing as part of the ensemble cast.
At the same time she'd tried out for Ironside, producer Cy Chermak told her that she wasn't really what they had in mind for the role, but that he wanted her to come back and read for him. After that second meeting, he again told her that she wasn't the type they were thinking of, but would she come back and do a screen test? She did, along with seven other actresses, and she was the unanimous choice. Not taking any chances, however, she also auditioned for a role in the daytime soap Bright Promise, which she got. The next day she was offered the role for Ironside, and sent Bright Promise her regrets.
It's all interesting, and her impression of Raymond Burr ("he was very sweet and charming") pretty much lines up with everything else we read about him from people who've worked with him. What I find most interesting, though, is not the Ironside story, but her experience on Lancer. That series ran for two seasons, from 1968 to 1970, placing it in the midst of television's latest anti-violence period, and her comments on how the "silly business" of "violence points" on the show were handled are quite illuminating. "We had a limit of a certain number of points per show—like 10. You got maybe three points for a slap, four points for hitting somebody with a fist. It got to be pretty foolish. I mean, Westerns are supposed to have action in them, and when you take that away the shows getvery talky." And, she might have added, bland. So when you're watching television from this era and wonder why the bad guys never seem to get shot, just ask yourself how many points that might have been worth.
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Would you care to take a guess at how many times, over the years, I've written disparagingly about the contemporary version of Hallmark Hall of Fame, comparing it unfavorably to its classic presentations? Anyone? Buehler? I'm not sure myself, but I'd have to guess it happens at least a half-dozen tims a year. And I don't believe any of you fine connoisseurs of television out there would disagree with me in those criticisms. Well, this week I get to take aim at a presentation from this more distinguished era. It's called "Love! Love! Love!" (Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., NBC), and it's part of Hallmark's advertising blitz for Valentine's Day. By the way, if you have any doubts about that point, take a look at the Hallmark ads appearing in this issue alone:
Three ads, three mentions of "Love," and a story called "Love! Love! Love!" Get it?
Anyway, this musical "tribute to young love" features Robert Wagner playing the emcee at The Troubadour in Los Angeles, where he introduces performances by Mac Davis, Helen Reddy, and Bread. As they sing, "a series of montages shows six young couples enjoying the pleasure of each other's company." It's not quite a musical, not quite a variety show, not quite a drama, and—as far as I'm concerned—not quite interesting enough for me. The idea itself is a creative departure for Hall of Fame, and I think it could have worked with a different selection of artists; as it is, the only one I can halfway listen to is Mac Davis. I know they were all big stars, but—and this is the kind of comment I might have reserved for Sullivan v. Palace—I don't know why. According to the Hall of Fame website, the next presentation will be Harvey, with Jimmy Stewart reprising his famous role, and that's more like it.
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Once again, one of the highlights of the viewing week comes to us courtesy of the big screen, so let's start with the television premiere of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire (Thursday, 9:00 p.m., CBS), with Oscar-winning performances by Vivian Leigh, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden; Marlon Brando's iconic, much-parodied role as Stanley Kowalski lost out to Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen, but, as Judith Crist says, his performance here is "nothing short of brilliant," as he "furthered the style that innumerable young actors were to ape and established his reputation for greatness."
Be that as it may, I'm opting for Akira Kurasawa's masterpiece The Seven Samurai (Friday, 8:30 p.m., PBS), one of the greatest movies of all time (featuring a star-making turn from Toshiro Mifune), and the basis for the American Western The Magnificent Seven, a pretty good movie in its own right. When it was released for American theaters, it was edited from 200 minutes to 160, but PBS promises that it will be showing the original; though it has inspired many a Western in both America and Italy, it is, as Crist says, "a meaningful film, concerned with individuals rather than stock characters, and [Kurasawa's] artistry raises his work to classic stature."Down a notch or two perhaps, but still eminently watchable, is the two-part showing of Ice Station Zebra (Sunday and Monday, 9:00 p.m. both nights, ABC), an action-adventure adaptation of Alistair MacLean's Cold War thriller, with an all-star cast including Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, Patrick McGoohan, Jim Brown, and Lloyd Nolan. It received mixed reviews in its release, but as Crist says, "With Cdr. Rock Hudson in charge—who's to worry?"
What else? Victor Borge presens a lesson in his famous phonetic punctuation on The Electric Company (Saturday, noon, WGBH in Boston). I must have been younger than this the first time I saw Borge do this, and it was as funny then as it is today. On American Bandstand (1:00 p.m., ABC), it's a "Salute to the Fifties" with Little Richard and Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids. We still do these tributes today, but in 1972 the 1950s weren't that long ago.
Sunday is Glenn Ford night on CBS. First, it's a repeat of The Brotherhood of the Bell (7:30 p.m.), a darkly sinister story of a secret society with its members in all the right places of power; you may recall me writing about it here , in my "Descent into Hell" series. That's followed at 9:30 p.m. by Ford's underrated modern Western, Cade's County, in which Ford plays a tough Southwestern sheriff, the kind of role he plays best. Tonight's episode is part two of a drama in which Cade seeks to clear a man charged with murder.
On Monday, Bill Bixby and Brandon Cruz, stars of The Courtship of Eddie's Father, star in ABC's Monday Night Special, "Bill Bixby and Brandon Cruz at the Budapest Circus" (8:00 p.m.). Bill and Brandon not only introduce the acts, they perform with some of them! Hollywood Television Theatre presents a repeat of an adaptation of John Dos Passos's monumental trilogy "U.S.A." (8:00 p.m., PBS), telling the story of American life from pre-World War I to the Depression; Peter Bonerz, John Davidson, James Farentino, Joan Hackett, Shirley Knight, and Michele Lee play all the roles, while Edward G. Robinson reads the prologue.
It's easy to forget that the Sunday Mystery Movie used to be on Wednesday (when it was called, for no other reason, the Wednesday Mystery Movie), and that's why Columbo is bumping out the Winter Olympics tonight; the episode is Blueprint for Murder" (8:30 p.m., NBC), with Patrick O'Neal as the killer, and Peter Falk himself as the director. If you're not a Columbo fan, and I can't imagine why that would be the case, you're perhaps watching the week's second dose of Bill Bixby and Brandon Cruz, this time on their own show (8:00 p.m., ABC), with tonight's special guest, Sammy Davis Jr.
In honor of Lincoln's Birthday on February 12, CBS presents a repeat of the David L. Wolper documentary They've Killed President Lincoln! (Thursday, 8:00 p.m.), an excellent "You Are There"-type look at the events leading up to the assassination. Civil War historian Bruce Catton supervised the production; Richard Basehart narrates. Meanwhile, over on PBS, NET Playhouse airs "
Abraham Lincoln
" (8:30 p.m.), D.W. Griffith's first talkie, with Walter Huston as Honest Abe and Una Merkel as his first love, Ann Rutledge. And that's not all; next week, PBS's NET Opera Theater carries the world premiere of Thomas Pasatieri's one-act opera "The Trial of Mary Lincoln," covering the firmer First Lady's insanity trial. There was no particular Lincoln commemoration in 1972, at least as far as I know; it's interesting that he's getting so much attention this year. Friday's highlights come from late-night, unless you're in the mood for some heavyweight boxing, with Floyd Patterson taking on Oscar Bonavena from Madison Square Garden in New York. (10:00 p.m., WSMW in Worcester). At 11:25 p.m., part one of the WTIC (Hartford) double feature is Alfred Hitchcock's shocker The Birds, with Rod Taylor and Tippi Hedren, and at 11:30, Dick Cavett's guests include Liza Minnelli, promoting her new movie, Cabaret (opening next week), Pete Seeger, Robert Klein, and Gale Sayers.
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No MST3K movie this week, so we'll look at a recipe. "Cooking with wine adds something very special to a dish, making chicken superb, veal delicate and transforming beef stew into beef bourguignon." I'll take their word for it, but here's a nifty recipe for Chicken Marengo. Bon appetit!
TV
February 7, 2025
Around the dial
We'll start off the week with a twin bill from the "American TV" series I do with Dan Schneider:
episode #1
is a look at the history of ABC and its reputation as a network willing to take chances, while
episode #2
is a fun change-of-pace, in which we answer questions about how our series started, some of our favorite shows, early TV crushes, and more! My friend Alan Hayes has some exciting news on the horizon: Escapades: An Exploration of Avengers Curiosities, a new book co-authored with J.Z. Ferguson, which takes a deep dive into aspects of the classic series that haven't been previously covered, such as the London stage play, the South African radio series, a couple of unmade TV scripts, and a Mexican wrestling film—and that's just for starters! The book is available for pre-order here , and I'd encourage all you Avengers fans to look into it. And stay tuned to this space over the next few weeks, for an interview with Alan and a review of the book.
Let's work it a little more, as Roger's review of The New Avengers continues at A View from the Junkyard, with the latest episode being " Target! " He sees it as "another superb episode in a season that hasn’t put a foot wrong yet," and even ventures that it's better than the original series. What do you think?
The Broadcast Archives has several classic TV stories this week, covering everything from Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me to the first made-for-TV movie. They're all fun, but why not start out with the single-season series Mr. Lucky , a Blake Edwards creation starring John Vivyan.
At bare-bones e-zine, Jack's Hitchcock Project continues with " Total Loss ," a fourth-season episode by J.E. Selby that is most assuredly a product of its times. Nancy Olson and Ralph Meeker star; find out if the bad guy gets away with it.
The Rose Medallion is the next series in line in John's continuing "private detective season" at Cult TV Blog. John says that we have to watch this 1981 series about an uncovered skeleton and the quest to find out the rest of the story, and he's a pretty good judge of shows.uuu
The Globe and Mail has this essay on ditching streaming in favor of DVDs . I've been in this camp for quite awhile; aside from the fact that it's difficult to find some of the more obscure programs on streaming, it's too often a case of "here today, gone tomorrow." I'll always be a believer in physical media.
David's journey through 1970s TV at Comfort TV has now come to Wednesday, 1975 , and if we can't remember When Things Were Rotten, Kate McShane, and Doctors' Hospital, we can certainly recall Little House on the Prairie, Starsky & Hutch, Cannon, and more.
At RealWeegieMidget, Gill (and Darlin' Husband) take a look at movie recommendations from January , including a miniseries with Barry Bostwick and Stefanie Powers, a movie with brothers Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez, and Gary Coleman as a pint-size arsonist!
Do we ever get tired of the latest schemes cooked up by Sgt. O'Rourke and Corporal Agarn at F Troop? Not if we're Hal at The Horn Section, and the latest sure-to-fail scam, "The West Goes Ghost," involves ghosts, the railroad, and the two passing themselves off as medical men, for starters.
At Drunk TV, Paul reviews the second season of Simon & Simon , one of the quintessentially '80s series of, well, the '80s, with Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker as the brothers running the Simon & Simon detective agency. Thrilling cases and beautiful women galore!
Martin Grams, who wrote one of the definitive books on The Twilight Zone, looks at books containing adaptations of Rod Serling's TZ scripts (done by Serling himself), as well as adaptations and original stories written by Walter Gibson, all of which were quite successful.
I've written before about Turn On, the legendary one-episode ABC series that was virtually cancelled before that one episode was done. But was it really as bad as history says? Not so fast, says Travalanche, who believes it was far from the worst show of all time . TV
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Insightful commentary on how classic TV shows mirrored and influenced American society, tracing the impact of iconic series on national identity, cultural change, and the challenges we face today.
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