Mitchell Hadley's Blog: It's About TV!, page 3

This week in TV Guide: September 16, 1978

This week TV Guide assembles its panel of experts to assess the chances of success for the 21 new shows on the Fall schedule. Those experts are four advertising executives heavily involved in steering sponsorship money to the new season's programs: Lou Dorkin of Dancer-Fitzgerald-Sample, Joel Segal of Ted Bates & Co., Inc., Michael Lepiner of Benton & Bowles Inc., and Paul Schulman of Gardner Advertising Companies. Collectively, they're responsible for committing "tens of millions of their clients' money to the new season's programs."
As usual, when I look at lists like this, I start at the bottom and work my way up, and as I looked at the bottom three (#21, People;  #20, The Paper Chase*; #19, Lifeline), I thought the critics had sized things up pretty well: People, a TV version of the magazine hosted by Phyllis George, made it through eight episodes; while Lifeline, a real-life documentary series focusing on a hospital ER, survived for 18 episodes spread over two seasons; meanwhile, The Paper Chase was an overrated series that was cancelled by CBS after one season and lasted for three additional seasons on PBS. So far, so good—or so bad, in this case.
*To its credit, Paper Chase, a show I always considered outrageously overrated, was admired by the panelists as "a quality effort" and a "touch of class." Of course, as anyone in the business can tell you, it's better to be popular than admired; while the series did make it through four seasons (including three on PBS), the praise given it amounts to little more than the Miss Congeniality award of the year.

But as I wound my way up the list, I began to wonder if those critics had really been as perceptive as I'd originally thought. There was Apple Pie at #18, The American Girls at #17, The Waverly Wonders* at #15, W.E.B. at #13, The Eddie Capra Mysteries at #11. None of these series scored higher than a one from any member of the panel, and given that one point meant "a marginalshow that could survivebut probably won't" (several of them received zeros, meaning "a natural-born loser"), I started to understand the unvarnished truth: the great majority of the new shows were, quite simply, bad. Continuing, there was Sword of Justice at #10, In the Beginning at #8, Mary at #5—was there no hope for this season?
*Supposedly, Larry Hagman was offered the choice between The Waverly Wonders, a sitcom in which he'd be the lead, and a prime-time drama where he would play an "unscrupulous and ruthless" character. He chose the latter, which was called Dallas, and attained television immortality. The lead in Waverly went to Joe Namath, who went on to demonstrate, over the course of four episodes, why he made the Hall of Fame as a football player.
There was a faint glimmer of light in Mork & Mindy, the #7 show, which runs for four seasons, the longest of any show outside the top four. That it didn't finish higher is understandable; three of the four panelists gave it a zero, and Dorkin calls it "strictly kid-stuff" and a "one-note gag." However, it also indicates that the panel either misjudged or didn't appreciate the magnetism of Robin Williams, which is perhaps understandable; a personality of his magnitude doesn't come along very often. To his credit, though, Schulman sees this as "the sleeper of the year." Dorkin was more positive about the #4 series, WKRP in Cincinnati; he ranks it "the comedy breakthrough of the season," and likes its chances even against NBC's Little House on the Prairie. 
Taxi, at #3 on our list, is perhaps the most successful of all the season's new shows; it runs for five seasons over two different networks, and leaves with 18 Emmy Awards (including three for Best Comedy Series), along with a host of beloved characters. It doesn't hurt that it airs on ABC between Three's Company and Starsky & Hutch. There's no missing #2, though: Battlestar Galactica, which scores 11 out of a possible 12 points, not to mention a spot on this week's cover. It is, the panel agrees, the only new series that "is in any sense innovative," and it's been given a desirable spot on Sunday night, the most heavily-viewed night of the week. "It's bound to attract by the zillions kids and young adults who are famished for more Star Wars thrills and intergalactic derring-do." And it did, indeed, go on to become a multi-season success, although in order to do so it would have to wait 25 years to be rebooted on a cable network that didn't even exist in 1978. 
This brings us to the #1 show, one that is considered an absolutely, positively, guaranteed success. Each of our four critics gave the series a score of three points, which meant "a show that's a sure winner [that] is destined to bea front runner in theratings." That show happens to be Vega$, starring Robert Urich, and while it was a solid success, running for three seasons and remains fondly remembered by many (not least because of Audrey Davis and Judy Landers), it's not quite the unqualified, long-running hit that one might have expected, particularly considering the prime scheduling slot it's been given, immediately following Charlie's Angels. However, given the shows we've seen in this list, it qualifies as an unqualified success.
If you're somewhat underwhelmed by what you've seen here, you're not alone. ABC's schedule, for example, is decried as "junk," "kiddy-porn," and "bubble-gum banality," yet it's also agreed that the network—and its highly successful programming—is now considered "the model for the other two networks who are transparently attempting to duplicate its success." It doesn't take long for the results to show; several of the new series are gone by November, including Mary Tyler Moore's Mary, which is pulled after four episodes at Mary's request. In case you're thinking that hope lies around the corner with the mid-season replacements, guess again: those replacements include Hello, Larry, Supertrain, Sweepstakes, and David Cassidy–Man Undercover, and The Stockard Channing Show. To be fair, though, it also includes The Dukes of Hazard and Diff'rent Strokes. But if you're thinking that this new season was pretty underwhelming, you're absolutely right. And to their credit, the panelists were pretty accurate in their predictions. But then, how could they not be, when most of what they had to choose from were bombs? 
l  l  l
Among those looking at the new season is our erstwhile critic, Robert MacKenzie. He's not offering any reviews, not yet anyway; too early for that, and some of these shows won't be on long enough to be reviewed anyway. Curiously, though, he sees a number of the 21 shows as "unusually promising"—on paper, at least. He likes the idea of Lifeline, and the rise of nonfiction television in general, although I suspect he might have had second thoughts had he seen these quasi-documentaries morph into unscripted "reality" television that, in reality, was anything but. He praises NBC's Fred Silverman for his commitment to "More prime-time news specials and documentaries," although perhaps their most interesting documentary would have been one explaining how a program like Supertrain gets greenlighted for the second season. 
He's also encouraged that television has finally come to realize that shows can be set in cities other than New York or Los Angeles, as evidenced by The Paper Chase (somewhere in the Northeast), Vega$ (Las Vegas), WKRP in Cincinnati (Cincinnati), and Battlestar Galactica (outer space). Just for good measure, he throws in W.E.B., a show that "threatens to take us inside the world of network broadcasting." (At five episodes, I wonder if he got a chance to review it?) Well, he does warn us that "This will not be a comedy, unless unintentionally."
As for what he terms "the Beach Blanket Bounce-off," those shows featuring girls dressed (or undressed) in bikinis, towels, and nighties, "The critic, no sexist he, will judge these series on their merits, with only proper attention to their charms."
Rest assured, though, that MacKenzie, as is the case with any good critic, is "free to draw the useful and happy distinction between good ratings and good television." It's not necessarily the case that never the twain shall meet, but, borrowing the royal "we" from our hero Cleve, "We plan to keep an open mind, a condition that is best maintained in a horizontal position," with the eyes closed and the feet up.
l  l  l
Back in the days when networks actually aired movies, one of the treats of the new season was seeing some of these blockbusters make their television premieres. And in an effort to get the maximum impact from these premieres, the networks are quite apt to do one of two things: add additional footage to expand the running time so the movies can be turned into two-parters; or remove footage so the movies can be shown on TV in the first place.
An example of the latter is The Bad News Bears (Friday, 9:00 p.m., ABC), which Judith Crist calls "one of the best kids' movies of recent years." Until, that is, the movie was "bowdlerized" by ABC. One of the movie's strengths, in addition to "top-notch" performances from Walter Matthau, Tatum O'Neal, and Jackie Earle Haley, was that "for once screen kids talked the way human kids do." Unfortunately, "the salty speech has been sugared for TV, even though 10 million kids will know the three little words that are missing from that tag line." More evidence, in case we needed it, that the kids are often a lot more advanced than the adults, which, in fact, would answer quite a few of the questions regarding how kids are brought up nowadays.
At the other end of the scale, we have two cases in which movies that were perhaps already too long are being made even longer, thanks to the addition of "additional" footage that was, mostly, culled from the cutting room floor. The wisdom of the film editors can easily be seen in Airport '77 (Tuesday and Wednesday, 9:00 p.m. each night, NBC), in which 70, count 'em 70, minutes have been added, 67 of them being outtakes, to, as Christ says, "pad out scenes." It doesn't add anything to a movie that has completely abandoned the airport premise of the first two films; "Not to worry, disaster and/or cliche lovers," Crist assures us; "all goes unsmoothly and there are some exciting air-sea rescue operations after the plan winds up at the bottom of the ocean in, no less, the Bermuda Triangle."
The other premiere to get the stretch treatment is the 1976 remake of King Kong (Saturday and Sunday, 9:00 p.m. each night, NBC), which has 65 minutes being added to the 134 minutes of the theatrical release, all of it outtakes. Alas, the new footage can't hide the reality: the charm of the original 1933 classic "is lost amid all the hydraulic manipulations and plastic. For those who don't know the original film, the new version can be a foolish entertainment. For those who do, it's a travesty."
One might think we'll fare better with movies that make it to the small screen more or less intact, but such is not the case of 1976's The Shootist (Tuesday, 9:00 p.m., CBS), with John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Lauren Bacall, and Ron Howard "wasted" in "a tediously pretentious and vapid melodrama about the last days of a 'legendary' killer." Wayne and Bacall emerge from the movie as "anachronistic antiques," in Crist's words. I happen to like The Shootist myself, but I'm willing to allow as to how this may be an example of a movie that ages well; part of its power, I think, comes from it being the Duke's last movie, and seen in the light of a dying actor in his final movie playing a dying gunman in his last hurrah, it takes on a resonance and emotional charge that it might not necessarily have had during its original viewing. Put another way, if Wayne had gone on to make five or six movies after The Shootist, would we remember it as fondly as we do?
Even old reliables aren't necessarily a guarantee of success; take Lassie: The New Beginning, another two-parter (this one a telemovie, so the padding is all intentional), airing Sunday at 7:00 p.m. on ABC, with the conclusion being shown next Sunday at the same time. It is, says Crist, "probably the worst of the nine theatrical films and innumerable TV-series episodes" since the original 1943 Lassie Come Home, and considering its plot—two kids faced, in part one alone, with "grandma's illness, a trek from Arizona to California to be dumped on an uncle who dislikes them, grandma's death, separation from Lassie, threats of an orphanage"—well, says Crist, "If I were a collie, I'd sue."
l  l  l
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: Harry Chapin, Tom Chapin, and Steve Chapin (all brothers) are joined by comic Gary Mule Deer and comedy group the New Untouchables. Music: "Taxi."
Special: Performances by R.E.O. Speedwagon, Little River Band, A Taste of Honey, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Climax Blues Band, and the Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Highlights include "Keep Pushin" (Speedwagon), "Reminiscing" (Little River Band", "Boogie Oogie Oogie" (Honey).
I don't suppose you'd call the Chapin brothers a "group," but this is a week of groups nonetheless. And when it comes to groups, Special has the best of the offerings. If you don't believe, me, just check out this performance of " Time for Me to Fly " by Speedwagon, and " Boogie Oogie Oogie " by A Taste of Honey. If that doesn't convince you that Special wins the day, nothing will.
l  l  l
What else is on this week? Well, we've already visited some of the biggest blockbusters of the week, those big-screen movies stretched over into two-part spectaculars, even if their increased running time doesn't justify their increased running time. However, hope remains.
Saturday sees the special one-hour sixth-season premiere of Good Times (8:00 p.m. ET, CBS), the first of a three-part story arc that features the return of Esther Rolle as Florida, the moral foundation of the series. To watch it, you'll have to pass up the second-season premiere of CHiPS (same time, NBC), which remains at an hour but offers up the tantalizing possibility that Jon and Ponch will leave the CHP for a future selling cars. Given that there's nothing in the promo material about the series changing its name, I think we can guess how this turns out. Brianne Leary joins the cast, and the special guest stars are a blast from the past, Troy Donahue and Kaye Stevens. Meanwhile, Captain Stubing finds himself marooned on a desert island after a three-hour cruise—that is, a two-hour season opener that includes the typical cast of stars, but really misses out on the opportunity for a Gilligan's Island reunion. 

We know all about Sunday, with part one of Lassie and part two of King Kong, but we've also got the three-hour premiere of Battlestar Galactica (8:00 p.m., ABC). I don't recall having watched this when it was on, although I could have: I was celebrating my second weekend in the Twin Cities after returning from exile in the World's Worst Town™. Amidst outer space and giant apes, though, there's another contender: the 30th Emmy Awards (8:30 p.m., CBS), hosted by Alan Alda; I know you're excited to find out the big winners, and so I won't keep you in suspense: All in the Family and the NBC miniseries Holocaust were the big winners, taking home six awards each, while The Rockford Files takes home the Best Drama award; however, the biggest award might go to the trio of Carter, Begin, and Sadat, who interrupted the broadcast for 30 minutes to announce the signing of the Camp David agreement.
Then as now, Mondays in the fall can mean only one thing, and that's Monday Night Football. For the season's third week, Frank, Howard and Dandy Don travel to Foxboro, Massachusetts, for the game between the Baltimore Colts, a bad team that used to be good, taking on the New England Patriots, a formerly bad team on the way to being good. (9:00 p.m., ABC) The Colts gallop to a 34-27 victory, but whether or not that's good is up to you. 
With Tuesday dominated by movies (Airport '77 on NBC, The Shootist on CBS), the burden for the night's variety falls on ABC. On Happy Days, a two-part story set in Colorado concludes with Fonzie entering a bull-riding contest to bail out a dude ranch. (8:00 p.m.) If Fonzie hadn't already jumped the shark, I suppose you could have said he's throwing the bull around; either way, it's a long way from the show's origins. Laverne & Shirley follows (8:30 p.m.), with a knock on the head turning Shirley into a stripper named Roxy. Happens all the time, in my experience. Janet and Chrissy take part in a liberation protest at a nude beach on Three's Company (9:00 p.m.); dare we suggest that they were—busted? On Taxi (9:30 p.m.), Tony gets a chance to match wits with a boxing champion, played by world welterweight champion Carlos Palomino. Does Tony get punchy over the encounter? And on Starsky & Hutch (10:00 p.m.), Starsky tries to track down Hutch before he succumbs to a deadly strain of botulism, a plot that leaves me wondering whether this is the most realistic storyline of the evening, or the least.  One of the tropes you can almost always count on at the beginning of a new season is the return of an old favorite to a show on which they were once a regular, and such is the case on Wednesday's Charlie's Angels (9:00 p.m., ABC), in which Farrah Fawcett-Majors reprises her role of Jill Munroe, who's somehow involved in trying to prevent the sabotage of a new racing car. We get a special guest star thrown in as part of the bargain, with former world driving champion Jackie Stewart appearing as himself. Call me crazy, but that's what makes this episode worth watching. We're also treated to the first of McLean Stevenson's two failed series this season, In the Beginning (8:30 p.m., CBS), in which he plays the stereotypical conservative priest confronted with a stereotypical liberal nun (Pricilla Lopez) for predictably stereotypical hijinks, which somehow manage to hang on for five, count 'em five, episodes.
Thursday opens with the seventh-season premiere of The Waltons (8:00 p.m., CBS), a special two-hour episode that works in a tribute to the memory of Will Geer (Grandpa), who died in April. It's also the opening of the seventh season for Barnaby Jones (10:00 p.m., CBS), as Buddy Ebsen tries to protect a murder witness targeted for extinction by the bad guys. Gretchen Corbett takes some time off from The Rockford Files to play the damsel in distress. And it's the second-season starter for Family (10:00 p.m., ABC), wtih Quinn Cummings, nominated for an Oscar for The Goodbye Girl, joining the cast.
It's the fourth-season opener for Donny & Marie (Friday, 8:00 p.m., ABC), which also introduces a new weekly disco segment. K.C. and the Sunshine Band help kick off the festivities, along with Olivia Newton-John and Bob Hope, who—I swear—never met a guest spot on a variety show that he didn't like. Still, it's preferable to the debut of The Waverly Wonders, the show which Larry Hagman passed up—remember?—in favor of Dallas. (8:00 p.m., NBC) In honor of Joe Namath's football background, the show airs for four episodes.
l  l  l
Finally, in the TV Update, Sally Bedell reports that the Fred Silverman era at NBC may be getting off to a rocky start. Over the last two years, ABC, flush with ratings success, has mounted a concerted effort to win over CBS and NBC affiliates. It was popularly thought that these efforts would be on hold for the time being while the affiliates measured Silverman's impact on the Peacock Network. However, less than three months into his term, the network was rocked by the departure of Minneapolis-St. Paul station KSTP, which announced it would be moving to ABC after 30 years as an NBC affiliate. Despite Silverman's plea to give him six months to turn things around, KSTP's owner, Stanley E. Hubbard, was adamant: "ABC's long-range potential for continuing [its] leadership was the deciding factor. We feel ABC is the strongest management team in broadcasting today."
For KSTP, the move means being able to take advantage of a powerhouse primetime lineup from the nation's number one network; for ABC, it hopes to double the audience of its evening news program, thanks to KSTP's top-rated news programs. For other affiliates considering a change, a network source is quoted as saying, "There is no question that the move will have a psychological impact." Hubbard added that while he didn't doubt that NBC's ratings would go up under Silverman, he didn't think it would happen in six months. Guess again; Silverman never does turn things around at the number three network, and he himself will be gone by 1981, setting up his own successful production company.
Living in the Twin Cities at the time, I remember when all this went down. It was indeed a shock to see KSTP, one of the original NBC affiliates, make the switch, and the surprises didn't end there; it was widely expected that NBC would, in turn, go to KMSP, the now-spurned ABC affiliate, but no—they instead chose WTCN, one of the nation's leading independent stations, leaving KMSP as the odd station out. In the end, they turned out all right; after a successful independent run themselves, they're now a Fox affiliate, with all the rights and privileges included (read: NFL football). Yes, as Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton would say, those were, indeed, the days. TV

If you enjoy the content here and want to support my broader creative work, please consider making a donation at my Ko-fi page. Any amount you contribute helps me continue writing, researching, and sharing these articles and projects. Thank you!

Around the dial

CNN

Ready for some lightness in what's been a grim week? Let's start out with Martin Grams and his link to this interview with Mickey Mouse , which I should think would bring a smile or two to many a face out there.

At A View from the Junkyard, Roger looks at the A-Team episode " Labor Pains ," which once again demonstrates that unregulated capitalism makes for great bad guys. If that sounds strange coming from me, keep in mind that the best regulation for any kind of -ism, as Whittaker Chambers once pointed out, is that of morality. Whose morality? Well, that's a topic for another day.
Some interesting tidbits over at Television Obscurities include this brief NBC promo for the 1972 Fall Season, as well as some audio from CBS News's dramatic coverage of the funeral of General and former President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1969, an event that marked the further closing of the window to an era.
At the Secret Sanctum of Captain Video, it's a look at " Planet of the Robots ," a story from the comic strip adventures of Star Trek, courtesy of the British weekly comic magazine TV Century 21. The story ran in 1969, before the series had even premiered over there.
Commemorations of two different types from Terence at A Shroud of Thoughts: first, the 70th anniversary of The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp , the first "adult" television Western; second, the passing of Mark Volman , founding member of The Turtles, who died at age 78. We're all aging at the rate of 60 minutes per hour, but sometimes it seems the clock runs very fast.
At Mavis Movie Madness, Paul pays tribute to actress Polly Holliday , who died earlier this week; she's the wonderful Flo from the sitcom Alice, who then moved on to her own sitcom, a successful show that fell victim to circumstances beyond its control. 
At Cult TV Blog, John takes a look at a genre we don't discuss often enough, the documentary: it's " The Apartheid Killer, " an episode of the BBC's Africa Eye series, and it describes the consequences of living in "a community where you have either suffered from crime or have benefitted from it."
And in case you miss my weekly (daily?) promotions, here's a very nice mention  of Darkness in Primetime and It's About TV at The Saturday Evening Post, courtesy of friend of the blog Bob Sassone. Now I can say I've appeared in the same magazine as Norman Rockwell!
Also, my latest " Two Minute Author " video is up, and even though I came in at just under four minutes this time, I think you'll like it; it's a look at how the Hollywood Blacklist influenced many of the shows I write about in the book. Directors, writers, and actors were all involved at one time or another, and you can see the effects in the stories and the performances. TV

If you enjoy the content here and want to support my broader creative work, please consider making a donation at my Ko-fi page. Any amount you contribute helps me continue writing, researching, and sharing these articles and projects. Thank you!

Aristophanes comes to Hooterville

What does it mean to be a "classic television historian"? It's a question I've had cause to ask myself during the course of promoting Darkness in Primetime. Back in the day, I coined the term "cultural archaeologist" to describe what I do—in other words, one who looks at the remnants of a particular time in television history and drew conclusions from it that I could relate to our own times, much as an actual archaeologist looks at artifacts and bones and tells us what life was like in 100 B.C. It is often said by historians that it can take decades before one can accurately assess the overall effect of a particular era; therefore, the time should be ripe for us to look at the classic television era (for our purposes, primarily the 1950s through the 1970s) and find out what it tells us about life, and how it's changed (or hasn't changed) in the interval. Television, as much as—if not more than—other sources of the time (history books, newspapers, Time, Life and Newsweek), functions as a sort of time capsule, a description of what life was like then.
This week, what we have on tap is what I like to call a "time capsule moment," when we come across something—a clip from a television show, an article from a magazine—that teaches us a fundamental truth about the era. It happened one morning some time ago, when, while perusing the various classic TV channels on the various Roku/Pluto/Tubi offerings, I ran across an episode of Petticoat Junction. It's been a long time since I watched Junction with any regularity, although thanks to my friend Dan Budnick's excellent book I have more than a passing acquaintance with it. 
The moment in question comes from the series' final season in 1970, an episode called "Susan B. Anthony, I Love You." In it, "Billie Jo returns from Chicago with a visionary zeal for the women's liberation movement, and enlists her sisters in 'the cause.' " It's a product of its time; women's lib is all the rage, no-fault divorce was passed by California the year before, Ms. will start publication the year after, the Equal Rights Amendment is already in the works and will be passed by Congress in 1972. As we join the episode, Billie Jo is in high dudgeon, reciting various statistics illustrating the various states of inequality that exist between women and men, and urging her sisters and Dr. Janet Craig (June Lockhart) to fight. (When Betty Jo says that doesn't sound very "ladylike," Billie Jo reminds her that they're women, not ladies, and that "ladies" is a term coined by men to render women subservient.)*
*Lest you wonder how I was able to amass this kind of detail while only catching a glimpse of the episode, I won't lie to you: I looked it up.

The key line, the one that ensures this episode a spot in the time capsule, is when Billie Jo insists that the way to fight back is to have nothing to do with men: "complete segregation," including sex and marriage. In response, the doubtful Bobbie Jo, replies,  "If we're not going to marry men, who else is there?" The line gets a huge response from the laugh track*, and Billie Jo assures her sister this isn't going to happen, that they're just going to let men know that "we're invading their world."
*Ironic line number one.

If anything, the episode is probably a Hooterville (i.e. G-rated) take on Aristophanes' famous play Lysistrata , in which Greek women withhold sex from their men to force them to stop warring. It's an old and venerable story, one which has been adapted endlessly, and I suspect this had to be at least in the back of the minds of writers Charles Stewart and Dick Conway. (As perhaps a concession to the sign of the times, Dr. Craig asks Billie Jo about what happens to "sex and marriage," subtly suggesting the two might exist separately*.)
*Ironic line number two.

Now, you have to keep in mind that by this time in the series, Bobbie Jo has come to represent, as the always-reliable Wikipedia puts it, the "humorous scatterbrain." In other words, someone who often states the obvious. And in this case, the obvious is reduced to: duh, women marry men. Billie Jo's answer is equally obvious; she doesn't suggest that women marry each other, or live together communally in a community that excludes men. No, it's to get men to accept women as equals, to redefine the relationship rather than eradicate it.

There's no doubt that the institution of marriage had already been battered by the revolution of the '60s; remember the joke about "who wants to live in an institution"? It's an era of free love, of shunning the shackles of marriage in favor of open relationships. Gay rights protests were hardly unknown at the time; Stonewall had happened just the year before.

This tells us a great deal about how marriage is seen in its time. While Dr. Craig's comment does suggest sex can exist outside of marriage, Bobbie Jo's question about who else they could marry—well, it certainly shows that same-sex marriage isn't on anyone's radar screen at the time. It's a punch line, a statement so utterly obvious that it's put in the mouth of the resident scatterbrain to prove its point. It's a perfect representation of popular culture at that moment in time, far more so than picture one might see of a lavish wedding in Life. Second, it tells us something about the fight for equal rights in 1970, the thought that such a revolutionary idea could even come to Hooterville. Even while presenting serious statistics, however, it leavens the moment by leaning heavily on the naivete and earnestness of the equality movement's less dogmatic members. It is, after all, a comedy, not a dramedy.

Again, this is not an essay about politics or moral beliefs; what I'm interested in with this time capsule moment is what it tells us about the culture that conceived and aired it. And in this episode, "Susan B. Anthony, I Love You," Petticoat Junction presents the perfect time capsule moment, the clip that I'd show someone if they asked me what we thought about marriage way back in 1970. TV


If you enjoy the content here and want to support my broader creative work, please consider making a donation at my Ko-fi page. Any amount you contribute helps me continue writing, researching, and sharing these articles and projects. Thank you!

What's on TV? Monday, September 8, 1969

I mentioned Jack Paar in Saturday's piece; he actually appears twice on TV today, promoting tonight's lion special on this morning's Today Show. Also on Today, Leslie Nielsen and Hari Rhodes are on to promote The Protectors, one of the original elements of The Bold Ones. And how about Mary Gallagher? She was Jacqueline Kennedy's social secretary while JFK was president, and she's on to promote her new book, My Life with Jacqueline Kennedy. I'm sure there'll be some news thrown in there between the promotions. It call comes to you courtesy of the Northern California edition.
  -2- KTVU (BAY AREA) (Ind.)

  MORNING

      8:05

NEWS 

-C-        8:15

RELIGION—Protestant 

-C-        8:30

JACK LA LANNE—Exercise 

-C-        9:00

POPEYE—Children 

-C-        9:30

BEVERLY HILLBILLIES—Comedy 

-C-      10:00

ANDY GRIFFITH 

-C-      10:30

BURKE’S LAW—Mystery

    11:45

ROMPER ROOM—Children 

-C-    AFTERNOON

    12:30

BEAT THE ODDS—Game 

-C-        1:00

MOVIE—Drama

“That Hamilton Woman” (1941)

      3:00

GOMER PYLE, USMC 

-C-        3:30

POPEYE—Children 

-C-        4:00

TIMMY AND LASSIE—Adventure

      4:30

LEAVE IT TO BEAVER—Comedy

      5:00

DENNIS THE MENACE—Comedy

      5:30

PATTY DUKE—Comedy

  EVENING

      6:00

MY FAVORITE MARTIAN

      6:30

McHALE’S NAVY—Comedy

      7:00

I LOVE LUCY—Comedy

      7:30

TWO FOR TRAVEL 

-C-        8:00

PASSWORD—Game 

-C-  Celebrities: Arlene Francis, Larry Blyden

      8:30

WHAT’S MY LINE?—Game 

-C-  Panel: Alan Alda, Morey Amsterdam, Joanna Barnes, Arlene Francis. Host: Wally Bruner

      9:00

DELLA REESE—Variety 

-C-      10:00

NEWS—Gary Park 

-C-      11:00

UNTOUCHABLES—Drama

    12:00

ALFRED HITCHCOCK—Drama

    12:30

NEWS 

-C- 

 

 

  -3- KCRA (SACRAMENTO) (NBC)

  MORNING

      6:00

RHYME AND REASON

      7:00

TODAY 

-C-  Guests: Jack Paar, Mary Gallagher, Leslie Nielsen, Hari Rhodes

      9:00

IT TAKES TWO 

-C-  Gary Conway, Fabian Forte, Stanley Myron Handelman and spouses

      9:25

NEWS—Nancy Dickerson 

-C-        9:30

CONCENTRATION 

-C-      10:00

PERSONALITY 

-C-  Celebrities: Peggy Cass, Meredith MacRae, Raymond St. Jacques. On film: Godfrey Cambridge

    10:30

HOLLYWOOD SQUARES—Game 

-C-  Guests: Sandy Baron, Gail Fisher, Betty Grable, Sally Ann Howes, Harvey Korman, Cesar Romero

    11:00

JEOPARDY—Game 

-C-      11:30

EYE GUESS—Game 

-C-      11:55

NEWS—Edwin Newman 

-C-    AFTERNOON

    12:00

NEWS 

-C-        1:00

DOCTORS–Serial 

-C-        1:30

ANOTHER WORLD 

-C-        2:00

YOU DON’T SAY!—Game 

-C-        2:30

MOVIE—Musical

“Holiday in Havana” (1949)

      4:00

BATMAN—Adventure 

-C-  Guest villains: Rudy Vallee and Glynis Johns (Ffogg and Penelope)

      4:30

LOST IN SPACE—Adventure

      5:30

DICK VAN DYKE—Comedy

  EVENING

      6:00

NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley 

-C-        6:30

NEWS—Whitten/Jervis 

-C-        7:30

COUNTRY HAPPENING—Variety 

-C-  Hosts: Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. Guests: Michael Landon, Bobby Goldsboro, Jody Miller, Glenn Ash, the Ozark Girls

      8:00

JACK PAAR 

-C-  Special: “Jack Paar and His Lions”

[“Laugh-In” returns next week]

      9:00

MOVIE—Drama

“The Egyptian” (1954)

    11:00

NEWS 

-C-   

  11:30

JOHNNY CARSON 

-C-  Tentativey scheduled: Alan King, Jacqueline Susann, Suzanne Charny

      1:00

NEWS 

-C- 

 

 

  -4- KRON (BAY AREA) (NBC)

  MORNING

      6:30

NEWS—Dick Doughty 

-C-        7:00

TODAY 

-C-  Guests: Jack Paar, Mary Gallagher, Leslie Nielsen, Hari Rhodes

      9:00

IT TAKES TWO 

-C-  Gary Conway, Fabian Forte, Stanley Myron Handelman and spouses

      9:25

NEWS—Nancy Dickerson 

-C-        9:30

CONCENTRATION 

-C-      10:00

PERSONALITY 

-C-  Celebrities: Peggy Cass, Meredith MacRae, Raymond St. Jacques. On film: Godfrey Cambridge

    10:30

HOLLYWOOD SQUARES—Game 

-C-  Guests: Sandy Baron, Gail Fisher, Betty Grable, Sally Ann Howes, Harvey Korman, Cesar Romero

    11:00

JEOPARDY—Game 

-C-      11:30

EYE GUESS—Game 

-C-      11:55

NEWS—Edwin Newman 

-C-    AFTERNOON

    12:00

NEWS 

-C-      12:30

DAYS OF OUR LIVES 

-C-        1:00

DOCTORS–Serial 

-C-        1:30

ANOTHER WORLD 

-C-        2:00

YOU DON’T SAY!—Game 

-C-        2:30

MATCH GAME 

-C-  Guests: Chelsea Brown, Robert Morse. Host: Gene Rayburn

      2:55

NEWS—Floyd Kalber 

-C-        3:00

YOU’RE PUTTING ME ON 

-C-  Guests: Jack Carter, Jack Cassidy, Ann Meara, Phyllis Newman

      3:30

F TROOP—Comedy

      4:00

FLINTSTONES—Children 

-C-        4:30

LOST IN SPACE—Adventure 

-C-        5:30

NEWS 

-C-    EVENING

      6:30

NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley 

-C-        7:00

WIDE WONDERFUL WORLD 

-C-        7:30

COUNTRY HAPPENING—Variety 

-C-  Hosts: Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. Guests: Michael Landon, Bobby Goldsboro, Jody Miller, Glenn Ash, the Ozark Girls

      8:00

JACK PAAR 

-C-  Special: “Jack Paar and His Lions”

[“Laugh-In” returns next week]

      9:00

MOVIE—Adventure 

-C-  “Masquerade” (English; 1965)

    11:00

NEWS 

-C-   

  11:30

JOHNNY CARSON 

-C-  Tentativey scheduled: Alan King, Jacqueline Susann, Suzanne Charny

      1:00

JOAN RIVERS 

-C-  Guest: Sam Levenson

      1:30

NEWS 

-C- 

 

 

  -5- KPIX (BAY AREA) (CBS)

  MORNING

      6:00

BLACK HERITAGE—History 

-C-        6:30

CITIES IN CONFLICT

      7:00

NEWS—Joseph Benti 

-C-        7:30

NEWS—Ron Magers 

-C-        8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO 

-C-        9:00

LUCILLE BALL 

-C-        9:30

HOTLINE—Discussion 

-C-  Guests: F. Lee Bailey, Jack Nicklaus

    10:30

LOVE OF LIFE 

-C-      11:00

WHERE THE HEART IS 

-C-  Debut

    11:25

NEWS—Douglas Edwards 

-C-      11:30

EYE GUESS—Game 

-C-    AFTERNOON

    12:00

NEWS 

-C-      12:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial 

-C-        1:00

LOVE IS A MANY-SPLENDORED THING—Serial 

-C-        1:30

GUIDING LIGHT 

-C-        2:00

EDGE OF NIGHT 

-C-        3:00

MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety 

-C-  Co-host: Doug McClure. Guest: Monte Markham

      4:30

DAVID FROST—Variety 

-C-  Guests: Chet Huntley, Henny Youngman, Morey Amsterdam, Burt Reynolds, the Primo Family

  EVENING

      6:00

NEWS 

-C-        6:30

NEWS—Walter Cronkite 

-C-        7:00

NEWS—John Weston 

-C-        7:30

GUNSMOKE 

-C-        8:30

LUCILLE BALL 

-C-        9:00

MAYBERRY R.F.D. 

-C-        9:30

FAMILY AFFAIR 

-C-      10:00

MUSIC SPECIAL 

-C-  Special: “The Singers” Hosts: John Byner, Gerri Granger, Lynn Lipton, Marilyn Michaels, Louisa Moritz, Harve Presnell, Charles Nelson Reilly, Bobby Van. Guests: Jack Jones, Michele Lee, Cliff Robertson, Frankie Laine. Cameos: Phyllis Diller, James Farentino, Dick Martin, Ricardo Montalban, Edward G. Robinson, Jonathan Winters

    11:00

NEWS 

-C-   

  11:30

MERV GRIFFIN 

-C-  Tentatively scheduled: Betsy Palmer, Cleve Baxter, Patchett and Tarses, Wayne Cochran and the C.C. Riders

 

 

  -6- KVIE (SACRAMENTO) (NET)

  AFTERNOON

      5:45

FRIENDLY GIANT—Children

  EVENING

      6:00

MISTEROGERS—Children

      6:30

WHAT’S NEW—Children

      7:00

MISTEROGERS—Children

      7:30

CIRCUS

      8:00

WORLD PRESS—Report 

-C-        9:00

NET JOURNAL—Interview

Earl Warren

    10:00

NET PLAYHOUSE—Drama

“Devi”

 

 

  -7- KGO (BAY AREA) (ABC)

  MORNING

      6:00

CANCER RESEARCH

      6:25

A.M.—Jim Dunbar 

-C-        8:30

ANNIVERSARY GAME 

-C-        9:00

MOVIE—Drama

“When Tomorrow Comes” (1939)

    11:00

CANDID CAMERA—Allen Funt

    11:30

GALLOPING GOURMET 

-C-    AFTERNOON

    12:00

BEWITCHED—Comedy

    12:30

THAT GIRL—Comedy 

-C-        1:00

DREAM HOUSE 

-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

DARK SHADOWS 

-C-        4:30

MOVIE—Drama

“Tender is the Night,” Part 1 (1961)

  EVENING

      6:00

NEWS 

-C-        7:00

NEWS—Frank Reynolds, Howard K. Smith 

-C-        7:30

ROCK SPECIAL—Music 

-C-  Special: Guests: Electric Flag, An American Music Band, Spanky and Our Gang, Buffalo Springfield, Richie Havens. Hosts: Jimmy Lyons, Chet Helms

[Regular programming is pre-epmpted]

      8:30

GUNS OF WILL SONNETT 

-C-        9:00

OUTCASTS—Western 

-C-      10:00

DICK CAVETT—Variety 

-C-  Guests: Johnny Mathis, Roger Caras

    11:00

NEWS 

-C-   

  11:30

JOEY BISHOP 

-C-  Tentatively scheduled: Barbara McNair

 

 

  -7- KRCR (REDDING) (ABC, NBC)

  MORNING

      7:00

TODAY 

-C-  Guests: Jack Paar, Mary Gallagher, Leslie Nielsen, Hari Rhodes

      9:00

IT TAKES TWO 

-C-  Gary Conway, Fabian Forte, Stanley Myron Handelman and spouses

      9:25

NEWS—Nancy Dickerson 

-C-        9:30

CONCENTRATION 

-C-      10:00

PERSONALITY 

-C-  Celebrities: Peggy Cass, Meredith MacRae, Raymond St. Jacques. On film: Godfrey Cambridge

    10:30

HOLLYWOOD SQUARES—Game 

-C-  Guests: Sandy Baron, Gail Fisher, Betty Grable, Sally Ann Howes, Harvey Korman, Cesar Romero

    11:00

JEOPARDY—Game 

-C-      11:30

EYE GUESS—Game 

-C-      11:55

NEWS—Reeter 

-C-    AFTERNOON

    12:00

YOU’RE PUTTING ME ON 

-C-  Guests: Jack Carter, Jack Cassidy, Ann Meara, Phyllis Newman

      1:00

DREAM HOUSE 

-C-        1:30

ANOTHER WORLD 

-C-        2:00

YOU DON’T SAY!—Game 

-C-        2:30

DATING GAME 

-C-        3:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL 

-C-        3:30

ONE LIFE TO LIVE 

-C-        4:00

DARK SHADOWS 

-C-        4:30

LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game

      5:00

THAT GIRL—Comedy

      5:30

NEWS 

-C-    EVENING

      6:30

NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley 

-C-        7:00

TO BE ANNOUNCED

      7:30

COUNTRY HAPPENING—Variety 

-C-  Hosts: Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. Guests: Michael Landon, Bobby Goldsboro, Jody Miller, Glenn Ash, the Ozark Girls

      8:00

JACK PAAR 

-C-  Special: “Jack Paar and His Lions”

[“Laugh-In” returns next week]

      9:00

MOVIE—Adventure 

-C-  “Masquerade” (English; 1965)

    11:00

NEWS 

-C-   

  11:30

JOHNNY CARSON 

-C-  Tentativey scheduled: Alan King, Jacqueline Susann, Suzanne Charny

      1:00

NEWS 

-C- 

 

 

  -9- KIXE (REDDING) (NET)

  AFTERNOON

      5:30

WHAT’S NEW—Children

  EVENING

      6:00

MISTEROGERS—Children

      6:30

DISCOVERY—Science

      7:00

AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE

      7:30

JACOBY AND CLASS

      8:00

WORLD PRESS—Report 

-C-        9:00

NET JOURNAL—Interview

Earl Warren

    10:00

TEEN-AGERS AND SEX

    10:30

MYTHOLOGY—Greek

“A Trio of Gods”

 

 

  10 KXTV (SACRAMENTO) (CBS)

  MORNING

      6:00

LIVING WORD—Religion 

-C-        6:15

INDUSTRY ON PARADE

      6:30

BLACK HERITAGE—History 

-C-        7:00

NEWS—Joseph Benti 

-C-        8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO 

-C-        9:00

LUCILLE BALL -C-        9:30

BEVERLY HILLBILLIES—Comedy 

-C-      10:00

ANDY GRIFFITH 

-C-      10:30

LOVE OF LIFE 

-C-      11:00

WHERE THE HEART IS 

-C-  Debut

    11:25

NEWS—Chris Harris 

-C-      11:30

EYE GUESS—Game 

-C-    AFTERNOON

    12:00

NEWS 

-C-      12:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial 

-C-        1:00

LOVE IS A MANY-SPLENDORED THING—Serial 

-C-        1:30

GUIDING LIGHT 

-C-        2:00

EDGE OF NIGHT 

-C-        3:00

GOMER PYLE, USMC 

-C-        3:30

McHALE’S NAVY—Comedy 

-C-        4:00

MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety 

-C-  Co-host: Doug McClure. Guest: Monte Markham

      5:30

NEWS—Walter Cronkite 

-C-    EVENING

      6:00

NEWS 

-C-        7:00

WHAT’S MY LINE?—Game 

-C-  Panel: Joanna Barnes, Arlene Francis, Rex Reed, Soupy Sales. Host: Wally Bruner

      7:30

GUNSMOKE 

-C-        8:30

LUCILLE BALL 

-C-        9:00

MAYBERRY R.F.D. 

-C-        9:30

FAMILY AFFAIR 

-C-      10:00

MUSIC SPECIAL 

-C-  Special: “The Singers” Hosts: John Byner, Gerri Granger, Lynn Lipton, Marilyn Michaels, Louisa Moritz, Harve Presnell, Charles Nelson Reilly, Bobby Van. Guests: Jack Jones, Michele Lee, Cliff Robertson, Frankie Laine. Cameos: Phyllis Diller, James Farentino, Dick Martin, Ricardo Montalban, Edward G. Robinson, Jonathan Winters

    11:00

NEWS 

-C-   

  11:30

MOVIE—Drama

“Andy” (1965)

 

 

  12 KHSL (CHICO) (ABC, CBS)

  MORNING

      6:30

FILM 

-C-        7:00

NEWS—Joseph Benti 

-C-        8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO -C-        9:00

LUCILLE BALL 

-C-        9:30

BEVERLY HILLBILLIES—Comedy 

-C-      10:00

ANDY GRIFFITH 

-C-      10:30

LOVE OF LIFE 

-C-      11:00

WHERE THE HEART IS 

-C-  Debut

    11:25

NEWS—Douglas Edwards 

-C-      11:30

EYE GUESS—Game 

-C-    AFTERNOON

    12:00

BEWITCHED—Comedy

    12:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial 

-C-        1:00

LOVE IS A MANY-SPLENDORED THING—Serial 

-C-        1:30

LET’S MAKE A DEAL 

-C-        2:00

NEWLYWED GAME 

-C-        2:30

DATING GAME 

-C-        3:00

GOMER PYLE, USMC 

-C-        3:30

ZANE GREY—Drama

      4:00

PERRY MASON

      5:00

PDQ—Game 

-C-        5:30

NEWS 

-C-    EVENING

      6:30

NEWS—Walter Cronkite 

-C-        7:00

GET SMART—Comedy 

-C-        7:30

GUNSMOKE 

-C-        8:30

LUCILLE BALL 

-C-        9:00

MAYBERRY R.F.D. 

-C-        9:30

FAMILY AFFAIR 

-C-      10:00

MUSIC SPECIAL 

-C-  Special: “The Singers” Hosts: John Byner, Gerri Granger, Lynn Lipton, Marilyn Michaels, Louisa Moritz, Harve Presnell, Charles Nelson Reilly, Bobby Van. Guests: Jack Jones, Michele Lee, Cliff Robertson, Frankie Laine. Cameos: Phyllis Diller, James Farentino, Dick Martin, Ricardo Montalban, Edward G. Robinson, Jonathan Winters

    11:00

NEWS 

-C-   

  11:30

MERV GRIFFIN 

-C-  Tentatively scheduled: Betsy Palmer, Cleve Baxter, Patchett and Tarses, Wayne Cochran and the C.C. Riders

 

 

  13 KOVR (SACRAMENTO) (ABC)

  MORNING

      6:25

NEWS 

-C-        6:30

JACK LA LANNE—Exercise 

-C-        7:00

AGRICULTURE TODAY 

-C-        7:15

NEWS—Chuck Rossie 

-C-        7:20

CARTOONLAND 

-C-        8:50

JACK LA LANNE—Exercise 

-C-        9:20

FASHIONS IN SEWING 

-C-        9:30

STEVE ALLEN—Variety 

-C-  Guests: George Jessel, Diana Trask, Pat Henry

    11:00

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES 

-C-      11:30

GALLOPING GOURMET 

-C-  Apple-dipped fondue

  AFTERNOON

    12:00

BEWITCHED—Comedy

    12:30

THAT GIRL—Comedy 

-C-        1:00

DREAM HOUSE 

-C-        1:30

LET’S MAKE A DEAL 

-C-        2:00

NEWLYWED GAME 

-C-        2:30

DIVORCE COURT—Drama 

-C-        3:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL 

-C-        3:30

ONE LIFE TO LIVE 

-C-        4:00

DARK SHADOWS 

-C-        4:30

GILLIGAN’S ISLAND 

-C-        5:00

I LOVE LUCY—Comedy

      5:30

NEWS—Frank Reynolds/Howard K. Smith 

-C-    EVENING

      6:00

NEWS 

-C-        6:30

PERRY MASON—Mystery

      7:30

AVENGERS—Adventure 

-C-        8:30

GUNS OF WILL SONNETT 

-C-        9:00

OUTCASTS—Western 

-C-      10:00

DICK CAVETT—Variety 

-C-  Guests: Johnny Mathis, Roger Caras

    11:00

NEWS 

-C-   

  11:30

JOEY BISHOP 

-C-  Tentatively scheduled: Barbara McNair

      1:00

NEWS 

-C- 

 

 

  19 KLOC (MODESTO) (Ind.)

  AFTERNOON

      5:00

BIG PICTURE—Army

      5:30

HOKEY POKEY—Children

  EVENING

      6:00

CHESTER SMITH—Variety

      7:00

KLOC AUCTION—Warren Stone

      8:00

FILM FEATURE

      8:30

MOVIE—To Be Announced

 

 

  40 KTXL (SACRAMENTO) (Ind.)

  MORNING

    11:00

ROMPER ROOM—Children 

-C-    AFTERNOON

    12:00

YOU’RE PUTTING ME ON 

-C-  Guests: Jack Carter, Jack Cassidy, Ann Meara, Phyllis Newman

      1:00

MOVIE—Adventure

“Action in Arabia” (1944)

      2:30

MATCH GAME 

-C-  Guests: Chelsea Brown, Robert Morse. Host: Gene Rayburn

      2:55

NEWS—Floyd Kalber 

-C-        3:00

CAP’N LOCKER—Children 

-C-        3:30

THREE STOOGES—Children

      4:00

LITTLE RASCALS—Children

      4:30

MUNSTERS—Comedy

      5:00

MY FAVORITE MARTIAN 

-C-        5:30

I SPY—Drama 

-C-    EVENING

      6:30

MOVIE—Western

“Ambush at Cimarron Pass” (1958)

      8:00

OF LANDS AND SEAS 

-C-        9:00

MOVIE—Adventure 

-C-  “Masquerade” (English; 1965)

    11:00

HONEYMOONERS—Comedy

 

  11:30

MERV GRIFFIN 

-C-  Tentatively scheduled: Betsy Palmer, Cleve Baxter, Patchett and Tarses, Wayne Cochran and the C.C. Riders

TV


If you enjoy the content here and want to support my broader creative work, please consider making a donation at my Ko-fi page. Any amount you contribute helps me continue writing, researching, and sharing these articles and projects. Thank you!

This week in TV Guide: September 6, 1969

Eddie Albert loves to work. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised by that; acting is, after all, a job just like any other, albeit one that pays more than most of us are accustomed to. And Eddie Albert, who has been in the business long enough that he appeared in the first teleplay ever written for television (back in 1936, on W2XBS in New York) and who most assuredly does not need the money, is now enjoying the fruits of that labor, most recently four years as co-star of CBS's hit sitcom Green Acres. Still, in his sixties, one might have expected him to slow down, even just a little. 
He's a man of many means, or perhaps, as Leslie Raddatz points out, there are many Eddie Alberts out there: besides Albert the actor, there is Albert the family man—his most important role, he says; Albert the philosopher, who while he declaims the title, can quote Chardin, Sir Arthur Eddington, Einstein and Gandhi, and was talking about Zen Buddhism "before it became fashionable"; and Albert the compulsive worker, a man in constant motion. "I enjoy doing other shows," he says, "where I can sing or recite serious poetry. The commercials are like that—a chance to do something I’ve never done before. Happiness to me means constant growth. If I see a chance to do something, even if it stinks, I do it. I’m always on the side of action—I just can’t sit on my butt and do Green Acres."
His film career was far from a failure—he was nominated for two Academy Awards for Supporting Actor, and twice more for Golden Globes—but he enjoys television, "the idea of TV's hitting so many people, diverting them for a half-hour from the rather violent world we live in." He enjoys meeting the people who watch him on TV, during the many personal appearances and fairs that he plays during the summer; working on the stage gives him a chance to "try new things, and if they work, you use them when you get back to Hollywood, even if it's just a slight change of expression or the way you smile when you say a line." 
When he's not working in front of the camera, he's often working out, running two or three miles a day in the sand near the modest home he's lived in for the last twelve years, with his wife Margo, to whom he's been married since 1945, and his two children, Maria and Edward, the latter of which will follow his footsteps in acting. Why does he work out? He enjoys it, for one thing; in addition, he's preparing for a summer mountain-climbing expedition in Alaska, and "I didn't want to have to say, 'Wait for me, fellows.' That would have been humiliating, and I don’t like that." He says that he wants to "be able to ru with my kids when I'm 75 years old. I intend to."
He's not the most popular man in Hollywood, which I suspect bothers him not one bit; "We who live and work in Hollywood discuss almost nothing but our work and each other and our fairly cramped lives," he has said, and a friend adds that "He resents having to become involved in things he really isn’t interested in." He is an interesting man; I'll admit that he was never quite my cup of tea, although he's terrific in Green Acres, in which, he says, he plays "one aspect of myself." And maybe that's all we really need to ask of him, a man who loves his work, that he transmits some of that love to us through his performances. As Oliver Wendell Douglas, we can have no complaints.
l  l  l
With the new television season kicking off next week (including the fabulous T.V. Guide Fall Preview Issue!) the networks frequently offer a special or two to whet our appetites, and this year is no exception. And you can see several of them!
Traditionally, the Miss America Pageant has served as the first major special of the  season, and on Saturday we'll make the trip to Atlantic City for the 49th annual presentation (7:00 p.m. PT, NBC, watch here ), with the grandmother of them all putting on a "mod face" to honor this year's theme, "The Sound of Young." (Yeah, that's what it says.) Bert Parks and 1966 Miss America Debbie Bryant are our hosts, and if you can make it through all the modness to the end, you'll see last year's winner, Judith Anne Ford, crown Miss Michigan, Pamela Eldred, as Miss America, 1970. Incidentally, one of the runners-up is Susan Anton, and Eldred will, next year, pass her crown off to Phyllis George.
There's no college football on TV this weekend; the start of the season hasn't yet been bumped up to the middle of August. The pros aren't around either, although you can catch some practice football, which goes under the name of "pre-season" action. That doesn't mean there's no sports to be seen, though: the U.S. Open Tennis Championships wrap up this week in Forest Hills, New York, with the women's final on Saturday at 1:00 p.m., while the men face off Sunday at 11:30 a.m. (CBS) Two great champions walk off with the prizes: Margaret Court wins the women's final over championship over American Nancy Richey, while on the men's side, Rod Laver completes his second Grand Slam, defeating Tony Roche (which you can see here ). Laver remains, to this day, the last man to win the Grand Slam, and the only player, male or female, to win it twice.
On Monday, it's The Singers (10:00 p.m., CBS), a "way-out melange of music and comedy" including "wild visual interpretations of perfectly normal tunes," produced by Mel Torme and Bill Foster, and featuring performances by Jack Jones, Michele Lee, Frankie Laine, Cliff Robertson, Bobby Van, Harve Presnell and Gerri Granger, and the Sapphire Thinkers. Like, groovy, man.
Tuesday, CBS takes us back to last year's tumultuous presidential campaign with The Making of the President: 1968 (9:30 p.m.), based on the best-seller by Theodore H. White and written by White, produced by Mel Stuart, and narrated by Joseph Campanella. Looking back on it now, I'm still amazed that the country made it through all that. Conveniently, the book is also a selection of the Literary Guild of America, for which an advertisement appears on the following page.
On Wednesday, Lena Horne takes the spotlight in her first network television special (10:00 p.m., NBC) with guests David Janssen and O.C. Smith; the orchestra is conducted by her husband, Lennie Hayton. It's an all-singing, all-dancing hour, and I have to admit that David Janssen is not the first name that comes to mind when looking at potential special guests for such a special. On the other hand, he did host The Hollywood Palace once, and after spending four years on the run from the law, he probably knows a thing or two about moving quickly on his feet. By the way, next week in this time slot, it's the premiere of Then Came Bronson.
Thursday's highlights can be found mostly in the past, with reruns of "Fall-Out," the dramatic and controversial final episode of The Prisoner (8:00 p.m., CBS, video here ), and "Male of the Species" (8:30 p.m., NBC), a Prudential: On Stage presentation of a trio of plays by Alun Owen that tell stories of the battle of the sexes, starring Paul Scofield, Michael Caine, and Sean Connery as the three men, and Anna Calder-Marshall as the woman each of them pursues. Scofield and Calder-Marshall each won Emmys, and in case the cast doesn't have enough star power for you, the production is hosted and narrated by Sir Laurence Olivier. Here's play one , with links included for the other two.
I mentioned college football earlier; it's the 100th anniversary of college football, and in honor of next week's season opener, sportscaster Chris Schenkel hosts an hour-long documentary on the history of the sport (Friday, 8:00 p.m., ABC), with footage of some of the game's all-time greats, including Red Grange, Don Hutson, Jim Thorpe, and the Four Horsemen. 
Oh, and one more thing about football: the award for the most incomplete story of the year goes to Thursday night's O.J. (8:00 p.m., KTUV), highlighting the career of Heisman Trophy winner O.J. Simpson, and talking about his plans for the future. When asked about those plans, Simpson reportedly replied, "I plan on breaking a few records, and then going into television and commercials, where I expect to make a killing. Or two."
l  l  l
The new season may be just around the corner, but NBC and ABC are rolling out their new Saturday morning lineups, a mixture of old friends and new faces—or something like that. I was never able to get into some of these new cartoons; I was always a Bugs Bunny/Road Runner fan myself. I'm sure, though, that some of these titles will bring back fond memories for you. Forthwith, a look at the new lineups, along with my observations:
ABC, by virtue of the alphabet, comes first, and their new shows include:Smokey Bear (7:30 a.m. PT): Cartoon adventures of the fire-preventing bear. (Adding new stories to the canon, because how many fire-prevention stories are there?)Cattanooga Cats (8:00): Animated rock-music cats host this cartoon series. (And who can possibly resist a rock group comprised of cats?)Hot Wheels (9:00): Cartoon adventures of young, responsible auto enthusiasts. (Driving cars that look remarkably like those you can find in the store.)The Hardy Boys (9:30): Animated series based on the Hardy boys mystery books. (Because Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson aren't quite ready for prime-time yet.)Sky Hawks (10:00): Animated aerial adventures of the Wilson family. (See also: Sky King, with his niece Penny.)Not to be outdone, here's what the Peacock Network has in store, a lineup that includes one certifiable classic:Heckle and Jeckle (7:00): Cartoons with the know-it-all magpies. (A blast from the past, and as I recall these are reruns from the show that ran Saturday mornings on CBS from 1956 to 1966.)Here Comes the Grump (8:00): Animated adventures of a boy and his dog in a fantasy land. (I don't know why I remember the theme to this cartoon, but since I do, I must have watched it.)The Pink Panther (8:30): Cartoons with the internationally known pussycat. (An instant classic that has held up remarkably well, along with "The Inspector" and "The Ant and the Aardvark" features.)H.R. Pufnstuf (9:00): Jack Wild, the Artful Dodger of Oliver!, stars as Mimmy in this fanciful series about a boy's escapades on a magic island. (It says here that Pufnstuf is a dragon. I was never sure of that. A show that lives on, nonetheless.)Jambo (10:30): Marshall Thompson (Daktari), aided by Judy the Chimp, narrates this series of live-action animal stories produced by Ivan Tors. (Yes, but without Cheryl Miller? Not to mention Clarence.)CBS kicks off its Saturday schedule next week, but no fear: on Sunday, Sebastian Cabot, Anissa Jones, and Johnnie Whitaker host The Funtastic Show (7:30 p.m.), an advance look at the network's new offerings, including Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, and Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! Looking at some of these titles, maybe it was a Golden Age of Saturday morning cartoons after all.
l  l  l
Some odds and ends from the Teletype this week: Frank Sinatra returns for his annual television special on CBS November 12. (It eventually airs on November 5. This one is just Frank, with no guests, and isn't that about all you need?Bing Crosby's annual Christmas special airs on NBC this year, after four years of Christmas shows on ABC's Hollywood Palace. Although it isn't mentioned, Bing's special guest is Carol Burnett; Roy Clark and Juliet Prowse also appear.Six episodes of Tom Jones's series will be taped in Hollywood this season rather than London. "Tickets to a Jones taping session—or even a dress rehearsal—are as hard to get as Lawrence Welk ducats. And that's where the comparison stops." Ed Sullivan's season opener falls on his 67th birthday, September 28. Helping Ed celebrate are Barbra Streisand, Red Skelton, and the Temptations. Unknown at the time: it's Ed's next-to-last season opener. In other insider news, Richard K. Doan reports that the Smothers Brothers have been reduced to making guest appearances and local-station syndication after being sacked by CBS. The episode that the network refused to air last spring is being sold to individual stations for broadcast (Wednesday, 8:00 p.m., KTXL), while the brothers hope to produce a series of specials for first-run syndication. Tom appeared with Merv Griffin last month, and the duo join Glen Campbell for his season premiere. 
And FCC Commissioner Nicholas Johnson, the closest thing the government has to a loose cannon (this side of Spiro Agnew, anyway), had plenty to say on a recent Dick Cavett show. Referring to a bill that would eliminate the three-year renewal cycle of TV and radio station licenses, Johnson called it "the final takeover by the broadcasters," and added that while it might be too late to stop, the public ought to know "what it is that’s about to happen to them in Washington as they sell off their democratic rights to the broadcasting industry." A visibly nervous Cavett asked Johnson, "if he had anything else he'd like to get off his chest," to which Johnson replied, "My thesis is that television can’t stand truth. It can’t stand reality."
l  l  l
Speaking of talk shows, this really is something of a Golden Age for the genre. As opposed to the vapidity of late-night talkers and the celebrity-obsessed daytimers, we see a succession of shows that frequently combine entertainment with some quality conversation.
We're in the era when all three networks have their late-night shows. Johnny Carson still rules the roost, of course, and among the king's guests this week are Alan King, Jacqueline Susann, Charlie Callas, Robert Merrill, and Bob and Ray. Johnny's opposition on ABC is Joey Bishop, who welcomes Barbara McNair, Ross Martin, Anthony Newley, and Louis Prima. Not to be outdone, over on CBS, Merv Griffin has Dr. Sam Sheppard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sen. Edmund Muskie, Steve Lawrence, Erroll Garner, and Jimmy Dean. Gotta give Merv the edge for the week. 
But that's not all! Dick Cavett hasn't yet taken over Bishop's late-night slot, but his thrice-weekly show (Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, 10:00 p.m., ABC) has its share of stars, with Johnny Mathis, Robert Young, Ralph Nader, and California's Democratic party leader Jesse Unruh.
During the daytime, Steve Allen's talk-comedy series (9:30 a.m., KOVR) has Diana Trask, Bill Dana, O.C. Smith, Anna Maria Alberghetti, and the Ike and Tina Turner Review. There's old standby Mike Douglas (airing at 3:00 p.m. on KPIX and 4:00 p.m. on KXTV); his co-host for the week is Doug McClure, and his guests include Monte Markham, Diana Trask (again!), Lily Tomlin, and Pearl Buck. Meanwhile, David Frost's guests for the week (4:30 p.m., KPIX) include Chet Huntley, Burt Reynolds, Arthur Ashe, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Sugar Ray Robinson, Averell Harriman, and Stiller and Meara.
Finally, in the late-late-night spots, Joan Rivers has Sam Levenson, Brenda Vaccaro, Soupy Sales, and Kay Thompson. Finally, Hugh Hefner's weekly show (Friday, 1:00 a.m., KCRA) features Gore Vidal, Mort Sahl, Morgana King, John Hartford and hypnotist Pat Collins. 
Now, you may not recognize all the names I've listed; I could look them up for you, but it won't hurt if you check them out yourself. The point is that most of the names are familiar, and those that aren't are still important people in the worlds of entertainment, news, or politics. And I'd say that the weekly lineup for any of them beats what we have today.
l  l  l
However, there's one legendary talk show host you won't find on weekly television anymore but who makes an appearance this week nonetheless: Jack Paar, who continued to appear in a series of occasional specials after leaving the regular grind on NBC. On Monday night (8:00 p.m.), Jack Paar and His Lions presents Jack and, well, some lions, including his pet lion Amani, who lives with Paar and his family in Paar's 13-room house (and once accompanied Paar's daughter Randy to college). He also looks at the journey of the three offspring from the lions featured in Born Free, en route from Kenya to their new home at Lion Country Safari in Florida. Paar, who wrote, narrated, and partially photographed the special, is well-known for his love of lions and other wild animals, having gone on safari in Africa, and is thoroughly in his element here.
l  l  l 
MST3K alert: The Amazing Colossal Man (1957) After being burned in a plutonium explosion, an Army colonel starts growing at the rate of 10 feet per day. Glenn Langan, Cathy Downs, William Hudson, James Seay, Larry Thor, Frank Jenks, Russ Dender, Lyn Osborn, Diana Darrin, William Hughes. (Saturday, 1:00 p.m., KGO in San Francisco) Admit it; you'd be plenty teed off too if you'd been transformed, through no fault of your own, into a 70-foot giant. Unfortunately, since the rights to use the movie expired, you can no longer see the MST3K version except on YouTube. However, you can catch the unwanted, unasked-for sequel, War of the Colossal Beast, with a completely different cast. Take it from me: if you've seen one colossal man, you've seen them all.   TV

If you enjoy the content here and want to support my broader creative work, please consider making a donation at my Ko-fi page. Any amount you contribute helps me continue writing, researching, and sharing these articles and projects. Thank you!

Around the dial

At The Twilight Zone Vortex, Jordan continues his examination of the show's final season with " The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross ," an better-than-average episode improved by stellar performances from Don Gordon and Gail Kobe.

A double-dose of Brit TV begins at Cult TV Blog, with John's take on " The Classroom ," an episode of the little-remembered and difficult to categorize anthology series The Frighteners. I always enjoy his looks at these obscure series, because I'm always on the lookout for interesting new shows to check out.
Continuing across the pond, at Comfort TV, David looks at Department S , which is a cross between, what—Murder, She Wrote, The Avengers, and James Bond? If that inexact comparison is enough to whet your appetite, I urge you to check out the series.
At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence invites us to view the intriguing UPN series Nowhere Man , which premiered 30 years ago. It's the story of a documentary photographer, played by Bruce Greenwood, who finds that his entire life has been "erased" from everyone's memory, except for his. Interested?
That's just one of many series celebrating anniversaries over the next few weeks, which makes sense given September is the month when most series used to premiere. Television Obscurities has a comprehensive list of those shows; see how many of them you remember from back when.4
At A View from the Junkyard, Roger's retrospective on The A-Team brings us to " The Taxicab Wars ," a delightful episode that's just as much fun to watch today as it was when it originally aired, and for classic TV fans, that's often a relief.
And it just wouldn't be Friday without a little self-promotion from yours truly, right? My latest edition of the "Two Minute Author" (which only runs for three-and-a-half minutes this time) looks at David Karp's 1955 drama "One," and how a classic TV historian manages to write about an episode that no longer exists.


If you enjoy the content here and want to support my broader creative work, please consider making a donation at my Ko-fi page. Any amount you contribute helps me continue writing, researching, and sharing these articles and projects. Thank you!

The running men

From The Fugitive to The Immortal, Run for Your Life to Run Buddy Run, classic television has told the stories of people on the run—from the law, from criminals, from death itself. The Fugitive was praised for its decision to bring to an end the premise which had sustained the series for four seasons; in this era of closed-loop storytelling, which suggests that every series contains an overall arc with a beginning, a middle and an end, it’s difficult to imagine a series that doesn’t provide some type of closure—"The Day the Running Stopped." The notable exception to this, of course, is the final episode of The Sopranos, which ends with an abrupt cut to black, and leaves the viewer forever in the dark as to what happens next. Considering the hue and cry accompanying that ending, it's probably unlikely we’ll ever see an ending like that again, or at least one left open to so many possibilities.
In a way, though, there’s something fitting about those series for which no end is provided. I’m not suggesting they do this intentionally; usually, the decision is made for them, in the form of low ratings, stars ready to move on, or recalcitrant network executives. Still, it seems to me that perhaps leaving things open-ended isn’t really such a bad idea, at least in some instances. It forces both the show's viewers and its creators to consider the existential implications of life, and how their characters fit into that scheme. Viewers, for instance, are left to fill in the blanks after the ending of a show like The Sopranos, and in doing so, they not only display their perspective on what the show was all about, they also reveal a great deal about themselves and their own way of thinking: their values, their moral convictions, their philosophy of life. 
And what do those shows themselves tell us? In providing for an end to the four-season odyssey of Richard Kimble, Quinn Martin was following in the footsteps of Route 66, which also provided for an end to the journey—at least for Tod, when he decided it was time to settle down and marry Barbara Eden. (Smart man!) That suggests our heroes were not so much running away from something, as running toward something. Tod finds that, or at least thinks he has, but we’re not sure about Linc, let alone Buz. The question remains, though: if they were running toward life, toward something that they perhaps can’t define but will recognize when they see it, what are they running away from? A life without hope, without meaning, a boring, 9-to-5 job that provides security, whereas the adrenaline that is the spice of life comes from insecurity?*
*You could include Then Came Bronson in that discussion as well. And then, as someone pointed out to me, there's The Incredible Hulk, that most melancholic of superhero series, in which our tragic hero David Banner finds himself in a dual race, running not only from the pursuing journalist, but from himself as well.
l  l  l
Is The Immortal really running away from his pursuers, or is he running away from the burden of being immortal? The setup of having the hero pursued by the heavy was not only exceedingly conventional, it was probably necessary in order to get the show on the air. But there’s a twist to the convention: Ben Richards is useless to Jordan Braddock if he’s dead; Richards must be kept alive in order to produce the rare blood that enables him to cheat death, the blood that Braddock wants. If the implication is that Braddock wants to keep Richards alive, then it also follows that by running from Braddock’s henchman Fletcher, Richards is also running from eternity, or at least natural eternity. One could say that he is running from a false life, running toward death, or the possibility of death, which is the only way a man can truly feel alive. Think of this series in another way, one which probably never would make it to television, but is intriguing nonetheless: Ben Richards, unable to experience death in a natural way and unwilling to take his own life (because he still has scruples) dedicates his life to taking outrageous risks for the purpose of helping others. It could be anything from climbing a tree to rescue an old woman’s cat to dashing into a flaming house to rescue a small child. Perhaps he takes on the mob to save the life of a young man who’s fallen into debt, or offers himself as a human hostage to prevent an international incident. There are an endless number of ways to risk your own life, after all, and if you can’t do something good with the life you’ve been given, what good is it? 
I think you get the picture here. The most existential question of all is that of the meaning of life; while Dr. Richard Kimble hoped to get his life back after being exonerated of the murder of his wife, his real-life counterpart, Dr. Sam Sheppard, was never able to recover what had been his, and stumbled through years of wrestling professionally and drinking heavily before meeting a premature death. Sam Sheppard could not return to the life he once lived—but having died as a man, he continues to live as a legal precedent, and if that precedent (Sheppard v. Maxwell) makes a difference in the lives of others, perhaps even saving the lives of others by ensuring them a fair trial, could he be said to have died at all—or did he, in some mysterious way, experience the suffering of a life lost in order to provide life to others? Does that make him any different from our alternate version of Ben Richards? And what hope does that give Dr. Kimble? Unlike Sheppard, he was able to continue interacting with others during his journey, rather than spending years in prison—will the life of a successful pediatrician still appeal to him? 
Perhaps the most profound lesson we can learn is from the story of Paul Bryan, the protagonist of Run for Your Life. Like Kimble, he is running for his life, but whereas Kimble is trying to escape the death house, Bryan is attempting to outrun the disease that will claim his life in two or three years. We don’t see how his race ends; there was much derision over a series about a man with two years to live running for three seasons, but remember: television doesn’t measure time in the same way that calendars do. (Otherwise, M*A*S*H never would have lasted as long as it did—or the Korean War would have lasted a lot longer.) And, in fact, we never know what happens to Paul Bryan. Since Run for Your Life ends without an episode wrapping up all the loose ends, we don’t know for a fact that Bryan actually dies. His doctor did tell him to stay in contact, that advances in medical science are being made all the time. It’s unlikely, perhaps, but it could be that Paul Bryan beats the odds, that he hangs on long enough for his doctors to provide him with the treatment that cures him of his fatal illness. And then what? Having finally learned how to live a life of gusto (he’d told his doctor he hadn’t had a day off since law school), does he return to the world of a corporate lawyer, or does he continue living a life of adventure, as a latter-day Hemingway? And will he find the extra years he’s been given as satisfying as those years he’d lived when he had nothing to lose, and therefore everything to gain? Given time, would he have traded places with Ben Richards, living with an antibody that would likely have prevented his fatal illness, if it meant he wouldn’t have learned how to really live? That’s an interesting question.
l  l  l
The world today can often seem like a patient in extremely critical condition, but too stubborn to ask for the Last Rites. Under such circumstances, who wouldn't look to run? (Unless you're one of the ones causing the problems in the first place, in which case you're not only running, you want to bring everyone and everything along with you.) Trying to predict the future is often a fool's errand, and anyone looking for certainties right now is certain only of being a fool. 
In a sense, these running men are trying to both escape from and head toward the same thing simultaneously, as if they were caught on an endless treadmill comprised of an existential mobius strip. By ending the series without a conclusion, or leaving the viewer uncertain as to the rest of the story, the showrunners ensuring that everything will always be just out of reach; the man freed from punishment, the man free to experience death, the man hoping for a second act he hadn't realized he wanted. It is life that they seek, it is life from which they run. And that's appropriate, because after all, can we ever really escape what we’re running from? Can we ever truly arrive at what we’re running toward? In a way, the running never stops, and never can; we're all on a treadmill to eternity, running toward a goal we'll never reach. The second we reach the future it becomes the present, and the next second it becomes part of the past. Sportscaster Sid Collins famously said that we all speed toward death at the rate of 60 minutes every hour; we speed toward the future in the same way, but like death, we'll never truly experience it for ourselves. 
And that's why some answers are better left unsaid, and why it might not be so bad for a television series to end while leaving the question unanswered. For that unanswered question is the exploration of life itself, and what it means to be fully present in that life—as a participant, not merely an observer. 
In the meantime, we keep running, always running. TV


If you enjoy the content here and want to support my broader creative work, please consider making a donation at my Ko-fi page. Any amount you contribute helps me continue writing, researching, and sharing these articles and projects. Thank you!

What's on TV? Friday, September 9, 1955

Happy Labor Day! This week, I direct your attention to WGN's Hi Ladies, and the Mike Douglas that hosts that show is, indeed, the same Mike Douglas that we all know and love from his long-running, eponymously named, talk show. Douglas first hit it big in 1945 as a guest on Strike it Rich, did a stint as singer with Kay Kyser's band, voiced Prince Charming in Disney's Cinderella, and had a national radio program. Eventually, a friend of his who worked at WGN urged Douglas to audition for the station's show Luncheon Party, where the station's general manager saw him and said "Sign him up!" His career would endure more ups and downs in the years to come, but in 1961 he started his talk show, and it was all-up from there on. This week's listings come from Chicagoland.
  -2- WBBM (CBS)

  MORNING

       6:40

Today’s Thoughts

       6:45

Farm Daily—Menard

       7:00

Morning Show

Five minutes of local news at 7:25, 7:55, 8:25, 8:55 A.M.

       9:00

Garry Moore—Variety

     10:30

Strike It Rich—Quiz

     11:00

Valiant Lady—Serial

     11:15

Love of Life—Serial

       

   11:30

Search for Tomorrow

     11:45

Guiding Light—Serial

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

Luncheon with Billy

     12:30

Welcome Travelers

       1:00

Robert Q. Lewis—Variety

       1:30

Linkletter’s House Party

       2:00

The Big Payoff—Quiz

       2:30

Bob Crosby—Music

       3:00

Brighter Day—Serial

       3:15

Secret Storm—Serial

       3:30

On Your Account—Quiz

       4:00

The Early Show—Drama

“For Value Received”

       4:30

Shopping with Miss Lee

       5:00

Range Rider—Western

       5:30

Gene Autry—Western

  EVENING

       6:00

SPORTS—Bob Elson

       6:15

NEWS—Julian Bentley

       6:30

NEWS—Douglas Edwards

       6:45

Eye on Chicago—News

       7:00

PANTOMIME QUIZ

Players: Carol Haney, Dorothy Hart, Rocky Graziano, Robert Clary, Hans Conried, Jackie Coogan

       7:30

TOPPER—Comedy

       8:00

PLAYHOUSE OF STARS

“The Uninhibited Female”

       8:30

RAY MILLAND SHOW

       9:00

UNDERCURRENT

       9:30

PERSON TO PERSON

Guest: Ethel Merman

     10:00

NEWS, WEATHER, SPORTS

     10:15

IN TOWN TONIGHT

     10:30

NEWS—John Harrington

     10:45

KUP’S SHOW—Irv Kupcinet

     11:00

The Howard Miller Show

       1:00

Playhouse—Drama

 

 

  -4- WTMJ (Milwaukee) (NBC)

  MORNING

       8:00

Today—Dave Garroway

Today in Milwaukee at 8:25, 8:55 A.M.

       9:00

Ding Dong School—Kids

       9:30

Parents’ Time

       9:45

The World at Home

     10:00

Home—Women’s News 

  COLOR       11:00

Tennessee Ernie Ford

       

   11:30

Feather Your Nest

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

What’s New in the Kitchen

     12:45

Let’s Look at the News

       1:00

Hot Shot Review—Music

       1:30

Bob Heiss—Interviews

       1:55

Weather—Bill Carlsen

       2:00

Ted Mack—Variety

       2:30

It Pays to Be Married

       3:00

Way of the World

       3:15

First Love

       3:30

World of Mr. Sweeney

       3:45

Modern Romances

       4:00

Beulah Donohue—Women 

  COLOR         4:30

Howdy Doody—Puppets

       5:00

Cartoon Carnival—Kids

       5:30

Foreman Tom—Western

  EVENING

       6:00

SPORTS—Larry Clark

       6:15

NEWS—Bob Kelly

       6:25

Weather—Bill Carlsen

       6:30

Eddie Fisher—Songs

       6:45

NEWS—John Cameron Swayze

       7:00

MIDWESTERN HAYRIDE

       7:30

BEST IN MYSTERY—Drama

       8:00

MAN BEHIND THE BADGE

       8:30

STAR STAGE—Drama   DEBUT  “The Toy Lady”

       9:00

BOXING—New York

Orlando Zuleta vs. Cisco ANdrade

       9:45

GADABOUT GADDIS

     10:00

PATTI PAGE—Songs

     10:15

LET’S LOOK AT THE NEWS

     10:30

SCIENCE FICTION THEATER 

  DEBUT       11:00

Tonight—Steve Allen

Guest host: Ernie Kovacs. Guest: Dizzy GIllespie

     12:00

MOVIE—Drama

"Northwest Stampede" (1948)        1:30

NEWS

 

     1:35

MOVIE—Drama

"Checkmate" (1954)

 

 

  -5- WNBQ (NBC)

  MORNING

       6:45

Everett Mitchell—Talks

       7:00

Today—Dave Garroway

Five minutes of local news with Lem O’Connor at 7:25, 7:55, 8:25, 8:55 A.M.

       9:00

Ding Dong School—Kids

       9:30

Parents’ Time

       9:45

The World at Home

     10:00

Home—Women’s News 

  COLOR       11:00

Tennessee Ernie Ford

       

   11:30

Feather Your Nest

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

Noontime Comics—Kids

     12:30

Cartoonland—Ken Bowers

     12:45

Bob & Kay with Doucette

       2:00

Ted Mack—Variety

       2:30

It Pays to Be Married

       3:00

Way of the World

       3:15

First Love

       3:30

World of Mr. Sweeney

       3:45

Modern Romances

       4:00

Pinky Lee—Kids

       4:30

Howdy Doody—Puppets

       5:00

Elmer the Elephant—Kids

       5:35

Contact—Variety

  EVENING

       6:00

Weather—Clint Youle

       6:05

NEWS—Jack Angell

       6:10

SPORTS—Joe Wilson

       6:15

Dorsey Connors—Travel

       6:20

Alex Dreier—Features

       6:25

Tony Weitzel—Comment

       6:30

Eddie Fisher—Songs

       6:45

NEWS—John Cameron Swayze

       7:00

MIDWESTERN HAYRIDE

       7:30

WALT’S WORKSHOP—Crafts

       8:00

BIG STORY—Drama 

  RETURN         8:30

STAR STAGE—Drama   DEBUT  “The Toy Lady”

       9:00

BOXING—New York

Orlando Zuleta vs. Cisco Andrade

       9:45

SPORTS—Red Barber

Guest: Marty Marion

     10:00

WEATHER—Clint Youle

     10:10

DORSEY CONNORS—Ideas

     10:15

NEWS—Jack Angell

     10:25

SPORTS—Norm Barry

     10:30

PATTI PAGE—Songs

     10:45

AMES BROTHERS—Music

     11:00

Tonight—Steve Allen

Guest host: Ernie Kovacs. Guest: Dizzy GIllespie

     12:00

MOVIE—Drama

“Grand Canyon” (1949)

 

 

  -7- WBKB (ABC)

  MORNING

       8:55

NEWS—Ulmer Turner

       9:00

Time for Uncle Win—Lids

       9:30

Play House—Kids

     10:00

Hollywood Playhouse

(1) “The Girl” (2) “The Treasure”

     11:00

Creative Cookery—Recipes

     11:55

NEWS & WEATHER—Ulmer Turner

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

Happy Pirates—Kids’ Fun

     12:45

NEWS & WEATHER—Ulmer Turner

       1:00

Tom Duggan—Variety

       1:30

NEWS & WEATHER—Ulmer Turner

       2:00

Mid-day Matinee—Drama

(1) “Sire de Maletroit’s Door” (2) “Winter Love”

       3:30

The Doctor Answers—Talk

       3:45

TV Dental Clinic

       4:00

Crazy Acres—Kids

       4:30

Little Rascals—Comedy

       5:00

Five O’Clock Theater

“Three Strangers”

       5:30

SPORTS—Jack Drees

       5:45

NEWS—Paul Harvey

  EVENING

       6:00

Kukla, Fran and Ollie

       6:15

NEWS—John Daly

       6:30

Rin Tin Tin—Drama

       7:00

FAMOUS PLAYHOUSE

“Texas Person”

       7:30

TREASURY MEN IN ACTION

       8:00

DOLLAR A SECOND—Quiz

       8:30

THE VISE—Melodrama

       9:00

STORIES OF THE CENTURY

       9:30

MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY

     10:00

COUNTRY HOUR—Variety

     11:00

Norman Ross Presents

     11:10

Tom Duggan—Comments

     12:00

Theater—Double Feature

(1) “Treasure of the Heart” (2) “No Children, No Dogs”

 

 

  -9- WGN (Du Mont)

  MORNING

       9:30

Paul Fogarty—Exercises

     10:00

Hi Ladies—Mike Douglas

     10:55

NEWS—Steve Fentress

     11:00

The Romper Room—Kids

     11:55

NEWS—Steve Fentress

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

Lunchtime Little Theater

     12:45

All About Baby—Tips

       1:00

Batting Practice—Warm Up

       1:10

Lead-off Man—Interviews

       1:25

BASEBALL—Double Header

Brooklyn Dodgers at Chicago Cubs

Tenth Inning Interviews after the first game

  EVENING

       6:00

Curbstone Cut-up—Simon

       6:15

SPORTS—Vince Lloyd

       6:30

NEWS—Spencer Allen

       6:45

Chicagoland Newsreel

       7:00

BIG PICTURE—Army Film

       7:30

MOVIE—Western

“Carolina Moon” (Chicago TV Debut)

       8:30

THE WORLD IS YOURS

       9:00

POLICE CALL—Drama

       9:30

CITY DETECTIVE

     10:00

MOVIE—Mystery

“Sherlock Holmes in Washington”

     11:30

NEWS—Les Nichols

 

TV


If you enjoy the content here and want to support my broader creative work, please consider making a donation at my Ko-fi page. Any amount you contribute helps me continue writing, researching, and sharing these articles and projects. Thank you!

This week in TV Guide: September 3, 1955

Long before Star Trek was a twinkle in the sky, or in the eye of anyone with the possible exception of Gene Roddenberry, there was a letter-writing campaign in support of a show that was scheduled to go off the air. It was a show praised for its "honest and appealing" portrayals, for stories that weren't afraid to break the mould of prevailing fare, for its likeable characters. It had a loyal and devoted following of viewers, but not, unfortunately, enough to warrant the sponsor's interest in a second season. And when news of its cancellation was made public, the network was inundated with complaints from literally "thousands of irate viewers." In the face of such a public outcry, the show was revived, on a different network and with a different sponsor, for another season. Welcome to the world of Father Knows Best.

It may be hard to believe that such a fate once awaited a series that has since gone on to attain iconic status within the classic TV world, but when Father aired on CBS during the 1954-55 season, it averaged a 20.5 rating, as opposed to the show whose timeslot it will be assuming this season, NBC's My Little Margie, which came in at 27.3. The new sponsor, unnamed in the article but in reality the Scott Paper Company, is said to have been aware that it was trading a more popular show for a less popular one, but was heavily influenced by the viewer response, as well as a feeling that CBS had scheduled the program in a bad timeslot.
  Jane Wyatt and Robert Young read some lettersAnd what were some of those letters? A Cincinnati housewife wrote, "If the sponsors cannot tell when they have a good show, why should I believe they know what they are talking about when it comes to their products?" Zing! From a woman in Chicago: "Perhaps you do not realize the pleasure this intriguing show brings to people who remember their own youthful family life with nostalgia. Please keep it." And this from John Crosby, one of the nation's preeminent television critics: "Unless somebody does something about it. Father Knows Best will be dropped off the air . . . This would be a crying scandal because Father Knows Best is one of the most honest and appealing and thoroughly delightful situation comedies on TV."  
Well, a lot of someones did do something about it, which led in turn to someone else, a sponsor, doing something else about it, and as a result, this counter-cultural program is returning for a second season. Wait; what's that about counter-cultural? Well, ask star Robert Young what makes Father different from other family sitcoms: "We didn’t want a father who was always blowing his top, or a mother who dominated her husband, or kids who were so smart that they made their folks look like morons. And we particularly didn’t want Pop to fall off a ladder or down a flight of stairs every week. How many fathers do you know—living, I mean—who could stand that, week after week?" It's an attitude echoed by the many viewers who saw the show as "one of TV’s few situation comedies that don’t cast Pop as a dim-wit.," that "represents American family life as it really is and not as some TV scriptwriter thinks it is—or should be." It's fashionable to look at the sitcoms of the 1950s and '60s and scoff at them as portraying families that were too good to be true, living in an America that never was. Perhaps they'd feel differently if they looked back at those very families that watched Father Knows Best, recognized in it the world they lived in, and thought it was a show worth saving.
l  l  l 
On the cover this week is 29-year-old comedian Johnny Carson, seen with Jody, the first of his four wives. He's called the "young man with a grin," and undoubtedly, he's hoping that his career will have more longevity than his marriages. And interestingly, the comedian to whom he draws the most comparisons is George Gobel, for more reasons than the fact that Carson is the first comedian since Gobel to host his variety show from Hollywood. "We’re both low-pressure; we both underplay. Gobel is the hottest thing in the field right now, so naturally, anyone coming along with even an approximation of his style is going to be compared to him." 
One of Johnny's greatest champions has been Jack Benny, who was impressed with Carson from the first moment that Johnny firmly stepped into the spotlight to substitute for an ailing Red Skelton. ("All the way into the studio,” Carson says, “I kept trying to remember sure-fire gags. It was all so fast, I really didn’t have time to get into a nervous tizzy.") After the show, Benny insisted to anyone who would listen to him that "The kid is great," and urged CBS to find a format for him. "No wonder they can’t sell him," Benny complained, "he’s too good, too intelligent—they’re all looking for pie throwers." Finally, the network, with two sponsors in hand, launched Carson with his own variety show on June 30. 
The keys to Carson's future success seem clearly seen in retrospect. The unidentified author of the profile cites Carson's flair for "the quieter kind of comedy," and describes him as "both a listener and a worker," two of the characteristics that would serve Carson so well later on when hosting The Tonight Show. "Besides shouldering the burden of being a young comedian tossed into the network whirlpool, he plays an important part in the writing and casting of the show, chores which are generally full-time jobs in themselves." He uses wife Jody on the show on "an irregularly regular basis" (much like his marital history); she was, in fact, the only female member of the cast with any staying power until singer Jill Corey was booked for an eight-week run. 
Hosting his own variety show from Hollywood is a long way from Nebraska, where Carson was born and raised. After moving to Hollywood in 1950, he spent a year as a staff announcer at KNXT, the CBS affiliate, and hosted a local show, Carson's Cellar, which was "reasonably successful." He moved from there to a summer show, Earn Your Vacation, and started writing monologues for Red Skelton. When Skelton was injured during a rehearsal (smacking his head against a non-breakaway wall an hour before airtime for his live show), he "hollered for Carson, and Carson came running." Although The Johnny Carson Show lasts only one season, it's enough to attract the attention of ABC, which makes him the host of Who Do You Trust?, with sidekick Ed McMahon. It's there that Johnny really displays the quick wit and interview skills that will put him in such good standing when NBC calls for Tonight. And the rest—well, you know how that goes.
l  l  l 
It's always nice to read about the stars before they became stars, isn't it? Likewise, it's fun to capture iconic programs, like Father Knows Best, before they became legends. Let's see what we can run across in this week's batch.
On Saturday night, The Jimmy Durante Show (8:30 p.m. CT, NBC) presents what could be called an ironic storyline: Jimmy, having discovered that the bank is about to repossess his nightclub because he's behind on the payments, "acquires the answers to be used on a quiz show and contrives to be a contestant in order to raise some money." They're not suggesting, by any chance, that those quiz shows might be rigged, are they? How else would he get the answers ahead of time?
Miss America 1955, Lee Ann Meriwether relinquishes her crown next Saturday, but in the meantime, she's been preparing for life after the beauty-contest circuit. Last December, she made her TV acting debut on the anthology series TV Playhouse, and this Sunday she stars on that series' "The Miss America Story" (8:00 p.m., NBC). It's neither biographical nor a documentary, just a drama about "the experiences of a beauty-contest winner" being portrayed by a fledgling actress who just happens to be the reigning Miss America. During the past year, Meriwether has earned $60,000 from TV commercials and providing commentary on fashion shows, and she plans to continue her career in television after she's no longer "Miss America." "Dave Garroway has been dangling a Today job in front of her," which she thinks would be great, "But golly, how would I get my Master's degree?" She must figure it out, because she goes on to that two-year stint as one of the Today Girls, followed by an acting career that lasts until 2000 and includes, well, just about everything. A worthy Miss America indeed.
On Monday, which also happens to be Labor Day, former president Harry Truman addresses the AFL-CIO Labor Day celebration at Cadillac Square in Detroit. (1:00 p.m., CBS and NBC). It's also nearing the end of Arthur Godfrey's summer vacation; in the meantime, Peter Lind Hayes fills for Godfrey on Arthur Godfrey Time (9:30 a.m., CBS), while Jack Paar pinch-hits for the Old Redhead on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts (7:30 p.m., CBS). Garry Moore also has the day off, with Walter O'Keefe filling in on The Garry Moore Show (9:00 a.m., CBS), and Ernie Kovacs begins his second week substituting for Steve Allen on The Tonight Show (11;00 p.m., NBC). Tony Martin has no such luck; his evening Tony Martin Show returns for another season (6:30 p.m., NBC), taking up the first 15 minutes of the half-hour block that includes NBC's evening news. 
Tuesday leads off with The World at Home (9:45 a.m., NBC), with Arlene Francis and Hugh Downs interviewing the most decorated soldier of World War II, actor Audie Murphy.* In prinetime, it's the debut of television's first "adult" Western, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (7:30 p.m., ABC), starring Hugh O'Brian as the legendary lawman. In one of the early examples of linear storytelling on television, the series opens with "Mr. Earp Becomes a Marshal," as Earp launches his storied career by becoming marshal in Ellsworth, Kansas. 
*The program, which airs for 15 minutes prior to the start of Arlene's Home series, has some interesting guests this week; on Wednesday, it's NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall, who was the attorney in the Brown v. Board case that ended school segregation, and would go on to become a justice of the Supreme Court.
Wednesday's Disneyland (6:30 p.m., ABC) takes a trip to Tomorrowland, where Wernher von Braun is one of the scientists discussing the challenges ahead for putting a "Man in Space," and what man's first spaceflight will look like. That's followed by Pall Mall Playhouse (7:30 p.m., ABC), with John Newland—whom we'll know better from hosting One Step Beyond—starring as a tenderfoot finding out that life in the West isn't what he expected. And at 8:30 p.m., I've Got a Secret (CBS) gives us a second look this week at Audie Murphy, who has a secret for the panel. Don McNeill sits in for Garry Moore, who returns to IGAS as well as his own show next week. 
Thursday afternoon's Early Show presents "Tomorrow's Man" (4:00 p.m., CBS), with Pat O'Brien as a football coach* who must decide whether to win a game, or teach his son (John Derek) a lesson. I've got an idea: why not teach him how to win? Problem solved! Later, it's a rare comedy on Climax! (7:30 p.m., CBS), but for good reason: the star of "Public Pigeon No. 1" is Red Skelton, who plays a sucker hired by conmen to sell stock in a phony uranium company. That's followed at 8:30 p.m. by Four Star Playhouse, and this week the star is Charles Boyer as a mysterious stranger who arrives at the front door of a young woman whose husband has just escaped from prison; Beverly Garland co-stars. 
*Not Knute Rockne, presumably.
On Friday the dramatic anthology series Star Stage premieres with "The Toy Lady" (8:30 p.m., NBC), starring Silvia Sidney and Lorne Greene (I wonder whatever happened to him?). Later, on Edward R. Murrow's Person to Person, Ed's guests are Ethel Merman, appearing with her husband and two children from their home in Denver. Later on, it's the deferred premiere on WTMJ of Science Fiction Theater (10:30 p.m.). The syndicated series actually debuted in April, but it's debuting here as part of WTMJ's fall schedule. (And by the way, it's actually spelled Theatre.
l  l  l
Curious as to what's popular on TV in Chicagoland? Well, wonder no more; American Research Bureau, which used to provide the ratings for the networks, is out with their Top Ten list for July, and, to nobody's surprise, The $64,000 Question sits on top of the heap, well ahead of Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town. CBS and NBC dominate the ratings, with ABC's U.S. Steel Hour the highest-rated show on the lowest-rated network. 
The $64,000 Question is also the nation's number one show, based on the Trendex ratings, followed by I've Got a Secret, Toast of the Town, Two for the Money, and G.E. Theater. By the way, according to the Teletype, Toast of the Town has a change upcoming; starting with the new season, it will henceforth be called The Ed Sullivan Show. Elsewhere, if you're wondering why Audie Murphy's been so active on TV this week, it's probably because he's promoting his new movie, To Hell and Back. And Jim Backus is on the lookout for one of those sound-proof booths like the kind you see on Question, "For my mother-in-law."
l  l  l 
Tom D'Andrea and Hal March: dischargedThis week, Bob Stahl reviews a sitcom I hadn't previously been aware of (not that there aren't a lot of those), The Soldiers, starring Tom D'Andrea and Hal March. In much the same way as Saturday Night Live spun off long-running skits like "Wayne's World" and "The Coneheads" into big-screen movies, The Soldiers is a spin-off from a routine that D'Andrea and March used to do on The Colgate Comedy Hour. And just to show you that tart commentary didn't begin with our hero, Cleveland Amory, this is how Stahl describes the transition to television: "Apparently encouraged by an overwhelming lack of critical acclaim, they have expanded the idea into a half-hour series that NBC gambled on this summer as a Saturday night replacement." 
The pair play peacetime GI sad-sacks who are perpetually getting into trouble with the brass, as well as anyone else who comes near. As Stahl points out, there's nothing inherently wrong with Army comedy; "No Time for Sergeants," with Andy Griffith, was a big hit on Broadway, television, and the movies; and Phil Silvers will do pretty well, starting this fall, with Bilko. However, that's where the comparison ends, as "D’Andrea and March play such stupid dolts that there’s little humor left." Well, not everyone gets everything right; although the series bites the dust after just ten episodes, Tom D'Andrea will continue with his movie and television career, while Hal March will make an honest living as host of The $64,000 Question.
Stahl's second review is of another summer replacement series, Windows, a half-hour anthology that subs for Person to Person. The premise involves the camera peering through a window, setting the stage for the story of the people seen through that window. This is another of those series with which I wasn't previously familiar, and it gives off more than a little bit of the Twilight Zone vibe, beginning with the initial episode, in which all the children of a neighborhood disappear at the same time. That one, according to Stahl, came up a cropper after a terrific premise, but a later story "of a girl locked in an apartment from which there was no escape, this being her estranged husband’s way of driving her out of her mind," hit the sweet spot. It also took a crack at a pair of Ray Bradbury stories, "The World Out There" and "Arcade." It was, Stahl says, "an excellent example of how TV can dress up an otherwise routine series of dramatic shows with a single gimmick."
l  l  l 
MST3K alert: Jungle Goddess (1948) Two pilots go into the depths of the African jungle to search for a missing heiress. George Reeves, Ralph Byrd, Wanda McKay. (Wednesday, midnight, WNBQ in Chicago) Even the Man of Steel can't save this one, in which two ugly Americans travel to darkest Africa with the motto, "If it moves, shoot it." It's saved on MST3K, however (if that's the word), by part one of the Bela Lugosi serial, "The Phantom Creeps."  TV

If you enjoy the content here and want to support my broader creative work, please consider making a donation at my Ko-fi page. Any amount you contribute helps me continue writing, researching, and sharing these articles and projects. Thank you!

Around the dial

We'll begin the week with some blatant self-promotion on my part, and why not, when I've got a lot to promote? 
From last week, here's the latest edition of the American TV History series with Dan Schneider, in which we discuss TV of the 1990s . A good show, if I do say so myself. Meanwhile, here are my most recent podcast appearances promoting Darkness in Primetime: first, a delightful conversation with Jeff Dwoskin at Classic Conversations , followed by a wonderful chat with Steve Beverly and his TV Classics . Both great guys, and I had a terrific time. Finally, my latest two-minute (or so) video runs a little over that, as I talk about one of the more mysterious programs chronicled in Darkness in Primetime, the 1967 drama "The Investigation." tps://ko-fi.com/mitchellhadley And if that doesn't give you motivation to buy the book , I'll just keep working at it! Now to our regular programming.
In the year 1976, ABC is riding the wave to the top of the television ratings, as we can see in David's continuing journey through 1970s TV at Comfort TV. It's  Thursday night , and a lineup with Kotter, Barney Miller, and The Streets of San Francisco is going to be hard to beat. See what CBS has to offer. Oh, and NBC is an afterthought.
McHale's Navy without McHale? You read that right; it's the 1965 movie McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force , and at Silver Scenes, the Metzingers tell how this movie works in spite of the fact it's missing the title character.
At Cult TV Blog, John introduces us to the 1972 children's series The Intruder, and the episode that kicks it off, " The Stranger ," a startling story of identity that carries through the entire series. It's one of those "adult" children's shows, which means anyone can enjoy it.
We're back with The A-Team at A View from the Junkyard, and this week Roger casts his eyes on the episode " When You Comin' Back, Range Rider ," a double-length episode that features chase scenes, plenty of flashbacks, a new threat, and a good time had by all.
At TV Obscurities, Robert celebrates the life of David Ketchum , actor and screenwriter, who appeared on Get Smart, Camp Runamuck, and I'm Dickens, He's Fenster, and died earlier this month at the age of 97. Be sure to follow the link to Robert's article on Runamuck. 
Also on the list of obituaries is Frank Price , who had a long career in television as a producer before going on to head up Columbia Pictures; he died this week, age 95. Terence has the story of his long list of credits at A Shroud of Thoughts.
One of the treats on MST3K is when the gang riffs on educational shorts, many of which are truly horrific. But if you want to see them intact and without commentary, Paul has the answer at Drunk TV, as he looks at the Classic Educational Shorts Collection, Volume 5. TV

If you enjoy the content here and want to support my broader creative work, please consider making a donation at my Ko-fi page. Any amount you contribute helps me continue writing, researching, and sharing these articles and projects. Thank you!