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What's on TV? Thursday, August 29, 1963

Xou'll notice that ABC's afternoon schedule includes three programs geared toward the younger audience: American Bandstand, Discovery, and American Newsstand. Of the three, perhaps the least-familiar is American Newsstand, the network's afternoon effort to produce "news with an accent on youth." It was a ten-minute broadcast that ran five days a week, and attempted to capitalize on the audience from the preceding programs to build a news market that the perennial third-place network felt was underdeveloped. The newscast began in 1961 and ran through the 1962-63 season; when Bandstand became a Saturday program, Newsstand went off the air. As you can see from this broadcast , the news was surprisingly substantive, considering what news coverage in general has become. Our listings this week come from the Eastern New England edition.
  -2- WGBH (CAMBRIDGE) (Educational)

   AFTERNOON        5:45

FRIENDLY GIANT—Children

      EVENING           6:00

JAPANESE BRUSH PAINTING

      6:15

FRIENDLY GIANT—Homme

      6:30

NEWS—Myron Spencer

      6:45

KEY TO THE CITY

      7:00

WHAT’S NEW—Children

      7:30

FOLK SINGING—Davis

      8:00

REPETORIE WORKSHOP

      8:30

NATION 110: UGANDA 

  SPECIAL        9:00

OPEN MIND—Goldman

    10:00

PLAYS IN REHERSAL—Drama

 

 

  -4- WBZ (BOSTON) (NBC)

     MORNING          6:30

SIGN ON SEMINAR

      6:45

DAILY ALMANAC

      7:00

TODAY—Hugh Downs

Local news and weather at 7:25, 8:25.

      9:00

NEWS—Chase, Desmond, Kent

      9:30

BEST OF GROUCHO—Quiz

    10:00

SAY WHEN—Art James

    10:25

NEWS—Edwin Newman

    10:30

PLAY YOUR HUNCH 

  COLOR      11:00

PRICE IS RIGHT—Bill Cullen 

  COLOR      11:30

CONCENTRATION

   AFTERNOON      12:00

NEWS, WEATHER

    12:30

MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety

      2:00

PEOPLE WILL TALK—Dennis James 

  COLOR        2:25

NEWS—Floyd Kalber

      2:30

DOCTORS—Drama

      3:00

LORETTA YOUNG

      3:30

YOU DON’T SAY!   COLOR  Guests: Ruta Lee, Dennis James. Host: Tom Kennedy

      4:00

MATCH GAME

Panelists: Milt Kamen, Barbara Cook. Host: Gene Rayburn

      4:25

NEWS—Sander Vanocur

      4:30

CLUBHOUSE 4—Children

      5:00

MOVIE—Western

“Masterson of Kansas” (1954)

      EVENING           6:30

NEWS, WEATHER

      6:45

NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley

      7:00

WYATT EARP—Western

      7:30

FOCAL POINT—Discussion 

  SPECIAL        8:30

DR. KILDARE—Drama

      9:30

LIVELY ONES 

  COLOR  Host: Vic Damone. Guests: Count Basie Sextet, Les Baxter Balladeers, Lisa Kirk, llan Sherman

    10:00

SUMMER SPECIAL

“The Story of Will Rogers”

    11:00

NEWS, WEATHER

    11:15

STEVE ALLEN—Variety

Guests: Shecky Greene, Oscar Peterson, Jennie Smith

    12:45

NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER

      1:00

HIGHWAY PATROL—Police

 

 

  -5- WHDH (BOSTON) (CBS)

     MORNING          6:25

NEWS

      6:30

BURNS AND ALLEN—Comedy

      7:00

MORNING KEY CLUB 

  COLOR        7:30

CAPTAIN BOB—Variety 

  COLOR        8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO

      9:00

ROMPER ROOM 

  COLOR        9:45

DEBBIE DRAKE—Exercise  

    10:00

NEWS—Leo Egan 

  COLOR      10:05

JULIE DANE—Fashion 

  COLOR      10:15

WE BELIEVE—Religion 

  COLOR      10:30

I LOVE LUCY—Comedy

    11:00

McCOYS—Comedy    

    11:30

PETE AND GLADYS

   AFTERNOON      12:00

LOVE OF LIFE

    12:15

NEWS—Harry Reasoner

    12:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial

    12:45

GUIDING LIGHT—Serial

      1:00

NEWS—Leo Egan 

  COLOR        1:05

FARM AND FOOD 

  COLOR        1:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS

      2:00

PASSWORD—Allen Ludden

Celebrities: Marty Allen, Steve Rossi

      2:30

HOUSE PARTY

Guest: Mitzi Gaynor

      3:00

TO TELL THE TRUTH

Panelists: Joan Fontaine, Frankie Laine, Phyllis Newman, Sam Levenson

      3:15

NEWS—Douglas Edwards

      3:30

EDGE OF NIGHT

      4:00

SECRET STORM—Serial

      4:30

MILLIONAIRE—Drama

      5:00

BOZO THE CLOWN 

  COLOR        5:45

ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS

      EVENING           6:00

NEWS—Leo Egan 

  COLOR        6:05

DATELINE BOSTON 

  COLOR        6:30

SEA HUNT—Adventure

      7:00

NEWS—Harry Reasoner

      7:15

NEWS, SPORTS—Day 

  COLOR        7:30

FAIR EXCHANGE—Comedy

      8:00

PERRY MASON

      9:00

TWILIGHT ZONE

“Of Late I Think of Cliffordsville”

    10:00

NURSES—Drama

    11:00

NEWS, WEATHER 

  COLOR      11:20

SPORTS—Don Gillis 

  COLOR      11:30

JOHNNY CARSON 

  COLOR 

 

 

  -6- WCSH (PORTLAND) (NBC)

     MORNING          6:50

FARM REPORT—Jack Brofee

      7:00

TODAY—Hugh Downs

Local news and weather at 7:25, 8:25.

      9:00

ROMPER ROOM—Connie Roussin

      9:30

BEST OF GROUCHO—Quiz

    10:00

SAY WHEN—Art James

    10:25

NEWS—Edwin Newman

    10:30

PLAY YOUR HUNCH 

  COLOR      11:00

PRICE IS RIGHT—Bill Cullen 

  COLOR      11:30

CONCENTRATION

   AFTERNOON      12:00

YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION 

  COLOR  Panelists: Dr. Joyce Brothers, Phil Foster, Bob Haymes

    12:30

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES

    12:55

NEWS—Ray Scherer

      1:00

WEEKDAY ON SIX—Variety 

      1:30

PEOPLE ARE FUNNY

      2:00

PEOPLE WILL TALK—Dennis James 

  COLOR        2:25

NEWS—Floyd Kalber

      2:30

DOCTORS—Drama

      3:00

LORETTA YOUNG

      3:30

YOU DON’T SAY!   COLOR  Guests: Ruta Lee, Dennis James. Host: Tom Kennedy

      4:00

MATCH GAME

Panelists: Milt Kamen, Barbara Cook. Host: Gene Rayburn

      4:25

NEWS—Sander Vanocur

      4:30

TROOPER 6—Cartoons

      5:00

LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES—Baseball

      EVENING           6:00

HIGHWAY PATROL—Police

      6:30

NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER

      6:45

NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley

      7:00

HENNESEY—Comedy

      7:30

CHECKMATE—Mystery

      8:30

DR. KILDARE—Drama

      9:30

LIVELY ONES 

  COLOR  Host: Vic Damone. Guests: Count Basie Sextet, Les Baxter Balladeers, Lisa Kirk, llan Sherman

    10:00

SUMMER SPECIAL

“The Story of Will Rogers”

    11:00

NEWS, WEATHER

    11:15

JOHNNY CARSON 

  COLOR 

 

 

  -6- WTEV (NEW BEDFORD) (ABC)

     MORNING          6:30

OPERATION ALPHABET

      7:00

RANGE RIDER—Western

      7:30

BILLY BANG BANG—Children

      8:30

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO

      9:00

ED ALLEN—Exercise

      9:30

AMOS ‘N’ ANDY—Comedy

    10:00

DIVORCE COURT—Drama

    11:00

LIFE OF RILEY—Comedy

    11:30

SEVEN KEYS

   AFTERNOON      12:00

ERNIE FORD

    12:30

FATHER KNOWS BEST—Comedy

      1:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial

      1:30

COMMUNITY—Bob Bassett

      2:00

DAY IN COURT

      2:25

NEWS—Alex Dreier

      2:30

JANE WYMAN

      3:00

QUEEN FOR A DAY

      3:30

WHO DO YOU TRUST?

      4:00

AMERICAN BANDSTAND—Dick Clark

      4:30

DISCOVERY ‘63

      4:55

AMERICAN NEWSSTAND—Bill Lord

      5:00

MICKEY MOUSE CLUB

      5:30

WHIRLYBIRDS—Adventure

      EVENING           6:00

NEWS—Ron Cochran

      6:15

NEWS, WEATHER

      6:30

SURFSIDE 6—Adventure

      7:30

OZZIE AND HARRIET—Comedy

      8:00

DONNA REED—Comedy

      8:30

LEAVE IT TO BEAVER

      9:00

MY THREE SONS

      9:30

McHALE’S NAVY

    10:00

ALCOA PREMIERE

“The Town That Died”

    11:00

NEWS—Murphy Martin

    11:10

NEWS, WEATHER

    11:25

THRILLER—Mystery

“The Grim Reaper”

 

 

  -7- WNAC (BOSTON) (CBS)

     MORNING          6:25

FARM AND MARKET REPORT

      6:30

UNDERSTANDING OUR WORLD

“Sharing Family Duties”

      7:00

DISCOVERY ’63—Children

      7:25

THREE STOOGES—Comedy

      8:00

THREE STOOGES—Comedy

      8:15

KING AND ODIE—Children

      8:30

JACK LA LANNE—Exercise

      9:00

PEOPLE ARE FUNNY

      9:30

EXPERT OPINION—Morgan

      9:55

NEWS

    10:00

CALENDAR—Harry Reasoner

Guests: V.K. Krishna Menon, Jimmy Hoffa, Edward Bennett Williams

    10:30

QUEEN FOR A DAY—Jack Bailey

    11:00

JANE WYMAN—Drama

    11:30

SEVEN KEYS

   AFTERNOON      12:00

ERNIE FORD

    12:30

FATHER KNOWS BEST—Comedy

      1:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial

      1:30

WHO DO YOU TRUST?

      2:00

DAY IN COURT

      2:25

NEWS—Alex Dreier

      2:30

TV HOUR OF STARS—Drama

“Survival”

      3:25

NEWS

      3:30

MOVIE—Drama

“Listen, Darling” (1938)

      4:00

BRIGHTER DAY—Serial

      4:15

SECRET STORM

      4:30

MOVIE—Drama

“Washington Melodrama” (1941)

      5:00

THREE STOOGES—Comedy

      5:30

HUCKLEBERRY HOUND

      EVENING           6:00

NEWS—Ron Cochran

      6:15

NEWS, WEATHER

      6:30

PHIL SILVERS—Comedy

      7:00

GUESTWARD  HO!—Comedy

      7:30

OZZIE AND HARRIET—Comedy

      8:00

DONNA REED—Comedy

      8:30

DANGER MAN—Mystery

      9:00

MY THREE SONS

      9:30

McHALE’S NAVY

    10:00

ALCOA PREMIERE

“The Town That Died”

    11:00

NEWS, WEATHER

    11:15

MOVIE—Double Feature

1. “Crack-up” (1946) 2. “The Easiest Way” (1930)

 

 

  -8- WMTW (POLAND SPRING) (ABC)

     MORNING          8:00

FARM AND HOME—Report

      8:45

TEDDY BEAR PLAYHOUSE

    10:30

MOVIE—Drama

“The World of Apu” (Indian; 1959), Part 1

    11:30

SEVEN KEYS

   AFTERNOON      12:00

ERNIE FORD

    12:30

FATHER KNOWS BEST—Comedy

      1:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial

      1:30

TOWN AND COUNTRY TIME

      2:00

DAY IN COURT

      2:25

NEWS—Alex Dreier

      2:30

JANE WYMAN

      3:00

QUEEN FOR A DAY

      3:30

WHO DO YOU TRUST?

      4:00

AMERICAN BANDSTAND—Dick Clark

      4:30

DISCOVERY ‘63

      4:55

AMERICAN NEWSSTAND—Bill Lord

      5:00

SUPERMAN—Adventure

      5:30

MOVIE—Science Fiction

“X. . . the Unknown” (English; 1957)

      EVENING           7:00

NEWS—Ron Cochran

      7:15

NEWS, WEATHER

      7:30

OZZIE AND HARRIET—Comedy

      8:00

DONNA REED—Comedy

      8:30

LEAVE IT TO BEAVER

      9:00

MY THREE SONS

      9:30

McHALE’S NAVY

    10:00

ALCOA PREMIERE

“The Town That Died”

    11:00

NEWS—Murphy Martin

    11:15

NEWS, WEATHER

    11:20

MOVIE—Musical Comedy

“Flying Down to Rio” (1933)

 

 

  -9- WMUR (MANCHESTER) (ABC)

     MORNING          9:30

FOR YOUR INFORMATION

      9:45

JOAN ROBERTSON—Women

    10:00

MOVIE—Prison Drama

“The Steel Cage” (1954)

    10:50

MOVIE—Drama

“Beware of Ladies” (1937)

    11:30

SEVEN KEYS

   AFTERNOON      12:00

ERNIE FORD

    12:30

FATHER KNOWS BEST—Comedy

      1:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial

      1:30

COUNTRY STORE—Bernier, Joy

      2:00

DAY IN COURT

      2:25

NEWS—Alex Dreier

      2:30

JANE WYMAN

      3:00

QUEEN FOR A DAY

      3:30

WHO DO YOU TRUST?

      4:00

AMERICAN BANDSTAND—Dick Clark

      4:30

DISCOVERY ‘63

      4:55

AMERICAN NEWSSTAND—Bill Lord

      5:00

UNCLE GUS—Cartoons

      EVENING           6:00

ROBIN HOOD—Adventure

      6:30

NEWS, WEATHER

      6:45

NEWS—Ron Cochran

      7:00

YANCY DERRINGER—Western

      7:30

OZZIE AND HARRIET—Comedy

      8:00

ADAMS AND EVE—Comedy

      8:30

LEAVE IT TO BEAVER

      9:00

MY THREE SONS

      9:30

PHIL SILVERS—Comedy

    10:00

ALCOA PREMIERE

“The Town That Died”

    11:00

NEWS—Murphy Martin

    11:15

MOVIE—Mystery

“The Big Clock” (1948)

 

 

  10 WJAR (PROVIDENCE) (NBC)

     MORNING          6:55

NEWS

      7:00

TODAY—Hugh Downs

Local news and weather at 7:25, 8:25.

      9:00

NEWS

      9:05

WORLD AROUND US

      9:30

TALK OF THE TOWN—Jay Kroll

      9:55

NEWS

    10:00

SAY WHEN—Art James

    10:25

NEWS—Edwin Newman

    10:30

PLAY YOUR HUNCH 

  COLOR      11:00

PRICE IS RIGHT—Bill Cullen 

  COLOR      11:30

CONCENTRATION

   AFTERNOON      12:00

BEST OF GROUCHO—Quiz

    12:30

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES

    12:55

NEWS—Ray Scherer

      1:00

MOVIE—Mystery

“Thank You, Mr. Moto” (1937)

      2:30

DOCTORS—Drama

      3:00

LORETTA YOUNG

      3:30

YOU DON’T SAY!   COLOR  Guests: Ruta Lee, Dennis James. Host: Tom Kennedy

      4:00

MATCH GAME

Panelists: Milt Kamen, Barbara Cook. Host: Gene Rayburn

      4:25

NEWS—Sander Vanocur

      4:30

MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY

      5:00

MOVIE—Adventure

“Tarzan’s Peril” (1951)

      EVENING           6:30

NEWS, WEATHER

      6:45

NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley

      7:00

RIPCORD—Adventure

      7:30

WIDE COUNTRY—Drama

      8:30

DR. KILDARE—Drama

      9:30

LIVELY ONES 

  COLOR  Host: Vic Damone. Guests: Count Basie Sextet, Les Baxter Balladeers, Lisa Kirk, llan Sherman

    10:00

SUMMER SPECIAL

“The Story of Will Rogers”

    11:00

NEWS, WEATHER

    11:15

JOHNNY CARSON 

  COLOR 

 

 

  11 WENH (DURHAM) (Educational)

      EVENING           6:00

CLASSICAL MUSIC

      6:25

EVENTS—New Hampshire

      6:30

NEWS—Myron Spencer

      6:45

KEY TO THE CITY

      7:00

WHAT’S NEW—Children

      7:30

FOLK SINGING—Davis

      8:00

REPETORIE WORKSHOP

      8:30

NATION 110: UGANDA 

  SPECIAL        9:00

OPEN MIND--Goldman

 

 

  12 WPRO (PROVIDENCE) (CBS)

     MORNING          7:00

POPEYE—Cartoons

      7:30

KING AND ODIE—Children

      7:45

STORYTIME—Beth Chollar

      8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO

      9:00

ROMPER ROOM—Bonnie Riker

      9:30

MORNING MERRY-GO-ROUND

    10:00

CALENDAR—Harry Reasoner

Guests: V.K. Krishna Menon, Jimmy Hoffa, Edward Bennett Williams

    10:30

I LOVE LUCY—Comedy

    11:00

McCOYS—Comedy  

    11:30

PETE AND GLADYS

   AFTERNOON      12:00

LOVE OF LIFE

    12:15

NEWS—Harry Reasoner

    12:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial

    12:45

GUIDING LIGHT—Serial

      1:00

GIRL TALK—Virginia Graham

      1:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS

      2:00

PASSWORD—Allen Ludden

Celebrities: Marty Allen, Steve Rossi

      2:30

HOUSE PARTY

Guest: Mitzi Gaynor

      3:00

TO TELL THE TRUTH

Panelists: Joan Fontaine, Frankie Laine, Phyllis Newman, Sam Levenson

      3:25

NEWS—Douglas Edwards

      3:30

EDGE OF NIGHT

      4:00

SECRET STORM—Serial

      4:30

SALTY BRINE’S SHACK

      5:30

MOVIE—Western

“Gunmen from Laredo” (1959)

      EVENING           6:45

NEWS—Harry Reasoner

      7:00

NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER

      7:30

FAIR EXCHANGE—Comedy

      8:00

PERRY MASON

      9:00

TWILIGHT ZONE

“Of Late I Think of Cliffordsville”

    10:00

NURSES—Drama

    11:00

NEWS, WEATHER

    11:20

MOVIE—Musical Comedy

“Best Foot Forward” (1943)

 

 

  13 WGAN (PORTLAND) (CBS)

     MORNING          7:00

CARTOONS—Children

      7:30

KINGDOM OF THE SEA

      8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO

      9:00

JACK LA LANNE—Exercise

      9:30

GOOD MORNING, MAINE

    10:00

CALENDAR—Harry Reasoner

Guests: V.K. Krishna Menon, Jimmy Hoffa, Edward Bennett Williams

    10:30

I LOVE LUCY—Comedy

    11:00

McCOYS—Comedy  

    11:30

PETE AND GLADYS

   AFTERNOON      12:00

LOVE OF LIFE

    12:15

NEWS—Hank Gale

    12:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial

    12:45

GUIDING LIGHT—Serial

      1:00

GIRL TALK—Virginia Graham

      1:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS

      2:00

PASSWORD—Allen Ludden

Celebrities: Marty Allen, Steve Rossi

      2:30

HOUSE PARTY

Guest: Mitzi Gaynor

      3:00

TO TELL THE TRUTH

Panelists: Joan Fontaine, Frankie Laine, Phyllis Newman, Sam Levenson

      3:25

NEWS—Douglas Edwards

      3:30

EDGE OF NIGHT

      4:00

SECRET STORM—Serial

      4:30

MILLIONAIRE—Drama

      5:00

CAPTAIN AND THE KIDS

      5:30

MOVIE—Comedy

“Too Many Husbands” (1940)

      EVENING           6:55

NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER

      7:30

SEA HUNT—Adventure

      8:00

PERRY MASON

      9:00

TWILIGHT ZONE

“Of Late I Think of Cliffordsville”

    10:00

NURSES—Drama

    11:00

NEWS, WEATHER

    11:15

HORSE RACE—Scarborough

    11:20

STEVE ALLEN—Variety

Guests: Shecky Greene, Oscar Peterson, Jennie Smith

    12:45

NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER

 

TV  

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This week in TV Guide: August 24, 1963

We have, I think, a tendency to look at the early 1960s as a kind of remnant of the Golden Age of Television, a carryover from the days of great drama and cultural programming, minus the anthologies. I'm probably as guilty of this as anyone, because I really do have a fondness for this period in television history. But are we guilty of a kind of revisionist history?
This week, we see another edition of an occasional feature in TV Guide, in which noted personalities in entertainment, the arts, and news express their opinions on the state of television. The questions posed to them: has TV programming improved over the last five years; what type of program would you like to see; and what is TV's greatest need. The results are, to say the least, mixed. Dr. Margarete Mead, the anthropologist, feels that the medium has definitely declined over the half-decade: "Intervals of program material are getting shorter and shorter, with an increasingly disintegrative effect on the mind." (I wonder what she'd think of today's short attention spans?) The playwright Paddy Chayefsky agrees: "The people who do the programming apparently lack ingenuity, talent, discretion, taste, efficiency, and simple business sense." (But what do you really think?) Former light heavyweight boxing champion and actor Archie Moore provides a thoughtful answer: "It has improved in some ways (for the sponsor); has gained tremendous audience. Programming has not improved much—too much killing. It is the devil's workshop for an idle mind, especially juvenile." 
Not everyone is quite as down on the tube; Carol Burnett, for instance, says it "definitely" has improved, but then goes on to specify how she thinks TV is better: "Frankness in 'discussion shows,'" and how "newscasts are more interesting (due to the high quality of newscasters." Author Harry Golden sees improvement in "news and public-service features." Jack Lemmon has a similar opinion, saying that television has improved "only in news and sports coverage, isolated 'specials,' and the birth of educational TV." Filmed shows, he says, suffer from "trying to please the biggest percentage of audience possible. In other words, trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator." Dave Brubeck feels that it has improved "especially in area of news documentaries," but at the same time it's "regressed in live dramas." Painter Thomas Hart Benton seconds the opinion on the educational side: "Knowledge-content programs seem to have improved somewhat."   
When asked what shows television needs more of, almost everyone agrees that drama needs to come to the forefront. Benton wants "More plays in which language is an important factor and ideas have a place." Lemmon, Brubeck, and Burnett all cite the need for live plays and anthology shows such as Studio One and Playhouse 90. Chayefsky, not surprisingly, is the most tart on this score: "I should like to see unabashed satires, biting and protesting drama, some feeling that Americans have more vigor than television thinks they have." Mead wants to see television utilize its skill to present "programs that can be done only on TV (not on film), and joins Golden, Burnett, Lemmon, and Secretary of State Dean Rusk in calling for more news, public affairs, and documentary programming, along with shows that allow a frank and open exchange of ideas. Brubeck (not surprisingly) and Moore would like to see more arts and music programs. 
What does TV need? Almost everyone agrees on what it doesn't need: commercials. Thomas Hart Benton says that "The main irritant in all programming is interruptions by advertising. Advertising should be before or after programs. Present practice is intolerable." (Hear, hear!) Actors like Burnett and Lemmon want less sponsor interference in program content, which Burnett believes leads to a situation where "networks are less likely to gamble on 'untried people.' Experiments! How else can it grow?" Dave Brubeck, like Paddy Chayefsky, believes that the public is "far more intelligent than TV programs would indicate." Archie Moore would like more prime-time programming for children, and Dean Rusk believes that television's greatest capacity is its positive contribution to democracy; its greatest need is "to continue and to improve upon its record of public service in this field." 
As is invariably the case, everyone views things through their own lens, reflecting their own preferences and biases. Creative people want more creative programming, public servants want more public affairs shows, actors want more live TV, dramatists want more drama. Nobody seems terribly thrilled with the state of the medium today; even their positive comments are hedged or qualified. And almost everyone believes that the programmers underestimate the native intelligence and desire of the public, even though the ratings rarely bear this out. Paddy Chayefsky, as befits one of the premier writers of the age, perhaps sums things up nicely. When asked what television's greatest need is, his simple reply is, "talent [and] self-respect." I wonder what they would think of television today?
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This Wednesday sees one of the seminal moments in 20th Century American history, the civil rights March on Washington. It's best-known for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s stirring "I Have a Dream" speech, and for the equally stirring scene of Americans both black and white, rich and poor, famous and anonymous, marching on the Nation's capital. 
The event's official name is the "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom," sponsored by the six major civil rights groups in the United States, and an estimated quarter of a million participants are expected to gather around the Washington Monument to begin the march, which will conclude with speeches from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Besides King, political, religious, and business leaders are also scheduled to speak, including Roy Wilkins, John Lewis, and labor leader Walter Reuther. There are rumors that President Kennedy himself might address the marchers, but that has not been confirmed at press time. (He doesn't.)
CBS and NBC plan extensive coverage of the march, with live cut-ins when events warrant. NBC's Frank McGee will have two half-hour reports, at 2:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. ET, plus a 45-minute wrap-up at 11:15 p.m., or after the late local news. CBS's morning program Calendar will be reporting live from Washington at 10:00 a.m., and Walter Cronkite will be back at 7:30 p.m. for a special one-hour report. Evening news programs—which, you'll remember, are still only 15 minutes long at this point—will obviously provide headline coverage. 
Notable for its absence is ABC, the perennially third-place network. I would be very surprised if they didn't do some kind of reporting during the day, besides their evening news report. But if you're interested, YouTube has some of that NBC News coverage , likely Frank McGee's afternoon report, as it happened.
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Speaking of drama, one of the great ongoing dramas on television right now isn't on a dramatic show at all, but on The Judy Garland Show. Specifically, it concerns the behind-the-scenes drama, as the show, which doesn't even premiere for another month, has already suffered its first casualties, with producer George Schlatter and three of his writers getting the sack. The network's comment: while it was "delighted" with the five episodes Schlatter had in the can, there were "differences of opinion as to the course of future production." Irreconcilable differences, as we might say in the domestic arena. 
As Henry Harding points out, none of this turmoil counts as a surprise; "the I-told-you-so set in New York and Hollywood had been prophesying for months that CBS would have its hands full keeping the unpredictable star happy." However, the available evidence suggests that in this case, Judy was "an innocent bystander" to the conflict between Schaltter and the network. Insiders accuse Schlatter of having "wanted every show to be a blockbuster and, according to one insider, had let things 'get out of hand physically and financially.' CBS thought Schlatter was trying to do the impossible and was concerned about the drain on the network's exchequer." As I recall—I'm not looking it up right now—this coincides with Garland's own feeling about the show, which she envisioned as a weekly concert more than a traditional variety show. 
At any rate, the change—the first of many which will occur during the troubled single-season series—will go into effect immediately, with associate producer and scenic designer Gary Smith taking over the helm. And the Schlatter era is just so much drama over the rainbow.
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If you're my age, or perhaps slightly younger, you'll remember Jules Bergman as one of the most authoritative of television's space-age reporters. Few would question his credentials, his knowledge of space, or his ambition. There's even a file photo at ABC picturing Bergman in a space suit, standing on a simulated lunar surface, with the caption, "Jules Bergman, ABC, the Moon." But there are some who, perhaps ironically, see his space beat as only appropriate for a man whose competitive drive seems as big as the universe itself.
"Julie is the finest TV space reporter around town, certainly the best qualified," one competitor said. "But he's got the most gigantic ego I've ever seen. He's always bragging about how great ABC News is and saying how poorly CBS and NBC handle their jobs." Last year, he got into a fist fight with CBS News producer Bob Wussler after the two had exchanged words*; both men now say that the matter is long forgotten. 
*I'm betting Wussler was not overheard saying, "To the Moon, Bergman!" as he threw his punch.
Bergman says many of the complaints are due to professional competitiveness; "When it comes to getting a story, they are all real tigers, just like me. You can't help stepping on some toes in the helter-skelter of trying to get on the air first with your facts." That's backed up by his former boss, John Daly, for whom Bergman worked while Daly was head of ABC News. "He had a tremendous amount of drive and ambition," Daly says. Recalling how, after Bergman had won a fellowship at the Columbia School of Journalism, he had not only convinced Daly to give me a leave of absense, but to pay the difference between his ABC salary and his fellowship income, Daly says, "He had the get-up-and-go to get the fellowship. Once he got it, he came to me and painted vividly the advantages ABC News would enjoy in having a science expert on staff."
More recently, Bergman worked for James Hagerty, who succeeded Daly as ABC News boss after serving as Eisenhower's press secretary. It was Hagerty who put Bergman on the science beat; "I was surprised, too, to discover that Jules knew as much about our Government's space program as I did—and I learned about it, after all, at the White House. I wanted a man whose sole news beat was to be the whole wide range of science, so I appointed Jules our science editor." Bergman remains the only science editor on network television.
His expertise has been on display many times, including Scott Carpenter's Aurora 7 flight last year, when it appeared that the capsule—and Carpenter—might be lost. "I told our viewers that it was impossible that radar had lost him even though he was out of voice contact. It turned out I was right." That confidence, again. Having been fascinated with manned spaceflight for my entire life, and having watched so many of those Gemini and Apollo missions on TV, I can say that, along with Frank McGee and Bill Ryan on NBC, and Walter Cronkite and Wally Schirra on CBS, I'll always think of Jules Bergman whenever I look back on that remarkable time in history.
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Saturday's episode of Gunsmoke (10:00 p.m., CBS) is a truly notable one: in "Us Hagens," Matt, searching for Black Jack Haggen, accused of murdering nephew Fergus Haggen, is assisted by Fergus's twin brother, scruffy hillbilly Festus. That's right, the first appearance of Festus, played by Ken Curtis, who would go on to become one of the most-loved members of the Gunsmoke clan. His appearances on the show will be occasional until 1964, when he takes Dennis Weaver's place as Dillon's deputy. Black Jack, incidentally, is played by Denver Pyle, who was once considered for the role of Matt Dillon when the television version of Gunsmoke was being planned.
Sunday's DuPont Show of the Week (10:00 p.m., NBC) is an intriguing one: "The Interrogator," which takes place on the British colony of Cyprus, where a police inspector, played by John Mills, stands accused of murdering a terrorist prisoner under his custody. With only one day to prove his innocence before being exiled to England, the inspector decides to interrogate other members of the terrorist group. Robert Loggia, Ina Balin, Murray Matheson, and Gene Wilder co-star 
Phil Silvers, whom we all know and love as Sgt. Ernie Bilko, is reunited with Bilko creator Nat Hiken for Monday night's Comedy Hour Special, "The Ballad of Louis the Louse" (9:00 p.m., CBS). It's a role tailor-made for Silvers, who plays the late Louis Cramfield, loan shark and louse, whose death sparks no tears except for a newspaperman who eulogizes Louis as "the Saint of Broadway." Silvers is joined in the cast by Betsy Palmer, Eddie Albert, and Pert Kelton. Hiken, in addition to directing, wrote the book and lyrics for the musical; the music was composed by Gordon Jenkins. 
Apropos of Jules Bergman, a special on Tuesday night, apparently syndicated but appearing on two of the four ABC affiliates in this Eastern New England edition, is Focus on America (10:30 p.m.), featuring Dr. Wernher von Braun, head of the U.S. space program. Von Braun gives some quite interesting opinions on the "space race," including one that must have been a bit controversial for the time, that "the objective of space exploration should be the discovery of knowledge," and that the country "should forget about 'beating the Russians.'" Now, that happens to be a viewpoint I agree with, but I wonder how others felt about it, considering that much of the motivation for the financial layout required to put a man on the moon came from the race to beat the Russkies. Too bad we can't ask Jules Bergman about it.
Wednesday's programming highlight is "Like a Diamond in the Sky," a haunting episode of the excellent psychiatric drama The Eleventh Hour (10:00 p.m., NBC), in which Julie London plays glamorous singer Joan Ashmond, who's committed suicide; Dr. Graham (Jack Ging) is assigned to perform a "psychological post-mortem." The episode first aired on February 13, 1963; no wonder the description in the listings says it will likely remind viewers of Marilyn Monroe's death, which had occurred only six months prior to that broadcast.
On Thursday, NBC's Project 20 takes a look at "The Story of Will Rogers" (10:00 p.m.), an hour-long profile of the beloved humorist narrated by a man who knew a thing or two about humor himself, Bob Hope. Project 20, which you sometimes see styled Project XX, was one of those series that well-served the desire that many of our experts up in the lede expressed for more informative and educational shows that were also entertaining. 
Friday begins with the final episode of CBS's morning public affairs program Calendar, hosted by Harry Reasoner and Mary Fickett. (10:00 a.m.) You don't read much about Calendar in the history books when it comes to morning programming, which is too bad, because although I've never seen it, it's always sounded like an interesting show. What's replacing it? The CBS Morning News with Mike Wallace, which will eventually move to an earlier timeslot, and has morphed into CBS Mornings, which in my opinion is a far lesser program. Skipping from morning to late-night, a couple of local movies attract the attention: Paths of Glory (11;15 p.m., WBZ), one of the greatest anti-war movies of all time, starring Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, and Adolphe Menjou; and a movie that we usually see more often around the Yule, The Man Who Came to Dinner (11:20 p.m., WMTW), one of the greatest anti-sentimentality Christmas movies of all time, starring Monty Woolley, Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, and a scene-stealing appearance by Jimmy Durante.
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No MST3K movie this week, but something almost as good: an article on Judee Morton. Fans of MST3K remember her from the immortal The Slime People, but this week she's the woman who looked too young. Although she's 24, with a college degree from UCLA, she's always being cast as teens (including in the aforementioned Slime People, and for good reason: she looks like a teen. During her first television appearance, on My Three Sons, she had to convince the production manager that she didn't need a work permit, something that's required of anyone under 18, and that in fact her "work permit" was a B.A. degree from UCLA.
While she never becomes a major star, Judee compiles an impressive list of credits, mostly in guest appearances on television; there's a time in the late 1960s and early '70s when she seems to appear on almost every show on TV. Her last appearance is on House in 2009, after which she worked as a practicing psychotherapist. Her interview on the bonus track of MST3K's Slime People DVD is charming, and she's still around, at 85. And probably wishing, as we all do, that she still looked like a teenager.  TV

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Around the dial

This week begins at the Broadcast Archives where we get another poignant display of a time when technology was viewed in a more benign light than today: the 1964 World's Fair pavilion, where RCA has color television on display .
The bad news: Jack's regular Hitchcock Project is now concluding at bare•bones e-zine, with a wrapup where you can find links to all the posts , covering every episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour! The good news: next year the book comes out! I've already got something to look forward to!
Here's something else to look forward to, if you're a fan of The Dick Van Dyke Show: at Comfort TV, David gives us ten reasons to love the episode "Bupkis,"  which is seldom mentioned as a fan favorite, but after reading this, see if he won't change your mind.

At Cult TV Blog, Jack takes us to the anthology series Six Plays by Alan Bennett, and "One Fine Day," starring Irish comedian Dave Allen, in a rare dramatic role, as a commercial estate agent faced with a breaking point in his life, who finds a unique way of coping.
Talk about an identity crisis: this week at RealWeegieMidget, Gill (and her Darlin Husband) offer us a double dose of Patrick Duffy in " Shoot-Out at Land’s End ," an episode from The Man From Atlantis that involves said man and his doppelganger. Unless we find out it was all a dream. . . 
Forced labor, smuggled across the border from Mexico (with all its ethical implications), is more than just ripped from today's headlines; it's the theme of this week's A-Team episode, " Bad Time on the Border ," which Roger reviews at The View from the Junkyard.
At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence takes us back to happier times with a look at some vintage fall television promos . There are many of these on YouTube, dating back to the 1960s, and some of us remember highlights from those years, such as NBC Week. Good times.
Finally, it just wouldn't be a normal day here at It's About TV without some kind of self-promotion, so here's the link to the latest episode of American TV with Mitchell Hadley, in which Dan Schneider and I discuss American television in the 1990s . Ring any bells with you?  TV

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An Important Message About How You Can Support My Work

Xs many of you know, for nearly fifteen years I’ve shared my thoughts on classic television here at It’s About TV! You're probably also aware that I am an independent author—sometimes called an indie author—who publishes without a traditional publisher. This means I handle every part of the publishing process myself, from editing to design and marketing.
While some indie authors find financial success, many spend more on publishing their books than they earn back. It is both a career and a labor that requires ongoing time, effort, and expense.
This site is not primarily about promoting books—it is a project I maintain because I value the work and the community. However, it does involve costs like hosting fees, domain expenses, and the time I dedicate to writing and managing the site.
I invite you to support my current and future creative work by  making a voluntary contribution through Ko-fi , a platform that makes tipping simple and secure. Your support will help cover the costs of hosting fees, domain costs, publishing expenses, and the many hours spent writing, researching, and managing these various projects.
I have always maintained a commitment that I will not monetize the content of this blog itself, a principle I continue to uphold. Contributions made here are entirely separate from your access to the blog and instead help support the broader scope of creative work beyond what you read here.
Whether you come here for the blog or follow my other work, your support is sincerely appreciated and makes a real difference. Thank you!   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? Saturday, August 19, 1972

In a week dominated by the Republican Convention, I thought it only fair to give you a look at one of the four days of the week with somewhat regular programming. Not for the last time, we look at the CBS lineup and remember that people used to stay at home watching television on Saturdays, or watching it with their friends. We're also  reminded that a lot of those Saturday morning cartoons of the early 1970s were pretty awful, but that there were still a few classic ones around. We're in the Twin Cities this week, with a note that the PBS stations, KTCA and KTCI, don't broadcast on Saturdays in the Summer.
  -4- WCCO (CBS)

  MORNING

       6:30

SUMMER SEMESTER 

-C-  The Cold War and Beyond

       7:00

BUGS BUNNY 

-C-         7:30

SCOOBY DOO 

-C-         8:00

GLOBETROTTERS—Cartoon 

-C-         8:30

HELP! IT’S THE HAIR BEAR BUNCH! 

-C-         9:00

PEBBLES AND BAMM BAMM 

-C-         9:30

ARCHIE’S TV FUNNIES 

-C-       10:00

SABRINA, THE TEENAGE WITCH 

-C-       10:30

JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS 

-C-       11:00

MONKEES 

-C-           

   11:30

WHAT’S A CONVENTION ALL ABOUT? 

-C-  Special: Host: Walter Cronkite

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

NEWS, WEATHER, SPORTS 

-C-       12:30

JUVENILE JURY 

-C-  Guests: Lassie, trainers Rudd and Bob Weatherwax

       1:00

MOVIN’ WHEELS 

-C-         1:30

THE SAINT—Crime Drama

       2:30

MOVIE—Western 

-C-  “Sierra” (1950)

       4:00

GOLF TOURNAMENT 

-C-  USI Golf Classic, third round

[Pre-empts regular programming.]

       5:00

ROLLIN’ ON THE RIVER 

-C-  Guest: Jason Robards

       5:30

CBS NEWS—Roger Mudd 

-C-    EVENING

       6:00

NEWS 

-C-         6:30

LASSIE 

-C-  [Postponed from last week.]

       7:00

ALL IN THE FAMILY 

-C-         7:30

MARY TYLER MOORE 

-C-         8:00

DICK VAN DYKE 

-C-         8:30

ARNIE 

-C-         9:00

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 

-C-       10:00

NEWS, WEATHER, SPORTS 

-C-       10:50

MOVIE—Drama

“The Proud and the Profane” (1956)

       1:00

THIS MUST BE THE PLACE 

-C- 

 

 

  -5- KSTP (NBC)

  MORNING

       7:00

DR. DOLITTLE—Cartoon 

-C-         7:30

DEPUTY DAWG 

-C-         8:00

WOODY WOODPECKER 

-C-         8:30

PINK PANTHER 

-C-         9:00

JETSONS 

-C-         9:30

BARRIER REEF—Drama 

-C-       10:00

TAKE A GIANT STEP—Children 

-C-  Host: Barbara Walters

     11:00

MR. WIZARD—Science 

-C-           

   11:30

BUGALOOS—Children 

-C-    AFTERNOON

     12:00

WALLY’S WORKSHOP 

-C-       12:30

F TROOP—Comedy 

-C-         1:00

BASEBALL PRE-GAME SHOW -C-         1:15

BASEBALL 

-C-  Boston Red Sox at Chicago White Sox

[Rain game: Cincinnati Reds at New York Mets]

       4:00

NASHVILLE MUSIC 

-C-  Guests: Charlie Louvin, Melba Montgomery, Dave Dudley, Ralph Sloan and the Tennessee Travelers

       4:30

BARON—Adventure 

-C-         5:30

PRIMUS—Adventure 

-C-    EVENING

       6:00

NEWS 

-C-         6:30

MOUSE FACTORY 

-C-  Guest: Jonathan Winters

       7:00

NBC COMEDY THEATER 

-C-  “The Seven Little Foys”

       8:00

PRO FOOTBALL 

-C-  Special: Oakland Raiders at Los Angeles Rams

[Pre-empts the network movie.]

     11:00

NEWS, WEATHER, SPORTS 

-C-  Time approximate

 

   11:30

JOHNNY CARSON 

-C-  Guests: Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, James Caan, Della Reese, Jo Anne Worley

       1:00

MOVIE—Melodrama

“Night of Terror” (1933)

       2:10

MOVIE—Science Fiction

Time approximate. “Kronos” (1957)

 

 

  -9- KMSP (ABC)

  MORNING

       7:00

JERRY LEWIS—Cartoon 

-C-         7:30

ROAD RUNNER 

-C-         8:00

FUNKY PHANTOM 

-C-         8:30

JACKSON 5IVE—Cartoon 

-C-         9:00

BEWITCHED 

-C-         9:30

LIDSVILLE—Children 

-C-       10:00

CURIOSITY SHOP—Children 

-C-       11:00

JONNY QUEST 

-C-           

   11:30

LANCELOT LINK 

-C-    AFTERNOON

     12:00

AMERICAN BANDSTAND 

-C-  Guests: Connie Stevens, Harry Chapin

       1:00     2:00

ROLLER DERBY -C- MOVIE—Adventure

“Hide and Seek” (English; 1963)

       3:30

LEE TREVINO’S GOLF FOR SWINGERS 

-C-  Guests: Bing Crosby, Dean Martin

       4:00

WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS 

-C-  Daytona 300 stock car race, 1968 Olympics highlights, Fischer-Spassky update

       5:30

OLYMPIANS ’72 

-C-    EVENING

       6:00

GHOST AND MRS. MUIR 

-C-         6:30

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES 

-C-         7:00

MOVIE—Comedy-Drama 

-C-  “The Day the Fish Came Out” (Greek-English; 1967)

       9:00

ABC COMEDY SHOWCASE 

-C-  Special

     10:00

MOVIE—Drama 

-C-  “The Rainmaker” (1956)

     12:25

TO BE ANNOUNCED

       1:00

NEWS—Sam Donaldson 

-C-  Time approximate

 

  11 WTCN (Ind.)

  MORNING

       8:30

STORY TIME 

-C-         9:00

FARM FORUM 

-C-         9:30

U OF MINN. 

-C-       10:00

TALK IN 

-C-       10:30

MADAGIMO—Minn. Indians 

-C-       11:00

COMMUNITY OUTREACH 

-C-           

   11:30

NEWS, WEATHER, SPORTS 

-C-    AFTERNOON

     12:00

     1:00 FRED AND FRIENDS 

-C- PATTY DUKE—Comedy        1:30

ADDAMS FAMILY—Comedy

       2:00

DEATH VALLEY DAYS

       2:30

FISHIN’ HOLE 

-C-         3:00

THEN CAME BRONSON 

-C-         4:00

WRESTLING 

-C-         5:30

HARMON KILLEBREW 

-C-         5:50

IN THE DUGOUT 

-C-    EVENING

       6:00

BASEBALL 

-C-  Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles

{Pre-empts regular programming.]

       8:20

SCOREBOARD—Joe Boyle 

-C-  Time approximate

       8:30

ROLLER GAME OF THE WEEK 

-C-  Time approximate

       9:30

NEWS, WEATHER, SPORTS 

-C-       10:00

ALFRED HITCHCOCK—Drama

     11:00

MOVIE—Adventure 

-C-  “Sangaree” (1953)

 

TV  

This week in TV Guide: August 19, 1972

When last we visited Miami Beach, the Sun and Fun Capital of the World, it was for the most entertaining stretch of television since Jackie Gleason and the June Taylor Dancers were in town. I speak, of course, of last month's Democratic National Convention, otherwise known as the Circular Firing Squad, otherwise known as the convention where their nominee for president gave his acceptance speech at 3:00 a.m. Eastern time. "They blew that terribly," Walter Cronkite tells Richard K. Doan and Neil Hickey in this week's story previewing this week's Republican Convention, to be held in the same city. "I think it must have hurt them a great deal."
The Republicans take their turn in Miami Beach determined not to repeat the Democrats' mistakes of 1968 and 1972. Their solution: what may be the first purely made-for-TV convention. One Republican strategist puts it succinctly: "It's be short and sweet and to the point. And it'll be a whole new kind of TV show, different even from our own conventions of the past." After all, they only have two things to accomplish: "to nominate Richard Nixon in prime time, and to get those delegates in bed each night before midnight." As David Brinkley says, "This one will be even more difficult for us than the Democrats' because there will be fewer surprises, less suspense, and less to talk about." 
The differences will be noticeable even before the gavel drops; unlike most modern-day conventions, this one is scheduled for three days rather than four. The convention floor itself will be less cramped, with the Republicans having only 1,348 delegates as opposed to 3,016 for the Democrats. The platform and credentials procedures are scheduled for afternoon sessions, rather than in prime time. To liven things up, three giant video screens have been installed around the convention hall to provide slide shows and films for viewers, including three short films by documentarian David L. Wolper. And because ABC is once again forsaking gavel-to-gavel coverage, major speeches won't be scheduled until after 9:30 p.m., to make sure they appear on all three networks. Says Fred Rheinstein, who oversees the party's television and radio arrangements, "If the convention has a good look and is visually effective and interesting without seeming manipulated—which it will not be—then I've succeeded."   The convention itself kicks off Monday night with a speech by temporary convention chairman, Ronald Reagan, thought to be a kind of consolation prize since he was obviously finished as a presidential hopeful; followed by a speech from GOP Chairman Bob Dole (who was old even then). Tuesday night Nixon's name is placed in nomination by another old adversary, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. And then on Wednesday night Vice President Spiro Agnew delivers his acceptance speech, leading into Nixon's own speech. Everything ends by 11:00 p.m., or close to it, and everyone goes home happy. In November, Nixon wins 49 out of 50 states, garnering nearly 61 percent of the popular vote. Less than two years later, he'll be out of politics. Such are the vagaries of politics, after all.
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I should have warned you that this was going to be a political issue; in the first of three parts, Edith Efron takes a look at the state of blacks in broadcasting. Namely, why are there so few, and what's being done about it. 
Considering we're only going to get one-third of the story this week, a top-level overview is probably the best way to take it. Examination of the problem begins with the Congressional Black Causus; their investigation sugggests that the black community is "grossly excluded, distorted, mishandled and exploited by the white-controlled news media," and that "black people are systematically excluded from employment at most levels in newspapers, radio and television stations, though token nubers are to be found." Furthermore, the white media have "failed miserably" at honest reporting in the day-to-day news from the black community. In other words, Efron summarizes, "the hiring-promotion-and firing proces is racist, and that news coverage is racist."
Somewhat interestingly, Efron decides to investigate rather than simply take the words of black groups that the discrimination is intentional and racially motivated. The people she talks to at the station level, mostly heads of network-owned and operated stations, offer various perspectives on increasing black representation in the newsroom. Robert Hocking, at WCBS, says that it's difficult to train people in these "complex jobs"; thus, they tend to rely on those who've already received training. They're also moving to increase hiring in the sales area, since "most stations get management people through sales." Across the board, they agree that although the numbers are still low, major strides are being made.
Howard University professor Samuel Yette, the "self-appointed" spokesman for the black journalists, contends that the increase in hiring is largely "pacification, not unlike other pacification measures aimed at blacks during the last decade." To which a white editor replies, "Do you realize what he's saying? He's saying we're racists if we don't hire blacks—and that we're racists if we do hire blacks." One top decision-maker explains the complexities involved. The bottom line is "protecting the station license," and everything is measured against that. If you hire too many blacks, you face the public calling you "the black station." If you hire too many inexperienced blacks, "the work begins to sink." If you put too many in the sales department, "those people in the ad agencies [may] take their business elsewhere." Most important for the credibility of the station, "How many blacks without real managerial experience can you put in decision-making jobs before they bankrupt you." At the same time, he acknowledges a double-standard. "Our staff is loaded with white mediocrities. Every staff is loaded with white mediocrities. But we're used to white mediocrity. When it's a black mediocrity, it feels as if somebody forced him down your craw. I grant you, it's racism."
The bottom line, Efron says in the conclusion to part one of the story, is that Yette's analysis, "couched in 'master-slave' language, is seeing the situation from the 'outside.'" Station managers and executives look at the same problem from the "inside." What does it add up to? Black unpreparedness due to historical racism is a reality; but contemporary efforts to fix the situation are also a reality; but continuing racism in the industry is also a reality. Which is the dominant one? What they all agree on is that there is a problem. 
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Surely there must be something available for anyone not in the political frame of mind. And even with the Convention taking up three nights, there's a little something for everyone.
Football season will be here before you know it, and on Saturday, NBC airs a prime-time pre-season matchup between the Raiders and Rams from Los Angeles. (8:00 p.m.) For those of you trying to keep track of these things, this pits a team that would move from Oakland to Los Angeles and then back to Oakland and finally to Las Vegas, against a team that had moved to Los Angeles from Cleveland and would eventually move to St. Louis, and then back to Los Angeles. At one point both teams played in Los Angeles at the same time. After all that, who cares who wins?
Sunday includes what's sure to be a controversial episode of William F. Buckley Jr.'s Firing Line (PBS, 7:00 p.m.), as Buckley welcomes the controversil psychologist ◄ B.F. Skinner, discussing his book Beyond Freedom and Dignity. (You can see it here .) Among other things, Skinner advocaters that "man be controlled and conditioned to serve group interests." I'm not entirely sure about this, but I think Skinner might have wound up as head of the Centers for Disease Control; he certainly sounds like it. Either that, or he's a distant relative of Anthony Fauci. And speaking of programs with a modern theme, Darren McGavin stars as the defendant on "The Lawyers" segement of The Bold Ones (9:00 p.m., NBC). He admits causing $50,000 worth of damage to a private investigating firm: but it turns out the firm had complied a secret dossier on him that cost him his job, his marriage, and his reputation. The script, which won an Emmy following the original broadcast, was entered in the Congressional Record. Today, the firm that compiled the dossier would probably get a government contract. (According to IMDb, the information they gathered was erroneous, which guarantees they'd get the contract.)
With convention coverage starting on Monday, our pickings are going to begin getting a little slim, unless you're a political junkie as I was when I was that age. Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In (6:30 p.m., NBC) has an all-sports rerun, featuring Rams quarterback Roman Gabriel, whom you might have seen in the game Saturday, and cameos from Vida Blue, Andy Granatelli, Sugar Ray Robinson, Bill Russell, Doug Sanders, Vin Scully and Willie Shoemaker. Nice show. For those of a musical vein, the 1971 Montreaux Jazz Festival is featured on PBS (7:00 p.m.), and ABC—making good use of their extra 90 minutes before joining the convention in progress—repeats the pilot for the upcoming series The Rookies (7:00 p.m.), with Darren McGavin as Sergeant Ryker, a role that will be played in the fall by Gerald S. O'Loughlin, and Jennifer Billingsley as Danko, who will be played by Kate Jackson in the series.
It's the annual NBC telecast of the Ice Follies on Tuesday (6:30 p.m.), and this year Snoopy and his creator, Charles M. Schulz, are the headliners. On a repeat of The Mod Squad (6:30 p.m., ABC) has Andy Griffith as a man facing death threats after his testimony puts away a killer. And on Marcus Welby, M.D. (7:30 p.m., ABC), Gary Collins plays a hard-nosed father whose tough discipline is making things worse for his son; I'd bet on Dr. Welby against any bully. The GOP Convention wraps up on Wednesday, as does Steve Allen's stint as guest host (along with wife Jayne Meadows) on The Dick Cavett Show (11:30 p.m., ABC). Different time, same situation: Joey Bishop is guest host on The Tonight Show (10:30 p.m., NBC). Unlike the Democratic Convention, which saw sessions running until 6:00 a.m., the talk shows are in no danger of being pre-empted by the GOP. 
Thursday is a night of specials on ABC, topped off by a series' "best show of the season." It starts at 7:00 p.m. with Kid Power, a prime-time preview of a new Rankin-Bass Saturday morning animated series that begins next month. It's based on the "Wee Pals" comic strip, focusing on a multicultural group of youngsters sharing thougths on "prejudice, teamwork and responsiblity." A total of 17 episodes are made. That's followed at 7:30 by a "fast-paced" concert starring Three Dog Night with special guest Roberta Flack, and it had better be fast-paced since they're going to fit six songs into a half-hour (minus commercials). But I know; songs were shorter back then, and why not? At 8:00, it's a cinéma-vérité look at Julie Andrews, who just happens to have an ABC variety series starting next month, directed by Blake Edwards, who just happens to be married to Julie. And at 9:00, Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law presents "Victim in Shadow," a charged episode dealing with rape. Stefanie Powers is the victim, and Rick Nelson is the rapist.
The Summer Olympics start tomorrow in Munich with the Opening Ceremonies, and on Friday (7:00 p.m.) ABC presents a two-hour preview of what is already being referred to as the "Peaceful Olympics," meant to erase the bad memories of Hitler and the 1936 Berlin games. The network is planning a record 61½ hours of coverage (which is a drop in the bucket compared to what NBC does today, but times were different back then), and tonight's special gives us a look at the favorites, along with some memorable moments from the past. Next week's TV Guide will have an extensive look at the Games, but it's worth a look at an excerpt from that article, describing the atmosphere likely to prevail:

The atmosphere surrounding the Games should be thick with Bavarian Gemutlichkeit [friendliness]. A German Olympic official has promised, "We know only too well that crimes have been committed in the German name, and how many people have suffered . . . These Olympics will be what they are supposed to be: the great meeting of the youth of the world; of the new, hopefully enlightened generation; and thus a small contribution to world peace."

Ironic, isn't it?
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The last word, though, belongs to our cover star, Chad Everett. Everett was riding high on the success of Medical Center in 1972, and Jeanie Kasindorf's profile highlights some of Everett's, shall we say, controversial viewpoints, such as referring to his wife as "the most beautiful animal I own." (Did I mention already that this was a heavily political issue?) That remark, on the Dick Cavett show, caused guest Lily Tomlin to walk off, and for that reason alone we probably ought to thank Everett for performing a public service.

Everett was something of a chauvinist, albeit a benign one, who professed that he'd never heard of Gloria Steinem. But his comments suggest something more: an insight into the the very nature of gender roles, and the cultural controversy that exists today about the definition of masculinity and what it means to be a man in the 21st Century: "Please, women, don't take all of my roles as a protector away. Let me open doors and take care of you. If you want to come out and compete in the business world, I'm still gonna give you my seat on the bus."

(I'll interject here a juxtaposition with another article in this week's issue, a profile of soap opera star Marie Masters, who plays Susan Stewart on As the World Turns. In Ross Drake's story, she talks about the need for "a more balanced relationship" between men and women. "There is no reason why a man should be a prince, while everybod else in his home is a slave." Maybe this just interests me, but when Kasindorf asks Everett about John Lennon and Yoko Ono calling women "slaves," Everett—who "bristles" at Lennon and Ono's description—indirectly responds to Masters as well: "It's ridiculous. A woman shares in the income of her man by giving a cleaning service. It's honorable work. Wives aren't slaves or prisoners." As I say, maybe I'm the only one interested in this, but it's almost as if these two articles were posited against each other. Coincidental, I suppose. And this is probably the longest parenthetical digression I've ever engaged in.)
Everett, a political conservative (in case you hadn't guessed), sees Communism trying to "destroy morals and break down the family unit." And also makes what I find a curious comment, and I find myself wondering if it had anything to do with him being involved in a medical show, since I don't think this was something on the radar of the average American in 1972: "For us, day care centers and test tube babies are things that are unthinkable. I know I would rather not have children if the only type of woman who was available to me was one who wanted to get pregnant, transfer her embryo to another woman's body, then receive the baby back from the hospital and stick it in a child care center." 
You might wonder how his wife, the actress Shelby Grant , felt about all this. Well, she differed from him on some points, but on the whole her thoughts align with his. "Chad's never changed a diaper, and a lot of women don't like that attitude. But I don't think, as long as he's making the money, he should have to. I've seen a lot of pussyfoot men at the laundromat and the supermarket each week. In our house Chad doesn't waer my clothes and I don't wear his." (Masters thinks that it's "unfair" for any woman who can't afford a housekeeper to have to do all the work herself. But I'm digressing again.) And when she died in 2011, she and Chad had been married for 45 years. Not bad for a piece of property. TV  

Around the dial

In case you've been asleep all week, Darkness in Primetime published this week. You can find out how to order it here . My latest interview, with Doug Hess of the Forgotten Hollywood podcast, is available here . And on an non-book related note, here's the latest edition of Eventually Supertrain, in which Dan and I continue to look at the very entertaining Garrison's Gorillas. I think that's about enough self-serving content for one week, don't you?
At The Hollywood Reporter , Steven Zeitchik asks whether Colbert's cancellation signals the last call for late night talk shows . It's one of those stories that asks and answers its own question, giving ample proof as to why these big-mouth chatterboxes are no longer must-see, or even maybe-see, TV.

The latest Brit mystery to fall under John's gaze at Cult TV Blog is the 1974 anthology series Dial M for Murder, which is not about the famous Hitchcock movie or the play from which it's derived, but a series of, well, murder mysteries, including this week's excellent " Whatever's Peter Playing At? "
Speaking of Hitch, at Clasic Film & TV Café, Rick presents us with seven things to know about Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Some fun factoids here, and a pleasant reminder of an anthology that was frequently quite entertaining, and which I should probably return to someday.
From the Ford 50th Anniversary Show of 1953, the Broadcast Archives presents a very funny sketch by Mary Martin, staged by famed choreographer Jerome Robbins, on the history of fashion . I wonder what they'd do with today's fashions?
At Comfort TV, David looks at what he refers to as " the carefree era of commercials, " when ads had personality, distinctiveness, even a sense of humor—and, I might add, were not a source of political controversy regarding the latest cause célèbre.
Television's New Frontier: the 1960s returns with the 1962 episodes of the seminal cartoon series The Jetsons , which spawned comic books, soundtrack recordings, toys aplenty, and a surprisingly accurate look at how automation might affect our way of living.
At Mavis Movie Madness!, Paul examines Lee Marvin's only dramatic television series, M Squad , which literally packed a punch over its three seasons, and is absolutely my idea of what a half-hour police drama should be like. 
Maddie looks at the great Eve Arden at Classic Film and TV Corner; on television, she was Our Miss Brooks and one of The Mothers-In-Law, and she had an incomparable film career as the premier essayist of what has come to be called the "Eve Arden Role."
At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence pays tribute to a couple of fallen stars: Tom Lehrer , the satiric songwriter who died last month (you've already read a couple of tributes to him), and Danielle Spencer , former child star on What's Happening!! who later became a DVM.
Martin Grams is back with more reviews of classic books from Bear Manor Media, including biographies of Grant (The Incredible Shrinking Man, Hawaiian Eye) Williams, Virginia Gregg, Steve Ihnat, and Joi Lansing.
A View from the Junkyard gives us our weekly A-Team fix, as Roger reviews the episode " The Only Church in Town ," in which Our Heroes are hired by one of their own, Face, in a bittersweet kind of story. TV  

True-or-false jeopardy

This seems like an appropriate time to talk about jeopardy, given that I'm probably putting myself in jeopardy if I continue to talk about the publication of Darkness in Primetime, which drops this week. You're probably sick and tired of hearing me talk about it, and, of course, you could eliminate all this stress if you simply buy the book. Then I'll have to go back to finding more interesting things to write about, but at least I'll have the consolation of doing so with more money in the bank account, and wouldn't that make you feel a whole lot better about life in general? (Speaking of which, if you think this plug was bad, wait until you see the one I've got for you next week.)
But we were talking about jeopardy, weren't we? And the kind that I'd much rather talk about is the kind that we find on our screens with some degree of frequency. For instance, it wasn't that long ago that we were watching an episode of 77 Sunset Strip in which our hero Kookie (Edd Byrnes) was arrested on a trumped-up murder charge and thrown in a small-town jail. It left us breathless, wondering if our hero would escape the clutches of the crooked police and live to fight another day, or if this was Warner Bros. message on how they take care of stars involved in contract disputes. Well, what do you think? It was so predictable that Kookie would not only escape, he'd find out who it was framing him and why, and uncover the true murderer. We were able to fast-forward to the end for the juicy details.
The following week while we were watching an episode of Mannix, our hero Joe (Mike Connors), who happened to be in a small town investigating a murder, found himself arrested on trumped-up charges and thrown in jail. Will our hero escape and find the real killer before the crooked cops finish him off? What do you think? It was so predictable that Joe—well, you get the point. We were able to fast-forward to the end for the juicy details.
That these two episodes aired, at least in our household, on consecutive weeks, probably exacerbated my already-intense dislike of a hoary television trope that I like to call "false jeopardy." (Actually I only started calling it that a minute ago as I was typing this, but we'll let that go for the present.) 
False jeopardy—and I'm not referring to a game show hosted by someone other than Art Fleming or Alex Trebek—is what I call it when one of the lead characters in a TV series is put into an extreme life-or-death situation that is supposed to keep us in suspense. Now, I don't mean the ordinary kind of risk that private detectives or policemen encounter on a weekly basis, like being shot at, run over, beaten up, caught in a room filling up with water, being trapped between two walls of spikes closely closing in on you—well, you get the point. After all, these shows would be pretty dull without some kind of action.
No, what I'm talking about is the kind of jeopardy that serves as the catalyst for the entire episode. For at least two of the four acts, Kookie and Joe were slapped around by bully boys in blue, menaced by fellow prisoners, or threatened by corrupt officials. Their protestations of innocence were ignored; their basic constitutional rights were trampled. It's all very manipulative, designed to work the viewer into a simmering rage against the injustice of it all. And when the bad guys got their comeuppance, as they invariably do, it wasn't nearly satisfying enough to make up for it all. 
I don't want to say that this kind of thing happens all the time, but any drama that runs for more than a season or two will have at lesat one episode involving false jeopardy, whether through imprisonment, kidnapping, a hostage situation, a life-threatening disease, or something of the sort. And for the better part of an hour, we're supposed to think that the outcome is in doubt. 
What it does do is create impatience on the viewer's part; since we already know how things are going to end (at least insofar as the lead character is concerned), we just want to hurry up and get to the end so we can see the happily-ever-after ending. That's about the time when I reach for the fast-forward button on the remote. (And suggest, once again, that the person who invented the fast forward button should have won the Nobel prize.) I think we're supposed to be curious as to just how things wind up the way they do; who the real killer is, how the police find out where the hostages are, what the doctor comes up with at the last minute. Maybe I'm just not that curious; I'm a cut-to-the-chase kind of guy.
Perhaps we're supposeed to put ourselves in the place of the lead, what it would feel like if we were the ones in a seemingly impossible situation. What we would do, how we might escape. If you ask me, the best series at creating that kind of atmosphere was The Fugitive; after all, the prospect of being executed for a crime you didn't commit has got to be horrible. (Think about it; you didn't even get the satisfaction of murdering someone you hated like the guilty parties in Perry Mason.) But in The Fugitive, this wasn't a gimmick; it was the premise of the whole series. There's a big difference. Sure, there were episodes that put Kimble in the same kind of false jeopardy I'm talking about, and those episodes are subject to the same criticism. But you can't use the premise of The Fugitive as an excuse for the other series that put their leads in false jeopardy.
I remember an episode of Hawaii Five-O in which McGarrett (Jack Lord) was temporarily blinded. Maybe I should say apparently temporary, because the doctors weren't sure he'd regain his sight. Now, we all know that he's going to see again, because the name of the series is Hawaii Five-O, not Longstreet. But I'd argue that the threat of permanent blindness was nothing more than a McGuffin. The suspense wasn't in whether or not McGarrett would recover; it was how he'd cope with being blind while the bad guy was out there looking to finish the job. Of course, that outcome wasn't in doubt either. The point is that this was a battle of wits, with the false jeopardy just a backdrop against which the real drama was played out.
Defenders of these plotlines would, I suppose, say that this is the point with all of these false jeopardy stories, that we're supposed to be taken in by the chess match between good and evil. But this isn't The Seventh Seal we're talking about, and it's only a superior storyline that can make the suspension of disbelief work long enough to get to the end of the episode. And the word I keep coming back to is manipulative. 
We're supposed to hate the dirty cops that keep Kookie im jail, the corruption and the injustice in the system. That's not suspense; that's advocacy. We're supposed to hate the killers that hold Cannon and his client hostage, and thirst for the retribution that awaits when they get what's coming to them. And that's great, until you realize the writers have stacked the deck, that they're counting on you to react that way. Once you figure that out, the anger lessens. So does the suspense, though. It can't make us worry about the lead, because we already know he or she is going to be all right. (Unless we've read in the trades that their contract is up for renewal.) And the premise is too sustained, over the course of an hour, to keep the level of suspense high enough to take us along on the ride.
That leads to another kind of false jeopardy, one that's become much in vogue over the last decade or two: the season-ending cliffhanger. One of the first, and most famous, cliffhangers (I can't remember right now if it was a season-ender or not) was the "Who Shot J.R." episode of Dallas. It was a great gimmick, because it kept people all over the nation talking for months. It was also a shrewd one, one that kept the concept from slipping into the clutches of false jeopardy.
What was shrewd about it was that the purpose of the cliffhanger was not to keep us guessing as to whether or not J.R. was going to pull through; without Larry Hagman, there's no Dallas. No, what the braintrust did was to make us guess who shot him, and this created some real suspense. Nobody could be ruled out; a trial could have sent ratings shooting even higher (no pun intended). A clever team of writers could have figured out how to keep the storyline going without endangering the tenures of any of the regulars. If need be, they could even have played it all off as a dream, right?
I know that all entertainment is manipulative, to some extent. Whether it's music, literature, movies or television—they all play on our emotions, condition us to respond. That's OK; we like being manipulated, just as we like being scared. We don't want it to be too obvious, though; we don't like knowing that it's happening. And that's how I feel when I see the lead in false jeopardy. 
It doesn't have to be that way, of course. A series like The Fugitive baked the jeopardy into the equation from the very beginning, and because of the skill of the writers and the talent of David Janssen, we managed to be gripped by what happened even though we knew what would happen, because there was usually more than one story to worry about. Would Vera Miles escape her abusive husband, would the autistic child get the treatment he needed, would Doctor Kimble manage to treat the sick or injured without giving away his status as a fugitive pediatrician? That was really the question, not the one about whether or not Kimble would avoid arrest. Of course he would; the entire premise of the series depended on it. And it worked. In lesser hands, it might not have.
I imagine that just about every writing room in the history of series television has at least one, if not more than one, script handy for just such a purpose, one that probably comes complete with blanks to fill in for the lead character's name, the location, and the other details that prevent you from being able to claim that the episodes are exactly the same. And that's OK, once in a while, Not, however, once a season, for each series on the air.
When I get in a mood like this, I have to remind myself that I've never worked on a television series, never written a script, and so those who have are automatically miles ahead of me when it comes to playing the game, and so what gives me the right to complain. And they're right, in a way. I think we're also right, though, that we're entitled to a game that offers us more than true-or-false jeopardy. And if you don't agree with me, that's perfectly all right. Just prepare to find yourself in jeopardy next week, when I start reminding you of Darkness in Primetime again. TV  

Publication Day for "Darkness in Primetime"

It's finally here! Publication day for "Darkness in Primetime" -- and the special launch price is still in effect for another week! https://sites.google.com/itsabouttv.c...