Mitchell Hadley's Blog: It's About TV!, page 43
November 1, 2023
Take me away from the ballgame
Does anyone care about the World Series anymore? More to the point of this site, does anyone watch it anymore? The first three games of this year’s series between Texas and Arizona were three of the four least-viewed World Series games in history, with
Monday’s Game 3 the rock-bottom lowest of all time
. Granted, the two games were still the most-watched sporting events of the weekend, and that’s a story in itself; witness
this report
on how sports fans are increasingly having trouble finding the games they want to watch, what with how they’re all spread out on different services—completely unlike the days of classic TV, I might add.Be that as it may, there’s still something kind of sad about how irrelevant the World Series appears to have become, and this from someone who stopped watching baseball a decade ago. Are there others like me, others in such significant numbers as to cause these plummeting ratings? (Others like me? You’d better hope not.) Is it that young people consume sports differently, or haven’t been brought up as fans of the sport? And don't forget the role that baseball's management has played in all this, from a tin-eared commissioner to greedy owners and players, the sport seems to have done everything it can to alienate long-time fans while simultaneously failing to attract younger viewers. (And why should I even be writing about baseball on November 1?)
At any rate, what brought this to mind is a piece I wrote a few years ago on one of the cultural touchstones of 1968: José Feliciano's controversial performance of the National Anthem prior to Game 5 of the Series. Would this be quite as controversial today as it was then? Probably not; we've heard all kinds of renditions of the National Anthem since then, and compared to them, Feliciano's version is not only tame, but respectful. Furthermore, even if it was controversial, would it still create a national storm, or would the conversation be mostly played out on social media by people who hadn't actually seen the original performance and were relying on soundbites from their favorite internet mouthpieces?
I've heard it said that baseball has become a regional rather than national sport, and that it's still popular at that level, but it's hardly part of the national zeitgeist anymore, and I think that's unfortunate. I know times have changed; there's very little about pop culture than hasn't changed in the last couple of decades. But that doesn't mean we can't mourn its passing, does it? TV
October 30, 2023
What's on TV? Saturday, October 29, 1966
Interesting show on N.E.T. Journal at 6:00 p.m. on "The Vanishing Newspaper," which reminds us that the trouble faced by print journalism is nothing new. Strikes were the major factor in the 1960s, causing some papers to merge and others to fold altogether, but there was also the growing impact of television news, and the understanding that newspapers could never compete on TV's ability to bring you the sights and sounds as they happened, and that papers would have to give you the "rest of the story." According to this program, other factors include accusations that metropolitan dailies ignored market changes, abdicated certain responsibilities, and sacrificed integrity; small papers, in the meantime, act as little more than advertising media, concentrate almost exclusively on local news, and ignore world news and editorials. (Part to of this two-part report airs on Monday.) Could the critics back in 1966 have predicted how much worse things would look in the newspaper business today? I wonder? This week's issue is from Northern California. -2- KTVU (BAY AREA) (IND.)
Morning 8:30 PIONEERS—Drama 9:00 MOVIE—Mystery “I Cover Big Town” (1947) 10:30 MOVIE—Mystery “No Hands on the Clock” (1941)
Afternoon
12:00 HUCKLEBERRY HOUND COLOR 12:30 MOVIE—Adventure COLOR “The Eagle and the Hawk” (1950) 2:30 MOVIE—Western “Under Fiesta Stars” 3:30 TOPPER—Comedy 4:00 HORSE RACE—Bay Meadows RETURN 4:30 TIGHTROPE!—Police 5:00 FLYING FISHERMAN COLOR 5:30 ADVENTURE—Travel COLOR
Evening 6:00 CHAMPIONSHIP BOWLING COLOR Nelson Burton Jr. vs. Les Schissler 7:00 GRAND OLE OPRY—Music Guests: Hank Snow, Ray Drusky 7:30 LET’S GO TO THE RACES—Game COLOR 8:00 PRO BASKETBALL—Warriors RETURN San Francisco Warriors at Cincinnati Royals 10:30 BOXING—Los Angeles Eddie Machen vs. George “Scrapiron” Johnson 12:00 MOVIE—Western “Jack Slade” (1953)
-3- KCRA (SACRAMENTO) (NBC) Morning 7:30 AGRICULTURE U.S.A.—Interview COLOR 8:00 SUPER 6 COLOR 8:30 MOVIE—Adventure “Tarzan Finds a Son” (1939) 10:00 COOL McCOOL COLOR 10:30 JETSONS—Cartoon COLOR 11:00 TOP CAT—Cartoon COLOR 11:30 SMITHSONIAN—Children COLOR Afternoon 12:00 ANIMAL SECRETS COLOR 12:30 ATOM ANT—Cartoons COLOR 1:00 SECRET SQUIRREL COLOR 1:30 SPACE KIDETTES COLOR 2:00 OUTER LIMITS—Science Fiction 3:00 CHAMPIONSHIP BOWLING COLOR Don Scott vs. Bill Allen 3:30 MOVIE—Science Fiction “Journey to the Seventh Planet” (Swedish-American; 1961) 5:00 MOVIE—Melodrama “Creature from the Black Lagoon” (1954) Evening 6:45 NEWS—Vic Biondi COLOR 7:00 NEWS—Ray Scherer, Robert MacNeil COLOR 7:30 FLIPPER—Adventure COLOR 8:00 GET SMART—Comedy COLOR 8:30 PLEASE DON’T EAT THE DAISIES—Comedy COLOR 9:00 MOVIE—Adventure COLOR “The Buccaneer” (1958) 11:30 NEWS—Vic Biondi COLOR 11:45 MOVIE—Melodrama “Black Sunday” (Italian; 1960) 1:15 MOVIE—Science Fiction Time approximate: “Night of the Blood Beast” (1958)
-4- KRON (BAY AREA) (NBC) Morning 6:30 WHITE COLLAR FARMER 7:00 MAYOR ART—Children 8:00 SUPER 6 COLOR 8:30 ATOM ANT COLOR 9:00 SECRET SQUIRREL COLOR 9:30 SPACE KIDETTES COLOR 10:00 COOL McCOOL COLOR 10:30 JETSONS—Cartoon COLOR 11:00 TOP CAT—Cartoon COLOR 11:30 SMITHSONIAN—Children COLOR Afternoon 12:00 ANIMAL SECRETS COLOR 12:30 CARTOON TIME 1:30 MOVIE—Western “In Old Sacramento” (1946) 3:00 GREEN THUMB—Gillespie 3:30 AFL REPORT COLOR 4:00 BAY REGION REPORT 4:30 MOVIE—Drama “Bullfighter and the Lady” (1951) Evening 6:00 NEWS—Ray Scherer, Robert MacNeil COLOR 6:30 ROUTE 66—Drama 7:30 FLIPPER—Adventure COLOR 8:00 GET SMART—Comedy COLOR 8:30 PLEASE DON’T EAT THE DAISIES—Comedy COLOR 9:00 MOVIE—Adventure COLOR “The Buccaneer” (1958) 11:30 NEWS—Don Picken 11:45 MOVIE—Adventure COLOR “Conqueror of the Desert” (Italian; 1958) 1:15 NEWS
-5- KPIX (BAY AREA) (CBS) Morning 6:00 AGRICULTURE FILM COLOR 6:30 SUNRISE SEMESTER Philosophy: “St. Anselm Revisited: Argument and Counterargument” 7:00 JACK’S PLACE—Children COLOR 8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO—Children 9:00 MIGHTY HEROES—Cartoons COLOR 9:30 UNDERDOG COLOR 10:00 FRANKENSTEIN JR.—Cartoons COLOR 10:30 SPACE GHOST—Cartoons COLOR 11:00 SUPERMAN COLOR 11:30 LONE RANGER—Cartoons COLOR Afternoon 12:00 ROAD RUNNER—Cartoons COLOR 12:30 BEAGLES COLOR 1:00 TOM AND JERRY—Cartoons COLOR 1:30 FOREST RANGERS—Adventure 2:00 MUNI RAILWAY—Discussion 2:30 MOVIE—Comedy “Road to Morocco” (1942) 3:55 KPIX EDITORIAL—Louis SImon 4:00 NFL COUNTDOWN COLOR 5:00 PERRY MASON—Mystery Evening 6:00 NEWS—Sherry, O’Brien 6:30 NEWS—Roger Mudd COLOR 7:00 PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S TRIP—Report SPECIAL COLOR President Johnson in Thailand 7:30 JACKIE GLEASON—Variety COLOR 8:30 PISTOLS ‘N’ PETTICOATS—Comedy COLOR 9:00 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE COLOR 10:00 GUNSMOKE—Western COLOR 11:00 NEWS 11:20 MOVIE—Drama “The Children’s Hour” (1961) 1:25 MOVIE—Drama “All Quiet on the Western Front” (1930)
-7- KGO (BAY AREA) (ABC) Morning ALL NIGHT MOVIE—Continued Cheyenne 6:30 YOU CAN TELL A STORY 7:00 MARSHAL ‘J’—Children COLOR 8:00 KING KONG COLOR 8:30 BEATLES COLOR 9:00 CASPER—Cartoon COLOR 9:30 MAGILLA GORILLA COLOR 10:00 BUGS BUNNY COLOR 10:30 MILTON THE MONSTER—Cartoons COLOR 10:45 COLLEGE FOOTBALL—Missouri vs. Nebraska COLOR Missouri at Nebraska Afternoon 2:00 AMERICAN BANDSTAND Guests: Billy Stewart, 13th Floor Elevators 3:00 HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL Aragon vs. Capuchino 5:00 WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS COLOR Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Yomiuri Giants in Tokyo Evening 6:30 SPORTS WORLD WEST 7:00 ABC SCOPE SPECIAL President Johnson in Thailand 7:30 SHANE—Western COLOR 8:30 LAWRENCE WELK COLOR 9:30 HOLLYWOOD PALACE—Variety COLOR Host: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Guests: Shelley Berman, Gilbert Becaud, the Supremes, Ullett and Hendra, the Sorreletis, the Santos 10:30 OH, MY WORD!—Game Guests: Pat Harrington Jr., Roger Carmel. Regulars: Merla Zellerbach, Kathryn Ish, Paul Speegle, Scott Beach. Host: Jim Lange 11:00 NEWS 11:15 MOVIE—Drama COLOR “Love Is a Many Splendored Thing” (1955) 1:40 MOVIE—All Night 1. “Saturday’s Hero” (1951) 2. “Assignment in Brittany” (1943) 3. Sugarfoot Studio guests: San Francisco night club owners Bee and Ray Goman.
-7- KRCR (REDDING) (ABC, NBC) Morning 8:00 SUPER 6 COLOR 8:30 ATOM ANT COLOR 9:00 SECRET SQUIRREL COLOR 9:30 SPACE KIDETTES COLOR 10:30 TO BE ANNOUNCED 10:45 COLLEGE FOOTBALL—Missouri vs. Nebraska COLOR Missouri at Nebraska Afternoon 2:00 AMERICAN BANDSTAND Guests: Billy Stewart, 13th Floor Elevators 3:00 FILM FEATURE 3:30 SERGEANT PRESTON 4:00 MEET YOUR CANDIDATE 4:30 DEATH VALLEY DAYS—Drama COLOR 5:00 WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS COLOR Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Yomiuri Giants in Tokyo Evening 6:30 MONKEES—Comedy COLOR 7:00 GET SMART—Comedy 7:30 FLIPPER—Adventure COLOR 8:30 LAWRENCE WELK COLOR 9:30 HOLLYWOOD PALACE—Variety COLOR Host: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Guests: Shelley Berman, Gilbert Becaud, the Supremes, Ullett and Hendra, the Sorreletis, the Santos 10:30 MOVIE—Drama “The Gift of Love” (1958)
-8- KSBW (SALINAS) (CBS, NBC) Morning 7:00 FILM FEATURE 7:30 DAVEY AND GOLIATH—Religion 8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO—Children 9:00 MIGHTY HEROES—Cartoons COLOR 9:30 UNDERDOG COLOR 10:00 FRANKENSTEIN JR.—Cartoons COLOR 10:30 SPACE GHOST—Cartoons COLOR 11:00 SUPERMAN COLOR 11:30 LONE RANGER—Cartoons COLOR Afternoon 12:00 ROAD RUNNER—Cartoons COLOR 12:30 BEAGLES COLOR 1:00 TOM AND JERRY—Cartoons COLOR 1:30 SERGEANT PRESTON 2:00 MOVIE—Drama “Simba” (English; 1955) 4:00 HORSE RACE—Bay Meadows RETURN 4:30 FILM FEATURE COLOR “Path to Space” 5:00 HAROLD McKINNON SHOW 5:30 NFL GAME OF THE WEEK COLOR Detroit Lions at San Francisco 49ers Evening 6:00 LOST IN SPACE—Adventure 7:00 FLIPPER—Adventure 7:30 JACKIE GLEASON—Variety COLOR 8:30 PLEASE DON’T EAT THE DAISIES—Comedy COLOR 9:00 MOVIE—Adventure COLOR “The Buccaneer” (1958) 11:30 MOVIE—Drama “The Frogmen” (1951)
-9- KQED (BAY AREA) (EDUC.) Afternoon 5:00 ALL ABOARD—Children 5:30 FOLK GUITAR—Laura Weber Evening 6:00 N.E.T. JOURNAL—Report “The Vanishing Newspaper,” part one 7:00 WORLD THEATRE—Drama SPECIAL “Greece: The Inner World” 8:00 CREATIVE PERSON 8:30 RITA—Opera SPECIAL 9:30 OPENING NIGHT—Opera Review 10:00 SPECULATION—Discussion “The American as Tourist”
10 KXTV (SACRAMENTO) (CBS) Morning 6:30 SUNRISE SEMESTER Philosophy: “St. Anselm Revisited: Argument and Counterargument” 7:00 BIG PICTURE—Army 7:30 DIVER DAN—Cartoons COLOR 8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO—Children 9:00 MIGHTY HEROES—Cartoons COLOR 9:30 UNDERDOG COLOR 10:00 FRANKENSTEIN JR.—Cartoons COLOR 10:30 SPACE GHOST—Cartoons COLOR 11:00 SUPERMAN COLOR 11:30 LONE RANGER—Cartoons COLOR Afternoon 12:00 ROAD RUNNER—Cartoons COLOR 12:30 BEAGLES COLOR 1:00 TOM AND JERRY—Cartoons COLOR 1:30 STINGRAY—Children COLOR 2:00 MOVIE—Adventure COLOR “Saskatchewan” (1954) 4:00 NFL COUNTDOWN COLOR 5:00 NFL GAME OF THE WEEK COLOR Detroit Lions at San Francisco 49ers 5:30 HONEY WEST—Mystery Evening 6:00 NEWS—Roger Mudd COLOR 6:30 RIFLEMAN—Western 7:00 PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S TRIP—Report SPECIAL COLOR President Johnson in Thailand 7:30 JACKIE GLEASON—Variety COLOR 8:30 PISTOLS ‘N’ PETTICOATS—Comedy COLOR 9:00 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE COLOR 10:00 GUNSMOKE—Western COLOR 11:00 MOVIE—Biography COLOR “Battle Hymn” (1956) 1:00 THRILLER—Mystery
11 KNTV (SAN JOSE) (ABC) Morning 7:30 PERSPECTIVE—San Jose State 8:00 KING KONG COLOR 8:30 BEATLES COLOR 9:00 CARTOON FESTIVAL COLOR 9:15 ERNEST TUBB—Music 9:45 SPOTLIGHT ON SPEED COLOR 10:15 SAN JOSE STATE HIGHLIGHTS 10:45 COLLEGE FOOTBALL—Missouri vs. Nebraska COLOR Missouri at Nebraska Afternoon 2:00 MOVIE—Drama “Count Three and Pray” (1955) 4:00 HAVE GUN—WILL TRAVEL 4:30 OUTDOORSMAN COLOR 5:00 WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS COLOR Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Yomiuri Giants in Tokyo Evening 6:30 IRON HORSE—Western 7:30 SHANE—Western COLOR 8:30 LAWRENCE WELK COLOR 9:30 HOLLYWOOD PALACE—Variety COLOR Host: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Guests: Shelley Berman, Gilbert Becaud, the Supremes, Ullett and Hendra, the Sorreletis, the Santos 10:30 HOLLYWOOD AND THE STARS Natalie Wood 11:00 NEWS 11:30 KNOCKOUT—Boxing 11:35 MOVIE—Comedy “Willie and Joe Back at the Front” (1952)
12 KHSL (CHICO) (ABC, CBS) Morning 7:25 FILM FEATURE 7:30 EXISTENCE—Agriculture 8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO—Children 9:00 MIGHTY HEROES—Cartoons COLOR 9:30 UNDERDOG COLOR 10:00 FRANKENSTEIN JR.—Cartoons COLOR 10:30 SPACE GHOST—Cartoons COLOR 11:00 SUPERMAN COLOR 11:30 LONE RANGER—Cartoons COLOR Afternoon 12:00 ROAD RUNNER—Cartoons COLOR 12:30 BEAGLES COLOR 1:00 TOM AND JERRY—Cartoons COLOR 1:30 MOVIE—Adventure COLOR “Triumph of Robin Hood” (Italian; 1962) 3:00 CHAMPIONSHIP BOWLING COLOR Fred Foremsky vs. Tommy Tuttle 4:00 NFL COUNTDOWN COLOR 5:00 DATING GAME 5:30 NFL GAME OF THE WEEK COLOR Detroit Lions at San Francisco 49ers Evening 6:00 LET’S GO TO THE RACES—Game COLOR 6:30 GUNSMOKE—Western COLOR 7:30 JACKIE GLEASON—Variety COLOR 8:30 PISTOLS ‘N’ PETTICOATS—Comedy COLOR 9:00 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE COLOR 10:00 MOVIE—Double Feature COLOR 1. “One Desire” (1955) 2. “Bell, Book and Candle” (1959)
13 KOVR (SACRAMENTO) (ABC) Morning 6:25 NEWS 6:30 VOICE OF AGRICULTURE 7:00 CAP’N DELTA—Cartoons COLOR 8:00 KING KONG COLOR 8:30 BEATLES COLOR 9:00 HISTORY—Lessons 10:00 BUGS BUNNY COLOR 10:30 FILM FEATURE 10:45 COLLEGE FOOTBALL—Missouri vs. Nebraska COLOR Missouri at Nebraska Afternoon 2:00 GADABOUT GADDIS—Fishing COLOR 2:30 HOW TO WATCH FOOTBALL SPECIAL COLOR “The Fine Art of Football Watching” With Bear Bryant, Tommy Prothro, Duffy Daugherty. Host: Chris Schenkel 3:30 MOVIE—Western “Man in the Saddle” (1951) 5:00 WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS COLOR Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Yomiuri Giants in Tokyo Evening 6:30 MOVIE—Science Fiction COLOR “Battle of the Worlds” (Italian; 1961) 8:00 LET’S GO TO THE RACES—Game COLOR 8:30 LAWRENCE WELK COLOR 9:30 HOLLYWOOD PALACE—Variety COLOR Host: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Guests: Shelley Berman, Gilbert Becaud, the Supremes, Ullett and Hendra, the Sorreletis, the Santos 10:30 PERRY MASON—Mystery 11:30 MOVIE—Drama “On the Beach” (1959) 1:30 MOVIE—All Night 1. “A Double Life” (1948) 2. “The Lost Moment” (1947) 3. “The Fabulous Dorseys” (1947)
19 KLOC (MODESTO) (IND.) Afternoon 3:00 HIGH SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT 3:30 DIMENSION IN COINS 4:00 FILM FEATURE 4:30 SPOTLITE ON SPEED 5:00 KFIV DANCE STAND Evening 6:00 WRESTLING—Chicago 7:00 ZANE GREY—Western 7:30 MOVIE—Comedy “Love Is Better than Ever” (1952) 9:30 ROGUES—Drama 10:30 MOVIE—Biography “I’ll Cry Tomorrow” (1955) TV
October 28, 2023
This week in TV Guide: October 29, 1966
We've read so many articles in the pages of TV Guide about the future of pay-TV, it's hard to keep track of them. It always seems to be just over the horizon, waiting for whatever it is that is sure to unlock its potential. And now, in this week's As We See It, we learn that pay television is dead.The editors take no pleasure in writing this, for it's clear that commercial, over-the-air television could use some competition to force it to provide a greater variety of programming, and pay-TV has always promised big movies, sporting events, and cultural fare. But it's been tried, over the years, in city after city, and in each and every case it has failed. It became evident, say the editors, that pay-TV viewers weren't interested in "but movies and the most important sporting events"
After all, educational television now answers the call for lectures, symphonies, and cultural programming. Furthermore, "[n]o one needs a pay-television system for sports any more. There may be a couple of big events a year that aren’t on free television." And as for movies, "ABC and CBS have just contracted for another $92.3 million worth of them. That just about clears the vaults of movies that haven’t been offered to free television." The conclusion: "There may have been a reason for pay television once, but not now. It’s all over."
We have to make some allowances here for the idea that pay-TV often was used to describe what would later be referred to as pay-per-view. And if you want to limit it to that, then the editors were mostly right; more on that in a minute. If, however, you take the term "pay-TV" literally—as in "TV you pay to watch"—then the editors were way off the mark. Pay-TV, not only in the form of HBO but in cable (and later streaming) packages, has come to define television—so much so that free television came to be seen as an anachronism. "Prestige television" was almost exclusively seen on services we paid to watch, cable and streaming shows dominated the Emmys, and every time we turned around, another studio was starting up its own streaming service. And as for public television answering the call for cultural and educational programming—that was a laugh.
Now, however, things have changed again, leaving television in a state of what could charitably be called "flux." Cable-TV is on the verge (so we're told) of total collapse, while streaming hasn't taken off as predicted. And while many people still watch their local stations via antennas, "FAST" (Free Ad-Supported Television) services such as Pluto, Roku, Tubi, Xumo, and the like are what many people mean when they talk about free television.
Which brings us back to that pay-per-view discussion I started a couple of paragraphs ago. Contrary to what the editors thought, PPV did survive, but it was—and continues to be—driven mostly by sports. Many media analysts say that many of those who continue to subscribe to cable TV do so in order to watch sports. Streamers, from Amazon to Apple to WB-Discovery, look to sports to add the value they need to continue. Virtually all of the top 100 programs on television the past season were sports, mostly football. Sports is the only type of programming that is consumed live anymore; virtually everything else is on-demand, a term that would have utterly thrown the editors back in 1966. I'm watching a football game right now as I write this."No one needs a pay-television system for sports any more," the editors wrote. And yet today the only league that continues to broadcast the majority of its games on free television is the NFL. The college football playoffs are on cable. The World Series may be on Fox, but the majority of playoff games are not; neither are those in hockey and basketball, and college basketball's Final Four is on cable every other year. It's almost easier to list the major sporting events that aren't on pay-TV. (Well, that might be an exaggeration, but only slightly.)
The whole thing is kind of hard to summarize. The editors were way off-the-mark in predicting that pay-TV was dead. They were, kind-of, correct in thinking that pay-per-view wasn't the answer. And they were absolutely right in their assessment that sports would drive pay-TV, although they were wrong in thinking that major sporting events wouldn't migrate to pay-TV. It's easy to see that, almost 60 years later. Nowadays, you'd be a fool to predict what the television landscape will look like 60 days from now.
l l l
During the 60s, the Ed Sullivan Show and The Hollywood Palace were the premiere variety shows on television. Whenever they appear in TV Guide together, we'll match them up and see who has the best lineup.Sullivan: Ed's guests are George Jessel; rock 'n' rollers James Brown and Nancy Sinatra; "singing" grandmother Elva Miller; comedians Arthur Hynes and Rich Little; and the tumbling Rudas Dancers.
Palace: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass host this week, with comedian Shelley Berman; French vocalist Gilbert Becaud; the rock ‘n’ rolling Supremes; Ullett and Hendra, comedy team; the Sorreletis, musical-comedy quartet; and the Santos, low-wire act.
I'm not positive, but this could be the only time we ever see James Brown and Nancy Sinatra mentioned in the same sentence as performers in the same genre. I just never thought of them that way; no imagination, I guess. Anyway, when you have hosts like Herb Alpert and the TJB, you can bet they're going to be the featured act of the night, and such is the case, as they perform their hits, including "The Lonely Bull," "Zorba the Greek," "Mame," "Spanish Flea," "Whipped Cream," "A Taste of Honey," and "The Mexican Shuffle Work Song." No one else on either show can match that, and when you throw in the Supremes, singing "Somewhere" and "Keep Me Hanging On," that pretty much settles things. This week, Palace hits the high notes.
l l l
Throughout the 60s and early 70s, TV Guide's weekly reviews were written by the witty and acerbic Cleveland Amory. Whenever we get the chance, we'll look at Cleve's latest take on the shows of the era. The Time Tunnel, ABC's new sci-fi adventure series, aims to take us back to the Good Old Days, says Cleveland Amory. "You remember those carefree happy times—Dunkirk, Appomattox, Valley Forge . . ." And Cleve really liked—well, the first scene of the very first episode was terrific. We got to see a U.S. senator whisked from the desert to a huge underground lab where 12,000 people, including Whit Bissell, John Zaremba, and Lee Meriwether are spending billions to send man into time. And to prove how important this secret project is, scientist Tony Newman (James Darren) dashes into the time tunnel before it's even known how to bring him back!
In that first episode, Tony finds himself on the deck of the Titanic, trying futilely to warn Captain Smith of the ship's impending disaster. It doesn't work, of course; these things never work in time travel stories. The scientists back at the other end of the tunnel send Tony's partner Doug Phillips (Robert Colbert) back after him, but even with a copy of the newspaper showing what happened, they're powerless to prevent it. They are able to escape before going down with the ship, though, and soon they find themselves in Honolulu, at the Japanese consulate, on December 6, 1941. You can see where this is going, can't you? Of course, they aren't able to change this any more than they were the Titanic. Obviously, they haven't read the documentation that states time travelers can't change history.
It's no wonder that Cleve finds The Time Tunnel "one of the most annoying shows we've seen." The gimmickry and photography are inventive, but the acting is "stilted and unbelievable, the dialog is soap-operaish." Not to mention how ridiculous it is to have bombs coming up the tunnel, when they can't do the same for Tony and Doug. By the time they encounter Halley's Comet, one of the scientists says, "I think the time has come to rethink this whole project." Concludes Amory, "We couldn’t have agreed more."
l l l
I've been a fan of Van Williams ever since I saw him in Bourbon Street Beat a few years ago. His character in BSB, Ken Madison, then transferred to Surfside 6, where he hung out for a couple of seasons, and while the show's quality let him down, I thought Williams himself was pretty good. From there he moved on to the show that probably brought him the most fame, as well as an appearance on this week's cover, The Green Hornet. And for Van Williams, a man who acts not because he needs the money—he's co-owner of a bank (along with his business manager and James Garner!), a ranch, a shopping center, and a downtown building in Fort Worth, Texas—but because he enjoys it, playing the Hornet suits him just fine.
Raddatz makes the point, and I think we can see it as well, that Williams—VanZandt Jarvis Williams, to be exact, from a family whose Texas roots go back to "when Fort Worth was really a fort"—is a change from the usual celebrity profile we read in these pages. He has "none of the tortured self-seeking or the need for love or escape from a deprived childhood which traditionally mark so many of his contemporaries." He has no pretentions about being a thespian; he's objected to two Hornet scripts because they had too much dialogue and not enough action. "The Green Hornet is a pretty dead-pan guy," he tells Leslie Raddatz. "Lots of action—that's what makes a show." In fact, he'd never planned to be an actor; he was intending to be a rancher in his home of Fort Worth, but fate intervened during a vacation in Hawaii, when he met the late Mike Todd, who gave him the acting bug. Warner Bros. picked him up after a role in G.E. Theater, and that's where BSB came in. On the set he's charming and likable; the only time his charm ran out was on the Surfside 6 set when he lost his patience with an actress (I'm betting it was Margarita Sierra) who was perennially late on the set. "After some weeks, an observer recalls, 'Van just blew up. One day when she came in late, he gave her a kick in the derriére—not a hard kick but an impressive one— and said, "If I can be here on time, you can, too."" He's an admitted tightwad who keeps a close eye on spending and only bought a new car after signing for Hornet. And as far as his acting career, "I’d like to be a success, but I’d never count on it —it’s too harum-scarum." But, Raddatz concludes, "he is also, at 32, still kid enough to enjoy running around in that silly mask." In other words, just a good guy.
l l l
This week's Mission: Impossible (Saturday, 9:00 p.m., CBS) features a story that bothered me the first time I saw it, and has stayed with me since: "A Free World country may become a dictatorship unless IMF can insure an honest election and get the frightened populace to the polls." IMF's way of doing the former is to tamper with the voting machines themselves, to override the tampering that's already been done by the ruling junta. In other words, a quasi-official government agency is directly involving itself in the internal affairs of an independent nation in order to guarantee the election of a government that will be friendly to the United States. I know it's only a TV show (and a favorite of mine), and this episode is just as entertaining as any of them, but still—there's a message here that doesn't pass the smell test, and today I imagine it looks much worse than it did back then.
Sunday has always been a prime night for variety shows, and I'm not just talking about Ed Sullivan; the Tiffany Network will team Ed with The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour in the years to come, and this year Ed is followed by The Garry Moore Show (9:00 p.m., CBS); Garry's regulars in this second incarnation of his prime-time show are Durward Kirby, Jackie Vernon, and John Byner, and his guests tonight are Dick Van Dyke, Connie Francis, and Jim Kweskin and his jug band. After that, switch over to NBC for The Andy Williams Show (10:00 p.m.), with a cast that would probably top both Sullivan and The Palace this week: Bing Crosby, Kate Smith, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and the Young Americans. If you're looking for a different type of variety, look no further than The Play of the Week (8:00 p.m., NET) and part one of 1960's two-part "The Iceman Cometh," with Jason Robards, Myron McCormick, and Robert Redford, directed by Sidney Lumet.
Carol Burnett stars in part one of a two-part Lucy Show on Monday (8:30 p.m., CBS). Carol plays a librarian who answers Lucy's ad for a quiet roommate. I wonder what David Stewart, of Agincourt, Ontario, thinks of this? In this week's Letters, he writes of the recent special Carol & Company that it "was so unbelievably bad I was so fascinated I couldn't turn it off," and wonders, "Was this show deliberately unprofessional and humorless as a stunt to discover what the public could be made to endure?" I guess he won't be watching it, then. Instead, check out one of the early tests of Monday Night Football, as the Chicago Bears take on the St. Louis Cardinals. (9:30 p.m., CBS, taped from a live telecast earlier in the evening) The game's being played in St. Louis, of course, as Wrigley Field, the Bears' home stadium, still lacks lights.Tuesday's syndicated episode of The Outer Limits (9:00 p.m., KTVU) is a personal favorite of mine: "O.B.I.T.," a disturbing story about a secret government project involving a machine that "allows the observation of anyone, anywhere, at any time," and the courageous U.S. senator (Peter Breck) determined to discover the truth about the machine's existence. It's both dark and prophetic, the kind of story that Outer Limits does so well.
On Wednesday, Don Adams hosts the 30th annual Shipstads and Johnson Ice Follies, from San Francisco. (9:00 p.m., NBC) We've seen these shows in the pages of TV Guide many times over the years, and they're always crowd pleasers. Adams was obviously chosen in order to promote Get Smart; he's kind of an unusual choice, I think, since past hosts, such as Ed Ames, Arthur Godfrey, and Jimmy Dean were also singers who could provide a tune or two. I'd expect jokes from Adams, who'll probably be comic relief for the skaters, such as Follies favorite Richard Dwyer (who was still skating last year at age 87!), former world champion Don Jackson (the first man to perform a triple Lutz in international competition, seen here on Wide World of Sports ), and West German champion Ina Bauer (would you believe she actually has a figure skating move named after her?).
The set-up on this shot is a faithful reproduction of Chet and David's convention layout. As for
the mayhem — perhaps a preview of Chicago '68? On Thursday's highlight is "Dizzoner the Penguin," part two of the Batman story that began yesterday, a very funny satire on politics that lines up well with next week's elections. (7:30 p.m., ABC) Aside from the obvious jab at politics itself—Batman, campaigning against The Penguin for mayor of Gotham City, confidently says that "I’m convinced the American electorate is too mature to be taken in by cheap vaudeville trickery. After all, if our national leaders were elected on the basis of tricky slogans, brass bands, and pretty girls, our country would be in a terrible mess, wouldn’t it?"—the episode's highlights include the clever wordplay used for the names of the episode's characters: Gotham City mayor Lindseed (New York mayor John Lindsay), third-place candidate Harry Goldwinner (Barry Goldwater), and the pollsters Gallus, Rooper, and Trendek (Gallup, Roper, and Trendex); and the obligatory brawl that breaks out during a jewelry store robbery, with cameos by TV personalities playing reporters covering the story as if it was a political convention: Dennis James as Chet Chumley, Allen Ludden as David Dooley, Don Wilson as Walter Klondike, and Jack Bailey as the moderator of a debate interrupted by the robbery. I think you can guess who they're supposed to be. Oh, and there's also Paul Revere and the Raiders!
Friday features a pair of movies for the whole family, beginning with the ABC special Hans Christian Anderson (7:30 p.m.), the 1952 musical starring Danny Kaye, and featuring classic Frank Loesser songs including "Thumbelina" and "The Inchworm." Jeanmarie and Farley Granger co-star. Later in the evening, the CBS Friday Night Movie is 1964's First Men in the Moon (9:00 p.m.), with a cameo appearance by Peter Finch, and special effects by the great Ray Harryhausen. Perhaps it's not quite the way it plays out for Apollo 11 in three years, but with H.G. Wells, it's hard to go wrong.
l l l
At The Doan Report, NBC president Julian Goodman says the network may introduce a prime evening hour each week, starting next fall, that will be dedicated exclusively to news, public affairs, and cultural programming. (You know, the kind you don't need pay-per-view to watch.) It would reduce the number of specials aired by the network each year; they've already cut back to about a dozen this year, as opposed to the 40 or more that they aired a few years ago. Pat Weaver must be spinning in his grave hearing that.
Meanwhile, ABC's thinking about devoting not one but two movies on Wednesday nights beginning in January. Under this plan, Batman would be followed by Off to See the Wizard, a Disney knockoff featuring movies from MGM. (This would include movies such as Flipper, Tarzan, and Clarence, the Cross-eyed Lion, all of which have been turned into weekly series on other networks.) Wizard would be followed by The ABC Wednesday Night Movie. In the end, Wizard doesn't premiere until the fall of 1967, on Friday night rather than Wednesday.
Speaking of movies, Chevrolet denies rumors that they offered the producers of the James Bond movies $3.5 million for the television rights in an attempt to "get back at Ford for knocking Bonanza off its top ratings perch with the ABC showing of The Bridge on the River Kwai." I guess such machinations aren't restricted to politics.
And remember that article from a couple of weeks ago on television's coverage of Vietnam? Well, CBS News president Dick Salant made a trip to Saigon earlier this month. His conclusion: "If the public will tolerate it, we’ve got to tell more in words and less in pictures."
l l l
MST3K alert: Night of the Blood Beast (1958) An alien entity takes control of an astronaut’s body. Michael Emmet, Angela Greene, Ed Nelson, Tyler McVey, Ross Sturlin. (Saturday, 1:15 a.m., KCRA in Sacramento) You have to imagine what the prospect of manned space travel was like in the late 1950s—a total unknown, when we didn't even know if the human body could survive the stress, let alone what might happen to him once he made it into outer space. It's a trope that stretches from B-movies like this to The Twilight Zone, and everywhere in-between. And I hope it never goes away. The MST3K version is combined with a really bad short, "Once Upon a Honeymoon," which features Virginia Gibson before she wound up on ABC's Discovery. Well, I guess everybody has to start somewhere. TV
October 27, 2023
Around the dial
At The View from the Junkyard, Mike continues his examination of Star Trek: The Animated Series with "
The Infinite Vulcan
," an episode written by Walter Koenig. Does this episode live up to expectations? Well, you'll have to read it and find out, but, like it or not, it's undeniably Star Trek.Ready for some seasonal fare? At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence takes a look at " The Haunted House ," a fourth-season episode of The Andy Griffith Show. It's considered the only Halloween episode of the series, though it's not specifically referred to as such. But when you've got a haunted house to play with, who's going to complain?
Speaking of Halloween, just about any episode of Night Gallery could qualify as a story worthy of the season, but at Shadow & Substance, Paul uses the episode " Dr. Stringfellow's Rejuvenator " as background for how Rod Serling loved using roving pitchmen as a plot device. I suppose pitchmen still exist today in a city like New York, but I've only seen them at state fairs.
At Cult TV Blog, John continues his series on the Seventies with a look at two British game shows that are very much of the time: The Indoor League, which ran from 1973 to 77 and involves people playing pubroom games (darts, foosball, etc.); and The Joker's Wild (1969-74), which bears no resemblance to the American game show of the same name.
David has a new Comfort TV piece that should be seen to be appreciated, as it deals mostly with pictures of famous television pairings (Lucy & Ethel, Matt & Miss Kitty, Ozzie & Harriet, etc.), through which you can essentially trace the history of classic television. See if this doesn't bring back some fond memories for you!
Finally, my latest appearance on Dan Schneider's Video Interview is available for your viewing pleasure; in this episode, Dan and I discuss the history of television variety shows . It's an interesting topic, to which I hopefully did some justice, so when you have some time, check it out! TV
October 25, 2023
TV Jibe: Your tax dollars at work
Apologies to Horsey
TV
October 23, 2023
What's on TV? Thursday, October 23, 1969
[image error]
Fredd Wayne, one of the guests on this morning's Today Show, was a familiar character actor on television and in the movies, but he became best known for playing one character in particular: Benjamin Franklin. Wayne first played the Founding Father in 1964 in the one-man show "Benjamin Franklin, Citizen," which he created, directed, and starred in, and is on Today to promote another one-man show, the off-Broadway "Go Fly a Kite." He would appear as Franklin numerous times on television, most famously in a two-part episode of Bewitched in 1966 (the first episodes to be filmed in color), but also on Tonight, Simon & Simon and Voyagers, and in a Bob Hope Bicentennial special. He later recorded an acclaimed audio version of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, and would perform "Benjamin Franklin, Citizen" for the rest of his career, all the while continuing to appear in other non-Franklin character roles on various projects. But you can catch him tonight on NBC in Daniel Boone, where he plays—Benjamin Franklin! All this and more is from the Northern California edition.
-2- KTVU (BAY AREA) (IND.)
MORNING 8:00 NEWS -C- 8:15 RELIGION—Evangelist -C- 8:30 JACK LA LANNE—Exercise -C- 9:00 POPEYE—Children -C- 9:30 ROMPER ROOM—Children -C- 10:30 DANNY THOMAS—Comedy
11:00 PROFILES—Discussion -C- Guest: Paul Anka
11:30 DENNIS WHOLEY—Variety -C- Guests: Bellard and Sommerville AFTERNOON 1:00 MOVIE—Drama “The Brave Don’t Cry” (English; 1952) 3:00 PASSWORD—Game -C- Guests: Irene Ryan, Guy Williams. Host: Allen Ludden 3:30 POPEYE—Children -C- 4:00 FLIPPER—Drama -C- 4:30 TARZAN—Adventure -C- 5:30 McHALE’S NAVY—Comedy EVENING 6:00 STAR TREK—Drama -C- 6:30 NEWS—Whitten/Olitsky -C- 7:00 I LOVE LUCY—Comedy 7:30 BEAT THE CLOCK—Game -C- 8:00 WHAT’S MY LINE?—Game -C- Panelists: Arlene Francis, Gawn Grainger, Darryl Hickman, Phyllis Newman 8:30 HE SAID, SHE SAID—Game -C- 9:00 DELLA REESE—Variety -C- 10:00 NEWS—Gary Park -C- 11:00 UNTOUCHABLES—Drama 12:00 ALFRED HITCHCOCK—Drama 1:00 NEWS -C-
TV
Fredd Wayne, one of the guests on this morning's Today Show, was a familiar character actor on television and in the movies, but he became best known for playing one character in particular: Benjamin Franklin. Wayne first played the Founding Father in 1964 in the one-man show "Benjamin Franklin, Citizen," which he created, directed, and starred in, and is on Today to promote another one-man show, the off-Broadway "Go Fly a Kite." He would appear as Franklin numerous times on television, most famously in a two-part episode of Bewitched in 1966 (the first episodes to be filmed in color), but also on Tonight, Simon & Simon and Voyagers, and in a Bob Hope Bicentennial special. He later recorded an acclaimed audio version of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, and would perform "Benjamin Franklin, Citizen" for the rest of his career, all the while continuing to appear in other non-Franklin character roles on various projects. But you can catch him tonight on NBC in Daniel Boone, where he plays—Benjamin Franklin! All this and more is from the Northern California edition.
-2- KTVU (BAY AREA) (IND.)
MORNING 8:00 NEWS -C- 8:15 RELIGION—Evangelist -C- 8:30 JACK LA LANNE—Exercise -C- 9:00 POPEYE—Children -C- 9:30 ROMPER ROOM—Children -C- 10:30 DANNY THOMAS—Comedy
11:00 PROFILES—Discussion -C- Guest: Paul Anka
11:30 DENNIS WHOLEY—Variety -C- Guests: Bellard and Sommerville AFTERNOON 1:00 MOVIE—Drama “The Brave Don’t Cry” (English; 1952) 3:00 PASSWORD—Game -C- Guests: Irene Ryan, Guy Williams. Host: Allen Ludden 3:30 POPEYE—Children -C- 4:00 FLIPPER—Drama -C- 4:30 TARZAN—Adventure -C- 5:30 McHALE’S NAVY—Comedy EVENING 6:00 STAR TREK—Drama -C- 6:30 NEWS—Whitten/Olitsky -C- 7:00 I LOVE LUCY—Comedy 7:30 BEAT THE CLOCK—Game -C- 8:00 WHAT’S MY LINE?—Game -C- Panelists: Arlene Francis, Gawn Grainger, Darryl Hickman, Phyllis Newman 8:30 HE SAID, SHE SAID—Game -C- 9:00 DELLA REESE—Variety -C- 10:00 NEWS—Gary Park -C- 11:00 UNTOUCHABLES—Drama 12:00 ALFRED HITCHCOCK—Drama 1:00 NEWS -C-
-3- KCRA (SACRAMENTO) (NBC) MORNING 5:55 FARM MARKET REPORT -C- 6:00 RHYME AND REASON 6:30 DRAWING—Lessons 7:00 TODAY -C- Tentative: Sen. Eugene McCarthy, Bernard Diederich, Fredd Wayne 9:00 IT TAKES TWO -C- Guests: Shari Lewis, Shani Wallis and spouses; comics Al Lohman, Roger Barkley 9:25 NEWS—Nancy Dickerson -C- 9:30 CONCENTRATION -C- 10:00 SALE OF THE CENTURY—Game -C- 10:30 HOLLYWOOD SQUARES—Game -C- Guests: Jack Cassidy, Tina Cole, Greg Morris, Martha Raye, Mickey Rooney. Regulars: Wally Cox, Abby Dalton, Paul Lynde, Charley Weaver. Host: Peter Marshall 11:00 JEOPARDY—Game -C- 11:30 NAME DROPPERS -C- Guests: James Drury, Nanette Fabray, Doug McClure 11:55 NEWS—Floyd Kalber -C- AFTERNOON 12:00 NEWS -C- 1:00 DOCTORS—Serial -C- 1:30 ANOTHER WORLD -C- 2:00 BRIGHT PROMISE -C- 2:30 MOVIE—Melodrama “Shakedown” (1950) 4:00 BATMAN—Comedy -C- Guest villain: Frank Gorshin (The Riddler) 4:30 STAR TREK—Drama -C- 5:30 DICK VAN DYKE—Comedy EVENING 6:00 NEWS—Chet Huntley/David Brinkley -C- 6:30 NEWS—Whitten/Olitsky -C- 7:30 DANIEL BOONE -C- 8:30 IRONSIDE -C- 9:30 DRAGNET -C- 10:00 DEAN MARTIN -C- Guests: Carol Channing, Walter Brennan, Dom DeLuise 11:00 NEWS -C- 11:30 JOHNNY CARSON -C- Guest host: Joan Rivers. Guest: John Davidson
-4- KRON (BAY AREA) (NBC) MORNING 6:30 NEWS—Dick Doughty -C- 7:00 TODAY -C- Tentative: Sen. Eugene McCarthy, Bernard Diederich, Fredd Wayne 9:00 IT TAKES TWO -C- Guests: Shari Lewis, Shani Wallis and spouses; comics Al Lohman, Roger Barkley 9:25 NEWS—Nancy Dickerson -C- 9:30 CONCENTRATION -C- 10:00 SALE OF THE CENTURY—Game -C- 10:30 HOLLYWOOD SQUARES—Game -C- Guests: Jack Cassidy, Tina Cole, Greg Morris, Martha Raye, Mickey Rooney. Regulars: Wally Cox, Abby Dalton, Paul Lynde, Charley Weaver. Host: Peter Marshall 11:00 JEOPARDY—Game -C- 11:30 NAME DROPPERS -C- Guests: James Drury, Nanette Fabray, Doug McClure 11:55 NEWS—Floyd Kalber -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 BRIGHT PROMISE -C- 2:30 LETTERS TO LAUGH-IN -C- Guests: Bob Crane, Leigh French, Audrey Meadows, Jan Murray 3:00 YOU’RE PUTTING ME ON -C- Guests: Jack Carter, Peggy Cass, Bill Cullen, Robert Klein, Phyllis Newman, E.J. Peaker 3:30 F TROOP—Comedy 4:00 FLINTSTONES—Children -C- 4:30 BIG VALLEY—Western -C- 5:30 NEWS -C- EVENING 6:30 NEWS—Chet Huntley/David Brinkley -C- 7:00 WIDE WONDERFUL WORLD -C- 7:30 DANIEL BOONE -C- 8:30 IRONSIDE -C- 9:30 DRAGNET -C- 10:00 DEAN MARTIN -C- Guests: Carol Channing, Walter Brennan, Dom DeLuise 11:00 NEWS -C- 11:30 JOHNNY CARSON -C- Guest host: Joan Rivers. Guest: John Davidson 1:00 NEWS -C-
-5- KPIX (BAY AREA) (CBS) MORNING 5:55 SUNRISE SEMSETER -C- Math: Pascal’s triangle; patterns 6:25 COMMUNICATION IS 6:55 SKI SCENE -C- 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- 10:30 LOVE OF LIFE -C- 11:00 WHERE THE HEART IS—Serial -C- 11:25 NEWS—Douglas Edwards -C- 11:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial -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 SECRET STORM -C- 2:30 EDGE OF NIGHT -C- 3:00 MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety -C- Co-host: Soupy Sales. Guests: Mahalia Jackson, Barry Gray, Harpers Bizarre 4:30 DAVID FROST—Variety -C- Guests: Douglas Fairbanks, Ossie Davis, Jim Moran, Scoey Mitchell EVENING 6:00 NEWS -C- 6:30 NEWS—Walter Cronkite -C- 7:00 NEWS—John Weston -C- 7:30 FAMILY AFFAIR -C- 8:00 JIM NABORS—Variety -C- Guest: Kate Smith 9:00 MOVIE—Thriller “Two on a Guillotine” (1965) 11:00 NEWS -C- 11:30 MERV GRIFFIN -C- Guests: Hermoine Gingold, William Lear, Stanley Myron Handelman, Eloise Laws 1:00 MOVIE—Adventure “The Dirty Game” (French-German-Italian-British; 1965)
-6- KVIE (SACREMENTO) (NET) MORNING 9:15 CLASSROOM—Lessons 11:30 POCKETFUL OF FUN AFTERNOON 12:00 ONCE UPON A DAY 12:30 MISTEROGERS—Children 5:15 FRIENDLY GIANT—Children 5:30 POCKETFUL OF FUN—Children EVENING 6:00 ONCE UPON A DAY—Children 6:30 MISTEROGERS—Children 7:00 WHAT’S NEW—Children 7:30 BRIDGE—Jean Cox 8:00 WASHINGTON: WEEK IN REVIEW—Report 8:30 NET PLAYHOUSE “The Battle of Culloden” [A short follows the documentary] 10:00 PEOPLE IN JAZZ—Music Guest: George Benson 10:30 INVESTIGATOR—Science
-7- KGO (BAY AREA) (ABC) MORNING 6:00 EDUCATION -C- 6:25 A.M.—Jim Dunbar -C- 8:30 ANNIVERSARY GAME -C- 9:00 MOVIE—Musical Comedy “Grounds for Marriage” (1950) 11:00 CANDID CAMERA 11:30 GALLOPING GOURMET -C- AFTERNOON 12:00 BEWITCHED—Comedy 12:30 THAT GIRL—Comedy -C- 1:00 DREAM HOUSE—Game -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 -C- “The Inn of the Sixth Happiness” (English; 1953) Part 1 EVENING 6:00 NEWS -C- 7:00 NEWS—Frank Reynolds/Howard K. Smith -C- 7:30 GHOST/MRS. MUIR -C- 8:00 THAT GIRL—Comedy -C- 8:30 BEWITCHED -C- 9:00 TOM JONES -C- Guests: Jose Feliciano, Shelley Berman, Mary Hopkin 10:00 IT TAKES A THIEF -C- 11:00 NEWS -C- 11:30 JOEY BISHOP -C- Guests include Buddy Hackett 1:00 NEWS -C-
-7- KRCR (REDDING) (ABC, NBC) MORNING 7:00 TODAY -C- Tentative: Sen. Eugene McCarthy, Bernard Diederich, Fredd Wayne 9:00 IT TAKES TWO -C- Guests: Shari Lewis, Shani Wallis and spouses; Al Lohman, Roger Barkley 9:25 NEWS—Nancy Dickerson -C- 9:30 CONCENTRATION -C- 10:00 SALE OF THE CENTURY—Game -C- 10:30 HOLLYWOOD SQUARES—Game -C- Guests: Jack Cassidy, Tina Cole, Greg Morris, Martha Raye, Mickey Rooney. Regulars: Wally Cox, Abby Dalton, Paul Lynde, Charley Weaver. Host: Peter Marshall 11:00 JEOPARDY—Game -C- 11:30 NAME DROPPERS -C- Guests: James Drury, Nanette Fabray, Doug McClure 11:55 NEWS—Reeter -C- AFTERNOON 12:00 YOU’RE PUTTING ME ON -C- Guests: Jack Carter, Peggy Cass, Bill Cullen, Robert Klein, Phyllis Newman, E.J. Peaker 12:30 DAYS OF OUR LIVES -C- 1:00 DOCTORS—Serial -C- 1:30 ANOTHER WORLD -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 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 I DREAM OF JEANNIE -C- 7:30 DANIEL BOONE -C- 8:30 IRONSIDE -C- 9:30 DRAGNET -C- 10:00 DEAN MARTIN -C- Guests: Carol Channing, Walter Brennan, Dom DeLuise 11:00 NEWS -C- 11:30 JOHNNY CARSON -C- Guest host: Joan Rivers. Guest: John Davidson
-9- KIXE (REDDING) (NET) MORNING 9:15 CLASSROOM—Lessons Recess: 2:45-5 P.M. 11:30 POCKETFUL OF FUN AFTERNOON 12:00 ONCE UPON A DAY 5:00 MISTEROGERS—Children 5:30 WHAT’S NEW—Children EVENING 6:00 POCKETFUL OF FUN—Children 6:30 ONCE UPON A DAY—Children 7:00 NEWSROOM 8:00 WASHINGTON: WEEK IN REVIEW—Report 8:30 NET PLAYHOUSE “The Battle of Culloden” [A short follows the documentary] 10:00 SPOTLIGHT ON OPERA 10:30 HEALTH AND MEDICINE
10 KXTV (SACRAMENTO) (CBS) MORNING 6:00 BIG PICTURE -C- 6:30 SUNRISE SEMSETER -C- Math: Pascal’s triangle; patterns 7:00 NEWS—Joseph Benti -C- 8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO -C- 9:00 LUCILLE BALL -C- 9:30 BEVERLY HILLBILLIES -C- 10:00 ANDY GRIFFITH -C- 10:30 LOVE OF LIFE -C- 11:00 WHERE THE HEART IS—Serial -C- 11:25 NEWS—Chris Harris -C- 11:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial -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 SECRET STORM -C- 2:30 EDGE OF NIGHT -C- 3:00 GOMER PYLE, USMC -C- 3:30 McHALE’S NAVY—Comedy 4:00 MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety -C- Co-host: Soupy Sales. Guests: Mahalia Jackson, Barry Gray, Harpers Bizarre 5:30 NEWS—Walter Cronkite -C- EVENING 6:00 NEWS -C- 6:55 FISHING REPORT -C- 7:00 WHAT’S MY LINE?—Game -C- Panelists: Joanna Barnes, Bert Convy, Arlene Francis, Nipsey Russell 7:30 FAMILY AFFAIR -C- 8:00 JIM NABORS—Variety -C- Guest: Kate Smith 9:00 MOVIE—Drama -C- “Beau Geste” (1966) 11:00 NEWS -C- 11:30 MOVIE—Adventure -C- “Istanbul” (1956)
12 KHSL (CHICO) (ABC, CBS) MORNING 6:25 SOIL CONSERVATION 6:30 FILM -C- “Hitachi Symphony Orchestra” 7:00 NEWS—Joseph Benti -C- 8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO -C- 9:00 LUCILLE BALL -C- 9:30 BEVERLY HILLBILLIES -C- 10:00 ANDY GRIFFITH -C- 10:30 LOVE OF LIFE -C- 11:00 WHERE THE HEART IS—Serial -C- 11:25 NEWS—Douglas Edwards -C- 11:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial -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 GUIDING LIGHT -C- 2:00 SECRET STORM -C- 2:30 EDGE OF NIGHT -C- 3:00 GOMER PYLE, USMC -C- 3:30 DREAM HOUSE—Game -C- 4:00 PERRY MASON—Mystery 5:00 COURTSHIP OF EDDIE’S FATHER—Comedy -C- 5:30 NEWS -C- EVENING 6:30 NEWS—Walter Cronkite -C- 7:00 PETTICOAT JUNCTION -C- 7:30 GHOST/MRS. MUIR -C- 8:00 FLYING NUN—Comedy -C- 8:30 BEWITCHED -C- 9:00 MOVIE—Thriller “Two on a Guillotine” (1965) 11:00 NEWS -C- 11:30 MERV GRIFFIN -C- Guests: Hermoine Gingold, William Lear, Stanley Myron Handelman, Eloise Laws
13 KOVR (SACRAMENTO) (ABC) MORNING 5:30 NEWS—Chuck Rossie -C- 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—Children -C- 8:20 CARTOONLAND—Children -C- 8:50 JACK LA LANNE—Exercise -C- 9:20 FASHIONS IN SEWING -C- 9:30 STEVE ALLEN—Variety -C- Guests: Louis Nye, Al Jarreau 11:00 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES -C- 11:30 GALLOPING GOURMET -C- Recipe: lamb shanks AFTERNOON 12:00 BEWITCHED—Comedy 12:30 THAT GIRL—Comedy -C- 1:00 DREAM HOUSE—Game -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 7:25 OUTDOORSMAN—Lange -C- 7:30 GHOST/MRS. MUIR -C- 8:00 THAT GIRL—Comedy -C- 8:30 BEWITCHED -C- 9:00 TOM JONES -C- Guests: Jose Feliciano, Shelley Berman, Mary Hopkin 10:00 IT TAKES A THIEF -C- 11:00 NEWS -C- 11:30 JOEY BISHOP -C- Guests include Buddy Hackett 1:00 NEWS -C-
19 KLOC (MODESTO) (Ind.) AFTERNOON 5:00 FILM 5:30 CARTOONS EVENING 6:00 CHESTER SMITH—Variety 7:00 RODEO—Salinas 7:30 MOVIE—Spy Drama “Dangerously They Live” (1941)
40 KTXL (SACRAMENTO) (Ind.) MORNING 11:00 ROMPER ROOM—Children -C- 11:55 GYM ‘N’ TRIM—Exercise -C- AFTERNOON 12:00 YOU’RE PUTTING ME ON -C- Guests: Jack Carter, Peggy Cass, Bill Cullen, Robert Klein, Phyllis Newman, E.J. Peaker 12:30 DAYS OF OUR LIVES -C- 1:00 MOVIE—Comedy “Once upon a Time” (1944) 2:30 LETTERS TO LAUGH-IN -C- Guests: Bob Crane, Leigh French, Audrey Meadows, Jan Murray 3:00 CAP’N’S LOCKER—Children -C- 3:30 THREE STOOGES—Children -C- 4:00 OUR GANG—Children 4:30 MUNSTERS—Comedy 5:00 MY FAVORITE MARTIAN -C- 5:30 I SPY—Drama -C- EVENING 6:30 BURKE’S LAW—Mystery 7:30 RAIDER HIGHLIGHTS -C- 8:00 OF LANDS AND SEAS -C- 9:00 MOVIE—Thriller “Two on a Guillotine” (1965) 11:00 HONEYMOONERS—Comedyd 11:30 MERV GRIFFIN -C- Guests: Hermoine Gingold, William Lear, Stanley Myron Handelman, Eloise Laws
TV
October 21, 2023
This week in TV Guide: October 18, 1969
It could be said that the history of Mission: Impossible falls into three distinct eras: the first, which covers only the inaugural season and features Steven Hill as M;I leader Dan Briggs; the second, which began with Hill's replacement by Peter Graves as Jim Phelps; and the third, which is marked by the departures of Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, rendering the remainder of the series, to a large degree, forgettable. This week, we get a look behind the scenes at what instigated the show's fall from the summit. It involves, as is so often the case, a behind-the-scenes power struggle at Paramount, where the series is produced. The heavy, according to Richard Warren Lewis in his 10-page article (expect this to be a dramatically condensed version), is Douglas Cramer, vice president in charge of production at Paramount. He's been charged with reducing the costs of producing Mission: Impossible, which is a very successful, but also a very expensive, program; each episode costs Paramount more than $225,000, while the network pays the studio little more than $170,000 (plus a "small sum" of foreign sales) to air it. Cramer (whom Lewis describes as "sipping a Bloody Mary in a studio office he had decorated with Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg abstracts," ordered creator and executive producer Bruce Geller to reduce what he called the series' "alarming" expenses, both in front of and behind the cameras. Geller, furious about what he took to be "insinuations and implications that he had operated in bad faith," voiced his own objections about Cramer's meddling.
While this was going on, Cramer was inspecting the various assets of the program with an eye to what brought M:I the greatest value. His conclusion was that "the audience buys the show itself, rather than those who populate it," with the exception of Peter Graves, who was seen as the glue that held the entire show together. The study also suggested that it would be possible to find a substitute for Martin Landau, whom Lewis characterizes as "undoubtedly one of the most charismatic performers on television," but who also came at a high price ($6,500 per episode, residuals amounting to 75 percent of his full salary, and an additional $60,000 "to be used by him personally for developing properties"), and had a unique year-to-year contract, rather than the standard five-year contract. Geller accuses Cramer of looking for an excuse to get rid of Landau; "Right from the beginning, he did not want Marty back. I don’t know why."
Paramount and Landeau came to loggerheads on negotiating a contract for the fourth season; Paramount offered to bring him back as a guest star for half of the season's episodes, which Landau's representative, Ed Hookstratten, rejected out of hand. Michael Dann, vice president of programming at CBS, pleaded with Paramount to do whatever it took to bring Landau back, but he was, according to Lewis, "dealing from less than a powerful position," as existing contracts prevented the network from exercising creative control over the show or its cast. "That [expletive] Doug Cramer is crazy," he complained. "The real truth of the matter is that he wants to show he’s bigger than anybody involved in the show. He wants control. The loss of Landau is a great tragedy. CBS is terribly upset.'
Meanwhile, Landau's wife and co-star Barbara Bain, a multiple Emmy winner for the show, was experiencing contract difficulties of her own. Paramount had yet to pick up her option for the fourth year of her five-year contract, and when she was notified to report to the studio on Monday for wardrobe-and-makeup discussions, she refused, telling the studio that Monday was her maid's day off, and Tuesday she was scheduled to do promos for the American Cancer Society and the Heart Association. She asked for permission to report on Wednesday, but heard nothing back from the studio. Instead, Cramer moved to charge her with breach of contract and sought to replace her with Dina Merrill. Bain filed a countersuit alleging not just breach of contract but defamation of character. Geller fumed, and didn't recast the part at all.So at this point, Cramer has succeeded in reducing costs, and imposing a lower budget on the show, not to mention putting some of his own people on the production staff. Geller, angered by Cramer's moves and resentful of Cramer's people, says, "Mr. Cramer has provided an aura under which it is very difficult to operate. The crew doesn’t feel that. this is a happy place to work. Nor do they feel that management has a high opinion of them. I’m terribly upset. People are depressed, irritated, unhappy—almost despairing. | have a hit show, a hit operation and a flop management." CBS is furious; Dann says that "Cramer has jeopardized the show in the most serious way possible. He has interfered creatively, telling them how to do the show. This is from a man who has never produced a show." Bain says she doesn't know what is going on, and Landau, working on a movie in Sicily, comments only on the camaraderie shared by the old cast.
Cramer vows that the viewer "will see a show in no way different from what he has seen in the past," and predicts that Nimoy will be "superb" in the role. Neither prediction is accurate; Nimoy, frustrated by a lack of depth to his character, will leave after the show's fifth season. Lesley Ann Warren is brought in for the fifth season, but never hits it off, and leaves at the same time as Nimoy; Peter Lupus is reported to be replaced by Sam Elliott, who appears in several episodes, but an outpouring of viewer support forces Lupus to be brought back. While the series itself will survive until the end of its seventh season, it never attains the heights and panache of those first three seasons. Cramer leaves Paramount in 1971 to form his own production company, and later joins forces with Aaron Spelling. After all, you know what they say about people failing upwards.
l l l
During the 60s, the Ed Sullivan Show and The Hollywood Palace were the premiere variety shows on television. Whenever they appear in TV Guide together, we'll match them up and see who has the best lineup.Sullivan: Tentatively scheduled: Cyd Charisse, comics Bill Dana and Joan Rivers, Spanish singer Raphael, Australian songstress Lana Cantrell, jazz trumpeter Don Ellis and his band, puppet Topo Gigio, and Tanya the Elephant.
Palace: Diana Ross and the Supremes (Cindy Birdsong and Mary Wilson) do a return engagement as Palace hosts, Guests: Sammy Davis Jr., Laugh-In’s Alan Sues, ventriloquist Willie Tyler and the Jackson Five (aged 7-16), Diana’s proteges.
From an entertainment standpoint, this week's winner depends largely on your taste in entertainment. From a historical perspective, however, I think it's fairly easy to see who comes out on top. With Diana and the Supremes, Sammy Davis Jr., and the Jackson Five, the Palace not only has a talent edge, but when you include Willie Tyler (and, undoubtedly, Lester), it's an example of a mainstream network variety show with an almost entirely black lineup. My, how the times have changed. This week, Palace takes the crown.
l l l
Throughout the 60s and early 70s, TV Guide's weekly reviews were written by the witty and acerbic Cleveland Amory. Whenever we get the chance, we'll look at Cleve's latest take on the shows of the era. When CBS's sitcom The Governor and J.J. premiered, William Drinkwater (Dan Dailey) was introduced merely as the governor of a quiet Midwestern state. That didn't prevent speculation as to which state he was supposed to be from, especially as the series was in the habit of introducing real-life state governors playing themselves in cameo roles. (According to the Teletype, Florida's Claude Kirk has just been signed as the fifth governor to do so.) One leading theory was that the state in question was Minnesota, a state which was highly regarded at the time and hadn't yet fallen into the cesspool of crime and homelessness. We never did find out just what state the Guv was from, but that doesn't stop Cleveland Amory from giving a qualified thumbs-up to this series.
Given the dismal state of sitcoms in 1969, Cleve says, "this show is probably as good a comedy half-hour as you're likely to get. It is fast-paced, reasonably funny and even, for this type of program, relatively sophisticated. But beyond that we will not go." It's wildly implausible (if you believe these characters, then this show "is after your bedtime and you should not be watching it"), and there hasn't really been a good TV show about politics since Slattery's People. The plots, so far, have featured such dilemmas as the widowed governor's daughter, J.J. (Julie Sommars), discovering that the chairs put out for her appearance at the opening of the art museum are covered with the same material as her dress. Come to think of it, if that was the worst we had to anticipate from our politicians, things really were better back then.
Nevertheless, as Amory pointed out at the beginning, there are bright spots. "Dan Dailey is very good as Ronald Reagan and Julie Sommars makes an excellent Julie Nixon." James Callahan, as the governor's press secretary, is good as well, and the dialogue is generally fun, if not always funny. Speaking from the perspective of a former Minnesotan, however, I can promise you that Dan Dailey as governor would be at least twice as good as the current incumbent—and Dailey has been dead for 45 years. That's politics for you.
l l l
The new television season may only be a month old, but of course it's never too early to start worrying (or celebrating) about ratings, and with the first report in, there's room for both—sometimes with the same show! Take Get Smart, which during the off-season was cancelled by NBC and picked up by CBS. It finished 66th for the week, and that's bad news. But, it got better ratings that the shows it was up against, Let's Make a Deal on ABC and High Chaparral on NBC, and that's good news. And, CBS boss Mike Dann gloats, wait until next month when the Smarts have triplets. "The ratings should leap up," he tells Richard K. Doan in this week's Doan Report, "and Get Smart could have a five- or six-year run!" Or more likely seven months, to be precise: the show's final episode airs on May 15, 1970.Last summer's success, Hee Haw, is said to be on the sidelines warming up to replace the weakest of the network's new shows: Medical Center. Guess again; Medical Center winds up not only surviving the year, but becoming one of the longest-running medical shows on television, running for seven successful seasons,* while Hee Haw instead replaces The Leslie Uggams Show. Other shows in trouble: The Good Guys (also on CBS), The Music Scene, The New People, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (another import from NBC), Land of the Giants, and It Takes a Thief on ABC; and The Andy Williams Show on NBC (suffering from being up against The Jackie Gleason Show). Of those shows, only Andy lives to see another season.
*Tied with Marcus Welby, M.D., which also ran for seven seasons, beginning and ending in the same seasons as Medical Center.
As for the hits, the aforementioned Marcus Welby debuted in the top ten, as did The Bill Cosby Show. Welby stays there for awhile, as we know, while Cos continues through next season—but he'll be back.
l l l
A note at the beginning of the program section warns us that if the World Series is still going, games six and seven will pre-empt regular programming. That's not a problem, since the New York Mets completed perhaps the greatest story in baseball history by defeating the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday to win the Series a mere seven years after setting baseball's all-time record for losses in one season. That doesn't mean the week's without history, though.
To put things in context, remember that in the 1960s and 1970s, the NBA Game of the Week didn't start until January (after football season), so for a network to televise a game in October, it has to be a special occasion. And this Saturday is one of those occasions, as Wide World of Sports presents the regular season debut of the Milwaukee Bucks' Lew Alcindor, one of the most heralded rookies to ever enter the NBA. (11:00 a.m. PT, ABC) Alcindor, who played three seasons with UCLA, was twice named Player of the Year, set a college record for field goal percentage, and won three national championships. The Bucks had earned the first pick in the draft by finishing with the NBA's worst record in their inaugural season. They won 27 games that first year; with Alcindor in the lineup, they would win 56 games and finish in second place; in their third season they won the NBA championship, and Alcindor was named MVP. Alcindor, who will change his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar the year after that title victory, will retire in 1989 as the NBA's all-time leading scorer, with six MVP awards, six NBA championships, 19 selections as a league All-Star, and a memorable role in Airplane. There's one more sports story, of a sort: on Sunday, NBC presents a repeat of the 1968 TV movie Heidi. (7:00 p.m.) It's been almost a year since the memorable 1968 Heidi Game , in which the network cut away from a New York Jets-Oakland Raiders game that was running late in order to show the start of Heidi, only to have the Raiders come from behind with two touchdowns in the final minute to defeat the Jets. Thus, this note:
For the record, the Oakland Raiders are once again involved in the late contest, this time hosting the Buffalo Bills in a game that would have kicked off at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. The Raiders come out on top, 50-21, and I can guarantee the situation with Heidi did not repeat itself.
l l l
Kraft Suspense Theatre had a nice two-year run on NBC from 1963 to 1965, but while the series consistently featured well-known performers and decent scripts, few of the episodes really made an impression, either in first-run or syndication. Saturday's episode (11:30 p.m., Channel 4), however, is an exception: it's "Rapture at 240," the pilot for Run for Your Life, with Ben Gazzara as attorney Paul Bryan, who learns that he has only a year or two to live. It's an interesting concept, yet another variation on The Fugitive, but the problem with turning it into a series was that it was self-limiting: two years at the most, according to his doctor. And while series have always played fast and loose with the passage of time (Combat!, Hogan's Heroes, and M*A*S*H all ran far longer than their respective wars, for example), Gazzara himself thought the show lost credibility when it returned for a third season. Maybe they could have given him a brain tumor or something instead, one of those deals where it could burst in ten minutes or ten years, or go away completely. I'm probably overthinking it.Frank Sinatra Jr. gets to follow in his famous father's footsteps on Sunday, as the 25-yera-old singer gets his first network special, filmed in and around Las Vegas. (9:00 p.m., CBS) Joining the junior Sinatra in "With Family and Friends" are Jack Benny, Sammy Davis Jr., Nancy Sinatra, the Doodletown Pipers, Arte Johnson, Jack E. Leonard, and the Air Force Thunderbirds precision flying team. Oh, and a duet with dad.
I mention this because in order to catch Frank Jr., you'll have to pass up ABC's Sunday Night Movie, Stagecoach (9:00 p.m.), a remake of the John Ford classic that, according to Judith Crist, "embodies all that has gone wrong with movies in the past 30 years—unspectacular spectacle, violence for its own de-luxe-color bloody sake, dialogue riddled by maudlin sociology and five-cent psychiatry and inept performances by ersatz stars." Included in the cast are Ann-Margret, Alex Cord, Red Buttons, Mike Connors, Bing Crosby, Bob Cummings, Van Heflin, Slim Pickens, Stefanie Powers, and Keenan Wynn. And still the movie doesn't work.
Nineteen sixty-nine marks the 100th anniversary of college football, commemorated in a CBS special, "100 Years Old and Still Kicking," hosted by Charles Kuralt. (Tuesday, 10:00 p.m.) Kuralt looks back at the game's history dating back to a painting of the first college game, played between Princeton and Rutgers, and film by Thomas Edison at the turn of the century. There are also clips of great stars, including Jim Thorpe, Red Grange, Knute Rockne, Glenn Davis, and Doc Blanchard; scenes from movies showing the game's role in pop culture; and how television has helped the game boom. Oh, and since CBS only shows a couple of college bowl games each season, there's also a segment on the professional game, including the Super Bowl. I'd think Kuralt would be just about right hosting a program like this. Speaking, as we were, of Get Smart, Friday night's episode is well worth a look, as Broderick Crawford guest stars in "Treasure of C. Errol Madre" (7:30 p.m., CBS), a wild takeoff on The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, with Don Adams as Smart as Humphrey Bogart. We're told that the script, by Chris Hayward and Bob DeVinney, is loyal to the movie, which I assume means there are no stinkin' badges. It makes a good warmup for a Gene Barry episode of Name of the Game (8:30 p.m., NBC) with Darren McGavin as one of Barry's reporters, searching for a missing scientist (James Whitmore) suspected of defecting to Cuba. Not interested? Then stick with CBS and the movie The Last Challenge, a Western with a terrific cast, including Glenn Ford, Angie Dickinson, Chad Everett, Gary Merrill, and Jack Elam. Unlike that other Western on Sunday, Judith Crist says this "unpretentious stock story" glows.
l l l
No MST3K update this week, but a couple of Japanese sci-fi flicks that should have been on: first, Battle in Outer Space, from 1960, with Rye Ikebe, Kyoko Anzai, and Leonard Stanford (!). (Monday, 6:30 p.m., KTXL) "Catastrophes sweep the globe, and earth’s scientists conclude that beings from another planet are attacking." Makes sense to me; what else could it be? Then, there's the 1959 movie The H-Man, starring Yumi Shirakawa and Kenji Sahara. (Wednesday, 6:30 p.m., KTXL) "H-bomb tests create beings, made of water, that subsist on humans." Those would have worked, don't you think? TV
October 20, 2023
Around the dial
At bare•bones e-zine, Jack's Hitchcock Project gets the week off to a good start with the first of two Lukas Heller teleplays, "
The Tender Poisoner
," an eighth-season episode with Dan Dailey, Howard Duff, and Jan Sterling. Compared to the novel upon which it's based, this story comes off as—well, you'll have to find out for yourself.John continues his Cult TV Blog sojourn in the 1970s with the British kids' show Play Away, which ran from 1971 to 1984 and is so good that John dragged himself out of a sick bed to write about it. Now that's dedication to the reader! It's the chance to look back at another time and a charming show.
Speaking of sojourns, David has been doing a 1970s journey of his own at Comfort TV, looking at at least one episode of every available prime-time show that appeared during the decade. This week, it's Sunday and Monday nights, 1973 , with some familiar shows—Mannix, Barnaby Jones, The FBI, The Rookies, Gunsmoke—and some noble failures, which I'll let you find on your own.
At Drunk TV, Paul takes us back to a TV staple, without which no childhood would be complete: The Three Stooges . In Volume Four of the complete set of shorts, which covers the years 1943-45, you catch the Stooges (including Curly) at their peak, a time of primal, surreal physical comedy. I've got this volume, and I endorse this message.
Martin Grams takes us to the funny pages for a strip that's anything but funny: an adaptation of the radio drama The Adventures of Sam Spade , made for advertisements for the show's sponsor, Wildroot, featuring an artist's conception of the Spade of Howard Duff and the Effie of Lurene Tuttle. Check out the first fourteen strips, covering 1947-50. Good fun!
It seems as if, every time I turn around, another figure from our television past has passed on, and this week Terence looks back at three of them at A Shroud of Thoughts: Piper Laurie , who performed in so many terrific movies and TV shows; Lara Parker , unforgettable as Angelique on Dark Shadows; and Suzanne Somers , best remembered for Three's Company, but with a career that covered much more than that.
Travalanche also covers the deaths of those three leading ladies in a single post ; in addition, we have a look at the career of George Nader , an actor with whom I'm well-familiar due to his appearances in multiple movies shown on Mystery Science Theater 3000, which may be more of a commentary on these movies than anything else I could say.
Finally, we'll visit The Avengers at The View from the Junkyard, with Roger and Mike comparing notes on the episode " The Living Dead ," a spooky Steed/Mrs. Peel adventure that's more than appropriate for the season. Let's see how our heroes fare. TV
October 18, 2023
Television in the Third Reich
Do I use the word "interesting" too often? I like to think I'm interested in a lot of different things, so it's certainly possible. Regardless, I recently ran across a documentary on YouTube that I think is interesting, and hopefully some of you will think so as well. It's called Television Under the Swastika, and it takes a look at the development of television in Nazi Germany prior to and in the early years of World War II. What's particularly—if you'll pardon the expression—interesting is looking at the technology used to develop and transmit the footage. And then there's the fact that some of the archival footage of actual programming still exists, complete with the presenter giving the obligatory "Heil Hitler" salute. (It was enough to send a bit of a shiver down the spine.) Included also are some clips of television coverage of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and while it looks pretty primitive to us today, it must have been quite amazing for those who were able to see it back then—there were very few television sets in Germany, so "viewing halls" were created where people could gather to watch the limited programming offerings.
It's about an hour long, but it's in English with English subtitles, so it's easy enough to follow.
I wonder if the timeline of television development would have been markedly different if the Germans had been able to continue their experiments—if they were significantly advanced over either the British or Americans—before the war started. Conversely, would history have changed had television been in a more advanced state, and had someone like Goebbels known what to do with it? Speculation like that could prove to be quite—interesting. TV
October 16, 2023
What's on TV? Tuesday, October 18, 1966
There's a documentary on KSBW at 7:30 p.m. called The Epic of Flight, part of the Time-Life series of TV specials. (Not to be confused with The Epic of Flight series of books, published by Time-Life.) I have very vague memories of having seen this back in Minneapolis, primarily because I was interested in airplanes, especially those used in World War I. (Good fodder for a six-year-old.) Nowadays you'd see something like this on the History Channel or one of its clones, although it would probably be five or six minutes shorter because of commercials, and you'd lose another few minutes spent recapping what happened before the commercials. (If you've seen a History Channel doc you'll know what I mean.) I think this would easily win the evening for me, as opposed to the documentary on men in prisons that CBS is showing. Anyway, find your favorites from this Northern California edition. -2- KTVU (BAY AREA) (IND.)
Morning 9:45 RELIGION TODAY—Catholic 10:00 NEWS—Walt Harris 10:30 JACK LA LANNE COLOR 11:00 ROMPER ROOM—Children
Afternoon
12:00 I WANT TO KNOW—Mel Venter 12:25 NEWS—Walt Harris 12:30 DIVORCE COURT—Drama 1:30 MOVIE—Mystery “Master Spy” (English; 1962) 3:00 CAPTAIN SATELLITE—Children 4:00 SUPERCAR—Children 4:30 ABBOTT AND COSTELLO 5:00 SUPERMAN—Adventure 5:30 THREE STOOGES—Comedy
Evening 6:00 ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS—Cartoon COLOR 6:30 CISCO KID—Western COLOR 7:00 TRUE ADVENTURE—Documentary COLOR 7:30 IT’S A WONDERFUL WORLD COLOR 8:00 WORLD ADVENTURE 8:30 STORY OF A SINGER 9:00 OUTER LIMITS—Science Fiction 10:00 NEWS—Al Helmso, Claud Mann 10:30 ALFRED HITCHCOCK—Drama 11:00 MOVIE—Drama “Destination Death” (German; 1962)
-3- KCRA (SACRAMENTO) (NBC) Morning 5:55 FARM NEWS COLOR 6:00 RHYME AND REASON 7:00 TODAY COLOR Guests: Evan Hunter, Jules Feiffer, Ailne Saarinen. Host: Hugh Downs 9:00 EYE GUESS COLOR 9:25 NEWS—Sander Vanocur COLOR 9:30 CONCENTRATION 10:00 PAT BOONE—Variety COLOR Guests: Bob Hope, Bill Cosby, Edie Adams, Lorne Greene 10:30 HOLLYWOOD SQUARES COLOR Guests: Agnes Moorehead, Ernest Borgnine, Sally Field, Nick Adams 11:00 JEOPARDY COLOR 11:30 SWINGIN’ COUNTRY COLOR Guest: Jimmie Rodgers 11:55 NEWS COLOR Afternoon 12:00 NEWS—Whitten, Biondi COLOR 12:30 DAYS OF OUR LIVES COLOR 1:00 DOCTORS—Serial 1:30 ANOTHER WORLD COLOR 2:00 YOU DON’T SAY! COLOR Panelists: Anne Francis, Peter Lawford 2:30 MOVIE—Comedy “Watch the Birdie” (1950) 4:00 MOVIE—Western COLOR Time approximate. “The Siege at Red River” (1954) 5:30 TRAVENTURE THEATRE COLOR Evening 6:00 NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley COLOR 6:30 NEWS COLOR 7:30 GIRL FROM U.N.C.L.E. COLOR 8:30 OCCASIONAL WIFE COLOR 9:00 MOVIE—Comedy “Up Front” (1951) 11:00 NEWS—Duke, Branch COLOR 11:30 JOHNNY CARSON—Variety COLOR Johnny returns after a week’s vacation 1:00 NEWS COLOR
-4- KRON (BAY AREA) (NBC) Morning 6:25 FARM NEWS 6:30 PROFILE—San Diego State “Art of the Guitar: Classico” 7:00 TODAY COLOR Guests: Evan Hunter, Jules Feiffer, Ailne Saarinen. Host: Hugh Downs 9:00 EYE GUESS COLOR 9:25 NEWS—Sander Vanocur COLOR 9:30 CONCENTRATION 10:00 PAT BOONE—Variety COLOR Guests: Bob Hope, Bill Cosby, Edie Adams, Lorne Greene 10:30 HOLLYWOOD SQUARES COLOR Guests: Agnes Moorehead, Ernest Borgnine, Sally Field, Nick Adams 11:00 JEOPARDY COLOR 11:30 SWINGIN’ COUNTRY COLOR Guest: Jimmie Rodgers 11:55 NEWS COLOR Afternoon 12:00 LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game COLOR 12:25 NEWS COLOR 12:30 DAYS OF OUR LIVES COLOR 1:00 DOCTORS—Serial 1:30 ANOTHER WORLD COLOR 2:00 YOU DON’T SAY! COLOR Panelists: Anne Francis, Peter Lawford 2:30 MATCH GAME COLOR Celebrities: Sal Mineo, Jane Anne Jayroe 2:55 NEWS 3:00 MILLIONAIRE—Drama 3:30 MAYOR ART—Children 4:00 BACHELOR FATHER—Comedy 4:30 RAWHIDE—Western 5:30 NEWS Evening 6:30 NEWS—Brown, Jensen, Hart 7:00 WANTED—DEAD OR ALIVE 7:30 GIRL FROM U.N.C.L.E. COLOR 8:30 OCCASIONAL WIFE COLOR 9:00 MOVIE—Comedy COLOR “Papa’s Delicate Condition” (1963) 11:00 NEWS 11:30 JOHNNY CARSON—Variety COLOR Johnny returns after a week’s vacation 1:00 NEWS
-5- KPIX (BAY AREA) (CBS) Morning 6:00 SUNRISE SEMESTER Philosophy: Truth and Validity 6:30 CHINA—History 7:00 FILM SHORT 7:05 NEWS—Joseph Benti COLOR 7:30 NEWS—Jim Anderson 8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO 9:00 CANDID CAMERA 9:30 BEVERLY HILLBILLIES 10:00 ANDY GRIFFITH 10:30 DICK VAN DYKE 11:00 LOVE OF LIFE 11:25 NEWS COLOR 11:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial 11:45 GUIDING LIGHT—Serial COLOR Afternoon 12:00 NEWS 12:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial 1:00 PASSWORD—Game COLOR Celebrities: Barbara Rush, John Forsythe 1:30 HOUSE PARTY COLOR Guest: Allen Ludden 2:00 TO TELL THE TRUTH 2:25 NEWS COLOR 2:30 EDGE OF NIGHT 3:00 SECRET STORM 3:30 JOHN BARTHOLOMEW TUCKER—Variety 4:00 MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety Co-host: Eddie Fisher. Guests: Marilyn Van Derbur, Boots Randolph 5:30 TWILIGHT ZONE—Drama Evening 6:00 NEWS 6:30 NEWS—Walter Cronkite COLOR 7:00 M SQUAD—Police 7:30 DAKTARI—Adventure COLOR 8:30 RED SKELTON COLOR Guests: Robert Vaughn, Joyce Jameson, Jay and the Americans 9:30 PETTICOAT JUNCTION COLOR 10:00 CBS REPORTS SPECIAL COLOR "Men in Cages" May be pre-empted by a late-news show 11:00 NEWS 11:20 MERV GRIFFIN—Variety Guests: Errol Garner, Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson, Robert Goulet, Baby Jane Holzer 12:50 MOVIE—Drama “Frisco Kid” (1935)
-6- KVIE (SACREMENTO) (EDUC.) Morning 8:20 COLLEGE ENGLISH—Lessons 9:10 CLASSROOM—Education Spanish, science, history, physical eduction Afternoon 12:00 WHAT’S NEW—Children 12:30 CINEPOSIUM—Films 1:10 CLASSROOM—Education Language arts, political history, pre-school instruction 5:45 FRIENDLY GIANT—Children Evening 6:00 TIME TO DANCE—Education 6:30 COLLEGE ENGLISH—Lessons 7:00 WHAT’S NEW—Children 7:30 PLAN YOUR HOME 8:00 STRUGGE FOR PEACE 8:30 FRENCH CHEF—Cooking Poached chicken 9:00 CHALLENGES—Discussion 10:00 CONVERSATION WITH. . . Guest: Raymond Aron
-7- KGO (BAY AREA) (ABC) Morning 6:00 A.M.—Dunbar, Lindstrom, Bentley 8:00 GIRL TALK—Panel Guests: Marguerite Piazza, Pat Soliman, Renee Mann 8:30 GYPSY ROSE LEE—Panel 9:00 MOVIE—Drama “A Letter to Three Wives” (1949) 10:30 LUAU—Bill Gordon 11:00 MARKET SWEEP—Game 11:30 DATING GAME Afternoon 12:00 DONNA REED—Comedy 12:30 FATHER KNOWS BEST—Comedy 1:00 BEN CASEY—Drama 2:00 NEWLYWED GAME 2:30 TIME FOR US 2:55 NEWS 3:00 GENERAL HOSPITAL 3:30 NURSES—Serial 4:00 DARK SHADOWS—Serial 4:30 WHERE THE ACTION IS Performers: the Association, the Music Machine 5:00 NEWS Evening 6:00 MOVIE—Comedy “Francis Goes to West Point” (1952) 7:30 COMBAT!—Drama COLOR 8:30 ROUNDERS—Comedy COLOR 9:00 PRUITTS OF SOUTHHAMPTON—Comedy COLOR 9:30 LOVE ON A ROOFTOP COLOR 10:00 FUGITIVE—Drama COLOR 11:00 NEWS 11:30 MOVIE—Drama “The Great Man” (1956) 1:30 MOVIE—All Night 1. “Anatomy of a Psycho” (1963) 2. “Thief of Damascus” (1952) 3. Bronco
-7- KRCR (REDDING) (ABC, NBC) Morning 7:00 TODAY COLOR Guests: Evan Hunter, Jules Feiffer, Ailne Saarinen. Host: Hugh Downs 9:00 JACK LA LANNE—Exercise 9:30 CONCENTRATION 10:00 PAT BOONE—Variety COLOR Guests: Bob Hope, Bill Cosby, Edie Adams, Lorne Greene 10:30 HOLLYWOOD SQUARES COLOR Guests: Agnes Moorehead, Ernest Borgnine, Sally Field, Nick Adams 11:00 JEOPARDY COLOR 11:30 SWINGIN’ COUNTRY COLOR Guest: Jimmie Rodgers 11:55 NEWS COLOR Afternoon 12:00 LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game COLOR 12:25 NEWS COLOR 12:30 FATHER KNOWS BEST—Comedy 1:00 BEN CASEY—Drama 2:00 NEWLYWED GAME 2:30 TIME FOR US 2:55 NEWS 3:00 GENERAL HOSPITAL 3:30 NURSES—Serial 4:00 DARK SHADOWS—Serial 4:30 WHERE THE ACTION IS Performers: the Association, the Music Machine 5:00 BUGS BUNNY—Cartoons 5:30 KING KONG—Cartoon Evening 6:00 NEWS 6:30 NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley COLOR 7:00 LET’S GO TO THE RACES—Game COLOR 7:30 COMBAT!—Drama COLOR 8:30 OCCASIONAL WIFE COLOR 9:00 MOVIE—Drama COLOR “Wild River” (1960) 11:00 NEWS 11:15 JOHNNY CARSON—Variety COLOR Johnny returns after a week’s vacation
-8- KSBW (SALINAS) (CBS, NBC) Morning 7:00 TODAY COLOR Guests: Evan Hunter, Jules Feiffer, Ailne Saarinen. Host: Hugh Downs 9:00 CANDID CAMERA 9:30 CONCENTRATION 10:00 LIFE OF RILEY—Comedy 10:30 DICK VAN DYKE 11:00 LOVE OF LIFE 11:30 SWINGIN’ COUNTRY COLOR Guest: Jimmie Rodgers 11:55 NEWS Afternoon 12:00 LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game COLOR 12:25 NEWS COLOR 12:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial 1:00 PASSWORD—Game COLOR Celebrities: Barbara Rush, John Forsythe 1:30 HOUSE PARTY COLOR Guest: Allen Ludden 2:00 TO TELL THE TRUTH 2:25 NEWS COLOR 2:30 EDGE OF NIGHT 3:00 SECRET STORM 3:30 MOVIE—Comedy “Honeychile” (1951) 5:20 POLITCAL TALK—Republican Ronald Reagan 5:25 MISTER ED—Comedy Evening 6:00 NEWS 6:25 POLITICAL TALK—Republican Sen. Donald L. Grunsky 6:30 NEWS—Walter Cronkite COLOR 7:00 LOWELL THOMAS—Travel 7:30 MARCH OF TIME—Documentary SPECIAL “Epic of Flight” 8:30 RED SKELTON COLOR Guests: Robert Vaughn, Joyce Jameson, Jay and the Americans 9:30 MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.—Drama 10:30 T.H.E. CAT—Adventure 11:00 NEWS 11:30 JOHNNY CARSON—Variety COLOR Johnny returns after a week’s vacation
-9- KQED (BAY AREA) (EDUC.) Morning 8:00 CLASSROOM—Education Linguistics, social studies, French, science, health and speech Afternoon 12:00 WHAT’S NEW—Children 12:30 FOLK GUITAR—Music 1:00 CLASSROOM—Education Mathematics, French, linguistics 4:00 FRENCH CHEF—Cooking Roast duck a l’orange 4:30 WHAT’S NEW—Children 5:00 TV KINDERGARTEN 5:30 FRIENDLY GIANT—Children 5:45 ART STUDIO—Children Evening 6:00 WHAT’S NEW—Children 6:30 OPENING NIGHT—Opera Review 7:00 FOLK GUITAR—Music 7:30 BOOKS AND AUTHORS 8:00 CONCERT—Music 9:00 DAVID SUSSKIND—Discussion 10:45 KQED REPORT—James Day
-9- KIXE (REDDING) (EDUC.) Morning 8:40 CLASSROOM—Education Spanish, science, history Afternoon 12:00 TV KINDERGARTEN 12:30 CINEPOSIUM—Films 1:05 CLASSROOM—Education Spanish, history pre-school education 5:45 TO BE ANNOUNCED Evening 6:00 TIME TO DANCE—Education 6:30 COLLEGE ENGLISH—Lessons 7:00 WHAT’S NEW—Children 7:30 PLAN YOUR HOME 8:00 STRUGGE FOR PEACE 8:30 FRENCH CHEF—Cooking Poached chicken 9:00 CHALLENGES—Discussion 10:00 CONVERSATION WITH. . . Guest: Raymond Aron
10 KXTV (SACRAMENTO) (CBS) Morning 6:00 YOUR COMMUNITY GOVERNMENT COLOR 6:25 FARM NEWS 6:30 SUNRISE SEMESTER Philosophy: Truth and Validity 7:00 FOCUS ON FARMING COLOR 7:05 NEWS—Joseph Benti COLOR 7:30 WINCHELL-MAHONEY—Children 8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO 9:00 CANDID CAMERA 9:30 BEVERLY HILLBILLIES 10:00 ANDY GRIFFITH 10:30 DICK VAN DYKE 11:00 LOVE OF LIFE 11:25 NEWS COLOR 11:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial 11:45 GUIDING LIGHT—Serial COLOR Afternoon 12:00 NEWS 12:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial 1:00 PASSWORD—Game COLOR Celebrities: Barbara Rush, John Forsythe 1:30 HOUSE PARTY COLOR Guest: Allen Ludden 2:00 TO TELL THE TRUTH 2:25 NEWS COLOR 2:30 EDGE OF NIGHT 3:00 SECRET STORM 3:30 GYPSY ROSE LEE—Panel Guests: Bob Crane, Imogene Coca, Irene Houlahan 4:00 MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety Co-host: Eddie Fisher. Guests: Marilyn Van Derbur, Boots Randolph 5:30 NEWS Evening 6:00 NEWS—Walter Cronkite COLOR 6:30 RIFLEMAN—Western 7:00 TWILIGHT ZONE—Drama 7:30 DAKTARI—Adventure COLOR 8:30 RED SKELTON COLOR Guests: Robert Vaughn, Joyce Jameson, Jay and the Americans 9:30 PETTICOAT JUNCTION COLOR 10:00 CBS REPORTS SPECIAL COLOR “Men in Cages” May be pre-empted by a late-news show 11:00 NEWS 11:30 MOVIE—Melodrama “Las Vegas Shakedown” (1955) 1:05 WEATHER—Russell COLOR
11 KNTV (SAN JOSE) (ABC) Morning 7:55 BIBLE ANSWERS—Drama 8:25 NEWS 8:30 BEANY AND CECIL—Cartoons 9:00 HOCUS POCUS—Children 9:15 BUCAROO 500—Buck Weaver 9:30 HOCUS POCUS—Children 10:00 MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety Co-host: Chuck Connors. Guests: Milton Berle, James Darren, the George Shearing Quintet 11:00 MARKET SWEEP—Game 11:30 DATING GAME Afternoon 12:00 DONNA REED—Comedy 12:30 FATHER KNOWS BEST—Comedy 1:00 BEN CASEY—Drama 2:00 NEWLYWED GAME 2:30 TIME FOR US 2:55 NEWS 3:00 GENERAL HOSPITAL 3:30 NURSES—Serial 4:00 DARK SHADOWS—Serial 4:30 WHERE THE ACTION IS Performers: the Association, the Music Machine 5:00 RIFLEMAN—Western 5:30 NEWS 5:45 NEWS—Peter Jennings Evening 6:00 NEWS 6:30 LARAMIE—Western COLOR 7:30 COMBAT!—Drama COLOR 8:30 ROUNDERS—Comedy COLOR 9:00 PRUITTS OF SOUTHHAMPTON—Comedy COLOR 9:30 LOVE ON A ROOFTOP COLOR 10:00 FUGITIVE—Drama COLOR 11:00 NEWS 11:30 MOVIE—Drama “Convicted” (1950)
12 KHSL (CHICO) (ABC, CBS) Morning 7:05 THE ANSWER—Religion COLOR 7:35 NEWS—Joseph Benti COLOR 8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO 9:00 CANDID CAMERA 9:30 BEVERLY HILLBILLIES 10:00 ANDY GRIFFITH 10:30 DICK VAN DYKE 11:00 LOVE OF LIFE 11:25 NEWS COLOR 11:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial 11:45 GUIDING LIGHT—Serial COLOR Afternoon 12:00 PEOPLE IN CONFLICT 12:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial 1:00 PASSWORD—Game COLOR Celebrities: Barbara Rush, John Forsythe 1:30 HOUSE PARTY COLOR Guest: Allen Ludden 2:00 TO TELL THE TRUTH 2:25 NEWS COLOR 2:30 EDGE OF NIGHT 3:00 SECRET STORM 3:30 MOVIE—Western “They Rode West” (1954) 5:30 RIFLEMAN—Western Evening 6:00 NEWS 6:30 NEWS—Walter Cronkite COLOR 7:00 FELONY SQUAD—Drama 7:30 DAKTARI—Adventure COLOR 8:30 RED SKELTON COLOR Guests: Robert Vaughn, Joyce Jameson, Jay and the Americans 9:30 PETTICOAT JUNCTION COLOR 10:00 CBS REPORTS SPECIAL COLOR “Men in Cages” May be pre-empted by a late-news show 11:00 NEWS 11:30 CALL MR. D.—Mystery
13 KOVR (SACRAMENTO) (ABC) Morning 6:55 NEWS 7:00 CARTOONLAND COLOR 7:45 LINUS—Cartoons COLOR 8:15 CARTOONLAND COLOR 8:30 JACK LA LANNE COLOR 9:00 DIVORCE COURT—Drama 10:00 DARK SHADOWS—Serial 10:30 DONNA REED—Comedy 11:00 MARKET SWEEP—Game 11:30 DATING GAME Afternoon 12:00 NEWS 12:15 TODAY IN AGRICULTURE 12:30 FATHER KNOWS BEST—Comedy 1:00 BEN CASEY—Drama 2:00 NEWLYWED GAME 2:30 TIME FOR US 2:55 NEWS 3:00 GENERAL HOSPITAL 3:30 NURSES—Serial 4:00 CAP’N DELTA—Children COLOR 4:30 YOGI BEAR—Cartoons COLOR 5:00 NEWS 5:45 NEWS—Peter Jennings Evening 6:00 MOVIE—Comedy “The Fuller Brush Girl” (1950) 7:25 OUTDOORSMAN—Bel Lange 7:30 COMBAT!—Drama COLOR 8:30 ROUNDERS—Comedy COLOR 9:00 PRUITTS OF SOUTHHAMPTON—Comedy COLOR 9:30 LOVE ON A ROOFTOP COLOR 10:00 FUGITIVE—Drama COLOR 11:00 NEWS 11:30 MARSHAL DILLON—Western 12:00 WELLS FARGO—Western
19 KLOC (MODESTO) (IND.) Afternoon 4:00 ROMPER ROOM—Children 5:00 BUCKAROO 500—Children 5:30 MARSHAL WARD—Children Evening 6:15 DENNIS THE MENACE—Comedy 6:45 NEWS—Charles McEwen 7:00 LET’S GO TO THE RACES 7:30 MOVIE—Drama “Black Hand” (1950) 9:30 ZANE GREY—Western 10:00 SPOTLITE ON SPEED
TV
It's About TV!
Insightful commentary on how classic TV shows mirrored and influenced American society, tracing the impact of iconic series on national identity, cultural change, and the challenges we face today.
- Mitchell Hadley's profile
- 5 followers
![[image error]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjTfRGcqNPDXNTB3XOhwwHtnAiWoGSFWVGwnGpmg9S7xW7sviyS6R1XAfUZBMWlYD5c_9LWGaReVySST6YuoQvS5UBpsoL0nOsxrtqu6GN5kbj-LcWFWDAMzSPGO21WlzAntiScCZnlG9SOfQ3Ge9xeOvE72MihGBzKCgjs9TswyRgFBlGMhxdmhMPSvyI/s1276/TV102369.png){kind=link}