Mitchell Hadley's Blog: It's About TV!, page 47

"Coronet Blue" and the mysterious world of the amnesiac

"He calls himself 'Michael Alden,' but says that this is not his name. He claims not to know his real name, nor who he is, nor anything that happened to him up until two months ago. Tonight we explore the mystery that is amnesia—the loss of a person's memory, and with it, the loss of his humanity as well. I'm Walter Cronkite, and this is The 21st Century."

Obviously, this never happened. As classic TV fans know, "Michael Alden" is the character played by Frank Converse in the cult classic series, Coronet Blue. And, as our ersatz Walter Cronkite says, Michael Alden has amnesia. He was dragged half dead out of the water, murmuring the words "Coronet Blue." He has no idea what this means, nor about anything else that has happened to him up until the time he is rescued. He doesn't even know his own name; he picks the name Michael Alden because it's a combination of his doctor's first name and the name of the hospital where he was treated. For the remaining thirteen episodes, Alden will search for clues as to his real identity, and what "Coronet Blue" really means—while the people who tried to kill him look to finish the job.

It's a great idea for a television series, and had Coronet Blue existed in the real world (as is the case with many TV shows today), it's quite likely that Alden would have been an ideal subject for a science program like The 21st Century (which aired on CBS from 1967-1970; it's predecessor, The 20th Century, began in 1957). But just how plausible is the idea behind Coronet Blue? And how realistic is pop culture's depiction of amnesia?

l  l  l
What do we know about Michael Alden? Not much. As Coronet Blue opens, he’s onboard a ship, one piece in a moving puzzle. It’s clear that he’s part of some kind of plot; a heist, perhaps, or some kind of undercover operation—we just don’t know. Quickly, it becomes apparent that something’s gone wrong, that his confederates have discovered something about him—he had ratted them out, he wasn’t who he claimed to be, something like that—and consequently he’s been targeted for death. There’s a struggle, he goes over the rail of the ship and into the water, the bad guys take a couple of shots at him (or are they good guys? We just don’t know), and after a time he’s dragged ashore, nearly dead, mumbling the words “coronet blue.” He recovers, physically. Mentally, however, he’s a mess. He doesn’t know who he is, how he got there, why someone would want to kill him, and he has no idea what “coronet blue” means. Michael Alden has amnesia.

In pop culture, the situation most like Alden’s is probably that of Jason Bourne, the character played by Matt Damon in the Bourne movies. Like Alden, Bourne is pulled out of the water after someone has tried to kill him; like Alden, he has no memory of his identity, although he retains his language and motor skills.

Both Alden and Bourne suffer from a type of psychogenic dissociative amnesia called “retrograde” amnesia. As opposed to "anterograde" amnesia, which affects the ability of the mind to form new memories, retrograde amnesia means the inability to recall things that happened before a specific date, usually the date of an accident or trauma. In both of these cases, we see how retrograde amnesia “tends to negatively affect episodic, autobiographical, and declarative memory while usually keeping procedural memory intact with no difficulty for learning new knowledge.”

Now, within this fairly broad diagnosis, there are two subsets which we could be dealing with. The first, “situation-specific” amnesia, sometimes called “suppressed memory,” means that memory loss is confined to a specific traumatic event, with the victim able to remember things that happened both before and after the event. In the Twilight Zone episode “Nightmare as a Child,” for example, Janice Rule plays Helen Foley, a woman who unknowingly suffers from such a condition: Helen has no memory of her mother’s murder, nor that the young Helen was a witness to the murder, until the appearance of a little girl (Helen when she was young; an apparition? A manifestation of her subconscious? It is the Twilight Zone, after all) brings her memory back in time to apprehend the murderer, who’s returned to eliminate the only witness—Helen.*  That’s an example of “situation-specific” amnesia.

*The moral of the story being that, at least if you’re a murderer, it’s best to leave well-enough alone.

However, Alden’s amnesia appears more likely to be a type known as “global-transient”; in other words, a major gap in the part of the memory that relates to personal identity. The most common illustration of global-transient amnesia is a “fugue state,” in which there is “a sudden retrograde loss of autobiographical memory resulting in impairment of personal identity and usually accompanied by a period of wandering.” That last is significant, because the premise of Coronet Blue is built around Alden’s attempts to find out who he is, resulting in travelling—wandering—to different parts of the country, searching for anyone or anything that can help him discover who he is. And what coronet blue means, of course.

It’s likely that Alden’s doctors would have checked for some type of brain damage or other organic cause of his amnesia; they didn’t find anything, but even with today’s advancements in medical science, it’s unlikely that his amnesia was caused by anything as mundane as the proverbial “bump on the head.” Most of the time, psychogenic amnesia is traceable back to some type of psychological trigger; with Alden, it’s almost certainly related to the attack on him at the beginning of the first episode.

I wonder, though: does he really want to remember? Or is it fear—fear of what he doesn’t know—that keeps his memory from returning? All the time, though, he remains focused on “coronet blue,” and it’s not just because the theme keeps playing in the background. Find out the meaning, he knows, and it’s likely he’ll be able to unlock the mystery.

That fear of finding out what his past might be, though—that leads us to an obvious question: is Alden’s amnesia genuine? Is he a reliable narrator, or is he withholding something from the viewers?

l  l  l
There are at least four episodes from the great legal drama Perry Mason that deal with amnesia. The first season episodes "The Case of the Crooked Candle," and "The Case of the Desperate Daughter," the fifth season episode "The Case of the Glamorous Ghost," and the seventh season episode "The Case of the Nervous Neighbor" all involve Perry dealing with someone—generally a woman—claiming some form of amnesia.

Is there a significance in this gender distinction? Possibly. While there's no particular evidence to suggest that women are more susceptible than men to amnesia, the victim in "Glamorous Ghost," Eleanor Corbin, claims to be suffering from amnesia "after police find her running and screaming through woods near her apartment building." Doubtless someone would have referred to Eleanor as being "hysterical." And that term, as understood and applied to women, dates back over 4,000 years. The National Center for Biotechnology Information calls hysteria "the first mental disorder attributable to women, accurately described in the second millennium BC, and until Freud considered an exclusively female disease."

Therefore, with Eleanor displaying no signs of physical injury, the suggestion is that her amnesia is a  form of retrograde amnesia known as "hysterical reaction," one that does not appear to depend upon an actual brain disorder. Perry accepts this diagnosis, at least insofar as it provides him with the opportunity to stall for time while he tries to assemble the facts. The police, however, are suspicious: and for good reason, as Encyclopaedia Britannica notes darkly: "Although most dramatic, such cases are extremely rare and seldom wholly convincing."

In fact, malingering—that is, the rational output of a neurologically normal brain aiming at the surreptitious achievement of a well identified gain—is a constant threat in such cases. It's understandable, then, that law enforcement officials have long been leery about such diagnoses, and for years they’ve pushed for some kind of standardized test for amnesia. Unlike the M'Naghten rule, which tests for criminal insanity, judging the legitimacy of amnesia claims defies application of uniform standards. As one expert remarks, amnesia cases “differ in onset, duration, and content forgotten” to the extent that it cannot be broadly defined in legal circumstances. And in a landmark case in England in 1959, a jury was called on to determine whether a defendant was faking amnesia, making him legally unfit to stand trial. The jury ruled he was faking (and convicted him, to boot). In truth, most cases of psychogenic retrograde autobiographical amnesia resolve themselves on their own accord, so if Hamilton Burger is willing to be patient, he might well be able to wait his suspect out. And, in fact, Eleanor Corbin is faking her amnesia, a deception which is soon uncovered by the police.* Could Michael Alden be doing the same thing?

*Don't worry; Perry wins, in spite of his client—which is frequently the case.

The police were, it appears, suspicious of his claim; however, that suspicion was mitigated by the fact that he wasn't accused of having committed any crime. Indeed, the only crime apparent seems to have been perpetrated against him. But if he is faking it, it's reasonable to assume that the reason goes back to that mysterious scene at the beginning of the series. Which means that there's something in his past he's trying to hide, something very dark indeed. And he knows full well what it is.

l  l  l
Even a series as reliable as The Fugitive has an amnesia episode. It's the ninth episode of the second season, "Escape into Black," in which Dr. Richard Kimble is caught in an explosion at a diner. He awakens in a hospital, badly injured, and with no idea who he is or what has happened to him. Fortunately, there's a social worker on the scene, one determined to look out for Kimble's interests even though he can't look out for them himself. Learning that Kimble had been asking about a one-armed man prior to the explosion, she renews the search herself. A good thing, too, because Kimble, having found out he's wanted for murder and with no idea of whether or not he's guilty, is on the verge of surrendering himself to Lt. Gerard.

We know how it ends, of course: Kimble regains his memory in time to escape Gerard and resume his search for the one-armed man. It's mighty convenient for us all that his problem clears up before the episode ends—but how likely is it?

Well, it's at least plausible. That same article from the Encyclopaedia Britannica notes that retrograde amnesia cases "usually clear up with relative rapidity, with or without psychotherapy." Once Michael Alden's doctors make their diagnosis (which, although it’s not mentioned by name, is almost certainly psychogenic retrograde autobiographical amnesia), then comes the treatment. Or at least it would, if Alden was willing to stand still for it. But he’s still running for his life, remember, and he realizes that he can’t afford to sit around undergoing extensive therapy to try and recover his memory. While that’s happening, the killers could catch up to him again, and this time they might not miss. (They could keep him in the hospital, of course, but then who knows if his insurance covers it, or even if he has insurance? It’s not as if they can look him up.) The treatment, however, would almost certainly have been a course of psychological therapy. Now, in the early decades of the 20th century, the therapy might have consisted of “truth serum” drugs such as barbiturates and benzodiazepines, and doubtless there are those who might wonder why his doctors didn’t try that. In fact, however, those drugs weren’t very successful in dealing with cases of amnesia—while they did make it possible for the patient to speak more easily about things, they also lowered the threshold of suggestibility, with the result that the information from the patient lacked reliability. By the 1960s, that kind of treatment would have been out.

It’s far more likely that a course of psychoanalysis would be suggested, and I think it’s intriguing that one of the possible diagnoses to come from such treatment would have been along Freudian lines, by suggesting that his amnesia was a form of self-punishment, “with the obliteration of personal identity as an alternative to suicide.” I wonder if that will come up in the course of the series? Is it possible that Alden’s apparent dual identity at the start of the series has to do with something so secretive, so horrifying, that his subconscious simply can’t deal with it anymore, with the result that he tries to sweep it all clean? In an early episode, someone shrewdly observes that he has an opportunity few people ever get: to make a brand-new start to life, with no baggage, nothing linking him to the past. Is that what he’s subconsciously trying to do, to divorce himself from something he doesn’t want to be reminded of? In such conversations, Alden invariably states that all he’s interested in is the truth of who he is, and if it turns out that there’s something bad in his past (in one episode, he thinks he might be a killer), well, so be it—that’s the risk he’s willing to take.

l  l  l
And this, Walter Cronkite would probably discover, is where the story ends. In cases involving brain damage, doctors may be able to find a cause, and perhaps a cure. But Michael Alden's case remains a mystery. It is likely, but not certain, that his amnesia will eventually clear up. It may happen relatively quickly, or it may take a protracted period of psychoanalysis. But as to how or why it happens, and how or why it resolves itself? And what the amnesiac goes through, a man without a past, whose continued survival depends on reclaiming that past? It is, surely, part of the mysterious world of the amnesiac. One thing is for certain, however: the trauma that Michael Alden faces is one that most of us will never have to deal with.

There is, however, another kind of amnesia, one which probably would not have been covered on The 21st Century, but which would certainly be included on any contemporary science show dealing with the memory. And, unlike that portrayed on Coronet Blue, this one is fickle and pernicious, and it strikes with impunity.

Dementia. Alzheimer's.

Wendy Suzuki, a professor of neural science and psychology in the Center for Neural Science at New York University, hosts a popular podcast at Live Science. Back in 2005, she did an episode with her friend and colleague Neal Cohen, a professor at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, The topic: amnesia in pop culture. The emphasis is on movies rather than television, though their discussion of the Bourne movies is reflected in our discussion here. (If you're looking for realistic portrayals of amnesia, don't bother with 50 First Dates; check out Memento instead.)

I suppose you could call Alzheimer's a form of retrograde amnesia, although it works backwards, wiping the most recent memories first while leaving the oldest intact until the end. It's mostly anterograde, though: unlike Michael Alden, there will be no new memories for someone suffering from dementia, for those new memories will simply disappear. And there is no hope that the situation will resolve itself.

One of the realizations that comes from this awareness, Suzuki says, is that at the end of the day, the only thing you have for certain is the present, the knowledge that you have to live fully in the moment. If you can’t remember all the details, at least you can be content that at the moment you were 100% there.

My current "present" consists of observing a culture and a world that seems bent on total self-destruction. While it would be wrong to say that it dominates every waking moment of my life, it can make the prospect of living in this present a profoundly depressing one. As Peggy Lee might ask, if this is all there is. . . The thought of being fully present in this life, with no past, no future, nothing at all but what is right here and right now—well, that falls somewhere between terrifying and unbearable. Pray God, it ends soon, because nobody wants to be 100% here.

Yet it could be my future, or yours, or anyone out there. Not simply from fate, or bad decisions, but because it's something that strikes at you, and tears at you, until there's literally nothing left.

Don't wait; that should be the moral of the story. Do your living now, while you can, while you can still live in the present. That's what Michael Alden does, in Coronet Blue. He does it because he has no choice. And really, neither do we. Life is not meant for inertia, but for movement. Forward movement. However you can, wherever you can, whenever you can. Even if you're not like Michael Alden.

But we have a couple of advantages over Mike: for one thing, he doesn't know who's shooting at him, but we know who's shooting at us. Life is firing the bullets, and the one thing of which we can be certain is that one of them, somewhere, has your name on it, and another one has mine. For another, most of us don't have to worry about our series being cancelled before we find out the answers.

There's only one problem with this analogy, of course. We don't know what "coronet blue" means either. TV  


A note before you comment: Yes, I know that Larry Cohen, the show's creator, has since explained what "coronet blue" means and who Michael Alden really is. But if you know that, please don't discuss it in the comments section. The show's available on DVD and Blu, and I don't want it spoiled for anyone yet to see the series. This means you!

"He calls himself 'Michael Alden,' but says that this is ...

"He calls himself 'Michael Alden,' but says that this is not his name. He claims not to know his real name, nor who he is, nor anything that happened to him up until two months ago. Tonight we explore the mystery that is amnesia—the loss of a person's memory, and with it, the loss of his humanity as well. I'm Walter Cronkite, and this is The 21st Century."

Obviously, this never happened. As classic TV fans know, "Michael Alden" is the character played by Frank Converse in the cult classic series, Coronet Blue. And, as our ersatz Walter Cronkite says, Michael Alden has amnesia. He was dragged half dead out of the water, murmuring the words "Coronet Blue." He has no idea what this means, nor about anything else that has happened to him up until the time he is rescued. He doesn't even know his own name; he picks the name Michael Alden because it's a combination of his doctor's first name and the name of the hospital where he was treated. For the remaining thirteen episodes, Alden will search for clues as to his real identity, and what "Coronet Blue" really means—while the people who tried to kill him look to finish the job.

It's a great idea for a television series, and had Coronet Blue existed in the real world (as is the case with many TV shows today), it's quite likely that Alden would have been an ideal subject for a science program like The 21st Century (which aired on CBS from 1967-1970; it's predecessor, The 20th Century, began in 1957). But just how plausible is the idea behind Coronet Blue? And how realistic is pop culture's depiction of amnesia?

l  l  l
What do we know about Michael Alden? Not much. As Coronet Blue opens, he’s onboard a ship, one piece in a moving puzzle. It’s clear that he’s part of some kind of plot; a heist, perhaps, or some kind of undercover operation—we just don’t know. Quickly, it becomes apparent that something’s gone wrong, that his confederates have discovered something about him—he had ratted them out, he wasn’t who he claimed to be, something like that—and consequently he’s been targeted for death. There’s a struggle, he goes over the rail of the ship and into the water, the bad guys take a couple of shots at him (or are they good guys? We just don’t know), and after a time he’s dragged ashore, nearly dead, mumbling the words “coronet blue.” He recovers, physically. Mentally, however, he’s a mess. He doesn’t know who he is, how he got there, why someone would want to kill him, and he has no idea what “coronet blue” means. Michael Alden has amnesia.

In pop culture, the situation most like Alden’s is probably that of Jason Bourne, the character played by Matt Damon in the Bourne movies. Like Alden, Bourne is pulled out of the water after someone has tried to kill him; like Alden, he has no memory of his identity, although he retains his language and motor skills.

Both Alden and Bourne suffer from a type of psychogenic dissociative amnesia called “retrograde” amnesia. As opposed to "anterograde" amnesia, which affects the ability of the mind to form new memories, retrograde amnesia means the inability to recall things that happened before a specific date, usually the date of an accident or trauma. In both of these cases, we see how retrograde amnesia “tends to negatively affect episodic, autobiographical, and declarative memory while usually keeping procedural memory intact with no difficulty for learning new knowledge.”

Now, within this fairly broad diagnosis, there are two subsets which we could be dealing with. The first, “situation-specific” amnesia, sometimes called “suppressed memory,” means that memory loss is confined to a specific traumatic event, with the victim able to remember things that happened both before and after the event. In the Twilight Zone episode “Nightmare as a Child,” for example, Janice Rule plays Helen Foley, a woman who unknowingly suffers from such a condition: Helen has no memory of her mother’s murder, nor that the young Helen was a witness to the murder, until the appearance of a little girl (Helen when she was young; an apparition? A manifestation of her subconscious? It is the Twilight Zone, after all) brings her memory back in time to apprehend the murderer, who’s returned to eliminate the only witness—Helen.*  That’s an example of “situation-specific” amnesia.

*The moral of the story being that, at least if you’re a murderer, it’s best to leave well-enough alone.

However, Alden’s amnesia appears more likely to be a type known as “global-transient”; in other words, a major gap in the part of the memory that relates to personal identity. The most common illustration of global-transient amnesia is a “fugue state,” in which there is “a sudden retrograde loss of autobiographical memory resulting in impairment of personal identity and usually accompanied by a period of wandering.” That last is significant, because the premise of Coronet Blue is built around Alden’s attempts to find out who he is, resulting in travelling—wandering—to different parts of the country, searching for anyone or anything that can help him discover who he is. And what coronet blue means, of course.

It’s likely that Alden’s doctors would have checked for some type of brain damage or other organic cause of his amnesia; they didn’t find anything, but even with today’s advancements in medical science, it’s unlikely that his amnesia was caused by anything as mundane as the proverbial “bump on the head.” Most of the time, psychogenic amnesia is traceable back to some type of psychological trigger; with Alden, it’s almost certainly related to the attack on him at the beginning of the first episode.

I wonder, though: does he really want to remember? Or is it fear—fear of what he doesn’t know—that keeps his memory from returning? All the time, though, he remains focused on “coronet blue,” and it’s not just because the theme keeps playing in the background. Find out the meaning, he knows, and it’s likely he’ll be able to unlock the mystery.

That fear of finding out what his past might be, though—that leads us to an obvious question: is Alden’s amnesia genuine? Is he a reliable narrator, or is he withholding something from the viewers?

l  l  l
There are at least four episodes from the great legal drama Perry Mason that deal with amnesia. The first season episodes "The Case of the Crooked Candle," and "The Case of the Desperate Daughter," the fifth season episode "The Case of the Glamorous Ghost," and the seventh season episode "The Case of the Nervous Neighbor" all involve Perry dealing with someone—generally a woman—claiming some form of amnesia.

Is there a significance in this gender distinction? Possibly. While there's no particular evidence to suggest that women are more susceptible than men to amnesia, the victim in "Glamorous Ghost," Eleanor Corbin, claims to be suffering from amnesia "after police find her running and screaming through woods near her apartment building." Doubtless someone would have referred to Eleanor as being "hysterical." And that term, as understood and applied to women, dates back over 4,000 years. The National Center for Biotechnology Information calls hysteria "the first mental disorder attributable to women, accurately described in the second millennium BC, and until Freud considered an exclusively female disease."

Therefore, with Eleanor displaying no signs of physical injury, the suggestion is that her amnesia is a  form of retrograde amnesia known as "hysterical reaction," one that does not appear to depend upon an actual brain disorder. Perry accepts this diagnosis, at least insofar as it provides him with the opportunity to stall for time while he tries to assemble the facts. The police, however, are suspicious: and for good reason, as Encyclopaedia Britannica notes darkly: "Although most dramatic, such cases are extremely rare and seldom wholly convincing."

In fact, malingering—that is, the rational output of a neurologically normal brain aiming at the surreptitious achievement of a well identified gain—is a constant threat in such cases. It's understandable, then, that law enforcement officials have long been leery about such diagnoses, and for years they’ve pushed for some kind of standardized test for amnesia. Unlike the M'Naghten rule, which tests for criminal insanity, judging the legitimacy of amnesia claims defies application of uniform standards. As one expert remarks, amnesia cases “differ in onset, duration, and content forgotten” to the extent that it cannot be broadly defined in legal circumstances. And in a landmark case in England in 1959, a jury was called on to determine whether a defendant was faking amnesia, making him legally unfit to stand trial. The jury ruled he was faking (and convicted him, to boot). In truth, most cases of psychogenic retrograde autobiographical amnesia resolve themselves on their own accord, so if Hamilton Burger is willing to be patient, he might well be able to wait his suspect out. And, in fact, Eleanor Corbin is faking her amnesia, a deception which is soon uncovered by the police.* Could Michael Alden be doing the same thing?

*Don't worry; Perry wins, in spite of his client—which is frequently the case.

The police were, it appears, suspicious of his claim; however, that suspicion was mitigated by the fact that he wasn't accused of having committed any crime. Indeed, the only crime apparent seems to have been perpetrated against him. But if he is faking it, it's reasonable to assume that the reason goes back to that mysterious scene at the beginning of the series. Which means that there's something in his past he's trying to hide, something very dark indeed. And he knows full well what it is.

l  l  l
Even a series as reliable as The Fugitive has an amnesia episode. It's the ninth episode of the second season, "Escape into Black," in which Dr. Richard Kimble is caught in an explosion at a diner. He awakens in a hospital, badly injured, and with no idea who he is or what has happened to him. Fortunately, there's a social worker on the scene, one determined to look out for Kimble's interests even though he can't look out for them himself. Learning that Kimble had been asking about a one-armed man prior to the explosion, she renews the search herself. A good thing, too, because Kimble, having found out he's wanted for murder and with no idea of whether or not he's guilty, is on the verge of surrendering himself to Lt. Gerard.

We know how it ends, of course: Kimble regains his memory in time to escape Gerard and resume his search for the one-armed man. It's mighty convenient for us all that his problem clears up before the episode ends—but how likely is it?

Well, it's at least plausible. That same article from the Encyclopaedia Britannica notes that retrograde amnesia cases "usually clear up with relative rapidity, with or without psychotherapy." Once Michael Alden's doctors make their diagnosis (which, although it’s not mentioned by name, is almost certainly psychogenic retrograde autobiographical amnesia), then comes the treatment. Or at least it would, if Alden was willing to stand still for it. But he’s still running for his life, remember, and he realizes that he can’t afford to sit around undergoing extensive therapy to try and recover his memory. While that’s happening, the killers could catch up to him again, and this time they might not miss. (They could keep him in the hospital, of course, but then who knows if his insurance covers it, or even if he has insurance? It’s not as if they can look him up.) The treatment, however, would almost certainly have been a course of psychological therapy. Now, in the early decades of the 20th century, the therapy might have consisted of “truth serum” drugs such as barbiturates and benzodiazepines, and doubtless there are those who might wonder why his doctors didn’t try that. In fact, however, those drugs weren’t very successful in dealing with cases of amnesia—while they did make it possible for the patient to speak more easily about things, they also lowered the threshold of suggestibility, with the result that the information from the patient lacked reliability. By the 1960s, that kind of treatment would have been out.

It’s far more likely that a course of psychoanalysis would be suggested, and I think it’s intriguing that one of the possible diagnoses to come from such treatment would have been along Freudian lines, by suggesting that his amnesia was a form of self-punishment, “with the obliteration of personal identity as an alternative to suicide.” I wonder if that will come up in the course of the series? Is it possible that Alden’s apparent dual identity at the start of the series has to do with something so secretive, so horrifying, that his subconscious simply can’t deal with it anymore, with the result that he tries to sweep it all clean? In an early episode, someone shrewdly observes that he has an opportunity few people ever get: to make a brand-new start to life, with no baggage, nothing linking him to the past. Is that what he’s subconsciously trying to do, to divorce himself from something he doesn’t want to be reminded of? In such conversations, Alden invariably states that all he’s interested in is the truth of who he is, and if it turns out that there’s something bad in his past (in one episode, he thinks he might be a killer), well, so be it—that’s the risk he’s willing to take.

l  l  l
And this, Walter Cronkite would probably discover, is where the story ends. In cases involving brain damage, doctors may be able to find a cause, and perhaps a cure. But Michael Alden's case remains a mystery. It is likely, but not certain, that his amnesia will eventually clear up. It may happen relatively quickly, or it may take a protracted period of psychoanalysis. But as to how or why it happens, and how or why it resolves itself? And what the amnesiac goes through, a man without a past, whose continued survival depends on reclaiming that past? It is, surely, part of the mysterious world of the amnesiac. One thing is for certain, however: the trauma that Michael Alden faces is one that most of us will never have to deal with.

There is, however, another kind of amnesia, one which probably would not have been covered on The 21st Century, but which would certainly be included on any contemporary science show dealing with the memory. And, unlike that portrayed on Coronet Blue, this one is fickle and pernicious, and it strikes with impunity.

Dementia. Alzheimer's.

Wendy Suzuki, a professor of neural science and psychology in the Center for Neural Science at New York University, hosts a popular podcast at Live Science. Back in 2005, she did an episode with her friend and colleague Neal Cohen, a professor at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, The topic: amnesia in pop culture. The emphasis is on movies rather than television, though their discussion of the Bourne movies is reflected in our discussion here. (If you're looking for realistic portrayals of amnesia, don't bother with 50 First Dates; check out Memento instead.)

I suppose you could call Alzheimer's a form of retrograde amnesia, although it works backwards, wiping the most recent memories first while leaving the oldest intact until the end. It's mostly anterograde, though: unlike Michael Alden, there will be no new memories for someone suffering from dementia, for those new memories will simply disappear. And there is no hope that the situation will resolve itself.

One of the realizations that comes from this awareness, Suzuki says, is that at the end of the day, the only thing you have for certain is the present, the knowledge that you have to live fully in the moment. If you can’t remember all the details, at least you can be content that at the moment you were 100% there.

My current "present" consists of a months-long struggle to find permanent employment, while contending with various aches and pains, and observing a culture and a world that seems bent on total self-destruction. While it would be wrong to say that these things have dominated every waking moment of my life, it makes the prospect of living in this present a profoundly depressing one. As Peggy Lee might ask, if this is all there is. . . The thought of being fully present in this life, with no past, no future, nothing at all but what is right here and right now—well, that falls somewhere between terrifying and unbearable. Pray God, it ends soon, because nobody wants to be 100% here.

Yet it could be my future, or yours, or anyone out there. Not simply from fate, or bad decisions, but because it's something that strikes at you, and tears at you, until there's literally nothing left.

Don't wait; that should be the moral of the story. Do your living now, while you can, while you can still live in the present. That's what Michael Alden does, in Coronet Blue. He does it because he has no choice. And really, neither do we. Life is not meant for inertia, but for movement. Forward movement. However you can, wherever you can, whenever you can. Even if you're not like Michael Alden.

But we have a couple of advantages over Mike: for one thing, he doesn't know who's shooting at him, but we know who's shooting at us. Life is firing the bullets, and the one thing of which we can be certain is that one of them, somewhere, has your name on it, and another one has mine. For another, most of us don't have to worry about our series being cancelled before we find out the answers.

There's only one problem with this analogy, of course. We don't know what "coronet blue" means either. TV  


A note before you comment: Yes, I know that Larry Cohen, the show's creator, has since explained what "coronet blue" means and who Michael Alden really is. But if you know that, please don't discuss it in the comments section. The show's available on DVD and Blu, and I don't want it spoiled for anyone yet to see the series. This means you!

What's on TV? Wednesday, August 27, 1969

Tonight's ABC movie, Crack in the World, is a science fiction thriller about the dangers of science run amok. The plot, which sounds quite similar to the Doctor Who episode " Inferno ," concerns scientists trying to untap unlimited energy by drilling deep into the earth's surface. Predictably, this doesn't go so well. (It didn't in "Inferno," either. So much for following the science, I guess.) Judith Crist likes it; "the performances are fine, the technical effects excellent and the conclusion rip-roaring in every sense of the words." Dana Andrews stars as the lead scientist, which can only give credibility to the movie. For more of what's on today, check out these listings from the Northern California edition.
  -2- KTVU (BAY AREA) (IND.)

  MORNING

      8:05

NEWS 

-C-        8:15

RELIGION—Lutheran 

-C-        8:30

JACK LA LANNE—Exercise 

-C-        9:00

POPEYE—Children 

-C-        9:30

BEVERLY HILLBILLIES—Comedy

    10:00

ANDY GRIFFITH

    10:30

BURKE’S LAW—Mystery

    11:45

ROMPER ROOM—Children 

-C-    AFTERNOON

    12:30

BEAT THE ODDS—Game 

-C-        1:00

MOVIE—Science Fiction 

-C-  “Destination Moon” (1950)

      3:00

LINKLETTER SHOW 

-C-        3:30

POPEYE—Children 

-C-        4:00

TIMMY AND LASSIE—Adventure

      4:30

LEAVE IT TO BEAVER—Comedy

      5:00

DENNIS THE MENACE—Comedy

      5:30

PATTY DUKE—Comedy

  EVENING

      6:00

MY FAVORITE MARTIAN

      6:30

McHALE’S NAVY—Comedy

      7:00

I LOVE LUCY—Comedy

      7:30

TWO FOR TRAVEL 

-C-        8:00

PASSWORD—Game 

-C-  Celebrities: Amanda Blake, Ray Bolger. Host: Allen Ludden

      8:30

WHAT’S MY LINE?—Game 

-C-  Panelists: Joanna Barnes, Bert Convy, Arlene Francis, Nipsey Russell

      9:00

DELLA REESE—Variety 

-C-  Guest host: Kaye Stevens. Guests: Lou Rawls, Allan Drake

    10:00

NEWS—Gary Park 

-C-      11:00

UNTOUCHABLES—Drama

    12:00

ALFRED HITCHCOCK—Drama

    12:30

NEWS 

-C- 

 

 

  -3- KCRA (SACRAMENTO) (NBC)

  MORNING

      6:00

RHYME AND REASON

      7:00

TODAY 

-C-  Guests: E.G. Marshall, John Saxon, David Hartman

      9:00

IT TAKES TWO 

-C-  Guests: Buddy Greco, George Lindsey, Howard Morris, and their wives.

      9:25

NEWS—Nancy Dickerson 

-C-        9:30

CONCENTRATION 

-C-      10:00

PERSONALITY 

-C-  Celebrities: Jack Carter, E.J. Peaker, William Shatner. On-film: Lynn Redgrave

    10:30

HOLLYWOOD SQUARES—Game C

Guests: Sonny and Cher Bono, Totie Fields, Eva Gabor, Pat Henry, Jacqueline Susann. Regulars: Wally Cox, Paul Lynde, Charley Weaver

    11:00

JEOPARDY—Game 

-C-      11:30

EYE GUESS—Game 

-C-      11:55

NEWS—Edwin Newman 

-C-    AFTERNOON

    12:00

NEWS 

-C-      12:30

DAYS OF OUR LIVES 

-C-        1:00

DOCTORS—Serial 

-C-        1:30

ANOTHER WORLD 

-C-        2:00

YOU DON’T SAY!—Game 

-C-  Guests: Nancy Kulp, Richard Deacon

      2:30

MOVIE—Western

“Gun Fury” (1953)

      4:00

BATMAN—Adventure 

-C-  Guest villain: Tallulah Bankhead (The Black Widow)

      4:30

LOST IN SPACE—Adventure 

-C-        5:30

TRAVENTURE THEATRE 

-C-    EVENING

      6:00

NEWS—Chet Huntley/David Brinkley 

-C-        6:30

NEWS—Whitten/Jervis 

-C-        7:30

VIRGINIAN—Western 

-C-        9:00

MUSIC HALL 

-C-  Host: Don Ho. Guests: Rod McKuen, Pat Cooper

    10:00

KING FAMILY—Songs 

-C-      11:00

NEWS 

-C-      11:30

JOHNNY CARSON 

-C-  Guests: Joan Rivers, Don DeFore

      1:00

NEWS 

-C- 

 

 

  -4- KRON (BAY AREA) (NBC)

  MORNING

      6:30

NEWS—Dick Doughty 

-C-        7:00

TODAY 

-C-  Guests: E.G. Marshall, John Saxon, David Hartman

      9:00

IT TAKES TWO 

-C-  Guests: Buddy Greco, George Lindsey, Howard Morris, and their wives

      9:25

NEWS—Nancy Dickerson 

-C-        9:30

CONCENTRATION 

-C-      10:00

PERSONALITY 

-C-  Celebrities: Jack Carter, E.J. Peaker, William Shatner. On-film: Lynn Redgrave

    10:30

HOLLYWOOD SQUARES—Game 

-C-  Guests: Sonny and Cher Bono, Totie Fields, Eva Gabor, Pat Henry, Jacqueline Susann. Regulars: Wally Cox, Paul Lynde, Charley Weaver

    11:00

JEOPARDY—Game 

-C-      11:30

EYE GUESS—Game 

-C-      11:55

NEWS—Edwin Newman 

-C-    AFTERNOON

    12:00

NEWS 

-C-      12:30

DAYS OF OUR LIVES 

-C-        1:00

DOCTORS—Serial 

-C-        1:30

ANOTHER WORLD 

-C-        2:00

YOU DON’T SAY!—Game 

-C-  Guests: Nancy Kulp, Richard Deacon

      2:30

MATCH GAME 

-C-  Guests: Nipsey Russell, Helen O’Connell. Host: Gene Rayburn

      2:55

NEWS—Floyd Kalber 

-C-        3:00

YOU’RE PUTTING ME ON 

-C-  Guests: Larry Blyden, Chelsea Brown, Peggy Cass, Anne Jackson, Burt Reynolds, Eli Wallach

      3:30

F TROOP—Comedy

      4:00

FLINTSTONES—Children 

-C-        4:30

LOST IN SPACE—Adventure 

-C-        5:30

NEWS 

-C-    EVENING

      6:30

NEWS—Chet Huntley/David Brinkley 

-C-        7:00

FALL FASHIONS 

-C-        7:30

VIRGINIAN—Western 

-C-        9:00

MUSIC HALL 

-C-  Host: Don Ho. Guests: Rod McKuen, Pat Cooper

    10:00

OUTSIDER—Crime Drama 

-C-      11:00

NEWS 

-C-      11:30

JOHNNY CARSON 

-C-  Guests: Joan Rivers, Don DeFore

      1:00

JOAN RIVERS 

-C-  Guests: Joan Bennett, Julian Tomachin

      1:30

NEWS 

-C- 

 

 

  -5- KPIX (BAY AREA) (CBS)

  MORNING

      6:00

BLACK HERITAGE—History 

-C-        6:30

CITIES IN CONFLICT

      7:00

NEWS—Joseph Benti 

-C-        7:30

NEWS—Ron Magers

      8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO 

-C-        9:00

LUCILLE BALL

      9:30

HOTLINE—Discussion 

-C-      10:30

DICK VAN DYKE

    11:00

LOVE OF LIFE 

-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-  Scheduled guest: Rodney Dangerfield

      4:30

DAVID FROST—Variety 

-C-  Guests: Billy Eckstine, Pigmeat Markham, Moms Mabley, Irwin C. Watson, Frank Schiffman

  EVENING

      6:00

NEWS 

-C-        6:30

NEWS—Walter Cronkite 

-C-        7:00

NEWS—John Weston 

-C-        7:30

TARZAN—Adventure 

-C-        8:30

GOOD GUYS 

-C-        9:00

BEVERLY HILLBILLIES—Comedy 

-C-        9:30

GREEN ACRES 

-C-      10:00

HAWAII FIVE-O 

-C-      11:00

NEWS 

-C-      11:30

MERV GRIFFIN 

-C-  Guests: William F. Buckley Jr., Bernadette Peters, Stiller and Meara

      1:00

MOVIE—Drama

“The Rabbit Trap” (1958)

 

 

  -6- KVIE (SACREMENTO) (NET)

  AFTERNOON

      5:45

FRIENDLY GIANT—Children

  EVENING

      6:00

MISTEROGERS—Children

      6:30

WHAT’S NEW—Children

      7:00

MISTEROGERS—Children

      7:30

FOLK GUITAR—Lessons

      8:00

TEMPO—Music

Guests: Roland Kirk, John Cage

Next week, a jazz series debuts in this time spot.

      8:30

BOOK BEAT 

-C-  Guest: Josephine Johnson

      9:00

YOUR DOLLAR’S WORTH

    10:00

CAPITOL COVERAGE

    10:30

THAT’S LIFE

 

 

  -7- KGO (BAY AREA) (ABC)

  MORNING

      6:00

EXPEDITION CALIFORNIA

      6:25

A.M.—Jim Dunbar 

-C-        8:30

GIRL TALK—Interviews 

-C-  Guests: Kay Thompson, Dianne Nicholson

      9:00

MOVIE—Drama

“Life Begins at 8:30” (1942)

    11:00

ANNIVERSARY GAME 

-C-      11:30

GALLOPING GOURMET 

-C-    AFTERNOON

    12:00

BEWITCHED—Comedy

    12:30

THAT GIRL—Comedy 

-C-        1:00

DREAM HOUSE 

-C-        1:30

LET’S MAKE A DEAL 

-C-        2:00

NEWLYWED GAME 

-C-        2:30

DATING GAME 

-C-        3:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL 

-C-        3:30

ONE LIFE TO LIVE 

-C-        4:00

DARK SHADOWS 

-C-        4:30

MOVIE—Adventure 

-C-  “The Big Trees” (1952)

  EVENING

      6:00

NEWS 

-C-        7:00

NEWS—Frank Reynolds/Howard K. Smith 

-C-        7:30

HERE COME THE BRIDES—Comedy 

-C-        8:30

HELP!—Report

Special

      9:00

MOVIE—Science Fiction 

-C-  “Crack in the World” (1965)

    11:00

NEWS 

-C-      11:30

JOEY BISHOP 

-C-  Tentative: Patti Andrews

      1:00

NEWS 

-C- 

 

 

  -7- KRCR (REDDING) (ABC, NBC)

  MORNING

      7:00

TODAY 

-C-  Guests: E.G. Marshall, John Saxon, David Hartman

      9:00

IT TAKES TWO 

-C-  Guests: Buddy Greco, George Lindsey, Howard Morris, and their wives

      9:25

NEWS—Nancy Dickerson 

-C-        9:30

CONCENTRATION 

-C-      10:00

PERSONALITY 

-C-  Celebrities: Jack Carter, E.J. Peaker, William Shatner. On-flim: Lynn Redgrave

    10:30

HOLLYWOOD SQUARES—Game 

-C-  Guests: Sonny and Cher Bono, Totie Fields, Eva Gabor, Pat Henry, Jacqueline Susann. Regulars: Wally Cox, Paul Lynde, Charley Weaver

    11:00

JEOPARDY—Game 

-C-      11:30

EYE GUESS—Game 

-C-      11:55

NEWS—Reeter 

-C-    AFTERNOON

    12:00

YOU’RE PUTTING ME ON 

-C-  Guests: Larry Blyden, Chelsea Brown, Peggy Cass, Anne Jackson, Burt Reynolds, Eli Wallach

    12:30

DAYS OF OUR LIVES 

-C-        1:00

DREAM HOUSE 

-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 

-C-        5:00

BEWITCHED—Comedy

      5:30

NEWS 

-C-    EVENING

      6:30

NEWS—Chet Huntley/David Brinkley 

-C-        7:00

LET’S MAKE A DEAL 

-C-        7:30

VIRGINIAN—Western 

-C-        9:00

MOVIE—Science Fiction 

-C-  “Crack in the World” (1965)

    11:00

NEWS 

-C-      11:30

JOHNNY CARSON 

-C-  Guests: Joan Rivers, Don DeFore

 

 

  -9- KIXE (REDDING) (NET)

  AFTERNOON

      5:30

WHAT’S NEW—Children

  EVENING

      6:00

MISTEROGERS—Children

      6:30

DISCOVERY—Science

      7:00

CRITIQUE—Discussion

      8:00

TEMPO—Music

Guests: Roland Kirk, John Cage

Next week, a jazz series debuts in this time spot.

      8:30

BOOK BEAT

Guest: Josephine Johnson

      9:00

YOUR DOLLAR’S WORTH

    10:00

CINCINNATI SYMPHONY

Special

 

 

  10 KXTV (SACRAMENTO) (CBS)

  MORNING

      6:00

ACROSS THE FENCE 

-C-        6:30

BLACK HERITAGE—History 

-C-        7:00

NEWS—Joseph Benti 

-C-        8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO 

-C-        9:00

LUCILLE BALL

      9:30

BEVERLY HILLBILLIES—Comedy

    10:00

ANDY GRIFFITH

    10:30

DICK VAN DYKE

    11:00

LOVE OF LIFE 

-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

LINKLETTER SHOW 

-C-        3:30

PASSWORD—Game 

-C-  Celebrities: Alan King, Rose Marie

      4:00

MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety 

-C-  Scheduled guest: Rodney Dangerfield

      5:30

NEWS—Walter Cronkite 

-C-    EVENING

      6:00

NEWS 

-C-        7:00

WHAT’S MY LINE?—Game 

-C-  Panelists: Arlene Francis, Peter Gabel, Meredith MacRae, Gene Rayburn

      7:30

TARZAN—Adventure 

-C-        8:30

GOOD GUYS 

-C-        9:00

BEVERLY HILLBILLIES—Comedy 

-C-        9:30

GREEN ACRES 

-C-      10:00

HAWAII FIVE-O 

-C-      11:00

NEWS 

-C-      11:30

MOVIE—Adventure 

-C-  “Against All Flags” (1952)

 

 

  12 KHSL (CHICO) (ABC, CBS)

  MORNING

      6:30

FILM 

-C-        7:00

NEWS—Joseph Benti 

-C-        8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO 

-C-        9:00

LUCILLE BALL

      9:30

BEVERLY HILLBILLIES—Comedy

    10:00

ANDY GRIFFITH

    10:30

DICK VAN DYKE

    11:00

LOVE OF LIFE 

-C-      11:25

NEWS—Douglas Edwards 

-C-      11:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial 

-C-    AFTERNOON

    12:00

PDQ—Game 

-C-  Celebrities: Abby Dalton, Mickey Manners

    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

LINKLETTER SHOW 

-C-        3:30

ZANE GREY—Drama

      4:00

MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety 

-C-  Guests: Stevie Wonder, Pat Cooper Dr. Lawrence Lamb, Leo Narducci

      5:30

NEWS 

-C-    EVENING

      6:30

NEWS—Walter Cronkite 

-C-        7:00

PERRY MASON—Mystery

      8:00

THAT GIRL—Comedy 

-C-        8:30

GOOD GUYS 

-C-        9:00

BEVERLY HILLBILLIES—Comedy 

-C-        9:30

GREEN ACRES 

-C-      10:00

HAWAII FIVE-O 

-C-      11:00

NEWS 

-C-      11:30

MERV GRIFFIN 

-C-  Guests: William F. Buckley Jr., Bernadette Peters, Stiller and Meara

 

 

  13 KOVR (SACRAMENTO) (ABC)

  MORNING

      6:25

NEWS 

-C-        6:30

JACK LA LANNE—Exercise 

-C-        7:00

AGRICULTURE TODAY 

-C-        7:15

NEWS—Chuck Rossie 

-C-        7:20

CARTOONLAND 

-C-        8:20

SPIDER-MAN 

-C-        8:50

JACK LA LANNE—Exercise 

-C-        9:20

FASHIONS IN SEWING 

-C-        9:30

STEVE ALLEN—Variety 

-C-  Guests: Keenan Wynn, Woody Herman, Joan Gerber, Pat Harrington

    11:00

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES 

-C-      11:30

GALLOPING GOURMET 

-C-    AFTERNOON

    12:00

BEWITCHED—Comedy

    12:30

THAT GIRL—Comedy 

-C-        1:00

DREAM HOUSE 

-C-        1:30

LET’S MAKE A DEAL 

-C-        2:00

NEWLYWED GAME 

-C-        2:30

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-        5:40

BASEBALL 

-C-  Oakland A’s at Detroit Tigers

  EVENING

      8:30

NEWS 

-C-        9:00

MOVIE—Comedy

“My Favorite Spy” (1951)

    11:00

NEWS 

-C-      11:30

JOEY BISHOP 

-C-  Tentative: Patti Andrews

      1:00

NEWS 

-C- 

 

 

  19 KLOC (MODESTO) (IND.)

  AFTERNOON

      5:00

FILM

      5:30

HOKEY POKEY—Children

  EVENING

      6:00

CHESTER SMITH—Variety

      7:30

WRESTLING—Chicago

      8:30

JOAQUIN ESTEVES

 

 

  40 KTXL (SACRAMENTO) (Ind.)

  MORNING

    11:00

ROMPER ROOM—Children

  AFTERNOON

    12:00

YOU’RE PUTTING ME ON 

-C-  Guests: Larry Blyden, Chelsea Brown, Peggy Cass, Anne Jackson, Burt Reynolds, Eli Wallach

    12:30

MOVIE—Drama

“The Hefferan Family” (1956)

      1:30

COOKING—Bea Byers 

-C-        2:00

PATTY DUKE—Comedy

      2:30

MATCH GAME 

-C-  Guests: Nipsey Russell, Helen O’Connell. Host: Gene Rayburn

      2:55

NEWS—Floyd Kalber 

-C-        3:00

CAP’N LOCKER—Children

      4:00

POPEYE—Children

      4:30

LITTLE RASCALS—Children

      5:00

MUNSTERS—Comedy

      5:30

MY FAVORITE MARTIAN 

-C-    EVENING

      6:00

MOVIE—Melodrama

“The Soul of a Monster” (1944)

      7:30

GREATEST FIGHTS

      8:00

ROLLER DERBY 

-C-  Northwest Cardinals vs. San Francisco Bay Bombers

      9:00

HERE COME THE STARS 

-C-  Guests: Steve Allen, Jayne Meadows, Paul Winchell, Matt Monro, Bit Tiny Little, Regis Philbin. Host: George Jessel

    10:00

SOMETHING SPECIAL 

-C-  Shriley Bassey, Count Basie

    11:00

HONEYMOONERS—Comedy

    11:30

MERV GRIFFIN 

-C-  Guests: William F. Buckley Jr., Bernadette Peters, Stiller and Meara

TV  

This week in TV Guide: August 23, 1969

Sometimes, the luck of the draw means you've got to go with what you have, and when the big sports event of the week is the Little League World Series (Saturday, 5:00 p.m. PT, ABC), you can be pretty sure this is one of those times. Such is often the case in summer, when there's not much new on, what is new often isn't very good, and like the people watching back in the day, you have to hope you catch something you missed the first time it was on. Don't worry, we'll make it—we always do.
For instance, we've got an interview with Stockton Helffrich, director of the National Association of Broadcasters’ Code Authority—or, as Richard K. Doan's article bills him, "television's chief censor." We've seen articles about television censorship many times; you can probably find them over on the right sidebar. The question of censorship (or "censorship") has been a running theme in TV Guide over the decades, so we're only going to hit the highlights. 
Two of the most controversial programs of recent history are Laugh-In and Turn-On, in both cases due to the sexual content and use of double-entrendres. Helffrich calls Laugh-In "an approach to topical humor, including sexual humor, which to me rather consistently. and effectively stops short of going too far." Turn-On, one of the most notorious bombs in TV history , is another case: "It happened we inadvertently missed that show," he explains. "We normally monitor every premiere. I asked for a rescreening of it because I received one or two station comments on it.* Personally, I felt it was heavy-handed and did not, in some sequences, stop while it was winning. It might have succeeded, I think, if they had approached it just a little more gingerly."
*"One or two"? Within two days, 75 ABC affiliates, roughly half the network's total, had told executives they wouldn't air the show again.
He believes the Televison Code needs updating. "Society is tolerating greater candor, and the Code endeavors to respond to the sentiments of broadcasters and viewers alike." He says that the networks have "cut 'way back on violence," but that shouldn't be taken to mean there was too much in the first place. "[W]e do know there is public concern about violence and a fear that the broadcast media might have been contributing to it, so we've inhibited ourselves out of a preoccupation with that concern." His office may have had something to do with the cutback, but "I belive the networks would have done it anyway, of their own volition."
What I find most interesting is the proposal by Senator John O. Pastore, longtime critic of violence on television, that the networks ought to submit their programs to the Code Authority for prescreening. That's not as bad as having to submit them to the government, of course, but this sounds suspiciously to me like social media companies screening content for "fake news" and the like. And Helffrich seems to share this: "Our position, I'd say, parallels that of many broadcasters, including the networks: a concern that this could lead to prior censorship." And anyway, NBC and ABC already do this in the case of their pilots; "It's a consult-and-advise arrangement. If we question something, it's up to the network to decide what to do about it. If we disagree after-the-fact, either of us can urge a review by the Code [Review] Board."
The Television Code was suspended in 1976 after a judge ruled that the Family Viewing Hour violated the First Amendment, and the Code was eliminated altogether in 1983. Following that, the networks, now forced to self-regulate, established their own codes. I don't know what those codes are, partly because I don't want to take the time to research them, and partly because what we see on contemporary television leads me to wonder if there are any codes at all. Helffrich comments that "if you don’t hear from people, you just have to assume you are doing pretty much what they want and expect." Either that, or they just don't give a damn anymore.
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Perhaps the whole world isn't watching it, but Saturday night's movie The Whole World Is Watching (9:00 p.m., NBC) is a repeat of the pilot for The Bold Ones segment "The Lawyers," with Burl Ives, Joseph Campanella, and James Farentino starring as a legal team (older man, two brothers) defending a student leader accused of murdering a college campus policeman during a riot. It's topical, to be sure, but, according to Judith Crist, it's also too slick by half; "unfortunately some well-established realistic atmosphere is vitiated by the derring-do tactics of the defense attorneys and a soothe-the-Establishment conclusion." This fall, The Bold Ones, comprised of "The Lawyers," "The New Doctors," and "The Protectors," will premiere on Sunday nights.
On Sunday, it's a rerun of a different—and more welcome—kind. Walt Disney's World (7:30 p.m., NBC) begins a series of repeats of "Davy Crockett—Indian Fighter," starring Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsen, which fjrst aired as the eighth episode of ABC's Disneyland on December 15, 1954. The series of five episodes, which ran in 1954-55, was a huge hit, reintroducing Crockett as a national legend, making a star out of Parker, and making a rich(er) man out of Walt Disney; by the end of 1955, "Americans had purchased over $300 million worth of Davy Crockett merchandise, including coonskin caps and bubble gum cards." The NBC repeats mark the first time that the Crokett episodes have ever been seen on TV in color.
One of the rare original programs this week is an NBC news inquiry into the Pueblo incident. (Monday, 7:30 p.m.) The Pueblo, for those of you who may have forgotten (1968 was a busy year, after all) was an American spy ship captured by North Korea in January 1968, a week before the start of the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. The crewmen of the Pueblo were held for 11 months before beng released, and the ship's captain, Lloyd Bucher, was repeatedly tortured by the North Koreans; Bucher and his crew were eventually released after 11 months, although the ship remains with the North Koreans to this day. The documentary, reported by Frank McGee, focuses on why the ship wasn't better protected, why the government didn't respond more forcefully, and why more classified documents weren't destroyed. It's not one of the more shining moments in American history.
On Tuesday, a rerun of the Star Trek episode "The Lights of Zetar" (7:30 p.m., NBC) stands out for one reason: the script is written by puppeteer Shari Lewis and her husband Jeremy Tarcher. I don't suppose we should be surprised, since she wrote more than 60 books for children, but as far as I know, this represents her only foray into this kind of teleplay. We shouldn't discount her husband's contribution to this,either: his sister is novelist Judith Krantz. Later, in one of those "failed-pilot playhouse" presentations, Kerwin Mathews and Cal Bellini star as a couple of paranormal private investigators hired by Marj Dusay to rid her mansion of ghosts in In the Dead of Night (8:30 p.m., ABC). It's co-produced by Dan Curtis; I'm surprised the network didn't pick it up. You'll have to skip this week's edition of Liberace's summer variety show to see it, though; Lee's guests are French singer Sacha Distel, comedian Stu Gilliam, British singer Anita Harris and the Duke of Bedford, who shows pictures of his ancestral home Woburn Abbey. (8:30 p.m., CBS). Maybe there's a reason for all those summer reruns after all.
Rod McKuen was all the rage in the sensitive Sixties, and he's on TV twice this week. On Saturday, the "poet-singer" was the celebrity bachelor (!) on The Dating Game (7:30 p.m., ABC), and on Wednesday the "poet-songwriter" appears as one of Don Ho's guests on the Kraft Summer Music Hall (9:00 p.m., NBC). In case you don't remember Rod McKuen, first of all, good for you. Second, my favorite description of McKuen's poetry comes courtesy of the always-reliable Wikipedia , which quotes critic Frank Hoffmann that McKuen was "tailor-made for the 1960s ... poetry with a verse that drawled in country cadences from one shapeless line to the next, carrying the rusticated innocence of a Carl Sandburg thickened by the treacle of a man who preferred to prettify the world before he described it." True, I'm not a fan of McKuen, but I repeat this (I could have chosen worse) mostly to indicate what kind of a decade the 1960s had become by 1969. 
(By the way, promotion for The Bold Ones continues on Wednesday; this time, the "New Doctors"  E.G. Marshall, John Saxon and David Hartman appear on NBC's Today (7:00 a.m.) If only Rod McKuen had been on The Bold Ones as a guest, they'd have had it made.)
Thursday's best is rerun of It Takes a Thief (10:00 p.m., ABC) featuring guest star Paul Henreid, making a rare television acting appearance (he was mostly a director by then; he directed 28 episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, for example) as a Swiss police inspector on Mundy's trail; Mundy's being framed for crimes all over Europe. The episode also features the final acting appearance by the lovely Gia Scala, who dies in 1972, age 38, from a drug and alcohol overdose.
The Name of the Game wasn't the greatest series of all time, but it was often an interesting one, a 90-minute wheel series (like The Bold Ones!) featuring rotating stories starring Tony Franciosa, Robert Stack, and Gene Barry, and revolving around the world of magazine publishing. Friday night's episode, "An Agent of the Plantiff" (8:30 p.m., NBC) stars Barry, who's involved in a libel action in London, but it becomes must-see based on an outstanding lineup of guest stars: Honor Blackman, Maurice Evans, Brian Bedford, Murray Matheson, and Anthony Caruso. Beat that!
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Believe it or not, the moon landing was only last month, but the residue from that monumental event continues to linger. For instance, we're starting to see ads touting CBS's "First on the Moon!" coverage, with Walter Cronkite and Wally Schirra defeating "Network B" (NBC) and "Network C" (ABC) decisively in the ratings. 
According to this week's As We See It, the editors concur in the good judgement of the viewers, lauding Cronkite for "service far above and beyond television’s normally high standards of space-shoot coverage." Cronkite's dedication to the space program, including his research on facets of the mission, were evident in his abiloity "to tell his viewers not only what was happening, but why it was happening in that particular way." In conclusion, "The other networks did creditable jobs and had a number of fine, resourceful touches to brighten the long-hours of Apollo 11's epic journey. Their commentators were good. Walter Cronkite was superb."*
*Interestingly enough, a number of fellow space buffs whose opinions I value have been critical of Cronkite's work, particularly on the pivotal moment when Neil Armstrong was about to set foot on the moon, noting that Cronkite midjudged when that first step would occur, and almost spoke over Armstrong's "One small step" words. I think Cronkite was very good, but I don't disagree with their assessment of this moment.
The Doan Report of August 2 also referenced those viewer numbers for Cronkite's coverage, but that gets a dissenting view from a couple of this week's Letters to the Editor. Mr. and Mrs. Robert W. Pierce of Gibsonia, Pennsylvania "watched Frank Reynolds and Jules Bergman on ABC and thought their coverage of Apollo 11 was marvelous," whiloe Ruth F. Lea of Columbus Ohio was tuned to NBC. "The presentation was superb," she writes, "and the lack of any mention of this in 'The Doan Report' is a serious oversight. Of course, if Mr. Doan's eyes were glued only on CBS, he couldn’t very well report on NBC." (For what it's worth, having seen the moon coverage from all three networks over the years\, I thought they were all pretty good, but I have to admit I share the Pierce's fondness for portions of the ABC covearge.)
Finally, A CBS News Special examines "The Heritage of Apollo" (Tuesday, 10:00 p.m.). A week before the moon landing, Mike Wallace traveled through the Greek Islands with prominent figures involved in shaping the future, including city planner Constantinos Doxiadis , anthropologist Margaret Mead and engineer R. Buckminster Fuller. Their conversations form a part of Doxiadis's Delos Symposium , as they discuss "the links between the ideology surrounding the Greek god Apollo (associated with enlightenment), man’s journey into space and his prospects here on earth." Heady stuff, but then it was a heady time, and a perfect time for some serious reflection on the state of things.
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I mentioned at the very top that the Little League World Series was the biggest sports event of the week. While that's true as far as actual competition goes, what I found most interesting was the release of the 1969-70 TV football guide, on pages A-6, A-7, and A-16. It gives us the weekly schedule of televised games for the AFL, the NFL, and the NCAA—what time they start, and what channel they're on

This interested me for several reasons, not the least of which being just how much more football there is on television today than there was 50-some years ago. Back then, many of the college games were selected at the beginning of the season, based on the pre-season rankings and the number of times a team could appear on national television during the course of a season. Today, if you've got the right combination of of OTA and streaming services, you can see pretty much any major college game you want, but not back then. By my count, the schedule allows for seventeen games, not including the bowls (and there are only eight of those), and only two or three of them are TBA games, ones that ABC can select on short notice. That's not to say that this list is inclusive; many of the games in both the college and pro sections are shown regionally, and all we're seeng here is what Northern California is scheduled to get. 
Still, it's enlightening as to what you can get when games are chosen at the start of the season. The December 6 game between Texas and Arkansas, for instance, turns out to be the game of the season, between the undefeated top-two teams in the country, with President Nixon on hand to declare the winner to be national champion. On the other hand, the November 1 game features a 2-4 team (Northwestern) playing the nation's number one team at the time (Ohio State). Ohio State wins, 35-6. You win some, you lose some.
And even though there are two professional football leagues, you only have about half the number of games you can see today. Each league features doubleheaders on most Sundays, but there's no Sunday night football, no Monday night football, no Thursday night football, no Sunday morning football, no NFL Sunday Ticket. As I say, different times.
Everything culminates as you'd expect; the college national championship is settled on January 1, when Texas defeats Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl. The Super Bowl is played on January 11, about a month earlier than today, when Kansas City upsets Minnesota. You know, I think I preferred those days.
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I promised we'd make it through this week and we're almost there, but I couldn't resist this one. On Monday night, KCRA in Sacramento is showing A Star Is Born (8:30 p.m.). Now, I'm sure you're aware there have been several versions of this story—four I can think of, including the most recent one from a couple of years ago. But here's one that I thought I must be unfamiliar with. The story's the same, but the cast includes Judy Mason, Jack Carson, and Charles Bickford. It couldn't have been a made-for-TV version, not with a running time of 150 minutes; and both Carson and Bickford are big names. It was made in 1955, and a quick check confirmed my suspicion: the stars are Judy Garland and James Mason. These things happen, true; they happen to me often enough. Still, that's a sloppy mistake for TV Guide to make.
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MST3K alert: This Island Earth (1955) A nuclear scientist receives a visit from Exeter, who is gathering the top scientists on earth. Jeff Morrow, Rex Reason. (Thursday, 11:30 p.m., KXTV, Sacramento) Yes, this is the movie that was riffed in the long-awaited Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie. The MST3K movie was a controversial project on several levels, was not promoted by the studio, and left most of the participants with a bad taste in their mouths. Still, to riff a movie, you have to have a movie, and this is it. And I can't think of a better note on which to bring the week to a close. TV  

Around the dial

The picture above was taken in a department store on October 22, 1962, during President Kennedy's Cuban Missile Crisis speech. There's a shared sense about it, the feeling that people are going through this together. Nowadays, would people be glued to their phones, each lost in their own little world while the big one stands on the brink? Somehow, I think I prefer the old way.
On a lighter note, those sets are handsome pieces of furniture, aren't they? At the Broadcast Archives, here's a   1960s ad for a 21-inch color set; could very well be one that's displayed on the floor there. Today's big screens are great, but I miss those old consoles.
At Comfort TV, David has some random observations about classic TV  that are sure to ring a bell with many of us. Some of them are quite shrewd (#6, for instance), while with others you'll nod your head and think, "Yeah, now that you mention it, he's right." Great stuff.
The actress Sharon Farrell died this past May, although it was not announced until last week. Hers was a familiar name and face to anyone watching teleivsion in the 1960s and '70s, and Terence pays tribute to her career in this piece at A Shroud of Thoughts.
John continues his provocative look at the relationshilp between The X-Files and the American Dream with a look at several more episodes that provide commentary on, if you will, the difference between the dream and the reality of America. Always food for thought.
Back when times were simpler, one of TV's favorite questions was whether or not Mister Ed was actually a zebra . At Drunk TV, Paul goes back to those simple times, with a look at the show's third season : still funny, but how long can this premise go on?
At The View from the Junkyard, Roger takes a look at " No Time to Die ," an unconventional (and perhaps underappreciated) episode of Columbo, one that is a complete departure from the standard Columbo format. Did it work? You be the judge, but Roger has some interestng thoughts.
Finally, a quick note from Jodie at Garroway at Large: Peace, her biography of Dave Garroway is now available at Amazon in both hardcover and paperback, so if you haven't purchased your copy yet, here's another option. Now you have no excuses! TV  

The live Top Ten

Time flies. It was ten years ago that I prepared my Top Ten list that's been residing over there on the sidebar. Most of those shows had been part of my informal top ten, the one I kept in my head, for years, and given my disinclination to watch contemporary television, there was no particular reason to think those choices would be changing any time soon. 
Recently, though, I've been thinking. (Granted, that's often cause for alarm among you readers, but it's a habit I've had trouble breaking.) Ten years is a long time, and while it’s true the classic era of television (which encompasses most of the shows on that list) is long since over, that doesn’t mean I’m done discovering classics that are new to me; indeed, thanks to the wonders of YouTube and the Internet Archive, I probably have more access to unseen shows from the 1950s through the 1970s than ever before. And so it sees to me that it’s about time for a reappraisal—or perhaps, using today's industry lingo, I should call it a "reboot."
This first list is one made up of shows that have been my favorites over the last year or so. Think of it as a "live" list—in other words, (spoiler alert!) while The Prisoner will always be one of my all-timers, it's been a few years since I've watched it. Therefore, it wouldn't make a list of current favorites. Conversely, there are shows that I really enjoy right now, but when they're stacked up against the rest, they might fall just outside the top ten. That's not a knock on them; it just shows how tough it is to crack that list. Later on in the year, I'll be introducing an all-new all-time Top Ten. I wouldn't expect too many changes if I were you, but it will definitely have some additions, not to mention revised comments on some of the shows that remain. 
Having already gone on altogether too long, I'll now get to the point with two legal dramas that rise to the top of the list: Judd, for the Defense and Sam Benedict . I reviewed Sam Benedict just a couple of weeks ago , while I shared my feelings for Judd last year . Each of them represent a welcome break from the formulaic Perry Mason; while Mason is still a favorite, the Perry/Della/Paul triangle gets old after a time, while Hamilton Burger's incompetence remains beyond comprehension. Both Judd and Benedict give us what is probably a more realistic look at the high-octane life of a big-time trial lawyer. It's also quite a different view of the legal system, though; for example, in one case Sam gets his client acquitted, but we never find out who actually did commit the crime. That's not Sam's job, though; he was hired to ensure justice for his client, and that's what he did. 
Both men share a passion for that concept, justice, which causes them to occasionally take cases against their better judgment, representing unpopular causes or defending people they don't like—but, as Clinton Judd reminds us, everyone is entitled to a fair trial, even those with whom you might not agree, and what's popular is not always what's right. (By the way, it's also nice to see clients who behave like real people, with well thought-out backstories, rather than the cartoonish caricatures that too often comprise the Mason universe.) Our heroes aren't assured of winning, either; a couple of Judd's cases go to the jury without us ever finding out the verdict, while one of Benedict's clients turns out to be guilty, and another is only saved from a long prison term by a plea deal that Sam arranges for him. We may not be used to seeing that, but it's a fact of life, and in these stories the casees were just background; there was something much more fundamental at stake, which is what the stories were actually about. These shows have hard edges and deal with hard issues, and they've both earned top places on this list.  
Also on the list, and this won't come as any surprise to longtime readers, is Mystery Science Theater 3000 . As many times as I've seen some of these movies, there's invariably a riff or two that I hadn't caught before, or one that just hits me the right way; along with the original British version of Top Gear, it's one of the few shows that actually makes me laugh out loud. I've gained a real appreciation for the various casts that appeared on the show over the years, particularly the dry wit of Mike Nelson, the voice talents of Trace Beaulieu, and the offbeat riffs from J. Elvis Weinstein, who started on the show when MST3K was just a local program in the Twin Cities, and stayed for the first year of its national run. (I remember seeing the very first MST3K, a double-feature that aired on a Thanksgiving evening, and was a fan from the start.) I also learned how a bad serial like Radar Men from the Moon can be that entertaining.
There are a couple of war dramas on the list as well. I took on Garrison's Gorillas here , and followed it up with the show that succeeded it on our schedule, Combat! Garrison's Gorillas is action-adventure at its finest, with a very good ensemble cast (as opposed to, say, The Rat Patrol) and entertaining stories; at the same time, it never forgets (nor lets you forget) that war is no game, and it's fought for the highest possible stakes. That's a message that's driven home relentlessly in Combat!, which is not only perhaps the best war drama ever seen on television, but one of its best dramas period. Its well-drawn characters and literate plots give us a graphic look at the horrors of war; it makes those of us who never fought profoundly grateful for our good fortune, and even more appreciative of those who have. If you're not anti-war after watching Combat!, you haven't been paying attention.
The British police series Maigret , starring Rupert Davies, got my treatment here , and my enjoyment of it continues to increase each week. Davies's portrayal of the famous French detective is spot-on, capturing the world-weariness and hard edge of the character perfectly, while also portraying his warmth and good humor, seen both with his wife and his colleagues. Maigret is shrewd, intuitative, and, in contrast to most American police dramas, demonstrates both respect and empathy for many of the accused that he investigates, including some that he arrests; "Some people criticize me for being too sympathetic," he comments in one episode. American detectives would probably accuse him of being soft; they fail to understand what humanity is all about, primarily because they've already lost their own.
The Twilight Zone is already on the Top Ten list , but it's been many years since I've given the series a proper look, and my new BluRay set has been the perfect excuse to start watching it again from the very beginning, with spotless and uncut episodes. It's provided me with a reminder of how brilliant the show's first season is; I wonder what people thought back in 1959 when they were seeing these episodes for the first time? We can look it up, of course; there's been a plethoria of material written about the show. Still, it's interesting to see how well those first season episodes reflect the tenor of the times: several early stories depicting military themes (how many men back then would have found these settings familiar; after all, it was what they'd experienced), while others involve man's quest for space, or just a general unease with the modern world. Add to that a layer of the unexplainable, and it's hard to top.
My relationship with Twin Peaks remains an ambiguous one , in light of a brilliant premiere episode, a solid first season, and a disastrous second one. I'm in the midst of watching Twin Peaks: The Return right now (six episodes in), and I'll write it up when it's over. But right now I'm at a point where each week's episode is highly anticipated, if for no other reason than to see if things begin to make sense. Bit by bit some pieces of the story come together each week, but there's a long way to go. Still, when you're dealing with David Lynch, you either trust him or you don't, and The Return has still paid off in a way that season two never quite managed. Besides, remember how I said this was a live list? Well, I look forward to it each week, and if that doesn't earn a show a spot on the list, what does? We'll see if it's still there the next time we try this little experiment.
Hawaiian Eye is probably the third-best of the WB detective dramas, behind 77 Sunset Strip and the underrated Bourbon Street Beat, and the quality of episodes varies wildly, but in a TV diet that, at the moment, is a very intense one, it's the kind of show that you can relax and watch, knowing you don't have to listen carefully for the smallest verbal clue, react to the injustice you see on the screen, or wince once again at man's inhumanity to man. You just watch it and accept it for what it is, and believe me, there's a lot to be said for that. I first wrote about it here , and since then Grant Williams has joined the cast; he doesn't really add anything to the show, but he doesn't hurt it either. Otherwise, the only changes I'd make to what I said then are that I've come to enjoy Anthony Eisley much more—I might have mischaracterized him as being stiff back then, and he's grown on me since; I'll miss him when he leaves the show for the final season—and Connie Stevens is starting to get on my nerves. Her Cricket Blake character keeps complaining that she's not treated like a grown-up, but for my money she doesn't give us any reason to think otherwise. Hopefully, as it is with so many immature people, it's just a phase.
Finally, I wrote about Burke's Law just recently ; there's a reason why we're watching the series again from the very start. It's as charming now as it was the first time, and with the passage of time there's still some mystery as to whodunnit; what more can you ask for in an encore showing? It's the perfect Saturday-night compliment to a movie from the Criterion Channel that's often intensity ramped up to eleven on the dial. (Have you ever watched Japanese noir? Try it sometime.)
As I mentioned, I'll have a complete revised Top Ten later in the year, but looking at it in real time has been an interesting exercise. Maybe we'll do it again sometime. TV  

What's on TV? Thursday, August 18, 1966

That article about game shows that we were looking at on Saturday got me thinking about the daytime network schedules in general. You'll notice that NBC has the most game shows, CBS the fewest. Perhaps not surprisingly, NBC also has fewer soap operas than the other two, a number that got smaller during the summer when Chain Letter and Showdown replaced Morning Star and Paradise Bay, respectively. What the Peacock Network doesn't have is a block of primetime reruns, unlike CBS and ABC, which each have two-hour blocks. ABC generally starts their daytime schedule later than the other two by at least an hour, but they also run later in the afternoon, with Where the Action Is. It's quite different from today's network schedules, but I'll leave that to you as to whether or not that's a good thing. The listings come from Northern California.
  -2- KTVU (BAY AREA) (IND.)   Morning

      9:45

RELIGION TODAY—Catholic

    10:00

NEWS—Sydney Chatton

    10:30

JACK LA LANNE 

  COLOR      11:00

ROMPER ROOM—Children

  Afternoon     12:00

STAR PERFORMANCE—Game

    12:30

NEWS

    12:35

I WANT TO KNOW—Mel Venter

      1:00

DIVORCE COURT—Drama

      2:00

MOVIE—Drama

“The Iron Curtain” (1948)

      3:25

NEWS

      3:30

CAPTAIN SATELLITE—Children

      4:30

FIREBALL XL-5—Children

      5:00

SUPERMAN—Adventure

      5:30

THREE STOOGES—Comedy

  Evening

      6:00

STINGRAY—Children 

  COLOR        6:30

WOODY WOODPECKER 

  COLOR        7:00

WONDERS OF THE WORLD 

  COLOR        7:30

AMERICA!—Travel 

  COLOR        8:00

SEVEN SEAS—Travel 

  COLOR        8:30

KINGDOM OF THE SEA 

  COLOR        9:00

DANGER MAN—Mystery

      9:30

SPORTS WORLD

    10:00

NEWS

    10:30

HIGHWAY PATROL—Police

    11:00

MOVIE—Drama

“Sudden Fear” (1952)

 

 

  -3- KCRA (SACRAMENTO) (NBC)   Morning       5:55

FARM NEWS 

  COLOR        6:00

RHYME AND REASON

      7:00

TODAY 

  COLOR  Guests: Vance Packard, Sandler and Young

      9:00

EYE GUESS 

  COLOR        9:25

NEWS—Sander Vanocur 

  COLOR        9:30

CONCENTRATION

    10:00

CHAIN LETTER—Game 

  COLOR  Celebrities: Jan Sterling, Jerry Van Dyke. Host: Jan Murray

    10:30

SHOWDOWN 

  COLOR      11:00

JEOPARDY 

  COLOR      11:30

SWINGIN COUNTRY 

  COLOR  Guests: Del Shannon, Kathie Taylor

    11:55

NEWS—Edwin Newman

  Afternoon     12:00

NEWS—Boggs, Biondi 

  COLOR      12:25

NEWS

    12:30

DAYS OF OUR LIVES 

  COLOR        1:00

DOCTORS—Serial

      1:30

ANOTHER WORLD 

  COLOR        2:00

YOU DON’T SAY!—Game 

  COLOR  Panelists: June Lockhart, Guy Williams

      2:30

MOVIE—Adventure

“Tarzan’s Savage Fury” (1952)

      4:00

MOVIE—Mystery

Time approximate “There’s That Woman Again” (1939)

      5:30

TRAVENTURE THEATRE 

  COLOR    Evening       6:00

NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley 

  COLOR        6:30

NEWS 

  COLOR        7:30

DANIEL BOONE 

  COLOR        8:30

LAREDO—Western 

  COLOR        9:30

FASHION SHOW   COLOR  “Fresh Young World of Fashion”

    10:00

ROWAN AND MARTIN 

  COLOR  Guests: Swen Swenson, Adam Keefe, the Pair Extraordinaire

    11:00

NEWS—Duke, Boyd 

  COLOR      11:30

TONIGHT—Variety 

  COLOR  Guest host: Bob Newhart

      1:00

NEWS 

  COLOR 

 

 

  -4- KRON (BAY AREA) (NBC)   Morning       6:25

FARM NEWS

      6:30

PROFILE—San Diego State

      7:00

TODAY 

  COLOR  Guests: Vance Packard, Sandler and Young

      9:00

EYE GUESS 

  COLOR        9:25

NEWS—Sander Vanocur 

  COLOR        9:30

CONCENTRATION

    10:00

CHAIN LETTER—Game 

  COLOR  Celebrities: Jan Sterling, Jerry Van Dyke. Host: Jan Murray

    10:30

SHOWDOWN 

  COLOR      11:00

JEOPARDY 

  COLOR      11:30

SWINGIN COUNTRY 

  COLOR  Guests: Del Shannon, Kathie Taylor

    11:55

NEWS—Edwin Newman

  Afternoon     12:00

LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game 

  COLOR      12:25

NEWS

    12:30

DAYS OF OUR LIVES 

  COLOR        1:00

DOCTORS—Serial

      1:30

ANOTHER WORLD 

  COLOR        2:00

YOU DON’T SAY!—Game 

  COLOR  Panelists: June Lockhart, Guy Williams

      2:30

MATCH GAME 

  COLOR  Celebrities: Phyllis Newman, Mark Goodson

      2:55

NEWS

      3:00

MILLIONAIRE—Drama

      3:30

MAYOR ART—Children

      4:30

RAWHIDE—Western

      5:30

ZANE GREY—Western

  Evening       6:00

NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley 

  COLOR        6:30

NEWS—Brown, Jensen, Fleming

      6:55

SPORTS—Ed Hart

      7:00

WESTERNERS—Drama

      7:30

DANIEL BOONE 

  COLOR        8:30

LAREDO—Western 

  COLOR        9:30

MICKIE FINN’S 

  COLOR      10:00

ROWAN AND MARTIN 

  COLOR  Guests: Swen Swenson, Adam Keefe, the Pair Extraordinaire

    11:00

NEWS

    11:30

TONIGHT—Variety 

  COLOR  Guest host: Bob Newhart

      1:00

INTERNATIONAL DETECTIVE

      1:30

NEWS

 

 

  -5- KPIX (BAY AREA) (CBS)   Morning       6:00

SUMMER SEMESTER

Western Religious Trends: theologian Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy

      6:30

EMPLOYMENT STUDY—Report

      7:00

FILM SHORT

      7:05

NEWS

      7:30

NEWS—Jim Anderson

      8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO

      9:00

I LOVE LUCY

      9:30

McCOYS—Comedy

    10:00

ANDY GRIFFITH

    10:30

DICK VAN DYKE

    11:00

LOVE OF LIFE

    11:25

NEWS—Mike Wallace

    11:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial

    11:45

GUIDING LIGHT—Serial

  Afternoon     12:00

NEWS

    12:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial

      1:00

PASSWORD—Game

Celebrities: Joan Fontaine, Sam Levenson. Host: Allen Ludden

      1:30

HOUSE PARTY 

  COLOR  Guest: Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop

      2:00

TO TELL THE TRUTH

      2:25

NEWS—Douglas Edwards

      2:30

EDGE OF NIGHT

      3:00

SECRET STORM

      3:30

JOHN B. TUCKER—Variety

      4:00

MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety

Guests: the Geezinslaw Brotheres, Jerry Pieh

      5:30

TWILIGHT ZONE—Drama

  Evening       6:00

NEWS

      6:30

NEWS—Walter Cronkite 

  COLOR        7:00

ONE STEP BEYOND—Drama

      7:30

MUNSTERS—Comedy

      8:00

GILLIGAN’S ISLAND 

  COLOR        8:30

MY THREE SONS 

  COLOR        9:00

MOVIE—Drama   COLOR  Thursday Night Movie: “Merrill’s Marauders” (1962)

    11:00

NEWS

    11:20

MERV GRIFFIN—Variety

Guests: Erroll Garner, Gilbert Price, Helen Gallagher

    12:50

MOVIE—Mystery

“The Glass Key” (1942)

 

 

  -6- KVIE (SACRAMENTO) (EDUC.)   Afternoon       5:30

TIME FOR MUSIC

      5:45

BETTY B—Music

  Evening       6:00

NEW ORLEANS JAZZ

      6:30

STOCK MARKET REPORT

      6:35

MUSICAL PORTRAITS

      7:00

WHAT’S NEW—Children

      7:30

U.S.A.—Art

      8:00

PROBE—Dr. Albert E. Burke

      8:30

NEW ORLEANS JAZZ

      9:00

OPEN END—David Susskind

Guests: Peter Tompkins, Ladislas Farago

    10:00

STORIES OF GUY DE MAUPASSANT—Drama

 

 

  -7- KGO (BAY AREA) (ABC)   Morning    

ALL-NIGHT MOVIE—Continued

      6:00

A.M.—Dunbar, Fleming, Bentley

      8:00

GIRL TALK—Panel

Guests: Anita Gillette, Lisa Ford, Rosaline Van Gelder. Moderator: Virginia Graham

      8:30

GYPSY ROSE LEE—Panel

Guests: Ida Mae McKenzie, Rose Thurman, Alan Sherman

      9:00

MOVIE—Comedy

“All at Sea” (English; 1958)

    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 Critters, the Knickerbockers, Steve Alaimo

      5:00

NEWS

  Evening       6:00

MOVIE—Science Fiction 

  COLOR  “This Island Earth” (1955)

      7:30

BATMAN—Adventure 

  COLOR  Guest villain: Victor Buono (King Tut)

      8:00

GIDGET—Comedy 

  COLOR        8:30

FASHION SHOW   COLOR  “Fresh Young World of Fashion”

      9:00

BEWITCHED—Comedy

      9:30

PEYTON PLACE

    10:00

AVENGERS—Adventure

    11:00

NEWS

    11:30

MOVIE—Comedy

“Battle of the Sexes” (English; 1960)

      1:30

MOVIE—All Night

1. “Venice, the Moon and You” (Italian; 1960) 

  COLOR  2. “Thieves’ Highway” (1949)

3. Maverick

Gil Hile’s guests are Country-Western comics Homer and Jethro

 

 

  -7- KRCR (REDDING) (ABC, NBC)

  Morning       7:00

TODAY 

  COLOR  Guests: Vance Packard, Sandler and Young

      9:00

EYE GUESS 

  COLOR        9:25

NEWS—Sander Vanocur 

  COLOR        9:30

JACK LA LANNE—Exercise

    10:00

CHAIN LETTER—Game 

  COLOR  Celebrities: Jan Sterling, Jerry Van Dyke. Host: Jan Murray

    10:30

SHOWDOWN 

  COLOR      11:00

JEOPARDY 

  COLOR      11:30

SWINGIN COUNTRY 

  COLOR  Guests: Del Shannon, Kathie Taylor

    11:55

NEWS—Edwin Newman

  Afternoon     12:00

LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game 

  COLOR      12:25

NEWS

    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 Critters, the Knickerbockers, Steve Alaimo

      5:00

FILM FEATURE

      5:30

WOODY WOODPECKER

  Evening       6:00

NEWS

      6:30

NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley 

  COLOR        7:00

GIDGET—Comedy

      7:30

DANIEL BOONE 

  COLOR        8:30

DOUBLE LIFE 

  COLOR        9:00

BEWITCHED—Comedy

      9:30

GET SMART—Comedy

    10:00

PREVIEW TONIGHT 

  DEBUT  “Pursue and Destroy”

    11:00

NEWS

    11:15

TONIGHT—Variety 

  COLOR  Guest host: Bob Newhart

 

 

  -8- KSBW (SALINAS) (CBS, NBC)   Morning       7:00

TODAY 

  COLOR  Guests: Vance Packard, Sandler and Young

      8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO

      9:00

I LOVE LUCY

      9:30

CONCENTRATION

    10:00

LIFE OF RILEY—Comedy

    10:30

DICK VAN DYKE

    11:00

LOVE OF LIFE

    11:25

NEWS—Mike Wallace

    11:30

SWINGIN COUNTRY 

  COLOR  Guests: Del Shannon, Kathie Taylor

    11:55

NEWS—Edwin Newman

  Afternoon     12:00

LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game 

  COLOR      12:25

NEWS

    12:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial

      1:00

PASSWORD—Game

Celebrities: Joan Fontaine, Sam Levenson. Host: Allen Ludden

      1:30

HOUSE PARTY 

  COLOR  Guest: Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop

      2:00

TO TELL THE TRUTH

      2:25

NEWS—Douglas Edwards

      2:30

EDGE OF NIGHT

      3:00

SECRET STORM

      3:30

MOVIE—Drama

“Juvenile Jungle (1958)

      4:45

WEBSTER WEBFOOT—Children

      5:30

WOODY WOODPECKER

  Evening       6:00

NEWS

      6:30

NEWS—Walter Cronkite 

  COLOR        7:00

SERGEANT PRESTON—Adventure

      7:30

MUNSTERS—Comedy

      8:00

GILLIGAN’S ISLAND 

  COLOR        8:30

MY THREE SONS 

  COLOR        9:00

MOVIE—Drama   COLOR  Thursday Night Movie: “Merrill’s Marauders” (1962)

    11:00

NEWS

    11:30

TONIGHT—Variety 

  COLOR  Guest host: Bob Newhart

 

 

  -9- KQED (BAY AREA) (EDUC.)   Afternoon       4:00

TIME FOR MUSIC

      4:15

MERLIN THE MAGICIAN

      4:30

WHAT’S NEW—Children

      5:00

LYRICS AND LEGENDS

      5:30

SCIENCE REPORTER

  Evening       6:00

PORTRAIT IN MUSIC

      6:30

WHAT’S NEW—Children

      7:00

WHEN IN ROME

      7:30

ANTIQUES—Art

      8:00

LOCAL ISSUE—Report

      8:30

FRENCH CHEF—Cooking

Lobster thermidor

      9:00

PROFILE: BAY AREA

    10:00

U.S.A.—Art

Guest: Tom Wolfe

    10:30

OPENING NIGHT—Discussion

 

 

  -9- KIXE (REDDING) (EDUC.)

  Afternoon       5:30

TIME FOR MUSIC

      5:45

BETTY B—Music

  Evening       6:00

NEW ORLEANS JAZZ

      6:30

STOCK MARKET REPORT

      6:35

MUSICAL PORTRAITS

      7:00

WHAT’S NEW—Children

      7:30

U.S.A.--Art

      8:00

PROBE—Dr. Albert E. Burke

      8:30

NEW ORLEANS JAZZ

      9:00

OPEN END—David Susskind

Guests: Peter Tompkins, Ladislas Farago

    10:00

STORIES OF GUY DE MAUPASSANT—Drama

 

 

  10 KXTV (SACRAMENTO) (CBS)   Morning       6:25

FARM NEWS

      6:30

SUMMER SEMESTER

Western Religious Trends: theologian Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy

      7:00

WEATHER—Bob Douglas

      7:05

NEWS

      7:30

DIVER DAN—Cartoons

      8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO

      9:00

I LOVE LUCY

      9:30

McCOYS—Comedy

    10:00

ANDY GRIFFITH

    10:30

DICK VAN DYKE

    11:00

LOVE OF LIFE

    11:25

NEWS—Mike Wallace

    11:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial

    11:45

GUIDING LIGHT—Serial

  Afternoon     12:00

NEWS

    12:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial

      1:00

PASSWORD—Game

Celebrities: Joan Fontaine, Sam Levenson. Host: Allen Ludden

      1:30

HOUSE PARTY 

  COLOR  Guest: Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop

      2:00

TO TELL THE TRUTH

      2:25

NEWS—Douglas Edwards

      2:30

EDGE OF NIGHT

      3:00

SECRET STORM

      3:30

GYPSY ROSE LEE—Panel

Guests: Barbara Nichols, Inga Shilling

      4:00

MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety

Guests: the Geezinslaw Brotheres, Jerry Pieh

      5:30

NEWS

  Evening       6:00

NEWS—Walter Cronkite 

  COLOR        6:30

LAWMAN—Western

      7:00

BEYOND THE LIMITS

      7:30

MUNSTERS—Comedy

      8:00

GILLIGAN’S ISLAND 

  COLOR        8:30

MY THREE SONS 

  COLOR        9:00

MOVIE—Drama 

  COLOR  “The Cobweb” (1955)

    11:00

NEWS

    11:30

MOVIE—Drama 

  COLOR  “Trail of the Lonesome Pine” (1936)

 

 

  11 KNTV (SAN JOSE) (ABC)   Morning       8:00

BIBLE ANSWERS—Drama

      8:30

PETER POTAMUS—Cartoons

      9:00

HOCUS POCUS—Children

      9:15

BUCKAROO 500—Buck Weaver

      9:30

HOCUS POCUS—Children

    10:00

LEAVE IT TO BEAVER—Comedy

    10:30

PEOPLE’S CHOICE—Comedy

    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 Critters, the Knickerbockers, Steve Alaimo

      5:00

MARSHALL DILLON—Western

      5:30

NEWS

      5:45

NEWS—Peter Jennings

  Evening       6:00

NEWS

      6:30

CHEYENNE—Western

      7:25

SPORTS—Bruce King

      7:30

BATMAN—Adventure 

  COLOR  Guest villain: Victor Buono (King Tut)

      8:00

FASHION SHOW

“Fresh Young World of Fashion”

      8:30

DOUBLE LIFE 

  COLOR        9:00

BEWITCHED—Comedy

      9:30

PEYTON PLACE

    10:00

AVENGERS—Adventure

    11:00

NEWS

    11:30

MOVIE—Drama

“Band of Angels” (1957)

 

 

  12 KHSL (CHICO) (ABC, CBS)   Morning       7:05

BIG PICTURE—Army 

  COLOR        7:35

NEWS

      8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO

      9:00

I LOVE LUCY

      9:30

McCOYS—Comedy

    10:00

ANDY GRIFFITH

    10:30

DICK VAN DYKE

    11:00

LOVE OF LIFE

    11:25

NEWS—Mike Wallace

    11:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial

    11:45

GUIDING LIGHT—Serial

  Afternoon     12:00

PEOPLE ARE FUNNY—Linkletter

    12:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial

      1:00

PASSWORD—Game

Celebrities: Joan Fontaine, Sam Levenson. Host: Allen Ludden

      1:30

HOUSE PARTY 

  COLOR  Guest: Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop

      2:00

TO TELL THE TRUTH

      2:25

NEWS—Douglas Edwards

      2:30

EDGE OF NIGHT

      3:00

SECRET STORM

      3:30

MOVIE—Adventure

“The Big Cat” (1949)

      5:00

CARTOONS

      5:30

DONNA REED—Comedy

  Evening       6:00

NEWS

      6:30

NEWS—Walter Cronkite 

  COLOR        7:00

ALFRED HITCHCOCK—Drama

      7:30

MUNSTERS—Comedy

      8:00

GILLIGAN’S ISLAND 

  COLOR        8:30

MY THREE SONS 

  COLOR        9:00

MOVIE—Drama 

  COLOR  “Unconquered” (1947)

    11:00

NEWS

    11:30

MOVIE—Musical Drama

“The Merry Monahans” (1944)

 

 

  13 KOVR (SACRAMENTO) (ABC)   Morning       6:55

NEWS

      7:00

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

WOODY WOODPECKER 

  COLOR        5:00

NEWS

      5:45

NEWS—Peter Jennings

  Evening       6:00

MOVIE—Comedy 

  COLOR  “Excuse My Dust” (1951)

      7:25

OUTDOORSMAN—Bel Lange

      7:30

BATMAN—Adventure 

  COLOR  Guest villain: Victor Buono (King Tut)

      8:00

GIDGET—Comedy 

  COLOR        8:30

DOUBLE LIFE 

  COLOR        9:00

BEWITCHED—Comedy

      9:30

PEYTON PLACE

    10:00

AVENGERS—Adventure

    11:00

NEWS

    11:30

MATT DILLON—Western

    12:00

WELLS FARGO—Western

 

 

  19 KLOC (MODESTO) (IND.)   Afternoon       4:00

ROMPER ROOM—Children

      5:00

MARSHAL WARD—Children

      5:30

BUCKAROO 500—Children

  Evening       6:00

DENNIS THE MENACE—Comedy

      6:30

BILLY GRAMMER—Music 

  DEBUT        7:00

NEWS—Charles McEwen

      7:05

ZANE GREY—Western

      7:30

MOVIE—Drama

“Picnic” (1956)

      9:45

POLITICAL TALK

    10:00

NEWS

    10:15

NAKED CITY—Drama

    10:45

PANORAMA 39—Travel 

  DEBUT 

 

 

  32 KNEW (BAY AREA) (IND.)   Afternoon       4:30

CARTOONS

      5:30

WILD BILL HICKOK—Western

  Evening       6:00

SOUPY SALES—Comedy

      6:30

QUEST FOR ADVENTURE

      7:00

SEVEN LEAGUE BOOTS—Travel

      7:30

ADVENTURE CALLS—Travel

      8:00

EXPEDITION!—Documentary

      8:30

HIGH ROAD—John Gunther

      9:00

WONDERFUL WORLD—Travel

      9:30

TRAVEL FILM

    10:00

MOVIE—Mystery

“Mark of the Whistler” (1944)

 

 

  42 KCFT (BAY AREA) (IND.)   Afternoon

      3:00

ROMPER ROOM—Children

      4:00

CAPTAIN FORTUNE—Children

      5:00

CARTOONS

      5:30

TEEN GALENT—Lou Di Maggio

  Evening       6:30

NEWS—Manfrina, Hinn

      7:00

SPORTS—Riddle, Ryan

      7:15

GOLF—Rod Pfeiffer, Jack Ryan

      7:30

POINT OF LAW—Douglas Cowan

      8:00

HUNTING, FISHING—Ed Boitano

      8:30

TRADING POST—Abenheim

      9:00

PARTY LINE—Jerry Bassett

    10:00

NEWS

    10:30

SPORTS—Riddle, Ryan

    10:45

GUEST CORNER—Jim Manfrilna

    10:55

WHERE TO GO—Dick Holmes

    11:00

EAST SIDE/WEST SIDE—Drama

TV  

This week in TV Guide: August 13, 1966

Edith efron leads off the week with one of television's truly existential questions: what do game shows prove? In the summer of 1966, game shows comprise 32 of the 110 weekly hours of network daytime programming. As Efron notes, with a brief break for lunch, "it is possible to watch. 13 game shows in a row from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.—two on CBS, three on ABC; and eight on NBC." While they might not be as popular as soap operas, they attract a weekly audience of about 45 million, and since children are in school, these shows are designed for and watched by adults. What does it all mean?
The games themselves, Efron says, are not stupid. "Even the much-lamented Supermarket Sweep, which has been written off by casual observers as a graceless plundering of supermarket shelves, actually requires detailed knowledge of market prices plus the ability to make arithmetical calculations, involving fractions, at high speed." Network executives and hosts agree that the basic appeal of the shows is intellectual; The Match Game's Gene Rayburn says that "TV games are popular because they test people’s ability to think under stress. This has always interested people. Human beings have a survival need to keep their wits strong and alert." Allen Ludden, host of Password, adds that "It’s not accidental that Password, which is primarily dependent on deductive reasoning, is one of the most popular game shows on the air. Logical reasoning is very attractive to people." And Ed Vane, director of daytime programming at ABC, says that "The only game shows which succed are those which stimulate the viewer intellectually." 
Perhaps surprisingly, those from the world of academics agree with this analysis. Detroit psychologist Roger Callahan, ex-president of the Michigan Society of School Psychologists, tells Efron that "The appeal of the game shows is the same as the appeal of all quizzes and parlor games—they give people an opportunity to exercise their minds." This is seconded by professor Herbert Hyman, head of Columbia University’s graduate department of sociology, who says that the popularity of game shows derives from such factors as "traditional American pleasure in a contest" and the "intellectual pleasure of play," and Boston psychologist Barbara Klein says "The appeal of the game shows is obviously intellectual." Greed is not generally seen as an attraction; Klein and Callahan call the hypothesis of collective vicarious greed "absurd," and "irationally unfounded." 
Specialists in game shows—the creators, the hosts—are adamant that the success of the genre indicates people want smart television, and that networks underestimate the intelligence of their daytime audiences. "[Viewers are] hungry for the sight of brightness on the air," according to Bob Stewart, one of the creators of Password and To Tell the Truth.. "They’re starving for intelligent programming," adds Ludden. This is not, however, a view shared by network executives, who insist that more "mentally demanding" shows won't be successful. NBC's Larry White says "Most of the daytime viewers are women. They’re working during these hours—washing dishes, making the beds, answering the doorbell, taking care of the babies. They don’t have the time or inclination to watch more demanding shows." (Or fashion shows? You'll read about that shortly.) News-and-talk shows such as Calendar with Harry Reasoner, or Mike Wallace's morning news, "were calmly ignored by most of the daytime audience." "It’s hard enough to get an audience for intellectual shows at night,” says White. "Look at CBS Reports, look at East Side/West Side. If you put an intellectual show on in the daytime, you'd get zero ratings."
Ludden, for one, isn't buying it. "The networks simply don’t understand the difference between native intelligence and public-affairs stuffiness. The viewers are not academic squares, but that doesn’t mean they have 12-year-old minds." The psychologists agree. "Too often," Callahan says, "what passes for intellectual programming on the networks isn’t intellectual at all. Too often, it consists of dull, unresolved drama; dull, unresolved discussions; and dull, unresolved public-affairs shows, to which the only appropriate response is—so what? Such shows are mentally frustrating. Most viewers reject them day and night—and rightly so. To judge people as intellectually deficient because they repudiate such shows is absurd."
Where does this leave us? Efron notes that "native intelligence in the mass audience is rarely mentioned in all the brouhaha about TV programming," and that it is this native intelligence, not formal education, that comprises the audience. But network executives admit no study has ever been conducted on "the number of brains—the number of just plain bright people in both the day and the nighttime audiences." Personally, I agree with this totally; intellectuals, or pretentious executives, often confuse education with intelligence, and almost never consider common sense. After all, all those letters that follow someone's name makes them part of an elite minority, and to admit that this doesn't necessarily make them smart means they aren't special anymore, either.
The networks, Efron says, need to understand that "there are many millions of modestly schooled adults in this country who have good minds, and who would actively welcome more intelligent programming." To recognize "the existence of multimillions of intelligent 'common' men and women could have a profoundly salutary effect on U.S. television."
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That's no calvary corporal on the cover, that's Larry Storch! And, with all due respect to Forrest Tucker, I think it's safe to say that without Storch, there would be no F Troop. In this week's episode he plays multiple roles, including the notorious bandid El Diablo, Grandma Agarn, Gaylord Agarn and Carmen Agarnado. But, says Michael Fessier Jr., the zany comedian you see on screen is, when the cameras stop rolling, "melancholy and detached, light years in his thoughts from the frantic activity surrounding him."
"Nothing’s easy for me," he says. "I'm always in a quandary over things." With a half smile, he adds, "I guess it’s my dark Russian soul." He broods about "ultimate meanings and truths," from Vietnam and underpriviledged children to "the well-being of every living creature." Not surprisingly, he's a product of the Depression, a boy who hated school and, one suspects, became an impressionist and jokester to stay away from the classroom. He "stumbled" into radio acting after WWII, impressing with his ability to mimic voices, and moved into some TV and film roles; his friends feel that it's his "unaggressive nature" that's kept him from going further. "[H]e deprecates himself," says one friend, Tony Curtis. "He’s afraid to assert himself. He doesn’t want to offend anybody. But underneath he’s fully aware of his talent."
In fact, it is Curtis, along with Storch's wife Norma, who deserve credit for keeping Storch's career alive. Norma, who used to manage him, got his career going after it appeared dead in the water, while Curtis got Storch a part in the movie Who Was That Lady I Saw You With? (Storch had played the role on Broadway); they've appeared in three more movies since, but Curtis says it's due to talent. "Larry's a very terrific actor." 
In addition to many television appearances, Storch will return to the stage after F Troop ends, and remains popular throughout a career that runs well into the 21st Century. He was a frequent guest at the Mid Atlantic Nostalgia Convention, where I saw him the last time I was there; his autograph prices were more reasonable than anyone else's, and I'm sorry I didn't take advantage of it at the time. He died last year, at the age of 99—still wearing the corporal's hat to the end.
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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 include Jimmy Durante, opera singers Franco Corelli and Dorothy Kirsten, British singer Petula Clark, comic Myron Cohen and Britain's rocking Animals. Also on hand are contortionist Gitta Morelly, balancer José Cole, dancers Lawrence and Carroll, and Durante’s partner, singer Sonny King. Durante and King perform excerpts from their night-club act. 
Palace: Host Victor Borge introduces singer Jane Powell, choreographer-dancer Peter Gennaro, comic professor Irwin Corey, the musical Kim Sisters and Kim Brothers, and Irish trapeze artist Gala Shawn. Victor offers his routine about phonetic punctuation. 
A pair of reruns this week offer us a pair of good lineups. Victor Borge's phonetic punctuation is funny no matter how many times over how many years you see it, and Jane Powell and Peter Gennaro are great guests. On the other hand, Ed's got Jimmy Durante and Myron Cohen, both of whom are funnier (IMHO) than Irwin Corey; the great stars Franco Corelli and Dorothy Kirsten are more than a match for the Kim Sisters and kim Brothers, and the Animals can take care of the rest. This week Sullivan takes the prize.
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If you've been following along with this series of Northern California issues I've been looking at this year, you might recognize KLOC, the independent station in Modesto. Channel 19 has been missing from earlier 1960s issues, but this week it makes its debut, premiering at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, broadcasting "approximately 50 hours [weekly], seven days a week.*" Welcome aboard!
*During the day, the station would simulcast the programming from sister radio station KLOC, including cameras showing the radio station's on-air talent. Now we know where ESPN got the idea! (Yes, I know Arthur Godfrey used to simulcast his show, but this is different.
With the exception of the one month that the United Network was in existence, KLOC remains an independent station until 1972, when it becomes an affiliate of Univision. As KUVS, it continues to broadcast to this day.
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Sunday is probably the most interesting night of this television week, one filled (as you might expect) with repeats. We begin at Tanglewood, located in Lennox, Massachusetts, the long-time summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. (My wife used to be a regular visitor there each summer until I rescued her from the wilds of Maine.) On Sunday, NBC spends "An Afternoon at Tanglewood" (2:30 p.m. PT). a live concert with the BSO and conductor Erich Leinsdorf , featuring solo performances by 20-year-old pianist Misha Dichter and 19-year-old violinist Masuko Ushioda , both of whom go on to distinguished careers. During the intermission, host Edwin Newman interviews Leinsdorf and the two soloists. As I've mentioned many times before, this is the kind of thing networks used to show before Sundays became dominated by sports. 
If sports is your thing, though, there's the final round of the Thunderbird Classic golf tournament, from Clifton, New Jersey. (2:00 p.m., ABC) It's an important tournament; previous winners include major champions Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Plamer, Gene Littler, and Billy Casper. However, it's rookie Bob Murphy who comes out on top, firing a final-round 68 to win by three shots and take home the first price money of $30,000.
Ah, but what if your interest lies with unsold pilots? Don't worry; we've got you covered as well, with the debut of Preview Tonight (8:00 p.m., ABC), a five-week series of such shows. First up is Pursue and Destroy, a WWII drama starring Van Williams as the commander of a submarine in the days following the attack on Pearl Harbor. It has a very good supporting cast, including Dame Edith Evans, Jessica Walter, and Henry Wilcoxon; I wonder why it didn't get picked up? You can check it out here and see what you think. And Van Williams makes out just fine; instead of fighting the Japanese, he'll battle criminals as The Green Hornet.
Speaking of fighting crime, we can't really leave Sunday without mentioning "The Case of the Twice-Told Twist," tonight's episode of Perry Mason (9:00 p.m., CBS). It's the only color episode of the show's nine-season run, and had the show returned for a tenth season this is how it would have looked. I think I prefer it in black-and-white.
On Monday night, NET presents GI Joe (8:30 p.m.), a documentary following high-school senior Michael J. Frame, who's just been drafted into the Army. The cameras take us through his last days at school, a farewell date, and his swearing-in at an Army induction center. I always wonder, whenever I see a program from this era that features a serviceman, what winds up happening to him. Did he make it through basic training, and was he shipped off to Vietnam? I didn't find his name listed among those on the Wall, so that's encouraging; a quick Google doesn't turn up anything connecting anyone by this name to this documentary, which you might have expected in an obituary, and that's also encouraging. A "Michael J. Frame" does show up in another obituary, as the son-in-law of a woman who'd recently passed, so that's a possibility; if he was drafted in 1966, he was probably born around 1948, so he might still be alive. If anyone has more information, please let me know.
Tuesday afternoon features a rare daytime network special, The World of Fashion and Beauty: Italy (1:00 p.m., ABC), a fashion show highlighting the collections of Italy's top designers, with commentary by designer Lore Caulfield . I suppose it's on in the afternoon because, you know, women are the ones watching daytime TV, and that's what they'd be interested in, not "intellectually demanding shows." In the evening, NBC takes us to a different world, to The Angry Voices of Watts (7:30 p.m.), as author Budd Schulberg introduces us to a Watts writers' workshop, where the residents give voice to what it's like living in the infamous ghetto.
I don't know how many of you are familiar with Blue Light, a one-season (17 episodes) WWII espionage drama starring Robert Goulet as David March, an American journalist who's supposedly defected to the Nazis but is actually a double-agent for the U.S. This week's rerun (Wednesday, 8:30 p.m., ABC) presents one of those infinite-regression situations, as the Nazis ask March to pose as an American spy to get the goods on a Nazi admiral suspected of being involved in a plot against Hitler. In other words, he's an American spy posing as a German spy posing as an American spy, investigating a German who may be working for the good guys. This is either brilliant or totally confusing, and perhaps both.
On Thursday, NET's cultural program U.S.A. presents "Art as Religion" (10:00 p.m.), with author Tom Wolfe offering a commentary on U.S. culture. Wolfe's most recent book is The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, and throughout his career he'll be known for casting a sharp, jaundiced eye toward what he saw as pretentiousness in politics, art, architecture, and celebrity. Wolfe has always been a favorite of mine; his opinions are always well worth listening to.
The longer I'm at this gig, the more I realize how little I really know. On Friday, KLOC finishes a week-long (well, four days*, since they debuted on Monday) debut of country-western variety shows in the 6:30 p.m. timeslot: Ernest Tubb on Tuesday, Bill Anderson on Wednesday, Billy Grammer on Thursday, and, today, Midwestern Hayride. Now, I remember seeing Bill Anderson's show back in the days of the World's Worst Town™, but I had no idea it stretched all the way back to the 1960s, and I didn't know anything about these other shows, either. I guess they didn't air in Minneapolis.
*The following Monday saw the premiere of The Porter Wagoner Show, which began in 1960 and aired until 1981, a total of 686 episodes. Those of you of the male persuasion may recall that Dolly Parton was a regular on this show in later years.
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MST3K alert: The Sword and the Dragon (Russian; 1960) A legendary Russian hero sets out to rescue his wife. Boris Andreyev, Andrei Abrikosov. (Sunday, 5:00 p.m., KGO) This issue has plenty of MST3K wannabees (Queen of Outer Space, with Zsa Zsa Gabor and Eric Fleming), but we'll stick with the real thing. The movie itself is nothing to write home about, but the interstitials include what is probably the greatest-ever Ingmar Bergman joke . Granted, that may not be a huge category, but even so, it's a classic. TV  

Around the dial

Frank Gabrielson's second and final Alfred Hitchcock Presents script is Jack's subject at bare-bones e-zine. The 1958 episode " The Foghorn " is a superior adaptation of a powerful short story, and as always Jack gives us a good look at the process of adaptation.
 Continuing his consideration of The X-Files and the American Dream, John's latest at Cult TV Blog looks at the show's third season; in particular, I'm interested in the show's link to Operation Paperclip , the real-life operation of U.S. intelligence to integrate Nazi scientists into the American space program. No easy answers here.
I remember the Saturday morning kids' show Land of the Lost; it's from the World's Worst Town era, so if I was watching TV at all, that's what would have been on. I don't want to talk about it much more, because I'm afraid the theme song will start running through my head, but it's the topic of discussion at The View from the Junkyard.
At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence has a few suggestions for streaming services . Streamers are struggling lately; we've cancelled most of our services over the last year, leaving only the F1 channel and the Criterion Channel (we get a lot of use out of them). Perhaps more people would stick with them if they took Terence's advice. And stopped raising their prices.
Babyboomers.com has an interesting but fairly superficial article on how classic TV influenced modern college culture . I think it could do with a lot more in-depth consideration (this could have been an AI-authored article), but I think it's spot-on in the discussion "Classic Television as an Educational Tool." I've been advocating this for years.
Speaking of which, one of the nice things about retirement is the ability to travel without regard to time off from work, etc.,  so we're driving out to the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention this year! It's the first time we've gone in a few years, and we could use some fun. I'm not making a presentation this time, we're just spectators. Are any of you planning to attend? If so, let me know and we'll plan to meet up! TV  

TV Jibe: Possible side-effects include. . .

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