Mitchell Hadley's Blog: It's About TV!, page 57

This week in TV Guide: March 4, 1967

Let's address first things first, with Leslie Raddatz's cover story profile of Leonard Nimoy. or "Where else but in America could a son of Russian immigrants become a television star with pointed ears?"
Star Trek is coming up on the end of its first season, and there's no question but that Nimoy has become the breakout star of the series. His father, a barber in Boston, has a picture of his son in costume with a caption reading, "This is a sample of the Spock haircut." His friends call him "Mr. Spock." His mother works at a Boston variety story; there, "teen-agers come in and ask if they can just touch her." By way of explaination, Nimoy offers that "The kids dig the fact that Spock is cool." Gene Roddenberry, predictably, has a more cerebral theory; "We're all im- prisoned within ourselves. We're all aliens on this strange planet. So people find identification with Spock." Actress Evelyn Ward, who went to drama school with Nimoy, thinks it's the actor's "great animal magnetism."
It's been a long road to success for Leonard Nimoy; he started out at the age of eight, playing Hansel in a Peabody Playhouse production of Hansel and Gretel. He was still there at age 16, by which time some of his performances were being directed by a young student named Boris Sagal. He made his way to Hollywood, where he took a class at the Pasadena Playhouse, married, got drafted, and spent 18 months in the military. When he returned to acting, he augmented his income with stings as vacuum cleaner salesman, soda jerk, movie theater usher, and cab driver; one of his fares was a fellow Bostonian, then-Senator John F. Kennedy. "He was curious about everything," Nimoy remembers. "It was one of the most thrilling experiences I’ve ever had."
Through it all, he got better and better parts on TV, including an episode of The Lieutenant, produced by Roddenberry, who now says that he said to himself, "If I ever do a science-fiction show, I’m going to put pointed ears on him and use him." When Star Trek came around, Nimoy wasn't thrilled with the ears; no matter how many variations they tried, he was convinced they "just aren't going to work." Roddenberry promised him that "If the character doesn’t catch on in the first 13 weeks, I'll arrange for you to have an ear job." In case you hadn't noticed, he's still got the ears. He enjoys the stardom ("I feel warmed by it"), but it doesn't seem to have changed him much. He carries himself with a quietude and seriousness that impresses those he works with. "On the set, where nicknames are almost de rigueur, he is always addressed as Leonard, which may be a tribute to the dignity he brings to the character he plays."
Although Nimoy once wrote a book called I Am Not Spock, and he went on to star in series such as Mission: Impossible and In Search Of, it was as Spock that he was most closely identified. He appeared in all the movies with the original cast and interacted with other incarnations, and wrote a second volume of his memoirs called I Am Spock, in which he understood that "in some meaningful sense he had merged with Spock while distancing between fact and fiction." Rewatching the original series over the last couple of years, I've come to appreciate once again how much Star Trek owes to Spock, and the way Nimoy portrays him. Someone associated with the show once said that the writers had to struggle to prevent it from becoming The Mr. Spock Hour, and occasionally had to have William Shatner's Kirk take the lead in situations where it was more logical, to coin a phrase, for Spock to have acted instead. It's really impossible to imagine Star Trek without him, and that's probably the biggest tribute one can pay to an actor.

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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: Scheduled guests: comedian Alan King; musical-comedy star Gwen Verdon of Broadway's "Sweet Charity," who sings the show's "If My Friends Could See Me Now"; actor-singer Robert Horton; singer Dionne Warwick; and Norman Wisdom of the Broadway musical comedy "Walking Happy." Also: comic Rodney Dangerfield, ventriloquist Christ Kirby and the Wychwoods, an animal act.
Palace: Host Steve Lawrence presents Phyllis Diller, Broadway songstress Florence Henderson and Bill Dana as skydiving instructor Jose Jimenez. Also: the singing Fuller Brothers; ventriloquist Russ Lewis; the Rhodins, aerialists; and Pat Anthony's wild animal act.
This is a really good snapshot of entertainment in the 1960s: Broadway entertainers, stand-up comics, sibling singing groups, and vaudevillian holdovers, such as animal acts and ventriloquists. So who do we like this week? The sensational Gwen Verdon has the Broadway edge, King and Dangerfield gets the nod over Diller, and you throw in Dionne Warwick in the deal. Don't misunderstand me; Palace has a very good lineup this week, but I think Sullivan's even better.
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Throughout the 60s and early 70s, TV Guide's weekly reviews were written by the witty and acerbic Cleveland Amory. Whenever we get the chance, we'll look at Cleve's latest take on the shows of the era. 
About The Road West, NBC's new Western starring Barry Sullivan, Cleveland Amory has this encouraging thought: "There is nothing wrong with it, really, that a good script wouldn’t fix." Well, I suppose that's meant to be encouraging, but what Cleveland giveth with one hand, he taketh away with the other: don't count on getting one. 
Case in point: an episode featuring Lloyd Nolan as an old hunter named Jed. The writers were able to shoehorn him into the format of the show by having him dine with Ben Pride (Sullivan) and his family, and then had a member of said family, Tim (Andrew Prine), witness Jed shooting someone down. "But, honestly," Cleve says, "this story would have fitted just about as well into Girl Talk (he was always talking) or The French Chef (he was always cooking)." In the end, "Tim is forced to shut him up for good by shooting him—honestly, he was an awful talker." I can understand Cleve's frustration; anyone who's seen a Western starring Gary Cooper or Alan Ladd knows that the road West was built by men who did more work and less talk. 
Talk, in fact, seems to be a hallmark of The Road West; another episode—unrelated, if you can believe it—stars Gena Rowlands, with whom Pride family friend Chance (Glenn Corbett) has fallen in love, even though she's already married to Tom Collier (Victor Jory), a mean and bitter man. When asked how she could have ever fallen in love with a man like that, she explains, "When Tom Collier first came into my life, he talked and talked." And then there was the "tough-luck cowpoke" played by Tony Bill, an escaped killer who runs off with guest star Brenda Scott. "You know who you are?" he asks her rhetorically. "You're the girl in the white dress who would never talk to me. There was always a girl in a white dress who would never talk to me. . . ." Clearly, he was in the wrong episode, because there seems to be no shortage of talk on The Road West. And, Amory concludes, that may be why the Old West is no longer: they "talked it to death."
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Elsewhere in this issue, The Doan Report discusses CBS's new fall schedule, and one of the headliners is the apparent cancellation of Gunsmoke after 12 seasons. Now, you and I know that this is not the case, because we have the benefit of hindsight and thus know that Babe Paley will intervene with her husband (who just happens to be the chairman of the network) on behalf of her favorite show, and therefore Gunsmoke stays (for another eight seasons!) and Gilligan's Island goes instead. But the rest of the list of cancelled favorites holds true: What's My Line?, To Tell the Truth, I've Got a Secret, Candid Camera, The Danny Kaye Show, It's About Time, Mr. Terrific, Pistols 'n' Petticoats, and Coliseum. But what's to take the place of these departed shows?
That question, in part, is answered in this week's "As We See It" editorial, which is prefaced with the following explanation: "A year ago in this space we published a list of some of the shows being readied for the upcoming television season. A lot of readers thought we were kidding. Television couldn't really be planning to show those programs, they said. Then the new season arrived. We weren't kidding." This year they repeat the exercise; "We are asking you to believe that the following list is authentic, genuine, bona fide and the real McCoy." So herewith are, "so help us—some of the dozens of new series which the networks are considering for next season." From the list they've provided, here are some of the best, or worst, depending on how you look at it. And despite their warnings that "only a few of them will find berths in the fall schedule," some of them do, in fact, show up there, including the very first:The Flying NunReturn of the Original Yellow TornadoAlfred of the AmazonWalter of the JungleMaya (an elephant)Dhondo (another elephant)Gentle Ben (a bear)I Married a Bear (no relation to Ben—this one's a pro football player)Three's a Crowd (about a guy married to two girls)My Husbands, Tom and John (about a girl married to two guys)The Outside Man (he was convicted of a crime he didn't commit)The Outsider (an unorthodox detective)Blood and Miss ThunderReady, Willing and PamelaJungle JennyJuddMannixHondoThe Pickle BrothersDr. Jekyll and Mr. ClydeNow, you're obviously going to recognize some of them: Mannix, Judd, Hondo, and Gentle Ben all made the cut, as did The Outsider (starring Darren McGavin; it ran for one season) and Maya (based on the movie of the same name). But think of how absurd a series called The Flying Nun must have sounded? Blasphemy! And the idea of two series based on bigamy? It must have come from the people responsible for Mr. Terrific and Captain Nice. As for the rest, one can only speculate on what they were about, what the title might have been changed to, and why anyone would have come up with the idea in the first place. 
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On the other hand, a couple of pros show us that not everything is as questionable as, say, Reaqdy, Willing and Pamela.
First off, a pictoral essay demonstrates the extensive makeup that Hal Holbrook undergoes when preparing for his one-man show, Mark Twain Tonight, which appears on CBS Monday night (9:30 p.m. PT). Holbrook's been doing the show since 1959, and won a Best Actor Tony for it in 1966. However, the requirements for television, with its close-ups, means that his makeup needs to be more complicated and sophisticated. 
According to the story, Holbrook and his makeup man, Dick Smith, spent 12 hours experimenting with foam-rubber makeup three separate times, with Holbrook looking at his appearance on a Sony video recorder. The results are more like wearing a mask than makeup, "but beneath that mask is Holbrook being Mark Twain.
Quite a transformation, isn't it?
The second old pro is even more distinguished: two-time Academy Award-winner Ingrid Bergman, who visits with Robert Musel in Paris while making a one-character show of her own, Jean Cocteau's The Human Voice, which will air on ABC's Stage 67 on May 4. 
The Human Voice is a 50-minute monologue, one side of a telephone conversation between an aging beauty and her lover, who is in the process of throwing her over for a younger woman. Bergman had done it as a record album several years ago, but has never acted it out until now, and the challenges are daunting. "There's a big difference between reading from a script into a recording microphone and learning thousands of words and acting to them," she says. "The problem is to take the monotony out of it. You have a woman on the phone for 50 minutes—I'll be glad when she finally hangs up. She loves him, she loves him, she loves him! She doesn’t want to hurt him. She doesn’t even want him to know that she knows he is lying to her." And don't look for another one-woman performance anytime soon; "this will be the last of its kind. I so enjoy working with actors, yet here I am all alone with a telephone."
Director Ted Kotcheff has been full of ideas for trying to open up the play, such as adding an old love letter, or having Bergman wake up screaming from a nightmare. He can afford to let his imagination go, for as Musel points out, in Bergman, he has "one of the most sensitive instruments available to any director." This will be only her fourth appearance on television; her first came in 1959 with her Emmy-winning perormance in NBC's The Turn of the Screw and followed that up with Twenty-Four Hours in a Woman's Life for CBS in 1961 and Hedda Gabler, again for CBS, in 1963. She enjoys working in the medium; "It's exciting finding a character on television. In a film it's always cut! cut! cut! for the close-ups. In television the camera does it, and you play the role from the beginning to the end. You can build and you can feel the emotion."
Bergman is still one of the great beauties of the screen; nearing 50, the makeup people still had to age her appearance for The Human Voice (although not as much as they did for Hal Holbrook), and while she is devoted to her children (including future actress Isabella Rossellini , who has been recovring from a back condition, and future journalist Pia Lindstrom , who has just started a San Francisco TV talk show), she also believes they need to figure out how to live with being the child of a famous mother. There are still more successes ahead for Ingrid Bergman, including a third Oscar, for Murder on the Orient Express, and a second Emmy, for 1982's A Woman Called Golda, her last acting role before she died of cancer that year.
In the vague and often frustrating world of television preservation, we're fortunate that both of these performances are available to us; you can see Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight! here, while Ingrid Bergman's The Human Voice can be seen here .
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There are a couple of additional prestige programs on the docket for this week, starting with ABC's Sunday Night Movie and the television premiere of George and Ira Gershwin's American folk opera Porgy and Bess (9:00 p.m.), starring Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis Jr., and Pear Bailey. Judith Crist finds it one of the rare big-screen movies that works better on television; "On the small screen much of the overblown quality will be lost," and even though the production is static, bordering on lethargic, the music is wonderful. Incidentelly, Poitier's singing voice is dubbed by baritone Robert McFerrin, the father of vocalist Bobby McFerrin. That's followed on Monday by another ABC production, the Lerner and Loewe musical Brigadoon (8:30 p.m.), with Robert Goulet, Peter Falk, and Sally Ann Howes. This is a rerun from last October, when the broadcast won critical raves.
On Tuesday, David Susskind's program (9:00 p.m., KQED) covers three topics that I can't help but think are intertwined somehow: U.S. foreign policy, alcoholism, and astrology. Prove me wrong. Also on Tuesday is the controversial CBS Reports special, "The Homosexuals" (10:00 p.m.), with Mike Wallace investigating the key questions: "Is homosexuality a physical or mental illness? Is it a moral crime, or just another product of biological and/or psychological circumstance, such as eye color or a fear of heights?" Wallace would go on to regret the report, saying in 1992, "I should have known better." 
I don't know if there's a category for the longest title of a television episode, but if there is, I'd suggest one of the contenders has to be "The Reason Nobody Hardly Ever Seen a Fat Outlaw in the Old West Is as Follows:", Wednesday night's comic episode of Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (9:00 p.m., NBC), with Don Knotts as the Curley Kid, an outlaw so incompetent he not only can't get arrested, he can't even successfully break the law. Arthur Godfrey co-stars as Sheriff Tinsley, whom the Curley Kid presumably wants to arrest him.
Godfrey is also one of the guests on The Dean Martin Show (Thursday, 10:00 p.m., NBC), along with Sid Caesar, Peggy Lee, Joey Heatherton, and Bob Melvin; Dean's daughter Claudia also appears in a sketch. Acording to The Doan Report, Deano has now supplanted Bonanza as television's top-rated program, and with lineups like that, it's no wonder. That's on against ABC Stage 67, offering a program that both demonstrates the promise of the series and the reason why it wasn't a ratings success, especially against a show like Martin's. Hosted by Robert Young, it's a look a three poetic views of adolsecent romance, all performed by non-professional actors.
Finally, on Friday we've got a couple of choices: The Time Tunnell (8:00 p.m., ABC) takes Tony and Doug to 13th-century Mongolia for a meeting with Marco Polo. My question, and I'm just curious—did Tony and Doug ever run into anyone who wasn't famous, or a situation that was just ordinary? I can appreciate why dramatic necessity would render that idea absurd, but wouldn't it have been fun if they had popped up in the middle of Ozzie and Harriet or something, where the most important thing going on was whether or not Ricky got an after-school job? After that it's The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (8:30 p.m., NBC), in which Sonny and Cher make their TV acting debuts. It's a typical episode from the series' disasterous third season, and as the old saying goes, there are some things better left unsaid.
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MST3K alert: Gunslinger (Western; 1956) "After her husband is gunned down, Rose Hood takes his place temporarily as Marshal of a small Western town." Beverly Garland, John Ireland, Allison Hayes. (Wednesday, part of KGO's All Night Movie). Directed by Roger Corman, and shot in six days, it's one of the rare Westerns riffed on MST3K, and one of their better movies—not quite as ridiculous as you might think, and Corman actually does some interesting things directorially. Still, it''s where it belongs. TV  

Around the dial

Fridays have been my favorite night of the week since I was in grade school, so it makes sense that I'd identify with David's latest entry at Comfort TV, where his journey through 1970s TV lands on Friday nights, 1971 . We often talk about murderers-row lineups, and look at ABC's on Friday nights: The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, Room 222, The Odd Couple, and Love American Style.
At Realweegiemidget, Gill looks back at the Hallmark Hall of Fame's 1976 presentation of Peter Pan , with Mia Farrow in the role made famous by Mary Martin, Danny Kaye in the dual roles of Captain Hook and Mr. Darling that Cyril Ritchard played in the original TV version, and John Gielgud as the narrator. How does it compare to the original? See what you think.
There's a long tradition of children's stories in which a group of kids are entrusted by the plot to take down a gang of criminals, and so it makes sense to have an entire television series built around the concept of kids in the world of gangsters. At Cult TV Blog, John looks at this 1986 series, Running Scared , including a theme by Kate Bush.
I've always enjoyed film noir, as I think I've mentioned before, so how can I possibly resist this month's Movie Quote Game at Classic Film & TV Café, where Rick looks at famous film noir quotes . I mean, how can you not fall for a genre that includes lines like, ""I get the general idea. She was a tramp from a long line of tramps."
It's farewell to one of the legends this week, Ricou Browning , who died aged 93. He's best known as the Creature in the movies Creature from the Black Lagoon, Revenge of the Creature, and The Creature Walks Among Us, as well as co-creating Flipper. Martin Grams remembers the man, who was one of the celebrities at the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention. TV  

The Apollo 13 astronauts on The Tonight Show, 1970

Beginning with Apollo 11 in 1969, the U.S. manned space program scheduled seven missions to land men on the moon, ending in 1972. Six of them succeeded; the seventh was Apollo 13. 
It's ironic, I suppose, that Apollo 13 became the most famous of those seven moon mission other than Apollo 11 itself, because technically it was a failure. It didn't accomplish its mission of putting two of its astronauts, Jim Lovell and Fred Haise, on the moon's surface. However, it became a triumph in a different way: by putting together an emergency plan on the fly, a plan that required everything to go right, Apollo 13 became a triumph of human ingenuity and determination.

The Apollo 13 astronauts—Lovell, Haise, and Jack Swigert—received a hero's welcome when they returned; their dramatic flight had united the world in a way that few events have since. One of the honors they received—and, in the realm of American culture, it was an honor—was their appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson on June 3. The response from the audience, as well as from Johnny and Ed McMahon, indicates how much these three men had touched the hearts of Americans, and how the astronauts themselves had come to understand the significance of their mission—perhaps even more significant than had it been a "success."

This clip, and it is well-worth watching in its entirety, is interesting on so many levels. Aside from it being a time when Americans actually believed in heroes, it tells us much about its time. You notice that male hairstyles are getting longer, and sideburns bushier. Although the suits we see are still relatively conservative, Johnny's raspberry-colored shirt shows how color is becoming a more important part of men's fashion. (Note the cufflinks, a standard part of every well-dressed man's wardrobe back then.) And Johnny still does the live lead-in to Ed's live commericals; imagine hosts doing that today.
The astronauts are terrific, displaying a wry humor to go along with their military bearing (although Lovell was the only one of the three to be on active duty, all three had been in the service at one time or another). I wouldn't presume to know what was going on inside any of them, but outwardly they're completely at ease, comfortable chatting and joking with Carson, and it must have made it easier for Johnny in turn. Neither he nor Ed are phoning it in; both show a genuine interest in the mission and in what the astronauts were going through at the time. They've seen many celebrities come and go through that set, and these men are the real deal.
And speaking of that set: it's so modest, compared to Carson's later sets, just a desk, chair, and couch, along with a simple backdrop of different colors. It's a refreshing break from the ubiquitious nightime skyline that's become a part of every talk show since, and the couch is a reminder that these were conversation shows, with guests remaining after their time in the chair, engaging with the rest of the panel. It's adult television, and it's satisfying; Graham Norton seems to have taken this lesson to heart, and I wish more would do so. If it's interesting, you might even be able to justify spending 90 minutes on it. TV  

What's on TV? Thursday, March 4, 1965

Tonight Perry Como takes his Kraft Music Hall Americana road show to Boston for a live telecast from the new Boston War Memorial Auditorium, now known as the Hynes Convention Center . Once Perry stepped down from the weekly grind of hosting Music Hall, the show returned as a monthly series of specials, held in different parts of the country. Dating back to 1963, the show was staged live from cities including Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Dallas, New Orleans, Minneapolis, Chicago, and even Burbank. I know we don't have variety shows anymore, but it would be nice to see the country like this again; I think some of the late-night shows have gone on the road from time to time, usually to team up with some other event, like the Super Bowl, being carried on the network. Of course, Carson used to take The Tonight Show to California for a couple of weeks while he was still based in New York, but it would be nice to see some occasional on-location shows from American landmarks. I mentioned that this show was live, but because we're looking at the Northern California issue this week, it's being shown on tape-delay. These listings are certainly live, though!
  -2- KTVU (SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND) (IND.)

  Morning

      9:50

RELIGION TODAY—Protestant

    10:00

NEWS—Walt Harris

    10:30

JACK LA LANNE—Exercise

    11:00

ROMPER ROOM—Children

  Afternoon     12:00

JACK BENNY—Comedy

    12:25

NEWS

    12:30

TV HOUR OF STARS—Drama

“Heart of a Woman”

      1:30

I WANT TO KNOW—Venter

      2:00

MOVIE—Musical

“Small Town Girl” (1953)

      3:25

NEWS

      3:30

CAPTAIN SATELLITE

      4:30

MICKEY MOUSE CLUB

      5:00

LLOYD THAXTON—Variety

Guests: Vince Guaraldi, Bola Sete

  Evening

      6:00

TOPPER—Comedy

      6:30

WOODY WOODPECKER

      7:00

YOU ASKED FOR IT—Smith

      7:30

AMERICA!—Travel 

  COLOR        8:00

EXPEDITION!—Travel

      8:30

WORLD OF ADVENTURE

      9:00

YESTERDAY’S WORLD 

  COLOR        9:30

FLYING FISHERMAN 

  COLOR      10:00

NEWS—Helmso, Jacobs

    10:20

FEATURE REPORT—Mann

    10:30

BEST OF GROUCHO—Quiz

    11:00

MOVIE—Drama

“Carnival Story” (1954)

    12:55

STAR PERFORMANCE—Drama

 

 

  -3- KCRA (SACRAMENTO) (NBC)

  Morning       5:55

FARM NEWS

      6:00

RHYME AND REASON

      7:00

TODAY

Guest: Jake Ehrlich

      9:00

MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY—Comedy

      9:30

WHAT’S THIS SONG? 

  COLOR  Celebrities: Corbett Monica, Gisele MacKenzie

      9:55

NEWS

    10:00

CONCENTRATION

Bob Clayton subs for Hugh Downs

    10:30

JEOPARDY 

  COLOR      11:00

SAY WHEN! 

  COLOR      11:30

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES—Game 

  COLOR      11:55

NEWS

  Afternoon     12:00

NEWS

    12:30

LEAVE IT TO BEAVER—Comedy

      1:00

DOCTORS—Serial

      1:30

ANOTHER WORLD

      2:00

YOU DON’T SAY!—Game 

  COLOR  Celebrities: Jack Ging, Mona Freeman

      2:30

MOVIE—Drama   COLOR  “A Certain Smile” (1958)

      4:00

MOVIE—Comedy

“Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy” (1955)

      5:45

NEWS

  Evening       6:00

NEWS—Huntley, Brinkley

      6:30

NEWS

      7:00

MOVIE—Drama   COLOR  “Challenge to Lassie” (1949)

      8:30

DR. KILDARE—Drama

      9:30

HAZEL—Comedy 

  COLOR      10:00

PERRY COMO—Variety   SPECIAL  Guests: Lena Horne, Peter Nero

“Kraft Suspense Theatre” is pre-empted

    11:00

NEWS

    11:30

JOHNNY CARSON—Variety   COLOR  Guests include Joan Rivers

      1:00

NEWS

 

 

  -4- KRON (SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND) (NBC)

  Morning       5:55

FARM NEWS

      6:00

PROFILE—San Diego State

      6:30

OUR WORLD—Education

      7:00

TODAY

Guest: Jake Ehrlich

      9:00

MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY—Comedy

      9:30

WHAT’S THIS SONG? 

  COLOR  Celebrities: Corbett Monica, Gisele MacKenzie

      9:55

NEWS

    10:00

CONCENTRATION

Bob Clayton subs for Hugh Downs

    10:30

JEOPARDY 

  COLOR      11:00

SAY WHEN! 

  COLOR      11:30

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES—Game 

  COLOR      11:55

NEWS

  Afternoon     12:00

LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game 

  COLOR      12:25

NEWS

    12:30

MOMENT OF TRUTH—Serial

      1:00

DOCTORS—Serial

      1:30

ANOTHER WORLD

      2:00

YOU DON’T SAY!—Game 

  COLOR  Celebrities: Jack Ging, Mona Freeman

      2:30

MATCH GAME

Celebrities: Jayne Meadows, Bill Leyden. Moderator: Gene Rayburn

      2:55

NEWS

      3:00

LARAMIE—Western

      4:00

WHIRLYBIRDS—Adventure

      4:30

MAYOR ART—Children

      5:30

BACHELOR FATHER—Comedy

  Evening       6:00

NEWS—Huntley, Brinkley

      6:30

NEWS

      6:55

SPORTS

      7:00

DETECTIVES—Police

      7:30

DANIEL BOONE—Adventure

      8:30

DR. KILDARE—Drama

      9:30

NEWS SPECIAL

“Hazel” is pre-empted

    10:00

PERRY COMO—Variety   SPECIAL  Guests: Lena Horne, Peter Nero, Johnny Puleo, Wellesley College Choir

“Kraft Suspense Theatre” is pre-empted

    11:00

NEWS

    11:30

JOHNNY CARSON—Variety   COLOR  Guests include Joan Rivers

      1:00

MOVIE—Adventure

“Adventures of Captain Fabian” (1951)

      2:40

NEWS

 

 

  -5- KPIX (SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND) (CBS)

  Morning       5:55

SUNRISE SEMESTER

Tragic Dramas of Greece and Rome: “Antigone,” Part 2

      6:25

SOCIOLOGY—Lessons

“The Feel of Poverty”

      6:55

KPIX EDITORIAL

      7:00

JACK’S PLACE—Children

      8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO

      9:00

NEWS—Charles Kuralt

      9:30

I LOVE LUCY—Comedy

    10:00

ANDY GRIFFITH

    10:30

McCOYS—Comedy

    11:00

LOVE OF LIFE

    11:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial

    11:45

GUIDING LIGHT

  Afternoon     12:00

NEWS

    12:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial

      1:00

PASSWORD—Game

Guests: Audrey Meadows, Allan Sherman. Moderator: Allen Ludden

      1:30

HOUSE PARTY

Guest: Jim Murray

      2:00

TO TELL THE TRUTH—Panel

Panelists: Monique Van Vooren, Jan Murray, Peggy Cass, George Grizzard. Host: Bud Collyer

      2:25

NEWS

      2:30

EDGE OF NIGHT

      3:00

SECRET STORM

      3:30

MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety

Co-host: Eddie Arnold. Guests: Bonnie Prudden, Bill Hays, Aretha Franklin

      4:30

MOVIE—Drama 

  COLOR  “Black Orpheus” (French-Brazilian; 1958)

  Evening       6:00

NEWS

      6:30

NEWS—Walter Cronkite

      7:00

RIFLEMAN—Western

      7:30

MUNSTERS—Comedy

      8:00

PERRY MASON

      9:00

PASSWORD—Game

Celebrities: Carol Channing, Tony Randall. Host: Allen Ludden

      9:30

BAILEYS OF BALBOA

    10:00

DEFENDERS—Drama

    11:00

NEWS

    11:15

SPORTS—Frank Dill

    11:20

REGIS PHILBIN—Variety

Guest: Frank Leahy

    12:50

MOVIE—Melodrama 

  COLOR  “House of Frankenstein” (1944)

 

 

  -6- KVIE (SACRAMENTO) (EDUC.)

  Morning       9:10

CLASSROOM—Education

  Afternoon       5:30

HOP, SKIP AND DANCE

      5:45

FRIENDLY GIANT—Children

  Evening       6:00

WHAT’S NEW—Children

      6:30

STOCK MARKET REPORT

      6:35

MUSICAL PORTRAITS

      7:00

PROBLEMS OF EDUCATION 

  SPECIAL        7:30

VIEWS—Sacramento

      8:00

THE HOME—Discussion

      8:30

GREAT DECISIONS—1965

      9:00

OPEN END—David Susskind

“Parents’ Dilemma: Should I send My Child to a Private School?”

 

 

  -7- KGO (SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND) (ABC)

  Morning       6:00

CHANNEL FOR LEARNING

      6:30

DIXIE SINGIN’—Music

      7:00

MARSHAL ‘J’—Children

      8:00

BAT MASTERSON—Western

      8:30

COUNT MARCO—Women

      9:00

GIRL TALK—Panel

Panelists: Kaye Ballard, Lillian Briggs, Glenda Grainger. Virginia Graham

      9:30

MOVIE—Drama

“Affair in Trinidad” (1952)

    11:20

NEWS—Bob Dunn

    11:30

PRICE IS RIGHT

Guest: Wally Cox

  Afternoon     12:00

DONNA REED—Comedy

    12:30

FATHER KNOWS BEST

      1:30

ON THE SCENE—Dick Stewart

      2:00

FLAME IN THE WIND—Serial

      2:30

DAY IN COURT

      2:55

NEWS

      3:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL

      3:30

YOUNG MARRIEDS

      4:00

TRAILMASTER

      5:00

MOVIE—Melodrama

“Donovan’s Brain” (1954)

  Evening       6:30

LEAVE IT TO BEAVER—Comedy

      6:55

SPORTS

      7:00

NEWS

      7:15

NEWS—Peter Jennings

      7:30

JONNY QUEST—Cartoon 

  COLOR        8:00

DONNA REED—Comedy

      8:30

MY THREE SONS

      9:00

BEWITCHED

      9:30

PEYTON PLACE

    10:00

JIMMY DEAN—Variety

Guests: Louise O’Brien, Sonny James, the Village Stompers

    11:00

NEWS

    11:15

LES CRANE—Variety

Guests: Harry Belafonte, Miriam Makeba]=

      1:00

ALL-NIGHT MOVIE—Triple Feature

1. “Pickup Allen” (English; 1957)

2. “Escape from Red Rock” (1958)

3. The House on the Waterfront “French; 1955)

 

 

   7  KRCR (REDDING) (ABC, NBC)

  Morning       8:00

TODAY

Guest: Jake Ehrlich

      9:00

MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY—Comedy

      9:30

WHAT’S THIS SONG? 

  COLOR  Celebrities: Corbett Monica, Gisele MacKenzie

      9:55

NEWS

    10:00

CONCENTRATION

Bob Clayton subs for Hugh Downs

    10:30

JEOPARDY 

  COLOR      11:00

SAY WHEN! 

  COLOR      11:30

PRICE IS RIGHT

Guest: Wally Cox

  Afternoon     12:00

DONNA REED—Comedy

    12:30

FATHER KNOWS BEST

      1:30

ANOTHER WORLD

      2:00

FLAME IN THE WIND—Serial

      2:30

DAY IN COURT

      2:55

NEWS

      3:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL

      3:30

YOUNG MARRIEDS

      4:00

TRAILMASTER

      5:00

HOPPITY HOOPER—Cartoons

      5:30

WOODY WOODPECKER

  Evening       6:00

NEWS

      6:30

NEWS—Huntley, Brinkley

      7:00

MY THREE SONS—Comedy

      7:30

FLINTSTONES—Cartoon

      8:00

DR. KILDARE—Drama

      9:00

BEWITCHED

      9:30

HAZEL—Comedy 

  COLOR      10:00

PERRY COMO—Variety   SPECIAL  Guests: Lena Horne, Peter Nero

“Kraft Suspense Theatre” is pre-empted

    11:00

NEWS

    11:15

JOHNNY CARSON—Variety   COLOR  Guests include Joan Rivers

 

 

  -8- KSBW (SALINAS) (CBS, NBC)

  Morning       7:00

TODAY

Guest: Jake Ehrlich

      9:00

JACK LA LANNE—Exercise

      9:30

WHAT’S THIS SONG? 

  COLOR  Celebrities: Corbett Monica, Gisele MacKenzie

      9:55

NEWS

    10:00

CONCENTRATION

Bob Clayton subs for Hugh Downs

    10:30

JEOPARDY 

  COLOR      11:00

LOVE OF LIFE

    11:30

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES—Game 

  COLOR      11:55

NEWS

  Afternoon     12:00

LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game 

  COLOR      12:25

NEWS

    12:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial

      1:30

HOUSE PARTY

Guest: Jim Murray

      2:00

TO TELL THE TRUTH—Panel

Panelists: Monique Van Vooren, Jan Murray, Peggy Cass, George Grizzard. Host: Bud Collyer

      2:25

NEWS

      2:30

EDGE OF NIGHT

      3:00

SECRET STORM

      3:30

MOVIE—Drama

“The Eve of St. Mark” (1944)

      5:30

YOGI BEAR—Cartoons

  Evening       6:00

NEWS

      6:30

NEWS—Walter Cronkite

      7:00

DETECTIVES—Police

      7:30

MUNSTERS—Comedy

      8:00

PERRY MASON

      9:00

HAVE GUN—WILL TRAVEL

      9:30

MEN IN CRISIS—Documentary

    10:00

DEFENDERS—Drama

    11:00

NEWS

    11:15

JOHNNY CARSON—Variety   COLOR  Guests include Joan Rivers

 

 

  -9- KQED (SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND) (EDUC.)

  Morning       8:00

CLASSROOM—Education

  Afternoon       4:30

EN FRANCE—Language

      5:00

WHAT’S NEW—Children

      5:45

FRIENDLY GIANT

  Evening       6:00

WHAT’S NEW—Children

      6:30

WORLD OF MUSIC

      7:00

MARCH 4, 1933—Documentary 

  SPECIAL        8:30

FRENCH CHEF—Cooking

“French Tart—Apple Style”

      9:00

PROFILE: BAY AREA

    10:00

SPANISH-AMERICAN HOUR

 

 

  10 KXTV (SACRAMENTO) (CBS)

  Morning       6:20

FOCUS ON FARMING

      6:30

SUNRISE SEMESTER

Tragic Dramas of Greece and Rome: “Antigone,” Part 2

      7:00

DIVER DAN—Cartoons

      8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO

      9:00

NEWS—Charles Kuralt

      9:30

I LOVE LUCY—Comedy

    10:00

ANDY GRIFFITH

    10:30

McCOYS—Comedy

    11:00

LOVE OF LIFE

    11:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial

    11:45

GUIDING LIGHT

  Afternoon     12:00

NEWS

    12:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial

      1:30

HOUSE PARTY

Guest: Jim Murray

      2:00

TO TELL THE TRUTH—Panel

Panelists: Monique Van Vooren, Jan Murray, Peggy Cass, George Grizzard. Host: Bud Collyer

      2:25

NEWS

      2:30

EDGE OF NIGHT

      3:00

SECRET STORM

      3:30

DOBIE GILLIS—Comedy

      4:00

MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety

Guests: Bonnie Prudden, Dr. Frank G. Slaughter

      5:30

LLOYD THAXTON—Variety

Guest: King Solomon Burke

  Evening       6:30

NEWS—Walter Cronkite

      7:00

NEWS

      7:30

MUNSTERS—Comedy

      8:00

PERRY MASON

      9:00

PASSWORD—Game

Celebrities: Carol Channing, Tony Randall. Host: Allen Ludden       9:30

BAILEYS OF BALBOA

    10:00

DEFENDERS—Drama

    11:00

NEWS

    11:15

MOVIE—Drama

“The Love Makers” (Italian-French; 1962)

      1:00

ROLLER GAMES

 

 

  11 KNTV (SAN JOSE) (ABC)

  Morning       8:00

CONTINENTAL CLASSROOM

American Government: “The Myth of Tweedledee and Tweedledum”

      8:30

DIXIE SINGIN’—Music 

      9:00

HOCUS POCUS—Children

    10:00

GIRL TALK—Panel

Panelists: Mindy Carson, Meredith Anderson, Eve Corri

    10:30

ADVENTURES IN PARADISE

    11:30

PRICE IS RIGHT

Guest: Wally Cox

  Afternoon     12:00

DONNA REED—Comedy

    12:30

FATHER KNOWS BEST

      1:30

AFTERNOON—Jess and Lu

      2:00

FLAME IN THE WIND—Serial

      2:30

DAY IN COURT

      2:55

NEWS

      3:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL

      3:30

YOUNG MARRIEDS

      4:00

TRAILMASTER

      5:00

LEAVE IT TO BEAVER—Comedy

      5:30

RIFLEMAN—Western

  Evening       6:00

NEWS

      6:30

NAKED CITY—Police

      7:30

JONNY QUEST—Cartoon 

  COLOR        8:00

DONNA REED—Comedy

      8:30

MY THREE SONS

      9:00

BEWITCHED

      9:30

PEYTON PLACE

    10:00

JIMMY DEAN—Variety

Guests: Louise O'Brien, Sonny James, the Village Stompers

    11:00

NEWS

    11:30

MOVIE—Western

“A Swirl of Glory” (1950)

 

 

  12 KHSL (CHICO) (CBS)

  Morning       7:45

FOUNDATION FOR LIVING

      8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO

      9:00

NEWS—Charles Kuralt

      9:30

I LOVE LUCY—Comedy

    10:00

ANDY GRIFFITH

    10:30

McCOYS—Comedy

    11:00

LOVE OF LIFE

    11:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial

    11:45

GUIDING LIGHT

  Afternoon     12:00

OUR MISS BROOKS—Comedy

    12:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial

      1:30

HOUSE PARTY

Guest: Jim Murray

      2:00

TO TELL THE TRUTH—Panel

Panelists: Monique Van Vooren, Jan Murray, Peggy Cass, George Grizzard. Host: Bud Collyer

      2:25

NEWS

      2:30

EDGE OF NIGHT

      3:00

SECRET STORM

      3:30

JACK BENNY—Comedy

      4:00

MOVIE—Double Feature

1. “The Story of Dr. Wassell” (1944), conclusion

2. “To Each His Own” (1946), Part 1

      5:30

HAVE GUN—WILL TRAVEL

  Evening       6:00

NEWS

      6:30

NEWS—Walter Cronkite

      7:00

M SQUAD—Police

      7:30

MUNSTERS—Comedy

      8:00

PERRY MASON

      9:00

PASSWORD—Game

Celebrities: Carol Channing, Tony Randall. Host: Allen Ludden

      9:30

BAILEYS OF BALBOA

    10:00

DEFENDERS—Drama

    11:00

NEWS

    11:10

SKI SCENE—Warren Miller

    11:25

MOVIE—Western

“Lust for Gold” (1949)

 

 

  13 KOVR (SAC) (ABC)

  Morning       6:50

NEWS

      6:55

RANCH AND GARDEN WORLD

      7:00

CARTOONLAND—Children

      7:30

ANNIE OAKLEY—Western

      8:00

CARTOONLAND—Children

      8:15

KING AND ODIE—Cartoons

      8:30

MOVIE—Drama

“Armored Attack” (1943)

    10:00

FATHER KNOWS BEST—Comedy

    10:30

DONNA REED—Comedy

    11:00

ERNIE FORD—Variety

Guest: Jack Smith

    11:30

PRICE IS RIGHT

Guest: Wally Cox

  Afternoon

    12:00

NEWS

    12:20

HELEN BALE—Interviews

    12:30

MOVIE—Drama

“He Ran All the Way” (1951)

      2:00

FLAME IN THE WIND—Serial

      2:30

DAY IN COURT

      2:55

NEWS

      3:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL

      3:30

YOUNG MARRIEDS

      4:00

TRAILMASTER

      5:00

MICKEY MOUSE CLUB

      5:30

CAP’N DELTA—Children

  Evening       6:00

WOODY WOODPECKER

      6:30

WELLS FARGO—Western

      7:00

HAVE GUN—WILL TRAVEL

      7:30

JONNY QUEST—Cartoon

      8:00

DONNA REED—Comedy

      8:30

MY THREE SONS

      9:00

BEWITCHED

      9:30

PEYTON PLACE

    10:00

JIMMY DEAN—Variety

Guests: Louise O'Brien, Sonny James, the Village Stompers

    11:00

NEWS

    11:30

LES CRANE—Variety

Guests: Harry Belafonte, Miriam Makeba

      1:00

NEWS

TV  

What's on TV? Thursday, March 9, 1965

Tonight Perry Como takes his Kraft Music Hall Americana road show to Boston for a live telecast from the new Boston War Memorial Auditorium, now known as the Hynes Convention Center . Once Perry stepped down from the weekly grind of hosting Music Hall, the show returned as a monthly series of specials, held in different parts of the country. Dating back to 1963, the show was staged live from cities including Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Dallas, New Orleans, Minneapolis, Chicago, and even Burbank. I know we don't have variety shows anymore, but it would be nice to see the country like this again; I think some of the late-night shows have gone on the road from time to time, usually to team up with some other event, like the Super Bowl, being carried on the network. Of course, Carson used to take The Tonight Show to California for a couple of weeks while he was still based in New York, but it would be nice to see some occasional on-location shows from American landmarks. I mentioned that this show was live, but because we're looking at the Northern California issue this week, it's being shown on tape-delay. These listings are certainly live, though!
  -2- KTVU (SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND) (IND.)

  Morning

      9:50

RELIGION TODAY—Protestant

    10:00

NEWS—Walt Harris

    10:30

JACK LA LANNE—Exercise

    11:00

ROMPER ROOM—Children

  Afternoon     12:00

JACK BENNY—Comedy

    12:25

NEWS

    12:30

TV HOUR OF STARS—Drama

“Heart of a Woman”

      1:30

I WANT TO KNOW—Venter

      2:00

MOVIE—Musical

“Small Town Girl” (1953)

      3:25

NEWS

      3:30

CAPTAIN SATELLITE

      4:30

MICKEY MOUSE CLUB

      5:00

LLOYD THAXTON—Variety

Guests: Vince Guaraldi, Bola Sete

  Evening

      6:00

TOPPER—Comedy

      6:30

WOODY WOODPECKER

      7:00

YOU ASKED FOR IT—Smith

      7:30

AMERICA!—Travel 

  COLOR        8:00

EXPEDITION!—Travel

      8:30

WORLD OF ADVENTURE

      9:00

YESTERDAY’S WORLD 

  COLOR        9:30

FLYING FISHERMAN 

  COLOR      10:00

NEWS—Helmso, Jacobs

    10:20

FEATURE REPORT—Mann

    10:30

BEST OF GROUCHO—Quiz

    11:00

MOVIE—Drama

“Carnival Story” (1954)

    12:55

STAR PERFORMANCE—Drama

 

 

  -3- KCRA (SACRAMENTO) (NBC)

  Morning       5:55

FARM NEWS

      6:00

RHYME AND REASON

      7:00

TODAY

Guest: Jake Ehrlich

      9:00

MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY—Comedy

      9:30

WHAT’S THIS SONG? 

  COLOR  Celebrities: Corbett Monica, Gisele MacKenzie

      9:55

NEWS

    10:00

CONCENTRATION

Bob Clayton subs for Hugh Downs

    10:30

JEOPARDY 

  COLOR      11:00

SAY WHEN! 

  COLOR      11:30

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES—Game 

  COLOR      11:55

NEWS

  Afternoon     12:00

NEWS

    12:30

LEAVE IT TO BEAVER—Comedy

      1:00

DOCTORS—Serial

      1:30

ANOTHER WORLD

      2:00

YOU DON’T SAY!—Game 

  COLOR  Celebrities: Jack Ging, Mona Freeman

      2:30

MOVIE—Drama   COLOR  “A Certain Smile” (1958)

      4:00

MOVIE—Comedy

“Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy” (1955)

      5:45

NEWS

  Evening       6:00

NEWS—Huntley, Brinkley

      6:30

NEWS

      7:00

MOVIE—Drama   COLOR  “Challenge to Lassie” (1949)

      8:30

DR. KILDARE—Drama

      9:30

HAZEL—Comedy 

  COLOR      10:00

PERRY COMO—Variety   SPECIAL  Guests: Lena Horne, Peter Nero

“Kraft Suspense Theatre” is pre-empted

    11:00

NEWS

    11:30

JOHNNY CARSON—Variety   COLOR  Guests include Joan Rivers

      1:00

NEWS

 

 

  -4- KRON (SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND) (NBC)

  Morning       5:55

FARM NEWS

      6:00

PROFILE—San Diego State

      6:30

OUR WORLD—Education

      7:00

TODAY

Guest: Jake Ehrlich

      9:00

MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY—Comedy

      9:30

WHAT’S THIS SONG? 

  COLOR  Celebrities: Corbett Monica, Gisele MacKenzie

      9:55

NEWS

    10:00

CONCENTRATION

Bob Clayton subs for Hugh Downs

    10:30

JEOPARDY 

  COLOR      11:00

SAY WHEN! 

  COLOR      11:30

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES—Game 

  COLOR      11:55

NEWS

  Afternoon     12:00

LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game 

  COLOR      12:25

NEWS

    12:30

MOMENT OF TRUTH—Serial

      1:00

DOCTORS—Serial

      1:30

ANOTHER WORLD

      2:00

YOU DON’T SAY!—Game 

  COLOR  Celebrities: Jack Ging, Mona Freeman

      2:30

MATCH GAME

Celebrities: Jayne Meadows, Bill Leyden. Moderator: Gene Rayburn

      2:55

NEWS

      3:00

LARAMIE—Western

      4:00

WHIRLYBIRDS—Adventure

      4:30

MAYOR ART—Children

      5:30

BACHELOR FATHER—Comedy

  Evening       6:00

NEWS—Huntley, Brinkley

      6:30

NEWS

      6:55

SPORTS

      7:00

DETECTIVES—Police

      7:30

DANIEL BOONE—Adventure

      8:30

DR. KILDARE—Drama

      9:30

NEWS SPECIAL

“Hazel” is pre-empted

    10:00

PERRY COMO—Variety   SPECIAL  Guests: Lena Horne, Peter Nero, Johnny Puleo, Wellesley College Choir

“Kraft Suspense Theatre” is pre-empted

    11:00

NEWS

    11:30

JOHNNY CARSON—Variety   COLOR  Guests include Joan Rivers

      1:00

MOVIE—Adventure

“Adventures of Captain Fabian” (1951)

      2:40

NEWS

 

 

  -5- KPIX (SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND) (CBS)

  Morning       5:55

SUNRISE SEMESTER

Tragic Dramas of Greece and Rome: “Antigone,” Part 2

      6:25

SOCIOLOGY—Lessons

“The Feel of Poverty”

      6:55

KPIX EDITORIAL

      7:00

JACK’S PLACE—Children

      8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO

      9:00

NEWS—Charles Kuralt

      9:30

I LOVE LUCY—Comedy

    10:00

ANDY GRIFFITH

    10:30

McCOYS—Comedy

    11:00

LOVE OF LIFE

    11:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial

    11:45

GUIDING LIGHT

  Afternoon     12:00

NEWS

    12:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial

      1:00

PASSWORD—Game

Guests: Audrey Meadows, Allan Sherman. Moderator: Allen Ludden

      1:30

HOUSE PARTY

Guest: Jim Murray

      2:00

TO TELL THE TRUTH—Panel

Panelists: Monique Van Vooren, Jan Murray, Peggy Cass, George Grizzard. Host: Bud Collyer

      2:25

NEWS

      2:30

EDGE OF NIGHT

      3:00

SECRET STORM

      3:30

MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety

Co-host: Eddie Arnold. Guests: Bonnie Prudden, Bill Hays, Aretha Franklin

      4:30

MOVIE—Drama 

  COLOR  “Black Orpheus” (French-Brazilian; 1958)

  Evening       6:00

NEWS

      6:30

NEWS—Walter Cronkite

      7:00

RIFLEMAN—Western

      7:30

MUNSTERS—Comedy

      8:00

PERRY MASON

      9:00

PASSWORD—Game

Celebrities: Carol Channing, Tony Randall. Host: Allen Ludden

      9:30

BAILEYS OF BALBOA

    10:00

DEFENDERS—Drama

    11:00

NEWS

    11:15

SPORTS—Frank Dill

    11:20

REGIS PHILBIN—Variety

Guest: Frank Leahy

    12:50

MOVIE—Melodrama 

  COLOR  “House of Frankenstein” (1944)

 

 

  -6- KVIE (SACRAMENTO) (EDUC.)

  Morning       9:10

CLASSROOM—Education

  Afternoon       5:30

HOP, SKIP AND DANCE

      5:45

FRIENDLY GIANT—Children

  Evening       6:00

WHAT’S NEW—Children

      6:30

STOCK MARKET REPORT

      6:35

MUSICAL PORTRAITS

      7:00

PROBLEMS OF EDUCATION 

  SPECIAL        7:30

VIEWS—Sacramento

      8:00

THE HOME—Discussion

      8:30

GREAT DECISIONS—1965

      9:00

OPEN END—David Susskind

“Parents’ Dilemma: Should I send My Child to a Private School?”

 

 

  -7- KGO (SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND) (ABC)

  Morning       6:00

CHANNEL FOR LEARNING

      6:30

DIXIE SINGIN’—Music

      7:00

MARSHAL ‘J’—Children

      8:00

BAT MASTERSON—Western

      8:30

COUNT MARCO—Women

      9:00

GIRL TALK—Panel

Panelists: Kaye Ballard, Lillian Briggs, Glenda Grainger. Virginia Graham

      9:30

MOVIE—Drama

“Affair in Trinidad” (1952)

    11:20

NEWS—Bob Dunn

    11:30

PRICE IS RIGHT

Guest: Wally Cox

  Afternoon     12:00

DONNA REED—Comedy

    12:30

FATHER KNOWS BEST

      1:30

ON THE SCENE—Dick Stewart

      2:00

FLAME IN THE WIND—Serial

      2:30

DAY IN COURT

      2:55

NEWS

      3:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL

      3:30

YOUNG MARRIEDS

      4:00

TRAILMASTER

      5:00

MOVIE—Melodrama

“Donovan’s Brain” (1954)

  Evening       6:30

LEAVE IT TO BEAVER—Comedy

      6:55

SPORTS

      7:00

NEWS

      7:15

NEWS—Peter Jennings

      7:30

JONNY QUEST—Cartoon 

  COLOR        8:00

DONNA REED—Comedy

      8:30

MY THREE SONS

      9:00

BEWITCHED

      9:30

PEYTON PLACE

    10:00

JIMMY DEAN—Variety

Guests: Louise O’Brien, Sonny James, the Village Stompers

    11:00

NEWS

    11:15

LES CRANE—Variety

Guests: Harry Belafonte, Miriam Makeba]=

      1:00

ALL-NIGHT MOVIE—Triple Feature

1. “Pickup Allen” (English; 1957)

2. “Escape from Red Rock” (1958)

3. The House on the Waterfront “French; 1955)

 

 

   7  KRCR (REDDING) (ABC, NBC)

  Morning       8:00

TODAY

Guest: Jake Ehrlich

      9:00

MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY—Comedy

      9:30

WHAT’S THIS SONG? 

  COLOR  Celebrities: Corbett Monica, Gisele MacKenzie

      9:55

NEWS

    10:00

CONCENTRATION

Bob Clayton subs for Hugh Downs

    10:30

JEOPARDY 

  COLOR      11:00

SAY WHEN! 

  COLOR      11:30

PRICE IS RIGHT

Guest: Wally Cox

  Afternoon     12:00

DONNA REED—Comedy

    12:30

FATHER KNOWS BEST

      1:30

ANOTHER WORLD

      2:00

FLAME IN THE WIND—Serial

      2:30

DAY IN COURT

      2:55

NEWS

      3:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL

      3:30

YOUNG MARRIEDS

      4:00

TRAILMASTER

      5:00

HOPPITY HOOPER—Cartoons

      5:30

WOODY WOODPECKER

  Evening       6:00

NEWS

      6:30

NEWS—Huntley, Brinkley

      7:00

MY THREE SONS—Comedy

      7:30

FLINTSTONES—Cartoon

      8:00

DR. KILDARE—Drama

      9:00

BEWITCHED

      9:30

HAZEL—Comedy 

  COLOR      10:00

PERRY COMO—Variety   SPECIAL  Guests: Lena Horne, Peter Nero

“Kraft Suspense Theatre” is pre-empted

    11:00

NEWS

    11:15

JOHNNY CARSON—Variety   COLOR  Guests include Joan Rivers

 

 

  -8- KSBW (SALINAS) (CBS, NBC)

  Morning       7:00

TODAY

Guest: Jake Ehrlich

      9:00

JACK LA LANNE—Exercise

      9:30

WHAT’S THIS SONG? 

  COLOR  Celebrities: Corbett Monica, Gisele MacKenzie

      9:55

NEWS

    10:00

CONCENTRATION

Bob Clayton subs for Hugh Downs

    10:30

JEOPARDY 

  COLOR      11:00

LOVE OF LIFE

    11:30

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES—Game 

  COLOR      11:55

NEWS

  Afternoon     12:00

LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game 

  COLOR      12:25

NEWS

    12:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial

      1:30

HOUSE PARTY

Guest: Jim Murray

      2:00

TO TELL THE TRUTH—Panel

Panelists: Monique Van Vooren, Jan Murray, Peggy Cass, George Grizzard. Host: Bud Collyer

      2:25

NEWS

      2:30

EDGE OF NIGHT

      3:00

SECRET STORM

      3:30

MOVIE—Drama

“The Eve of St. Mark” (1944)

      5:30

YOGI BEAR—Cartoons

  Evening       6:00

NEWS

      6:30

NEWS—Walter Cronkite

      7:00

DETECTIVES—Police

      7:30

MUNSTERS—Comedy

      8:00

PERRY MASON

      9:00

HAVE GUN—WILL TRAVEL

      9:30

MEN IN CRISIS—Documentary

    10:00

DEFENDERS—Drama

    11:00

NEWS

    11:15

JOHNNY CARSON—Variety   COLOR  Guests include Joan Rivers

 

 

  -9- KQED (SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND) (EDUC.)

  Morning       8:00

CLASSROOM—Education

  Afternoon       4:30

EN FRANCE—Language

      5:00

WHAT’S NEW—Children

      5:45

FRIENDLY GIANT

  Evening       6:00

WHAT’S NEW—Children

      6:30

WORLD OF MUSIC

      7:00

MARCH 4, 1933—Documentary 

  SPECIAL        8:30

FRENCH CHEF—Cooking

“French Tart—Apple Style”

      9:00

PROFILE: BAY AREA

    10:00

SPANISH-AMERICAN HOUR

 

 

  10 KXTV (SACRAMENTO) (CBS)

  Morning       6:20

FOCUS ON FARMING

      6:30

SUNRISE SEMESTER

Tragic Dramas of Greece and Rome: “Antigone,” Part 2

      7:00

DIVER DAN—Cartoons

      8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO

      9:00

NEWS—Charles Kuralt

      9:30

I LOVE LUCY—Comedy

    10:00

ANDY GRIFFITH

    10:30

McCOYS—Comedy

    11:00

LOVE OF LIFE

    11:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial

    11:45

GUIDING LIGHT

  Afternoon     12:00

NEWS

    12:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial

      1:30

HOUSE PARTY

Guest: Jim Murray

      2:00

TO TELL THE TRUTH—Panel

Panelists: Monique Van Vooren, Jan Murray, Peggy Cass, George Grizzard. Host: Bud Collyer

      2:25

NEWS

      2:30

EDGE OF NIGHT

      3:00

SECRET STORM

      3:30

DOBIE GILLIS—Comedy

      4:00

MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety

Guests: Bonnie Prudden, Dr. Frank G. Slaughter

      5:30

LLOYD THAXTON—Variety

Guest: King Solomon Burke

  Evening       6:30

NEWS—Walter Cronkite

      7:00

NEWS

      7:30

MUNSTERS—Comedy

      8:00

PERRY MASON

      9:00

PASSWORD—Game

Celebrities: Carol Channing, Tony Randall. Host: Allen Ludden       9:30

BAILEYS OF BALBOA

    10:00

DEFENDERS—Drama

    11:00

NEWS

    11:15

MOVIE—Drama

“The Love Makers” (Italian-French; 1962)

      1:00

ROLLER GAMES

 

 

  11 KNTV (SAN JOSE) (ABC)

  Morning       8:00

CONTINENTAL CLASSROOM

American Government: “The Myth of Tweedledee and Tweedledum”

      8:30

DIXIE SINGIN’—Music 

      9:00

HOCUS POCUS—Children

    10:00

GIRL TALK—Panel

Panelists: Mindy Carson, Meredith Anderson, Eve Corri

    10:30

ADVENTURES IN PARADISE

    11:30

PRICE IS RIGHT

Guest: Wally Cox

  Afternoon     12:00

DONNA REED—Comedy

    12:30

FATHER KNOWS BEST

      1:30

AFTERNOON—Jess and Lu

      2:00

FLAME IN THE WIND—Serial

      2:30

DAY IN COURT

      2:55

NEWS

      3:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL

      3:30

YOUNG MARRIEDS

      4:00

TRAILMASTER

      5:00

LEAVE IT TO BEAVER—Comedy

      5:30

RIFLEMAN—Western

  Evening       6:00

NEWS

      6:30

NAKED CITY—Police

      7:30

JONNY QUEST—Cartoon 

  COLOR        8:00

DONNA REED—Comedy

      8:30

MY THREE SONS

      9:00

BEWITCHED

      9:30

PEYTON PLACE

    10:00

JIMMY DEAN—Variety

Guests: Louise O'Brien, Sonny James, the Village Stompers

    11:00

NEWS

    11:30

MOVIE—Western

“A Swirl of Glory” (1950)

 

 

  12 KHSL (CHICO) (CBS)

  Morning       7:45

FOUNDATION FOR LIVING

      8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO

      9:00

NEWS—Charles Kuralt

      9:30

I LOVE LUCY—Comedy

    10:00

ANDY GRIFFITH

    10:30

McCOYS—Comedy

    11:00

LOVE OF LIFE

    11:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial

    11:45

GUIDING LIGHT

  Afternoon     12:00

OUR MISS BROOKS—Comedy

    12:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial

      1:30

HOUSE PARTY

Guest: Jim Murray

      2:00

TO TELL THE TRUTH—Panel

Panelists: Monique Van Vooren, Jan Murray, Peggy Cass, George Grizzard. Host: Bud Collyer

      2:25

NEWS

      2:30

EDGE OF NIGHT

      3:00

SECRET STORM

      3:30

JACK BENNY—Comedy

      4:00

MOVIE—Double Feature

1. “The Story of Dr. Wassell” (1944), conclusion

2. “To Each His Own” (1946), Part 1

      5:30

HAVE GUN—WILL TRAVEL

  Evening       6:00

NEWS

      6:30

NEWS—Walter Cronkite

      7:00

M SQUAD—Police

      7:30

MUNSTERS—Comedy

      8:00

PERRY MASON

      9:00

PASSWORD—Game

Celebrities: Carol Channing, Tony Randall. Host: Allen Ludden

      9:30

BAILEYS OF BALBOA

    10:00

DEFENDERS—Drama

    11:00

NEWS

    11:10

SKI SCENE—Warren Miller

    11:25

MOVIE—Western

“Lust for Gold” (1949)

 

 

  13 KOVR (SAC) (ABC)

  Morning       6:50

NEWS

      6:55

RANCH AND GARDEN WORLD

      7:00

CARTOONLAND—Children

      7:30

ANNIE OAKLEY—Western

      8:00

CARTOONLAND—Children

      8:15

KING AND ODIE—Cartoons

      8:30

MOVIE—Drama

“Armored Attack” (1943)

    10:00

FATHER KNOWS BEST—Comedy

    10:30

DONNA REED—Comedy

    11:00

ERNIE FORD—Variety

Guest: Jack Smith

    11:30

PRICE IS RIGHT

Guest: Wally Cox

  Afternoon

    12:00

NEWS

    12:20

HELEN BALE—Interviews

    12:30

MOVIE—Drama

“He Ran All the Way” (1951)

      2:00

FLAME IN THE WIND—Serial

      2:30

DAY IN COURT

      2:55

NEWS

      3:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL

      3:30

YOUNG MARRIEDS

      4:00

TRAILMASTER

      5:00

MICKEY MOUSE CLUB

      5:30

CAP’N DELTA—Children

  Evening       6:00

WOODY WOODPECKER

      6:30

WELLS FARGO—Western

      7:00

HAVE GUN—WILL TRAVEL

      7:30

JONNY QUEST—Cartoon

      8:00

DONNA REED—Comedy

      8:30

MY THREE SONS

      9:00

BEWITCHED

      9:30

PEYTON PLACE

    10:00

JIMMY DEAN—Variety

Guests: Louise O'Brien, Sonny James, the Village Stompers

    11:00

NEWS

    11:30

LES CRANE—Variety

Guests: Harry Belafonte, Miriam Makeba

      1:00

NEWS

TV  

This week in TV Guide: February 27, 1965

Imagine, if you will, a popular television show with a mystery at the core of its plot. This mystery has become central to its core of loyal fans, who can't keep from speculating on the show's outcome. Theories and countertheories are proposed, viewers reach out to the producers with suggestions, and even the show's stars are confronted in public by those demanding to know what's going on behind the scenes. There's even a theory, labeled "wild speculation" by some, that the producers already know how the show will end, that the final episode has already been written, and that some people have even seen it via bootleg videos, and this theory has gained such a following that it's become the subject of a national magazine, with denials being issued that only fuel the speculation. It's nice to have such devoted fans, but still . . .
The Sopranos. Mad Men. Breaking Bad. Game of Thrones. Yes, of course, to all of them. But remember, this is 1965, and the series in question is The Fugitive.
It's a little hard to say how or where this rumor started, but as Henry Harding's "For the Record" feature recounts, this rumor, "running rampant around the country," which

has been detailed in hundreds of letters to TV GUDE and Fugitive producer Quinn Martin, says that the final episode of the series has been shot, has already been shown on some stations, and that the one- armed man did not kill Dr. Kimble’s wife after all. In the episode, the one-armed man purportedly tells Dr. Kimble that he saw Lieutenant Gerard do it—during what appeared to be a lovers’ quarrel. They haven’t actually seen this episode, the letter-writers say, but they know people who know people who have.

As if to prove the accuracy of this observation, the week's letters to the editor section includes a letter from Mrs. Janice F. Angevine of Shreveport, Louisiana, who says that this "wild rumor" is "running rampant over the city of Shreveport and environs." "It says The Fugitive’s last chapter has been written and actually shown in some cities and that policeman Gerard is the real killer of Kimble’s wife. Kimble, in the last episode, finally finds the one-armed man who tells a horrendous tale of a love affair between Lt. Gerard and Mrs. Kimble, and reveals that Gerard killed her."
Harding quickly dismisses the rumor; with The Fugitive currently ninth in the Nielsens, "Dr. Kimble may still be running long after the rest of us have stopped." Producer Quinn Martin hasn't given any thought to a conclusion (in fact, he was against the idea of bringing the mystery to a close, fearing that it would damage the show's prospects in syndication), but doesn't mind the attention. "People ask me, 'Isn’t it awful about all these rumors?' I say, 'what’s awful about it?' " Martin speculates that The Fugitive may have tapped into a universal theme, probably the fear of being accused of something you didn't do, and adds, "It’s marvelous that people care so much about the show."
(L-R) Morse, Janssen, RaischLooking back at this from the perspective of nearly sixty years, I'm struck by a couple of things, one having to do with storytelling in general, the specifically with The Fugitive. As far as speculation about popular television programs, what we've seen in the social media era is nothing new; in fact, social media itself is nothing new, if one wants to look not only at TV Guide, but all the other publications of the time. People read, write letters, exchange gossip over the backyard fence, and pretty soon the rumor mill is operating at full power. The internet simply allows it to happen more quickly and involving more people.
As far as The Fugitive itself, this shows how quickly the series gained traction with viewers. It's only been on for a year and-a-half, since September 1963. Fred Johnson, the one-armed man (played by Bill Raisch) had only appeared in three episodes to this point, and one of those was a flashback; that people are, even then, speculating on a showdown between Kimble and Johnson is, although inevitable, quite interesting. Most intriguing of all is this idea that some parts of the country have already seen the final episode, although it's always been the friend of a friend of a friend who saw it. Something like this would have been a fairly significant story—when the final episode did air, it drew a record audience—so the thought that it could have been "sneaked" onto only a few stations is absurd. And yet, it shows that being media savvy wasn't the norm back then; people weren't conditioned to think that way. You and I may know that a network would use the suspense of a final episode to whip up a tremendous amount of publicity prior to its airing (just look at "Who Killed J.R.?), but I don't think people stopped to think about that in 1965; other than a "very special" marriage episode of a series, storytelling didn't work that way.
In any event, it's fun to read a contemporary account of this. The Fugitive was less than halfway through its four-season run, and Gerard would always remain a favorite suspect in the minds of viewers (people wanted him to be the bad guy); one version was that the series would end with Gerard unscrewing a fake arm, and David Janssen and Barry Morse used to joke that it would end with the two of them going off together into the sunset. While that final episode isn't the best of The Fugitive, it gave viewers what they wanted: a conclusion. It also gave ABC what it wanted: ratings.
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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 presents a show from Florida’s Miami Beach Auditorium. Scheduled guests are comedians Alan King and Bill Dana; the singing Barry Sisters; dancer Juliet Prowse; singer Wayne Newton; the singing Hialeah Jockey Octet; the Hurricanes, the University of Miami’s Glee Club; the Sensational Leighs, aerial act; and the Cypress Gardens Water Skiers.
Palace: Co-hosts Roy Rogers and Dale Evans (accompanied by Trigger and the Sons of the Pioneers) introduce comedian Shelley Berman; rock ‘n’ rollers Jan and Dean; the Ballet Folklorico of Mexico; the Nicholas Brothers, singing dancers; the Murias, Japanese jugglers; and the Flying Armors’ trapeze act. 
I think this is one of those weeks where when it comes to picking the winner, your mileage may vary. I look at Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and see a couple of legends; I look at Shelley Berman and see one of the best satirists of the time; I look at the Nicholas Brothers and see two of the most dynamic singer-dancers ever captured on film . That doesn't mean Sullivan doesn't have a good lineup this week; in fact, I think it's a bit deeper. But you can already tell which way I'm going, can't you? The Palace rides off with the prize.
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While looking at the Hollywood Palace lineup, I was drawn to a program on KQED, the educational station in the Bay Area: Freberg Revisited . . . Again (Saturday, 9:00 p.m. PT) Professor Edwin Burr Pettet of Brandeis University visits (for the third time) Stan Freberg, who discusses "his philosophy about the commercial aspects of show business." Pettet was a noted expert on comedy and drama in the theater, and it would have been a natural for him to be talking with Freberg, who applied comedy to the art of advertising in a way that was revolutionary, or at least highly successful. Freberg's satiric radio series was very funny, as were his television appearances, and yet I think we most remember him for commercials like this one for Jeno's Pizza Rolls , perhaps one of the greatest of all time. Imagine what he could have done with the Super Bowl commercials.
Here's another interesting show: Profiles in Courage (Sunday, 6:30 p.m., NBC), which, of course, is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by then-Senator John F. Kennedy. The original profiles in Profiles were too few to fill up a television series (there were only eight, and they were all Senators), so prior to his assassination JFK authorized the inclusion of additional subjects. Tonight's subject is one of those additional biographies: Andrew Johnson, future President of the United States, but at present a senator from Tennessee, staking his prestige and his future on a fight to keep his state from seceding and joining the Confederacy. Walter Matthau stars as Johnson, in yet another reminder of what a fine dramatic actor he was, and how interesting his career might have been had he continued in that vein.
Had Kennedy lived, one of the added profiles might well have been of John Glenn, the most heroic of the astronauts whom Kennedy so admired. Glenn is with Walter Cronkite on the CBS Special Report "T-Minus 4 Years, 9 Months and 30 Days" (Monday, 10:00 p.m.), an investigation on the progress of the American manned space program, and whether or not the United States is still on track to land a man on the moon by 1970. The report, taped earlier this afternoon, includes a test of the Saturn V booster supervised by Dr. Werhner von Braun in Huntsville, Alabama. I like that, and I also like tonight's episode of I've Got a Secret (8:00 p.m., CBS), in which Buddy Hackett subs for panelist Bill Cullen, and Lorraine Bloy, a stewardess chosen from the audience last week, sits in for vacationing Bess Myerson. 
I know that space is limited in TV Guide listings, and sometimes you have to take shortcuts to describe the plot of an episode, but here's one for The McCoys (Tuesday, 10:30 a.m., CBS) that I would have redone: "Kate thinks Luke doesn't love her—he's not as affectionate as her neighbor's husband." I'm sure they're not suggesting that her neighbor's husband is more affectionate to Kate than Luke, right? Better to ignore that and check out The Bell Telephone Hour (10:00 p.m., NBC), as host Robert Goulet is joined by Eydie Gorme, Mildred Miller, Barbara Cook and Susan Watson to tell "The History of the American Girl." Sounds to me like something you'd see on one of NET's sociology programs. 
Fellow Rat-Packers Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford appear as themselves on The Patty Duke Show (Wednesday, 8:00 p.m., ABC), as Patty is tasked with finding a big-name star for the high-school prom. They didn't have that problem in the World's Worst Town™, the big name would have been whoever could come up with the keg for the after-prom party. And speaking of big-name guest stars, they're always available at Burke's Law (9:30 p.m., ABC); this week's lineup includes Joan Bennett, Edd Byrnes, Arlene Dahl, Paul Lynde, and Bert Parks.
One of ABC's standbys is The Donna Reed Show (Thursday, 8:00 p.m.), coming up to the end of its seventh season, and while the focus is on Donna and her family, one of the featured characters is 36-year-old Bob Crane, who plays Dr. David Kelsey, next-door neighbor and colleague of Donna's husband, Alex. Marian Dern profiles Crane this week, looking at the life and motivation of one of the busiest men around, described as a combination of Jack Lemmon, Bob Cummings, and Jack Benny. Not only is Crane a regular on the Reed show, he's also one of the most popular DJs in West Coast radio, host of the morning show on KNX, the CBS flagship in Hollywood—a job that nets him a cool $75,000 a year. It's said that this is the best way to understand Crane and his frantic mix of "records, interviews (frequently testy), news items, commercials, kidding, claptrap and corn," and isn't afraid to have fun during the show's commercials, such as one for an airline during which he plays the sound of a motor sputtering and dying in the background. Advertisers seldom complain, and why should they? "They get three minutes for every one they pay for." He's leaving the Reed show next fall; Dern portrays Crane's relationship with Tony Owen, Reed's current husband and producer of the show, as a somewhat contentious one, an opinion that isn't always shared by contemporary reviewers, but not to worry: he's shooting a pilot for CBS, a World War II sitcom called The Heroes. Don't bet against him.
You may remember a few weeks ago I spent almost the entire space here commenting on creativity (or the lack thereof) of television shows, which—naturally—means I'd notice the debut episode of The Creative Person, a 28-week series that "probes the personal vision of the artist—those qualities which enable the creative person to translate the world around him into a meaningful statement." (Friday, 4:30 p.m., KQED) Let this sound too stuffy, tonight's episode, "A Thurber's Eye View of Men, Women and Less Alarming Creatures" is a comic recreation of Thurber's view of the world based on his writings, starring Eddie Bracken, Elaine Stritch, Elliott Reid, and Allyn Ann McLerie. Halla Stoddard, the producer of Broadway's "Thurber Carnival," did this adaptation. 
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How about some golf? Nowadays, there's plenty to be found between the men's and women's tournaments each week, not to mention the Golf Channel. But back in the day, televised tournaments were few and far between, aside from the major championships. And yet there's no shortage of golf this weekend, thanks to the made-for-TV events offered by the networks and in syndication. A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the CBS Golf Classic, which features two teams of pro golfers each week leading up to the championship. This week, a quarterfinal match pits Billy Casper and Bob Rosburg against Bo Wininger and Tommy Bolt. (Saturday, 3:30 p.m.)
NBC's long-running Shell's Wonderful World of Golf, which in its original incarnation ran from 1961 to 1970, showcases not only the finest golfers but also some of the best and most scenic courses in the world. You can find that on Sunday at 4:00 p.m., as Canadian champions George Knudson and Al Balding face off at Cape Breton Highlands in Nova Scotia. There's also Big Three Golf, a series of filmed rounds contested by the three best players in the world: Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player. Eight matches are scheduled for the season, and you can see the third on Saturday at 2:00 p.m, on KCRA, or the fourth on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. on KRON. Gotta love those syndicated schedules.
So why were these so popular? Because they're filmed, the broadcast can be edited to make sure viewers see every big shot, regardless of when it happens (the average round could take between three and four hours back then); you also don't have to deal with those long breaks between holes. Because the productions take care in their camera placement, they can also bring the best views of the action. And it compares favorably to tournament golf, which was generally limited to the last three or four holes, by which the outcome might already be determined, the best shots missed, or the leader already being in the clubhouse as the broadcast starts; you're also assured of seeing the biggest names without having to worry about them missing the cut or being out of contention. There are a number of them at YouTube; they're worth checking out.
Speaking of tape-delay (or film-delay, as the case may be), we have another example of it with ABC's Wide World of Sports, and coverage of the seventh annual Daytona 500 (Saturday, 5:00 p.m.), which was held two weeks ago. As with golf, a 500-mile race can take a long time to run, and showing an edited version of it can save a lot of dead airtime. The first live coverage of the race was in 1974, when ABC joined it in progress for the last 90 minutes, using taped highlights to update viewers on what had happened prior to the start of the live telecast. The first flag-to-flag coverage of the race came on CBS in 1979. But back to 1965—the race is stopped after 133 laps due to rain, with Fred Lorenzen coming out on top.
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I hope people remember who Mae West was; Dwight Whitney calls her "the first, the funniest, and, some say, the greatest of all the modern sex symbols," and as recently as this issue, audiences are still accepting her invitation to "Come up and see me sometime." Last season, her tongue-in-cheek appearance on Mister Ed was one of the year's comedy hits, and she's hoping to make a return appearance this season. Whitney's interview with West takes place, naturally, in the boudoir, where "Everything is gilt on white. The walls are white, the carpet is white, the tufted satin bedspread on the round bet is white, the satin canopy rising majestically to the ceiling is white." She says she's been in high demand lately, estimating that she's turned down "more movie and TV offers in the last 10 years than most girls get in a lifetime." Why? "Because they are not right for me. They are not Mae West." 
She has a lot to say about today's actresses, most of it critical. Of family sitcoms the aforementioned Donna Reed Show, she replies absently, "Donna who?" Jean Harlow was "merely acting sex," she calls Lana Turner "a schoolgirl," and when asked about Marilyn Monroe, she says, "Well, they managed to do something with her." And then there's Elizabeth Taylor. She's a face," West says. "Of course, she has some blood in her veins. But that thing with that fellow—uh, what's his name?—didn't do her any good. Women won't come to see you. Of course, I haven't seen Cleopatra."
She's about to talk about her plan for two TV specials each year when she's reminded her agents are waiting, and it's time for Whitney to go. She doesn't tell him to come back up and see her sometime, but she does say, "I'm waiting for pay-TV. I'll bet I'll rate No. 1 on it." It's a ridiculous statement based on her age (72), but in the coming years she'll appear in the movies Myra Breckinridge (1970) and Sextette (1978), be interviewed by Dick Cavett, write a second book and a play, and do an album with covers of songs by The Doors. At age 84, Time will say, "Mae West is Still Mae West." It's perhaps with that in mind that Whitney concludes that he won't bet against her.
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MST3K alert: Teenagers from Outer Space (1959) "A spaceship arrives on earth carrying some youngsters. David Love, Bryan Grant." (Friday, 1:00 a.m., KRON) What this brief description doesn't tell you is that the "youngsters" are bent on conquering the Earth through the use of a monstrous "Gargon." I could explain their motive for this, but there's no percentage in it. And yes, they are teenagers, more or less. TV  

Around the dial

I wonder what the Nelson family is watching tonight, don't you?
In the early 1970s, we saw a number of new shows being fronted by movie stars, such as Glenn Ford, Yul Brynner, and Anthony Quinn. At Comfort TV, David looks at one of those: the series Shirley's World , with Shirley MacLaine as a magazine photographer. How bad was it? See what David has to say.
The Hitchcock Project continues at bare-bones e-zine, and this week Jack introduces the works of Oscar Millard, starting with the final-season episode " Consider Her Ways ," a nasty little story with Barbara Barrie and Gladys Cooper that definitely bears watching.
At Cult TV Blog, John remains in the 1980s with the game show Sticky Moments , another of those marvelous British shows that defies explanation. At least I'm not going to attempt it, because I couldn't do any better than John, so see what he has to say about it.
It seems as if I'm usually linking to A Shroud of Thoughts for Terence's obituaries, so this week I'll try something different with his retrospective on the short-lived Sammy Davis Jr. Show . I wrote about this series in the early days of the blog, but I think Terence can give you a much better feel for the challenges the show faced.
If you've ever heard the Big Finish audio adventures of Doctor Who (they're very good, with many of the original actors participating), you'll be enthused by their release of 12 hour-long stories continuing The Prisoner , with Mark Elstob as Number 6. Find out more about it from Martin Grams.
Not TV-related, but well-worth reading, is The Hits Just Keep On Comin', where JB remembers the disasterous Rolling Stones concert at Altamont in 1969. It's another reminder that when you traffic in nostalgia, it brings along the bad times as well as the good.
Here's a question that I've never even considered before, but now I'm fascinated by it: "Can you recall which Twilight Zone episodes had a mid-point narration ?" Thanks to Paul at Shadow & Substance, we now know: I'll admit I wouldn't have thought of any of them. Brilliant! TV  

What I've been watching: January, 2023

Shows I’ve Watched:

Shows I've Added:Combat!Twin Peaks (Original)

Captains and the KingsSam BenedictOmnibus (Interviews)

As I've mentioned before, I enjoy watching programs that are just plain fun, but I also like ones that can make me think. Since we've completed Garrison's Gorillas, there are only two war dramas on the weekly schedule: The Rat Patrol, which is almost over, and Combat! And both of these shows do make me think. The Rat Patrol makes me think, "How much longer does this episode have to run?" Combat!, on the other hand, makes me think, "I've never been so thankful to God that I never had to fight in a war."
The Rat Patrol can be fun at times to watch (although it seems to me that the quality started somewhere in the middle and went steadily downhill), but it strikes me as a Saturday morning version of war: all thrills and action and leaping jeeps, fine if you're an energetic boy playing war with your friends (or on a video game), but it never puts you in the middle of what's happening, makes you ask yourself what you'd do in a situation like this. 
Combat! tells the story of an American unit, beginning with its D-Day landing on the beaches of France and continuing as they make their way toward occupied Paris, and it has to be one of the grimmest, grittiest programs to air on television during the 1960s. It surrounds you with war: when the shells fall, you feel yourself flinching; when the soldiers are covered with muck and grime, you want to scrub it all off your face and hands and feet, if you can even remove the boots that you feel like you've lived in for half your life. Most of all, it puts you in the middle of a line of American soldiers running toward German lines, running straight at guns that are shooting at you. It makes you wonder what you'd do. It makes you wonder how they did it, day after day, living in a kind of boring anxiety where you have to fight off hours of routine knowing that a bomb or a mine or a sniper could appear literally at any second. How do they relax? you wonder. How do they live their lives with such a heightened sense of danger constantly hanging over them? Why would you wish this on anyone?
If I make this sound grim and depressing, the kind of show that makes you want to take a handful of Prozac, then the most remarkable thing about Combat! may be that it never fails to keep your interest. It takes you into the horrors of war, yes, but it also takes you into the lives of these men, men who've learned how to do all the things I mentioned because, in James Burnham's words, "When there's no alternative, there's no problem." You learn to do what you have to do, and if you don't exactly become used to it, you do come to terms with it. These are the kind of characters that make it easy for viewers to root for them, to become vested in their welfare, perhaps even to identify with them. And that's before you even get to know them.
The alternate leads in Combat! are Rick Jason, who plays the leader of the platoon, Lieutenant Hanley; and Vic Morrow, who plays the veteran Sergeant Saunders. The episodes starring Morrow generally focus on the missions of him and his men, checking out seemingly deserted towns or doing reconnaissance work to sniff out German troop locations; Jason's episodes deal with the challenges of being in command or leading special missions. Each will occasionally appear in the other's episodes, although in a more incidental role, and many of the stories are built around guest stars and their own stories; it's a mark of the excellence of the writing and acting that the stories of rear echelon replacements, played by character actors, can be as engrossing as that of a tank commander who before the war was a failed priest, played by Jeffrey Hunter.  
Several factors enhanced the show's realism; for one thing, most of the cast and crew had served in either WWII or Korea, and knew what it was like to slog through the mud of combat. Executive producer Selig Seligman (don't you love that name) was so insistent on creating a realistic environment (knowing, of course, that many of the show's male viewers would have served in the military as well) had the principal cast go through a week of basic training at Fort Ord; Jason would later say that it was harder than his actual basic training in the Air Corps.* In addition, the show was blessed with talent behind the scenes, beginning with Robert Altman, who directed ten episodes in the first season; The most frequent directors during the show's run were Bernard McEveety and John Peyser, but Richard Donner, Burt Kennedy, and Tom Gries also worked on the show, and Vic Morrow himself directed seven episodes. 
*One of my favorite stories, according to the always-reliable Wikipedia: "During the battle of Hue during the Vietnam war US troops trying to retake the city, not having been trained in urban combat, resorted to using tactics for assaulting buildings and clearing rooms they learned from watching Combat!, reportedly to great effect."
While Jason and Morrow are the above-the-title stars, the unit is comprised of a very tight group of supporting players, each of whom gets opportunities to play crucial parts in stories. Pierre Jalbert (Caje), Jack Hogan (Kirby), and Dick Peabody (Littlejohn) all remained with the show for all five seasons; Conlan Carter (Doc) is in the final four. One of the most interesting casting decisions was that of stand-up comedian Shecky Greene as Braddock, serving mostly as comic relief. Although he only appears in the first season, he shines in a lighter episode where he is taken prisoner by the Germans, who mistake him for a colonel (Keenan Wynn). He repeatedly tries to convince the Germans he's really just a private, until he realizes he can leverage their misidentification into getting better treatment for his fellow prisoners; it's a fine example of rising to the occasion.
As was the case with so many of the best dramas of the 1960s, Combat! has a terrific lineup of stars, both current and future, in guest appearances; in addition to the aforementioned episode with Jeffrey Hunter, you've got Lee Marvin (in a great second-season episode), Roddy McDowell, Ed Nelson, Harry Dean Stanton, Leonard Nimoy, Mickey Rooney, Jack Lord, Robert Duval, Charles Bronson, John Cassavetes, Sal Mineo, James Coburn—the list goes on. Some of them are rough and tough heroes, while others are simply trying to hold on through the next barrage. And there are no guarantees that they'll make it intact to the end of the episode; there is no false sentimentality involved. In fact, as the series progresses through the first season, you see the combat vet Sanders struggling to accept the death of yet another member of his unit; in one memorable scene, he recalls how he didn't even know the first name of one of his men, a replacement who gets killed during a scouting mission, and determines to avoid that in the future.
One of the most striking episodes of the series is an Altman-directed first-season story, "I Swear by Apollo," which finds the men holed up in a French convent with a gravely injured French operative. Their mission is to get him to French intelligence so he can give them vital information. Without a doctor, they are forced to kidnap a Nazi doctor (Gunnar Helstrom) to perform life-saving surgery. Virtually the entire final act is conducted in silence—no music, no dialog, only the sound of the Frenchman’s labored breathing. Altman’s hand is evident in the way the act cuts between scenes of the surgery, the soldiers watching as burning candles drip wax, the contemplative nuns silently praying in their chapel, the sweat on the brow of the doctor (Sanders has threatened to kill him if he allows the Frenchman to die) and a large Crucifix mounted on the wall, the crucified Christ looking down from the Cross upon the makeshift operating room. It’s gripping television; there is no guarantee that the Frenchman will survive the operation, and the confidence viewers would have from watching a regular in the same situation is not present. In the end, the Frenchman lives, but one of Saunders’ men, critically injured by a mine, dies despite the doctor’s efforts. As the doctor prepares to leave (it would have been against the rules of engagement to take a doctor prisoner), he asks Saunders if he would have cared about the Frenchman so much if he didn’t have military information; Saunders, in turn, asks him if he would have worked so hard to save his life if it hadn’t been under threat of death. The war takes its toll on the living as well as the dead, a message that comes through in virtually every episode of the series.
Combat! runs for five seasons—longer, as more than one person has pointed out, than the actual campaign that took the troops from D-Day to Paris. For the final season, the show transitions from black-and-white to color, and I don't think the series is served well by that change—warfare, like pool halls, is more fitting when it's done in B&W, not to mention color makes it a bit easier to tell when they're shooting on a backlot. But no matter how it's photographed, there's a weight to the battle scenes and the drama that still comes through, that still makes Combat! television's definitive war drama.
You'll recall my favorable review of Garrison's Gorillas, the series which preceded Combat! in the Hadley Tuesday night lineup. Where the two shows differ, though, is in tone. Garrison's Gorillas is well-written and well-acted, but the emphasis—which works quite to the show's advantage—is on action and adventure. Combat!, however, focuses on the micro view of war; not the maps and the battles, but the human stories and the human cost of war. It carries an avowedly anti-war message, but one that, unlike, say, M*A*S*H, is not ideological. It is a show that makes clear that war is sometimes unavoidable, sometimes necessary, but something never to be sought, never to be glorified, never to be used as a political solution—a Pax Americana,  say—by those who fight in the trenches. It presents war the only way it should be experienced: on television.
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Believe it or not, that's all there is to report this month; we're at a point right now where the schedules have been running pretty smoothly for awhile. But, as you can see from the "Shows I've Added" column, there are more in the pipeline, just waiting to take their rightful place in the primetime schedule. Next time, things should look a little different. TV  

What's on TV? Thursday, February 21, 1980

Reviewing this week's Kentucky edition of TV Guide put me in a nostalgic kind of mood. Not for these particular shows, necessarily, but for what it was like to come home from school every afternoon and turn on the TV. I talk frequently about being old, because I am old—but it wasn't during their original runs that I watched shows like Gilligan's Island on Channel 11 or McHale's Navy on Channel 9; it was by watching them after school. That's when I was introduced to the Francis the Talking Mule movies on Channel 4, having no idea that the human acting opposite Francis was the legendary Donald O'Connor. And though I didn't bother to watch Star Trek or Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea when they were on the networks, I watched them around dinnertime on Channel 11. Part of what makes the memory of a show so strong, so special, is when and where you watched it. It makes afterschool memories special as well, as if simply being out of school wasn't special enough. What kind of afterschool TV memories do you have?
  -3- WAVE (LOUISVILLE) (NBC)

  MORNING

      6:30

TODAY IN WAVE COMPANY

     7 AM

TODAY—Tom Brokaw

     9 AM

MORNING SHOW

      9:30

DOCTORS—Serial

   10 AM

CARD SHARKS--Game

    10:30

HOLLYWOOD SQUARES

Pia Zadora, Ernest Borgnine, Diana Canova, Norm Crosby, David Doyle, George Gobel, Beth Howland, Steve Landesberg, Tom Poston. Host: Peter Marshall

   11 AM

HIGH ROLLERS—Game

    11:30

WHEEL OF FORTUNE—Game

  AFTERNOON

    Noon

MIDDAY

    12:30

MIKE DOUGLAS

Co-host: Victoria Principal. Guests: Wayne Rogers, Lynn Redgrave.

      1:30

DAYS OF OUR LIVES

      2:30

ANOTHER WORLD

     4 PM

MOVIE—Drama

“Hawaii” (1966) Part 2

      5:30

NEWS

  EVENING

     6 PM

NEWS

      6:30

NBC NEWS—Chancellor/Brinkley

     7 PM

PLAY THE PERCENTAGES—Games

      7:30

DANCE FEVER

Judges: Kaye Ballard, James Darren, Ira Angustain. Tasha Thomas performs.

     8 PM

BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY—Science Fiction

     9 PM

QUINCY

   10 PM

SKAG—Drama

[Last show of the series. Repeats of “The Rockford Files” will air here beginning next week.]

   11 PM

NEWS

    11:30

TONIGHT

Scheduled: Engelbert Humperdinck

     1 AM

TOMORROW—Tom Snyder

Guest: Dr. John Silber

     2 AM

NEWS

 

 

   5  WLWT (CINCINNATI) (NBC)

  MORNING

      5:50

GOOD MORNING

     6 AM

PTL CLUB—Religion

     7 AM

TODAY—Tom Brokaw

     9 AM

PHIL DONAHUE

Guest: Marcia Lasswell

   10 AM

CARD SHARKS--Game

    10:30

HOLLYWOOD SQUARES

Pia Zadora, Ernest Borgnine, Diana Canova, Norm Crosby, David Doyle, George Gobel, Beth Howland, Steve Landesberg, Tom Poston. Host: Peter Marshall

   11 AM

DOCTORS—Serial

    11:30

MIDDAY

  AFTERNOON

    Noon

BOB BRAUN—Variety

      1:30

DAYS OF OUR LIVES

      2:30

ANOTHER WORLD

     4 PM

STARSKY & HUTCH

     5 PM

STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO—Crime Drama

  EVENING

     6 PM

NEWS

      6:30

NBC NEWS—Chancellor/Brinkley

     7 PM

HOLLYWOOD SQUARES—Game

Dick Van Patten, Vikki Carr, Robert Hays, Laurette Spang, Mackenzie Phillips, George Gobel, Francine Tacker, Hal Linden, Paul Lynde

      7:30

DANCE FEVER

Judges: Lou Ferrigno, Fred Willard, Debralee Scott. Tuxedo Junction performs.

     8 PM

BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY—Science Fiction

     9 PM

QUINCY

   10 PM

SKAG—Drama

[Last show of the series. Repeats of “The Rockford Files” will air here beginning next week.]

   11 PM

NEWS

    11:30

TONIGHT

Scheduled: Engelbert Humperdinck

     1 AM

TOMORROW—Tom Snyder

Guest: Dr. John Silber

 

 

   9  WCPO (CINCINNATI) (CBS)

  MORNING

      5:30

SACRED HEART—Religion

      5:45

FARM NEWS

     6 AM

SUNRISE SEMSETER

Learning to Write/Writing to Learn

      6:30

ED ALLEN—Exercise

     7 AM

THURSDAY MORNING

     8 AM

CAPTAIN KANGAROO

Guest: Alix Elias

     9 AM

UNCLE AL

   10 AM

JEFFERSONS

    10:30

WHEW!—Game

Meredith MacRae, Jon Walmsley. Host: Tom Kennedy

    10:55

CBS NEWS--Douglas Edwards

   11 AM

PRICE IS RIGHT—Game

  AFTERNOON

    Noon

NOON REPORT

     1 PM

YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS

     2 PM

AS THE WORLD TURNS

     3 PM

GUIDING LIGHT—Serial

     4 PM

MOVIE—Crime Drama

“Bullitt” (1968)

  EVENING

     6 PM

NEWS

      6:30

CBS NEWS—Walter Cronkite

     7 PM

7 O’CLOCK REPORT

      7:30

JOKER’S WILD—Game

     8 PM

WALTONS

     9 PM

BARNABY JONES—Crime Drama

   10 PM

KNOTS LANDING—Drama

   11 PM

NEWS

    11:30

COLUMBO—Crima Drama

Guest murderer: Trish Van Devere

      1:35

BLACK SHEEP SQUADRON—Adventure

      2:45

NEWS

 

 

  11 WHAS (LOUISVILLE) (CBS)

  MORNING

     6 AM

ED ALLEN—Exercise

      6:30

LOUISVILLE TONIGHT

     7 AM

THURSDAY MORNING

     8 AM

CAPTAIN KANGAROO

Guest: Alix Elias

     9 AM

YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS

   10 AM

JEFFERSONS

    10:30

OMLET—Metz/Lyles

   11 AM

PRICE IS RIGHT—Game

  AFTERNOON

    Noon

NEWS

    12:30

BOB BRAUN—Variety

      1:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW

     2 PM

AS THE WORLD TURNS

     3 PM

GUIDING LIGHT—Serial

     4 PM

CAROL BURNETT AND FRIENDS

      4:30

BRADY BUNCH—Comedy

     5 PM

ANDY GRIFFITH—Comedy BW        5:30

M*A*S*H

  EVENING

     6 PM

NEWS

      6:30

CBS NEWS—Walter Cronkite

     7 PM

LOUISVILLE TONIGHT

      7:30

FACE THE MUSIC—Game

     8 PM

WALTONS

     9 PM

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Louisville vs. Iona at New York

{Pre-empts regular programming]

   11 PM

NEWS

    11:30

COLUMBO—Crima Drama

Guest murderer: Trish Van Devere

      1:35

BLACK SHEEP SQUADRON—Adventure

      2:45

NEWS

 

 

  12  WKRC (CINCINNATI) (ABC)

  MORNING

     6 AM

HEALTH FIELD

      6:30

IT’S YOUR BUSINESS

     7 AM

GOOD MORNING AMERICA—David Hartman

     9 AM

EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial

      9:30

$20,000 PYRAMID—Game

Robert Mandan, Brynn Thayer

   10 AM

MIKE DOUGLAS

From Las Vegas. Co-host: Don Rickles. Guests: Frankie Valli, Diana Canova, the Casino de Paris dancers

   11 AM

LAVERNE & SHIRLEY

    11:30

FAMILY FEUD—Game

  AFTERNOON

    Noon

EXTRA!

    12:30

RYAN’S HOPE—Serial

     1 PM

ALL MY CHILDREN

     2 PM

ONE LIFE TO LIVE

     3 PM

GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial

     4 PM

DINAH! & FRIENDS

Co-host: Burt Reynolds. Guests: Anne Murray, Chet Atkins, Martin Sheen, Josh Logan

      5:30

NEWS

  EVENING

      6:30

ABC NEWS—Frank Reynolds

     7 PM

TIC TAC DOUGH—Game

      7:30

PM MAGAZINE

     8 PM

XIII WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES

Special: Figure skating men’s final, women’s giant slalom, speed skating, cross-country skiing

[Pre-empts regular programming]

   11 PM

NEWS

    11:30

XIII WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES UPDATE

    11:45

ABC NEWS SPECIAL

      Mid.

POLICE WOMAN

      1:10

BARETTA—Crime Drama

 

 

  15 WKPC (CINCINNATI) (PBS)

  MORNING

      7:15

A.M. WEATHER

      7:30

SESAME STREET—Children

      8:30

ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children

   11 AM

ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children

  AFTERNOON

    Noon

SESAME STREET—Children

     3 PM

ADVOCATES IN BRIEF

      3:30

HODGEPODGE LODGE

     4 PM

SESAME STREET—Children

     5 PM

MISTER ROGERS—Children

      5:30

ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children

  EVENING

      6:00

3-2-1 CONTACT—Children

      6:30

OVER EASY—Hugh Downs

     7 PM

MacNEIL/LEHRER REPORT

      7:30

DICK CAVETT

Guest: Joe Pass

     8 PM

JULIA CHILD & COMPANY—Cooking

      8:30

SOAPBOX

     9 PM

SNEAK PREVIEWS

      9:30

CAMERA THREE

   10 PM

FAN FAIR—Music

   11 PM

DICK CAVETT

Guest: Joe Pass

    11:30

ABC CAPTIONED NEWS

 

 

  18 WLEX (LEXINGTON) (NBC)

  MORNING

     6 AM

PTL CLUB—Religion

     7 AM

TODAY—Tom Brokaw

     9 AM

PHIL DONAHUE

Guest: Marcia Lasswell

   10 AM

CARD SHARKS--Game

    10:30

HOLLYWOOD SQUARES

Pia Zadora, Ernest Borgnine, Diana Canova, Norm Crosby, David Doyle, George Gobel, Beth Howland, Steve Landesberg, Tom Poston. Host: Peter Marshall

   11 AM

HIGH ROLLERS—Game

    11:30

DOCTORS—Serial

  AFTERNOON

    Noon

NEWS

    12:30

BOB BRAUN—Variety

      1:30

DAYS OF OUR LIVES

      2:30

ANOTHER WORLD

     4 PM

SUPERMAN—Adventure

      4:30

MUNSTERS—Comedy BW       5 PM

BEVERLY HILLBILLIES

      5:30

NEWS

  EVENING

     6 PM

NEWS

      6:30

NBC NEWS—Chancellor/Brinkley

     7 PM

SANFORD AND SON—Comedy

      7:30

CAROL BURNETT AND FRIENDS

Guest: Jim Nabors

     8 PM

BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY—Science Fiction

     9 PM

QUINCY

   10 PM

SKAG—Drama

[Last show of the series. Repeats of “The Rockford Files” will air here beginning next week.]

   11 PM

NEWS

    11:30

TONIGHT

Scheduled: Engelbert Humperdinck

     1 AM

TOMORROW—Tom Snyder

Guest: Dr. John Silber

 

 

  19 WXIX (CINCINNATI) (Ind.)

  MORNING

      6:15

PERSPECTIVE

     7 AM

ROMPER ROOM

      7:30

BUGS AND PORKY—Cartoons

     8 AM

POPEYE—Cartoons

      8:30

FLINTSTONES—Cartoon

     9 AM

TOM & JERRY—Cartoons

      9:30

STAR BLAZERS—Cartoon

   10 AM

DENNIS THE MENACE BW      10:30

BEWITCHED—Comedy

   11 AM

ODD COUPLE—Comedy

    11:30

COURTSHIP OF EDIE’S FATHER

  AFTERNOON

    Noon

MEDICAL CENTER—Drama

     1 PM

MOVIE—Drama

“East of Eden” (1955)

     3 PM

POPEYE—Cartoons

      3:30

FLINTSTONES—Cartoon

     4 PM

TOM & JERRY—Cartoons

      4:30

GILLIGAN’S ISLAND

     5 PM

BRADY BUNCH—Comedy

      5:30

MARY TYLER MOORE—Comedy

  EVENING

     6 PM

CAROL BURNETT AND FRIENDS—Comedy

      6:30

HAPPY DAYS AGAIN—Comedy

     7 PM

M*A*S*H

      7:30

ALL IN THE FAMILY

     8 PM

GUNSMOKE—Western

     9 PM

MERV GRIFFIN

Guests: Tim Conway, Pat McCormick, Anne Archer, Gallagher, Stan Kann

    10:30

CROSS-WITS—Game

Jay Johnson, Rita Moreno, Peter Nero, Jo Anne Worley

   11 PM

LIFE AND TIMES OF EDDIE ROBERTS—Serial

    11:30

M*A*S*H

      Mid.

MEDICAL CENTER—Drama

 

 

  27 WKYT (LEXINGTON) (CBS)

  MORNING

     7 AM

THURSDAY MORNING

     8 AM

CAPTAIN KANGAROO

Guest: Alix Elias

     9 AM

BUGS BUNNY AND FRIENDS

      9:30

FLINTSTONES—Cartoon

   10 AM

JEFFERSONS

    10:30

WHEW!—Game

Meredith MacRae, Jon Walmsley. Host: Tom Kennedy

    10:55

CBS NEWS--Douglas Edwards

   11 AM

PRICE IS RIGHT—Game

  AFTERNOON

    Noon

PERISONER: CELL BLOCK H

    12:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW

     1 PM

YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS

     2 PM

AS THE WORLD TURNS

     3 PM

GUIDING LIGHT—Serial

     4 PM

ONE DAY AT A TIME

      4:30

REAL MC COYS—Comedy BW       5 PM

ANDY GRIFFITH—Comedy

      5:30

NEWS

  EVENING

     6 PM

NEWS

      6:30

CBS NEWS—Walter Cronkite

     7 PM

PM MAGAZINE

      7:30

M*A*S*H

     8 PM

WALTONS

     9 PM

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Georgia at Tennessee

   11 PM

NEWS

    11:30

COLUMBO—Crima Drama

Guest murderer: Trish Van Devere

      1:35

BLACK SHEEP SQUADRON—Adventure

 

 

  32 WLKY (LOUISVILLE) (ABC)

  MORNING

      6:30

ROMPER ROOM—Children

     7 AM

GOOD MORNING AMERICA—David Hartman

     9 AM

PHIL DONAHUE

Guest: Dr. George R. Bach

   10 AM

GREEN ACRES—Comedy

    10:30

EDGE OF NIGHT--Serial

   11 AM

LAVERNE & SHIRLEY

    11:30

FAMILY FEUD—Game

  AFTERNOON

    Noon

$20,000 PYRAMID—Game

Robert Mandan, Brynn Thayer

    12:30

RYAN’S HOPE—Serial

     1 PM

ALL MY CHILDREN

     2 PM

ONE LIFE TO LIVE

     3 PM

GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial

     4 PM

STARSKY & HUTCH

     5 PM

HAPPY DAYS AGAIN—Comedy

      5:30

NEWS

  EVENING

     6 PM

ABC NEWS—Frank Reynolds

      6:30

TIC TAC DOUGH—Game

     7 PM

JOKER’S WILD—Game

      7:30

FAMILY FEUD—Game

     8 PM

XIII WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES

Special: Figure skating men’s final, women’s giant slalom, speed skating, cross-country skiing

[Pre-empts regular programming]

   11 PM

NEWS

    11:30

XIII WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES UPDATE

    11:45

ABC NEWS SPECIAL

      Mid.

POLICE WOMAN

      1:10

BARETTA—Crime Drama

 

 

  41 WDRB (LOUISVILLE) (Ind.)

  MORNING

      7:45

NEWS

     8 AM

NEW ZOO REVUE

      8:30

BUGS BUNNY—Cartoon

     9 AM

PTL CLUB—Religion

   11 AM

NEWS/INTROSPECT

    11:30

HEALTH FIELD

  AFTERNOON

    Noon

700 CLUB—Religion

      1:30

ROSS BAGLEY—Religion

     2 PM

PARTRIDGE FAMILY—Comedy

      2:30

BULLWINKLE—Cartoon

     3 PM

PRESTO AND FRIENDS

      4:30

GILLIGAN’S ISLAND

     5 PM

BEWITCHED—Comedy

      5:30

I LOVE LUCY—Comedy BW    EVENING

     6 PM

BIONIC WOMAN—Adventure

     7 PM

GOOD TIMES—Comedy

      7:30

SANFORD AND SON—Comedy

     8 PM

JIM ROCKFORD, PRVATE INVESTIGATOR—Crime Drama

     9 PM

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Georgia at Tennessee

   11 PM

BENNY HILL—Comedy

    11:30

MOVIE—Comedy

“Shoot Loud, Louder . . . I Don’t Understand” (Italian; 1966)

 

 

  62 WTVQ (LEXINGTON) (ABC)

  MORNING

      5:30

700 CLUB—Religion

     7 AM

GOOD MORNING AMERICA—David Hartman

     9 AM

GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial

   10 AM

IRONSIDE—Crime Drama

   11 AM

LAVERNE & SHIRLEY

    11:30

FAMILY FEUD—Game

  AFTERNOON

    Noon

$20,000 PYRAMID—Game

Robert Mandan, Brynn Thayer

    12:30

RYAN’S HOPE—Serial

     1 PM

ALL MY CHILDREN

     2 PM

ONE LIFE TO LIVE

     3 PM

MARY TYLER MOORE—Comedy

      3:30

TOM & JERRY—Cartoons

     4 PM

SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN

     5 PM

TIC TAC DOUGH—Game

      5:30

NEWS

  EVENING

     6 PM

ABC NEWS—Frank Reynolds

      6:30

HAPPY DAYS AGAIN—Comedy

     7 PM

GOOD TIMES—Comedy

      7:30

NEWLYWED GAME

     8 PM

XIII WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES

Special: Figure skating men’s final, women’s giant slalom, speed skating, cross-country skiing

[Pre-empts regular programming]

   11 PM

NEWS

    11:30

XIII WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES UPDATE

    11:45

ABC NEWS SPECIAL

      Mid.

POLICE WOMAN

      1:10

BARETTA—Crime Drama

 

 

  -E- Kentucky Educational Network

  MORNING

  11 AM

ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children

  AFTERNOON

    Noon

SESAME STREET—Children

      3:30

OVER EASY—Hugh Downs

Guest: Mitch Miller

     4 PM

SESAME STREET—Children

     5 PM

MISTER ROGERS—Children

      5:30

ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children

  EVENING

     6 PM

3-2-1 CONTACT

      6:30

GED SERIES

     7 PM

MacNEIL/LEHRER REPORT

      7:30

1980 KENTUCKY GENERAL ASSEMBLY

      8:30

DICK CAVETT

Guest: Joe Pass

     9 PM

SNEAK PREVIEWS

      9:30

CAMERA THREE

   10 PM

AUSTIN CITY LIMITS

Don Williams, Janie Frickie, the Heart City Band, Mickey Newbury

TV  

This week in TV Guide: February 16, 1980

We'll cut right to the chase: the United States plays the Soviet Union Friday night in the medal round of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC, with the U.S. completing the first half of the Miracle on Ice by shocking the Soviets . To show you how things have changed in the last 43 years, that 8:30 broadcast was tape-delayed; the puck actually dropped at 5:00 p.m. ET. Not that ABC didn't try; they'd asked the International Ice Hockey Federation to change the game time to 8:00 p.m. so that it could be broadcast live in primetime, but the Soviets objected; that meant the game would air at 4:00 a.m. Moscow time instead of 1:00 a.m. So, the Russkies won out, and the game was played as planned.
When I say this shows how things have changed, I have two examples in mind. First, it's difficult to believe that the Federation would turn down an American network today, considering how much money that network would have paid for the rights to the Olympics, not to mention the importance of the U.S. television market. Second, considering the excitement leading up to the contest, it's likely the American network would preempt regular programming and carry it live. Yes, I know affiliates had more sway back then, and their local newscasts were always a big deal; but if you're a station manager, would you want to take the chance of being called un-American by viewers for not carrying the game? And it's not like there haven't been precedents involving sports; golf tournaments, World Series games, and NCAA tournament games had been butting into local airtime for years.
Anyway, with the advent of the internet and social media, it's all a moot point; it was hard enough in 1980 keeping the outcome of the game a secret, because people could tune in to the radio for updates. (In Minnesota, which supplied many of the players for the U.S. team, radio stations were carrying live simulcasts of the CBC radio broadcast. Other markets probably did as well. Before the game aired, ABC's Jim McKay was upfront in telling viewers that they game had already been played, but he promised not to reveal the final score. (ABC's announce team of Al Michaels and Ken Dryden had called the game live as it happened, so there was no chance of them spilling the beans either.) All the people in the background behind McKay celebrating and chanting, "USA! USA!" might have been a clue, though.
Today, the game would be shown live whether it started at 5:00 or 8:00, whether it was on NBC or Peacock. I do think that most people who watched it that night tried to avoid finding out who won, though. It's not unlike watching a game you'd recorded a couple of hours earlier; if you really want to be kept in suspense, you'll find a way. (At least until you get home from work, to be greeted by your 6-year-old daughter yelling, "We won, daddy, we won!") Maybe the Soviets would have been better off showing the game at 4:00 a.m. at that.
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On weeks when we can, we'll match up two of the biggest rock shows of the era, NBC's The Midnight Special and the syndicated Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, and see who's better, who's best.
Kirshner: Music by Rufus and Chaka Chan, Squeeze, Tanya Tucker and Rupert Holmes: comedy by Jimmie Walker and Dick Lord. Songs include "Do You Love What You Feel?" "Lay Back in the Arms of Someone." "Blind Love." "Escape." 
Special: Bonnie Pointer (hostess). Electric Light Orchestra. Nicolette Larson and the Spinners. Also: a comedy segment with Bruce Vilanch and Rufus Shaw Jr. Songs include "I Can’t Help Myself," “Heaven Must Have Sent You" (Bonnie); Last Train to London" (E.L.O.); "Let Me Go, Love" (Nicolette).
I'd be interested in seeing what my friend JB would think of this matchup. I always watched The Midnight Special, going back to my days in the World's Worst Town™ when I had no other choice. So perhaps there's a bit of sentiment going. Rupert Holmes is very talented (thought I'm not a big fan of all his music), and I don't know either of the comedians on Special, and a lot of the time that would be enough to tip the scale. But I've always really liked ELO, and that's what's enough for me to take Special this week.
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Have you ever heard of a Norman Lear show called The Baxters? (Saturday, 7:30 p.m., WKRC in Cincinnati) It started out in 1977 as a local show on WCVB in Boston, and was then nationally syndicated from 1979, when Lear took over the show, to 1981. The gimmick to The Baxters is that half of the show consists of a situation faced by the Baxter family (husband, wife, three kids); the other half featured a live studio audience who, having seen the first 15 minutes, would discuss the issues raised in it and offer their opinions. As the ads say, "You supply the ending!" The way the show was marketed was that there was a national version of the studio discussion which the stations could use, or they could produce their own studio discussion and insert it in the show. In this week's episode, "Nancy will have nothing to do with the new handgun that Fred has purchased to protect the family." The always-reliable Wikipedia calls it a sitcom, but with a writeup like that I suspect it might have been more like a dramedy. 
I confess that I've never heard of either this program or its premise. I was about to say that it was probably because it hadn’t been shown in the Twin Cities, but when I went to YouTube seeking some clips, one of the first to come up was a commercial with Lear plugging the show, made for—KSTP, St. Paul-Minneapolis. (Not surprisingly, KSTP chose the local segment route; that's what their archrival, WCCO, would have done. Both were heavily invested in local content at the time.) So there goes that excuse. No, this is simply a show I never watched, never was interested in, never remembered. And it's not likely that we'll see anything like it again anytime soon, since nobody watches TV shows at the same time, except for football. C'est la vie. And look at who the host of is on the Cincinnati edition—Nick Clooney!
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Here's something else I don't remember: "The Greatest Man in the World," an adaptation of a whimsical James Thurber story, on the series American Short Story (Monday, 9:00 p.m., PBS). Brad Davis stars as Jack Smurch, the world's newest aviation hero, who managed to pilot his plane on the first solo flight nonstop around the world. Smurch is the subject of Lindbergh-like adoration, but there's one problem: the man's a total jerk. Even his mother "wouldn't have been sorry to see her son make an unscheduled landing in the Atlantic." This won't do for the latest national hero, though, so a newspaper editor, reporter, and the Secretary of State get together to practice John Ford's advice about printing the legend. In addition to Davis, the cast includes Carol Kane as Smurch's girlfriend and Howard da Silva as the editor, and Henry Fonda is the host of the series.
Thurber's rendition of
Jack SmurchThurber's story is obviously a satire on our penchant for hero worship, although not an accusation against Lindbergh (for all we now know about his private life, he was—unlike Smurch—a modest and gracious hero). Thurber wondered what it would be like if America’s next hero turned out to be "an illiterate, ill-mannered, drunken boor." It makes me wonder what Thurber would have said about the Kardashians or other reality-TV stars. No, as I think about it, he wouldn't have said or written anything; there are some things that are just impossible to satirize. Their very existence mocks real life.
At least I can understand not remembering this one, because I would have been watching the Olympics (I watched every kind of sports back then, on the grounds that "Something might happen.") But I'm beginning to wonder about these various programs I have no memory of. Is it possible that I don't remember classic television as well as I thought I did? Is it possible that there were more forgettable shows out there than I was aware of? Or am I just getting old? No, it's not that. Is it?
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The Olympics are, as you might expect, the dominant force on your TV screens this week, although ABC performs a little trickery, slipping in an all-star Family Feud with ABC sitcom stars on Monday and an episode of Charlie's Angels on Wednesday. Each one pushes the Olympics back an hour. (Fox has been notorious in modern times about doing this to events like the World Series.) CBS and NBC aren't going to go black, though, so let's take a look at counterprogramming on a typical night of the week—Tuesday, let's say, because both of them seem to be pulling out the stops. The main Olympic events are ice dancing, speed skating, and skiing; the latter two events would have been tape-delayed.)
Last week we saw a tour de force hour by Anne Bancroft; this week, we see a similar hour of creativity helmed by Goldie Hawn and Liza Minelli. Goldie and Liza Together (9:00 p.m., CBS) team up in a showcase for the two to "sing and swing and even act," an ironic description in that they each have won Academy Awards for their acting. (Maybe someone was trying to demonstrate their dry wit with that copy, in which case he failed.) I do wonder who came up with the idea of pairing the two, though? It says "First Time Together"; did they have any previous history of being friends, of having performed together other than on TV? Did Liza wake up one morning and call her agent and say, "You know, I've always had this dream to act with Goldie Hawn, and my life won't be complete without it'? Did the public demand it? It just doesn't seem to me to be a logical pairing, but perhaps someone can enlighten me. 
Anyway, they display their musical talents in three production numbers, including one in which "Goldie camps it up to 'Y.M.C.A.' with body builders and gymnasts," which I admit leaves me feeling a bit queasy. they then turn serious for a rendition of "The Other Woman," and play New York City roommates in a dramatic vignette; and bring down the curtain with an all-singing, all-dancing finale. Here's the whole show ; see what you think. Personally, I'm partial to Anne, but it's nice to see that even in 1980, there was some variety on the airwaves.
That's followed by a Bob Newhart special (10:00 p.m., CBS), a comedy hour that's billed as his "first comedy special," although it might be a lot like Newhart's variety show that he hosted back in 1961. I like Newhart a lot, and I suspect this is a pretty funny show, although the addition of guest stars like Lawanda Page and Joan Van Ark do give me a moment's pause; what Newhart really needs to succeed is a good straight man, and I don't know if either of them would fit the bill. 
NBC's main counterprogramming is The End (9:00 p.m.), Burt Reynolds's very black comedy about a man coming to terms with his impending death; it runs the gamut from "the satiric to the sensitive to the slapstick," with Dom DeLuise best of all as "a moon-faced murderer." 
So here's what you have to pick from on Tuesday. What would you have chosen? And how effective is the counterprogramming scheduled by CBS and NBC?
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Well, that's a good question. What are some of the highlights of the rest of the week? NBC brings out a big gun with the television premiere of The Towering Inferno, shown in two parts. (Sunday and Monday, 9:00 p.m. each night) Judith Crist calls it "a cardboard spectacular," with its moral being that "firemen, the salt of the earth, ought to design buildings because architects are megalomaniacs, contractors cooks, and building codes antique." On the other hand, it's hard to beat an all-star cast with Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Robert Wagner, William Holden, Fred Astaire, Faye Dunaway, Robert Vaughn, O.J. Simpson, and others. 
Simpson also shows up in Detour to Terror (Friday, 9:00 p.m., NBC), and no, that's not the story of the white Bronco chase; he plays the driver of a tour bus hijacked by "three weirdos." Crist says it's "slick but satisfying," but I wonder how many people watched it instead of the Miracle on Ice? 
Not that all we have to choose from are specials and movies; CBS has its solid Sunday night (60 Minutes, Archie Bunker's Place, One Day at a Time, Alice, The Jeffersons, and Trapper John, M.D.) and Monday night (M*A*S*H, House Calls, and Lou Grant) and NBC does the same on Wednesday (Real People, Diff'rent Strokes, Hello, Larry, and The Best of Saturday Night Live; Thursday night they offer Buck Rogers, Quincy, and the short-lived drama Skag, with Karl Malden. Friday at 8:00, NBC has a one-hour takeoff on This Is Your Life with Donald Duck as the honoree and Jiminy Cricket as the host. It's a repeat; otherwise, I think it would have been better-served on Sunday night.
There's not much else that jumps off the page, unless you're in the mood for a Republican presidential primary debate from New Hampshire. I don't know if it takes place as scheduled (Wednesday, 9:00 p.m.), but there's another one that occurs the following week, at which Ronald Reagan reminds everyone that he paid for the microphone .
I wonder, though; I haven't paid enough attention the last few years to see how the networks counterprogram the Olympics. Do they, or do they cede the weeks to NBC? And since we're told that the Olympics now attract a mostly female audience (with its soap-opera infused storylines emphasizing American athletes), would they program the same kinds of movies and specials that they did here?
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About television technology: try this on for size.
"New technology will enable viewers to call up stock prices, medical advice—a wealth of data—on their screens."
That's the subheading of Neil Hickey's article on what we can expect to see with the television of the future; the only thing that he didn't anticipate is that the screen would not be on our televisions, but on our phones. And that, because so many people would be watching video content on their phones, that this was the new television.
The technology that Hickey describes—called teletext, which has been available in Great Britain for several years—allows viewers to choose from "about 800 'pages' of printed material that are continually being broadcast (invisibly until requested) right along with regular programs." It's transmitted encoded on unused space on the TV signal. The encoded signal can be accessed through a television equipped with a special decoder. The information we'll be able to access is, theoretically, unlimited: news, sports results, stock market prices, weather, traffic, radio and TV logs, job-hunting information, home-study courses—the lot. The TV could also be used as an encyclopedia and dictionary, "as well as the 'note paper' for an electronic mail and message service and a convenient way to communicate with the deaf."
Email, in other words. The whole thing would probably look and feel like the pre-Windows version of a PC. Fascinating.
Another option is a system called viewdata, which is transmitted over phone lines; "a viewer simply places a phone call to a viewdata computer in which is stored, for easy retrieval, all manner of useful information and services." The specially equipped set is connected to the phone by an adapter—a modem! The accessible pages come from "information providers" such as the British Library, the British Medical Assocation, Reuters, Barclays Bank, and the New York Times, that pay to have their information included. At the moment, it'll run you about $2,000 (in Great Britain) for a set like that, but when they begin to be mass produced, experts think they may cost as little as $25 to $50 more than the average set. A cable-compatible TV! 
Granted, Hickey points out, a number of observers, including some network executives, are skeptical of this "Buck Rogers stuff" and aren't even sure the public will want this kind of service. But Paul Zurkowski, president of the International Information Association, scoffs at the doubters. "That's what all those monks who were copying manuscripts back in the 15th century said when they first heard about printing. The future shock will be momentous." One French television executive says that TV-computer services "to the home via telephone or satellite communications provide an exciting potential in our view." Everyone agrees that should it come to fruition, the networks will be involved, seeing it as a source of new advertising revenue—which could result in a battle with their own affiliates to control the market. As Hickey concludes, "the fuse has definitely been lit and pretty soon we'll know just how big a bang this information explosion will be."
What's remarkable about this article is not that everything, for the most part, came to pass. The explosion Hickey envisioned was in reality just clearing the way for the information superhighway. If anything, the experts underestimated what would be possible; the future delivered more than they predicted. That it intimately came to fruition not on our televisions, but on our telephones, makes it even more remarkable. That's kind of cool, considering we still don't have the flying cars from The Jetsons. 
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MST3K alert: First Spaceship on Venus. (German: 1962) An expedition (Yoko Tani. Oldrich Lukes. Ignacy Machowski) intends to explore the planet’s mysteries. (Friday, Midnight, WXIX) Warsaw Pact science fiction! Also known as The Silent Star, it was actually an East German/Polish collaboration; for its dubbed release in the West, a Soviet cosmonaut was changed to an American astronaut. Hey, with dubbing anything is possible! According to the always-reliable Wikipedia , the author of the original novel, Stanislaw Lem, was less than impressed "and even wanted his name removed from the credits in protest against the extra politicization of the storyline when compared to his original." One of his comments: "It practically delivered speeches about the struggle for peace. Trashy screenplay was painted; tar was bubbling, which would not scare even a child." In other words, perfect for Mystery Science Theater 3000. TV