Mitchell Hadley's Blog: It's About TV!, page 65
October 17, 2022
What's on TV? Monday, October 22, 1951
One of the things you have to keep in mind when looking at this week's listings is that not all stations program continuously during their broadcast day. Therefore, as enjoyable as it might be, we should not assume that WABD's Johnny Olsen Rumpus Room runs for five hours. Ah well. Studio One's "Macbeth" stars Charlton Heston, who did a lot of live television before moving to the big screen. And WNHC's Ruth Lyons’ 50 Club is from the show's brief national run; I wrote about the storied Ruth Lyons
here
. It's fun how these little bits all eventually come together, isn't it?❷ WCBS (CBS) 10:30 Color—Mike and Buff 11:00 Margaret Arlen—Interviews 11:30 Strike It Rich—Warren Hull 12:00 The Egg and I—Comedy Series 12:15 Love of Life—Drama Series 12:30 Search for Tomorrow—Drama 12:45 Steve Allen Show—Variety 1:00 Eve Hunter Show—Ladies 1:30 Garry Moore Show 2:00 Left-Over Revue—Variety 2:30 First Hundred Years—Serial 2:45 Vanity Fair—Dorothy Dean 3:30 All Around Town—Wallace 4:00 Homemaker’s Exchange 4:30 Color—Mel Torme Show 5:00 Color—Movie Short 5:15 Gabby Hayes Show—Kids 5:30 Color—Whistling Wizard 5:45 Hoofbeats—Western Movie 6:15 The Real McKay—Variety 6:30 “Red Desert”—Movie Early Show 7:30 CBS News—Douglas Edwards 7:45 Perry Como Show—Music Guests: The Mills Brothers 8:00 Lux Video Theater—Drama “The Twinkle in Her Eye” 8:30 Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts 9:00 I Love Lucy—Comedy Series 9:30 It’s News to Me—Quiz 10:00 Studio One—Drama “Macbeth” 11:00 Chronoscope—News Panel 11:15 News of Night—Allan Jackson 11:25 Sports of the Night—McKay 11:30 Late Show—Movie “G.I. Honeymoon”
❹ WNBT (NBC) 10:30 What’s Your Problem—B. Grover 11:00 Josephine McCarthy—Cooking 11:30 Footlights & Klieglights—Farrell 11:45 Date in Manhattan—Variety 12:00 Ruth Lyons’ 50 Club—Ladies 12:30 Date in Manhattan—Ed Herlihy 2:30 Movie Short—30 Minutes 3:00 Miss Susan—Drama Serial 3:15 Here’s Looking at You—Tips 3:30 Bert Parks Show—Variety 4:00 Kate Smith Hour—Variety 5:00 Hawkins Falls—TV Novel 5:30 Howdy Doody—Kids 6:00 Rootie Kazootie Club—Kids 6:15 Seeing Is Believing—Ben Grauer 6:25 News—Peter Roberts 6:30 Tex and Jinx—Interviews 6:55 Weather—Tex Antoine 7:00 Kukla, Fran and Ollie 7:30 Roberta Quinlan—Songs 7:45 Camel Caravan—John Cameron Swayze 8:00 Winchell & Mahoney Show 8:30 Voice of Firestone—Music Guest: Thomas L. Thomas 9:00 Lights Out—Mystery Play 9:30 Robert Montgomery Presents “I Wouldn’t Want to Be in Your Shoes” 10:30 Boston Blackie—Film Series 11:00 “Strange Mr. Gregory”—Movie 12:00 Mary Kay—TV Previews
❺ WABD (Du Mont) 10:05 News; Morning Chapel 10:30 Kitchen Fare—Susan Adams 11:00 TV Shopper—Kathi Norris 12:00 For Your Information—Keane 12:15 News; Take the Break—D. Russell 1:00 Johnny Olsen Rumpus Room 5:55 News Bulletins 6:00 Don Winslow—Film Serial 6:30 Magic Cottage—Pat Meikle 7:00 Captain Video—Kid Serial 7:30 Date on Broadway—Music 8:00 Stage Entrance—Earl Wilson 8:30 Johns Hopkins Science Review 9:00 Wrestling—Columbia Park 11:00 Ring the Bell—Hal Tunis 11:30 Late News Bulletins
-6- WNHC (Du Mont, NBC) 10:30 Fran Langford & Don Ameche 11:30 Strike It Rich—Warren Hull 12:00 Ruth Lyons’ 50 Club—Ladies 12:15 Love of Life—Drama Series 12:30 Search for Tomorrow—Drama 12:45 Nancy’s Kitchen 1:30 Garry Moore; Movie 2:30 First Hundred Years—Serial 2:45 Movie Short—15 Minutes 3:00 Miss Susan—Drama Serial 3:15 Here’s Looking at You—Tips 3:30 Bert Parks Show—Variety 4:00 Movie Short—15 Minutes 4:15 Kate Smith Hour—Variety 4:30 Movie Short—15 Minutes 4:45 Kate Smith Hour—Variety 5:00 Movie Short—15 Minutes 5:15 Time for Beany—Puppets 5:30 Howdy Doody—Kids 6:00 Fashions in Music 6:25 Weather Forecast—5 Minutes 6:30 World News Today—J. Burns 6:45 Sidewalk Interviews—J. Milne 7:00 Kukla, Fran and Ollie 7:30 Political Talk—Democrats 7:45 Camel Caravan—John Cameron Swayze 8:00 Lux Video Theater—Drama “The Twinkle in Her Eye” 8:30 Voice of Firestone—Music Guest: Thomas L. Thomas 9:00 I Love Lucy—Comedy Series 9:30 It’s News to Me—Quiz 10:00 Studio One—Drama “Macbeth” 11:00 Schlitz Playhouse—Drama 12:00 Late News Bulletins
❼ WJZ (ABC) 9:30 Ladies’ Daily; Movie 10:45 Kitchen Kapers—Tiny Ruffner 11:30 Dennis James Show—Variety 12:00 Fran Langford & Don Ameche 1:00 Dione Lucas—Cooking 1:30 Ed and Pegeen Fitzgerald 2:00 Claire Mann Show 2:15 Market Melodies—Syd Smith 3:00 Woody and Virginia Klose 3:30 Nancy Craig—Homemaking 4:00 Hollywood Movie Time—1 Hour 5:00 Uncle Lumpy’s Cabin—Kids 5:30 Tales of the Trail—Movie 6:30 Tom Corbett, Space Cadet 6:45 What’s Playing?—Previews 7:00 UP Fox News—Premiere John Daly 7:15 Candid Camera—Allen Funt 7:30 Hollywood Screen Test Arlene Francis, Somer Alberg, Jackie Collins 8:00 Amazing Mr. Malone—Play 8:30 Live Begins at 80—Jack Barry 9:00 Curtain Up—Movie 10:00 Bill Gwinn Show—Variety 10:30 Studs’ Place—Drama 11:00 Nightcap News—Premiere 11:10 Russ Hodges—Sports News 11:20 Film Short—30 Minutes
❾ WOR (Ind.) 10:30 Telefax News—Newspaper 12:30 Screening The World; Movie 2:00 Meadows’ Beauty Forum 2:30 Nose for News—Pictures 2:45 Barbara Welles—Interviews 3:00 Sandy Smart’s Kitchen—Tips 3:30 TV Telephone Game 4:00 “Murder in Soho”—Movie 5:00 Buster Crabbe—In Person 6:00 Merry Mailman—Kids 6:30 9 Star Sports—Stan Lomax 6:40 Weather—Frank Forrester 6:45 News—John Wingate 7:00 “Roll Along, Cowboy”—Movie 7:30 Press Conference—Panel Guest: Rudolph Halley 8:00 “The Last Journey”—Movie 9:00 News—John Wingate 9:05 Boxing—St. Nicholas Arena 11:00 “Pin-Up Wife”—Film
⓫ WPIX (Ind.) 10:45 The Living Blackboard 12:00 Movies At Noon 1:00 News; Matinee Movie 2:30 Ted Steele Show—Variety 5:00 Wally Jackson—Variety 5:30 “Sonora Stagecoach”—Movie Six Gun Playhouse 6:30 News—Tillman; Weatherman 6:45 Jimmy Powers—Sports News 7:00 News—John K.M. McCaffery 7:15 “Suspense”—Movie 8:15 Viz-Quiz—Jack McCarthy 8:25 News—John Tillman 8:30 Record Breakers—Ed Newman 9:00 Columbia-Penn—Football Film 10:00 Telepix News—Tillman 10:10 Tomorrow’s News—Tillman 10:15 Weatherman—Joe Bolton 10:20 “Behind the Mask”—Movie 11:45 News and Weather Roundup
⓭ WATV (Ind.) 12:00 Coffee Club—Interviews 12:30 Stepping Out 1:00 Science Lesson 1:30 Shop, Look & Cook—Ruth Bean 2:00 Movie 3:30 Musical Jackpot—Quiz 4:00 Western Roundup—Movie 5:00 Junior Frolics—Uncle Fred 5:30 Adventure Theater—Movie 5:50 WATV Picture News 6:00 Hollywood Playhouse—Film 7:00 “Terrors on Horseback”—Movie 8:00 TV Council—Educational 8:30 “Man Who Worked Miracles”—Movie 10:00 Western Feature Movie 11:00 “Double Trouble”—Movie Stardust Theater 12:15 WATV Picture News
x TV
October 15, 2022
This week in TV Guide: October 19, 1951
S Xometimes the only way to find out whether or not an idea really works is to just jump right in and try it. For instance, I had a couple of TV Guides to choose from today, issues from the mid-50s; I also had one from the '60s that I'd used eight or so years ago, long enough that it would still be new for many people. Those would have been the safe choices, but, I asked myself, why not live dangerously this week and try something different? (Now, it's true that if this is the best I can do when it comes to living dangerously, it's no wonder why I live such a sedate life. And if you asked yourself that, you'd be right. But maybe that's what it takes to break out of a fog.)
And that's how, with the aid of the Internet Archive, we find ourselves looking at the TV Guide of October 19, 1951. This is a year-and-a-half prior to the national rollout, when TV Guide was limited to New York, New England, and the Washington-Baltimore area, so expect an emphasis on local, rather than national, stories. Since most of the familiar features have yet to appear, I have no idea what we're in for, so we'll just take it as it comes and hope for the best!
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Here's a promising start: an ad on the inside cover (labeled page 2) for Jim McKay's 15-minute WCBS variety series, The Real McKay.You might know that Jim McKay's real name is Jim McManus; in fact, his son Sean, who is chairman of CBS Sports, uses the family name. And it might have been ABC's Wide World of Sports with Jim McManus, had it not been for this show.* The title is, of course, a pun on "The Real McCoy," and it was to be young McKay's first break in big-time television. He wasn't thrilled to find out that his name would now be McManus; "I liked my own name just as it was," McKay wrote in his autobiography The Real McKay. "The thought of James K. McManus disappearing into thin air didn't please me at all, and I knew would be even less pleasing to my parents, and to [wife] Margaret, who had easily taken to the liquid sound of my real surname." He quickly realized, however, that there was no sense in jeopardizing his chances, and so, though he wondered "why they didn't just call me Jim McCoy," Jim McKay it was, and would remain, for one of the legendary careers in television.
*Roone Arledge, who produced Wide World, would always refer to McKay as "McManus" over the headset.
The format of The Real McCoy, which McKay helped develop with WCBS's program director, is that of a standard interview/variety program, taking place on a faux living room set designed by McKay's wife, Margaret. For the first program, the producer lined up a couple of singers from the Catskills, one male and one female; McKay would interview them, they would each sing, and then a few months later they'd be brought back to the show to see how their careers were progressing. The female singer was Barbara Cook, who a few years later would co-star on Broadway with Robert Preston in The Music Man, playing Marian the Librarian (the role played by Shirley Jones in the movie version). And the male singer: the man who would go on to marry said Shirley Jones, Jack Cassidy—TV and Broadway star in his own right, and father of Sean and David. And the program director of WCBS, who helped create The Real McCoy and get it on the air? His name is Dick Doan—Richard K. Doan, who will later produce "The Doan Report" for TV Guide. Where he doubtless will carry a report on his old colleague, Jim McKay.
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Well, that went pretty well, so let's go to page 3, "a terse weekly report" called "Inside TV," which serves as a prototype for the future TV Teletype that we know and love sio well. And among other facts (did you know, for instance, that actress Adelaide Hawley actually played Betty Crocker in a Saturday noon weekly show called Betty Crocker Star Time? And here, you thought she was only a picture on a box.), we learn, in a section called "Program Possibilities," that "Dave Garroway may be emcee of an NBC-TV 7 to 9 a.m.—and we mean a.m.—program to be called The Rise and Shine Revue." That, of course, is The Today Show, which will premiere on the network the following January, and which Garroway will host until 1961.Joining Garroway on that first Today and remaining on the program until 1967 as co-host, announcer, and occasional foil is Jack Lescoulie. (Garroway was known as "The Master Communicator"; he dubbed Lescoulie "The Saver" for his ability to liven up dull segments.) Lescoulie had previously worked as a game show host, announcer, and producer for WCBS. Among the shows he produced: The Real McKay—he was the producer who chose Barbara Cook and Jack Cassidy as guests for that first program. I tell you, you can't make this stuff up. l l l
Let's turn now to the man on the cover, actor Lloyd Nolan. Over a long and successful career, Nolan made a lot of movies and appeared on a lot of TV shows; you might well recognize him most from a series of movies he made featuring private detective Michael Shayne, or from his role as Dr. Chegley in Julia. Shayne is in the past, however, and Julia is in the future; we're concerned with the present, where Nolan is the new star of Martin Kane, Private Eye (he's one of four actors to play the part over the show's five seasons on radio and television).Among the things we learn about Nolan in this brief profile: he once worked as a stagehand in a theater where one of the ushers was a young woman named Bette Davis; he and his wife introduced square dancing to Hollywood and had a group called the Beverly Hillbillies (what a pity he never did a guest stint on the sitcom); and that his real name, in fact.is Lloyd Nolan. (I know, it would have been great if his real name had been McCoy or something like that, but you can't have everything.) One of his most acclaimed roles is still ahead of him; his stage and television portrayal of Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, which Herman Wouk adapted from his own novel, and for which Nolan wins an Emmy in 1955.
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The listings in this issue are very short on details; no Close-Ups, and while there are ads for movies (mostly The Late Show on WCBS, Channel 2), there are also ads for movies in the theater, for horse racing, for restaurants (prime Angus steak dinner for $1.95!), and for companies that sponsor various shows (though not for the shows themselves).
But as different as things may look, there are still programs you're going to recognize. either from having watched them or seen them in pages of future TV Guides:Your Show of Shows (Saturday, 9:00 p.m., NBC)Meet the Press (Sunday, 4:00 p.m., NBC)Toast of the Town, aka The Ed Sullivan Show (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., CBS)Colgate Comedy Hour (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., NBC)Red Skelton (Sunday, 10:00 p.m., NBC)What's My Line? (Sunday, 10:30 p.m., CBS)The Voice of Firestone (Monday, 8:30 p.m., NBC)I Love Lucy (Monday, 9:00 p.m., CBS)Studio One (Monday, 10:00 p.m., CBS)Texaco Star Theater with Milton Berle (Tuesday, 8:00 p.m., NBC)Arthur Godfrey and His Friends (Wednesday, 8:00 p.m., CBS)Suspense (Wednesday, 9:30 p.m., NBC)The Lone Ranger (Thursday, 7:30 p.m., ABC)Burns and Allen (Thursday, 8:00 p.m., CBS)You Bet Your Life (Thursday, 8:00 p.m., NBC)Amos 'n' Andy (Thursday, 8:30 p.m., CBS)I didn't include a number of less well-known shows that are still among the era's best (Armstrong Circle Theater or Robert Montgomery Presents, for instance), nor did I go into the daytime (Love of Life, Search for Tomorrow) or the pre-primetime (Kukla, Fran and Ollie, The Perry Como Show) schedules. I also left out boxing, which will be a staple on all networks throughout the 1950s. Still, that's pretty good.
Then there are the shows that aren't starting up until later in the season. That movie on Channel 2, for instance, isn't for the Dragnet that we know and love. (Besides, Henry Wilcoxon is no Jack Webb.) But the famed cop series is on the way; Dragnet, with Joe Friday and Frank Smith* patrolling the streets of Los Angeles, makes its television debut on December 16, 1951, alternating every other week with Gangbusters. *Barton Yarborough, who had played Friday's partner Ben Romero on the radio version of Dragnet since 1949, died after two episodes of the television series had been filmed. After a short time working with several other partners, Smith (Ben Alexander) became Friday's partner for the remainder of the series.
By the way, although Jack Webb enjoyed playing the character of Joe Friday on the radio, he was not at all sure that he was the right actor to play him on TV. He was, however, much too closely identified with the role, and the network insisted that he continue. The actor who was Webb's choice to play Friday: Lloyd Nolan, of course.
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One more story I wanted to get to, and that's the show advertised on the back cover: New York Close-Up, Monday through Friday at 6:30 p.m. "The program that tells the story of the people who have a story to tell"—don't you appreciate the urgency that conveys? The show is hosted by the inimitable married couple of Tex McCrary and Jinx Falkenburg, and in the day they were a media sensation. "Mr. and Mrs. New York," indeed. They were pioneers in the talk show format, just as Dave Garroway was with Today, and like Garroway they are mostly forgotten today.Tex McCrary had not only been a correspondent during World War II, he was also a colonel in the Army Air Corps who led the first journalists into Hiroshima after the bomb. Jinx Falkenburg was considered one of the most beautiful women of her time: cover girl, athlete, USO entertainer. That nightgown that Rita Hayworth wore in her famous pinup ? That was loaned to her by her friend, Jinx. I imagine it looked just as good on her.
Tex taught Jinx the basics of how to conduct an interview (other protégés of his included Gabe Pressman, Ted Yates, Barbara Walters, and Barry Farber), and she wound up being one of the best in the business. They began a breakfast radio show in 1946, then made the transition to television (while doing two radio shows and a newspaper column). In 1952, they staged a rally in Madison Square Garden that helped convince Dwight Eisenhower to run for president. Tex would move into public relations, where he would work behind the scenes with William Levitt and Thurgood Marshall to make sure Levittown was integrated. Jinx, meanwhile, traveled to the Soviet Union in 1959 to open a model house belonging to one of Tex's clients at a U.S. exhibition—in the kitchen of the model, Nixon and Khrushchev would engage in their "kitchen debate." Accompanying Jinx on that tour was a young researcher who became a well-known columnist and political speechwriter: William Safire. In other words, just ordinary people like you and me.
It's true that only a handful of people in this world live lives like this—we all know that. And yet, reading through these issues, you're overwhelmed by the extraordinary lives of extraordinary people. It shouldn't make us feel inadequate, because if everyone lived like this, no lives would be extraordinary; they'd all be average. So if you're inclined to feel kind of down after reading this, just remember that you're doing your part to help create extraordinary people.
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So that's a look around a 1951 TV Guide. Only 32 pages, including the front and back covers. There are no reviews of programs or movies, no crossword puzzles, and the Letters to the Editor are rather mundane. Yet it's been a fascinating experiment, don't you think? Maybe I'll do it again sometime.
And by the way, this week's MST3K alert: I Accuse My Parents (Sunday, 1:00 p.m., WPIX). Some things never change. TV
October 14, 2022
Around the dial
One of the pleasures of this weekly feature is that there's almost always one kind of linkage or another going on, and this week is no exception. For instance, at Cult TV Blog, John continues his look at Hammer House of Horror with the 1980 episode "
Children of the Full Moon
," featuring a terrific performance by Diana Dors.By remarkable coincidence, Rick's latest edition of " The Alternate Movie Title Game " at Classic Film & TV Café focuses on Hammer films. (See what I mean about linkage?) Be sure not to read the comments until you've made your own guesses.
At Comfort TV, David concentrates on the actors who also wrote for the TV shows in which they appeared. Some are more familiar than others; Robert Culp and Alan Alda wrote several episodes each of I Spy and M*A*S*H, respectively, but Peter Falk also wrote an episode of Columbo.
One of the several programs hosted by Dave Garroway was the Sunday afternoon show Wide Wide World (not to be confused with Wide World of Sports, although wouldn't that have been interesting? "I'm Dave Garroway with great moments in Olympic history!") At Garroway at Large, Jodie is back with Bob and Ray's hilarious parody, Big Big Earth. (And don't miss that video, which predates Today and has a surprise visitor.)
At Television's New Frontier: the 1960s, we turn to Rawhide circa 1962 . As noted before, by this time the show is closer to the end than the beginning, and the quality of the stories is wildly uneven, but even so there are a few episodes that look to be well worth watching, one of which was written by star Eric Fleming.
I think it was last week that Terence noted the 60th anniversary of Combat!, and this week at A shroud of Thoughts he takes up the 60th anniversary of another iconic series: McHale's Navy . I know I've made this point before, and some of you may have commented on it, but it's quite interesting how many of these iconic shows of the time were ABC products; in addition to these, you've got The Fugitive, The Addams Family, Ozzie and Harriet, Bewitched, Donna Reed, Peyton Place, Patty Duke, and more. And yet we also know how long it took the network to finally rise to the top.
And of course, last but not least, one has to take time to remember the great Angela Lansbury, who died this week aged 96. Stage, screen and television, comedy, drama and musicals—it seems as though there was nothing she couldn't do, and she remained beloved throughout her magnificent career. Terence is always my go-to for such remembrances, and he provides a fitting tribute here .
By the way, my continuing apologies for not responding more quickly to your comments and inquiries (or, in some cases, not responding at all). I believe I'll be back on track quite shortly, at which time you probably won't be able to shut me up. TV
October 12, 2022
Over the Transom: Roman Carnival
by Stephen Taylor
Watched a pretty good Ironside tonight; it was also very funny. How, you might ask, could Ironside be funny? It’s funny when Nurse Skinner (Ruth Roman) is running a blackmail/murder scheme out of a nursing home. The episode is called "Gentle Oaks." Ironside receives a tip that strange things are taking place at Gentle Oaks, and goes undercover to find out more. Good supporting work from John Carradine and Lynn Hamilton, along with character actor Jon Lormer. (Only a Star Trek fan would know his name, but everyone else knows his face; even my wife spotted him as "that guy on the planet with Susan Oliver.")
But this episode belongs to Ruth Roman. We open with Nurse Skinner dancing in front of a mirror, modeling furs and wondering "where did all the pretty years go?" before declaiming that she’ll be returning to Hollywood real soon now, and opening another can of beer. She’s got other problems, however. Why, just yesterday she had to have the suspicious young doctor murdered, and Gentle Oaks is for sale, and if she’s going to make another score by killing someone’s elderly parent, she’ll need to act fast. The one remaining doctor (Harry Townes) is a drunk, but when sober he’s started having regrets. She needs another victim, and fast. How about the cripple in the wheelchair?
Roman explodes across the screen; I suspect the screenwriter had Joan Crawford in mind as the nurse, but Ruth Roman took the part and made it hers. She’s calculating and cold at the same time, but also way over the top. it’s as if someone told the rest of the cast to dial back the acting, but for her to take it to 11. After pushing over Ironside’s wheelchair, she opens up. "Listen, buster. You’re nothing but a crippled old man that no one cares about; your children are waiting for you to die. Your time here will be what you make of it. So get with the program..." One cheesy howler follows another. When the children of a potential patient plead poverty, "Dad’s stocks aren’t doing so well," she suggests that "perhaps your father needs a better stockbroker." Upon meeting a student priest, "Don’t take any wooden crosses." She talks to herself; "...How do I sleep? With all those faces and voices?" She slings whiskey glasses with abandon. She lights a cigarette during a monologue, then exhales smoke like a dragon while facing the camera. Ruth Roman was one of those actresses who had more than one speed, and she has it turned way up tonight; her tachometer is in the red zone. The part is written as evil, but she adds some camp to it and makes it work. She’s quite good.
I’ve watched about eight episodes of Season Five so far, and here are some thoughts. First, Elizabeth Baur continues to underwhelm. She has no gravitas. Her voice is high and tentative; she doesn’t project the same refinement as Barbara Anderson, and, frankly, she’s just not as pretty. Yes, I know. You male chauvinist pig. Yada yada yada. But television and the movies have always looked for sex appeal in casting choices, and they still do today. Ironside was no exception. Barbara Anderson was a clotheshorse, had a pretty face and a great figure. Elizabeth Baur not so much. Tonight they had her in boots, and boots always look great on a nice set of legs, but her legs are like matchsticks. She can’t act, and got off on the wrong foot with the audience by having a crying screaming fit in front of Ironside and the rest of the gang. Barbara Anderson never had crying screaming fits on this show; she saved her histrionics for Lenore Karidian. An interview with Baur included with this set makes the claim that Raymond Burr had a hand in her casting. I doubt it.
Second, Barbara Anderson wasn’t even mentioned during the transition. No "hope officer Whitfield does well in her new assignment in bunco" or "We’ll miss Eve now that she’s returned home to take care of her sick father" or "Only fragments were left of Eve after her car hit the side of that building." Nothing was said; it was as though she never existed. That was irritating. Ironside could have taken a lesson from M*A*S*H, which wrote the book on transitioning characters.
Third, Gene Lyons as Commissioner Dennis Randall is in almost every episode. Most times it’s only one short scene, but he had a 13 in 26 contract in the first four seasons, and now we’re seeing more of him. (This was an illusion.) He’s an interesting character; he and "Bob" go way back, and it would’ve been neat if we’d have had an episode giving us his backstory. But Gene Lyons had a problem with his elbow; he died in 1974 of a liver ailment "related to chronic alcoholism." Could be they’re filming all his bits at the same time; perhaps he’d become unreliable by this point. It was sad to watch his physical appearance deteriorate over the course of the series. Lyons really only knew how to play one character, that of an officious authority figure with a good heart, so he really nailed Commissioner Randall. (He ended up in 10 episodes of Season Five. He did 66 episodes across eight seasons, for an average of eight episodes a season, so the 13/26 thing may not have been the case. Perhaps a commenter canoffer greater clarity.)
Like every other season of Ironside, Season Five has hits and misses, with more misses than not. But there are very few TV series that cast a pearl every time the camera was turned on, and Ironside was no exception. TV
October 10, 2022
What's on TV? Tuesday, October 8, 1968
The movie ratings system will be introduced to the public on Friday, November 1, and in anticipation of the event, MPAA boss (and former LBJ aide) Jack Valenti is making the TV rounds, which probably explains his appearances on Today and Tonight. He probably would have been on Tomorrow as well, except it hasn't started yet. Instead, you'll have to settle for seeing Tom Snyder on KYW's Contact. Is it better than Rip Taylor on It's Happening? You'll have to be the judge, after you've gone through these listings from Philadelphia.-3- KYW (NBC) Morning 6:05 FARM MARKET REPORT 6:10 NEWS 6:15 IMAGES AND REALITIES “Modern Movements,” Part 5 6:45 FARM, HOME AND GARDEN COLOR 6:55 TODAY IN PHILADELPHIA 7:00 TODAY COLOR Guests: Edward Steichen , Jack Valenti, Linda Cristal 9:00 CONTACT—Interview Guest: Fr. Robert J. McEwen. Host: Tom Snyder 10:00 SNAP JUDGMENT—Game COLOR Guests: Peter Marshall, Anita Gillette 10:25 NEWS—Nancy Dickerson COLOR 10:30 CONCENTRATION COLOR 11:00 PERSONALITY—Game COLOR Celebrities: Marty Allen, Fannie Flagg, Betsy Palmer, Nancy Ames 11:30 HOLLYWOOD SQUARES COLOR Players: Robert Culp, Stu Gilliam, Dennis James, Paul Lynde, France Nuyen, Martha Raye, Wally Cox, Abby Dalton, Charley Weaver Afternoon 12:00 NEWS, WEATHER COLOR 12:30 MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety COLOR Co-host: Roberta Peters 2:00 DAYS OF OUR LIVES—Serial COLOR 2:30 DOCTORS—Serial COLOR 3:00 ANOTHER WORLD COLOR 3:30 YOU DON’T SAY!—Game COLOR Celebrities: Barry Sullivan, Julie Adams 4:00 MATCH GAME COLOR Guests: Sheila MacRae, Joe Garagolia 4:25 NEWS—Floyd Kalber COLOR 4:30 MERV GRIFFIN—Variety Guests: Don DeFore, Yvonne Constant, Jack Carter, Hendra and Ullett, Chris Crosby Evening 6:00 NEWS, WEATHER AND SPORTS COLOR 6:30 NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley COLOR 7:00 NEWS, WEATHER AND SPORTS COLOR 7:30 JERRY LEWIS COLOR Guests: Barbara Eden, John Byner, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap 8:30 JULIA—Comedy COLOR 9:00 MOVIE—Suspense COLOR “Gambit” (1966) 11:15 NEWS, WEATHER AND SPORTS COLOR 11:45 JOHNNY CARSON COLOR Joined in progress: Guest host: Bob Crane. Guests: Gig Young, Engelbert Humperdinck, Jack Valenti
-6- WFIL (ABC) Morning 6:30 HIGH SCHOOL OF THE AIR—Education COLOR 7:00 WORLD AROUND US—Children COLOR 8:00 POPEYE THEATER COLOR 9:30 CARTOONS—Children COLOR 10:00 BEWITCHED—Comedy 10:30 DICK CAVETT COLOR Afternoon 12:00 COMMENTS—Paul Harvey COLOR 12:05 ON CAMERA COLOR 12:30 TREASURE ISLE COLOR 1:00 DREAM HOUSE COLOR 1:30 STREET WHERE YOU LIVE—Game COLOR 1:55 CONNIE ROUSSIN COLOR 2:00 NEWLYWED GAME COLOR 2:30 DATING GAME COLOR 3:00 GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial COLOR 3:30 STEVE ALLEN—Variety COLOR Guests: Mark Murphy, Freddy Byak 5:00 JERRY’S PLACE COLOR 5:30 DARK SHADOWS COLOR Evening 6:00 NEWS, WEATHER AND SPORTS COLOR 6:30 NEWS—Frank Reynolds COLOR 7:00 WHAT’S MY LINE?—Game COLOR Panelists: Alan Alda, Joanna Barnes, Arlene Francis, Soupy Sales 7:30 MOD SQUAD—Crime Drama COLOR 8:30 IT TAKES A THIEF COLOR 9:30 N.Y.P.D.—Crime Drama COLOR 10:00 THAT’S LIFE COLOR 11:00 NEWS, WEATHER AND SPORTS COLOR 11:30 JOEY BISHOP COLOR Guests: Gordon MacRae, Jim McKay 1:00 PETER GUNN—Mystery
-8- WGAL (LANCASTER) (NBC) Morning 7:00 TODAY COLOR Guests: Edward Steichen , Jack Valenti, Linda Cristal 9:00 MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety COLOR Guests: Trini Lopez, Julie Newmar 10:00 SNAP JUDGMENT—Game COLOR Guests: Peter Marshall, Anita Gillette NEWS—Nancy Dickerson COLOR 10:30 CONCENTRATION COLOR 11:00 PERSONALITY—Game COLOR Celebrities: Marty Allen, Fannie Flagg, Betsy Palmer, Nancy Ames 11:30 HOLLYWOOD SQUARES COLOR Players: Robert Culp, Stu Gilliam, Dennis James, Paul Lynde, France Nuyen, Martha Raye, Wally Cox, Abby Dalton, Charley Weaver Afternoon 12:00 NOONDAY ON 8 COLOR 12:30 EYE GUESS—Game COLOR 12:55 NEWS 1:00 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES—Game COLOR 1:30 MAKE A DEAL COLOR 2:00 DAYS OF OUR LIVES—Serial COLOR 2:30 DOCTORS—Serial COLOR 3:00 ANOTHER WORLD COLOR 3:30 YOU DON’T SAY!—Game COLOR Celebrities: Barry Sullivan, Julie Adams 4:00 MATCH GAME COLOR Guests: Sheila MacRae, Joe Garagolia 4:25 NEWS 4:30 MERV GRIFFIN—Variety Guests: Don DeFore, Yvonne Constant, Jack Carter, Hendra and Ullett, Chris Crosby Evening 6:00 NEWS, WEATHER AND SPORTS COLOR 6:30 NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley COLOR 7:00 COUNTRY MUSIC TIME COLOR 7:30 JERRY LEWIS COLOR Guests: Barbara Eden, John Byner, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap 8:30 JULIA—Comedy COLOR 9:00 MOVIE—Suspense COLOR “Gambit” (1966) 11:15 NEWS, WEATHER AND SPORTS COLOR 11:45 JOHNNY CARSON COLOR Joined in progress: Guest host: Bob Crane. Guests: Gig Young, Engelbert Humperdinck, Jack Valenti 1:00 NEWS COLOR
10 WCAU (CBS) Morning 5:55 NEWS 6:00 SUNRISE SEMESTER COLOR Philosophy: Aquinas’s five proofs for the existence of God 6:30 SEMINAR FOR PHYSICIANS—Discussion COLOR 7:00 MORNING REPORT 7:05 NEWS—Joseph Benti COLOR 7:30 GENE LONDON COLOR 8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO COLOR 9:00 PIXANNE—Children COLOR 9:30 DENNIS THE MENACE—Comedy 10:00 LUCILLE BALL COLOR 10:30 BEVERLY HILLBILLIES—Comedy 11:00 ANDY GRIFFITH COLOR 11:30 DICK VAN DYKE Afternoon 12:00 LOVE OF LIFE—Serial 12:25 NEWS COLOR 12:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial COLOR 1:00 FARMER’S DAUGHTER 1:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial COLOR 2:00 LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING—Serial COLOR 2:30 GUIDING LIGHT—Serial COLOR 3:00 SECRET STORM—Serial COLOR 3:25 NEWS COLOR 3:30 EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial COLOR 4:00 HOUSE PARTY COLOR 4:25 NEWS COLOR 4:30 SEA HUNT—Adventure 5:00 I SPY—Drama COLOR Evening 6:00 NEWS, WEATHER AND SPORTS COLOR 7:00 NEWS—Walter Cronkite COLOR 7:30 LANCER—Western COLOR 8:30 RED SKELTON COLOR Guests: Maurice Evans, Shirley Bassey 9:30 DORIS DAY COLOR 10:00 60 MINUTES SPECIAL COLOR May be pre-empted by a late-news show 11:00 NEWS, WEATHER AND SPORTS COLOR 11:40 MOVIE—Drama COLOR “Sea Wife” (English; 1957) 1:15 MOVIE—Drama COLOR “Tropic Zone” (1953) 3:10 NEWS
12 WHYY (NET) Morning 9:15 ROUNDABOUT—Children 9:30 CLASSROOM—Education Afternoon 12:30 FRANKLIN TO FROST 1:00 POCKETFUL OF FUN 1:30 CLASSROOM—Education 3:05 READING TECHNIQUES 3:30 MEET THE ARTS 4:00 POCKETFUL OF FUN 4:30 TALES OF POINDEXTER 4:45 FRIENDLY GIANT—Children 5:00 MISTEROGERS—Children 5:30 WHAT’S NEW—Children Evening 6:00 NET JOURNAL—Documentary 7:00 SCHOOL REPORT 7:30 BIOGRAPHY—Documentary 8:00 DIAMOND STATE PROFILE 8:30 THEATER 12—Drama “The Young Elizabeth” 10:10 CONCERT 12—Music 11:00 LOCAL NEWS—Bill Hudson
17 WPHL (IND.) Morning 10:30 AT YOUR SERVICE COLOR 11:00 JACK LA LANNE COLOR 11:30 IT’S HAPPENING—Variety Guests: Max Frost and the Troopers, Rip Taylor 11:55 CHILDREN’S DOCTOR Afternoon 12:00 JEOPARDY—Game COLOR 12:30 EYE GUESS—Game COLOR 12:55 NEWS—Edwin Newman COLOR 1:00 ONE LIFE TO LIVE COLOR 1:30 MAKE A DEAL COLOR 2:00 DR. KILDARE—Drama 3:00 CARTOONS—Webber COLOR 3:45 ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS—Children 4:00 PRINCE PLANET—Children 4:30 JOHNNY CYPHER COLOR 4:45 ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS—Children COLOR 5:00 EIGHTH MAN—Children 5:30 SPEED RACER COLOR Evening 6:00 ULTRA MAN—Children COLOR 6:30 ADDAMS FAMILY—Comedy 7:00 GILLIGAN’S ISLAND—Comedy COLOR 7:30 OF LANDS AND SEAS COLOR 8:30 PASSWORD—Game COLOR 9:00 MOVIE—Western COLOR “Broken Arrow” (1950) 10:55 SPORTS—Al Meltzer COLOR 11:00 ONE STEP BEYOND—Drama 11:30 MOVIE—Mystery “Whispering Smith vs. Scotland Yard” (1952)
29 WIBF (IND) Morning 10:00 STOCK MARKET REPORT 11:00 STOCK MARKET REPORT 11:30 WOMAN’S VIEW—Stock Market Afternoon 12:00 STOCK MARKET REPORT 1:00 STOCK MARKET REPORT 2:00 STOCK MARKET REPORT 3:00 STOCK MARKET REPORT 4:00 IT’S YOUR MOVE COLOR 4:30 MATCHES AND MATES COLOR 5:00 PDQ—Game COLOR Celebrities: Abby Dalton, Paul Lynde, Dick Patterson 5:30 F TROOP—Comedy COLOR Evening 6:00 BATMAN—Adventure COLOR Guest villain: Cesar Romero (The Joker) 6:30 LOST IN SPACE—Adventure 7:30 HONEYMOONERS—Comedy 8:00 MOVIE—Drama “Beyond All Limits” (Mexican; 1959) 10:00 RAWHIDE—Western 11:00 ADVENTURES IN PARADISE
48 WKBS (IND.) Morning 9:30 HUMAN RELATIONS AND MOTIVATION COLOR 10:00 CARTOON PARADE COLOR 10:30 MICKEY MOUSE CLUB 11:00 ROMPER ROOM COLOR Afternoon 12:00 DICKORY DOC COLOR 1:00 MOVIE—Drama “Bellissima” (Italian; 1966) 3:00 KIMBA—Children COLOR 3:30 HUCK AND YOGI COLOR 4:00 CAPTAIN PHILADELPHIA COLOR 5:00 SUPERMAN—Adventure COLOR 5:30 LITTLE RASCALS—Comedy Evening 6:00 FLINTSTONES COLOR 6:30 MUNSTERS—Comedy 7:00 McHALE’S NAVY—Comedy 7:30 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES—Game COLOR 8:00 HAZEL—Comedy 8:30 DONALD O’CONNOR—Variety COLOR Guests: Will Hutchins, Joseph Campanella, Paul Winchell, Barbara McNair, Jamie Gee, Joyce Jameson 10:00 NEWS—Doug Johnson COLOR 11:00 ALFRED HITCHCOCK—Drama 11:30 LES CRANE—Discussion COLOR
TV
October 8, 2022
This week in TV Guide: October 5, 1968
As you have no doubt noticed over the years, we occasionally dip a toe into the world of high fashion—especially when it involves an attractive Hollywood actress, although that part of it is purely coincidental. This week, however, high fashion demands our attention, as a panel of experts looks at the design habits of some of television's biggest female stars in a fascinating roundtable discussion moderated by TV Guide's Dick Hobson. The experts: Cardinali, a high-priced Beverly Hills couturier who designs for That Girl's Marlo Thomas; Mr. Blackwell, chronicler of the infamous 10 Worst Dressed list; Edith Head, longtime studio designer and winner of eight Academy Awards (seven at the time of this writing); George Whittaker, head of wardrobe for CBS in Hollywood; and Bill Theiss, designer for Star Trek. Their observations are occasionally catty but often insightful, and frequently delve into the reasons behind certain fashion looks. Naturally, we can't replicate the entire article, but hopefully these excerpts will give you a glimpse into their thinking.
There's general agreement that Mission: Impossible's Barbara Bain stands at the top of the current fashion pyramid; Cardinali calls her "terribly well-groomed. She's pure woman on that show." Head says her look is "Beautiful, elegant and sexy," and Theiss adds that "She's sure as hell the best-looking thing that comes into most people's homes." Whittaker makes a very accurate comment: "You're always left with the impression that she was dressed correctly." Cardinali says that "[photographer Richard] Avedon would die to have that kind of model, she's so agile!"
About Lucille Ball, the group is divided. Cardinali sees her look as "ageless!" but Theiss counters that "she's anachronistic. Her taste in clothes reflects a past era—and not a fashionable past era. She subconsciously remembers the Forties as her best period and wears the styles she wore then." Blackwell is astute in saying that "People who adore Lucy are relating back. She makes them feel younger. She moves back 25 years of their lives." Theiss suggests that Lucy "apparently thinks that the only way for her to be contemporary is to be funny and campy, like playing a hippie or something, and she doesn't realize she could do it straight and be marvelous."
Carol Burnett gets mixed reviews as well; Head says, "I don't think Carol Burnett is interested in projecting a fashion image, more in projecting her own inimitable brand of humor." Whittaker describes her as "like an overgrown little girl with her two long gawky legs. But I see a Fun Girl who can look glamorous if she really wants to try." Blackwell is bluntly descriptive: "She looks like the farmer girl who came to the big city and overdressed!" What can you possibly say about Zsa Zsa Gabor? Head recognizes Zsa Zsa's dressing as her "signature," and Whittaker says that with her strong personality, "there is nothing you can put on this woman that is going to overpower her." Theiss thinks she "tends to overemphasize her sexual appeal because that's the only thing she's confident of." Blackwell says "Mae West plays satire and admits it. Zsa Zsa thinks she's for real—there's the difference."
Nancy Sinatra gets mostly good reviews; Head calls her appearance "as carefully worked out as you work out a piece of theater—thoroughly professional," and Blackwell praises her boots-and-miniskirts look "because she has marvelously clean legs." On the other hand, Theiss isn't so positive, calling her a "product" who's "playing it younger than she is. I remember when I was a teen-ager being very annoyed at actors playing teen-agers who I knew were 10 or 15 years older."
Since Cardinali works with Marlo Thomas, you can expect she's bullish on the look: "Marlo is a clothes horse! . . she's really lots of fashion1 Kicky! Wonderful!" But Blackwell ain't buying it: "I don't mind a woman trying to look as youthful as possible in her own age bracket. But Marlo's playing a girl os 22 or 23, yet her appearance has a sub-teen look! It's pre-brains!" Theiss adds that "Nancy Sinatra makes it work; Marlo doesn't."
In other commends, Jayne Meadows gets a thumbs-down (Whittaker: "Jayne Meadows is so overly dressed it's not funny! She puts everything on but the kitchen sink."), as does daytime talk show host Gypsy Rose Lee (Cardinali says "What a clothes hanger she is! Just outrageously marvelous," while Whittaker calls her "the most horribly dressed woman I know!"
It is, as I say, a very interesting analysis, and it's obvious that our experts all understand the psychology of dressing as much as the visual aspect. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of any of the women in question. But, being that you're reading this courtesy of the internet, I'm sure you'll have no problem making up the difference.
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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: Tentatively scheduled: Tony Bennett, performing with Woody Herman and his orchestra; singers Dionne Warwick and Tiny Tim; comedian Flip Wilson; the Kessler Twins, singer-dancers; and unicyclist Goetchie. Also: the cast of the off-Broadway musical "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown."
Palace: Host Jimmy Durante presents Joey Heatherton, Don Ho and the Allis, the Lennon Sisters, the comedy team of Lewis and Christy, and six finalists in the Olympic tryouts for the U.S. gymnastic team.
This week's choice is, when you come down to it, pretty easy. The Palace looks to me like a tryout for next season's Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters, and I can't see Joey Heatherton's name without thinking of Lola Heatherton. Ed's holding all the cards tonight, starting with Tony Bennett and Woody Herman, so there's no doubt about the outcome: Ed's the winner, hands down.
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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. We've had just about every kind of cop show on television, so Cleveland Amory isn't surprised that ABC has finally turned to "the teen-agent, or bop cop. Not even a quiz kid, nor even a whiz kid, but a genuine fuzz kid." Furthermore, Cleve adds, "you have three of them—a white boy, a black boy and a white girl. This is, of course, in keeping with the black-and-white trend in color shows this season." There can be only one show we're talking about: The Mod Squad.
For the uninitiated, our three heroes are young people, in trouble with the law, who are given a choice: "pay their debt to society or join the boys in blue." They don't go all the way, of course: they don't carry guns, they don't arrest people, and they don't fink on their friends. Instead, their mission is to try and turn them away from trouble before it's too late, for both them and society. As Amory points out, most of the crimes in the show occur as the result of "seemingly bad-guy young fry" being used as pawns by evil adults. "And what could be better TV than half-bad, half-cop kids vs. all-bad, anti-kid adults?"
Despite all these word games, Amory likes The Mod Squad. While the excess violence bothers him, there's a depth to the characters that is unexpected, and welcome. "On the surface these kids may seem to have chosen just to cop in instead of copping out. But underneath, they are searching not only for desperate criminals but also, sometimes equally desperately, for their own identities." It's sure to appeal to those young viewers who find themselves in a similar search. The acting is equally good; Clarence Williams III and Michael Cole are no threat to Bill Cosby and Robert Culp, but they have more integrity. And while Peggy Lipton could be a bit more expressive, "remember, she's playing it the way kids are—not the way you evil adults wish they were." Amory gives it a B for the show and an A for effort; The Mod Squad lasts for five successful and influential seasons.
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And now I'm hoping you'll indulge my interest in classic sports one more time to look at another World Series, although in fact you have no choice, other than to stop reading altogether and come back next week in hopes that I've moved on to something else. The simple truth, though, is that whenever you're dealing with television in early October, at least in this time period, you're going to run into the Series, and the 1968 edition is notable for several reasons. It's the last World Series to take place prior to the start of divisional play (and playoffs), which means it's the last Series to be played this early in the month. It is, I think, an underappreciated Series for several reasons, but today we're going to take a look at its most famous moment, perhaps one of the most famous in baseball history—and it takes place before the game's first pitch is even thrown.
It happens on Monday, October 7th, before the fifth game, played in Detroit, between the Tigers and the St. Louis Cardinals. (12:30 p.m. ET, NBC) Ernie Harwell, the legendary Tigers radio announcer (who was also a songwriter, albeit an unsuccessful one; "As a songwriter, I’ve got a no-hitter going," he used to joke), had been asked by Tigers general manager Jim Campbell to select the singers for the games to be played in Detroit. (I imagine something like that is done by the commissioner's office today.) Harwell chose Detroit native Margaret Whiting for the third game, and Motown star Marvin Gaye for Game 4 (more on him later), but he had something different in mind for Monday’s Game 5, a young singer he liked, who’d scored some hits, including a cover of The Doors’ "Light My Fire": José Feliciano. And, well—
As you can hear from the live broadcast, fan reaction to Feliciano’s folk-blues rendition is muted, and you can hear what sounds like some jeering starting as NBC goes to a commercial break. Down on the field, there is no mistake. "Well, I heard some cheers, but they were very sparse," Feliciano says. "And I heard a lot of boos. And I said, 'Who, what did I do? Why are they booing me?'" NBC is flooded with thousands of angry letters and calls, as are the Tigers offices; editorial writers have their say as well. One Detroit resident accuses Harwell of being a communist for recommending such a performance.
It's hard to see, from today's vantage point, what all the fuss is about. Certainly I've heard much worse versions of the National Anthem, both in quality and performance. Although it’s certainly an unorthodox arrangement, it doesn’t trade in on the inherent dignity of the song’s meaning. It is, however, a controversy of its time, of the awful year of unrest and violence engulfing the country, and I suppose this was inevitable.
I mentioned Marvin Gaye earlier, and the irony is that Gaye's rendition the day before was an honest and straightforward one; he admitted later that he'd been encouraged to tone it down a bit, and Tigers catcher Bill Freehan said that Feliciano's version made Gaye "sound like a square." Gaye would later perform the Anthem at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game, a performance in which the actual intent of the song as the "National Anthem" is lost amidst a kind of ersatz "Sexual Healing" that hardly calls to mind Francis Scott Key and the bombing of Fort McHenry. Feliciano may have made Gaye sound like a square in 1968, but in 1983 Gaye made Feliciano's sound like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir by comparison.
Anyway, the Tigers win that fifth game, 5-3; stay tuned for how it all ends.
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Highlights: There's an interesting article about the varying approaches that Nixon and Humphrey are taking to television in this jet age, but I don't have the stomach for politics at the moment (you'd probably think, looking at me, that it's the only thing I don't have in the stomach). Therefore, we'll talk for a moment about politics and movies, at least on TV. This week, ABC's Wednesday night movie presents the television premiere of the 1964 black comedy Dr. Strangelove (9:00 p.m.). Judith Crist calls Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece "Swiftian satire at its best, a scathing survey of the human and his propensity for self-destruction." With "unique" performances by Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, and others, Crist says Strangelove is "undoubtedly the most significant American film of the past 20 years."
Crist also has kind words for Khartoum (Saturday, 9:00 p.m., NBC) a masterful and literate epic on the 1833 siege of Khartoum, with Charlton Heston in "his best performance to date" as General Gordon, and Laurence Olivier "simply stunning" as the fanatic leader of the dervishes. I've meant to check that movie out, but now I'll have to get more serious. Sunday sees the Beatles star on The Smothers Brothers Show (9:00 p.m., CBS) in the first of two taped performances; other guests include Nancy Sinatra, and I wonder if she displays the clean legs that Mr. Blackwell so appreciated.
Monday's episode of The Avengers (7:30 p.m., ABC) hits perhaps a little too close to our times, as Steed and Tara investigate a mysterious epidemic that's killed one doctor after another. They suspect the bug is man-made, and investigate "a hypochondriac millionaire, a sinister nursing home, and a 'cold cure' clinic." (If only we'd had them on the case the last couple of years.) On Tuesday, the musical-comedy series That's Life (10:00 p.m., ABC) presents us with another "very special wedding" episode, as Robert and Gloria (Robert Morse and E.J. Peaker) finally tie the knot. (That this episode doesn't appear in many famous-TV-wedding lists attests to how this show was perhaps the Cop Rock of its time.) Thursday, Dragnet (9:30 p.m., NBC) has a fact-based episode detailing the measures taken by the LAPD to maintain peace in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King., Jr. Thursday marks the seventh and final game of the World Series (1:30 p.m., NBC), with the showdown between the two pitching aces of the Series: Bob Gibson from the Cardinals, and Mickey Lolich of the Tigers. A misplay of a fly ball by St. Louis's usually-dependable center fielder Curt Flood in the seventh inning leads to a two-run triple that breaks up a scoreless tie, and Detroit goes on to a 4-1 victory. Lolich, the Series MVP, becomes the last pitcher to-date to start and win a seventh game on two days' rest.
As you know, I'm not a big fan of "message" episodes, but the consistently-good Judd for the Defense (Friday, 10:00 p.m., ABC) puts Judd in a difficult place; his client, a black mechanic named Jady Crews (Bernie Hamilton), has been falsely convicted of murder. Does he follow Judd's maneuvering to reverse his life sentence, or does he go along with his militant son (the always-excellent Georg Stanford Brown), who wants him to use the occasion to denounce the "sick white society" and its discriminatory system of justice? Paul Lambert and Dabney Coleman make up a good supporting cast and Carl Betz, once again, is the eloquent spokesman for a justice that may never have existed and probably doesn't now, but one to which we should always aspire.
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Last but certainly not least, on Friday it's the launch of Apollo VII, the first American manned spaceflight since the Apollo 1 fire that claimed the lives of Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee on January 27, 1967. Apollo VII represents perhaps the most important American space mission since John Glenn's orbital flight, and for NASA to have any chance of meeting JFK's goal of putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade, it is vital for this flight to succeed.Underlining the criticality of the mission, NASA has put veteran astronaut Wally Schirra in command, with Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham as the other members of the crew. Network coverage is expected to begin at 10:00 a.m., with the launch scheduled for 11:00 a.m. and updates throughout the day. If all goes well, daily television transmissions from the spacecraft—another first for an American spaceflight—are slated to begin Saturday at 11:00 a.m.
Despite some tense moments—the crew becomes congested from head colds; and the tough-as-nails Schirra, flying his last mission before retiring from NASA (he'll work as a space analyst with Cronkite at CBS), is constantly battling with Mission Control—the mission is a rousing success, and soon NASA makes the stunning announcement that Apollo VIII, will orbit the moon before the end of the year. And the beginning of another great adventure. TV
October 7, 2022
Around the dial
Before we get to the good stuff, a couple of PSAs to start things off. First, I've got one copy of The Electronic Mirror left—who wants it? All it costs is postage and handling; email me today! Next, it's that time again, when I start planning for next year's TV Guide articles. You never know whether or not it's the last year for the blog—even I don't know—so if you have a TV Guide or two you'd like me to write about, let me know. I always return all issues timely and in the same condition in which I got them.
Now that I've got that out of the way, let's see what's new. We'll start at bare-bones e-zine, where Jack's Hitchcock Project takes us to David Goodis's lone contribution to the series, " An Out for Oscar ," an adaptation of Henry Kane's novel My Darlin' Evangeline, with the late Henry Silva, Larry Storch (!), and Linda Christian.
At Cult TV Blog, John makes a trio of visits to Hammer House of Horror this week: the ambiguous, multi-layered episode " Witching Time ," the superb, dark mystery " The Thirteenth Reunion ," and a personal favorite of John's, " Rude Awakening ." They're all highly recommended pieces, so head over there.
It's really kind of hard to avoid talking about a movie called Weird Women , since I've known a few of them myself (and many weird men as well), so you'll want to visit Classic Film & TV Cafe and read Rick's review of this 1944 thriller with Lon Chaney Jr., three mysterious ladies, and witchcraft. Afterwards, go watch the movie.
At the Secret Sanctum of Captain Video, it's a look back at the delightful " Lizard's Leg & Owlet's Wing " episode of Route 66, with the aforementioned Lon Chaney Jr., Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre. Route 66 was not a show known for a lot of laughs, but this is a warm, affectionate tribute to three legends and the roles they made famous.
Here's the kind of rabbit hole I enjoy: at Shadow & Substance, Paul looks at "Temporalia," a spoken-word cut from the Alan Parsons Project album The Time Machine, featuring words by Oxford professor and particle physicist Frank Close, who asks the TZish question: "Which of those two is 'now'?" It's a great application of that line to a show that certainly asks those kinds of questions.
You know how we seem to be doing theme nights in the Hadley household when it comes to our classic TV lineup. Having dispensed with the very enjoyable Garrison's Gorillas, we've now moved on to one of television's grittiest dramas, Combat! Fortuitous that at A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence should turn his attention to this series on the 60th anniversary of its premiere . And if you like that, stay tuned; I'm working on a story right now about The Gallant Men. Watching these, it's much easier to understand what a terrible, terrible thing war is. TV
October 5, 2022
Over the Transom: Emily Hartley visits Ironside
by Stephen Taylor Just got done watching an episode of Ironside called "But When She Was Bad..." The episode was routine in every way but redeemed by some fine acting by Suzanne Pleshette. She’s a B-girl from Dallas up to no good in San Francisco, and she’s good in the role.Pleshette was a stunningly beautiful woman, but she had the acting chops to go along with a pretty face. I first remember seeing her in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents in 1960; she was good in the role, and I suspect her work in that episode got her the role of doomed schoolteacher Annie Hayworth in The Birds. In The Bob Newhart Show she was able to show us she was also a pretty fair comedienne, but in between those two she did television. Lots and lots of television. This episode is from 1971, she was less than a year out from Emily Hartley.
In this one she plays a prostitute from Dallas named Shelly Kingman who’s come to San Francisco to kill Chief Ironside; she doesn’t want to murder him, but she’s being blackmailed. Nothing much else to say about the plot; this is all about Pleshette’s acting. Being a prostitute has made Shelly Kingman hard; she’s been hurt so many times by so many people, especially men, that an offer of friendship from Ironside and the gang makes her uneasy and conflicted.
(This part of the episode felt odd; why would a group of hardened cops want to take a out-of-town prostitute under their wing?) Shelly doesn’t want their friendship, as she’ll only get hurt.
And that Ironside. He seems able to read her mind, and to see deep inside her. She begins to like Ironside and is tormented by the thought of killing him. She’s in a lot of pain, and numbs the pain by drinking; she flees, only to end up passed out in a cheap hotel room. It’s her milieu; she’s well acquainted with cheap hotel rooms, and her bottle is always good company.
And Pleshette makes it all work. She’s absolutely believable as the B-girl who’s fallen so low that she’s trying to murder someone who’s treated her with decency and respect. Her face shows the day-in and day-out misery that Shelly Kingman endures. And while screaming at Ironside she begins to weep; her life, what there is of it, is crashing down around her. Shelly Kingman is in a world of hurt in more ways than one, and Pleshette shows us every corner of her misery. She’s a bright spot in an otherwise forgettable episode.
Dane Clark plays the bad guy; he was menacing, but not much else. Len Lesser is a hitman with not a single line. The episode did have some good music; existing cues were used in some different contexts, and worked well. Quincy Jones had by this time written a jazz version of the main theme, and part of it was played in Act One. It’s good stuff; the full version of this piece was released on his album “Smackwater Jack” that same year.
And my estimation of Fran Belding may have just gone up a bit. She immediately senses that something is wrong with Shelly, telling the others that “I don’t like her”. She couldn’t articulate why, but her judgment is borne out when the report from the Dallas police comes in.
Routine, but still fun. TV
October 3, 2022
What's on TV? Wednesday, October 6, 1965
Another year, another week, another World Series. Nowadays, one can say that all the way to Halloween, but back then baseball had the decency to finish its affairs early in the month and then get out of the way for football. But I digress. You'll notice some unique things if you take the trouble to go through all of the listings. First, we have a pair of twin stations, probably due to common ownership. WWLP and WRLP have the same lineup, as do the WHNP channels 30 and 79, so don't get the idea that I've copied myself. As well, WATR, channel 20, does not colorcast, and the handful of ABC color shows are listed accordingly. I'm sure you'll find other items of interest below.-3- WTIC (HARTFORD) (CBS) Morning 6:30 SUNRISE SEMESTER Nature Of Matter: “Mathematics Review” 7:00 NEWS, WEATHER 7:05 NEWS—Mike Wallace 7:30 LYING LANGUAGE—Education “Not by Words Alone” 8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO 9:00 HAP RICHARDS—Children 9:15 DEPUTY DAWG COLOR 9:30 LEAVE IT TO BEAVER—Comedy 10:00 I LOVE LUCY—Comedy 10:30 MOVIE—Drama “Two of a Kind” (1951) Afternoon 12:00 LOVE OF LIFE—Serial 12:25 NEWS 12:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW 12:45 GUIDING LIGHT—Serial 1:00 MOVIE—Musical COLOR “The Jazz Singer” (1953) Part 4 1:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS 2:00 PASSWORD—Game Celebrities: Lena Horne, Peter Lind Hayes. Host: Allen Ludden 2:30 HOUSE PARTY—Linkletter Guest: Vicki Carr, children who appeared on first show in 1945 3:00 TO TELL THE TRUTH 3:25 NEWS—Douglas Edwards 3:30 DICK VAN DYKE—Comedy 4:00 RANGER ANDY—Children 4:30 MOVIE—Comedy “Father Is a Bachelor” (1950) Evening 6:05 SPORTS—Bob Steele 6:15 NEWS—Bruce Kern 6:25 WEATHER 6:30 NEWS—Walter Cronkite 7:00 WHAT IN THE WORLD?—Panel 7:30 LOST IN SPACE—Adventure 8:30 BEVERLY HILLBILLIES COLOR 9:00 GREEN ACRES—Comedy COLOR 9:30 DICK VAN DYKE—Comedy 10:00 DANNY KAYE—Variety COLOR Guests: Buddy Ebsen, Clint Eastwood, Fess Parker, Charo 11:00 NEWS, SPORTS—Bob Ellsworth 11:15 WEATHER 11:20 MOVIE—Drama “The Devil Strikes at Night” (German; 1958)
-4- WBZ (BOSTON) (NBC) Morning 6:15 SIGN ON SEMINAR—Education 6:45 DAILY ALMANAC 7:00 TODAY COLOR Guest: Jules Feiffer 9:00 CONTACT!—Bob Kennedy 10:00 FRACTURED PHRASES—Game COLOR 10:25 NEWS 10:30 CONCENTRATION—Game 10:55 NEWS 11:00 MORNING STAR—Serial COLOR 11:30 PARADISE BAY—Serial COLOR Afternoon 12:00 NEWS, WEATHER 12:30 MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety 2:00 MOMENT OF TRUTH—Serial 2:30 WORLD SERIES PRE-GAME SHOW SPECIAL COLOR 2:45 WORLD SERIES SPECIAL COLOR Los Angeles Dodgers at Minnesota Twins, opening game At press time, the starting time of the Series was not firm Evening 6:00 TO BE ANNOUNCED 6:30 NEWS—Macdonald, Clinksdale 6:55 WEATHER—Al Boyer 7:00 NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley 7:30 VIRGINIAN COLOR 9:00 BOB HOPE COLOR “March from Camp Tyler” 10:00 I SPY—Drama COLOR 11:00 NEWS—Gene Pell 11:15 SPORTS—Gino Cappelletti 11:20 WEATHER—Bob Copeland 11:30 MERV GRIFFIN—Variety Guests: Andy Warhol, Jean Pal Vignon, Reni Santana, Renee Taylor
-5- WHDH (BOSTON) (CBS) Morning 6:00 SUNRISE SEMESTER Nature Of Matter: “Mathematics Review” 6:30 NEWS, WEATHER AND SPORTS COLOR 6:35 RAY DOREY—Variety COLOR 6:50 NEWS, SPORTS COLOR 7:00 WEATHER—Ted Miller COLOR 7:05 NEWS—Mike Wallace 7:30 CAPTAIN BOB COLOR 8:00 CAPTAIN KANGAROO 9:00 ROMPER ROOM COLOR 9:30 CHRIS EVANS—Woman COLOR 9:45 WE BELIEVE—Religion COLOR 10:00 I LOVE LUCY—Comedy 10:30 McCOYS—Comedy 11:00 ANDY GRIFFITH—Comedy 11:30 DICK VAN DYKE—Comedy Afternoon 12:00 LOVE OF LIFE—Serial 12:25 NEWS 12:30 SEARCH FOR TOMORROW 12:45 GUIDING LIGHT—Serial 1:00 PDQ—Game COLOR Celebrities: Gisele MacKenzie, Morey Amsterdam, Rose Marie. Host: Dennis James. 1:30 AS THE WORLD TURNS 2:00 PASSWORD—Game Celebrities: Lena Horne, Peter Lind Hayes. Host: Allen Ludden 2:30 HOUSE PARTY—Linkletter Guests: Vicki Carr, children who appeared on first show in 1945 3:00 TO TELL THE TRUTH 3:25 NEWS—Douglas Edwards 3:30 EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial 4:00 SECRET STORM—Serial 4:30 KELLYS ALMANAC COLOR 5:00 BOZO THE CLOWN COLOR Evening 6:00 DATELINE BOSTON COLOR 6:25 WEATHER—Ted Miller COLOR 6:30 NEWS—Day, Malone COLOR 6:45 SPORTS—Don Gillis COLOR 6:55 WEATHER—Walker COLOR 7:00 NEWS—Walter Cronkite 7:30 LOST IN SPACE—Adventure 8:30 BEVERLY HILLBILLIES COLOR 9:00 GREEN ACRES—Comedy COLOR 9:30 DICK VAN DYKE—Comedy 10:00 DANNY KAYE—Variety COLOR Guests: Buddy Ebsen, Clint Eastwood, Fess Parker, Charo 11:00 NEWS—Jack Hynes COLOR 11:15 WEATHER—Walker COLOR 11:20 SPORTS—Don Gillis COLOR 11:30 JOHNNY CARSON—Variety COLOR 1:00 NEWS 1:10 BAT MASTERSON—Western
-7- WNAC (BOSTON) (ABC) Morning 6:25 FARM AND MARKET REPORT 6:30 UNDERSTANDING OUR WORLD 7:00 THREE STOOGES—Comedy 9:00 DONNA REED—Comedy 9:30 GIRL TALK—Panel Panelists: Joanna Barnes, Betty White, Linda Douma 10:00 NURSES—Serial 10:30 GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial 11:00 YOUNG SET Guest: Vidal Sassoon. Moderator: Phyllis Kirk Afternoon 12:00 HAWAIIAN EYE—Mystery 1:00 BEN CASEY—Drama 2:00 MOVIE—Drama “My Forbidden Past” (1950) 3:25 NEWS, WEATHER 3:30 ROUTE 66—Drama 4:30 WHERE THE ACTION IS Guests: Bobby Rydell, Jo Ann Campbell 5:00 DENNIS THE MENACE—Comedy 5:30 THREE STOOGES—Comedy Evening 6:00 NEWS—Peter Jennings 6:15 NEWS—Palmer Payne 6:25 WEATHER—Roland Boucher 6:30 RIFLEMAN—Western 7:00 TWILIGHT ZONE—Drama 7:30 OZZIE AND HARRIET—Comedy COLOR 8:00 PATTY DUKE 8:30 GIDGET—Comedy COLOR 9:00 BIG VALLEY COLOR 10:00 THE SAINT—Mystery 11:00 NEWS—Palmer Payne 11:10 SPORTS—Bob Gallagher 11:15 WEATHER—Fred Ward 11:20 MOVIE—Double Feature 1. “Split Second” (Drama; 1953) 2. “The Falcon in Mexico” (Mystery; 1944)
-8- WNHC (NEW HAVEN) (ABC) Morning 6:45 CONVERSATIONS—Religion 7:00 SPEECH CORRECTION 7:30 MR. GOOBER COLOR 8:30 GLORIA—Exercise COLOR 9:00 GIRL TALK—Panel Panelist: Sophie Tucker 9:30 GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial 10:00 BEN CASEY—Drama 11:00 YOUNG SET Guest: Vidal Sassoon. Moderator: Phyllis Kirk Afternoon 12:00 DONNA REED—Comedy 12:30 MOVIE—Drama COLOR “Challenge to Lassie” (1949) 2:00 NURSES—Serial 2:30 TELL ME, DR. BROTHERS—Advice COLOR 3:00 NEVER TOO YOUNG—Serial 3:30 FATHER KNOWS BEST 4:00 MICKEY MOUSE CLUB 4:30 AFTERNOON SHOW—Kanna 5:30 PETER POTAMUS—Cartoons Evening 6:00 NEWS—Stelio Salmon 6:10 WEATHER—Bob Hynes 6:15 NEWS—Peter Jennings 6:30 SURFSIDE 6—Mystery 7:30 OZZIE AND HARRIET—Comedy COLOR 8:00 PATTY DUKE 8:30 GIDGET—Comedy COLOR 9:00 BIG VALLEY COLOR 10:00 AMOS BURKE 11:00 NEWS—George Thompson 11:10 WEATHER—Linda Pritchard 11:15 SPORTS—Carl Grande 11:20 TELL ME, DR. BROTHERS 11:25 MOVIE—Drama “The Purple Gang” (1959)
18 WHCT (HARTFORD) (IND.) Afternoon 3:30 DIGEST 3:45 PAY TV—Digest 4:00 MOVIE—Comedy “Our Leading Citizen” (1939) 5:30 MOVIE—Comedy “Our Leading Citizen” (1939) Evening 7:00 PAY TV—Movie “Murieta” (1965) Price: $1.00 9:00 PAY TV—Movie “The Sandpiper” (1965) Price: $1.50 11:00 MOVIE—Comedy “Too Late for Love” (1934)
20 WATR (WATERBURY) (ABC) Morning 11:00 YOUNG SET Guest: Vidal Sassoon. Moderator: Phyllis Kirk Afternoon 12:00 DONNA REED—Comedy 12:30 FATHER KNOWS BEST 1:00 BEN CASEY—Drama 2:00 NURSES—Serial 2:30 TIME FOR US—Serial 3:00 GENERAL HOSPITAL 3:30 YOUNG MARRIEDS—Serial 4:00 NEVER TOO YOUNG—Serial 4:30 WHERE THE ACTION IS Guests: Bobby Rydell, Jo Ann Campbell 5:00 MEMORY LANE—Songs 5:30 LADIES DAY—Fran Allison Evening 6:00 CHRISTOPHER PROGRAM 6:20 FILM SHORT 6:40 NEWS, WEATHER 6:45 NEWS—Peter Jennings 7:00 I LED THREE LIVES—Drama 7:30 OZZIE AND HARRIET—Comedy 8:00 PATTY DUKE 8:30 GIDGET—Comedy 9:00 BIG VALLEY 10:00 AMOS BURKE 11:00 NEWS, WEATHER 11:15 NIGHTLIFE—Variety
22 WWLP (SPRINGFIELD) (NBC) Morning 7:00 TODAY COLOR Guest: Jules Feiffer 9:00 MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety Guests: Jean-Paul Vignon, Jersey Joe Walcott 10:00 FRACTURED PHRASES—Game COLOR 10:25 NEWS 10:30 CONCENTRATION—Game 10:55 NEWS 11:00 MORNING STAR—Serial COLOR 11:30 PARADISE BAY—Serial COLOR Afternoon 12:00 JEOPARDY COLOR 12:30 LET’S PLAY POST OFFICE—Game COLOR 12:55 NEWS 1:00 KITTY BROMAN 1:30 LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game COLOR 1:55 NEWS—Floyd Kalber 2:00 MOMENT OF TRUTH—Serial 2:30 WORLD SERIES PRE-GAME SHOW SPECIAL COLOR 3:00 WORLD SERIES SPECIAL COLOR Los Angeles Dodgers at Minnesota Twins, opening game At press time, the starting time of the Series was not firm Evening 6:00 ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS 6:15 SPORTS—Bill Rasmussen 6:30 NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley 7:00 NEWS—Keith Silver 7:10 WEATHER—John Quill 7:15 HIGHLIGHTS—Tom Colton 7:30 VIRGINIAN COLOR 9:00 BOB HOPE COLOR “March from Camp Tyler” 10:00 I SPY—Drama COLOR 11:00 LOCAL NEWS—Robator 11:10 NEWS—Keith Silver 11:15 WEATHER—John Quill 11:20 SPORTS—Bill Rasmussen 11:30 JOHNNY CARSON—Variety COLOR
24 WEDH (HARTFORD) (IND.) Morning 9:30 ALIVE AND ABOUT—Science 9:55 WORDS—Grades 4-6 10:20 EXPLORING NATURE 11:20 HUMANITIES—High School 11:55 WORLD OF MUSIC Afternoon 12:25 LOCAL ISSUE—Report 1:00 THIS IS CONNECTICUT 1:25 HUMANITIES—High School 3:05 IN-SCHOOL PREVIEW 3:35 IN-SCHOOL PREVIEW 5:00 KINDERGARTEN—Children 5:30 WHAT’S NEW—Children Evening 6:00 FOOTBALL HIGHLIGHTS 6:30 WHAT’S NEW—Children 7:00 LOCAL ISSUE—Report 7:30 SETS AND SYSTEMS 8:00 REGIONAL REPORT SPECIAL 9:00 CREATIVE PERSON—Daumier 9:30 POINT OF VIEW—D’Oench 10:00 SAKI—Drama
30 WHNB (HARTFORD) (NBC) Morning 6:30 BIG PICTURE—Army 7:00 TODAY COLOR Guest: Jules Feiffer 9:00 MOVIE—Drama “Plunder in the Sun” (1953) Part 2 9:55 TAKE FIVE—Interview 10:00 FRACTURED PHRASES—Game COLOR 10:25 NEWS 10:30 CONCENTRATION—Game 10:55 NEWS 11:00 MORNING STAR—Serial COLOR 11:30 PARADISE BAY—Serial COLOR Afternoon 12:00 JEOPARDY COLOR 12:30 LET’S PLAY POST OFFICE—Game COLOR 12:55 NEWS 1:00 KITTY BROMAN 1:30 LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game COLOR 1:55 NEWS—Floyd Kalber 2:00 MOMENT OF TRUTH—Serial 2:30 WORLD SERIES PRE-GAME SHOW SPECIAL COLOR 2:45 WORLD SERIES SPECIAL COLOR Los Angeles Dodgers at Minnesota Twins, opening game At press time, the starting time of the Series was not firm Evening 6:00 WHIRLBIRDS—Adventure 6:30 NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley 7:00 NEWS—Barry Barents 7:10 WEATHER—Cavell Jobert 7:15 SPORTS—Don Blair 7:30 VIRGINIAN COLOR 9:00 BOB HOPE COLOR “March from Camp Tyler” 10:00 I SPY—Drama COLOR 11:00 NEWS, SPORTS—Cal Kolby 11:10 WEATHER—Don Blair 11:15 JOHNNY CARSON COLOR
32 WRLP (NORTHFIELD) (NBC) Morning 7:00 TODAY COLOR Guest: Jules Feiffer 9:00 MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety Guests: Jean-Paul Vignon, Jersey Joe Walcott 10:00 FRACTURED PHRASES—Game COLOR 10:25 NEWS 10:30 CONCENTRATION—Game 10:55 NEWS 11:00 MORNING STAR—Serial COLOR 11:30 PARADISE BAY—Serial COLOR Afternoon 12:00 JEOPARDY COLOR 12:30 LET’S PLAY POST OFFICE—Game COLOR 12:55 NEWS 1:00 KITTY BROMAN 1:30 LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game COLOR 1:55 NEWS—Floyd Kalber 2:00 MOMENT OF TRUTH—Serial 2:30 WORLD SERIES PRE-GAME SHOW SPECIAL COLOR 3:00 WORLD SERIES SPECIAL COLOR Los Angeles Dodgers at Minnesota Twins, opening game At press time, the starting time of the Series was not firm Evening 6:00 ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS 6:15 SPORTS—Bill Rasmussen 6:30 NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley 7:00 NEWS—Keith Silver 7:10 WEATHER—John Quill 7:15 HIGHLIGHTS—Tom Colton 7:30 VIRGINIAN COLOR 9:00 BOB HOPE COLOR “March from Camp Tyler” 10:00 I SPY—Drama COLOR 11:00 LOCAL NEWS—Robator 11:10 NEWS—Keith Silver 11:15 WEATHER—John Quill 11:20 SPORTS—Bill Rasmussen 11:30 JOHNNY CARSON—Variety COLOR
40 WHYN (SPRINGFIELD) (ABC) Morning 8:00 CONTINENTAL CLASSROOM 8:30 NEWS AND VIEWS 8:45 BOZO THE CLOWN—Children 9:30 JACK LA LANNE—Exercise 10:00 SUSIE—Comedy 10:30 NEVER TOO YOUNG—Serial 11:00 YOUNG SET Guest: Vidal Sassoon. Moderator: Phyllis Kirk Afternoon 12:00 DONNA REED—Comedy 12:30 FATHER KNOWS BEST 1:00 BEN CASEY—Drama 2:00 NURSES—Serial 2:30 TIME FOR US—Serial 3:00 GENERAL HOSPITAL 3:30 YOUNG MARRIEDS—Serial 4:00 SWABBY—Norm Goyer 4:30 WHERE THE ACTION IS Guests: Bobby Rydell, Jo Ann Campbell 5:00 LLOYD THAXTON—Variety 5:30 RIFLEMAN—Western Evening 6:00 NEWS—Durham Caldwell 6:10 WEATHER—Jerry Loughman 6:15 NEWS—Peter Jennings 6:30 CHEYENNE—Western 7:25 NEWS—John Deegan 7:30 OZZIE AND HARRIET—Comedy COLOR 8:00 PATTY DUKE 8:30 GIDGET—Comedy COLOR 9:00 BIG VALLEY COLOR 10:00 AMOS BURKE 11:00 NEWS—Mark Richards 11:10 WEATHER—Larry Therrien 11:15 SPORTS—Jim Thompson 11:25 MERV GRIFFIN—Variety Guests: Brian Donlevy, Robert Ettinger, Virginia Graham
79 WHNB (WATERBURY) (NBC) Morning 6:30 BIG PICTURE—Army 7:00 TODAY COLOR Guest: Jules Feiffer 9:00 MOVIE—Drama “Plunder in the Sun” (1953) Part 2 9:55 TAKE FIVE—Interview 10:00 FRACTURED PHRASES—Game COLOR 10:25 NEWS 10:30 CONCENTRATION—Game 10:55 NEWS 11:00 MORNING STAR—Serial COLOR 11:30 PARADISE BAY—Serial COLOR Afternoon 12:00 JEOPARDY COLOR 12:30 LET’S PLAY POST OFFICE—Game COLOR 12:55 NEWS 1:00 KITTY BROMAN 1:30 LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game COLOR 1:55 NEWS—Floyd Kalber 2:00 MOMENT OF TRUTH—Serial 2:30 WORLD SERIES PRE-GAME SHOW SPECIAL COLOR 2:45 WORLD SERIES SPECIAL COLOR Los Angeles Dodgers at Minnesota Twins, opening game At press time, the starting time of the Series was not firm Evening 6:00 WHIRLBIRDS—Adventure 6:30 NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley 7:00 NEWS—Barry Barents 7:10 WEATHER—Cavell Jobert 7:15 SPORTS—Don Blair 7:30 VIRGINIAN COLOR 9:00 BOB HOPE COLOR “March from Camp Tyler” 10:00 I SPY—Drama COLOR 11:00 NEWS, SPORTS—Cal Kolby 11:10 WEATHER—Don Blair 11:15 JOHNNY CARSON COLOR
TV
October 1, 2022
This week in TV Guide: October 2, 1965
Pope Paul VI is in New York on Monday to speak at the United Nations, followed by a Mass at Yankee Stadium. It's the first time any pontiff has ever appeared in the Western Hemisphere, so the trip is kind of a big deal. Nowadays most of the coverage would probably be on your favorite cable news channel, but we're a long way from that yet, so prepare for plenty of preemptions to your daytime and primetime schedule.Coverage begins early Monday morning with the Pope's departure from Rome at 1:00 a.m. ET, live via Early Bird satellite, and picks up with his arrival at Kennedy Airport at 9:30 a.m., followed by a meeting with President Johnson, his speech (in French) before the UN, a meeting with dignitaries, the Mass at Yankee Stadium (televised in color!), and his departure at 11:00 p.m. A whirlwind day in the Big Apple; I'll bet he didn't even get to the Empire State Building.
What I find interesting about the Close Up is the amount of behind-the-scenes information we're given. Not only are we told about the network commentators (Revs. Edwards L. Heston and William Tobin on ABC; Fr. Robert O'Donnell on NBC; and Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen on CBS), we're also given the producers: Sid Darion on ABC, Chet Hagen on NBC, and Don Hewitt on CBS. Hewitt, we know, will become famous for his work with Walter Cronkite and later for 60 Minutes, but Hagen had won Emmys and a Peabody for previous specials, and had been in charge of NBC's coverage of JFK's assassination and funeral. Sid Darion had done year-end specials for ABC and would later work on the religious series Directions. Would viewers have known about these men back then, or cared? I mean, I think it's interesting, but then, I'm not sure I'm the typical viewer.
Pope Paul VI's trip is headlined as the "Pilgrimage for Peace; the last pope to visit New York, Francis, will make a stop for an ecumenical service at the 9/11 Memorial. Proof that we're still praying for peace.
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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: In Hollywood, Ed's scheduled guests are Judy Garland; Sophie Tucker; comic Jackie Vernon; rock 'n' roller Tom Jones; puppet Topo Gigio; the Marquis Chimps; Leyte Filipiana, a Filipino dance group; and the Swinging Lads, a vocal instrumental group.
Palace: Host Fred Astaire introduces ballet stars Rudolf Nureyev and Dame Margot Fonteyn of London's Royal Ballet Company. Astaire also presents comedian Paul Lynde and actress Carmen Phillips in a sketch about a girl who wants to end it all; the Andrew Tahon Puppets, featuring Fuzzy the Caterpillar; jazz organist Jimmy Smith, comic Jackie Mason; the rock 'n' rolling We Five; and the acrobatic Suns Family, making their U.S. debut.
One of the reasons variety shows like these don't exist anymore is due to their dependence on vaudeville acts. Tumblers, animal acts, puppet shows. I'm not against them, mind you, but would today's viewers dig them? The kids might, and of course these shows were meant to have something for all members of the family. But when you look at shows like those hosted by Dean Martin or Carol Burnett (or Tom Jones himself), you often see, in place of such acts, performances and skits featuring the host, with guests or alone (one reason why singers and comedians make the best hosts). If you figure that this week's vaudevillians cancel each other out, you're left with a legendary trio of dancers on the Palace, and in that case nobody's going to beat out Astaire, Nureyev and Fonteyn. This week, the Palace dances off with the honors.
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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. This week, Cleveland Amory visits the South of William Faulkner, a world seething with suppressed passions, generational grudges, gothic sensibilities, and co-dependent family members. In other words, your typical soap opera.
You'd expect Cleve to be all over this one, as in, "over the top," and he is. But, surprise, surprise, even though "all this sounds as if it's been, if not wedded and bedded, at least watched and botched many times before, the fact remains that The Long, Hot Summer, which made a strong movie, is also strong TV." Its production values are top notch, from the teaser preceding the opening credits on down. It's also comprised of "really strong principal characters," and a stellar cast, featuring Roy Thinnes ("certain to be one of the new season's finest attractions"), Edmond O'Brien (who plays Will Varner "in masterful fashion"), and Ruth Roman, whom he describes simply as "excellent." In fact, he reserves judgment only on Nancy Malone, just as her character reserves judgment on Thinnes's.
And—well, that's about all. Amory's review ends abruptly, as if he needs more time to draw his conclusions. His description of the plot line, with the various seething and suppressed emotions, is very funny, similar to other soap reviews we've read from him, but in the end things don't really go anywhere. So we'll fill in the blanks: The Long, Hot Summer lasts but one season, running 26 episodes; Edmond O'Brien leaves halfway through in a dispute over the show's focus, to be replaced by Dan O'Herlihy; Roy Thinnes becomes far better-known for his next series, The Invaders; and Nancy Malone remains far better-known for her previous series, Naked City. Whether or not any or all of this would surprise Cleveland Amory is anyone's, or everyone's guess. But it's fair to say that The Long, Hot Summer is one series that failed to make it through the long, cold winter.
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Lloyd Bridges is The Loner It is, as Henry Harding says, "high noon" for Rod Serling's new Western, The Loner, airing on CBS. The source of the imagery is a showdown between Serling and Michael Dann, CBS's head of programming. Serling asserts that Dann told him the show needed more violence, saying, "You're in trouble—the audience doesn't like your show." "That's interesting, Mike," Serling says he responded, "considering the fact that it isn't even on the air yet." Apparently, Dann was basing his opinion on a focus group of 100 viewers who'd seen the opening episode and found it too unconventional. Says Serling, "I told Dann that if the network wanted a conventional Western with emphasis on violence and action, it should have gotten a conventional Western writer and producer." Dann denies that he asked for more violence—he prefers to call it "action"—and says he wants a show with more "movement" and is less "cerebral." (Perhaps less Loner and more Lone Ranger?) As of now, production of the show has been suspended after 15 episodes. It eventually returns to production, with a total of 26 episodes appearing during the single season of the show. Which begs the question Serling asked in the beginning—if you want an ordinary Western, why Serling? The man's reputation ought to have been well-known enough by then. As the always-reliable Wikipedia points out, Cleveland Amory will write that Serling "obviously intended The Loner to be a realistic, adult Western," but it was "either too real for a public grown used to the unreal Western or too adult for juvenile Easterners."
Serling would frequently talk of his dissatisfaction with The Loner,. and it's hard to disagree. The few episodes I've seen have been pretty good; certainly, more thought-provoking than the average Western. Perhaps, as is so often the case, The Loner is simply a show ahead of its time. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened had it come along later in the 1960s, when the existential loner is more in vogue.
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The Loner isn't the only Western worth talking about this week. Wednesday is Western night on The Danny Kaye Show (10:00 p.m., CBS), as Danny welcomes Buddy Ebsen of The Beverly Hillbillies, Clint Eastwood of Rawhide, Fess Parker of Daniel Boone, and. . . Charo. I'm still trying to figure out a clever retort for that one, but in the meantime there's an article by Arnold Hano about the death and rebirth of Rawhide. The series, in the midst of falling ratings, was, more or less, cancelled at the end of last season by CBS honcho James Aubrey. Not long afterward, Aubrey himself was cancelled by William Paley and Dr. Frank Stanton, and voila! Rawhide was back on the schedule.Granted, this came with a few changes. Eric Fleming, the show's lead, was sacked, "because they were paying me a million dollars a year" according to Fleming, even though he was actually only making $220,000. Eastwood, the show's co-star, was elevated to star, and most of the existing cast members were done away with. Brought in "to fill the gaps" were veteran actor John Ireland ("'He will add dramatic strength,' executive producer Ben Brady says. "He will play what is obviously a man his own age—touching 40." Ireland is actually 51); Shakespearian actor Raymond St. Jacques and Brit David Watson, who as a boy soprano soloed at Queen Elizabeth's coronation.
For all the changes, Rawhide only buys a few additional weeks on the trail; its last episode will air on January 4, 1966. Fleming, who'd ruffled many feathers during his time on the show, drowns in a boating accident less than a year after this article. Meanwhile, Clint Eastwood has been spending some time in Italy making a couple of movies: A Fistful of Dollars (originally turned down by Eric Fleming) and For a Few Dollars More. Just after Rawhide's cancellation, he'll head back begin work on The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Say no more.
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Back in the day, a week like this would have been like Christmas for sports fans, as America's three most popular spectator sports are on display. Leading things off (and that's a pretty appropriate term) is the 62nd World Series, as the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers* take on the American League champion Minnesota Twins. Game one takes place on Wednesday (3:00 p.m. ET, NBC); it's also Yom Kippur, and Dodgers star pitcher Sandy Koufax, who is Jewish, has said he will not pitch on the holiest day of the Jewish year. Don Drysdale, hardly a slouch, pitches the first game for the Dodgers, losing to Mudcat Grant and the Twins 8-2. This will play out a week later when, with the Series tied at three games apiece, Koufax pitches the seventh game on only two days rest; though he doesn't have his best stuff, he shuts out the Twins on three hits and the Dodgers take the game, and the Series, 2-0.*TV Guide wasn't sure who the National League representative would be, since the pennant race was undecided at press time. Had a playoff been necessary, all games would have been on ABC.
College football, which has always aroused passions in sports fans, is off and running, and Saturday's game of the week features the perennial Big 10 powerhouse Ohio State Buckeyes travelling to Seattle to take on the Washington Huskies. (4:00 p.m., NBC) Ohio State wins the game, 23-21, but even though finishing the season with a 7-2 record, Ohio State stays home during the bowl season; as was the case at the time, only the Big 10 champion, in this case Michigan State, gets to go bowling.
Then as now, Sunday belongs to pro football, and as the pros surpass baseball as Ameria's sport ( according to Gallup , it happens sometime around now), the NFL and AFL are both in action. CBS is on hand for the New York Giants vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (1:15 p.m.), while NBC counters with the Boston Patriots vs. Kansas City Chiefs. Between Saturday and Sunday, there are only four football games on TV (including the big college game between Williams and Springfield on WWLP); today, just on the networks, it would be—what, maybe 15?
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What else is interesting this week? Well, NBC is introducing their new Saturday morning schedules, and among the new cartoons are Atom Ant (9:30 a.m.) and Secret Squirrel (10:00 a.m.). Remember those Hanna-Barbera classics? And on WHCT in Hartford, which provides pay-TV movies , it's the 1963 comedy classic It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (6:30 p.m.) On Sunday, the syndicated special "October Madness" (4:30 p.m. channel 5, 8:30 p.m. WWLP/WRLP), reviews the history recalling the great moments of the World Series, narrated by Gene Kelly.
If it's not preempted by the Pope, Monday night has one of those coincidences that makes me wonder if it's really a coincidence: at 10:00 p.m., NBC's Run for Your Life goes up against an episode of ABC's Ben Casey entitled "Run for Your Lives, Dr. Galanos Practices Here." Both episodes boast fine guest casts (Telly Savalas, Gia Scala and Jeremy Slate on the former; Nehemiah Persoff and Michael Ansara on the latter), but do you really think that Casey episode title just came out of thin air?
Dr. Richard Kimble continues to run for his life on The Fugitive (Tuesday, 10:00 p.m., ABC), and don't forget this tie-in:
Thursday starts on The Today Show (7:00 a.m., NBC) when the entire two-hour show is devoted to "Cole Porter. . . A Remembrance," a taped program honoring Porter, who'd died a year ago. Ethel Merman, Abe Burrows, William Walker, Sally Ann Howes, and the Skitch Henderson orchestra lead the way. As a totally useless footnote, Cole Porter was born about a half hour from where we live today. In the evening, 1960 Olympic decathlon gold medalist Rafer Johnson is a guest star on Daniel Boone (7:30 p.m., NBC); later, it's an Andy Griffith Show reunion of sorts—The Andy Griffith, Don Knotts, Jim Nabors Special, starring, well, do I really need to spell it out? (8:00 p.m, CBS) You can see the opening number here . Here's a commercial for the show:
Finally, as you know, it's part of my mission here to point out any sightings in the wild of movies that wind up on Mystery Science Theater 3000. This week's entrant is Bloodlust! (Friday, 1:00 a.m, WWLP/WRLP), starring Wilton Graff as a mad doctor on a tropical island, hunting a pair of young couples as if they were wild animals. The movie was made in 1959 but not released until 1961; one of the four hunted youngsters is played by Robert Reed, who, three days after the movie is released, debuts in The Defenders with E.G. Marshall.
If you don't want to stay up that late, you can opt for the WNHC movie at 11:25 p.m. Citizen Kane. I hear that's pretty good, too. TV
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Insightful commentary on how classic TV shows mirrored and influenced American society, tracing the impact of iconic series on national identity, cultural change, and the challenges we face today.
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