Mitchell Hadley's Blog: It's About TV!, page 73

Around the dial

At Comfort TV, David is continuing a very interesting series he started recently, to watch at least one episode of every prime-time network series to air in the 1970s. This week, he's up to Tuesdays in 1970 . How many of them do you remember?
The Horn Session returns to the wacky world of F Troop, as Hal reviews the episode " Spy, Counterspy, Counter Counterspy ," from the show's first season. With Pat Harrington, Jr. and Abbe Lane as guest stars, it's as wacky as you'd expect.
At Cult TV Blog, John continues his look into the alternative explanation behind The Prisoner . "The Prisoner in the Asylum" has been a very provocative series, and as I've mentioned before, I'm looking forward to watching the series again, only this time from the standpoint of his scenario.
At The Classic Film Connection, Jillian reviews the TCM documentary on Dean Martin, Dean Martin: King of Cool . Personally, I'd give that title to Steve McQueen, but as I mentioned here , Deano was always cool, and Jillian's analysis is terrific.
Rick is back at Classic Film & TV Cafe with another edition of the Movie-TV Connection Game , and as usual I'll warn you to refrain from checking the comments before you've given your own answers. These are always a lot of fun!
At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence remembers the late Bo Hopkins, the latest TV and movie star to pass on, who died last week, aged 84. In addition to the many movies in which he appeared, he was also a familiar face on television throughout his career, including a regular role in Dynasty. 
At The Hits Just Keep on Comin', JB takes one of his periodic looks back at a date in living history; this time, it's June 1, 1982 . You know, I'm surprised at how much of this I remember, and how long ago it seems. I think it's called getting old. TV  

Over the Transom: Mannix Hires a Secretary

It's time once again for another edition "Over the Transom," the occasional feature by Stephen Taylor which debuted here last month. This month, Stephen takes a look at the actress who played such a pivotal role in the success of one of my favorite detective series.
by Stephen Taylor

It was 1968, and Mannix had been renewed for a second season. But CBS was dissatisfied, and so was producer Bruce Geller. For the series to succeed, Joe Mannix would need to work on his own, and get away from the constraints of Intertect, the corporate detective agency. At Intertect, he worked on a very short leash, constantly needing to report his whereabouts, file reports and keep an expense account. This stifled what could be done with the character, and Geller, at the urging of Lucille Ball, opened the second season with Mannix setting up his own agency. Given the nature of his work, he knew he’d be in and out of the office. He needed a secretary, someone to hold down the fort and answer phone calls and do research and keep the books. The secretary would end up doing far more than that, but that’s how her duties were described to Ms. Peggy Fair when Mannix hired her as his secretary.

Peggy Fair was portrayed by Gail Fisher. Fisher was from New Jersey, and after winning multiple beauty contests began to model. She also gained some formal training as an actress working with Lee Strasberg and Elia Kazan. She had the chops, and she was ready to go to Hollywood. The only problem was whether she’d be able to find work. Fisher was black at a time when blacks were few and far between in television and the movies. The doors were beginning to open, but so very slowly. She arrived in Hollywood at about the same time that Nat King Cole had his groundbreaking variety show canceled by NBC due to an inability to find national sponsorship. Times were tough for black actors, but this began to come to an end in the early ’60’s when blacks actors and actresses began to land guest star spots on various television shows. The Fugitive was an early example, with Ruby Dee and James Edwards guesting in the first season in 1963. Bill Cosby became the first black actor to have a continuing role in a series with I, Spy in 1965. Both Cicely Tyson and Nichelle Nichols had regular roles in a drama, with East Side/West Side and Star Trek respectively, so Fisher was the third actress to share this distinction. In my opinion she was the first black actress to be given anything to do as a character.

As a secretary, Peggy Fair was everything a good secretary needed to be. They weren’t referred to as administrative assistants back then; they were called secretaries, and they did many things for their boss not listed in the ad posted in the newspaper. Peggy Fair was no exception. She was a single mother, a widow with a child to raise. Her late husband was an LAPD cop killed in the line of duty. (The circumstances of his death would be examined in an episode called “Medal for a Hero” in the third season). She answered the ad and was a perfect fit. She was tactful, accomplished at every sort of office work, knew how to screen visitors and do collections and so much more. The more included fixing Mannix sandwiches, coffee and the occasional meal. To run down obscure facts using someone named "Vivian" at the LAPD. To be waiting at the foot of the bed every time Mannix woke up in a hospital room. To make his bail. To place Art Malcolm on the alert. To cheerfully (most of the time) answer her telephone at 2 AM when Mannix needed some bit of information. To appeal to his sense of fair play and justice in talking him into taking some dog of a case that involves some relative/friend of hers with no money to pay, and to shame him when he wasn’t meeting her expectations. And to be a sounding board when Mannix was puzzled, and to make suggestions that often provided Mannix with some burst of insight. And to just be a secretary, and a friend and a confidant and a shoulder to cry on and a smile first thing in the morning on a rainy California Monday. And in 1968 being a secretary included making a nice ham sandwich for your boss, and having him ask you to "put a little more mustard on that, honey.."

Peggy Fair was also easy on the eyes, which led to speculation that she more than a professional relationship with Joe Mannix. No. While Mike Connors and Gail Fisher had great chemistry working together, there was never any sort of romance between the two. There couldn’t be. Peggy Fair was not going to get involved with a man who did the same sort of work as her late husband. The stress of being married to a cop wasn’t going to be any different than a relationship with a private detective. The hours, the worry, the constant terror of bad news; she’d been down that road before and wanted no part of that again, thank you very much. Mannix, for his part, played the field and enjoyed himself immensely. He never married, had no children, and was interested in neither. And a relationship would have destroyed the great chemistry these two had, one with the other. With the constant worry over his safety, the balance between the two characters would have shifted in a way that was detrimental to the series. The show would have jumped the shark years before Fonzie. And as a practical matter, the CBS Television Network just wasn’t going to allow an interracial romance. So it never happened. I think the series was better off without it. Her relationship toward Mannix was maternal mixed with friendship; he gave her someone to take care of and worry over. Mannix saw her as a friend, and would do anything to protect her and keep her from harm. In fact, he did this several times, as Peggy had a tendency to get kidnapped on a routine basis. He counted on Peggy to have his back, and she never let him down.

Several TV series back then experimented with racially charged language in their early seasons; Adam-12 and Sanford and Son come to mind immediately. It didn’t last long, and it didn’t occur at all on Mannix. Even the bad guys treated Peggy with respect, although one thug did refer to her as a “blackbird”. Mannix put the issue of racism front and center early on in an episode in the second season, “Last Rites for Miss Emma”. Peggy is attracted to a man (Robert Hooks) who tried to break up a robbery. Mannix begins to investigate, and finds the man may not be the hero he’s portrayed to be. When Mannix points this out to Peggy, she refuses to believe him and calls him a racist. Mannix had a way of grabbing people by their arm or shoulder to emphasize a point, and he grabs Peggy now and just stares at her without speaking; his look tells her that she knows better and that she better stop being foolish right away. Peggy finally breaks eye contact and, weeping, apologizes.

Peggy really shone in the fourth season episode “The World Between”. While in the hospital recovering from a gunshot wound (remember, she worked for Joe Mannix) she falls in love with an African prince (Hari Rhodes), and he with her. They begin planning a future, but he learns that he’s terminally ill. He decides to return to his homeland, and trying to keep Peggy from being hurt, breaks off the romance. This episode was all about Peggy; it only took Mannix about 10 minutes to figure out who was trying to kill the Prince and to break up the conspiracy, and the rest of the episode was given over to their romance. This episode, one of the best in the series, certainly features one of the best endings; Peggy is at her desk, as chipper as always. Mannix passes by and stops. He hesitates, not really knowing what to say. He finally asks her if she’s okay; she smiles and assures him that she’ll be just fine. Satisfied, Mannix walks into his office. Peggy then turns toward the camera; her face crumples and tears begin to run down her face.

Fisher never did much after Mannix. She had some legal issues later in the ’70’s involving drugs and long-distance telephone fraud, and there were rumors of drug abuse for many years after Mannix. She didn’t participate in the crossover episode of Diagnosis: Murder in 1997, and by the time she died in 2000 she had fallen so far off the face of the earth that it took nearly three months for word of her death to leak out to the general public. TV  

What's on TV? Monday, June 2, 1980

One of the things I've noticed doing this feature throughout the years is how the number of ABC affiliates has increased as we get into the 1980s. Some of this is due to location, of course; one never has a problem finding an ABC station in New York City. But ABC, along with DuMont, always lagged behind NBC and CBS; those two networks had the advantage of building on their many radio affiliations. Frequently, you'd see ABC having to share an affiliation with another network, and sometimes they had no affiliate at all, but had to wrangle what time they could for their more popular shows, which explains why a show such as The Hollywood Palace would be seen at 10:30 p.m. on Sunday night. No longer, though; this is the era of ABC dominance in primetime, and in this Southeast Texas issue of TV Guide, ABC affiliates dominate the landscape. I wonder how many of them had made a switch in the previous few years? I could find out, but that would require too much effort. In the meantime, hope you all have a restful Memorial Day.
  -2- KPRC (HOUSTON) (NBC)

  MORNING

       5:30

HEALTH FIELD

       6:00

THIS DAY WITH KATHERINE

       7:00

TODAY—Tom Brokaw

       9:00

PHIL DONAHUE

Guest: Barbara Hansen

     10:00

HIGH ROLLERS

     10:30

WHEEL OF FORTUNE—Game

     11:00

CHAIN REACTION

Daryl Anderson, Alison Arngrim, Gina Hecht, Nipsey Russell

         

   11:30

MIDDAY

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

DAYS OF OUR LIVES

       1:00

DOCTORS—Serial

       1:30

ANOTHER WORLD—Serial

       3:00

MOVIE—Drama 

BW  “Shadow of a Doubt” (1942)

       5:00

RON STONE—Interview

       5:30

NBC NEWS—Chancellor/Brinkley

  EVENING

       6:00

NEWS

       6:30

FACE THE MUSIC—Game

       7:00

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE

       8:00

MOVIE—Mystery

“Secrets of Three Hungry Wives” (Made-for-TV; 1978)

     10:00

NEWS

     10:30

TONIGHT

Guest Host: David Letterman. Guests: Ben Vereen, Florence Henderson, Jose Molina, Elayne Boosler

     12:00

TOMORROW—Snyder

Guests: Quentin Crisp, Toni Grant

 

 

  -3- KATC (LAFAYETTE) (ABC)

  MORNING

       6:30

MARTY ROBBINS’ SPOTLIGHT

       7:00

GOOD MORNING AMERICA—David Hartman  

       9:00

MIKE DOUGLAS

Co-host: Larry Wilcox. Guests: James Coburn, Joan Van Ark, Bill Anderson, Graham Chapman

     10:00

LAVERNE & SHIRLEY

     10:30

FAMILY FEUD—Game

     11:00

$20,000 PYRAMID—Game

Jay Johnson, Joan Rivers

         

   11:30

RYAN’S HOPE—Serial

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

ALL MY CHILDREN

       1:00

ONE LIFE TO LIVE—Serial

       2:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial

       3:00

EDGE OF NIGHT

       3:30

BUGS BUNNY—Cartoon

       4:00

BRADY BUNCH—Comedy

       4:30

GOOD TIMES—Comedy

       5:00

NEWS

       5:30

ABC NEWS—Frank Reynolds

  EVENING

       6:00

NEWS

       6:30

M*A*S*H

       7:00

ONE IN A MILLION

Return

       7:30

BASEBALL

Return: New York Yankees at Kansas City Royals or Cincinnati Reds at Los Angeles Dodgers [A baseball strike would cause the cancellation of this game]

     10:00

NEWS

     10:30

ABC NEWS—Ted Koppel

     10:50

BARNEY MILLER

     11:25

POLICE WOMAN—Crima Drama

 

 

   3  KBTX (BRYAN) (CBS, ABC)

  MORNING

       6:00

MONDAY MORNING—Bob Schieffer

       7:00

GOOD MORNING AMERICA—David Hartman  

       9:00

JEFFERSONS

       9:30

ALICE

     10:00

LAVERNE & SHIRLEY

     10:30

FAMILY FEUD—Game

     11:00

$20,000 PYRAMID—Game

Jay Johnson, Joan Rivers

         

   11:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

TEN ACRES

     12:30

RYAN’S HOPE—Serial

       1:00

ONE LIFE TO LIVE—Serial

       2:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial

       3:00

EDGE OF NIGHT

       3:30

TOM & JERRY

       4:00

BEVERLY HILLBILLIES

       4:30

ANDY GRIFFITH—Comedy

       5:00

ABC NEWS—Frank Reynolds

       5:30

CBS NEWS—Walter Cronkite

  EVENING

       6:00

NEWS

       6:30

MATCH GAME PM

       7:00

ONE IN A MILLION

Return

       7:30

BASEBALL 

Return: New York Yankees at Kansas City Royals or Cincinnati Reds at Los Angeles Dodgers [A baseball strike would cause the cancellation of this game]

     10:00

NEWS

     10:30

ABC NEWS—Ted Koppel

     10:50

BARNEY MILLER

     11:25

POLICE WOMAN—Crima Drama

 

 

   4  KJAC (BEAUMONT-PORT ARTHUR) (NBC)

  MORNING

       6:30

ARTHUR SMITH

       7:00

TODAY—Tom Brokaw

       9:00

CARD SHARKS—Games

       9:30

HOLLYWOOD SQUARES—Game

Norm Crosby, Britt Ekland, Robert Fuller, George Gobel, Jayne Kennedy, Bernie Kopell, Tom Poston, Jimmie Walker, Pia Zadora

     10:00

HIGH ROLLERS

     10:30

WHEEL OF FORTUNE—Game

     11:00

CHAIN REACTION

Daryl Anderson, Alison Arngrim, Gina Hecht, Nipsey Russell

         

   11:30

PASSWORD PLUS—Game

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

MARY TYLER MOORE—Comedy

     12:30

DAYS OF OUR LIVES—Serial

       1:30

DOCTORS—Serial

       2:00

ANOTHER WORLD—Serial

       3:30

MEDICAL CENTER—Drama

       4:30

GUNSMOKE—Western

       5:30

NBC NEWS—Chancellor/Brinkley

  EVENING

       6:00

NEWS

       6:30

CHURCH SERVICE—Baptist

       7:00

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE

       8:00

MOVIE—Mystery

“Secrets of Three Hungry Wives” (Made-for-TV; 1978)

     10:00

NEWS

     10:30

TONIGHT

Guest Host: David Letterman. Guests: Ben Vereen, Florence Henderson, Jose Molina, Elayne Boosler

     12:00

TOMORROW—Snyder

Guests: Quentin Crisp, Toni Grant

 

 

   6  KFDM (BEAUMONT-PORT ARTHUR) (NBC, ABC)

  MORNING

       6:20

COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD

       6:25

SUMMER SEMESTER

Metropolitan America: Post World War II growth patterns

       6:55

COFFEE WITH PASTOR DABNEY

       7:00

MONDAY MORNING—Bob Schieffer

       8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO

Guest: Charles Kimbrough

       9:00

JEFFERSONS

       9:30

ALICE

     10:00

PRICE IS RIGHT

     11:00

YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS—Serial

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

NEWS

     12:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial

       1:00

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial

       2:00

GUIDING LIGHT—Serial

       3:00

ONE DAY AT A TIME

       3:30

BEWITCHED—Comedy

       4:00

BIONIC WOMAN—Adventure

       5:00

HOGAN’S HEROES—Comedy

       5:30

CBS NEWS—Walter Cronkite

  EVENING

       6:00

NEWS

       6:30

P.M. MAGAZINE

       7:00

WKRP IN CINCINNATI

       7:30

PHYL AND MIKHY—Comedy

       8:00

M*A*S*H

       8:30

HOUSE CALLS

       9:00

LOU GRANT

     10:00

NEWS

     10:30

M*A*S*H

     11:00

JIM ROCKFORD, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR

     12:00

NEWS

 

 

   7  KPLC (LAKE CHARLES) (NBC)

  MORNING

       6:00

LOUISIANA TODAY

       6:55

ABUNDANT LIVING

       7:00

TODAY—Tom Brokaw

       9:00

PHIL DONAHUE

Guest: Mike Douglas

     10:00

HIGH ROLLERS

     10:30

WHEEL OF FORTUNE—Game

     11:00

CHAIN REACTION

Daryl Anderson, Alison Arngrim, Gina Hecht, Nipsey Russell

         

   11:30

MIDDAY

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

NEWS

     12:30

DAYS OF OUR LIVES—Serial

       1:30

DOCTORS—Serial

       2:00

ANOTHER WORLD—Serial

       3:30

TOM & JERRY

       4:30

HILARIOUS HOUSE OF FRIGHTENSTEIN

       5:00

ANDY GRIFFITH—Comedy 

BW         5:30

NBC NEWS—Chancellor/Brinkley

  EVENING

       6:00

NEWS

       6:30

M*A*S*H

       7:00

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE

       8:00

MOVIE—Mystery

“Secrets of Three Hungry Wives” (Made-for-TV; 1978)

     10:00

NEWS

     10:30

TONIGHT

Guest Host: David Letterman. Guests: Ben Vereen, Florence Henderson, Jose Molina, Elayne Boosler

     12:00

TOMORROW—Snyder

Guests: Quentin Crisp, Toni Grant

 

 

  -8- KUHT (HOUSTON) (PBS)   MORNING

       6:15

A.M. WEATHER

       6:30

BODY WORKS

       7:00

SESAME STREET

       8:00

MISTER ROGERS—Children

       8:30

SESAME STREET—Children

       9:30

ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children

     10:00

ZOOM—Children

     10:30

CARRASCOLENDAS—Children

     11:00

SIGNING WITH CINDY

         

   11:30

TO BE ANNOUNCED

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

MacNEIL/LEHRER REPORT

     12:30

OVER EASY—Hugh Downs

       1:00

DICK CAVETT

       1:30

TO BE ANNOUNCED

       3:30

SESAME STREET—Children

       4:30

MISTER ROGERS—Children

       5:00

ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children

       5:30

ZOOM—Children

  EVENING

       6:00

OVER EASY—Hugh Downs

       6:30

MacNEIL/LEHRER REPORT

       7:00

ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL—Drama

       8:00

PICASSO—A PAINTER’S DIARY—Documentary

Special

       9:30

ISLAM, THE VEIL AND THE FUTURE—Discussion

     10:00

DICK CAVETT

Guest: Richard Gilman

     10:30

NON FICTION TELEVISION—Documentary

 

   11:30

SPOLETO

     12:00

OPEN BOOK

 

 

   9  KTRE (LUFKIN) (NBC, ABC)

  MORNING

       5:30

PTL CLUB—Religion

       6:30

FARM AND RANCH REPORT

       7:00

GOOD MORNING AMERICA—David Hartman  

       9:00

PTL CLUB—Religion

     10:00

LAVERNE & SHIRLEY

     10:30

FAMILY FEUD—Game

     11:00

$20,000 PYRAMID—Game

Jay Johnson, Joan Rivers

         

   11:30

TIC TAC DOUGH—Game

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

DAYS OF OUR LIVES

       1:00

DOCTORS—Serial

       1:30

ANOTHER WORLD—Serial

       3:00

EDGE OF NIGHT

       3:30

ANDY GRIFFITH—Comedy 

BW         4:00

GUNSMOKE—Western

       5:00

AREA 9

       5:30

ABC NEWS—Frank Reynolds

  EVENING

       6:00

NEWS

       6:30

FAMILY FEUD—Game

       7:00

ONE IN A MILLION

Return

       7:30

BASEBALL

Return: New York Yankees at Kansas City Royals or Cincinnati Reds at Los Angeles Dodgers [A baseball strike would cause the cancellation of this game]

     10:00

NEWS

     10:30

TONIGHT

Guest Host: David Letterman. Guests: Ben Vereen, Florence Henderson, Jose Molina, Elayne Boosler

     12:00

OPEN BOOK

 

 

  10 KLFY (LAFAYETTE) (CBS)

  MORNING

       5:20

ROSARY

       5:45

PASSE PARTOUT—Variety

       7:00

MONDAY MORNING—Bob Schieffer

       8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO

Guest: Charles Kimbrough

       9:00

PHIL DONAHUE

Guest: Mike Douglas

     10:00

PRICE IS RIGHT

     11:00

YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS—Serial

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR

     12:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial

       1:00

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial

       2:00

GUIDING LIGHT—Serial

       3:00

ONE DAY AT A TIME

       3:30

TOM & JERRY

       4:30

NEWLYWED GAME

       5:00

NEWS

       5:30

CBS NEWS—Walter Cronkite

  EVENING

       6:00

NEWS

       6:30

HAPY DAYS AGAIN—Comedy

       7:00

WKRP IN CINCINNATI

       7:30

PHYL AND MIKHY—Comedy

       8:00

M*A*S*H

       8:30

HOUSE CALLS

       9:00

LOU GRANT

     10:00

NEWS

     10:30

HARRY-O—Crime Drama

 

   11:40

HEC RAMSEY—Crime Drama

 

 

  11 KHOU (HOUSTON) (CBS)   MORNING

       6:00

IT’S YOUR BUSINESS

       6:30

MONDAY MORNING—Bob Schieffer

       7:30

MORNING SHOW—Carney

       8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO

Guest: Charles Kimbrough

       9:00

JEFFERSONS

       9:30

ALICE

     10:00

PRICE IS RIGHT

     11:00

YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS—Serial

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

NEWS

     12:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial

       1:00

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial

       2:00

GUIDING LIGHT—Serial

       3:00

DINAH! & FRIENDS

Co-host: Fernando Lamas. Guests: Charo, Robert Donner, Ken Gerbino, Joanna Black, Air Suply

       4:30

M*A*S*H

       5:00

NEWS

  EVENING

       6:00

CBS NEWS—Walter Cronkite

       6:30

P.M. MAGAZINE

       7:00

WKRP IN CINCINNATI

       7:30

PHYL AND MIKHY—Comedy

       8:00

M*A*S*H

       8:30

HOUSE CALLS

       9:00

LOU GRANT

     10:00

NEWS

     10:30

HARRY-O—Crime Drama

 

   11:40

HEC RAMSEY—Crime Drama

 

 

  12 KBMT (BEAUMONT-PORT ARTHUR) (ABC)

  MORNING

       6:00

PTL CLUB—Religion

       7:00

GOOD MORNING AMERICA—David Hartman  

       9:00

PHIL DONAHUE

     10:00

LAVERNE & SHIRLEY

     10:30

FAMILY FEUD—Game

     11:00

$20,000 PYRAMID—Game

Jay Johnson, Joan Rivers

         

   11:30

RYAN’S HOPE—Serial

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

ALL MY CHILDREN

       1:00

ONE LIFE TO LIVE—Serial

       2:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial

       3:00

EDGE OF NIGHT

       3:30

TIC TAC DOUGH—Game

       4:00

BUGS BUNNY AND FRIENDS—Cartoons

       4:30

BEVERLY HILLBILLIES 

BW         5:00

ABC NEWS—Reynolds

       5:30

CAROL BURNETT AND FRIENDS—Comedy

Guest: Valerie Harper

  EVENING

       6:00

NEWS

       6:30

SANFORD AND SON—Comedy

       7:00

ONE IN A MILLION

Return

       7:30

BASEBALL

Return: New York Yankees at Kansas City Royals or Cincinnati Reds at Los Angeles Dodgers [A baseball strike would cause the cancellation of this game]

     10:00

NEWS

     10:30

ABC NEWS—Ted Koppel

     10:50

BARNEY MILLER

     11:25

POLICE WOMAN—Crima Drama

 

 

  13 KTRK (HOUSTON) (ABC)   MORNING

       6:00

ACCENT

       6:30

GOOD MORNING AMERICA—David Hartman

       7:00

NEWS

       7:30

GOOD MORNING AMERICA—David Hartman  

       9:00

GOOD MORNING HOUSTON

     10:00

LAVERNE & SHIRLEY

     10:30

FAMILY FEUD—Game

     11:00

$20,000 PYRAMID—Game

Jay Johnson, Joan Rivers

         

   11:30

RYAN’S HOPE—Serial

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

ALL MY CHILDREN

       1:00

ONE LIFE TO LIVE—Serial

       2:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial

       3:00

BEST OF DONNIE & MARIE—Variety

       4:00

CELEBRITY CONCERTS

Roger Whittaker

       5:00

LIVE AT FIVE

       5:30

ABC NEWS—Frank Reynolds

  EVENING

       6:00

NEWS

       6:30

FAMILY FEUD—Game

       7:00

ONE IN A MILLION

Return

       7:30

BASEBALL

Return: New York Yankees at Kansas City Royals or Cincinnati Reds at Los Angeles Dodgers [A baseball strike would cause the cancellation of this game]

     10:00

NEWS

     10:30

ABC NEWS—Ted Koppel

     10:50

BONANZA

 

   11:50

BARNEY MILLER

     12:25

POLICE WOMAN—Crime Drama

 

 

  15 KAMU (COLLEGE STATION) (PBS)

  MORNING

       7:45

A.M. WEATHER

       8:00

SESAME STREET—Children

       9:00

MISTER ROGERS—Children

       9:30

ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children

     10:00

STUDIO SEE

     10:30

ONCE UPON A CLASSIC

     11:00

SESAME STREET—Children

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

OLD HOUSEWORKS

     12:30

OPEN HOUSE

       1:00

PLANT KINGDOM

       1:30

WORLD TRAVELS

       2:00

OVER EASY—Hugh Downs

       2:30

VILLA ALEGRE—Children

       3:00

SESAME STREET—Children

       4:00

MISTER ROGERS—Children

       4:30

ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children

       5:00

ZOOM—Children

       5:30

OVER EASY—High Downs

  EVENING

       6:00

MacNEIL/LEHRER REPORT

       6:30

NEWS

       7:00

PICASSO—A PAINTER’S DIARY—Documentary

Special

       8:30

ISLAM, THE VEIL AND THE FUTURE—Discussion

       9:00

JAZZ AT THE MAINTENANCE SHOP

Debut: The Phil Woods Quartet

     10:00

NEWS

     10:30

SPOLETO ‘80

     11:00

MacNEIL/LEHRER REPORT

 

 

  26 KRIV (HOUSTON) (Ind.)   MORNING

       5:00

PTL CLUB—Religion

       7:00

GROOVIE GOOLIES—Cartoon

       7:30

FUN WORLD—Cartoons

       8:00

JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS

       8:30

BUGS BUNNY & FRIENDS

       9:00

PARTRIDGE FAMILY—Comedy

       9:30

HAZEL—Comedy

     10:00

GET SMART—Comedy

     10:30

COURTSHIP OF EDDIE’S FATHER—Comedy-Drama

     11:00

GHOST AND MRS. MUIR

         

   11:30

WARNER ROBERTS—Variety

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

ACCESS

       1:00

CHICO AND THE MAN—Comedy

       1:30

ROMPER ROOM—Children

       2:00

GROOVIE GOOLIES—Cartoon

       2:30

FUN WORLD—Cartoon

       3:00

BUGS BUNNY & FRIENDS—Cartoons

       3:30

WORLD OF SUPER ADVENTURE

       4:00

SUPERHEROES—Cartoon

       4:30

SUPERMAN—Adventure

       5:00

MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY—Comedy

       5:30

FAMILY AFFAIR—Comedy

  EVENING

       6:00

CAROL BURNETT AND FRIENDS—Comedy

Guest: Paul Sand

       6:30

ALL IN THE FAMILY

       7:00

JOKER’S WILD—Game

       7:30

TIC TAC DOUGH—Game

       8:00

NEWLYWED GAME

       8:30

CROSS-WITS—Game

Jamie Farr, Roxie Roker, Richard Sanders, Barbara Rhoades

       9:00

AMERICA, YOU’RE TOO YOUNG TO DIE—Religion

Special: Host: Rev. Jerry Falwell, with Sens. Jessie A. Helms (R-NC), Harry F. Byrd (Ind.-VA), Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-CA)

     10:00

STARSKY & HUTCH—Crime Drama

     11:00

LA VENGANZA

     12:00

PTL CLUB—Religion

 

 

  39 KHTV (HOUSTON) (Ind.)   MORNING

       6:00

700 CLUB—Religion

       7:00

BUGS BUNNY—Cartoons

       8:00

FLINTSTONES—Cartoon

       8:30

ED ALLEN—Exercise

       9:00

CALENDAR—Marijane/divat

     10:00

MOVIE—Western

“Man Without a Star” (1955)

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

MATCH GAME

     12:30

GOMER PYLE, USMC

       1:00

KOJAK—Crime Drama

       2:00

BEWITCHED—Comedy 

BW         2:30

CASPER—Cartoon

       3:00

POPEYE AND FRIENDS

       3:30

BUGS BUNNY/DAFFY DUCK

       4:00

LOST IN SPACE—Adventure

       5:00

BEWITCHED—Comedy

       5:30

BEVERLY HILLBILLIES

  EVENING

       6:00

WHAT’S HAPPENING—Comedy

       6:30

I LOVE LUCY—Comedy 

BW         6:55

BUSINESS REPORT

       7:00

JIM ROCKFORD, PRIVATE INFESTIGATOR—Crime Drama

       8:00

MOVIE—Drama

“Enchantment” (1948)

     10:00

BENNY HILL—Comedy

     10:30

GUNSMOKE—Western

 

   11:30

IRONSIDE—Crime Drama

     12:30

NEWS

TV  

This week in TV Guide: May 31, 1980

True story: back when I was hosting a political talk show on public access television back in the 1990s, I had this great idea to try and measure how many people were watching the show. It wasn't a very good show, sandwiched as it was between two other political shows on Monday nights, all of which ran for 30 minutes (I used to joke that the time period ought to be called the "Narcolepsy 90," on the grounds that nobody would be awake by the time the third show had ended), but we did have our moments, and this surely would have been one of them.
The idea, and I'm not sure why we never did it, was that the show would open with our usual opening credits, but that instead of our regular, public domain theme, we'd play the extended version of Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," which runs 17 minutes, while the title slide remained up the entire time. When the song finally ended, nearly 20 minutes into the show, the picture would fade to me, whereupon I would introduce my guest as if nothing had happened, and then promptly apologize that we had run out of time, tell the audience that we'd see them again next week, and roll the closing credits.* My thought was that, five or so minutes into this, people might start to wonder what was going on, and by the 15-minute mark, they might be convinced that something was seriously wrong, and would call the station to find out what was going on. Since nobody bothered to measure ratings for shows like ours, it might at least give us a vague idea of how many viewers we had, or at least how many were invested in the show as more than background noise for their pets while they were out.
*The idea progressed enough that I actually considered whether to let the guest in on the joke, or to spring it on him unawares, and then explain everything afterward. 

Even though that show never came off, it wouldn't have been out of place in the wacky world of public access television, as this week's article by Don Kowet points out. Take, for example, Dick Roffman's show on public access Channel J in New York City. On Dick Roffman & Friends, "a roomful of preening vanity-press authors and tin-eared Carusos spring through 15-seconds-of-glory TV spots. The oblivious Roffman shuffles some papers on his desk. He reads a magazine. One night a poet tried to recite more than his one allotted stanza. Outraged, Roffman leaped up and shoved the babbling bard off the stage." Now that's my kind of guy.
Some of the shows are borderline pornographic; "performers on all three public channels are allowed to commit almost any sexual act, and they often do. They can utter anything except outright criminal libel." Some are, arguably, even more disgusting; one show broadcast, on Christmas Day, a loop of "an 'artist' walking up to a little dog and actually shooting it dead in cold blood." Some preach their own version of the Gospel; one invented "a trinity in which she, New York TV-nostalgia-king Joe Franklin and the Mafia competed for control of her soul." 
But most are simply eccentric. On Mondo Bozo, star Kathy O'Connell tries to enroll viewers in her write-in campaign to become Queen of Holland. Her qualifications? "I saw both versions of 'Hans Brinker, Or, The Silver Skates'.") On The Grube Tube, Steve Grub talks to telephone callers while his phone number flashes on the screen, accompanied by the message, "Steve needs a woman now!" Adrian Stokes, host of New York Live, Jim Chladek, a former ABC programming executive, says there are eight different reasons why people want to host a public-access show: "Some do it for vanity, some for instant ego gratification. How many reasons is that? Only one? I'll have to call you later with the other seven." 
Some access shows have higher goals than that; Nick Yanni's Tomorrow's Television Tonight hopes to, in the host's words, "prove that you don't need such glossy production values to create a show." Yanni, a TV critic for the New York Post, gives a weekly review of what's happening in the city's TV, art and theater. His guest list—Joan Fontaine, Steve Allen, Hugh Downs and Stockard Channing among them—pays testimony to the respect with which Yanni's show is held.
I never had a guest list like that, but I think that by the time my show went off the air, we had developed a certain élan in the way we spoofed local and national politics. (E.g.: "We show how the soundtrack to Hogan's Heroes matches up exactly with the picture on C-SPAN.") Perhaps, if we'd stuck with it another twenty years or so, we might even have made it to cable.
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Whenever 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 Khan, Squeeze, Tanya Tucker and Rupert Holmes; comedy by Jimmie Walker and Dick Lord.
Special: Hostess Dolly Parton welcomes Paul McCartney & Wings, Crystal Gayle, Alice Cooper, Rita Coolidge, Frankie Valli, Chuck Mangione, Yvonne Elliman and a salute to Queen. 

It's possible that some of you might find the real winner of the week to be ABC's sketch comedy show Fridays, which has Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers as musical guests (minority report: Randy Newman on Saturday Night Live), but in the world of big-name talent, this week's Special is special, boasting five Rock Hall of Fame enshrinees. How can you go against that? Special wins the week.
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I appreciate Joseph Finnigan's turn of phrase in this week's TV Update, in which he describes NBC as having a "death grip" on third place in the ratings. But as we all know, when you've got nothing left in the bank, you go double or nothing, and that's what network president Fred Silverman has done with his decision to open the season with the 12-part Shogun, broadcast over six consecutive nights. Of course, if everyone had known what a ratings blockbuster Shogun would be—it gives NBC its highest weekly Nielsen ratings ever, and the average rating for the miniseries is the second highest in TV history (following Roots, of course)—Silverman probably would have been given no credit at all. The question, however, is this: will Shogun save the network? Well, at the end of the season, NBC has but six of the nation's 30 highest rated shows, and its top series (Little House on the Prairie) comes in tenth. By the following year, the man with the golden touch is gone.
The new season will also see The Tonight Show cut from 90 minutes to an hour, at Johnny Carson's request, and plans to fill the gap by expanding Tom Snyder's Tomorrow show to 90 minutes. This move is, I think, a mistake for both shows: cutting Tonight effectively changes the character of the show from one in which guests sit on the couch and chat with each other, to a series of one-on-one interviews (most of which sound rehearsed) and no interaction whatsoever. For Tomorrow, the addition of Rona Barrett as co-host is an unmitigated disaster, and instead of Snyder's often incisive interviews, Tomorrow becomes a bloated shadow of its former self.
The fall season will be affected by an actors strike that runs three months and results in a boycott of the Emmy awards, but that's not the strike that TV Guide's talking about this week. No, the program listings carry the warning that a baseball strike could result in the preemption of regularly scheduled games, to be replaced by baseball-themed programming. In fact, the strike ran from April 1 to 8, and while it cancelled the end of spring training, it didn't affect the regular season at all, so I'm not quite sure why it's popping up in TV Guide nearly two months later. Each of these events is a kind of shape of things to come, though; the Writers Guild of America goes on strike for three months in 1981, forcing a delay in the fall season; while baseball suffers through yet another strike, this one running from June 12 to August 9, resulting in a split-season that sees the two teams with the best records in the National League, the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals, out of the expanded playoffs altogether.
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Jeff Greenfield, who's better-known as a political commentator, weighs in on the future of the sitcom in part two of a series asking the question "Are Sitcoms Getting Better or Worse?" According to Greenfield, the sitcom is at a crossroads: "It has been liberated from the frozen stereotypes of bumbling fathers, scatterbrained wives, and the unrelenting sugarcoated cheeriness of a fantasy world where the most serious problems are what Mom will do with the burned roast, now that the boss is coming over for dinner, and whether Sis will get Chuck to take her to the prom if she's still wearing her braces." 
Notwithstanding that these were real questions for many real families in America, it's clear that the sitcom has moved into a new world. But, according to Greenfield, "the no-holds-barred spirit of the early '70s, exemplified by Norman Lear's All in the Family and Maude has faded." While characters have matured beyond the one-dimensional stereotype of the 1950s and '60s, they have "less curiosity about the world around them." Rather than race, poverty and war, characters now deal with more personal issues: marriage and divorce, for example, or dealing with handicaps. 
Another trend that Greenfield sees is the "dramedy," seen in shows from United States (which we talked about here) and Eight is Enough to Trapper John, M.D. However, Grant Tinker of MTM doesn't see this as a winning formula for primetime. "I don't think of drama with comedy as serious—there's nothing encouraging." Echos Gene Reynolds of Lou Grant, a show which arguably began as a comedy-drama before moving solidly into the drama arena, "The ratings are good, but I think it's a terrible hybrid. Comedy just doesn't stretch easily into an hour, because you have to get too heavy for the story and that fights the comedy." 
Greenfield discusses other factors that could play a role. Network scheduling, for instance. "You have to look at needs and timeslots," former ABC VP Bridget Potter tells him. "If ABC needs more new 8 o'clock shows, for example, that means appealing more to kinds and teen-agers—and they like strong, broad, physical comedy. If you're looking to later times, that means more 'adult' themes and characters." And then there's the growing competition posed by cable (both basic and pay) and home entertainment systems. "At the least, the uncensored language and material now available to more than six million pay-cable subscribers will almost certainly make networks a little less cautious about what can be done in broadcasting." 
It is, Greenfield concludes, up to a variety of factors. Will audiences stick with "the cheap laugh and the tight-T-shirt-and-shorts humor," or will they opt for something more subtle. And will the networks allow shows the time to develop, especially ones with "more complicated characters and ideas" that viewers have to get used to? The future contains no special "kind" of comedy, he says, "just a lot of it."
How do you think that trend has played out 42 years later? Streaming programs and video games are indeed competition, and prestige cable overwhelms programming on the networks. Many of the most prestigious programs contain major elements of both comedy and drama. And sitcoms tackle both social issues and taboo topics, although one could argue that there's nothing taboo anymore. Have they changed for the better, or the worse?
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Coming attractions: I think Jeff Greenfield's appeared on there a time or two.
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The rerun season is in full swing, and one of this week's highlights is Goldie & Liza Together (Saturday, 7:00 p.m. CT, CBS), a stylish variety hour, produced by George Schlatter, that includes both production numbers and a dramatic sketch that allows the two Oscar winners to show off their acting chops. 
On Sunday, it's time for yet another failed Andy Griffith attempt to recapture his previous magic: The Yeagers (6:00 p.m., ABC), in which Griffith plays the owner of a mining-and-lumber company in the Pacific Northwest. Not only do I not remember this series, I'm not at all sure that I ever heard of it. No wonder; as I check on it, it ran for exactly two episodes. Matlock can't come too soon for him.
Phyl and Mikhy (Monday, 7:30 p.m., CBS) proves that NBC isn't the only network hurt by the Olympic boycott. The show's premise is that a 19-year-old American track star (Murphy Cross) falls in love with a 22-year-old Russian decathlete (Rick Lohman), and of course part of the comedy is supposed to come from the opposites-attract nature of their relationship, played out against the backdrop of the Moscow Olympics. Unfortunately, by the time the series debuts, the U.S. has already announced they're not going to Moscow, which renders the whole concept kind of hollow. Six episodes and out; Soviet characters aren't selling any sitcom in 1980.
One of the reasons NBC continues to have that "death grip" on last place might be shows like The Big Show (Tuesday, 8:00 p.m.), which tries to revive the big-name variety show, years after the genre started to slide. The show has a 90-minute timeslot, and this week's episode features Flip Wilson and Sarah Purcell as hosts, with Diahann Caroll, champion skaters Peggy Fleming and Robin Cousins, Peaches and Herb, flamenco dancer Jose Molina, Barbi Benton, comedian Ronnie Corbett, song impressionists Roger and Roger, the West Point Glee Club, the Dance Theatre of Harlem, and puppeteer Bruce Schwartz. It's an admirable effort, but what is it they say about putting good wine in bad wineskins? The June 3 broadcast is the show's eleventh and last. If you're interested in politics, it's also Super Tuesday, the final primaries of the election season. Doesn't change a thing; Reagan and Carter are still the ones.
The Daytime Emmy Awards are, appropriately, being broadcast in daytime (Wednesday, 1:30 p.m., NBC), with Ed McMahon, Susan Seaforth Hayes and Beverlee McKinsey doing the honors from New York. In case you're wondering, the big winners are Guiding Light, Hollywood Squares, The $20,000 Pyramid, Sesame Street, Douglass Watson and Judith Light for Best Actor and Actress, and Peter Marshall for best game show host. In primetime, CBS shows that they haven't quite got the superhero thing down, or maybe it's just ahead of its time, with part one of the two-part Captain America (7:00 p.m.), starring Reb Brown as the good Captain. MST3K fans might well remember him as the hero of the Space Mutiny, as Dave Ryder, or Slab Bulkhead, "Bolt Vanderhuge, Hack Blowfist, or whatever name you might want to choose. Judith Crist calls it "strictly for kiddies and motorcycle freaks," and calls Brown "a wooden hero."
Thursday features a rerun of a touching tribute to the late Jack Soo on Barney Miller (8:00 p.m., ABC). Later on, a Dallas rerun (9:00 p.m., CBS) provides a look at things to come (at least when it was originally aired), as Val and Gary Ewing remarry and move to the Southern California town of Knots Landing. Knots debuted at the end of last year, and ran to 1993—but, of course, that's another story. 
Finally, it's TGIF, and here's a look at what I might well have watched on a Friday night: 7:00 p.m., Washington Week in Review; 7:30 p.m., Wall $treet Week; 8:00 p.m., Free to Choose (all PBS); and 9:00 p.m., an NBC Reports look at whether there's a better way for political parties to choose their presidential nominees. And you wonder why I wound up on public access. TV  

Around the dial

Let's start this holiday weekend on a musical note, with David's piece at Comfort TV on who wrote the most memorable TV music: Henry Mancini or Mike Post ? Granted, they're not the only two composers, but they're the most prolific, so: place your bets.
Now we return to the world of The Prisoner, and the world of Cult TV Blog, as John advances his theory that Patrick McGoohan's series takes place in a psychiatric hospital . This week, it's a look at the episode "The Chimes of Big Ben." Is he winning you over yet?
Television's New Frontier: The 1960s visits 1962 and Laramie , and poses questions that we've often wondered about: how do you balance your own view of a series against the view audiences had when it was aired? And do things such as repetitive plots harm your viewing of them today? 
Good news from Paul at Shadow & Substance: Night Gallery Season 2 is headed to Blu-ray , to join last year's Season 1 release. Since commentaries are provided by several of the bloggers you've seen mentioned here, it's a good bet we'll have this on our shelves at some point.
That's it for the week; a quiet one, but with a three-day weekend on the way, I think a lot of us have more important things going on. Anyway, see you back here tomorrow for the TV Guide review—same time, same channel. TV  

Shows I've been watching: April, 2022

Shows I’ve Watched:

Shows Next on the List:Judd, for the Defense

Surfside 6

The Felony Squad

The Man Who Never WasThe Rat PatrolDanteBlue Light


Around the Hadley household, Monday nights have been psychiatric drama nights for quite some time, what with Breaking Point, The Eleventh Hour, and The Human Jungle being regular features. (No smart cracks about self-diagnosis.) So, naturally, the only kind of show that will do as a follow-up is a courtroom drama, right?
Judd, for the Defense was an ABC series running for two seasons, from 1967 to 1969. Now, every courtroom drama inevitably winds up being compared to Perry Mason, and Judd is no exception. Like Mason, Judd involves a high-powered defense attorney; like Mason's, Judd's clients are (usually) accused of murder; like Mason, Judd culminates in a courtroom trial with a fair share of histrionics. And like Perry Mason, Judd, for the Defense is powered by the charismatic performance of the title character.
Clinton Judd, whom the ABC press releases compared to real-life attorneys such as Percy Foreman and F. Lee Bailey, is played by Carl Betz, best-known as Dr. Alex Stone, Donna Reed's husband in The Donna Reed Show. Betz played Dr. Stone for eight seasons and, as more than one critic has pointed out, he must have loved sinking his teeth into a juicy role like this. Judd, like Mason, is driven by a thirst for justice, often resulting in him taking on clients against his better judgment. They're far from identical, though. Whereas Perry relied on his loyal secretary, Della Street, and his trustworthy investigator, Paul Drake, Judd has his young associate, Ben Caldwell, played convincingly by Stephen Young.
Judd also displays a flamboyance that Mason, for all those accusations of "courtroom theatrics" that Hamilton Burger flings against him, rarely shows. Wearing a string tie and sporting a Stetson, Judd is every bit the Texan he portrays. (His office is, I believe, supposed to be in Houston.) And he's not above pulling some real theatrics; in one episode, just as the prosecutor is about to reach the dramatic peak of his argument, Clint "accidentally" knocks a pitcher of water off the table, interrupting his adversary and causing a delay while everything is mopped up. He was, of course, appropriately apologetic. 
Longtime viewers of Perry Mason know that Mason's cases don't usually get to trial; most of them are solved in the preliminary hearing (thus saving the producers money in having to cast actors as jurors). Things are a little different here, though; Judd does his work in front of the jury, where he forcefully argues his case before the defendant's peers. It's a thrill watching Betz do his thing; he speaks with heat and passion in a way that we seldom get to see Raymond Burr operate, beyond the first season or two. The same goes for the way Judd questions witnesses; he can be sly and subtle, or he can lash out like an angry animal. Either way, you get the point that Clinton Judd is not a man to be messed with.
Another thing about Judd: you can't always assume that his clients are innocent. One of them, in fact, turns out to be guilty, although as the victim of a split personality, he didn't really realize it. It was very cleverly set up and well executed, though, and the reveal came as a genuine surprise, to me at least. And then there was the case of a woman accused of murdering her abusive husband. She's acquitted, but at the end she wonders out loud whether or not she really acted in self-defense, or if she wanted to kill her husband. She's not suggesting that she got away with something; rather, she's expressing a self-doubt that is clearly going to take her years to work through. The point is, you're not nearly as confident that Judd's client will get off, or deserves to get off, as you were with Perry.
It's true that the legal side of things is often a bit dubious, the plots can sometimes be far-fetched, and while the series is admirable in tackling "relevant" issues like abortion, drugs and the draft (not unlike The Defenders), those "with-it" moments can be a little bit painful. the scenes in the courtroom never last quite as long as you want them to. The important thing, though, is that they're entertaining; you won't be bored watching them. 
Most of all, Judd is about Carl Betz, who is just terrific. I'm not enough of an expert on Donna Reed to tell whether or not he ever flashed these glimpses of edgy toughness, but watching him, you believe he's a man of integrity, committed to justice, and willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it for his client, even when he's pushing the envelope. You find yourself tuning in to watch Betz, and sticking around for the rest of the show; no wonder he not only won an Emmy for the role, but (like Raymond Burr) frequently spoke before bar associations. I don't want to shortchange Stephen Young, though, who is smart and tough. He's not afraid to stand up to Judd, to challenge or goad him on his strategies, and to rake their client over the coals when it's justified. 
And those clients often have it coming. After all, the lesson learned from all these shows—even more than "crime doesn't pay"— is this: never, ever withhold anything from your lawyer. You'd think they'd know better by now. 
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Speaking of programming, Thursdays have been cops-and-robbers night here for as long as I can remember (keeping in mind that my memory doesn't work as well as it used to). First, there was a long, long run of Hawaii Five-O (except for the final season, which—let's face it—was really, really bad). After that ended, Thursdays became a rotating series of half-hour dramas, many of which you've read about here: N.Y.P.D., Richard Diamond, Johnny Staccato. Now we've moved on to another pair of 30-minute melodramas featuring good guys and bad guys, but that's where the similarities end.
The Felony Squad ran on ABC for three seasons, from 1966 to 1968. It lacks the grittiness of, say, N.Y.P.D. or Dragnet, and unlike those series, it always seems to feel as if the ending is rushed, or condensed, to make sure it fits inside the half-hour timeslot. That's not meant as a knock, just an observation. The Felony Squad stars Howard Duff as veteran detective Sam Stone*, Dennis Cole as his partner, young Jim Briggs, and Ben Alexander as desk sergeant Dan Briggs, Jim's father.
*I've often wondered if the name "Sam Stone" was an inside joke, since for many years Howard Duff played private detective Sam Spade on the radio.
The stories are run-of-the-mill, nothing special, but usually well-acted, although the first episode, "The Streets Are Paved with Quicksand," is harmed by an unbelievably hammy performance from Darren McGavin as a shyster trying to get Stone and young Briggs nailed on a charge of police brutality. Stone is street-smart, young Briggs is earnest, and elder Briggs shrewd, and protective of his son. (Fun fact: this role prevented Ben Alexander from reuniting with Jack Webb on the reprisal of Dragnet.) I would prefer more, especially more for Duff, but I'm not complaining about what I do have. It clearly falls into the "enjoyable" category, plus it has a no-nonsense theme by Pete Rugolo. And there's a crossover story with Judd, for the Defense!
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Felony Squad teams up with another half-hour drama, The Man Who Never Was, yet another ABC drama which aired for 18 episodes in 1966-67. For all I know, commercials for all three of these shows might have run during the others' shows, but that's kind of beside the point, I suppose. I'll say this right up front: The Man Who Never Was is extremely frustrating to watch. Not because it's a bad show, although it should have been called The Show That Should Have Been Better Than it Was. No, it's frustrating because very little of it exists, at least on YouTube, and most of what does is taken from two theatrical releases that were, in turn, compilations of episodes from the show. What that means, in practical terms, is that of the seven or so episodes that YouTube has, most of them only run about 17 minutes, leaving you with the distinct impression that something is missing.
And that's too bad, because I'd like to give this show a better look. It stars Robert Lansing as Peter Murphy, a CIA agent in East Berlin whose cover is blown in the premiere. On the run from the Stasi, Murphy staggers into a bar where he sees his exact double, playboy Mark Wainwright, who just happens to be one of the richest men in the world. As Murphy watches, an inebriated Wainwright stumbles out of the bar and is promptly gunned down by an agent who mistakes him for Murphy. Well, since they're exact doubles, you could be forgiven for making that kind of mistake, I suppose. 
Murphy assumes Wainwright's identity in order to save his life, but finds that having to pretend to be Wainwright is no bargain. For one thing, he was a bully, a louse, and a ruthless businessman. For another, Wainwright was also married. Fortunately for Murphy, Wainwright's wife Eva is played by the elegant Dana Wynter, who has as much of a motive for keeping the deception alive as Murphy has: half brother Roger is trying to steal the family fortune, something he can't do as long as Wainwright refuses to go along with it. So in turn for helping Eva out, she agrees to help him impersonate her late husband—his mannerisms, his turns of phrase, his relationships with friends and enemies. Despite this, almost every episode features Murphy having to fight (and kill) in order to keep his real identity secret, all while falling in love with his pretend wife.
Yes, it is pretty implausible; I mean, I have yet to meet my exact double, although if he's out there, I hope he's enjoying pretending to be me. But in Lansing and Wynter, you have a couple of real pros; ad to that the presence of John Newland (One Step Beyond) as producer and director, and location filming throughout Europe, and you've got the ingredients for a pretty good show. Maybe it's another case of an idea not served well by a 30-minute running time; maybe the laid-back Lansing was a little too laid back (which is what Cleveland Amory thought, although I think an undercover agent would necessarily be restrained in his actions), maybe the audience liked their spies to be more like James Bond. It was up against Green Acres and Chrysler Theatre, which didn't do it any favors. I'd just be happy to see a few more complete episodes. It's a short run, though—stay tuned to see what takes its place next month. TV  

What's on TV? Monday, May 24, 1954

It might be good to remind younger readers out there that books—yes, books—used to be a big deal. I bring this up because I think we can see something like a parallel to today's business methods in tonight's broadcast on Robert Montgomery Presents, "The Power and the Prize." It's based on a novel by Howard Swiggett, and according to the listing, "the book by Mr. Swiggett is being dramatized for TV concurrently with its publication as a novel. This is believed to be a TV first." Reminds me of how movies were being released in theaters and on streaming services at the same time in the aftermath of the virus. Undoubtedly, the book was being promoted with an "as seen on TV" vibe in hopes of selling more copies. Did it work? I don't know, but the television adaptation didn't stop Hollywood from making a big screen version of it just two years later, starring Robert Taylor, Burl Ives, Mary Astor, Cedric Hardwicke, and Charles Coburn. It didn't do that well at the box office, for what it's worth.
Don't miss the rest of today's listings, from the Chicago edition, including the Studio One episode "A Man and Two Gods," written by Gore Vidal, who did a lot of TV writing in the day.

  ❷ WBBM (CBS)

  MORNING

       7:00

The Morning Show—Variety

(Five minutes of local news with Frank Reynolds at 7:25, 7:55 A.M.)

       8:00

25 News—John Harington

       8:30

The Morning Show—Cont’d

       8:55

News—Jim Conway

       9:00

Godfrey And Friends

     10:30

Strike It Rich—Quiz

Celebrity: Tommy Henrich

     11:00

Valiant Lady—Serial

     11:15

Love Of Life—Serial

       

   11:30

Search For Tomorrow

     11:45

Guiding Light—Serial

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

Brighter Day—Serial

     12:15

Portia Faces Life—Serial

     12:30

Garry Moore—Variety

       1:00

Double Or Nothing—Quiz

       1:30

Linkletter’s House Party

Guest: Jack Leonard

       2:00

Big Payoff—Quiz

       2:30

Bob Crosby—Musical

       3:00

Woman With A Past—Serial

       3:15

Secret Storm—Serial

       3:30

Petticoat Party—Games

       4:00

Shopping With Miss Lee

       4:20

MOVIE—“Kansas Cyclone”

       5:30

Gene Autry Time—Film

  EVENING

       6:00

Sports—Bob Elson

       6:15

News—Julian Bentley

       6:30

News—Douglas Edwards

       6:45

Perry Como Show—Music

       7:00

BURNS & ALLEN—Comedy

       7:30

TALENT SCOUTS

       8:00

I LOVE LUCY—Comedy

       8:30

RED BUTTONS—Comedy

       9:00

STUDIO ONE—Drama

“A Man and Two Gods”

     10:00

NEWS—Fahey Flynn

     10:15

IN TOWN TONIGHT—Variety

     10:30

NEWS—John Harrington

     10:45

IRV KUPCINET—Comments

     11:00

Playhouse—Film Drama

     11:30

Late News

     11:35

MOVIE—“Stork Bites Man”

 

 

   4  WTMJ (MILWAUKEE) (NBC)   MORNING

       7:00

Today—News, Interviews

(Five minutes of local news with Len O’Connor at 7:25, 7:55, 8:25, 8:55 A.M.)

       9:00

Ding Dong School

       9:30

One Man’s Family—Serial

       9:45

Three Steps to Heaven

     10:00

Home—Women’s News

     11:00

Gordon Thomas—Variety

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

What’s New In The Kitchen

     12:45

News

       1:00

Bob Heiss—Interviews

       1:55

Weather—Bill Carlsen

       2:00

Kate Smith—Variety

       3:00

Welcome Travelers

       3:30

On Your Account

       4:00

Beulah Donohue—Women

       4:30

Howdy Doody—Puppets

       5:00

Superman—Adventure

       5:30

Foreman Tom—Western

  EVENING

       6:00

Hot Shot Revue—Musical

       6:15

News

       6:25

Weather

       6:30

Sports Picture

       6:45

News—Merrill Mueller

Mueller subs for vacationing Swayze

       7:00

NAME’S THE SAME—Panel

Robert Q. Lewis with Joan Alexander, Basil Rathbone, Gene Rayburn

       7:30

CONCERT—Howard Barlow

Guest: Cesare Siepi

       8:00

THE GOLDBERGS—Comedy

       8:30

ROBERT MONTGOMERY

“The Power and the Prize”

       9:30

WHO SAID THAT?

Guest: Arthur Treacher. Panelists: June Lockhart, H.V. Kaltenborn, Morey Amsterdam.

     10:00

INDUSTRY ON PARADE

     10:15

NEWS—Paul Skinner

     10:25

WEATHER—Bill Carlsen

     10:30

BIG STORY—Drama

     11:00

Big Town—Drama

     11:30

MOVIE—“The Woman In Green”

 

     1:00

News—Tom Mercein

 

 

  ❺ WNBQ (NBC)

  MORNING

       6:45

Everett Mitchell—Talks

       7:00

Today—News, Interviews

(Five minutes of local news with Len O’Connor at 7:25, 7:55, 8:25, 8:55 A.M.)

       9:00

Ding Dong School

       9:30

One Man’s Family—Serial

       9:45

Three Steps to Heaven

     10:00

Home—Women’s News

     11:00

Bride and Groom—Wedding

     11:15

Hawkins Falls—Serial

       

   11:30

Betty White Show

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

Noontime Comics

     12:30

Bob And Kay—Variety

       1:00

Francois Pope—Recipes

       2:00

Kate Smith—Variety

       3:00

Welcome Travelers

       3:30

On Your Account

       4:00

Pinky Lee—Comedy, Games

       4:30

Howdy Doody—Puppets

       5:00

Elmer, The Elephant—Kids

       5:30

Close-Up—Musical

  EVENING

       6:00

Weather—Clint Youle

       6:05

News—Jack Angell

       6:10

Sports—Joe Wilson

       6:15

Dorsey Connors—Travel

       6:20

Alex Dreier—Features

       6:25

Tony Weitzel—Comments

       6:30

Tony Martin—Music

Guest: Dinah Shore

       6:45

News—Merrill Mueller

Mueller subs for vacationing Swayze

       7:00

NAME THAT TUNE—Quiz

       7:30

CONCERT—Howard Barlow

Guest: Cesare Siepi

       8:00

DENNIS DAY—Comedy

       8:30

ROBERT MONTGOMERY

“The Power and the Prize”

       9:30

TV PLAYHOUSE—Film

     10:00

WEATHER—Clint Youle

     10:10

DORSEY CONNORS—Variety

     10:15

NEWS—Jack Angell

     10:30

SPORTS—Norman Barry

     10:45

HERBIE MINTZ—Musical

     11:00

Chicago Crossroads

 

 

  ❼ WBKB (ABC)

  MORNING

       7:00

Chicago Parade—Variety

       8:00

Breakfast Club—Don McNeill

       9:00

Beulah Karney Presents

       9:30

Pied Piper Show—Kids

     10:00

Play House—Kiddies

     10:30

Studio B For Bartlett

     10:55

News—Ulmer Turner

     11:00

Danny O’Neil Show

     11:55

News—Ulmer Turner

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

Happy Pirates—Variety

     12:55

News—Ulmer Turner

       1:00

Ruth Crowley—Baby Care

       1:15

The Doctor Answers—Talk

       1:30

Stuart Brent—Discussion

       1:45

Swingalong—Musical

       2:00

Claude Kirchner—Variety

       2:30

Win Stracke—For Kids

       3:00

Jerry Lester Show—Variety

       3:55

News—Ulmer Turner

       4:00

Home Theater—Film Feature

       4:30

Garfield Goose and Friend

       5:00

Jolly Seven Gang—Kids

       5:30

Sports—Tom Duggan

       5:45

Bob And Ray—Satires

  EVENING

       6:00

News—Austin Kiplinger

       6:05

Sports—Jack Drees

       6:10

Weather—Wayne Griffin

       6:15

News—John Daly

       6:30

Jamie—Drama

       7:00

SKY KING THEATER

       7:30

COMMERCIAL

       7:40

FOCAL POINT—Film

       7:45

COMMERCIAL

       8:00

MOVIE—“Career Girl”

       8:30

SPORTSMAN’S CLUB

       9:00

PARIS, BIRDIES, AND EAGLES

       9:30

RACKET SQUAD—Drama

     10:00

CITY ASSIGNMENT—Film

     10:30

CANDID CAMERA

     11:00

News—Ulmer Turner

     11:05

Weather

     11:10

Your Lucky Star—Gossip

     11:15

Guest House—Variety

     12:00

MOVIE—“Corregidor”

 

 

  ❾ WGN (DuMont)

  MORNING

       8:45

News—Bruce Macfarlane

       9:00

Paul Fogarty—Exercises

       9:30

Time For Stories

     10:00

A To Z Of Cookery—Tips

     10:55

News—Steve Fentress

     11:00

Ernie Simon—Four To Go

       

   11:30

Earl Nightingale—Chats

     11:55

News—Steve Fentress

  AFTERNOON

     12:00

Hi Ladies—Interviews

     12:45

Charm Salon—Beauty

     12:55

News—Steve Fentress

       1:00

MOVIE—“Cinderella Swings It”

       2:00

Paul Dixon Show—Music

       3:00

Baby of the Week

       3:15

Invisible Guardian—Film

       3:45

Movie Quick Quiz—Game

       4:00

MOVIE—“Man’s Country”

       4:55

News—Les Nichols

       5:00

Bob Atcher Show—Kids

       5:30

News—Leslie Monypenny

       5:45

Curbstone Cut Up—Chats

  EVENING

       6:00

Captain Video—Adventures

       6:15

Sports Final—Vince Lloyd

       6:30

News—Spencer Allen

       6:45

Chicagoland Newsreel

       7:00

DOLLAR A SECOND—Quiz

       7:30

BIG PICTURE—Film

       8:00

BEHOLD THY MOTHER

       9:00

BOXING—New York City

Ralph “Tiger” Jones vs. Pedro Gonzales

       9:45

SPORTS—Arch Ward

     10:00

MOVIE—“Quicksand”

     11:30

News—Les Nichols

     11:45

Weather—Carl Greyson

x TV  

This week in TV Guide: May 21, 1954

It's been said, by no less an authority than me, that a wedding is the last refuge of television shows. It can be used to boost ratings, to inject new life into an aging storyline, to spin-off a character into a new series, or some combination of all three. Invariably, however, such nuptial events prove to be ratings blockbusters, and one of television's first such "events" is the wedding of Robinson Peepers and Nancy Remington on Sunday night's episode of the long-running sitcom Mister Peepers. (6:30 p.m. CT, NBC)
To many, the wedding, "after two years of timorous all-but-kissless romance," comes as something of a surprise. Wally Cox himself, who plays "TV's bucolic boy scout" and is, himself, a bachelor, expresses a mild surprise at this turn of events. "Peepers never struck me as having the nerve to marry," Cox says. "He's not only out of step with the world; I think he's a pretty ineffectual male. Pat [Benoit, who plays Nancy] and I used to speculate on what Peepers really does think—or do. I kind of look at him in wonder, don't you?" Benoit herself noted that "Wally always told people Robinson would never marry."

The producers, however, think differently. "Nothing could be more fitting for a family show. Marriage would open up new story lines. It is definitely popular with women. It sets an example for America's youth. And Nancy's luck might encourage all impatient, single girls." Acknowledges Cox, "Nancy might also look foolish dating a man for two years without getting anywhere. My writers would be the ones who know." 
Those writers have grand ideas; says Jim Fritzell, "Lots of story sequences and all the time people growing." Cox wants guarantees, though; when director Hal Keith promises him that "This will positively not degenerate into a family situation comedy—the idiot husband sort," Cox replies, "If it did, they'd have to get a new actor."
The Peepers wedding becomes one of the biggest TV events of the year, as such things will. However, the show only runs one more season after the "Wedding of the Year." This is also a common occurrence; sometimes the tension that's held the series together disappears (Moonlighting, although there was no marriage); sometimes the writers find out that those extra storylines didn't work after all (Rhoda); sometimes, the show's ratings just take a fall (The Farmer's Daughter). That doesn't stop shows from taking the plunge, though, and they aren't all disasters; My Three Sons ran for two more seasons after Steve Douglas remarried, and The Danny Thomas Show, which wisely had the wedding occur off-screen (during the summer break), ran for seven successful seasons.
I'm certainly pro-marriage, but I'm most certainly not a romantic, so I can't say that I approve of this disturbing trend. Were it not for the fact that Mister Peepers is a genuinely funny show, it would have a lot to answer for.
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"The public is becoming surfeited with outlandish crime," according to Martin Manulis, and we're not talking about Congress on television. No, Manulis is referring to Suspense, the long-running show of which he's now producer. It's not that rough stuff is altogether gone, but Manulis promises it will be tasteful violence. "There'll be no more hoods or professional gangsters," he promises. "In many cases we've found ourselves doing documentaries, rather than criminal suspense stories." 
So far, so good; ratings are up, as are fan letters, and Suspense has broadened its subject matter far beyond "routine crime stuff." Stories from Dickens, Zola and Balzac have found their way to the tube—just as crime comes in many forms, suspense can be psychological as well as physical,— and Manulis even toys with the idea of bring a straight drama to the show. He knows if the ratings don't bear out the change in the long run, it'll be back to the old formula, but he's betting that they will.
It does seem, as I've mentioned before, that violence on television has been an issue ever since shortly after television was a thing, and Herman Lowe's article on the state of the industry acknowledges that "[i]t affects almost everything it touches, and the length of its reach never ceases to amaze. We all know those stories about how movie theaters suffered on the nights when Milton Berle was on. A national organization of restaurants complains that people are eating at home instead of going out, so they won't miss the quiz and variety shows. In Little Rock, the transit system proposed a rate boost because of a fall in revenue—too many people staying home watching TV.
But things aren't all negative. Some within the trade refer to television as "The Monster," meaning that it doesn't know its own strength. For example, how much of the economic boom is television responsible for? "In a handful of postwar years, it has proved itself one of the most persuasive merchandisers of goods and ideas in history." There's a whole new line of furniture: television chairs, television tables, television lamps. American manufacturers "are turning out more sets annually than the rest of the world combined."  
That means, according to Paul A. Walker, former chairman of the FCC, that "within two years after a station goes on the air, the great majority of families in that community buy TV sets ranging in price from $200 to $400." This means not only business for the retailer, but for the repairman and the local utility. And we can't forget that the station pays out between $200,000 and $1,000,000 annually in salaries, plus taxes to local, state, and Federal governments. And sponsors pay $8 million to $10 million annually to have sporting events televised.
So television seems to be the golden goose, doesn't it? But there's one thing television has done for which it can't be forgiven. "TV brought millions of Americans directly into the convention hall to watch the Republicans and Democrats choose their Presidential nominees." Indeed, it will make it easier for politicians to communicate with more people at one time than they ever thought possible. Almost enough to make you get rid of your TV, isn't it?
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Well, that was fun, wasn't it? And now for some more fun.
On Friday night at 10:00 p.m., Chicago columnist and television host Irv Kupcinet hosts the fifth annual Cerebral Palsy Telethon (ABC), a 28-hour, star-studded extravaganza with Sarah Vaughan, Don McNeill, Fran Allison and Burr Tillstrom, Johnny Desmond, Walter Slezak, Melvyn Douglas, Ray Walson, Bill Hayes, and many more. The goal is $600,000; not quite sure how much they made, but if you're interested, here's a clip (one of two on YouTube) from that 1954 telethon:

On Sunday, Meet the Press (5:00 p.m., NBC) hosts an unusual show, one we wouldn't see nowadays: a debate between William White, President of the New York Central Railroad, and Robert Young, former President of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. The two are battling for control of the NYC; Young is leading what turns out to be a successful proxy fight to oust management of the debt-ridden railroad. According to the always-reliable Wikipedia , Young found the New York Central in worse shape than he'd imagined, and after suspending dividend payments, he committed suicide in January 1958.
Ed Sullivan's rival in these years is the Colgate Comedy Hour, and I'll present their lineups to you without judgment: 
Sullivan (7:00 p.m., CBS): Ed introduces a film segment from Gone With the Wind, featuring Clark Gable, Vivian Leigh, and Leslie Howard. Guests include comedy team Betty and Jane Kean; singer Mindy Carson; "Mr. Pastry" Richard Hearne; dancers Page & Bray; and English singing star Dickie Valentine. Film producer David O. Selznick appears to discuss the story behind the reissue of Gone With the Wind.
Comedy Hour (7:00 p.m., NBC): Tonight's stars are Bud Abbott & Lou Costello. The Sauter-Finnegan Orchestra, Hoagy Carmichael, and the little singing comedian, Ricky Vera, are guests. Unlike Sullivan, skits make up most of the Abbott& Costello shows.
On Wednesday, Kraft Television Theatre (8:00 p.m., NBC) presents an adaptation of "The Scarlet Letter," Nathaniel Hawthorne's famous morality play, starring Kim Stanley as Hester Prynne and Leslie Nielsen as the Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale. Then, on Thursday, Anthony Ross stars as the title character "Dodsworth," Sinclair Lewis's grim story, on Kraft Television Theatre (8:00 p.m., ABC).
Wait a minute, you say, what's this? Two shows with the same name? So which is it: Kraft Television Theatre Wednesday night on NBC, or Thursday night on ABC? The answer is, both. The shows are produced by the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency, which represents Kraft; the cheese company sponsors both hours, which adds up to 104 hours of live programming per season. The two shows function as one; Kraft employs six full-time producer-directors, each responsible for one hour every third week. Each episode employs 16 to 18 actors per episode, and with four shows in production at any one time, that means an average of 60 to 70 actors per week. 
The complex setup works like clockwork, as it would have to in order to make everything happen. And the results? The NBC version is number one among hour-long dramas, with the ABC edition gaining each week. Of course, companies and their sponsors don't have control over the schedule the way they once did, but still—can you imagine anything like it?
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Some news from the New York Teletype: Dragnet has bumped I Love Lucy from the #1 position in the ratings, according to the latest American Research Bureau report. It's News to Me, the panel quiz show hosted by John Daly, will be back on CBS this summer, replacing You Are There. That will make two shows that Daly is hosting on the Tiffany Network, while he's head of the news division at ABC. 
In Hollywood, an addendum on Dragnet: a character in a recent episode called a movie "a lousy show," which resulted in a stink coming from some movie exhibitors (remember how touchy they are when it comes to television), with the result that Jack Webb apologized for "bad and thoughtless editing on my part." Du Mont, which makes television sets in addition to broadcasting the shows that appear on them, is predicting a 21-inch color set in the next two to three years, running about $500. And Walt Disney will be originating his ABC show from a new, $9,000,000 amusement park he's building—Disneyland.
In local news, WGN premiered the new film series Life With Elizabeth last Sunday, starring "America's new sweetheart, Betty White." Local sports shows covering the Chicago Cubs are miffed that the Cubbies are charging $100 for guest appearances by their players on TV sports shows, up from $50. It's the same amount they charge for other personal appearances (aside from charity events); the sportscasters say they'll continue their $50 policy whether the Cubs are along for the ride or not.
And finally, "The average family now watches TV a total of five hours, 46 minutes each day," according to Nielsen. By contrast, in 2010, the peak of television viewing, the average family watched 8 hours and 55 minutes per day. Which just goes to show that there's always room for improvement. TV  

Around the dial

At bare-bones e-zine, Jack's Hitchcock Project takes us to " The Young One ," a nasty but excellent third-season story written by Sarett Rudley, with Carol Lynley, Vince Edwards, and Jeanette Nolan, and directed by Robert Altman. I think this is a good one to check out.
Jodie has a great story at Garroway at Large regarding her  RCA BK-4 "Starmaker" microphone , the kind that you see Dave Garroway wearing in early pictures from Today. Seems it needed some paint restoration work; I would have felt just as bad about it as she did, and just as glad when everything turned out all right!
At the Broadcasting Archives, it's the front page of WMAR's "Television Topics" newsletter , from September, 1969. Check out the station's NFL football schedule at the bottom of the page, including coverage of the final NFL-AFL Super Bowl.
Last week, John wrote a very interesting post at Cult TV Blog about watching The Prisoner using the premise that Number 6 is actually a patient in an asylum . It's an intriguing scenario; as I told John, I think I'll see what it's like the next time we watch the series. (Which can't be too long from now.)
I didn't participate in Rick's " Four Favorite Noirs " blogathon at Classic TV & Film Café to celebrate National Classic Movie Day on May 16th, but if you're a fan of film noir (as I am), you'll enjoy the posts from the blogs that participated. I should have offered some of my favorite Japanese noir!
Funny that Terence should bring up the Kim Sisters at A Shroud of Thoughts; he's sharing a video of them performing on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1965, and I just saw a different video of them performing on Sullivan from a later date. I guess great minds think alike; anyway, take a good look at the kind of non-superstar entertainment Ed used to bring us, and why we should be familiar with them.
If you don't recognize the name Tim O'Connor, you'll certainly recognize his face; he appeared on just about every television show in the '60s and '70s, and played Dr. Elias Huer on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. But MeTV tells how he found true love three doors down the road .
At The Hits Just Keep on Comin', JB has a reflection on what we were  at one time, and how we've changed since then. Good thoughts ("If we’re lucky, we might still retain the best of what we were."), and some very interesting links. A good note to end on for the week. TV  

TV Jibe: Knowing your audience

TV