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    Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

    Show Spotlight: “Karen” (1975)


    Please Note: I wrote this thinking I had the opening credits to Karen to share with you but it turns out I don’t. So you’ll have to make do with all this text. Whoops.

    Karen Valentine won an Emmy award in 1970 for her portrayal of teacher Alice Johnson on ABC’s Room 222 (she was nominated again in 1971). The comedy-drama ran from September of 1969 to January of 1974, ending midway through its fifth season. Valentine would soon return to television in her own sitcom, simply titled Karen. In early October of 1974, only a few weeks after the start of the 1974-1975 season, Gary Deeb called Karen (then known as The Karen Valentine Show) “definite” for mid-season 1975 [1].

    Sure enough, when ABC announced its mid-season overhaul on November 13th, Karen was given the Thursday 8:30-9PM time slot [2]. It was set to premiere on January 16th, 1975 following another new sitcom, Hot L Baltimore.

    Read the rest of this entry »

    United Press International Television News Archive “Uncovered” in London


    Some 3,500 hours of news footage, filmed by United Press International Television News in the 1960s and 1970s, has been “discovered” in London. At least, that’s what BBC News is reporting. The Guardian, however, makes clear that the 20,000 film cans were never lost, just more or less ignored for lack of the money to transfer the 16mm films to a usable format.

    The Guardian explains that the UPITN archives were purchased by the Associated Press in 1998 (at the time UPITN was World Television News). Only recently, it seems, was the money and manpower invested to thoroughly document the films.

    Read the rest of this entry »

    Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

    Bookshelf: Land of the Giants #2 – The Hot Spot


    Land of the Giants #2 – The Hot Spot
    By Murray Leinster
    First Published April 1969
    Published by Pyramid Books
    158 Pages

    The second of three novels tied into Irwin Allen’s Land of the Giants (all written by Murray Leinster), The Hot Spot finds the passengers and crew of the Spindrift setting down on an island they hope is uninhabited. I don’t know if its a novelization of another episode of Land of the Giants (however loosely based it may be). My assumption would be that it isn’t. It does include the character of Marjorie, introduced in Leinster’s first Land of the Giants novel (based in part on the pilot episode), but never seen on the television series. She was a passenger on another suborbital flight on Earth that somehow wound up on the Land of the Giants.

    Read the rest of this entry »

    Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

    DVD Tuesday: Nothing to Report


    It’s another empty week for fans of classic television, with no notable DVD releases to report, although fans of FOX’s Parker Lewis Can’t Lose may be interested to know that the complete first season is now available. Also, a 1976 Canadian version of The Swiss Family Robinson — not the 1975 ABC version starring Martin Milner.

    Monday, June 29th, 2009

    Updates to Blondie On Television


    I’ve totally rewritten my article about Blondie on Television, having uncovered new details about not one but two early attempts to bring the comic strip to television. A pilot was produced between 1951 and 1953 starring Jeff Donnell and John Harvey but failed to turn into a series. Another pilot was produced in 1954 with Pamela Britton and Hal LeRoy but it, too, was never sold.

    I’ve also expanded the section about Blondie on the big screen and on radio. And I’ve added several reviews from critics relating to the 1968 version. Here’s the new summary:

    Chic Young’s long-running comic strip found lasting success on the big screen (with a series of 28 movies) and radio (a solid eleven-year run). But it just couldn’t translate to television. The first two attempts, in 1952 and 1954, never made it past the pilot stage. And the two versions that did make it to the air lasted, at best, a single season. The first was broadcast on CBS in 1957 (26 episodes) with Arthur Lake, reprising his role from the film series, and Pamela Britton. The second ran on NBC from 1968 to 1969 (13 episodes) with Patricia Harty and Will Hutchins.

    Q & A: Industry on Parade, Missy’s Men, The Gale Storm Show: Oh! Susanna


    I get a lot of e-mails from people asking me about television shows, made-for-TV movies or miniseries they remember from years or decades past. I try to answer each question as best I can. Every now and then I like to dig through my inbox and pull out a few choice e-mails to answer here at Television Obscurities for everyone to read. Keep reading for today’s questions and answers.

    I am trying to locate information on a segment of television programming that disappeared in the 1960’s when stations began to edit movies into even 1/2 hr. run times.

    In the 50’s when a local station ran an unedited/uncut-for-time movie it might end at 9:45 or some other odd time. So there was a class of content that filled the void to the next 1/2 hr. time period. I remember “Industry On Parade” and “This Accident Should Never Have Happened”.

    Is there a source / expert who can help me research this lost segment of programming?

    Thank you,

    -E.B.

    This is an interesting question. In the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s there were daytime and prime time programs that ran 15 minutes long. During the daytime it was common to see movies or shows ending at, say, 10:45AM or 1:15PM, often leaving 15 minutes unaccounted for. Cartoons, film shorts and serials were used to fill up gaps in the schedule.

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    Sunday, June 28th, 2009

    Gale Storm (1922-2009)


    The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Gale Storm, who starred in two sitcoms back-to-back during the 1950s, has passed away at the age of 87. She starred in My Little Margie from 1952 to 1955 and The Gale Storm Show (syndicated as Oh! Susanna) from 1956 to 1960. Prior to television, Storm appeared in dozens of movies. She was also a talented singer and released several popular records. Her official website can be found here.

    Nielsen Top Ten, April 3rd, 1967 to April 16th, 1967


    Here are the Top Ten programs from the final two weeks (the 30th and 31st) of the 1966-1967 season according to the Nielsen ratings. I’m able to continue providing these lists thanks to a generous reader who would like to remain anonymous. Note that these aren’t the two-week combined NTI reports but the individual Top Ten lists for each week.

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