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    Archive for December 2008


    Site Related

    December's Most Popular; Least Popular 2008

    As 2008 comes to an end, I've gone over the statistics for Television Obscurities and put together some lists showing the most popular articles, exhibits and videos for the month of December and the year as a whole. Recall that these numbers can be easily skewed if another website links to a specific article at Television Obscurities and sends a huge amount of traffic to that particular article,

    Ten Most Popular Articles - December 2008 The Color Revolution: Television In The Sixties 10 Of The Most Outlandish TV Concepts Ever Batgirl and the Batman Phenomenon The Outsiders Mr. Lucky The New People W*A*L*T*E*R Outtakes, Bloopers & Goofs The Ugliest Girl in Town The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.

    Switch Outtakes, Bloopers & Goofs with Red Dwarf USA and you'll have the top ten articles from November.

    Three Most Popular Exhibits - December 2008 Famous Faces Do Commercials TV Guide - Behind the Scenes of the 1964-1965 Season Network Television Promotion

    TV Guide - Behind the Scenes of the 1964-1965 Season knocked Full Issue of 1951 TV News out of the top three. Interesting.

    Ten Most Popular Videos - December 2008 Batgirl Promotional Short (Batgirl and the Batman Phenomenon) The Final Scene From I Married Dora Opening Credits to Mr. Lucky Opening to W*A*L*T*E*R Promo for the Series Premiere of The Outsiders Opening Credits to Cliffhangers Promo for ABC's Monday Night Line-Up (The New People) Promo for the Third Episode of The Outsiders Batman Promotional Spot (Batgirl and the Batman Phenomenon) Closing Theme to Mr. Lucky

    Again, most of these were in the top ten for November as well, although last month scenes from the two unsold U.S. Red Dwarf pilots were the top two videos. I'm very interested to see that the final scene from I Married Dora and the opening credits from Cliffhangers are so popular.

    Out of sheer curiosity, I looked at the least popular articles for 2008 as a whole.

    Ten Least Popular Articles - 2008 Home Free A Brief History of Television Writers: 1949-1979 (Part 4) A Brief History of Television Writers: 1949-1979 (Part 2) The Angel Presentation Reel The Tab Hunter Show Midseason 1979 (Part 2) TV Guide Promotional Spots Midseason 1979* Television Programs in 1941 Coronet Blue

    *This is for the entire Midseason 1979 article. It is also available in two parts, both of which are more popular.

    Obviously, the two newest articles (Coronet Blue and Television Programs in 1941) haven't had as much time to be discovered by visitors, so they're understandably at the bottom of the popularity ranking. And I'm the first to admit that A Brief History of Television Writers: 1949-1979 is dense and not all that interesting. But why aren't more people interested in The Tab Hunter Show or TV Guide Promotional Spots?

    News

    USPS to Release "Early TV Memories" Stamps in 2009

    The United States Postal Service will release a set of 20 stamps commemorating the early years of television in 2009. Among the shows to receive stamps are The Twilight Zone, The Honeymooners, The Ed Sullivan Show, I Love Lucy, Texaco Star Theater, Kukla, Fran and Ollie, The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet and Lassie. According to Variety.com, the stamps will be unveiled on August 11th in Los Angeles. TVWeek has a small image of the set available.
    Site Related

    New Article - "Coronet Blue"

    There is a lot of misinformation on Coronet Blue floating around on the Internet. I hope this article can help clear things up.

    This hour-long drama starred Frank Converse as a young man pulled out of a river with no memory of his past save two words: coronet blue. He gives himself the name Michael Alden and attempts to uncover who he is and why people are trying to kill him. He never finds out. Coronet Blue abruptly ended after only eleven of its thirteen episodes had been broadcast and viewers were left without any answers. Almost as intriguing as the mystery of Michael Alden is what went on behind the scenes: Coronet Blue was produced in 1965 but didn't air until 1967.
    Status Guide

    Status Guide - "Stars Over Hollywood"

    This half-hour dramatic series was broadcast by NBC on Wednesdays from 10:30PM to 11PM. It premiered on September 6th, 1950 and as far as I can tell, the final new episode was shown on May 16th, 1951. I've compiled a broadcast history of the series primarily from contemporary television listings in The New York Times. I also used several existing several existing episode guides for reference, including the Classic TV Archive and the IMDb.

    Unfortunately, The New York Times never marked episodes as repeats and only occasionally included episode titles. Both the CTVA and the IMDb show "Girl or Ghost" airing on May 2nd, 1951 while The New York Times has it airing as the third episode of the series on September 20th, 1950. A total of 37 episodes seems unusual; just two more would hit the 39 mark which, in the early days of television, was a common number (39 weeks of new episodes plus 13 weeks of repeats equals 52 total weeks). In any event, the final broadcast of the series was on August 29th, 1951. It was most likely a repeat.

    Stars Over Hollywood was a television version of a long-running radio program. It was produced by Review Productions and sponsored by Armour & Co. [1, 2]. Trio Pictures, Inc. was also involved in producing the series [3]. Only three episodes are held in the four major television archives/museums (The Library of Congress, UCLA Film & Television Archive, Paley Center for Media and the Museum of Broadcasting), two at UCLA and one at the Paley Center for Media.

    Season One: 1950-1951
    Ep. # Episode Title Airdate Status
    1 "Beauty is a Joy" 09/06/1950
    2 "Grady Everett for the People" 09/13/1950
    3 "Girl or Ghost" 09/20/1950
    4 "Not a Bad Guy" 09/27/1950
    5 "Some Small Nobility" 10/04/1950
    6 "Rock Against the Sea" 10/11/1950
    7 "Texas Parson" 10/18/1950
    8 "Showdown" 10/25/1950
    9 "A Model Young Lady" 11/01/1950
    10 "Midnight" 11/08/1950
    11 "This Little Pig Cried" 11/15/1950
    12 "Winter Love" 11/22/1950
    13 "Landing at Daybreak" 11/29/1950
    14 "Small Town Story" 12/06/1950
    15 "My Rival is My Fiddle" 12/13/1950 UCLA
    16 "Merry Christmas for Sweeney" 12/20/1950 Paley
    17 "Never Trust on Redhead" 12/27/1950
    18 "My Nephew Norwell" 01/03/1951
    19 "The Ace of Spades" 01/10/1951
    20 "Yang Yin and Mrs. Wiswell" 01/17/1951
    21 "Moon on Wires" 01/24/1951
    22 "Cutie Pie" 01/31/1951
    23 "The Return of Van Sickle 02/07/1951 UCLA
    24 "Hand on My Shoulder" 02/14/1951
    25 "Son of the Rock" 02/21/1951
    26 "Autumn Leaves" 02/28/1951
    27 "When the Devil is Sick" 03/07/1951
    28 "Prison Doctor" 03/14/1951
    29 Unknown Episode/Repeat 03/21/1951
    30 "Old Mother Hubbard" 03/28/1951
    31 "Pearls from Paris" 04/04/1951
    32 "Tails for Jeb Mulcahy" 04/11/1951
    33 "The Kirbys" 04/18/1951
    34 "Pretty Boy" 04/25/1951
    35 "Girl or Ghost" (Repeat?) 05/02/1951
    36 "The Devil You Know" 05/09/1951
    37 "Nor Gloom of Night" 05/16/1951

    The second episode of the series, "Grady Everett for the People," was reportedly the first television script sold by Rod Serling. Unfortunately, it looks like a copy of the episode may not exist.

    Sources 1 A September 11th, 1950 article in The Los Angeles Times states that Stars Over Hollywood "was filmed by Review Productions" (Walter Ames, "TV Employees Chided for Lax Public Relations on Schedule Changes," Page 26). 2 "Radio-TV Notes." New York Times. 9 Aug. 1950: 39. 3 According to The Los Angeles Times, "Trio Pictures, Inc. has started work on five 'Stars Over Hollywood' films for video. They'll be released next month on NBC-TV with sponsor" (Walter Ames, "Eye Expert Reveals Results of Video Tests; Van Helfin Wavers Over TV Strip Deal," Page B6).

    Artifacts

    Green Hornet Stickers

    These color stickers -- a complete set includes 44 stickers -- were released in 1966 by Topps, according to the registry page at the Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) website. Here are four of the stickers:

    Sticker #5

    Green Hornet Sticker #5

    Sticker #13

    Green Hornet Sticker #13

    Sticker #16

    Green Hornet Sticker #16

    Sticker #28

    Green Hornet Sticker #28

    Just imagine how many of these stickers could have been plastered on books and walls and lockers by fans of The Green Hornet back in 1966.

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