http://www.tvobscurities.com/2009/09/bookshelf-planet-of-the-apes-1-man-the-fugitive/ Keeping Obscure TV From Fading Away Forever Sat, 31 Jul 2010 15:15:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://www.tvobscurities.com/2009/09/bookshelf-planet-of-the-apes-1-man-the-fugitive/comment-page-1/#comment-15945 Cee Jay Sun, 27 Sep 2009 16:06:26 +0000 http://www.tvobscurities.com/?p=4272#comment-15945 I loved the movies as a kid, but I think the problem with the show was that there should have been an explanation whether or not it was a sequel or a prequel to the movies. I loved the movies as a kid, but I think the problem with the show was that there should have been an explanation whether or not it was a sequel or a prequel to the movies.

]]> http://www.tvobscurities.com/2009/09/bookshelf-planet-of-the-apes-1-man-the-fugitive/comment-page-1/#comment-15900 Barry I. Grauman Fri, 25 Sep 2009 04:29:24 +0000 http://www.tvobscurities.com/?p=4272#comment-15900 20th Century-Fox re-edited several episodes of the "APES" TV series into ersatz "TV movies" in the late '70s, which they circulated on local stations for years (including WABC-TV in New York, which aired them on their "4:30 MOVIE" for several years during "Planet Of the Apes" weeks, with Roddy McDowall as "Zaius" delivering new taped introductions and epilogues...and, of course, they were among the highest-rated Channel 7 aired locally at that time). So, naturally, there was an interest in "new" paperback novels to keep the "franchise" going...right into 1976, two years AFTER the series ended. However, Variety's quote [from their initial review] about the TV version being "a sure winner" was about as accurate as that famous 1948 Chicago Tribune headline, "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN". The CBS series {which the network commissioned after the initial telecast of the original movie was a ratings blockbuster on "THE CBS FRIDAY NIGHT MOVIES" in September 1973} was scheduled on Friday nights at 8pm(et), opposite "SANFORD AND SON" and the first season of "CHICO AND THE MAN" on NBC, which got more viewers, and Fred Silverman couldn't wait to "build" an audience for the series, and yanked it off by the end of December 1974. Perhaps one day, Fox will get it "right". 20th Century-Fox re-edited several episodes of the “APES” TV series into ersatz “TV movies” in the late ’70s, which they circulated on local stations for years (including WABC-TV in New York, which aired them on their “4:30 MOVIE” for several years during “Planet Of the Apes” weeks, with Roddy McDowall as “Zaius” delivering new taped introductions and epilogues…and, of course, they were among the highest-rated Channel 7 aired locally at that time). So, naturally, there was an interest in “new” paperback novels to keep the “franchise” going…right into 1976, two years AFTER the series ended. However, Variety’s quote [from their initial review] about the TV version being “a sure winner” was about as accurate as that famous 1948 Chicago Tribune headline, “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN”. The CBS series {which the network commissioned after the initial telecast of the original movie was a ratings blockbuster on “THE CBS FRIDAY NIGHT MOVIES” in September 1973} was scheduled on Friday nights at 8pm(et), opposite “SANFORD AND SON” and the first season of “CHICO AND THE MAN” on NBC, which got more viewers, and Fred Silverman couldn’t wait to “build” an audience for the series, and yanked it off by the end of December 1974.
Perhaps one day, Fox will get it “right”.

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