Top 10 Specials of the 1964-1965 Season
Here are the Top Top entertainment specials broadcast during the 1964-1965 season. The list was published in the May 24th, 1965 issue of Broadcasting [1]. The most-watched special was the February 12th, 1964 showing of Cinderella on CBS. It drew a 42.3 Nielsen rating and was seen in more than 22 million households. The color extravaganza starred Lesley Ann Warren as Cinderella and Stuart Damon as Prince Charming (the cast also included Ginger Rogers, Celeste Holm and others). It was the second time the Rodgers and Hammerstein take on the fairy tale had been seen on television. Julie Andrews starred in the first, aired in 1957 (also on CBS); a third version, starring Brandy Norwood, was broadcast in 1997 on ABC.
Other specials included the Academy Awards, the Miss America Pageant and a whole bunch of “personality” specials starring Danny Thomas or Bob Hope. You don’t often see specials on television these days, aside from awards shows. For the record, the 2009 Academy Awards drew a 20.6 Nielsen rating [2]. As for the Miss America Pageant, it hasn’t been seen on network television since September 18th, 2004 when ABC’s broadcast drew a paltry 6.8 rating [3]. Sad.
| ## | Program | Airdate | Net | Rating | Households |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Cinderella | 02/12/1965 | CBS | 42.3 | 22,250,000 |
| 2. | Miss America Pageant | 09/12/1964 | CBS | 40.3 | 21,200,000 |
| 3. | Danny Thomas Special | 03/14/1965 | NBC | 38.9 | 20,460,000 |
| 4. | Academy Awards | 04/05/1965 | ABC | 37.4 | 19,670,000 |
| 5. | Bob Hope Christmas Show | 01/15/1965 | NBC | 36.0 | 18,940,000 |
| 6. | Wizard of Oz | 01/17/1965 | CBS | 34.7 | 18,250,000 |
| 7. | Bob Hope Special | 02/12/1965 | NBC | 27.4 | 14,410,000 |
| 8. | Danny Thomas Special | 02/14/1965 | CBS | 26.5 | 13,940,000 |
| 9. | Bob Hope Special | 11/20/1964 | NBC | 25.5 | 13,410,000 |
| 10. | Miss Teen-age Pageant | 11/13/1964 | CBS | 25.3 | 13,310,000 |
Works Cited:
2 Curran, John. “Pageant ratings drop again, despite gimmicks.” Associated Press. 21 Sep. 2004: BC Cycle.
3 Seidman, Robert. “Academy Awards American Idol and The Mentalist lead broadcast viewing.” TVbytheNumbers.com. 24 Feb. 2009. (Read online).
Related:
October 13th, 2009 at 12:33AM
The 1965 version of “Cinderella” was videotaped in color, but originally shown in black and white [as previously mentioned, CBS did not telecast ANY color programming from late 1959 until the fall of 1965, due to CBS chairman Bill Paley's rivalry with RCA/NBC's David Sarnoff, and Paley's belief his scheduling of color programs would primarily sell RCA Victor color sets]; the initial repeat of the special in 1966 was its first color telecast.
{Incidentally, Whitney Houston was originally supposed to star as “Cinderella” in the ABC/Disney version- but production had been delayed for so long, by the time it was filmed in 1997, Houston was too old to play the lead. She appeared as the “Fairy Godmother” instead.}
“The Wizard Of Oz”, with Danny Kaye’s pre-recorded segments as host (which were used from 1963 through 1967), was also seen in black and white. Color telecasts of the 1939 movie were shown only after NBC acquired the rights to the film in 1967.
Bob Hope’s monthly Chrysler specials were always a big draw in the mid-’60s: in the 1964-’65 season, they alternated with his weekly “BOB HOPE PRESENTS THE CHRYSLER THEATER” anthology- and believe it nor not, while his weekly show was in “Living Color”, his specials WEREN’T. Not until December 1965 were his variety specials presented in color for the first time.