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    Archive for March 2010

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    Bookshelf

    Bookshelf: V Novels and Comic Books

    Posted Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 at 8:44PM
    1 Comment

    I'm trying something new today. Rather than reviewing a single novel or comic book I'm going to discuss all of the tie-in novels and comics to NBC's V (referred to here as V: The Miniseries) and its spin-offs. V: The Miniseries, a two-part, four-hour sci-fi miniseries originally broadcast in May of 1983, spawned a sequel miniseries (V: The Final Battle, broadcast in May of 1984), a short-lived weekly television series (V: The Series, broadcast from October of 1984 to March of 1985) and a slew of collectibles and memorabilia, much of it released in 1984. There was a metal lunchbox (with plastic thermos) from Aladdin, a set of 66 trading cards and stickers from Fleer, an "Enemy Visitor" action figure from LJN and toy guns from Arco. LJN was set to produce an additional series of action figures in 1985 but due to the failure of V: The Series the figures were never produced [1].

    Outliving V: The Series, however, were a series a novels from Pinnacle Books and a comic book adaptation from DC Comics. Author A. C. Crispin wrote a roughly 400-page novelization of both V: The Miniseries and V: The Final Battle for Pinnacle, first published in April of 1984. The New York Times called it an "unusual multimedia event" given that it would hit shelves shortly before V: The Final Battle appeared on television [2]. Pinnacle had approached NBC during the summer of 1983 about novelizing V, explaining that "bookstores could provide a whole new showcase for television promotion" and ultimately ordered a first printing running an astounding 850,000 books [3]. The publisher hoped V: The Final Battle would draw attention to the novelization while NBC felt that the novelization would promote V: The Final Battle.

    Read the rest of this entry »
    Status Guide

    Status Guide – “Kraft Television Theatre” Season Five

    Posted Tuesday, March 30th, 2010 at 8:30PM
    1 Comment

    I've written a brief overview of NBC's long-running Kraft Television Theatre -- which ran from 1947 to 1958 -- and the status of its hundreds of episodes, which you can read here. Because the show ran year-round, I initially considered each season to run from May to May (in other words, the first season would have run from May of 1947 to May of 1948). However, I eventually decided to align my status guides with various episode guides available online: TV.com, the Internet Movie Database and the Classic TV Database.

    Completed Status Guides

    Season Air Dates Published
    Season One May 7th, 1947 - September 15th, 1948 May 16th, 2009
    Season Two September 22nd, 1948 - September 14th, 1949 September 26th, 2009
    Season Three September 21st, 1949 - September 20th, 1950 January 9th, 2010
    Season Four September 27th, 1950 - September 5th, 1951 February 7th, 2010
    Season Five September 12th, 1951 - September 24th, 1952 March 30th, 2010

    The fifth season of Kraft Television Theatre premiered on September 12th, 1951 with the 227th episode of the series and ended on September 24th, 1952 with the 279th episode. Coverage of the Republican National Convention pre-empted the series on July 9th, 1952 while coverage of the Democratic National Convention pre-empted the series two weeks later on July 23rd. The Classic TV Database has an episode titled "The Intruder" airing on Tuesday, July 22nd, 1952 but listings in The New York Times and other newspapers indicate that additional convention coverage was shown that day. An episode titled "The Intruder" did air in July of 1953, however.

    At least one source gives the name of the October 24th, 1951 episode as "Interference" while most sources call it "Intolerance." Also, according to one source, the August 27th, 1952 episode was originally supposed to be "Mr. Barry's Etchings," with Geoffrey Lumb and Leola Thatcher. Instead, "The Small Hours" with Lauren Gilbert and Grace Kelly was broadcast on that date. "Mr. Barry's Etchings" was shown the following week on September 3rd. The Library of Congress holds twelve episodes in its collection. UCLA's Film & Television Archive, Museum of Broadcasting and The Paley Center for Media do not have any episodes from this season in their collections.

    Season Five: 1951-1952
     
    Ep. # Episode Title Airdate Status
    227. "The Tale of the Wolf" 09/12/1951
    228. "The Wren" 09/19/1951
    229. "The Climax" 09/26/1951
    230. "Irish Eyes" 10/03/1951
    231. "Seen But Not Heard" 10/10/1951
    232. "Moon Over Mulberry Street" 10/17/1951
    233. "Intolerance" (aka "Interference") 10/24/1951
    234. "Hour of Crisis" 10/31/1951
    235. "Justice" 11/07/1951
    236. "Never Be the Same" 11/14/1951
    237. "Dear Brutas" 11/21/1951 LoC
    238. "The Fair Haired Boy" 11/28/1951
    239. "Loyalties" 12/05/1951
    240. "The Golden State" 12/12/1951 LoC
    241. "Incident on Fifth Ave 12/19/1951
    242. "Nantucket Legend" 12/26/1951 LoC
    243. "The New Gossoon" 01/02/1952 LoC
    244. "Phillip Goes Forth 01/09/1952 LoC
    245. "The Round Table" 01/16/1952 LoC
    246. "The Peaceful Warrior" 01/23/1952
    247. "Mrs. O'Brien Entertains" 01/30/1952
    248. "Follow the Dream" 02/06/1952
    249. "The Skin Game" 02/13/1952
    250. "The Mollusk" 02/20/1952
    251. "September Tide" 02/27/1952
    252. "What Anne Brought Home" 03/05/1952 LoC
    253. "The Thief" 03/12/1952
    254. "The Bride the Sun Shines On" 03/19/1952
    255. "The Rugged Path" (aka "On The Rugged Path") 03/26/1952 LoC
    256. "The Ryan Girl" 04/02/1952
    257. "The Last Mile" 04/09/1952 LoC
    258. "Green Cars Go East" 04/16/1952
    259. "The Summit" 04/23/1952
    260. "The Man in Half Moon Street" 04/30/1952
    261. "She Stoops to Conquer" 05/07/1952 LoC
    262. "The Inn" 05/14/1952
    263. "Prologue to Glory" 05/21/1952
    264. "Third Visitor" 05/28/1952
    265. "At Mrs. Beam's" 06/04/1952
    266. "The Cricket on the Hearth" 06/11/1952
    267. "Death of a Kid Gleason" 06/18/1952
    268. "Thorn in the Flesh" 06/25/1952
    269. "A Time for Turning" 07/02/1952
    PRE-EMPTED: Republican National Convention 07/09/1952  
    270. "Great Big Doorstep" 07/16/1952 LoC
    PRE-EMPTED: Democratic National Convention 07/23/1952  
    271. "The Music Master" 07/30/1952
    272. "Six by Six" 08/06/1952
    273. "Lace on Her Petticoat" 08/13/1952
    274. "Indian Summer" 08/20/1952
    275. "The Small Hours" 08/27/1952 LoC
    276. "Mr. Barry's Etchings" 09/03/1952
    277. "Letters to Lucerne" 09/10/1952
    278. "Truman Capote's The Grass Harp" 09/17/1952
    279. "Background" 09/24/1952
    DVD Tuesday

    DVD Tuesday: Rhoda, The Abbott and Costello Show

    Posted Tuesday, March 30th, 2010 at 12:38PM
    4 Comments

    Every Tuesday I take a look at obscure and/or classic television programs, specials, miniseries or made-for-TV movies being released on DVD. For the record I consider anything broadcast prior to 1980 to be classic or else there wouldn't be much to discuss. The releases referred to in these posts are encoded for Region 1 use in the United States and Canada.

    It's the last Tuesday of March and there are only a few releases of note for fans of classic television. From E1 Entertainment comes The Abbott & Costello Show - The Complete Series Collector's Edition, containing all 52 episodes of the syndicated 1952-1954 sitcom. Both seasons of the show were released individually in 2006 and I believe this new collection is those season sets with new packaging and a few new bonus features, namely a new 44-page commemorative booklet and a 1978 television special titled "Hey, Abbott!" hosted by Milton Berle. The remaining bonus features -- interviews and home movies -- were also found on the season sets. A review can be found at Sitcoms Online.

    Also out today, from Shout! Factory, is Rhoda: Season Two, with all 24 episodes from the 1975-1976 season. The Season One release was a disaster, with questionable video and quality quality plus numerous edited episodes. Read the Sitcoms Online review of the Season One set for more information. Thankfully, it seems the Season Two set contains both unedited and better quality episodes. Reviews can be found at Sitcoms Online and DVD Talk.

    Requiescat In Pace

    June Havoc (1913-2010)

    Posted Monday, March 29th, 2010 at 7:37PM
    1 Comment

    Actress June Havoc, who was appearing in vaudeville as Baby June when she was two years old, has passed away at the age of 97. Born Ellen Evangeline Hovick in either 1912 or 1913, Havoc was the young sister of burlesque dancer Gypsy Rose Lee (born Rose Louise Hovick in 1911; died in 1970). Their life growing up in the spotlight and their relationship with their mother, Rose, was chronicled in a 1957 memoir aptly titled Gypsy: A Memoir, which "inspired" a 1959 musical -- with music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim -- that itself was turned into a book by Arthur Laurents. The original Broadway staging starred Ethel Merman. A 1962 film adaptation starred Rosalind Russell and Natalie Wood.

    Havoc made her Broadway debut in 1936 with a role in Forbidden Melody; her first film role came six years later in Four Jacks and a Jill, released in 1942. According to the Internet Movie Database her first television role was a 1950 episode of This Is Show Business, which was followed by appearances in an assortment of anthology series such as Pulitzer Prize Playhouse, Hollywood Opening Night and Celanese Theatre. From 1954 to 1955 she starred in Willy, a sitcom produced by Desilu for CBS in which Havoc played a young lawyer.

    In 1964 Havoc was nominated for a Tony Award for directing Marathon '33, which she also wrote (it was based on her first memoir, Early Havoc, published in 1959; a second memoir, More Havoc, was released in 1980). She last appeared on Broadway in 1982 in Annie. Her last film was 1987's A Return to Salem's Lot and her last television role was on General Hospital in 1990. Obituaries can be found at The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter and Playbill.com.

    Q & A

    Q & A: WCBS-TV's "Caught in the Middle"

    Posted Monday, March 29th, 2010 at 2:59PM
    4 Comments

    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 have it stuck in my cerebral matter that there was a videotaped television movie about a successful black man who returns to the ghetto where he grew up. The movie was entitled "Man in the Middle" and featured a young Morgan Freeman as a street hustler. I guess the time period as anywhere from 1968 to 1972....DOES ANYONE REMEMBER THIS TV MOVIE???

    -Amy

    Amy was close with the title. It was called "Caught in the Middle" and aired locally in New York City on WCBS-TV on Wednesday, December 16th, 1970 from 7:30-9PM. The station commissioned Gordon Watkins to write and produce the drama. Here's a brief summary from the day's television listings in The New York Times:

    Drama, taped on location in Harlem, about the frustrations of a welfare worker torn between urgent needs of the community and limitations imposed on him by rules and regulates. The cast is headed by Lawrence Cook, Morgan Freeman, Dorothi Fox, Camille Yarbrough [sic]. [1]

    Lawrence Cook starred as William "Bear" Walker, the aforementioned welfare worker who returned to the ghetto where he grew up in the hopes of doing some good. Fred Ferretti, in a lengthy review published December 17th, called the drama an anomaly, "less than professional as a structured dramatic piece, it is, nevertheless, shot through with brutal, raw strength. On paper it is a badly drawn play, but on videotape last night it charted with considerable success and honesty, to me, the why of black rage." Ferretti praised the cast:

    Dorothi Fox as the cynical Mrs. Thomas who has slept around some is excellent, as is Camille Yarborough as the young mother of a brain-damaged, illegitimate child, who might, in some other time, have loved Bear Walker. Lawrence Cook as Bear grew in intenisity as the play progressed, with his final desperate assault on the police both dramatically believable and incredibly chilling. But to me, Morgan Freeman as Cuz towered as the silk-suited operator who sold his soul and subsequently his people, his neighborhood and finally his friend, Bear.

    Ferretti also liked the look of the drama, writing that "the play looks, even feels, as if it were breaking news, or a documentary." It was videotaped in Harlem over the course of ten days in May of 1970. This location shooting, said Ferretti, added "a dimension to the play that would be lost in a studio production." The first 25 minutes of "Caught in the Middle" can be viewed at YouTube:

    Hopefully the remaining hour of "Caught in the Middle" also exists somewhere. I wonder if Morgan Freeman has a copy.

    Works Cited:

    1 "Television." New York Times. 16 Dec. 1970: 95.
    2 Ferretti, Fred. "TV: Pressures of the Black Ghetto." New York Times. 17 Dec. 1970: 95.

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