A Year in TV Guide: August 21st, 1965

A Year in TV Guide explores the 1964-1965 television season through the pages of TV Guide magazine. Each week, I’ll examine the issue of TV Guide published exactly 50 years earlier. The intent is not simply to examine what was on television each week but rather what was being written about television.

Week #49
August 21st, 1965
Vol. 13, No. 34, Issue #647
New York State Edition

On the Cover: Fess Parker and Patricia Blair (photograph by Gene Trindl).

The Magazine

This week’s cover article about Patricia Blair is the typical TV Guide profile that delves into her early career, her personality, what she thinks about her work, and what others think about her. She finds it hilarious that she plays a pioneer wife because she’s “one of the least domestic girls in the country” and after work goes home to her maid, who makes her dinner.

She started her career as an aspiring model but soon gave up on that and decided to become an actress. According to the article, she “is considered a good, though not sensational, actress by her colleagues.” Personally, Patricia loves acting. “It’s the most magical thing in the world. There’s nothing more thrilling. You come away alive and tingling!” And yet she finds the work constraining because she’s a free spirit who longs to be able to leave when the mood strikes.

Front Cover
Front Cover – Copyright 1965 Triangle Publications, Inc.

There are those in Hollywood who aren’t fond of her. One anonymous person says “She’s a warm-hearted, broad-shouldered featherhead. A sweet girl, but you can’t take her seriously as an actress. She’s made her way because of TV’s insatiable need for pretty hacks.”

“You Gotta Have Heart!” is the first of a two-part report by Neil Hickey and Joseph Finnigan about how TV shows are sold. It is both interesting and useful. Hickey and Joseph reveal details about Our Man Higgins, I Love Lucy, 12 O’clock High, O.K. Crackerby!, and several unnamed pilots and shows.

One of the more intriguing stories involves Our Man Higgins. When John H. Mitchell of Screen Gems was trying to sell the series to ABC [in 1962], he got nowhere with then-network president Oliver Treyz. After learning that Treyz was taking a train to Washington, D.C. Mitchell figured out which train Treyz was on and bought a ticket. He eventually found Treyz, who was with two other ABC executives, crept up behind them, snapped to attention with a salute, and said “Higgins reporting, sir!” The executives laughed and Treyz told Mitchell “Anybody who goes to such incredible lengths deserves to be listened to.” Mitchell sold the show on the train then hopped off at the next station.

Another ABC story involves 12 O’clock High. The network was showing the pilot to executives from the Doyle, Dane, Bernbach advertising agency and along with representatives from one of their more important clients, Volkswagen. About halfway through the pilot, a German city is bombed. “A heavily accented German voice in the screening room was heard to say: ‘There goes our factory.'” Not surprisingly, Volkswagen passed on 12 O’clock High.

Other stories range from an advertising agency vice-president who thought the I Love Lucy pilot was terrible and ludicrous to a network vice president who hated a Western pilot until he learned it had a sponsor at which point he promptly changed his tune and called it the best Western he’d seen in ages.

“The ‘Music Man’ Hits a Patriotic Note” is a three-page profile of actor Robert Preston. He’s hosting the upcoming ABC six-part documentary series This Proud Land and is enthusiastic about the project. He is much less in love with television in general. He hates the current state of TV drama, in fact. The six weeks he spent in 1951 filling in for Ralph Bellamy on Man Against Crime was more than long enough to turn him off TV. Why? Because people started calling him by his character’s name. It bothered Preston:

And this is no tribute to the authenticity of the acting, either. It’s some strange thing about TV itself which ties you to the character you play. No matter how brilliant a performance you give on Broadway, no matter how long the run, nobody ever calls you by the name of the character as you walk out of the stage door.

Preston has strong views on a wide range of topics. He thinks young people these days are so tied to their radios they’re incapable of making normal conversation; he reads too many scripts for plays that make him cry despite being comedies because they’re just rehashes of earlier plays; he hates phonies and is continually cutting the phoniest of his friends out of his life.

He loves the theater and feels that after working in movies for ten years he has proven that he is better than movies. After being complimented on his performance one night, he told the playwright “I’ve given a marvelous performance every night–I’ve given the best performance possible of your material.”

The fourth and final article, “Love Those Poison-Pen Letters!” by Edith Efron, is a profile of Eileen Fulton. After spending five years playing Lisa Hughes on As The World Turns she broke into prime time with its spin-off Our Private World. Her character is hated by viewers who send her vile, nasty letters. She collects them.

From an early age she had a vivid imagination and as a child fell in love with romantic stories. She enjoyed pretending she was an explorer or a detective and was disappointed when she grew up and discovered she couldn’t be one. So she became an actress so she could keep pretending. Her drive to become an actress only intensified as she grew up:

Most of the girls I knew were feminine-mystique types. Their only goal was to get behind that kitchen sink as fast as they could. I’ve always thought that was ridiculous. Betty Friedan was right. Women need careers as much as men do. They’re psychologically frustrated without them.

That frustration plays into the character she plays. Lisa Hughes, according to Fulton, hoped to find adventure by getting married and having children but instead found only responsibility. Fulton was married once but isn’t anymore. She is an ardent follower of Ayn Rand. “I like her philosophy of reason and objectivity. One of the things I learned from her is not to be a moral coward, to stand up for what I believe. I think her philosophy is right, and I support her publicly.”

Unfortunately, her career isn’t where she’d like it to be. Our Private World is ending in September and network officials insist it was always meant only as a summer replacement. She has been invited to return to As The World Turns but isn’t sure she wants to. She has movie and TV offers to consider. [She did return to As The World Turns in 1966 and, with two exceptions in 1983 and 2004, stayed with the soap opera until it ended in September 2010.]

The “As We See It” editorial this week discusses the community antenna television (CATV) experiment currently underway in Miles City, MT. For $6 a month and $19 for installation, residents can receive two stations from Billings and two from Salt Lake City, plus the local radio station and a special channel presenting 24-hour news via an Associated Press radio news ticker. “This sort of pay television, which constantly is improving as new services are added, makes sense.”

Cleveland Amory reviews ABC’s children’s series Discovery this week and is generally positive in his remarks. After finally getting around to watching it [the series premiered in 1962], Amory wrote “we wish to recommend it heartily–albeit we would limit the territory somewhat, say, to children.” He then discusses three different episodes, two he felt were good and one, about Mark Twain, he didn’t. “But even an average show, on this show, is still, among children’s shows, tops.”

News from the Hollywood and New York TV Teletype columns:

  • Pat Buttram has joined the cast of Green Acres as a regular. He’ll provide a “rural contrast to Eva Gabor.”
  • ABC has decided to air both The Lawrence Welk Show and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet in color starting this fall.
  • ABC will air “Sammy Davis and the Wonderful World of Children” on Thanksgiving Day while CBS has “Charlie Brown’s Christmas” on December 9th.
  • Roberta Shore will return to The Virginian to film a farewell scene in which her character gets married, reflecting her real-life reason for leaving the series.
  • NBC’s Camp Runamuck will feature some big names behind rather than in front of the camera: Dave Ketchum, Arch Johnson, and Leonard Stone star while Howard Duff and Hal March are the directors.
  • The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson will originate from Hollywood for two weeks starting September 27th.
  • Hallmark Hall of Fame will air its version of “Inherit the Wind” on November 18th, with Melvyn Douglas as Clarence Darrow.

Rounding out the national section are two picture features. The first highlights a cowardly bear named Boley, who is afraid of heights and donkeys. The second showcases Diane Cilento modeling various outfits she’ll wear in the forthcoming “Once Upon a Tractor” United Nations/Xerox special. There is also the regular TV crossword puzzle.

There are four news reports in the “For the Record” column in the listings section this week:

  • The 1965-1966 season will be a big one for animals. More than 1,000 horses were used in June alone to film Westerns. Honey West will feature an ocelot, Lost in Space a chimpanzee, and Tammy has goats. O.K. Crackerby! has a barkless dog (a Basenji). There are also more dogs, more chimps, a goose, and of course, Mister Ed, Flipper, and Lassie.
  • NBC estimates that there are 3.6 million color TV sets in use as of July 1st, a 77% increase over last year. By the end of 1965, NBC believes there will be 5 million color sets. By comparison, last year there were a total of 51 million sets (black and white as well as color) in use.
  • NBC producer Reuven Frank is working on an updated documentary on electronic eavesdropping, to air October 31st. He earlier produced a documentary called “The Big Ear” in 1959 and argues the advances in eavesdropping since then have been “just staggering.”
  • Phyllis Diller was featured in a fashion layout in The New York Times last week. She argues that while people think she dresses funny, she doesn’t. What she wears makes sense to her and she wears a lot of fur. She has six mink coats, a sable, a Somali leopard, a full-length chinchilla, and a white ermine shirtdress.

The letters page includes just four letters this week, including this response to the August 7th article about Burke’s Law becoming Amos Burke, Secret Agent:

Re “Everything New But the Car,” in which producer Tom McDermott said his Amos Burke, Secret Agent, would be quite different from The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and would not have any “Mickey Mouse” situations:
So! Tom McDermott shunts the mouse that Disney made so famous.

He’d rather have a more suave guy i.e.: a Burke named Amos.
But–Amos Burke “ran out of gas…” said ABC–berating!
While Disney (yes, and U.N.C.L.E. too), keep Mickey Mouse creating!
(And–get the rating; That’s what they’re hating!)
By Dick Johnson
KQTV
Fort Dodge, Iowa.

There was also a letter from a reader wondering why so many American TV shows are aired on British TV but so few British TV shows on American TV (“Surely they would be better than all those reruns.”). An editorial note explained “It’s a long story, but mostly it’s less costly to use reruns.”

Another letter came from a reader who admitted to hating trumpet playing until Al Hirt came along and now she not only loves the instrument but has learned how to play it herself and encouraged her sons to learn, too.

The final letter is a long one responding to the August 7th “As We See It” editorial in which TV Guide compared criticism of network TV shows to criticism of Broadway plays. The reader argued that Broadway is aimed at tourists while serious theater-goers turn to off-Broadway and wants to know where television’s off-Broadway is. According to an editorial note, “Many hope that educational television will serve that purpose.”

The TV Listings

[This was the sixth issue I had to purchase to fill a hole in my collection. The copy I acquired is the New York State Edition with listings for 14 stations in eight markets, one of which was in Canada. As is always the case with issues I’ve had to buy, I’ve done my best to highlight some of the local programming but please note that I’m not familiar with these stations.]

Due to the delay in launching the Gemini V space flight, some of the listings in this are not very accurate. The launch was originally scheduled for Thursday, August 19th but was pushed until Saturday, August 21st. Thus, rather than provide limited continuing coverage of the mission on Saturday, the networks pre-empted much of their planned program for hours of launch coverage.

Likewise, the planned coverage of the end of the mission, and the recovery of the capsule, on Friday, August 27th was delayed until Sunday, August 29th.

With that in mind, many of the sporting events planned for Saturday, August 21st probably weren’t broadcast. ABC’s regular Saturday afternoon baseball game at 2PM, for example, likely wasn’t aired (it was between the Milwaukee Braves and the Pittsburgh Pirates). Both NBC and CBS had pro football games scheduled for 2PM: NBC’s game featured the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets while the CBS game pitted the Chicago Bears against the Green Bay Packers.

At 5PM, CBS planned to air live coverage of the third round of the Carling World Open golf championship. NBC aired the final repeat of The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo at 8:30PM.

For the rest of the week the networks likely kept to their regular Gemini V coverage plans. For ABC that meant a series of one-minute reports. CBS used visual streamers during regular programs with 5-minute reports at 10AM, 12:55PM, and 6:30PM. NBC at minimum would air 10 one-minute reports.

On Sunday, August 22nd at 1PM, CBS aired a pro football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers. At 4PM, CBS aired live coverage of the final round of the Carling World Open. NBC aired another pro football game at 4:30PM, this one an exhibition game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Oakland Raiders. At 8:30PM, CBS brought back repeats of Branded starting with the series premiere. [The network filled the 8:30-9PM time slot with repeats of another Western, Buckskin, for much of the summer.] NBC aired a 15-minute update on Gemini V at 11:30PM.

Summer Playhouse on CBS presented a repeat of “Mimi” at 8:30PM on Monday, August 23rd. [The unsold sitcom pilot first aired in August 1964.] It starred husband-and-wife comedy team Phil Ford and Mimi Hines as staff members at a spa. Mimi, a dietitian, has her hands full with two guests: a jockey watching his weight and an overweight ballet master. From 9-10PM, NBC repeated “Jonathan and the Movies,” a Jonathan Winters special featuring Agnes Moorehead, Julie Newmar, Robert Middleton, and Buster Keaton. [It originally aired on March 29th, 1965.]

From 10-11PM, CBS broadcast “Vietnam: Winning the Peace,” the third in the four-part CBS News documentary series Vietnam Perspectives.

ABC pre-empted Shindig from 8:30-9:30PM on Wednesday, August 25th to air its own Vietnam documentary called “The Agony of Vietnam.” Edward P. Morgan narrated the special, which was produced by Stephen Fleischman.

On Friday, August 27th at 9:30PM, Vacation Playhouse on CBS aired an unsold pilot called “Three on an Island.” It starred Pamela Tiffin, Julie Newmar and Monica Moran as three friends living in Manhattan who find themselves owning half of a prizefighter’s boxing contract. Jody McCrea played the fighter. Hal Kanter wrote the script.

Here are the TV Guide close-ups for the week:

  • Special: Pro Football – Packers/Bears (CBS, Saturday at 2:00PM)
  • Special: Golf Championship (CBS, Sunday at 4:00PM and 4:30PM)
  • The Rogues – “Mr. White’s Christmas” (NBC, Sunday at 10PM, Repeat)
  • Special: The Agony of Vietnam (ABC, Wednesday at 8:30PM)
  • The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour – “Lucy Meets the Moustache” (CBS, Wednesday at 10PM, Repeat)

The listings section includes listings for the following stations:

Schenectady
WRGB (Channel 6) – NBC

Albany
WTEN (Channel 10) – CBS
WAST (Channel 13) – ABC
WCDC (Channel 19) – CBS [satellite of WTEN]

Syracuse
WSYR-TV (Channel 3) – NBC
WHEN-TV (Channel 5) – CBS
WNYS-TV (Channel 9) – ABC

Utica
WKTV (Channel 2) – ABC

Watertown
WWNY-TV (Channel 7) – ABC/CBS/NBC

Rochester
WROC-TV (Channel 8) – NBC
WHEC-TV (Channel 10) – CBS
WOKR (Channel 13) – ABC

Binghamton
WNBF-TV (Channel 12) – CBS

Kingston, Ontario (Canada)
CKWS-TV (Channel 11) – Independent, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Locally, many stations were likely impacted on Saturday by the delayed launch of Gemini V. Local programming may have been replaced with network coverage of the launch. For example, WRGB (Channel 6) had a half-hour local children’s program called Ginny’s Game Room scheduled from 8:30-9AM. The station probably opted to air NBC’s Gemini V coverage instead. Several stations planned to air sporting events Saturday afternoon. Whether they did or not is unknown. WRGB had a baseball game scheduled for 2:10PM, featuring the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Mets. Two different horse races were scheduled at 4:30PM: the Travers race on WTEN (Channel 10) and its satellite WCDC (Channel 19) and the Prince of Wales Stakes on Canadians station CKWS-TV (Channel 11). At 5PM, WSYR-TV (Channel 3) was scheduled to pick up the Travers race in progress.

CKWS-TV had several programs scheduled for Saturday evening that may have been local: an agriculture series called Countrytime from 6-6:30PM, variety show World of Music from 6-6:45PM, and a news analysis program called Chronicle from 6:45-7PM. At 8PM, another baseball game was scheduled on WTEN and WCDC. This one pitted the New York Yankees against the Baltimore Orioles. It pre-empted CBS network programming for the evening.

On Sunday, local programming was probably more or less back to normal. There were numerous religious programs during the morning, some of which may have been local. WHEN-TV (Channel 5) aired a farm report from 8:30-9AM while WHEC-TV (Channel 10/Rochester) aired an agriculture show called RFD 10. WRGB aired its own agriculture program, Farm Spotlight, from 9-9:30AM. At 9:15AM, WSYR-TV aired a 15-minute senate news conference. WKTV aired another senate news conference from 10:15-10:30AM, followed by another on WWNY-TV at 10:45AM. A Congressional report aired from 11:45AM-12PM on WROC-TV (Channel 8). WWNY-TV aired a Cathloic church service from 12:30-1PM.

From 1-2PM WKTV aired variety series Twist-A-Rama. Also at 1PM, WRGB aired another Mets-Cardinals baseball game. At 2PM, another Yankees-Orioles game aired on WKTV, WWNY-TV, WNYS-TV, WTEN, WNBF-TV (Channel 12), and WCDC. WNYS-TV aired roller derby coverage from 5:30-6:30PM. At 6:30PM, WRGB aired Parade of Fashion. Also at 6:30PM, WNBF-TV aired Community Salute, a half-hour series that this week looked at Towanda, PA.

Weekday programming that may have been local included Party Line on WHEN-TV from 7:30-7:40AM; Today’s Calendar on WHEN-TV from 7:40-45AM; These Things We Share on WHEN-TV from 7:45-8AM; Charlie’s Place on WNYS-TV from 7:30-8AM; Ed Allen Time on WOKR (Channel 13) from 8-8:30AM; Eight Thirty on WORK from 8:30-9AM; Magic Toy Shop on WHEN-TV from 99:30AM; Gloria on WNBF-TV from 9-9:30AM; Marlene Sanders on WKTV from 9:30-10AM; Consult Dr. Brothers on WNBF-TV from 1:25-1:30PM; Summer Set on CKWS-TV from 3:30-4PM; Vacation Time on CKWS-TV from 4-5PM; Skipper Sam on WROC-TV (Channel 8) from 4:25-5PM; Bud Ballou on WNYS-TV from 5-6PM; and How’s Business on WROC-TV from 6-6:30PM.

At 7PM on Monday, WSYR-TV aired a half-hour special called “Youth’s Finest Hour” with Bill O’Donnell reporting on the annual meeting of the Federation of Christian Atheletes. From 9:30-10:30PM, CKWS-TV aired “An Entirely Private Goal,” a special about long-distance runners (it pre-empted a series called Gideon’s Way). Both WNBF-TV and WHEN-TV pre-empted CBS network programming starting at 9:30PM for movies; the stations aired “Vietnam: Winning the Peace” the following day, pre-empting portions of CBS network programming in the process.

On Wednesday, WOKR pre-empted ABC’s “The Agony of Vietnam” documentary in favor of an episode of Surfside 6. [This may have been a regular pre-emption to replace Shindig rather than a one-off pre-emption due to the Vietnam special.] WWNY-TV, which aired programming from all three networks, did air an episode of Shindig on Wednesday but not until 10PM. [It was the previous week’s episode.]

WTEN and WCDC pre-empted CBS network programming starting at 8PM on Thursday to show a movie. On Friday, WRGB aired another baseball game starting at 8:30PM, this one between the San Francisco Giants and the New York Mets. Earlier at 8PM, the station aired a variety series called The Barn.

Here’s an advertisement for 11th Hour News with Ted Baughn on WTEN (Channel 10):

Advertisement for 11th Hour News with Ted Baughn on WTEN (Channel 10)
11th Hour News with Ted Baughn on WTEN (Channel 10) – Copyright 1965 Triangle Publications, Inc.

Here’s an advertisement for early weather with Bob Gordon on WTEN:

Advertisement for early weather with Bob Gordon on WTEN
Advertisement for early weather with Bob Gordon on WTEN – Copyright 1965 Triangle Publications, Inc.

Here’s an advertisement for the WHEC (Channel 10) news team of Hosmer and Brown:

Advertisement for the WHEC (Channel 10) News Team of Hosmer and Brown
Advertisement for the WHEC (Channel 10) News Team of Hosmer and Brown – Copyright 1965 Triangle Publications, Inc.

That’s it for this week. Hit the comments with your thoughts.


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15 Replies to “A Year in TV Guide: August 21st, 1965”

  1. Thanks for another nice look back.

    I’m glad you got a copy of my “native” edition. The Schenectady & Albany stations were (and still are) in one market known as the Capital District. Albany/Schenectady/Troy, and WAST (originally WTRI and now WNYT) was originally assigned to Troy and on channel 35 but moved its license to Albany and its channel to 13 in 1958, after WKTV from Utica moved from 13 to 2. WTEN moved from channel 41 to channel 10 a year earlier and simulcast on 10 (WTEN), 19 (WCDC), & 41 (WCDA) for a few years before dropping channel 41. WRGB was originally on channel 4 but moved to channel 6 in 1954 because of interference from channel 4 in NYC (WNBT/WRCA, now WNBC).

    My family & I usually watched WRGB for news, and I still remember Ernie Tetrault on that station. WRGB had lots of local programs and sometimes movies that would often preempt NBC programming, both in daytime and primetime. I’ve found by my EBay purchases of this TV Guide edition and its successor (Eastern NY State, which started a few weeks after this issue and no longer carried the Rochester stations) that NBC preempted several sitcoms & dramatic shows for locally-produced programs like “The Barn” as you noted above. WRGB never carried several NBC flop sitcoms, such as “Hank” & “Camp Runamuck”, and it appears that it didn’t even carry “I Dream of Jeannie” until early 1968, partway through that sitcom’s 3rd season. In daytime it often didn’t carry “Let’s Make a Deal” when that show was on NBC, preempting it for a movie, and it never carried “The Match Game” at 4 PM, instead carrying a local cartoon show, but it did eventually carry that show on a week-long delay in the 1 PM timeslot, which NBC left open to local affiliates at the time. In the early 70s I remember seeing “The Who What or Where” game once on a fuzzy signal from WKTV out of Utica, since WRGB didn’t carry that either.

    I don’t remember the news personalities that you show from WTEN, and I’m not sure if they were still on WTEN in the early 70s or not. I can remember seeing “Commander Ralph” Vartigan (and the Good Ship News) on WTEN mornings just before Captain Kangaroo. I got to see WTEN studios on a field trip at the end of 2nd grade and remember seeing Commander Ralph’s set. For some reason it appeared backward from how I saw it on tv, or at least that’s what I thought at the time.

    WAST has been affiliated with all “Big Three” networks. As it was the lowest-rated VHF station with the worst signal in the Capital District, ABC dumped WAST for WTEN in 1977, and later WRGB ended its 40+-year relationship with NBC in 1981 for CBS, dumping WAST to NBC. WAST changed its call letters to WNYT then and eventually became the #1 news station in the market, passing WTEN then WRGB.

    WMHT, channel 17, was the local educational station, and it was probably off-air for the summer this week. I remember seeing “Mr. Rogers Neighborhood”, “Sesame St.”, “The Electric Company”, and eventually “Zoom” on this station. I also remember seeing lots of shows on this station during school days in class, like “Mulligan’s Stew” (not the NBC 1977 drama but a show with a cast of kids) and “Celebrate a Book” (with Hugo the Hand).

    My family left this area for Middle Tennessee late in 1976, but eventually my parents moved back to the area for a few years when I was in college, and I saw additional stations like WXXA, channel 23 (independent then original Fox affiliate) and WUSV, channel 45, which was notable to me since its studio was just a couple miles from the house where I originally lived. WUSV didn’t last long as an independent and eventually became a sister station of WMHT (WMHX) for a few years before becoming the Capital District’s CW affiliate, WCWN, also a sister station of WRGB.

    1. Sorry, a bit of a misstatement on my part here:

      I’ve found by my EBay purchases of this TV Guide edition and its successor (Eastern NY State, which started a few weeks after this issue and no longer carried the Rochester stations) that NBC preempted several sitcoms & dramatic shows for locally-produced programs like “The Barn” as you noted above.

      That should read “…WRGB preempted several NBC sitcoms…etc”. NBC obviously wasn’t preempting its own programming. ;)

  2. I wonder if the “experimental station” in Miles City is an early version of KYUS, the station which was the smallest network affiliate in America for many years. And why on earth was Miles City picked in the first place.

  3. I was a young kid when Daniel Boone first aired and don’t recall ever watching it during it’s first run. I don’t think it reran much over the years but recently I caught a few episodes on METV. While I thought it was okay, “typical family fare drama”, IMO, but I was most struck from the fact that it took place in the 1700’s. That got me thinking, how many American TV shows, dramas or comedy’s took place during that era of American history?

    1. Richard, I looked through “The Official TV Western Round-Up Book” (self-published by authors Neil Summers & Roger M. Crowley) and came up with the following additionsl series and miniseries set in the 1700s:
      “Daniel Boone” (first version) starring Dewey Martin, aired as several episodes of “Walt Disney Presents” on ABC from 1960 – 1961.
      “Davy Crockett”, starring Fess Parker & Buddy Ebsen aired as 3 episodes of “Disneyland” on ABC from 1954 – 1955.
      “Hawkeye”, starring Lee Horsley, Lynda Carter & Rodney A. Grant, was a syndicated series from 1994.
      “Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans”, starring John Hart & Lon Chaney, Jr. was a syndicated series from 1956.
      “Northwest Passage”, starring Keith Larson, Buddy Ebsen & Don Burnett was set during the French & Indian War, and aired on NBC during the 1958 season.
      “The Swamp Fox”, starring Leslie Nielson was set during the Revolutionary War, and aired as 8 episodes of “Walt Disney Presents” on ABC from 1959 – 1961.
      “Young Dan’l Boone”, starring Rick Moses lasted only 4 episodes on CBS in 1977.
      “The Young Rebels”, starring Alex Henteloff, Rick Ely, Hilarie Thompson, & Lou Gossett, Jr. was set during the Revolutionary War, and lasted for 17 episodes on ABC in 1971.
      There have been series set in earlier time periods, but these are the only 1700s shows I could find in by using one source book.

      1. Rick Johnson & Richard John Marcej, I apologize for my mistake. The “Davy Crockett” episodes did indeed take place in the early 1800s. I should have checked my history before posting.

      2. ‘Daniel Boone’ had the strangest timeline in TV history — episodes are set over a 30+ year period without any of the main characters aging. Some epsodes take place in the Colonial era, many others during the Revolution, and a handful are set during the 1800s. One episode involves the Louisiana Purchase treaty, while another portrays the courtship of Nancy Hanks and Thomas Lincoln (you may have heard of their boy Abe). One of my favorite episodes deals with Aaron Burr’s plot to seize power in the western territories and start his own country (1806).

  4. The profiles of performers in TV Guides of this era are interesting, because they are not necessarily fawning. I was taken aback by the quote, “She’s a warm-hearted, broad-shouldered featherhead. A sweet girl, but you can’t take her seriously as an actress. She’s made her way because of TV’s insatiable need for pretty hacks.” The anonymous person who said that obviously liked Ms. Blair personally, but I wonder how she felt when she read that, as well as the comment that she “is considered a good, though not sensational, actress by her colleagues.” The latter is not as negative, and maybe Ms. Blair would have concurred. Who knows? However, I do not think you would ever see something like that today in TV Guide or People or US or wherever. The performer’s agent, publicist, and lawyer would be up in arms and threatening that they will never let any of their other clients talk to that publication ever again. (I recall a situation like that concerning Julia Roberts a decade or so ago.)

    It is interesting that the unsold pilot for “Mimi” was aired twice. I do not remember that ever happening with any other unsold pilots. I wonder what made them show it a year later? Surely they had plenty of other unsold pilots they could have chosen. Could it be that the first showing received decent ratings, but not enough for the network to consider picking it up for a series, but enough to warrant a second showing?

  5. I don’t think any network began coverage of the rescheduled Gemini V launch on August 21st any earlier than 9 A.M. EDT (the re-scheduled launch took place on-time at 10 A.M. EDT).

    If my memory serves me correct (I was a child then), I think NBC went on the air at 9, ABC and CBS went on the air at 9:30.

    The networks were planning to stay on the air until around 12 Noon, but just as they were planning to end their launch-day coverage, trouble developed with the pressure in Gemini 5’s fuel cells (the first time fuel cells were used on a manned space flight). The problem was so severe that NASA’s Mission Control Center near Houston considered bringing astronauts Gordon Cooper and Pete Conrad back early, with a splashdown near Hawaii late in the sixth orbit.

    But the pressure stabilized, and Gemini 5 was allowed to go on. As a result, ABC, CBS, and NBC all stayed on the air until about 6 P.M. EDT, when the decision was made to extend the flight for at least 24 hours..

    In the end, the scheduled eight-day mission got cut short by a single orbit, but that was due to an approaching hurricane in the original splashdown area (which forced a splashdown in an alternate part oft the western Atlantic) and not due to the fuel cells.

  6. Eighties electro pop star turned torch singer Marc Almond, Camille O Sullivan, The Bionic Rats, Mike Sanchez and cracking Dublin band Delorentos. Here s hoping we get another series next year.

  7. Don’t know if anyone will remember this one, but I was about 7 or 8 in around ’64 or ’65, and Channel 6 in Schenectady had a local Game Show, I think it was called “Race Through Space”. The game was played on a board that was in the shape of the number “6”, and I think copies of this game board were available from the station. Am I remembering this correctly? We moved away from the northeast from Rutland, VT in ’68 when I was 11, and have lived much of my life in the Midwest but was hoping someone would remember this, and maybe there was an image of the game somewhere.
    Thanks,

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