Television Obscurities » Editorial

PBS Bringing Back Pioneers of Television

RGJ — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 23:23:15 +0000

In January of 2008, PBS broadcast a four-part documentary series called Pioneers of Television. The four episodes covered sitcoms, late-night, variety, and game shows. Over the past few weeks I’ve seen the series mentioned a few times here and there but just assumed PBS was preparing to repeat it. It wasn’t until someone e-mailed me an article from The Globe and Mail that I learned PBS is working on four new installments for January of 2011, this one focusing on science fiction, crime drama, Westerns and local kids programming. Kelsey Grammer will narrate.

On August 4th, as part of the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour, a panel comprised of Nichelle Nichols, Martin Landau, Linda Evans, Robert Conrad and Mike Connors gathered to discuss their television experiences. Read about the panel at USA Today, The Vancouver Sun and the aforementioned Globe and Mail article. Pictures can be found here. The official Pioneers of Television Facebook page can be found here.

Was There an Unaired Episode of Planet of the Apes?

RGJ — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 01:18:23 +0000

This isn’t a particularly huge mystery by any means but there does seem to be some confusion as to whether or not all 14 episodes of Planet of the Apes were broadcast in 1974 on CBS. The live-action series, which starred Roddy McDowall, Ron Harper and James Naughton, premiered on Friday, September 13th, 1974 and was off the air by the end of December. Harper and Naughton played Alan Virdon and Pete Burke, respectively, astronauts flung far into the future into a world populated by apes who find themselves fugitives. McDowall, who appeared in four of the five Planet of the Apes movies, played a chimpanzee named Galen who befriended the humans. The episode that some sources, including the 2001 DVD release, say was unaired is called “The Liberator” and saw Virdon and Burke captured by a village of humans.

The sources that state “The Liberator” was never aired say that another episode, “Up Above the World So High,” was broadcast on Friday, December 6th and was the last first-run episode to air. Other sources insist that “The Liberator” aired on December 6th and “Up Above the World So High” on December 20th. Here’s what weekly and daily television listings from a variety of newspapers have to say:

Weekly listings published on Sunday, December 1st indicate that “Up Above the World So High” was scheduled for Friday, December 6th. Daily listings confirm this.
Weekly listings published on Sunday, December 8th indicate that Planet of the Apes would be pre-empted on Friday, December 13th for holiday specials. Daily listings confirm this.
Weekly listings published on Sunday, December 15th indicate that “Up Above the World So High” was scheduled for Friday, December 20th. Daily listings confirm this.
Weekly listings published on Sunday, December 22nd indicate that the premiere episode, “Escape from Tomorrow,” was repeated on Friday, December 27th. Daily listings confirm this.

Based on this information, it seems that “Up Above the World So High” was supposed to air on Friday, December 6th but for some reason was not shown until Friday, December 20th. Unfortunately, there’s no way of knowing what actually aired on Friday, December 6th looking only at printed television listings. It could have been replaced by “The Liberator” or it may have been pre-empted entirely. Short of checking the logs of a CBS affiliate or the network itself, or perhaps a diary entry recounting what someone watched on the evening of December 6th, I can’t think of any other way to confirm what CBS broadcast on December 6th. In this case, television listings are simply not enough to go on.

Most Recent Backdoor Pilot?

RGJ — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 22:52:55 +0000

Tonight from 8-10PM NBC will broadcast The Jensen Project, a made-for-TV movie produced by Walmart and Procter & Gamble (which apparently goes by P&G these days) that will be available on DVD tomorrow exclusively at Walmart. According to Variety, the two companies purchased the entire two-hour block of time on NBC, which otherwise has nothing to do with the project. However, if it does well enough NBC could use it to launch a weekly series. An similar made-for-TV movie, Secrets of the Mountain, aired on Friday, April 7th. So is this a true backdoor pilot or just a one-off telefilm that could possibly result in a television series if, against all odds, it does incredibly well in the ratings? I’m inclined to say it isn’t really a pilot of any sort. It’s just a two-hour advertisement for the DVD Walmart will begin selling tomorrow.

So what was the most recent backdoor pilot to be aired on one of the networks? Made-for-TV movies are rare enough as it is these days, primarily confined to Hallmark Hall of Fame and the Jesse Stone series, both on CBS. Off the top of my head, I’d say NBC’s Knight Rider, which aired on February 17th, 2008, is the most recent backdoor pilot. It led to a short-lived weekly series that aired during the 2008-2009 season. The most recent backdoor pilot that didn’t result in a weekly series might be NBC’s Homeland Security, which aired in April of 2004. Prior to that were The Lone Ranger on The WB, broadcast in February 2003, and War Stories on NBC, broadcast in January of 2003.

Somewhat more common these days are pilot episodes that air as episodes of another program like the two-part episode of JAG that led to NCIS and the two-part episode of NCIS that led to NCIS: Los Angeles. If made-for-TV movies were more profitable, I’m sure we’d see them more often. Like the miniseries, however, it seems the networks have all but surrendered the made-for-TV movie to cable.

The Girl in the Bathing Suit

RGJ — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:45:25 +0000

During the 1950s and into the 1960s it wasn’t uncommon for dramatic anthology programs to consist entirely or partially of rebroadcasts of episodes from earlier dramatic anthology programs. As an example, take the case of “The Girl in the Bathing Suit,” which was originally broadcast in late November of 1955 as an episode of Studio 57. Studio 57 was one of the very last programs to air over the DuMont network; the final summer repeat was broadcast on Tuesday, September 6th, 1955. The show then went into first-run syndication, which is why there isn’t an exact air date for “The Girl in the Bathing Suit” (it appears to have been shown throughout the week of Sunday, November 27th, 1955).

The episode starred Judith Evelyn, John Baragrey and Sally Brophy (as Sallie Brophy). From what I’ve been able to piece together based on brief summaries, the titular girl in the bathing suit stopped to take a swim and returned to find her car and clothing missing. She meets a stranger who initially seems helpful but then tries to hold her captive. Finally, she overhears a phone conversation about her body being found in the twisted wreckage of her car. In other words, it wasn’t a particularly cheerful story.

After its initial broadcast, “The Girl in the Bathing Suit” was seen on Friday, September 14th, 1956 as an episode of Undercurrent on CBS, a summer replacement for The Lineup. A dramatic anthology series, Undercurrent was broadcast during the summers of 1955, 1956, 1957 and 1958. Initially, it presented original dramas but eventually began airing rebroadcasts of earlier anthologies, including Studio 57 and The Web.

“The Girl in the Bathing Suit” was later broadcast as an installment of Thirty Minute Theater in September of 1958, Silver Screen Theater in March of 1960 and Regal Theater in April of 1961. I don’t know much at all about any of these programs. They may have been packages of various anthology series sold to individual stations rather than nationally syndicated programs.

I can’t find any trace of “The Girl in the Bathing Suit” at any of the big museums/archives. UCLA’s Film & Television Archive does have several episodes of Studio 57 in its collection but they are from 1957 or 1958. I believe quite a few episodes of the series are in the hands of private collectors, including some from its first season on DuMont. The episode isn’t lost, however. According to the United States Copyright Office, copyright was renewed in 1983 by Universal City Studios, again in 2002 by Universal City Studios and finally in 2004 by Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase Bank and Vivendi Universal Entertainment.

Defining a Prime Time Animated Series

RGJ — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 17:07:03 +0000

My post yesterday about Where’s Huddles? led to a discussion about exactly what constitutes a prime time animated series. The Flintstones is generally said to be the first animated series to air in prime time but it certainly wasn’t the first instance of a network showing animated fare. In 1956, for example, there was CBS Cartoon Theater, hosted by Dick Van Dyke, which presented a variety of Terrytoons theatrical shorts, featuring characters like Heckle and Jeckle, Gandy Goose and Dinky Duck. The half-hour series premiered on premiered on Wednesday, June 13th, running from 7:30-8PM. It was off the air in less than four months.

On Sunday, December 16th, 1956, CBS premiered The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show (also called The Boing-Boing Show. It aired from 5:30-6PM, however, which was outside of prime time, and was gone by April of 1957. Repeats were shown on Fridays from May 30th to October 3rd, 1958 and these broadcasts were aired during prime time from 7:30-8PM. Then, in September of 1960, came The Flintstones, which would ultimately run for six seasons. It was a sitcom in animated form, complete half-hour stories with a laugh track, and its success led to a brief burst of prime time animated series: Top Cat (ABC, 1961-1962), The Alvin Show (CBS, 1961-1962), The Bullwinkle Show (NBC, 1961-1962), Calvin and the Colonel (ABC, 1961-1962), The Jetsons (ABC, 1962-1963), Jonny Quest (ABC, 1964-1965) and The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo (NBC, 1964-1965), and others. The Flintstones wasn’t the only prime time animated series to debut in the fall of 1960; The Bugs Bunny Show premiered on Tuesday, October 11th, 1960 on ABC, running from 7:30-8PM on Tuesdays and ran until 1962.

Not all of these shows were, like The Flinstones, full-length animated series. Each episode of The Alvin Show, for example, included an Alvin and the Chipmunks segment, two musical segments and a Clyde Crashcup segment. The Bullwinkle Show featured Rocky & Bullwinkle segments as well as Dudley Do-Right segments, Peabody’s Improbable History segments and others, although not every episode had each segment. So do all of these programs count as prime time animated series? Or are some of them “cartoon shows,” for lack of a better term, in which multiple segments of various cartoons were aired?

When The Flintstones went off the air in 1966, it would be several years before another prime time animated series was given a shot. I personally don’t consider NBC’s The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which aired during the 1968-1969 season, to be a prime time animated series because it was a live-action/animated hybrid. The characters were live actors and the backgrounds were animated. Where’s Huddles? was an animated sitcom (very) similar to The Flintstones and it ran during the summer of 1970.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home aired in prime time from 1972 to 1974, but it was syndicated so it doesn’t count as a network show, but it was another animated sitcom. Ivan G. Shreve, Jr. pointed out that The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show aired in prime time briefly during the summer of 1976 on CBS. If these were repeats of Saturday morning cartoons I’m not sure it counts either. And Barry I. Grauman brought up Jokebook, which premiered on Friday, April 23rd, 1982 on NBC and ran for just four weeks. Like CBS Cartoon Theater, it was a collection of cartoon shorts.

Defining a prime time animated series as a program that was basically an animated sitcom — I’m not aware of any animated dramas — would exclude shows like The Alvin Show and The Bullwinkle Show. Is there a good reason for making the definition so strict? Not really. Even if The Flintstones wasn’t exactly the first prime time animated series it was the first to prove popular with viewers.

What are your thoughts on defining a prime time animated series? Is there anyone who feels strongly about The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?

Early Farnsworth Image Dissector Sells for $17,500

RGJ — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 14:36:42 +0000

An image dissector of the type designed by Philo Farnsworth sold for $17,500 at auction yesterday (you can read more about the image dissector here). It was the highest priced item to be auctioned off as part of the “Philo T. Farnsworth Museum – Complete Liquidation” sale, held by Little John Auctions at the World War II Victory Museum in Auburn, Indiana. Online bidding began two weeks before the final live auction. The auction consisted of items from the collection of Stephen Hofer, who until recently operated the Philo T. Farnsworth Television History Center. You can read more about Hofer and the auction in this article from the Southtown Star.

The full catalog can be found here. A second, repaired image dissector sold for $1,500 and a third, which was damaged, for $350. Other high-priced items included a complete collection of TV Guide, which sold for $3,200, a 1960s 21″ Capehart/Farnsworth television set, which sold for $1,775 and a collection of Lucille Ball memorabilia, which sold for $1,100.

Thanks to Traci for bringing this auction to my attention.

Hitchcock’s Psycho Premiered 50 Years Ago

RGJ — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 23:14:35 +0000

Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho had its premiere in New York City on Thursday, June 16th, 1960, or exactly 50 years ago. Articles discussing the anniversary can be found at The New York Post, Cinematical, Moviefone and Entertainment Weekly. Here‘s an interesting article from The Wall Street Journal about Bernard Herrmann’s musical score for the film. A special 50th Anniversary Edition of the film will be released on Blu-ray in October.

I mention this anniversary only because of my article CBS and Psycho, which discusses the planned broadcast of Psycho on CBS in September of 1966 and the reasons why the network never aired the film.

CBS Airing TV’s Greatest Surprises Tonight

RGJ — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 15:41:02 +0000

From 8-9:30PM ET tonight, CBS will be airing “TV’s Greatest Surprises: A Paley Center for Media Special,” which “will count down television’s 30 biggest surprises in prime-time television history with their stars and producers telling the stories behind them,” according to CBS.com. The moments “have been selected based on a survey by Nielsen Entertainment ranked by television viewers.” The Paley Center for Media has a page about the special that includes video clips; the same video clips can be found at CBS.com as part of a video trivia quiz. Although one of the surprising moments is said to be from Dallas (you know the one) I wouldn’t be surprised if the bulk of the moments are from the past two decades. I’d love to be proven wrong, though. Survivor‘s Jeff Probst hosts.

Thursday, June 17th, 2010 Edit:

Here’s a list of the greatest surprises courtesy of the Boston Examiner‘s Gina Carbone:

30. Kris Allen beats Adam Lambert on “American Idol” Season 9, leaving Simon Cowell seated and speechless (2009)
29. Tina Fey as Sarah Palin on “Saturday Night Live” (2008)
28. Newhart finale is a dream from The Bob Newhart Show (1990)
27. Ellen DeGeneres’ character comes out as gay on “Ellen” (1997)
26. Bobby James Ewing comes back to “Dallas,” with the producers saying the previous season was just a dream (1986)
25. Susan dies on “Seinfeld” (1996)
24. Lucy and Italian lady fight while crushing grapes on “I Love Lucy” (1956)
23. The “All in the Family” premiere (1971)
22. “The Twilight Zone” surgeries twist episode (1960)
21. John Doe mystery patient on “Grey’s Anatomy” turns out to be George (2009)
20. Chandler and Monica’s surprise relationship on “Friends” (1998)
19. Baby mixup between Petrie and Peters on “The Dick Van Dyke Show” (1963)
18. Retired Johnny Carson almost reads top 10 list on “Late Show with David Letterman,” but walks away as crowd continues cheering (1991)
17. Col. Blake’s plane is shot down on “M*A*S*H” (1975)
16. Jonny Fairplay lies about his “dead” grandmother on “Survivor: Pearl Islands” (2003)
15. Michael hits Meredith with his car on “The Office” (2007)
14. Sam reveals his hairpiece on “Cheers” (1993)
13. Janice shoots Richie after he hits her on “The Sopranos” (2000)
12. Joseph curses out and physically challenges Chef Ramsay on “Hell’s Kitchen” Season 6 (2009)
11. Omar is shot by a 12-year-old boy on “The Wire” (2008)
10. Future President Clinton plays saxophone on “The Arsenio Hall Show” (1992)
9. Marie drives car through the wall on “Everybody Loves Raymond” (2000)
8. Burning helicopter kills Dr. Romano on “ER” (2003)
7. Pregnant Texan Jessica Robinson wins the first million on “Deal or No Deal” (2008)
6. Rosalind Shays falls down elevator shaft on “L.A. Law” (1991)
5. John Carpenter uses Lifeline to call his father and announce he’s about to win the million on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” (1999)
4. Mark Harmon’s secret service agent is killed in a convenience store robbery on “The West Wing” (2002)
3. Marie Osmond faints on live TV after the Samba on “Dancing with the Stars” (2007)
2. Agent Todd is shot in the head after taking a bullet for Gibbs on “NCIS” (2005)
1. Sept. 13, 2004 on “The Oprah Winfrey Show”: Oprah gives all 276 audience members a car. Value? Over $7 million (2004)

Watching Classic Television on Television

RGJ — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 23:56:39 +0000

Last month I wrote about the dozens of classic programs you can watch online. My post yesterday about Retro Television Network affiliate KVHC’s live stream of its broadcast got me to thinking about the availability of classic television programs on television. There’s TV Land, of course, where you can watch I Love Lucy, Bonanza, All in the Family, Bewitched and other shows but the less said about that cable channel the better. WGN America airs shows like Bewitched, Barney Miller and I Dream of Jeannie. Hallmark Channel airs I Love Lucy, M*A*S*H and Little House on the Prairie. And of course there are local broadcast stations that may program the occasional classic sitcom.

Many cable channels that used to air primarily classic television programs have shifted to original or more recent shows. When FX launched in 1994 (as fX), it filled it schedule with shows like Batman, Mission: Impossible, Wonder Woman, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams and Dragnet. Syfy, back when it was The Sci Fi Channel, would air shows like The Amazing Spider-Man, The Immortal, The Time Tunnel and Planet of the Apes. For years you couldn’t turn on The Sci Fi Channel without finding something from the 1960s or 1970s, or so it seemed. Event recent cable channels like Sleuth and Chiller have dropped much of their classic programs.

Today, if you want to actually watch classic television on television, you have to receive either a specialty cable channel or one of several specialty “networks” that are primarily offered through digital subchannels of broadcast stations.

ALN (formerly AmericanLife TV Network, GoodLife TV Network and The Nostalgia Channel) is a cable channel with relatively low nationwide coverage that that shows Rhoda, Mission: Impossible and the so-called “Color Honeymooners” episodes. A few years ago, when it was still AmericanLife, it also aired Batman, The Green Hornet and The Rat Patrol. Its sister network, FamilyNet, which is available through cable and broadcast stations, airs Trapper John, M.D. and Lou Grant.

There are several specialty “networks” that offer classic television programming to affiliated stations, primarily on digital subchannels, and can be found piecemeal fashion across the country. There’s This TV, which I wrote about in June of 2009, where you can watch Highway Patrol, Sea Hunt, Mister Ed and The Patty Duke Show, plus plenty of movies from the MGM library. This TV has almost 100 affiliates at the moment; you can search for one near you using their station selector.

And of course there’s Retro Television Network, which offers where you can find Voyagers!, Run for Your Life, The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, Operation Petticoat and Delvecchio, among many others. Unlike This TV, which has a national schedule, individual RTV affiliates can pick and chose which programs they want to air, so while one affiliate may stick primarily to the national RTV feed, another may intersperse RTV programming with infomercials, local shows or syndicated fare. RTV seems to have about 100 affiliates as well. Check their affiliates page to see if there are any in your area.

Tuff TV, partially operated by the company behind RTV, airs The Rifleman, Peter Gunn, Daniel Boone and I Spy. Here‘s a list of affiliates. My Family TV airs Fourstar Playhouse, The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, Mr. and Mrs. North, The Green Hornet and Dragnet, among other shows. I can’t find a complete list of affiliates but the RabbitEars website lists 14.

Watch Retro Television Network Affiliate KVHC Online

RGJ — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 21:34:11 +0000

KVHC is a television station (Channel 15) located in Kerrville, Texas that is affiliated with Retro Television Network (RTV). It’s actually one of nine RTV affiliates in Texas, but that’s beside the point. KVHC streams its broadcast — commercials and all — live online through Justin.tv, meaning anyone and everyone can tune in. As I write this, KVHC is airing the end of an episode of Adam-12 and will soon start an episode of Dragnet. Based on its schedule it looks like KVHC basically follows the national RTV feed (which you can see here), pre-empting certain shows for local programming. So, for example, when the national RTV feed is airing The Incredible Hulk from 5-6PM Eastern, KVHC will be broadcasting its local news report from 4-5PM Central.

Watch live video from kvhc on Justin.tv

Because the stream is live, you can’t jump around to specific programs. So if you want to watch Run For Your Life you’ll have to be in front of your computer at 3PM Eastern/2PM Central on Saturday or Sunday. But if you don’t get RTV in your area and really want to see Run For Your Life, the KVHC stream is for you.