4 Responses to “Exhibit: ABC Promotional Artwork, 1971-1975”

1. Barry I. Grauman Says:
   October 9th, 2009 at 1:42AM

   A word about “ABC’s WIDE WORLD OF ENTERTAINMENT”: by January 1973, they figured Dick Cavett was never going to catch up to the “king of late night”, Johnny Carson, on NBC’s “THE TONIGHT SHOW” [CBS had previously dumped their late-night challenger, Merv Griffin, in February 1972 in favor of "THE CBS LATE MOVIE", showcasing some of the network's previous films seen on Thursday and Friday nights, and some others rarely seen on network TV at that time], so the network decided on a variety of regular programs and specials, under the “WWE’ banner. One week a month was “THE DICK CAVETT SHOW”; another week spotlighted “JACK PAAR TONIGHT”, the “original late-night talk-show king” from 1957 through ’62 on NBC, although he eventually decided the kind of guests he interviewed (other than his “old friends”) weren’t up to HIS standards, and left the network by November of ’73. The remaining two weeks were filled with 90 minute taped “suspense/mystery” dramas originating from England with American “stars” in the lead roles, backed by occasional comedy, variety and some documentary specials- and every Friday, “IN CONCERT” (probably the best commercial network showcase for rock and musical acts in the ’70s). The “WWE” format began to unravel around 1975, when Dick Cavett ended his show (“IN CONCERT” disappeared as well), and ABC began scheduling more repeats of prime-time crime and mystery series {and not just from their own network}, retaining the “WWE” title until 1978, when it simply became “ABC LATE NIGHT”.

2. Cee Jay Says:
   October 9th, 2009 at 5:09PM

   The ones that really caught my eye were first from the 1972 Olympics and all the anguish Jim McKay had in his voice when he said ‘They’re all gone” talking about the Israeli athletes after their deaths when they were taken hostage.

   I also noticed in the cast of the ‘Texas Truckers’ were Mark Hammill and Gary Busey a few years before making it to the big time with STAR WARS and THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY respectively

3. Cee Jay Says:
   October 9th, 2009 at 5:09PM

   Texas Wheelers my bad

4. Barry I. Grauman Says:
   October 31st, 2009 at 3:32AM

   “THE TEXAS WHEELERS” came and went on ABC’s schedule because the network just didn’t know where to place it next, and they were “hungry” for shows that delivered more ratings and appeal to a wider audience- a shame.

   CBS, in the early ’70s, had a GREAT series of specials that puts the current network schedule to shame; these days, all they care about are producing shows they can “recycle” on DVD and other video services, for profit- apparently, “prestiege specials” and TV movies, especially from “outside sources”, don’t “make any money” for them, so they figure, why bother scheduling them?. ‘HALLMARK HALL OF FAME”, they HAVE to, because it’s “good business” for both of them.

   The tragic end of Joseph Papp and his arrangement to produce dramatic specials on tape for the network, beginning in late 1972, was due to the fact that he chose, after creating two different Shakespeare revivals (with imaginative stagings), to produce David Rabe’s anti-Vietnam War play, “Sticks and Bones” [a young soldier returns home with his Vietnamese bride, only to discover his family doesn't care for or want EITHER of them hanging around]. It was supposed to appear in March 1973, but that was the time President Nixon orchestrated the return of “our boys” from Vietnam, and CBS didn’t want to upset the administration’s propaganda of a “safe and welcome return by our fighting men” by scheduling Papp’s production. He went ballistic, accused them of knuckling under to the Nixon administration, tore up his contract with the network, and never produced another special for them. “Sticks and Bones” quietly aired in August 1973 in a time slot usually given to “THE CBS LATE MOVIE”.

   Ed Sullivan, on the other hand, was always welcome to return to CBS with occasional specials after his weekly Sunday night show ended, after 23 years, in 1971 {mostly drawn from his massive archive of kinescoped and taped material, overseen by his son-in-law and producer, Bob Precht}. After the “Broadway” special, one more followed a few months later- his 25th anniversary on TV- before Ed died in October 1974.

   Rex Harrison as “Don Quixote”? Hardly anyone remembers that special- again, this was a different period in network TV when broadcast networks actually CARED about presenting these kind of specials, without pandering to “demographics”, advertisers, and their own “self-interests”.

   “THE AMERICAN PARADE” was a “floating series” of hour-long documentary specials that appeared on the network during 1973 and ’74, spotlighting the lives of famous Americans…today, only PBS would bother to devote that kind of air time on those very subjects- and others- and call it “THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE”.

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