TV Guide 365: 1964-1965 explores the 1964-1965 television season through listings published in TV Guide. Each day I’ll post listings for the corresponding day from the 1964-1965 season, with complete cast and guest cast details for obscure, short-lived shows.
Thursday, September 24th, 1964
7:30 MUNSTERS–Comedy (CBS)
[DEBUT] The creeper-covered plottage of 43 Mockingbird Lane is the residence of the Munster family: Herman (played by Fred “Car 54” Gwynne), Lily (Yvonne DeCarlo), Grandpa (Al Lewis), their son Eddie (Butch Patrick) and niece Marilyn (Beverley Owen). Marilyn’s a blonde beauty–the others bear a startling resemblance to m-m-m-monsters. Tonight: “Munster Masquerade.” Marilyn has been dating Tom Daly, who’s a bit reticent about meeting her folks. Script by series’ producers Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher.
DANIEL BOONE–Adventure (NBC)
[DEBUT] Still wearing his Davy Crockett coonskin cap, Fess Parker ventures onto the Colonial frontier as Dan’l Boone in this adventure series. Tonight: George Washington sends Dan’l and his side-kick into “Ken-Tuck-e,” the “dark and bloody” hunting ground of four Indian nations, to find a site for a fort. Additional series regulars are Albert Salmi as Daniel’s side-kick Yadkin; Ed Ames as his Oxford-educated, half-breed friend Mingo; Patricia Blair as his wife Rebecca; Veronica Cartwright as daughter Jemima; and Darby Hinton as his son Israel. (60 min.)
FLINTSTONES (ABC)
[COLOR] “Monster Fred.” Fred goes to see Dr. Frankenstone after a head injury leaves him with the mind of a child.
8:00 PERRY MASON–Drama (CBS)
“The Case of the Missing Button” opens this series’ eighth season on TV, this year in a new time slot. Five-year-old Button Blake has a four-million dollar trust fund and two estranged parents. Dirk Blake is out to prove that his wife is an unfit mother when a murder warrant is issued for his arrest. (60 min.)
DONNA REED (ABC)
The Stone household and neighborhood are endangered when Alex’s father comes to town–complete with aging auto and blackstrap molasses.
8:30 DR. KILDARE–Drama (NBC)
“Man Is a Rock” starts the series’ fourth season. Hard-driving salesman Franklin Gaer lives only for his business, and even a heart attack fails to convince him that he may also die for it. Written by Christopher Knopf. (60 min.)
MY THREE SONS–Comedy (ABC)
Predatory females are out to snare Robbie, Ernie and Bub. And of the three, only Robbie seems willing to be trapped.
9:00 PASSWORD–Game (CBS)
Guests on the first show in this new time spot are Lucille Ball, Gary Morton (Lucy’s husband), Vivian Vance and Peter Lawford. Allen Ludden is the moderator.
BEWITCHED (ABC)
Samantha and her mother Endora inspect the new house that Darrin wants to buy, and mother startles the neighbors when she tries some “instant landscaping.”
9:30 HAZEL (NBC)
[COLOR] “Ain’t That a Knee Slapper?” George gets the feeling that Hazel’s primitive sense of humor is slowing up at his attempt to arrange a merger between Mr. Griffin and Griffin’s competitor, Josh Egan.
BAILEYS OF BALBOA (CBS)
[DEBUT] On this half-hour comedy series, Paul Ford is seen as Sam Bailey, skipper of the charterboat Island Princess and nemesis of Cecil Wyntoon (John Dehner), upper-crust member of the Balboa (Ca.l) yachting set. Sterling Holloway is Sam’s pal and shipmate Buck Singleton; Les Brown Jr. plays Bailey’s son Jim Judy Carne plays Wyntoon’s daughter Barbara. Tonight: Sam’s quite pleased with his catch: a city fellow who wants to charter the Island Princess to get away for a day of fishing.
Guest Cast
Arthur Nelson ………….. Leonard Stone
Langley ………….. Howard Freman
PEYTON PLACE (ABC)
After a visit to Dr. Rossi, Betty realizes she faces a decision that will affect not only her life, but also the lives of many others in Peyton Place.
10:00 DEFENDERS–Drama (CBS)
“The Seven-Hundred-Year-Old Gang,” a two-part comedy-drama, is the first new show of the season as the series moves to this new time slot. Police raid the home of attorney Sheldon Lowell, who didn’t know that the wine his father-in-law had been making in the basement was being sold illegally. David Karp wrote the script. (60 min.)
KRAFT SUSPENSE THEATRE–Drama (NBC)
[COLOR] “The Robrioz Ring.” While collecting curious at a California beach resort, Philadelphia schoolteacher Lucy Bram buys an ornate Spanish ring in a local shop. But its original owner wants it back–at any cost. Script by James Gun. (60 min.)
JIMMY DEAN (ABC)
Jimmy’s guests are songstress Molly Bee, Country and Western singer Buck Owens, comedian Charlie Callass and Rowlf the Muppet. Chuck Cassey singers, Doerr-Hutchinson dancers. (60 min.)
Source:
TV Guide, September 19, 1964 (Volume 12, Number 38, Issue #599) [Western New England Edition]
“The Baileys Of Balboa” was one of three shows produced by former actor Keefe Braselle which got sold to CBS without anything more than an outline (no pilot, no stars “attached” to the shows, not even a script!).
The others were a sitcom (“The Cara Williams Show”) and a drama (“The Reporter”).
Supposedly, “Reporter” was actually an excellent drama, but the two sitcoms were dismissed by critics as being asinine.
As to why these three shows got on the air: Braselle was the best friend of Jim Aubrey, who ran programming at CBS Television in those days.
But all three of the Braelle-produced shows were flops. “Reporter” lasted just thirteen weeks; “Baileys” and “Cara Williams” lasted out the 1964/65 TV season, but were both cancelled at season’s end.
It has been claimed that CBS’s firing of Aubrey in February of 1965 was due in large part to the failure of the three Braselle-produced series. But others claim Aubrey’s termination was due to an incident at a party during the network’s affiliate meeting in Miami Beach a few days before Aubrey’s termination, in which the teenage daughter of a CBS affiliate’s station manager was sexually assaulted. The daughter told her dad about the incident, and the manager in turn told CBS chairman Bill Paley and company president Frank Stanton about it, urging them to fire Aubrey ASAP. Paley and Stanton responded by immediately summoning Aubrey back to New York and firing him on the spot during a weekend.
Who was the assailant? Was it Aubrey, Braselle, or someone else? This sounds like the Les Mooves scandal!! A footnote: Years after this, Braselle wrote a Harold Robbins-type book about the TV industry. It was called The CanniBalS! Notice which letters are capitalized…LOL!!!
Sorta ironic that “Monster Fred” went up against monster Fred Gwynne…LOL like Herman! This would be the last season for M3S on many fronts: last in B&W, last on ABC, last with Tim Constidine and William Frawley and last when Ernie was Chip’s friend and not his brother [although he really was]! I think this Bewitched was the first with Gladys Kravitz [“Abner, something’s happening at the Stephens house”!]