May 18, 2015

What's on TV? Wednesday, May 19, 1965

A few years ago I had the chance to pick up a number of old TV Guides at an antique store, for prices that were probably better than they are online.  (No offense intended; saving on shipping is a big part of this equation.)  I passed, because the issues were not from the Twin Cities, and therefore I had no memories against which to measure them.  Most of them were from Wisconsin, as I recall, which would have been a good enough reason in and of itself to skip them.*  Big mistake.  Had I known I'd be doing this blog I would have snapped them up; even though my first choices continue to be Minneapolis/St. Paul and my new home, Dallas/Fort Worth, I find looking at new areas to be fun.  Educational, even.  As long as we don't overdo it.

*This joke only works if you're living in a state that borders Wisconsin.  Now that I live in Texas, I actually have fairly kind thoughts about the Cheese State.

This week we make a trip to the Big Apple, with a couple of stops in Connecticut for good measure.  Of all the places we could choose, New York is probably one of the more interesting; notice how many of their local newscasters go on to success at the network level.  You also see staples of TV cliches such as The Late Show.  But enough talking; let's get on with it.


WCBS, Channel 2 (CBS)

Morning

06:30a
Summer Semester (Politics of Peace)

07:00a
News and Weather (local)

08:00a
Captain Kangaroo

09:00a
Love That Bob!

09:30a
Jack Benny

10:00a
CBS Morning News (Mike Wallace)

10:30a
I Love Lucy

11:00a
Andy Griffith

11:30a
The McCoys

Afternoon

12:00p
Love of Life

12:25p
CBS News (Robert Trout)

12:30p
Search for Tomorrow

12:45p
The Guiding Light

01:00p
Leave It to Beaver

01:30p
As the World Turns

02:00p
Password (panelists George Grizzard, Joan Fontaine)

02:30p
House Party (guest Judge Robert Gardner)

03:00p
To Tell the Truth (panelists Dick Shawn, Ann Sheridan, Penny Fuller, Robert Q. Lewis)

03:25p
CBS News (Douglas Edwards)

03:30p
The Edge of Night

04:00p
The Secret Storm

04:30p
Sea Hunt

05:00p
Movie – “Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man”

Evening

06:30p
News (Robert Trout)

06:55p
Editorial (Michael Keating)

07:00p
CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite

07:30p
Mister Ed

08:00p
My Living Doll

08:30p
The Beverly Hillbillies

09:00p
Dick Van Dyke

09:30p
Our Private World

10:00p
Danny Kaye (guests Art Carney, Pearl Bailey)

11:00p
News (Jim Jensen)

11:20p
The Late Show – “I Died a Thousand Times”

01:25a
News (Peter Hyams)

01:35a
The Late, Late Show – “The Great Moment”

03:10a
Movie – “Night Club Scandal” (time approximate)

04:35a
Movie – “Parole Fixer” (time approximate)

WCBS is, in case you hadn't figured it out, the CBS affiliate in New York.  (Another good reason to enjoy these issues - the affiliations are pretty easy to remember.)  It's here that we see both The Late Show and The Late, Late Show.  Nowadays they'd be talk shows with some standup as host, and very little informative talk.


WTIC, Channel 3 (Hartford) (CBS)

Morning

06:30a
Summer Semester (Politics of Peace)

07:00a
Childhood

07:30a
RFD #3

08:00a
Captain Kangaroo

09:00a
Hap Richards

09:15a
Deputy Dawg

09:30a
Leave It to Beaver

10:00a
CBS Morning News (Mike Wallace)

10:30a
Movie – “Strange Fascination”

Afternoon

12:00p
Love of Life

12:25p
CBS News (Robert Trout)

12:30p
Search for Tomorrow

12:45p
The Guiding Light

01:00p
Movie – “The Story of Dr. Wassell” (part 2)

01:30p
As the World Turns

02:00p
Password (panelists George Grizzard, Joan Fontaine)

02:30p
House Party (guest Judge Robert Gardner)

03:00p
The Edge of Night

03:30p
To Tell the Truth (panelists Jan Murray, Anita Gillette, Barry Nelson, Phyllis Newman)

03:55p
CBS News (Douglas Edwards)

04:00p
Ranger Andy

04:30p
Movie – “Manhunt in the Jungle”

Evening

06:05p
Sports (Bob Steele)

06:15p
News (Bruce Kern)

06:25p
Weather

06:30p
CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite

07:00p
Littlest Hobo

07:30p
Mister Ed

08:00p
My Living Doll

08:30p
The Beverly Hillbillies

09:00p
Dick Van Dyke

09:30p
Our Private World

10:00p
Danny Kaye (guests Art Carney, Pearl Bailey)

11:00p
News and Sports (local)

11:15p
Weather

11:20p
Movie – “Sound Off”

01:00a
News and Weather (local)

More goodies from CBS, this time from Hartford.  You don't notice much of a difference in network programming; however, I did see that To Tell the Truth has an entirely different cast from the one airing on WCBS.  Since it's a network program (as opposed to syndication), I wonder which one is current?  I'm betting on WCBS.

Also, did you notice that the 1:00pm movie only runs for a half an hour at a time?  It started on Tuesday; Monday's movie was the conclusion of a five-parter from the previous week.  I suppose people were used to serialization because of the soaps, but this seems ridiculous.


WNBC, Channel 4 (NBC)

Morning

06:00a
Education Exchange (Consultation ’65) (color)

06:30a
Crusader Rabbit

07:00a
Today (guests John Gunther, Judith Crist)

09:00a
Birthday House

10:00a
Truth or Consequences (color)

10:30a
What’s This Song? (panelists Carmel Quinn, Roger Smith) (color)

10:55a
NBC News (Edwin Newman)

11:00a
Concentration

11:30a
Jeopardy (color)

Afternoon

12:00p
Call My Bluff (panelists Selma Diamond, Les Crane) (color)

12:30p
I’ll Bet (panelists Lola Albright and William Chadney, Mr. & Mrs. Bob Denver) (color)

12:55p
NBC News (Ray Scherer)

01:00p
Everything’s Relative

01:30p
Let’s Make a Deal (color)

01:55p
NBC News (Floyd Kalbur)

02:00p
Moment of Truth

02:30p
The Doctors

03:00p
Another World

03:30p
You Don’t Say! (panelists Mel Torme, Sally Ann Howes) (color)

04:00p
The Match Game (contestants Lauren Bacall, Henry Morgan) (color)

04:25p
NBC News (Nancy Dickerson)

04:30p
Movie – “Rocky Mountain”

Evening

06:00p
News (Robert MacNeil/Gabe Pressman)

07:00p
Huntley-Brinkley Report

07:30p
The Virginian (color)

09:00p
Wednesday Night at the Movies – “Julie”

11:00p
News (Frank McGee)

11:10p
Weather (Tex Antoine)

11:15p
Local News (Jim Hartz)

11:30p
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (color)

01:00a
News (Geoffrey Pond)

01:15a
Movie – “Wild Fruit”

As I mentioned on Saturday, you've got a who's who of NBC newsmen on the local station: Gabe Pressman, Robert MacNeil, Frank McGee and Jim Hartz all distinguished themselves on the network.


WNEW, Channel 5 (Ind.)

Morning

07:15a
News (local)

07:30a
Survey of the Arts

08:00a
Sandy Becker

08:15a
Cartoons

08:30a
Romper Room

09:30a
Topper

10:00a
Movie – “Sun Valley Serenade”

11:20a
Metropolitan Memo

11:25a
News (local)

11:30a
Hall of Fun

Afternoon

01:00p
Cartoons

01:25p
News (local)

01:30p
Movie – “Sun Valley Serenade”

02:50p
Metorpolitan Memo

02:55p
News (local)

03:00p
Peter Gunn

03:30p
Cartoons

04:30p
Sandy Becker

Evening

06:00p
Mickey Mouse Club

06:30p
Astroboy

07:00p
Soupy Sales

07:30p
Room For One More

08:00p
The Untouchables

09:00p
William Faulkner’s Mississippi (special)

10:00p
Richard Boone

11:00p
News (local)

11:10p
Movie – “Nightmare Alley”

01:20a
News

01:30a
Waterfront

An interesting prime-time schedule: The Untouchables, still one of the most violent shows on television, the documentary William Faulkner's Mississippi, which had won great praise when it was run the previous month, and The Richard Boone Show, Boone's attempt to have a television repertory company.  It was, how do you say it, a noble failure?


WABC, Channel 7 (ABC)

Morning

06:20a
News (local)

06:30a
Project Know

07:00a
Cartoons

09:00a
Gale Storm

09:15a
News (Bill Owen)

09:20a
Gail Storm (continued)

09:30a
Movie – “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town”

11:05a
News (Bill Owen)

11:10a
Movie (continued)

11:30a
The Price is Right (guest Hermoine Gingold)

Afternoon

12:00p
Donna Reed

12:30p
Father Knows Best

01:00p
Rebus

01:30p
Girl Talk (guest Ruby Dee)

02:00p
Flame in the Wind

02:30p
Day in Court

02:55p
ABC News (Marlene Sanders)

03:00p
General Hospital

03:30p
Young Marrieds

04:00p
Trailmaster

05:00p
Movie – “The Brainiac”

Evening

06:00p
Weather (Ken Rabat)

06:30p
Local News (Jim Van Sickle)

06:45p
Peter Jennings with the News

07:00p
Have Gun – Will Gravel

07:30p
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet

08:00p
Patty Duke

08:30p
Shindig (guests Ray Charles, Joe Williams, the Righteous Brothers, the Zombies, Glen Campbell, Ray Peterson, Donna Loren, Billy Preston, George Soule, Dinah Lee)

09:30p
Burke’s Law

10:30p
ABC Scope

11:00p
News (Bill Beutel)

11:15p
Nightlife (guest host Dale Robertson)

01:00a
Movie – “Over the Wall”
                                                       
Speaking of movies as we did on Saturday, interesting how Bill Owen interrupts both the morning movie and Gail Storm's show for five minutes of news updates.  Do you suppose that replaced commercials?  Nah...

Oh, and that edition of ABC Scope at 10:30?  You won't want to miss it: "VD: Epidemic!"


WNHC, Channel 8 (New Haven) (ABC)

Morning

06:40a
News and Weather (local)

06:45a
Operation Alphabet

07:15a
Church Conversations

07:30a
Mr. Goober (color)

08:30a
Gloria (color)

09:00a
Girl Talk (guests Kaye Stevens, Anne Jackson, Peggy Cass)

09:30a
Young Marrieds

10:00a
General Hospital

10:30a
Flame in the Wind

11:00a
Rebus

11:30a
The Price is Right (guest Hermoine Gingold)

Afternoon

12:00p
Donna Reed

12:30p
Father Knows Best

01:00p
Movie – “The Company She Keeps”

02:30p
Day in Court

02:55p
ABC News (Marlene Sanders)

03:00p
Trailmaster

04:00p
Mickey Mouse Club

04:30p
Admiral Jack

05:30p
Peter Potamus

Evening

06:00p
Local News (Stelio Salmona)

06:10p
Weather (Joe Francis)

06:15p
Peter Jennings with the News

06:30p
Surfside 6

07:30p
Film Feature

08:00p
Patty Duke

08:30p
Shindig (guests Ray Charles, Joe Williams, the Righteous Brothers, the Zombies, Glen Campbell, Ray Peterson, Donna Loren, Billy Preston, George Soule, Dinah Lee)

09:30p
Burke’s Law

10:30p
One Step Beyond

11:00p
News (George Thompson)

11:10p
Weather (Linda Pritchard)

11:15p
Sports (Carl Grande)

11:20p
Tell Me, Dr. Brothers

11:25p
Movie – “Badman’s Territory”

12:50a
News (local)

I'm still impressed that Shindig's able to work so many acts into just one hour.  There are some very impressive names on the slate this week.  And is it just me, or does Dale Robertson seem an odd choice to be guest hosting Nightlife, ABC's answer to Carson?

I'm also assuming that the "Dr. Brothers" in the 11:20pm program would be none other than Dr. Joyce Brothers, herself.


WOR, Channel 9 (Ind.)

Morning

10:50a
Farm Report

10:55a
News and Weather (local)

11:00a
Plays of Shakespeare

11:30a
Tell Me, Dr. Brothers (color)

Afternoon

12:00p
Memory Lane

01:30p
Movie – “Tender Comrade”

03:00p
James Beard

03:30p
Movie – “Tom Brown’s Schooldays”

05:00p
Mike Douglas (co-host Louis Nye, guest Fr. Kenneth Murphy)

Evening

06:30p
Trails West

07:30p
Million Dollar Movie – “Big Guy”

09:00p
Championship Bowling (Harry Smith vs. Dick Weber)

10:00p
Pocket Billiards

11:00p
News (John Wingate/Walter Kiernan)

11:15p
Sports (Clure Mosher)

11:25p
Million Dollar Movie – “The Lost Missile”

12:55a
News and Weather (local)

As you know, if you miss the Million Dollar Movie tonight, you can catch it every night this week at the same time.  Interesting to see Plays of Shakespeare on an independent station; I would have thought it a better fit on the educational channel.  And what's with the half-hour edition of Tell Me, Dr. Brothers?  It's only on for five minutes on Channel 8.  And it's in color here!  I guess you get to ask her more, so she can tell you more.


WPIX, Channel 11 (Ind.)

Morning

08:00a
Operation Alphabet II

08:30a
Cartoons

08:40a
Kukla and Ollie

08:50a
Cartoons

09:00a
Jack LaLanne

09:30a
Racket Squad

10:00a
Code Three

10:30a
Star Theater

10:55a
Pinocchio

11:00a
Cartoons

11:30a
Carol Corbett

Afternoon

12:00p
Cartoons

12:30p
Buckaroo 500

12:45p
Dick Tracy

01:00p
Movie – “Strange Illusion”

02:20p
News (local)

02:30p
True Adventure

03:00p
Pioneers

03:30p
Laurel and Hardy

04:00p
Chuck McCann

04:30p
Planet Patrol

05:00p
Beachcomber Bill

05:30p
The Three Stooges

Evening

06:00p
News (Kevin Kennedy)

06:10p
Local News (John Tillman)

06:25p
Weather (Vivian Farrar)

06:30p
Superman

07:00p
Peter Potamus

07:30p
Clay Cole (guest Clyde McPhatter)

08:30p
Movie – “The Living Ghost”

09:30p
One Step Beyond

10:00p
Richard Diamond

10:30p
Biography

11:00p
Merv Griffin (guest Bishop Fulton Sheen)

12:30a
Sports (Bob Wolff)

12:35a
Best of Groucho

What a classic schedule of programming in the evening: SupermanOne Step Beyond, Richard Diamond, Best of Groucho - you could reproduce all of that on DVD, and probably find "The Living Ghost" somewhere as well.  As for Peter Potamus - well, of course, he has a YouTube channel, just like everyone else.


WNDT, Channel 13 (Educ.)

Morning

09:30a
Mathematics 5

09:50a
It’s Your Business

10:10a
Parlons Francais I

10:25a
Working with Science

10:45a
Let’s Make Puppets

11:05a
Hablo Espanol

11:20a
Music For You

11:40a
It’s Your Business

Afternoon

12:00p
En Francais

12:30p
Electronics at Work

01:00p
Kindergarten

01:30p
New York Metropolis

01:50p
Hablo Espanol

02:05p
Time for Science

02:25p
It’s Your Business

02:45p
Parlons Francais I

03:00p
Music Interlude

03:30p
Childhood Education

04:00p
Guidance Agencies

04:30p
Let’s Lipread

05:00p
Once Upon a Day

05:30p
What’s New

Evening

06:00p
Operation Alphabet II

06:30p
En Francais

07:00p
Artists of New Jersey

07:30p
The French Chef

08:00p
News (Gary Gilson)

08:10p
Music Interlude

08:15p
British Calendar

08:30p
Museum Open House

09:00p
Ride the Wild Horse (special)

09:30p
World of Music

10:00p
News (Robert Potts)

10:05p
Art of Film

10:35p
Electronics at Work

11:05p
Reflections

In case you didn't no, this is the educational station.  I don't have any other information to add, other than that this strikes me as being exactly what an educational station should look like. TV  

4 comments:

  1. Here, there, and anywhere ...

    - Noting that WCBS's very late news anchor was Peter Hyams.
    A few years after this, Hyams turned up at CBS's Chicago station, WBBM, as a weekend and backup anchorman.
    He didn't impress Chicago that much (one critic wrote that he looked like "a Keane painting of a newsman"), and it was here that he decided on a career change - to movie director.
    Since the '70s, Peter Hyams has been writer and director (and occasionally cinematographer) of quite a few theatrical and TV movies; the best known are probably 2010 (the superfluous sequel to 2001), Goodnight, My Love (a made-for-TV private eye spoof with Richard Boone and Michael Dunn, pretty good), and my favorite, Capricorn One, about a faked Mars landing that goes even wronger that the plotters imagined ( the astronauts who get trapped into cooperating are James Brolin, Sam Waterston, and a former football player whose name escapes me ...).

    - My references tell me that the Dr. Joyce Brothers's show was a daily half-hour.
    My guess is that the show covered multiple topics in the half-hour, which local stations could subdivide into five minute segments as needed.

    -Memory Lane on WOR - wasn't this the Joe Franklin show?
    Of course, this was years before Billy Crystal made Franklin's distracted manner of interviewing a staple of his stand-up act.

    - We're still in the pre-stripping era of syndication; most of these shows were only on once a week.
    One of ch5's shows is Room For One More, which ran on ABC for only half a season several years before - no more than 13-17 episodes, tops.
    A qujck scan of my Chicago edition shows WGN with more than a few single-season (or less) series on its nightly schedules. Not so likely these days...

    - OK, it's not the right night, but check out Friday's episode of Slattery's People on CBS.
    Particularly the guest cast.
    Just thought you'd be interested ...

    ReplyDelete
  2. It strikes me as odd that newsmen like Robert Trout and Robert MacNeil would do both local and national news reporting. What other notable newsmen did this, and when did it die out?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Al:

      Remember, you're looking at listings for New York City, which then as now considers itself Headquarters Of The World.
      Nowhere was this attitude more prevalent than in the news departments of CBS and NBC; using the marquee names at both the local and national levels was a matter of pride at both networks - and is still so today, with ABC and FOX included.
      Back in the '50s, Chicago attempted to get into the mix, but the "Second City" mentality got in the way.

      Side note:
      During the '70s, ABC tried something with its late weekend news shows: they would import local anchors from its owned-and-operated stations to chair the newscasts.
      These included Van Amburg from San Francisco, Jac LeGoff from Detroit, Robert Trout (who'd moved to ABC) and Bill Bonds from Los Angeles - and from channel 7 in Chicago, John Drury, Joel Daly, and Fahey Flynn.
      That last was fascinating to me; in the mid-'70s, there was no less likely looking news anchor than Fahey Flynn: short, white-haired,roly-poly, bowtied, starting the broadcast with an ebullient "How do you do, ladies and gentlemen!", But Flynn was the most popular anchorman on ABC's top-rated O&O, and so he got his shot on the network, along with others at his level.

      "When did it die out?"
      As I indicated above, I'm not sure that it has, at least in New York City.
      The network morning shows still draw their talent pools from that market, as if there's no other (well, maybe Los Angeles occasionally ...).

      Delete
  3. This was four weeks and one day before Robert Trout left his spot as anchor of the early evening news (on June 17) and was replaced the next day by . . . Jim Jensen, who at that time anchored at 11; with a few ups and downs, he remained a fixture at Channel 2 through the mid-1990's. It was at that juncture that control of Channel 2's news department shifted from CBS News to the station itself. Within a year of that Lee Hanna would become news director and build a roster of reporters that, with some additions and departures, would carry the station to or near the top of the ratings through the 1980's (Mr. Hanna, though, would be gone by 1970, and later wind up at WNBC-TV where he was in on the 1974 startup of "NewsCenter4").

    NBC was the last of the three networks to yield control of their O&O's news departments to the stations themselves (by the late 1970's); can anyone advise when ABC did likewise with their stations (including, here, WABC-TV)? I saw a 1969 documentary on the assembly of a typical edition of "Eyewitness News" where numerous vehicles that went to various places to cover stories had "ABC News" markings.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for writing! Drive safely!