June 1, 2015

What's on TV? Tuesday, June 4, 1968

Today we look at the last normal broadcasting schedule for the week, as news updates will dominate the remainder of the days.

I mentioned in Saturday's piece that primary coverage continued for far longer than anyone had expected, but this isn't just a reference to the assassination of RFK; the California primary wasn't decided until midnight Pacific time, and for the most part the networks continued their coverage until Kennedy had been projected as the winner and had made his victory speech.  ABC, preparing to go off the air, held on while they tried to pin down the breaking news.  NBC and CBS, according to most sources, had ended their coverage but returned as soon as it had become apparent what had happened.  Considering that it would have been after 2 am in the Central time zone, I do wonder whether or not the local stations had time to sign off before the network broke in.  Regardless, it was indescribable late night drama.  But what was on the rest of the day in the Twin Cities?  Let's take a look.


KTCA, Channel 2 (NET)

Evening

06:00p
Innovations

06:30p
Effective Writing (color)

07:00p
Antiques

07:30p
Seminar for Seniors

08:00p
Your Right to Say It (color)

08:30p
Man and the Universe

09:00p
Presidential Year

09:30p
James Ford Bell Library

10:00p
NET Festival (Stan Getz with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops)

With school out for the summer, it's an abbreviated schedule for KTCA.  NET Festival, with the legendary Stan Getz joining forces with Arthur Fiedler, looks a lot like Evening at Pops, doesn't it?


WCCO, Channel 4 (CBS)

Morning

06:00a
Summer Semester (color)

06:30a
Siegfried and His Flying Saucer (color)

07:00a
Clancy and Carmen (color)

07:30a
Clancy and Willie (color)

08:00a
Captain Kangaroo (color)

09:00a
Live Today (color)

09:05a
Merv Griffin (guests Shelley Winters, Dom DeLuise, Davis and Reese) (color)

10:00a
Andy Griffith

10:30a
Dick Van Dyke

11:00a
Love of Life (color)

11:25a
CBS News (Joseph Benti) (color)

11:30a
Search For Tomorrow (color)

11:45a
The Guiding Light (color)

Afternoon

12:00p
Local News (Dean Montgomery) (color)

12:20p
Something Special (color)

12:30p
As the World Turns (color)

01:00p
Love is a Many Splendored Thing (color)

01:30p
House Party (guest Sheldon Leonard) (color)

02:00p
To Tell the Truth (with guest panelists Marian and Cynthia Collyer) (color)

02:25p
CBS News (Douglas Edwards) (color)

02:30p
The Edge of Night (color)

03:00p
The Secret Storm (color)

03:30p
The Beverly Hillbillies

04:00p
Mike Douglas (guests Marty Allen, Totie Fields, Lanie Kazan, Jerry Vale, Hy Lit) (color)

05:30p
CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite (color)

Evening

06:00p
Local News (Dave Moore) (color)

06:15p
Weather (Bud Kraehling) (color)

06:20p
Sports (Hal Scott) (color)

06:30p
Daktari (color)

07:30p
Red Skelton (guests Mike Connors, Tom Jones) (color)

08:30p
Good Morning World (color)

09:00p
CBS News Special – “Hill  943” (special) (color)

10:00p
The Scene Tonight (color)

10:45p
California primary (special) (color)

11:00p
Movie – “The Tall T” (color)

That's an interesting combination on Red Skelton's show, isn't it?  Mike Connors, star of Mannix, a throwback to the old school of detective series, and Tom Jones, riding the wave of late '60s singers.  And they're both still around!

My hunch, based on the video that I've seen, is that the primary coverage ran far later than 11pm, unless CBS signed off and came back later with a special report on the results.


KSTP, Channel 5 (NBC)

Morning

06:15a
David Stone (color)

06:30a
City and Country (color)

07:00a
Today (guests Supreme Court justice Abe Fortas, football old-timer Benny Friedman) (color)

09:00a
Snap Judgment (guests Jack Cassidy, Betty White) (color)

09:25a
NBC News (Nancy Dickerson) (color)

09:30a
Concentration (color)

10:00a
Personality (celebrities Noel Harrison, Jack E. Leonard, Joan Rivers, Barbara Bain) (color)

10:30a
The Hollywood Squares (celebrities Marty Allen, Bill Bixby, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Audrey Meadows, Jan Murray, Steve Rossi, Wally Cox, Abby Dalton, Charley Weaver) (color)

11:00a
Jeopardy (color)

11:30a
Eye Guess (color)

11:25a
NBC News (Edwin Newman)

Afternoon

12:00p
Local News (Gene Berry) (color)

12:10p
Weather (Pete Evensen) (color)

12:15p
Dialing For Dollars (color)

12:30p
Let’s Make a Deal (color)

01:00p
Days of Our Lives (color)

01:30p
The Doctors (color)

02:00p
Another World (color)

02:30p
You Don’t Say! (celebrities Richard Deacon, Rose Marie) (color)

03:00p
The Match Game (guests Joel Grey, Fannie Flagg) (color)

03:25p
NBC News (Floyd Kalber) (color)

03:30p
Dialing For Dollars (color)

04:30p
Of Lands and Seas (color)

05:25p
Local News (Gene Berry) (color)

05:30p
Huntley-Brinkley Report (color)

Evening

06:00p
Local News (Bob Ryan) (color)

06:15p
Weather (Johnny Morris) (color)

06:20p
Sports (Al Tighe) (color)

06:30p
I Dream of Jeannie (color)

07:00p
World of Animals (special) (color)

08:00p
Tuesday Night at the Movies – “Bus Riley’s Back in Town” (color)

10:00p
Local News (John MacDougall) (color)

10:15p
Weather (Johnny Morris (color)

10:20p
Sports (Al Tighe) (color)

10:30p
California primary (special) (color)

12:00a
I Led Three Lives (color)

It's interesting how much a part of the television schedule noontime news was back in the '60s and '70s.  KSTP's Dialing For Dollars was a part of that noontime schedule, and then returned at 3:30 for an hour.    I am sorry to see that era go.


KMSP, Channel 9 (ABC)

Morning

07:30a
77 Sunset Strip

08:30a
Wedding Party (color)

09:00a
Romper Room (color)

09:30a
Dick Cavett (color)

11:00a
Bewitched

11:30a
Treasure Isle (color)

Afternoon

12:00p
Dream House (color)

12:30p
Local News (Jerry Smith)

01:00p
The Newlywed Game (color)

01:30p
The Baby Game (color)

01:55p
The Children’s Doctor (color)

02:00p
General Hospital (color)

02:30p
Dark Shadows (color)

03:00p
The Dating Game (color)

03:30p
Movie – “The Lady Says No”

04:55p
Local News (Jerry Smith) (color)

05:00p
ABC Evening News (Frank Reynolds) (color)

05:30p
McHale’s Navy

Evening

06:00p
Truth or Consequences (color)

06:30p
Dieppe Raid (special) (color)

07:30p
It Takes a Thief (color)

08:30p
N.Y.P.D. (color)

09:00p
The Invaders (color)

10:00p
Fahan-Steer News (Bill Fahan, Jim Steer) (color)

10:25p
Sports (Tony Parker)

10:30p
California primary (special) (color)

11:00p
Joey Bishop (guests Jackie Gayle, Al Martino, Teddy Wilson (time approximate) (color)

12:00a
Naked City

I've written before about Dr. Lendon Smith, host of The Children's Doctor at 1:55pm.  He was a popular guest of Johnny Carson's, who always introduced him as "the little tiny baby doctor."  It's another charming feature from back in the days when five minute programs (news updates and the like) were a feature of daytime television, and here's what it looked like:



WTCN, Channel 11 (Ind.)

Morning

08:40a
Local News (Gil Amundson)

08:45a
The King and Odie

09:00a
Sea Hunt

09:30a
Bat Masterson

10:00a
Woody Woodbury (guests Peter Breck, Greg Morris, Andy Devine, Pat Woodell, Alice Ghostley; continued from last night) (color)

10:30a
Anthology

11:00a
Have Gun – Will Travel

11:30a
Local News (Gil Amundson, Warren Martin)

Afternoon

12:00p
Lunch With Casey

01:00p
Matinee Movie – “City of Fear”

02:30p
Mel’s Notebook

03:00p
Virginia Graham (guests Josephine Prentice, Maureen Arthur) (color)

03:30p
Patty Duke

04:00p
Popeye and Pete

04:30p
Casey and Roundhouse

05:00p
The Flintstones (color)

05:30p
Gilligan’s Island

Evening

06:00p
The Twilight Zone

06:30p
Harmon Killebrew Show (color)

06:40p
Halsey Hall Show (color)

06:55p
Baseball (Twins vs. Yankees) (color)

09:30p
Baseball Scoreboard (time approximate)

10:00p
TV-11 News

10:15p
Movie – “High Flight”

I've never been able to figure out what was up with the Woody Woodbury Show.  The first hour is aired the previous night, and the final half-hour the following morning.  Possibly the opening monologues were considered a little too risque for daytime television?  Odd in any event. TV  

1 comment:

  1. OK, here goes NUMBER SEVEN:

    That's a little better. Onward:

    - The guest panelists on To Tell The Truth are the wife and daughter-in-law of Bud Collyer.
    Marian Shockley (Mrs. Collyer) was a star actress on radio, best known as Ellery Queen's girlfriend/sidekick Nikki Porter (alongside several EQ actors). This would have been at the same time that Bud Collyer was radio's Superman.

    - The syndie talk shows are all on their bicycles; in Minn-StP you're seeing the shows that we saw in Chicago last week.
    In re Woody Woodbury: My recollection of his talk show is that he was not risqué, even by the standards of his comedy records, which would nowadays be PG-13 at most.
    In the early going of this show, Woodbury had an announcer/sidekick, an actor named Bob Ridgely, whose reputation in Hollywood was as a real wild card, with unpredictable humor that asserted itself in pranks on his friends (most of which cannot be recounted on a family blog like this one).
    At the same time, Ridgely was in steady demand as a serious actor. His appearances included Philadelphia (as one of Tom Hanks's law partners), Melvin And Howard (as the game-show emcee who gives all the prizes to Mary Steenburgen), Boogie Nights (as the financial backer of Burt Reynolds's porno company) - and Blazing Saddles (as the hunchbacked, eye-patched medieval hangman ; "Everybody is equal in my eye!")
    These dual reputations kept him busy enough that he had to leave the Woodbury show late in the run; the show you've listed here was probably the first with a "guest announcer" - in this case, Andy Devine, who did a few shows before giving way to others (such as Joe Flynn, Richard Deacon, Billy Mumy, etc.)

    - This week's Invaders is about how David Vincent proves to a small town that the space guys are for real - and then has to convince the space guys to not destroy the town and everyone in it.
    The commander of the space guys this week is a character actor with silvery hair and a deep commanding voice: Ted Knight (pre-MTM, he almost always played heavies).

    - I note that the Twins game is accompanied by The Halsey Hall Show, featuring one of the region's sportscasting legends.
    Reportedly, Halsey Hall was the first to say "Holy Cow!" on Big 10 football broadcasts, years before either Harry Caray or Phil Rizzuto.
    But you probably knew that ...

    More when I can think of it (the Demon Machine permitting).



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Thanks for writing! Drive safely!