October 26, 2015

What's on TV? Saturday, October 25, 1969

A very interesting issue this week; I mentioned on Saturday that this issue is from upper New York, which means I had quite a few stations from which to choose, including Rochester, Syracuse, and Erie, Pennsylvania.  Ultimately I decided on a representative mix: Buffalo, New York, and Toronto, Ontario, and since it's been awhile since we looked at Saturday, I thought it was a good time to do so.  I hope you'll think I've made the right decision!


WGR, Channel 2 (NBC)

Morning

07:30a
Clutch Cargo

08:00a
Dick Tracy

08:30a
Speed Racers

09:00a
Marine Boy

09:30a
Beany and Cecil

10:00a
H.R. Pufnstuf

10:30a
The Banana Splits

11:30a
Jambo

Afternoon

12:00p
The Flintstones

12:30p
Underdog

01:00p
Upbeat (guests Lou Christie, Leslie Gore, the Impressions)

02:00p
Movie – To Be Announced

04:30p
Porter Wagoner (guest Bill Carlisle)

05:00p
Bill Anderson (guest Lynn Anderson)

05:30p
G.E. College Bowl (Minnesota-Morris vs. Bradley)

Evening


06:00p
Win With the Stars

06:30p
College Talent (judges Abby Dalton, Marty Allen)

07:00p
Death Valley Days

07:30p
Andy Williams (guests Nancy Sinatra, Bob Newhart, Tiny Tim, the First Edition, the Osmond Brothers)

08:30p
Saturday Night at the Movies – “Tom Jones”

11:00p
News, Weather, Sports (local)

11:30p
Steve Allen (guests Mort Sahl, Mark Russell, Steve Gillette, Mary Futernick)

01:00a
Hugh Hefner (guests Bill Cosby, Jim Brown, Marty Ingels, Jeremy Vernon, Jackie DeShannon

Fun fact: the University of Minnesota at Morris, one of the competitors in College Bowl, is located nine miles from The World's Worst Town™.  Unlike TWWT, Morris was actually a pretty nice town, about 10,000 people - approximately 9,150 more than TWWT.  I still wouldn't want to live there, though.


WBEN, Channel 4 (CBS)

Morning

07:30a
Sunrise Semester (Math)

08:00a
The Jetsons

08:30a
Bugs Bunny/Road Runner

09:30a
Dastardly & Muttley

10:00a
The Perils of Penelope Pitstop

10:30a
Scooby-Doo

11:00a
Archie

Afternoon

12:00p
The Monkees

12:30p
You and Your Family

01:00p
Rural Review

01:30p
Opportunity Line

02:00p
Movie Double Feature – “Kansas Raiders”, “The Man from Bitter Ridge”

04:30p
Joe Foss

05:00p
Beat the Champ

Evening


06:00p
News (local)

06:30p
CBS Evening News with Roger Mudd

07:00p
It’s Academic

07:30p
Jackie Gleason (guest Milton Berle)

08:30p
My Three Sons

09:00p
Green Acres

09:30p
Petticoat Junction

10:00p
Mannix

11:00p
News, Weather, Sports (local)

11:30p
Movie – “Diabolique” (B&W)

Joe Foss, host of the outdoors show at 4:30 that bears his name, is quite the story. World War II hero (the leading ace in the Marine Corps), Congressional Medal of Honor winner, general in the Air Defense Command, governor of South Dakota, first commissioner of the American Football League, president of the NRA, first host of The American Sportsman, and philanthropist.  At this point Foss is just a TV host; his show is actually titled The Outdoorsman.  And what have you done today?


CBLT, Channel 6 (Toronto) (CBC)

Morning

10:30a
Movie Double Feature – “Great Guns” (B&W), “Mr. Magoo’s Favorite Heroes”

Afternoon

12:30p
Luncheon Date

01:00p
Lost Peace

01:30p
D’lberville

02:00p
CFL Football (Toronto Argonauts vs. Ottawa Rough Riders)

04:30p
Lacrosse (Quebec vs. Ontario) (time approximate)

05:00p
Bugs Bunny/Road Runner

Evening


06:00p
News

06:05p
Man and His World

06:30p
The Galloping Gourmet

07:00p
The Beverly Hillbillies

07:30p
Mr. Deeds

08:00p
Hockey Night in Canada (St. Louis vs. Toronto)

10:15p
CBC Weekend

11:10p
Provincial Affairs

11:40p
Movie – “My Blood Runs Cold” (B&W)

01:40a
Movie – “Sex and the Single Girl”

03:50a
Movie – “The Cat Burglar” (B&W)

We don't get much of a look at Canadian stations, so this is kind of a treat. Both CBC and CTV (see below) carried numerous American television shows, many of them airing in Canada before they did in the United States. What would a Saturday in Canada be, though, without Canadian football and Hockey Night in Canada?


WKBW, Channel 7 (ABC)

Morning

06:00a
Farm and Home

07:30a
Fantastic Four

08:00a
Casper the Friendly Ghost

08:30a
The Three Stooges

09:30a
Bugs Bunny/Road Runner

10:00a
Rocketship 7

10:30a
Hardy Boys

11:00a
Sky Hawk

11:30a
The Adventures of Gulliver

Afternoon

12:00p
Fantastic Voyage

12:30p
Wild Bill Hickok (B&W)

01:00p
This Week in Pro Football

02:00p
Buffalo Bills Highlights

02:30p
College Football Pre-Game Show

02:45p
College Football (Michigan State vs. Iowa)

Evening


06:00p
Wide World of Sports (U.S. vs. U.S.S.R. amateur boxing)

07:30p
Movie – “The Human Duplicators”

08:30p
Lawrence Welk

09:30p
The Hollywood Palace (host Engelbert Humperdinck, guests Sid Caesar, Maureen Arthur, Mickey Deems, Nancy Ames, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Jack E. Leonard, Lonnie Donegan)

10:30p
Movie – “Harvey” (B&W) (interrupted at 11:30p for local news)

11:30p
News, Weather, Sports (local)

12:35a
I Spy (time approximate)

I always find it interesting when a movie is interrupted for the news, as is the case with Harvey. It's only a five-minute update, but still.


CFTO, Channel 9 (Toronto) (CTV)

Morning

07:30a
Cartoon Playhouse

09:00a
Uncle Bobby

09:30a
Thunderbirds

10:00a
Cartoon Playhouse

10:30a
Joe 90

11:30a
Animal World

Afternoon

12:00p
Grey Cup Festival Highlights

01:30p
Danny Thomas

02:00p
Movie – “The Magic Box”

04:00p
Sports Hot Seat

04:30p
Wide World of Sports (1969 Calgary Stampede)

Evening


06:00p
The Saint

07:00p
Jackie Gleason (guest Milton Berle)

08:00p
Movie – “Destiny of a Spy”

10:00p
Harold Robbins’ The Survivors

11:00p
News, Weather, Sports (local)

12:10a
Movie – “The Gypsy and the Gentleman” (B&W)

The Grey Cup highlights mentioned at noon are highlights of the 1958 and 1959 Grey Cup championships. The 1969 Grey Cup isn't actually for another month, and it will be won by Ottawa, 29-11 over Saskatchewan. CTV's prime-time schedule is heavily American, although they could easily have imported The Saint from Britain.


CHCH, Channel 11 (Hamilton) (Ind.)

Morning

07:30a
Meta Schools

08:30a
ETVO

10:30a
Hobby Time

11:00a
Lassie

11:30a
Bonsoir Copains

Afternoon

12:30p
Wrestling

01:30p
Joe Foss

02:00p
College Football (Toronto vs. Western)

04:00p
Super Heroes

05:00p
Andy Griffith

05:30p
Gidget

Evening


06:00p
Stingray

06:30p
Seaspray (B&W)

07:00p
The Lucy Show

07:30p
Gunsmoke

08:30p
The Avengers

09:30p
This Saturday (B&W)

10:00p
Gomer Pyle, USMC

10:30p
Movie – “Lost Command”

11:00p
News, Weather, Sports (local) (B&W)

11:05p
Movie (continued)

This schedule would have been typical of any American independent station.  A Canadian college football game, syndicated shows, movies.  Bonus points for The Avengers - I wonder if Mrs. Peel is in these episodes?


WNED, Channel 17 (NET)

Afternoon

01:30p
American History I

02:30p
Beginning German

03:00p
American History I

04:00p
Americans from Africa

05:00p
Health Education

05:30p
Misterogers

Evening


06:00p
Folk Guitar (B&W)

06:30p
The Evans-Novak Report

07:00p
NET Festival (B&W)

08:00p
Pete Seeger (guests Norman Studer, Grant Rogers)

09:00p
Firing Line (guest Auberon Waugh)

10:00p
Boston Symphony (B&W)

I never knew Pete Seeger had his own show.  Gee, it seems so - commercial - of him, even if it's on educational television.  That it's followed by William F. Buckley Jr.'s Firing Line seems somehow appropriate, doesn't it? TV  

6 comments:

  1. "HOT WHEELS" and "SKYHAWKS" were essentially 30 minute commercials for Mattel that created much controversy at the time that was revisited with "HE-MAN" and "SHE-RA" in the 80's.

    "ROCKETSHIP 7" was a locally produced programme that ran until 1978 when the host, Dave Thomas, moved to WPVI in Philadelphia. It received a shout-out in an episode of "BONES" when Booth said he watched the show regularly as a child. That was absolutely true. Booth is played by David Boreanaz, son of Dave Thomas!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You know, my wife, who watches this show, told me that very thing today! Great minds think alike!

      Delete
  2. --This was just a few years before the Canadian government started requiring domestic content, which explains why there are so many American shows (BTW, CTV's "Joe 90" was also a British import).
    --"Gidget" on CHCH is interesting, since it had been a one-season flop just a few years before. I knew about its 80s reruns, but didn't know they had been syndied back in the 60s.
    --Another great lineup from "Upbeat". Lesley Gore and Curtis Mayfield on the same show? At least in my eyes, that's better than Sullivan or the Palace.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lesley Gore and Curtis Mayfield - Al, I think you've got a point!

      Delete
  3. It wasn't that uncommon for one-season shows to have a weekend spot in syndication at the time. GIDGET probably was a popular choice in the late 60's due to Sally Field's then-current and popular FLYING NUN on Thursday nights.

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  4. CBC wasn't the only Canadian network carrying "Hockey Night In Canada" from 1965 until 1975.

    CTV carried a second "HNIC" game, each week on Wednesday nights (the rights to the games and the broadcast themselves at the time were produced by Molson Beer's ad agency). CBC however, had the Stanley Cup Finals (and probably most, if not all, playoff games as well).

    Until Vancouver came into the league in 1970, "Hockey Night In Canada" telecasts were usually regionalized with Montreal games being shown in Quebec and points East; while Toronto games would be shown in Ontario and points West.

    There were some occasions where one game would go to the full CBC (Saturdays) or CTV (Wednesdays) network. That would occur if either: (1) Montreal faced Toronto, or (2) either Montreal or Toronto was playing, but the other wasn't.

    When Vancouver entered the league in 1970, their Saturday or Wednesday night games would be shown in British Columbia. However, the only time a Vancouver game would be televised outside British Columbia would be if they played Montreal or Toronto, in which case, the other team's home region got the game as well.

    I would think that 40 to 50 regular-season each of Montreal and Toronto were broadcast in Quebec and Ontario respectively, combining CBC and CTV.

    In 1975, CTV dropped their half of the "HNIC" package, but the CBC continued, it, and the Canadian-based clubs were able to make deals with local TV stations for between 15 and 25 local mid-week regular-season telecasts apiece. Ironically, some of the TV stations that made local TV deals for their hometown NHL clubs were CTV-owned or affiliated stations!

    One other interesting note is that until the late 1960's, "Hockey Night In Canada" didn't show regular-season games in full, but joined them in progress. During the 1950's, broadcast time was 9 P.m. Eastern, with games joined in progress around the start of the second period. In the early and middle 1960's, airtime was 8:30 Eastern, with games joined in progress with about six or seven minutes left to play in the first period.

    "Hockey Night In Canada" is still around on Saturday nights, but CBC doesn't have it to itself anymore. Under a 2014 deal with Rogers Communications, in which Rogers owns all national-TV rights to the league in Canada, CBC gets two games (one starting at 7:15 P.M. Eastern time and the second starting at 10:05 Eastern), Rogers-owned City TV (a small network in Canada with stations in major cities) gets one game at 7:15 Eastern; and Rogers-owned Sportsnet cable sports channels show between them all other games involving Canadian-based teams not seen on CBC or City.

    Usually, Toronto gets the early game on CBC, Montreal gets the game aired by City, a team based in Western Canada gets the CBC late game, and the various Sportsnets get the other games involving Canadian-based clubs.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for writing! Drive safely!