November 30, 2015

What's on TV? Wednesday, November 30, 1966

We're at the final day of November 1966, and in this otherwise not particularly remarkable day we see a couple of local Christmas shows pop-up; I mentioned on Saturday that the networks were blissfully void of coverage this early in the season, but I don't mind these local shows that are airing. Maybe it's just me, do you think?

This week's listing is from the Minnesota State edition; as usual, I've taken a cross-section of stations from a very full channel lineup. Perhaps some day I'll do an entire issue with all the stations, but I think you'd find it very repetitive. But who knows?


KTCA, Channel 2 (Educ.)

Morning

09:00a
Classroom

Afternoon

03:00p
Modern Industrial Management

03:30p
British Calendar

03:45p
Teaching Spanish

05:00p
Kindergarten

05:30p
Folk Guitar

Evening


06:00p
Silver Wings

06:30p
Supervisory Practice

07:00p
Book Beat

07:30p
Town Meeting

08:00p
Film Feature

08:30p
Town Meeting

09:00p
Man Among Men

09:30p
Shakespeare

10:15p
British Calendar

10:30p
Town Meeting

I always wonder what British Calendar is. Does anyone out there have any memories of it?


WCCO, Channel 4 (CBS)

Morning

06:00a
Sunrise Semester

06:30a
Siegfried and His Flying Saucer

07:00a
Clancy & Company (color)

08:00a
Captain Kangaroo

09:00a
Dr. Reuben K. Youngdahl (color)

09:05a
News (local) (color)

09:10a
Hi Neighbor (color)

09:30a
The Beverly Hillbillies

10:00a
Andy Griffith

10:30a
Dick Van Dyke

11:00a
Love of Life

11:25a
CBS News (color)

11:30a
Search for Tomorrow

11:45a
The Guiding Light

Afternoon

12:00p
News (local) (color)

12:20p
Something Special

12:30p
As the World Turns

01:00p
Password (guests Jack Cassidy, Nancy Ames) (color)

01:30p
House Party (color)

02:00p
To Tell the Truth

02:25p
CBS News (color)

02:30p
The Edge of Night

03:00p
The Secret Storm

03:30p
Candid Camera

04:00p
Mike Douglas (co-host Dick Shawn, guests Al Martino, Rev. Malcolm Boyd, Charlie Byrd, Nancy Dussault)

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

Evening


06:00p
News (local) (color)

06:30p
Lost in Space (color)

07:30p
The Beverly Hillbillies (color)

08:00p
Green Acres (color)

08:30p
Gomer Pyle, USMC (color)

09:00p
Danny Kaye (guests Peter Ustinov, Nancy Wilson, Frank Gorshin) (color)

10:00p
News (local) (color)

10:30p
Norm Van Brocklin (color)

10:35p
Movie “Border River”

12:10a
Movie – “The Man from Bitter Ridge” (time approximate) (color)

The Norm Van Brocklin Show is a five-minute program with the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. Next season it will be called The Bud Grant Show, after the Vikings' new head coach, who to this day remains the greatest in franchise history. Saw him on TV yesterday attending the Grey Cup game in Winnipeg, where they've erected a statue to the man who coached the Blue Bombers to four Grey Cup championships.


KSTP, Channel 5 (NBC)

Morning

06:00a
Continental Classroom (American Government)

06:30a
City and Country (color)

07:00a
Today (guest Bishop James Pike) (color)

09:00a
Eye Guess (color)

09:25a
NBC News (color)

09:30a
Concentration (color)

10:00a
Pat Boone (guests Eve Arden, Gail Martin) (color)

10:30a
The Hollywood Squares

11:00a
Jeopardy (color)

11:30a
Swingin’ Country (guests Jackie and Gayle) (color)

11:55a
NBC News (color)

Afternoon

12:00p
News (local)

12:15p
Dialing for Dollars (color)

12:30p
Let’s Make a Deal (color)

12:55p
NBC News (color)

01:00p
Days of Our Lives (color)

01:30p
The Doctors (color)

02:00p
Another World (color)

02:30p
You Don’t Say! (guests Joanie Sommers, Jesse White) (color)

03:00p
The Match Game (guests Alan King, Betty White) (color)

03:25p
NBC News (color)

03:30p
Dialing for Dollars (color)

04:30p
Of Lands and Seas (color)

05:25p
Doctor’s House Call (color)

05:30p
The Huntley-Brinkley Report (color)

Evening


06:00p
News (local) (color)

06:30p
The Virginian (color)

08:00p
Chrysler Presents the Bob Hope Theatre (color)

09:00p
I Spy (color)

10:00p
News (local) (color)

10:30p
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (guests George Jessel, Peter March) (color)

12:15a
M Squad

What a difference NBC's morning schedule is in 1966 as opposed to today. Two variety programs; Pat Boone at 10am, and Swingin' Country at 11:30. I wonder if we'll ever see anything like that on network television again? Who am I kidding - I know the answer to that, don't you?


KMMT , Channel 6 (Austin) (ABC)

Morning

10:00a
Supermarket Sweep

10:30a
The Dating Game

11:00a
Donna Reed

11:30a
Father Knows Best

Afternoon

12:00p
Ben Casey

01:00p
The Newlywed Game

01:30p
Time for Us

01:55p
ABC News (Marlene Sanders)

02:00p
General Hospital

02:30p
The Nurses

03:00p
Dark Shadows

03:30p
Where the Action Is (guests J.J. Jackson, Johnny Tillotson)

04:00p
Movie – “The Atomic Submarine”

05:30p
The Rifleman

Evening


06:00p
Peter Jennings with the News

06:15p
News, Sports, Weather (local)

06:30p
Batman

07:00p
Maverick

08:00p
The Man Who Never Was (color)

08:30p
Peyton Place (color)

09:00p
ABC Stage 67

10:00p
News (local)

10:30p
The Untouchables

11:30p
News (local)

The Man Who Never Was, the 8:00pm show - isn't that a great name for a series? I like that title so much I make reference it in a section of the book I'm working on now. It was short-lived, and perhaps deservedly so, but the premise is a good one - Robert Lansing plays an intelligence agent in East Germany, who takes the place of his exact double, a millionaire playboy who is mistaken for him and killed by the Stasi. He now has to depend on his "new wife" to keep the secret. Can you keep all that straight? Too bad it didn't last longer, but we do have Dana Wynter as a consolation prize. And it does have a final episode!


WDSE, Channel 8 (Duluth) (Educ.)

Morning

09:00a
Classroom

Afternoon

03:00p
Modern Industrial Management

03:30p
British Calendar

03:45p
Teaching Spanish

05:00p
Kindergarten

05:30p
Now See This

Evening


06:30p
What’s New

07:00p
News in Perspective

08:00p
UMD and the Arts

08:30p
When in Rome

09:00p
Man Among Men

09:30p
Shakespeare

10:15p
British Calendar

10:30p
Book Beat

Modern Industrial Management - my idea of educational television. Why isn't there more like this on TV today?


WKBT, Channel 8 (La Crosse)  (CBS)

Morning

07:30a
CBS Morning News with Joseph Benti (color)

07:55a
News (local)

08:00a
Captain Kangaroo

09:00a
Candid Camera

09:30a
The Beverly Hillbillies

10:00a
Andy Griffith

10:30a
Dick Van Dyke

11:00a
Love of Life

11:25a
CBS News (color)

11:30a
Search for Tomorrow

11:45a
The Guiding Light

Afternoon

12:00p
News (local)

12:30p
As the World Turns

01:00p
Password (guests Jack Cassidy, Nancy Ames) (color)

01:30p
House Party (color)

02:00p
To Tell the Truth

02:25p
CBS News (color)

02:30p
The Edge of Night

03:00p
The Secret Storm

03:30p
Dark Shadows

04:00p
General Hospital

04:30p
Mickey Mouse Club

05:00p
Dobie Gillis

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

Evening


06:00p
News (local)

06:30p
Batman

07:00p
Bewitched

07:30p
The Beverly Hillbillies (color)

08:00p
Green Acres (color)

08:30p
Gomer Pyle, USMC (color)

09:00p
Danny Kaye (guests Peter Ustinov, Nancy Wilson, Frank Gorshin) (color)

10:00p
News (local)

10:25p
Film Short

10:30p
Combat!

11:30p
The Rifleman

I find WKBT's schedule quite interesting, for reasons I've mentioned before with other local stations. Like many stations in markets that didn't have a dedicated affiliate for each network, WKBT picks up a number of shows from ABC. There's the afternoon schedule - that they have both Dark Shadows and General Hospital tells us something about the popularity of those two series, as does their decision to carry Batman and Bewitched at 6:30 and 7:00pm, respectively, instead of Lost in Space. They then round out the broadcasting day with Combat!, still in first-run, and The Rifleman, which ended its run a little more than three years before. A well-balanced schedule, in my opinion.


KMSP, Channel 9 (ABC)

Morning

07:30a
Soupy Sales

08:00a
Porky Pig

08:30a
Romper Room

09:30a
Jack LaLanne (color)

10:00a
Supermarket Sweep

10:30a
The Dating Game

11:00a
Donna Reed

11:30a
Father Knows Best

Afternoon

12:00p
Ben Casey

01:00p
The Newlywed Game

01:30p
Time for Us

01:55p
ABC News (Marlene Sanders)

02:00p
General Hospital

02:30p
The Nurses

03:00p
Dark Shadows

03:30p
Where the Action Is (guests J.J. Jackson, Johnny Tillotson)

04:00p
Route 66

05:00p
Peter Jennings With the News

05:15p
News (local)

05:30p
Leave it to Beaver

Evening


06:00p
Yogi Bear (color)

06:30p
Batman

07:00p
The Monroes (color)

08:00p
The Man Who Never Was (color)

08:30p
Peyton Place (color)

09:00p
ABC Stage 67

10:00p
News (local)

10:30p
Movie – “Woman’s World” (color)

The 5:15pm local news on KMSP is anchored by Bob Allard, who went on to much greater local fame as a radio talk-show host. I remember listening to his program on occasion around 1978-80 or so; he could be somewhat contentious but didn't fall into the same category as so many hosts today. Sadly, he committed suicide (not his first attempt) shortly after his fifth such radio series was cancelled. I have a hard time picturing him as a news anchor.


KROC, Channel 10 (Rochester) (NBC)

Morning

07:00a
Today (guest Bishop James Pike) (color)

09:00a
Eye Guess (color)

09:25a
NBC News (color)

09:30a
Concentration (color)

10:00a
Pat Boone (guests Eve Arden, Gail Martin) (color)

10:30a
The Hollywood Squares

11:00a
Jeopardy (color)

11:30a
Swingin’ Country (guests Jackie and Gayle) (color)

11:55a
NBC News (color)

Afternoon

12:00p
News (local)

12:20p
Memos From Mary Bea

12:30p
Let’s Make a Deal (color)

12:55p
NBC News (color)

01:00p
Days of Our Lives (color)

01:30p
The Doctors (color)

02:00p
Another World (color)

02:30p
You Don’t Say! (guests Joanie Sommers, Jesse White) (color)

03:00p
The Match Game (guests Alan King, Betty White) (color)

03:25p
NBC News (color)

03:30p
Wally Gator

04:00p
Mister Ed

04:30p
Leave it to Beaver

05:00p
Cisco Kid

05:30p
The Huntley-Brinkley Report (color)

Evening


06:00p
News (local)

06:30p
The Virginian (color)

08:00p
Chrysler Presents the Bob Hope Theatre (color)

09:00p
I Spy (color)

09:30p
News, Weather, Sports (local)

10:00p
News (local)

10:30p
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (guests George Jessel, Peter March) (color)

KROC is now known as KTTC, but is still an NBC affiliate. I know that most of these call letters have something to do with the owner of the station, and many of them around the country have changed since the '60s, but it's still too bad to see letters as corny and yet as descriptive as KROC go the way of the wind. It says much about how television in the '60s was still something of a smaller enterprise.


WTCN, Channel 11 (Ind.)

Morning

09:00a
Casey Junior

09:30a
Gloria (color)

10:00a
Girl Talk (guests Sheilah Graham, Elsa Lanchester, Raquel Welch)

10:30a
PDQ (guests Barrie Chase, Wally Cox, Dick Patterson)

11:00a
Bold Journey

11:30a
Today’s Drama

11:55a
News (local)

Afternoon

12:00p
Lunch With Casey

01:00p
Movie – “The Cape Canaveral Monsters”

02:40p
Mel’s Notebook

02:55p
News (local)

03:00p
Alfred Hitchcock Presents

03:30p
Mister Ed

04:00p
Popeye and Pete

04:30p
Casey and Roundhouse

05:30p
The Flintstones (color)

Evening


06:00p
The Rifleman

06:30p
Patty Duke

07:00p
The Twilight Zone

07:30p
Perry Mason

08:30p
Spread of the Eagle

10:00p
Movie – “Saturday’s Hero”

12:05a
Bachelor Father (time approximate)

Had I not been in school that day, I'm almost certain I would have watched "The Cape Canaveral Monsters" on Channel 11. I mean, it has the phrase "Cape Canaveral," which means there have to be rockets and launches, right? At that age I was fascinated by the manned space program (still am, for that matter), and a movie with this title would have been right up my alley. Monsters? Eh, I could take them or leave them, unless they were attacked by the Army, which made things much more interesting. I can always watch it here if I get board, but it does sound like there should be silhouettes on the bottom of the screen, doesn't it?


KEYC, Channel 12 (Mankato) (CBS)

Morning

07:30a
CBS Morning News with Joseph Benti (color)

07:55a
Film Short

08:00a
Captain Kangaroo

09:00a
Candid Camera

09:30a
The Beverly Hillbillies

10:00a
Andy Griffith

10:30a
Dick Van Dyke

11:00a
Love of Life

11:25a
CBS News (color)

11:30a
Search for Tomorrow

11:45a
The Guiding Light

Afternoon

12:00p
News (local)

12:30p
As the World Turns

01:00p
Password (guests Jack Cassidy, Nancy Ames) (color)

01:30p
House Party (color)

02:00p
To Tell the Truth

02:25p
CBS News (color)

02:30p
The Edge of Night

03:00p
The Secret Storm

03:30p
The Sounds of Christmas

04:00p
Bart’s Clubhouse

05:00p
Community Campus

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

Evening


06:00p
News (local)

06:30p
Lost in Space (color)

07:30p
The Beverly Hillbillies (color)

08:00p
Green Acres (color)

08:30p
Gomer Pyle, USMC (color)

09:00p
Danny Kaye (guests Peter Ustinov, Nancy Wilson, Frank Gorshin) (color)

10:00p
News (local)

10:40p
Trackdown

11:10p
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

At 4:30pm, it's The Sounds of Christmas, a half-hour series of seasonal music by local high-school choirs. I think many areas used to have programs like this back in the day - do any exist today? Maybe the schools don't allow them to do Christmas music anymore - might offend someone, don't you know.


WEAU, Channel 13 (Eau Claire) (NBC)

Morning

07:00a
Today (guest Bishop James Pike) (color)

09:ooa
Eye Guess (color)

09:25a
NBC News (color)

09:30a
Concentration (color)

10:00a
Pat Boone (guests Eve Arden, Gail Martin) (color)

10:30a
The Hollywood Squares

11:00a
Jeopardy (color)

11:30a
Swingin’ Country (guests Jackie and Gayle) (color)

11:55a
NBC News (color)

Afternoon

12:00p
Farm and Home

01:00p
Days of Our Lives (color)

01:30p
The Doctors (color)

02:00p
Another World (color)

02:30p
You Don’t Say! (guests Joanie Sommers, Jesse White) (color)

03:00p
The Match Game (guests Alan King, Betty White) (color)

03:25p
NBC News (color)

03:30p
Father Knows Best

04:00p
Dark Shadows

04:30p
Christmas Toys

05:00p
King Kong

05:30p
The Huntley-Brinkley Report (color)

Evening


06:00p
News (local)

06:30p
The Virginian (color)

08:00p
Chrysler Presents the Bob Hope Theatre (color)

09:00p
I Spy (color)

10:00p
News (local)

10:30p
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (guests George Jessel, Peter March) (color)

12:00a
Movie – “China Passage”

See that program at 4:30pm - Christmas Toys. I wonder what that was? Perhaps a local show with a host showing off some of the latest toys that might be on children's Christmas lists? Sounds like an infomercial though, doesn't it? TV  

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for coverage of a fun time in broadcasting. I notice that you don't state that Hollywood Squares was in color on any station. Was it not listed that way in TV Guide? The show premiered in color the previous month, with The Doctors switching to color the same day (10/17), leaving Concentration as the last NBC program in B&W. Concentration switched to color on 11/7 (I read somewhere that Bob Clayton, who was sub-hosting that day for Hugh Downs, snapped his fingers, and the picture went from B&W to color at that moment.), making NBC the first all-color network.
    I guess that TV Guide didn't list the guests that week either, at least in your edition. Apparently the HSq guests were such a big deal, at least where I lived, that the local paper listed who was guesting that week on the show, and it didn't do that for any other game show at the time. HSq also had more guest stars than any other game show at the time, although the record for guest stars on a daytime game show was probably set by Heatter-Quigley's earlier effort, People Will Talk, which had 15 guest celebrities in its last weeks on the air, replacing 15 "civilians", late in 1963. People Will Talk eventually morphed into The Celebrity Game on CBS in 1964, featuring 9 guest celebrities, though in a much different game, hosted by Carl Reiner.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What's really weird about WKBT-TV airing DARK SHADOWS is that the show was on the brink of cancellation by ABC at this point. It didn't start to pick up steam until April 1967. It's interesting to me how many smaller stations with ABC secondary affiliations picked up DS before it became popular. I wonder why.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The producer of "Dark Shadows", Dan Curtis, unleashed the character of Barnabus Collins the vampire (played by Jonathan Frid).

      That move made the show a big hit.

      Delete
  3. Repeats of "CANDID CAMERA" were seen at 10am(et) on CBS' daytime schedule from 1966 through '68. Unlike KEYC, though, WCCO-TV "time delayed" it to 3:30pm local time, so they could schedule their local telecasts of Dr. Reuben Youngdahl and "HI NEIGHBOR" at 9am. A similar situation exists on CBS daytime these days: affiliates have the option of presenting "LET'S MAKE A DEAL" in its scheduled 3pm(et) slot, or showing it at 10am. Most stations prefer the 10am "feed".

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cape Canaveral Monsters eat Saturn 5 rockets for breakfast!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Cape Canaveral Monsters eat Saturn 5 rockets for breakfast!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for writing! Drive safely!