June 27, 2016

What's on TV? Tuesday, July 2, 1968

As I mentioned on Saturday, we're back on familiar turf this week - Minneapolis-St. Paul in the '60s. And while the summer schedule doesn't always give us blockbuster shows, there's always something worth looking at. So let's get to it!


KTCA, Channel 2 (NET)

Evening


06:00p
Innovations

06:30p
Effective Writing (color)

07:00p
Antiques

07:30p
Seminar for Seniors

08:00p
India! My India!

08:30p
Man and the Universe

09:00p
Presidential Year

09:30p
State Parks

10:00p
NET Festival

With school out for the summer, Channel 2's broadcasting schedule is confined to prime-time. The programming seems to be tying in more to NET's national schedule, including NET Festival's examination of composer Frédéric Chopin's reputation.


WCCO, Channel 4 (CBS)

Morning

06:00a
Summer Semester (color)

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

07:00a
Clancy and Carmen (color)

07:45a
Clancy and Willie (color)

08:00a
Captain Kangaroo (color)

09:00a
Live Today (color)

09:05a
Merv Griffin (guests Henry Morgan, David Frost, Jill Haworth) (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

Afternoon

12:00p
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 singer Ron Eliran) (color)

02:00p
To Tell the Truth (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 (color)

04:00p
Mike Douglas (co-hosts Howard Duff and Ida Lupino, 
Sandler and Young, Scoey Mitchell, Tijuana Brats) (color)

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

Evening


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

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

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

06:30p
Daktari (color)

07:30p
Showtime (color)

08:30p
College Talent (guest presenter Lee Marvin, judges Jack Carter, 
Shari Lewis, Mike Connors) (color)

09:00p
Of Black America (special) (color)

10:00p
The Scene Tonight (color)

10:45p
Movie – “I’ll Never Forget You”

See, talent shows like The X Factor and The Voice aren't anything new - besides the long-running Original Amateur Hour, shows like College Talent were often seen as summer replacement series. Interesting choice of Lee Marvin, though - wonder if he was doing any songs from Paint Your Wagon? Probably not; that won't come out until next year. Still, ...


KSTP, Channel 5 (NBC)

Morning

06:30a
City and Country (color)

07:00a
Today (guests Sandler and Young, Judith Crist, Mel Morse) (color)

09:00a
Snap Judgment (color)

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

09:30a
Concentration (color)

10:00a
Personality (guests Peter Lawford, George Hamilton, Betsy Palmer, 
Jerry Lewis) (color)

10:30a
The Hollywood Squares (panelists Steve Allen, Gypsy Rose Lee, 
Paul Lynde, Jayne Meadows, Ann Miller, Greg Morris, Abby Dalton, 
Wally Cox, Charley Weaver) (color)

11:00a
Jeopardy (color)

Afternoon

12:00p
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! (guests Pat Carroll, Marty Ingels) (color)

03:00p
The Match Game (guests Mickey Mantle, Joe Garagiola) (color)

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

03:30p
Dialing for Dollars (color)

04:30p
Of Lands and Seas (color)

05:25p
News (Gene Berry)

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

Evening


06:00p
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
Showcase ’68 (guests Neil Diamond, Suzanne Renee, Tom Rush, 
the American Breed, the Main Attraction) (color)

07:30p
Tuesday Night at the Movies – “Captain Newman, M.D.” (color)

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

10:15p
Weather (Johnny Morris) (color)

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

10:30p
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (guest Buddy Hackett) 
(color)

12:00a
I Led Three Lives (color)

Tony Sandler and Ralph Young were a popular singing duo of the '60s, and were familiar faces on TV around this time. In fact, they're so familiar that they appear on two different shows today - with Mike Douglas earlier today on Channel 4, and on Today this morning on Channel 5. I wonder if they're plugging a new album?


KMSP, Channel 9 (ABC)

Morning

07:45a
Timmy and Lassie

08:00a
Dennis the Menace

08:30a
Leave It to Beaver

09:00a
Romper Room (color)

09:30a
Dick Cavett (color)

11:00a
Bewitched

Afternoon

12:00p
Dream House (color)

12:30p
Wedding Party (color)

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 – “Timbuktu”

04:55p
News (Jerry Smith)

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

05:30p
McHale’s Navy

Evening


06:00p
Truth or Consequences (color)

06:30p
Garrison’s Gorillas (color)

07:30p
It Takes a Thief (color)

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

09:00p
The Invaders (color)

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

10:25p
Sports (Tony Parker) (color)

10:30p
Joey Bishop (guests the Mills Brothers, Pete Barbutti, Robin Wilson) 
(color)

12:00a
Naked City

Now here's something you don't see very often, at least in the Twin Cities market - Joey Bishop on at 10:30, up against Johnny Carson. I know that's the way it's supposed to be, but as we've seen in the past, Channel 9 had this nasty habit of dropping local programming into the 10:30 slot (along with the ad revenue), pushing Bishop to midnight or later. By now, they're only doing that on Friday nights. It's progress.


WTCN, Channel 11 (Ind.)

Morning

08:55a
News (Gil Amundson)

09:00a
Sea Hunt

09:30a
Bat Masterson

10:00a
Woody Woodbury (guests Edward Everett Horton, Ann Blyth, 
James Darren, Jack Kruschen, Joby Baker) (color)

10:30a
Famous Playhouse

Afternoon

12:00p
Lunch With Casey

01:00p
Movie “He Laughed Last”


02:30p
Mel’s Notebook

03:00p
Virginia Graham (guests Arlene Dahl, Lissa Charell) (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 (color)

Evening


06:00p
Harmon Killebrew (color)

06:10p
Halsey Hall (color)

06:25p
Baseball (Minnesota vs. Cleveland) (color)

09:00p
Scoreboard (time approximate)

09:15p
Movie – “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers” (time approximate)

11:15p
News (Stuart A. Lindman)

11:30p
Weather (Rodger Kent)

11:35p
Sports (Frank Beutel)

11:45p
Woody Woodbury (continuation of 10 a.m. episode) (color)

Speaking of oddities, I think I've mentioned this oddity before - Channel 11 airs the first half-hour of Woody Woodbury's talk show at 10:00 a.m., and then the remaining hour at 11:45 p.m. I know that Merv Griffin's show, for example, could be seen in either the morning, afternoon or late-night, depending on the market, but this is the first time I've seen a show that was both morning and late-night at the same time. TV  

6 comments:

  1. Is Ch.4's "The Scene Tonight" a newscast? I don't ever think I've seen a 45 minute newscast.
    And is Ch.5's "I Led Three Lives" the 50s show? It seems bizarre that this artifact of the Red Scare era was still on in 1968.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Al,

      Yes, "The Scene Tonight" was the first news program in the Twin Cities to operate under an umbrella title, rather than as three separate programs, with the news, weather and sportscasters (plus consumer news and the editorial) all reporting at the same desk. In other words, it would have looked pretty much like a newscast today.

      I agree that 45 minutes is very strange for a newscast, and it was that way for quite some time before it eventually expanded to an hour. That didn't last too long, though, before syndicated programs (and then the CBS late night lineup) came along to move it back to a traditional length.

      Here's a link to one of the very first broadcasts:
      http://tcmedianow.com/video/wcco-tv-the-scene-tonight-january-17-1968-dave-moore-skip-loescher-bud-kraehling-hal-scott/

      Delete
  2. - I Led Three Lives enjoyed a longer afterlife than many '50s shows for one major reason: it was in color (at least in its last seasons). Remember, color had only taken over a few years before; syndie reruns in color were few and far between, and that much more valuable for that fact.
    Also, '68 was when Vietnam was just starting to go bad; anti-communism was still fairly fashionable (remember who won the election that year).

    - Other matters:
    College Talent looks like a syndicated show; the regular CBS occupant of that time slot would have been Good Morning World, winding down in reruns (canceled shows were allowed to run out the string back then).

    - Still on CBS, who was hosting Showtime this week?
    For those who tuned in late, this was a Sir Lew Grade import that flew in a Yank star and surrounded him/her with Brit/Euro variety talent. As I mentioned in an earlier comment, this show might have marked the earliest US TV appearances of Benny Hill (since I don't have this issue, maybe you could share the info).

    - As memory serves, Sandler & Young were almost exclusively a nightclub act; since there were still a bunch of variety shows around, they got a lot of jobs in that arena.
    Today, then as now, was live, and so were Tony and Ralph.
    The Douglas show had been taped a few weeks before; the bicycle reached the Twin Cities today.

    - Late in Woody Woodbury's run, his original announcer left the show, and Woody engaged offbeat performers to introduce the show.
    I read this listing to mean that Woody's announcer of the day would have been the much-loved Edward Everett Horton, 82 at the time.
    (Demographics - what's that?)

    - The Match Game (v.o.) had Mickey Mantle and Joe Garagiola as guest celebrities this week.
    This was when Garagiola was part of the Yankee broadcast team; Red Barber disliked him so much that he was permanently paired with Phil Rizzuto most of the time.
    This being summer, I got to see this week of shows; on one day, Mantle and Garagiola were joined by their then teenage sons.
    In later years, Joe Garagiola Jr.became a major baseball executive, helping build the Arizona Diamondbacks into a contender, later becoming one of the chief execs of Major League Baseball.
    Mickey Mantle's sons became his drinking buddies; one of them (I think one of the ones who appeared here) died a few years before Mickey did.

    Any Questions?
    Any Answers?
    Any Rags, Any Bones, Any Bottles Today?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Was "I Led Three Lives" actually filmed in color??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Frederic Ziv, whose company produced I Led Three Lives, was a pioneer in filming syndie shows in color; Science Fiction Theater and The Cisco Kid were the best-known examples of this (surprisingly, Sea Hunt wasn't; possibly all the underwater filming was pricey enough, but I don't know for sure).

      In the case of Three Lives, Ziv had filmed two seasons worth in B/W; the final cycle (39 episodes) was done in color.
      The color shows fell into neglect over time; the ones that are still around have (appropriately enough) a reddish tint to them.
      Conversely, Cisco and Science Fiction, which always enjoyed a steady marketplace demand, got pretty good upkeep, and continue to this day.

      As to why Ziv would film shows in color, when most stations wouldn't be able to show them that way?
      Frederic Ziv was thinking long-term, which in early TV made him the exception.
      He wasn't the only one; I haven't got the data at hand, but a number of early film shows were shot in color, in anticipation of technology that was a decade away.
      Everybody else laughed, but we all now know who turned out to be right ...

      Delete

Thanks for writing! Drive safely!