November 21, 2016

What's on TV? Thursday, November 24, 1966

It's Thanksgiving Day 1966, and I'm both glad and fortunate to have a Twin Cities issue, not only because I'm familiar with the stations, but because I would have been watching many of these very programs myself. It hearkens back to a great time; I've always enjoyed Thanksgiving, because it actually means something, because of the wonderful aromas that fill the air, and because it introduces the absolutely best, most wonderful time of the year. It's changed over the years, and not particularly for the better (c'mon - can't you go without shopping for one day?), but it's still a day that can, and should, be appreciated, if you've a mind to. And that will never change.


KTCA, Channel 2 (Educ.)

Afternoon


05:00p
Kindergarten

05:30p
Book Beat

Evening


06:00p
Exploring Space

06:30p
Industrial Management

07:00p
When in Rome

07:30p
Heritage of Latvia

08:00p
German Playhouse

08:30p
College Concerts

09:00p
Playwrights for Tomorrow

09:30p
Town and Country

10:00p
Psychology

The educational channels, KTCA and WDSE,don't sign on until 5:00 p.m. due to the Thanksgiving holiday


KDAL, Channel 3 (Duluth) CBS

Morning


07:35a
Farm and Home

07:45a
Treetop House

08:00a
Captain Kangaroo

09:00a
Thanksgiving Day Jubilee (special) (color)

11:00a
NFL Football – San Francisco at Detroit (special) (color)

Afternoon


02:00p
To Tell the Truth

02:25p
CBS News (color)

02:30p
The Edge of Night

03:00p
The Secret Storm

03:30p
Mike Douglas (co-host Eddie Fisher, guests Henry Morgan, Susan Barrett, Dr. Gilbert Holloway, Allyn Brothers)

05:00p
NFL Football – Cleveland at Dallas (special) (color)

Evening


08:00p
CBS Thursday Night Movies – “Jason and the Argonauts” (color)

10:00p
News (local)

10:15p
Movie – “The Horse’s Mouth” (color)

I mention below my love of the Thanksgiving Day parades, but no matter how great they were I'd be ready for football, and CBS obliges, with the Detroit Lions hosting their annual game. For many years, Detroit's opponent on Thanksgiving was Green Bay, but after the Packers were humiliated in 1962, Vince Lombardi supposedly had the league take the game off of Thanksgiving, lest the Packers suffer another debacle in front of a national TV audience. The Lions have been so lousy for so long that we forget they were once an NFL powerhouse back in the '50s. Unfortunately for them, we're not in the '50s at this point, and the Lions get walloped by the San Francisco 49ers 41-14 en route to a record of 4-9-1.


WCCO, Channel 4 (CBS)

Morning


06:30a
Siegfried and His Flying Saucer

07:00a
Clancy and Company

08:00a
Captain Kangaroo

09:00a
Thanksgiving Day Jubilee (special) (color)

11:00a
NFL Football – San Francisco at Detroit (special) (color)

Afternoon


02:00p
To Be Announced  

02:15p
News (Dean Montgomery) (time approximate)

02:30p
The Edge of Night

03:00p
The Secret Storm

03:30p
Mike Douglas (co-host Ann Sothern, guests Tim Conway, Matt Monro, Dukes of Dixieland, Mary Hemingway, Dorothy Sara)

05:00p
NFL Football – Cleveland at Dallas (special) (color)

Evening


08:00p
CBS Thursday Night Movies – “Jason and the Argonauts” (color)

10:00p
News (local) (color)

10:30p
Norm Van Brocklin

10:35p
Movie – “City Across the River”

12:20a
Movie – “Ain’t Misbehavin’” (color) (time approximate)

While others might choose the Macy's parade on NBC, I always preferred the multi-parade coverage on CBS - not just New York, but Detroit, Philadelphia, Toronto, and (later) Hawaii as well. I particularly remember in the early '70s when William Conrad would act as host from New York, his deep, friendly voice booming out as he sat next to a roaring fireplace, managing the traffic between the various parades. To me, that was exactly what Thanksgiving should be, with just a hint of Christmas in the air. (Captain Kangaroo was host for a number of years as well.) In 1966, Arthur Godfrey and Bess Myerson did the honors at the Macy's parade, while Mike Douglas and Marilyn Van Derbur were in Detroit for the Hudson's parade, and Bob Denver and Jim Backus covered the Eaton's parade in Toronto (on tape). Philadelphia wasn't on the lineup that year for some reason. Wonderful memories - you can read about more of that early coverage in this fine article at TVParty!


KSTP, Channel 5 (NBC)

Morning


06:00a
Continental Classroom (American Government)

06:30a
City and Country (color)

07:00a
Today (guests Walt Kelly, Maureen Stapleton, Dr. Thorton age, Aline Saarinen) (color)

09:00a
Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade (special) (color)

11:00a
Jeopardy (color)

11:30a
Swingin’ Country (color)

11:55a
NBC News (color)

Afternoon


12:00p
News and Weather (local) (color)

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

02:00p
AFL FootballBuffalo at Oakland (special) (color)

05:00p
Thanksgiving Special (special) (color)

05:25p
Doctor’s House Call (color)

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

Evening


06:00p
News (local) (color)

06:30p
G.E. Fantasy Theater – “The Ballad of Smokey the Bear” (special) (color)

07:30p
Star Trek (color)

08:30p
Dialing for Dollars (color)

09:00p
Dean Martin (guests Eddie Albert, Phil Harris, Alice Faye, Jan Murray) (color)

10:00p
News (local) (color)

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

12:15a
M Squad

Tonight, "after two weeks of playoffs, two players emerge to compete for prizes in the final round of the 'Letter Game' tournament." A live broadcast of Dialing for Dollars, in prime time on Thanksgiving night. You have to love it, don't you?


WDSM, Channel 6 (Duluth) (NBC)

Morning


07:00a
Today (guests Walt Kelly, Maureen Stapleton, Dr. Thorton age, Aline Saarinen) (color)

09:00a
Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade (special) (color)

11:00a
Jeopardy (color)

11:30a
Swingin’ Country (color)

11:55a
NBC News (color)

Afternoon


12:00p
Girl Talk

12:30p
Let’s Make a Deal (color)

12:55p
NBC News (color)

01:00p
Days of Our Lives (color)

01:30p
The Doctors

02:00p
AFL Football Buffalo at Oakland (special) (color)

05:00p
You Asked for It

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

Evening


06:00p
News, Rocky Teller (color)

06:30p
G.E. Fantasy Theater – “The Ballad of Smokey the Bear” (special) (color)

07:30p
Star Trek (color)

08:30p
The Hero (color)

09:00p
Dean Martin (guests Eddie Albert, Phil Harris, Alice Faye, Jan Murray) (color)

10:00p
News (local) (color)

10:20p
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (color)

11:30p
News (local)

American Football League games were often more exciting than their counterparts in the NFL, and one of the great things about Thanksgiving in 1966 was that the two leagues (in conjunction with the networks, no doubt) coordinated their schedules so you could watch the Lions-49ers at 11, the Bills-Raiders at 2, and the Cowboys-Browns at 5. (There's also a college game if you get bored; more below.) If that isn't something to be thankful for, I don't know what is.


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
College Football – Nebraska at Oklahoma (special) (color)

04:45p
Movie – “Safari Drums”

05:30p
The Rifleman

Evening


06:00p
Peter Jennings with the News 

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

06:30p
Batman (color)

07:00p
F-Troop (color)

07:30p
The Dating Game (color)

08:00p
Bewitched (color)

08:30p
That Girl (color)

09:00p
Hawk (color)

10:00p
News (local)

10:30p
The Untouchables

Of all the networks, ABC probably has the least amount of Thanksgiving-related broadcast material. They make up for it the next day, though, with 5½ hours of cartoons for the kiddies home from school. 


KCMT, Channel 7 (Alexandria) (NBC/ABC)

Morning


07:00a
Today (guests Walt Kelly, Maureen Stapleton, Dr. Thorton age, Aline Saarinen) (color)

09:00a
Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade (special) (color)

11:00a
Jeopardy (color)

11:30a
Swingin’ Country (color)

11:55a
NBC News (color)

Afternoon


12:00p
News, Weather, Sports (local)  . 

12:20p
Trading Post

12:30p
Let’s Make a Deal (color)

12:55p
NBC News (color)

01:00p
Days of Our Lives (color)

01:30p
College Football – Nebraska at Oklahoma (special) (color)

04:45p
King Kong

05:00p
Batman

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

Evening


06:00p
News (local)

06:30p
G.E. Fantasy Theater – “The Ballad of Smokey the Bear” (special) (color)

07:30p
Star Trek (color)

08:30p
The Hero (color)

09:00p
Dean Martin (guests Eddie Albert, Phil Harris, Alice Faye, Jan Murray) (color)

10:00p
News (local)

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

"The Ballad of Smokey the Bear," featuring James Cagney as the narrator, is another of Rankin-Bass' animagic specials, the follow-up to "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." There's even a Smokey balloon in today's Macy's parade (conveniently telecast on NBC, with Lorne Greene and Betty White). It's never been commercially released, but I happen to have a copy, thanks to the Rankin-Bass historian Rick Goldschmidt. It would be nice to say that it was as charming as Rudolph; alas, it has all of that story's weak plot points, without any of the memorable music. I mean, how does a gorilla get in the middle of a Smokey the Bear story? Smokey's own true story is amazing enough that they could simply have used that. Maybe the Park Service held the copyright.


WDSE, Channel 8 (Duluth) (Educ.)

11:30a


Afternoon


05:00p
Kindergarten

05:30p
Supervisory Practice

Evening


06:00p
Industrial Management

06:30p
What’s New

07:00p
U.S.A.

07:30p
What’s in a Word?

08:00p
Film Feature

08:30p
College Concerts

09:00p
Playwrights for Tomorrow

09:30p
Town and Country

10:00p
International Magazine

I know there's nothing I like better than to sit down with a big plate of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and watch Supervisory Practice.


KMSP, Channel 9 (ABC)

Morning


07:30a
Soupy Sales

08:00a
Kit Carson

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
College Football – Nebraska at Oklahoma (special) (color)

04:45p
Sports (Tony Parker)

05:00p
Peter Jennings with the News 

05:15p
News (Jerry Smith)

05:30p
Leave it to Beaver

Evening


06:00p
Stingray (color)

06:30p
Batman (color)

07:00p
F-Troop (color)

07:30p
The Dating Game (color)

08:00p
Bewitched (color)

08:30p
That Girl (color)

09:00p
Hawk (color)

10:00p
News (local)

10:30p
Movie – “The President’s Lady”

The 1971 Thanksgiving Day game between Nebraska and Oklahoma ranks as one of the greatest college football games of all time, but the two schools had a tradition of playing either on Thanksgiving or the day after. This game didn't approach that one, but a sub-par Sooners team (6-4 final record) still manages to pull off the upset of the fourth-ranked Cornhuskers, 10-9. Tony Parker follows up, undoubtedly with a plethora of football highlights.


WDIO, Channel 10 (Duluth) (ABC)

Morning


09:00a
Cartoons

09:15a
Romper Room

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
College Football – Nebraska at Oklahoma (special) (color)

04:30p
To Be Announced

05:30p
News, Sports, Weather (local)

05:45p
Peter Jennings with the News 

Evening


06:00p
The Tall Man

06:30p
Batman (color)

07:00p
F-Troop (color)

07:30p
The Dating Game (color)

08:00p
Bewitched (color)

08:30p
That Girl (color)

09:00p
Hawk (color)

10:00p
News (local)

10:15p
Movie – “The Girl He Left Behind”

There's an article in this week's issue about Supermarket Sweep, a game show produced by David Susskind's Talent Associates. Susskind, who prided himself on bringing the highest possible quality programming to television, was so embarrassed by this program (developed by one of his partners, I believe) that he wouldn't even talk about it.


WTCN, Channel 11 (Ind.)

Morning


09:00a
Casey Junior

09:05p
Hank and Casey

09:20p
News, Weather, Sports (local)

09:30a
Gloria (color)

10:00a
Girl Talk (guests Eva Gabor, Betsy Palmer, Ruta Lee)

10:30a
Movie – “Miracle on 34th Street”

Afternoon


12:00p
Lunch with Casey

01:00p
Movie – “Jack and the Beanstalk”

02:40p
Mel’s Notebook

02:55p
News (Gil Amundson)

03:00p
Snowmobile Race (special)

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

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

10:00p
Movie – “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”

12:25a
Bat Masterson

Wonderful lineup on Channel 11 today, starting with Miracle on 34th Street, perhaps the finest Christmas movie. (Certainly it has the best plot.) The 1:00 p.m. version of Jack and the Beanstalk stars Abbott and Costello - perfect kids' fare, especially if they're not into football. 


KEYC, Channel 12 (CBS) (Mankato)

Morning


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

07:55a
Film Short

08:00a
Captain Kangaroo

09:00a
Thanksgiving Day Jubilee (special) (color)

11:00a
NFL Football – San Francisco at Detroit (special) (color)

Afternoon


02:00p
To Tell the Truth

02:25p
CBS News (color)

02:30p
The Edge of Night

03:00p
The Secret Storm

03:30p
Take 12

04:00p
Bart’s Clubhouse

04:15p
Rocky and His Friends

04:30p
CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite (color)

04:45p
News and Weather (local)

05:00p
NFL Football – Cleveland at Dallas (special) (color)

Evening


08:00p
CBS Thursday Night Movies – “Jason and the Argonauts” (color)

10:00p
News (local)

10:40p
Movie – “The Quiet Gun”

This is the first year for the now-traditional Thanksgiving game from Dallas, and their opponents are their oft-rivals in the Eastern Conference, the Cleveland Browns. (This is when the Browns, like the Lions, were actually good.) From 1964 to 1967, one of those two teams would represent the East in the NFL Championship game. It's an odd start time for 1966 - certainly splits the difference between daytime and primetime programming. But it ties in with the AFL game on NBC (a big reason, I suspect), and if your family was like mine and had our big meal in the afternoon, it makes for a very nice post-dessert way to relax and digest. A perfect end to a great day! TV  

9 comments:

  1. Thanksgiving Thursday 1966 in Chicago:

    - 8:00 am:
    Channel 7's Morning Show, hosted by Jim Conway, has as a guest Lawrence Ritter, plugging his new book The Glory Of Their Times, collected interviews with baseball players from the early 20th century.
    As I recall, when Ritter made appearances like this he would bring his tapes of the old ballplayers, so audiences could hear the voices of Wahoo Sam Crawford, Lefty O'Doul, Edd Roush, Bill Wambsganss, and the others (most of whom were still around when the book came out).

    - 11:30 am:
    Channel 9 is showing a rerun of Hawaiian Eye, which they ran Monday and Thursday mornings.
    On Tuesday and Friday mornings, they ran Adventures In Paradise.
    And on Wednesday mornings - The Human Jungle.
    (Just thought you'd like to know.)

    - 1:00 pm:

    From the front of the bicycle: Here's your third set of Mike Douglas guests.
    Channel 9 has co-host Jane Powell, with guests Leslie Uggams and Dr. Benjamin Spock.

    - 2:30 pm:
    Channel 9 has a special showing of Frazier Thomas's Family Classics:
    "The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer", the 1938 David Selznick Technicolor version, with Victor Jory as Injun Joe, Walter Brennan as Muff Potter, and Margaret Hamilton (pre-"Oz") as Tom's mother.

    - 3:30 pm:
    Channel 2's afternoon movie is "Mister Magoo In Sherwood Forest", which is a re-edit from the NBC series of a couple of years before.
    It's only an hour long - the movie slot is normally 90 minutes - but ch2 has to wrap up early for the NFL game.

    - 6:30 pm:
    Channel 11 (pre-PBS) has a 90-minute concert by soprano Phyllis Curtin, which was taped earlier in the year at the Berkshire Festival at Tanglewood (Boston's educational station was a major supplier to other NET stations at this point).

    - 7:30 pm:
    Talking about re-edits:
    NBC has the second part of the original Star Trek pilot with Jeffrey Hunter, amortized into the current series for obvious reasons.

    - In that same hour, ch9 is showing a year-old syndicated special called Freedom's Finest Hour, about the Revolutionary period, narrated by Ronald Reagan and Robert Taylor.
    This would be just after Reagan's election as Governor of California, which is how I date it to the year before. I'm also guessing that this might have been produced by the Death Valley Days people, who'd brought in Taylor to replace Reagan when that latter gentleman decided on a career change.

    - The two new UHF stations, channels 26 and 32, didn't sign on until late afternoon.
    In prime time, ch26 was divided between Spanish-language drama and music, and oldie reruns like Invisible Man and Colonel March Of Scotland Yard with Boris Karloff (filmed in England, written in New York by blacklisted Americans).
    Ch32 started and ended with news, linked up to the Sun-Times and Daily News newsrooms. In between there was a biblical travelog, talk shows with Dr. Walter Alvarez (the Tribune's medical columnist) and bookseller Stuart Brent, two hours of live bowling with Whispering Joe Wilson (a Chicago TV staple from years back), and Bill Veeck's talk show. (It doesn't say who Bill had on tonight, but tomorrow he's going to have his old friend Satchel Paige.)

    These were the good old days before 24/7 programming; everbody had signed off for the day by no later than 3:30 am (the UHF stations shut down a lot earlier).

    Just one more thing:
    Channel 7's top news anchor at this time was Joe Templeton, whose name I've noticed in your Dallas recaps from a slightly earlier era.
    Templeton came to Chicago when Frank Reynolds was snatched away by the ABC network after the '64 conventions. He had a good run here, then went to Washington DC a couple of years after this for a good run there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. - 7:30 pm:
      Talking about re-edits:
      NBC has the second part of the original Star Trek pilot with Jeffrey Hunter, amortized into the current series for obvious reasons.

      The reason is that in part one, Spock is sending Captain Pike back to Talos IV to recovered and live out the rest of his days there. Hence, the Talosians is sending out the transmissions to the Enterprise to recalled the trip to that planet thirteen years earlier. Hence the use of most of the original pilot's footage.

      Delete
  2. Earlier in 1966, the American and National Football Leagues had merged. While this merger would result in a joint player draft and the annual Super Bowl game, the two leagues maintained separate identities until 1970.

    Likely, it was a result of that merger that the 1966 Thanksgiving games had very little (if any) overlap.

    By the way, with the NFL now having a prime-time game on Thanksgiving night, I wonder why the league hasn't considered having Dallas's Turkey Day game played in prime-time?

    Right now, they're a pretty good team, and with young quarterback Dak Prescott leading the way, the Cowboys are likely to remain one of the league elite clubs for years to come.

    Thus, having Dallas's Thanksgiving game in prime-time might make sense for the NFL.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think being from Nebraska, that my family was watching the Nebraska-Oklahoma game that day. The house we lived in Loomis had a weak antenna, so we couldn't watch the AFL game on NBC (the station came in weak) anyway. I remember the Black Friday cartoons on ABC, there was a magic show by then-New York Knick Jerry Lucas in 1972. The NU-OU game got moved to Black Friday sometime in the 70s, until the Big 12 was formed. Colorado was then the designated opponent. Nebraska and Oklahoma did not play each other every year anymore since the two teams were in separate divisions. When Nebraska did play Oklahoma, it was now closer to Halloween, when Nebraska used to play Colorado in the Big 8. Now that Nebraska is in the Big Ten, Iowa is now their Black Friday opponent and will play on ABC at 2:30 CT.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Did not know they had "educational" TV in 1966. Thought PBS was later in the decade.

    Thanks for this trip down memory lane.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Back in the '50s, it was called National Educational Television (NET for short). It was a loose confederation of low-budget stations, mainly dealing in classroom shows, with the occasional "cultural" show or documentary thrown in.

      The Public Broadcasting System (PBS) came into existence in 1970, with the intent of (sort of) competing with the commercial networks, mainly through the stations working more closely with each other than the old confederation had (not that that always worked out, but at least they were trying ...)

      Delete
  5. 1966 is happened to be the first year Dallas Cowboys have hosted the late Thanksgiving Afternoon game, which continued to this day (This year, they hosting their NFC East rivals, the Washington Redskins). Since then we have the Detroit Lions hosting the Early Thanksgiving Afternoon game (This year, they got the NFC Norris rival your Vikings and my favorite QB at the moment, Sam Bradford), while the Cowboys hosting the Late Afternoon one. In recent years, we got the Prime Time Game on NBC to enjoy, as well (This year, we got the Steelers meeting the Indy Colts-Minus Andrew Luck).

    BTW, the reason the original Star Trek pilot was re-edited, is because they showing what Spock did thirteen years earlier, and the reason he returning Captain Pike to Talos IV, if you haven't seen both parts together. It's the only two-parter in the Original Series, in case you didn't know.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The reason the original Star Trek pilot was re-edited ...

      ... was so Desilu and NBC could use two-year-old footage that would otherwise just sit in the vault gathering dust - and knock down the budget for the week on one of the most expensive series they had that year.

      I still find it amusing that after all these years, many people seem to believe that Star Trek was a documentary ...

      Delete
  6. I remember Thanksgiving from this year...I started Kindergarten...my parents placed extra leaves in the dining table...and I became hooked on the CBS parades! Is there anyone who remembers the theme music from that era which CBS used? It was a parade march that used for quite some time during the mid-late 60s.Thanks!!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for writing! Drive safely!