tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post206616078007722526..comments2024-03-27T22:27:16.556-04:00Comments on It's About TV: This week in TV Guide: October 16, 1965Mitchell Hadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08695771505209080030noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-31264636424587181082016-09-11T22:35:34.267-04:002016-09-11T22:35:34.267-04:00The college football game was quite a big deal. A...The college football game was quite a big deal. Arkansas had been 1964's only unbeaten team, the defending (post-bowl) "national champs," and had won 16 straight games. Texas, 1963's undefeated national champion, was on a 24-1 tear, its only loss to Arkansas the year before. The Longhorns were ranked #1 at game time, the Razorbacks #3.<br /><br />As you note, it was a thriller. NBC announcer Lindsey Nelson called it the best college football game he'd ever seen. The next week even the NY Times raved, comparing their rivalry to Army-Navy and Harvard-Yale. Ark was on the cover of Sports Illustrated.<br /><br />Their game in 1969 later overshadowed this one, but it was pivotal. Arkansas went 10-0 through 1965, briefly rising to #1, but lost, as AP #2, to LSU in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1. Devastated Texas, in the Naton's top-6 every week for four solid years coming into this game, slumped to 6-4 after the loss and basically disappeared from the Top 10 until 1968. <br /><br />The dramatic potential of the rivalry wasn't lost on ABC, which took over the college football contract from NBC in 1966. During its earlier pact with the NCAA, Roone Howard's touch had milked the final minutes of the teams' 1960 cliffhanger (24-23 Arkansas, a regional broadcast) to great dramatic effect. <br /><br />So ABC's Beano Cook, paying attention, got their '69 game moved to early December from the usual October date. Amazingly, the two teams reached the top two positions in the AP Poll at the end of November, setting up the historic game you mention.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10241994057831434439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-7942638744149604932013-10-22T15:45:14.415-04:002013-10-22T15:45:14.415-04:00Speaking about color TV, an elderly acquaintance w...Speaking about color TV, an elderly acquaintance who read this post and who had a color TV back then seems to recall that much of the TV coverage of Pope Paul VI's visit to New York was in black-and-white, but that his arrival at Kennedy Airport, his visit to St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the Mass at Yankee Stadium were broadcast in color by the networks.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-74068352085229378572013-10-22T15:35:50.904-04:002013-10-22T15:35:50.904-04:00"The Ed Sullivan Show" temporarily reloc..."The Ed Sullivan Show" temporarily relocated to Television City in Hollywood, which had already been converted for color television, for about a month in September and October of 1965 while the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York was converted to color.<br /><br />You may know more about this than I do, but I think Ed's show moved back home the next week and began colorcasts from its regular home.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-38872936177522805852013-10-22T10:43:17.827-04:002013-10-22T10:43:17.827-04:00Regarding yesterday's "error":
It w...Regarding yesterday's "error":<br /><br />It wasn't really an error at all; merely a premature announcement.<br />I'd momentarily forgotten that the "quick yank" we're all used to now almost never happened in "the good old daze". Even the lowest rated shows got at least their half-season in the sun before fading out.<br />Thus, an October announcement that didn't take effect for another couple of months was always "subject to change". <br />In this particular case, I'm guessing that the ultimate decision involved keeping <i>Trials Of O'Brien</i> and dropping Steve Lawrence, rather than the other way around (I'm using other issues from around the same time frame for context here). CBS's conservative programming philosophies would have dictated replacing one show with another much like it (continuity of a sort).<br /><br />I looked over the scheduled shows for the week; everything seemed to be in a holding pattern.<br />Whatever shows weren't doing well were simply marking time until the turn of the year.<br />The big turnover would come in January, which saw the beginnings of the takeover by color; the final triumph would happen in September of '66. You can chart this for yourself if you've got the issues for the turn of the year,<br />Meantime, you might want to check out the features in the color section of the magazine, such as the cover of Red Skelton by British cartoonist Ronald Searle (of St. Trinian's fame), or Cleveland Amory's review of <i>Trials Of O'Brien</i> (this is an old favorite of mine, and I'll plug it every chance I get), and a wonderful profile of Edward Everett Horton, then 79 and recurring on <i>F Troop</i>.<br /><br />There's lots of gold in these old mags, if you know where to look.Mike Dorannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-1881766745561507142013-10-21T15:51:20.704-04:002013-10-21T15:51:20.704-04:00Love it when we can catch TV Guide in an error! (...Love it when we can catch TV Guide in an error! (At least I hope it was them, and not me!)<br /><br />Hope you've got some more tomorrow.Mitchell Hadleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13285825363335947857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-9854171083139039362013-10-21T10:59:20.494-04:002013-10-21T10:59:20.494-04:00This issue's at home; I'll have to bring i...This issue's at home; I'll have to bring it in tomorrow to be certain of things.<br /><br />Meanwhile, I do have a correction to make:<br />Whatever the orginal announcement may have been, <i>Slattery's People</i>'s replacement on Friday nights was <i>Trials Of O'Brien</i>, moved over from Saturdays.<br />Art Linkletter's <i>Hollywood Talent Scouts</i> went in on Mondays, in place of Steve Lawrence's variety show.<br /> <br /> That's all I can think of for now; more tomorrow (maybe).Mike Dorannoreply@blogger.com