What's on TV? Friday, July 16, 1965

T
oday I'm pleased to hand the commentary reigns over to Jon Hobden. As you'll recall from Saturday, Jon is the lender of this week's issue, and since this comes from the area in which he grew up, I thought he would be well-qualified to give us local color and insight into today's listings. Take it away, Jon!

	WKTV, Channel 2 (Utica) (ABC, NBC)
	Morning
	07:00a	Today (guest Lansing Lamont)
	09:00a	A Time For Us
	09:25a	Marlene Sanders
	09:30a	General Hospital
	10:00a	Truth or Consequences (color)
	10:30a	What’s This Song? (panelists Jimmy O’Neill, Marilyn Maxwell) (color)
	10:55a	NBC News (Edwin Newman)
	11:00a	Concentration
	11:30a	Jeopardy (color)
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Call My Bluff (celebrities Vivian Vance, Art James) (color)
	12:30p	I’ll Bet (celebrities Mr. and Mrs. Lorne Greene, Mr. and Mrs. Michael Landon) (color)
	12:55p	News (local)
	01:00p	Bugs Bunny
	01:30p	Let’s Make a Deal (color)
	01:55p	NBC News (Floyd Kalber)
	02:00p	Moment of Truth
	02:30p	The Doctors
	03:00p	Another World
	03:30p	You Don’t Say! (panelists Rick Jason, Mary Ann Mobley) (color)
	04:00p	Bozo and Rocky
	04:30p	Movie – “Riding Shotgun”
	05:00p	Popeye Funhouse
	Evening
	06:00p	News, Weather, Sports (local)
	06:30p	The Huntley-Brinkley Report
	07:00p	The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
	07:30p	Bewitched
	08:00p	The Farmer’s Daughter
	08:30p	Chrysler Presents the Bob Hope Theatre (color)
	09:30p	Jack Benny
	10:00p	Jack Paar (guests Oscar Levant, Malcolm Muggeridge, Godfrey Cambridge, the Muppets) (color)
	11:00p	News, Weather, Sports (local)
	11:30p	The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (guest host Joey Bishop) (color)

I remember this station for the fuzzy signal that we got on it if we were lucky.  We lived just outside Schenectady, and Utica was roughly 80 miles west of us.  WUTR, channel 20, went on the air in Utica in 1970 and took over the ABC affiliation, so WKTV was strictly with NBC by the time I remember.  WKTV often carried NBC programs that our local affiliate WRGB didn’t.  The only time I ever remember seeing NBC’s Who What or Where Game broadcast was on WKTV, since WRGB always preempted that game show either for noontime news (at 12:30 PM) or talk shows like David Frost’s.

	WSYR, Channel 3 (Syracuse) (NBC)
	Morning
	07:00a	Today (guest Lansing Lamont)
	09:00a	Ladies’ Day
	09:30a	Popeye
	10:00a	Truth or Consequences (color)
	10:30a	What’s This Song? (panelists Jimmy O’Neill, Marilyn Maxwell) (color)
	10:55a	NBC News (Edwin Newman)
	11:00a	Concentration
	11:30a	Jeopardy (color)
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Call My Bluff (celebrities Vivian Vance, Art James) (color)
	12:30p	Star Theater
	01:00p	Movie – “Edge of Eternity”
	02:30p	The Doctors
	03:00p	Another World
	03:30p	You Don’t Say! (panelists Rick Jason, Mary Ann Mobley) (color)
	04:00p	The Match Game (panelists Pat O’Brien, Audrey Meadows) (color)
	04:25p	NBC News (Nancy Dickerson)
	04:30p	Let’s Make a Deal
	04:45p	News (local)
	05:00p	Movie – “Guns of the Timberland” (color)
	05:30p	Magilla Gorilla
	Evening
	06:00p	News, Weather, Sports (local)
	06:30p	The Huntley-Brinkley Report
	07:00p	Lloyd Thaxton
	07:30p	International Showtime
	08:30p	Chrysler Presents the Bob Hope Theatre (color)
	09:30p	Jack Benny
	10:00p	Jack Paar (guests Oscar Levant, Malcolm Muggeridge, Godfrey Cambridge, the Muppets) (color)
	11:00p	News, Weather, Sports (local)
	11:30p	The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (guest host Joey Bishop) (color)

Most of these game shows were before my time, but I do remember seeing Truth or Consequences in syndication and Concentration & Jeopardy late in their network runs.  I’ve been able to see You Don't Say! & the original Match Game since I’ve been a game show tape trader, and these can now be seen on YouTube.  I’ve only seen the opening of Call My Bluff on YouTube, but it was a forerunner of what I still consider my favorite all-time game show, Wordplay.  I only remember Let's Make a Deal from its later incarnations on ABC & syndication, but it did get back to NBC around 1990 and has been on CBS, hosted by Wayne Brady, for several years now.

	WHEN, Channel 5 (Syracuse) (CBS)
	Morning
	07:30a	Party Line
	07:40a	Today’s Calendar
	07:45a	These Things We Share
	08:00a	Captain Kangaroo
	09:00a	Magic Toy Shop
	09:30a	Ann Sothern
	10:00a	Movie – “Hannah Lee” (color)
	11:30a	Make Sure – Make Shore
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Love of Life
	12:25p	CBS News
	12:30p	Search For Tomorrow
	12:45p	The Guiding Light
	01:00p	Bat Masterson
	01:30p	As the World Turns
	02:00p	Password (panelists Peter Lind Hayes, Shirl Conway)
	02:30p	House Party (guest Loriene Chase)
	03:00p	To Tell the Truth (panelists Tom Poston, Kitty Carlisle, Peggy Cass, Les Crane)
	03:25p	CBS News
	03:30p	The Edge of Night
	04:00p	The Secret Storm
	04:30p	The Mickey Mouse Club
	Evening
	06:45p	News, Weather, Sports (local)
	07:00p	CBS Evening News with Harry Reasoner
	07:30p	Rawhide
	08:30p	Cara Williams
	09:00p	Our Private World
	09:30p	Vacation Playhouse
	10:00p	Slattery’s People
	11:00p	News, Weather, Sports (local)
	11:20p	Movie Double Feature – “Royal Wedding”, “Behind the Mask”

The first version of Password that I remember seeing was on ABC daytime in the early 70s, but GSN has shown the original Password often over the years, and I have certain episodes on tape & DVD.  I remember the syndicated To Tell the Truth hosted by Garry Moore too.  I probably have the strongest memories of a CBS program from my childhood of Captain Kangaroo.  I remember it opening with a theme song called “Puffin’ Billy” rather than the later “Good Morning, Captain!” I thought both were excellent theme songs.

	WRGB, Channel 6 (Schenectady) (NBC)
	Morning
	07:00a	Today (guest Lansing Lamont)
	09:00a	Educational TV
	09:30a	Ann Sothern
	10:00a	Truth or Consequences (color)
	10:30a	What’s This Song? (panelists Jimmy O’Neill, Marilyn Maxwell) (color)
	10:55a	NBC News (Edwin Newman)
	11:00a	Concentration
	11:30a	Jeopardy (color)
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Call My Bluff (celebrities Vivian Vance, Art James) (color)
	12:30p	I’ll Bet (celebrities Mr. and Mrs. Lorne Greene, Mr. and Mrs. Michael Landon) (color)
	12:55p	NBC News (Ray Scherer)
	01:00p	Movie – “Carson City”
	02:25p	News (Bill Carpenter)
	02:30p	The Doctors
	03:00p	Another World
	03:30p	You Don’t Say! (panelists Rick Jason, Mary Ann Mobley) (color)
	04:00p	Satellite Six (color)
	04:45p	Breadtime Stories (color)
	05:00p	Lloyd Thaxton (guest Junior Walker)
	Evening
	06:00p	News (Ed Eckert)
	06:10p	Earle Pudney
	06:25p	Weather (local)
	06:30p	The Huntley-Brinkley Report
	07:00p	Pete Williams (color)
	08:00p	The Barn (color)
	08:30p	Chrysler Presents the Bob Hope Theatre (color)
	09:30p	Jack Benny
	10:00p	Jack Paar (guests Oscar Levant, Malcolm Muggeridge, Godfrey Cambridge, the Muppets) (color)
	11:00p	News, Weather, Sports (local)
	11:30p	The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (guest host Joey Bishop) (color)

This is the local station of which I have the most memories.  It was in existence going back to 1939, owned & operated by General Electric, which employed my father for over 30 years as a design engineer.  I can still remember Ernie Tetrault as the main anchorman for this station.  I don’t remember seeing Satellite Six (a local show that ran cartoons) or Breadtime Stories, but I know now that the latter was a local kids’ show hosted by a character called “Freddie Freihofer”. Freihofer’s Bakery was the sponsor, and I’m sure the kiddies on the show got to enjoy lots of the sponsors’ baked goods throughout.  Pete Williams and The Barn were two local more local shows gone before my time, preempting the first hour of NBC’s Friday primetime schedule. WRGB was bad at the time about preemptions, also preempting shows like I Dream of Jeannie on Tuesday night.  In its place the station ran The Little Red Schoolhouse, which I do remember much later as Answers, Please, a College Bowl-type local show with two local high schools competing.  I remember our local Scotia-Glenville High School competed pretty successfully for a few weeks around 1973 or so. Answers, Please lasted through part of the 1980s at least.

	WWNY, Channel 7 (Watertown) (ABC, CBS, NBC)
	Morning
	07:55a	News (local)
	08:00a	Captain Kangaroo
	09:00a	Father Knows Best
	09:30a	Donna Reed
	10:00a	CBS Morning News with Mike Wallace
	10:30a	The Price is Right
	11:00a	Andy Griffith
	11:30a	The McCoys
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Love of Life
	12:25p	CBS News
	12:30p	Search For Tomorrow
	12:45p	The Guiding Light
	01:00p	Rebus
	01:30p	As the World Turns
	02:00p	Password (panelists Peter Lind Hayes, Shirl Conway)
	02:30p	House Party (guest Loriene Chase)
	03:00p	To Tell the Truth (panelists Tom Poston, Kitty Carlisle, Peggy Cass, Les Crane)
	03:25p	CBS News
	03:30p	The Edge of Night
	04:00p	The Secret Storm
	04:30p	General Hospital
	05:00p	Sugarfoot
	Evening
	06:00p	News, Weather, Sports (local)
	06:30p	CBS Evening News with Harry Reasoner
	07:00p	North Country Sportsman
	07:30p	Rawhide
	08:30p	Chrysler Presents the Bob Hope Theatre (color)
	09:30p	Vacation Playhouse
	10:00p	12 O’Clock High
	11:00p	News, Weather, Sports (local)
	11:20p	Night Life

This station was the only commercial station in its market at the time (probably even now), and it had a good mix of shows from ABC & CBS.  NBC’s signal from WSYR in Syracuse was probably strong enough to cover NBC there. 12 O’Clock High had a good rerun this night which I’ve seen recently on Me-TV’s sister channel, Heroes & Icons (H&I).  “The Ticket” starred Earl Holliman, who’d also starred in The Twilight Zone pilot, as a Kentucky farm boy who felt he didn’t have much to live for so was willing to take lots of risks with his life and those of others with him on missions.  Then he wins a local sweepstakes and befriends a nice woman, giving him a lot to live for now.  Will he follow through with the dangerous mission for which he’d just volunteered?

	WROC, Channel 8 (Rochester) (NBC)
	Morning
	07:00a	Today (guest Lansing Lamont)
	09:00a	Doctors At Work
	09:30a	Smile Time
	10:00a	Truth or Consequences (color)
	10:30a	What’s This Song? (panelists Jimmy O’Neill, Marilyn Maxwell) (color)
	10:55a	NBC News (Edwin Newman)
	11:00a	Concentration
	11:30a	Jeopardy (color)
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Call My Bluff (celebrities Vivian Vance, Art James) (color)
	12:30p	I’ll Bet (celebrities Mr. and Mrs. Lorne Greene, Mr. and Mrs. Michael Landon) (color)
	12:55p	NBC News (Ray Scherer)
	01:00p	Movie – “Professor Beware”
	02:30p	The Doctors
	03:00p	Another World
	03:30p	You Don’t Say! (panelists Rick Jason, Mary Ann Mobley) (color)
	04:00p	The Match Game (panelists Pat O’Brien, Audrey Meadows) (color)
	04:25p	Skipper Sam
	04:30p	Yogi Bear
	05:00p	Superman
	05:30p	Leave it to Beaver
	Evening
	06:00p	How’s Business
	06:10p	Weather, News (local)
	06:30p	The Huntley-Brinkley Report
	07:00p	Dobie Gillis
	07:30p	International Showtime
	08:30p	Chrysler Presents the Bob Hope Theatre (color)
	09:30p	Jack Benny
	10:00p	Jack Paar (guests Oscar Levant, Malcolm Muggeridge, Godfrey Cambridge, the Muppets) (color)
	11:00p	News, Weather, Sports (local)
	11:30p	The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (guest host Joey Bishop) (color)

I’ve seen a few minutes of What's This Song? on YouTube, and Wink Martindale wrote about it in his bio as the first game show he ever hosted.  It reminds me of You Don't Say! in terms of its mostly A-list celebrities but low payoffs for the winners (in the wake of the 1950s Quiz Show Scandal). International Showtime was a summer series on NBC (preempted by WRGB) which had Don Ameche hosting & commenting on circus & ice shows in Europe (credit to “always reliable” Wikipedia for this information).

While Joey Bishop is credited as guest host of The Tonight Show this week, Wikipedia stated that he had back trouble this week, so Jerry Lewis filled in for him, hosting cartoonist Al Capp & lyricist Sammy Cahn this night.  Joey’s back was apparently better the next week, so he returned for the rest of Johnny’s vacation until Johnny returned from his Las Vegas act the second week of August.  You can see examples of Jerry Lewis hosting The Tonight Show on YouTube.

[Was this the same back injury that kept Joey Bishop from hosting the Frank Sinatra closed-circuit concert that featured Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.? Ironic if true, that Johnny would wind up substituting for Joey there, while Joey was supposed to be subbing for Johnny on TV. - MH]

	WNYS, Channel 9 (Syracuse) (ABC)
	Morning
	07:00a	Santa Fe Riders
	07:30a	Charlie’s Place
	08:00a	Trailmaster
	09:00a	Jack LaLanne
	09:30a	Mike Douglas (co-host Jack E. Leonard, guest Paul Haney)
	11:00a	Romper Room
	11:30a	The Price is Right (celebrity Betty White)
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Donna Reed
	12:30p	Father Knows Best
	01:00p	Rebus
	01:30p	Laugh House (color)
	02:00p	Where the Action Is
	02:30p	A Time For Us
	02:55p	ABC News (Marlene Sanders)
	03:00p	General Hospital
	03:30p	Young Marrieds
	04:00p	Baron and His Buddies
	05:00p	Bud Ballou
	05:50p	News, Weather, Sports (local)
	Evening
	06:00p	Cheyenne
	07:00p	The Rifleman
	07:30p	The Flintstones (color)
	08:00p	Richard Diamond
	08:30p	The Addams Family
	09:00p	Valentine’s Day
	09:30p	Peyton Place
	10:00p	12 O’Clock High
	11:00p	77 Sunset Strip
	12:00a	News (local)
	12:05a	Nightlife

ABC took over The Price Is Right from NBC in September 1963.  ABC took NBC’s color out of it but added weekly celebrity contestants who played for either home or studio audience viewers. Betty White was apparently on one of her many trips to New York and may have made appearances on The Tonight Show and The Match Game while she was there.  A Time For Us, a daytime soap opera, had been renamed from A Flame in the Wind just three weeks earlier.  It has a bit of significance for me since it was airing, along with CBS’ House Party & NBC’s The Doctors, the minute I was born.

	WTEN, Channel 10 (Albany) (CBS)
	Morning
	06:30a	Summer Semester – “Civil Rights and Civil Liberties”
	07:00a	Cartoons
	08:00a	Captain Kangaroo
	09:00a	Romper Room
	10:00a	CBS Morning News with Mike Wallace
	10:30a	I Love Lucy
	11:00a	Andy Griffith
	11:30a	The McCoys
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Love of Life
	12:25p	Woman’s World
	12:30p	Search For Tomorrow
	12:45p	The Guiding Light
	01:00p	Girl Talk (panelists Julia Meade, Eve of Rome, Barbara Marco)
	01:30p	As the World Turns
	02:00p	Password (panelists Peter Lind Hayes, Shirl Conway)
	02:30p	House Party (guest Loriene Chase)
	03:00p	To Tell the Truth (panelists Tom Poston, Kitty Carlisle, Peggy Cass, Les Crane)
	03:25p	CBS News
	03:30p	The Edge of Night
	04:00p	The Secret Storm
	04:30p	The Mickey Mouse Club
	05:00p	Movie – “Kansas Pacific”
	Evening
	06:30p	CBS Evening News with Harry Reasoner
	07:00p	News, Sports, Weather (local)
	07:30p	Rawhide
	08:30p	Password (celebrities Woody Allen, Nancy Sinatra)
	09:00p	Our Private World
	09:30p	Vacation Playhouse
	10:00p	Slattery’s People
	11:00p	News, Weather, Sports (local)
	11:30p	Movie – “Fire Down Below”

WTEN had a satellite station in N. Adams, MA, WCDC, on channel 19, so this station’s identification was always given as “WTEN, Albany, WCDC, North Adams, Massachusetts”.  I’ve read that back in the 1950s WTEN employed CT native Ted Knight as a kids’ show host before he made his trip West eventually to become Ted Baxter on Mary Tyler Moore.  What TV Guide lists as “Cartoons” at 7 AM included a show that started around 7:45 AM called Commander Ralph and the Good Ship News.  Longtime WTEN newsman Ralph Vartigian (who I just found out passed away last December at the age of 89) was Commander Ralph, who with his assistant Mr. Monkey had news & weather reports for kids just before Captain Kangaroo began at 8 AM.  When I was in 2nd grade, my class visited WTEN studios, and I remember seeing Commander Ralph’s set there.  I also remember seeing Dialing for Dollars on WTEN, but it probably didn’t go on the air until the early 70s.

	WHEC, Channel 10 (Rochester) (CBS)
	Morning
	07:55a	Pastoral Call
	08:00a	Captain Kangaroo
	09:00a	The Little Rascals
	09:30a	Gale Storm
	10:00a	CBS Morning News with Mike Wallace
	10:30a	I Love Lucy
	11:00a	Andy Griffith
	11:30a	The McCoys
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Love of Life
	12:25p	CBS News
	12:30p	Search For Tomorrow
	12:45p	The Guiding Light
	01:00p	Dr. Hudson’s Journal
	01:30p	As the World Turns
	02:00p	Password (panelists Peter Lind Hayes, Shirl Conway)
	02:30p	House Party (guest Loriene Chase)
	03:00p	To Tell the Truth (panelists Tom Poston, Kitty Carlisle, Peggy Cass, Les Crane)
	03:25p	CBS News
	03:30p	The Edge of Night
	04:00p	The Secret Storm
	04:30p	Movie – “The Good Humor Man”
	Evening
	06:00p	Sea Hunt
	06:30p	News, Weather, Sports (local)
	07:00p	CBS Evening News with Harry Reasoner
	07:30p	Movie – “The Big Bluff”
	09:00p	Our Private World
	09:30p	Vacation Playhouse
	10:00p	Slattery’s People
	11:00p	News, Weather, Sports (local)
	11:25p	Movie – “Blowing Wild”

There’s some original summer programming here!  Our Private World was a primetime spinoff of the CBS daytime soap opera As the World Turns, and it aired May through September. Vacation Playhouse was a dumping ground for unbought tv pilot episodes. The episode this night, which has no title included, stars Joanna Barnes, whom I loved as Vicky Robinson in the original Parent Trap movie, as a woman who hires a private eye to watch her, since she’s worried that her ex-husband is about to be killed and she wants an alibi.  This pilot also starred Keenan Wynn, who played some great villains for Disney in his long career.

	WAST, Channel 13 (Albany) (ABC)
	Morning
	06:50a	News (local)
	08:00a	Ed Allen Time
	08:30a	Eight Thirty
	09:00a	Movie – “My American Wife”
	10:30a	Trailmaster
	11:30a	The Price is Right (celebrity Betty White)
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Donna Reed
	12:30p	Father Knows Best
	01:00p	Rebus
	01:30p	Loretta Young
	02:00p	Where the Action Is
	02:30p	A Time For Us
	02:55p	ABC News (Marlene Sanders)
	03:00p	General Hospital
	03:30p	Young Marrieds
	04:00p	Superman
	04:30p	Magilla Gorilla
	05:00p	Bronco
	Evening
	06:00p	News, Weather, Sports (local)
	06:30p	77 Sunset Strip
	07:30p	The Flintstones (color)
	08:00p	Have Gun – Will Travel
	08:30p	The Addams Family
	09:00p	Valentine’s Day
	09:30p	Peyton Place
	10:00p	12 O’Clock High
	11:00p	News, Weather, Sports (local)
	11:20p	Movie – “Dream Girl”

WAST, along with WTEN, started on the UHF dial and stayed there until the late 1950s.  I remember it as the local station that used “Eyewitness News” in its newscast title.  WAST changed its network affiliation twice in the following years.  WTEN took its ABC affiliation in 1977, leaving it with CBS, and then WRGB took its CBS affiliation in 1981, leaving it with NBC.  WAST also changed its call letters to WNYT in 1981, and it’s still known as WNYT today.

	WOKR, Channel 13 (Rochester) (ABC)
	Morning
	07:30a	Fisher Family
	08:00a	Film Short
	08:15a	The Friendly Giant
	08:30a	Jack LaLanne
	09:00a	Romper Room
	11:00a	Rebus
	11:30a	The Price is Right (celebrity Betty White)
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Mike Douglas (co-host Gordon MacRae)
	01:30p	Father Knows Best
	02:00p	Where the Action Is
	02:30p	A Time For Us
	02:55p	ABC News (Marlene Sanders)
	03:00p	General Hospital
	03:30p	Young Marrieds
	04:00p	Donna Reed
	04:30p	Lloyd Thaxton (guest Johnny Rivers)
	05:30p	Movie – “Comanche”
	Evening
	07:20p	Weather, News (local)
	07:30p	The Flintstones (color)
	08:00p	Death Valley Days
	08:30p	The Addams Family
	09:00p	Valentine’s Day
	09:30p	Peyton Place
	10:00p	12 O’Clock High
	11:00p	News, Weather, Sports (local)
	11:30p	Nightlife

There are some nice ABC daytime reruns, both of The Donna Reed Show, which had one more upcoming season in primetime, and Father Knows Best, which had spent three years solely in reruns on CBS & ABC primetime after ceasing production in 1960. ABC also had The Flintstones (a rare ABC show in color) and The Addams Family, as well as an original Peyton Place (which never aired primetime reruns).  The one ABC show I’d love to see from tonight that I haven’t seen is Valentine's Day, which starred Tony Franciosa & Jack Soo. It had a great episode title that night, “Teahouse of the Bankrupt Moon,” and it involved Rocky, his valet, asking Valentine “Val” Farrow for financial backing for a pizza pagoda.  I’ve read that UCLA’s tv archive has a copy of this episode, including commercials, from this episode’s rerun this date, so maybe I can see it someday during my next trip to LA. TV