What's on TV? Thursday, February 29, 1968

To commemorate my return to the Twin Cities, I'm offering exclusively local observations about this week's programming. Some of it surprised even me. It goes to show why, even though I enjoy reading issues from other areas of the country, nothing beats the local TV Guide. Those historical roots run deep.

	KTCA, Channel 2 (NET)
	Morning
	08:55a	Classroom
	09:00a	Film Short
	09:35a	Classroom
	11:40a	Film Short
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Film Feature
	12:30p	Classroom
	03:00p	Managers in Action
	03:30p	Teaching English
	04:00p	Your Dollar’s Worth (color)
	05:00p	Kindergarten
	05:30p	Folk Guitar
	Evening
	06:00p	Great Decisions – 1968
	06:30p	Industrial Management
	07:00p	St. Paul School News
	07:30p	The French Chef
	08:00p	Town Meeting
	08:30p	Private College Concerts
	09:00p	American Cities
	09:30p	Town and Country
	10:00p	Folio
	10:30p	Profile

The host of Folio was Warren Frost, father of Mark Frost, who died earlier this month. The elder Frost had an extensive theater background in the Twin Cities, and so it’s no surprise that he’d turn up on a local program. You probably remember him best for his appearances as Dr. Will Hayward in one of his son’s projects, Twin Peaks.

	WCCO, Channel 4 (CBS)
	Morning
	06:00a	Sunrise Semester
	06:30a	Siegfried and His Flying Saucer (color)
	07:00a	Clancy & Carmen (color)
	07:30a	Clancy & Willie (color)
	08:00a	Captain Kangaroo (color)
	09:00a	Dr. Reuben K. Youngdahl (color)
	09:05a	Merv Griffin (guests Henry Morgan, Rocky Graziano, Maureen Arthur) (color)
	10:00a	Andy of Mayberry
	10:30a	Dick Van Dyke
	11:00a	Love of Life (color)
	11:25a	CBS News (Joseph Benti) (color)
	11:30a	Search for Tomorrow (color)
	11:45a	The Guiding Light (color)
	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 Charles Vick) (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-host Bess Myerson, guests Chris and Peter Allen, Fannie Flagg, Harold Betters) (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	Cimarron Strip (color)
	08:00p	CBS Thursday Night Movie – “Spencer’s Mountain” (color)
	10:00p	The Scene Tonight (color)
	10:45p	Movie – “Mysterious Island” (color)

The Scene Tonight, which I’ve mentioned before, had only been on the air a month or so, and I think the ads for the program weren’t quite sure what to do with it yet; they bill it as the “News Scene Tonight,” which I don’t think it was ever actually called. I suppose they were concerned people wouldn’t know what it was unless it had the word “news” in it.

	KSTP, Channel 5 (NBC)
	Morning
	06:15a	David Stone (color)
	06:30a	City and Country (color)
	06:55a	Doctor’s House Call (color)
	07:00a	Today (guests Maureen Stapleton, John Sparrow) (color)
	09:00a	Snap Judgment (guests Robert Horton, Dina Merrill) (color)
	09:25a	NBC News (Nancy Dickerson) (color)
	09:30a	Concentration (color)
	10:00a	Personality (celebrities Gig Young, Bill Cullen, Totie Fields, Zsa Zsa Gabor) (color)
	10:30a	The Hollywood Squares (guests Jim Backus, Glenn Ford, Michael Landon, Jack Palance, Janis Page, Shelley Winters, Charley Weaver, Wally Cox, Abby Dalton) (color)
	11:00a	Jeopardy (color)
	11:30a	Eye Guess (color)
	11:55a	NBC News (Edwin Newman) (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 Robert Lansing, Barbara Feldon) (color)
	03:00p	The Match Game (guests Soupy Sales, Dr. Joyce Brothers) (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	Daniel Boone (color)
	07:30p	Ironside (color)
	08:30p	Dragnet ‘68 (color)
	09:00p	Dean Martin (guests Jonathan Winters, Arthur Godfrey, Tony Sandler and Ralph Young, Greco and Willard) (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 (guests Vincent Price, Joey Heatherton) (color)
	12:00a	The Ski Scene (color)
	12:15a	Science Fiction Theater (color)

Johnny Morris, Channel 5’s weatherman, was the host of The Ski Scene until 1971, when he was succeeded by the station’s new weatherman, Barry ZeVan. It’s ZeVan’s version that I remember from growing up, although I remember him more for the weather, especially his “peek-a-boo” style of presentation in which he’d pop in and out of the frame, looking at the viewers, with the maps in the background. I suppose everyone does that now. 

	KMSP, Channel 9 (ABC)
	Morning
	07:30a	Morning Show (color)
	08:00a	Donna Reed
	08:30a	National Velvet
	09:00a	Romper Room (color)
	09:30a	Gypsy Rose Lee (guests Ronnie Schell Willie Resturm) (color)
	10:00a	Temptation (color)
	10:25a	ABC News (Marlene Sanders) (color)
	10:30a	How’s Your Mother-in-Law? (color)
	11:00a	Bewitched
	11:30a	Treasure Isle (color)
	Afternoon
	12:00p	The Fugitive
	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 – “The Lion and the Horse”
	04:55p	News (Jerry Smith)
	05:00p	ABC Evening News with Bob Young (color)
	05:30p	McHale’s Navy
	Evening
	06:00p	Truth or Consequences (color)
	06:30p	Batman (color)
	07:00p	The Flying Nun (color)
	07:30p	Bewitched (color)
	08:00p	Carol Channing and 101 Men (special) (color)
	09:00p	The Hollywood Palace (host Milton Berle, guests Louis Armstrong, Phyllis Diller, Enzo Stuarti, Elaine Dunn, the Lettermen, Irving Benson, the Bottoms-Up Revue) (color)
	10:00p	News (Bill Fahan, Jim Steer) (color)
	10:25p	Sports (Tony Parker) (color)
	10:30p	Joey Bishop (guests Bobby Rydell, Lulu, Gaylord and Holliday)  (color)
	12:00a	Naked City

The 10:00 p.m. newscast, with Bill Fahan and Jim Steer, ran from 1964 to 1969 and was the first in the Twin Cities to feature co-anchors. To show you how nondescript the Channel 9 news was back in those days, I don't remember a thing about it.

	WTCN, Channel 11 (Ind.)
	Morning
	08:40a	News (Gil Amundson)
	08:45a	The King and Odie
	09:00a	Sea Hunt
	09:30a	Ed Allen (color)
	10:00a	Woody Woodbury (guests Doug McClure, Phil Foster, Allen Ludden) (color)
	11:30a	News (Gil Amundson, Warren Martin)
	11:55a	Hank’s Cooking Tips
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Lunch with Casey
	01:00p	Matinee Movie – “He Laughed Last”
	02:30p	Mel’s Notebook
	03:00p	Virginia Graham (guests Joanna Pettet, Joanna Simon, Paula Stewart) (color)
	03:30p	Patty Duke
	04:00p	Popeye and Pete
	04:30p	Casey and Roundhouse
	05:00p	The Flintstones
	05:30p	Gilligan’s Island (color)
	Evening
	06:00p	The Twilight Zone
	06:30p	Burke’s Law
	07:30p	Perry Mason
	08:30p	Alfred Hitchcock Presents
	09:00p	Wonderful World of Movies – “The Tarnished Angels”
	11:00p	News (Stuart A. Lindman)
	11:15p	Weather (Rodger Kent)
	11:20p	Sports (Frank Beutel)
	11:30p	Bat Masterson

Mel Jass, host of the Matinee Movie (and also the Wonderful World of Movies), was the pitchman extraordinare. My mother never particularly liked him; she thought there was something smarmy about him, and I suppose there was, to the extent that there is about all pitchmen. Jass was an absolute legend in Twin Cities television; you can read more about him here. TV