June 17, 2019

What's on TV? Thursday, June 21, 1962

I think I've written about this before, but for a network that was perennially in third place until the late '70s, ABC was home to some iconic shows. Look at tonight's schedule, for example: Ozzie and Harriet, Donna Reed, The Real McCoys, My Three Sons and The Untouchables. Only The Law and Mr. Jones is missing from a hall of fame lineup of classic television. Not that they were all great shows; I've never been able to get into any of them save The Untouchables, in fact, but they're familiar names to anyone familiar with classic television. And then NBC follows up with Dr. Kildare, Hazel and Sing Along With Mitch. No, if you can't find something to watch here, you aren't really looking very hard. The listings, as you might expect, are from the Twin Cities.


 2  KTCA (EDUC.)

     EVENING    

    6:30
CONVERSATIONAL CRAFTS

    6:45
GERMAN FAIRY TALES

    7:00
EXPLORATION OF SPACE

    7:30
NEWS—Star and Tribune

    8:00
ST. OLAF CHOIR CONCERT

    8:30
ITALY—Documentary

    9:00
TO BE ANNOUNCED

    9:30
TOWN AND COUNTRY—Wolf

  10:00
SCHOOL STORY—Documentary

  10:30
PRIMITIVE ART—Education



 4  WCCO (CBS)

    MORNING   

    6:30
AFRICA—Social Studies

    7:00
FLYING SAUCER—Siegfried

    7:45
ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS

    8:00
CAPTAIN KANGAROO—Children

    9:00
NEWS—Dean Montgomery

    9:10
DR. REUBEN K. YOUNGDAHL

    9:20
WHAT’S NEW?—Arle Haberle

    9:30
I LOVE LUCY—Comedy

  10:00
VERDICT IS YOURS—Drama

  10:30
BRIGHTER DAY—Serial

  10:55
NEWS—Harry Reasoner

  11:00
LOVE OF LIFE—Serial

  11:30
SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial

  11:45
GUIDING LIGHT—Serial

  AFTERNOON 

  12:00
NEWS—Dave Moore

  12:15
SOMETHING SPECIAL—Merriman

  12:25
WEATHER—Bud Kraehling

  12:30
AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial

    1:00
PASSWORD—Allen Ludden

    1:30
HOUSE PARTY—George Fenneman

    2:00
MILLIONAIRE—Drama

    2:30
TO TELL THE TRUTH—Panel

    2:55
NEWS—Douglas Edwards

    3:00
SECRET STORM—Serial

    3:30
EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial

    4:00
AROUND THE TOWN—Haeberle

    4:30
ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS

    4:45
CLANCY AND SPACE ANGELS

    5:00
YOGI BEAR—Cartoons

    5:30
ROGER!—Children

    5:55
MR. MAGOO—Cartoon

     EVENING    

    6:00
NEWS—Dean Montgomery

    6:10
WEATHER—Don O’Brien

    6:15
NEWS—Harry Reasoner

    6:30
FRONTIER CIRCUS—Western
“Ichabod and Me” will not be seen. “Frontier Circus” is seen at this earlier time tonight only

    7:30
JOHN BROWN’S BODY—Drama  SPECIAL 

    8:30
ZANE GREY—Western

    9:00
CBS REPORTS—Documentary

  10:00
NEWS—Dave Moore

  10:15
WEATHER—Bud Kraehling

  10:20
SPORTS—Hal Scott

  10:30
BEST OF GROUCHO—Quiz

  11:00
OUTDOOR SPORTS—Johnson

  12:00
NEWS—Dave Moore



 5  KSTP (NBC)

    MORNING   

    6:30
FARM SCENE—David Stone

    7:00
TODAY—John Chancellor
Local news at 7:25 and 8:25 A.M.

    9:00
SAY WHEN—Art James

    9:30
PLAY YOUR HUNCH—Merv Griffin  COLOR 

  10:00
PRICE IS RIGHT—Cullen  COLOR 

  10:30
CONCENTRATION—Hugh Downs

  11:00
YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION—Bill Leydon  COLOR 

  11:30
TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES

  11:55
NEWS—Ray Scherer

  AFTERNOON 

  12:00
NEWS—John MacDougall

  12:15
WEATHER—Johnny Morris

  12:20
TREASURE CHEST  COLOR 

    1:00
JAN MURRAY—Game  COLOR 

    1:25
NEWS—Floyd Kalber

    1:30
LORETTA YOUNG—Drama

    2:00
YOUNG DR. MALONE—Serial

    2:30
OUR FIVE DAUGHTERS—Serial

    3:00
MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY

    3:30
HERE’S HOLLYWOOD—Interviews
Guests: Cliff Arquette, Robert Dix

    3:55
NEWS—Vanocur

    4:00
TOPPER—Comedy

    4:30
KUKLA AND OLLIE—Tillstrom

    4:35
T.N. TATTERS—Children

    5:15
LOVE THAT BOB!—Comedy

    5:30
DOCTOR’S HOUSE CALL

    5:45
NEWS—Huntley, Brinkley

     EVENING    

    6:00
NEWS—Bob Ryan

    6:15
WEATHER—Johnny Morris

    6:25
SPORTS—Al Wester

    6:30
OUTLAWS—Western

    7:30
DR. KILDARE—Drama

    8:30
HAZEL—Comedy

    9:00
SING ALONG WITH MITCH  COLOR 
Guest: Gloria Lambert

  10:00
NEWS—John MacDougall

  10:15
WEATHER—Johnny Morris

  10:20
SPORTS—Al Wester

  10:30
TONIGHT—Variety  COLOR 
Guest Host: Steve Lawrence

  12:00
NEWS AND SPORTS



 9  KMSP (ABC)

    MORNING   

    7:55
CHAPEL OF THE AIR—Religion

    8:00
BREAKFAST WITH CAP’N KEN

    9:00
JACK LA LANNE—Exercise

    9:30
PEOPLE ARE FUNNY—Linkletter

  10:00
MY LITTLE MARGIE—Comedy

  10:30
OUR MISS BROOKS—Comedy

  11:00
ERNIE FORD—Variety

  11:30
YOURS FOR A SONG—Bert Parks

  AFTERNOON 

  12:00
CAMOUFLAGE—Don Morrow

  12:30
WINDOW SHOPPING—Kennedy

    1:00
DAY IN COURT—Drama

    1:25
NEWS—Tom Casey

    1:30
MARY JO TIERNEY—Interviews

    2:00
JANE WYMAN—Drama

    2:30
SEVEN KEYS—Jack Narz

    3:00
QUEEN FOR A DAY—Bailey

    3:30
WHO DO YOU TRUST?—Carson

    4:00
AMERICAN BANDSTAND—Clark

    4:50
AMERICAN NEWSSTAND—Sharp

    5:00
MOVIE—Drama
“Alias the Champ” (1949)

     EVENING    

    6:00
NEWS—Ron Cochran

    6:15
NEWS—Bob Allard

    6:25
WEATHER—Jere Smith

    6:30
OZZIE AND HARRIET—Comedy

    7:00
DONNA REED—Comedy

    7:30
REAL McCOYS—Comedy

    8:00
MY THREE SONS—Comedy

    8:30
LAW AND MR. JONES—Drama

    9:00
UNTOUCHABLES—Drama

  10:00
NEWS—George Grim

  10:15
WEATHER—Jere Smith

  10:20
SPORTS—Tony Parker

  10:30
PETER GUNN—Mystery

  11:00
MOVIE—Western
“Ramrod” (1947)

  12:30
CHAPEL OF THE AIR—Religion



11 WTCN (IND.)

    MORNING   

  10:55
WE LEARN TO LIVE—Religion

  11:00
ROMPER ROOM—Miss Betty

  11:45
NEWS—Bob Landon

  AFTERNOON 

  12:00
LUNCH WITH CASEY—Children

    1:00
MOVIE—Drama
“One Way Passage” (1932)

    2:25
MAHALIA JACKSON SINGS

    2:30
BURNS AND ALLEN—Comedy

    3:00
MEDIC—Drama

    3:30
AMOS ‘N’ ANDY—Comedy

    4:00
POPEYE AND PETE—Dave Lee

    5:00
SUPERMAN—Adventure

    5:30
DICK TRACY—Cartoons

    5:50
NEWS—Dick Ford

     EVENING    

    6:00
WHIRLYBIRDS—Adventure

    6:30
OUTDOOR FUNLAND—Kent

    7:00
WYATT EARP—Western

    7:30
PRE-GAME SHOW—Killebrew

    7:40
BASEBALL WARMUP—Ray Scott

    7:55
BASEBALL—Twins
Minnesota Twins at Chicago White Sox

  10:45
SCOREBOARD—Frank Beutel

  11:00
NEWS—Dick Ford

  11:15
WEATHER—Stuart A. Lindman

  11:30
MOVIE—Adventure
“Safari” (1940)




  TV  

10 comments:

  1. God, how I hate that word iconic.
    All that means is that this show or that -
    (a) - ran for a long time; or -
    (b) - became a "cult show" for whatever specious reason.

    ABC's Thursday lineup that year (the sitcoms, at least) falls mainly into the former category: the long runs were largely momentum-driven.
    As to The Untouchables, ABC's larger presence in big cities helped balance the ratings versus CBS' and NBC with more "national" appeal.

    That leaves The Law And Mr. Jones, which in a just world would have made James Whitmore a superstar.
    The big mistake Four Star made was in doing this as a half-hour show; a full hour would have had a better shot at being a hit.
    But as it is, how many series can you think of that were dropped after one season - and then brought back a half-season afterwards for another shot, due to audience reaction?
    My good fortune was to find a c2c DVD set of Mr. Jones in the grey market: most if not all of the two seasons, in not-very-good condition, but in Collectorland you take what you can get …
    Meanwhile, there are a couple of Mr. Jones episodes to be found at YouTube.
    I would suggest that you check these out at your earliest opportunity.
    At the very least, I believe that you'll love the theme music (both opening and closing).
    The opening title too, for that matter …

    More later, maybe …

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, I think the proper use of "iconic" in this case is "Something that is characteristic of an icon — an image, emblem, idol, or hero. Iconic often describes something or someone that is considered symbolic of something else, like spirituality, virtue, or evil and corruption." I don't think there can be any doubt (I have none, anyway) that in this sense, all of the shows I mentioned are "iconic" - emblematic of a specific time in American cultural history, and easily recognizable as being representative of a particular age in television. As the Orthodox do with icons, we display these programs as symbols of, variously, the quality of television of the era, the subject matter (families, in particular), or -- as you suggested -- shows that ran for a long time, and become iconic for that specific reason. I also prefer using iconic in a positive way; no matter how long it runs, for instance, I'd never refer to the "Law & Order" shows as iconic -- rather, since I see them in a decidedly negative light, I'd think of them as emblematic of the glamorization of order at the expense of freedom.

      But that's just me. Perhaps you're merely iconoclastic. In any event, it's a good thing the dictionary is so big; it gives you a whole book of words from which you can choose to your heart's content.

      Delete
  2. George Fenneman was guest host on "House Party" that day (week?), subbing for Art Linkletter.

    But he was well-known to "House Party" executive producer John Guedel: Fenneman was announcer/sidekick on Groucho Marx's classic game show "You Bet Your Life", which Guedel also produced.

    And Walter Cronkite (who had recently taken over the "CBS Evening News") was either on vacation or on an out-of-town assignment: Harry Reasoner filled-in (Reasoner, a onetime Twin Cities news anchor, frequently subbed for Cronkite from 1962 through 1970).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're right - Fenneman was the guest host for the week. Nice bookend to the story about Harry Reasoner being in the Twin Cities; when Dave Moore became the anchor for WCCO in the '50s, it was because the job had been turned down by - Walter Cronkite.

      Delete
  3. Just saw an episode of The Law and Mr. Jones w/guest stars Vic Morrow (Combat!) and Simon Oakland. Great show, and I do like the themes. Oh, and tell Mike I said thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ken:
      You're most welcome.
      Whoever has the rights to Four Star's TV library is sitting on a gold mine.
      In the meantime, check out Thomas Film Classics, a "collectors" site wherein you may find a watchable if not perfect set of many Law And Mr. Jones episodes (you take what you can get).
      (And set aside some time if you go there; Thomas has lots of interesting stuff for sale).

      Delete
  4. Wow. Only 3 soap operas on the daytime schedule? Unless I missed one or two. The three I found were all on CBS.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gregory:
      Actually, CBS had seven(7) soaps: Brighter Day, Love Of Life, Search for Tomorrow, Guiding Light, As The World Turns, Secret Storm, and The Edge Of Night (you forgot either the morning or the afternoon).
      NBC had only two soaps back then: Young Doctor Malone and Our Five Daughters, both short-lived. NBC never had a hit soap until The Doctors came along the next year.
      ABC didn't have a soap as such until General Hospital in '63; however, Day In Court was a daily dramatic show with much the same dynamic as the soaps (and now I realize I ought to count CBS's The Verdict Is Yours, which brings their total to eight, So There Too).

      Delete
    2. This depends on how one would categorize Hawkins Falls, which ran on NBC from 1951-1955 and was considered by some to be the network's first successful soap and their only one until The Doctors.

      Delete
  5. Fenneman was a fantastic second banana.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for writing! Drive safely!