What I've been watching: April, 2025

Shows I’ve Watched:	Shows I’ve Added:
World War I	Owen Marshall Sherlock Holmes The New Avengers

It might seem hard to belive for television viewers today, but back in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the idea of a weekly series using only documentary footage was not only possible, it was done several times. In the early part of the 1950s, NBC had scored a big success with its 26-episode Victory at Sea, chronicling the naval campaigns of World War II to a soundtrack by Richard Rodgers that was a success in its own right. 

The ’60s saw networks leaning hard into historical nonfiction, especially on ABC and CBS, where series like ABC’s FDR (1965) and Churchill: The Valiant Years (1960–61) joined CBS’s own The 20th Century (1957–66) and Air Power (1956–57). These shows were cut from the same cloth: big stories about big figures and eras, told with a mix of gravitas and thrift. FDR (with narration by Arthur Kennedy, and Charlton Heston reading the words of FDR) traced Roosevelt’s life over 27 episodes, while Churchill leaned on Sir Winston’s own words (as delivered by Richard Burton), winning an Emmy for its trouble. 

While FDR and Churchill both aired in prime time, CBS’s The 20th Century, a follow-up to Air Power, was a Sunday afternoon staple for a decade. Narrated by Walter Cronkite, The 20th Century tackled everything from the Wright brothers to the Russian Revolution, while Air Power (also voiced by Cronkite) zeroed in on aviation’s military leap. What tied them together? Archival footage was the secret sauce—miles of it, often dirt-cheap or free from government and private collections. This let producers keep budgets lean while delivering authenticity no soundstage could match. In an era before CGI, those flickering images were TV’s time machine, making history feel immediate without breaking the bank.

I mention these not because I'm about to review them for you; I'm not. But it helps put in perspective CBS's 1964-65 series World War I, which is this month's feature attraction. The series aired first on Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m., later shifting to Sundays at 6:30 to sidestep ABC’s Combat! With actor Robert Ryan providing the narration, and a soundtrack by Morton Gould that is both evocative and haunting, the series led viewers from pre-war saber-rattling to the bitter Versailles Treaty, with no gimmicky sound effects, no somber readings by famous voice artists, no on-camera experts talking about what we were seeing. No, the network wisely let the grainy still images and jerky movie footage carry the weight—and carry it it does, over 26 episodes that provide some of the starkest, most sobering images of war ever seen on television. If ever you've wondered about mankind's ability to be both evil and stupid, often at the same time, you'll get your answers here.

What set World War I apart in the crowded ’60s TV grid was its scope. This wasn’t just about battles—it dug into the why and how: empires collapsing, technology rewriting warfare, entire continents reshaped. Episodes spanned Sarajevo’s spark to the armistice’s fallout, touching on propaganda, civilians, and the global chessboard. CBS News, with heavyweights like Burton Benjamin and Isaac Kleinerman, treated TV as a public square, not a circus. In a decade where Vietnam was creeping onto screens and the Cold War loomed, a series about a distant war felt like a quiet warning.

It's true that none of these series broke ratings records; in fact, when you browse through TV Guides of the era, you'll see that there were a fair number of affiliates that chose to either substitute their own programming or move these documentaries to a time when their low viewership wouldn't be such a drain on the advertising dollar. However, their critical success, combined with the obvious attention to historical detail, were the networks' answer to the rising criticism coming from influential circles (i.e. Washington) regarding the lack of substance of network programming. Oh, and did I mention that they were relatively easy on the programming budget?

But back to World War I for a moment: it's a part of history that holds a particular interest for me, and I've seen a good number of documentaries over the years telling of the futility of the Great War, and the horrible price the world paid for such folly. Over the 13 hours of this series, you'll see that folly on display over and over again: how naive everyone was in thinking the war would last only a few years; the muck and mire of trench warfare; the evil of the generals sending young men to be slaughtered while they remained safely behind the lines; the utter destruction of countrysides, forests, cities and towns. And for what? So we could do it all over again a couple of decades later? That might be a bit of a simplification, but not by much.

World War I is not easy to find online; I was fortunate enough to cop the DVD set at Half Price Books a couple of years ago. But if you get the chance, make a commitment to find it and watch it. I can't say you'll be sorry, because one of the overriding emotions to come from this series is sorrow: for those who suffered in the past, and those who will suffer in the future. Becuase if there's one thing we learn from history, it's that we don't learn anything from history. TV