This week in TV Guide: April 3, 1971

I'm going to make an assumption here, which may or may not be correct, that most of you already know what all the talk was about with cable TV. In fact, to show the speed at which technology evolves, this TV Guide—54 years old—is previewing something which has already come and gone. 

Whereas William J. Slattery's cover story offers various prophesies as to the present and future of cable, we already know how the story ends: cable shakes up the television landscape, becoming the dominant form of TV consumption, HBO becomes the home of prestige drama, various other cable networks get in on the act, and then—streaming. And the whole thing starts over again, with one exception: today, we're speculating on whether there is a future for television, whether the broadcast networks will even survive, and whether or not "television" will be good for anything other than coverage of live sports.

Now, I know there are a lot of people—millions, in fact—who still subscribe to cable TV. In fact, there's even been some speculation that, with streaming prices continuing to rise to offset the cost of program acquisition, cable packages might make a comeback. I don't think that will happen, but I don't think the complete demise of cable is going to happen in the next few weeks, either. The existence of this article, however, is proof of one thing: the surest way to either become a multimillionaire or go flat broke is to predict the future of television.

Therefore, I'm proposing we move beyond the cover story, and look at some other features, beginning with a look at Lee Meriwether's life after Miss America. As Rowland Barber says, she carries all the attributes of an average, ordinary housewife: happily married with two kids, whom she ferries to and from school; attractive, unprepossessive, has her mom babysit the kids at least once a week, somewhat scatterbrained, active in Scouting, bakes cookies, has an interesting hobby. It just so happens that her hobby is acting, and her former activity was beauty pageant queen. 

She's currently playing Andy Griffith's wife on The New Andy Griffith Show, between stints as a technician on The Time Tunnel and Barnaby Jones's daughter-in-law, with a side stint as Catwoman in the Batman movie, and a future run on All My Children. The "Miss America thing," she explains, was an accident; a friend entered her in the competition, and she didn't even know about it until one of the judges called to remind her that she was supposed to audition that day. She found it unbelievable when she went on to win Miss San Francisco, and knew she "didn't have a chance" in the Miss California pageant; her victory there propelled her to Atlantic City, where she would have been happy to finish in the top 10. (No Miss California had ever finished outside the top 10.) Her father died shortly before the pageant, and her mother convinced her to go ahead, that now it might be her only chance to afford college. The 1954pageant (for Miss America 1955) was the first to be televised (and the last, to that point, not hosted by Bert Parks), and to this day, she has no memory of having won "until a year later, when I saw a film of my night. I had been interviewed by Bess Myerson. I was hysterical. I said something about hoping my father somehow knew about this. Then I watched the emcee prodding me to take The Walk, and there I was, moving down the promenade, crying all the way." 

From there she went to a stint on The Today Show, followed by acting lessons (where she met her husband, actor Frank Aletter), and "that's been the story of my life ever since. My acting career has never been terribly important. It just happened." 

And then there's Anthony Quayle, currently starring in NBC's British import Strange Report, where he plays a former police detective who specializes in solving unusual crimes. He's a quiet man, reports Ross Drake—so unassuming, yet proud and comfortable within himself, that it's hard to believe he's an actor. He credits World War II for molding him into the man he is today; "I became violently aware that the theater and literature are of relatively little consequence. I became aware of another world of power and politics and death, of living and dying for what you believe in," he explains. That doesn't mean that his craft isn't important to him; on the contrary, he believes the theater has a purpose in this modern world, to be "a linking force, a shared heritage of that part of the world that speaks English." But "I no longer cared about those who were elegant and witty—I didn't give a damn for them. I came to care about a man I could stand beside and depend on with my life. It was rather a delayed manhood, but finally, I had become a man." He downplays his own accomplishments in the war; "I wasn't being brave then. I was sending other people to be brave." 

Faced with several prospects after excelling on stage, including an offer from MGM to come to America to be a producer, he instead chose the directorship of the Shakespeare Memorial Theater at Stratford-on-Avon. His success there gave him a "powerful sense of pride in both his country and his profession." It took him away from acting, though, and the likelihood that he might well have become "one of the commanding actors of the English stage." It did, however, allow him to build a family and a successful personal life with his second wife and their three children, to all of whom he's devoted. So acting has, sadly, taken something of a backseat. "I'm very aware that, in order to be a great actor, one has to be absolutely and selfishly dedicated to that end. The difference between a good actor and a great one is very small, but it's vital." He does not, he believes, fall into that "great" category, despite an Oscar nomination (for Anne of the Thousand Days), and his turn in the Broadway hit "Sleuth." 

He enjoys television; "I don't think anyone's yet realized how much televison affects people's lives. If one could get over certain values of sanity and humor, one might have an influence, which might lead to more." He concedes that his friend, Sir John Gielgud, is right that he has some regrets he didn't have the chance to become a great actor, but "While John's right that it's been a disappointment to me, and a sadness, it's been a very minor sadness, because there have been so many satisfying compensations." And while, Drake concludes, he could be rationalizing, "it's hard not to hope that he isn't." Says Quayle, "I wouldn't change it. I wouldnt' have it any other way—not at all."

Finally, there's the sports beat, and Melvin Durslag makes his fearless prognostications for baseball, 1971. In the days of four divisions and no wild cards, it doesn't take up much room. His picks for the National League are the Cubs (!) in the East and Cincinnati in the West; in the American League, he likes Baltimore in the East and Oakland in the West. And Mel gets three of the four right on the nose. The only one he misses is the NL East. It's not the Cubs, of course, but the Pittsburgh Pirates, who go on to edge Baltimore in a thrilling seven-game World Series to take it all.

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From 1963 to 1976, TV Guide's weekly reviews were written by the witty and acerbic Cleveland Amory. Whenever they appear, we'll look at Cleve's latest take on the shows of the era.

This week, Cleveland Amory puts himself in the line of fire, with William F. Buckley Jr.'s Firing Line, and it should come as no surprise that a man as linguistically clever as our Cleve would be taken with the polysyllabic Buckley, who once defended his use of long words by saying that "they say what I mean to say." And when it comes to television, Buckley, after a tentative start, has come across like a man to the (TV) manor born, who, "when he added to his forensic foreplay an ability to pace his parries, he began to make mincemeat of such adversaries as David Susskind, Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and Norman Mailer," liberal icons all.

And that's one of the things, I found, about the young Buckley: whether or not you agreed with him (and I did, especially when he was younger), there was something about him that, as Amory says, is guaranteed to "continue to charm the few and madden the many—or, depending on how you look at him, vice versa. He also plays to win, plays for keeps, engages in conversation with both gloves off. When guest George Wallace once asked him, "Why are you talking so much? This is an interview show," Buckley dryly replied, "No, actually it's not." You're not invited on Firing Line to answer Buckley's questions; you're invited to exchange opinions with him, and the sharper his guest, the more entertaining the show. Unlike many hosts of similar programs, Buckley seems to delight in those guests who can keep up with his banter and repartee; as befits a man of confidence, he has no fear of being upstaged. When black activist Eldridge Cleaver appeared on the show, with his endless complaints about "pigs" [the police, for those of you not in the know], Cleaver at one point pointed out to the host, "Didn't you run for mayor in New York? What happened?" Buckley's unflappable response: "A lot of pigs beat me."

And that, I guess, is the point: if you're confident in yourself, if you have no fear of engaging in open conversation and debate on the issues of the day, then you should have no qualms about discussing them with people with whom you disagree. And you should be able to do so without resorting to personal attacks; just as you attract more flies with honey than vinegar, you often can soothe the savage beast more with wit and charm than invictive and boorishness. (Many of today's social icons could take note of this.) In discussing Arkansas's liberal senator, J. William Fulbright, Buckley said, "It is fashionable among the literati to say of the Vice President [Agnew] nowadays that he is merely a bad joke. By inference one reasons that William Fulbright is a good joke." As Cleve concludes, "A man who can turn a phrase like that can turn us on—and vice versa—any time.

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As the networks prepare their fall schedules, the axe has dropped on a variety of shows, mostly of the variety variety. Whereas there were sixteen at the beginning of the current season, there will be but five come this fall, and not a one of them will be new. Among the carnage are two that will go on to long and successful runs in syndication, Hee Haw and The Lawrence Welk Show; the remaining casualties include Johnny Cash and Pearl Bailey on ABC, Ed Sullivan, Jim Nabors, and the Jackie Gleason Honeymooners musicals, and Red Skelton, Andy Williams, Don Knotts, and the Kraft Music Hall on NBC. When all is said and done, the five remaining programs will be Flip Wilson, Dean Martin, and Laugh-In on NBC, and Glen Campbell and Carol Burnett on CBS; of those five, only Carol will have any real shelf life remaining. "There were just too many," according to one network source, who said, "The same talent was turning up everywhere." (This didn't include Hee Haw and Johnny Cash, obviously, since they pretty much had the corner on country stars.) I was going to add that this could spell quite a blow to Bob Hope, considering he never met a variety guest spot he didn't like, but I guess I don't have to. There will be something of a small comeback with Sonny and Cher and Donnie and Marie, but the revival doesn't extend to The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.

I mentioned the dropping axe, and the variety shows weren't the only ones to feel the sting of the executioner's blade. In addition to getting rid of their supply of variety shows, ABC has sacked their trio of prime-time game shows: Let's Make a Deal, The Newlywed Game, and The Reel Game; they've also gotten rid of That Girl, Make Room for Granddaddy, and Dan August, making a total of ten to bite the dust. Their seven new series* include vehicles for Shirley MacLaine and Bobby Sherman; The Persuaders, starring Roger Moore and Tony Curtis (a favorite in the Hadley household); Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law, which the network hopes will do for Arthur Hill what Marcus Welby did for Robert Young, and James Franciscus as the blind detective, Longstreet. There's also an untitled drama for Anthony Quinn, which will wind up as The Man and the City. I think, though don't hold me to it, that only Owen Marshall made it past one season, although The Persuaders was a casualty of British labor (labour?) problems.

*Why seven new series to replace ten old ones? It's partly because of the new Prime Time Access rule, requiring the networks to cede a half hour of prime time back to the affiliates each night.

As far as specials for the new season, the most prestigious will likely be The Six Wives of Henry VIII, a BBC import that CBS plans to air over a six-week period. However, the Hollywood Teletype reports that ABC has plans to adapt Irwin Shaw's current bestseller, Rich Man, Poor Man. Interestingly, "what form the TV version will take is still undecided." And that form, when it is decided, will help to change the landscape of television, if only for a time: the miniseries.

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Why wait until the fall for specials, though, when we've got some on tap this week? 

On Saturday, WHDH, the CBS affiliate in Boston, presents a Peanuts special that was actually broadcast last week, when WHDH probably had something else on. It's "Play It Again, Charlie Brown" ((5:30 p.m.), one of the lesser-known Peanuts stories. Lesser known? I have to admit, I never missed these specials growing up, and yet I have absolutely no memory of this one at all: Schroeder is the featured character, with Lucy trying to win his attention by arranging for him to give a concert at a PTA meeting. Trouble is, they're expecting a rock concert, while Schroeder's planning an all-Beethoven schedule. It probably makes for a very funny storyline in the strip, but the animated specials really require Charlie Brown and/or Snoopy as the focal point to carry the interest.

April 4 is Palm Sunday, and ABC premieres Rankin/Bass's Easter special, Here Comes Peter Cottontail (7:00 p.m.), with Danny Kaye as the narrator and Wellington B. Bunny, Vincent Price as the evil Irontail (who wants to dye all Easter eggs black), and Casey Kasem as Peter Cottontail. And speaking of Ed Sullivan, as we were a moment ago, Sunday gives an Ed Sullivan "Special," Ed Sullivan Presents Movin' with Nancy on Stage (8:00 p.m., CBS), which certainly has to be one of the most cumbersome titles on television since Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters, and it makes just about as much sense. What this really is is Nancy Sinatra's Vegas nightclub act, with the Osmond Brothers and the Blossoms, being shown in the Sullivan timeslot. Maybe Ed introduces it, maybe he does something else, but it's pretty clear he doesn't do much beyond lending his name to the special, if that was even his idea.

The variety series may be dying, but when it comes to the musical special, things are alive and well. NBC kicks off the week with a doubleheader on Monday: Bob Hope's final special of his 21st season (9:00 p.m.), with Sammy Davis Jr., Lee Marvin, Shirley Jones, and Wally Cox; followed by Diahann Carroll's first special (10:00 p.m.), with Harry Belafonte, Tom Jones, and cameos from Bill Cosby and Donald Sutherland. 

A delightful CBS News Special (and there's a combination of words you don't read often) is the first in a series of "interviews" with key figures from America's war for independence (remember, the Bicentennial is only five years off). "The American Revolution Revisited" (Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.) stars Peter Ustinov as Frederick Lord North, the Prime Minister under George III whose policies helped ignite the war. CBS newsman Eric Sevareid is the host; Ustinov, who "boned up on history and Lord North's writings" in preparation for the show, ad-libs answers to Sevareid's questions. Among his many opinions: John Hancock was nothing more than "A reprehensible character who made his money out of smuggling," and he justified the action of British troops during the Boston Massacre as being done "under provocation."  

On Wednesday, NBC presents A Royal Gala (9:00 p.m.), an all-star benefit for the World Wildlife Fund taped last November in London. Among the dignitaries in the audience are the Royal Family (including the Queen), Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, and future king Juan Carlos of Spain. And on stage, a blend of Americans and Brits, from Petula Clark and Rex Harrison to Glen Campbell and Bob Hope, who apparently won't have any trouble finding work after all. 

One of the biggest is a repeat of John Wayne's star-studded tribute to America, Swing Out, Sweet Land (Thursday, 8:30 p.m., NBC), featuring Jack Benny, Lorne Greene, Bob Hope, Ann-Margret, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Rowan and Martin, Red Skelton, Ed McMahon, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, and others. Did you notice how many of those names were also stars of series appearing on NBC? (There's also Lucille Ball, Celeste Holm, Greg Morris, and some other non-Peacock celebs.)

Good Friday features a couple of low-key Easter specials, with Mike Douglas narrating Love is the Answer (7:30 p.m., WBZ), the story of Boys Town in Rome, Italy. And for Frankie Avalon, Easter is the word, as he spends his Easter vacation hosting an easy hour of music from Southern California and Mexico with Nana Lorca, Jan Daley, the Burgundy Street Singers, Joey Forman, Laurindo Almeida, and the James Hibbard dancers. At least Frankie sings "Easter Parade," which I guess qualifies it as a seasonal special.

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By the way, we've also got some non-special (i.e., regularly scheduled) programs worth noting this week. Saturday afternoon gives us the finale of the pro bowling season, the Firestone Tournament of Champions (3:30 p.m., ABC), with the winner taking home a cool $25,000 (which was a very big prize back then, the equal of many professional golf tournaments). Last year, Don Johnson won the championship with one of 1970's most memorable sports broadcasts, rolling a 299 in the final. (Oh, that 10-pin!)

On Sunday, NBC's Experiment in TV (3:00 p.m.) presents a rerun of 1969's "The Cube," which I have to admit is the kind of story that sounds right up my alley. "Setting: a small, doorless and windowless chamber of translucent plastic in which a man seems trapped. Visitors enter through quickly appearing—and disappearing—doors, leading him in bizarre, often inane discussions, evidently to frustrate and confuse him. Are they—or the cube in which he's trapped—real?" Kind of like what life is like today, isn't it? It's produced and directed by Jim Henson,  one of several live-action films he did in the 1960s, before focusing entirely on The Muppets.

Monday's Gunsmoke (7:30 p.m., CBS) is a thriller, as a group of bounty hunters holds Matt's friends hostage while awaiting his return; seems they've got a score to settle with him. Is anyone at all surprised that one of the bad guys is Bruce Dern? But you might raise an eyebrow when seeing that another of them is Russell Johnson—the Professor! Oh, no!

Tuesday is baseball's Opening Day, as close to an undeclared national holiday as they came back in the day, and we'll kick things off from Fenway Park, as the Boston Red Sox take on their bitter archrivals, the New York Yankees. (1:30 p.m., WHDH in Boston, WPRI in Providence). At 2:00 p.m., New Haven's WNHC follows suit with the Montreal Expos taking on the New York Mets at Shea Stadium. Daytime baseball; does it get any better than that?

This isn't significant for anything other than my own personal amusement, but if you're looking for a movie that sounds like a mashup of two Humphrey Bogart movies (minus Bogie, alas), you'll find it on Wednesday with Treasure of the Petrified Forest (part one, 6:30 p.m., WSMW in Worcester). It's one of those Italian spaghetti adventure movies involving Medieval knights and warrior women. There's more substance to Book Beat (7:00 p.m, WEDN in Norwich), in which Bob Cromie's guest is Bennett Cerf, discussing The Sound of Laughter, a collection of his favorite jokes, stories, and puns.

I mentioned earlier that Make Room for Granddaddy was one of the shows on the chopping block, and Thursday's episode is, I think, an example of why: despite the fact that Danny, Marjorie Lord, Angela Cartwright, Sid Melton, and other members of the original cast have returned for the revival, we're introduced in this rerun to Roosevelt Grier, a new regular, who plays Danny's new accompanist Rosey Robbins. And while Rosey Grier was a passable actor and pleasant personality (not to mention a great football player), additions like this usually point to shows trying desperately to be relevant, and while Danny's trying to act casual, his wife works to put everyone at ease. So what are they so uptight about? Guesses, anyone?

On Friday, the aforementioned Anthony Quayle's Strange Report (10:00 p.m., NBC) focuses on the murder of a lonely hearts club director, and as we might expect, not everything here is what it seems. A trio of late-night movies round out the week, beginning with Audrey Hepburn's Oscar-nominated turn in The Nun's Story (11:25, WTIC), the story of a nun serving in the Congo; Barabbas (11:30 p.m., WPRI), with Anthony Quinn portraying the criminal who was released instead of Christ; and Jezebel (11:50 p.m., WHDH), with Bette Davis winning an Oscar for her performance as a "Dixie vixen," and Henry Fonda as one of her victims.

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We haven't looked at a recipe for awhile, and this week we're supposed to be looking at "delicious desserts" to top off a hearty Italian meal. Now, I have never, in my life, heard of serving lasagna as a dessert, have you? Maybe that's what they do in Italy, but I've always known it as a main dish. Regardless, here's a great recipe:

Gotta admit, it sounds great no matter when you eat it. 

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MST3K alert: Viking Women and the Sea Serpent (1954) Viking women who have set sail in search of their men are caught in a vortex, washed ashore and captured. Abbie Dalton, Susan Cabot. (Friday, 1:15 a.m., WTEV in New Bedford) In a week that offers an embarrassment of riches, or perhaps just embarrassments (It Conquered the World, War of the Colossa Beast and its sequal, The Amazing Colossal Man, and The Eye Creatures), we'll look at this Roger Corman-directed movie starring Abbie Dalton, before she moved on to better things as Joey Bishop's TV wife and one of the original Hollywood Squares. Enjoy!  TV

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