What's on TV? Monday, December 1, 1975

Something I didn't mention on Monday amongst the various changes to the daytime schedule is that NBC's Wheel of Fortune is expanding to one hour, joining The Price is Right as the only hour-long game shows on television. Before too many years, there won't be any half-hour dramas left, and not that many years later there won't be any game shows at all, except for Price. Networks don't show reruns of their primetime series anymore; for that matter, save the morning shows, there's not a whole lot of network programming at all during the day. I wonder how long it will be before we see this happening in the primetime schedule as well? Ah well, this week's listing is from the Eastern New England edition.

This week in TV Guide: November 29, 1975

Ahe objective of the 'scandalous revelations' filling the airwaves and news columns ought to be reform, but ‘thus far have brought little but cynicism and disillusion.'"

Talking about Fox, perhaps, or maybe MSNBC or CNN (or late night talk show hosts)? Think again. It’s Pat Buchanan, quoting U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright, in November 1975. In this week's issue, we have two stories that tell us much about the evolution of the media’s role in news coverage, and reminds us that nothing really is new.

The first is Pat Buchanan’s News Watch column, the source of the initial quote. Buchanan is talking about the change in media coverage since Watergate, a change that has brought on an "excessively mistrustful and even hostile" atmosphere. This isn't a referendum on Watergate, which remains shrouded in mystery more than fifty years later (Corrupt politicans? A psyop operation by the Deep State?), but it is a searching look at something more, at the natural evolution of such an atmosphere, asking "what will be the ultimate impact upon the democratic system, which itself guarantees freedom of the press?"

The problem, according to Buchanan, is that the media now has a vested interest in scandal: for ratings, for dollars, for prestige. (Little-remembered fact: NBC’s Huntley-Brinkley Report was once presented without commercial interruption, in order to eliminate potential conflicts of interest and signify that the news division was not driven by profit margin.) What happens when that self-interest conflicts with a larger interest—the national interest, for example? Granting that the exact nature of the national interest is often a subject up for debate, Buchanan nevertheless points to the "declining confidence in leaders and institutions" and speculates on the ultimate consequence this will have for the nation.

Buchanan again quotes Fulbright (a Democrat, by the way, and never a natural ally of Pat's), who had recently authored the article "Fulbright on the Press" in the Columbia Journalism Review: "That Puritian self-righteousness which is never far below the surface of American life has broken through the frail barriers of civility and restraint, and the press has been in the vanguard of the new aggressiveness."

What has changed is not the nature nor the inclination of those in the media to go after their subjects with every weapon at their disposal. What is new now is the very definition of media, which in this sense has come to include every blog, every web page, every podcast, every social media account on X, Facebook, and Instagram; in short, everyone with an opinion, which is just about everyone. As new types of media and new modes of communication have come about, this instinct of which Fulbright speaks has become more invasive, more insidious. Indeed, isn’t this what some here have spoken about, the increasing incivility of the internet? Well, looking at this issue is like seeing the seeds of that harvest being planted.

A lot of people fall back on the "freedom of speech" argument, defending their right to say what they want, whenever they want. And this is not an argument that should be taken lightly, because it's a slippery slope at best. But Fulbright contends that the social contract requires "a measure of voluntary restraint, an implicit agreement among the major groups and interests in our society that none will apply their powers to the fullest." A measure of responsibility, in other words, which is a commodity that is in short supply nowadays.

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Now, I mention this not merely because of Pat Buchanan’s words, but because of the echo which the subject matter receives in another article from this issue, Edwin Newman’s "People are Generally Skeptical of Us…and Indeed They Should Be." Newman shares the concern with the increasing intrusiveness of the media. Asked what was wrong with endless investigation and revelation of public figures by the media, Newman replied, "It degrades public life. If purity tests are to become an accepted part of American life before anybody can go into politics, politics is going to be intolerable. It’s very nearly intolerable now.”

Remember, he said this fifty years ago.

As for "advocacy journalism," which was very much in vogue following Watergate (and remains so today—how many young people get into journalism to "make a difference"?), Newman remains wary: "Advocacy journalism, so-called, cheats the public, which is entitled to make up its own mind." In other words, as Fox News used to say (but no longer does, if they ever did), "We report, you decide." Whether you think they've ever been accurate with that promise, you have to appreciate the perceptiveness of the marketing gurus who developed that slogan.

Newman adds, "Anybody in our business should avoid taking on false importance. We should certainly not pretend to be infallible." Now that’s a novel idea today.

Newman also sounds a cautionary note on something which Buchanan alludes to, the amount of faith (or lack thereof) that people put in their leaders. Buchanan quotes Fulbright: "Bitter disillusionment with our leaders is the other side of the coin of worshiping them." Picking up on that thread (although the two articles are not connected), Newman says that such idolatry "leads to all kinds of lunatic expectations about what can be accomplished by politicians and so leads to irrational and disproportionate disappointment…it misleads Presidents about Presidents, so that they are tempted to do foolish things. And I think the press contributes to this for reasons of its own."

This is a warning we should carefully consider. There’s a pronounced tendency nowadays to put an inordinate amount of faith in human institutions, or perhaps I should say the humans who occupy such institutions—government, medical, legal, religious, scientific, educational—which always seems to wind up badly. We create institutions, we tear them down, we rebuild them again. It keeps everyone busy, I suppose.

In many ways, the sins of the Sixties culture were starting to be felt in the Seventies, and would continue to be felt in subsequent decades. So one can see, as far back as 1975, a growing concern with cynicism in society, a disregard for institutions, and a press displaying an “anything for a story” attitude. Again, there’s nothing new here, as it was not new then. But as communication expanded beyond the newspaper to radio, beyond radio to television, and beyond broadcast television to cable and satellite; as letters gave way to email and the internet, and as information once taking hours or days to transmit is now given instant analysis and parsing through social media, so also the consequences of such concerns are magnified, enlarged, and become even more troublesome.

There really isn’t anything new out there, only new ways of expressing it. And, it seems, new ways of ignoring old truths and concerns.

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On weeks when we can, we'll match up two of the biggest rock shows of the era, NBC's The Midnight Special and the syndicated Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, and see who's better, who's best.

Kirshner: Melissa Manchester, New Riders of the Purple Sage, and Hoyt Axton are the performers. Don Kirshner is the host of the series.

Special: Olivia Newton-John, the Bee Gees, soul-pop singer Natalie Cole (the late Nat King Cole's daughter) and country singer Mickey Gilley are the guests. Also: a salute to Rod Stewart. Neil Diamond's "I Am...I Said" is the spotlighted hit. 

Now, I figure you all know who Natalie Cole is, but I left that reference in because, in 1975, she wasn't the established name she is today. Back then, she was just Nat King Cole's daughter. I've never been a particular fan of hers; I don't want to accuse her of being a nepo baby, but I do wonder, if her name was Natalie Smith, how big a career she might have had. Nonetheless, she's part of the winning side this week, as the salute to Rod Stewart breaks a tie between a lackluster matchup. So let's give the nod to Special, but don't exert any more energy than that.

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And now for something more lighthearted, an article about our longtime favorite, game show standard Kitty Carlisle, written by Peter Funt, son of the legendary TV host Allen Funt. (If you're old enough to remember Candid Camera, you'll know who we mean.) "The only way to see Kitty Carlisle in the same dress twice," the article proclaims, "is to watch reruns of To Tell the Truth." Funt's story is a charming portrait of an entertainer who takes her job seriously, as well as her responsibility to her fans, and radiates class all the way. "She is one actress who still refuses to appear in public without beautiful clothes, ornate jewelry and a carefully styled coiffure." Particularly humorous is her description of her "pit crew," the wardrobe people responsible for helping her change in the ten minutes between shows (the five-a-week show was taped in a single afternoon). "Every once in a while, I feel like I'm a car in the pits at Indianapolis. Somebody changes the oil, kicks the tires—you know, pats the hair and shoves me back out on the stage."

She was a fun, classy lady, and an intelligent game player.

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On Saturday, NBC preempts Saturday Night Live for college basketball, and we're not talking about any old game, but one of the biggest regular-season games in many years, as defending national champion UCLA takes on undefeated, top-ranked Indiana at the supposedly neutral site of St. Louis (which in reality is swarming with Hoosier fans cheering their team on). Note the starting time of 11:30 p.m. ET, totally out of prime time. At this point, television hadn't quite figured out primetime sports yet, and although everyone realized how big this game was, they still thought it might be a drag on ratings, which is why it has such a strange time spot. (The game is live, of course, which means tip-off is 10:30 p.m. local time in St. Louis.) The game of the season winds up being no contest at all; Indiana crushes UCLA 84-64, and it wasn't even that close; it's a big win for the Hoosiers on the way to an undefeated season and the national championship; they are, to date, the last undefeated national champion, and unquestionably one of the greatest teams of all time.

Ronald Reagan, former governor of California, who's challenging President Ford for the Republican presidential nomination, is the guest on Issues and Answers (Sunday, 1:30 p.m., ABC). The politicos still aren't quite sure what to make of Reagan's candidacy, and whether he poses a serious threat to Ford; they'll find out the answer soon enough. That night, the Sunday Mystery Movie presents  Tony Curtis as McCoy. (9:00 p.m., NBC). Does anyone out there still recall that series, McCoy?  It was part of NBC's Sunday Mystery Movie series, alternating with McCloud, McMillan & Wife, and Columbo, and people had a lot of fun with three Macs in the series. I thought it was kind of fun, myself, as Curtis plays a con man/Robin Hood-type, not dissimilar to the early '60s series The Rogues, but it only lasted for a few episodes before falling away.  NBC never was able to fill that fourth spot; I suppose Quincy would be considered the most successful, since it was spun off into its own weekly series. Richard Boone's Hec Ramsey actually ran for two seasons in the Sunday spot, which wasn't too bad.

There's a big shake-up in the soap opera world this week, as the venerable As the World Turns expands to an hour (1:30 p.m., CBS), and All in the Family becomes part of the network's daytime lineup, with repeat episodes (beginning today with the series premiere) running Monday through Friday at 3:00 p.m. Meanwhile, ABC welcomes The Edge of Night to its schedule after a 19-year run on CBS with a special 90-minute episode (3:00 p.m.); the serial returns to its regular 30-minute format tomorrow. We've got dueling evangelists on Monday night; Billy Graham's third program from Lubbock, Texas airs at 8:00 p.m. on WSBK in Boston; then, at 10:00 p.m. on WPRI in Providence, Oral Roberts, Kathryn Kuhlman, and Rex Humbard join forces for a special Bicentennial salute to America, with Pat Boone, Connie Smith, and Senator Mark Hatfield.

On Tuesday, we're treated to the first of two primetime appearances by Richard Basehart, tonight on Joe Forrester (10:00 p.m., NBC), the short-lived cop drama starring Lloyd Bridges as the world's oldest beat cop. (Or maybe I should say "one of the oldest," given that I haven't seen them all.) I'm not sure who "Al Morgan," Basehart's character in the drama, is, but take your pick: he's either a slippery drug pusher, a persistent drunk, or a particularly menacing shakedown artist. And you know what? He could probably play any of them credibly.

Wednesday, Hallmark Hall of Fame returns with "Valley Forge," Maxwell Anderson's dramatization of the cruel winter of 1777-78 spent by George Washington and his troops at their Pennsylvania encampment. (8:00 p.m,. NBC) Cold, without sufficient food or water, and facing the formidable British forces of General William Howe, Washington must struggle to hold his "shambles of an army" against almost insurmountable odds. This time, Richard Basehart stars as Washington, and it's a testament to the power and brilliance of his performance that the 5'9" Basehart is able to present such a convincing portrait of the 6'3" Washington, but as you watch it, you will believe that he is the Commander in Chief. (Insert obligatory slam at today's Hallmark movies here.)

Thursday sees the debut of a pair of new sitcoms on NBC, beginning at 8:00 p.m. with Grady, the Sanford & Son spinoff, with Whitman Mayo reprising his role as Fred's goodhearted buddy, now living in Santa Monica with his daughter, son-in-law, and two grandkids. That's followed at 8:30 p.m. by The Cop and the Kid, a formulaic comedy with Charles Durning as a single, middle-aged white cop who somehow gains the custody of a streetwise black orphan. You might remember Grady, given that its lead character was familiar from a previous show, and it's been released on DVD. The Cop and the Kid, however, is more of a challenge, and rightly so; that's one of those shows where you truly wonder about how it got the green light. It did run for 13 episodes, though, so there's that.

And in the oldie-but-goody category, there's a repeat showing of Sean Connery's debut as James Bond in Dr. No (Friday, 9:00 p.m., ABC). Besides the fact that it co-stars Ursula Andress and features an entirely credible titular villain, played by Joseph Wiseman, it has a savage edge to it that most of the later movies lack. It's not exactly seasonal fare, but then is Bond ever really out of season? Judith Crist calls it "strictly a popcorn-and-Coke Saturday-afternoon-serial entertainment," which isn't really as bad as it sounds, and Connery, "the unsurpassable Bondsman, is elegant and high-living and dashing." However, if you've already seen it, you might be more inclined to the three-hour presentation of Tora, Tora, Tora (8:00 p.m., CBS), the story of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Crist says it recounts, "in boring fashion how lazy, dumb Americans practically brought Pearl Harbor down on their own heads despite the best efforts of those brilliant gentlemen from Japan." Ouch, that stings!

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I couldn't ignore this oddity from the week's movie listings, one of those things that maybe (probably) interests only me. On Thursday, WFSB in Hartford presents The Quiller Memorandum (9:00 p.m.), the 1966 spy thriller based on the novel by Adam Hall (pen name of Elleston Trevor), starring George Segal, Alec Guinness, Max von Sydow, and Senta Berger. It's a pretty good movie, as these movies go, and Segal turns in a fairly convincing performance as a cynical American intelligence agent investigating a group of neo-Nazis. 

All right, you say, it may be a pretty good movie, but so what? Well, it so happens that some time later, in 1975, a series based on the Quiller character—called, logically enough, Quiller—hit the British airwaves, starring the very good Michael Jayston* as Quiller, who has now become a British agent. A movie, comprised of episodes from the series, was released in the same year, called Quiller: Price of Violence. And, of course, this movie happens to air this week as well, on Wednesday (12:30 a.m., ABC) 

*Jayston would later co-star with Guinness in the brilliant miniseries Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, a spy series set in a similar era, based on the novel by John le Carré. I guess it's a small spy world after all.

I don't know how unusual something like this is; there's obvious coordination between stations in showing these on consecutive nights. But I always enjoy running across these kinds of coincidences in TV Guide.

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Now that Thanksgiving is beyond us, we are, of course, in the thick of the Christmas programming season (as it was still called back then), and the season explodes into view on Wednesday, with CBS's double feature of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (8:00 p.m.) and Bing Crosby's annual Yuletide clambake, Merry Christmas, Fred, From the Crosbys (9:00 p.m.), reuniting Bing with his old Holiday Inn co-star, Fred Astaire. And if you want a second helping of Bing, don't miss White Christmas, with Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen, Thursday at 9:00 p.m. on WJAR in Providence. Finally, on Friday, ABC has a double feature of its own, an animated twin bill beginning with Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus (8:00 p.m.), narrated by Jim Backus, and A Very Merry Cricket (8:30 p.m.), written and directed by Chuck Jones.

I'm a little surprised that there aren't even more on this week; nowadays, the Hallmark movies start, I don't know, a little after the Fourth of July, and Rudolph usually airs in November. And after all, Friday's already December 5, so time's slipping away! You can bet they've been running the commercials, though—those likely started before Halloween... TV

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Around the dial

Well, here we are on Black Friday, and hopefully, everyone had a thankful Thanksgiving and took at least a few minutes to reflect on the true meaning of the day. It really does represent a whole lot more than just the first cog in the Christmas machine, and we can probably come up with a great many reasons to be thankful, if we just shut out the noise and think about it for a bit. Having said all that, I'm now prepared to add some noise of my own to the general din of the day.  

Mavis Movie Madness commemorates Thanksgiving with a look at A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, one of the lesser Peanuts efforts, as Paul correctly describes it. I know that people like to think of this as a classic, usually packaging it with The Great Pumpkin and A Charlie Brown Christmas, but while there are some good moments, it doesn't add up; never have you had a greater desire to shout, "Where are the adults?"

How many of you remember the sitcom Fay? It was a vehicle for Lee Grant, and ran for ten episodes in the 1975-76 season. At Television Obscurities, Robert shares the video of the fall preview of the series. Does it give us any clues as to the failure of Fay? 

Was there ever an episode of The A-Team that didn't tick all the boxes on the show's signature formula? Well, at The View from the Junkyard Roger reviews "It's a Desert Out There," in which a couple of tweaks to the formula provide a surprising episode.  

At Cult TV Blog, John continues his fascinating series on whether or not The Prisoner could refer to Soviet Russia, with the episodes "Checkmate" and "Hammer into Anvil," and while they may not fit John's thesis, they still make for a couple of fascinating episodes.

Now, as a kid I happen to remember the big screen version of The Flintsones, the spy spoof The Man Called Flintstone. Did we stand in line at the theater, waiting to get in along with a bunch of other kids? Perhaps. I hadn't thought about it for awhile until Captain Video came up with the comic book adaptation of the movie. Whaddya think? Does it still hold up after all these years?

At Eventually Supertrain, I'm back with Dan to talk about Garrison's Gorillas; there's also the continuing saga of Ghosted, and a mystery show! Like Dan, I'm not telling you about it: you'll have to check it out for yourself and see!

Finally, I'm back on Ed Robertson's great TV Confidential podcast to discuss Darkness in Primetime. (Part two is here). Hopefully, I live up to the high standards of Ed's other guests; that's part of what makes it a fascinating show.

Speaking of which: have you started your Christmas shopping yet? TV

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Let's give thanks for Thanksgiving!

It's been said that in New York, people refer to it as the "Macy's Day Parade," such is the identification the parade has with Thanksgiving. There are other, and older, Thanksgiving parades; Detroit, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Houston come to mind. And, if you ask me, the telecast of the Macy's parade has suffered over the years; the floats and bands and balloons almost seem to take second place to the pop stars and dancers lip-synching their way through Herald Square. If I wanted to torture myself that way, I'd watch the Grammys. (I don't know if MTV has music anymore, but if it does. . .) I seldom flip over to the Macy's parade anymore; I rely on the streaming coverage of the parades in Detroit and Chicago, and p.

But I come here not to bury the Macy's parade, but to praise it. No matter how bad the coverage may be (and whether you watch it on NBC or CBS, it's equally bad), I still have to catch a few minutes of it while flipping back and forth between the other parades. And when you strip away all that's annoying, it's still magically colorful. (Probably the best way to see it is to go to New York and view it from a point where the pop stars aren't warbling.) Take a trip through the years with the ads below, most of which have a prominent mention of the television coverage.

There was no TV for the first parade, though. I wonder if anyone thought it would last.

No parade was held between 1942 and 1944 due to the war. I'm guessing this might have been from the first year without the parade; having the balloons enlist is a clever way to make the point that everyone needs to sacrifice for the war effort.

The 1946 parade was not only the first to be televised, it was also the parade that appears in the greatest Christmas movie of all time, Miracle on 34th Street. Edmund Gwynn, who plays Santa in the movie (and won an Academy Award for it), was in fact the Santa in the Macy's parade that year. 

This ad for the 1954 parade is just fun, don't you think? It sums up the magic of Thanksgiving and Christmas all in one. You can see that, since the 1946 broadcast, television has now become an integral part of the company's advertising strategy.

The 1963 parade went on as scheduled, even thought it was six days after the assassination of President Kennedy, and the day after Lyndon Johnson's speech to a somber joint session of Congress. The rationale was to try and keep the day as normal as possible for children. All of the floats were adorned with black mourning streamers.

McDonald's was a sponsor of the telecast in 1965; it looks kind of like kids were supposed to color this in, doesn't it? And take a look at the vintage version of the Golden Arches at the bottom. Remember when all McDonald's looked that way?

An ad for the 1968 parade, from WRGB-TV in Albany, New York.

The 1982 parade; Bullwinkle is in the parade for the 22nd time, despite the fact that Rocky and Bullwinkle haven't been on network TV since 1964. The years may change, but the characters stay the same.

Garfield the cat appeared for the first time in the 1984 parade, as did Raggedy Ann, at least this incarnation. As the small print says, be sure to "See it live or on NBC-TV.!

Here's the poster for the 2019 parade. It's filled with the iconic images from history; the Tom Turkey float (which from that angle inspires thoughts of the NBC Peacock—coincidence?), the elves, and, of course, Santa. And speaking of iconic, there's Snoopy in his space suit, throwing back to the famous image of him that became so popular around the 1969 moon landing. And notice the things you didn't see on the other posters: the web address and hashtag. 

Even though I complain about them, the parades are one of my favorite things about Thanksgiving. Thanks to those miracles of technology, you can see the Macy's parade, as well as those in other cities, via streaming video (in the case of Macy's, the cameras from other locations probably make for a better viewing experience). Whatever, wherever, and however you watch, I hope it lends to the pleasure of your day, and that you all have a peaceful and most thankful Thanksgiving Day! TV

If you enjoy the content here and want to support my broader creative work, please consider making a donation at my Ko-fi page. Any amount you contribute helps me continue writing, researching, and sharing these articles and projects, and I'd be so thankful! Thank you!

What's on TV? Thursday, November 24, 1955

After the Saturday summary, there isn't really much more to say about this Thanksgiving Day 1955, but I will notice that 11:25 p.m. program on WPTZ, Harry K. Smith—Comment. Now, I'm just guessing here, mind you, but don't you think that has to be Howard K. Smith giving commentary? And I've never, ever heard anyone call him Harry. I don't know, he just doesn't seem like the Harry type; I'd think even his wife called him Howard. But then, had I known him, I'd probably have referred to him as "Mr. Smith." I do know this, though, that this week's listings are from Philadelphia.