Farewell, CBS Radio

Back again for another go is our old friend Bill Griffiths, with another of his wonderful guest essays. This time out, he's looking back on the end of an era: the demise of CBS Radio News. Here's Bill! 

by Bill Griffiths

This guest essay will divert a bit from the usual discussions of classic television and TV Guide.  

The National Broadcasting Company began radio operations on November 15, 1926.  A secondary NBC service known as the Blue Network was launched January 1, 1927.  In the early 1940’s, the Federal Communications Commission forced NBC to divest itself of one of its networks.  This ultimately resulted in the 1943 sale of Blue to Edward J. Noble, chairman of the Live Savers Candy Company.  Noble renamed the Blue Network to the American Broadcasting Company in 1945. On October 29, 1934 the Mutual Broadcasting System was incorporated. This was a cooperative service with affiliated stations producing and sharing programming. 

However, the network that would become NBC’s most significant rival in operations and programming began on January 27, 1927. First known as United Independent Broadcasters, this financially struggling network soon received a significant investment from the Columbia Phonograph Company and would change its name to the Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System on September 18th of that same year.  In 1928, the name was again modified to the Columbia Broadcasting System. During the 1930’s and 1940’s, CBS—or “Columbia” as it was commonly referred to on-air—would continue to increase its number of affiliates. The quality of entertainment programming would improve. But where CBS would especially distinguish itself from the competition was in News, having launched its own division in 1934. 

Soon broadcast history will once again be made and will be one of regret. On May 22, 2026, CBS News Radio, better known as the CBS Radio Network, will cease to exist on about 700 stations. Given the continually evolving nature of media and resulting news consumption, this decision was inevitable. How many younger people listen to traditional radio, let alone watch traditional television? I admit that, on occasion, if I am in my car and the top of the hour comes around, I’ll tune in the local CBS affiliate mainly for the nostalgic reason of hearing the classic top-of-the-hour CBS Bong and familiar five-note sounder. 

The time tone dates back decades and has been a huge, if underappreciated, part of CBS history. Even while strongly identified with radio, it was heard at the start of the hour on television before being dropped sometime in the 1980’s due to advanced automation. From 1962 to 2009, CBS Radio also utilized a series of “chirp” cues as part of the Net ALERT system. For example, one chirp preceded the start of programs and as a signal if stations wanted to cut away from the network for a commercial break. Three “chirps” (later seven) signaled a closed-circuit feed only for the benefit of affiliates, nine “chirps” indicated an incoming bulletin, and ultimately, fifteen “chirps” were to be used in the event of a national emergency.  

The main news sounder itself was introduced in 1968 and by my count has been updated only four times. Other variations of the sounder were created for Sports, Public Affairs and Lifestyle reports, all since retired.  There was even a vocalization of the sounder: “C-B-S- RA-DIO”. For their part, the other major radio networks—NBC, ABC and Mutual—all used distinctive cues and themes. Who else remembers Mutual’s prominent “BEE-DOOP”? Or ABC’s different sounders when its audio offerings were restructured on January 1, 1968 into four specialized services: Information, Contemporary, Entertainment and FM? Many mornings during the 1980’s I listened to Howard Cosell’s Speaking of Sports commentary that opened and closed with the unique ABC Contemporary music. 

The ABC and CBS Radio themes have something in common: they were composed by Eric Siday and his company, Identitones. Siday pioneered the use of “electroacoustic music” in television and radio IDs. He also collaborated with Robert Moog in developing the Moog Synthesizer. Among Siday’s recognized works are the Maxwell House percolating coffee pot commercials, the 1965 CBS “In Color” bumper, the 1965-74 Screen Gems closing logo (affectionally known to aficionados as the “S from Hell”), late 1960s identifications for National Educational Television, a brief five-note jingle used in ABC television promos and IDs from the mid 1960’s through the early 1970’s and many more. Such treasured audio cues have been preserved on YouTube, Internet Archive, and other websites.

The demise of CBS Radio is a sad occasion. Ninety-nine years is a good run, yet I doubt its passing will be widely missed. Sure, some in the media community are in mourning; quite a few have expressed their anger at CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss. Yet some reports have indicated she wanted the radio division to continue, but was overruled by upper management. Regardless, the newscasts themselves are little more than headlines with any accompanying reports lasting mere seconds. It’s a considerable decline from when news radio served as the primary source for keeping people “up to the minute” on breaking news events. When journalists and pundits criticize the state of CBS News and how it isn’t up to the stature of the days of Edward R. Murrow or Walter Cronkite, it rings hollow. That era faded away a long time ago.  

An argument could be made that the beginning of the end occurred during the 1960s and 1970s, with the transition from offering a full schedule of programming to primarily delivering newscasts and informative features; a major exception was The CBS Radio Mystery Theater, which enjoyed a successful run from January 1974 to December 1982.  Perhaps it was the decision to begin selling off individual stations in the early 2000’s, mirroring what happened with NBC Radio O&O’s in the late 1980’s. 

We can also point to the November 2017 merger of CBS Radio with Intercom Communications Corporation, which rebranded on March 30, 2021 as Audacy Inc.  Then, New York’s WCBS 880AM ended its 57-year all-news format on August 26, 2024, becoming WHSQ and programming ESPN sports talk. Most recently, the CBS World News Roundup Late Edition (formally The World Tonight) and the CBS News Weekend Roundup were quietly discontinued at the end of 2025. One more indication would be the lack of actual commercial sponsorships being replaced by promos for CBS-related podcasts and television shows.  

The end of CBS Radio effectively brings the cancellation of the longest-running audio newscast: The CBS World News Roundup. Aired as a one-time special on Sunday, March 13, 1938, listeners were updated on deteriorating conditions in Europe as the continent headed towards war. Anchored by Robert Trout, a segment live from Vienna, Austria (which had been annexed by Nazi Germany the day before) marked the first time Murrow was heard on-air. The program was deemed a major success and soon other Roundup specials were being scheduled. Eventually, it would evolve into the daily The World Today and, ultimately, World News Roundup. 

Other names associated with morning and evening Roundup broadcasts through the years include John Charles Daly (who first announced the attack on Pearl Harbor at the beginning of the December 7, 1941 edition), Douglas Edwards (in my view one of the GREAT anchors of any news program), Dallas Townsend, Reid Collins, Bill Lynch, Christopher Glenn (whose distinctive voice contributed memorably to In The News segments on Saturday morning TV during the 1970’s and 1980’s), Nick Young, Bill Whitney, Dave Barrett, Pam Coulter, Peter King, Jennifer Keiper, and Steve Kathan. Whereas the Roundup was once as long as a half-hour, in its final iteration only runs for ten minutes. Many CBS affiliates carry only a portion of it.  Most do not air it at all. 

Now this essay is by no means an exhaustive tribute to the entire history of the CBS Radio Network and its countless classic shows and personalities. Other books and websites can serve that purpose.  But it is important to acknowledge its final sign-off and offer some reflection.  Over time all of us certainly listened to CBS Radio either on a regular basis or in passing.  Hopefully there will be a special broadcast similar to what was done in 1977 and again in 2017.  But more likely not much will be said. But here is an idea. When that last newscast concludes on May 22nd, these words should be the last spoken:

This WAS the CBS Radio Network.  

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Many thanks as always, Bill. This one really strikes a chord with me; not only do I have many of those same memories of the CBS radio tones, I get great pleasure out of listening to those hours of YouTube airchecks from CBS News coverage of major events. I've made the point that radio, in some ways, is even more intimate than television, and the coverage of a breaking news story can be one of those ways. So thanks to Bill, and thanks to CBS for the memories! TV

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What's on TV? Tuesday, May 14, 1968

You'll notice plenty of coverage of the Nebraska Primary tonight; NBC plans updates during the movie, and all three networks have specials scheduled following the late local news. Bobby Kennedy, fresh off his win in Indiana, needed a victory to continue his momentum. Eugene McCarthy, the glow fading from his challenge to LBJ, mobilized hundreds of volunteers to help in the cause. Meanwhile Hubert Humphrey, electing to pass up the primaries, lurked in the shadows. Kennedy scores a decisive 52-31 victory over Clean Gene, setting up a confrontation in Oregon, followed by June's winner-take-all primary in California. But that's another story. The listings are from Northern California. 

This week in TV Guide: May 11, 1968

Let's start the week with a couple of related articles on what we can expect to see on the tube this summer, and what we may or may not be seeing this fall.

There is a general sense out there that this summer may well have some television goodies in store, including a surprising number of new shows. The biggest, however, "the Most Gigantic Spectacular Three-Ring Show on Earth," is one that comes along every four years: the campaign for the Presidency of the United States—or, as it's known these days, the Baatan Death March. That wasn't always the case, though; if people weren't exactly looking forward to the presidential campaign, they did concede that it was a colorful, exciting, and often dramatic time, from the primaries through the nominating conventions to the home stretch, ending on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. This year promises to have more uncertainty than usual, although I don't think anyone was prepared for the amount and kind of uncertainty that we wound up with.

British cloak-and-dagger adventure stories are on hand, including Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner, which replaces Jackie Gleason on CBS, plus Man in a Suitcase on ABC and The Champions on NBC. Red Skelton's CBS variety show will be replaced for the summer by Showtime, a revue show out of London, while NET Playhouse will offer Thirteen Against Fate, a 13-week series of British dramas based on novels by George Simenon. We'll have American-made shows as well, with Dom DeLuise filling in for Jonathan Winters and Glen Campbell taking the place of the Smothers Brothers, and the Golddiggers getting an hour-long show of their own to replace their mentor, Dean Martin. 

If you're more in the mood for fun and games, all three of ABC's prime-time game shows, The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and Dream House will have first-run episodes. ABC's also cornered the market on major golf tournaments, with the U.S. Open in June, the British Open and the PGA Championship in July, and the U.S. Amateur in August. You can also get your fill of summer football, with the Coaches' All-America Game in June, and the College All-Stars taking on the Green Bay Packers in August. On a more serious note, documentaries will be in short supply, according to the editors, although we'd be overwhelmed by the numbers that the article cites, including ABC's look at Christian missionaries, CBS's three-part series on "The Cities," and a seven-part prime-time series called On Black America. NBC follows up with a Huntley-Brinkley special on "Whatever Happened to the British Empire," plus reports on the Catholic Church and the art world. 

One thing you won't be seeing more of, reports Richard K. Doan, is original drama, to the regret of CBS. To great acclaim, the network introduced an irregular presentation of taped original dramas under the umbrella title of CBS Playhouse, which I continue to consider a reboot of Playhouse 90. The four dramas presented so far have met with mostly promising reviews, and respectable if not sensational ratings; the season's final installment, Tad Mosel's "Secrets," will be aired this Wednesday at 9:30 p.m., with Arthur Hill and Barbara Bel Geddes. The network promises at least four more next season. 

Unfortunately, this hasn't caused a rush of copycat programs. NBC, of course, has its venerable Hallmark Hall of Fame (which in those days really was good), but most of their presentations are "warmed-over classics," though we might see one original this year. The network also boasts the upcoming On Stage series, sponsored by Prudential, which promises five specials, varying between an hour and 90 minutes in length. "They will be based on original scripts with contemporary themes; only time will tell whether they have more serious theatrical intent than, say 'Fame Is the Name of the Game.'" And that, as they say, is it. 

If Shakespeare wrote for TV, would people watch?

Why the lack of such prestige drama? Well, for one thing, the public doesn't seem to be interested in it; "Hundreds of CBS Playhouse viewers have cried 'More! More!' But they are not an overpowering voice. (Far greater numbers, for example, cried 'More!' for Star Trek.) With the increase in made-for-television movies, the original dramatic play doesn't stand out the way it once would have; many viewers, in fact, don't even notice the difference between the two and are perfectly content to view "Death of a Salesman" and "Dial 'M' for Murder" as movies. 

Good scripts are also hard to come by; CBS's chief programmer Mike Dann complains that sponsors haven't been able to find good scripts for proposed dramas. This, however, is not a universally accepted argument; some of the great playwrights of the Golden Age, such as Reginald Rose, Ernest Kinoy and Paddy Chayefsky, argue that "if the medium provided again the kind of wide-open market it once did for teleplays, the writers would produce them." Chayefsky complains that the networks shy away from anything that has the whiff of controversy, but Barbara Schultz, who oversees Playhouse for the network, says they'd jump at something controversial, "if it's a play." 

These shows aren't exactly cheap to air, either. GT&E paid $525,000 for the Playhouse presentation "Dear Friends"; that air time is normally worth $160,000 per hour, but after the production costs, the net for the network was a mere $75,000. The dramas also tend to be on the dark side; while Dann says that he'd "love" something from Buck Henry or Neil Simon, most of the best writers are looking to make a serious statement with their work. (Those intense dramas don't always pay off, though, as is show in this reap of NBC's "Flesh and Blood" from earlier in 1968.)

So what are we left with? Well, there will be a CBS Playhouse this coming season, and Dann insists it will continue even if it doesn't introduce a new Golden Age. But, as Doan reminds us all, "These are no days in TV for shows that don’t pay their way."

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Throughout the 60s and early 70s, TV Guide's weekly reviews were written by the witty and acerbic Cleveland Amory. Whenever we get the chance, we'll look at Cleve's latest take on the shows of the era.

It's "Second Thoughts" week, where your favorite critic and mine takes another look at reviews and comments from earlier in the year. And leading off is his Unaward of the Year, "familiarly known as the Enemy," which goes to NBC for its cancellation of I Spy, with an honorable mention to the network for halting Ben Gazzara's Run for Your Life. Of I Spy, he says, "Not only has this show been—in acting, in dialog and in scenery—the best one on the air for three years, it is still, for literally millions of people, their No. 1 favorite show." And while Run for Your Life "wasn't always great, it was usually at least good." 

He heaps praise on CBS's aforementioned revival of Playhouse, minus the "90" that used to accompany it. All three of its presentations, especially "My Father and My Mother" with Gene Hackman, were "television landmarks." It was, and should continue to be, "great television." He also has high praise for ABC's evening-long documentary Africa, and the special "How Life Begins." And then there was "The Now Generation," which was nothing more than an interview with Mia Farrow, conducted by her Peyton Place costar, Ryan O'Neal. It was "on the surface charmingly natural and light but underneath made a forceful statement for all of today's youth." He particularly recalls one memorable exchange when O'Neal asks Farrow, "Are you excited about now?" She replies, "Sure, all those things that you wanted to do as a child—living as you please, doing what you please, liking whom you please, loving whom you please—it’s all accepted now." It is, indeed, as good a summary of the Sixties as you can get, for better and worse. 

Lest one think that Amory's got a thing for ABC, though, he saves his greatest vitriol, as always, for The American Sportsman. This show has been a perennial thorn it the side of the animal-rights activist Amory, and he speaks dismissively of the irony of Governor John Connally of Texas, survivor of the Kennedy assassination, talking about the hunting merits of "the eye shot" or "the brain shot." As well, there are the weekly appearances of "endless celebrity has-beens attempting to prove his virility." Cleve concludes the column, and his reviews for the year, by urging readers to continue to write letters of protest to the network. Their responses "are as offensive as ever—but now they are also defensive."

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Speaking of Run for Your Life as we were above, Richard K. Doan says that the network's decision to cancel the series after three seasons was not without some controversy. We, and by that I mean those of us living in today's world, have become so accustomed to "final episodes" of even marginal series, that it might seem unthinkable that Run for Your Life would end without resolving terminally ill Paul Bryan's situation. Bryan, the character portrayed by Ben Gazzara, was, you'll remember, presented to us as a man with an incurable disease, who had only a couple of years to live. And NBC wanted, very much, to have Universal Studios, the production company, wrap up the series with a two-hour climax in which Bryan would either be cured of his illness, or die. 

The studio, however, declined, "insisting this would hurt syndication of the series." Now, this was an argument that unfolded in reverse with The Fugitive, where the same arguments were made—that resolving Dr. Richard Kimble's own run for his life would hurt the show in syndicated reruns—but the final episode pressed on anyway, with record-breaking ratings. NBC made that very point with Universal, to no avail.

Now, this is an interesting argument, this idea that viewers are incapable of watching a series if they know how the premise concludes--essentially, that they can't appreciate a given episode without regarding it as anything more than a piece of the whole. Let's run with that for a minute (pardon the pun). Would you lose interest in watching an episode of Cheers because you already know Sam won't wind up with Diane? If you were a fan of Newhart, is your pleasure of seeing Larry, Darryl and Darryl diminished because they all turned out to be part of a dream? Somehow, I have a hard time believing fans would feel that way. 

On the flip side, there are series like Dexter, How I Met Your Mother, and St. Elsewhere, where the final episodes were considered by many to be less than satisfactory. If you're one of the viewers left with a sour taste in your mouth by how things wrapped up, did it keep you from wanting to revisit your favorite episodes? Maybe it did, maybe it didn't. Maybe the real answer is that if the producers nail the ending, they won't have to worry about whether or not the viewers will lose interest. A radical thought, to be sure, but worth considering all the same.

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On Tuesday, NBC preempts The Jerry Lewis Show for a World of Amimals special, "Big Cats, Little Cats." (8:00 p.m.), "A far-ranging look at the feline world, from the American alley cat to Africa's lord of the jungle," narrated by Lorne Greene. Among the cats portrayed in tonight's special is Room 8, "a feline who 'adopted' a group of sixth-graders in 1952 and has since attended classes daily." In fact, Room 8 was more than this brief description might indicate. He was about five years old when he popped in through a window at Elysian Heights Elementary School in Echo Park, California, settling down in Room 8. He'd disappear during the summer, but would always return on the first day of school in the fall, popping up when the bell rang; newspapers and television stations from around the area would show up every year on that day to watch him make his appearance.

In addition to appearing on "Big Cats, Little Cats" (you can see that segment here), Room 8 was featured in an article in Look magazine, was the subject of a piece by guitarist Leo Kottke, and had several books written about him, including the children's book A Cat Called Room 8. He would lay on desks during the day, sleeping, and enjoyed children reading to him. He died on August 13, 1968, at the age of 21; his obituary in the Los Angeles Times ran for three columns and included a photograph, and was picked up by newspapers throughout the country. Students raised money to purchase a gravestone for Room 8 at the Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park, where his grave is the most visited to this day, and a foundation named after him helps fund cat shelters. He was a little animal, but he made a big impact, and there's a lesson somewhere in there.

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Saturday begins with the fourth (and final) game of the Stanley Cup Final, with the Montreal Canadiens taking on the St. Louis Blues (Noon, CBS). Although the Canadiens sweep the expansion Blues in four games, don't be deceived: all four of the games were decided by one goal, and two of the four went into overtime. In primetime, "The Singers," an ABC News Special (preempting The Hollywood Palace!) profiles two female singers on opposite sides of the success scale: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, and up-and-coming pop singer Gloria Loring. (9:30 p.m.) You're probably familiar with Franklin's career, and you might know about Loring as well; in addition to a singing career that continues to this day, she acted on Days of Our Lives for six years, was married to Alan Thicke, and had a number of hits, including "Friends and Lovers," which made it to #2 in 1986.

ABC's Sunday Night Movie is 1963's The Leopard, winner of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and while the version on ABC is the butchered, edited, and dubbed English version that was widely panned by critics, the release of the longer, classic version in 1983 established it as a classic; it's now considered one of the all-time greats. The historical epic stars Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale, and Alain Delon, and was directed by Luchino Visconti, whom Lancaster considered the finest director he ever worked for. Judith Crist isn't all that impressed with it, calling it "beautifully photographed and badly dubbed," and finds it "ultimately stultifying." I'm sure she must have seen the original at one time; I wonder if it just left her cold, or if she's basing her comments on the edited edition?

A local note on Monday, but one that's not insignificant for TV news buffs: Ray Tannehill is the new anchor of KGO's 6:00 p.m. news, taking over for Roger Grimsby, who's moved to WABC in New York, where he starts a legendary run on the ABC affiliate, co-anchoring with Bill Beutel until 1986 (a news team that included Howard Cosell on sports, and Tex Antoine with the weather). Grimsby is also responsible for beginning the newscast, "I'm Roger Grimsby, here now the news," which SNL fans will recognize as the intro to Weekend Update used by Jane Curtin in honor of Grimsby. So what do you think: was he saying "here now the news" or "hear now the news"? And speaking of all-time great movies, as we were, KEMO has one at 9:00 p.m.: Ingmar Bergman's Oscar-winning Through a Glass Darkly, starring Max von Sydow and Harriet Andersson. If you're a fan of Bergman's, I need say no more.

Tuesday night the Nebraska Presidential Primary takes center stage on the national news scene, but you'll read more about that on Monday. In the meantime, The David Susskind Show (9:00 p.m., KQED) has one of those shows I'd love to have seen. Three segments: segment one features writers Rex Reed, Guy Talise, and Liz Smith discussing show-biz personalities; segment two has culinary experts James Beard and Craig Claiborne talking about food; and segment three has French Canadian politician Rene Levesque on the move for Quebec independence. I don't know how big separatism is anymore, but De Gaulle did quite a bit of rabble-rousing when he was president of France, and I remember watching the returns from a referendum in the 1980s (I think) in which the question very narrowly lost. It seems as if the Canadians have had a lot of problems holding their country together, doesn't it?

Wednesday marks the return of Emma Peel to The Avengers, but before anyone gets too excited, it's only in the form of reruns. (7:30 p.m., ABC) And besides, I think Linda Thorson, as Tara King, was a more than adequate replacement for Diana Rigg (no offense intended). On a musical note (get it?), Kraft Music Hall continues its run of "County Fair" episodes, with host Eddy Albert welcoming Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, Dana Valery, Chris and Beter Allen, and John Byner. (9:00 p.m., NBC)

Maybe the summer preview was right; there won't be as many documentaries on the air as usual. You couldn't prove it by this week, though; in addition to Saturday's ABC News Special on "The Singers" and NBC's special on cats, we've got four crammed into the final two days of this week, proving that the networks still have a "dedication to serving the public interest." And over the last couple of years, no area has been as trendy for documentaries as Africa. Hence, Thursday's NBC News Special "Man, Beast and the Land " (7:30 p.m.). It's bille as "an introduction to the importance and function of the balance of nature," and takes a close look at the Serengeti-Mara region, on the border between Kenya and Tanzania. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. narrates. The documentary preempts this week's cover stars from Daniel Boone, but don't worry; Dwight Whitney's article is mostly about Fess Parker's real estate holdings, and how he's quickly building up one of the most impressive (and most valuable) portfolios around. 

And guess what? On Friday night Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is on another documentary, this time on a different network. It's ABC's Saga of Western Man presentation "Robert Scott and the Race for the South Pole" (7:30 p.m.), narrated by John Secondari, and Fairbanks is on hand to read passages from Scott's journals. At 10:00 p.m., it's another NBC News Special, "Discover America with Jose Jimenez," in which Bill Dana plays his famous (and now-forbidden character) as he takes a whirlwind tour of America, from the Pennsylvania Amish country to forests of Northern California, and a little of everything in-between. You can see it, in segments, here.

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MST3K alert: Teen-Age Crime Wave (1955). Three dangerous juvenile delinquents take refuge in the home of a farmer and his family. Tommy Cook, Mollie McCart, Sue England. (Tuesday, 1:00 a.m. KGO in San Francisco) Let's see, so far we've had Teen-Age Caveman, Teen-Age Strangler, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, and Teenagers From Outer Space, so I suppose this would be the natural succession. Our three stars are the three teens holding the family hostage, but of course one of them has to be the weak link, allowing the plot to fail. Well, what did you expect—In Cold Blood? And if those actors are teenagers, then I'm Truman Capote.  TV

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Around the dial

Let's begin the week at The Twilight Zone Vortex, where Jordan watches the comedy episode "From Agnes–With Love" so we don't have to. It's prime, and sad, evidence of the show's dramatic decline in its final season.

John is up to episode three of The Omega Factor at Cult TV Blog, "Night Games," which shows the thickening plot as Crane discovers Department 7's involvement in government-conducted mind control experiments. 

David's journey through 1970s TV continues at Comfort TV, with a look at Saturday nights, 1977. It's the last season of CBS's Saturday powerhouse with Bob Newhart and Carol Burnett, plus ABC's The Love Boat, NBC's The Bionic Woman, and more.

At Drunk TV, Paul looks at the second season of The Patty Duke Show, and the season's 36 (!) episodes show that even if the ratings had started to slide, the stories themselves remain fresh and entertaining.

Roger reports a change of pace in this week's A-Team at The View from the Junkyard, as the Team moves to Kenya for the episode "Skins," with a slightly more serious topic: the illegal poaching of elephants in Africa. 

It used to be that we had a proper understanding of how to use the word "great," meaning large, significant, but not necessarily good. In that sense, it can certainly be said that Ted Turner was a great figure in television history. And there's no denying that his broadcasts of Atlanta Braves on the Superstation was a good thing for baseball, especially in American League cities that were seldom exposed to National League teams. Likewise, his creation of Turner Classic Movies was a very good thing, even though the quality of the channel has diminished in the last few years; someone had to keep these old movies alive. (We'll overlook, for the time being, his involvement in colorization.) 

And then, there's CNN, and I really don't know how to feel about that. The original Cable News Network was substantive, far more non-partisan than today's networks, and did much to keep America better informed on what was going on. Headline News was, in a sense, even better, cutting out the fluff in favor of a concise, 30-minute recap of the news on a constantly updating basis. However, it also pointed out the difficulties inherent in maintaining a 24-hour news cycle, and the consequent need to elevate certain stories to occupy a greater need for programming. And it brought us gavel-to-gavel coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial. And it spawned Fox News, MSNow, and all the other constant news sources, which quickly evolved into a video version of English newspapers, simply recycling the same stories over and over through their own ideological slant. Someday, we may actually be able to understand just how much damage this has done to society. 

So, it would seem appropriate to say that Ted Turner's legacy, as is so often the case with great men, is a mixed one. And that figures, because, as any baseball fan would tell you, the only batters who never swing and miss are those who never step up to the plate. Turner did, and the fact that all of his media properties have suffered since he relinquished control of them, says much about exactly how great his impact was. TV

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What I've been watching: April, 2026

Shows I've Watched:

War and Peace

The Ellery Queen Mysteries

Danger Man

I mentioned, one of the last times that this feature appeared, that we hadn't introduced very many new shows into our viewing lineup, and that trend has continued through early spring. It's going to change, though, and in the next few months, you can expect to see new, and more, titles popping up: shows like The Gallant Men, The Time Tunnel, Cade's County, Car 54, and even The Monkees. Until then, you—and us—continue to work our ways through the last few episodes of some shows that have been on the schedule for awhile.

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All right, I admit it; I'm a cretin. The 1972 British version of War and Peace is considered one of the finest miniseries of all time. And how could it not be? Consisting of 20 episodes, running for a total of 15 hours, epic in scope, daring to plumb the depths of human emotion, based on one of the great books in all literature and boasting a cast headed by Anthony Hopkins, this ought to be a must for anyone who, like me, consistently beats the drum for finer television. My friend Paul Mavis wrote that "It positively luxuriates in its expansive format, giving the viewer a remarkable chance to fully experience the various nuances of character and the myriad permutations of shifting relationships," and gave it four stars.

And yet I was bored stiff through most of it. I found it dragging to the point that I asked my wife, who's read the book, if this was supposed to be the Thousand Years' War. So it's got to be me, and I'm fine with that. There are some genres that just don't appeal to me, and this apparently is one of them. Perhaps it's the portrayal of the Russian upper class that grated on me; I've never been able to understand or appreciate the dynamics of the aristocracy in British costume dramas, and at least War and Peace confirmed that my dislike isn't confined to Anglos. I'm about as anti-communist as they come, and yet, even though it would have been a historical anachronism, I kept hoping against hope that the Bolsheviks would show up and put them out of our misery. (It does give me a finer appreciation of the nuances of the Russian Revolution, however, but that's another story.) 

I consider myself an honorable man, for the most part, but the mores and manners of the upper crust aristocracy is as impenetrable to me as the most obscure foreign language. For some reason, I kept coming back to that Monty Python skit about the about the Upper Class Twit of the Year competition. Let me tell you, most of these characters would have been high in the standings. And you think there's drama in social media? That's nothing compared to the "everything's a disaster and my life is in total ruins!" whining that accompanies virtually everything that happens here. No wonder Anna Karenina threw herself under a train.

It didn't help that it took me a half dozen episodes to keep track of who's who. All those Russian names, the Nicolais and Andreis and Vasilis, are hard enough to keep straight in the best of times, but I had to keep asking my wife, "Now, which one is he?" until I finally skipped to the Wikipedia synopsis of the book and read the whole story. Even though I knew how the story ended, I can't say I was sorry that I did it. (At least Hopkins's character is named Pierre; it only took me two episodes to remember that.) It also doesn't work to the show's advantage that all the women sounded like shrill, privileged fishwives, especially the insufferable Morag Hood, who as Natasha is supposed to be a beguiler of men, but I kept wanting to shout at the screen, "Shut up, you stupid cow!" I have, at least, been confirmed in my suspicions that her casting was considered the weak link in the whole series.

Maybe part of the problem stems from the "war" part of War and Peace. Frankly, I was never sure who I should be rooting for. Maybe it's that British penchant for not having actors attempt to simulate foreign accents (which usually works quite well), but if it weren't for the generals and aides repeatedly calling some short guy "Napoleon," I'm not sure I would have been able to tell the French from the Russians in the first place. Still, I was puzzled; I mean, I'm no Francophile, I have a fairly strong contempt for the cheese-eating surrender monkeys. And yet was I supposed to be hoping that they would win, or were the Russians the ones I should be casting my lot with? And doesn't siding with Russia mean that I'm actively hoping for the defeat of Ukraine? Whoops, wrong war. Well, you can forgive me; it only seems as if that war lasted this long.  

What I can say about War and Peace is that, amidst a cast of largely unlikable characters, Anthony Hopkins is magnificent. Every time he appeared on screen, he made me put down whatever I was doing and watch. He projects a gravitas that is totally appropriate to the source material, and if someone, back in 1972, were to have told me that he'd someday win two Academy Awards, I'd have had no trouble believing it. The only other character with whom I could really identify was Rupert Davies as Count Rostov, who sounds from the name as if he should be working with Boris Badenov, but in reality was someone's husband and someone else's father, I'm not quite sure whose. I loved Davies as the French police detective Maigret, so I was more than willing to give him the benefit of the doubt here; still, he did seem to be one of the few characters who projected a natural humanity and warmth that I could identify with.

As I say, this isn't meant as an indictment of War and Peace. Perhaps if I read the book, or saw the Russian version of the story, I'd feel quite different about it. It didn't work for me, and that's probably my fault. And on balance, television is probably better off having a series like this than not. So sue me.

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There have been a number of attempts to bring Ellery Queen's epynomous mystery writer/sleuth to the small screen, but in my opinion none of them worked quite as well as the 1975-76 edition that starred Jim Hutton as the absent-minded Ellery and David Wayne as his often-exasperated father, Inspector Richard Queen. The series only ran for 22 episodes plus the pilot, which is a real shame; it has, however, been out for quite some time on DVD, which not only is not a shame but gives us the kind of television we could really use right now: thoughtful, intelligent, well-cast, with mysteries that are challenging but not impossible to solve, and stories that won't make your brain hurt after a long and trying day.

The concept of the amateur detective (often called a "cozy" in literary terms) is not one of my favorite tropes, but in the case of the Ellery Queen novels, it's always worked quite well. For one thing, Ellery's not really an amateur; with a shelf full of mysteries to his credit, he knows a thing or two about crime, making him a little more like, say, Jessica Fletcher. But whereas Jessica always and inexplicably seems to be at the right place at the right time (if one wants to become involved in a murder case), Ellery always has a good reason for being where he is: his dad is a high-ranking homicide inspector, who often coaxes his son into accompanying him on the more intriguing cases. (It also helps that the series is set in New York City rather than Cabot Cove, which makes the death toll much more plausible.)

Oftentimes, a series stands or falls on the casting of its main characters, and here Ellery Queen excels. Both Hutton and Wayne are real pros, and the chemistry between the two, as father and son, is both warm and believable. The elder Queen combines both parental affection and perennial exasperation at his son's absent-mindedness (an exaggeration from the Ellery character in the books) in a way that's very easy to buy, and he has a keen appreciation for the way Ellery's mind works. He may occasionally indulge him, but more often he has a real respect for Ellery's abilities, and isn't so stubborn or set in his ways that he won't let Ellery's deductions change his mind. Watching the two of them on screen together is a real pleasure. They're aided by Tom Reese's fine performance as Sergeant Velie, who is presented as a hard-working and dependable detective, not an eccentric sidekick or someone who exists only to serve as the surrogate for the audience when explaining the solution to the crime. It's also fun to see the all-star casts that populate each episode, as was the case in the early days of Murder, She Wrote. Never mind that many of the stars are either B-list actors and actresses, stars who've seen their time come and go, or character actors whose names you can never quite recall. Their presence just adds to the fun.

The early episodes of Ellery Queen were, I thought, overly dependent on a trope that can get tiresome: the dying man's clue. It seems that almost all of these victims were either puzzle aficionados or enjoyers of word play, because their dying clues, meant to point to the identity of their murderer, are often incredibly obscure, frequently too clever by half, and generally require much more of a leap of plausibility than the crimes themselves. I don't know about you, but if I'm about to die, I'm probably either overcome by pain or too focused on pleading for God's mercy to spend my dying breaths concocting a clue in hopes that someone as clever as Ellery Queen will come along to figure it out. 

That's a small quibble, though, and it is more than made up for by Ellery's breaking of the fourth wall in the last moments of each episode to address the viewers directly, asking them if they've figured out who dunnit. It's a conceit taken directly from the early Queen books, and it was an inspired choice to bring the concept to television. As Ellery points out, the clues are all there; nothing has been withheld from the viewers, who know as much about the crime as he does. 

I wonder, though, if there might be room someday for what I'd call a "straight" version of Ellery Queen, without the absent-mindedness and the comic relief, without the fourth wall-breaking, and without the proverbial New York City that always has a parking spot open right in front of the building where everyone goes. Some of the Queen mysteries are quite dark, not to say disturbing, such as one that ends with Ellery handing the suspect a gun with the suggestion that he knows what he needs to do with it, followed by Ellery leaving the room and, a few moments later, hearing a single gunshot. Would that have ever flown in early-Seventies television? Probably not, but it would today, and although Ellery Queen isn't the household name that, say, Perry Mason is, maybe a revival is worth a look.

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The only other series we're finishing up with is a repeat viewing of the hour-long episodes of Danger Man, which will flow right into The Prisoner, and it probably makes sense to cover them at the same time, given that—as we all know—John Drake is Number 6. Right? Right. TV

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