tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post7757431296320242354..comments2024-03-27T22:27:16.556-04:00Comments on It's About TV: This week in TV Guide: January 17, 1959Mitchell Hadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08695771505209080030noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-30511532679539953332018-01-24T10:51:55.199-05:002018-01-24T10:51:55.199-05:00I suspect "stereophonic" may have been a...I suspect "stereophonic" may have been a colorful word used for promotion and not an accurate description of the sound. AM stereo was strictly experimental in 1959, and it generally took two distinct AM signals to provide it. True AM stereo didn't become a thing until the 80s. It could theoretically have been done in 19598 as you describe, YIH, but it would have sounded pretty bad. jabartletthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12856624710742851189noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-26531370397689255832018-01-23T04:33:23.143-05:002018-01-23T04:33:23.143-05:00It's late, and I'm not up to par, so this ...It's late, and I'm not up to par, so this will be short.<br /><br />I did want to pass along that I was able to watch Sunday's "digest" version of <i>Ten Little Indians (aka And Then There Were None)</i> , which I have in my DVD Wall - alongside four other versions of the same story.<br />I also have three of the four theatrical versions, plus the BBC miniseries from a couple of years ago (the only version to utilize Agatha Christie's original ending - but that's another story ...).<br />As to this one, suffice it to say that trying to cram this plot into a 52-minute TV hour was a fool's errand.<br />This NBC production (from David Susskind's company), taped on one very cramped stage, tore through the story faster than any Warner Bros detective show ever could, and believe me, the seams showed.<br />By the way, I happened to get this version from Martin Grams's Finders Keepers store, over on your sidebar.<br />I mention this here because I received in this week's mail my annual invite to the Windy City Pulp & Paper Convention, which this year will be held the weekend of April 6-7-8, at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center, which is actually a big hotel, so there too.<br />I bring it up here because Martin Grams usually has a sale table with many of his DVD wares on display; I've dropped considerable amounts of my disposable income there in past years, and expect to do the same this year as well.<br />The WCP&PC is $25 a day, $35 for three days, to get in; you can find details at their website, Windy City Pulp & Paper Convention (I'd link to it if I knew how).<br />Yorktown is just west of the big Oakbrook shopping plaza, so it shouldn't be hard to find.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05527404061764217504noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-50873788644328082972018-01-22T12:20:56.980-05:002018-01-22T12:20:56.980-05:00There's a note in the listings that viewers wa...<b>There's a note in the listings that viewers watching the show on WTCN, the ABC affiliate in Minneapolis-St. Paul, "can hear this program in stereophonic sound by also tuning to radio station WTCN*, operating on 1280 kilocycles." Watching TV with stereo sound must have been something in 1959!</b> Interesting, though probably didn't sound all that great. The only way I could see it being possible was the stage left mic going to the TV feed and the stage right mic going to the radio feed (or, of course, vice-versa) and even then it would sound a bit strange, TV audio is FM (Fun fact: before the digital conversion, you could pick up the audio for any TV channel 6 on an FM radio at 87.5 mhz - and most of them could tune that far down on the band) and of course the radio in this case is an AM station. AM's sound quality is not that great (tends to sound a bit 'tinny' and muffles higher notes), that's why music AM stations are pretty much extinct.YIHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16149048850538200399noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-65957779370822781452018-01-20T14:35:37.352-05:002018-01-20T14:35:37.352-05:00I never tire of SCTV references, Mitchell...I never tire of SCTV references, Mitchell...Melanie Powershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11011856660252330616noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-72891345681313753202018-01-20T12:38:23.650-05:002018-01-20T12:38:23.650-05:00MAVERICK was at its peak in early 1959; the show&#...MAVERICK was at its peak in early 1959; the show's highest rating would come a month later with "The Saga of Waco Williams", which earned a 51 share. The "Gun-Shy" episode aired two weeks before this issue, earning a 49 share. Quality was peaking, too. This week's episode (Jan. 18, 1959), "Two Beggars on Horseback", was one of the series' finest, as was the following week's, "The Rivals". Both episodes featured Bret and Bart, and future Maverick Roger Moore guest starred in the latter.<br /><br />Hargrove and series creator Roy Huggins both left after 1958-59, as did Douglas Heyes, who moved on to THE TWILIGHT ZONE. All were missed, though new producer Coles Trapnell did a commendable job overall on Season 3.<br /><br />Hargrove's character descriptions were priceless; on the cast of characters for one script, his description of Dandy Jim Buckley was "Friend to Dandy Jim Buckley".<br /><br />LOVE THAT BOB/THE BOB CUMMINGS SHOW ended after this season, so Dwayne Hickman didn't miss much. He moved right from a 5 season run on BOB to four on DOBIE GILLIS. No wonder he said in his autobiography that he was ready for a breather after DOBIE ended in 1963. That's over 300 episodes of television in 9 years.Halhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09291930694234773688noreply@blogger.com