Around the dial

I claim the top spot for myself this week, with a couple of notes. First, if you haven't yet ordered your copy of Darkness in Primetime, you've still got a couple of weeks to get in on the introductory pricing; go here for details. In support of Darkness, I've launched a new series of two-ish minute videos focusing on the book, what went into its writing, behind-the-scenes stories, and more. You can see that video here, and keep up on additional episodes by subscribing to my YouTube channel, or signing up for my newsletter.

You can also hear me on the latest episode of Eventually Supertrain, as Dan and I discuss the latest on Garrison's Gorillas, plus segments on Bronk and Ghosted. As I am prone to say, don't you dare miss it. And now on to some non-Mitchell related goodies.

At bare•bones e-zine, Jack's Hitchcock Project continues full steam ahead, with "The Impossible Dream," which is not about Don Quxiote but does tell a nasty story of blackmail, written by Meade Roberts and starring Franchot Tone, Carmen Mathews, and Mary Astor.

We're visiting 1961 in the latest episode of Cult TV Blog, as John looks at The Seven Faces of Jim (not to be confused with The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao), part of a succession of three comedy series starring Jimmy Edwards. This week features a comic spin on Quatermass, and sounds like a hit.

It's short but sweet at the Broadcast Archives, with a singing commercial message from Pottsylvainan TV. If you know what the reference means, you know you're in for something fiunny; if you don't, all the more reason to check it out.

At Comfort TV, David's journey through 1970s TV has arrived at Wednesday nights in 1976, and memories of the dominant ABC schedule, including The Bionic Woman, Baretta, and Charlie's Angels. What did NBC and CBS have to counter them? You'll find out.

The Twilight Zone Vortex returns with a look at the final-season episode "The Long Morrow," with Robert Lansing and Mariette Hartley. I agree for the most part, with Jordan's negative assessment, but I've got to make allowances for the episode's lovely score, made up of stock music.

At Classic Film and TV Corner, Maddie visits the TV adaptation of The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, based on the movie with Gene Tierney and Rex Harrision, which ran from 1968-1970. Our TV version, which more than holds its own, stars Hope Lange and Edwards Mulhare.

Apparently the message that we've had enough of death for one year hasn't kicked in yet, as we add Loni Anderson to the list of those leaving us; at A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence pays tribute to this native of Minnesota, so familiar from WKRP and television appearances of all kinds.

Finally, if you know anything about nuclear power, you know that heavy water has nothing to do with heavy bread; no, "Recipe for Heavy Bread" is the latest episode of The A-Team to fall under Roger's microscope at The View from the Junkyard. TV  

Around the dial

Xt bare•bones e-zine, Jack's Hitchcock Project leads off this week, with "Safe Conduct," Andrew Solt's first teleplay for the show. It's a Cold War thriller from the first season, starring Claire Trevor, Jacques Bergerac, and Werner Klemperer, and Jack's point about it helping if you know something about the political climate of the time shows how important context can be when it comes to television.

There's a "When I was your age" joke about how for people of a certain age, the TV remote control was their son or daughter getting up and changing the channel for them. In fact, however, the wireless remote control goes back to the mid-1950s, as we can see from a Zenith ad for the Flash-Matic, courtesy of the Broadcast Archives.

John's still in the 1970s at Cult TV Blog, and today he's looking at Special Branch, the domestic espionage series that ran on British television between 1969 and 1974. The show can be viewed as having had two distinct versions, each running for two series and having the same premise, but completely different casts and sets. I've seen episodes from the original version; worth checking out.

At The View from the Junkyard, Mike's review of Star Trek: The Animated Series brings him (and us) to "Mudd's Passion," the third appearance (including the original series) of Harcourt Fenton "Harry" Mudd, the comic relief scoundrel. It's a great episode, but Mike does wonder if it was appropriate for Saturday mornings. If you've seen it, what do you think?

Travalanche pays tribute to Gordon Lightfoot's legendary ballad "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," which has absolutely nothing to do with television, classic or otherwise, but gives me an excuse to talk about Tommy Mischke, a Twin Cities radio host who once interviewed an expert on the wreck by singing all the questions to the tune of the song. Don't believe me? Listen for yourself.

Television's New Frontier: The 1960s moves to the 1962 season of The Bullwinkle Show, one of the funniest, cleverest, and most subversive shows, animated or otherwise, ever to air on television. Perhaps the show had peaked by 1962, which comprised the end of Season 3, all of Season 4, and the beginning of Season 5, but I think it was still going great guns anyway.

Rick Goldschmidt is the official Rankin/Bass historian, and this week he talks about all the problems with the recent Rankin/Bass Christmas Blu-ray and DVD releases, and why you should stay away from them—far away. You have to wonder: just how difficult would it have been to get this right in the first place? And it isn't as if this is the first time something like this has happened.

At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence pays tribute to Robert Butler, the director responsible for the pilots for both Star Trek, Lois & Clark, and Hill Street Blues, co-created Remington Steele, and directed—well, just about every television show you can think of in a career that stretched from the the 1950s to 2009, including the first episodes of Hogan's Heroes, Batman, Moonlighting, and others. What a career!

And speaking of losses, Ken Squier, the longtime voice of NASCAR on television, died Wednesday night at 88. I've spoken often of "big-game" announcers in sports, and when it comes to auto racing, Squier certainly belongs in that group; his warm voice and good humor, combined with a genuine love of the sport, landed him in the NASCAR Hall of Fame and won a place for him in the hearts of racing fans. As Ryan McGee points out in this tribute at ESPN.com, he was the consummate storyteller in a sport full of great stories. TV  

Around the dial

I never could stand watching myself on television, which I suppose is one reason why I never succeeded in politics. Back then it bothered me because I'd critique everything from the sound of my voice (which I never liked hearing) to the way I pronounced certain words, the way I kept looking down at my notes, how I said one thing when I should have said something else, and so on. You get the point. Nowadays, I just don't like to see how young and in-shape I looked back then. A psychiatrist would probably tell me that this is why I retreat to hide behind words, but unless it's Dr. Thompson or Dr. Corder, I'm not listening.

Anyway, a video note for you: the YouTube site JFK1963NewsVideos has recently come up with some fascinating footage, including rarely seen excerpts from ABC's coverage of JFK's funeral, hosted by Howard K. Smith and Edward P. Morgan. It's worth a look, especially today.

In other news, John at Cult TV Blog discusses the British drama anthology series Armchair Cinema, which sounds like an odd title but in reality provides some excellent dramatic productions. Think of it as what might have happened had Studio One or Playhouse 90 had continued.

At bare•bones e-zine, Jack completes his Hitchcock Project review of the works of Bill S. Ballinger with the sixth season episode "Deathmate," a dark but ultimately kind of disappointing tale of murder and deceit. Doesn't take away from Ballinger's overall fine work for the show, though.

It's been awhile since we've been treated to a "Maverick Monday" at The Horn Section, but Hal's back this week with 1960's "The Bold Fenian Men," an episode featuring Roger Moore. As with "Deathmate" above, the episode isn't as good as you might have hoped, but Roger Moore, right?

Classic Film & TV Cafe presents "The Three-Word TV Series Game," and no matter when you read this, it's worth heading over to see how well you do. No cheating by reading the comments section in advance; Rick's puzzles deserve to be figured out on their own.

If you want to know more about upcoming Christmas specials, I can't think of a better place to go than Christmas TV History, and this week Joanna has the rundown on what, where, and when. Don't miss it.

Before he became host of Good Morning America, David Hartman was earnest schoolteacher Lucas Tanner, in the TV series of the same name. I'm familiar with the show only because it was on NBC during my term in The World's Worst Town™; otherwise, I'd likely never have watched it. Television Obscurities reminds us with a review of the Lucas Tanner pilot.

At the beginning of today's roundup, we were reminded of the grim anniversary that is November 22, but now here's something you'll really like: the 60th anniversary of Rocky and Bullwinkle, as brought to you by Terence at A Shroud of Thoughts. That's the way to head into the weekend! TV  

Around the dial

At bare-bones e-zine, Jack's latest Hitchcock Project looks at the fourth season episode at "And the Desert Shall Blossom," Bernard C. Schoenfeld's delightful adaptation of Loren Good's short story, starring William Demarest, Roscoe Ates, and Ben Johnson.

John raises (and answers) an interesting question over at Cult TV Blog: what are the similarities between Doctor Who's Cybermen and The Avengers' Cybernauts? Regardless of the answer, one thing remains certain: "technology can be dangerous," as we seem to be reminded on an almost daily basis.

In the mood for a little test? Check out the Alternate TV Series Title Game over at Classic Film and TV Café. Readers are pretty quick with the answers though, so be sure you make your own guesses before you get to the comments.

Another star of classic television has been lost with the death of Ken Berry last week, but at The Horn Section, Hal proves that such artists are never really lost, with an appreciation of Berry's abundant television career.

If you've been keeping up with Some Polish American Guy and Dan's look at BJ and the Bear, you'll want to read his overall recap of the series. You'll also want to listen to yours truly with Dan on the latest episode of Eventually Supertrain, as we continue our stroll through the very good single-season WB detective series Bourbon Street Beat (along with other great segments).

At Television's New Frontier: the 1960s, it's time to visit one of the seminal (not to mention subversive) programs of the era, none other than Rocky and His Friends, which was renamed The Bullwinkle Show during the year. I've always loved this show, and I really should think about this more: it's perhaps one of the greatest examples of television's ability to act as a time capsule, considering the various topics the show satirized. It really says a great deal about what was topical at the time.

You'll want to check out Kliph Nesteroff's interview with TV veteran Saul Turteltaub at Classic Television Showbiz, where you'll read about The Shari Lewis Show, as well as more details from a fascinating life.

Finally, if you've been reading about the demented fools out there with their attacks on A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and if you're wondering whether or not there's any hope left for civilization, take a moment to read this essay by Herbie J. Pilato on why this kind of thing is B. as in B, and S. as in S. Thanks, Herbie.  TV  

Around the dial

Hey, Hondo's back! Actually, it's Hal at The Horn Section who's back, and this week he's telling us about the November, 1967 episode "Hondo and the Judas," and some very sloppy work on the show's storyline continuity. Man, I just hate it when things like that happen - I pick, pick, pick on it. Just ask my wife.

At Comfort TV, David has a really, really good piece on how television is no longer "something to talk about." I recommend you read the whole thing, because this is an article that speaks to me in so many ways, particularly the idea of television as a shared experience. As David says, "Such connections, such common threads, are beneficial for a culture." The fact that we no longer have them does say something, doesn't it?

I mentioned last week that we're at the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. In a week or two I'll have more to write on that, but in the meantime, Andrew of The Lucky Strike Papers writes about the busboy who comforted RFK in some of his last moments of consciousness.

I kid you not - just before typing this, I was reading an article discussing how Formula 1 is considering reducing the length of its races to attract more viewers. What does this have to do with television? Well, at Garroway at Large Jodie writes about an early review of Today by H. L. Phillips that includes the thought that no television show should run as long as two hours. Have we always had short attention spans?

Did you know that Rocky & Bullwinkle had been revived? If I did know that, I'd forgotten all about it - good thing Martin Grams is around to remind us. Here's his review of the Amazon-based series, which I think I may have to check out after I'm done here.

Finally, a shout-out to Television Obscurities, which celebrated its 15th anniversary over last weekend. That's more than twice as long as this blog has been around, all the while putting out informative articles on obscure programs, as well as a titanic year-long look at a single season of TV Guide. Let's hope there are many more years to come! TV  

Odds and ends

Back in the day, TV networks used to fill their summer schedules with anthologies bearing such names as Summer Playhouse.  What they were was not a return to the days of Golden Age dramas; instead, they were a clearinghouse for networks to air unsold pilots.  Few of the episodes provided anything more than light entertainment, and most provided ample evidence of why they hadn't been picked up by anyone.

Today's column is a bit of a thrown-together collection of odds and ends, but that's where its similarity to Summer Playhouse ends - after all, we're talking about quality here!

First off, reader John, who asked a question about The Untouchables a few weeks ago, adds this wonderful footnote:

Gotta tell ya this story. In  Utica N. Y. in the early 70's there were two TV stations, WKTV 2  (NBC) & WUTR 20 (ABC). WKTV totally dominated the market, you know, a V vs a U. WUTR bought the Untouchables for $20 an episode - as opposed to nowdays 5 -8  Thousand $ an episode for Wheel of Fortune or Jepordy. For the first time WUTR beat WKTV in the ratings but only for the first half hour.  Still # 1 in the 2nd  half hour but took a sizable drop. Utica had a  heavily Italian population at the time. One of the local radio talk show host said it was because in the first half hour the Italians were winning!

Love that story!

And now a question from reader Erika, who writes:

I have a recording of my father-in-law Brian Reade talking about Aubrey Beardsley  on NBC TV. It's date is 1967 and it also features Vyvyan Holland, son of Oscar Wilde. It was given to Brian Reade by Tony Janak.

I am proposing to make an illustrated recording of this with some family and collected images.  Since you seem to know 'all about TV' I wonder if you foresee any legal problems with circulating this?

My first thought was that as long as it was being shared privately and not being produced for public sale, she was probably OK.  However, aside from a pre-law minor, I’m no expert in this area – anyone with some better ideas?  Please let me know either in the comments or via email.

And now for some quick hits:

Be sure and check out Comfort TV's article on "The Subversive Genius of Rocky and Bullwinkle," one of my favorite cartoons.  David is always well worth reading, and this is no exception.

Cult TV Blog has an interesting look at another of those 60s British series, Police Surgeon.  No, not the awful 70s syndicated version from Canada that was the plague of many a local station - this is the one that is widely seen as precursor to the fabulous Avengers.

Gotta run for now - back later this week!

TV