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Now there's my idea of living; the Nelsons with a built-in TV! Not too far removed from the wall-mounted concept, is it? And with a lot less to worry about as far as bashing a hole in the wall. And now on to this week's entertainment.

The latest edition of "American TV with Mitchell Hadley" is up at Dan Schneider's Cosmoetica, and this month, it's a doubleheader, as Dan and I look at two of recent history's most controversial TV figures: Bill Cosby and Roseanne Barr. You can view them here!

At bare•bones e-zine, Jack's Hitchcock Project continues apace with "The Little Man Who Was There," a fifth-season episode written by Gordon Russell and Larry Ward, a charming story of con men in the Old West, with the redoubtable Norman Lloyd, Arch Johnson, and Read Morgan.

David continues his journey through 1970s primetime at Comfort TV; we're up to Tuesday nights in 1976, and it's a prime lineup indeed, from ABC's Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley to M*A*S*H and One Day at a Time on CBS, and even Police Woman and Police Story on NBC. Remember all those?

Meanwhile, at Cult TV Blog, John has a periodic mini-review of several shows that may merit a full write-up in the future, and we gave quite a collection from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, and genres that range from political to science fiction to children's programs, all of which sound worthwhile.

At ReelWeegieMidget, Gill reviews a book that's a neat change-of-pace from what we usually see in the TV book realm: Cooking the Detectives: A Bite Sized Guide To The Tastiest Detective Shows, by Jenny Hammerton; in it, she reviews TV detective episodes with food and drink themes. 

At The Twilight Zone Vortex, Jordan continues his review of The Twilight Zone Magazine, and this time we're up to the issue of March/April 1984, featuring interviews with Burgess Meredith and Scott Glen, reviews by Thomas M. Disch, cartoons by Gahan Wilson, a story by Richard Matheson, and more!

Television's New Frontier: The 1960s visits the 1962 episodes of the Western series Tales of Wells Fargo, starring Dale Robertson. Not one of the best-known Westerns of the time, but certainly an interesting one, with a star who was always dependable.

Terrence remembers actor Michael Madsen at A Shroud of Thoughts. Madsen, who died last week at age 67 and was the brother of actress Virginia Madsen, was part of Quentin Tarantino's regular stable of actors, and also a frequent figure (and voice) on television throughout his career. TV  

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W

e begin the week with Jack's Hitchcock Project at bare-bones e-zine, and John T. Kelly's seventh-season drama "Apex," a nasty piece (but then, is there any other kind?) about adultery, double-dealing, and murder , featuring Patricia Breslin, Vivienne Segal, and Mark Miller. 

Meanwhile, at Cult TV Blog, John keeps going with the "Sylvia Coleridge Season" of performances, this time featuring her in the weird 1970s series Ace of Wands and the episode "Sisters Deadly." We seem to have gotten off to a real killer start today, haven't we?

Let's go to something more pleasant then, with David's piece at Comfort TV looking at actresses might not be the most familiar to you by name, yet their striking beauty made you sit up and take notice in their appearances in classic who really made an impact with their appearances in classic series. 

Gill remembers Val Kilmer this week at ReelWeegieMidget, with a look at the 2021 documentary Val, in which the late actor looks back at his life and career, discussing his "magical" life, his family, his love of acting, and his cancer diagnosis.

At The View from the Junkyard, Roger takes a look at "Medium Rare," a second-season episode of The New Avengers that, frankly, he finds disappointing. Read on to find out how it falls short, and whether this says more about the high quality of previous episodes.

In addition to being one of the greatest movies of all time, Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon has been the inspiration of many an episode on television over the years. At Classic Film and TV Corner, Maddy looks at what makes it such a classic.

Martin Grams shares his thoughts on one of the classic westerns from the Golden Age of western television: Have Gun—Will Travel, starring Richard Boone as a most unusual hired gun. I appreciate Martin's insights as to why this series continues to hold up, decades later.

At A Shroud of Thoughts, Tererence reviews one of television's great traditions: ABC's annual airing of the Biblical epid The Ten Commandments, which has aired almost exclusively during the pre-Easter season since 1973. It makes for a great investment in time.

For those of you checking out until Monday, here's hoping you have a blessed and peaceful Easter. Christus surréxit!—Surréxit vere, allelúja! TV  

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We're on to a new Hitchcock Project at bare-bones e-zine, as Jack looks at the output of Helen Nielsen, starting with the season five episode "Letter of Credit," with Robert Bray as a mysterious stranger in search of—what? You'll just have to watch and find out.

At Cult TV Blog, John continues his review of Hammer House of Horror with one of the series' most popular episodes, "The Two Faces of Evil," which makes very effective use of many horror tropes. It involves a hitchhiker, and you know that's always a promising start to a horror story.

David takes on the fad of retconning characters and events from classic television—in this case, it's the sexual preference of Scooby-Doo's Velma. Leaving the ideological aspects of this aside, it speaks to something I've criticized for a long time: our inability to view the past through anything other than a contemporary filter.

I've always enjoyed Michael Rennie; even so, there's a part of me that wishes his version of Harry Lime in the TV series The Third Man had been played by the original third man, Orson Welles. At Silver Scenes, we get a series that Welles did appear in, albeit as host only: Orson Welles' Great Mysteries. I suspect it was just the right amount of work for Welles.

Paul returns to the world of the telemovie at Drunk TV with his review of The U.F.O. Incident, "the marvelously creepy 1975 NBC made-for-TV sci-fi docudrama depicting real-life couple Betty and Barney Hill’s supposed 'alien abduction' in September, 1961." Did the abduction really happen? As always, you be the judge.

Finally, at A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence takes us back to The High Chaparral, the 1967-71 NBC Western that was revolutionary for its time, with Latinos making up 50% of the show's characters. It was a tough, gritty series, much more so than most of its Western contemporaries, and of course it had one of TV's great themes. It's a good note to end on, no pun intended. TV  

This week in TV Guide: October 2, 1965

Pope Paul VI is in New York on Monday to speak at the United Nations, followed by a Mass at Yankee Stadium. It's the first time any pontiff has ever appeared in the Western Hemisphere, so the trip is kind of a big deal. Nowadays most of the coverage would probably be on your favorite cable news channel, but we're a long way from that yet, so prepare for plenty of preemptions to your daytime and primetime schedule.

Coverage begins early Monday morning with the Pope's departure from Rome at 1:00 a.m. ET, live via Early Bird satellite, and picks up with his arrival at Kennedy Airport at 9:30 a.m., followed by a meeting with President Johnson, his speech (in French) before the UN, a meeting with dignitaries, the Mass at Yankee Stadium (televised in color!), and his departure at 11:00 p.m. A whirlwind day in the Big Apple; I'll bet he didn't even get to the Empire State Building. 

What I find interesting about the Close Up is the amount of behind-the-scenes information we're given. Not only are we told about the network commentators (Revs. Edwards L. Heston and William Tobin on ABC; Fr. Robert O'Donnell on NBC; and Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen on CBS), we're also given the producers: Sid Darion on ABC, Chet Hagen on NBC, and Don Hewitt on CBS. Hewitt, we know, will become famous for his work with Walter Cronkite and later for 60 Minutes, but Hagen had won Emmys and a Peabody for previous specials, and had been in charge of NBC's coverage of JFK's assassination and funeral. Sid Darion had done year-end specials for ABC and would later work on the religious series Directions. Would viewers have known about these men back then, or cared? I mean, I think it's interesting, but then, I'm not sure I'm the typical viewer. 

Pope Paul VI's trip is headlined as the "Pilgrimage for Peace; the last pope to visit New York, Francis, will make a stop for an ecumenical service at the 9/11 Memorial. Proof that we're still praying for peace.

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During the 60s, the Ed Sullivan Show and The Hollywood Palace were the premiere variety shows on television. Whenever they appear in TV Guide together, we'll match them up and see who has the best lineup.

Sullivan: In Hollywood, Ed's scheduled guests are Judy Garland; Sophie Tucker; comic Jackie Vernon; rock 'n' roller Tom Jones; puppet Topo Gigio; the Marquis Chimps; Leyte Filipiana, a Filipino dance group; and the Swinging Lads, a vocal instrumental group.

Palace: Host Fred Astaire introduces ballet stars Rudolf Nureyev and Dame Margot Fonteyn of London's Royal Ballet Company. Astaire also presents comedian Paul Lynde and actress Carmen Phillips in a sketch about a girl who wants to end it all; the Andrew Tahon Puppets, featuring Fuzzy the Caterpillar; jazz organist Jimmy Smith, comic Jackie Mason; the rock 'n' rolling We Five; and the acrobatic Suns Family, making their U.S. debut.

One of the reasons variety shows like these don't exist anymore is due to their dependence on vaudeville acts. Tumblers, animal acts, puppet shows. I'm not against them, mind you, but would today's viewers dig them? The kids might, and of course these shows were meant to have something for all members of the family. But when you look at shows like those hosted by Dean Martin or Carol Burnett (or Tom Jones himself), you often see, in place of such acts, performances and skits featuring the host, with guests or alone (one reason why singers and comedians make the best hosts). If you figure that this week's vaudevillians cancel each other out, you're left with a legendary trio of dancers on the Palace, and in that case nobody's going to beat out Astaire, Nureyev and Fonteyn. This week, the Palace dances off with the honors.

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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. 

This week, Cleveland Amory visits the South of William Faulkner, a world seething with suppressed passions, generational grudges, gothic sensibilities, and co-dependent family members. In other words, your typical soap opera.

You'd expect Cleve to be all over this one, as in, "over the top," and he is. But, surprise, surprise, even though "all this sounds as if it's been, if not wedded and bedded, at least watched and botched many times before, the fact remains that The Long, Hot Summer, which made a strong movie, is also strong TV." Its production values are top notch, from the teaser preceding the opening credits on down. It's also comprised of "really strong principal characters," and a stellar cast, featuring Roy Thinnes ("certain to be one of the new season's finest attractions"), Edmond O'Brien (who plays Will Varner "in masterful fashion"), and Ruth Roman, whom he describes simply as "excellent." In fact, he reserves judgment only on Nancy Malone, just as her character reserves judgment on Thinnes's.

And—well, that's about all. Amory's review ends abruptly, as if he needs more time to draw his conclusions. His description of the plot line, with the various seething and suppressed emotions, is very funny, similar to other soap reviews we've read from him, but in the end things don't really go anywhere. So we'll fill in the blanks: The Long, Hot Summer lasts but one season, running 26 episodes; Edmond O'Brien leaves halfway through in a dispute over the show's focus, to be replaced by Dan O'Herlihy; Roy Thinnes becomes far better-known for his next series, The Invaders; and Nancy Malone remains far better-known for her previous series, Naked City. Whether or not any or all of this would surprise Cleveland Amory is anyone's, or everyone's guess. But it's fair to say that The Long, Hot Summer is one series that failed to make it through the long, cold winter.

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Lloyd Bridges is The Loner  

It is, as Henry Harding says, "high noon" for Rod Serling's new Western, The Loner, airing on CBS. The source of the imagery is a showdown between Serling and Michael Dann, CBS's head of programming. Serling asserts that Dann told him the show needed more violence, saying, "You're in trouble—the audience doesn't like your show." "That's interesting, Mike," Serling says he responded, "considering the fact that it isn't even on the air yet." Apparently, Dann was basing his opinion on a focus group of 100 viewers who'd seen the opening episode and found it too unconventional. Says Serling, "I told Dann that if the network wanted a conventional Western with emphasis on violence and action, it should have gotten a conventional Western writer and producer." 

Dann denies that he asked for more violence—he prefers to call it "action"—and says he wants a show with more "movement" and is less "cerebral." (Perhaps less Loner and more Lone Ranger?) As of now, production of the show has been suspended after 15 episodes. It eventually returns to production, with a total of 26 episodes appearing during the single season of the show. Which begs the question Serling asked in the beginning—if you want an ordinary Western, why Serling? The man's reputation ought to have been well-known enough by then. As the always-reliable Wikipedia points out, Cleveland Amory will write that Serling "obviously intended The Loner to be a realistic, adult Western," but it was "either too real for a public grown used to the unreal Western or too adult for juvenile Easterners."  

Serling would frequently talk of his dissatisfaction with The Loner,. and it's hard to disagree. The few episodes I've seen have been pretty good; certainly, more thought-provoking than the average Western. Perhaps, as is so often the case, The Loner is simply a show ahead of its time. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened had it come along later in the 1960s, when the existential loner is more in vogue.

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The Loner isn't the only Western worth talking about this week. Wednesday is Western night on The Danny Kaye Show (10:00 p.m., CBS), as Danny welcomes Buddy Ebsen of The Beverly Hillbillies, Clint Eastwood of Rawhide, Fess Parker of Daniel Boone, and. . . Charo. I'm still trying to figure out a clever retort for that one, but in the meantime there's an article by Arnold Hano about the death and rebirth of Rawhide. The series, in the midst of falling ratings, was, more or less, cancelled at the end of last season by CBS honcho James Aubrey. Not long afterward, Aubrey himself was cancelled by William Paley and Dr. Frank Stanton, and voila! Rawhide was back on the schedule.

Granted, this came with a few changes. Eric Fleming, the show's lead, was sacked, "because they were paying me a million dollars a year" according to Fleming, even though he was actually only making $220,000. Eastwood, the show's co-star, was elevated to star, and most of the existing cast members were done away with. Brought in "to fill the gaps" were veteran actor John Ireland ("'He will add dramatic strength,' executive producer Ben Brady says. "He will play what is obviously a man his own age—touching 40." Ireland is actually 51); Shakespearian actor Raymond St. Jacques and Brit David Watson, who as a boy soprano soloed at Queen Elizabeth's coronation. 

For all the changes, Rawhide only buys a few additional weeks on the trail; its last episode will air on January 4, 1966. Fleming, who'd ruffled many feathers during his time on the show, drowns in a boating accident less than a year after this article. Meanwhile, Clint Eastwood has been spending some time in Italy making a couple of movies: A Fistful of Dollars (originally turned down by Eric Fleming) and For a Few Dollars More. Just after Rawhide's cancellation, he'll head back begin work on The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Say no more.

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Back in the day, a week like this would have been like Christmas for sports fans, as America's three most popular spectator sports are on display. Leading things off (and that's a pretty appropriate term) is the 62nd World Series, as the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers* take on the American League champion Minnesota Twins. Game one takes place on Wednesday (3:00 p.m. ET, NBC); it's also Yom Kippur, and Dodgers star pitcher Sandy Koufax, who is Jewish, has said he will not pitch on the holiest day of the Jewish year. Don Drysdale, hardly a slouch, pitches the first game for the Dodgers, losing to Mudcat Grant and the Twins 8-2. This will play out a week later when, with the Series tied at three games apiece, Koufax pitches the seventh game on only two days rest; though he doesn't have his best stuff, he shuts out the Twins on three hits and the Dodgers take the game, and the Series, 2-0.

*TV Guide wasn't sure who the National League representative would be, since the pennant race was undecided at press time. Had a playoff been necessary, all games would have been on ABC.

College football, which has always aroused passions in sports fans, is off and running, and Saturday's game of the week features the perennial Big 10 powerhouse Ohio State Buckeyes travelling to Seattle to take on the Washington Huskies. (4:00 p.m., NBC) Ohio State wins the game, 23-21, but even though finishing the season with a 7-2 record, Ohio State stays home during the bowl season; as was the case at the time, only the Big 10 champion, in this case Michigan State, gets to go bowling. 

Then as now, Sunday belongs to pro football, and as the pros surpass baseball as Ameria's sport (according to Gallup, it happens sometime around now), the NFL and AFL are both in action. CBS is on hand for the New York Giants vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (1:15 p.m.), while NBC counters with the Boston Patriots vs. Kansas City Chiefs. Between Saturday and Sunday, there are only four football games on TV (including the big college game between Williams and Springfield on WWLP); today, just on the networks, it would be—what, maybe 15?

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What else is interesting this week? Well, NBC is introducing their new Saturday morning schedules, and among the new cartoons are Atom Ant (9:30 a.m.) and Secret Squirrel (10:00 a.m.). Remember those Hanna-Barbera classics? And on WHCT in Hartford, which provides pay-TV movies, it's the 1963 comedy classic It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (6:30 p.m.) On Sunday, the syndicated special "October Madness" (4:30 p.m. channel 5, 8:30 p.m. WWLP/WRLP), reviews the history recalling the great moments of the World Series, narrated by Gene Kelly. 

If it's not preempted by the Pope, Monday night has one of those coincidences that makes me wonder if it's really a coincidence: at 10:00 p.m., NBC's Run for Your Life goes up against an episode of ABC's Ben Casey entitled "Run for Your Lives, Dr. Galanos Practices Here." Both episodes boast fine guest casts (Telly Savalas, Gia Scala and Jeremy Slate on the former; Nehemiah Persoff and Michael Ansara on the latter), but do you really think that Casey episode title just came out of thin air?

Dr. Richard Kimble continues to run for his life on The Fugitive (Tuesday, 10:00 p.m., ABC), and don't forget this tie-in:

Thursday starts on The Today Show (7:00 a.m., NBC) when the entire two-hour show is devoted to "Cole Porter. . . A Remembrance," a taped program honoring Porter, who'd died a year ago. Ethel Merman, Abe Burrows, William Walker, Sally Ann Howes, and the Skitch Henderson orchestra lead the way. As a totally useless footnote, Cole Porter was born about a half hour from where we live today. In the evening, 1960 Olympic decathlon gold medalist Rafer Johnson is a guest star on Daniel Boone (7:30 p.m., NBC); later, it's an Andy Griffith Show reunion of sorts—The Andy Griffith, Don Knotts, Jim Nabors Special, starring, well, do I really need to spell it out? (8:00 p.m, CBS) You can see the opening number here. Here's a commercial for the show:

Finally, as you know, it's part of my mission here to point out any sightings in the wild of movies that wind up on Mystery Science Theater 3000. This week's entrant is Bloodlust! (Friday, 1:00 a.m, WWLP/WRLP), starring Wilton Graff as a mad doctor on a tropical island, hunting a pair of young couples as if they were wild animals. The movie was made in 1959 but not released until 1961; one of the four hunted youngsters is played by Robert Reed, who, three days after the movie is released, debuts in The Defenders with E.G. Marshall. 

If you don't want to stay up that late, you can opt for the WNHC movie at 11:25 p.m. Citizen Kane. I hear that's pretty good, too. TV  

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Like that image up there? It's from tomorrow's TV Guide, and while I don't usually tell you what's coming up, I'm making an exception in the case of the 1954-55 Fall Preview edition. Don't you love the idea of people dressing up in tuxes and evening gowns to watch television? After all, what would any good cocktail party be without a little entertainment from the TV? Anyway, I think you'll enjoy the issue, but then I always do.

I'd also like to remind you that I still have two copies of The Electronic Mirror available for anyone who wants them, free (plus shipping and handling). At the same time, thanks to those of you who emailed me requesting copies. (And a particular thank you to a generous reader who left a very kind tip for me that is much appreciated. You know who you are!)

Finally, my apologies for taking a long time replying to comments. It's a disturbingly busy period here at HQ right now, with some not-terribly welcome intrusions for me to deal with. Nothing life-threatening, but it will be a welcome time when they're gone. And now down to business.

We've got a double dose of links this week, starting with Jack's latest Hitchcock Project at bare-bones e-zine. It's the third and final contribution of Kathleen Hite's to the show, the fourth-season "The Morning of the Bride," an excellent adaptation with Don Dubbins, Barbara Bel Geddes, and Pat Hitchcock. 

At Comfort TV, we've got a pair from David: first, a look back at the days (and I remember them), when the best remedy for a cold was to "get to bed." Good advice back then, and it tells a lot about what things were like back then. There's also this review of Linda Evans' top TV moments. I can think of a couple—The Big Valley and Dynasty, of course. Why, what did you think I meant?

There's also a pair from John at Cult TV Blog; a reconstruction of the Avengers season one story "The Springers," featuring John Steed and Dr. David Keel—yes, one of the episodes where Steed had a male sidekick. We're also treated to a review of the BBC podcast The Lovecraft Investigations and the episode "The Whisperer in Darkness."

Gotta like this picture of a tin toy NBC remote camera truck over at the Broadcasting Archives. I had toys like this when I was little, but they were toy tanks or race cars or rocket ships. Don't get me wrong; I love all those things, but how cool would this have been?

At Bob Crane: Life & Legacy, Carol shares her thoughts on providing commentary for the Blu-Ray of the season two Night Gallery episode "House, With Ghost," starring Bob, Jo Anne Worley, and Bernard Fox. Reason enough to have this in the library.

Martin Grams provides a recap, in pictures and words, of this year's Mid Atlantic Nostalgia Convention. I used to be able to give you this myself, back when we went every year, and perhaps I'll be able to do that again sometime in the future. Fun times.

At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence looks back at the life and career of Henry Silva, who died last week, aged 96, and offers an appreciation on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the premier of the venerable Western The Virginian. 

Hopefully that will keep you all busy until tomorrow, when you can find out about the rest of that TV Guide. TV  

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Let's start this holiday weekend on a musical note, with David's piece at Comfort TV on who wrote the most memorable TV music: Henry Mancini or Mike Post? Granted, they're not the only two composers, but they're the most prolific, so: place your bets.

Now we return to the world of The Prisoner, and the world of Cult TV Blog, as John advances his theory that Patrick McGoohan's series takes place in a psychiatric hospital. This week, it's a look at the episode "The Chimes of Big Ben." Is he winning you over yet?

Television's New Frontier: The 1960s visits 1962 and Laramie, and poses questions that we've often wondered about: how do you balance your own view of a series against the view audiences had when it was aired? And do things such as repetitive plots harm your viewing of them today? 

Good news from Paul at Shadow & Substance: Night Gallery Season 2 is headed to Blu-ray, to join last year's Season 1 release. Since commentaries are provided by several of the bloggers you've seen mentioned here, it's a good bet we'll have this on our shelves at some point.

That's it for the week; a quiet one, but with a three-day weekend on the way, I think a lot of us have more important things going on. Anyway, see you back here tomorrow for the TV Guide review—same time, same channel. TV  

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Xet's start this week with bare-bones e-zine, as Jack's Hitchcock Project introduces us to a new writer: Sarett Rudley who adapted the magazine story "The Baby Sitter" into a teleplay of the same name for the series' first season. The story stars two greats, Thelma Ritter and Mary Wickes, but still lacks that certain, what, je ne sais quoi? 

Being a writer myself, I tend to attach a certain importance to how well-written a television show is, and my fellow writer David shares that interest in this week's Comfort TV entry, in which he looks at what may be the best written shows in TV history, as selected by the Writers' Guild. How much did they get right? You be the judge. . .

Great news from Jodie at Garroway at Large: the document has gone to the printer! That means we're that much closer to getting the definitive Dave Garroway biography. And yet, as she points out, there still a lot of work to be done. Pretty exciting!

The Broadcasting Archives links to an NPR piece on the end of the Maury Povich show after a 30-year run. That sound you're hearing is champagne corks popping everywhere, although I don't mean that as a personal slam at Maury, who is probably a great guy. It's just that—well, you know my feelings about reality television.

At Silver Scenes a favorite episode from The Avengers: "You Have Just Been Murdered." It's a terrific story from the Steed and Mrs. Peel era, with a clever, witty script and a great villain in Mr. Needle, played by George Murcell. 

Over at Cult TV Blog, John continues the Orphaned Episodes series with a closer look at "A Woman Sobbing," one of the surviving episodes from the 1972 supernatural anthology Dead of Night on BBC. think Gaslight, and you're on the right track.

Next up, Terence at A Shroud of Thoughts reviews the classic Maverick fourth-season episode "Hadley's Hunters," which includes just about every Western star on a Warner Bros. series. And I'll say one more time, no relation! If you know or have heard of anyone named Hadley, we're not related!

At Drunk TV, Paul undertakes the massive task of looking at Gunsmoke, one of television's most influential shows (of any kind, let alone Westerns), starting with season one (of 20). I really enjoyed reading this piece for a number of reasons.

Finally at Once Upon a Screen, Aurora has a warm, touching tribute to her mother, who passed away last December. Her stories about watching television with mom remind us—and we could use it—that television was always intended to be a communal experience, to be watched and shared with others. That, in large measure, is where it derives its power from, and let's not forget it. TV  

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On this Christmas Eve (that's not me in the picture, by the way, although I wish I could say it was), we'll start, appropriately enough, at Comfort TV where David tells us about one of the best Christmas episodes from any series: "A Vision of Sugar Plums," from the first season of Bewitched, and it's hard to argue with David's assessment.

You'll never in your life read a Chrismastime issue of TV Guide from the day that doesn't have at least one station showing Reginald Owen's magnificent version of A Christmas Carol, and at A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence gives us a more in-depth look at this timeless classic.

At the Broadcasting Archives, a link to Faded Signals and a very cool 1961 trade ad for NBC (probably from Broadcasting magazine, I'd bet) that boasts: "Whenever all three networks cover the same event at the same time, more people watch it on NBC." With Chet and David at the helm, even Uncle Walter had a hard time competing back then.

That Blog Where the Bloke With No Shirt (John, for the rest of us), introduces us to the popular British comedian of the time, Harry Worth (endorsed personally by Laurel and Hardy), and "Help," an episode from Worth's final TV series, How's Your Father?

It doesn't look as if we're going to have a white Christmas here in our new home, but all's not lost, as Silver Scenes takes a look at eight classic Westerns that take place in winter. Speaking of which, now that we're officially in winter, the days are getting longer again!

And while it's not directly related to TV, I'd like to end this pre-holiday edition at The Hits Just Keep on Comin', where JB has a touching reflection on what the world was like on Christmas Eve, 1971. Ah, yes.

I'll be back later today with a special Christmas Eve edition, and tomorrow we'll look at this year's Christmas TV Guide, from 1968. And for those of you (and I hope it's most of you!) who might be busy travelling, or with family, or having fun under the mistletoe and might not be back here until after Christmas, my wishes as always for a Blessed Christmas Eve and Day. TV  

This week in TV Guide: July 17, 1954

If you're going to be called the "King of the Cowboys," you'd sure as shootin' better be able to back it up. In the case of Roy Rogers, he's earned that title as sure as he's earned his spurs. For eleven years now, Rogers has been the biggest Western star at the box office; his eponymous television show, in the middle of its third season, is the #10 ranked show in the Nielsens. And so for those, like Dan Jenkins, author of this week's cover story, who consider themselves a little too hip for the world of kiddie Westerns, the question remains: "What does it take to become King of the Cowboys?" It has to be more than simply how you draw your gun, ride your horse, capture the bad guy, and rescue helpless damsels, right? 

The answer, according to a Rogers associate, is that it requires "a relationship, a bond, between the star and his audience which has nothing to do with this week's script." This bond between Rogers and his audience, Jenkins writes, is "a very real thing, and it goes back to the days when Rogers was "an underpaid cowboy star" at Republic, and discovered that he was getting a lot of fan mail. As them mail grew, Roy found it impossible to answer every one. What did he do? He organized a rodeo tour for the express purpose of using the profits to hire a staff to make sure every letter was answered. Rogers doesn't need to resort to tours to fund his staff now, of course, so how does he spend that spare time? By flying around the country, visiting seriously ill children in hospitals and their homes. 

Roy and his wife, Dale Evans (Queen of the West) love children. They have six: Roy's two from his first marriage to the late Arlene Rogers, one from Dale's early marriage, and three adopted. The only child the two had together, Robin Elizabeth, was born with Down syndrome and died of complications from mumps shortly before her second birthday. (Although Jenkins, discreetly, leaves out the details and only mentions her early death.) Following her death, Dale wrote the book Angel Unaware, "which has since become a rod and a staff to literally thousands of parents faced with this most terrible of blows: the loss of a child." It is, Jenkins says with no cynicism whatsoever, the story of "the deep faith of two simple peole who just happened to stumble across buckets full of long green; whose basic philosophy is: to love children is to love God."

There is little to differentiate his movies and TV shows from those of other cowboy stars—nothing to account for the size and devotion of his fans. No, there can only be one explanation, as Jenkins says: "this intangible feeling between parent and parent, and between children and star that has lifted the Rogers-Evans combine to the top and kept it there." And while Roy's basic naivete consists mostly of trusting people and working on a handshake basis, it is "a quality to be misunderstood only at your own peril." His stardom lasts until his death in 1998; his name becomes a virtual synonym for a hero. Through it all, he remains the same, simple man with a simple philosophy. As a close friend says, "Many cowboy stars, once they've made their splash, decide reluctantly that it's good business to play up the kids off stage as well as on. Roy never came to that conclusion. He was born with it. It makes quite a difference."

Roy Rogers was more than a cowboy, more than an actor. He was a real-life hero, who never traded in his boots and spurs for feet of clay. They don't come along very often, do they?

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Eddie Albert is the host of NBC's Saturday Night Review (or Revue, if you prefer), which airs at 9:30 p.m., ET as the summer replacement for Your Show of Shows; it's the last time we'll see Eddie for three weeks, as a series of guest hosts (including Cesar Romero and George Gobel, Hoagy Carmichael and George Jessel) take over while Eddie is off filming Oklahoma, where he plays Ali Hakim. Up against him is Jack Paar (9:30 p.m, CBS), who welcomes Betty Clooney, Johnny Desmond, and Pupi Campo, along with Jack's long-time bandleader Jose Melis. According to the Hollywood Teletype, we can expect Jack to show up with a three-hour Saturday afternoon variety show in the fall; instead, he winds up taking over for Walter Cronkite on The Morning Show.

Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., CBS) is on the road this week, at the Westchester Country Club in Rye, New York, with singer-bandleader Vaughn Monroe, dancer Carol Haney, singer Doretta Morrow, Mexican trumpeteers Rafael Mendez and his twin sons, the Gautier Steeplechasers animal act, and pantomimist Stan Kramer. Ed's competition this week, as is the case for the early part of the 1950s, is the Colgate Comedy Hour, or, in this case, the Summer Comedy Hour (8:00 p.m., NBC), which features Kaye Ballard, Jules Munshin, dancer Jonathon Lucas, singer Betty Madigan and Heather-Jo Taferner. I thnk I'l have to give Ed the edge on this one.

During the summer, Robert Montgomery Presents (Monday, 9:30 p.m., NBC) employs a repertory company (which includes Bob's daughter, Elizabeth), and this week the company is joined by Orson Bean for "It Happened in Paris," a spoof on radio shows in which the sponsors of a popular program for honeymooners discover that their "lovey-dovey" honeymooner hosts aren't married. Oops. 

Is it wrong to think that Tuesday's highlights come at the beginning of the broadcast day? On Today (7:00 a.m., NBC), we get films of that loveable simian and co-host J. Fred Muggs getting his shots in preparation for his upcoming European tour. To all those celebrities who couldn't resist tweeting pictures of getting their virus shots, is this really who you want to imitate? (Just kidding, Muggs!) Meanwhile, on The Morning Show (7:00 a.m., CBS), host Walter Cronkite welcomes "Bing Crosby and Donald O'Connor," harmonizing on "Back in the Old Routine." It's not really Bing and Donald, but Bil and Cora Baird's puppets, regulars on The Mornng Show, and an unbylined article explores how the Bairds apply their trademark satire, from Charlemane the lion (right) spinning the latest records to musical sequences featuring a frog impersonating Mel Torme, a foxhound doing Crosby, and a cocker spaniel playing Johnnie Ray.

The unlikely paring of Alan Ladd and Liberace headline Wednesday's Red Skelton Review (8:00 p.m., CBS). Later, on Kraft Theater (9:00 p.m., NBC), Arthur O'Connell stars as a middle-aged father who can't measure up against the heroes that his daughter reads about in her stories about knights and medieval chivalry; perhaps coincidentally, this week's unbylined review of Mr. Wizard, which airs Saturdays on NBC, makes a similar point about how "Father may know best, but he can use a little help from [Don] Herbert every Sunday afternoon. What is that about a prophet without honor in his own home?   

I like the sounds of Thursday's Four Star Playhouse episode "The Witness" (8:30 p.m., CBS). Dick Powell stars as an attorney defending an accused murderer, "though all the evidence suggests he's guilty." We might have some doubt about the guilt or innocence of the accused, played by Charles Buchinsky, but we'd have fewer doubts if we knew then that Charles Buchinsky would later become famous as Charles Bronson.

On Friday, Walter Cronkite is back, this time as the quizmaster on It's News to Me (10:30 p.m., CBS), in which panelists Anna Lee, Quentin Reynolds, John Henry Faulk and Nina Foch "try to guess famous news events." Having newsmen emcee shows like this is nothing new; Mike Wallace hosted several game shows early in his career, and when It's News to Me began in 1951, it was with John Daly as host. Too bad they couldn't have used America's Most Trusted Man as a host after the Quiz Show Scandals, isn't it? (You can check the show out for yourself here.) 

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As you've probably noticed, I'm wont to drop, from time to time, a mention of Mystery Science Theater 3000, one of my favorite shows,* and if you share that fondness, you'll rejoice at not one, not two, but three appearances of MST3K movies from this week's issue—sightings in the wild, so to speak, perhaps some of the first times these movies appeared on television.

*Having had occasion to watch it on an almost daily basis thanks to Pluto and Shout TV, I've a mind to elevate it into the Top 10 as some of the bingeable of television programs.

Saturday night at 10:00 p.m. on WENS, Tom Neal and Jane Adams star in The Brute Man: "Disfigured in a college chemistry lab, a killer seeks vengeance." Sunday night (11:35 p.m., WDTV), it's Last of the Wild Horses, a Western starring Mary Beth Hughes and James Ellision, in which "Continual raids on wild horses provoke feud between a wealthy rancher and his neighbors." And on Thursday (11:00 p.m., WJAC), the mountain-climbing classic Lost Continent, with Cesar Romero: "Searching for a missing atom-powered rocket, a plan crew lands in an island jungle and comes upon a lost continent." The listing has Hillary Brooke as his co-star, but she's in only one scene; it would have been better to include a name from among Hugh Beaumont, John Hoyt, Whit Bissell, Sid Melton, and Chick Chandler. I've seen many of these movies pop up in various issues over the years, but never three at once.

Occasionally I'll watch the non-MST3K versions of a movie, though not with any of these three, and it can be remarkable to see how much had to be cut from them in order to fit the timeslots. Even so, many times the movies are so bad, the stories so incomprehensible, even the cut footage wouldn't help. I admit that Lost Continent and The Brute Man are two of my favorites, though; they must have been part of the same film package that Best Brains bought for MST3K, in which case we should be looking for more of these in the future.

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I've undoubtedly mentioned this before, but one of the pleasures of these really old issues is finding the names and events that mean more today than they did at the time. For instance, in "Pittsburgh Parade," Bill Adler notes that local Pittsburgh TV personality Mitzi Steiner, former host of the Kiddie Castle show on KDKA, "is in Hollywood (with her husband, Jack Tolen) looking for TV work under the name of Mitzi McCall." And it is under that name that, along with her second husband, Charlie Brill, she has entertained throughout a career of more than fifty years.

Another local Pittsburgh figure is Ray Scott, who hosts Sports Editor weekdays at 6:55 p.m. on WDTV. Three years later, he'll become the play-by-play voice of the Green Bay Packers, and as the team comes to dominate the NFL in the 1960s, Scott becomes one of the most recognizable, and most popular, announcers in the game. I always loved his "just the facts" style of broadcasting; we could use more of that today.

Columnist Harold V. Cohen notes that "Phil Silvers is being groomed for the Red Buttons time next season. I've always felt Silvers could be a very funny fellow on television with half a chance, and I'm sure he will be." He's one season off in his estimation, but come the fall of 1955, Silvers gets his half-chance as Sergeant Ernie Bilko in You'll Never Get Rich, which you'll probably know better as The Phil Silvers Show. As for Buttons, Cohen hopes the networks haven't given up on him; "That little fellow has a genuine comedy talent that is going to be channeled in the right direction one of these days and there will be no stopping him." Buttons, whose show was rated #11 in 1952, never does make it big again on television, but he channels that talent into an Academy Award in 1957 for his dramatic performance in Sayonara.

And George Burns is one busy man, according to the Hollywood Teletype. Not only is he starring with his wife Gracie in The Burns and Allen Show, his McCadden Productions company has a couple of series in the works. One of them, Life with Father, starring Leon Ames and Lurene Tuttle, premieres in November and runs for a couple of seasons. The other is a new comedy starring Robert Cummings as "a Hollywood commercial photographer," and debuts next January for a four-and-a-half season run. In first run it's called The Robert Cummings Show, but its more familiar syndicated title is Love That Bob, and my friend Hal Horn can tell you all about it.

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This week's starlet has a role she can really, well, sink her teeth into. It's Vampira, hostess of KABC's 11:00 Saturday night movie (appropriately called The Vampira Show), and the show—along with its star—has been a sensation ever since. 

Vampira's real name is Maila Nurmi, and despite what you see there, she's actually an attractive, blue-eyed blonde (measurements: 38-17-36) who was discovered several months ago when she attended a costume party in her getup and was seen by ABC producer Hunt Stromberg Jr. The rest, as they say, is history. (Speaking of history, Maila's uncle knows a bit about history himself: he's the great distance runner Paavo Nurmi, winner of nine Olympic gold medals and former world record holder in the mile.)

Nurmi delights in being eccentric off-camera as well as on; when she's wearing her five-inch nails, she has to be waited on hand and foot; her lunch consists exclusively of Bloody Marys ("It's almost bedtime" for vampires, she points out), and rarely ever goes out in public as anything other than her famous character.

Her personal life is every bit as colorful as that of Vampira; she had a child with Orson Welles while he was married to Rita Hayworth, was a close friend of James Dean, and was the model for Maleficent in Disney's Sleeping Beauty. After The Vampira Show is cancelled by KABC, she takes the character to KHA for a similar show, and continues to parlay her role for several years, including a memorable performance in the immortal Plan 9 From Outer Space. Today, she's remembered as television's first horror host, and that's something you can hang your hat on. Or your wig, as the case may be.

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And finally, an answer to one of the questions that has vexed humans for decades, caused men with minds greater than mine to scale mountaintops in search of the wise counsel of lamas, and lies at the heart of everything that we hold dear. It's deeper than the meaning of life, greater than why bad things happen to good people, and has more impact than life, the universe and everything:

Why do TV Guide's listings run from Saturday to Friday?

As we've noticed in the earliest issues of TV Guide, the listings originally ran from Friday to Thursday, and in this week's message from the editor, we're told that the decision to change the format was not made lightly, but only "after careful study of how the magazine could best improve its service to readers." But first, a tutorial on how each week's edition of TV Guide is assembled:

Collecting the mass of information that appears in the magazine each week requires staffs of trained personnel in New York and Hollywood, the major origination points for network programs, and local staffs in each of the cities where TV Guide is published. Details on network programs move from both coasts to local offices throughout the country on our own private leased wire Teletype system. In each city, information on locally originated programs is obtained from the stations and correlated with the network information received via Teletype.

All this takes time, of course, and during the 15 months that TV Guide has been in business nationally, meeting deadlines has been a constant struggle. And so: by starting on Saturday rather than Friday, "we now will be able to bring you those extra items of late information."

I'll be frank: the whole explanation was kind of anticlimatic. I was expecting something profound, perhaps even existential: aligning the television week with the restorative powers of the weekend, for example, Instead, it's the publishing equivalent of "I Subscribed to TV Guide and All I Got Was This Lousy Explanation." 

Still, to quote Bing Crosby in White Christmas, while it may not be a good reason, it's a reason. We don't have printed television listings anymore, and if your goal is accurate, up-to-the-minute information, it's a good thing: what used to require days to update can now be done in a matter of moments and instantly delivered to you via the internet or on your television. The romance of publishing, like that of newspapers, is a thing of the past; it's the kind of thing we sacrifice in the name of progress. TV  

This week in TV Guide: June 11, 1955

What's this? Another Liberace? Could it be the famous pianist Chandell and his evil twin brother, the archfiend Harry, back to terrorize Gotham City? Close, but not quite; the "other" Liberace to which this week's cover referrs is George, Lee's brother, and he plays not the piano, but the violin. In fact, he was good enough to be first violin with his hometown Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, before setting out on the big band circuit.

It wasn't until 1947 that George joined up with Lee; "Up to that time," George says, "he couldn't afford me." George became Lee's musical director (paid, of course), and today the two are equal partners in the million-dollar Liberace Enterprises, with George handling "music selections, business details, lighting, the Bel Canto Publishing Co., the payroll—and the violin." He'll continue with his brother, often serving as the straight man, before touring the country in the 1960's with his own band. Eventually he retires from conducting in the late 1970's and moves to Las Vegas, where he manages the Liberace Museum until his death in 1983. 

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Well, that was a fun way to start this week's issue, wasn't it? Here's some more fun for you: the debut of NBC's famous radio program Monitor, which introduces itself to the public via a one-hour television simulcast on Sunday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. The brainchild of NBC president Pat Weaver, Monitor is perhaps the most audactious idea in radio history, aside from the invention of radio itself: a continuous, 40-hour program running from Saturday morning to Sunday midnight, featuring some of the biggest names in entertainment presenting literally everything: news, sports, comedy, live concerts, interviews with celebrities, recorded music, and remote reports from around the world—in other words, a show that will become known for "going places and doing things." Weaver describes his baby as a "kaleidoscopic phantasmagoria," but settled on Monitor as a much simpler name. It is a last-ditch effort to save network radio, to offer something that viewers can't get on television, and it uses that very medium to make the introductions.

The first regular full-length show will be next weekend, but in this Sunday preview (the radio broadcast will run another seven hours, until midnight ET), Weaver appears at the outset to introduce the program and explain the concept, before turning the reins over to the first Monitor host (or "communicator," as they would be known), none other than Today's Dave Garroway, the master communicator himself. This very first broadcast takes its audience from New York City to Hermosa Beach, California; Bucks County, Pennsylvania; San Quentin Prison; the Catskills (for a Martin & Lewis performance); and a jazz club in Chicago. We also get to meet some of the show's regulars, including Bob & Ray, sportscaster Red Barber, literary critic Clifton Fadiman, and Morgan Beatty with the news.

Monitor survives, in various forms, until 1975, and the story of this program can be found at this great website, as well as by reading Dennis Hart's book Monitor: The Inside Story of Network Radio's Greatest Program, which I reviewed for this website here. 

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Monitor isn't the only radio program making the crossover to television this week; on Saturday, NBC presents a half-hour of the legendary Grand Ole Opry (7:00 p.m.), from the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Minnie Pearl, Ernest Tubb, and Faron Young are among the performers appearing on the broadcast; unlike Monitor, Grand Ole Opry remains on radio Saturday nights to this day, the longest-running radio broadcast in U.S. history.

Sunday night we see another debut, that of the Colgate Variety Hour, successor to Colgate's long-running Comedy Hour (7:00 p.m., NBC). The inaugural episode, as well as next week's, is hosted by that famed variety show host Charlton Heston. Yes, I had a hard time envisioning that as well, but I suppose it's no stranger than the host turn done on July 24 by Jack Webb, although that one is really a plug for the upcoming Pete Kelly's Blues. But anyway, to get back to this week, Chuck's guests include Sarah Vaughan, Vera-Ellen, and Jimmy Stewart, and includes a salute to the Strategic Air Command. Next year the show will be replaced by The Steve Allen Show. Off we go, I guess. But I can't escape without mentioning G.E. Theater (8:00 p.m., CBS), in which Mike Wallace plays an American tourist in Capri.

On Monday, Art Carney ► and Leora Dana star in "The Incredible World of Horace Ford" on Studio One. (9:00 p.m., CBS). Many of you sharp-eyed fans out there may recognize this title, but not from tonight's broadcast or cast; Reginald Rose's teleplay also appears as a fourth-season episode of The Twilight Zone in 1963, with Pat Hingle and Nan Martin in the lead roles. There is, of course, a story behind this, as recounted at The Twilight Zone Vortex. Apparently, there was no little amount of confusion regarding the ending of this story; not only was it a downbeat ending, it also dabbled in time-travel, leaving viewers angry and puzzled as to what happened. (In fact, the network received a flood of complaints from viewers following the airing). When "Horace Ford" was revived for The Twilight Zone, the network was comfortable that viewers would appreciate the fantasy element, but producer Herbert Hirschman asked Rose to give the story a more optimistic conclusion. It was a request with which Rose was happy to comply; as he pointed out later, the story had already been shown the way he wanted it, so he had no problem changing it.

Tuesdsay, Armstrong Circle Theater (8:30 p.m., NBC) presents a conundrum that must have been rather interesting for viewers of the time: a congresswoman is torn between her husband, a foreign correspondent returning from a yearlong assignment, and a reelection bid that would enable her to pass a bill of great personal importance. The listing describes it as a story of a woman "torn between her duties to her country and to her husband," which I suspect would make feminists bristle today. The point is, this is an episode that would be nearly impossible to truly appreciate outside of the context in which it was originally written and shown; there's just too much cultural baggage from the subsequent 65 years for us to view it objectively today.

Sometimes a line of text just jumps out at you, as was the case with Wednesday's Tonight Show with Steve Allen (11:00 p.m., NBC). In addition to jazz pianist Erroll Garner and singer Bob Manning, "The voice of hospitalized Gene Rayburn* [Steve's sidekick] is beamed in to give us the latest sports scores and weather reports, with an assist from a pretty in-studio assistant." Given that people back then were often hospitalized for things that a doctor might take care of in his office today, I still wonder what that was all about? But if you're not as curious as I am, you might have watched Norman Ross Presents (Channel 7, 11:00 p.m.). Tonight's story: "A Man and His Kite—Ben Franklin."

◄ *Fun fact: In addition to hosting game shows, Gene Rayburn would go on to be a very popular host for several years on Monitor.

 

An assortment of shows on Thursday, starting with Dragnet (8:00 p.m., NBC), in which Friday and Smith spend New Year's Eve responding to an "officer needs help" call. As I recall, that does not end well. On ABC at the same time, it's Star Tonight, presenting "Strength of Steel," a drama written by Rod Serling (best-known at that point for "Patterns") about a young Army wife and her uneasy relationship with her father-in-law. David Niven stars in Four Star Playhouse (8:30 p.m., CBS) as a priest who must learn to forgive the Indians who tortured him for two years. And in the WGN late-night movie (10:30 p.m.), Tom Conway stars as a lawyer in "I Cheated the Law." You can be sure the law won.

It's not that I have a heart of stone, but I've gotten tired of those "surprise" reunions over the years, where a serviceman or woman returns home from a tour and surprises the spouse and/or kids. A little sentimentality goes a long way, you know. Anyway, what got me thinking on these lines is Art Linkletter's House Party (Friday, 1:30 p.m., CBS), in which Art and his crew film a serviceman's wife and the child he has never seen, to send overseas for the soldier-father. Nowadays you're talking about a Zoom or Skype call, or FaceTiming someone, but in 1955 it required a television show to shoot a film and send that film overseas in order to bring a family together. And I think that's worth getting sentimental over.

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That smiling cowgirl on this week's cover is Gail Davis, star of Annie Oakley, the syndicated Western series that will run for three seasons before going to weekend reruns on ABC. (A nice note from the always-reliable Wikipedia: "Except for depicting the protagonist as a phenomenal sharpshooter of the period, the program entirely ignores the facts of the historical Oakley's life.")

The protege of none other than the Singing Cowboy himself, Gene Autry, Davis has proven that she can handle a both a horse and a gun; she owns Target, the horse that viewers will be seeing in next season's shows ("He's still got a lot to learn"), and Autry, who produces the show, says that "Gail shoots very well, and she's getting better all the time." She's also a popular attraction on personal appearance tours.

Davis hails from Little Rock and graduated from the University of Texas, so playing the role of the cowgirl came easily to her. Six years ago, she came to Hollywood, where she made her debut in Van Johnson's The Romance of Rosy Ridge. She only had one line—"Hello, there"—but she had to say it to Van six times. "It wasn't a line you could do much with," she says, "but I did manage to give it six different inflections." Her big break came with the 1950 Autry flick Cow Town, the first of 15 Autry movies in which she's appeared. Autry had been looking to develop a female counterpart for many years, one that girls could identify with, but once Davis appeared, "I didn't have any more problems." 

Despite all this, Gail's career is a relatively brief one. Almost all of the movies she appeared in were Westerns (29 of 32 at one point), and most of her guest-starring roles on TV wer in the same genre, although she did play Thelma Lou's cousin on The Andy Griffith Show. "I tried to find other acting work," she would say, "but I was so identified as Annie Oakley that directors would say, 'Gail, I'd like to hire you, but you're going to have to wait a few years, dye your hair and cut off your pigtails." A career-limiting role, perhaps, but it earned her a place in the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame; how many of us out there can say that?

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Some quick notes:

Soap operas, which migrated from radio to television, are enormously popular, and prove to be a successful buy for soap and cereal sponsors. The networks are trying to give the shows a veneer of respectability, though; according to Bob Stahl's article, these shows (many of which are still 15 minutes long) are now to be called "daydramas." The truth remains that, no matter what you call them, they still "accent human misery," with storylines that boast "Suicides and murders that would rate time on Dragnet, love affairs that would interest Dr. Kinsey and surgery gripping enough for Medic."

And it's those love affairs that have attracted the ire of Harriet Spoon of South Beloit, Illinois, who writes to TV Guide: "Isn't it about time those borderline situations on the daytime serials were cleaned up? If the heroine has to drool over a man, she shouldn't pick one who is married. A lot of housewives like me are gtting sick of the lack of respect TV shows for marriage." It's nice to report that there's not nearly as much sex on soap operas nowadays. Not that the soaps have improved; there are just fewer of them.

And now, something from the teletypes: Ida Lupino, who's one of the four stars on Four Star Theater, is branching out into her own series with husband Howard Duff. Here, it's called Mr. and Mrs., but when it makes it to CBS in 1957, it's called Mr. Adams and Eve.

For years viewers have complained about popular TV shows being scheduled opposite each other, but there's reason to take heart: CBS says next season's ten full-color, 90 minute Saturday night specials will not be shown on the same Saturdays as Max Liebman's NBC Saturday night spectaculars. I'm not going to make the expected comment about the lack of DVRs—no, I'm just remembering the days when networks had big specials on Saturday night, instead of sports and reruns. Either way, it labels me as old.

And since we began with Liberace, we'll end the same way: Dorothy Malone has been signed to appear opposite Lee in his feature film debut, Sincerely Yours. The movie, unlike Liberace's television career, is a bomb—so much so that, according to Robert Osborne, by the time the movie made it to Seattle, "the billing was altered even more: Joanne Dru, Dorothy Malone, and Alex Nicol above the title (with big head shots of all three) and below the title in much smaller letters: 'with Liberace at the piano'." Lee was said to have been shaken by the whole experience, but I don't think we should feel too sorry for him; after all, in responding to a nasty review of his stage show, he famously replied, "My brother George and I cried all the way to the bank." TV