This week in TV Guide: June 3, 1967

It can sometimes be a challenge finding something meaningful to write about in these summer issues of TV Guide.  Most regular series are in reruns or off the air for the summer, while new shows and summer replacements are frequently unmemorable. Nevertheless, we continue on, driven by the determination to provide nothing but the best for our readers.

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We tend to think of the Emmys as the kickoff to the television season, but truth is that for many years, it was the wrap-up to the year, in much the same way that a sports league hands out its awards at the end of a season.  The only reason the Emmys wound up in the fall in the first place is because of a 1977 strike that pushed all kinds of programming out a few months, and at least in the Emmys' case, they never went back to the old schedule.

Thus, we find ourselves at the beginning of June discussing this year's awards.  And where would an awards show be without some controversy to keep us all entertained?  As it turns out, according to Richard K. Doan's* article, the Emmys and controversy go way back.  In 1964, for example, CBS and ABC walked out of the Emmys, with CBS president Fred Friendly calling them "unprofessional, unrealistic and unfair."  NBC, which broadcast the show that year, ridiculed the actions of its rivals as "a classic of sham and hypocrisy."  Leave it to Johnny Carson to get off the best line: "It's nice to be subpoenaed here tonight.  This ist he first time I've ever been asked to work a mutiny."

*Yes, he of the frequently mentioned "Doan Report."

And then there were the years when the categories didn't differentiate between drama, comedy or variety, leaving Dick Van Dyke, he of The Dick Van Dyke Show, to compete for best actor against George C. Scott (East Side/West Side), David Janssen (The Fugitive), Dean Jagger (Mr. Novak) and Richard Boone (The Richard Boone Show).  Or the time when Hallmark Hall of Fame's "Victoria Regina" won Program of the Year, but Drama of the Year went to the series The Defenders.  Or the year they scrapped categories altogether and simply recognized accomplishments as voted on by blue-ribbon panels, a show which Academy president Rod Serling acknowledged was "two deadly dull hours."

As we come to 1967, CBS News continues its boycott of the awards, not allowing any of its news programs to be submitted for consideration.  The whole idea has been attacked by people as varied as Walter Cronkite and What's My Line? producer Mark Goodson, with Defenders producer Herb Brodkin quitting the Academy, saying "What difference does it make which is best, Beverly Hillbillies or Gilligan's Island?" Goodson gave up after a proposal to create separate categories for half-hour Westerns and hour-long Westerns.  Cronkite, a former president of the Academy, "got a kind of hopelessness about it all."

But the show goes on,broadcast on ABC and hosted by Hugh Downs in New York and Joey Bishop in Hollywood.  True to its word, no CBS news specials are nominated.  And there are the odd anomalies here and there - I Spy nominated for best drama, but one of its episodes getting a director nomination in the comedy category - but for the most part people are excited.  You can read the nominees over there on the right; I'll give you the winners at the end of this week's piece.

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On the other hand, TV Guide reviewer Cleveland Amory has his own thoughts about who should get what awards.  The "Amorys" are chosen by "an all-star committee of all-time TV exters.  And, as I said to myself as I made up the list, if I did say so, I did a fine job."  Sounds like something I would say.

Anyway, his choices: for drama, Ben Gazzara (Run for Your LIfe) as best actor, Diana Rigg (The Avengers) as best actress. I Spy's team of Robert Culp and Bill Cosby take home best acting team, and Mission: Impossible wins the prize as best drama series.  Best comedy series is Occasional Wife, whose stars Patricia Harty and Michael Callan were honorable mentions in the acting team category.  Supporting awards go to Art Carney (The Jackie Gleason Show) and Amanda Blake (Gunsmoke), although Judy the Chimp from Daktari is runner-up.  The Dean Martin Show wins best variety series, and The Merv Griffin Show takes the prize for best talk show.

I always liked Cleveland Amory.  Didn't always agree with him, but he was a witty and erudite writer.  And he didn't do any worse than the Emmy voters, in my opinion.  We'll see what you think shortly.

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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..

Palace:  We’re back in London for this episode of Piccadilly Palace, the summer replacement for The Hollywood Palace.  This week, hosts Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise welcome singers Bobby Rydell and the rock 'n' rolling Small Faces, and regular Millicent Martin joins the Paddy Stone dancers in song.

Sullivan:  Ed's scheduled guests on this live broadcast are singer Nancy Ames; trumpeter Harry James; the rock 'n' rolling Young Rascals; comedians George Kaye and Rodney Dangerfield; puppets Topo Gigio, and the Muppets; marimba player Roger Ray; and jugglers Chung and Manna.

No surprise that finding something interesting about this matchup should be a challenge.  I know - Nancy Ames, the singing act on Sullivan, used to be the singer on NBC's That Was The Week That Was, which was a spinoff of a hit British show, which is where this week's Piccadilly Palace comes from.

Well, that was kind of weak, wasn't it?

I think Rydell and Ames cancel each other, and Morecambe and Wise (frequent guests on Sullivan, by the way) are probably at least as funny as Dangerfield.  But because I have this video of the great Harry James and his band, in all likelihood from this very show, I'm giving the edge to Sullivan.

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We haven't looked at the Sunday chat shows for awhile, and since the news doesn't stop just because it's summer, let's find out about the major issues of the day.

On CBS, Face the Nation discusses U.S. foreign policy with Roger Hilsman, former assistant secretary of state for Far Eastern affairs, and author of a book about foreign policy during the Kennedy years.  Hilsman played a fairly large role in the development of U.S. policy toward Vietnam - reading that profile from the always-reliable Wikipedia, I suspect he had something to do with the Kennedy administration's support for the overthrow of the Diệm regime.

Vietnam carries over to ABC's Issues and Answers, which features a debate between Oregon Senator Wayne Morse, who believes the U.S. should withdraw, and Mississippi Senator John Stennis, a supporter of stronger action in the area.  Both are Democrats, something you probably wouldn't see nowadays; far more likely that you'd have an argument between Rand Paul and John McCain.

While NBC's Meet the Press doesn't deal specifically with Vietnam, you can bet it's a major topic, with economist John Kenneth Galbraith, recently elected chairman of the liberal antiwar group Americans for Democratic Action.  Galbraith was a recent delegate to the "Pacem in Terris II" (Peace on Earth) conference in Geneva, which is the subject of an additional, 90-minute special Meet the Press Sunday afternoon.*

*These peace conferences were very popular back in the day.

Religion is the topic on ABC's early-afternoon Directions, as the program examines the problems that are popping up in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council.*  Foremost among the controversies: birth control and the role of laymen in deciding Church policy.  In other words, pretty much the same discussion we'd be having today.  That's followed later in the day by ABC Scope, which manages to combine both Vietnam and religion in their discussion of chaplains in Vietnam.

*Gee - imagine that.

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Any sports, you ask?  Some, but as I've pointed out before, the television landscape wasn't anywhere near as saturated with sports coverage as it would be even a few years later.  Sunday's sole contributions to the scene are the National Professional Soccer League's Game of the Week on CBS, pitting the Baltimore Bays against the Philadelphia Spartains (not exactly a legacy match in American soccer, is it?) and ABC's coverage of the final round of the Memphis Open, which would later become known as the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic.

On Saturday, we have something that is, in its own special way, symbolic of the confusion we see so much of in the late 60s.  It's the final Triple Crown race of the year, as Kentucky Derby winner Proud Clarion takes on Preakness champ Damascus in the Belmont Stakes, live from - Aqueduct race course.  Yes, even the Belmont isn't what it seems, as the race was moved from Belmont Park to Aqueduct from 1963 to 1967 due to construction of a new grandstand at the former.

There's baseball's Game of the Week on Saturday (Braves vs. Reds), and a Monday night game on NBC, but otherwise the sports pantry is pretty empty.  Even the Twins air only once this week, a Friday night tilt (and a rare home telecast at that) against the Orioles.

By the way, Damascus wins the Belmont as well, becoming one of the couple of dozen or so horses to win two of the three legs of the Triple Crown.

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And now, some of the actual winners of the 1967 Emmy Awards:

Comedy  Series: The Monkees.  Actor: Don Adams, Get Smart.  Actress: Lucille Ball, The Lucy Show.

Drama  Series: Mission: Impossible.  Actor: Bill Cosby, I Spy.  Actress:  Barbara Bain, Mission: Impossible.

Drama Special   Program: Death of a Salesman.  Actor: Peter Ustinov, "Barefoot in Athens," Hallmark Hall of Fame.  Actress: Geraldine Page, "A Christmas Memory," ABC Stage 67.

Variety   Series: The Andy Williams Show.  Special: The Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris Special.

Actually not a bad list of winners, not at all.  Most of these shows* are considered classics nowadays.  Will people feel the same about this year's winners in 40 years' time?

*Well, perhaps not The Monkees.  Up against Hogan's Heroes?

If you're interested, here's a rare clip from the broadcast, featuring a couple of victories by those very Monkees.

Maybe the shows themselves weren't as good, but I'll bet this was more entertaining than this year's Emmys, no? TV  

Getting an education about educational television

I've been critical of PBS in the past, especially the affiliate in my old home town, KTCA in Minneapolis, usually for good reason. Nonetheless, I have some fond memories of good old Channel 2; I wrote here about the infamous Action Auctions of the past, and I saw a good share of classic art house films in the day.*

*Not to mention it was where I got my introduction to Doctor Who, only one of my top ten shows of all time.

This is a program KTCA did several years ago, when they were celebrating their 50th anniversary on the air.  It was a different time; KTCA truly was dedicated to educational television, so much so that they were one of the last public stations to affiliate with PBS, which they saw as something of a betrayal of their original mission.  This half-hour show will give you a real taste of what educational television was like, once upon a time.  It was local, serving the community; it was niche programming, without regard to ratings; and it had a little something for everyone.  Now, that doesn't always mean it was good.  But if you read the program listings I post each week at Radio Discussions and Radio Insight, I dare say you'll recognize several of the titles from this show.

Note particularly. around the 13 minute mark, a program called Christmas in Tyrol; I wrote about that, too, once upon a time - it was hosted by Monsignor Richard Schuler, our old pastor at St. Agnes in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Such a grand old man.  Anyway, I think you'll find public TV has changed just a bit over the years.

Peter Gunn - the smoothest P.I. on TV

This review is part of the Summer of MeTV Classic TV Blogathon hosted by the Classic TV Blog Association. Click here to check out this blogathon's complete schedule.

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Craig Stevens IS Peter Gunn

The first thing you remember, maybe the only thing you ever knew, is the theme. Driving, pulsing, jazzy with more than a hint or two of danger. The stingers as the opening credits end, like punches being delivered, or bullets being shot. The show does very well by Henry Mancini.

The name: Peter Gunn, Pete to his friends, Gunn to everyone else. Never Pete Gunn. Was there ever a better name for a TV detective? Not a (Richard) Diamond in the rough, not a (Johnny) Staccato music note. Maybe a (Thomas) Magnum, but that came much later, and doesn’t really take advantage of the wordplay. Peter Gunn packs a gun, and if things get too rough he’ll let you know it, too.

Peter Gunn was a half-hour drama that aired on NBC from 1958 to 1960, and spent a final season on ABC before going off the air in 1961. (But not out of the public consciousness, thanks to that theme.) It feels more like an ABC drama, to be honest, at least to me. Though it was produced by Blake Edwards*, long before the Pink Panther, it fits in well with the Warner Brothers shows that dominated the network in the late 50s and early 60s. It’s better than many of them, though. There’s a grit and an atmosphere to it that makes it one of the most noirish of TV series, with smoky saloons and foggy harbors and sultry girls with hints of danger, fists ready to fly and gunplay just waiting to break out.

*Whose first hit was none other than Richard Diamond.

The private eye patrolling this seedy beat was anything but: smooth, suave, urbane, suit tailored, tie knotted, pocket hanky carefully in place, with an ear for cool jazz and an eye for a hot woman. Craig Stevens, reminiscent of Cary Grant in his speech and his manner, but with an edge that lets you know he’s every bit as tough as his name suggests. His girl Edie, played by Lola Albright, singer at Mother’s, the joint that serves as Gunn’s office. Any suggestions that Gunn has the typical PI’s wandering eye are very few and far between – and why would you when you know you’ve got Edie waiting for you? His long-suffering contact at the department, Lieutenant Jacoby, Herschel Bernardi, a man who looks as if he wakes up world-weary. Their relationship is friendlier than most private/public cop pairings – Jacoby even gets to call him “Pete.”

Mancini's music was a smash

Jazz, pool halls, the Beats – they’re all part of the scene in Peter Gunn. Mother’s, the jazz club where Gunn hangs out, meets with clients, eyes Edie from a table; it has an air of dark sophistication, says Ray Starman in his analysis of TV noir, from a time "when respectable people walked down into basements and sat in smoky dark cabarets to hear music not written by Mozart or John Philip Sousa." The owner of the place, "Mother," played in the first season by Emmy nominee Hope Emerson, thereafter by Minerva Urecal - confidant, protector, someone who maintains a finger on the pulse of the seamier side of town and knows where at least a couple of the bodies are buried. A seemingly-limitless supply of sources whom Gunn taps for information – it’s not what you know, it’s who you know – from Babby the midget pool shark to Wilbur the Beat bard. And Gunn pays for the lowdown with cash – I’d like to see what his expense account looks like.

The tough guys are tough, but never tougher than Gunn. The girls are prettier, but never prettier than Edie. The heavies may be quick with the trigger, but not as quick as Jacoby, when he has to be. And you’re not going to get a lot of complications thrown in, not in a 30 minute show. Gunn’s got a job to do, and he’s going to do it, and you’d be wise not to get in his way. No loose ends, no wasted space. Got a problem with that?

So I know what you’re thinking: why should I care about a detective series that was on TV over 50 years ago? Good question. If the mood and the music aren't enough for you, there's Stevens’ portrayal of Gunn. In a genre that specializes in rumpled, hard-drinking, two-fisted playboys for heroes, Stevens is as smooth as a scotch on the rocks. He has the PI’s gift for glib, but friends and enemies both know he’s a man who’s not afraid to mess up his suit if he has to.

Pete & Edie (Lola Albright)

Another is Gunn’s relationship with Lola Albright’s Edie, two adults* secure in the positions they each have in the other’s life. Edie can take care of herself without being hard, but there’s a vulnerability that shows itself in the scenes played out between the two, such as when she asks Gunn if he likes kids. “Whose kids?”  he replies. “Anybody’s kids,” she says, and you know they both know what she means. She knows Pete’s life is not without risks, but it would be futile to try and change him. He is who he is, and that’s why she loves him – and why he’s not afraid to say he loves her. Albright provides her own smooth singing voice in Edie’s stage scenes, and you know Gunn’d have to be awfully dumb to play around on her. Does he look that dumb?

*Let me repeat that. Adults. In short supply on television nowadays.

Jacoby is one of the more likable policemen in the private detective arena. Sure he’s weary – he’s had his fill of disappointment and death, probably responsible for more than his share of it. He looks at Pete as a friend more than an adversary; he knows, even before the words are out of his mouth, that his warnings to stay out of police business are useless. And you know what? I don’t think he’d like Peter Gunn any other way either.

Jacoby (Herschel Bernardi) and Gunn 

Edwards later made a movie based on the series, called Gunn. It was OK. Craig Stevens was back, and Ed Asner was OK as Jacoby, but Laura Devon was all wrong for Edie. Watch it if you see it on TV, but don’t go out of your way for it. Peter Strauss played Gunn in a pilot that never went anywhere, which was too bad. He had the right stuff for the role, especially the way he looked in a tux. That would have been a series I would have watched. The word on the street is that they’re trying another remake, or at least thinking about it. I’d think about it very carefully if I was them; it’s a property you don’t want to mess up. Blow it, and I’ll drop it like a bad habit.

Half-hour dramas, once a staple on television, are deader than the dodo nowadays, which is a shame. You ought to check this show out, if you know what’s good for you. With its cast of colorful snitches, properly crooked hoods, and a dame or two that could be either a vamp or a vixen (or both), Peter Gunn is one show that’s going to give you the story, the whole story and nothing but the story. The bad guys get what’s coming to them, the hero gets the girl, and we all get to hear that cool music one more time. What more do you want? TV  

This week in TV Guide: May 25, 1974

The Indianapolis 500, "auto racing's premiere event," takes center stage in the sporting world this Memorial Day weekend, so that's where we'll start.

The race is at a crossroads, following one of its most controversial runnings ever, in 1973. That year two drivers were killed in crashes (one during practice), and a mechanic in the pits died after being hit by a fire truck racing to the scene of one of the fatal accidents. The race itself took three days to run, rain interrupting both the first and second tries, and eventually ended after less than 350 miles when yet more rain finally brought it to a merciful end. The crowd, which had numbered more than 350,000 on day one, was less than 50,000 by the conclusion.

The problems are many, according to Hal Higdon's article, but center around the fact that technological advances have made the cars too fast, with neither the speedway nor the cars themselves prepared to handle the risks from increased speeds (over 30 mph in less than three years). The speedway has taken steps, firing the chief steward, widening the pit lane, and raising walls and pushing seating back (several spectators had been injured in driver Swede Savage's fiery fatal crash in 1973). The cars have also undergone changes, with fuel tanks cut almost in half, and aerodynamic adjustments designed to lower speeds by as much as 15 mph. Despite the changes, Higdon writes, the race still faces challenges: the speedway and the governing body "allowed speeds to soar dangerously past 200 mph with little more than talk," and he warns that "if unnecessary deaths continue, the so-called greatest spectacle in auto racing may not survive."

For several reasons, this article represents a moment frozen in time. Today, as speeds top 230 mph, we might wonder what all the fuss was about. Auto racing was infinitely more dangerous in the early 70s than it is today, even has it had become safer than it was in, say, the 50s. Safety features have been introduced to both speedways and automotive structure, helping to absorb impacts and providing greater protection for the driver.

Earlier this month the 20th anniversary of the death of the great Formula 1 champion Ayrton Senna was observed. Senna and driver Roland Ratzenberger were killed in separate accidents on one of the grimmest weekends in motor racing history*  Similar concerns were raised over racing's future. And yet, to date Senna is the last driver to be killed in a Formula 1 race. Dale Earnhardt and Dan Wheldon have died in accidents in recent years, but their deaths, too, are the last of their respective series. The fact remains that while motor sports are still dangerous, they are nowhere near as deadly as they were.

*A third accident nearly killed young driver Rubens Barrichello, and several spectators and track officials were also injured over the course of the San Marino Grand Prix weekend.

And yet the Indianapolis 500 is no longer the "greatest spectacle in racing," all of IndyCar having been surpassed by NASCAR in terms of popularity and talent. A divisive split in the Indy racing community created competing series, with neither having either the talent or the financial support to thrive. Indianapolis, caught in the middle, is still trying to recover, with empty seats and low television ratings out there for all to see.

The irony is that the bleak future forecast in the article has, in many ways, come to pass - but for entirely different reasons.

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With live television of the 500 still a decade away, the race is being shown on Sunday night on a tape-delay basis.  It's the first time in the history of the race that it is being held on Sunday; previously, the race had been held on Memorial Day itself*, but after the fiasco of 1973 it's thought that a Sunday race will allow people to attend on Monday should rain intervene again.

*Prior to 1970, Memorial Day was on May 30, as was the race.  When Memorial Day fell on a Sunday, the race was moved to Monday. In 1970 Memorial Day itself became a Monday holiday; the first two 500s were held on Saturday, with the 1973 race being the first to run on the new Memorial Day. All races since then have been scheduled for Sunday.

As I mentioned earlier, the 500 isn't what it used to be. However, if you're looking for its great competitor, the Coca-Cola 600, you're going to have to travel to Charlotte to see it; the race, then known as the World 600, is not on live TV. Instead, we've got a nice assortment of minor sports to fill out Sunday, including the Family Circle Cup women's tennis final on NBC, the final round of the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic on an independent feed (I'm guessing Hughes Sports Network), diving and horse jumping on CBS Sports Spectacular. No baseball, which means the Twins must be at home.

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The breakthrough summer hit of the year is the House of Representatives hearing into the impeachment of President Nixon. It's a spin-off from the earlier joint House-Senate select committee hearings, which made minor stars out of lesser political hacks such as North Carolina Senator Sam Ervin, Tennessee Senator Howard Baker, judge John Sirica*, stoolie John Dean, and featured an appearance by future TV and movie star - and U.S. Senator - Fred Thompson as the minority council.

*Who probably would have gotten The People's Court if it had existed back then.

This week's schedule calls for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday hearings, with either live or taped coverage. I haven't checked to see what might actually have aired, but I remember from the earlier go-around that the networks rotated coverage to assuage those who either weren't interested or couldn't do without their daytime stories.

The drama continues to playout until August, when Nixon resigns in the final episode. A reboot of the series is attempted in 1998-99, but fails to attract an audience.

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SOURCE: HADLEY TV GUIDE COLLECTION

Let's see, what else might you be interested in this week? There are a lot of reruns kicking in, so we'll try to find something else. Dick Clark's at the beach in ABC's Action '74 on Saturday at noon. Bill Withers and the Staple Singers are the guests. NBC offers an Emmy Awards doubleheader on Tuesday, with the inaugural Daytime Emmys being presented at 11am CT, followed by the traditional Primetime Emmys at 8pm. Barbara Walters and Peter Marshall do the honors in the Daytime show, telecast from New York, while Johnny Carson hosts the nighttime extravaganza in Hollywood.*

*An interesting but perhaps ill-advised feature of these Emmys is that in addition to the genre awards (Best Comedy Series, Best Drama Series, etc.), there are "Outstanding Performance" awards for "Actor of the Year," "Actress of the Year," etc., featuring the winners in the individual genre categories. Thus, Alan Alda in M*A*S*H faces off against Hal Holbrook in the special Pueblo, William Holden in the limited series The Blue Knight, and Telly Savalas in the drama Kojak.

"Upstairs, Downstairs" is the feature on PBS' Masterpiece Theater, as it was apt to be at any given time.  ABC News Closeup does a show on stolen art at 7pm on Thursday, while NBC News Presents counters at 9pm with "The Pursuit of Youth." And then Let's Make a Deal's Monty Hall hosts a Sea World special on ABC Friday night; an hour later the same network has a Jacques Cousteau special on the octopus.  Must have been a theme night.

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An interesting bit of contentiousness in the Letters to the Editor section, as Stanley Borucinski of Riverside, NJ writes in to criticize a recent TV Guide editorial lamenting press censorship when it comes to covering crime. The editorial had referred to the recent example of a voluntary 90 day news blackout on vandalism in Webster City, Iowa. Proponents of the blackout felt that news coverage gave unwarranted publicity to the vandals, which would then result in increased vandalism.* The editor (in fact, probably Merrill Panitt) pointed out that during the period of the news blackout, vandalism in Webster City increased 36.5 per cent compared to the same month the previous year.

*Similar to the idea of not showing a drunk fan racing across the field during a football game; if you give him face time on television, you'll just encourage others to do the same.

Mr. Borucinski argues that what the media is really interested in is making money, and they know that crime coverage "sells better than good news," which means "the press exaggerates and sometimes even invents news." Panitt (we'll assume it was him) counters with a lengthy rebuttal of his own, in which he states that the increase in crime "seems to have been caused by a censored press," and concludes that "When facts are hidden or covered up, nothing improves as things usually get worse."

You might recall that in a 1976 TV Guide, the editors argued strongly that media exposure of the CIA's clandestine activities was harmful to American foreign policy, and concluded that while the public had the right to know how their government operated, "must we know everything about everything?" I think that's a fair point, and ultimately what the editors are saying is that the media has to exercise responsible restraint in how much of a story they tell, while still ensuring that the story itself is told. Not an easy task, but one would assume that teaching this kind of responsibility is what you should get in journalism school.

And if you thought that, you'd probably be wrong.

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Judith Crist has one of her vintage rip jobs in her movie review section. Her first target is the family comedy Hello Down There, which she describes as an "Ivan Tors production apparently designed to give fans of his "Flipper" more - just a little more - of the same.  It features

Tony Randall and Janet Leigh as the alleged adults in this travesty of a "family" film involving idiot parents (papa is a crazy inventor of an underwater house and mama gets her way by depriving him of you-know-what), moronic children (one suspects this is essentially a propaganda film for birth control), assorted television sub-personalities and a pair of dolphins. The dolphins get all the lines. A pity then didn't write them. Those who are willing to settle for insults to their intelligence in the guise of situation comedy are welcome to it - but why foist it on the young?

She also tears into The Christmas Tree, with William Holden as the rich father of a dying 10-year-old son, who contracted radiation poisoning from an accident involving a military jet off the coast of Corsica while the two were camping there.

The movie is obviously against nuclear contamination of the air and doom of kiddies.  But beyond somehow suspecting that dear old dad is making his millions out of defense contracts, one needn't even comment on the vulgarity of dealing with so serious a subject on this level or the stupidity and tastelessness of the plotting. The film's ultimate message basically is that if you've got to die young, it's good to be rich to enjoy it. Depending on your taste threshold, of course, there may not be a dry eye- or a full stomach - in the house.

No wonder she'd described the week as consisting of movies with "the slickery and banality that too many of us tolerate in our search for nonviolent non-sordid entertainment. It's an argument you saw often back then, and still see today - the idea that if you take sex and violence out of a movie, you're perforce left with little more than pablum. It doesn't have to be that way, and it shouldn't be. There is still a way to make tasteful, serious adult dramas - the question is, are there any adults left out there to enjoy them?

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Finally, we close with the devastating news that, for the first time in its 21-year history, TV Guide is forced to increase the cover price of a single issue. Ever since the first issue on April 3, 1953, the price has remained 15 cents, but starting next week, it will climb to 20 cents. The annual subscription rate will go up as well, to $9.50.

Today, an annual subscription would set you back over $200, although it's not that hard to find special offers. That's what I call paying a whole lot more for a whole lot less. TV  

Around the dial

Last reminder that the Summer of MeTV Blogathon begins next week. Come by here Monday to see what I'm writing about!

Always, always liked Dana Andrews, an actor who I thought gave great dignity to the roles he played, so I was interested to read Classic Film and TV Cafe's account of his 1965 movie Crack in the World, the plot of which sounds suspiciously like the classic 1970 Doctor Who episode "Inferno."  But then I don't think anyone ever accused science fiction of being a particularly original source of plots...

From a tie-in to one Brit series, we go to Cult TV Blog for a recap of another archetypal Brit offering, Danger Man, and the episode "Yesterday's Enemies."  Interesting that John has the same thoughts that I did when first seeing this episode, that " if this story were intended to set up the correct circumstances for the events of The Prisoner, I can't think of a better way to do it."

This week, CNN is doing a series on the '60s, and today's installment is on television; one of their questions: was TV better in the '60s than it is today?  At the start, let me say that I don't have much respect for CNN as a news organization, and lest you think I'm being political here, for many years CNN was my go-to station for breaking news, far more than the other networks.  Whatever else they had, you could always count on them in that one area.  Not so much anymore, when they apparently can't tell the difference between "Breaking News" and "Developing Story" and "Overhyped all to Hell."  Still, you might think it worth your time, though the article's conclusions aren't closing the deal for me.

Does Mystery Science Theater 3000 count as classic television?  Now, by classic I don't mean great, although there's no question that MST3K makes the grade there.  What I mean is that, for a blog that mostly discusses television from the '50s through the '70s, is it too new?  I don't think so, because if you think about it, the show is created around a framework that's not all that dissimilar from the old kids shows of the era - Joel could just as easily be the guy who does the weekend weather.  Not only that, the bulk of the movies that constitute the show's best episodes are B&W marvels we might well have seen as Saturday matinees or (for the better ones) the Late, Late Show.  So I was glad to see Professor Barnhardt's link to Wired's ultimate oral history of the show.  Thanks, Prof!

Finally, Stephen Bowie of The Classic TV History Blog is back at his other gig, the Onion A.V. Club (how do you get to write for a swell place like that?) with a piece on what might have been one of the last great private detective series, CBS' Mannix.  The headline describes Mannix as "brutal, stylish comfort food."  Yes, yes, and yes.

And since you don't want to be bored by my story of having the flu, I think we'll call it a day and see you back here on Saturday for a TV Guide trip into the mid-'70s.  Be here - aloha.*

*Although if anyone out there has expertise in tracking blog links, please contact me at the site's email address (found at, sensibly enough, the "Contact" tab.) TV