Lyndon Johnson's Texas (Monday, 10:00 p.m. PT, NBC) is an intimate look at the LBJ Ranch and the surrounding hill country of Texas, of which the President is intensely proud. Johnson personally conducts NBC's White House correspondent, Ray Scherer, and a film crew on the tour. Central Texas, and Johnson City, is where LBJ was born, grew up, represented, and lived for most of his life, and to know the land is to know Johnson himself.
He tells Scherer that "I believe that the land is our greatest source of wealth, and a man who understands it and appreciates it would better understand democracy itself, our system of government and the people who live here." He shows Scherer the house in which he was born ("I was born before the doctor could get here. I was delivered by my grandmother. That was fairly common in those days."), the family plot, and the Pedernales. Johnson remembers that as a young boy, "I rode from the main ranch house to Austin many times in a wagon. I remember my father would offer the child who would see the capitol first a nickel. And we watched for 60 long miles for that capitol. When we got within 10 or 15 miles of Austin, high on a hill, we would see the capitol and all of us would holler at the same time. Everyone got a nickel.” As the sun sets over the Peddernales, he remarks to Scherer, "Those are beautiful trees... so peaceful and quiet. I think that the water there in the river, the grass that is here on the bank, the implements that are there on the fence line, all working together, have meant sustenance for me and mine for more than a century along the banks of this river."
It strikes me that this is an extraordinarily personal look at a sitting president, the opposite of the interviews we've become accustomed to today. When Jackie Kennedy took Charles Collingwood on the tour of the White House in 1962, we saw the woman dedicated to restoring the grandeur of America's house; here, we have the president himself giving us a look at the grandeur of America, the land, and the stories of the people who made it. I'd love to see something like this again someday.
Whenever there's a program like this, the first thing I always do is search for the soldier's name to find out what happened to him. Did he make it through Vietnam intact, was he taken prisoner, did he die in action? And, if he made it home, what happened to him after the war? In Captain Danielson's case, we can happily report that he did, indeed, make it home. He retired from the military in 1987 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and died in 2011 in his own homeland, South Carolina. According to the West Point Association of Graduates, "His most memorable mission was to aid a sister unit that was heavily outnumbered and in great danger in the la Drang valley. [A battle portrayed in the documentary.] Ted’s company conducted the first nighttime heliborne Infantry assault into a hot LZ and saved many lives in the process." He won the Silver Star for that battle, as well as one of his three Bronze Stars with Valor. was admired and respected by his men, loved by his family, and received the gratitude of a grateful nation, though certainly not at with the intensity he deserved.
Somewhere between these two is the NBC News special The Journals of Lewis and Clark (Sunday, 6:30 p.m.) narrated by Lorne Greene, and produced and directed by NBC's acclaimed Ted Yates. In making the special, Yates and his camera crew retraced the route taken by Lewis and Clark in 1804, traveling from St. Louis to the high plains of Montana, where they reach the headwaters of the Missouri River, and then on to the Rockies and down the Columbia River to the Pacific. It's an epic journey, worthy of this special, and deserves to be studied more than it is.
What links all three of these documentaries is the way in which they portray different aspects of America: the land and how it's shaped the character of its people, the heroism required in the face of adversity, and, in so many ways, what it means to be an American. It's a dramatic reminder that, even more than a philosophy, America is a nation comprised of its heritage, its land, and the people who helped make it what it is through their blood and toils. People may fight for an idea, but they'll certainly fight for their homeland. We hope.
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Sullivan: Scheduled guests: Gordon and Sheila MacRae, the singing McGuire Sisters, the Serendipity Singers, Harry James and his orchestra, comedienne Jean Carroll, puppet Topo Gigio, and comic John Byner. (The episode guide indicates that The Black Sheep and Henny Youngman were part of the lineup as well.)
Palace: Hostess Judy Garland welcomes Van Johnson; comic Jack Carter; rock singer Johnny Rivers; the Black Theatre of Prague, pantomimists, who offer “The Chair’; British comedy pantomimist Charlie Cairoli; and the Roselle Troupe, Colombian acrobats. Judy and Van present a clown routine—their first performance together since the 1949 movie “In the Good Old Summertime."
Don't misunderstand me; I've always liked Gorddodn MacRae, and Sheila was a sweetheart. And the McGuire Sisters aren't bad, both solo and with Harry James. Henny Youngman's addition is a definite plus. But let's be real: Judy Garland hosting the Palace, complete with a reunion with Van Johnson, and Johnny Rivers in addition. This is an easy one for me; it's the good old Palace for the win this week.
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From 1963 to 1976, TV Guide's weekly reviews were written by the witty and acerbic Cleveland Amory. Whenever they appear, we'll look at Cleve's latest take on the shows of the era.My Three Sons is, Cleveland Amory says, something of a television institution by now. It started on ABC in 1960, and made the move to CBS last year. You're probably familiar with the story: a widower with three sons, "and when the older son got too big and got married to boot, well, they just booted him right out and adopted a new young ’un from next door." A show with this premise, Cleve rightly points out, could go on forever. However—and you must have known this was coming—"We wish we could bring you better news—but the best we can offer is that NBC, so far, has no plans to carry it."
Lest you think Amory is being his usual curmudgeonly self here, I should point out that he does have some reasons for feeling this way, whether you agree with him or not. For one thing, the "single father with sons" genre has been done to death, Bonanza being probably the best-known (and most successful) example, given that The Brady Bunch hasn't come along yet, and is just a variation on the premise at that. (There are also, Amory notes, approximately 418 war shows that play off the same female-less premise.) "The idea is, of course, to show how impossibly difficult, heart-rendingly sad—and at the same time, of course, screamingly funny—it is for all the poor little just plain men to try to get along without the comfort and guidance of TV’s great big all-wise, all-wonderful women." It might be a pretty good idea, too, if it was shown in the morning, for just women. Maybe, Amory speculates, they could do a show about just women. And make them Amazons, so you could cover the war angle there, too.
As we all know, Fred MacMurray stars as Steve Douglas, and "if you recall Mr. MacMurray’s movie with Barbara Stanwyck called Double Indemnity, well, forget it. It’s just too sad that a man who could do that has to do this." Although, considering the sweetheart deal Fred had to work something like two weeks a year, it's at least understandable. He's aided in raising the boys by William Demarest's Uncle Charley, who replaced William Frawley upon the latter's death, and this character—"the everpresent side-kick, chief cook and bottle washer, father confessor and den mother—is regarded as the one essential ingredient in these shows." The role is as essential as that of the veteran M.D. mentoring the young doctor in Ben Casey, Dr. Kildare, Marcus Welby, and every other medical show you could think of. But I digress. Of Demarest's character, Cleve says, "he has so many ridiculous lines that he must long for the days of the silent pictures." And don't get him started on those commercials-in-character that include the same laugh track as the rest of the show. Maybe, he thinks, this does need a woman's touch at that; "it isn’t all-wise or allwonderful, but it sure deserves to be left all alone."
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Some footnotes from the TV Teletype: since McHale's Navy hasn't been renewed for another season, Tim Conway is looking for a new gig, and may have found one: he's made a pilot for a sitcom called Captain Nice. Now, if you're a fan of obscure shows, you'll know that Captain Nice does, in fact, make it to the fall schedule, but not with Conway: instead, William Daniels has the lead role. It plays out like a typical Conway-starring show: it's cancelled after 15 episodes.
Also leaving the airways this season is Perry Mason, and in "The Case of the Final Fade-Out," everyone gets into the act. Author Erle Stanley Gardner plays a judge, and many of the stagehands play versions of themselves in the story, which takes place behind the scenes of a successful TV series. One of the things that I really like about how the series ends is that writers have the right idea: at the fade-out, Perry, Paul, and Della are looking through the files preparing for a new case. Meaning that, unlike so many final episodes of long-running series, there is no real "end," just a sign that things keep going on--which, if you think about it, is a perfect way for a series to go into reruns.
Also coming this fall is The Green Hornet, and Henry Harding reports that last week ABC announced that Van Williams, formerly of Bourbon Street Beat and SurfSide 6, will play Britt Reid, alias the masked crime fighter. This series, like Captain Nice, also has a single-season run, but it's a fun show to enjoy. It should have had a proper DVD release the same time as its stablemate, Batman.
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Saturday is the 92nd Run for the Roses, the Kentucky Derby (2:00 p.m., CBS), and from a field that was thought to be fairly uninspiring, the wonderfully-named Kauai King emerges triumphant, a feat he will repeat two weeks later at the Preakness, before finishing fourth in the Belmont Stakes. The legendary sportscaster Jack Whittaker hosts the broadcast; later on, he'll also host the debut of the game show The Face is Familiar (9:30 p.m, CBS), in which "celebrity guests join contestants in trying to guess the identities of famous personalities who are shown in scrambled photographs." I wonder which gig payed hm more?
Also on Sunday, a special that ties in to the theme we introduced in the lede. This is the darker side, though: the death of the American dream, as seen through the weary eyes of a man seeing the end of his way of life. It's Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (9:00 p.m., CBS), with Lee J. Cobb and Mildred Dunnock recreating their Broadway roles as Willy Loman, the titular salesman, and his wife, Linda. They're joined by George Segal and James Farentino, and a rare live-action appearance from June Foray. It's a relentless reminder of the price one often has to pay to achieve success, and what happens when it all comes to naught.
As we slide into a week dominated by reruns, we get an interesting meta premise on The Andy Griffith Show (Monday, 9:00 p.m., CBS), when a movie company pays Andy $1,000 for the film rights to his life story. What would really have been great would have been if the company's head had been Danny Thomas, playing himself (he did produce the Griffith show, which was introduced on an episode of The Danny Thomas Show), with a story that revolves around various real-life actors being considered to play Sheriff Andy. I wonder if television would have been ready for something like that back then.
Wednesday gives us a look at life before the internet, as private investigator Larry Craig joins Art Linkletter on House Party (1:30 p.m., CBS) to reveal the names of missing heirs. Craig (not to be confused with the radio show Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator) was an occasional guest on House Party, where he would enlist help from the viewers by publicizing these heirs to unclaimed estates, and update the results of previous searches. I don't know; you may prefer modern life, where we're all connected by no more than a click or two of a mouse, but I still have nostalgia for these days, when America seemed to be a bigger country, with more room to move—or hide, if you prefer.
One of the great political thrillers of all time dominates Thursday's lineup: a repeat showing of John Frankenheimer's masterpiece The Manchurian Candidate (9:00 p.m., CBS), the Cold War chiller involving communist brainwashing and assassination, starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Angela Lansbury, James Gregory, and Janet Leigh. This holds the perennial top spot in my quadrennial list of favorite political movies; in a just world, this would have received more than just two Oscar nominations. It would be hard to find anything to compete with it, but the season's first rerun of The Dean Martin Show (10:00 p.m., NBC), does pretty well, with Louis Armstrong, Carol Lawrence, the Andrews Sisters, Rich Little, Gene Baylos, and Line Renaud.
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