It's About TV

Time 2020-09-22 11:04:02

Web Name: It's About TV

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Tonight s a landmark in the history of televised sports. No, it s not the inaugural season of Monday Night Football; that was last year. It s close, though: for the second season debut, Frank Gifford replaces Keith Jackson as play-by-play announcer, a move that has twin rammifications. In joining Howard Cosell and Don Meredith, Gifford helps form one of the most memorable broadcasting teams in television sports history, one that would earn the praise and ire of millions around the country. They helped turn Monday Night Football from a mere football game to an event, a colossal Roman circus that inspired such activities as barroom contests to throw bricks through televisions when the trio appeared on the screen. More sedate, but perhaps more significant, Jackson moved from the NFL to college football, in the process becoming one of the greatest big-game announces in television history. On such a historic night as this, everything else pales in comparison, right? This week s issue covers the Philadelphia-New York City area.In the era which we call B.C. that is, Before Cable movies on television were a Big Deal. A Very Big Deal, in fact. They were, and had been for years, a staple of local television, and in the late 1950s ABC had experimented with a couple of movie packages consisting of pre-1950 movies or movies from England, but when NBC's Saturday Night at the Movies debuted in 1961, it represented a masssive change. Now, for the first time, movies that had been in theaters after 1950 could be seen in the comfort of your very own living room. Some of them were even in color, and all of them were shown in a time slot of at least two hours, meaning they didn't have to be hacked to death first. I explain all this for those of your out there, primarily younger readers, who may not be able to imagine a time when people like me got excited about watching movies on TV that were interrupted at regular intervals for commercials and had often been edited for time or content (or both). What can I say? Thinks were simpler then.This is all a lead-in to one of this week's cover stories, Al Morgan's look at the men who decide what movies we see on TV. Their names are Barry Diller, Larry White and Mike Marden. They work for the three networks, and as Morgan writes, "Far beyond the dreams of any statesman, they can unite the country: unite it in rooting home the hero in a chariot race or unite it breathing heavily in the Burton-Taylor boudoir."**Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. They were an item once.It's true: some bombscost nets as much as $300KThey all agree that things have changed dramatically over the years. In television's early days, the networks would bid against each other for movies, with the price for a single movie jumping "from less than $200,000 to more than a million." With that kind of price war, something had to change; enter the "film package." Distributors would put together a package of as many as 40 movies; the catch was that in order to buy the really good ones, you also had to take the, let's say, less desirable ones. (Kind of like cable television packages, come to think of it.) For example, there's the one CBS bought several years ago. It included hits like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Night of the Iguana, The Sandpiper, North by Northwest, and an Elvis movie. It also included "gems" like Your Cheatin' Heart (George Hamilton as Hank Williams), Hold On! (starring Herman's Hermits), and The Alphabet Murders (Tony Randall trying to play Hercule Poirot). As Mike Marden says, "In those days, our rule of thumb was 'You got 'em, you play 'em.' Today the public won't sit still for a bad movie, a really bad movie." He adds that it's more of a buyer's market today, that the days "when the networks bought anything that moved and talked" are long since over.Everyone agrees that NBC has the largest film library; "We haven't bought a package in two years," Larry Wilson says, and when they do, "we look at them on an individual basis. They are offered to us. We buy or we don't buy." ABC's library isn't bad either; Diller says the inventory is big enough that the network could program until 1975 without buying anything more. Diller is especially proud of the network's recent deal for two playings of Cleopatra for more than $4 million. He's also pleased with his purchase of the John Wayne Western The Sons of Katie Elder. "Wayne is pure gold to us," he says. CBS describes it's situation as "comfortable"; Marden says, "I haven't even bought many individual pictures lately." His most recent gems: Ben-Hur and A Streetcar Named Desire.Scheduling movies is a real chess game for these men. A well-timed movie can take the edge off of a series premiere or other special program. A two-part movie not only doubles the potential ratings bonanza (two nights instead of one!), it also justifies the expense of purchasing that movie (Cleopatra supposedly cost ABC $4 million). This very week, CBS is premiering Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?in the old Ed Sullivan timespot to try and retain Ed's loyal audience. Summer nights make the perfect time for dumping those dogs that you had to purchase in order to get the movies you really wanted. And a blockbuster can help improve ratings for local affiliates, thereby earning loyal and undying gratitude.Star power is a big part of making investments pay off. John Wayne is "pure gold" not only for ABC, but CBS as well, and you have to think NBC's feeling pretty good about this week's two-part running of The Alamo. But there's one thing the networks haven't gotten into yet: foreign films. Only ABC has taken a chance: having previously shown A Man and a Woman as a kind of test, Barry Diller went ahead this year and bought Z, Costa-Gavras's political thriller that was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. It's an important movie, Diller says; "I hope people will watch it, but it's a movie that should be seen." I guess if we really want foreign films, we'll just have to wait for TCM.tttThroughout 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 series of the era.The subject of Cleveland Amory's column this week is not a show. Rather, one could say that his focus is on the show within the show. It's the phenomenon known as the VIV the Very Important Voice and it's the latest fad in the advertising genre known as the television commercial. It's become so big, in fact, that according to Cleve there's at least one agency in Hollywood that works on nothing but voice talent for commercials. "Last year," says agency owner Charles Stern, "performers on shows earned $35,000,000. Performers on commercials earned over $65,000,000." Well, he's got me convinced; where do you line up for this kind of gig?Nowadays everyone's doing it: J.D. Cannon for Piels, Jose Ferrer for Schlitz, Lloyd Nolan for Ford, Greg Morris for Datsun, Jack Kelly for Contac, David Wayne for American Airlines, Orson Welles for Eastern Airlines. As a matter of fact, Amory says, when Orson Welles took over Eastern from Alexander Scourby, "it was almost as much of a causecélèbreas when Robert Lansing was replaced from Twelve O'clock High or when Martin Landau and Barbara Bain were replaced in Mission: Impossible."And while big names like Jim Backus, Chuck Connors and Vincent Price are easily recognizable voices, Amory pays particular attention to the voice of a man he calls "unknown": Paul Frees.Paul Frees is in fact a relative unknown when it comes to his face, but as a voice talent he has become one of the most famous of all time, rivaled today perhaps only by Mel Blanc and Daws Butler. You probably know him for his cartoon voices: Boris Badenov on Rocky and Bullwinkle, Inspector Fenwick on Dudley Do-Right,Burgermeister Meisterburger in Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, and a host of other roles for Jay Ward, Rankin/Bass, and others. He's also done voiceover work on movies from The Manchurian Candidate to Patton, and often worked as a sound-alike for none other than Orson Welles. Amory says that he can do anybody James Stewart, Jack Benny better than they can. He regularly earnes over $250,000 a year. For that kind of money, I'd be only too glad to be an unknown, too.tttThere's a lesson to be taken somewhere from ABC's Wednesday night schedule. At first glance, you can see why the network would be excited about it; the star-studded lineup features returning series with Elizabeth Montgomery (Bewitched), Bill Bixby (The Courtship of Eddie's Father), Henry Fonda (The Smith Family), and new shows starring Shirley MacLaine (Shirley's World) and Anthony Quinn (The Man and The City). As I said, a lot of star wattage. There's only one problem: by the end of the 1971-72 TV season, none of them will be left on the network's schedule. What happened?In the case of Bewitched, it's a bit misleading; the show had been a hit for ABC for eight seasons, going back to 1964, and had Montgomery wanted, it probably could have continued for another season or two.* Eddie's Father was a success as well, if not as successful as Bewitched; it ran for three seasons, which today would qualify it as an unmitigated smash. But The Smith Family, the third of the returning shows, only produced 39 episodes over a season-and-a-half, and neither Shirley's World nor Man and The Citymanaged a second season. Hardly what one might expect from a lineup featuring multiple Emmy and Oscar winners. As for what happened, I have a theory, although that's all it is. Briefly, it could be descriped thus: there are stars, and then there are stars.*Elizabeth Montgomery was understandably tired of the role after such a long run; in addition, she and husband (andBewitchedproducer William Asher) were in the process of divorcing.Elizabeth Montgomery and Bill Bixby were estabalished TV stars, Montgomery through Bewitched and Bixby with My Favorite Martian and Eddie's Father; they also featured in several TV movies over the years.They'd built up a rapport with viewers, who'd become comfortable with welcoming them into their living rooms each week. Fonda, MacLaine and Quinn, on the other hand, had made their fame on the big screen. Only Fonda had helmed a TV series before, The Deputy (1959-61), and in that one he'd usually played a secondary role. MacLaine and Quinn, on the other hand, were part of an inflow of movie stars into television for the 1971 season, one that included Jimmy Stewart, Glenn Ford, and Yul Brynner. TV Guide, in surveying the damage the following year, will suggest that television executives may have been so concerned about attracting big stars that they neglected to give them strong vehicles for their talents. Only Glenn Ford, in the Western-cop show Cade's County, had a series that matched up well with the star's image, and it's probably no coincidence that Cade's County was the only series of the bunch to be renewed for a second season.In the intervening years, the crossover from movies to television and back has become more common, thanks mostly to prestige shows on cable outlets. Still, it's hard to imagine a network today trying to build a successful lineup around the star system.It's the second (!) season opener for All in the Family (Saturday, 8:00 p.m. ET; and they said it would never last), with the Bunkers having to deal with the aftermath of deadbeat cousin Oscar, who comes to visit and well, becomes just dead Oscar. That's followed at 8:30 p.m. by the debut of Funny Face, starring Sandy Duncan, who's this week's cover star. The network really believed in Sandy, really wanted this series to work, but after a few weeks Duncan undergoes surgery for a tumor behind her left eye, and the show essentially goes on hiatus for the rest of the season. It will return next year, retooled as The Sandy Duncan Show, but the show itself is never as talented as she is. At 9:00 p.m.,NBC Saturday Night at the Movies has one of those blockbusters we talked about earier, part one of The Alamo, with John Wayne as producer and director, as well as playing Davy Crockett. We also get an all-star cast including Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie, Richard Boone as Sam Houston, Laurence Harvey as William Travis, and Chill Wills in an Oscar-nominated turn as Beekeeper. Part two airs Monday, same Batjac-time, same Batjac-channel.* And at 10:00 p.m. on ABC, it's the debut of the British-import series The Persuaders!, with Tony Curtis and Roger Moore wonderful as two multimillionaire playboys who become crimefighters in their spare time.*Batjac being the name of John Wayne's production company.As I alluded to earlier, The Ed Sullivan Show has taken its last bows, replaced by the new CBS Sunday Night Movie (7:30 p.m.), starting off with 1967's Best Picture nominee Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?, Spencer Tracy's last movie, co-starring Oscar winner Katharine Hepburn and Sidney Poitier. Crist has mixed feelings about this one; the performances of the three leads "are lovely to behold," but as for the movie itself, its thesis that "interracial marriage among the rich and successful is permissible provided the couple leaves for Africa by midnight" is "nothing less than vomitous." There's also The Duke again, this time with Robert Mitchum in El Dorado (9:00 p.m., ABC), although Crist says that both the movie and its stars are "hobbling around on crutches." Maybe you're better off with the premiere of The Jimmy Stewart Show (8:30 p.m., NBC), the star's first television series; it's also the first and only time Stewart ever allowed himself to be billed as "Jimmy" rather than "James." He gets that billing for 24 episodes.It's the season premiere of Monday Night Football this week, with Minnesota taking on Detroit (9:00 p.m., ABC). We'll have more about that in Monday's TV listing. Meanwhile, Billy DeWolfe returns as a guest star on The Doris Day Show (9:30 p.m., CBS), Charles Nelson Reilly joins the cast of Hershel Bernardi's sitcom Arnie (10:30 p.m., CBS), and Joan Rivers is the guest host on The Tonight Show (11:30 p.m., NBC). On Tuesday, it's the fifth-season opener for Ironside (7:30 p.m., NBC), with "an exciting new star," James Olson, playing a contract killer. Olson had actually been around for some time, doing a lot of television, as well as cheesy movies like Moon Zero Two, and very good movies like The Andromeda Strain and Rachel, Rachei. That's followed by the debut of Sarge (8:30 p.m, NBC), starring George Kennedy as a former policeman turned priest, who deals with a dying man (Jack Albertson) looking to even the score with a mobster. If you're looking for something a little less intense, Glen Campbell has a pretty good guest lineup (7:30 p.m., CBS), with Bob Hope, Dionne Warwicke, and the Smothers Brothers.We've already looked at ABC's Wednesday lineup, but there's more to the evening's entertainment. For one thing, it's the second-season debut of McCloud on the NBC Mystery Movie (8:30 p.m.) Like you, I remember the Mystery Movie mostly from Sunday nights, but it actually started out on Wednesday. (And McCloud got its start as part of Four-In-One, where it rotated withSan Francisco International Airport, Night Gallery and The Psychiatrist.) Meanwhile, the program description claims that singer Steve Lawrence is making his TV dramatic debut as am ambitious surgeon in Medical Center (9:00 p.m., CBS), but we all know that his real TV dramatic debut was in Rod Serling's fantasy drama Carol for Another Christmas back in 1964. All they had to do was ask me; I would have told them. And at 10:00 p.m., it's none other than the aforementioned Night Gallery on NBC.Thursday features a couple more new series on ABC, beginning at 9:00 p.m. with James Franciscus as the blind detective Longstreet, followed at 10:00 p.m. by Arthur Hill as Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law. And on WKBS, the independent station in Philadelphia, it's a delightful episode of It Takes a Thief (9:00 p.m.), with a guest appearance by Fred Astaire as Alexander Mundy's father Alister. I always enjoyed the episodes with him. Finally, on Friday, it's Group W's Norman Corwin Presents(10:30 p.m., KYW). Corwin, one of the great writers from the Golden Age of Radio, hosted this half-hour anthology series during the 1971-72 season; tonight's episode, which he also wrote, is "Odyssey in Progress," a musical fantasy about a boy searching through space for his dead dog.tttLet's see, what else have we got in the headlines? Richard K. Doan reports on the late-nite turmoil at CBS, where Merv Griffin wants out of his contract so he can return to syndication with Metromedia (where he'll be a daytime show in many markets). CBS will be happy to him go, but then who would replace him? There are rumors; Sonny and Cher (!) were a hit in their summer series, so they've been mentioned, as has Bill Cosby, but the suits don't think either of these choices would be the right one. As it turns out, they wound up replacing Merv with movies and reruns, and didn't dip their toes into the talk show wars until they gave Pat Sajak a shot in 1989. Just think, though, if either of those options had come to pass. I could see Cosby as a talk show host, but Sonny and Cher? Ah, for someone to write an alternative history on that.The New York Teletype says that Burt Reynolds, who most recently appeared on the small screen in Dan August, is going to take a detour to star in the big-screen version of poet James Dickey's novel Deliverance, along with Jon Voight. I wonder how that'll turn out for Burt? In Hollywood, the talk is about ABC's upcoming telemovie The Kolchak Tapes, currently filmingin Las Vegas; it's a vampire epic starring Darren McGavin and Carol Lynley. I wonder if the network has any idea what a hit they'll have on their hands? There's also a report that Sterling Silliphant is working on a pilot for his old Route 66 star George Maharis. Needless to say. . .Pat Morrow is this week's starlet, who asked herself, following five years as Rita Jacks on Peyton Place, "What did I want to do with the rest of my life?" The answer, at least for the time being, go to law school. She's just finished her first year at Glendale College of Law; her goal is to "defend poor people people who can't afford to pay the fees of lawyers like my father [a corporate lawyer]." Not like the law shows on television, though, because "these shows have very little reality and no resemblance to the truth about the law and how it operates in or out of the courtroom." She's had it with acting "Maybe for some women it would be a good life. Not for me. I'll never go back to television." Not, at least, until next year, when she reprises her role as Rita on Return to Peyton Place until 1974. She does graduate from Glendale, though.TVIt was a big deal, believe me, when Mary Tyler Moore moved into our neighborhood. Minnesotans have something of a native inferiority complex, and when it was announced that The Mary Tyler Moore Show would be set in Minneapolis, it gave all of us the feeling that we belonged, that, like her, we'd finally made it. That was 50 years ago, and Once Upon a Screen celebrates the occasion with a fond look back at Mary Richards and her wacky friends.At Garroway at Large, Jodie shares another wonderful story of Dave and his son, and the wonders and charms that happen when you "get lost." I could go for some of that right about now myself.Wednesday I took time out to remember the great Diana Rigg. David does the same at Comfort TV, and shares how he once saw her in person performing in the West End in London. What a treat that must have been!Kevin Dobson died this week; depending on your genre, you remember him either from Knots Landing or Kojak; he was equally talented in both. At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence looks back at the career of this versatile actor.Television's New Frontier: the 1960s travels to 1962 and the tales of America's favorite talking horse, Mister Ed. Included is a look at how the show abandoned the intelligent storytelling of the first season in favor of easy laughs and celebrity appearances.Over the years, I've developed a real appreciation for Dick Powell, particularly his transformation from song-and-dance man to hardboiled noir star. At Those Were the Days, it's a fond look at Powell and his wife, the equally well-known actress June Allyson. What a pleasant way to end this week's look at the blogosphere.TVAt my age, it doesn t take much to feel old, some days more than others. A lithe young woman in a black leather catsuit stirs the blood (especially one holding a gun), and when that young woman dies, aged 82, it serves as a reminder that the pot doesn t require much more stirring before it s finished.If you re of that age, you remember that catsuit, and Diana Rigg, the young woman who wore it, from The Avengers. You also probably remember her from the James Bond movie On Her Majesty s Secret Service. If you re of a different age, the first thing you think of might be Game of Thrones, or perhaps a stage show you d seen her in (such as Medea, for which she won a Tony in 1994), or any one of countless movies, television shows, or productions in which she appeared over a remarkable career. The point is, you remembered.The outpouring of memories immediately following the announcement of her death was, in fact, remarkable. It seems as if everyone had a favorite moment, mostly from either The Avengers or On Her Majesty s Secret Service (after all, who else can lay claim to having been the one and only Mrs. James Bond ?), but by no means all. There was, for example, her appearance in the Hallmark Hall of Fame version of Witness for the Prosecution, in which she held her own in the role made famous by Marlene Dietrich. Or perhaps you remembered her wonderful turn in Paddy Chayefsky s wicked The Hospital, a portrayal laced with both absurd humor and pathos. You might have recalled her performance in Mother Love, or the way she played Mrs. Danvers in a TV adaptation of Rebecca;speaking of which, she was a wonderful host of PBS s Mystery! for many years, taking over from Vincent Price, and that s no mean feat. She was an acclaimed stage actress, in the classics but also more contemporary fare; in addition to her Tony for Medea, she was nominated three other times. People who saw her perform in person didn t forget it. She even appeared, with her daughter Rachael Sterling, on Doctor Who, and if that doesn t seal the deal, nothing does. Her fans, her admirers, those who had enjoyed her work: all spoke of her with affection, appreciation that so many of her performances are available on video, and a little bit of sorrow.Returning to this idea of age, of an era having passed: in that picture on top, she s almost painfully young, isn t she? Young, and breathtaking. No matter your age, it makes you wonder if you were ever that young, and I don t think that I was. (I d better start trying to make up for lost time.) Samuel West, who co-starred with her in the remake of All Creatures Great and Small, said: "Doesn't really make sense to think of her having died. She generally lived the hell out of everyone." She lived the hell out of her career, that s for sure, and that s something we ll never forget.TVDespite the fact I was still living in the World s Worst Town when this issue of TV Guide came out, I have a fondness for this time. For one thing, it was the start of my senior year in high school, which meant I only had one year left before being released out into the general population; for another, it was the year in which cable TV would finally come to the area. We were exposed to Channels 2, 4, 9 and 11 (KCMT had territorial claims to NBC), and when it hit in December, I felt like a prisoner being released from solitary confinement, blinking my eyes at the sudden appearance of the sun. I mention this only because I still recall my delight at getting to see some of these shows, such as Tom Jerry (3:30 p.m., WTCN). It wasn t that I was such a big Tom and Jerry fan; it was just so different from what I was used to seeing. Remember, to a man in the desert, even warm water is refreshing. In case you can t tell, we re in the Twin Cities this week.Idon't know when the last time was that we looked at a Fall Preview edition. (It certainly would have been at least a year ago, for obvious reasons.) I don't have that many of them considering all the issues I've done here, probably because they tend to be more expensive than the normal weekly issue. But this one only cost a buck, and so here we are with a week full of premieres, specials, awards shows, and all other kinds of folderol.Let's start with a look at the new shows, many of which premiere this week. It's probably a good thing to mention them here, because in the intervening 43 years some of then have barely been mentioned since. For instance, Monday gives usLucan, the wolf boy played by Kevin Brophy, which airs only 11 times, although to be fair it was irregularly scheduled over a 16-month period. It shares a timespot on ABC with The San Pedro Beach Bums; they only manage ten episodes, even serving as lead-in for Monday Night Football. They're joined in failure by CBS's Young Dan'l Boone; even Rick Moses can't lead that show to the promised land opposite NBC's powerhouse Little House on the Prairie, lasting a mere four episodes. Don't worry, Dan'l; things get better when you grow up to be Fess Parker. The Betty White Show features a memorable lead in a memorable parody of an existing series (a police show called "Undercover Woman") but lasts only 14 weeks.And don't forgetRafferty, with Patrick McGoohan as a no-nonsense doctor who practices on CBS for 13 weeks. That's only one night out of seven; can there be much hope for the rest of the week?Tuesday gives us a pair of dramas, The Fitzpatricks on CBS and Mulligan's Stew on NBC, the former runs for 13 episodes, the latter for only six. Rod Taylor stars in NBC's The Oregon Trail, which airs only six of its 13; that's followed by Big Hawaiiwith Cliff Potts, which manages to see nine of its 13 make it to the screen. Tony Roberts and Squire Fridell team up as laywers Rosetti and Ryan, but they can't appeal their six-episode cancellation with NBC. Redd Foxx ditched Sanford and Son in favor of an ABC variety show that doesn't last more than a month; meanwhile, at the retooled Sanford Arms, onlyhalf of its eight episodes see the light of day. Logan's Run, based on the sci-fi classic, runs out of steam after 14 Friday nights on CBS. And Saturday's responsible for We've Got Each Other, which is a nice thought, but what they really need is an audience, which they don't got, departing the mortal coils of CBS after 13 weeks. Lisa Hartman's Bewitched sequel Tabitha, like Lucan an irregularly-scheduled series, makes it through 11 episodes. The CBS sitcom On Our Own sounds as if it should be an abject failure, butto its great credit it survives the entire season.After all that, you'd probably be justified in wondering whether this season producesany success stories, but let me assure you there are indeed. While We've Got Each Other might not have been a success, a glamorous, romantic cruise ship called The Love Boat certainly was, running nine seasons plus a few specials, and those wacky highway patrolmen Jon and Ponch atCHiPs had a very successful six seasons. Soap, which debuts on Tuesday nights opposite CBS's One Day at a Time, runs for four heralded seasons;Carter Country, named after the new president,takes advantage of small-town Georgia for two seasons;Operation Petticoat, which at least has Jamie Lee Curtis for its inaugural season, also makes it to season two. And while The Man From Atlantis followed up four successful telefilms with a mere 13-week run, it's still fondly remembered by many sci-fi fans.And then there's one of the best-remembered of the new series, which is also one of the most spectacular failures of the year. Why anyone at NBC would think that The Richard Pryor Show was a good idea is beyond me. Don't misunderstand; Pryor was one of the hottest comics around back then (no pun intended) and I always enjoyed him, but while five or ten minutes of Pryor on the Sullivan or Carson shows was hilarious, someone had to be on a bad trip to think you could give the edgy comedianan hour-long show and not run into 1977-type censorship controversies. The show started with an emasculation joke that I thought was kind of funny, but it's kind of hard to build a show around what you can't do. Today, things would be different; I suspect a Pryor show would be a big hit, especially on one of the cable networks. I don't blame Pryor for this; did NBC know what they were getting themselves into?Courtesy of RwTd09's YouTube channel, here's a video review of all 22 shows of the new season, which should prove I'm not making these up.Specials dominate the week's programming, starting with Saturday's Miss America Pageant (9:00 p.m. CT), broadcast on CBS for the first time since 1965. Phyllis George, Miss America 1971 and co-host of CBS'sThe NFL Today (fancy that!) joins Bert Parks in crowning Miss Ohio, Susan Perkins, as Miss America 1978. NBC, the spurned suitor of the pageant, counters with a Saturday Night at the Movies presentation of Dirty Harry, much more my style.Sunday well, Sunday seems to be nothing but specials, starting at 6:00 p.m. on WTCN with the final episode of Nixon: For the Record, the former president's series of interviews with David Frost. In this conversation, the two discuss the infamous 18 gap in the White House tapes, Nixon's relationship with cabinet officers including Henry Kissinger and John Mitchell, the historic trip to China, and Nixon's last day in office. On the other hand, if you prefer fantasy to fact, then you'll want to follow this up with the dramatic conclusion of Washington: Behind Closed Doors (8:00 p.m., ABC), based on the best-seller by former Nixon henchman John Erlichman, starring Jason Robards as Richard Monchton as Richard Nixon, and co-starring every Hollywood actor looking for work, including Cliff Robertson, Stefanie Powers, Robert Vaughn, John Houseman, Barry Nelson, Andy Griffith, Harold Gould, and more. As I recall, Behind Closed Doors was ABC's first major miniseries afterRoots, at a time when the miniseries was premium television, an invitation to print money. It aired, a la Roots, for six consecutive nights, but it sorely lacked the acclaim of the former.To see the culmination of that acclaim, tune to NBC at the same time for the Emmy Awards, hosted by Robert Blake and Angie Dickinson. The Emmys were originally scheduled to air on May 15, in their traditional end-of-the-TV-season slot, but were delayed for four months due to an internecine dispute between the New York and Hollywood branches of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The show has continued in September ever since, but to me it makes a lot more sense to be shown when it did. Anyway, Roots comes to the show with an unprecedented 37 nominations, including all the nominees in the convoluted "Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Appearance in a Drama or Comedy Series" category, and most of the nominees in the other miniseries categories. It wins six, including "Outstanding Limited Series." Again, if you're not interested in either political soap operas or awards shows, you might check out The Duke in Cahill, U.S. Marshalon CBS. And if the Emmys aren't enough for you, the third (and final) Rock Music Awards air on Thursday (8:00 p.m., ABC), with Peter Frampton and Cher doing the hosting duties.Of course, what would a week of specials be like without the always-popular "making-of" documentary? In the days before DVDs and their extra features, these would pop up from time to time on the networks, especially when they had to do with movies that wouldn't be on TV for awhile. Hey, gotta find some way to capitalize on them, right? On Sunday at 8:00 p.m., CBS goes in-depth with a look at The Making of "The Deep"and the challenges of underwater filming. On Friday at 7:00 p.m., it's ABC's turn, witgh The Making of "Star Wars," "as told by C3PO and R2D2." It promises "incredible secrets," and who am I to argue with that? In case you're curious, and I was (either that, or I'm just trying to fill up the page), neither of these movies, when they finally made it to TV, were shown on the networks that broadcast these specials. The Deep eventually aired on ABC (with additional footage), and Star Wars was shown on CBS, after having made the run of cable and pay-TV.tttWe've got two of them on tap here, and Sports are big in this week's prime time scene as well. The NFL has yet to expand to 16 games, so their season doesn't kick off until next week; ABC fills the Monday Night Football gap with a season-opening clash between UCLA and Houston, live from the Astrodome (8:00 p.m.). It's a grim start to a grim season for UCLA; they lose this game 17-13, and wind up having to forfeit their seven victories after the season due to having used ineligible players. Tuesday and Wednesday, we have an unprecedented six hours of boxing, starting Tuesday on CBS (7:00 p.m.), with "Night of the Champions," headlined by Carlos Palomino defending his WBC Welterweight title, Danny Lopez defending his WBC Featherweight title, and the fifth professional fight for future heavyweight champion Michael Spinks. The next night at the same time, NBC counters with "A Night With the Heavyweights," featuring six of the world's top-10 heavyweights, including Ken Norton (#1), Jimmy Young (#2), Ron Lyle (#3), future champion Larry Holmes (#6), Howard Smith (#8, not to be confused with the newsman) and Lorenzo Zanon (#10). Even in the glory days of televised boxing, back in the 1950s and early 1960s, there were never back-to-back nights like this. (In case you're wondering, ABC isn't left out; Alfredo Escalera defends his WBC Junior-Lightweight crown on Wide World of Sports Saturday at 1:00 p.m. As I said, quite a week.)A couple of other events round out the sports week; Notre Dame takes on the defending national champion Pitt Panthers in the season debut of ABC's college football (Saturday, 2:30 p.m.). The Fighting Irish win 19-9, on the way to winning the national championship themselves. The U.S. Open tennis championships finish up in New York, with the woman's final (won by Chris Evert) on Saturday (11:00 a.m., CBS), and Guillermo Vilas upsetting Jimmy Connors in the men's final (Sunday, 11:00 a.m., same network). It's not only the end of this year's tournament, it's the end of an era: after this year, the Open moves from Forest Hills to a monstrosity of a stadium in Flushing Meadow. The Minnesota Twins are along for the ride, with a trio of games against the Chicago White Sox that nobody cares about.tttI don't want you to think that everything this week is a special, but there are some returning shows with season premieres that you might think special. For instance, Happy Days (Tuesday, 7:00 p.m., ABC) expands to an hour as Fonzie heads to Hollywood, with the rest of the gang in tow; Cheryl Ladd makes her debut as the newest of Charlie's Angels (Wednesday, 8:00 p.m., ABC); Fish disappears on his retirement day at Barney Miller (Thursday, 8:00 p.m., ABC); and Wonder Woman expands to 90 minutes to celebrate its move to a contemporary timeframe and a new network (CBS, Friday, 7:00 p.m.). On The Rockford Files fourth-season opener (Friday, 8:00 p.m., NBC), James Garner's old Maverick buddy, Jack Kelly, joins in the fun when Rockford becomes the victim of identity theft. That's followed byQuincy at 9:00 p.m., and as the ad says, "The doctor is never at a loss for clues. . . or clients." And that's one of the problems I always had with Quincy: a coroner's clients are all dead. He's not a private detective!We may not have the "NBC Week" of the old days, but the Saturday morning kids' lineup debuts on all three networks, and let's see what we've got. There are still a few old favorites around, like The Pink Panther, Superfriends, Archie, Scooby Dooand a new version of Mr. Magoo, but it's not the Saturday morning I remember growing up to.tttFinally, TV Guide's publisher, Walter H. Annenberg, has an article with a provocative title that seems particularly apropos for our times. It's called "The Cult of Vulnerability Endagers the United States," and it's about the need to recognize the dangers that America faces from abroad, but there are a couple of sentences that really seem to leap out. The "cult of vulnerability," according to Annenberg, looks to reduce defense spending and "sap our political strength to further their muddled ideas of social progress." Annenberg describes it as "a cult that has low regard for American traditions, that invariably criticizes our Government and our economic system," and that their attitudes are "broadcast by radio and television, printed by newspapers and magazines, believed by all too many citizens who are willing to let others think for them." Annenberg quotes historian Henry Steele Commager (who's written for TV Guide in the past) that "It is surprising we should be skeptical of a society that achieved a larger degree of political and social democracy, constitutional order, effective limits on the pretensions of government, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, civil liberties, popular education and material well-being than any other on the globe."To this, Annenberg says, "We can, while honoring our traditions and taking pride in our Nation's achievements, still recognize our failings and strive to correct them in an intelligent, responsible manner. We can, if we look to the past to give us confidence in the future, eliminate the inequalities that remain in our society and pursue solutions to the other problems that face us." Annenberg doesn't deny that problems exist, but that the solution is to reform things, not replace them. And in the face of threats from foreign powers, he wonders why we don't hear more about them on the network news. "Can they be too busy blaiming blackout looting on flaws in our society, or condemning the CIA for errors long since corrected?" Annenberg concludes with an ominous caution. "The cult, the manner of thinking that finds nothing right about our society and nothing wrong about helping unfriendly countries gain real or potential power over us is strongest in the area where it can do the most harm in broadcast and print journalism." I won't trot out that old line about how the more things change, but as the pages of TV Guide frequently remind us time and again, we seem to face the same problems over and over, without ever learning. Rita Mae Brown called that the definition of insanity. Perhaps it's just business as usual.TVThis week's Hitchcock Project atbare bones e-zine is the kind I really like, not that I don't like them all, but Jack prefaces his episode description by putting it into historical context what was happening in the country at the time the episode was originally broadcast. It informs how the viewer of the time would have watched it, and by pointing this out, Jack helps us to appreciate the episode even more. That episode, by the way, is Harold Swanton's"Bang, You're Dead," from October 1961, directed by Hitch himself.At Classic Film TV Cafe, Rick takes us on another of his "Seven Things to Know About" features; this week's honoree is the popular Karen Valentine, who was a very busy actress through the 1980s, but will always remain best-known and loved for her role in Room 222.The comic strip "Blondie" is turning 90, and Once Upon a Screen celebrates the anniversary by looking at the history of the strip, the long-running movie series, the less well-known radio series, and the two unsuccessful attempts to bring the Bumsteads to television.Jodie's reached a milestone at Garroway at Large: she's concluded her Newspapers.com search for clippings about the Master Communicator. The number tops out at over 3,000 (and that's just through Dave's death) and now it comes time to put those clippings to work in telling the story of Dave's life.At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence pays tribute to the greatDiana Rigg, who died yesterday at 82. I'll have my own thoughts on that next Wednesday.Howard Duff is terrific in the Twilight Zone episode "A World of Difference,"and at Shadow Substance, Paul looks at the two interpretations of this story of a man's dual identity, and how it fits into the Serling portfolio.Finally, today is September 11, and 19 years ago it was one of the worst days in American history, one of those occasions when anyone who was alive remembers where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. Most of us were gathered around the television watching the unbelievable unfold, and the sight of those two towers coming down is something that can't be forgotten. The thought that people in their early twenties don't have any memory of it is sobering. It also makes me feel old but then, what doesn't? Anyway, take a moment when you have time today to reflect on September 11, 2001, and how it changed the world. Even after 19 years, it remains a day of profound sadness.TVWhy, you may ask, am I reviewing a book about classic radio on a blog devoted to classic television? Aside from the obvious connection between the two media, it's absolutely necessary for one to understand the role that television played in the creation of Monitor, the NBC radio program that ran for nearly 20 years from 1955 to 1975.By the mid-50s, it was clear that television had forever changed the way network radio functioned. Most of radio's brightest stars and programs had already transitioned from radio to television (or were in the process of doing so), and the advertising dollars were following. It was pretty clear to most people that if something wasn't done, and soon, network radio could well cease to exist. This is where Pat Weaver comes in, and where Dennis Hart's engrossing story begins.Monitor: The Inside Story of Network Radio's Greatest Program, by Dennis Hart, iUniverse, Inc., 270 pages, $21.95Weaver, of course, was theL'enfant terrible of early television; as president of NBC, he'd created everything from the Today and Tonight shows to the concept of the TV special, or "spectacular." His idea to save network radio was equally audacious: 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 would become known for "going places and doing things." Weaver described his baby as a"kaleidoscopic phantasmagoria," but settled on a much simpler name: Monitor.As Hart points out, this was an incredibly risky move: by putting all its eggs in one basket, large though that basket might be, NBC was literally staking its future on Monitor. If the show failed to attract advertisers and listeners, the network would likely go under. The fact that it didn't, that Monitor became an epic adventure that would run from the last of the big bands through Vietnam and Watergate and acid rock, was a testimony not only to Weaver's vision but to the talents of the producers and directors, writers, technicians, and personalities that helped assemble the mammoth show each week. And it is this story that Hart brings so wonderfully to life.Dave Garroway, the first "communicator"The list of people who appeared on Monitorover the years reads like something of a who's who of the entertainment world. The list of hosts alone (or "communicators," as they were initially called) would have been enough: the very first voice of Monitor, Dave Garroway;newsmen such as Frank McGee, David Brinkley and Frank Blair; television personalities from Ed McMahon and Hugh Downs to Gene Rayburn and Art Fleming; DJs such as Big Wilson, Wolfman Jack and Don Imus; and actors whom one wouldn't picture as radio hosts: David Wayne, Barry Nelson, James Daly and Tony Randall, all of whom helped create a conversational intimacy with the listener that made everyone feel as if they were part of an extended family.There were comedy stars as well: Bob and Ray (who initially were to be on call throughout the weekend, ready to fill in on a moment's notice should a technical glitch prevent a particular report from being broadcast), Nichols and May, Jonathan Winters, Ernie Kovacs and more. Feature presentations and reviews throughout the weekend were provided by names like Arlene Francis, Betty Furness, Gene Shalit and Dr. Joyce Brothers. And no overview of Monitor would be complete without the immortal "Miss Monitor," played by Tedi Thurman, the sexy, alluring voice who read the national weather while romantic music played in the background.The program itself was a true magazine, covering it all: breaking news, in-progress sports reports, live big band and jazz concerts, interviews with celebrities and newsmakers, features on all aspects of life and the latest in popular culture. It's a rich, colorful history, and Dennis Hart takes full advantage of it. He was fortunate enough to connect with and interview many of Monitor's key people while they were still living, collecting insightful (and often hilarious) stories from those both in front of the mic and behind the control room glass, assembling them in a way that gives the reader a real picture (so to speak) of what made Monitor such a special show. He also does a good job of placingMonitor's role in radio's rich history, particularly the bold advertising timeshares with affiliates that allowed the show to thrive well into the '60s. In fact, though, some of the most interesting segments of Hart's story come from the anecdotes provided by those who listened to the shows, both adults and those who grew up with Monitor as a regular weekend ritual. Nobody expected to listen to the entire show, and that was the point: it was always there, ready whenever you happened to tune in to it. Monitor took full advantage of growing American mobility to position itself as the listener's friend, whether you were at the beach, driving in the car, working in the garage or basement, or just spending time with friends. There's one scene in particular, in which a listener describes the effect of walking down the street, hearing Monitor coming continuously from every house along the block, that illustrates just how much we've lost in our headlong rush to embrace the world of individuality and fragmented demographics.Nothing lasts forever, though, and such was the case with Monitor, which eventually fell victim to a number of circumstances, most of all the desire of big-market affiliates to control their own commercial and broadcasting time. When Monitor went off the air, in 1975, there were still over 120 stations, but hardly any were in the major markets. And if there's any criticism of Hart's book, it's in his description of Monitor's downfall; chapter after chapter discusses the program's success in terms of stars, segments, features and the like, so the story of its demise (a gradual reduction in hours from 40 to a mere 12, plus 9 hours of repeats; loss of stations, advertising schemes with affiliates that cannibalized the show's flow and hastened its death) comes as something of a shock, with little foreshadowing provided to give it context. It also serves to somewhat diminish the show's remarkably long run; without the twists, turns and surprises that surrounded the show's existence, one feels less the weight of the show's passing years, and its ability (or inability, as in the case of popular music) to change with the times.That's a minor quibble, to be sure, in this fascinating book. I have to admit that I have no memories of Monitor myself, although I must have just missed being aware of it, for I still have a great fondness for the all-news format that replaced it (NBC's News and Information Service, whose slogan was, "All News, All Day, Every Day"). Or perhaps Monitor had already disappeared from the airwaves where I lived back then. All the more reason, then, for this book (and the companion website, to which new soundchecks are constantly being added), to introduce those of us without memories to the remarkable show that was Monitor. For those fans of old time radio programs, the claim that Monitor was network radio's "greatest program" might seem a bit spurious, or at least somewhat grandiose. But a 40-hour program that was born of desperation, a program that helped save an entire network for twenty years, a program that went around the world and broadcast anything and everything that was worth broadcasting, all without losing a sense of fun and wonder: well, that makes it pretty great in my book.TV 2011-20 Mitchell D. Hadley. All TV Guide material TV Guide Magazine. Other sources as noted. Powered by Blogger.

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