Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...

 

RetroFan Review: issue 40 spotlights a former BOTNS Retro Retro show!

I'm still a bit behind in my RetroFan reviews, but I can't let issue 40 go without comment. After all, the cover boy is Jay North, star of our Retro Retro series from Season 11, Dennis the Menace!

My standard message remains in effect: RetroFan is my favorite mag, and I recommend you check it out at TwoMorrows.com.

Mark Voger's cover story on the 1959 CBS series is a great overview (Listen to our podcast for some more details) of the series itself but also delves into the unfortunate dark side of the show for North. His on-set guardian was an abusive aunt who physically hit him (out of sight of the other adults) when he messed up a line. No wonder North grew to resent the show before reconciling it with later (He died earlier this year).

Voger manages to convey the gravity of that situation while still celebrating the accomplishments of the sitcom and its comic strip origins. Just be aware the story is as much about North and the perils of child stardom.

Another cover subject is the equally precocious Incredible Hulk! Andy Mangels discusses a show that we might well have covered on the podcast if it weren't mysteriously unavailable on Disney Plus: The 1982 Saturday morning Hulk cartoon on NBC. Mangels is also puzzled by its scarcity, but he delivers my favorite piece in the whole issue.

He gets some interesting quotes from some original animators, like Rick Hoberg, who assets that much of Marvel's animation team turned its attention right to G.I. Joe as soon as that deal went into effect and therefore wasn't too disappointed when NBC ordered no new episodes after the initial 13. Mangels does explore the original plan for a second season: A pairing of Bruce Banner with his cousin Jen Walters, AKA She-Hulk. He also talks about the idea to give a series to Video Man from Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. Anyone who is curious about the history of the neglected 1982 Hulktoon must read this one.

Will Murray covers one of the greatest Western TV series, Have Gun Will Travel. He focuses on star Richard Boone's influence on the show and the production changes behind the scenes over the course of its 6 years. It's all fascinating stuff, though as is often the case with these TV overviews, I would have loved more discussion of specific notable episodes.

I enjoyed the story on Big Little Books adapting adventure TV shows. Like all these pieces, it's well illustrated with interesting photos and examples. Coverage of The Prisoner takes an interesting angle, with an interview with a creator of a comic book based on the show and a travel story about visiting the original shooting location in Wales.

This is a very 50s/60s issue, what with a look at Remco's 1966 Lost in Space robot toy, plus an extensive profile of Mickey Dolenz's time starring in Circus Boy. The latter draws heavily on Dolenz's autobiography, and it makes me think I really ought to read that book.

Hogan's Heroes gets a thorough profile courtesy of Bob Crane biographer Carol Ford. While there is an obvious emphasis on Crane, Ford does not neglect other individuals and aspects of the show.

This is a stellar issue of RetroFan, and though the Hulk piece is one of the few with direct relevance to BOTNS-era TV, I think our listeners will find a lot to enjoy. 

Top Ten #375

1) Season 13: The podcast returns next week! And that is all I will say until Thursday!

2) The Paul Lynde Halloween Special: Thanks to Jason in our Facebook group for reminding everyone, hey, it's time to start firming up plans for our annual watch parties!

3) Roosevelt Franklin: Thanks to my uncle snagging it for me, I am now the proud owner of the new action figure of this Sesame legend:

4) Farmer's Day: I could try to link to a 1982 ag report that aired at 5:00 AM, but let's save that for next year and instead give all the farmers a giant SALLLLL-UUUTE!

5) Out of the Darkness: 40 years ago tonight, CBS aired this TV movie about the Son of Sam saga. Martin Sheen and Hector Elizondo starred, and some guy named Charlie Sheen was credited as "Man Shaving."

6) Susan Anton: Happy 75th birthday to one of the big stars of the BOTNS sweet spot (1975-1985)!

7) The 1975 World Series: Game 2 of one the most remembered Fall Classics in MLB history aired on NBC 50 years ago today...at 1:00 in the afternoon! The game was played in a wet Fenway Park and was interrupted by a big rain delay.

8) Viva Valdez: I had hoped Sony would celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month by uploading another episode, but I'll just post one they already gave us:

9) ABC Weekend Special: The anthology program for kids returned with a new episode on this day in 1985: "Captain O.G. Readmore's Jack and the Beanstalk."

10)  Hockey: The NHL returned this week! For TV coverage...don't go to USA Network. They don't have it anymore.

Next Week on Battle of the Network Shows...

 

Top Ten #374

1) Roku Channel: Something happened over there, and the platform got a nice influx of classic TV for October, including a lot of Sony library programs that had been limited to a season or two. It's been way too long since someone was able to binge The Facts of Life on streaming.

2) The Munsters: Tubi added the show, which we cover here, for October. It's a good thing it landed there. Grandpa's first spell put the show on History Vault.

3) Peanuts: The gang celebrates is 75th anniversary this week, and I bet there are a few seniors out there who still have bits of Almond Joy in their teeth.

4) McCoy: The short-lived Tony Curtis starrer debuted 50 years ago tonight as part of NBC's Mystery Wheel. The title character was a con man who turned "good" to outcon other con men.

5) President Harry Truman: He gave the first televised presidential address on this date in 1947. Viewers on YouTube had to sit through an unskippable 60-second ad for Thomas Dewey.

6) Gimme a Break: 40 years ago tonight, the series aired "The Man from Zoron," in which Ken Berry played a man claiming to be from outer space. Hey, I kind of want to see this now. Note that Berry gets special guest star credit in the actual opening credits/theme song. 

7) Angela Lansbury: She's Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month. OK, OK, I suppose she had a career before Murder, She Wrote.

8) National Pizza Month: I plan to celebrate early and often.

9) The Honeymooners: Ralph Kramden debuted on this day in 1951 as a sketch on DuMont's Cavalcade of Stars, and Catchy Comedy celebrates with a marathon of the show this weekend. Outside the BOTNS time frame, you say? The 'Mooners are always welcome around here!

(The Classic 39 filmed half-hour version of the show premiered October 1, 1955.)

10) Ron Friedman, Patricia Routledge: We missed the death of the longtime TV writer a few weeks ago. 

Top Ten #373

1) The Love Boat: The classic aired its ninth-season premiere 40 years ago tonight, and the show got a new look. Included: The Mermaids! That's even more eye-catching than special guest star Conrad Bain.

2) The Six Million Dollar Man: 50 years ago tonight, this series kicked off its fifth season with a pre-bicentennial episode with Chuck Connors as a mad scientist threatening to blow up the Liberty Bell!

3) Mr. Hooper: Check out this old-school clip of Hoop gettin' down:

4) McMillan and Wife: On this night in 1975, the season premiere featured guest star William Demarest!

5) National Drink Beer Day: Or as some call it, every day!

6) WEST network: Weigel, the company who brings you Me-TV and its assorted sister networks, launches another one tomorrow with a big lineup of Westerns. Sadly, Best of the West didn't make the cut.

7) The Bradys: Paul Van Scott pretty much nails everything wrong (but it's also oh, so, right) about this ill-fated revival in under 10 minutes:

8) The Munsters: The Sixties classic comes to FETV tomorrow. We talk about Herman and Grandpa right here.

 

9) "The Pig Plantagenet": On this day in 1985, CBS Storybreak aired this adaptation of a 1980 novel with a scripting credit for BOTNS fave Mark Evanier!

10) Murder, She Wrote: Word is that YT channel Pushing Up Roses has had many of her MSW videos blocked for copyright claims by YT. It's obviously bogus, but let's hope YT does the right thing and remonetizes the videos soon.

RetroFan Review: Issue 39 has a quirky assortment of articles

RetroFan, I love you, and I recommend everyone get issue 39, but I have to call it as I sees it, and I am seeing an unfortunate trend in the magazines (this and sister mag, 70s/8o-scomic-focused Back Issue) Michael Eury edited before his retirement. There is a decline in copy editing in these mags, I believe, and this issue stands out for that unfortunate reason.

There are a few sentences with awkward phrasing, missing/repeated words, and just some things that could be tightened up. However, the article on The Fugitive by Will Murray has some egregious examples. Actor Barry Morse, who plays Girard on the Sixties classic TV series, is dubbed "Barry Morris" several times. It's distracting and a disservice to the fine content of the piece.

(On another note, here's an odd editorial choice, or lack thereof: There's a quote by Morse talking about how he never allows Girard to hold a gun, and he gives a reasonable explanation why. Yet right above this passage is a photo of the character aiming a gun. I feel the text or the caption should address the contradiction given how adamant Morse is in the quote.)

Here's the good news: The subject matter is compelling as ever. Now that we are nearly 40 issues in, a lot oft he big subjects are in the rearview mirror of RetroFan, so we are seeing some interesting forays into the likes of Mr. Peanut. Yes, there is a history of Planters Peanuts that examines the somewhat ambiguous origins of the company and its beloved mascot.

Sixties toy Zeroids get a profile, as does the Sixties Tarzan show headed by Ron Ely. I would have liked maybe another page or two about the latter, but it's a good story. Mark Voger's profile of Ed Wood makes good use of old interviews he did with some collaborators. I enjoyed the analysis of the women of UFO.

My favorite is are the coverage of The Fugitive, a show that I love, though I find it odd that it references the Harrison Ford feature but not the Tim Daly CBS remake. Scott Shaw! delivers an insightful survey of Charles Addams' career and life that includes The Addams Family but goes well beyond to reveal what the man was really like.

My other favorite section in issue 39 is the extensive interview with Suzan Loeb, who wrote advice columns in Marvel romance comics for years. Talk about a fresh subject! Loeb discusses various aspects of that duty and the other things she did at the company. This interview is a great surprise!

So it is another winner of an issue for TwoMorrows, but I am disappointed at some of the proofing errors making their way into this magazine. I saw some similar problems in a recent Back Issue. I hope it gets sorted out soon because the material is so great. RetroFan remains a highlight when I receive it

Top Ten #372

1) Autumn: Emotional Fall started weeks ago, of course, but tomorrow begins "official" Fall. This used to be an exciting time, what with new seasons, new shows, the TV Guide fall premiere, etc., but now it's not so much of a big deal.

2) Jean Smart: Congratulations to the former Designing Women star for yet another Emmy win for Hacks.

3) The Wizard of Oz: All this talk about the butchered version of the movie playing at the Sphere makes me think it should be seen the way so many of us watched it growing up: on TV. Then again, they edited the heck out of it there, too. But still!

4) The NFL on CBS: Today, the pregame show celebrates the original incaranation of The NFL Today. Also, the author of a book about that show, Rich Podolsky, has a new book out about the netwrok's iconic broadcast team, Madden & Summerall.

I ask once again, where the heck is that documentary about The NFL Today that premiered on CBS at the beginning of the year but was never rerun nor made available on demand?

5) Bill Murray: Happy birthday to the SNL star, who turns 75--still sory enough to sock Chevy Chase if it came down to it.

6) Bronk: 50 years ago tonight, CBS premiered this police detective series starring Jack Palance, I know these are troubled times. If things get to you, sit down, close your eyes, and say "Bronk!" over and over again. It works.

7) Perry Mason: The classic series, which we covered here, debuted on this night in 1958. Perry won the case.

8) The Beatles: Something interesting happened in the New York area on this date in 1985. At 8:00 P.M., Channel 9 and Channel 11 aired The Compleat Beatles, an excellent documentary; and I Wanna Hold Your Hand, the Robert Zemeckis 1978 movie about Beatlemania, respectively.

9) Lime Street: Robert Wagner's ill-fated series premiered 40 years ago tonight. Should have just kept Hart to Hart, ABC.

10) R.I.P. Robert Redford: Seems odd not to mention him despite his lack of TV presence in the BOTNS era, but AHA! He was on an episode of Perry Mason!

Pat Crowley starred in Please Don't Eat the Daisies and appeared in many BOTNS-era shows, including Joe Forrester.

John Masius won two Emmys for writing St. Elsewhere.

Top Ten #371

1) The Emmy Awards: Tonight is the umpteenth edition as the venerable awards ceremony, in a world with the Battys, makes a desperate to stay relevant by honoring current programming.

2) The Golden Girls: The gals debuted 40 years ago tonight on NBC, and the "senior" demo became hot for a while! Then of course people of all ages embraced the series, and it became a huge cultural institution. I mean, there are MAD LIBS!

3) 227: Hey, don't forget the other sitcom that debuted on this night in 1985. It hasn't had quite the cachet that Golden Girls has--still waiting for my Hal Williams Funko--but it did have, on one glorious night, Batty winner Franklin Cover.

4) Late Night with David Letterman: A new FAST channel on Samsung TVs devoted to Dave will offer 1,800 episodes of the show! That's more episodes than humans should be allowed to have.

5) Miss America: The 32nd titleholder, Susan Akin, was crowned on NBC 40 years ago tonight. Quick, name your top 32 favorite Miss Americas!

6) Paul Linke: I dedicate this item to my co-conspirator Mike: Guess who's on Ian Talks Comedy this week! Well, I gave it away, but it's Paul Linke, AKA Grossie from CHiPs! What a career he has had apart from that role, though.

7) Three for the Road: This road-trip show from MTM Enterprises teamed Alex Rocco with Vincent Van Patten and Leif Garrett as his sons. It ended up as the lowest-rated show of the season.

8) Joey Heatherton: Happy birthday to the iconic sex symbol. Who knows, maybe we'll see her in the BOTNSverse someday...

9) The Wuzzles: The cute and cuddly gang premiered in their own Saturday morning cartoon on CBS this day in 1985. It's funny that there are now infinitely more Golden Girls toys than there are Wuzzles toys.

10) R.I.P. Polly Holliday:

RetroFan Review: Issue 38 features BOTNS-era TV

It's been a while since I looked at my favorite mag, TwoMorrows' RetroFan, here on the site. Well, for a while I didn't get any issues because distribution issues caused by distributor Diamond's bankruptcy led to a bottleneck. So later, I got 3 issues in what seemed like rapid succession! I am now catching up and will share my thoughts over the next week or so. Spoiler: I love the magazine.

Longtime Editor in Chief Michael Eury has retired, and while I have seen some copy editing errors pop up in this mag and in Back Issue (the other publication Eury helmed), the direction of RetroFan is steady as she goes, and I haven't noticed any changes in direction. There are a few new contributors lately, and that's probably unrelated, but I enjoy the new writers being added to the mix.

There are two BOTNS-era TV subjects on the cover of issue 38, which devotes space to a variety of topics rather than spotlighting one. My favorite contributor may be Andy Mangels, and he delivers another epic animation history here, this one a look at Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. Many articles in the magazine rely on past interviews and previously published material, but Mangels conducted a handful of new interviews with animators like Larry Houston, and he synthesizes that material well with other sources. It's a tremendous look at the series, a piece that I wish were around when Mike and I discussed it on the podcast.

Will Murray's story on The Mod Squad, a series we have not covered on BOTNS, is another winner. This series doesn't get a lot of attention today, so it's nice to see an in-depth treatment of it. Murray doesn't discuss a lot of individual episodes in detail--he mentions some notable ones but doesn't focus much on that--but he covers the entire production history, ratings rising and falling, and reunion/revival attempts. It certainly makes me more curious about exploring a series I haven't seen much. Aspire TV showed reruns a while ago, and it is on DVD, so at least it's out there.

One other cartoon we love around here is The Flintstones, and Scott Shaw! looks at the various animators and writers who worked on the original series. I enjoyed the array of capsule biographies, but it may be more than many need. It's well done, just surprisingly lengthy.

One hidden gem of the Sixties is Julie Newmar's sitcom My Living Doll, and Lee Weinsten tells us about it in this June issue. I was glad to snap up the DVD set that came out in 2012. It was called, with optimism, "Volume 1," but it appears half of the series is still lost. Anything with Newmar is welcome in this or any other magazine!

I laughed out loud reading Scott Saadevra's history of Mr. Potato Head, and Mark Voger's offbeat profile of Jesus Christ Superstar is another compelling piece. Issue 38 is a well-rounded, entertaining effort as usual, but the highlight by far is Spidey.

Top Ten #370: Special "Are you ready for or already tired of football" Edition!

1) The Love Boat: This week's Fun for All Ages podcast features a discussion of the show with Jill Whelan and (author of a forthcoming book about the series) Jim Colucci. There were some funny and bawdy stories told, but I think my big takeaway was that Whelan is tight with Glenn Scarpelli.

2) Police Squad!: Laurie and I started watching the original series this week. I think it will benefit from doing one a week instead of burning through all 6! The show holds up very well and feels like a "gone too soon" effort. It might have worked better as a summer replacement show each year than a full season, though.

3) Ironside: In our Facebook group this week, our friend John recommended Season 5 episode "Bubble, Bubble, Toil, and Murder" partly because of an amazing guest cast, including a Genius winner. I had a great time seeing it last night, and I suggest you check it out!

4) Junkyard Dog: WWE, via its YouTube account, has finally released original episodes of Hulk Hogan's Rock and Wrestling, its 1980s cartoon on CBS, and who should star in the first one but the guy who was my favorite in 1985, the Dog.

5) Shark...Terror, Death, Truth: Before Peter Jennings became big dog (not Junkyard Dog; that was David Brinkley's role) at ABC News, he had to host stuff like this Jaws cash-in that aired 50 years ago tonight.

6) Super Powers: Galactic Guardians: This version of Super Friends premiered September 7, 1985 on ABC. I think it may have had something to do with toys.

7) Scooby's Mystery Funhouse: Also on this day in 1985, ABC debuted this repackaging of Scooby and Scrappy reruns. As far as invigorating veteran franchises goes, I'll take Firestorm and Cyborg over Scrappy.

8) ABC Weekend Special: Con Sawyer and Hucklemary Finn: This special with Drew Barrymore premiered 40 years ago today. Of course, 3 days before it aired, scores of angry viewers rushed down to their local general stores and protested the gender swapping.

9) The National Football League: Pro football is back this weekend, but I think the CBS studio show gets a little too much attention, so here's a bit of NBC from back in the day.

10) R.I.P. Giorgio Armani (I don't know anything about fashion, but I like Miami Vice!), Graham Greene, Frank Price (head of Universal TV):

Top Ten #369

1) Labor Day weekend: I am confident saying that all of you reading this deserve a day off, and I hope you have at least one of them this weekend!

2) Summer: At the same time, we must say goodbye to Emotional Summer, and I'm not quite ready to let go.

3) The Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon: One of the biggest annual traditions on TV in the BOTNS era!

4) Gunsmoke: Me-TV is celebrating the series' 70th anniversary (And I think it aired for half of those years) this month.

5) Hearts Island: 40 years ago tonight, NBC ran this unsold pilot from David Duclon starring Dorothy Lyman as a widowed mom of two making ends meet--barely--in Louisiana. Things take a turn when she meets an ex-con played by...Patrick Simmons!

No, wait, it's Gary Sandy!

6) Siskel and Ebert: Also 40 years ago this weekend, the duo devoted an episode to the worst films of the summer. The episode is available online, so I won't spoil anything, but one selection is from a certain long-long-long-running iconic franchise.

7) Buddy Hackett: The comedian would have been 100 today. I struggle with picturing a 100-year-old Buddy Hackett.

8) TV Guide's TV Teletype: I love the tidbits in the 8/20/55 issue we spotlighted the last couple weeks. Here are a few more:

"Horses come into their own this fall." Writer Bob Stahl notes Fury and My Friend Flicka start soon, and Gene Autry is developing a show about his horse Champion.

BBC starts its version of People Are Funny in September. CBS plans a series called Wanted profiling notable fugitives, and it took out an insurance policy protecting in case one of them is caught before the episode airs.

9) Major League Baseball: OK, I know everyone is about to be consumed by football. Let me just mark the deal MLB made with NBC/Peacock to bring games back to the network. It puts me in a nostalgic mood (Like I'm ever not in one) thinking about the old Game of the Week. Also, MLB's official Vault channel posted a cool episode of This Week in Baseball this week (Many more have been uploaded on less-official channels lately, too).

10) R.I.P. Jerry Adler: The veteran character actor didn't really get into TV until the nineties, but he was a stage manager on Santa Barbara! 

Inside the Guide: 8/20/55 Part 10: News and Info

The 1955 TV Guide has a good deal of news and gossip, including a page of local tidbits that has this note about Fred Rogers:

In the back of the mag, Sheila Graham has a page of brief items. We're told Earl Wilson will have the space next week. Among Graham's scoops: Liberace's show will return next season with a bigger budget, bigger sets, and more extravagance in general. Eve Arden has taken an apartment in town near the studio where Our Miss Brooks is filmed. Gary Cooper is on the hunt for a TV project.

"The Jack Webbs are building a big, beautiful home in the Valley, despite rumors of discord." 

Anita Ekberg, then starring in Warner Brothers Presents: Casablanca, "held up production when her toy poodle came down with heat prostration. Finally, even the director was applying ice packs to the pup--and to himself."

The TV Teletype feature includes nuggets like this: Four Star Productions wants to make Grand Motel as a TV series and a movie, and it wants BOTNS fave George Gobel to star in the movie. Playhouse of Stars was just "renewed for its fourth straight year of 52 films, no repeats."

Joseph Cotten will be host of General Electric's upcoming hourlong 20th Century Fox Show. ABC is scheduling its licensed J. Arthur Rank films 30 minutes before Toast of the Town and Colgate Variety Hour to try to topple those two.

NBC is boosting its color shows by about 500% this season, showing Davis Cup matches this week and doing color broadcasts of college football and the World Series. Max Liebman is producing a big series of Saturday night spectaculars for the same network, opening with Heidi on October 1 and featuring musicals like Jerome Kern's The Cat and the Fiddle.

The opening editorial is an interesting slant; the magazine criticizes the increasing practice of giving Hollywood studios free publicity. It cites Ed Sullivan as pioneering the idea of giving a studio an hour of his show to promote an upcoming release.

Inside the Guide: 8/20/55 Part 9: August 20-26: More features

 TV Guide is not just a trove of listings. It's filled with features and reviews! Here  is a look at a few in the back of the August 20, 1955 edition.

Reviews include Caesar Presents and an early Johnny Carson show:

I like this piece about syndicated "film" programs. It name-checks a lot of interesting shows from syndicators like Ziv and more. There's a special shout-out for Guild Films' Liberace, which WPIX in New York (one of 200 stations that carries it) broadcasts twice a day, five days a week.

Inside the Guide: 8/20/55 Part 8: Friday, August 26, 1955

We close out our look at the listings of 70 years ago today with a post about Friday, August 26, 1955.

I like that a single sponsor took out an ad listing the various programs it was responsible for:

One of the interesting syndicated daily programs that runs this week is Tele-Comics, AKA NBC Comics.

 It's considered the first network animated program, with the word "animated" being used loosely! The 15-mintue series featured limited movement of various rotating segments. Here's an example:

You don't expect live sports on a random Friday afternoon, but Channel 7 has tennis, live and in color!

Here's a snapshot of early primetime, with a good array of programs:

Finally, here's a cool ad for Swing Shift Theater, a lineup of movies for people who are up late:

Inside the Guide: 8/20/55 Part 7: Thursday, August 25, 1955

There is one interesting display ad in the Pittsburgh listing for 70 years ago: Climax!

Today let's just take a look at the whole page here:

At 11:15, it's not regular Rasslin'; it's TEXAS RASSLING!

I'm curious about "Stop and Go on Bike" on Channel 13.

A little earlier, check out what's on at 7;30:

EZC Ranch Girls was a show sponsored by Wilkens department stores and featuring a Pittsburgh-area country music group.

Top Ten # 368

1) TV Guide: I'm having a lot of fun going through an old ish from 70 years ago this week and putting up a post each day. Here's a bonus from the listings for 70 years ago today: An episode of Superman!

2) Emergency!: The 1970s NBC series gets a big ol' Blu Ray box set, available this week from retailers everywhere. Well, actually you can probably only get it online.

3) Looney Tunes: Tubi TV has hundreds of the old cartoons, not in an intuitive format, but available for free streaming, at least.

4) College Football: The so-called Week Zero is here, and, yep, the games count. College football is back and, uh, more different than ever!

5) Run DMC: The group appeared on American Bandstand 40 years ago today. Dick Clark was America's Freshest Teenager!

6) Joe Regalbuto: Happy birthday to the start of The Associates!

7) National Waffle Day: Yum!

8) The Odd Couple: It aired on ABC 50 years ago tonight, but I mean the movie, not the TV series. You know what happens when you ASSUME...

9) Steve Gutenberg: Happy birthday to the star of No Soap, Radio!

10) R.I.P.: Michael Sloan, Dave Ketchum:

Inside the Guide: 8/20/55 Part 6: Wednesday, August 24, 1955

Here are a few peeks at what was on 70 years ago today in the Pittsburgh area:

I like the listing of the segments in this Arlene Francis show. Ooh, a segment on draperies!

I was curious about Flynn's Inn in the above pic. Charlie Flynn was a personality at the station, WFBG, which later became WTAJ, my local CBS affiliate as I was growing up. That's all I got! I see references to the show, but not details of what it's about--something that's true in a lot of these local TV listings rabbit holes.

Way of the World, shown here on WJAC, which was my NBC station growing up, was a short-lived (10 months) soap opera that ran different stories as opposed to one continuous narrative. A permanent hostess, Linda Porter, actually actress Gloria Louis, introduced the stories, according to Wesley Hyatt's Encyclopedia of Daytime Television. 

At 2:30, you see a real celebrity, and I don't mean Robert Q. Lewis. It's President Eisenhower! Some stations aired this later that night, after prime time:

Finally, a look at Frankie Laine's variety show, featuring a young Joel Grey. Again, I like the detail in the listings in these early Guides, with nearly every segment touted ahead of time. Laine's show was a summer replacement for Arthur Godfrey's program.

Laine also gets a feature story in the back of the issue.

Inside the Guide: 8/20/55 Part 5: Tuesday, August 23, 1955

Here's a look at some items in the listings 70 years ago today in Pittsburgh!

I wish I had this one below. I like that you're sitting there looking up what's gonna be on tonight, and then the mag tells you, hey, go get the new issue! It's already out there!

Check out what's on at 4:30 and every weekday on Channel 10: Roller Derby!

Here is what is up against the hottest show on TV, The $64,000 Question. China Smith is a syndicated adventure series starring Dan Duryea, Truth is another game show, and With a View to Music is something about which I know nothing!

Inside the Guide: 8/20/55 Part 4: Monday, August 22, 1955

Here are some highlights of the programming in Pittsburgh 70 years ago today!

Monday morning, Arlene Francis gets a new show to precede her existing program, and look who's along with her: BOTNS star Hugh "Over Easy" Downs!

The big showcase production of the day is, well, Producers' Showcase, a 90-minute prestige production.

Here's a glimpse of one of my favorite obscure shows: It's a Great Life, a syndicated sitcom about three guys living in a boarding house run by Francis Bavier. I'd love to get a set of complete episodes of that one!

Here's a look at the sports lineup for the week. Notice what's missing: Baseball! No national games in this week in August. I believe Pittsburgh Pirates broadcasts on local TV did not start until two years later.

Inside the Guide: 8/20/55 Part 4: Sunday, August 21

 I want to highlight a few things today, but let's start with this look at a Boy Scout jamboree!

Religion is a big part of Sunday TV (not just the morning, either, but the whole day), but unlike the heavy diet of televangelism that would become common in the eighties, you get a variety of faith-themed anthology programs, including different episodes of the same series.

And look at this episode of Pall Mall Theatre. Didn't every TV Western use this plot at one time or another?

Inside the Guide: 8/20/55 Part 3: The listings! Saturday, August 20

It was 70 years ago today that...a lot of locally produced programming was on the air, at least in the Pittsburgh area. I don't only mean shows made in Pittsburgh, but shows made at local stations. It was a different time, when network affiliations were much looser and everyone was still trying to figure things out.

KDKA-2 and WJAC-6 at the time are listed as affiliates of ABC, CBS, Du Mont, and NBC! Every channel in the listings apart from WQED-13 (later a PBS station) have multiple network affiliations.

70 years ago, Saturday, August 20, 1955, this program stands out, right here in the middle:

Yep, that's our pal Fred "Mister" Rogers! Notice pals like Daniel Tiger are already here, too, in this Pittsburgh original.

Later in the day, we get Rassling. Not wrestling. RASSLING.

Here are a few ads for the shows in prime time tonight:

Here's an overview of late prime time. One thing I like about early TV is that the same show will appear on different networks, different channels, even with different episodes on the same evening. An example here is Your Play Time, one of the many, many dramatic anthologies on the airwaves this week.

Wrestling at 11:05 is obviously a different show than RASSLING earlier in the day.

Earlier in the evening, all kinds of stuff. Take 8:00's The Soldiers, a short-lived military comedy that stars John Dehner, Tom D'andrea, and this issue's cover subject, Hal March!

Musical Chairs is a panel show, I think, not a literal game of musical chairs. There's a lot of game show and music action in Summer 1955 on TV.

Inside the Guide: 8/20/55 Part 2

Yesterday I focused on the cool cover story about The $64,000 Question, but there are other features in the Guide this week. For example, this look at The Ina Ray Hutton Show, a syndicated program starring the biggest female band leader of the Big Band era. Years later, research indicated that Hutton was of mixed race and had been "passing as White" during her heyday. I don't know if this TV show exists in any form.

They were putting a lot of stuff out there in the early days of the medium, but how about TV dentistry? Jerry Robinson and Jerry Helper are nowhere to be seen here, but I trust these guys know what they're doing.

Tomorrow we'll dive into the listings!

Inside the Guide: 70 years ago, "The $64,000 Question" was the hottest thing on TV (August 20-26, 1955)

This week we'll go back in time and look at the TV Guide Pittsburgh edition from August 20-26, 1955--70 years ago!. Here's a look at the front cover:

You will notice the cover subject is Hal March, emcee of The $64,000 Question. That quiz show had premiered just about two months earlier but was the talk of the medium, breaking summertime viewership records and capturing the public's collective attention. Newspapers, street corners, water coolers...all were abuzz with discussions about the smash program.

Yes, this was one of the shows implicated in the quiz show scandals that would soon take down the genre and help lead to network, rather than sponsor, control over TV programming. $64,000 Question was not the first quiz show exposed, nor the most egregious, but it was believed sponsor Revson did influence the direction of the series in multiple ways. At least one contestant on the spinoff 64,000 Challenge (a head-to-head format, unlike the escalating-questions-solo format of its predecessor) claimed he was given answers in advance. Producer Louis Cowan became president of CBS TV after this show took off, but he was booted out in the wake of the scandals.

All this makes the issue in question (Ha!) a fascinating read. Ah, to be innocent and read this as it played out in Summer 1955, 3 years before the scandals broke. The cover story talks about how producers select contestants, not directly mentioning how sponsors might manipulate the gameplay or try to juke ratings.  One amusing note mentions how producers verified that potential participants weren't "misrepresenting themselves": "Cowan checks with their, ministers, priests, or rabbis, with their banks and their place of work." Note: Lack of semicolons and Oxford commas is from the original text.

The article mentions that people write the mag all the time asking how the show can afford to give away the big cash prizes. Actually, the program is much cheaper to produce than most primetime entertainment shows, as a helpful list indicates. The Jackie Gleason Show cost over $72K per week last season, but even with cash winnings averaged in. Question is estimated at a little over $25K.

The "TV Teletype" feature at the front of the mag has an item on the show, saying that American Research Bureau figures reveal it draws 47 million viewers each week. "That's unprecedented for summertime TV. 

This is my favorite reference in the issue, though, an item from the "Letters to the Editor" page:

Knowing what would happen a few years later, this is quite a thing to read here!

Top Ten #367:

1) Chubby Checker: The rock legend declined to appear at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, preferring to do a gig. Hopefully he's doing an ongoing celebration of the 38th anniversary of the Star-Spangled Celebration.

2) National Black Cat Appreciation Day: My personal favorite is Felicia Hardy, but how about some love for Salem and--Wait, he was like reddish-brown in this series?

3) Suburban Beat: 40 years ago, NBC aired this unsold pilot about a group of moms who band together to solve the murder of a prostitute. The creators of Scarecrow and Mrs. King produced this one, which starred Shelley Fabares, Dee Wallace, and Patti Austin. BOTNS fave Joe Santos is in this somehow, too.

4) Back to school: All over the country, kids go back to school this week even though it's way too early.

5) WWE on ESPN: So-called "Premium Live Events" are coming to ESPN next year in a huge deal. Maybe they'll put them in that classic 4pm afterschool weekday time slot! Or if they really want to get fancy, they can bring back that Tuesday night AWA showcase:

6) Mark Malkoff: I'm very much looking forward to the podcaster's forthcoming Tonight Show book. 

7) MTV's The Cutting Edge: Now that MTV is almost dead as a "brand," it's especially fun to look back at when it aired stuff like this:

8) Quincy: The show left Get TV, and now it's being booted off FETV for The Jeffersons. Why am I including it here? Because it's finally time. Bring it to Peacock! 

9) National Sandwich Month:

10) R.I.P. Danielle Spencer, Tristan Rogers:

Inside the Guide: Next week, we go back 70 years! (August 20-26, 1955)

Next week, we'll start looking at a TV Guide from 70 years ago: The August 20-26 issue seen below:

One thing about going this far back in time is that every page of the listings is an adventure. It's so early that you see lots of obscure/forgotten/rare programs. We will get to those listings and try to line up more or less with what was on 70 years ago to the day, but there is a lot more in the issue, including the remarkable cover story. This cover hit newsstands mere weeks after The $64,000 Question debuted and became a sensation.

Stay tuned!