This Day in TV History: 3 short-lived NBC series premiere September 15, 1972

There are a lot of big-ticket shows that premiered in Fall 1972, and we may celebrate them, too, but today let's honor a few that didn't quite make it after debuting Friday, September 15, 1972.

At 8:30 on NBC, Brian Keith's The Little People first appeared. Keith stars as a pediatrician in Hawaii.

At 9:00, the same network unveiled its horror anthology Ghost Story, hosted by Sebastian Cabot. Jason Robards, Stella Stevens, and Jack Kelly are among the guest stars in episode 1.

NBC closes the night with yet another new show, Robert Forster as 1930s P.I. Banyon. I have mentioned before how much I'd like to check this one out.

Here's a promo for the latter two series:

Final tally: Banyon 13 episodes plus the pilot movie, The Little People  46 episodes after becoming The Brian Keith Show in its second season, Ghost Story 22 episodes, 9 after losing Cabot and changing the name to the broader Circle of Fear.

This Day in TV History: Robert Forster IS Banyon!

50 years ago tonight, Banyon premiered on NBC. The Robert Forster P.I. series (it was written especially with him in mind) lasted a mere 16 episodes but still sounds cool.

After this airing of the two-hour pilot, the series made the Fall 1972 schedule for Fridays at 10:00 P.M. but was off the air by the end of January 1973. Martin was brought on after the movie, which must explain the year-and-a-half gap before the series proper began. Forster was the only cast member to make it to the regular series, which co-starred Joan Blondell and Richard Jaeckel.

Less than a year ago, to mark the late Forster's birthday, we picked this series as a "What We'd Like to See," and it still has that status! Here is a great post summarizing the original movie and recounting how original creator Ed Adamson was apparently edged out by Martin. The author calls the role, at least in the pilot, a rare misfire of a performance by Forster, but I am still intrigued.

The Quinn Martin show set in 1930s Los Angeles is controlled by Warner Brothers but presumably has some kind of issue preventing it from home video release. I don't think the show even made it to the dearly departed Warner Archive Instant streaming service.