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Here's
another of the ABC shows that was originally produced in black and
white, then was shifted to color when the ABC TV Network went to a
nearly full color schedule. "The
Big Valley" ran from 1965 to 1969
and starred Barbara Stanwyck, Richard Long(later of "Nanny and the
Professor"), Peter Breck, Lee Majors(later of "The Six Million Dollar
Man"), and Linda Evans(later of "Dynasty")
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The
ABC Color Logo of 1965 as broadcast on WAND. WAND was able to
pass the ABC Color signal to their transmitter perhaps two years before
any
locally origination of color was possible.
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"The FBI" premiered on ABC and WTVP
on September 19, 1965 where it
remained until 1974. It was sponsored by the Ford Motor Company
which held prominent product placement of Ford cars throughout,
including the Mustang or Thunderbird driven by the star of the series,
Efrem Zimbalist Jr.. The show also starred Philip Abbott, Lynn
Loring, Stephen Brooks and William Reynolds. The show was
endoresed by J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI Director. "The F.B.I." was
a Quinn Martin Production.
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"Peyton Plac"e continued from it's
1964 premiere on ABC where it ran until
1969. It was now produced in color. Ryan O'Neil continued
to star as Rodney Harrington for the series entire run.
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Sure,
it was cheaper to produce a series in black and white, but even some
pioneer TV producers saw the value in filming in color for future
syndication . Quinn Martin, wasn't one of them. He produced
"The Fugitive" originally
in black and white, but by the 1966 season,
it was finally in color. The show ended it's run on August 29th,
1967
to the largest TV audience of any TV series ever, with a 72 share of
all TV's in use! "The Fugitive" also ran on weekday afternoons on
ABC from 1967 to 1968 where it aired on WTVP/WAND.
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ABC Shows from the
years of 1965 to 1969 include: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,
The F.B.I., ABC Sunday Night Movie, Twelve O'Clock High, Legend of
Jesse James, Man Called Shenandowh, Farmer's Daughter, Ben Casey,
Combat, McHale's Navy, F-Troop, Peyton Place, The Fugitive, Adventrues
of Ozzie and Harriett, Patty Duke Show, Gidget, Big Valley, Amos
Burke-Secret Agent, Shindig, Donna Reed Show, O.K. Crackerby,
Bewitched, The Long Hot Summer, The Flintstones, Tammy, Addams Family,
Honey West, Jimmy Dean Show, King Family, Lawrence Welk, Hollywood
Palace, Iron Horse, Rat Patrol, Felony Squad, The Rounders, Pruits of
South Hampton, Love on a Rooftop, Batman, The Monroes, Man Who Never
Was, ABC Stage 67, Tammy Grimes Show, That Girl, Hawk, Green Hornet,
Time Tunnel, Milton Berle, Shane, Cowboy in Africa, Garrison's
Gorillas, The Invaders, N.Y.P.D., Legend of Custer, Second 100 Years,
ABC Wednesday Night Movie, Flying Nun, Good Company, Off To See The
Wizard, Hondo, Guns of Will Sonnett, Judd for the Defense, Dating Game,
Newlywed Game, Land of the Giants, TheAvengers, The Outcasts, Mod
Squad, It Takes a Thief, That's Life, Here Comes the Brides, Ugliest
Girl in Town, Journey to the Unknown, Operation: Entertainment, Felony
Squad, DonRickles Show, Music Scene, The New People, Harold Robbins'
The Survivors, Love American Style, Marcus Welby M.D., Courtship of
Eddies Father, Room 222, Ghost and Mrs. Muir, This is Tom Jones, Let's
Make a Deal, Brady Bunch, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Jimmy Durante
Presents: The Lennon Sisters.
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"Gidget" starred
Sally Field in her first TV effort...little did she know that 40 years
later she'd return to the ABC prime time lineup. "Gidget" was
based on the movie series of the same name and lasted through the
1965-1966 seasons. Along with an incredibly cute Sally Field the
show starred Don Porter as her dad, Professor Russel Lawrence, a
widower. Sally was only 18 when the show began production.
The show would return in the 1980's in which the character would be
played by Caryn Richman, and William Schallert(of the "Patty Duke
Show"). The sequel was a syndicated series which ran from
1986-1988.
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In
1966, WAND was passing most of the ABC schedeule of programs, and the
following syndicated shows Soupy
Sales Show, Tennessee Tuxedo and his Friends, Cameo Theater, Death
Valley Days, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, Tales of Wells Fargo, The
New Breed, Detectives, Zoro, Court Marshall and Hopalong Cassidy.
ABC offered the following
children's shows either on Saturday or Sunday mornings: Porky Pig(c), Beatles(c), Casper(c),
Magilla Gorilla(c), Bugs Bunny(c), Milton the Monster(c), Hoppity
Hooper(c), American Bandstand, Beany and Cecil(c), Peter
Potamus(c) and Bullwinkle(c).
All programs with a (c) were broadcast in color on WAND.
Also on weekends, the network offered ABC's
Wide World of Sports on Saturday afternoons at 4PM....in black
and white.
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"Father Knows Best" was part of the
ABC daytime schedule from 1962 to 1967 in reruns. In 1966, as
seen in the schedule above it aired at 11:30am
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Also
a a part of the daytime schedule, "Ben
Casey" was seen in reruns at Noon from 1965 to 1967.
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"The Donna Reed Show" was rerun as
part of the ABC daytime schedule from 1964 to 1968.
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 Nick Adams starred as "The Rebel" the off network show in
syndication on shown weekends on WAND in the late 60's.
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"American Bandstand" with Dick Clark
and announcer Charlie O'Donnell continued as a Saturday mid day feature
where it would remain through the early 80's.
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"Gilligan's Island" the CBS off
network series was a part of the weekday afternoon schedule of WAND in
1968. The black and while episodes were shown along with the
color episodes.
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"I Love Lucy" was scheduled to air
opposite WCIA's local news at 6PM, as the WAND local news ran at 5:30PM
for a time in the late 1960's.
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ABC couldn't get the real thing, so they got the cartoon characters for
the Saturday morning lineup. These rather cheesy imitations of
the "Beatles" had other actors do the voices, with stupid situations
and music video like sequences featuring the real Beatles songs from
the 1964 to 65 era. King Features Syndicate produced the series,
that later produced the "Yellow Submarine" movie a couple of years
later.
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"The
Time Tunnel" was another one of my
personal favorites. This series was another of the sci-fi series
of the late 1960's....and another one from Irwin Allen's Production
unit. "The Time Tunnel" starred James Darren(later of "TJ
Hooker") as Dr. Tony Newman and Robert Colbert(later of "The Young and
the Restless") as Dr. Doug Phillips, scientists who were forced to
enter the Time Tunnel, a top secret US government project which was
about to lose funding. They became time travelers to prove to a
visiting senator that the project was worth keeping.
Unfortunatley, they couldn't return and was forced to bounce around in
time aided somewhat by the other scientists who were at the
controls. This series featured huge sets, or at least it appeared
so due to the imagination of Irwin Allen. It also appeared some
of the same props were used in "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea."
One of my favorite episodes was one in which our heros traveled back to
Pearl Harbor and James Darren's character ran into himself as a young
boy.
"The Time Tunnel" aired on ABC from September 1966 through September of
1967. Since the series was a serial of sorts....each episode was
connected to the next as they traveled from one time setting to
another... you would expect that the series would have an ending.
Wrong....the series didn't end...they didn't find their way back to the
1970's, the original setting of the series.
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This was probably the most popular, most imitated and most paradied
show of the era. "Batman"
premiered on January 12, 1966 on ABC
and WAND and took the viewers by storm. It's campy style
attracted audience members of all ages. It aired on two parts
airing on ABC on Wednesday and Thursday nights at 6:30PM CT. On
Wednesday, the show ended with some kind of cliff hanging impossible
situation for our heroes....and the announcer would recap the situation
and tell us to watch tomorrow night...."same Bat time, same Bat
channel..." Adam West and Burt Ward as Bruce Wayne/Batman and
Dick Grayson/Robin were joined by Alan Napier as Alfred, the butler,
Madge Blake as Aunt Harriet, Neil Hamilton as Police CommissionerGordon
and Stafford Repp as Chief O'Hara. Later in the shows run they
were joined by the Commissioner's daughter Barbara Gordon/Batgirl
played by Yvonne Craig(who was from my hometown of Taylorville,
Illinois!) The show's villians ended up being a "who's who" of
actors/actresses who often time asked to be featured as part of the
show. By March 14th, 1968, the show would air it's final
episode. It seems the public just tired of the formula.
"Batman" also brought about a theatrical movie which starred most of
the original villians together against the "caped crusader." The
stars later furnished the voices of several animated spin-offs, most of
which ended up on the CBS Saturday morning schedule.
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Click
on PLAY to hear actual audio taken from WAND and ABC. This
one is a network promo for "Batman." This was
recorded on Thursday January 12, 1967 from
WAND/ABC. You'll need Real Audio.
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Click
on PLAY to hear actual audio taken from WAND and ABC. In
January of 1967, "The Pruitts of South Hampton" show which starred
Phyllis Diller went through a slight format change and a title change
to "The Phyllis Diller Show." This is an ABC network promo which
aired on the night show began it's new title, January 13,1967.
You'll need Real Audio. |
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Click
on PLAY to hear actual audio
taken from WAND and ABC for the ABC
"Second Season" of Janury 1967. The promo features a very modern
music background with a list of the new ABC shows which will premiere
for the second half of the TV season. You'll need Real Audio. |
These
pieces of audio gold were recorded by me, after I received my first
reel to reel tape recorder for Christmas 1966. This Christmas
gift, probably set the path for my broadcast career. The moral to
the story: Be carefull what you get your kids for Christmas.....it may
just change their life! These and other sound clips which will
show up on the WCIA and WICS sites were recorded by a Montgomery Ward
5" reel to reel tape recorder with a michrophone held up in front of
the speaker of a 1950's vintage Philco VHF console which I had in my
room. It had a UHF slide rule tuner converter box sitting on
top. I only wish I had it today! It had great audio with a
large cone speaker, the set was really sensitive when it came to
bringing in distant signals from St. Louis.....and Champaign....and it
did so much better than my parents living room G.E. at the time.
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Click
on PLAY to hear the ABC
Sounder
which the network used to begin various network promos and
announcements during the mid to late 1960's.
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Click
on PLAY to hear a short ABC
billboard promo for "F-Troop" with Ken Berry
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Click
on PLAY to hear a short ABC
billboard promo for "The FBI" with Efrem Zimbalist Jr..
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Click
on PLAY to hear Jim Clayton,
News Director/Anchor do a station ID for WAND.
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From
the studio which brought us "Batman", 20th Century Fox,....it was
another superhero of sorts...."The
Green Hornet." This series
premiered on September 9th, 1966(in color) where it ran until
1967. This was a great Friday night series, for the kids(and
adults alike), and starred Van Williams(from the Warner Brothers series
"Surfside Six"), Bruce Lee, Wende Wagner, Lloyd Gough and Walter
Brooke. The concept was created by George W.Trendle, the creator
of "The Lone Ranger." The character of Britt Reid/The Green
Hornet was the great grand nephew of The Lone Ranger and fought for
justice as well. This time Britt Reid was the publisher of the
Daily Sentinel and the owner of the newspaper's TV station. He
would often use the TV station by going on the air for some kind of
statment warning the public of a law breaker. By the way, the
Black Beauty(his car) was a 1966 Chrysler Imperial customized by Dean
Jeffries. The show also featured product placement for
Chrysler
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"Bewitched" was
another of ABC's hit shows of the 60's. This one
was quite creative, with a concept which was totally original but one
which was to be copied over the next couple of seasons by at least one
of the other networks(NBC-I Dream of Jeannie). This one starred
Elizabeth Montgomery(daughter of movie actor George Montgomery)as
Samantha Stevens, Dick York, later Dick Sargent as husband
Darrin, veteran radio/movie/TV actress Agnes Moorehead as Endora,
Samantha's mother, David White as Larry Tate, Darrins boss, and many
other regulars including veteran actor George Tobias, Alice Pearce,
Marion Lorne, Paul Lynde, Alice Ghostley, Bernard Fox, Maurice Evans,
and Erin/Diane Murphy(as daughter Tabitha). The show lasted on
the ABC primetime schedule from 1964 to 1972 and on the daytime
schedule from 1968-1973 and continued for several years in local
syndication then later on several cable networks. It was recorded
and delayed until 3:30PM for time on WAND. It's sad to
think that virtually all of the stars of this series are no longer with
us.
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| "The
Dating Game" was created by Chuck Barris for the ABC daytime
schedule
in 1965. It then popped up in prime time to replace "The Tammy
Grimes Show" after it was the first series cancelled in the 1966
season. So on October 6th 1966 "The Dating Game" with it's Herb
Alpert theme song ended up in prime time. The show was hosted by
Jim Lange and featured a guest choosing from three other guests of the
opposite sex. Imagine doing this one today! The risque
questions were written by the staff. After a date was chosen they
were chaperoned to some vacation spot for a weekend of fun. "The
Newlywed Game" also began on ABC daytime, in 1966. It ended up
being a "sister" show along with "The Dating Game" on the Saturday
night ABC schedule. "The Dating Game" was hosted by Bob
Eubanks. The daytime version ran from 1966 to 1974, later in
syndication until 1980, and later in 1985. It ran in prime time
until 1971. |
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ABC's
"Hollywood Palace"
was a
big budget, formal variety show produced at
the ABC Palace Theatre-formerly the El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood
Boulivard in Hollywood. It was produced live on the network,
originally in black and white in 1964 when it began, then later in
color. Guest hosts included
Bing Crosby, Fred
Astaire, Milton Berle, Jimmy Durante(pictured above),
Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Sammy Davis Jr. and Don Adams among others.
Acts included
Mickey
Rooney, Bobby Van, Nancy Wilson, Bob
Newhart, Ed Wynn, Frank Sinatra, Groucho Marx, Judy Garland, The
Rolling Stones and many other popular performers of the day. The
show was produced as a major TV event and lasted on ABC from 1964
through 1970 seen for most of it's run on Saturday nights. The
Hollywood Palace Theater is now the home of "The Jimmy Kimmell Show" on
ABC currently.
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"The
Invaders" was the original
show about extra-terrestrials who landed on earth to take over.
It premiered on ABC in January 1967 as part of ABC's Second
Season. Roy Thinnes starred as Archetect David Vincent who went
on a quest to warn us that the "invasion had already begun." He
stumbles on a UFO and learns the secret one night one night on the way
home from a meeting. Do you remember how you could spot an
alien??? ...they were the one's with the crooked little
finger. Another Quinn Martin Production.
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Click
on PLAY to hear actual audio
taken from WAND before the premiere of "The
Invaders." This network promo was recorded on January
10, 1967 from WAND/ABC. You'll need Real Audio.
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Click
on PLAY to hear actual audio
taken from WAND on the premiere of
"The Invaders." On this one you'll hear the opening
credits of the show. This was recorded on January 10, 1967 from
WAND/ABC. You'll need Real Audio. |
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"The Invaders" and "The Avengers" were two of the first
ABC series
which by adding the short title graphic before the show, would read "IN
COLOR." This was paradied, you might remember with the opening of
the"Police Squad" series of the 1980's as all of the ABC shows that
were broadcast in color featured a similar open. This practice
was eliminated within a couple of years, when virtually all of the
shows produced were in color.
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"The Avengers"
began on British TV in 1963 and appeared on ABC with black and white
episodes in March of 1966 where it continued until September of
1967. After it was cancelled, it generated a letter writing
campaign to bring it back.....ABC listened and returned the series as
part of the ABC Second Season of 1967....this time in color.
Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg starred as John Steed and Emma Peel who
as secret agents battled diabolical fiends of all sorts with a dash of
class, champaign and their fashion setting wardrobes. This series
spawned a spin-off called "The New Avengers" which later showed up on
CBS late night(see WRSP). It also inspired a really bad movie
"The Avengers"....don't waste your time on the movie.... Check out "The
Avengers" on BBC-Americal where it shows up on the schedule from time
to time. By the way, Diana Rigg left the series with the episode
called "The Forget Me Knot" when she was replaced by Tara King, played
by Linda Thorson. Another character was added....a boss for the
Steed played by Patrick Newell called "Mother." The series
continued it's run through September of 1969, when it was cancelled by
ABC.
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Click
on PLAY to hear actual audio
taken from WAND and ABC. This
one is a network promo for the return of "The Avengers" to the ABC
prime time schedule...."good show!" This was recorded on the
same
date as the "Invaders" intro above, January 10, 1967. You'll need
Real Audio.
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"The Lawrence Welk
Show" was a favorite of the "old folks" from 1955 to
1971 on ABC...and later in syndicated through 1982! WTVP/WAND
aired the show during the entire run of the show. ABC cancelled
the show, simply because the demos were "too old." The show
featured his cast of singers, dancers and musicians with shows often
time centered on a theme....or holiday. Many performers went on
to successful careers of their own including The Lennon Sisters, Pete
Fountain and Lynn Anderson. This show went color in 1966 along
with most of the ABC schedule.
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"The
King Family Show" premiered on ABC in 1965 where it ran until
1969. This show was a spin-off from an apperance on "The
Hollywood Palace" during 1964. The family included nearly 40
members, all musical, but centered on the six King Sisters, a singing
group from the 1940's when they were part of the Alvino Rey's
Orchestra. Music ranged from semi-classical to contemporary with
some family comedy thrown in. The popular family show lasted but
one season on ABC.
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This
is a strange one....yes it's a picture of a kangaroo....but not just
any kangaroo....it's "Skippy the Bush
Kangaroo." A syndicated
half hour Austrailian version of "Lassie." This TV series ended
up as part of the WTVP/WAND weekend schedule during the 1960's.
It at least appeared during the years of 1967-69. |
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You might not remember this
one..."Love on a Rooftop" ran
on ABC from 1966-67 with reruns during
1971 and starred Peter Deul(later "Alias Smith and Jones") and Judy
Carne(pre "Laugh In"). This was a show with a young married
couple in San Fransico and costarred Rich Little, Barbara Bostock and
Sandy Kenyon. The reruns were added to the 1971 summer season to
profit from the popularity of Judy Carne of her "Rowan and Martin's
Laugh In" run. Peter Duel showed up in January of 1971 in "Alias
Smith and Jones" before his suicide in December of 1971 |
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"ABC Stage 67" was the title for a
number of specials offered by the network. Most of the "Stage 67"
installments were variety specials hosted by Jack Paar, David Frost and
others. It ran from September of 1966 through May of 1967.
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The Bullwinkle Show was a regular
Sunday morning feature along with other kdis shows during the late
1960's
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Danny Thomas'
little girl, Marlo starred as struggling actress Ann Marie in "That
Girl." It was a trend setter for a bunch of independent
woman"
series to come such as "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." "That
Girl" premiered on September 8th, 1966 and ran unitl September 10, 1971
on ABC. The show co-starred Ted Bessell (later TV director), Lew
Parker (radio's "The Bickersons"), Rosemary DeCamp (TV's "The Death
Valley Days") and Bernie Kopell (later "The Love Boat"). Other
regulars included Ronnie Schell, Ruth Buzzi, George Carlin, yes the
comedian. Danny Thoms made several cameo appearances, as did her
siblings, Tony and sister UNKNOWN. Marlo Thomas as the
distinction as being the first TV series actress to appear
bra-less....really. This series had a unique intro in which guest
stars would would talk about Ann and end their conversation with the
phrase "....that girl." The theme song, very New York-ish
and opening titles were very similar in concept to that taken by Mary
Tyler Moore.
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| "The
Ghost and Mrs. Muir" was based on the 1947 movie starring Gene
Tierney
and Rex Harrison. The TV series starred Hope Lange and Edward
Mulhare(later of "Knight Rider"), Reta Shaw, Kellie Flanagan, Harlen
Carraher and Charles Nelson Riley("The Match Game"). "The Ghost
and Mrs. Muir" premiered on ABC on September 21, 1968 where it
continued through September 18, 1970. |
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"The Joey Bishop
Show" was a late night talker
designed to compete with the King of Latenight, Johnny Carson.
Needless to say, it didn't compete very well. It began in April
17, 1967 and ran until December 26, 1969. Joey Bishop actually
acted as a substitute for Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show" when ABC
tagged him to host the late night show. It was produced
live....which ended up being a problem as guests often time turned up
late....or missing their cues. His side-kick was Regis
Philbin(pictured with Joey above). WAND ran Joey Bishop via tape
delay after the 10:30 Movie "Nightwatch" at least for while, although
it did air at it's network time for a time. It aired after
midnight
on most nights, certainly contributing to it's failure. There
were probably many ABC affiliates doing a similar tape delay, as they
would make more money selling as many commericals as they could cram
into a late night movie, while the local avails were limited in the
network fare.
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"Dark
Shadows" the
daytime drama continued and was by the late 1960's
produced in color. Here Barnabas Collins prepares to put the bite
on some unsuspecting daytime drama actress. Believe it or not,
NBC actually revived the daytime drama in 1991 as a prime time
series. It lasted 3 months.
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"The Monroes" premiered in
September of 1966 and ran for one season. The western starred
Michael Anderson, Jr., Barbara Hershey, Ben Johnson and Buck Taylor
among others.
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Take
a hit movie, "The Dirty Dozen" and create a TV series with a similar
set up. It was called "Garrison's
Gorillas" which ran during the 1967-68 season. The stars
included Ron Harper as Lt. Craig Garrison, along with Cesare Danova,
Rudy Solari, Christopher Cary and Brendon Boone.
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ABC was continuing a network theme in 1968 based on attractive
programming to the youth of the country. This crime drama starred
three young undercover cops played by Michael Cole, Clarance Williams
III and Peggy Lipton. The police Captain in charge of our young
heroes was played by Tige Andrews(formerlly known as Tiger Andrews).
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Clinton
Judd was played by former Donna Reed Show star Carl Betz and in an
effort to keep that youth theme going, Steven Young. "Judd for the Defense" was a part of
the Friday night schedule in 1967 to 1969. This was one of my
personal favorites.
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The
youth theme was part of "It Takes a
Thief" which ran from 1968 to 1970. Young Robert Wagner
starred as young Alexander Mundy, a theif recruited to work for the
government in the form of Noah Bain, played by Malachi Throne.
Fred Astaire joined the production as Alister Mundy, father of Wagner's
character.
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The
opening credits of this ABC series from the 1967 to 69 seasons, was
paradied on the "Police Squad" series of the 1980's. The original
"NYPD" starred Jack
Wardon, Frank
Converse and Robert Hooks. Probably the most interesting thing
about this crime drama, was it's length, only 30 minutes.
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In 1967, the WAND schedule was starting to see more contemporary off
network TV shows. From the older 1950's series listed as part of
the 1966 schedule, LIN Broadcasting seemed to take WAND into a new era
with some of the more recent network shows, like "McHale's Navy" and "Twilight Zone." The Bowery
Boys movie series ran as a filler during weekday mornings.
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"McHale's Navy" was in syndication
in by the fall of 1966, and it ended up on the weekday schedule at 4:30
PM on WAND and later part of the weekday morning schedule in 1969.
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The
off network syndication rights to "The
Twilight Zone" was on the WAND weekday schedule at 5 PM.
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"The Bowery Boys" ran on weekday
mornings at 7:30 AM as well as weekend afternoons on WAND.
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"Love American
Style" was a romantic comedy anthology which starred most active
actors
on TV at the time. The list of guests include: Ann Southern, Paul
Ford, George Gobel, Tony Randall, Burt Reynolds, Harry Morgan, Paul
Lynde, Rich Little, Sid Caesar, Imogine Coca, Bob Cummings, Michael
Callan, Flip Wilson, Jane Wyatt, Ronny Howard, Anson Willaims, Martha
Raye, Sonny and Cher, Phyllis Diller, Nanette Fabray, Milton Berle,
Harrison Ford and many more old timers, and up and coming actors.
The series also included a series of short skits with the centerpiece
prop being a brass bed. The repertory company included: Stuart
Margolin, Tracy Reed, Phyllis Davis, Jim Hampton, Clifton Davis and Jed
Allan. "Love American Style" also spawned the ABC hit show
of the 1970's, "Happy Days" with it's pilot show called "Love and Happy
Days."
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ABC News
experienced much turnover during the period. Ron Cochran was
anchor in 1963 for a short 15 minute network newscast. He was
replaced by a very young, 20 something Canadian, Peter
Jennings. Jennings was the anchor when during the Winter of 1967,
the 15-minute cast was expanded to 30 minutes as part of ABC's "Second
Season." A year later, Jennings went on the road as middle east
reporter and was replaced by Bob Young. By May of 1968, Young was
replaced by Frank Reynolds, then Reynolds was joined by Howard K.
Smith(pictured left). By 1970, the ABC network news became "The
ABC Evening News with Howard K. Smith and Harry Reasoner."
Reasoner was recruited by ABC from CBS and brought tons of credibility
to the ABC News Department. This team lasted five years when
Howard K. Smith left ABC.
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In
spite of the constant turnover of staff at most local TV stations
through the country, one thing remained constant at the central
Illinois TV stations WCIA and WTVP(WAND), and that was the role of the
nightly weathercaster. In the case of WAND it was long standing
meteorologist Loren Boatman. The veteran Decatur teacher and
weatherman was the first to occupy that position at WTVP in 1953 and he
continued through most of the 1980's. His relatively dry but
no-nonsense presentation was right on and just what the market needed
during the early years. His marking pen was his trademark as he
drew the position of frontal boundarys and wrote current temps of
cities across the country.
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ABC
Shows from 1970 to 1975 include: The Young Rebels, The F.B.I., ABC
Sunday Night Movie, Young Lawyers, Silent Force, ABC Monday Night
Football, The Mod Squad, ABC Movie of the Week, Marcus Welby M.D.,
Courtship of Eddie's Father, Make Room for Granddaddy, Room 222, Johnny
Cash Show, Dan August, Matt Lincoln, Bewitched, Barefoot in the Park,
The Odd Couple, The Immortal, The Brady Bunch, Nanny and the Professor,
Partridge Famly, That Girl, Love American Style, This is Tom Jones,
Let's Make a Deal, The Newlywed Game, The Lawrence Welk Show, Most
Deadly Game, The Smith Family, Shirley's World, Man and the City, Alias
Smith and Jones, Longstreet, Owen Marshall, Getting Together, ABC Movie
of the Weekend, The Persuaders, The Rookies, Temperatures Rising,
Tuesday Movie of the Week, Paul Lynde, Wednesday Movie of theWeek,
Julie Andrews Hour, The Men: Assignment Vienna-Delphi Bureau-Jigsaw,
Streets of San Francisco, The Sixth Sense, Bob and Carol and Ted and
Alice, Toma, Kung Fu, Adam's Rib, ABC Suspense Movie, Griff, Sonny
Comedy Revue, Happy Days, That's My Mama, Get Christie Love, Paper
Moon, Harry-O, Kodiak, Six Million Dollar Man, Texas Wheelers, Kolchak:
The Night Stalker, The New Land and Nakia |
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"The Flying Nun"
began the Thursday night lineup in
September of 1967. This was the most preposterous series
ever....even including "My Mother the Car." Sally Field as Sister
Bertrille a novice nun in Puerto Rico who flew whenever the winds were
active enough to lift the 90 pound Sally Field into the air. Her
cornette with the wings would allow her to fly. How disappointing
to have Sally Field, formerly of "Gidget" from bathing suit to a nun's
habit. This sit com also starred Marge Redmond, Madeleine
Sherwood, Shelly Morrison, Linda Dangcil as nuns, and the rich playboy
Carlos Ramirez played by Alejandro Rey. The Sister was always
using Carlos to fianance some project of hers to improve conditions on
the island for kids or to improve life in the convent. This
unique series lasted through 1970.
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ABC during the mid to
late 1960's did a revolutionary thing on the Friday
after Thanksgiving holiday. It was called
"Turkey Day on ABC" and the regular daytime schedule was replaced with
a lineup of the Saturday morning chidlren's TV fare. At the left
are three examples of ABC's Saturday morning linup: "The
Fantastic Four," "Lance-a-Lot Link" and "Motor Mouse." My
favorites included: "George of the
Jungle," "Hoppity Hooper" and the Bugs Bunny Warner
Brothers cartoons.
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Robert
Young, after being the father on "Father Knows Best" during the 1950's
on both radio and TV, now graduates from medical school and becomes
Marcus Welby, for ABC. This was one of the most successful series
in the ABC programming collection. Robert Young came out of
retirement at the age of 62 to play one of the rolls of his
lifetime. "Marcus Welby, M.D."
was a staple of Tuesday nights at 9pm CT from 1969 to 1976. Along
with Young, the series starred James Brolin as young relevant Dr.
Steven Kiley and Elena Verdugo as Nurse Lopez. Fans of other
Universal Studio series will recognize the home/office of Dr. Welby as
being the Cleaver's second home on "Leave it to Beaver" and one of the
homes of the housewives on "Desparate Housewives." Interestingly
enough, it was also used in another vehicle with the word "desparate"
in it. Movie fans of Humphrey Bogart will recognize the home as
being the one occupied by desparate criminal Bogart in the movie
"Desparate Hours" made back in the early 1950's. There were also
some cast swapping done with sister series "Owen Marshall Councelor at
Law" (see below).
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The
Lennon Sisters began a long association with Lawrence Welk as a
quartet of young ladies who remained with the mystro through the 50's
and 60's. By 1969, though, they were on their own and hosting
their own hour long musical variety show with many big name guests like
Jack Benny, Glen Campbell, Bob Hope and Phyllis Diller....and of course
Jimmy Durante. That's why this ABC variety show was called "Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon
Sisters." It ran on ABC from September 1969 to July of
1970.
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This
was another program with ABC youth appeal, and set for the high school
set. "Room 222" starred
Lloyd Haynes, Denise Nicholas, Michael Constatine and cute newcomer
Karen Valentine. This half our drama/comedy premiered in 1969 and
ran through 1974, mostly on Wednesday nights until it's last season
when it moved to Fridays.
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"The Music Scene"
was hosted by David Steinberg, for the most part, although the series
was to draw the hosting talents from 5 other part timers, whose names
have been lost to time. Among those appearing on this series
during it's short run were The Beatles, Three Dog Night, Oliver, James
Brown, Crosby Stills and Nash and Tom Jones among many more. Even
Groucho Marx appeared! A comedy group also were part of this
modern variety show. "The Music Scene" ran from September 1969 to
January of 1970, and yes, was only 45-minutes in length. It was
followed by "The New People" described to the right.
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If you're a fan of
the current ABC series "Lost" you would have
loved this one. "The New People" was a fantasy drama entered on a
group of 40 young Americans stranded on a South Pacific island
after a
plane crash. The island was an abandoned US atomic test site,
which
meant that there were buildings, supplies, and other "normal" items
which allowed the residence to live just like they were home, but alone
on an island. Stars included Tiffany Bolling, Zooey Hall, Jill
Jaress,
Dennis Olivieri, David Moses and Peter Ratray. One of the most
unique
things about this series, is that it was only 45-minutes long, running
as the second part of a block of programming 90 minutes long. The
first 45-minutes were taken up by the program described to the
left....."Music Scene."
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This
more traditional TV legal drama starred Arthur Hill as "Owen Marshall, Councelor at Law"
with young law partner Jess Brandon played by Lee Majors(of The Big
Valley). This was a very similar set up as "Marcus Welby M.D."
but
played thorugh the legal world, instead of the medical world.
This was
another vehicle from Universal Studios, which would sometimes combine
forces and Robert Young would play Marcus Welby within the confines of
this show. Sometimes Arthur Hill would return the favor and
appear on
"Marcus Welby." Obviously a great sweeps ploy for additional
viewers.
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Handicapped characters were poplular during the era. NBC had "Ironside"
in a wheelchair and ABC had "Longstreet"
which ran from 1971-72. This time James Franciscus played Mike
Longstreet, who was blinded by his wife's killer, who didn't want to be
identified. Longstreet was an insurance investigator in New
Orleans, who refused to quit after being blinded. Here's a
great bit of trivia for you....the name of his seeing eye dog:
"Pax." The series also starred Marlyn Mason, Peter Mark Richman
and Ann Doran. Another bit of trivia....who played his self
defense instructior? Bruce Lee.
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Juliet
Mills starred as Phoebe Figalilly, the nanny hired by one Professor
played by Richard Long(of The Big Valley). Phoebe was from
England and had special gifts.....like ESP, and was able to talk to
animals and the like. She was the 5th housekeeper and nanny in
the household in a year, because of some unruly kids played by David
Doremus, Trent Lehman and Kim Richards. "The Nanny and the Professor" ran on
ABC from 1970 to 1971, at at least three different days and time
periods.
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Another
relevant hour long drama, with a well known actor playing the old guy,
and a number of young actors to attract those important younger
demos. This time Lee J. Cobb played old Attorney David Barrett
and the young law students were played by Zalman King, Judy Pace and
later Philip Clark was added. "The Young Lawyers" ran on ABC from
1970 to 1971.
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"The Lawrence Welk
Show" was about to end it's network run by 1971. It had been a
Saturday night fixture on ABC since 1955. Here is a publicity
picture celebrating it's 16th, and final, season on ABC. It
wasn't all over yet, though. The show continued to be popular
with the "older set" and went into syndication, on many of the stations
which originally ran the show while it was on ABC. WAND continued
to air it earlier on Saturdays for several years through the 1970's.
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Based
on the 1963 Glen Ford and Ronny Howard movie, this very hip TV series
starred Bill Bixby(from "My Favorite Martian"), and Brandon Cruiz
in "The
Courtship of Eddie's Father."
This ultra hip, ultra
modern series featured music from one of my favorite
songwriter/performers, the late Harry Nilsson. The theme song was
"Let Me Tell You 'Bout My Best Friend." "The Courtship of Eddie's
Father" ran on ABC from 1969 to 1972. also featured James Komack, and
Miyoshi Umeki as Mrs. Livingston,
the housekeeper and nanny to Eddie. |
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"The Brady Bunch"
began as a family sit com, no
messages, just good old fashioned simple situations and everyday
problems of being a kid, and having kids. This one ended up being
a classic from the Sherwood Swartz production factory, who brought us
"Gilligan's Island." "The Brady Bunch" premiered on September 26,
1969 and ran on ABC until 1974. It could've run longer...and in
fact did in different forms....as a seriesof variety shows....and TV
movies. The cast included Robert Reed ("TheDefenders"), Forence
Henderson, Ann B. Davis ("Bob Cummings Show") and the kids: Maureen
McCormick, Eve Plumb, Susan Olson, Barry Williams, Christopher Knight
and Mike Lookinland. Reruns were aired on weekdays from 1973 to
1975 and also spawned an animatd series which ran on ABC Saturday
mornings from 1972-1974.
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The opening
titles to the ABC Movie of the Week.
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Another one of the
hip family sit-coms "The Partridge
Family" was based
on the "Cowsills" a family pop group of the late 1960's. This one
starred the "family" of Shirley Jones and her step son David
Cassidy. Also Susan Dey("L.A. Law"), Danny Bonaduce(of radio) and
Dave Madden(of "Camp Runamuck"). The other kids were played by
Jeremy Gelbwaks/Brian Foster, Suzanne Crough and later Ricky
Segall. This series aired on ABC from September 1970 to August
1974. David Cassidy became a teenage idol during the run of the
series and actually had several top 40 hits in the early 1970's.
Most weren't really that bad...in fact they were pretty good,
unfortunately, the teeny bopper label was one to escape for Cassidy and
helped to wreck any possibility of a legitiment music career.
"The Partridge Family" ended up in syndication and was a staple of late
afternoon TV stations during the 1970's and early 1980's. Just
like the "TheBrady Bunch" this one also spun off an animated version
for Saturday morning TV.
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