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This is the way the NBC color peacock appeared on WCHU,
channel 33 when it went on the air in September of 1959. The
station was not originally equipped to broadcast in
color. It wasn't until the Fall of 1960 that WCHU was able to
broadcast NBC shows in color, although
it would be years before it was able to broadcast anything of
local origination in color. It was still 7 years before WCHU and WICD
would be combined to a high power facility to broadcast on channel 15.
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"The Dinah Shore Chevy Show"
ran on NBC from 1956 through
1963 which made her one of very few women with success as a variety
series host on TV. It ran on WCHU on Sunday nights at 8PM CT
until the
1961 season, when it vacated the timeslot for Bonanza. Chevrolet
owned that hour, so the sponsorship of Chevrolet went to Bonanza
and the name of the Dinah Shore series changed to "The Dinah Shore
Show" when it aired on Friday nights at 8:30PM CT. It was not
seen on WICD until July of 1960 when the stations were
consolidated. It was one of the NBC shows which were the first to
be seen in color on WCHU.
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"The Loretta Young Show"
was already a staple on NBC since
1953, when it aired on the new WCHU beginning in September of
1960. It lasted
thorugh September of 1961. WICD aired the series from July of
1960 to September of 1961.
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"Alfred
Hitchcock Presents" bounced around
between CBS and NBC for most of it's series life. It was on NBC
in the 1960-62 season and again in the 1964-65 season. The
dramatic anthology ran on Tuesday nights at 7:30-8PM CT during the
60-62 run.
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"Wagon Train" ran on NBC
from 1957 to 1962, after which it ran on ABC from 1962-1965. Even
though the series had regulars, it was pretty much an anthology western
series which focused on guest stars and their stories along the way out
west. Regulars included movie veteran Ward Bond, along with
Robert
Horton, Frank McGrath and Terry Wilson.
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"The Price is Right"
was part of the daytime schedule on NBC
during the late 50's into the early 60's, but it also ran in prime time
during the entire run. WCHU and WICD featured the show in prime
during the 1961-1963 seasons. It was another of the Mark Goodson
and Bill Todman productions. It ran in prime time when WCHU first
went on the air on Wednesdays at 7:30pm.
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Sponsored by Kraft, it was called "Perry Como's
Kraft Music Hall" and ran on NBC from 1959 to 1963. It
aired on
WCHU from September of 1959 to July of 1960 when WCHU and WDAN-TV(WICD)
were consolidated.
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The lawman, Indiana fighter and professional gambler "Bat
Masterson" was played by Gene Barry(later "Burke's Law" and
"The Name
of the Game"). It aired on Thursday nights from 7:30 to 8PM CT on
NBC during the 1960-61 season. It was seen only on WCHU from
September of 1960 to July of 1961. After that it was seen on both
WCHU and WDAN-TV(WICD) after the stations were consolidated into one.
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"Bachelor Father"
bounced around between all three networks
during it's run. Premiering on CBS in 1957, it ran on NBC
from1959-61 before moving to ABC until late 1961. It was on NBC
Thursday nights from 8-8:30PM CT. John Forsythe was the uncle who
was forced in adopting his neice Kelly played by Noreen Corcoran.
His housekeeper was Peter played by Samee Tong.
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"You Bet Your Life" finished
it's run during the 1960-61
season. Starring Groucho Marx it was a quiz show, in which the
big prize wasn't the money, it was a chance to be interviewed by
Groucho. It also included a "secret word" which if it was said by
a contestant, they would win an extra $100. It ran on Thursday
evening from 9 to 9:30pm CT.
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The NBC peacock color logo ran for 10-seconds at the beginning of all
NBC color programs. It was updated in the mid 1960's, but
here is how it appeared up to that date. Not seen in color on
WCHU until September of 1961 and never on WICD, channel 24. It
wasn't until 1967 when both stations became channel 15, WICD, did the
entire east central Illinois area would see a real "color" peacock.
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Ralph Edwards who created "Truth
or Consequences" for NBC
also created this this long running show, "This is Your Life," which would
bring people of
the past into the studio to deliver a testimonial to some unknowing
celebrity guest, or just an ordinary individual. It also finished
up it's run during the 1960-61 season. It had run on NBC since
the 1952.
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This was the first western to be seen in color. "Bonanza" premiered on
Saturday nights in 1959, but moved to Sunday
night 8PM CT where it remained for a number of years. The story lines
of this series didn't lend itself to be described as an advernture or
action series, instead relying on the stories of various characters
which came and went through the Virginia City, Nevada area and that of
the spread called "The Pondorosa" owned by the all male family, the
Cartwrights. The cast included Lorne Green as the father, Ben,
sons Adam, played by Pernell Roberts, Eric "Hoss" played by Dan Blocker
and Michael Landon as "Little Joe." Not seen in color on WCHU
during the first year of operation, it finally was seen in color
in September of 1961. WICD-TV,
channel 24 never colorcast..
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Henry Fonda played Chief Marshall Simon Fry and Allen Case
played Clay McCord who was a storekeeper, but sometimes would become "The Deputy." The
Deputy was opposed to violence and the use of
weapons which would conflict with Marshall Fry. This one lasted a
couple of seasons from 1959 through 1961 and was one of many, many
westerns on network TV at the time. Henry Fonda narrated the
episodes, but only appeared in a few of the episodes.
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"Howdy Doody" originated
at WNBT in New York and
was passed along the network as a Saturday morning children's show as
early as December 1947. It aired at 5PM and was the first network
show of the day. Later it went to being on three times a week,
right after the NBC broadcast of a test pattern. It's first
title was "Puppet Playhouse" until 1949. The role of Clarabell
the Clown shown above was played by Bob Keeshan(later Captain Kangaroo)
although the actor above is actually Lew Anderson. It was
NBC's first regular color program beginning in 1955. After the
premiere of "The Mickey Mouse Club" the drop in popularity sent
"Howdy Doody" back to a Saturday morning time slot where it remained
until it's last network broadcast in the early 1960's. It's
unknown whether WCHU ever broadcast this TV classic, as it's normal
sign-on wasn't until later in the afternoon.
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Jay Ward was the creator and producer of the animated "Bullwinkle" Show which
ran in prime time during the 1961-62 season on
NBC. The show included satire whcih appealed to adults, as much
as the cartoon appealed to the kids. The voices were provided by
many of the voices from the Stan Freeburg network radio show: Bill
Scott, June Foray, Paul Frees, Hans Conried. Others included long
time movie actor Charlie Ruggles and long time radio actor Walter
Tetley. This was originally part of the Rocky and His Friends
series which ran on ABC during the 1959-60 season. It later ended
up on ABC where it ran until 1973, now in syndication.
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"The Shari Lewis Show"
was another of the Saturday monring
NBC shows for kids in 1960-63. Her puppets were Hush Puppy,
Charlie Horse and Lamb Chop(shown above). She was also an actress
having appeared on "The United States Steel Hour," "Car 54 Where Are
You,"(right) "Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater," and "The
Man from U.N.C.L.E." among others.
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"Car 54 Where Are You"
featured a "Mutt and Jeff" cast of
Joe E. Ross and Fred Gwynne(Officers Toody and Muldoon) as patrol car
officers in New York. The cast also included Bea Pons(Mrs.
Toody), Nipsey Russell(and you thought he only did game shows!), Al
Lewis(later of "The Munsters" with castmate Fred Gwynne) and many
others. The creator was Nat Hiken of "The Phil Silvers Show" who also
produced and wrote the series.
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"The Tonight Show"
starring Jack Paar ran on NBC from 1957
to 1962 when he left the series. His second in command was Hugh
Downs. Paar's terrific interview skills made him rather
highbrow as opposed to Steve Allen who hosted before 1957, or Johnny
Carson who followed in 1962. He had famous authors and
politicians along with the usual list of celebrities. He was
highly emotional and even stormed off the show not to return for an
entire month, when NBC censors ordered the removal of the famous "water
closet" joke. The show was originally produced live, then later
live on tape which allowed NBC censors ultimate control.
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One of several TV variety specials hosted by long time movie
dancer Fred Astaire. This one sponsored by "The Forward Look of
the Chysler Corporation" was videotaped in color. It aired
in 1959 as a followup to his original NBC color special "An Evening
with Fred Astaire" which aired across NBC on October 17,
1958.
The first Fred Astaire special was called "The Edsel Show" and aired on
CBS on October 13, 1957 in black and white. It's assumed that it
aired on WCHU during the first month of operation, and not in color as
the station wasn't able to broadcast in color until September of 1960. |
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The WCHU logo from the mid 1960's.
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From October 1956 to 1970, the Huntley-Brinkley Report,
initially 15-minutes, then taken to 30-minutes in 1963 were the primary
newscasters for NBC. Chet Huntley from New York, and David
Brinkley from Washinton.
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Here is David Brinkley taken from the 1960's with news of
the Viet Nam War. The Huntley Brinkley Report ran on NBC for 14
years and became an institution.
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Chet Huntley from New York with a story of the Middle East
during the 1960's. Somethings never change! Chet Huntley
retired in July of 1970.(right) is Hugh Downs and Barbara Walters who
fronted "The Today Show" for NBC during most of the 1960's.
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It all began with a series of low budget movies in the
1940's. By 1961, "Dr. Kildare"
became a heartthrob in the person
of Richard Chamberlain. Kildare was the intern while Dr.
Gillespie played by Raymond Massey was the father figure at Blair
General Hospital. It began as an hour long series, but
interesting enough, by the 1965 season it was airring twice weekly in
30 minutes installments, and took on a serial quality. The good
doctor ran on NBC from 1961 to 1966.
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"Hazel" was one of
those seemingly transient series which
made the journey from one network to another. It originally began
on NBC in September of 1961 and ran on NBC until September of 1965 when
it jumped to CBS. "Hazel" was sponsored by the Ford Motor Company
and featured Ford vehicles in many product placement situations.
Hazel drove the Falcon, Mr. Baxter drove the LTD and Mrs. Baxter drove
the Mustang(at least after 1964, before it was a Fairlane). Cast
members included Don DeFore(from "Ozzzie and Harriet"), Whitney
Blake(director/producer) and son Bobby Buntrock as Harold while Shirley
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Bob Hope was Mr.
NBC during the 1960's and 70's. His
many TV specials were indeed special. Even though the format of
the shows were nothing short of routine, having been formulated during
his NBC radio network run during the 1940's. His monologue, his
short conversation with each of his guests, a comedy skit or two
involving his guests and a musical number or two with at least one
being a duet with Hope.
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His guests were the "who's who" of show business, but
occasional there would be a star or two who made frequent guest
appearances on his speicals. Above left is Frank Sinatra, above
is Jack Benny and above right is Lucille Ball in w he made at least a
couple of movies with.
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Bob Hope's sponsors
included Texico, Chrysler and Kraft.
over the years. Every one of his speicals, its a safe bet, was
seen on WICS/WCHU/WICD.
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"The
Virginian" was an epic big
budget TV western series(1962-1971), in that it was a 90-minute weekly
series, produced in color on the backlot at Universal Studios. It
also had a cast of regulars, but each episode concentrated on one of
the regulars each week. I assume the show was produced by a
rotating production team. The stars included: Lee J. Cobb, James
Drury, Doug McClure, Clu Gulager, David Hartman, Tim Mathison, Stewart
Granger and Lee Majors.
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This
comedy featured two college students played by Glen Corbett and Ted
Bessell along with Mike Burns and Randy Boone. "It's a Man's World" took place at a
small midwestern college and ran on NBC from 1962 to 1963.
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This
was another series with an educational setting. "Mr Novak" took place at a high
school and starred James Franciscus, Dean Jagger, Jeanne Bal, Burgess
Meredith and (before "Happy Days") Marion Ross. This one
ran on NBC from 1963-1965.
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"Richard
Boone Show" was his followup series from "Have Gun Will
Travel." It was unusual, as the stars in this anthology
series played different characters in different plays. Richard
Boone starred in about half of them and narrated most. It ran on
NBC one year from 1963 to 1964.
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Like many TV stations in
which ownership has changed many times since it's initial broadcasts,
WCHU and WICD has virtually no video record of any local newscasts,
other than news file footage. Much of the news file footage is on
film and very few TV stations even have the ability to view or televise
16mm
film. No recordings exist of actual newscasts, records of news
anchors(other than what was in the form of a press release to the local
newspapers), no pictures from the 1950's-60's exist, and only a couple
from the 1970's. The only images which exist are in the memories
of those who either participated or watched. If you have any
photos, film, video tape or any other items which would be associated
with WDAN-TV, WCHU or WICD please contact me. I will photograph,
scan or dub any material to be returned to you. You will be given
credit.
E-mail me at:
dougquick @ dougquick.com
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Andy Williams after
having shows on ABC and CBS in the late
1950's, he returned to TV in 1962 on NBC, Thursday nights at 9PM
CT. It was his first big budget variety show which eventually
included a young barbershop harmony group from Utah. They were
the Osmonds who became a staple of "The Andy Williams Show." The
variety show ran on NBC from 1962 through 1971.
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"G.E. College Bowl"
quiz show featured teams from the
nation's colleges against each other in a quiz show like no
other. Subjects included mathematics, literature, science,
engineering and philosophy. The show originally ran on CBS in
1959, but the show made the move to NBC in 1963 when it was broadcast
in color. This particular graphic above was probably seen by many
in central Illinois as it included a team from Millikin University in
Decatur. It's not known which team won. The show was hosted
on NBC by Robert Earle. It became a regular Sunday late afternoon
series.
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Above are two scenes from "Uncle
Otto's Talking Pictures." I'm
not sure of the subject matter since it's reported to have been
broadcast on Sunday night at 10:30pm. Since Uncle Otto was the
host of "Uncle Otto's General Store" which was for the kids, research
will continue what "Talking Pictures" was all about. Stay tuned.
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Here's Keith Page from the early 1960's with what was probably a posed
picture for a live TV commerical for TEEM soda. TEEM was a 7-UP
knock-off from Pepsi-Cola. It was introduced in 1962.
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The WCHU VW
Microbus which was used to tow "Uncle Otto's General Store" Float
during a parade in Champaign, sometime during the 1960's.
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Three poses with Uncle Otto, Hook and Toot with an unidentified
participant.
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"Uncle Otto's General Store"
was the WCHU/WICD local
children's show which ran on weekday afternoons on Channels 33 and
24. Dave Otto was the star with the puppets of "Honk" and
"Toot." The puppeteer was none other than WICD's Keith Page in
his early days of broadcasting. Keith also supplied the voices of
the puppets. The show also included a studio audience of local
kids and a mixing of Warner Brothers cartoons. Shows like this
one, helped establish the habits of the younger audience to watch local
television stations.
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The animated NBC "snake" and chimes were used to finish
out the network program and to cue local stations to run
commericals.
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Here's how the newer style peacock appeared at the beginning
of all NBC color programming. The 10-second animated logo was
used until the early 1970's after virtually all network programming was
produced and aired in color. The end of the graphic looked
like the graphic to the upper right. The tips appeared more like
paint brushes as opposed to diamonds.
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Johnny Carson took
over the hosting duties of "The Tonight
Show" on October 2nd, 1962 from Jack Paar. With his taking the
lead, the mood of the show changed considerably. His use of
comedy, and not taking on serious subjects made his show an NBC staple
for 30 years. Other cast members included Ed McMahon, along with
band leaders Skitch Henderson, Milton Delugg, Doc Severinson and Tommy
Newsom.
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Here is Johnny chatting with comedian Richard Pryer in the
1960's. Many of the recordings of the earliest shows were
destroyed to make way room for the storage of other TV shows.
This is a black and white clip of an early Tonight Show with Richard
Pryor.
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Jack Benny was
original an NBC network radio star until the
late 1940's when he moved to CBS during William Paley's talent raid
which brought many of the NBC talent pool to CBS to take advantage of a
tax loophole which saved them millions in taxes. By 1964, CBS had
cancelled Jack, and the move was on back to NBC. Jack continued
with his sit com/variety show format for one more year from September
1964 to September of 1965. It was TV's original "show about
nothing." It aired on NBC and WCHU/WICD on Friday nights at
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"I Dream of Jeannie"
premiered in September of 1965 on NBC
and WCHU/WICD. The story revolved around an astronaut finding a
bottle with a genie. The stars included Larry Hagman(pre
"Dallas"), Barbara Eden, Bill Daily and Hayden Rorke. The
first season was in black and white with the second season on being
produced and aired in color, at least on WCHU. WICD didn't
colorcast.
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"The Three Stooges" ran
on WCHU and WICD as a weekday and
weekend children's TV regular. It's hard to believe that the
stooges, couldn't even come close to being considered children's
programming today. It was one
my favorites!
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WICS preempted NBC programming on Friday nights for several
years in the 1960's to air "The Cisco
Kid." Pre-empted shows
included "Camp Runamuck." "The Cisco Kid" was produced from 1950
to 1956 in color and starred Duncan Renaldo and Leo Carrillo. By
preempting network programming, the stations could run more local
commercials and get a prime time ad rate for the spots.
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Another off network series which was syndicated and run on
WICS/WCHU/WICD included "Bilko"
as it was called in syndication.
"The Phil Silvers Show" ran on CBS during the 1950's. It ran
several years from 5 to 5:30pm on the stations. This graphic
includes Danville's own Dick Van Dyke in an episode.
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The Mike Douglas Show
aired
on WCHU and WICD on weekday afternoons from the late 60's through the
70's |
Game shows were a huge part of daytime television on all three
networks. From those simple Goodson-Todman shows which showed up
on CBS to the flashy Vegas style studio games of the 70's and 80's
which aired on NBC during the period, game shows brought riches(or
seemingly riches) to contestants-people just like all of us. It
was also a chance to see your favorite celebrities just being
themselves.
(above) Art Fleming hosted "Jeopardy"
in the early years.
"Jeopardy" ran on NBC from 1964 to 1975 and again from 1978 to 1979.
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Comedy was a major part of most of the shows, although many were quite
serious in testing the knowledge of contestants and celebrities
alike. Unfortunately, many of those shows have been lost to the
ages, as the networks erased video tapes of these shows or threw them
away to make room for other shows on valuable storage shelves.
Here are a few from the era which aired on NBC and WCHU and WICD.
"The Match Game" aired on NBC daytime from Deceber 31, 1962 through
September 26, 1969. "Let's Make a Deal" ran on NBC from December
30, 1963 to December 28, 1968 when it went to ABC.
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For 20 years beginning in Cleveland in 1961 "The Mike
Douglas Show" aired in syndication
and became the model for all future entertainment talk shows of the
type. By 1967 it was syndicated across the country and aired on
WICS/WICD. The show featured all kinds of entertainers,
politicians,
sports figures, even rock stars like Stevie Wonder above. The
show was broadcast live until 1965 when an off color remark made by Zsa
Zsa Gabor to Morey Amsterdam(she called him an SOB) forced the show to
go pre-recorded. Probably, one of the most notable weeks occured
in February of 1972
when an entire weeks of shows were co-hosted by John Lennon and Yoko
Ono. Imagine that, a former big band singer teamed with an
ex-Beatle! The show originated in Philadelphia from 1965 to 1978,
then moved to L.A..
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"The Merv Griffin Show"
aired on WCHU/WICD via NBC from 1962 to 1963. Then from 1965-1969
in syndication on WCHU/WICD. It was a weekend, nightly
entertainment talk
show much like the "The Tonight Show."
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For at least one season the only Saturday night series in
color on NBC was "Flipper."
Based on the movie of the same name
which starred Chuck Connors, this one had Brian Kelly as Porter Ricks
and his sons played by Luke Halpin and Tommy Norden. It ran on
NBC from 1964 to 1968. By the way, the role of Flipper was played
by a dolphin named Suzy.
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"The Man from UNCLE" ran
on NBC from 1964 to 1968 and
capitolized on the secret agent craze after the success of the James
Bond movie series. Robert Vaughn played Napolean Solo and David
McCallum was Illya Kuryakin. The show also included a
merchandising campaign selling secret agent guns and other "secret
agent" tools to kids. At least the first season was produced in black
and white. It also spun off a compainion series "The Girl from
Uncle" which ran from 1966-67 which starred Stefanie Powers and Noel
Harrison along with Leo G. Carroll who was on both.
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From November 8, 1965 to today, "Days of Our Lives" is a
major part of NBC's daytime programming. It involved the family
members of Tom and Alice Horton pictured above with son Mickey.
Mickey and his brother Bill fought for the love of Laura Spencer.
Meanwhile Bill's daughter Julie had an affair with her mother's suiter,
conman Doug Williams. Gee....it's been quite a ride for this long
time NBC daytime serial.
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From 1966 to 1974, NBC aired a daytime version of "Truth or
Consequences" with host Bob Barker. The show was also in
syndication during that network run and WICD aired the show at least
from the late 1960's through the early 1970's.
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"My Mother the Car" starred
Danville's own Jerry Van Dyke in
a sit com in which he was the owner of a 1928 Porter which was the host
of the spirit of his dead mother. The car talked to him and only
him(see Mr. Ed). The villian of the series was a car collector
who was always trying to get the car for his collection. He was
played by Avery Schreiber. The show, was blasted by the critics,
but frankly wasn't as bad as others on the networks at the time lasting
from 1965-66.
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"Hullabaloo" was
NBC's attempt to do a rock and roll show to appeal
to the youth of the US. It was also designed to go up against
ABC's "Shindig." This show missed the mark miserably. It
was as if your grandmother designed the concept and picked most of the
talent. Most shows featured a guest host, many times NBC stars,
who would try to act hip and come off looking very silly. Even
the dancers go-go dresses were too long! It was produced in
color, except when the "Hullabaloo-London" segment was
featured. Some of the worst guest hosts were Michael
Landon(dressed as Little Joe) and Jerry and Gary Lewis. |
Bill Cosby was the first black performer to have a starring
role in a regular dramatic series on American TV. His character,
Alexander Scott was a secret agent along with Kelly Robinson, played by
Robert Culp. It was a modern style show about espionage with two
unlikely secret agents as they didn't seem to take their jobs very
seriously. "I Spy" ran
on NBC from 1965 to 1968 and was produced
by Sheldon Leonard.
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After the success of the Beatles movies "Hard Days Night"
and "Help" it was only a matter of time before the free form style
would be duplicated on TV. In 1966 "The Monkees" premiered on NBC
Monday nights at 6:30PM CT. The series starred former "Circus
Boy" star Mickey Dolenz, along with Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Mike
Nesmith. The show also supported the musical careers of the stars
who had several Top 40 hits. The series lasted on NBC until 1968,
but not without controversy, when it was reported that the group didn't
play their own instruments. The show would later show up on CBS
Saturday mornings in the 70's.
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As it says in the title graphic from "Please Don't Eat the Daises", it
was based on the book by Jean Kerr, and later a movie which starred
Doris Day. This NBC series ran from 1965 to 1967. Just like
"Run for Your Life", this was one of the nightly color series of the
1965-66 season. This TV adaption starred Patricia
Crowley(who became a successful TV Director), Mark Miller(a former
radio actor and announcer), along with some cute kids: Kim Tyler, Joe
and Jeff Fithian and Brian Nash. Others with regular roles
included King Donovan, Dub Taylor, Ellen Corby and Bill Quinn.
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"The Rogues" was another of the
rotating cast series which fell under the same title. This one
starred Gig Young, DAvid Niven and Charles Boyer. It was produced
by 4 Star Productions for NBC which ran from 1964-65.
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What
if you found out you only had a few months to live, and money was no
object? That's what happened with Paul Bryan, played by Ben
Gazzara in "Run for Your Life"
which ran on NBC from 1965-1968. This was one of the
early NBC modern day color series, back when NBC only featured one
color show an evening.
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"The Dean Martin Show"
was a long running NBC variety show
running from 1965 to 1974. The show featured guest stars such
as Frank Sinatra shown above in skits, musical segments and
conversation. The show also starred pianist Ken Lane and a group
of young female dancers called "The Golddiggers." In 1973 the
name of the show was changed to "The Dean Martin Comedy Hour."
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"The Dean Martin Show"
included many comedians and up and
coming stars such as Kay Medford("The Mothers in Law"), Lou Jacobi,
Marian Mercer, Tom Bosley("Happy Days"), Dom DeLuise, Nipsy Russell,
Rodney Dangerfield. His band director was one of the best, "Les
Brown and His Band."
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Dean Martin had a contract which would allow him to walk
onto the show the same day as taping and not force him to
rehearse. He wanted to keep the show fresh and informal.
There was also a segment in which there would be knock at the door, he
would answer to be surprised by some celebrity guest. Above he is
seen being met by one of the many characters of Red Skelton. The
show ran on Thursday nights for most of it's run, at 9PM CT.
During the 1973-74 season it ran on Friday nights at 9PM CT.
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"The Saint" was
based on a series of books and network radio
shows(staring Vincent Price). This TV version was drawn from
a syndicated version which began in the early 1960's. By
1967 it was added to the NBC programing schedule through
1969. Roger Moore played Simon Templar, "The Saint."
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Diahann Carroll played "Julia."
Carroll was the first
black female to star in her own comedy series in what was called a
"prestige role" in that of a nurse. She was a Viet Nam war widow
who moved to L.A. to work in a medical office with Dr. Chegley, played
by Lloyd Nolan. Her son, Corey, was played by Marc Copage.
It aired on Tuesday nights from 1968 to 1971.
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"The Huntley-Brinkley
Report" continued through 1970 with
the final years being broadcast in color. Here Chet Huntley
reports on the killing of Martin Luther King, Jr..
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Monty Hall hosted one of the most popular daytime and prime
time game shows ever, "Let's Make a
Deal." It showed up on both
NBC and ABC during it's run from the early 1960's through the
1970's. Here is a graphic from a typical show in which
contestants would dress up to catch the attention of Hall as he would
try to trade items they brought to the show for what was behind curtain
#1, #2 or what was in the box.
I had relatives in L.A. who waited for months to get tickets and
participate in the show.
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"Dragnet" returned to
network television 8 years after it's initial run
ended in 1959. By 1967 we were ready again to hear the catch
phrases and style which made it such a hit the decade before.
Jack Webb, created, starred and directed many episisodes of the series
which ran again on NBC from 1967 to 1970 on Thursday night from 8:30 to
9PM CT, right before "The Dean Martin Show." The show also
starred Harry Morgan(later in "MASH" as Officer Bill Gannon.
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"Bob Hope Presents the
Chrysler Theater" was a dramatic
anthology show, but also included his own variety show and his "Bob
Hope Christmas Shows" filmed before a military audience in Viet
Nam. These specials became January specials from the 60's into
the 70's.
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"The Tonight Show starring
Johnny Carson" became a national institution
throughout the 1960s', so strong that no other nighttime talk show was
ever able to compete against him. In 1962, when Carson took over,
the show ran from 10:15pm to Midnight CT. In 1967, the first 15
minutes were dropped as many stations(including WICS/WCHU/WICD) were
airing 30-minute newscasts at 10pm. The monologue began at
10:30pm. Here Carson is pictured with Tiny Tim on one of many
visits to Burbank("Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In") and "The Tonight Show."
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"Rowan and Martin's
Laugh-In" was a one time special in 1967
and proved to be such an enormous hit,that a series followed by
1968. It was a show of edited short segments, short skits and
sometimes just someone saying "Sock it to Me." Try to explain it
to someone who has never seen it and they just won't understand.
You had to be there!
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Goldie Hawn, one of the many regular cast members of "Laugh-In." Others
included Gary Owens, Ruth Buzzi, Judy Carne,
Eileen Brennan, Arte Johnson, Henry Gibson, Jo Anne Worley, Larry
Hovis("Hogan's Heroes"), Alan Sues, Dave Madden("The Partridge
Family"), Lily Tomlin and many more.
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One of the most popular skits on "Laugh-In" was the one with
the old bag lady played by Ruth Buzzi and the old man played by Arte
Johnson in which we would try to proposition the old lady. He
would then be met with her swinging her bag to injure the old man
Again, you had to be there. It was funny! "Laugh-In" began
it's regular run in 1968 after WCHU was history and WICD became channel
15.
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"Sock it to me?" President Nixon trying to come across
to the US as having a sense of humor. He didn't, but it was
rather funny.
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With the building and re-building of the 1388 foot tower
near Fithian, Illinois, WICD moved from channel 24 to 15 to broadcast
with 1-million watts of power and in full NBC color!
This was the second tower which was constructed after an ice storm
during the Winter of 1966 toppled the first tower as it was under
construction. The new tower wasn't completed until July of
1967. WCHU, channel 33 and W75AD were no more.
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Seemingly an example of
bad
programming judgement, or "it seemed like a good idea at the
time!" The managment of WICS/WCHU and WICD in an effort to sell
more prime time commercial time, preempted the new science fiction show
"Star Trek" to show the off network syndicated show "Laramie."
Well, at least "Laramie" was in color!
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Milton Friedland, Vice
President and
General Manager of the Plains Television Stations announcing in a TV
Guide ad, that construction was once again underway on the new Channel
15 broadcast tower after an ice storm took the first one down early in
1967. More about that in the next chapter of this site, Part 3.
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