WICS-TV/DT
Channel 20/42 Springfield, Illinois History
Page
2: WICS/Cook Street and
becoming Full Color(1967-1978 )
WICS
like other stations in the market made the complete change to color
during the late 1960's. Plains Television Partners made major
investments in the physical plants at WICS as well as at WCHU/WICD in
Champaign-Danville.
The Champaign-Danville signals which served as a satellite repeater for
NBC programming would be combined with a new frequency at Channel 15,
with the call letters of WICD. After a rough start, when the
broadcast tower at Fithian fell during an ice storm, it was going to be
several more months before the new station would be broadcasting NBC in
full color. The WICS translater at Mattoon, on Channel 75 was
shut down with the completing of the WICD facilities.
When WICS moved from the former Leland Hotel studios, the station moved
into a large facility which would house the station for many years to
come. It was spacious and allowed for cars to be driven into the
studio, as well as for the many children's shows to include a studio
audience as well as a panel of local kids. Unfortunately, those
local childrens shows would end with the abundance of local sitcoms
which filled the bill for younger viewers....as well as the syndication
of more adult fare in the form of "The Mike Douglas Show" and "The John
Gary Show" and "The Merv Griffin Show."
During
the time period from 1968 through the 1970's, WICS was often
pre-empting NBC programs for the showing of off network reruns, in
order to air a number of higher costing commercials during prime
time. The first season of "Star Trek" fell off the schedule when
WICS aired reruns of "Laramie." Later in 1969 "The
Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show" would be covered with the weekly
talk/variety show "The John Gary Show."
News anchors like Douglas Kimball would be replaced by Wayne Cox who
would anchor throughout much of the
1970's. Other weathercasters, sportscasters included Dale
Coleman, Nick
Alexander, Kyle Hill, Dave Lange, Tony Trent and others.
Most of the syndicated shows were of the video taped syndicatd talk
shows like "The Mike Douglas Show," "The John Gary Show," "The Merv
Griffin Show." One of the more interesting syndicated shows would
fall into the sports category, with the broadcast of "Roller Derby" on
Saturday afternoons outside of baseball season, then at 5pm during
baseball season. "Superman" would also show up to fill 30-minute
holes in the schedule. After WICS would not show "Star Trek"
during the first season, it apologized to central Illinois viewers by
bringing it back in syndication by 1971. The NBC off network
adventure show "Daniel Boone" would also end up in late afternoon
syndication for a time in the 1970's.
Movies were abundant during the
weekly schedule. Movies were regularly seen on Saturday and
Sunday nights at 10:30pm, Sunday morning at 9:30am and during some
weekend afternoons outside of baseball season. WICS also aired
the St. Louis Cardinals weekend daytime games.
There is more which will be
added to this segment in the History of WICS.....stay tuned....
Below, a TV Guide Close-Up with
details on a Motown Music NBC Special starring Diana Ross and the
Supremes and the Temptations. These "Specials" were frequently
seen during ratings periods, pre-empting many regular series.
Since many TV series each year would produce up to 30+ episodes, by
scheduling specials occasionally in various time slots, this would
reduce the number of reruns each year.
"The following program was brought to you
in living color on NBC."
"Rowan
and Martin's Laugh-In" changed TV in a very big way. All
of a sudden, TV was grown up and worked at a lot of different levels depending on who
was watching. The humor was innovative, creative, slapstick,
sophisticated, fast paced, contemporary and completely unstructured. It was topical
much like NBC's former series "That Was the Week That Was" but was
similar to the old Olson and Johnson movie "Helzapoppin.'" The cast was huge
and launched the careers of many stars of the future, although many
reached their professional peaks with this series. Some of the most
successful cast members who came from R&MLI include: Goldie
Hawn(movies), Judy Carne(TV "Love on a Rooftop", Eileen
Brennan(movies-including"Private Benjamin"with Goldie Hawn), Henry
Gibson(movie "Blues Brothers" TV "Boston Legal), Larry Hovis(Hogan's
Heroes), Dave Madden(TV-"Partridge Family"), Teresa Graves(TV-"Get
Christie Love"), Lily Tomlin(movies, TV), Richard Dawson(TV-"Hogan's
Heroes", "Family Feud"), . Others included:
Arte Johnson, Jo Anne Worley, Charlie Brill, Mitzi McCall, Alan Sues,
Jeremy Lloyd, Pamela Rodgers, Johnny Brown and many more. It ran on NBC
Monday's from 1968 to 1973, when it simply ran out of steam. The
comedy variety show brought about many catch phrases of the day
including, "Sock it me, sock it to me..." "Look that up in your Funk
and Wagnalls," "Welcome to beautiful Downtown Burbank," and "Here come
da judge" among others.
Pictured above include a network promo slide for "Rowan and Martin's
Laugh-In", (upper center:a shot from the opening monolog with
Dick Martin and Dan Rowan, (upper right): Arte Johnson as the
dirty old man and Ruth Buzzi in an on-going, long running short skit
(center lower): Goldie Hawn with one of many on-going routines (lower
right): The show included many, many guest appearances, this time with
former Vice-President, former California Governor Richard Nixon, whose
one line consisted of "Sock it to Me?" His cameo probably did
more to boost his image more than any campaign appearance.
The Anchor lineup for WICS/WICD from December of
1968 included
Dale Coleman, Nick Alexander(weather) and Kyle Hill.
"The Mother's In Law"
was produced by Desi Arnez and starred Eve Arden, Kaye Ballard, Roger
Carmel and Richard Deacon(Carmel and Deacon played the same character
in different seasons). They were the in-laws, the married
children were played by Jerry Fogel and Deborah Walley.
"The High Chaparral"
was another of the high budget long form westerns which were on their
way out by the time this one premiered in 1967, although it ran through
1971. The western starred Leif Erickson, Cameron Mitchell and
Mark Slade.
From 1961 to 1981, Walt Disney
Studios had a spot on the prime time schedule on NBC.
In 1968 it was called "Walt Disney's
Wonderful World of Color" and featured many theatrical films,
documentaries, cartoons as well as made for TV features from the Disney
Studios. For most of it's NBC run , it was a Sunday night staple
sponsored by Kodak, among other major sponsors.
"Bonanza"
continued it's run on NBC through 1973. The cast included Lorne
Green, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker and David Canary(as
"Candy"). The sponsor of the series was "Chevrolet" for
most of it's run during the late 1960's and into the early 1970's.
By
halfway into the 67-68 TV season, "The
Man From U.N.C.L.E." had reached the end of it's run. A
last season attempt to bring some realism to the spy series, didn't
work. It was replaced on the schedule by Rowan and Martin's
Laugh-In in January of 1968.
"I Spy" was another NBC spy series
which was nearing it's end. The Robert Culp and Bill Cosby spy
adventure series would end it's run with the beginning of the 69-70
season.
A
full 90-minutes of NBC primetime was occupied by this long running
western series. "The Virginian"
ran for 9 years, ending it's run in 1971.
1968
was the last year for this long running NBC series. "Run for Your Life" starred Ben
Gazzara as a successful lawyer who found he had an incurable
disease. He was told he had two years to live....the series
lasted three years. He didn't die during the series run.
"Daniel Boone" was a legendary folk
hero of the early United States. Here he was played by Fess
Parker. The show also starred Ed Ames as Mingo(his native
American friend), Patricia Blair(as his wife-Rebecca) and Darby Hinton
as his son(Israel). The show ran on NBC's primetime schedule at
the same time for it's entire run from 1964 to 1970, Thursdays at
6:30pm on WICS. "Daniel Boone" was also syndicated later, where
it would be shown weekday afternoons for a time on WICS. (video is from an outside
source and could be deleated without
notice)
Raymond
Burr didn't sit idle for very long after the cancellation of "Perry Mason" in 1966.
The next year he would return to network television as "Ironside." Robert Ironside
was a chief of detectives who was paralyzed by a bullet from an unknown
assassin. He would continue to solve crimes with the help of his
assistants, played by Don Galloway, Barbara Anderson and Don
Mitchell. The roles of his female assistant would change over the
run of the series to include Elizabeth Baur in 1971. "Ironside" was from University
Studios and would air from 1967 to 1975.
"Dragnet"
returned to NBC, having run from 1952 to 1959.
When it premiered again in 1967 it was called "Dragnet 1968" and starred Jack Webb
in his original role as Sgt. Joe Friday. His partner was played
in this revival series by Harry Morgan. Once again, as it was on
radio in the late 1940's, and again on TV in the early 1950's, it was a
hit. Sometimes very "un hip" it was still great entertainment
starring many of the original cast members featured in the original
series from the 1950's. It ran on NBC updating it's title each
year through 1970.
By
1967-70 NBC's prime time lineup consisting of the following shows: Walt
Disney's Wonderful World of Color, Mothers-in-Law, Bonanza, High
Chaparral, The Monkees, Man from U.N.C.L.E., Danny Thomas Hour, I Spy,
I Dream of Jeannie, The Jerrry Lewis Show, The Virginian, Kraft Music
Hall, Run for your Life,
Daniel Boone, Ironside, Dragnet, The Dean
Martin Show, Tarzan, Accidental Family, Bell Telephone Hour,
Maya, Get Smart, The New Adventures of Huck Finn, The Beautiful Phyllis
Diller Show, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, Julia, The Outsider,
The Name
of the Game, Star Trek(2nd
season aired), Adam-12, The Ghost and Mrs.
Muir, Bill Cosby Show, The Bold One's(The New Doctors, The Lawyers, The
Protectors, The Lawyers), My World and Welcome To It, The Debbie
Reynolds Show, Then Came Bronson, Bracken's World, The Andy Williams
Show, Wild Kingdom, The Red Skelton Show, The Don Knotts Show, Men from
Shiloh, McCloud, San Francisco International Airport, Night Gallery,
The Psychiatrist, The Flip Wilson Show, Nancy.
WICS
would often pre-empt network
programming with locally originating programming in order to air more
local commericals during prime time. Those series listed above in
red may not have appeared as they were often pre-empted.
The "Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show" was pre-empted by WICS
running the
syndicated "John Gary Show." The first season of "Star Trek" was
pre-empted by syndicated off network reruns of "Laramie."
"I Dream of
Jeannie" was evolving with several changes during it's run.
Having premieried in 1965, it was needing an update. Some of the
changes included promotions for Tony(Larry Hagman) and Roger(Bill
Daily). Even a new "antoganist" was added in the form of Barbara
Eden(Jeannie) playing her own evil twin sister. "Jeannie" would
end it's run in September of 1970....to live in syndication forever.
"The
Dean Martin Show" was a Thursday night tradition on NBC having
aired at 9pm CT on WICS. The show's run would include the 1965
through 1974 seasons. It's final year, NBC broke from tradition
and moved it to Friday nights, having decided that it's audience was
getting too old for the valuable Thursday night schedule. The
show featured it's star with a cast of supporting comedians including
Kay Medford, Jou Jacobi, Tom Bosley, Dom DeLuise, Mipsey Russell and
even Rodney Dangerfield. His frequest musical guests included the
"Ding-a Ling Sisters" and "The Golddiggers." In fact "The Golddiggers" would host their
own summer variety show during his time slot. This was a
terrificly entertaining show as Dean Martin really connected with the
audience. It was fun, surprisingly hip and one of the classic NBC
variety shows.
Universal Studios was producing
many NBC programs during the late 1960's and early 1970's
including "Dragnet," "Adam-12," "Ironside," as well as the selection
from the blanket series "The Name of the Game." The series
included three different series, each 90-minutes with three different
stars in self contained episodes. They included Robert Stack,
Tony Franciosa and Gene Barry. They were connnected by being a
part of Howard Publications, a publishing empire in Los Angeles.
In fact the office building shown as Howard Publications was actually
the office building at Universal Studios! This aired on Friday
nights from 1968 to 1971. Above are the opening titles to "The
Name of the Game."
(The video is from an outside
source and could be deleted without notice.)
"McCloud" ran
on NBC from 1970 through 1977. Dennis Weaver starred
as McCloud, a deputy marshall(sorta like Chester in "Gunsmoke").
Here he was on a mission to the big city to re-capture a prisoner he
allowed to escape.
(The video is from an
outside
source and could be deleted without notice.)
"Mutual
of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" was a weekend animal show hosted by
Marlin
Perkins, curator of the St. Louis Zoo. In this show, he was
photographing the world's beautiful animals in Africa, South
America and other locations around the world. He would always
lead into the insurance company's commericals tying in some lesson in
survival with Mutual of Omaha.
(The video is from an
outside
source and could be deleted without notice.)
"Bracken"s World"
was one of the night times first serial.
It was based on peoples lives at a Hollywood movie studio.
(The video is from an
outside
source and could be deleted without notice.)
Ok,
they weren't the Beatles, but it was the closest NBC could get.
They were "The Monkees" and
included David Jones, Peter Tork, Micy Dolenz and Mike Nesmith. "The Monkees" ran on NBC from 1966
through 1968.
With
all of the spy TV shows, it was only time before a spy satire sit com
would be developed. This one was developed by the comedy genius
of Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. "Get
Smart" starred Don Adams and Barbara Feldon as Agents 86 and
99. The series also starred Edward Platt as "The Chief" as well
as a cast of regulars including Dave Ketchum, Bernie Kopell, Dick
Gautier, Victor French and Jane Dulo.
"Julia" starred Diahann Carroll and
Lloyd Nolan as a nurse and doctor employed by a aerospace factory
in California. Diahann Carroll thus became the first
African-American female to star in her own series according to
many. (Although, "The
Beulah Show" ran from 1950-53 and starred Ethel Waters as
Beulah. This made Ethel Waters the first African-American female
to star in her own series...most forgot this one!)
"Star Trek" aired on NBC from 1966
to 1969. Unfortunately, the programming and sales departments at
WICS/WICD determined that the show would not be a hit. The
stations would pre-empt the sci-fi series for reruns of "Laramie" in
which the stations would insert local commercials instead. It was
a great way to get larger commerical rates from local advertisers plus
run more of them to boot. During the second season of "Star Trek" it finally appeared on
the schedule having been moved by NBC to Friday nights at 7:30pm CT,
and later to 9pm CT..
Bill
Cosby, right off the run of "I Spy" starred in his own sit com, "The Bill Cosby Show.". This
time he played a character even more dangerous than an international
spy....this time he was a high school coach. Chet Kincaid was a
P.E. teacher and coach of an intercity high school. Lillian
Randolph and later Beah Richards played his mother, Rose. This
half hour sit com would air from 1969 through April of 1971 and was a
part of the Sunday night schedule for most of it's run.
WICS
was big into syndicated talk shows, whether it was John Gary, Merv
Griffin or Mike Douglas, there was a spot on the schedule for
them. Merv Griffin's show ran daily at 11:30am weekdays.
"The Mike Douglas Show" was another
syndicated talker, running at 3:30pm weekdays on WICS. Pictured
above are two of his many, many co-hosts which would do the honors with
him for an entire weeks worth of shows. One of the more famous
weeks was with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Mike Douglas was a
former big band singer during the early 1940's, nightclub entertainer
and sometimes actor who had a successful daytime talk show for most of
the 1960's and even into the 70's.
(Left): WICS as part of the St. Cardinal's TV Network ran a weekend
scedule during baseball season. This ad is from 1969 for a Sunday
afternoon baseball game.
The TV Guide ads shown include sister station
WICD located in Champaign. For more from this era and The History of WICD click
here.
(Left): The WICS/WICD News Team with Dale Coleman, Kyle Hill, newly
added Wayne Cox, Nick Alexander and Dave Lange. It appeared that
at least part of the local newscasts originated at WICS. Nick
Alexander was the weathercaster, Dave Lange did sports. Kyle Hill
was a field reporter, probably at the Illinois State Capitol.
More to Come
This
series was loosely based on the work of James Thurber. "My World and Welcome To It" starred
William Windom as a cartoonist who would enter his own comic strip in
which his family would also star. The big difference was that he
was actaully rather wimpy, while his cartoon persona was king.
"My World..." ran on NBC on Monday's from 1969 to 1970. It also
ran on CBS in reruns during the summer of 1972.
Michael
Parks starred as Jim Bronson in "Then
Came Bronson" which ran on NBC from 1969-70. Bronson head
out on his motorcycle across the country after the death of his best
friend. Out there, he would enteract with various people across
America. For more see "The Fugitive," "The Invaders," "Run for
Your Life," "Route 66," and any of several others with similar themes.
"Bracken's World" was one of network
TV's first prime time soaps. This time in the world of a movie
studio. The first episodes of the series didn't even star
"Bracken" who was talked about, referred to, but never seen, just
heard.. Eventually, the gag had to go, and Leslie Nielsen played
the role. In the early episodes, the voice of Warren Stevens was
only heard. Others in the cast included Peter Haskell, Eleanor
Parker, Dennis Cole, Madlyn Rhue and Jeanne Cooper. "Bracken..."
aired on Friday nights at 9pm CT on WICS.
Dennis
Weaver originally as "Chester" in "Gunsmoke" couldn't shed the cowboy
hat even when he became a contemporary deputy Marshall, Sam
McCloud. "McCloud" ran
on NBC from 1970 through 1977. McCloud was a "fish
out of water" police drama loosely based on the Clint Eastwood movie
"Coogan's Bluf." He was a southwestern Marshall who went to the
big city to find an escaped prisoner who escaped from him. It was
part of the "Four in One" series
which also included "San Francisco
International Airport," "Night Gallery" and "The Psychiatrist."
"The Andy Williams Show" was one of
NBC's longest running variety series, running from 1962 to 1971.
The variety series also co-starred a number of other singers, comedians
and performers including Jimmy Gaines, Marian Mercer, The Osmonds, The
Good Time Singers, the Mike Post Orchestra, Jonathan Winters, Ray
Stevens, The Lennon Sisters and Charlie Callas. During 1967, he
would do specials, three times a year. The other years he would
do a complete season of shows.
"Jeopardy" was fast becoming popular
during the 1960's while it was still on the NBC daytime schedule.
It aired at 11am CT on WICS. (I continue to search for a
color picture.)
Daytime
serials were a daytime must for "housewives" of the late 1960's.
By 1968, NBC was airing the following "soaps:" "Days of Our Lives"(1pm), "The Doctors"(1:30pm) and "Another World"(2pm).
Daytime game shows in 1969 include the following: "Concentration" (9:30am), "Personality"(10am), "Hollywood Squares"(10:30am), "Jeopardy"(11am), "Eye Guess" 11:30am, "It Takes Two"(Noon-actually
prerecorded from it's network time at 9am), "You're Putting Me On" (12:30pm), "You Don't Say"(2:30pm) and "The Match Game"(3pm).
Tom
Kennedy was the host for the long running "You Don't Say." This daytime
game show aired at 2:30pm CT weekday afternoons on NBC and WICS.
For
several years during the late 1960's and early 1970's "The Mike Douglas Show" was
syndicated and aired weekday afternoons for 90 minutes each day
at either 3 or 3:30pm on WICS.
(I continue to search for a color picture) Here Mike Douglas is
pictured with Stevie Wonder.
"Sale of
the Centrury"
was one of the game shows produced by
NBC in color which helped to sell color TV's to the masses for
RCA. It seems that an emphasis was made to make sure the daytime
schedule was in color, so retailers could demonstrate color TV's to the
buying public while most stores were open.
"The
Bullwinkle and Rocky
Show" was one of the syndication
encarnations of "Bullwinkle." This of network prime-time series
found it's way to being a kids classic, with an adult edge. The
Jay Ward produced cartoon series contained alot of cold war satire from
the early 1960's and included voices from the days of network radio
including Bill Scott, June Foyey, Paul Frees, Charles Ruggles, Hans
Conried, Walter Tetley and Edward Everette Horton. This ran in
syndication from time to time on WICS during the late 1960's and
early 1970's.
The nighttime version of "The Hollywood Squares" hit prime
time in 1968 hosted by Peter Marshall. It also ran on the daytime
schedule from 1966 to 1980. It also continued in syndication with
a variety of hosts thorugh the early 2000's.
"The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson"
began it's run in 1962 where it would stay through the
rest of the 1960's and well beyond. One of the most celebrated
broadcasts occured on December 17, 1969
when Tiny Tim married Miss Vicki. Tiny Tim is shown above right
with Johnny.
Early in the 1960's, "The Tonight Show" actually began at 10:15pm CT
but by 1965, Johnny refused to do the first 15 minutes leaving that to
Ed McMahon and orchestra leader Skitch Henderson. Many stations
pre-empted the first 15 minutes, like WICS did for local news from 10
to 10:30pm. Johnny would begin at 10:30pm with his monolog.
By 1967, the first 15 minutes were dropped. Keep in mind at that
time, the show lasted until Midnight central time.
The Faces of NBC News during much
of the 1960's included the anchor team of Chet Huntley and David
Brinkley. Frank McGee is pictured above right as he anchored the
first manned moon landing on NBC in 1969.
As
the decade of the 1970's were beginning the NBC prime time schedule
included the following new programs from 1970 to 1978: Men
from Shiloh, Nancy, The Jimmy Stewart Show, Sarge, The Funny Side,
McMillin and Wife, Columbo, Nichols, The D.A., The Partners, The Good
Life, Hec Ramsey, Madigan, Cool Million, Banacek, Search, Sanford and
Son, Little People, Ghost Story, Banyon, Emergency, Losta Luck, Diana,
Chase, The Magician, Police Story, Madigan, Tenafly, Faraday and
Company, The Snoop Sisters, Love Story, NBC Follies, The Girl With
Something Extra, Needles and Pins, Brian Keith Show, Amy Prentiss, Born
Free, Little House on the Prairie, Lucas Tanner, Petrocelli, Sierra,
Movin' On, Chico and the Man, The Rockford Files, Police Woman, Family
Holvak, McCoy, Invisible Man, Joe Forrester, Doctors' Hospital, The
Montefuscos, Fay, Ellery Queen, Medical Story, Quincy M.E., The Big
Event, Baa Baa Black Sheep, The Practice, The Quest, Gemini Man, NBC's
Best Sellers, Van Dyke and Company, Serpico, Richard Pryor Show,
Mulligan's Stew, CHiPS, Man from Atlantis, Rosetti and Ryan, My Friend
Tony, Sanford
Arms, Bionic Woman, Lifeline, Grandpa Goes to Washington, Dick Clark's
Live Wednesday, Project U.F.O., W.E.B., Waverly Wonders, Who's Watching
the Kids, Eddie Capra Movies and Sword of Justice.
It's important to note that WICS would often pre-empt network
programming with locally originating programming in order to air more
local commericals during prime time.
"McMillan
and Wife" was part of the rotating series under the title of "NBC Mystery Movie." The
series starred Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James. This series
shared the title with "Columbo"
and "McCloud." McMillan was the San Francisco Police Commissioner
with Sally his wife until she was written out of the series after a
contract dispute. The series ran from 1970 to 1977 and was
another of the Universal Studios produced series.
Although
hosted by Gene Rayburn, this version of "The Match Game" is different that
the one most often refered to today. This version, produced by
Goodson-Todman as well, featured two teams, each with one non-celebrity
and two celebrities. Each tried to match their team mates answers
to questions. It ran on NBC and WICS from 1962 to 1969.
"Hec
Ramsey" was one fourth of the rotating series "NBC Sunday Mystery
Movie." Hec Ramsey was played by Richard Boone as a an aged
gunfighter who used science to solve crimes in the old west. "Hec
Ramsey" aired on NBC from 1972 to 1974.
Bob Hope continued his many specials throughout the 60's and 70's
including his Christmas specials in which he would visit U.S. military
bases around the world, including ones in Viet Nam.
By 1969 the anchor
lineup at WICS consisted of News Anchor Wayne Cox, Nick
Alexander(weather) and Dave Lange(sports).
"Columbo" was another of the series
under the heading of "The NBC
Mystery
Movie." The series had one star, with Peter Falk as Lt.
Columbo. This series ran on NBC from 1971 to 1977. It was
revived by ABC in in 1989.
NBC's
Saturday morning children's TV was never as attractive to kids as much
as the programming on
CBS or ABC. It was obvious the committment to kids programming
wasn't that strong for the peacock network. Here are some
sample schedules from the late 1960's on Saturday mornings on NBC and
WICS.
From July 13, 1968: "Super 6"(8am), "Super President"(8:30am),
"The Flintstones"(9am), "Young Sampson"(9:30am), "Birdman"(10am),
"Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel"(10:30am), "Cool Mc Cool"(11am),. WICS
followed that with the syndicated "Superman."
From May 24, 1969: "Super 6"(8am), "Cool McCool"(8:30am),
"Flintstones"(9am), "Banana Splits" (9:30am), "Underdog"(10:30am),
"Storybook Squares"(11am), "Untamed World" (11:30am).
"The Flintstones" and "Underdog" were both reruns of previously
produced shows. "Banana Splits" was a combination live
action-cartoon series produced by Hanna Barbara.
"The Adventures of
Superman" ran whenever there was a hole in programming on WICS.
This would continue for years, even up into the 1980's! It also
appeared on weekday afternoons for a while during the early to late
1960's.
This was the
original TV version starring George Reeves as Clark
Kent/Superman. Both the B/W and color episodes were shown.
"Roller Derby" was a Saturday afternoon regular series on WICS during
the late 1960's. The syndicated sports show primarily presented
the "San Francisco Bay Area Bombers" facing other national teams such
as the "Midwest Pioneers," "LA Thunderbirds" and others. The
stars of the SFBAB included Joanie Westen. (picture coming soon)
On Sunday mornings when
other stations were offering religious programming WICS was giving us
the "Sunday Morning Movie." During most of it's run in the late
1960's and 70's it was sponsored by local Lincoln-Mercury dealer,
Railspliter Motors." Most commericals were recorded live on tape
or done live during the movie as cars would be drivin into the new WICS
studio where as up to 4 cars could be featured at one time!
"The GE College Bowl" was a weekend game show of sorts
which presented representatives from Universities around the country
competing by answering seemingly impossible questions based on
literatures, mathematics, physics, science and pychology. Here a
local team from Millikin University was competing with the Universtiy
of Colorada. "Go Blue!" I've never been able to
determine who won, or who the particpants were. If you know, drop
me an e-mail.
The names include: ?, Terry Lass, Thomas ?, Brian ?
Even
though the first season of "Star Trek" wasn't seen on WICS
by the second sesason, after NBC moved it to Friday nights at 9pm CT it
was finally seen by central Illinois sci-fi fans. "Star Trek" in
syndication came to WICS in 1971.
Bob
Hope specials were always good for great ratings during sweeps
months. This one was from November of 1968. The show was
sponsored by Chrysler, and supported by a Chrysler ad in most editions
of TV Guide. It is shown above right.
"The
Ghost and Mrs. Muir" began it's multi year run on NBC in 1968,
where it
ran for one sesason before moving to ABC the following year when it ran
for two more seasons. The show starred Hope Lange, Edward Mulhare
and Reta Shaw....and for those of you who have wondered what Charles
Nelson Reilly did other than "The Match Game", he played Claymore Gregg
the nephew of the ghost. It was based on the movie with Gene
Tierney and Rex Harrison.
Roger
Moore before he was 007, he was "The
Saint" Simon Templar. This modern day Robin Hood ran on
NBC from 1967 to 1968. The character of Simon Templar originated
in the 1930's on radio and was played by among others Vincent Price on
radio. This British import was also rerun as part of the CBS Late
Movie.
Robert
Fuller, former star in "Laramie"
was the star in "Emergency" which
aired on NBC from 1972-77. Also starring Julie London and real
life husband Bobby Troup along with Kevin Tighe, Randolph Mantooth and
others. This show was produced by Jack Webb(who was the former
husband of co-star Julie London, go figure!)
Anthony
Blake was played by Bill Bixby. Tony was an ex-con who spent time
in prison for a crime he didn't commit, but now he was a professional
magician(illusionist) and felt compelled to hellp others.
Interestingly enough, Bixby was an amateur magician and performed his
own illusions. "The Magician"
ran on NBC from 1973 to 74.
This
NBC series ran from 1973 to 1977, but could trace it's roots back to
1953 when an earlier show used the title of "Police Story" as well. This
police anthology was created by former LAPD Joseph
Wambaugh. This series also spawned the Angie
Dickinson series "Police Woman."
"Little House on
the Prairie" came from
Michael Landon, right off of his run in "Bonanza."
The style of the show, the pacing, the music was all very similar to
those last years of "Bonanza." In fact many of the former guest
stars of the long running TV western ended up as regulars on "Little
House..."
I probably don't
need to get into the story of the series, as it's popularity continues
today in syndicaton and on cable. Michael Landon starred with
Karen Grassle, Melissa Gilbert, Melissa Sue Anderson, Lindsay/Sidney
Greenbush, Karl Swenson, Richard Bull, Katherine MacGregor, Alison
Arngrim, Jonathan Gilbert, Kevin Hagen, Dabbs Greer, Victor French and
many, many more.
"Little House.."
ran on NBC from 1974 to1983 when the title was changed to "Little
House: A New Beginning" and starred the younger members of the Ingalls
family.
It also ran on
WICS in syndication for a while in the early 1980s.
Barry Newman starred as "Petrocelli"
a lawyer who settled in the desert southwest. The
series ran from 1964-76 and co-starred Susan Howard, Albert Salmi and
David Huddleston. The pilot show was called "The Lawyer" and was
loosely based on the Sam Shepard murder case.
"Sanford and Son"
starred long time comedian Redd Foxx with Demond Wilson as his
son. Fred and Lamont were a father/son partnership in the junk
business in south L.A..
This was Norman Lear's second hit following "All in the Family."
At the end of the run of the series, the cast fell apart and the show
was later called "Sanford Arms" after Red Foxx left the series in a
contract dispute.
"Dinah"
hosted by Dinah Shore was syndicated and
included on the daytime schedule at WICS during much
of the 1970's. The TV Guide ad is from June of 1977.
Even though this series was a
situation comedy, there wasn't much too funny behind the scenes after
the suicide of it's star. Freddie Prinze' death in 1977 could've
meant the end of the series, but the character of "Chico" was sorta
replaced by a younger character, also latino, who the old guy, Ed
Brown(played by Jack Albertson) referred to as "Chico" as well.
"Chico and the
Man" ran on NBC from 1974 to 1978. Other cast members
included Bonnie Boalnd, Isaac Ruiz and Ronny Graham. Later
additions included Della Reese, Gagriel Melgar and even Charo.
"The Sunday
Cinema" was the blanket name of any movie shown on WICS on
Sunday. It could have been during the late afternoon, or most
likely Sunday at 10:30pm.
"The Rockford Files" was
a modern day continuation of the
1950's "Maverick" series. James Garner played Jim Rockford, a
P.I. who had the same attitude as his original character.
Rockford was an ex-con who was sent up for armed robbery he didn't
commit. He lived ina trailer, drove a Firebird and used an
answering machine. It premiered on September 13, 1974 and ran
through April 20, 1999. OK, it was a revival series. The
original ran through July 25, 1980.
"Quincy M.E."
premiered on October 3, 1976 on NBC where it
ran through May 11, 1983. Jack Klugman starred as a
crusading Medical Examinaer in Los Angeles, who would find clues that
everyone else would miss. Other stars included James
Watson, Jr., Roert Ito and Garry Walberg.
"The Richard Pryor Show"
pushed the envelope. That's
probably why it lasted only one month. It began on September 13,
1977 and ended one month later on October 20, 1977. After his
success in movies, it seemed a natural to be on TV, unfortunately, he
began by appearing total nude except for a body suit that basically
gave him the properties of a Ken doll. He opened the show saying
that he didn't have to give up anything by doing this show for
NBC. The censors did more battle with him....eventually
contributing to his cancellation. Of course, being on
opposite "Happy Days" on ABC didn't help either.
"The Bionic Woman" originally a spin
off of ABC's "The Bionic Man" where it aired from 1976 to
1977. In September of 1977 it moved to NBC where it aired
for one season.
Vincent
Baggetta starred as Eddie Capra on "The
Eddie Capra Mysteries" which ran on NBC from September 1978 for
one season before moving to CBS and where reruns aired during the
summer of 1980.
More Coming Soon
"The NBC Mystery Movie" was a
blanket title for a mix of different series.
By 1971, "The Mike Douglas Show"
was history...as the long running daytime talker was replaced by "The
David Frost Show." Very similar in concept, but a bit more on the
intelligent side....and David Frost didn't sing.
The afternoon lineup on WICS/WICD
was a bit different during 1971. The biggest difference was the
local news time. The 90 minute newscasts of local news at 5PM,
followed by the NBC News at 5:30PM, then more local news at 6PM, was
replaced with two different newscasts for each of the two
stations. It appears that most, if not all of the local newscasts
were simulcast, or at least partially simulcast. The 5PM newscast
ran on WICD in Champaign, with the 6PM newscast running on WICS.
When WICS was seeing "Dragnet", WICD was getting the news....and vice
versa. This left WICA with the monopoly of news at 6pm for east
central Illinois.
"The Sunday Night Movie" ran at 10:30pm
each Sunday.
More Coming Soon
The NBC "snake"
logo was replaced by the twin trapizoid "N" in 1976.
Unfortunately, a very similar logo was used by Nebraska Educational
Television...and NETV sued. A settlement was reached , while NBC
updated the "N" with the most recognizable logo for NBC in 1979....the
peacock, with 12 feathers....shown right. More "proud as a
Peacock logos in the next part of the History of WICS.
(Right): "The Men From Shiloh" was the new title for "The
Virginian." the series changed to a number of TV movie specials.
These two pictures were from the WICS collection, but were not
identified as you when they were taken or who the subjects are in them.
(Left): The only identified person is long time anchor Don Hickman at
the far left. The others are unknown at this time.
If you know who any of these people are, please e-mail me with the
information.
Click to enlarge.
thanks to Cindy Larson and
others at WICS for help in getting
WICS photos.
TV Guide ads are from The Doug Quick Collection.
If you have any additional material or can identify any people not ID'd
in pictures, please e-mail me at dougquick @ dougquick.com
