It’s the time of year that used to be as exciting as the first week of Major League Baseball, the World Series, the NFL Season openers, the World Cup, and the NBA Finals. I’m referring to the Fall TV Season!

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The New Fall TV Season is also the theme for this month’s TV Time Capsule, part of the Broadcast Museum during this month, as we take a look at what it was like 40 years ago!  

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Now through September 24th, I will offer many promotional features produced by the networks and shown to affiliates and advertisers as what the industry calls “Up Fronts,” reworked to present the new TV season to viewers. Affiliates often aired these to fill weekend time or as a prime-time access feature on a weeknight at 6:30 pm (CT). The network also showed shorter versions after a weeknight movie presentation. 

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As you’ll notice, some were grand productions from the network's promotional staff or contracted out to major video production houses. In contrast, others almost seemed to be “thrown together” to accomplish a low-priority task. 

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I’ll give you my opinion as to the best Fall Preview Shows to look for, and I admit I’ve always been a great fan of ABC, but the ones for ABC were the obvious best ones produced. Check out the 1963 edition written by Mel Brooks and starring Edie Adams. To give you a small backstory of that production, Edie Adams was the widow of famous TV comedian Ernie Kovacs, who was killed in an auto accident the year before. It was common knowledge that she had to deal with his many gambling debts and legal debts incurred as he tried to regain custody of his kids when they were taken from him by his first wife, who was originally denied custody. Later, after Ernie’s death, she fought and won custody of his kids once again from his first wife. To help her pay their debts, others in the industry stepped up and offered her employment so she could keep an income. Her participation in the 1963-64 ABC Fall Premiere Show was one such effort. Then later, other ABC promotions were incredible productions, especially the ones in the 1970s. 

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The worst Fall Preview Shows?: It’s a toss-up between the CBS and the NBC Fall Preview shows. The 1969-70 NBC film with Hugh Downs and Joe Garagiola is probably the worst ever. The CBS shows from the 1960s seem produced by someone’s great-grandfather, while the ones from the 70s feel “unattached” and “distant” from the shows described. 

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Now, that’s my opinion… watch them yourself. If you'd like to share what you think, let me know in the comments below or on my Facebook posts. 

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Now, watch, remember, and enjoy those flashbacks into the Fall season of years past…