By Sylvia Gurinsky
The doldrums of summer...but not always on television. Here are a few classic shows that made their debut during the summer months:
*The Ed Sullivan Show (as Toast of the Town), June 20, 1948: Until he retired in 1972, Ed Sullivan's program, on CBS, was the place for entertainers to be.
*Candid Camera, August 10, 1948. Alan Funt's invention of the reality show was a hit first on CBS, then in syndication.
*CBS Evening News (as CBS-TV News), August 15, 1948: It would take 14 years before Walter Cronkite and an extension from 15 minutes to a half-hour would begin to immortalize this nightly newscast.
*Guiding Light, June 30, 1952: Made its move from radio to become CBS' longest running soap opera. This one really should be revived online.
*The Lawrence Welk Show, July 2, 1955: Started on ABC, then moved to syndication in 1971, this was the longest running musical variety show in television history.
*The Newlywed Game, June 11, 1966: Chuck Eubanks was the main host for this game show, which had some truth and consequences for married couples.
*One Life To Live, July 15, 1968: One of the successful dynamic duo of ABC soaps for Agnes Nixon, and has one more life to life online.
*Hee Haw, June 15, 1969: It began on CBS and would also find its niche in syndication as the most successful country music-comedy variety show ever.
*The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, August 1, 1971: Until Cher and Sonny Bono divorced, this was a big hit for CBS.
*20/20, June 6, 1978: It would take a few hiccups before Hugh Downs and Barbara Walters would come in and make this ABC newsmagazine a standard.
*The Facts of Life, August 24, 1979: This spinoff of "Diff'rent Strokes" was one of the few hits for NBC during the Fred Silverman era (which seems like a golden era compared to what NBC is going through now).
*Hart to Hart, August 25, 1979: Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers sizzled and viewers smiled with this "Thin Man" style romance-drama on ABC.
*Highway to Heaven, August 19, 1984: The NBC drama immortalized Michael Landon (who played an angel) with his third successful TV series (to go with "Bonanza" and "Little House on the Prairie").
*PrimeTime (as PrimeTime Live), August 3, 1989: The ABC News program is sleazy and undistinguished (and a waste of John Quiñones' reporting talents) now. But when Sam Donaldson and Diane Sawyer began it, they took us places live American television had never been before - including the Kremlin.
*Northern Exposure, July 12, 1990: This offbeat drama, set in Alaska, shined for CBS.
*Melrose Place, July 8, 1992: One of the early hits for Fox was this soap opera.
*7th Heaven, August 26, 1996: One of the greatest successes for the WB network was this family drama.
*The View, August 11, 1997: The ABC yakfest still has viewers taking aspirin to this day (And they'll buy even more, with the news of Jenny McCarthy's arrival on the show.).
*Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, August 16, 1999: A major hit and a star-making vehicle for Regis Philbin before ABC burned it out by over-airing it.
So Happy Viewing as you look for the next summer hit! See you next week!
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Week of June 4: Jean Stapleton, From Edith to Eleanor
By Sylvia Gurinsky
Such was the quality and memory of Jean Stapleton as Edith Bunker that it had a tendency to dwarf almost anything else she did on the small screen.
But Stapleton, who died over the weekend at age 90, had a lengthy television career beyond Edith. She tried another series, "Bagdad Cafe," with Whoopi Goldberg at CBS. It ran for about a season and a half.
She also had numerous guest-starring spots in shows such as "Murphy Brown," "Touched By An Angel," "Grace Under Fire" (for which she was nominated for an Emmy) and "Everybody Loves Raymond."
Another Emmy nomination came for her sparkling portrayal of Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1981 movie "Eleanor, First Lady of the World." The movie covers Mrs. Roosevelt's efforts in drafting the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Here's a clip, in which Gail Strickland plays Anna Roosevelt:
Your Future
The movie is available from Amazon.com on demand, VHS and DVD.
Stapleton won three Emmys as Edith. Here's a clip from one of her most memorable episodes, "Edith's Christmas Story," in which she is dealing with a lump in her breast. Besides the regular cast, that's Betty Garrett as the Bunkers' neighbor Irene Lorenzo:
Edith's Christmas Story
Here's to versatile Jean Stapleton.
Such was the quality and memory of Jean Stapleton as Edith Bunker that it had a tendency to dwarf almost anything else she did on the small screen.
But Stapleton, who died over the weekend at age 90, had a lengthy television career beyond Edith. She tried another series, "Bagdad Cafe," with Whoopi Goldberg at CBS. It ran for about a season and a half.
She also had numerous guest-starring spots in shows such as "Murphy Brown," "Touched By An Angel," "Grace Under Fire" (for which she was nominated for an Emmy) and "Everybody Loves Raymond."
Another Emmy nomination came for her sparkling portrayal of Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1981 movie "Eleanor, First Lady of the World." The movie covers Mrs. Roosevelt's efforts in drafting the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Here's a clip, in which Gail Strickland plays Anna Roosevelt:
Your Future
The movie is available from Amazon.com on demand, VHS and DVD.
Stapleton won three Emmys as Edith. Here's a clip from one of her most memorable episodes, "Edith's Christmas Story," in which she is dealing with a lump in her breast. Besides the regular cast, that's Betty Garrett as the Bunkers' neighbor Irene Lorenzo:
Edith's Christmas Story
Here's to versatile Jean Stapleton.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Week of May 28: The Television Movie Pilot
By Sylvia Gurinsky
Last week's post about the original "Ironside" included a reference to the television movie that introduced the characters. The movie, while technically a pilot, originally aired in March, 1967, six months before the series went on the air. (Update: ME-TV will begin airing episodes of "Ironside" next Monday, June 3, at 11 a.m. Eastern time.)
This week, YesterTube's focus turns to the pilot movie - the grand introduction to many television shows. While many fit the "first episode" theme, some pilots actually aired long before the series did. (This list does not include theatrical films, such as "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century," which later became television series with the same cast.)
*Cagney & Lacey: CBS aired the two-hour film in October, 1981, with Loretta Swit as Christine Cagney and Tyne Daly playing Mary Beth Lacey, as she would throughout the entire series.
In the pilot movie, Christine and Mary Beth are promoted to detectives, but have to battle their assignments and the sexism of their colleagues.
Apparently Swit wanted to continue with the show, but there was the matter of a series called "M*A*S*H." Since Swit was not available, Meg Foster was initially cast as Cagney for the series. Foster did not find favor with audiences, and Sharon Gless was finally brought in for the role that would earn her two Emmys (to go with Daly's four). However, the show still had to go through cancellation and revival before it finally stuck.
*Columbo - Prescription: Murder, NBC (1968) and Ransom For a Dead Man (1971): The character Lieutenant Columbo went through a few incarnations on television and the stage before Peter Falk introduced the trenchcoat in the 1968 one-shot television movie. (Incidentally, Bing Crosby had been considered for a more urbane version of the detective in the 1968 movie.) "Prescription: Murder," in which Columbo nails a doctor (Gene Barry) for murdering his wife has a far more high-strung Columbo than the subsequent series would. But it was popular enough that it triggered "Ransom For a Dead Man," in which Lee Grant played the murderer, and the subsequent series that became part of the "NBC Mystery Movie." Falk would also star as Columbo in a number of made for television movies for ABC from the 1980s to a little more than a decade ago.
*Emergency: The Wedsworth-Townsend Act (NBC, 1972): The Wedsworth-Townsend Act was the name of the California Legislature bill that created the state's paramedic system. Jack Webb and Robert Cinader put their own spin on the real-life story in the movie pilot to the series "Emergency!". Other than more romance for Rampart Hospital's Dr. Kelly Brackett and Dixie McCall (Robert Fuller and Julie London) and less humor for paramedics John Gage and Roy DeSoto (Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe), this excellent film would set the tone for the 6-season series:
Gage & DeSoto Meet
*Hawaii Five-0: Cocoon (CBS, 1968): Leonard Freeman's creation was a barrier breaker in terms of location and support casting. While some of the core cast would change from pilot to series (Richard Denning replaced Lew Ayres as the governor, and James MacArthur replaced Tim O'Kelly as Danny Williams.), the pilot established the McGarrett (Jack Lord) versus Wo Fat (Keigh Deigh) dynamic and set up the series:
Book 'Im!
*Kojak: The Marcus-Nelson Murders (CBS, 1973): Like "Ironside," the kickoff movie for "Kojak" actually aired months before the series debut. "Kojak" creator Abby Mann ("Judgment at Nuremberg") based the script on actual events; the result was a pretty accurate portrayal of the gritty New York of the 1970s. Incidentally, like James MacArthur with "Hawaii Five-0," Kevin Dobson was not a part of the pilot film as his famous character, Detective Bobby Crocker:
The Marcus-Nelson Murders
*The Love Boat (ABC, 1976 & 1977): Quite a different crew from the one viewers would come to embrace was in the 1976 television movie. It wasn't until the second pilot, which aired in May, 1977, that Gavin MacLeod (who was wrapping up "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"), Bernie Koppell, Fred Grandy, Ted Lange and Lauren Tewes would become the Pacific Princess captain and crew.
*Sidney Shorr: A Girl's Best Friend (NBC, 1981): The sitcom "Love Sidney" was not a major hit, running just two seasons. But the pilot film with Tony Randall broke barriers for the portrayal of the lead character as a gay man who was helping a single mother and daughter. The gay angle was considerably downplayed during the series.
*Miami Vice: Brother's Keeper (NBC, 1984): Brandon Tartikoff got his "MTV Cops" on the air thanks to Michael Mann and Anthony Yerkovich. The two-hour film introduces Miami vice cop Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and New York detective Ricardo Tubbs (Phillip Michael Thomas) to each other, and viewers, after their respective partners (one played by Jimmy Smits) are killed. An up-and-coming Miami is also introduced, as is the melding of pop music and plot. The major difference between the pilot and most of the subsequent series is the presence of Gregory Sierra as the boss; Edward James Olmos would come in as the powerful Lieutenant Castillo a little later in the first season.
In the Air Tonight
*Twin Peaks (ABC, 1990): Possibly the most buzzed-about television pilot movie in history, "Twin Peaks" began with the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). David Lynch's direction received as much attention as the plot. But the series, while a cult favorite, never quite lived up to the buzz and promise of the pilot.
Who Killed Laura Palmer?
*The Waltons - The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (CBS, 1971): Based on Earl Hamner's novel about his own youth in Virginia, "The Homecoming" introduced the Waltons, anchored by Patricia Neal as Olivia, Edgar Bergen and Ellen Corby as Grandpa and Grandma, and Richard Thomas as John-Boy. The young actors and actresses who played the other Walton children would continue in the series, as would Thomas and Corby.
"The Homecoming" Trailer
The "Cagney & Lacey" movie with Swit and Daly, the 1976 "Love Boat" movie and "Sidney Shorr: A Girl's Best Friend" are not available on DVD as of yet. "The Homecoming: A Christmas Story" and "Kojak: The Marcus-Nelson Murders" are available on separate DVDs from their series. The rest are available with Season 1 of their respective series.
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
Last week's post about the original "Ironside" included a reference to the television movie that introduced the characters. The movie, while technically a pilot, originally aired in March, 1967, six months before the series went on the air. (Update: ME-TV will begin airing episodes of "Ironside" next Monday, June 3, at 11 a.m. Eastern time.)
This week, YesterTube's focus turns to the pilot movie - the grand introduction to many television shows. While many fit the "first episode" theme, some pilots actually aired long before the series did. (This list does not include theatrical films, such as "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century," which later became television series with the same cast.)
*Cagney & Lacey: CBS aired the two-hour film in October, 1981, with Loretta Swit as Christine Cagney and Tyne Daly playing Mary Beth Lacey, as she would throughout the entire series.
In the pilot movie, Christine and Mary Beth are promoted to detectives, but have to battle their assignments and the sexism of their colleagues.
Apparently Swit wanted to continue with the show, but there was the matter of a series called "M*A*S*H." Since Swit was not available, Meg Foster was initially cast as Cagney for the series. Foster did not find favor with audiences, and Sharon Gless was finally brought in for the role that would earn her two Emmys (to go with Daly's four). However, the show still had to go through cancellation and revival before it finally stuck.
*Columbo - Prescription: Murder, NBC (1968) and Ransom For a Dead Man (1971): The character Lieutenant Columbo went through a few incarnations on television and the stage before Peter Falk introduced the trenchcoat in the 1968 one-shot television movie. (Incidentally, Bing Crosby had been considered for a more urbane version of the detective in the 1968 movie.) "Prescription: Murder," in which Columbo nails a doctor (Gene Barry) for murdering his wife has a far more high-strung Columbo than the subsequent series would. But it was popular enough that it triggered "Ransom For a Dead Man," in which Lee Grant played the murderer, and the subsequent series that became part of the "NBC Mystery Movie." Falk would also star as Columbo in a number of made for television movies for ABC from the 1980s to a little more than a decade ago.
*Emergency: The Wedsworth-Townsend Act (NBC, 1972): The Wedsworth-Townsend Act was the name of the California Legislature bill that created the state's paramedic system. Jack Webb and Robert Cinader put their own spin on the real-life story in the movie pilot to the series "Emergency!". Other than more romance for Rampart Hospital's Dr. Kelly Brackett and Dixie McCall (Robert Fuller and Julie London) and less humor for paramedics John Gage and Roy DeSoto (Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe), this excellent film would set the tone for the 6-season series:
Gage & DeSoto Meet
*Hawaii Five-0: Cocoon (CBS, 1968): Leonard Freeman's creation was a barrier breaker in terms of location and support casting. While some of the core cast would change from pilot to series (Richard Denning replaced Lew Ayres as the governor, and James MacArthur replaced Tim O'Kelly as Danny Williams.), the pilot established the McGarrett (Jack Lord) versus Wo Fat (Keigh Deigh) dynamic and set up the series:
Book 'Im!
*Kojak: The Marcus-Nelson Murders (CBS, 1973): Like "Ironside," the kickoff movie for "Kojak" actually aired months before the series debut. "Kojak" creator Abby Mann ("Judgment at Nuremberg") based the script on actual events; the result was a pretty accurate portrayal of the gritty New York of the 1970s. Incidentally, like James MacArthur with "Hawaii Five-0," Kevin Dobson was not a part of the pilot film as his famous character, Detective Bobby Crocker:
The Marcus-Nelson Murders
*The Love Boat (ABC, 1976 & 1977): Quite a different crew from the one viewers would come to embrace was in the 1976 television movie. It wasn't until the second pilot, which aired in May, 1977, that Gavin MacLeod (who was wrapping up "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"), Bernie Koppell, Fred Grandy, Ted Lange and Lauren Tewes would become the Pacific Princess captain and crew.
*Sidney Shorr: A Girl's Best Friend (NBC, 1981): The sitcom "Love Sidney" was not a major hit, running just two seasons. But the pilot film with Tony Randall broke barriers for the portrayal of the lead character as a gay man who was helping a single mother and daughter. The gay angle was considerably downplayed during the series.
*Miami Vice: Brother's Keeper (NBC, 1984): Brandon Tartikoff got his "MTV Cops" on the air thanks to Michael Mann and Anthony Yerkovich. The two-hour film introduces Miami vice cop Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and New York detective Ricardo Tubbs (Phillip Michael Thomas) to each other, and viewers, after their respective partners (one played by Jimmy Smits) are killed. An up-and-coming Miami is also introduced, as is the melding of pop music and plot. The major difference between the pilot and most of the subsequent series is the presence of Gregory Sierra as the boss; Edward James Olmos would come in as the powerful Lieutenant Castillo a little later in the first season.
In the Air Tonight
*Twin Peaks (ABC, 1990): Possibly the most buzzed-about television pilot movie in history, "Twin Peaks" began with the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). David Lynch's direction received as much attention as the plot. But the series, while a cult favorite, never quite lived up to the buzz and promise of the pilot.
Who Killed Laura Palmer?
*The Waltons - The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (CBS, 1971): Based on Earl Hamner's novel about his own youth in Virginia, "The Homecoming" introduced the Waltons, anchored by Patricia Neal as Olivia, Edgar Bergen and Ellen Corby as Grandpa and Grandma, and Richard Thomas as John-Boy. The young actors and actresses who played the other Walton children would continue in the series, as would Thomas and Corby.
"The Homecoming" Trailer
The "Cagney & Lacey" movie with Swit and Daly, the 1976 "Love Boat" movie and "Sidney Shorr: A Girl's Best Friend" are not available on DVD as of yet. "The Homecoming: A Christmas Story" and "Kojak: The Marcus-Nelson Murders" are available on separate DVDs from their series. The rest are available with Season 1 of their respective series.
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Week of May 21: Burr's "Ironside" Was a Barrier Breaker
By Sylvia Gurinsky
As it continues to muddle around in search of past glories, NBC has decided to revive a past glory, casting Blair Underwood ("L.A. Law") in a new version of "Ironside."
Everything from the casting of able-bodied Underwood in the role of the wheelchair-bound Ironside to a change in scenery (from San Francisco to yet another NYPD show) to a perception the character will be changed to a corrupt cop has raised plenty of hackles - which it should.
We already know about the reboot concept paling a new show in comparison to the original ("Hawaii Five-O," anyone?). It has to happen in the case of "Ironside," simply because the original show was such a barrier breaker.
The casting of the able-bodied Raymond Burr as paralyzed Chief Robert Ironside mattered less in 1967, because wheelchair-bound leading characters were almost non-existent to that point, anyway. (Ironically, Burr had played a bad guy in the 1954 movie "Rear Window," which had Jimmy Stewart's lead character recovering from a broken leg in a wheelchair.) Burr's Ironside would open doors for the portrayal of disabled characters in primary roles on television.
Before the series went on the air, a two-hour movie showing the shooting that left the chief of detectives paralyzed premiered on NBC. The movie teamed all the people who would be carried over to the series: Besides Burr, there was Don Galloway as Detective Sergeant Ed Brown; Barbara Anderson as Officer Eve Whitfield; Don Mitchell as Ironside's aide Mark Sanger and Gene Lyons as Police Commissioner Dennis Randall.
Mitchell's character would develop the most through the run of the series. The African-American Mark Sanger went from juvenile dropout to lawyer. By the 1993 reunion movie, he was Judge Mark Sanger.
The movie got high ratings and achieved something else: Letting viewers accept Burr in a role other than Perry Mason. They would embrace the crusty-but-tender-hearted Ironside for eight seasons.
Halfway through the series run, Anderson (who had won an Emmy) left and was replaced by Elizabeth Baur as Fran Belding. Except for Lyons, who died in 1974, the rest of the cast would appear in the 1993 movie, "The Return of Ironside."
Also making a mark was Quincy Jones with his memorable theme. Here's the theme and a few minutes of the first one-hour episode:
Message From Beyond
The first two seasons are available on DVD (Get them complete and avoid the annoying partial-season releases.); the first three seasons can be viewed at Hulu.com. The new show may prompt the release of more seasons.
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
As it continues to muddle around in search of past glories, NBC has decided to revive a past glory, casting Blair Underwood ("L.A. Law") in a new version of "Ironside."
Everything from the casting of able-bodied Underwood in the role of the wheelchair-bound Ironside to a change in scenery (from San Francisco to yet another NYPD show) to a perception the character will be changed to a corrupt cop has raised plenty of hackles - which it should.
We already know about the reboot concept paling a new show in comparison to the original ("Hawaii Five-O," anyone?). It has to happen in the case of "Ironside," simply because the original show was such a barrier breaker.
The casting of the able-bodied Raymond Burr as paralyzed Chief Robert Ironside mattered less in 1967, because wheelchair-bound leading characters were almost non-existent to that point, anyway. (Ironically, Burr had played a bad guy in the 1954 movie "Rear Window," which had Jimmy Stewart's lead character recovering from a broken leg in a wheelchair.) Burr's Ironside would open doors for the portrayal of disabled characters in primary roles on television.
Before the series went on the air, a two-hour movie showing the shooting that left the chief of detectives paralyzed premiered on NBC. The movie teamed all the people who would be carried over to the series: Besides Burr, there was Don Galloway as Detective Sergeant Ed Brown; Barbara Anderson as Officer Eve Whitfield; Don Mitchell as Ironside's aide Mark Sanger and Gene Lyons as Police Commissioner Dennis Randall.
Mitchell's character would develop the most through the run of the series. The African-American Mark Sanger went from juvenile dropout to lawyer. By the 1993 reunion movie, he was Judge Mark Sanger.
The movie got high ratings and achieved something else: Letting viewers accept Burr in a role other than Perry Mason. They would embrace the crusty-but-tender-hearted Ironside for eight seasons.
Halfway through the series run, Anderson (who had won an Emmy) left and was replaced by Elizabeth Baur as Fran Belding. Except for Lyons, who died in 1974, the rest of the cast would appear in the 1993 movie, "The Return of Ironside."
Also making a mark was Quincy Jones with his memorable theme. Here's the theme and a few minutes of the first one-hour episode:
Message From Beyond
The first two seasons are available on DVD (Get them complete and avoid the annoying partial-season releases.); the first three seasons can be viewed at Hulu.com. The new show may prompt the release of more seasons.
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Week of 4/30: YesterTube's Best TV Theme Songs (Lyric, Instrumental and More)
By Sylvia Gurinsky
In a similar fashion to the NCAA basketball championships, Yahoo! had a selection bracket for top television theme songs. The winner in their poll was "The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle."
TV Themes
Incidentally, theme songs (with lyrics) were taken together with instrumentals. Frankly, some of the choices have to be questioned. ("Saved By the Bell" is there and "Hawaii Five-O" and "Mission: Impossible" aren't?)
Here are the YesterTube selections for top songs with lyrics, top instrumentals and top miscellaneous themes (memorable introductions to shows that don't quite fit the other two categories for apparent reasons). All have to be original. Shows with pre-existing themes ("Thank You For Being a Friend" for "The Golden Girls," for instance) wouldn't qualify since the song existed independent of the show.
In some cases, shows have been bundled under the heading of a single producer.
Theme Songs With Lyrics
1. The Norman Lear Collection (All In the Family/Maude/The Jeffersons/Good Times/One Day at a Time): It really wouldn't be a fair fight, because so many of the theme songs are so good - Archie and Edith Bunker singing "Those Were the Days" at the piano as the introduction for "All In the Family" and their Queens neighbors George and Louise Jefferson "Movin' On Up" to Ja'net Dubois' theme song in "The Jeffersons," for starters. Lear took as much care with the theme songs as he did with what came after:
Archie & Edith
2. "Love Is All Around" from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show": Sonny Curtis wrote and performed this theme song, which actually got better after Season 1. Perfect for describing the experiences of a single woman in a new place.
3. "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" from "Cheers": Gary Portnoy performed the song he co-wrote with Judy Hart Angelo. It mixed in perfectly with the old-time titles to take you right into the bar:
Cheers
4. "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" from "The Beverly Hillbillies" by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs: "Come and listen to my story about a man named Jed....." and you'll be heading to Beverly Hills for the benefits of that "Texas Tea" he discovered.
5. The Sherwood Schwartz Collection (Gilligan's Island/The Brady Bunch): While the comedies aren't my favorites, the theme songs certainly knew how to tell the stories involved:
The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle
Instrumentals
1. "Mission: Impossible": Lalo Schifrin wrote what I consider the best television theme song, period, of all time. Wonderfully mixed with snippets from that week's episode to get the heart racing:
Mission: Impossible (Season 1)
2. "Hawaii Five-O": Series creator Leonard Freeman wanted a Hawaii that was more than ukelele players. Boy, did composer Morton Stevens ever provide it in the fast-paced theme song.
Hawaii Five-O
3. "The Mod Squad": Undoubtedly the coolest theme ever written by television theme show king Earle Hagen. I just want to know what those kids were running from.
Mod Squad
4. "Peter Gunn": Henry Mancini's television success; the recording session also included a pianist named John Williams, who later went on to his own great success with movie scores and the Boston Pops.
5. "The West Wing": W.G. Snuffy Walden came up with an absolutely majestic theme, perfect for a show about the White House:
The West Wing
Miscellaneous
-60 Minutes: Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick........... That stopwatch has marked America's changes - and "60 Minutes" constancy for journalism and ratings excellence:
1997 episode intro
-"The Andy Griffith Show": Another Earle Hagen work (with Herbert W. Spencer) is "The Fishin' Hole," which mixes music with Hagen's whistling. Come on out and join Andy and Opie:
The Andy Griffith Show
-"The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson": Paul Anka, at the height of his teeny-bopper success as a singer, wrote "Johnny's Theme," which continued through Carson's 30 years of hosting the show:
Johnny's Theme
See you next week. Until then, Happy Humming - and Viewing!
In a similar fashion to the NCAA basketball championships, Yahoo! had a selection bracket for top television theme songs. The winner in their poll was "The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle."
TV Themes
Incidentally, theme songs (with lyrics) were taken together with instrumentals. Frankly, some of the choices have to be questioned. ("Saved By the Bell" is there and "Hawaii Five-O" and "Mission: Impossible" aren't?)
Here are the YesterTube selections for top songs with lyrics, top instrumentals and top miscellaneous themes (memorable introductions to shows that don't quite fit the other two categories for apparent reasons). All have to be original. Shows with pre-existing themes ("Thank You For Being a Friend" for "The Golden Girls," for instance) wouldn't qualify since the song existed independent of the show.
In some cases, shows have been bundled under the heading of a single producer.
Theme Songs With Lyrics
1. The Norman Lear Collection (All In the Family/Maude/The Jeffersons/Good Times/One Day at a Time): It really wouldn't be a fair fight, because so many of the theme songs are so good - Archie and Edith Bunker singing "Those Were the Days" at the piano as the introduction for "All In the Family" and their Queens neighbors George and Louise Jefferson "Movin' On Up" to Ja'net Dubois' theme song in "The Jeffersons," for starters. Lear took as much care with the theme songs as he did with what came after:
Archie & Edith
2. "Love Is All Around" from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show": Sonny Curtis wrote and performed this theme song, which actually got better after Season 1. Perfect for describing the experiences of a single woman in a new place.
3. "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" from "Cheers": Gary Portnoy performed the song he co-wrote with Judy Hart Angelo. It mixed in perfectly with the old-time titles to take you right into the bar:
Cheers
4. "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" from "The Beverly Hillbillies" by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs: "Come and listen to my story about a man named Jed....." and you'll be heading to Beverly Hills for the benefits of that "Texas Tea" he discovered.
5. The Sherwood Schwartz Collection (Gilligan's Island/The Brady Bunch): While the comedies aren't my favorites, the theme songs certainly knew how to tell the stories involved:
The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle
Instrumentals
1. "Mission: Impossible": Lalo Schifrin wrote what I consider the best television theme song, period, of all time. Wonderfully mixed with snippets from that week's episode to get the heart racing:
Mission: Impossible (Season 1)
2. "Hawaii Five-O": Series creator Leonard Freeman wanted a Hawaii that was more than ukelele players. Boy, did composer Morton Stevens ever provide it in the fast-paced theme song.
Hawaii Five-O
3. "The Mod Squad": Undoubtedly the coolest theme ever written by television theme show king Earle Hagen. I just want to know what those kids were running from.
Mod Squad
4. "Peter Gunn": Henry Mancini's television success; the recording session also included a pianist named John Williams, who later went on to his own great success with movie scores and the Boston Pops.
5. "The West Wing": W.G. Snuffy Walden came up with an absolutely majestic theme, perfect for a show about the White House:
The West Wing
Miscellaneous
-60 Minutes: Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick........... That stopwatch has marked America's changes - and "60 Minutes" constancy for journalism and ratings excellence:
1997 episode intro
-"The Andy Griffith Show": Another Earle Hagen work (with Herbert W. Spencer) is "The Fishin' Hole," which mixes music with Hagen's whistling. Come on out and join Andy and Opie:
The Andy Griffith Show
-"The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson": Paul Anka, at the height of his teeny-bopper success as a singer, wrote "Johnny's Theme," which continued through Carson's 30 years of hosting the show:
Johnny's Theme
See you next week. Until then, Happy Humming - and Viewing!
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Week of 4/23: TV's Best First Responders: "Emergency!"
By Sylvia Gurinsky
First responders, including firefighters and paramedics, were crucial in the lives that were saved last week in the terror attack in Boston and the explosion and fire in Texas.
New attention is being paid to their work.
That has also generated focus on the television shows that have highlighted first responders. Because of the cost of creating fire and disaster scenes, there have been relatively few such programs in TV history. Today, NBC features "Chicago Fire," created by Dick Wolf, who also created the successful "Law & Order" franchise. "Chicago Fire" is typical of many of today's drama series - soap opera elements mixed with action. But it's one of the few current successes on the network.
One of the fire trucks is Engine 51. No doubt that is a tribute to what is still the greatest first responders show ever - "Emergency!" which also ran on NBC from 1972-79.
"Emergency!" (created by Robert Cinader) is the third show in the Jack Webb trilogy that also includes police shows "Dragnet" and "Adam-12." It's considered a semi-spinoff of "Adam-12," but actually owes its creation more to the real-life struggle that was going on in California during the late 1960s over the creation of a paramedic program to assist hospital emergency rooms.
In fact, the pilot movie, "The Wedsworth-Townsend Act," deals with that struggle; the episode is named for the bill that California Gov. Ronald Reagan signed into law creating the paramedic program. The pilot is terrific, a great way to introduce viewers to the core characters: Fireman/paramedics John Gage (Randolph Mantooth) and Roy DeSoto (Kevin Tighe) and staff members at fictional Rampart Hospital: Nurse Dixie McCall (singer-actress Julie London, once married to Jack Webb); Dr. Kelly Brackett (Robert Fuller) and Dr. Joe Early (composer-musician-actor Bobby Troup, who was married to London in real life). Here's the scene in which Gage and DeSoto meet:
Emergency! The Wedsworth-Townsend Act
The series would add the supporting staff of Gage and DeSoto's Station 51 - including real-life firefighters Dick Hammer (in Season 1) and Mike Stoker - and Rampart's Dr. Mike Morton, played by Ron Pinkard.
"Emergency!" continued in the tradition of other Webb shows of taking rescue situations from real life. It also played a role in the evolution of television into the ensemble cast (10 in all, including the Station 51 and Rampart supporting characters) and featured increased diversity (Mantooth is Native American, Pinkard is African-American, and Marco Lopez, who played a firefighter with the same name, is Hispanic.).
One of the appealing characteristics of "Emergency!" is how it mixed serious rescue situations with humor - often at Gage's expense. The show's core audiences were usually younger than 21, and Mantooth became a frequent presence on the cover of teen magazines. The show generated collectibles such as lunch boxes, comic books and action figures. Mantooth and Tighe also appeared as animated versions of Gage and DeSoto in "Emergency +4," a Saturday-morning action series featuring four rescuers who were children, from 1973-76:
Emergency + 4: S.O.S. Help Us!
Here are two clips from one of the best rescue scenes, from the Season 3 episode "Snakebite." Among other things, Gage is rescuing himself, with the help of the Station 51 crew (minus an anxious DeSoto, who is at Rampart after rescuing teens from a car crash):
Snakebite 1
Snakebite 2
There are numerous rescue workers across the United States who are in their profession because of this show. It is seen daily on ME-TV at 5 p.m. Eastern time, and the entire series is available on DVD.
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
First responders, including firefighters and paramedics, were crucial in the lives that were saved last week in the terror attack in Boston and the explosion and fire in Texas.
New attention is being paid to their work.
That has also generated focus on the television shows that have highlighted first responders. Because of the cost of creating fire and disaster scenes, there have been relatively few such programs in TV history. Today, NBC features "Chicago Fire," created by Dick Wolf, who also created the successful "Law & Order" franchise. "Chicago Fire" is typical of many of today's drama series - soap opera elements mixed with action. But it's one of the few current successes on the network.
One of the fire trucks is Engine 51. No doubt that is a tribute to what is still the greatest first responders show ever - "Emergency!" which also ran on NBC from 1972-79.
"Emergency!" (created by Robert Cinader) is the third show in the Jack Webb trilogy that also includes police shows "Dragnet" and "Adam-12." It's considered a semi-spinoff of "Adam-12," but actually owes its creation more to the real-life struggle that was going on in California during the late 1960s over the creation of a paramedic program to assist hospital emergency rooms.
In fact, the pilot movie, "The Wedsworth-Townsend Act," deals with that struggle; the episode is named for the bill that California Gov. Ronald Reagan signed into law creating the paramedic program. The pilot is terrific, a great way to introduce viewers to the core characters: Fireman/paramedics John Gage (Randolph Mantooth) and Roy DeSoto (Kevin Tighe) and staff members at fictional Rampart Hospital: Nurse Dixie McCall (singer-actress Julie London, once married to Jack Webb); Dr. Kelly Brackett (Robert Fuller) and Dr. Joe Early (composer-musician-actor Bobby Troup, who was married to London in real life). Here's the scene in which Gage and DeSoto meet:
Emergency! The Wedsworth-Townsend Act
The series would add the supporting staff of Gage and DeSoto's Station 51 - including real-life firefighters Dick Hammer (in Season 1) and Mike Stoker - and Rampart's Dr. Mike Morton, played by Ron Pinkard.
"Emergency!" continued in the tradition of other Webb shows of taking rescue situations from real life. It also played a role in the evolution of television into the ensemble cast (10 in all, including the Station 51 and Rampart supporting characters) and featured increased diversity (Mantooth is Native American, Pinkard is African-American, and Marco Lopez, who played a firefighter with the same name, is Hispanic.).
One of the appealing characteristics of "Emergency!" is how it mixed serious rescue situations with humor - often at Gage's expense. The show's core audiences were usually younger than 21, and Mantooth became a frequent presence on the cover of teen magazines. The show generated collectibles such as lunch boxes, comic books and action figures. Mantooth and Tighe also appeared as animated versions of Gage and DeSoto in "Emergency +4," a Saturday-morning action series featuring four rescuers who were children, from 1973-76:
Emergency + 4: S.O.S. Help Us!
Here are two clips from one of the best rescue scenes, from the Season 3 episode "Snakebite." Among other things, Gage is rescuing himself, with the help of the Station 51 crew (minus an anxious DeSoto, who is at Rampart after rescuing teens from a car crash):
Snakebite 1
Snakebite 2
There are numerous rescue workers across the United States who are in their profession because of this show. It is seen daily on ME-TV at 5 p.m. Eastern time, and the entire series is available on DVD.
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Week of April 17: General Hospital: The Golden Music
By Sylvia Gurinsky
ABC's "General Hospital" is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The show has been featuring its greatest hits, remembering pioneers and bringing back supercouples.
The recent Nurses Ball scenes have included some of the show's greatest musical hits.
The peak of "General Hospital's" popularity - the early 1980s - coincided with a rise in the popularity of visual music on resources such as MTV. During that decade and somewhat during the 1990s, the cast list included actor-singers who did both on the show.
Among those who sang on "GH" were John Stamos, who played Blackie, and Wallace Kurth, who played Ned (Ashton) Quartermaine. There were two others who were hitmakers, however.
The first was Rick Springfield, an Australian-born actor-singer who played the handsome Dr. Noah Webber. At the same time Springfield increased heart rates on the show, he was moving up the charts with "Jessie's Girl."
Sorry to say, Springfield's original 1980s "GH" version of the song cannot be found (yet), but here's a recent version he did for the golden anniversary - as himself, not Noah:
Jessie's Girl
Another "GH" heartthrob who was versatile was Jack Wagner, who has played Frisco Jones. While Frisco and Felicia (Kristina Wagner, once married to Jack Wagner offscreen as well as on) were one of "GH's" supercouples, it was Tania (Hilary Edson), not Felicia, to whom Frisco sang "All I Need" in 1984:
All I Need
The biggest "GH" supercouple of them all, Luke and Laura (Anthony Geary and Genie Francis), don't sing. But as they tracked down the Ice Princess and escaped the Cassadines during the early 1980s, the Patti Austin-James Ingram song "Baby Come To Me" was used for their treks. Another Austin-Ingram duet, "How Do You Keep the Music Playing," was used as the love song for Robert and Holly Scorpio ( Tristan Rogers and Emma Samms). Again, alas, no "GH" clips that feature those songs.
In 1998, a CD of music from the show was released - but not those songs, given music rights laws.
But take your Jack Wagner, Rick Springfield and Austin-Ingram CDs and say a Happy Musical 50th to General Hospital!
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
ABC's "General Hospital" is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The show has been featuring its greatest hits, remembering pioneers and bringing back supercouples.
The recent Nurses Ball scenes have included some of the show's greatest musical hits.
The peak of "General Hospital's" popularity - the early 1980s - coincided with a rise in the popularity of visual music on resources such as MTV. During that decade and somewhat during the 1990s, the cast list included actor-singers who did both on the show.
Among those who sang on "GH" were John Stamos, who played Blackie, and Wallace Kurth, who played Ned (Ashton) Quartermaine. There were two others who were hitmakers, however.
The first was Rick Springfield, an Australian-born actor-singer who played the handsome Dr. Noah Webber. At the same time Springfield increased heart rates on the show, he was moving up the charts with "Jessie's Girl."
Sorry to say, Springfield's original 1980s "GH" version of the song cannot be found (yet), but here's a recent version he did for the golden anniversary - as himself, not Noah:
Jessie's Girl
Another "GH" heartthrob who was versatile was Jack Wagner, who has played Frisco Jones. While Frisco and Felicia (Kristina Wagner, once married to Jack Wagner offscreen as well as on) were one of "GH's" supercouples, it was Tania (Hilary Edson), not Felicia, to whom Frisco sang "All I Need" in 1984:
All I Need
The biggest "GH" supercouple of them all, Luke and Laura (Anthony Geary and Genie Francis), don't sing. But as they tracked down the Ice Princess and escaped the Cassadines during the early 1980s, the Patti Austin-James Ingram song "Baby Come To Me" was used for their treks. Another Austin-Ingram duet, "How Do You Keep the Music Playing," was used as the love song for Robert and Holly Scorpio ( Tristan Rogers and Emma Samms). Again, alas, no "GH" clips that feature those songs.
In 1998, a CD of music from the show was released - but not those songs, given music rights laws.
But take your Jack Wagner, Rick Springfield and Austin-Ingram CDs and say a Happy Musical 50th to General Hospital!
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Week of April 9: In Memory of Annette: Who's the Leader of the Club......
By Sylvia Gurinsky
Annette Funicello, who died yesterday after an almost three-decade battle with multiple sclerosis, was a pioneer in her communications about her MS battle. Her lasting legacy will be scientific efforts in her name to find effective treatments and cures for the illness.
But she was a television pioneer, too, of course - as one of the original members of television's "The Mickey Mouse Club."
The website originalmmc.com has an excellent history about how "The Mickey Mouse Club" came together to become an ABC late-afternoon - and children's television - staple during the mid-1950s.
The original Mouseketeers, including Funicello, made their television debut on ABC during the July 17, 1955 opening of Disneyland in California. But "The Mickey Mouse Club" kicked off October 3, 1955 to very high ratings. Funicello quickly became the most popular of the Mousketeers for her quiet charm.
The show mixed Disney cartoons and live-action serials, such as "Spin and Marty," with Mousketeer song and dance numbers relating to daily themes. The format would be used and somewhat modified in a variety of later children's television shows.
Here's a great number with the cast, including Funicello:
Mouseketeer Matinee
The show would be syndicated from 1975-77, and later shown on the Disney Channel. It remains fondly remembered by Baby Boomers, and Disney programs with the original Mouseketeers have remained popular.
For DVD collectors, Disney has released selected shows. Check on Amazon.
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
Annette Funicello, who died yesterday after an almost three-decade battle with multiple sclerosis, was a pioneer in her communications about her MS battle. Her lasting legacy will be scientific efforts in her name to find effective treatments and cures for the illness.
But she was a television pioneer, too, of course - as one of the original members of television's "The Mickey Mouse Club."
The website originalmmc.com has an excellent history about how "The Mickey Mouse Club" came together to become an ABC late-afternoon - and children's television - staple during the mid-1950s.
The original Mouseketeers, including Funicello, made their television debut on ABC during the July 17, 1955 opening of Disneyland in California. But "The Mickey Mouse Club" kicked off October 3, 1955 to very high ratings. Funicello quickly became the most popular of the Mousketeers for her quiet charm.
The show mixed Disney cartoons and live-action serials, such as "Spin and Marty," with Mousketeer song and dance numbers relating to daily themes. The format would be used and somewhat modified in a variety of later children's television shows.
Here's a great number with the cast, including Funicello:
Mouseketeer Matinee
The show would be syndicated from 1975-77, and later shown on the Disney Channel. It remains fondly remembered by Baby Boomers, and Disney programs with the original Mouseketeers have remained popular.
For DVD collectors, Disney has released selected shows. Check on Amazon.
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Week of March 5: One Day at a Time: TV Comedy's Secret Success
By Sylvia Gurinsky
It was the nature of the quality of television comedy during the 1970s and 1980s that "One Day at a Time" could manage to be controversial, successful - and overlooked.
Controversial because of the storyline - divorced mother Ann Romano (Bonnie Franklin, who died last week) of teenage daughters Julie and Barbara Cooper (Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli) tackling such issues as dating, sex, job discrimination and drug use.
Successful because it ran nine seasons.
And overlooked because it was on the air during a time when CBS was at its comedy peak, with shows such as "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "M*A*S*H."
"One Day at a Time" was the last in a string of successful comedies Norman Lear developed during the 1970s - and the only success that was original, not from a British comedy (All in the Family, Sanford and Son) or a spinoff (Maude, The Jeffersons, Good Times).
It was recognized just three times by the Emmys, with a 1982 nomination for Franklin for lead actress and top awards in 1984 for Pat Harrington, Jr.'s hilarious portrayal of landlord Schneider and in 1982 for Alan Rafkin's direction of an episode in which Barbara discovers she might not be able to have children.
Inexplicably, none of the writing team, which included Lear, co-creators Whitney Blake and Alan Manings and some of TV's best from that era, ever received a nomination for even one Emmy. The writers took major chances, creating story arcs of three or four episodes unheard of for a comedy series.
Here's a look at "Pressure," in which Barbara debated whether to have sex with her boyfriend:
One Day at a Time - Pressure
Just as inexplicable, only the first season is available on DVD. The reminisences of Franklin may trigger a call for the release of more.
Sadly, the show seems to be best remembered today for its catchy theme song and Phillips' repeated departures from the show due to her own battle with drugs.
The rest of the cast and crew deserve much more. And "One Day" deserves a full series DVD release.
See you next week.
It was the nature of the quality of television comedy during the 1970s and 1980s that "One Day at a Time" could manage to be controversial, successful - and overlooked.
Controversial because of the storyline - divorced mother Ann Romano (Bonnie Franklin, who died last week) of teenage daughters Julie and Barbara Cooper (Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli) tackling such issues as dating, sex, job discrimination and drug use.
Successful because it ran nine seasons.
And overlooked because it was on the air during a time when CBS was at its comedy peak, with shows such as "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "M*A*S*H."
"One Day at a Time" was the last in a string of successful comedies Norman Lear developed during the 1970s - and the only success that was original, not from a British comedy (All in the Family, Sanford and Son) or a spinoff (Maude, The Jeffersons, Good Times).
It was recognized just three times by the Emmys, with a 1982 nomination for Franklin for lead actress and top awards in 1984 for Pat Harrington, Jr.'s hilarious portrayal of landlord Schneider and in 1982 for Alan Rafkin's direction of an episode in which Barbara discovers she might not be able to have children.
Inexplicably, none of the writing team, which included Lear, co-creators Whitney Blake and Alan Manings and some of TV's best from that era, ever received a nomination for even one Emmy. The writers took major chances, creating story arcs of three or four episodes unheard of for a comedy series.
Here's a look at "Pressure," in which Barbara debated whether to have sex with her boyfriend:
One Day at a Time - Pressure
Just as inexplicable, only the first season is available on DVD. The reminisences of Franklin may trigger a call for the release of more.
Sadly, the show seems to be best remembered today for its catchy theme song and Phillips' repeated departures from the show due to her own battle with drugs.
The rest of the cast and crew deserve much more. And "One Day" deserves a full series DVD release.
See you next week.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Week of February 19: "Downton Abbey's" Continued Success Just Got Trickier
By Sylvia Gurinsky
(You know the deal: If you haven't seen the finale of Series 3, don't read this. There are spoilers.)
With the deaths of two major - and beloved - characters within three episodes, the future success of "Downton Abbey" isn't dicey just when it comes to Lord Grantham's beloved estate.
"Downton Abbey" creator Julian Fellowes rolled some big dice with his decisions to deal with the departures of Jessica Brown Findlay and Dan Stevens by killing off their characters, Lady Sybil Crawley-Branson and Matthew Crawley.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the risks taken in 1975 when "M*A*S*H" producers Gene Reynolds and Larry Gelbart decided to kill off the character of Henry Blake, played by McLean Stevenson. But when Wayne Rogers left at the same time, his character, Trapper John McEntyre, went home off camera, rather than suffering the same fate.
It was a wise decision, and one that triggered a plotline (Trapper didn't say goodbye to Hawkeye.) that would be carried all the way through the end of the series in 1983.
Other than "M*A*S*H," however, other American television shows haven't fared so well when they've said goodbye to multiple cast members at once. "The Waltons" faced the same circumstance when Richard Thomas (John-Boy) left, Ellen Corby (Grandma) suffered a stroke and Will Geer (Grandpa) died within the course of a year. Series creator Earl Hamner incorporated their fates into those of their characters in a realistic way. But ratings were never the same. When Michael Learned left the show two years later and her character, Olivia Walton, went into a sanitarium for tuberculosis patients, the show's slip had already started in earnest.
On the original "Hawaii Five-O," Kam Fong left after Season 10; his character, Chin Ho Kelly, was killed off. James MacArthur left after Season 11 with no explanation of the fate of his character, Danny Williams. The show was cancelled after Season 12, just a shell of what it had been.
Fans of "Downton Abbey" in the United Kingdom already started expressing their anger when the plot of the Series 3 finale began to leak and ratings went down considerably for the Christmas Day airing.
We probably won't know until next January how PBS viewers will respond - and how it will affect PBS' fund-raising and sponsorships, which have been helped considerably by "Downton's" success.
But cartoonist Marshall Ramsey had a brilliant - and hilarious - suggestion of how PBS might deal with the fallout:
The Most Successful PBS Pledge Drive Ever
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
(You know the deal: If you haven't seen the finale of Series 3, don't read this. There are spoilers.)
With the deaths of two major - and beloved - characters within three episodes, the future success of "Downton Abbey" isn't dicey just when it comes to Lord Grantham's beloved estate.
"Downton Abbey" creator Julian Fellowes rolled some big dice with his decisions to deal with the departures of Jessica Brown Findlay and Dan Stevens by killing off their characters, Lady Sybil Crawley-Branson and Matthew Crawley.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the risks taken in 1975 when "M*A*S*H" producers Gene Reynolds and Larry Gelbart decided to kill off the character of Henry Blake, played by McLean Stevenson. But when Wayne Rogers left at the same time, his character, Trapper John McEntyre, went home off camera, rather than suffering the same fate.
It was a wise decision, and one that triggered a plotline (Trapper didn't say goodbye to Hawkeye.) that would be carried all the way through the end of the series in 1983.
Other than "M*A*S*H," however, other American television shows haven't fared so well when they've said goodbye to multiple cast members at once. "The Waltons" faced the same circumstance when Richard Thomas (John-Boy) left, Ellen Corby (Grandma) suffered a stroke and Will Geer (Grandpa) died within the course of a year. Series creator Earl Hamner incorporated their fates into those of their characters in a realistic way. But ratings were never the same. When Michael Learned left the show two years later and her character, Olivia Walton, went into a sanitarium for tuberculosis patients, the show's slip had already started in earnest.
On the original "Hawaii Five-O," Kam Fong left after Season 10; his character, Chin Ho Kelly, was killed off. James MacArthur left after Season 11 with no explanation of the fate of his character, Danny Williams. The show was cancelled after Season 12, just a shell of what it had been.
Fans of "Downton Abbey" in the United Kingdom already started expressing their anger when the plot of the Series 3 finale began to leak and ratings went down considerably for the Christmas Day airing.
We probably won't know until next January how PBS viewers will respond - and how it will affect PBS' fund-raising and sponsorships, which have been helped considerably by "Downton's" success.
But cartoonist Marshall Ramsey had a brilliant - and hilarious - suggestion of how PBS might deal with the fallout:
The Most Successful PBS Pledge Drive Ever
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Week of January 29: The Episode That Changed Life (and Death) on TV
By Sylvia Gurinsky
This week's sad episode of "Downton Abbey" reminded viewers again of the emotions involved in embracing major characters when they die.
It wasn't always that way.
During the first couple of decades of television, even the real-life deaths of actors and actresses didn't usually influence what happened to their characters on the screen. When William Frawley and Bea Benaderet died, for example, their television characters, "Bub" O'Casey of "My Three Sons" and Kate Bradley of "Petticoat Junction," lived on in "visits" to other places.
Then came March 18, 1975.
MacLean Stevenson had decided to leave "M*A*S*H" at the end of its third season and try his luck elsewhere (a better decision for "M*A*S*H" than for Stevenson, as it turned out). It resulted in a fateful choice by series creators Gene Reynolds and Larry Gelbart about Stevenson's character, Lt. Col. Henry Blake.
That night, the episode "Abyssinia, Henry" aired - the season finale. Henry was going home. The episode was relatively lighthearted, if poignant, until the final scene, which the cast had filmed without seeing the script in advance:
Final Scene of "Abyssinia Henry"
There was a powerful - and negative - reaction from viewers. CBS and series producer 20th Century Fox received more than 1,000 letters - most of them angry at the killing off of a beloved character.
But Reynolds and Gelbart explained, correctly, that in a war, many never got the chance to go home, and Henry's death reflected that.
Shows also began to get bolder about dealing with characters whose actors left. "Good Times" (in a decision that turned out to be lousy for the show) killed off the character of James Evans when actor John Amos left over a salary dispute in 1976.
"The Waltons" dealt realistically with the death of Grandpa Walton when Will Geer died in 1978. And when Will Lee died in 1982, "Sesame Street" had a stellar episode in which the cast explained to Big Bird - and children - that Lee's character, storekeeper Mr. Hooper, had died also:
Mr. "Looper"
"Abyssinia Henry," powerful to this day, is on the "M*A*S*H" Season 3 DVD.
See you next week. Until then, Happy (if somewhat mournful for "Downton Abbey" watchers) Viewing!
This week's sad episode of "Downton Abbey" reminded viewers again of the emotions involved in embracing major characters when they die.
It wasn't always that way.
During the first couple of decades of television, even the real-life deaths of actors and actresses didn't usually influence what happened to their characters on the screen. When William Frawley and Bea Benaderet died, for example, their television characters, "Bub" O'Casey of "My Three Sons" and Kate Bradley of "Petticoat Junction," lived on in "visits" to other places.
Then came March 18, 1975.
MacLean Stevenson had decided to leave "M*A*S*H" at the end of its third season and try his luck elsewhere (a better decision for "M*A*S*H" than for Stevenson, as it turned out). It resulted in a fateful choice by series creators Gene Reynolds and Larry Gelbart about Stevenson's character, Lt. Col. Henry Blake.
That night, the episode "Abyssinia, Henry" aired - the season finale. Henry was going home. The episode was relatively lighthearted, if poignant, until the final scene, which the cast had filmed without seeing the script in advance:
Final Scene of "Abyssinia Henry"
There was a powerful - and negative - reaction from viewers. CBS and series producer 20th Century Fox received more than 1,000 letters - most of them angry at the killing off of a beloved character.
But Reynolds and Gelbart explained, correctly, that in a war, many never got the chance to go home, and Henry's death reflected that.
Shows also began to get bolder about dealing with characters whose actors left. "Good Times" (in a decision that turned out to be lousy for the show) killed off the character of James Evans when actor John Amos left over a salary dispute in 1976.
"The Waltons" dealt realistically with the death of Grandpa Walton when Will Geer died in 1978. And when Will Lee died in 1982, "Sesame Street" had a stellar episode in which the cast explained to Big Bird - and children - that Lee's character, storekeeper Mr. Hooper, had died also:
Mr. "Looper"
"Abyssinia Henry," powerful to this day, is on the "M*A*S*H" Season 3 DVD.
See you next week. Until then, Happy (if somewhat mournful for "Downton Abbey" watchers) Viewing!
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Week of January 16: There She Is, Again
By Sylvia Gurinsky
If Miss America hasn't quite regained her mid-20th century glory, she has returned successfully to network television.
For the third straight year, ABC has televised the pageant to good ratings - the best since 2004 for this year's event, which took place in Las Vegas.
Miss America, created in Atlantic City in 1921, was a major symbol of the American woman when the first televised pageant took place Sept. 11, 1954 on ABC. Appropriately, the first televised winner - Lee Meriwether - has since compiled an impressive TV resume, including co-starring on the CBS series "Barnaby Jones" and playing the second Ruth Martin on ABC's "All My Children."
About four and a half minutes into this "What's My Line" clip from September, 1954, Meriwether appears with her Miss America crown:
Lee Meriwether
The pageant was also the first for Bert Parks, best known as a game show host at the time. His songs could often be corny, but he became best known for the song he sang for a just crowned Miss America: "There She Is, Miss America" (which, alas, is no longer played for the winner).
Miss America had its first color telecast on NBC in 1966. But the pageant, which began to struggle during the 1960s and 1970s as a result of the women's rights movement and changing demographics, fired Parks in 1979. Amid much of the criticism, "Tonight Show" host Johnny Carson staged a tongue-in-cheek protest in support of Parks. Gary Collins (husband of 1959 Miss America Mary Ann Mobley) and Regis Philbin and Kathie Lee Gifford (a one-time America's Junior Miss competitor) have been among the subsequent hosts. In 1991, in honor of the pageant's 70th anniversary, Parks came back to join Collins and sing his trademark one last time before his 1992 death:
There She Is
Mallory Hytes Hagan, last week's winner, became the third Miss America from New York, joining two trailblazers: Bess Myerson, the first Jewish Miss America (1945) and Vanessa Williams, the first African-American, crowned in 1984:
Vanessa Williams
Williams gave up her title to New Jersey's Suzette Charles, also African-American, as a result of a scandal in which nude pictures of her were published in "Penthouse" magazine. But Williams has gone on to have a successful singing and television career in such shows as "Ugly Betty" and "Desperate Housewives."
It is still a talent and scholarship pageant that continues to generate new generations of television faces. And thanks to its renewed popularity, Miss America will be there, on our TV screens, for a while.
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
If Miss America hasn't quite regained her mid-20th century glory, she has returned successfully to network television.
For the third straight year, ABC has televised the pageant to good ratings - the best since 2004 for this year's event, which took place in Las Vegas.
Miss America, created in Atlantic City in 1921, was a major symbol of the American woman when the first televised pageant took place Sept. 11, 1954 on ABC. Appropriately, the first televised winner - Lee Meriwether - has since compiled an impressive TV resume, including co-starring on the CBS series "Barnaby Jones" and playing the second Ruth Martin on ABC's "All My Children."
About four and a half minutes into this "What's My Line" clip from September, 1954, Meriwether appears with her Miss America crown:
Lee Meriwether
The pageant was also the first for Bert Parks, best known as a game show host at the time. His songs could often be corny, but he became best known for the song he sang for a just crowned Miss America: "There She Is, Miss America" (which, alas, is no longer played for the winner).
Miss America had its first color telecast on NBC in 1966. But the pageant, which began to struggle during the 1960s and 1970s as a result of the women's rights movement and changing demographics, fired Parks in 1979. Amid much of the criticism, "Tonight Show" host Johnny Carson staged a tongue-in-cheek protest in support of Parks. Gary Collins (husband of 1959 Miss America Mary Ann Mobley) and Regis Philbin and Kathie Lee Gifford (a one-time America's Junior Miss competitor) have been among the subsequent hosts. In 1991, in honor of the pageant's 70th anniversary, Parks came back to join Collins and sing his trademark one last time before his 1992 death:
There She Is
Mallory Hytes Hagan, last week's winner, became the third Miss America from New York, joining two trailblazers: Bess Myerson, the first Jewish Miss America (1945) and Vanessa Williams, the first African-American, crowned in 1984:
Vanessa Williams
Williams gave up her title to New Jersey's Suzette Charles, also African-American, as a result of a scandal in which nude pictures of her were published in "Penthouse" magazine. But Williams has gone on to have a successful singing and television career in such shows as "Ugly Betty" and "Desperate Housewives."
It is still a talent and scholarship pageant that continues to generate new generations of television faces. And thanks to its renewed popularity, Miss America will be there, on our TV screens, for a while.
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Week of January 8: Klugman and Durning's Finest
By Sylvia Gurinsky
Jack Klugman and Charles Durning made significant marks in television.
Klugman's most famous role, of course, was as Oscar Madison on "The Odd Couple" (ABC, 1970-75). But the issue-oriented "Quincy, M.E.," which ran on NBC from 1976-83 (starting as part of the "NBC Mystery Movie"), was just as good. Here's a clip from Season 2's "A Good Smack in the Head," about abuse:
Quincy
Durning was in numerous shows, including the CBS comedy "Evening Shade" (1990-94). But his most moving television was his own story. For years, he co-hosted "The National Memorial Day Concert" on PBS. In 2007, he talked about his D-Day experience:
D-Day
The entire series of "The Odd Couple," the first four seasons of "Quincy, M.E." and the first season of "Evening Shade" have been released on DVD.
See you next week.
Jack Klugman and Charles Durning made significant marks in television.
Klugman's most famous role, of course, was as Oscar Madison on "The Odd Couple" (ABC, 1970-75). But the issue-oriented "Quincy, M.E.," which ran on NBC from 1976-83 (starting as part of the "NBC Mystery Movie"), was just as good. Here's a clip from Season 2's "A Good Smack in the Head," about abuse:
Quincy
Durning was in numerous shows, including the CBS comedy "Evening Shade" (1990-94). But his most moving television was his own story. For years, he co-hosted "The National Memorial Day Concert" on PBS. In 2007, he talked about his D-Day experience:
D-Day
The entire series of "The Odd Couple," the first four seasons of "Quincy, M.E." and the first season of "Evening Shade" have been released on DVD.
See you next week.
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