It’s Always Jan is an American situation comedy starring Janis Paige, which aired on CBS in the 1955-1956 season. It was the lead-in program at 9:30 p.m. Eastern on Saturday evenings to the first season of the long-running western, Gunsmoke, starring James Arness.
The program centers on war widow and single mother Jan Stewart and her two single female roommates, secretary Pat Murphy (Patricia Bright), and model Val Marlowe (Merry Anders). A Desilu Production, It’s Always Jan borrowed elements of various programs and films from the period but lacked the ingredients for general popularity and long-lasting success. Janis Paige’s hairstyle resembled that of Lucy Ricardo, CBS’s most successful comedy character of the decade in the I Love Lucy program, starring Lucille Ball, also the Desilu co-owner. With three single women in the series, the program borrowed on the theme of the films Three Coins in the Fountain and How to Marry a Millionaire, later made into a syndicated television series co-starring Barbara Eden and Merry Anders, Paige’s co-star.
In the series, Jan Stewart devotes much of her time not to the children or the roommates but to her potential paramours and her performances at New York City’s Tony’s Cellar nightclub, the series’ setting. As with other programs like The Red Skelton Show and The Ann Sothern Show, Paige closed each episode by bidding the home audience “Good night.
Two actors who later became known for other roles each guest-starred in three episode of It’s Always Jan. Arte Johnson portrayed delicatessen delivery-boy Stanley Schreiber,and rocketed to fame more than a decade later in the NBC comedy Laugh-In. Sid Melton played Jan’s agent, Harry Cooper; several years later, he became known as comical nightclub manager Charlie Halper on CBS’s The Danny Thomas Show, with Pat Carroll, playing his wife “Bunny” Halper.
I Love Lucy is a landmark American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15th, 1951, to May 6th, 1957, on CBS. After the series ended in 1957, however, a modified version continued for three more seasons with 13 one-hour specials, running from 1957 to 1960, known first as The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show and later in reruns as The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour.
The show was the first scripted television program to be shot on 35 mm film in front of a studio audience, and won five Emmy Awards and received numerous nominations. Another award that the show won was the coveted George Foster Peabody Award for “recognition of distinguished achievement in television.
Originally set in an apartment building in New York City, I Love Lucy centers on Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) and her singer/bandleader husband Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz), along with their best friends and landlords Fred Mertz (William Frawley) and Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance). During the second season, Lucy and Ricky have a son named Ricky Ricardo, Jr. (“Little Ricky”), whose birth was timed to coincide with Ball’s real-life delivery of her son Desi Arnaz Jr.
Lucy is naïve and ambitious, with an undeserved zeal for stardom and a knack for getting herself and her husband into trouble whenever Lucy yearns to make it in show business. The Ricardos’ best friends, Fred and Ethel, are former vaudevillians and this only strengthens Lucy’s resolve to prove herself as a performer. Unfortunately, she has few marketable performance skills. She does not seem to be able to carry a tune or play anything other than off-key renditions of songs such as “Glow Worm” or “Sweet Sue” on the saxophone, and many of her performances devolve into disaster. However, to say she is completely without talent would be untrue, as on occasion, she is shown to be a good dancer and a competent singer. She is also at least twice offered contracts by television or film companies—first in “The Audition” when she replaces an injured clown in Ricky’s act, and later in Hollywood when she dances for a studio benefit using a rubber Ricky dummy as her dancing partner.
Burns and Allen, an American comedy duo consisting of George Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen, worked together as a comedy team in vaudeville, films, radio and television and achieved great success over four decades. Burns and Allen met in 1922 and first performed together at the Hill Street Theatre in Newark, New Jersey, continued in small town vaudeville theaters, married in Cleveland on January 7, 1926, and moved up […]
The Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show featured many notable comedians and entertainers of the era as guest stars. The program evolved from NBC’s first TV variety showcase, Four Star Revue, sponsored by Motorola. The “running gag” sketches were […]
Arthur Godfrey and His Friends is an American television variety show hosted by Arthur Godfrey. The hour-long series aired on CBS Television from January 1949 to June 1957 (as The Arthur Godfrey Show after September 1956), then again as a half-hour show from September 1958 to April 1959. Many of Godfrey’s musical acts were culled from Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts, which was airing on […]
Perry Como made the move to television when NBC initially televised the Chesterfield Supper Club radio program on December 24th, 1948. A very special guest on that first television show was Como’s eight-year-old son, Ronnie, as part of a boys’ choir singing “Silent Night” with his father. The show was the usual Friday night Chesterfield Supper Club with an important […]
Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts (also known as Talent Scouts) is an American radio and television variety show which ran on CBS from 1946 until 1958. Sponsored by Lipton Tea, it stars Arthur Godfrey, who was also hosting Arthur Godfrey and His Friends at the same time. The concept for the show was that Godfrey had several “talent scouts” who brought their discoveries onto […]
Edward Vincent “Ed” Sullivan (September 28th, 1901 – October 13th, 1974) was an American entertainment writer and television host, best known as the presenter of the television variety program The Toast of the Town, now usually remembered under its second name, The Ed Sullivan Show. Broadcast for 23 years from 1948 to 1971, it set […]
Room 222 is an American comedy-drama television series produced by 20th Century Fox Television. The series aired on ABC for 112 episodes from September 17th, 1969 until January 11th, 1974. The series focused on an American history class at the fictional Walt Whitman High School in Los Angeles, California, although it also depicted other events […]
The Johnny Cash Show was an American television music variety show hosted by Johnny Cash. The Screen Gems 58-episode series ran from June 7th, 1969 to March 31st, 1971 on ABC; it was taped at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. The show reached No. 17 in the Nielsen ratings in 1970. Cash opened each […]
This Is Tom Jones was an ATV variety series starring Tom Jones. The series was exported to the United States by ITC Entertainment and was networked there by ABC. The series ran between 1969 and 1971 to total 65 color episodes. Jones was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for “Best Actor In a Television […]
The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour is an American network television music and comedy variety show hosted by singer Glen Campbell from January 1969 through June 1972 on CBS. He was offered the show after he hosted a 1968 summer replacement for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Campbell used “Gentle on My Mind” as the theme song of the show. The […]
The Doris Day Show is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS Television network from September 1968 until March 1973, remaining on the air for five seasons and 128 episodes. The Doris Day Show was also the title of her radio show which aired from Hollywood in 1952, with “It’s Magic” as […]
A “hippie” undercover cop show that ran on ABC from September 24th, 1968, until August 23rd, 1973. It starred Michael Cole as Pete Cochran, Peggy Lipton as Julie Barnes, Clarence Williams III as Linc Hayes, and Tige Andrews as Captain Adam Greer. The executive producers of the series were Aaron Spelling and Danny Thomas. They were The Mod Squad (“One black, one white, one blond”), the hippest and first young undercover […]
Lancer is an American Western series that aired on CBS from September 1968, to May 1970. Lancer lasted for fifty-one hour-long episodes shot in color. The series stars Andrew Duggan, James Stacy, and Wayne Maunder as a father with two half-brother sons, an arrangement similar to the more successful Bonanza on NBC. Duggan stars as […]
Mayberry R.F.D. is an American television series produced as a spin-off and direct continuation of The Andy Griffith Show. When star Andy Griffith decided to leave his series, most of the supporting characters returned for the new program, which ran for three seasons (78 episodes) on the CBS Television Network from 1968–1971. During the final season of The Andy Griffith Show, widower farmer Sam Jones (Ken […]
Adam-12 is a television police drama that followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they rode the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by R. A. Cinader and Jack Webb, who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a typical […]
Julia is an American sitcom notable for being one of the first weekly series to depict an African American woman in a non-stereotypical role. Previous television series featured African American lead characters, but the characters were usually servants. The show stars actress and singer Diahann Carroll, and ran for 86 episodes on NBC from September 17th, 1968 to March 23rd, 1971. The series was produced […]
This tape will self-destruct in 5 seconds…. Mission: Impossible is an American television series that was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicles the missions of a team of secret government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force (IMF). In the first season, the team is led by Dan Briggs, played by Steven […]
Family Affair is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from September 12th, 1966 to September 9th, 1971. The series explored the trials of well-to-do civil engineer and bachelor Bill Davis (Brian Keith) as he attempted to raise his brother’s orphaned children in his luxury New York City apartment. Davis’ traditional English gentleman’s gentleman, Mr. […]
Bewitched is an American TV situation comedy fantasy that was originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972. It was created by Sol Saks under executive director Harry Ackerman, and starred actress Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York (1964–1969), Dick Sargent (1969–1972), Agnes Moorehead, and David White. The show is about a witch who […]
My Three Sons is an American situation comedy. The series ran from 1960 to 1965 on ABC, and moved to CBS until its end on August 24th, 1972. My Three Sons chronicles the life of a widower and aeronautical engineer named Steven Douglas (Fred MacMurray), raising his three sons. The series also starred William Frawley as the boys’ live-in maternal grandfather, Bub. William Demarest replaced […]
We got a right to pick a little fight Bonanza! If anyone fights anyone of us, he’s got a fight with me. We’re not a one to saddle up and run Bonanza! Bonanza is an NBC television western series that ran from September 12th, 1959, to January 16th, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, […]
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television. […]
The Lawrence Welk Show is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years (1951–55), then nationally for another 27½ years via the ABC network (1955–71). In 1951, The Lawrence Welk Show started as a local program on KTLA-TV in Los […]
Lassie is an American television series that follows the adventures of a female Rough Collie dog named Lassie and her companions, human and animal. The show was the creation of producer Robert Maxwell and animal trainer Rudd Weatherwax and was televised from September 12th, 1954, to March 24th, 1973. The show chalked up seventeen seasons […]
Name That Tune is an American television game show that put two contestants against each other to test their knowledge of songs. Premiering in the United States on NBC Radio in 1952, the show was created and produced by Harry Salter and his wife Roberta. Name That Tune ran from 1953 to 1959 on NBC and CBS in prime time. The first hosts were Red Benson […]
The Red Skelton Show is an American variety show that was a television staple for two decades, from 1951 to 1971. The host of the show, Richard Bernard “Red” Skelton, who had previously been a radio star, had appeared in several motion pictures as well. Although his television series is largely associated with CBS, where it appeared for more than fifteen years, it actually began and […]
Mayberry R.F.D. is an American television series produced as a spin-off and direct continuation of The Andy Griffith Show. When star Andy Griffith decided to leave his series, most of the supporting characters returned for the new program, which ran for three seasons (78 episodes) on the CBS Television Network from 1968–1971.
During the final season of The Andy Griffith Show, widower farmer Sam Jones (Ken Berry) and his young son Mike (Buddy Foster) are introduced and gradually become the show’s focus. Sheriff Andy Taylor takes a backseat in the storylines, establishing the sequel series. The show’s first episode, “Andy and Helen’s Wedding”, had the highest ratings in recorded television history (up to premiere date in 1968). Sheriff Taylor and newlywed wife Helen make guest appearances on R.F.D. until late 1969, and then relocate with Opie. Mayberry R.F.D. was popular throughout its entire run, but was canceled after its third season in CBS’s infamous “rural purge” of 1971. R.F.D. stands for “Rural Free Delivery“, a quaint postal depiction of the rural Mayberry community.
Father and son stories involving Sam and Mike Jones are reminiscent of the parent series. Both characters are introduced in the last season of The Andy Griffith Show (TAGS), beginning with Sam’s election as head of the town council. Most of town folk from TAGS reprise their roles in the sequel. Loyal Mayberry citizens Goober Pyle (George Lindsey), Clara Edwards (Hope Summers), Emmett Clark (Paul Hartman), and Howard Sprague (Jack Dodson) are seen regularly.
Sheriff Andy Taylor and his sweetheart, Helen Crump (Aneta Corsaut), marry in the sequel’s first episode. Both make additional appearances (mostly Andy), then leave the series in late 1969, with a move to Raleigh, North Carolina as the explanation. Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier) becomes Sam’s housekeeper but leaves after the second season to be replaced by Sam’s cousin, Alice Cooper (Alice Ghostley). Don Knotts and Ronny Howard, as Barney Fife and Opie Taylor respectively, appear in the first episode. Actress Arlene Golonka (who played Howard Sprague’s sweetheart Millie Hutchins/Swanson in the Griffith show) becomes Sam’s love interest in the sequel. A recurring black character named Ralph (Charles Lampkin) lives with a teen daughter and pre-teen son next to the Jones farm. Episodes include Andy’s wedding (“Andy & Helen Get Married”, episode #1); the christening of their infant son Andy (“Andy’s Baby”, episode #27); Aunt Bee getting engaged, (“Aunt Bee and the Captain”, episode #16); friction over a parade (“Mayberry’s Float”, episode #39); and a visit from Goober’s rocket-scientist brother (“Goober’s Brother”, episode #44).
My Mother the Car is an American fantasy sitcom which aired for a single season on NBC between September 14th, 1965 and April 5th, 1966. A total of 30 episodes were produced by United Artists Television.
Critics and adult viewers generally panned the show, often savagely. My Mother the Car was an original variation on then-popular “gimmick” shows like My Favorite Martian, The Flying Nun, I Dream of Jeannie, and especially Mister Ed, all of which depended on a fantastic, quirky premise for their comedy. Like these situation comedies of the 1960s, My Mother the Car is remembered fondly by baby boomers who followed the series during its one broadcast season.
Allan Burns, co-creator of My Mother the Car, went on to create some of the most critically acclaimed shows in television history, including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Rhoda. Television producer James L. Brooks, who later collaborated with Burns on these series, also created Room 222, and got his start in television sitcoms when he was called upon to rewrite a script for an episode of the series. The other co-creator, Chris Hayward, produced and wrote for Barney Miller during its first several seasons. Burns and Heyward had better success with Rocky and Bullwinkle, The Munsters, and Get Smart, which debuted the same season.
The show follows the exploits of attorney David Crabtree (played by Jerry Van Dyke), who, while shopping at a used car lot for a station wagon to serve as a second family car, instead purchases a dilapidated 1928 Porter touring car. Crabtree hears the car call his name in a woman’s voice. The car turns out to be the reincarnation of his deceased mother, Gladys (voiced by Ann Sothern). She talks (only to Crabtree) through the car’s radio: the dial light flashes in synchronization with “Mother’s” voice. In an effort to get his family to accept the old, tired car, Crabtree brings it to a custom body shop for a full restoration. The car is coveted by a fanatical collector named Captain Manzini (Avery Schreiber), but Crabtree purchases and restores the car before Manzini can acquire it.
For the rest of the series, Crabtree is pursued by the avaricious Captain Manzini, who is determined to acquire the valuable automobile by hook or crook. In a running gag characterizing his shifty nature, Manzini (who resembles a 1920s silent film villain) always distorts Crabtree’s name when speaking to him. “Now, then, Crabapple…” “That’s Crabtree.” “Whatever.”
Others in the cast included Maggie Pierce as wife Barbara and Cindy Eilbacher (the sister of Lisa Eilbacher) and Randy Whipple as the kids, Cindy and Randy. Veteran movie and television character actors played supporting roles, including Harold Peary, Byron Foulger, Bob Jellison, Sam Flint, and Willis Bouchey.
In an American variety show special that the brothers Dick Van Dyke and Jerry Van Dyke appeared together on, Jerry noted that his first program, My Mother the Car, did not even complete one season. Jerry said that his final episode was interrupted by a special news report on the American NASA space program. Jerry lamented that when the news special was over, his program was not resumed. It would be many years before the final episode could be seen in its entirety.
The 1928 Porter used in My Mother the Car was not a production car, although real Porter cars existed. The first was a steam automobile (Boston, Massachusetts, 1900–1901). The second car was a powerful luxury car (Bridgeport, Connecticut, 1919–1922) made from parts left over from production of Finley R Porter’s FRP. By the 1960s, no examples of either remained.
For the TV show, assistant prop man Kaye Trapp leased the producers a 1924 Ford T-tub hot rod he recently bought from his friend and its builder, Norm Grabowski. Both Grabowski and the car had earlier appeared in the B movie comedy Sex Kittens Go to College (1960).
The 1928 Porter touring car sported diamond-tufted naugahyde upholstery, oversized white tonneau cover, plush black carpeting, chrome windshield braces and half-moon hubcaps. Trapp and studio special effects man Norm Breedlove (father of land-speed-record-setter Craig Breedlove) modified the car to give it an elongated engine compartment, palladian-style brass radiator with “Porter” script, a spare tire mounted on the running board, outboard fuel tank and antique cane-clad trunk. It was later fitted, as needed, with special effects hardware, such as an oil tank drip to simulate a smoking engine and “tear ducts” in the headlamp bezels. Off-camera operation of electrics was by umbilical cable. The signature features gave it an anachronistic look, resembling cars of earlier eras.
The power train was the rod-grade 283 cu in V8 (Chevrolet small-block) engine mated with Powerglide automatic transmission. The “Porter” was registered (as a modified Ford) in 1964 with the contemporary yellow-on-black California license plates PZR 317 evident throughout the show’s run. Though it bore a few design similarities with the FRP Porter, which may have suggested the television car’s moniker, it is rumored that the car was named after the show’s production manager, W. A. Porter.
When series production was approved, the Grabowski rod was retained as the “hero” car, and a second — “stunt”, or special effects — car was commissioned and built by celebrated car customizer George Barris, whose Barris Kustom Industries licensed it to AMT for model kit production (an inaccurate rendering) and also toured it after series wrap with other of his creations. The stunt car, not conventionally driveable, was ingeniously equipped with apparatus to let Mother “drive herself” via a system of levers and mirrors operated by a short human driver concealed on a tractor seat below the removed rear floorboards. It also had other special mechanical features, such as gimbaled headlamps.
Both cars had the dashboard-mounted radio head with flashing dial light through which Mother “talked” (though only to her son). These scenes were filmed with a stand-in; actress Ann Sothern’s voice was dubbed to the soundtrack in post-production. Generally, the hero car was used for driving shots and close-ups, and the stunt car for long shots and special effects sequences. Either was available as a stand-in in case of mechanical breakdown on set. Though made to represent one car, they can be distinguished by minor details, and actually appeared together in one episode.
Additionally, a third car was used in filming, representing both the dilapidated car-lot Porter of the pilot and, in another episode, a “1932 Porter”. This car may not have been complete, and its existence and whereabouts are unknown.
My Three Sons is an American situation comedy. The series ran from 1960 to 1965 on ABC, and moved to CBS until its end on August 24th, 1972.
My Three Sons chronicles the life of a widower and aeronautical engineer named Steven Douglas (Fred MacMurray), raising his three sons. The series also starred William Frawley as the boys’ live-in maternal grandfather, Bub. William Demarest replaced Frawley in 1965 due to Frawley’s health issues.
General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric’s Department of Public Relations.
The television version of the program, produced by MCA-TV / Revue, was broadcast every Sunday evening at 9:00pm, EST, beginning February 1st, 1953, and ending May 27th, 1962. Each of the estimated 209 television episodes was an adaptation of a novel, short story, play, film, or magazine fiction. An exception was the 1954 episode Music for Christmas, which featured choral director Fred Waring and his group The Pennsylvanians performing Christmas music.
On September 26th, 1954, Ronald Reagan debuted as the only host of the program. GE added a host to provide continuity in the anthology format. After four months, the show reached the Top Ten in the Nielsen ratings.
The show made the already well-known Reagan, who had appeared in many films as a “second lead” throughout his career, wealthy, due to his part ownership of the show. After eight years as host, Reagan estimated he had visited 135 GE research and manufacturing facilities, and met over a quarter-million people. During that time he would also speak at other forums such as Rotary clubs and Moose lodges, presenting views on economic progress that in form and content were often similar to what he said in introductions, segues and closing comments on the show as a spokesman for GE. Reagan, who would later be known as “The Great Communicator” because of his oratorical prowess, often credited these engagements as helping him develop his public speaking abilities.
Reagan was fired by General Electric in 1962 in response to his reference to the TVA as one of the problems of “big government.” Reagan would subsequently reiterate his points in his famous 1964 televised speech for Republican presidential nominee Barry M. Goldwater of Arizona entitled, “A Time for Choosing.”
The publicity Reagan gained in part from this speech paved the way for his election as governor of California in 1966, when he unseated the two-term Democrat Edmund G. “Pat” Brown, Sr.
Michael Reagan, adopted son of Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman, contends that Attorney General of the United States Robert F. Kennedy pressured GE to cancel The General Electric Theater or at least to fire Reagan as the host if the program were to continue. The series was not dropped because of low ratings but political intervention, Michael Reagan still maintains. Michael Reagan said that Robert Kennedy told GE officials that the company would receive no federal contracts so long as Reagan was host of their showcase television series. According to Michael Reagan, Kennedy’s directive is another example of the “law of unintended consequences.”
In fact, the primary reason Reagan was fired by General Electric for his comments regarding the TVA was that the TVA was one of General Electric’s biggest customers. General Electric was and remains the largest supplier of equipment to the TVA and most other electricity producers in the United States.
Don Herbert, a television personality well known as the host of Watch Mr. Wizard, appeared as the “General Electric Progress Reporter,” adding a scientific touch to the institutional advertising pitch. The show was produced by Revue Studios, whose successor-in-interest, NBC Universal Television, is co-owned by GE.
Following General Electric Theater’s cancellation in 1962, the series was replaced in the same time slot by the short-lived GE-sponsored GE True, hosted by Jack Webb.
My Friend Tony is an American crime drama that aired on NBC in 1969. The pilot originally aired as “My Pal Tony” on The Danny Thomas Hour on March 4th, 1968. The series features Enzo Cerusico as the title character, Tony Novello, and James Whitmore as John Woodruff, a professor of criminology who served in Italy during World War II. As a child, Novello had been a street urchin who survived […]
Get Smart is an American comedy television series created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry that satirizes the secret agent genre. It ran from September 18th, 1965, to May 15th, 1970. The show stars Don Adams (as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86), Barbara Feldon (as Agent 99), and Edward Platt (as Chief). Henry said they created […]
Camp Runamuck is an American sitcom which aired on NBC during the 1965-1966 television season. The series was created and executive produced by David Swift, and aired for 26 episodes. The series related the wacky goings-on at the titular boys’ summer camp, and at Camp Divine, its girls counterpart across the lake. Runamuck was run […]
The Long, Hot Summer is an American drama series from 20th Century Fox Television that was broadcast on ABC-TV for one season from 1965-1966. Created by Dean Riesner, The Long, Hot Summer was based on the novel The Hamlet by William Faulkner, the short story “Barn Burning”, and the 1958 film of the same name. […]
Mona McCluskey (also known as Meet Mona McCluskey) is an American sitcom that aired on NBC as part of its 1965-1966 schedule. The series stars Juliet Prowse in the title role, and aired from September 16th, 1965 to April 14th, 1966. Prowse portrayed Mona McCluskey, an actress who marries a United States Air Force sergeant, Mike McCluskey, played by Denny Scott Miller. The major premise of […]
Laredo is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from September 16th, 1965, to April 7th, 1967. Laredo stars Neville Brand, William Smith, Peter Brown, and Philip Carey as Texas Rangers. It is set on the Mexican border around Laredo, Texas. The program was produced by Universal Television. The pilot episode of Laredo […]
Gidget is an American situation comedy about a surfing, boy-crazy teenager called “Gidget” and her widowed father Russ Lawrence, a UCLA professor. Sally Field stars as Gidget with Don Porter as father Russell Lawrence. The series was first broadcast on ABC from September 15th, 1965 to April 21st, 1966. The television series was based upon concepts and characters created by Frederick Kohner in his […]
Lost in Space is an American science fiction television series created and produced by Irwin Allen, filmed by 20th Century Fox Television, and broadcast on CBS. The show ran for three seasons, with 83 episodes airing between September 15th, 1965, and March 6th, 1968. Though the original television series concept centered on the Robinson family, […]
My Mother the Car is an American fantasy sitcom which aired for a single season on NBC between September 14th, 1965 and April 5th, 1966. A total of 30 episodes were produced by United Artists Television. Critics and adult viewers generally panned the show, often savagely. My Mother the Car was an original variation on […]
The John Forsythe Show began as a situation comedy in the fall of 1965 on NBC, but at mid-season it switched to a spy show. NBC advertising in February of ’65, gave a working title of The Mr. and The Misses. In the first phase of the series, John Forsythe appeared as United States Air […]
For the People is an American Legal drama that aired Sundays from January 31st until May 9th, 1965 on CBS. This one season, thirteen episode drama had William Shatner playing an assistant district attorney in New York City. The show’s cancellation left Shatner free to accept the role of Captain James T. Kirk on Star […]
Branded is an American Western series which aired on NBC from 1965 through 1966, sponsored by Procter & Gamble in its Sunday night 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time period, and starred Chuck Connors as Jason McCord, a United States Army Cavalry captain who had been drummed out of the service following an unjust accusation of cowardice. […]
The King Family Show is an American musical variety series that featured The King Sisters and their extended musical family. The series first aired on ABC from January 1965 to January 1966. The series was revived in 1969, airing from March to September 1969. After an appearance on The Hollywood Palace in May 1964 drew […]
Hullabaloo is an American musical variety series that ran on NBC from January 12th, 1965 through August 29th, 1966. Similar to Shindig! it ran in prime time in contrast to ABC’s American Bandstand. Directed by Steve Binder, who went on to direct Elvis Presley’s ’68 Comeback Special, Hullabaloo served as a big-budget, quality showcase for […]
ABC Scope is a public affairs program that appeared on the ABC television network from 1964–1968, hosted by Howard K. Smith, the future anchor of the ABC Evening News. News reporters Louis Rukeyser, Frank Reynolds and John Scali also appeared. The program provided its viewer with an in-depth look at the important political, economic and […]
Profiles in Courage is an American historical anthology series that was telecast weekly on NBC from November 8th, 1964 to May 9th, 1965 (Sundays, 6:30-7:30pm, Eastern). The series was based on the recently-assassinated President John F. Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize winning book, Profiles in Courage. The series lasted for 26 episodes, each of which would feature […]
90 Bristol Court is the umbrella title of a short-lived NBC experiment comprising three situation comedies set in a Southern California apartment complex located at the title address. The 90-minute block aired Monday nights and consisted of Karen (7:30-8:00pm), Harris Against the World (8:00-8:30pm), and Tom, Dick, and Mary (8:30-9:00pm). While they were promoted as […]
My Living Doll is an American science fiction sitcom that aired for 26 episodes on CBS from September 27th, 1964 to March 17th, 1965. This series was produced by Jack Chertok and was filmed at Desilu studios by Jack Chertok Television, Inc., in association with the CBS Television Network. The series was unusual in that […]
Gilligan’s Island is an American sitcom created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver, Alan Hale, Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Russell Johnson, Tina Louise, and Dawn Wells. It aired for three seasons on the CBS network from September 26th, 1964, to April […]
Gomer Pyle, USMC is an American situation comedy that originally aired on CBS from September 25th, 1964, to May 2nd, 1969. The series was a spin-off of The Andy Griffith Show, and the pilot episode was aired as the season finale of the fourth season of its parent series on May 18th, 1964. The show […]
The Entertainers is a one-hour American variety show that aired on CBS from September 25th, 1964 through March 27th, 1965. The series, produced by Joe Hamilton, featured three stars, Hamilton’s wife Carol Burnett, Caterina Valente, and Bob Newhart. Each week, the series, originating from New York, presented comedy sketches and musical numbers performed by a […]
