Forgotten Network/Syndicated TV Shows of the Past

[milwaukee_dave]

While I admittedly went into a bit of a tangent about SyndEx, blacking out programming, etc. a few pages back in this thread, I thought I would share one additional tidbit on this subject: a You Tube link for an old WWOR EMI Service promo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JBZsFKWtT0&feature=related

There are some arguably forgotten shows featured in the promo ("BJ and the Bear," anyone?), which was circa January 1996 -- the beginning of the final year of the split WWOR superstation feed -- as satellite uplinker Eastern Microwave changed the program line-up and created what I thought was a pretty good in-house ad.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

I would like to see the little boy who played Danny's grandson and Rusty Hamer and Angela Cartwright as grownups.

Rusty Hamer never got to be a grownup. His died in 1990 of a self-inflicted gun-shot wound. Paul Peterson of Donna Reed Show fame has acknowledged Hamer's suicide as the inspiration behind Minor consideration, an advocacy group for child actors.

 

[bpatrick]

This morning TCM was showing the 1958 Andy Griffith version
of "No Time For Sergeants" (where he first worked with Don Knotts),
and one of the actors was Murray Hamilton, the guy who kept calling
Andy's character Will Stockdale "plowboy." It reminded me that Hamilton
appeared in a short-lived 1966 ABC show, "The Man Who Never Was,"
which starred Robert Lansing as an American spy who is a dead ringer
for a millionaire playboy. When (I think) East German agents, in a case
of mistaken identity, killed the playboy, Mark Wainwright, Lansing's character,
Peter Murphy, assumed his identity, the better to carry out his missions
surreptitiously. Dana Wynter played Wainwright's wife and was in on Murphy's
scheme; Hamilton played the only other person who knew about it: Col. Jack
Forbes, Murphy's boss at what I assume was the CIA.

I remember that the show was pretty good but died a quick death at the hands
of "Green Acres" on CBS.

BTW, does anyone remember Robert Goulet's short-lived 1966 ABC spy show,
"Blue Light"? Somewhat out of character for him, he played a member of an
elite team of OSS agents (this is World War II) whose job was to get as close
to the Nazi high command as possible and find out their plans. Goulet's character,
David March, played his role a little too well, spouting Nazi propaganda and making
his fellow Americans think he was a traitor. This was one World War II-based show
where the Germans weren't stupid: they figured out rather quickly that he was really
an American, and both sides wanted him dead. So the object each week was for March
to complete his missions and stay alive at the same time. It's probably just as well that
the show lasted only 17 episodes; unlike Richard Kimble, he didn't have a great deal of
space in which to escape his hunters.

 

[borderblaster]

Angela Cartwright is still around. She was on the Sound of Music reunion (not that I'm an Oprah watcher)

It seems that some producers knew how to treat child actors well and some didn't.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

Angela Cartwright is still around. She was on the Sound of Music reunion (not that I'm an Oprah watcher)

It seems that some producers knew how to treat child actors well and some didn't.

Yes, Angela Cartwright's life since Danny Thomas, Sound of Music & Lost in Space has been much brighter than Hamer's post-TV life. You might recall her years of promoting a women's deodorant product. Today she dabbles in art and photography.

And speaking of her Danny Thomas character, would you believe her TV mom in that iconic sitcom is still alive? Marjorie Lord is 93, and remains active on projects for the Acadamy of Television Arts and Sciences.

 

[Toledo Eleven]

I would like to see the little boy who played Danny's grandson and Rusty Hamer and Angela Cartwright as grownups.

Rusty Hamer never got to be a grownup. His died in 1990 of a self-inflicted gun-shot wound. Paul Peterson of Donna Reed Show fame has acknowledged Hamer's suicide as the inspiration behind Minor consideration, an advocacy group for child actors.

He WAS almost 43 years old at the time.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

Rusty Hamer never got to be a grownup. His died in 1990 of a self-inflicted gun-shot wound. Paul Peterson of Donna Reed Show fame has acknowledged Hamer's suicide as the inspiration behind Minor consideration, an advocacy group for child actors.

He WAS almost 43 years old at the time.

Whooaa, call me red-faced :-[. What was I thinking?

 

[LKellerIII]

Angela Cartwright is still around. She was on the Sound of Music reunion (not that I'm an Oprah watcher)

It seems that some producers knew how to treat child actors well and some didn't.

Yes, Angela Cartwright's life since Danny Thomas, Sound of Music & Lost in Space has been much brighter than Hamer's post-TV life. You might recall her years of promoting a women's deodorant product. Today she dabbles in art and photography.

And speaking of her Danny Thomas character, would you believe her TV mom in that iconic sitcom is still alive? Marjorie Lord is 93, and remains active on projects for the Acadamy of Television Arts and Sciences.

My guess would be that Angela Cartwright had better parents and a more stable family than Hamer. It seems like most of the child stars who fare poorly after their fame waned were in bad family situations.

It's worth noting that Angela's older sister Veronica is still a working actress and can be seen frequently on TV.

 

[bpatrick]

Sounds like the kids on "Father Knows Best." Elinor Donahue kept
working on shows like "The Andy Griffith Show" (where, IMO, she
was Andy's best girlfriend) and "The Odd Couple," while Billy Gray
and Lauren Chapin faded from show business (I think she became
a preacher after conquering a drug problem; Gray always seemed
to be in and out of trouble with the law). Although she has passed
away, I think Jane Wyatt lived into her 90s as well.

Something, though, I've always wondered: was Danny's first TV wife,
Jean Hagen, related to Earle Hagen, who did the music for Danny's show,
as well as Andy's and Dick Van Dyke's, and many others?

 

[LKellerIII]

Something, though, I've always wondered: was Danny's first TV wife,
Jean Hagen, related to Earle Hagen, who did the music for Danny's show,
as well as Andy's and Dick Van Dyke's, and many others?

There's no indication they were related in any way.

BTW - there's no reason to wonder about this stuff. Imdb is a great online source for TV and movie trivia, as well as exhaustive list of everything showbiz people have been in - as actor, director, writer, producer, etc.

For example, in this case, there's no indication of a relationship between Earle and Jean Hagen on either of their pages, so you can safely assume there was none. Sadly - Jean suffered from poor health after leaving the Danny Thomas Show, and died at age 54 in 1977. Earle Hagen - the great TV theme-master - died in 2008 at age 88.

 

[johnnya2k6]

Back on-topic:

Mad Scientist Toon Club (syndicated, 1994)
The Howard Stern Radio Show (syndicated, 1998)
A Year in the Life (NBC, 1987; began as a miniseries one year earlier)

 

[RadioMan203]

I've popped in and out of this thread over time, so forgive me if anybody said this already.

How about "Mobile One" which aired on ABC in 1975? A show about life at a television station starring Jackie Cooper of Little Rascals fame.

 

[therealjm12]

Elinor Donahue kept
working on shows like "The Andy Griffith Show" (where, IMO, she
was Andy's best girlfriend


My favorite Andy's girlfriend was "Miss Peggy" the nurse. She was beautiful and in real life Tatum O'Neil's mother. Too bad, she was a drunk and a druggie that died young.

 

[LKellerIII]

Elinor Donahue kept
working on shows like "The Andy Griffith Show" (where, IMO, she
was Andy's best girlfriend


My favorite Andy's girlfriend was "Miss Peggy" the nurse. She was beautiful and in real life Tatum O'Neil's mother. Too bad, she was a drunk and a druggie that died young.

I don't remember the "Miss Peggy" episodes at all - I must have missed them. It wasn't until a few years ago in reruns that I saw the Elinor Donahue episodes, which I thought were very nice. Donahue was kind of obnoxious in Father Knows Best, but I thought she was great on the Andy Griffith Show - she portrayed a very sweet and likable character. I hadn't noticed how pretty she was until then.

I suspect she was jettisoned after the first season because the producers wanted Andy to be single and unencumbered - which makes it a bit ironic that he ended up being saddled with the somewhat humorless Helen Crump (Aneta Corsaut), who was neither pretty (IMO) nor particularly likable.

 

[johnnya2k6]

There was also Murder One (ABC, 1995); ABC even went as far as to telling viewers to watch that and tape ER (both shows were aired Thursdays at 10:00).

We didn't fall for that trick, just like they pulled nine years earlier with "Watch Our World; tape Cosby".

 

[azumanga]

There was also Murder One (ABC, 1995); ABC even went as far as to telling viewers to watch that and tape ER (both shows were aired Thursdays at 10:00).

We didn't fall for that trick, just like they pulled nine years earlier with "Watch Our World; tape Cosby".

Did Fox or NBC pull stunts liked this when "The Simpsons" moved to Thursdays, opposite Cosby?

 

[bpatrick]

Elinor Donahue kept
working on shows like "The Andy Griffith Show" (where, IMO, she
was Andy's best girlfriend


My favorite Andy's girlfriend was "Miss Peggy" the nurse. She was beautiful and in real life Tatum O'Neil's mother. Too bad, she was a drunk and a druggie that died young.

I don't remember the "Miss Peggy" episodes at all - I must have missed them. It wasn't until a few years ago in reruns that I saw the Elinor Donahue episodes, which I thought were very nice. Donahue was kind of obnoxious in Father Knows Best, but I thought she was great on the Andy Griffith Show - she portrayed a very sweet and likable character. I hadn't noticed how pretty she was until then.

I suspect she was jettisoned after the first season because the producers wanted Andy to be single and unencumbered - which makes it a bit ironic that he ended up being saddled with the somewhat humorless Helen Crump (Aneta Corsaut), who was neither pretty (IMO) nor particularly likable.

Miss Peggy was Peggy McMillan, the county nurse, and was the only genuine Southerner of all the women who played Andy's girlfriends; she was played by Georgia-born Joanna Moore (not to be confused with actress/game-show panelist Joanna Barnes, whom some think is Southern but is actually from Boston).

I've often heard that Andy disliked Elinor Donahue and that he managed to work her out of the show before the end of the first season (similarly, he takes some responsibility for the early departure of Jack Burns a few years later; Burns has said he was merely being given Don Knotts' lines with no regard to his own on-stage character). But the think I like about Ellie Walker is that she has the spunk to stand up to Andy and let him know when he's in the wrong. I saw Peggy come close once, when she told Andy her father was a rich businessman, and then Andy didn't want to go out with her any longer.

Aneta Corsaut has never done anything to hold my interest.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

Second Chance, late '80s starring Matthew Perry, which evolved into Boys Will Be Boys.

 

[trusty]

Saw the opening of Canadian-produced Police Surgeon on YouTube where most of the cuts were a venetian blind effect (I guess that was cool in the 70's.) Did the whole show have that effect? ('Twould drive me crazy.)

 

[Braves2005]

The Baxters (1979-1981 in syndication): This starred Anita Gillette and I think it was produced by Norman Lear and it was a sitcom about a family who had various problems in their lives and a live studio audience had to be polled to pick out an outcome. Never have watched the show but I have seen promos from magazines for it.

You Again? (1986-1987, NBC): Starred Jack Klugman and John Stamos as Jack's son who he never knew about until he showed up on his doorstep. Should have done better than it did.