Nagging TV Show Mysteries

[firepoint525]

Gilligan was probably the first show that made me laugh. And in syndication, no less. Can I say it was must-watch TV in the late 60's on my local indie?
However, I have always wondered what kind of pharmacuticals most of the writing staff must have been on
Update: Dawn Wells (Mary Ann), is still involved in local theater in Eastern Idaho. Ginger, (Mary Louise) was super in ther original "stepford wives", and some other projects after.
Unfortunately, I think the other principles are now all gone. (Not sure about the Professor...he may be still in some back office inventing something!)
What a great show for a kid to grow up with. Creative, imaginative, and most importantly, funny.

You must be about my age. I'm 45. For me, Gilligan was appointment TV every afternoon after school in the early '70s. I think it came on at 3:30 in the afternoon on channel 13 in Memphis. ;D

 

[searadiofreak]

Gilligan was probably the first show that made me laugh. And in syndication, no less. Can I say it was must-watch TV in the late 60's on my local indie?
However, I have always wondered what kind of pharmacuticals most of the writing staff must have been on
Update: Dawn Wells (Mary Ann), is still involved in local theater in Eastern Idaho. Ginger, (Mary Louise) was super in ther original "stepford wives", and some other projects after.
Unfortunately, I think the other principles are now all gone. (Not sure about the Professor...he may be still in some back office inventing something!)
What a great show for a kid to grow up with. Creative, imaginative, and most importantly, funny.

You must be about my age. I'm 45. For me, Gilligan was appointment TV every afternoon after school in the early '70s. I think it came on at 3:30 in the afternoon on channel 13 in Memphis. ;D

Yep, we're in the same demo! I have no recollection of watching it on the network. For me, it was sometime before dinner on Seattle/Tacoma's indie KSTW Channel 11. (Although I think the calls were still KTNT at the time). Also interesting the show went from black and white to color, I think after the first or second season.

 

[Legend City]

Gilligan was probably the first show that made me laugh. And in syndication, no less. Can I say it was must-watch TV in the late 60's on my local indie?

However, I have always wondered what kind of pharmacuticals most of the writing staff must have been on

Update: Dawn Wells (Mary Ann), is still involved in local theater in Eastern Idaho. Ginger, (Mary Louise) was super in ther original "stepford wives", and some other projects after.

Unfortunately, I think the other principles are now all gone. (Not sure about the Professor...he may be still in some back office inventing something!)

What a great show for a kid to grow up with. Creative, imaginative, and most importantly, funny.

It's Tina Louise, not Mary.

The Professor is still with us, happy to say.

I know I've said some critical things about GI in earlier posts, but the fact is that people over several generations have taken to the show like a duck to water. There are no complicated characters or plotlines. You could just sit back and enjoy without stressing your brain.

It's been said that GI was the inspiration for the many communes that popped up during the so-called "Hippie" era.

It's a shame that the lagoon on the GI set has been filled in for a brand new parking lot on the CBS Studio Center location in Studio City. It would be a great tourist attraction.

Looks like after we're all long gone, people will still be watching Gilligan. Who'da thunk it?

Ah, but you can visit the site of where they filmed the pilot, its in Kauai, Moloaa Bay. Its a great beach and the tourists don't really know about it, you pretty much have it to yourself when you go there.

 

[Stanislav]

Here's one I just thought of: why do siblings on TV shows look nothing like each other, or like their parents? :

 

[radioman148]

Here's one I just thought of: why do siblings on TV shows look nothing like each other, or like their parents? :

Hmmm, let me think that over.

 

[RicoGregg]

And, why in the world did Henry Fonda's youngest son on Fonda's only TV series, The Smith Family, have an English accent?

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Here's one I just thought of: why do siblings on TV shows look nothing like each other, or like their parents?

Even weirder, on "The Farkel Family" on "Laugh-In", Frank and Fannie Farkel's children all looked like Furd Furkel...

 

[ixnay]

Like that Peanuts special that Charles Schulz had planned out that pretty much wrapped up everything when he learned he was dying from cancer and he didn't want anyone else touching his Peanuts featuring such scenes like Snoopy actually getting the Red Baron and having Charlie Brown pitching a perfect game.

But would Lucy finally let CB kick the football? Charlie Brown, last of the straight-on (as opposed to soccer style) PKs - and the least successful. :-[ ;D As for that perfect game, CB would no doubt have the same luck as Harvey Haddix 50 years ago.

I believe Schulz's family had said over the years that no such script/plans ever existed but that hasn't stopped others from saying otherwise.

FWIW David Michaelis's Schulz and Peanuts is silent on whatever plans existed for a Peanuts special that tied up the loose ends.

But the Royal Guardsmen anticipated one aspect you mentioned, mleach, when in "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron", the beagle sent von Richtofen "spinning out of sight", only to have the Baron survive the crash at the beginning of the sequel, "Return of the Red Baron".

ixnay

 

[onairb]

Like that Peanuts special that Charles Schulz had planned out that pretty much wrapped up everything when he learned he was dying from cancer and he didn't want anyone else touching his Peanuts featuring such scenes like Snoopy actually getting the Red Baron and having Charlie Brown pitching a perfect game.

But would Lucy finally let CB kick the football?

The rumors of that special have been debunked many times.
Schulz almost resolved the 'kick' question in his last football strip in 1999(which ran shortly before he was diagnosed with cancer, thus it wasn't supposed to be the last).
Lucy was holding the ball, but got called inside for lunch, so she asked her younger brother, Rerun to take over for her. We never saw what happened, as the strip jumped to Rerun coming inside moments after the event. Lucy was anxious to know what happened...but Rerun soberly replied, 'I guess you'll never know.'

Anyway, Chuck DID hit not one, but TWO home runs(off the same pitcher, yet!) in the mid-90s...but, typically, the pitcher(who called herself the great-granddaughter of Roy Hobbs, protagonist of the novel/movie, 'The Natural') let him hit them, because she thought he was cute! The first happened 'offscreen', with Charlie stepping in to hit(forgetting the bat!) one day, then celebrating the next. The second was an inside-the-park homer, which I guess was done to make up for Schulz not actually showing the first one!

 

[biggguy]

Here's one I just thought of: why do siblings on TV shows look nothing like each other, or like their parents?

Even weirder, on "The Farkel Family" on "Laugh-In", Frank and Fannie Farkel's children all looked like Furd Furkel...

IIRC, the character's name was actually "Ferd Berfel"....wonder where Frank Farkel was spending his time....

 

[mleach]

Like that Peanuts special that Charles Schulz had planned out that pretty much wrapped up everything when he learned he was dying from cancer and he didn't want anyone else touching his Peanuts featuring such scenes like Snoopy actually getting the Red Baron and having Charlie Brown pitching a perfect game.

But would Lucy finally let CB kick the football?

The rumors of that special have been debunked many times.

The grand daughter of Peanuts' producer/voice Bill Melendez has been known to go online ( even on Snopes ) to say that such a special was all set and ready to go. I have read some of Ms. Melendez's messages online over the years and while she has no problem showing off the pics taken of her alongside Charles Schulz and her grandfather Bill, many of her claims about Peanuts over the years were proven wrong by Peanuts fans.

I guess she does the rumor spreading on purpose in order so that we ( the general public ) do NOT forget about Bill Melendez. This somewhat reminds me of Dickie Goodman, the guy who gave us those "break-in" records back in the 60's and 70's. Dickie's son has been known to go online on various websites and say things about his famous father ( even if the comments made zero sense ) just so we do not forget who Dickie Goodman was.

 

[ixnay]

The grand daughter of Peanuts' producer/voice Bill Melendez has been known to go online ( even on Snopes ) to say that such a special was all set and ready to go. I have read some of Ms. Melendez's messages online over the years and while she has no problem showing off the pics taken of her alongside Charles Schulz and her grandfather Bill, many of her claims about Peanuts over the years were proven wrong by Peanuts fans.

I guess she does the rumor spreading on purpose in order so that we ( the general public ) do NOT forget about Bill Melendez. This somewhat reminds me of Dickie Goodman, the guy who gave us those "break-in" records back in the 60's and 70's. Dickie's son has been known to go online on various websites and say things about his famous father ( even if the comments made zero sense ) just so we do not forget who Dickie Goodman was.

Has Miss Melendez ever explained why a Peanuts closure special has never aired? What or who nixed its airing?

IIR from the Michaelis book, Sparky (am I the only R-I'er who remembers his nickname? 8) ) was diagnosed with cancer in mid-Nov. '99, announced the strip's retirement in mid-Dec. '99, then was bedridden and hospitalized off and on for two months before dying in Feb. '00. Was he too weak to make a simple phone call saying "air it" or "nix it" re the closure special? Of course no one in late 1999 knew he was going to die in mid-February (the doctors gave him 2 years tops IIR).

ixnay

 

[mleach]

Has Miss Melendez ever explained why a Peanuts closure special has never aired? What or who nixed its airing?

IIR from the Michaelis book, Sparky (am I the only R-I'er who remembers his nickname? 8) ) was diagnosed with cancer in mid-Nov. '99, announced the strip's retirement in mid-Dec. '99, then was bedridden and hospitalized off and on for two months before dying in Feb. '00. Was he too weak to make a simple phone call saying "air it" or "nix it" re the closure special? Of course no one in late 1999 knew he was going to die in mid-February (the doctors gave him 2 years tops IIR).

ixnay

Actually I do recall when somebody DID ask her that question. I think this was on the Scott Michaels Find-a-death site in the forums. She said that the special would air on TV 10 years after the death of Schulz per request of the Schulz estate, that would be NEXT YEAR hard to believe. However she also made the claim some years back that ABC was thinking at one point about doing a live action Peanuts version and back in the early 80s there was a Peanuts special filmed that involved Jim Davis ( Garfield ) and Bil Keane ( The Family Circus ) where all of the characters of all three strips would be in one show. Maybe having the the Peanuts gang spending the weekend with Dolly, Jeffy, Billy and PJ while Snoppy is hitting the town with Garfield & Odie..who knows LOL Anyway one needs to take all of that with a grain of salt , in other words I doubt it.

Besides why is it that I seem to recall Schulz really didn't want any other strip to "be involved" with his Peanuts? Besides I believe Schulz and Keane were not the best of friends. Maybe they respected each other as being competiton but I don't believe they were that good a friends to have done a combination Peanuts/Family Circus cartoon..also I doubt it would had been a success anyway if they had.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

back in the early 80s there was a Peanuts special filmed that involved Jim Davis ( Garfield ) and Bil Keane ( The Family Circus ) where all of the characters of all three strips would be in one show. Maybe having the the Peanuts gang spending the weekend with Dolly, Jeffy, Billy and PJ while Snoppy is hitting the town with Garfield & Odie..who knows LOL

Why am I thinking that would be perfect for "Robot Chicken"?

 

[onairb]

Actually I do recall when somebody DID ask her that question. I think this was on the Scott Michaels Find-a-death site in the forums. She said that the special would air on TV 10 years after the death of Schulz per request of the Schulz estate, that would be NEXT YEAR hard to believe. However she also made the claim some years back that ABC was thinking at one point about doing a live action Peanuts version and back in the early 80s there was a Peanuts special filmed that involved Jim Davis ( Garfield ) and Bil Keane ( The Family Circus ) where all of the characters of all three strips would be in one show. Maybe having the the Peanuts gang spending the weekend with Dolly, Jeffy, Billy and PJ while Snoppy is hitting the town with Garfield & Odie..who knows LOL Anyway one needs to take all of that with a grain of salt , in other words I doubt it.

Besides why is it that I seem to recall Schulz really didn't want any other strip to "be involved" with his Peanuts? Besides I believe Schulz and Keane were not the best of friends. Maybe they respected each other as being competiton but I don't believe they were that good a friends to have done a combination Peanuts/Family Circus cartoon..also I doubt it would had been a success anyway if they had.

Schulz and Keane were definitely friends, as photos of them playing tennis (a hobby they shared) appeared in annivesary anthologies for both strips. Schulz contributed a foreword (or, perhaps, had one ghost-written) for a 25th-anniversary 'FC' collection, noticeably using the word 'niceness' a theme in his praise for Keane, personally and professionally.
Granted, they were 'competitors' in the sense they worked for different syndicates, and didn't socialize often, but there is nothing to suggest there was any personal or professional animosity between them.

As for Bill Melendez's daughter, she sounds like she just wants her name out there...I prefer to remember her dad's work, and forget her:.

 

[mleach]

Schulz and Keane were definitely friends, as photos of them playing tennis (a hobby they shared) appeared in annivesary anthologies for both strips. Schulz contributed a foreword (or, perhaps, had one ghost-written) for a 25th-anniversary 'FC' collection, noticeably using the word 'niceness' a theme in his praise for Keane, personally and professionally.
Granted, they were 'competitors' in the sense they worked for different syndicates, and didn't socialize often, but there is nothing to suggest there was any personal or professional animosity between them.

As for Bill Melendez's daughter, she sounds like she just wants her name out there...I prefer to remember her dad's work, and forget her:.

Actually it was Melendez's grand daughter...but I totally agree with you. She reminds me of some of country great Patsy Cline's family I had known over the years. They just love to get their name out there even though sometimes the result is egg in the face LOL

Thanks for the info..for some reason I had always throught there was this "feud" between Schulz and Keane, looking back now I wish I could remember where I heard that. I do remember that forward the Schulz had wrote for Keane's book though. But those Family Circus TV cartoons...I wonder why more weren't made?

Here is another mystery....well a question actually..

All those TV reunions over the years, has there been a show where a reunion was planned only to have the stars of that show say..thanks but no thanks?

Back in 1983 shortly after Jack Webb had died, I remember my dad at the time telling he had seen a report on Entertainment Tonight where there were plans on doing a TV tribute of Jack Webb where all the actors who had worked for him on shows like Emergency, Adam-12 and of course Dragnet would be featured. Of course that never happened. An Adam-12 reunion I could see and actually I am surprised one hasn't been done ( if it was..correct me ). Dragnet..other than Harry Morgan, there really much in the way of well-known names that had did Dragnet other than Webb himself. Faces yes..names..not really.

Emergency...a reunion would had been interesting but once that show ended I believe Julie London became more/less of a recluse and after doing one episode of Simon & Simon in 1985, looks like ( according to IMDB anyway )..Bobby Troup had got out of acting. Plus I remember those fan magazines of the late 70s/early 80s like 16 mentioning how Randolf Mantooth and Kevin Tighe wanted to "break away" from their Gage & DeSoto roles..perhaps all of this played a role as to why no reunion of Emergency?

I do remember when Mantooth tried his hand at sitcoms ( remember ABC's Detective School ? ) but that didn't work out.

 

[Tim L]

I seem to recall (and Google confirms) That Milner and McCord did reunite on a Cable TV movie, "Nashville Beat" on the Old Nashville Network in 1990, though they played detectives rater than beat patrolmen..And was not a reprise of their "Adam-12" characters..

 

[WMC2006]

There were reunion movies/shows for Emergency!

From Wikipedia on Emergency!:

From 1977 through 1979, the show returned as a series of "Movies of the Week". The movies included "Emergency: Survival on Charter #220", "Most Deadly Passage", "The Steel Inferno", "The Convention", "What's A Nice Girl Like You Doing...", and "Greatest Rescues Of Emergency". "Emergency: Survival on Charter #220" which was the first TV movie after the show was cancelled in 1977 and first aired in January 1978 would be the last time the entire original cast of the show was featured. After this, from "Most Deadly Passage" on, Gage and DeSoto were the sole original cast members in the remaining TV movies. The last movie aired "Greatest Rescues Of Emergency" aired on New Year's Eve 1978 and featured mainly flashbacks from the original series to the notable rescues and incidents involving Gage and DeSoto. The paramedics/firefighters were also promoted to captains in this final movie, capping the six season run of Emergency with a "happy ending" for both Gage and DeSoto.

Nothing on Wiki about reunion shows for Adam-12 but I vaguely recall one existing but I could be wrong.

Emergency! actors who have passed on:

-Julie London (Nurse Dixie McCall), in 2000, age 74 (apparently, Emergency! was her final acting role ending in 1979)
-Bobby Troup (Dr Joe Early), in 1999, age 80
-Dick Hammer (Captain Hammer in the first season), 1999, age 69
-Sam Lanier, real life LA County dispatcher who played the uncredited dispatcher, died in 1994 shortly after retirement


Adam-12 has lost William Boyette who portrayed Sergeant "Mac" MacDonald.

 

[WPPCProductions]

Talking about reunions,I love Real TV reunions .not cast get together reunions, talking about the old show.I think its the cheap way out of it.

 

[onairb]

There were reunion movies/shows for Emergency!

From Wikipedia on Emergency!:

From 1977 through 1979, the show returned as a series of "Movies of the Week". The movies included "Emergency: Survival on Charter #220", "Most Deadly Passage", "The Steel Inferno", "The Convention", "What's A Nice Girl Like You Doing...", and "Greatest Rescues Of Emergency". "Emergency: Survival on Charter #220" which was the first TV movie after the show was cancelled in 1977 and first aired in January 1978 would be the last time the entire original cast of the show was featured. After this, from "Most Deadly Passage" on, Gage and DeSoto were the sole original cast members in the remaining TV movies. The last movie aired "Greatest Rescues Of Emergency" aired on New Year's Eve 1978 and featured mainly flashbacks from the original series to the notable rescues and incidents involving Gage and DeSoto. The paramedics/firefighters were also promoted to captains in this final movie, capping the six season run of Emergency with a "happy ending" for both Gage and DeSoto.

Nothing on Wiki about reunion shows for Adam-12 but I vaguely recall one existing but I could be wrong.

Emergency! actors who have passed on:

-Julie London (Nurse Dixie McCall), in 2000, age 74 (apparently, Emergency! was her final acting role ending in 1979)
-Bobby Troup (Dr Joe Early), in 1999, age 80
-Dick Hammer (Captain Hammer in the first season), 1999, age 69
-Sam Lanier, real life LA County dispatcher who played the uncredited dispatcher, died in 1994 shortly after retirement


Adam-12 has lost William Boyette who portrayed Sergeant "Mac" MacDonald.

Also, Gary Crosby (Off. Ed Wells), and Sharon Claridge (police dispatcher)