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NET NIGHTS

C

ChgoTVMan

Guest
Hello Everyone-

I'd like to get some comments/criticisms about a new web feature available on The Museum of Broadcast Communications' website (museum.tv) called "Net Nights." "Net Nights" is a recreation of local and network television programming from the 1950s and 1960s. Unlike current re-run networks (Nick@Nite, TVLand, and locally WWME) which are forced to present classic programing in some modified or edited form due to the realities of economics, "Net Nights" presents a typical prime time evening as close as possible to as it was originally presented complete with network and local station IDs (WNBQ, WBKB, and others), original commercial breaks, sponsor billboards, and cast commercials. To make the experience more realistic, you may find a 'Please Stand By" slate on your screen, a common sight on early TV. Currently there are 7 different nights (Sunday thru Saturday) ranging from 1955 to 1969. The choices will change from time to time. There are 65 "Net Nights" already produced.

"Net Nights" is available by going to museum.tv and clicking on the "From The Archives" video player. Then select the Net Nights tab. From there you can choose the evening you want. Most "Net Nights" are about 3 1/2 hours long. Due to the huge size of the videofile, dial-ups are not recommended.
 
I just finished watching the "Thursday - Summer 1955" (well, some of it was from the Summer of '55), and I loved every minute of it! I even got a kick out of the 'switching channels' that was used in-between shows. Here's a breakdown of what I saw:

1. The Lone Ranger Ep. 5 - Rustler's Hideout (10/13/1949): This was from the show's first season, when they simply adopted the exsisting radio scripts to television. "Dickie" Jones, the original voice of Pinocchio, played the kidnapped rancher's son in this episode. The Lone Ranger had a rather interesting history on network television. For eight seasons, it was a 7:30pm Thursday night mainstay on ABC-TV, but only five of those eight seasons saw production of original episodes. And in three of those five seasons, The Lone Ranger was in production 52 weeks out of the year, not taking the summer off, like most television shows.

2. You Bet Your Life - I'm not sure when this episode of the Groucho Marx comedy quiz show first aired, but the summer of 1955 was seeing the "Best of Groucho" in the Thursday night 8pm timeslot on NBC-TV. The show still holds up after all these years, and the animated DeSoto opening was great.

3. Climax Ep. 34 - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (7/28/1955): Another show that was in production year round was this outstading and often overlooked live dramatic anthology series produced by CBS. In spite of there actually being a "Lux Video Theatre", "Climax" was the rightful successor the the "Lux Radio Theatre", with the use of top hollywood talent and outstanding production values. Despite working with only a hairpiece, fake eyebrows, capped teeth, mimimal 'monster' make-up..........and about 30 seconds to put it on or take it off each time, Michael Rennie pulls off both Jekell and Hyde very effectivly and helps make for a nicly eerie show.

4. Ford Theatre Ep. 152 - The Clay Pigeon (5/31/1956): Neat little half-hour drama but.......you didn't have anyting from the 1954-55 season you could have used instead?

5. Movie: Murder by Televsion (10/1/1935): Nothing like a good late-night cheesy snack of a B movie to finish off the night.

Can't wait to see the rest of what you have.
 
Glad you enjoyed the show! And for your comments. I find it curious that "Thursdays Summer 1955" is the most watched of all the Net Nights currently available. And you are correct. Not all of the episodes are from the summer. There are several reasons for that. 1- Availability. Although material is being pulled from major collections, sometimes an episode from a particular season is not available; 2- While it is not impossible (in some cases) to recreate an evening using all the episodes aired on a single date- we are assuming that every show aired that night was a winner. Rarely that has happened, especially when you're dealing with programming on three (or four) networks; 3- Reruns. Since this Net Nights follows the summer schedule from the 1955 season, much of what was aired were repeats; and 4- the viewer should be entertained as well as educated while watching a Net Nights. No one watches TV just for the sake of it. That's why many of the commercials aired between program changes were car spots, along with the Chrysler, DeSoto, and Ford spots from their respective shows. People love them!
 
I ran into Your "Net Nights" Programming a few weeks ago..neat concept..Am glad to see you have more of these produced..I like that especially rarer series (Farmer's Daughter, Valentine's Day) are shown. I do realize its not always easy to come up with the right shows, etc..One question: How can one find out if "Net Nights" has been updated..Good job..
 
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. New Net Nights will be announced here and on thru the MBC mailing list. If you're not on the list call the museum! There will usually be no more than 7 nights worth up at a time. You can imagine the bandwidth these things suck up!
 
(The following is my own less than clevar attempt to review "Net Nights Fall 1963")

Hey kids, Doc Brown has rebuilt his DeLorean Time Machine, and is renting it out.......but only to watch TV of the past. So hop in and come along as we check out what everyone was watching on Monday nights in 1963 and 1964, long before Howard and Dandy Don ruled the roost. Our starting point is October 14, 1963.

#1 - Outer Limits Ep. 5: The Sixth Finger (10/14/1963) ABC-TV's belated answer to The Twlight Zone only lasted two seasons, and was dismissed by most critics at the time as a "Monster of the Week" show. But thanks to the far better life it had in syndicated re-runs, and a very successful 1996 revival series, it's now viewed as a true Sci-Fi classic. And like TZ, many future TV and movie stars got their start in these shows. "The Sixth Finger" is an episode from early in the first season. David McCallum (Man from U.N.C.L.E.) plays a recently unemployed coal miner who despises the village he lives in. He's just looking for a break to be 'a better man' and gets that break in the form of mad scientist Edward Mulhare (Knight Rider). It seems the future Devon Miles is in a bit of a hurry to speed up a million plus years of evolution, and spring the "Man of Tomorrow" on everyone, and Agent Kuryakin is just the guienna pig for the job. Of course, he has to hurry before the show gets pre-empted next week for an ABC News Special. So......in a million years, we're all going to look like Star Trek aliens from Talos IV? Ewwww.

Now that everyone is all creeped out, how about some comedy? And for comedy on Monday nights in the 60's, the only place was CBS and Desilu. Hold on kids, I'm throwing her in reverse......

#2 - The Lucy Show Ep.18: Lucy and Viv Put in a Shower (1/28/1963) An episode from mid-way into the first season, the first one post I Love Lucy. In this first season, Lucille Ball's "Mrs. Carmicheal" was simply a widow sharing a house with her best friend Viv , and their collective childern. The bank job and "Mr. Mooney" wouldn't come alone until season 2. Here, in his first and only season as a series regular, comic Dick Martin (Laugh-In) tries more or less to fiil the role of "Ricky". It just never worked out, and Gale Gordon was brought in to be Lucy's more sucessful foil in the series. Still, this early episode does remain a classic, thanks mostly to the shower squence with Lucy and Viv. It rivals anyting they did in the original series, and that's saying something. Oh and does "Joe the Plummer" seem familiar? It's none other than Batman's Chief O' Hara, Stafford Repp.

Ok, back we go to the Fall of 63.

#3 - The Danny Thomas Show (aka Make Room for Daddy) Ep. 327:The Woman Behins The Jokes (10/21/1963) An episode from the show's 11th and final season. Its main focus is on Danny (Danny Thomas) and wife Kathy (Marjorie Lord). Seems Kathy is tired of being the butt of Danny's jokes in his nightclub act, and decides to swipe back at him with the help of writer Buddy Sorrell (Morey Amsterdam, crossing over from Desilu's The Dick Van Dyke Show.) The series was getting a bit long in the tooth by year 11, but was still entertaining.

Time for one more comedy, and for this classic, we go foward into 1964.

#4 - The Andy Griffith Show Ep. 118: Andy Saves Gomer (3/16/1964) Jim Nabors was only a few months from leaving Mayberry to joining the U.S.M.C. in his own series, and with Deputy Barney away for the week, Andy and Gomer had the stage all to themselves. The result -- pure comedy magic. 'Nuff said, just watch and enjoy.

Time for one more show, and reverse in time we go, back to our original starting point, October 14, 1963. (I have to take the DeLoran back to where I started, otherwise I lose my deposit.)

#5 - Breaking Point Ep. 5: There Are The Hip, And There Are The Square (10/14/1963) This show is best decribed as Ben Casey with head shrinks in place of medical doctors. As a matter of fact the two main characters in the series, idealistic young Dr. "Mac" Thompson, and the older more cynical Dr. William Raymer, were introduced on Ben Casey at the start of the 63-64 season. Unfortunetly, once the PHD's left the MD's to settle into their own hospital across town, the viewers never really followed. Still, this rather different 'doctor' series does have some top notch writing, directing and acting behind its 30 episode run. It does deserve a secone look today. This perticular episode from early in the series was directed by Don Sigel of "Dirty Harry" fame.

Well, my time is up, hope you had fun. Come back and we'll do it again in a different year ;D.
 
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