Retro: 50 Years Ago--Fall 1963

[bpatrick]

Looking back, as I do each year. From Castleman and Podrazik's
"The TV Schedule Book" and the TV Guide Fall Preview issue from
Georgia (Atlanta), new shows in CAPS:

MONDAY ABC 7 PM (Local) or Ron Cochran With The News
(still 15 minutes, so some stations might have
carried it at 7:15)
7:30 THE OUTER LIMITS
8:30 Wagon Train (90 minutes this year)
10 PM BREAKING POINT (ABC's answer to NBC's "The
Eleventh Hour," the protagonists being psychiatrists)
11 PM Murphy Martin With The News
11:10 (Local)

CBS 7 PM (Local) or CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite
(now 30 minutes)
7:30 To Tell The Truth
8 PM I've Got A Secret
8:30 The Lucy Show
9 PM Danny Thomas Show
9:30 Andy Griffith Show
10 PM EAST SIDE, WEST SIDE (George C. Scott as a New
York social worker)
11 PM (Local)

NBC 7 PM (Local) or Huntley-Brinkley Report (now 30 minutes)
7:30 NBC Monday Night At The Movies
9:30 HOLLYWOOD AND THE STARS
10 PM Sing Along With Mitch
11 PM (Local)
11:15 Tonight (Johnny Carson)

TUESDAY ABC 7 PM (see Monday)
7:30 Combat!
8:30 McHale's Navy
9 PM THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH (Jack Palance as the
boss of the circus)
10 PM THE FUGITIVE
11 PM Murphy Martin With The News
11:10 (Local)

CBS 7 PM (see Monday)
7:30 Marshal Dillon (reruns of the half-hour "Gunsmoke"s)
8 PM Red Skelton Hour
9 PM PETTICOAT JUNCTION
9:30 Jack Benny Program
10 PM Garry Moore Show
11 PM (Local)

NBC 7 PM (see Monday)
7:30 MR. NOVAK
8:30 Redigo (last season's "Empire" cut to 30 minutes and
focusing on Richard Egan's character of Jim Redigo)
9 PM RICHARD BOONE SHOW (admirable but unsuccessful
attempt to have a repertory company do a different play each week)
10 PM Andy Williams Show/Bell Telephone Hour
11 PM (Local)
11:15 Tonight

WEDNESDAY ABC 7 PM (see Monday)
7:30 Ozzie And Harriet
8 PM PATTY DUKE SHOW
8:30 The Price Is Right (new network and a new gimmick--celebrities
playing for members of the studio audience)
9 PM Ben Casey
10 PM CHANNING ("Mr. Novak" is set in a high school; this one set at
Channing College)
11 PM Murphy Martin With The News
11:10 (Local)

CBS 7 PM (see Monday)
7:30 CBS Reports/CHRONICLE (the latter a series of documentaries
pertaining to world culture)
8:30 GLYNIS (think "Murder, She Wrote" with a laugh track--English
actress Glynis Johns as a writer who tries to help her detective husband
solve his cases)
9 PM Beverly Hillbillies
9:30 Dick Van Dyke Show
10 PM DANNY KAYE SHOW (regular Harvey Korman went straight from this
show to "The Carol Burnett Show" in 1967)
11 PM (Local)

NBC 7 PM (see Monday)
7:30 The Virginian
9 PM ESPIONAGE (dramatizations of real spy stories)
10 PM The Eleventh Hour
11 PM (Local)
11:15 Tonight

THURSDAY ABC 7 PM (see Monday)
7:30 The Flintstones (it becomes a kids' show this year--Pebbles has
already been born, and Barney and Betty adopt Bamm Bamm)
8 PM Donna Reed Show
8:30 My Three Sons
9 PM JIMMY DEAN SHOW
10 PM Sid Caesar Show/EDIE ADAMS SHOW
10:30 (Local)
11 PM Murphy Martin With The News
11:10 (Local)

CBS 7 PM (see Monday)
7:30 Password
8 PM Rawhide
9 PM Perry Mason
10 PM The Nurses
11 PM (Local)

NBC 7 PM (see Monday)
7:30 TEMPLE HOUSTON (Jeffrey Hunter as Sam Houston's son)
8:30 Dr. Kildare
9:30 Hazel
10 PM KRAFT SUSPENSE THEATER (Perry Como specials occasionally
air here)
11 PM (Local)
11:15 Tonight

FRIDAY ABC 7 PM (see Monday)
7:30 77 Sunset Strip (only Efrem Zimbalist Jr. is left)
8:30 BURKE'S LAW
9:30 THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER
10 PM Fight Of The Week
10:45 Make That Spare (time approximate)
11 PM Murphy Martin With The News
11:10 (Local)

CBS 7 PM (see Monday)
7:30 THE GREAT ADVENTURE (dramatizations of events
in American history--Van Heflin narrates the first half of
the season, then Russell Johnson replaces him--just before
playing the Professor on "Gilligan's Island")
8:30 Route 66
9:30 The Twilight Zone
10 PM Alfred Hitchcock Hour
11 PM (Local)

NBC 7 PM (see Monday)
7:30 International Showtime
8:30 BOB HOPE CHRYSLER THEATER (a mix of plays that Hope
introduces, some in which he appears, and his patented variety specials)
9:30 HARRY'S GIRLS (Larry Blyden as manager of a female song-and-dance
trio deemed too old-fashioned for the U.S. but a big hit in Europe--bigger than
this show, which will be replaced by "That Was The Week That Was" in January)
10 PM Jack Paar Program
11 PM (Local)
11:15 Tonight

MON-FRI ABC 11 AM The Price Is Right (new network with the celebrity gimmick of the
nighttime show)
11:30 Seven Keys
12 N Tennessee Ernie Ford Show
12:30 Father Knows Best
1 PM General Hospital
1:30 (Local)
2:30 Day In Court
2:55 ABC News (Lisa Howard)
3 PM Queen For A Day
3:30 Who Do You Trust?
4 PM Trailmaster ("Wagon Train" reruns, mostly with Ward Bond)
5 PM (Local)
6 PM Ron Cochran With The News (still 15 minutes, so affiliates have
a choice of six feeds between 6 and 7:30, the rest of the time is local)

CBS 8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM (Local)
10 AM CBS Morning News With Mike Wallace
10:30 I Love Lucy
11 AM Real McCoys
' 11:30 Pete And Gladys
12 N Love Of Life
12:25 CBS News (Harry Reasoner)
12:30 Search For Tomorrow
12:45 Guiding Light
1 PM SUNRISE SEMESTER (I doubt if many stations aired it at that time--
more than likely CBS was feeding for play the next morning while the affiliates
did their own thing--WAGA carried "Best Of Groucho")
1:30 As The World Turns
2 PM Password
2:30 Art Linkletter's House Party
3 PM To Tell The Truth
3:25 CBS News (Douglas Edwards)
3:30 Edge Of Night
4 PM Secret Storm
4:30 LEE PHILIP SHOW (she and husband Bill Bell created "The Young And The
Restless" and "The Bold And The Beautiful")
4:45 (Local)
6:30 (Local) or CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite (now 30 minutes)

NBC 6:30 Education Exchange
7 AM Today
9 AM (Local)
10 AM Say When!
10:25 NBC News (Edwin Newman)
10:30 WORD FOR WORD (Merv Griffin hosts the first game show he also produced--
contestants try to make as many little words from a longer word as they can)
11 AM Concentration
11:30 MISSING LINKS (Ed McMahon is the host--in March 1964 it will move to ABC,
Dick Clark will become host, and NBC will put on a little game where you have to give
the correct question to a provided answer.)
12 N Your First Impression
12:30 Truth Or Consequences
12:55 NBC News (Ray Scherer)
1 PM (Local)
2 PM People Will Talk (will move to CBS primetime in April as "Celebrity Game," then
be retooled as "Hollywood Squares" and return to NBC in 1966)
2:25 NBC News (Floyd Kalber)
2:30 The Doctors (still in the weekly five-part story format)
3 PM Loretta Young Theater
3:30 You Don't Say!
4 PM Match Game
4:25 NBC News (Sander Vanocur)
4:30 Make Room For Daddy
5 PM (Local)
6:30 (Local) or Huntley-Brinkley Report (now 30 minutes)

SATURDAY ABC 10:30 The Jetsons
11 AM NEW CASPER CARTOON SHOW
11:30 Beany And Cecil
12 N Bugs Bunny Show
12:30 Magic Land Of Allakazam
1 PM My Friend Flicka
1:30 American Bandstand
2:30 (Local)
4:30 AFL HIGHLIGHTS
5 PM Wide World Of Sports
6:30 PREVIEW: WINTER OLYMPICS
7 PM (Local)
7:30 Hootenanny
8:30 Lawrence Welk Show
9:30 JERRY LEWIS SHOW (one of the great disasters of
television history--two hours live, unrehearsed, and disorganized)
11:30 (Local)

CBS 8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM The Alvin Show
9:30 TENNESSEE TUXEDO
10 AM QUICK DRAW McGRAW
10:30 Mighty Mouse Playhouse
11 AM Rin Tin Tin
11:30 Roy Rogers Show
12 N Sky King
12:30 DO YOU KNOW? (middle-school kids are quizzed about books
they've been assigned to read)
1 PM CBS Saturday News (don't know who anchors)
1:30 (Local)
1:45 College Football Kickoff
2 PM NCAA Football
4:45 College Football Scoreboard (time approximate)
5 PM (Local)
7:30 Jackie Gleason Show
8:30 THE NEW PHIL SILVERS SHOW (he's factory foreman Harry Grafton)
9 PM The Defenders
10 PM Gunsmoke
11 PM (Local)

NBC 9:30 Ruff And Reddy
10 AM HECTOR HEATHCOTE
10:30 FIREBALL XL-5
11 AM Dennis The Menace
11:30 Fury
12 N Sergeant Preston Of The Yukon
12:30 Bullwinkle Show
1 PM Exploring
2 PM Watch Mr. Wizard
2:30 (Local)
5 PM NFL Highlights
5:30 Captain Gallant
6 PM NBC News (Sander Vanocur)
6:15 (Local)
7:30 THE LIEUTENANT
8:30 Joey Bishop Show
9 PM NBC Saturday Night At The Movies
11 PM (Local)

SUNDAY ABC 12:30 Discovery '63
1 PM Directions '64
1:30 Issues And Answers
2 PM (Local)
3:30 AFL Football
6:15 All Pro Scoreboard (time approximate)
6:30 (Local)
7:30 TRAVELS OF JAIMIE McPHEETERS (a break for Kurt Russell)
8:30 ARREST AND TRIAL (pre-"Law And Order": the first 45 minutes
is the arrest, with Ben Gazzara; the second 45 is the trial, with Chuck
Connors)
10 PM 100 GRAND (attempt to revive the big-money quizzes, unrigged but
so dull it's canceled after three weeks and replaced by LAUGHS FOR SALE,
where prospective comedy writers try to sell their material to a panel of
comedians)
10:30 ABC News Reports
11 PM (Local)

CBS 9:30 SUNRISE SEMESTER (again, I have a feeling the affiliates are merely
taping it for the next morning)
10 AM Lamp Unto My Feet
10:30 Look Up And Live
11 AM Camera Three
11:30 (Local)
12:30 Face The Nation
1 PM (Local)
1:45 Pro Football Kickoff
2 PM NFL Football
5 PM Sunday Sports Spectacular (time approximate)
5:30 Ted Mack's Amateur Hour
6 PM The Twentieth Century
6:30 Mister Ed
7 PM Lassie
7:30 MY FAVORITE MARTIAN
8 PM Ed Sullivan Show
9 PM JUDY GARLAND SHOW (not as disastrous as Jerry Lewis's show,
but a disappointment that's gone by April)
10 PM Candid Camera
10:30 What's My Line?
11 PM CBS News (Harry Reasoner)
11:15 (Local)

NBC 1:30 Frontiers Of Faith
2 PM (Local)
3 PM NBC NEWS ENCORE (reruns of documentaries)
4 PM SUNDAY (similar to the "Today" show)
5 PM Wild Kingdom
5:30 GE College Bowl (new network)
6 PM Meet The Press
6:30 (Local)
7 PM BILL DANA SHOW (he plays the now-politically incorrect
Jose Jimenez)
7:30 Walt Disney's Wonderful World Of Color
8:30 GRINDL (Imogene Coca as a poor man's "Hazel"--a maid who's
hired out to different people each week)
9 PM Bonanza
10 PM DuPont Show Of The Week/Specials
11 PM (Local)

 

[joeybabe25]

"6 PM Ron Cochran With The News (still 15 minutes, so affiliates have a choice of six feeds between 6 and 7:30, the rest of the time is local)"

In the 50's John Daly did all of the feeds live (no tape). Did Ron Cochran do the same (although there was tape, I wonder about the taping facilities at ABC, even at this late stage)? And what about the west coast? At this point did they tape a feed for the west?

Oh, I think when Wagon Train expanded to 90 minutes and moved to ABC, it also was in color (being one of the very few series in color on ABC at the time). True?

Joe

 

[pqgeorge]

"6 PM Ron Cochran With The News (still 15 minutes, so affiliates have a choice of six feeds between 6 and 7:30, the rest of the time is local)"

In the 50's John Daly did all of the feeds live (no tape). Did Ron Cochran do the same (although there was tape, I wonder about the taping facilities at ABC, even at this late stage)? And what about the west coast? At this point did they tape a feed for the west?

Oh, I think when Wagon Train expanded to 90 minutes and moved to ABC, it also was in color (being one of the very few series in color on ABC at the time). True?

Joe

That was true. "Wagon Train" was in color when it moved to ABC in '63. ABC was a late bloomer for color. But eventually, once it did make the switch to all-color in '66, it blossomed.

 

[bpatrick]

I can only assume that Cochran was live at 6 PM, and that whether
or not the subsequent feeds were live or tape depended on breaking
news or some sort of technical glitch (as sometimes happened in the
Smith/Reasoner era; the 6 PM feed often had to be done over at
6:30). I feel pretty sure that, by this time, Cochran's newscast was
taped for the West Coast, since it would have looked pretty ridiculous
to have him on live at 3 PM (PT). Besides, "Queen For A Day," "Who
Do You Trust?" and "Trailmaster" aired from 3-5 PM (PT).

 

[FredLeonard]

Amazing how "forgettable" the names of ABC's news presenters from this era are: Murphy Martin. Ron Cochrane.

Arrest and Trial differed from Law & Order in an important way: Chuck Connors was a defense attorney. Ben Gazzara arrested them; Connors got them off.

NBC Saturday morning education show "Exploring" (now it would qualify as e/i) was hosted by Al Hibbs, a PhD and faculty member at Cal Tech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. So account say his old office is now occupied by one Dr. Sheldon Cooper.

The Gary Moore Show featured Carol Burnett, who went straight to The Carol Burnett Show, too.

This was the first season of Petticoat Junction, when the show was still a riff on the old traveling salesman jokes (and the hotel was filled with traveling salesmen as guests). The three daughters still had distinct personalities (slut, nerd and tom-boy). Many of the stories revolved around the railroad trying to shut down the Hooterville Cannonball. When it moved to Saturday night, two of the three daughters and been recast, all turned into goody two-shoes, music was added and it became a show your grandmother would watch. (Not a full re-boot but close.)

At this point, Bill Cullen hosted the Price Is Right. Bob Barker was hosting Truth or Consequences on NBC daytime (and many people still did not spay or neuter their pets).

ABC's Jimmy Dean Show featured an early network appearance by a Muppet (Rolf).

Jack Parr had left the Tonight Show to do this Friday night prime time show. When you see clips of Parr or his interviews supposedly from the Tonight Show, most are really from this show (two chairs, no desk). The show lasted two years and Parr mostly disappeared. Steve Allen moved to prime time earlier and did not last much longer. Maybe that's why Johnny Carson decided not to move "up" to doing a prime time show.

Harry's Girls was a TV version of Les Girls, which starred Gene Kelly in the Larry Blyden role. This season, Kelly played the Bing Crosby role in Going My Way.

Hootenanny was a series of folk concerts taped on college campuses. The network refused to allow performers who had been blacklisted a decade earlier to appear and many of the top folk acts boycotted the show.

As part of his production deal for The New Phil Silvers Show, the network brought another sitcom from his companies about these castaways who take a three hour boat tour ... well, you know.

The CBS Morning News was Mike Wallace's first regular assignment for CBS News after doing cigarette commercials and hosting a rigged quiz show. It was straight news for housewives, replacing an early Today-like show for housewives hosted by Harry Reasoner. Except for O&Os, not many CBS affiliates carried it, doing syndicated re-runs or local "Happy Homemaker" shows instead.

Judy Garland's show was effectively sabotaged by CBS programming chief James Aubry ("the smiling cobra), with show being repeatedly re-booted with producers and writers fired. Shortly after this, Aubry was fired.

This version of the Jackie Gleason Show was called "The American Scene Magazine" and did not include The Honeymooners. Instead the leading sketch each week was Joe the Bartender, with the addition of Frank Fontane as "Crazy Guggenheim." Crazy what we would now call "cognitively impaired" or "learning disabled" but then broke into song with a beautiful voice (same act as Gomer Pyle).

The Magic Land of Allakazan: Local magic show picked by the network. The assistant was really hot: Nani Darnell, occasionally referenced on "Night Court."

The Jerry Lewis show did not last. The theater ABC bought and refurbished for the show became The Hollywood Palace. Also used at various times for Lawrence Welk and other shows.

 

[bpatrick]

A few comments:

Dorothy Loudon had replaced Carol Burnett on "The Garry Moore Show"
by this time. This was the year that Garry, noticing his softer ratings,
told Jim Aubrey he had an idea for a retooling of the show. Aubrey's
response: "Not a chance." Garry quit his variety show (which was revived
briefly in 1966 but died against "Bonanza" and the ABC Sunday Night Movie,
to be replaced by "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour") and "I've Got A
Secret." Steve Allen replaced him as host of "Secret."

It was also the year Aubrey told Jack Benny, "you're through." Benny returned
to NBC in the fall of '64, did his weekly show for one more season, then did specials
until he passed away in 1974.

Actually, Jack Paar's primetime show lasted three years (1962-65). When it was
replaced by "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." in '65, Paar swore he'd never do another
series, but he was lured back by ABC to host "Jack Paar Tonite" in its "Wide World
Of Entertainment" slot one week per month in 1973.

And you're right about "Arrest And Trial" being different from "Law And Order" and in
a most important way: Chuck Connors being the defense attorney, which meant that
one or the other (he or Ben Gazzara) had to be wrong. On "L&O" the cops and lawyers
were on the same side. Still, some people do point to "Arrest And Trial" as a forerunner
of "L&O," even if it's not quite accurate.

Murphy Martin was hired from ABC's Dallas affiliate, WFAA, and had been doing the 11 PM
newscast for about a year. He was still on the job when JFK was assassinated. After he
left ABC he went back to Dallas, although I never recall seeing him on any local newscast.
And there's another name that's even more forgettable: Bob Young, who filled an interim of
about three months between Peter Jennings' departure and Frank Reynolds' being named anchor
in 1968. Young was from Cincinnati and that's all I know about him.

Interestingly, a guest on Jimmy Dean's debut show was Fred Flintstone. In connection with Hanna-
Barbera, the producers mixed live action and animation so that it appeared that the two were actually
on stage together. Dean's was the first show to present the Country Music Association Awards, and I
remember one year Minnie Pearl was a presenter. She appeared out of costume and in a formal evening
gown, and instead of "How-DEEEE!" simply said "Hi" when she came onstage.

 

[FredLeonard]

Bob Young popped in the 70s working on NBC's short-lived News and Information Service (NIS), and attempt to offer a networked all news format to stations.

 

[onairb]

A few comments:

Dorothy Loudon had replaced Carol Burnett on "The Garry Moore Show"
by this time...

..by 1964, Burnett was under contract to CBS to do a few specials a year, most notably the Carnegie Hall spectacular with Julie Andrews. As noted on another thread, Lucille Ball offered to develop a sitcom for Carol, who wasn't quite ready to commit to a series at that point. Interestingly, James Aubery was gone by then, but CBS brass did sort of force Carol to make a decision about her TV future in '67; they were not going to renew her old deal to do specials, and instead told her to choose either a sitcom or a variety show; the rest was history.

 

[bpatrick]

That might have been interesting--to see what kind of sitcom
Lucy could come up with for Carol. Meanwhile, Brooks and Marsh
say that Carol left "The Garry Moore Show" in 1962, which is when
Dorothy Loudon replaced her.

But no matter. "The Carol Burnett Show" is a classic in its own right,
especially the Tim Conway-Harvey Korman years.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

Garry Moore seemed to feature "funny girls" on his TV shows. Remember his weekday morning show of the 1950's on CBS when he had Denise Lohr as a part of the cast? She could do comedy and was pretty nice looking, too.

 

[bpatrick]

And although Brooks and Marsh don't credit her as a regular,
Lily Tomlin made a few appearances on Garry's short-lived
1966 Sunday-night show. She was a co-host on ABC's
"The Music Scene" in the fall of 1969, joining "Laugh-In"
in December of that year.

 

[joeybabe25]

Was Lily Tomlin a co-host on Music Scene or was she one of the players behind David Stenberg who did comedy?

I always thought DS was the only "host".

I liked Music Scene a lot (especially Steinberg who I thought was terribly funny). It was a good music show, it introduced me to the Bible (Billboard), but leave it to ABC to program a 45 minute show in 1969.

Joe

 

[bpatrick]

She was one of six rotating hosts (the others: Steinberg, Larry Hankin,
Christopher Ross, Paul Reid Roman, and Chris Bokeno) until November,
when Steinberg became sole host. She joined "Laugh-In" in December.

 

[joeybabe25]

I didn't know that. My falsie memory said that DS was the sole host. Thanks for the catch and correction.

Joe

 

[onairb]

That might have been interesting--to see what kind of sitcom
Lucy could come up with for Carol. Meanwhile, Brooks and Marsh
say that Carol left "The Garry Moore Show" in 1962, which is when
Dorothy Loudon replaced her.

But no matter. "The Carol Burnett Show" is a classic in its own right,
especially the Tim Conway-Harvey Korman years.

Well, obviously, even though Carol turned down 'Here's Agnes', Lucy liked the title well enough to adapt it for herself in 1968! ;D I wonder if Lucy had ever intended to retire at that point? Maybe it would have been Carol playing Agnes working in an employment agency..and if not Gale Gordon as her boss, perhaps Harvey Korman or Tim Conway?;-)

 

[onairb]

And although Brooks and Marsh don't credit her as a regular,
Lily Tomlin made a few appearances on Garry's short-lived
1966 Sunday-night show. She was a co-host on ABC's
"The Music Scene" in the fall of 1969, joining "Laugh-In"
in December of that year.

I keep forgetting that Tomlin joined "Laugh-In" late, and stayed til the end; I always lumped her in with Goldie Hawn, Henry Gibson, and others who started leaving in '70 and '71.(Realistically, the show should have ended by '71, anyway; those last two seasons were quickly forgotten).

 

[blackgold]

And of course, all 3 networks were thrown for a loop on the weekend of November 22nd.-25th. of that year.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

"The Magic Land of Allakazan": Local magic show picked by the network. The assistant was really hot: Nani Darnell, occasionally referenced on "Night Court."

"Allakazan" was hosted by Mark Wilson, and in fact, Nani Darnell was Mrs. Mark Wilson off-camera.

In fact, I thought their son appeared on the show towards the end of it's run.

 

[bpatrick]

The Wilsons' son Mike was, IIRC, on the show for the entire five
years and took part in many of the illusions his dad performed.
I don't know what happened to him, but he has a brother, Greg,
who has followed in Mark's footsteps.

I believe, too, that Nani Darnell was a dancer before she and Mark
were married.

Mark also taught Bill Bixby the illusions he used on his series "The
Magician" and practically turned him into a student of magic; in
the '70s Bixby hosted a syndicated show called "Wonderful World
Of Magic," while Mark was doing a syndicated show called "Magic
Circus" (with Nani).

 

[FredLeonard]

Magicians traditionally work with scantily-attired hotties. The hand is not always quicker than the eye and there's nothing better than a scantily-clad hottie (or MILF) to distract the eye. :