Retro: Fall 1964 (50 years ago) Monday-Friday primetime

[bpatrick]

Sources: "The TV Schedule Book" by Castleman and Podrazik, and "The Encyclopedia of Prime Time TV Shows" by Brooks and Marsh. Times are Eastern; new shows in CAPS.

MONDAY ABC 7:30 VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA
8:30 NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS (Sammy Jackson is Will Stockdale, the role originated by Andy Griffith in the '50s.)
9 PM WENDY AND ME (George Burns as the owner of an apartment building interacts with a scatterbrained tenant,
played by Connie Stevens. It doesn't make anyone forget Gracie.)
9:30 BING CROSBY SHOW (Der Bingle plays a retired singer and Beverly Garland is his show biz-struck wife.)
10 PM Ben Casey
11 PM ABC News (Bob Young)
11:10 (Local)
11:15 LES CRANE SHOW (debuts November 9: sometimes-controversial guests and audience participation--it barely nicks
Johnny Carson but Phil Donahue must be watching because the idea will revolutionize daytime talk)
1 AM (Local)

CBS 7:30 To Tell The Truth
8 PM I've Got A Secret (Steve Allen takes over the hosting job from Garry Moore.)
8:30 Andy Griffith Show
9 PM The Lucy Show
9:30 MANY HAPPY RETURNS
10 PM SLATTERY'S PEOPLE (Richard Crenna as a legislator; Ed Asner plays his aide.)
11 PM (Local)

NBC 7:30 90 BRISTOL COURT (three different half-hour sitcoms exploring the same subject from different angles: KAREN; TOM,
DICK AND MARY; HARRIS AGAINST THE WORLD--only "Karen" will last beyond January)
9 PM Andy Williams Show
10 PM Alfred Hitchcock Hour
11 PM (Local)
11:15 Tonight Show
1 AM (Local)


TUESDAY ABC 7:30 Combat!
8:30 McHale's Navy
9 PM THE TYCOON (Walter Brennan as the head of a multinational conglomerate)
9:30 PEYTON PLACE
10 PM The Fugitive
11 PM ABC News
11:10 (Local)
11:15 LES CRANE SHOW
1 AM (Local)

CBS 7:30 (Local)
8 PM WORLD WAR I (for the war's 50th anniversary, CBS News produced this documentary with a surprising
amount of film footage)
8:30 Red Skelton Hour
9:30 Petticoat Junction
10 PM The Doctors And The Nurses
11 PM (Local)

NBC 7:30 Mr. Novak
8:30 THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.
9:30 That Was The Week That Was
10 PM Bell Telephone Hour/NBC News Specials
11 PM (Local)
11:15 Tonight Show
1 AM (Local)

WEDNESDAY ABC 7:30 Ozzie And Harriet
8 PM Patty Duke Show
8:30 SHINDIG
9 PM MICKEY (Mickey Rooney as the owner of a rundown beachfront hotel; son Tim is a regular on this short-lived effort.)
9:30 Burke's Law
10:30 ABC SCOPE
11 PM ABC News
11:10 (Local)
11:15 LES CRANE SHOW
1 AM (Local)

CBS 7:30 CBS Reports
8:30 Beverly Hillbillies
9 PM Dick Van Dyke Show
9:30 CARA WILLIAMS SHOW (one of three shows Jim Aubrey bought sight unseen from buddy Keefe Brasselle--Cara and Frank
Aletter play a married couple working for a company that forbids intraoffice romances, so they have to keep
their marriage a secret)
10 PM Danny Kaye Show
11 PM (Local)

NBC 7:30 The Virginian
9 PM NBC WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES
11 PM (Local)
11:15 Tonight Show
1 AM (Local)

THURSDAY ABC 7:30 The Flintstones
8 PM Donna Reed Show
8:30 My Three Sons
9 PM BEWITCHED
9:30 PEYTON PLACE
10 PM Jimmy Dean Show
11 PM ABC News
11:10 (Local)
11:15 LES CRANE SHOW
1 AM (Local)

CBS 7:30 THE MUNSTERS
8 PM Perry Mason
9 PM Password
9:30 THE BAILEYS OF BALBOA (the second of the Brasselle shows, this one about two feuding families living in a Southern
California yachting community--Judy Carne is the daughter of one of the two feuding fathers)
10 PM The Defenders
11 PM (Local)

NBC 7:30 DANIEL BOONE
8:30 Dr. Kildare
9:30 Hazel
10 PM Kraft Suspense Theater
11 PM (Local)
11:15 Tonight Show
1 AM (Local)

FRIDAY ABC 7:30 JONNY QUEST (arguably one of Hanna-Barbera's best efforts)
8 PM The Farmer's Daughter
8:30 THE ADDAMS FAMILY
9 PM VALENTINE'S DAY (Tony Franciosa as skirt-chasing publisher Valentine Farrow-- a pre-"Barney Miller" Jack Soo
is his valet; and Janet Waldo, the voice of Judy Jetson, is his secretary.)
9:30 12 O'CLOCK HIGH
10:30 (Local)
11 PM ABC News
11:10 (Local)
11:15 LES CRANE SHOW
1 AM (Local)

CBS 7:30 Rawhide
8:30 THE ENTERTAINERS (a treat for classic-TV fans: Bob Newhart, Carol Burnett, and singer Caterina Valente
host a variety show in which one, two, or all three appear; after Newhart leaves in November, the two women act as
co-hosts for the rest of the run)
9:30 GOMER PYLE, USMC
10 PM THE REPORTER (the third of the Brasselle shows, with Harry Guardino as a New York newspaper reporter)
11 PM (Local)

NBC 7:30 International Showtime
8:30 Bob Hope Chrysler Theater
9:30 Jack Benny Program (Jack returns to NBC after 15 years on CBS; after this season he will do well-received specials
until his death in 1974.)
10 PM Jack Paar Show
11 PM (Local)
11:15 Tonight Show
1 AM (Local)

 

[installLSC]

Weren't those Brasselle shows the reason CBS nearly lost out to NBC in the ratings war that season? And thus cost CBS programming head James Aubrey his job? There were lots of rumors at the time that linked Aubrey and Brasselle to the Mob, but I don't know if anything was proven.

 

[bpatrick]

Right on all counts. Aubrey and Brasselle had known each other since the '40s, when Aubrey was sales manager at CBS's Los Angeles radio station, KNX, and Brasselle was trying to break into the movies. Aubrey was fascinated by the fact that one of Brasselle's uncles was in the mob, which cemented their friendship. There were, by early 1965 (as CBS seemed to be losing its grip on the ratings lead), a number of questions as to how Brasselle put three shows on CBS without benefit of a pilot for any of them. I've often wondered if Aubrey secretly diverted CBS money to set up Brasselle as a producer. I doubt if we'll ever know.

Another factor that hurt CBS that year was the strong showing by ABC; six of its new shows in fall '64 were renewed as opposed to three on CBS ("Gomer Pyle," "The Munsters," and "Gilligan's Island") and three on NBC ("The Man From U.N.C.L.E.," "Daniel Boone," and "Flipper"). For the record, the ABC shows that were renewed were "Bewitched," "Peyton Place," "Shindig," "The Addams Family," "Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea," and "12 O'Clock High." NBC also had two midseason replacements, "Branded" and "Hullabaloo," renewed for 1965-66.

 

[BD Sullivan]

Ironically, the guy who replaced Aubrey, John Schneider, would become part of a huge controversy the following year. Schneider's decision to continue showing sitcom reruns instead of Congressional hearings on Vietnam caused Fred Friendly to resign in protest.

 

[rnigma1]

Brasselle and Aubrey would have a falling-out (I'm surprised Keefe didn't ask his mob pals to "hit" him, as he apparently did with Greg Garrison) and Brasselle would write a thinly disguised novel called "The CanniBalS."

 

[bpatrick]

For those who don't know what rnigma1 is referring to, Aubrey gave Brasselle a summer variety show in Garry Moore's timeslot (Tue 10 PM ET) in 1963, and Garrison was asked to produce it (he'd also been asked to produce Judy Garland's show that fall, but he would eventually say no to that after the Brasselle experience). Brasselle apparently began to read his notices, took note of the deferential attention being paid to him (such as getting a choice table in restaurants), and became a real prima donna. One night, just before taping, Garrison wanted to go over a few things with Brasselle, only to learn he was in a bar across the street from the CBS studio in New York. Now Garrison didn't like holding up a taping, with a studio audience waiting and getting restless, so he went across the street, jerked Brasselle out of his seat, and practically dragged him back to the studio. Rocky Graziano, who was on that show, warned Garrison after the show that Brasselle "had a thing going for him" and was getting his mob pals lined up; he had Garrison spend the night with him while he patched things up with Brasselle. Garrison must have decided then and there to leave CBS; he did not work on the Garland show.

Garrison made his name as Dean Martin's producer; Dean even made him partners in ownership of the show, which made Garrison a very wealthy man. In 1971 Brasselle shot a man during an argument in a bar; fortunately for Brasselle, the man lived.

I haven't read "The CanniBalS," but I think it was a thinly-disguised attack on Aubrey. I know that when Brasselle was trying to interest New American Library in publishing the book, a woman who worked there referred to him as "a 1965 version of George Raft (one of the movie tough guys of the '30s)" and couldn't wait to see him leave the building, that's how creepy she thought he was.

 

[onairb]

Right on all counts. Aubrey and Brasselle had known each other since the '40s, when Aubrey was sales manager at CBS's Los Angeles radio station, KNX, and Brasselle was trying to break into the movies. Aubrey was fascinated by the fact that one of Brasselle's uncles was in the mob, which cemented their friendship. There were, by early 1965 (as CBS seemed to be losing its grip on the ratings lead), a number of questions as to how Brasselle put three shows on CBS without benefit of a pilot for any of them. I've often wondered if Aubrey secretly diverted CBS money to set up Brasselle as a producer. I doubt if we'll ever know.

Another factor that hurt CBS that year was the strong showing by ABC; six of its new shows in fall '64 were renewed as opposed to three on CBS ("Gomer Pyle," "The Munsters," and "Gilligan's Island") and three on NBC ("The Man From U.N.C.L.E.," "Daniel Boone," and "Flipper"). For the record, the ABC shows that were renewed were "Bewitched," "Peyton Place," "Shindig," "The Addams Family," "Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea," and "12 O'Clock High." NBC also had two midseason replacements, "Branded" and "Hullabaloo," renewed for 1965-66.

"The Addams Family" was in its second, and last, season in 1964-65, so make that five new ABC shows that got renewed after that season.

 

[bpatrick]

"The Addams Family" debuted in 1964 and was renewed for the 1965-66 season; it was canceled in 1966.

 

[strato]

How many times was this gag used

Mortcia asking a guest "I'd like to relax-do u mind if I smoke?

The guest would say go right ahead

And Mortcia would fold her arms and her body would start smoking

Still seemed funny every time