Shows That Aired In Both Black & White And Color

[Tim L]

On the Munsters DVD collection, the pilot was in color. It lasted only 15 minutes, but it was so bad and corny, that was long enough!

...on the CBS News memorial special for William Paley aired a few days after his death, a story was told by Mike Dann, then a CBS programming vice-president, indicating that Paley was livid after seeing the Munsters pilot and learning programming head Jim Aubrey had given the series a spot on the schedule. That same 1964-65 season, Aubrey had allegedly put three pilotless Keefe Brasselle productions on the CBS schedule -- The Baileys of Balboa, The Reporter and The Cara Williams Show, all single-season stiffs -- due to Mob pressure stemming from Aubrey's violent sexual relationship with a starlet who also headlined yet another CBS series that stiffed that very same single season. Paley obviously believed, rightly, that greenlighting series on the basis of crappy pilots was no better than greenlighting series without pilots in the first place. Anyway, as Dann told it, Paley yelled at Aubrey, "That show is not CBS!" It took another pilot (this time in black&white) with a retooled cast -- and The Munsters becoming the only Nielsen Top 20 hit among CBS' new series that season -- for Paley to be pacified...

Ah yes, Keefe Brasselle..The no-talent hack comic that somehow managed to get in Jim Aubrey's good graces enough to basically ruin CBS in the 1964-65 season. He helped show Jack Benny the door..upsetting Benny enough that he bolted to NBC for the 1964-65 season..By Spring 1965 Brasselle and Aubrey were both fired. Brasselle then wrote a thinly-veiled novel called the CanniBalS, which showed from all accounts that he had no talent as a writer, either..Not one of CBS's better times..

 

[wbhist]

...on the CBS News memorial special for William Paley aired a few days after his death, a story was told by Mike Dann, then a CBS programming vice-president, indicating that Paley was livid after seeing the Munsters pilot and learning programming head Jim Aubrey had given the series a spot on the schedule. That same 1964-65 season, Aubrey had allegedly put three pilotless Keefe Brasselle productions on the CBS schedule -- The Baileys of Balboa, The Reporter and The Cara Williams Show, all single-season stiffs -- due to Mob pressure stemming from Aubrey's violent sexual relationship with a starlet who also headlined yet another CBS series that stiffed that very same single season. Paley obviously believed, rightly, that greenlighting series on the basis of crappy pilots was no better than greenlighting series without pilots in the first place. Anyway, as Dann told it, Paley yelled at Aubrey, "That show is not CBS!" It took another pilot (this time in black&white) with a retooled cast -- and The Munsters becoming the only Nielsen Top 20 hit among CBS' new series that season -- for Paley to be pacified...

Ah yes, Keefe Brasselle..The no-talent hack comic that somehow managed to get in Jim Aubrey's good graces enough to basically ruin CBS in the 1964-65 season. He helped show Jack Benny the door..upsetting Benny enough that he bolted to NBC for the 1964-65 season..By Spring 1965 Brasselle and Aubrey were both fired. Brasselle then wrote a thinly-veiled novel called the CanniBalS, which showed from all accounts that he had no talent as a writer, either..Not one of CBS's better times..

According to The Worst TV Shows Ever by Bart Andrews and Brad Dunning (published by E.P. Dutton in 1980), Brasselle dreamed up The Baileys of Balboa in response to Gilligan's Island, as Aubrey hated Sherwood Schwartz' idea of seven people stranded on a desert island and wanted a series about a charter boat service that took people places. Interestingly, both shows were spotlighted in that book. Besides, wasn't Gilligan within the Top 25 in 1964-65?

 

[biggguy]

[ That same 1964-65 season, Aubrey had allegedly put three pilotless Keefe Brasselle productions on the CBS schedule -- The Baileys of Balboa, The Reporter and The Cara Williams Show, all single-season stiffs -- due to Mob pressure stemming from Aubrey's violent sexual relationship with a starlet who also headlined yet another CBS series that stiffed that very same single season. ]

OK- being that it's over 40 years later- what was the show, and who was the starlet? "Inquiring" minds want to know....

FWIW- I remember watching the "Baileys of Balboa" and "Cara Williams" at the time, and rather enjoyed them...then again I was eight years old and later, found "My Mother the Car" to be the greatest thing to hit TV.....

 

[LKellerIII]

[ That same 1964-65 season, Aubrey had allegedly put three pilotless Keefe Brasselle productions on the CBS schedule -- The Baileys of Balboa, The Reporter and The Cara Williams Show, all single-season stiffs -- due to Mob pressure stemming from Aubrey's violent sexual relationship with a starlet who also headlined yet another CBS series that stiffed that very same single season. ]

OK- being that it's over 40 years later- what was the show, and who was the starlet? "Inquiring" minds want to know....

FWIW- I remember watching the "Baileys of Balboa" and "Cara Williams" at the time, and rather enjoyed them...then again I was eight years old and later, found "My Mother the Car" to be the greatest thing to hit TV.....

I liked Baileys of Balboa, too - though I was only 12 years old, and not yet the intellectual I am today ( ;D). Perhaps the writing was awful - I can't recall over 40 years later.

I just looked it up online. The cast was great - Paul Ford as Bailey (Colonel Hall on Sergeant Bilko), and John Dehner as his nemesis. Dehner was always great at playing conceited snobs and pompous businessmen. Others in the cast included John Banner (Sgt Schultz on Hogan's Heroes), the weird Michael J. Pollard and Sterling Holloway (voice of Winnie the Pooh).

It's worth noting that its competition was Peyton Place on ABC and Hazel on NBC.

 

[wbhist]

[ That same 1964-65 season, Aubrey had allegedly put three pilotless Keefe Brasselle productions on the CBS schedule -- The Baileys of Balboa, The Reporter and The Cara Williams Show, all single-season stiffs -- due to Mob pressure stemming from Aubrey's violent sexual relationship with a starlet who also headlined yet another CBS series that stiffed that very same single season. ]

OK- being that it's over 40 years later- what was the show, and who was the starlet? "Inquiring" minds want to know....

The only one I could think of would be Julie Newmar of My Living Doll. Unless there was even another starlet who had a flop series on CBS in 1964-65 besides her or the more-established Ms. Williams.

 

[Ultimajock]

[ That same 1964-65 season, Aubrey had allegedly put three pilotless Keefe Brasselle productions on the CBS schedule -- The Baileys of Balboa, The Reporter and The Cara Williams Show, all single-season stiffs -- due to Mob pressure stemming from Aubrey's violent sexual relationship with a starlet who also headlined yet another CBS series that stiffed that very same single season. ]

OK- being that it's over 40 years later- what was the show, and who was the starlet? "Inquiring" minds want to know....

The only one I could think of would be Julie Newmar of My Living Doll. Unless there was even another starlet who had a flop series on CBS in 1964-65 besides her or the more-established Ms. Williams.

...and, since Ms. Newmar is not only still alive but was also a victim of criminal activity on Aubrey's part, I was reluctant to ID her in the originating post. Harlan Ellison tells the story in "blind item" fashion in one of his Glass Teat books...

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Interesting stuff about Keefe Braselle...I only remember the name because Johnny Carson used to use him as a punchline sometimes; perhaps as an easily understood reference to bad TV. Now, concerning the mob, if they REALLY had any muscle at that time, "The Johnny Fontaine Show" would have been on CBS's fall schedule in '64!

 

[wbhist]

...and, since Ms. Newmar is not only still alive but was also a victim of criminal activity on Aubrey's part, I was reluctant to ID her in the originating post. Harlan Ellison tells the story in "blind item" fashion in one of his Glass Teat books...

I would understand your reluctance. I was simply going by process of elimination - and B.T.W., My Living Doll was also in The Worst TV Shows Ever book.

 

[mleach]

On the Munsters DVD collection, the pilot was in color. It lasted only 15 minutes, but it was so bad and corny, that was long enough!

...on the CBS News memorial special for William Paley aired a few days after his death, a story was told by Mike Dann, then a CBS programming vice-president, indicating that Paley was livid after seeing the Munsters pilot and learning programming head Jim Aubrey had given the series a spot on the schedule. That same 1964-65 season, Aubrey had allegedly put three pilotless Keefe Brasselle productions on the CBS schedule -- The Baileys of Balboa, The Reporter and The Cara Williams Show, all single-season stiffs -- due to Mob pressure stemming from Aubrey's violent sexual relationship with a starlet who also headlined yet another CBS series that stiffed that very same single season. Paley obviously believed, rightly, that greenlighting series on the basis of crappy pilots was no better than greenlighting series without pilots in the first place. Anyway, as Dann told it, Paley yelled at Aubrey, "That show is not CBS!" It took another pilot (this time in black&white) with a retooled cast -- and The Munsters becoming the only Nielsen Top 20 hit among CBS' new series that season -- for Paley to be pacified...

Ah yes, Keefe Brasselle..The no-talent hack comic that somehow managed to get in Jim Aubrey's good graces enough to basically ruin CBS in the 1964-65 season. He helped show Jack Benny the door..upsetting Benny enough that he bolted to NBC for the 1964-65 season..By Spring 1965 Brasselle and Aubrey were both fired. Brasselle then wrote a thinly-veiled novel called the CanniBalS, which showed from all accounts that he had no talent as a writer, either..Not one of CBS's better times..

About Brasselle & Aubrey for that matter..was there some kind of gag order among CBS employees back then "not to say a word"? years ago Sherwood Schwartz wrote a book about the behind the scenes of Gilligan's Island. He brings up Aubrey & Brasselle but then he says something like "...thats for another time". As in he didn't wish to talk about it.

In one of those books about Lucille Ball..same thing. "...a topic that should be addressed at another time".

Yet in another book..again same thing. This one about the 60s decade called "60's". They just did not want to talk about Aubrey & Brasselle.

Yet all of those books came out in the mid 90's..AFTER the deaths of those two guys. Yet they still didn't want to "discuss it".

Wonder what this big "fear" was? That Brasselle & Aurbry would come back to life and...ok nevermind LOL

 

[Ultimajock]

About Brasselle & Aubrey for that matter..was there some kind of gag order among CBS employees back then "not to say a word"? years ago Sherwood Schwartz wrote a book about the behind the scenes of Gilligan's Island. He brings up Aubrey & Brasselle but then he says something like "...thats for another time". As in he didn't wish to talk about it.

In one of those books about Lucille Ball..same thing. "...a topic that should be addressed at another time".

Yet in another book..again same thing. This one about the 60s decade called "60's". They just did not want to talk about Aubrey & Brasselle.

Yet all of those books came out in the mid 90's..AFTER the deaths of those two guys. Yet they still didn't want to "discuss it".

Wonder what this big "fear" was? That Brasselle & Aurbry would come back to life and...ok nevermind LOL

...yeah. Some vampires awaken to words other than "nosferatu" ;-) ...

 

[bpatrick]

Not only did Jack Benny get shown the door, so did
Garry Moore. He had an idea for a new, faster-paced
format, but Aubrey told him "not a chance." Moore
then gave up both his variety show and "I've Got A
Secret," and didn't return to CBS until 1966...with the
format Aubrey had rejected. Unfortunately, Moore's
show was slotted against "Bonanza" and the "ABC Sunday
Night Movie," and never caught on despite the presence
of a pre-"Laugh-In" Lily Tomlin, John Byner, and Jackie Vernon.
(He was replaced by "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour"
in February 1967, but had another long run as host of "To
Tell The Truth" from 1969-77.)

Re Keefe Brasselle: at one time there was a joke making the
rounds at CBS. Someone would say, "Aubrey's bought another
show from Keefe," and Mike Dann would invariably answer, "Can
they put me in jail for this?"

 

[biggguy]

Thanks, guys......

By the same process of elimination, I had come up with a similar conclusion... just wanted to see if anyone else had any other thoughts on the subject!

Ahhhh...."My Living Doll"...had all but forgotten that one...another one that I liked....a fairly good newcomer crippled by two factors: Lead actors that detested each other (Bob Cummings beat an early retreat, leaving Jack Mullaney to carry on in the education of "Rhoda") and pretty tough established competition from the other networks, according to sources I checked.

Cara Williams....pretty lady....but naaahhhhh........................

 

[bpatrick]

Cara Williams was being groomed to be the next
Lucille Ball; she even had red hair like Lucy. She'd
had one show, "Pete And Gladys," before her own
show. But she was more interested in interior decorating
and--especially--in competing as a professional poker player
(she learned from poker great Amarillo Slim and was considered
a world-class player at one time).

My first thought about the "starlet" was Judy Carne, who
played on "The Baileys Of Balboa." Then I thought, she
wouldn't have been glamorous enough; Julie Newmar would
be.

It's also strange that television never seemed to find any roles
for Bob Cummings except that of a skirt-chaser. He made some
fairly decent movies ("King's Row" and "Saboteur" come to mind),
and could do drama as well as comedy.

 

[wbhist]

Now to get this thread back on the rails: Given that Nov. 19 is the anniversary of The Benny Hill Show's Thames TV debut, here is another show that aired in both B&W and color. Not just Mr. Hill's pre-1968 shows for the BBC and ATV, but even within his nearly 20 years at Thames - as three of his shows from the 1970-71 "series" (the U.K.'s terminology for season) were in black-and-white due to a strike of technicians who calibrated the colors of the cameras in the studios of the various ITV companies, Thames included. Only one sketch from within those three B&W shows - a filmed "period" piece called "Love Will Find a Way," originally aired on his Jan. 27, 1971 special - was ever included in the U.S. syndicated episodes, as well as the 1974 U.K. theatrical release The Best of Benny Hill. All other outdoor inserts from those three shows were shot on videotape, a rarity in those days, as using film for location shooting was the norm for British TV back then. And because those shows were in B&W, Hill ended up having to rework virtually all the sketches over the last 10 years of his Thames run.

 

[mleach]

Now to get this thread back on the rails: Given that Nov. 19 is the anniversary of The Benny Hill Show's Thames TV debut, here is another show that aired in both B&W and color. Not just Mr. Hill's pre-1968 shows for the BBC and ATV, but even within his nearly 20 years at Thames - as three of his shows from the 1970-71 "series" (the U.K.'s terminology for season) were in black-and-white due to a strike of technicians who calibrated the colors of the cameras in the studios of the various ITV companies, Thames included. Only one sketch from within those three B&W shows - a filmed "period" piece called "Love Will Find a Way," originally aired on his Jan. 27, 1971 special - was ever included in the U.S. syndicated episodes, as well as the 1974 U.K. theatrical release The Best of Benny Hill. All other outdoor inserts from those three shows were shot on videotape, a rarity in those days, as using film for location shooting was the norm for British TV back then. And because those shows were in B&W, Hill ended up having to rework virtually all the sketches over the last 10 years of his Thames run.

Way back in the early 80's I am pretty sure HBO aired some of Benny Hill's B&W work when HBO featured an "uncersored: version of Benny Hill. Still though despite being on HBO over the years I have heard that Hill's original British version featured lots of nudity both male and female. Of course by the time Benny Hill's show aired on OTA TV in the 70s/early 80s nudity was edited out and on HBO..only the male nudity was.

 

[only1moore]

Here's one that you may want to add to the list: "Doctor Who."

 

[anotherguyTN]

Although it said "BBC Colour" in the credits, the pilot episode of Are You Being Served was shown in black & white, at least on WKNO PBS 10 in Memphis.

 

[ixnay]

My Living Doll was also in The Worst TV Shows Ever book.

A book I bought at Ghiriradelli (sp) Square in San Francisco that summer of '81 - during my only trip ever to the Left Coast. Also making that book IIRC were Hogan's Heroes, The Pruitts of Southampton starring Phyllis Diller, and the Miss America pageant (the book showed Bert Parks, mike in hand, looking up, said the caption, "at either a higher authority or an extremely tall contestant" [approximate quote]). You guys have made me wish I'd kept TWTVSE. ;D

ixnay

 

[ixnay]

Now to get this thread back on the rails:

Good thing this isn't railroad.net (yes, it's about trains and railroads). Their mods have next to zero tolerance for topic drift.

Gotta go to work.

ixnay

 

[azumanga]

Although it said "BBC Colour" in the credits, the pilot episode of Are You Being Served was shown in black & white, at least on WKNO PBS 10 in Memphis.

I think in this case, the show was originally seen on one of the BBC channels in color, but existed today in a form of a B&W kinnie.