FIGHTING THE "WACKIEST" WORLD WAR - MILITARY DRAM-EDY ON WACKIEST SHIP IN THE ARMY - NBC-TV - CIRCA OCTOBER 31,1965

( Cartoonist Drew Friedman's vision of the crew of the U.S.S KIWI for TV GUIDE, FALL 1965)


For the Greatest Generation and their Baby-Boomer progeny, it would appear that WORLD WAR TWO was the last, funny global conflict.

Ask Lt. Commander Quinton McHale or Col. Robert Hogan or the crew of the U.S.S. KIWI.

It must be a matter of perspective.

The mind compassionately dulls memories of muddy foxholes and vicous firefights after two decades, but the lights of a Brisbane street on a weekend pass must have burned bright in the recollection of veterans, some 20 years after the armistice.

In the Fall of 1965, NBC, then America's second place network, was about to launch a strategic battle plan designed to overpower its arch nemesis, CBS-TV.

This was the LIVING COLOR OFFENSIVE, and the tactics were impressive. The PEACOCK NETWORK would air all of it's Prime Time schedule with tinted video.

NBC Executives invested in lavish, opulent production values, that could grow audience while also helping to sell the Color television sets sold by NBC's parent company, RCA.

Each show selected for Fall debut had a rich and vibrant palate.

I SPY was shot in lush locations , like the streets of  Hong Kong and the beaches of Acapulco, around the globe.FLIPPER cavorted in glistening blue,Florida waters. BONANZA captured sprawling,Western vistas with  rich, movie-grade production values.

One of the shows that was supposed to play a key role in this armada of poly-chromatic programs was THE WACKIEST SHIP IN THE ARMY.

Based on a 1960 Jack Lemmon - Ricky Nelson movie of the same name, and produced for NBC-TV by the Screen Gems unit of Columbia Pictures, this hour-lonG "dram-edy" told the tale of the U.S.S. KIWI, a 70-year old schooner, pressed into military service in World War II as a spy-ship roaming the South Pacific. In the storyline,the decaying vessel was crewed by the Navy, but was actually an Army asset,hence the title. This premise, network and studio execs thought,would yield high adventure, light comedy and exotic locations.

The show had great DNA: Producer Harry Ackerman had shepparded the hit shows, BEWITCHED and HAZEL. Jack Warden, an accomplished and respected New York actor was the leading man, with affable support from TV perennial Gary Collins and the vastly talented Mike Kellin. The balance of the KIWI's crew was made-up of appealing young actors and even a few stand-up comedians.

But what appreared on NBC didn't live up to expectations.

The show was shot mostly on constrained, back-lot locations. The plotlines offered promise, but the execution was off-balance, so the mix of comedy and drama never really achieved an entertaining level of equilibrium.It appeared that comedy spots for the sailing stand-ups were peppered through the script with the subtlety of buckshot.

Like many war machines, THE WACKIEST SHIP IN THE ARMY, looked great on the drawing board, but it was a battlefield casualty, lasting only 29 episodes.

But, there is a lot to be said in behalf of this series.The show had an optimistic feeling and the players were appealing. It had an energetic pace and , of course, the acting was of  high caliber, given the tasks facing the cast.

It has not been seen in syndication for decades.

Here from the COUNTRYBOY 24564 YOU TUBE site, here is Episode number 7, STOWAWAY, with guest star Ruta Lee, of THE WACKIEST SHIP IN THE ARMY.

Enjoy!!!!

FRIDAY NIGHT STARLIGHT - PAAR & ALLEN - THE JACK PAAR SHOW - NBC-TV - CIRCA DEC.14, 1962

Call it a a near-cosmic confluence of comic stars in the night.

On a December night in 1962, THE JACK PAAR SHOW,the presumed centerpiece of NBC-TV's Friday night,Prime Time Schedule was on the air, LIVE and in LIVING COLOR from 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

Erudite, affable and volatile Jack Paar had just abdicated his throne as the King of late night television, when he left THE TONIGHT SHOW to host a weekly comedy , variety and talk program for NBC.

In response the network installed a another career-broadcaster and stand-up comedian, Johnny Carson, as the new Prince of Post-Prime Time TV.

Paar reportedly relished the change.

A visceral performer who wore his thread-bare emotions on his well-tailored sleeves, Paar was tired of delivering five shows per week,over 12 months. He liked the idea of focusing on sixty minutes of high voltage, thought-provoking, laugh-inducing television, and to do it just 26 weeks a year.

Paar was able to introduce the most interesting people on the planet to his audience and along the way brought some of the funniest performers of the Camelot-era to his stage.

The incomparable Jonathan Winters improvised without limits. Tom Lehrer waxed satirically in song about the state of humanity.America was introduced to the wholesome,observational comedy of a young Temple University grad, Bill Cosby.

But on this night, an insecure intellectual, who was making a national name and his comic bones working some of the country's hippest nightspots, was making a belated appearance on the show.

Long before he was acclaimed by cinemaphiles as an auteur, Woody Allen was a stand-up comedian.

A guest shot on the JACK PAAR SHOW was a career aspiration for Allen.

As often happens on a LIVE show, the clock moves faster than the guests and the 27 year old, Allen had been bumped from the program three times in three weeks.

Paar, who exuded empathy, felt so bad that he yielded the minutes allocated for his weekly monologue to the hip, young comedian.

Here, from the STANDAPARTCOMEDY YOU TUBE site, is Woody Allen's debut on THE JACK PAAR SHOW.

Enjoy!!!!

IRONSIDE BLOWS AWAY THE AUDIENCE , CRITICS & THE COMPETITION - NBC-TV - CIRCA SEPTEMBER 28, 1967

1960's, conventional television wisdom said that hero detectives were never vulnerable, they worked alone and they rolled up to a crime scene in a hot, new convertible, not a paisley-patterned wheelchair.

But, 1967 was a time of change in society and in network television.

Conventional wisdom on the home screen was quickly being replaced by creative upheaval.

IRONSIDE, the smart and engrossing mystery series that Universal Television produced for NBC-TV proved to be an instant hit, that ran for 8 seasons.

The fast-paced hour helped to blaze new paths in storytelling and in production technique. It was as close as commercial television got to Cinema Verite in style with an occasional pinch of psychedelic, editing sensibility.

The ironic drama broke a lot of rules, and in doing so , it made for fun and fascinating television.

In a season when the Prime Time Schedule had more spies than the back streets of  East Berlin, NBC rolled the dice on a cop show.A genre that was believed to be on the decline. CBS  and Desilu Studios did the same that year with MANNIX. 

Both networks made a smart call.

The bold, but gritty graphic look made a statement about innovation. If television had a New Wave, Thursday night  at 8:30pm on NBC would be the beachhead.

In a high velocity opening scene, the irascible Robert T. Ironside, Chief of Detectives for the San Francisco Police Department, is gunned down during a solitary,drunken weekend at his weekend gataway...a chicken ranch... just scant minutes after the Peacock unfurled his plumage.

The vibrant, pulsating theme by Quincy Jones ( later used in the Kill Bill Films ) set the scene for an arcane tour of  1960's , Haight-Ashbury, Hippie culture as Ironside pulls together a team, comprised of a cynical,veteran detective, an heiress with a conscience who became a cop and a young driver ,with no love for police authority who, himself, will carry  a badge before the series ends, which spends the balance of this two hour , NBC World Premiere Movie searching for the would be assassin.

The lead character doesn't live in a swinging bachelor-pad, like most TV detectives or super spies of the era.The S.F.P.D. Commissioner gives Ironside a store-room  at police headquarters, that could be viewed as a a primitive attempt at providing an accessible living space for the physically challenged.

The former Chief, now head of a special, crime-busting unit of the department, travels in a rebuilt police van that has sophisticated ( by mid-sixties definition ) electronic devices to aid in crime solving.

Along the way , star Raymond Burr, who lept from the epic run of PERRY MASON on CBS-TV, into this pilot film, offers an impassioned , if sardonic,examination of the challenges faced by a stubborn,independent, vital man who is suddenly confined to a wheelchair.

Many viewers and critics were surprised by Burr's emotional and even comedic,range after the years of playing the suave but restrained Barrister Mason on the Tiffany Network.

The  creative DNA behind the show and behind the scenes was impressive.

Producer Frank Price would go on to run Universal Television and to head film studios. Savant series producer , Stephen Bochco, wrote many episodes of IRONSIDE.

NBC brought IRONSIDE back as a movie for television in 1993, starring Burr and much of the original cast.

The  Peacock Network had already revived PERRY MASON, as a mini-series, of sorts. with Burr in the lead.

It was Raymond Burr's death that closed the file on both of these incomparable , crime fighting characters.

Here , posted below, from the SALE GUY You Tube site, is Episode 3 from Season 1 of IRONSIDE. ENJOY!!!!!!

THE SWEET SOUNDS OF A VIDEO VETERAN - ANDY WILLIAMS PASSES AWAY - CIRCA. SEPTEMBER 25, 2012

Andy Williams passed away, last week.

While most folks under 25 may not know him or his work, he provided some of the softest, sweetest music to the American Soundtrack of the 1960's.

He was a fixture on NBC from his earliest work on THE STEVE ALLEN TONIGHT SHOWto his long-running variety series, THE ANDY WILLIAMS SHOW.

Many of those meticulously produced shows have been re-purposed for airing on PBS Stations ,airing during pledge drives.

Williams hit recording of Henry Mancini's evocative MOON RIVER, from the 1961's BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S.was Williams signature and his theme song.

Andy Williams easy sound didn't always top the charts , but THE ANDY WILLIAMS SHOW entertained millions of people week after week, season after season and to me , that's a great epitaph.

Here from the ANDYWILLIAMS 7864 YOU TUBE site, is a sample of Andy Williams affable and relaxed television show. R.I.P.

A VIDEO VISIONARY HAS PASSED AWAY - STEVE SABOL - NFL FILMS

If you love football or television, a man named Steve Sabol has enriched your life.

Sabol was the son of NFL FILMS founder Ed Sabol.He was also the prolific, creative force behind that vibrant production company,which chronicled the weekly, gridiron exploits of American professional football on television, starting in the 1960's.

Steve Sabol passed away at age 69 , this week, after a long struggle with brain cancer.

As a writer, producer, designer and host, he saw poetry and grace in the grimy,bloody,violent, passionate, noble game of inches and inspiration that captives America on any given Sunday in the Fall.

His laudable legacy is printed on reels of celluloid that offer a powerful tableau of the athletic precision and artistic accomplishment that exemplify the National Football League and stand as vibrant testament to the dignity of the sport.

Sabol's rich repertoire included hand-held camera techniques , a rich symphonic score, the stentorian oration of iconic broadcaster John Facenda and expressive narrative that was as much poetry as prose.

Below, from the BRAYAS YOU TUBE site, is a true masterpiece from vision of Steve Sabol and the NFL FILMS portfolio : AUTUMN WIND

A STELLAR SHOW ABOUT SPACE JUNK - THE RARE, FULL PILOT FOR SALVAGE - ABC-TV - CIRCA 1979

1960's television offered no place so down-to-Earth as Mayberry, North Carolina. This was a bucolic Camelot that was replete with eccentric residents and a sage Sheriff, who could solve the most complex , comic dilemma in 28 minutes, less commercials and credits.

It was a place of innocence in a time of social and political tumult.

In the late 1970's ,American exceptionalism was challenged on a daily basis, the economy was stalled and we faced a national crisis in confidence.

In the creative community, network executives, producers and performers tuned their eyes to the heavens and searched for answers.

Just above the horizon, ABC-TV enjoying it's first few seasons as America's most watched network, found BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, a futuristic tale about an armada of endangered nomads seeking a storied home in a far off galaxy and the fanciful story of an Earth-bound, but inspiried junk man with designs on lunar travel, called SALVAGE, starring Mayberry's favorite lawman, Andy Griffith.

( ANDY GRIFFITH WITH SALVAGE ONE CO-STARS, JOEL HIGGINS AND TRISH STEWART )

The pilot film was a hit on THE ABC SUNDAY NIGHT MOVIE and the series was commissioned.

Produced by Columbia Television, it offered a wholesome, yet wondrous story of an all-American entrepreneur and his enthusiastic team. The initial reviews were glowing, but the lustre soon faded.

SALVAGE ONE, as the series was labeled, debuted on January 20, 1979, as a mid-season replacement show, but lasted only 19 episodes.

Here from the MUSICLOVER 1966 YOU TUBE SITE is the full pilot for SALVAGE. Enjoy!!!

WHEN TELEVISION ROCKED THE MOVIES - THE T.A.M.I. CONCERT - AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL PICTURES - CIRCA 1964

What was the best television show you ever saw in a movie theatre?

Think back to the sixties, before boxing matches or the METROPOLITAN OPERA were shown LIVE and in HD at the local cineplex.

In 1964, televisionary Steve Binder, who would go on to produce and direct major comedy and variety programs that ran the gamut from HULLABALOO to PEE WEE'S PLAYHOUSE to ELVIS '68 to the EMMY AWARDS, used inventor Bill Sargent's experimental, ELECTRONOVISION TV system to shoot a ground breaking, rock & roll event, which targeted the teeenage audience.

(EMMY WINNING, PRODUCER-DIRECTOR, STEVE BINDER)

The ELECTRONOVISION technology used specially developed, monochrome cameras,which shot over 800 scanlines at a 25 frame per second resolution, to
record a high quality film version of the landmark musical program.

It was then duplicated and sent to theaters, here,and around the globe.

It was called THE T.A.M.I. CONCERT, and the acronym stood for teenage American music international.

The all-star, rock show, shot in Los Angeles, may have been the first tremor of the youth-quake that would overtake American media in the decades ahead.

In our opinion, the show is still an incredible testament to the ability of television to capture the exuberant and , sometimes provocative,message in the Rock & Soul music of that era.

Here , from the DOWOPPERS51 YOU TUBE SITE is a clip of Lesley Gore on THE T.A.M.I. CONCERT.

ENJOY!!!!!