WHEN ABC GOT ON TRACK WITH MOVIES FOR TV - SCALPLOCK - ABC-TV - CIRCA APRIL 10, 1966

The Fall of 1966 was a time of inspired innovation in network television and while CBS was then, as now,Amercica's most watched television network and ABC cultivated unaffilated,youthful viewers, NBC lead the league in creative programming concepts and technological advancement.

The Peacock's decision to take it's full broadcast day to LIVING COLOR in 1965, propmted the competition to do the same, in September of 1966, taking their silvery black and white schedules to vibrant ,vivid color.

NBC also crafted a new genre of story telling in partnership with future COMCAST corporate sibling, UNIVERSAL TELEVISION , in a groundbreaking inititaive called PROJECT 120. The landmark strategy was to produce original, feature length films, specifically for television distribution. Some productions would be sold to foreign broadcasters, some would be released theatrically around the globe, and many, if not most, were designed to serve as pilot episodes for proposed series.

While CBS looked on with curiosity about the prospect of partnering with a film studio to make movies, ABC-TV and COLUMBIA PICTURES' television subsidiary, SCREEN GEMS, best known for producing sitcoms like HAZEL, THE MONKEES AND I DREAM OF JEANNIE, moved into high gear.

On Easter Sunday, April 10, 1966, a sprawling, adult, western adventure with comic overtones called SCALPLOCK premiered on the ABC SUNDAY NIGHT MOVIE. It was the pilot for a proposed series called THE IRON HORSE which starred Dale Robertson, who was one of NBC's most bankable cathode ray cowboys of the 1950's, having been the lead in TALES OF WELLS FARGO.

SCALPLOCK told the two-fisted tale of gambler Ben Calhoun who won the Buffalo Pass, Scalplock, & Defiance Railroad in a poker game.The problem was that the actual railroad has yet to be completed.Along the way there are the requiste romantic encounters,double-dealing villans and ubiquitous dynamite blasts,all unfolding with an easy grin and a good-natured giggle.

The fast-paced,engaging script was written by Stephen Kandel and James Goldstone ( who also directed ) and produced by Herbert Hirschman.The film had rich production values on a limited budget and a television shooting schedule. It was picked-up by ABC-TV and THE IRON HORSE series ran from September 12, 1966 to January 6, 1968.

Here from the CLASIC TV GUY YOU TUBE site,is the full pilot film, SCALPLOCK.

Enjoy!!!

THE THRILL OF VICTORY ... AND OF TELEVISION EXCELLENCE - ABC'S WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS - ABC-TV - CIRCA 1977

After these 17 extraordinary days of the 2012 London Summer Games, it is almost necessary to take a moment to recall and ,in my opinion, revere the true Templar in network television coverage of athletic competition : ABC's WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS.

It is hard to watch the Games of the XXX Olympiad without reflecting on the myriad contributions and manifold innovations of Roone Arledge, a true televisionary in the fields of , both,sports and news.

From the 8thMOTIVE YOU TUBE site, here is the 1977 version of the iconic opening titles to ABC'S WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS.

Enjoy!!!!!!!!

EYES IN THE SKY FOCUS ON EARTH FOR THE FIRST TIME - OUR WORLD- ABC-TV (AUSTRAILIA) - CIRCA JUNE 25, 1967

As we marvel over the incredible technological achievement and the extraordinary images that have already been transmitted from NASA's CURIOSITY ROVER , newly arrived on Mars, home to Earth...Kinescope HD thinks it might be fun to flashback to a more innocent, but still inventive, attempt to link continents on this planet by some of the earliest, commercial communications satellites.

On June 27th, 1967 broadcasters in Australia, the UK, Japan, Canada and more, exchanged signals , in what we now view as a primitive effort,to share programs using two spinning satellites, "parked" some 22,000 miles above the Earth.

Russia and other ,so-called, Eastern Block nations were supposed to participate, but dropped out of the project , to protest Western support of the 1967 Mideast War.'

Here , from the WATVHISTORY You Tube site, is the amazing presentation of OUR WORLD.Enjoy!!!

A BROADWAY STAR SHINES ON T V - THE BUICK-BERLE SHOW - NBC-TV-CIRCA 1954

One of the brightest lights on Broadway, while truly incandescent, doesn't shine from the marquee of a theatre, but radiates an electrifying and exuberant brilliance while standing at center stage.

Her name is Carol Channing and she is the 91 year old subject of an engaging and entertaining documentary on SHOWTIME called CAROL CHANNING:LARGER THAN LIFE.

While always a vibrant presence on screens , both large and small, the theater is her native habitat and she is the benevolent mistress of her domain.

One of her earliest and most enduring theatrical successes was her starring role as Lorelei a gold digger with a heart ... and hair ...of platinum in the 1949 stage version of GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES,by Anita Loos and Joseph Fields.

This role was the defining portrayal of her early career, while her kinetic starring role in 1964's Broadway production of David Merrick's Hello Dolly has shaped her image,ever since.

Here, from the MATTTHESAIYAN YOU TUBE site, is an excerpt from a 1954 edition of NBC's BUICK-BERLE SHOW,in which Carol Channing performs two of her show stopping numbers from GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES.

THE NIGHT TV TOOK US OUT OF THIS WORLD - MAN LANDS ON THE MOON - ABC,CBS,NBC - CIRCA JULY 20, 1969

At least once in Television history, you could honestly say that THE WHOLE WORLD WAS WATCHING.

In the summer of 1969, it seemed that the whole world was coming apart.

It took a true flight of fantasy to bring billions of people on Earth together, if only for a brief and sublime moment.

43 years ago,this country was tested by social unrest, political upheaval and an unpopular war in Viet Nam. The tumult seemed endless.

Yet, when three American astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Edwin 'Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins,were sealed in the compact Apollo 11 spacecraft, they carried with them the hopes of a tired and tormented people, who needed an epic demonstartion of human ingenuity to restore their faith in America and in themselves.

The men who flew through space on the Apollo 11 mission were fulfilling the promise of a martyred President, validating the vision of thousands of aerospace professionals, setting a new standard for American exceptionalism and achieving a dream that had eluded human beings since the dawn of life on this planet.

It was a landmark night for television,as well, which allowed people all over the globe to share the most daring adventure in recorded history. In America, the NBC, CBS and ABC networks also naviaged the night sky to bring home the story of MAN ON THE MOON.

Here, posted below, from the WDTVLIVE42 You Tube site, is a documentary produce by NASA, the National Aeronautics And Space Administration,to chronicle humanity's
most amazing journey. Enjoy!!!

A FLIGHT OF FANTASY IN LIVING COLOR - PETER PAN - NBC-TV - CIRCA 1960

There are moments in television that defy description.

They are simply sublime in execution and satisfying to watch.

Even in a high velocity medium like TV, sometimes it's best to let the story ,the music, the production values and the performances stand on their own.

I think that's true in the case of NBC-TV's vaunted, vibrant,1960 presentation of PETER PAN.

This was the Peacock Network's second time bringing Sir James M. Barrie's classic tale to a mass, television audience, having first staged it in 1954, to wide acclaim.

Posted below, from the MJC545 YOU TUBE site, is a lofty and lively production that starred Mary Martin as Peter and Cyril Ritchard as the villainous Captain Hook.

It was staged on Broadway and for NBC by Jerome Robbins, while it was Directed by Vincent J. Donohue.

This production is evocative and entertaining, and that may the best we can ask of network television, even today.

Enjoy!!!!

A DEATH IN MAYBERRY - THE PASSING OF ANDY GRIFFITH

The kind, quaint town of Mayberry was more a mindset than a place for many of us who grew up in the big cities that were rocked by the social upheaval of the turbulent 1960's.

We knew there wasn't really a Mayberry, but we hoped that it could be real.

The death of video virtuoso Andy Griffith , at age 86, gave many of pause to recall and relish his extarordinary legacy in television, films,recording and music.

It also reminded us that Griffith, along with televisionary executive Sheldon Leonard, uber-producer Aaron Ruben and some of the medium's most accomplished and proflific comedy writers, created a place of safety and sanity, that like a bucolic Brigadoon, only existed on your 21 inch Magnavox every Monday night on CBS.

THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW ran on the TIFFANY NETWORK from 1960 to 1968 and routinely was the most watched sitcom on television. It offered simple,human tales of small town life, that were usually solved in 22 minutes, plus titles and commercials, by the moral and methodical Sheriff Andy Taylor.

(THE FORMER DESILU-CAHUENGA STAGES - NOW RED STUDIOS)

As you would imagine, the key to this kind of gentle comedy is hard work.

While the fabric of the nation was tested in the 1960's, in the writer's room, on Stages 1 & 2 at Desilu-Cahuenga and on Desilu's, Culver City Back Lot, a sweet, funny tapestry of rural American life was being expertly woven.

Here,in an interview done some years back for the vast and voluble ARCHIVE OF AMERICAN TELEVISION, Griffith explains the attendtion to character and storline that helped to make THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW an American Television Classic.

Enjoy!!