Ah, yas, I was but an infant in 1963. Just the same, I am obliged to offer ABC's fall preview promo reel for that year. Yas, indeed.
The "alphabet network" overhauled its lineup in '63, adding some new hits to established favorites such as The Flintstones, The Price is Right, Ben Casey, McHale's Navy, & Combat. Some of the newbies have been reviewed here before. To wit:
The Farmer's Daughter, which would trade places with Price before season's end.
The Patty Duke Show
Burke's Law
The Outer Limits
The Fugitive
The bi-weekly Edie Adams Show, aka Here's Edie, was a carryover from the previous season, as was spring replacement Hootenanny. Sid Caesar was given a slot alternating with Edie Adams. In time, we will look at:
The Travels of Jamie McPheeters, with Kurt Russell and some guest appearances by the Osmond Brothers.
100 Grand. A short-lived quiz hosted by Jack Clark.
Breaking Point
Channing
The Greatest Show on Earth. Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus decided to sign off on a dramatization of life under the big top, with Jack Palance as the lead. It'd be 12 years before Palance would land another series (CBS' Bronk).
The Jerry Lewis Show. Jerry was given two hours on Saturdays in back of Lawrence Welk, but was done after 13 weeks, replaced by The Hollywood Palace, and Jerry would try again at NBC with a hour-long show a few years later.
Arrest & Trial, Chuck Connors' 1st post-Rifleman entry, and he'd have two more before the end of the decade.
The entire production of the Fall Preview was written by comedy icon Mel Brooks, who would return to ABC 12 years later with When Things Were Rotten, his first attempt at satirizing Robin Hood. Chet Gould is the announcer, and later worked for Goodson-Todman.
As you could see, Caesar was trying to recapture the spirit of fellow comedy legend Ernie Kovacs, who'd passed away a year earlier. Unfortunately, viewers weren't buying.
Rating: A.
The Fugitive was one of the ABC newcomers in '63.
ReplyDeleteWhat I remember from that year (I was in high school at the time) was that everybody expectedThe Fugitive to flop badly; it was on against Garry Moore on CBS, who was still pretty potent back then.
It didn't turn out that way …
… in fact, The Fugitive was one of the few new hits that ABC had that season, which only goes to show.
Along with Patty Duke, Burke's Law, Outer Limits, & Farmer's Daughter.
ReplyDeleteI've corrected my original post.