CBS took a chance on a historical anthology drama in 1963, and while The Great Adventure would make a great teaching tool today, it failed to connect with viewers, and was cancelled after 1 season.
I think the idea was that the network didn't want another sci-fi series in the vein of Twilight Zone. ABC was doing that with The Outer Limits. Originally, film star Van Heflin was the narrator, but that isn't the case in the episode, "The Colonel From Connecticut", which stars Richard Kiley, and features Howard Caine, later of Hogan's Heroes, in a supporting role. Russell Johnson, better known for Gilligan's Island, which came along the next year, subs for Heflin as narrator.
I was but an infant when this was on the air, and it wasn't until years later that I learned of its existence.
Rating: B.
4 comments:
The original producer (showrunner, to use the modern term) of The Great Adventure was John Houseman, who was coming back to network TV after a fair-sized absence.
Once production began, Houseman began running far over the expected budget per episode, to the extent that Houseman was fired by CBS, which owned the show.
Bert Granet, who was showrunning Twilight Zone at the time, was switched over by CBS to run Great Adventure, and to bring the budget under control.
Granet did what he could, bringing in casting director Ethel Winant as a co-producer, but CBS still didn't care for the expense, and that's why there was only one season.
Budget cutting was why Van Heflin left in mid-season; Russell Johnson, being basically unknown at that time, was less expensive.
Your embedded episode is missing the usual Great Adventure epilog:
Each episode ended with a historical note delivered by a professional historian, whose name I can't call to mind just now (but it was the same guy for the run of the series).
I was 13 years old when Great Adventure was on.
My family never missed it while it was on; when it was dropped, then we all missed it …
Russell Johnson wasn't quite so unknown, having appeared in a few movies, and had a supporting role in a Western series that I'll get to eventually. Yes, "Gilligan" made his career.
John Houseman, meanwhile, made quite the return, this time in front of the camera, in the 70's, between the film & TV version of "Paper Chase", Smith Barney ads, and guesting on "Six Million Dollar Man" & "Bionic Woman", among other places.
It's too bad CBS can't be bothered to exhume this show, even on Decades.......
Reminder: in 1963, Van Heflin was a Movie Star.
That's a higher pay grade than "not quite so unknown".
I've got a "collector's DVD set" (OK, bootleg) of some Great Adventure episodes in my DVD wall.
They all look like they were stored in the basement, next to the water heater.
Why CBS doesn't at least do a MOD-DVD set is beyond me.
Their loss, to be sure.
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