The renowned screen legend first tried the small screen in the 60's with The Greatest Show on Earth, which lasted one season. Then, in 1975, Palance shifted gears and entered the already heavy crime drama genre.
Bronk was at the back of CBS' Sunday lineup for six months (September 1975-March 1976), following a pilot movie that aired in April of '75. The creative pedigree is most interesting. Bronk sprang from the mind of All in The Family star Carroll O'Connor, who served as co-executive producer with Bruce Geller, who'd left Paramount for MGM after Mannix & Mission: Impossible ended their runs. O'Connor and his business partner sold Bronk to MGM and CBS, but viewers inexplicably tuned them out. Airing opposite the final hour of NBC's Sunday Mystery Movie and ABC's Sunday Night Movie had a lot to do with that. CBS thought they were being clever by pairing Bronk with Telly Savalas' Kojak on Sundays, but it just didn't work.
After Bronk was cancelled, Palance went back to making movies until Columbia called, and signed him to host Ripley's. Repeats of Cannon filled the vacant space on Sundays for the rest of the season.
Here's the intro, courtesy of The Rap Sheet:
Had it been on a different night, and with better promotion from the network, it might've worked.
No rating.
2 comments:
Belatedly:
You didn't identify Caroll O'Connor's producing partner on Bronk.
This was Terry Becker, who was phasing out an acting career to move behind the cameras.
And if that name seems familiar ...
... it's the same Terry Becker who played Chief Sharkey on Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea.
That's Hollywood!
Terry had already moved behind the camera, as he was a producer on Room 222 before he signed on to partner with O'Connor.
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