This week in TV Guide: April 3, 1971

I'm going to make an assumption here, which may or may not be correct, that most of you already know what all the talk was about with cable TV. In fact, to show the speed at which technology evolves, this TV Guide—54 years old—is previewing something which has already come and gone. 

Whereas William J. Slattery's cover story offers various prophesies as to the present and future of cable, we already know how the story ends: cable shakes up the television landscape, becoming the dominant form of TV consumption, HBO becomes the home of prestige drama, various other cable networks get in on the act, and then—streaming. And the whole thing starts over again, with one exception: today, we're speculating on whether there is a future for television, whether the broadcast networks will even survive, and whether or not "television" will be good for anything other than coverage of live sports.

Now, I know there are a lot of people—millions, in fact—who still subscribe to cable TV. In fact, there's even been some speculation that, with streaming prices continuing to rise to offset the cost of program acquisition, cable packages might make a comeback. I don't think that will happen, but I don't think the complete demise of cable is going to happen in the next few weeks, either. The existence of this article, however, is proof of one thing: the surest way to either become a multimillionaire or go flat broke is to predict the future of television.

Therefore, I'm proposing we move beyond the cover story, and look at some other features, beginning with a look at Lee Meriwether's life after Miss America. As Rowland Barber says, she carries all the attributes of an average, ordinary housewife: happily married with two kids, whom she ferries to and from school; attractive, unprepossessive, has her mom babysit the kids at least once a week, somewhat scatterbrained, active in Scouting, bakes cookies, has an interesting hobby. It just so happens that her hobby is acting, and her former activity was beauty pageant queen. 

She's currently playing Andy Griffith's wife on The New Andy Griffith Show, between stints as a technician on The Time Tunnel and Barnaby Jones's daughter-in-law, with a side stint as Catwoman in the Batman movie, and a future run on All My Children. The "Miss America thing," she explains, was an accident; a friend entered her in the competition, and she didn't even know about it until one of the judges called to remind her that she was supposed to audition that day. She found it unbelievable when she went on to win Miss San Francisco, and knew she "didn't have a chance" in the Miss California pageant; her victory there propelled her to Atlantic City, where she would have been happy to finish in the top 10. (No Miss California had ever finished outside the top 10.) Her father died shortly before the pageant, and her mother convinced her to go ahead, that now it might be her only chance to afford college. The 1954pageant (for Miss America 1955) was the first to be televised (and the last, to that point, not hosted by Bert Parks), and to this day, she has no memory of having won "until a year later, when I saw a film of my night. I had been interviewed by Bess Myerson. I was hysterical. I said something about hoping my father somehow knew about this. Then I watched the emcee prodding me to take The Walk, and there I was, moving down the promenade, crying all the way." 

From there she went to a stint on The Today Show, followed by acting lessons (where she met her husband, actor Frank Aletter), and "that's been the story of my life ever since. My acting career has never been terribly important. It just happened." 

And then there's Anthony Quayle, currently starring in NBC's British import Strange Report, where he plays a former police detective who specializes in solving unusual crimes. He's a quiet man, reports Ross Drake—so unassuming, yet proud and comfortable within himself, that it's hard to believe he's an actor. He credits World War II for molding him into the man he is today; "I became violently aware that the theater and literature are of relatively little consequence. I became aware of another world of power and politics and death, of living and dying for what you believe in," he explains. That doesn't mean that his craft isn't important to him; on the contrary, he believes the theater has a purpose in this modern world, to be "a linking force, a shared heritage of that part of the world that speaks English." But "I no longer cared about those who were elegant and witty—I didn't give a damn for them. I came to care about a man I could stand beside and depend on with my life. It was rather a delayed manhood, but finally, I had become a man." He downplays his own accomplishments in the war; "I wasn't being brave then. I was sending other people to be brave." 

Faced with several prospects after excelling on stage, including an offer from MGM to come to America to be a producer, he instead chose the directorship of the Shakespeare Memorial Theater at Stratford-on-Avon. His success there gave him a "powerful sense of pride in both his country and his profession." It took him away from acting, though, and the likelihood that he might well have become "one of the commanding actors of the English stage." It did, however, allow him to build a family and a successful personal life with his second wife and their three children, to all of whom he's devoted. So acting has, sadly, taken something of a backseat. "I'm very aware that, in order to be a great actor, one has to be absolutely and selfishly dedicated to that end. The difference between a good actor and a great one is very small, but it's vital." He does not, he believes, fall into that "great" category, despite an Oscar nomination (for Anne of the Thousand Days), and his turn in the Broadway hit "Sleuth." 

He enjoys television; "I don't think anyone's yet realized how much televison affects people's lives. If one could get over certain values of sanity and humor, one might have an influence, which might lead to more." He concedes that his friend, Sir John Gielgud, is right that he has some regrets he didn't have the chance to become a great actor, but "While John's right that it's been a disappointment to me, and a sadness, it's been a very minor sadness, because there have been so many satisfying compensations." And while, Drake concludes, he could be rationalizing, "it's hard not to hope that he isn't." Says Quayle, "I wouldn't change it. I wouldnt' have it any other way—not at all."

Finally, there's the sports beat, and Melvin Durslag makes his fearless prognostications for baseball, 1971. In the days of four divisions and no wild cards, it doesn't take up much room. His picks for the National League are the Cubs (!) in the East and Cincinnati in the West; in the American League, he likes Baltimore in the East and Oakland in the West. And Mel gets three of the four right on the nose. The only one he misses is the NL East. It's not the Cubs, of course, but the Pittsburgh Pirates, who go on to edge Baltimore in a thrilling seven-game World Series to take it all.

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From 1963 to 1976, TV Guide's weekly reviews were written by the witty and acerbic Cleveland Amory. Whenever they appear, we'll look at Cleve's latest take on the shows of the era.

This week, Cleveland Amory puts himself in the line of fire, with William F. Buckley Jr.'s Firing Line, and it should come as no surprise that a man as linguistically clever as our Cleve would be taken with the polysyllabic Buckley, who once defended his use of long words by saying that "they say what I mean to say." And when it comes to television, Buckley, after a tentative start, has come across like a man to the (TV) manor born, who, "when he added to his forensic foreplay an ability to pace his parries, he began to make mincemeat of such adversaries as David Susskind, Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and Norman Mailer," liberal icons all.

And that's one of the things, I found, about the young Buckley: whether or not you agreed with him (and I did, especially when he was younger), there was something about him that, as Amory says, is guaranteed to "continue to charm the few and madden the many—or, depending on how you look at him, vice versa. He also plays to win, plays for keeps, engages in conversation with both gloves off. When guest George Wallace once asked him, "Why are you talking so much? This is an interview show," Buckley dryly replied, "No, actually it's not." You're not invited on Firing Line to answer Buckley's questions; you're invited to exchange opinions with him, and the sharper his guest, the more entertaining the show. Unlike many hosts of similar programs, Buckley seems to delight in those guests who can keep up with his banter and repartee; as befits a man of confidence, he has no fear of being upstaged. When black activist Eldridge Cleaver appeared on the show, with his endless complaints about "pigs" [the police, for those of you not in the know], Cleaver at one point pointed out to the host, "Didn't you run for mayor in New York? What happened?" Buckley's unflappable response: "A lot of pigs beat me."

And that, I guess, is the point: if you're confident in yourself, if you have no fear of engaging in open conversation and debate on the issues of the day, then you should have no qualms about discussing them with people with whom you disagree. And you should be able to do so without resorting to personal attacks; just as you attract more flies with honey than vinegar, you often can soothe the savage beast more with wit and charm than invictive and boorishness. (Many of today's social icons could take note of this.) In discussing Arkansas's liberal senator, J. William Fulbright, Buckley said, "It is fashionable among the literati to say of the Vice President [Agnew] nowadays that he is merely a bad joke. By inference one reasons that William Fulbright is a good joke." As Cleve concludes, "A man who can turn a phrase like that can turn us on—and vice versa—any time.

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As the networks prepare their fall schedules, the axe has dropped on a variety of shows, mostly of the variety variety. Whereas there were sixteen at the beginning of the current season, there will be but five come this fall, and not a one of them will be new. Among the carnage are two that will go on to long and successful runs in syndication, Hee Haw and The Lawrence Welk Show; the remaining casualties include Johnny Cash and Pearl Bailey on ABC, Ed Sullivan, Jim Nabors, and the Jackie Gleason Honeymooners musicals, and Red Skelton, Andy Williams, Don Knotts, and the Kraft Music Hall on NBC. When all is said and done, the five remaining programs will be Flip Wilson, Dean Martin, and Laugh-In on NBC, and Glen Campbell and Carol Burnett on CBS; of those five, only Carol will have any real shelf life remaining. "There were just too many," according to one network source, who said, "The same talent was turning up everywhere." (This didn't include Hee Haw and Johnny Cash, obviously, since they pretty much had the corner on country stars.) I was going to add that this could spell quite a blow to Bob Hope, considering he never met a variety guest spot he didn't like, but I guess I don't have to. There will be something of a small comeback with Sonny and Cher and Donnie and Marie, but the revival doesn't extend to The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.

I mentioned the dropping axe, and the variety shows weren't the only ones to feel the sting of the executioner's blade. In addition to getting rid of their supply of variety shows, ABC has sacked their trio of prime-time game shows: Let's Make a Deal, The Newlywed Game, and The Reel Game; they've also gotten rid of That Girl, Make Room for Granddaddy, and Dan August, making a total of ten to bite the dust. Their seven new series* include vehicles for Shirley MacLaine and Bobby Sherman; The Persuaders, starring Roger Moore and Tony Curtis (a favorite in the Hadley household); Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law, which the network hopes will do for Arthur Hill what Marcus Welby did for Robert Young, and James Franciscus as the blind detective, Longstreet. There's also an untitled drama for Anthony Quinn, which will wind up as The Man and the City. I think, though don't hold me to it, that only Owen Marshall made it past one season, although The Persuaders was a casualty of British labor (labour?) problems.

*Why seven new series to replace ten old ones? It's partly because of the new Prime Time Access rule, requiring the networks to cede a half hour of prime time back to the affiliates each night.

As far as specials for the new season, the most prestigious will likely be The Six Wives of Henry VIII, a BBC import that CBS plans to air over a six-week period. However, the Hollywood Teletype reports that ABC has plans to adapt Irwin Shaw's current bestseller, Rich Man, Poor Man. Interestingly, "what form the TV version will take is still undecided." And that form, when it is decided, will help to change the landscape of television, if only for a time: the miniseries.

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Why wait until the fall for specials, though, when we've got some on tap this week? 

On Saturday, WHDH, the CBS affiliate in Boston, presents a Peanuts special that was actually broadcast last week, when WHDH probably had something else on. It's "Play It Again, Charlie Brown" ((5:30 p.m.), one of the lesser-known Peanuts stories. Lesser known? I have to admit, I never missed these specials growing up, and yet I have absolutely no memory of this one at all: Schroeder is the featured character, with Lucy trying to win his attention by arranging for him to give a concert at a PTA meeting. Trouble is, they're expecting a rock concert, while Schroeder's planning an all-Beethoven schedule. It probably makes for a very funny storyline in the strip, but the animated specials really require Charlie Brown and/or Snoopy as the focal point to carry the interest.

April 4 is Palm Sunday, and ABC premieres Rankin/Bass's Easter special, Here Comes Peter Cottontail (7:00 p.m.), with Danny Kaye as the narrator and Wellington B. Bunny, Vincent Price as the evil Irontail (who wants to dye all Easter eggs black), and Casey Kasem as Peter Cottontail. And speaking of Ed Sullivan, as we were a moment ago, Sunday gives an Ed Sullivan "Special," Ed Sullivan Presents Movin' with Nancy on Stage (8:00 p.m., CBS), which certainly has to be one of the most cumbersome titles on television since Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters, and it makes just about as much sense. What this really is is Nancy Sinatra's Vegas nightclub act, with the Osmond Brothers and the Blossoms, being shown in the Sullivan timeslot. Maybe Ed introduces it, maybe he does something else, but it's pretty clear he doesn't do much beyond lending his name to the special, if that was even his idea.

The variety series may be dying, but when it comes to the musical special, things are alive and well. NBC kicks off the week with a doubleheader on Monday: Bob Hope's final special of his 21st season (9:00 p.m.), with Sammy Davis Jr., Lee Marvin, Shirley Jones, and Wally Cox; followed by Diahann Carroll's first special (10:00 p.m.), with Harry Belafonte, Tom Jones, and cameos from Bill Cosby and Donald Sutherland. 

A delightful CBS News Special (and there's a combination of words you don't read often) is the first in a series of "interviews" with key figures from America's war for independence (remember, the Bicentennial is only five years off). "The American Revolution Revisited" (Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.) stars Peter Ustinov as Frederick Lord North, the Prime Minister under George III whose policies helped ignite the war. CBS newsman Eric Sevareid is the host; Ustinov, who "boned up on history and Lord North's writings" in preparation for the show, ad-libs answers to Sevareid's questions. Among his many opinions: John Hancock was nothing more than "A reprehensible character who made his money out of smuggling," and he justified the action of British troops during the Boston Massacre as being done "under provocation."  

On Wednesday, NBC presents A Royal Gala (9:00 p.m.), an all-star benefit for the World Wildlife Fund taped last November in London. Among the dignitaries in the audience are the Royal Family (including the Queen), Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, and future king Juan Carlos of Spain. And on stage, a blend of Americans and Brits, from Petula Clark and Rex Harrison to Glen Campbell and Bob Hope, who apparently won't have any trouble finding work after all. 

One of the biggest is a repeat of John Wayne's star-studded tribute to America, Swing Out, Sweet Land (Thursday, 8:30 p.m., NBC), featuring Jack Benny, Lorne Greene, Bob Hope, Ann-Margret, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Rowan and Martin, Red Skelton, Ed McMahon, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, and others. Did you notice how many of those names were also stars of series appearing on NBC? (There's also Lucille Ball, Celeste Holm, Greg Morris, and some other non-Peacock celebs.)

Good Friday features a couple of low-key Easter specials, with Mike Douglas narrating Love is the Answer (7:30 p.m., WBZ), the story of Boys Town in Rome, Italy. And for Frankie Avalon, Easter is the word, as he spends his Easter vacation hosting an easy hour of music from Southern California and Mexico with Nana Lorca, Jan Daley, the Burgundy Street Singers, Joey Forman, Laurindo Almeida, and the James Hibbard dancers. At least Frankie sings "Easter Parade," which I guess qualifies it as a seasonal special.

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By the way, we've also got some non-special (i.e., regularly scheduled) programs worth noting this week. Saturday afternoon gives us the finale of the pro bowling season, the Firestone Tournament of Champions (3:30 p.m., ABC), with the winner taking home a cool $25,000 (which was a very big prize back then, the equal of many professional golf tournaments). Last year, Don Johnson won the championship with one of 1970's most memorable sports broadcasts, rolling a 299 in the final. (Oh, that 10-pin!)

On Sunday, NBC's Experiment in TV (3:00 p.m.) presents a rerun of 1969's "The Cube," which I have to admit is the kind of story that sounds right up my alley. "Setting: a small, doorless and windowless chamber of translucent plastic in which a man seems trapped. Visitors enter through quickly appearing—and disappearing—doors, leading him in bizarre, often inane discussions, evidently to frustrate and confuse him. Are they—or the cube in which he's trapped—real?" Kind of like what life is like today, isn't it? It's produced and directed by Jim Henson,  one of several live-action films he did in the 1960s, before focusing entirely on The Muppets.

Monday's Gunsmoke (7:30 p.m., CBS) is a thriller, as a group of bounty hunters holds Matt's friends hostage while awaiting his return; seems they've got a score to settle with him. Is anyone at all surprised that one of the bad guys is Bruce Dern? But you might raise an eyebrow when seeing that another of them is Russell Johnson—the Professor! Oh, no!

Tuesday is baseball's Opening Day, as close to an undeclared national holiday as they came back in the day, and we'll kick things off from Fenway Park, as the Boston Red Sox take on their bitter archrivals, the New York Yankees. (1:30 p.m., WHDH in Boston, WPRI in Providence). At 2:00 p.m., New Haven's WNHC follows suit with the Montreal Expos taking on the New York Mets at Shea Stadium. Daytime baseball; does it get any better than that?

This isn't significant for anything other than my own personal amusement, but if you're looking for a movie that sounds like a mashup of two Humphrey Bogart movies (minus Bogie, alas), you'll find it on Wednesday with Treasure of the Petrified Forest (part one, 6:30 p.m., WSMW in Worcester). It's one of those Italian spaghetti adventure movies involving Medieval knights and warrior women. There's more substance to Book Beat (7:00 p.m, WEDN in Norwich), in which Bob Cromie's guest is Bennett Cerf, discussing The Sound of Laughter, a collection of his favorite jokes, stories, and puns.

I mentioned earlier that Make Room for Granddaddy was one of the shows on the chopping block, and Thursday's episode is, I think, an example of why: despite the fact that Danny, Marjorie Lord, Angela Cartwright, Sid Melton, and other members of the original cast have returned for the revival, we're introduced in this rerun to Roosevelt Grier, a new regular, who plays Danny's new accompanist Rosey Robbins. And while Rosey Grier was a passable actor and pleasant personality (not to mention a great football player), additions like this usually point to shows trying desperately to be relevant, and while Danny's trying to act casual, his wife works to put everyone at ease. So what are they so uptight about? Guesses, anyone?

On Friday, the aforementioned Anthony Quayle's Strange Report (10:00 p.m., NBC) focuses on the murder of a lonely hearts club director, and as we might expect, not everything here is what it seems. A trio of late-night movies round out the week, beginning with Audrey Hepburn's Oscar-nominated turn in The Nun's Story (11:25, WTIC), the story of a nun serving in the Congo; Barabbas (11:30 p.m., WPRI), with Anthony Quinn portraying the criminal who was released instead of Christ; and Jezebel (11:50 p.m., WHDH), with Bette Davis winning an Oscar for her performance as a "Dixie vixen," and Henry Fonda as one of her victims.

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We haven't looked at a recipe for awhile, and this week we're supposed to be looking at "delicious desserts" to top off a hearty Italian meal. Now, I have never, in my life, heard of serving lasagna as a dessert, have you? Maybe that's what they do in Italy, but I've always known it as a main dish. Regardless, here's a great recipe:

Gotta admit, it sounds great no matter when you eat it. 

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MST3K alert: Viking Women and the Sea Serpent (1954) Viking women who have set sail in search of their men are caught in a vortex, washed ashore and captured. Abbie Dalton, Susan Cabot. (Friday, 1:15 a.m., WTEV in New Bedford) In a week that offers an embarrassment of riches, or perhaps just embarrassments (It Conquered the World, War of the Colossa Beast and its sequal, The Amazing Colossal Man, and The Eye Creatures), we'll look at this Roger Corman-directed movie starring Abbie Dalton, before she moved on to better things as Joey Bishop's TV wife and one of the original Hollywood Squares. Enjoy!  TV

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Around the dial

Today is Good Friday, and for an example of the kind of programming you don't see on commercial television anymore, here is Archbishop Fulton Sheen's Life is Worth Living Good Friday broadcast. 

The Secret Sanctum of Captain Video dips once again into the world of comic book adaptations of television series; this week, it's the 1959-60 series Men Into Space, one of the first realistic looks at interstellar travel on TV. The comic's pretty good, from what I can see.

Orson Welles never appeared in a space opera to my knowledge, but at Cult TV Blog, John reviews "A Time to Remember," an episode of the 1973-74 Orson Welles Great Mysteries anthology series, starring Patrick Macnee in a Cold War thriller.

Did someone mention Pat Macnee? It was 60 years ago that The Avengers premiered on American television, and at A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence looks back on one of the great British import series of the 1960s.

And Martin Grams has some more comic book goodies as part of a treasure trove of rare pictures and clippings about Dick Tracy. There are a lot of really fun things included here; be sure to take some time and look at them.

It's said that everyone loves a good scandal; thankfully, this isn't true, as David points out at Comfort TV. He has an excellent piece on the recent revelation of "scandals" surrounding Bob Barker and The Price is Right, and what exactly it's all supposed to accomplish.

At Silver Scenes, the Metzingers have a great story on  The Silver Banjo Barbecue, a Disneyland restaurant located in Frontierland, and run by the actor Don DeFore! What a terrific bit of trivia!

An amusement park of a completely different type is at the center of Westworld, which I remember not from the TV series but the original movie, starring Yul Brynner as a version of his Magnificent Seven character. Read about it from Rick at Classic Film & Movie Cafe. 

This week's A-Team recap at A View from the Junkyard has Roger reviewing "Hot Styles," a Face-centered episode that involves kidnapping, counterfeit clothing designs, and questions as to whether the past should be left in the past. 

What better for Holy Week than another look at Greatest Heroes of the Bible? It's volume three of the 1978-79 NBC series, and Paul has all the news at Mavis Movie Madness. And they are great heroes, but is it great television? Read on and find out.

And at Cult TV Lounge, it's a look at a book I happen to have, the 1969 Prisoner tie-in novel called, appropriately enough, The Prisoner, and written by the noted sci-fi author Thomas M. Disch. It's quirky and kinda different from the series, but encapulsates its spirit perfectly.

Finally, it's the third installment of photos of the week, a collection of candid and publicity photos from the classic movie and television world, which Maddie has dug up at Classic Film and TV Corner. It's a fine way to end the week. TV

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Edith Efron and TV Guide

I've mentioned Edith Efron many times in my TV Guide reviews, most recently writing about her article on soap opera sex a couple of weeks ago. It occurs to me that some of you might want to know a little more about her: who she was, and what she did prior to and after her run at TV Guide.

She started out writing features for the New York Times Magazine, before moving into television production with Mike Wallace's staff, and then became a correspondent for Time and Life in Haiti, where she married and had a child. Later, she became involved with Ayn Rand and the Objectivist movement, from which she later distanced herself (after a fallout with Rand). Even so, she retained many of the libertarian-leaning tendencies, as seen in her later work for the libertarian magazine Reason.

Her relationship with TV Guide ran through the 1960s and 1970s, at first writing edgy celebrity stories that leaned into psychological profiles of her subjects, frequently resulting in unflattering portraits. She'd eventually become a senior editor with the magazine; Glenn C. Altschuler and David I. Grossvogel, in their excellent 1993 history of TV Guide Changing Channels: America in TV Guide (to which I frequently refer), wrote that no writer "did more to shape TV Guide," and called her "the quintessential TV Guide voice on race relations." (Efron certainly had experience in that area, as a result of raising a mixed-race child from her marriage in Haiti.) 

Her best-known book was the 1971 bestseller The News Twisters, a word-by-word audit of network coverage during the closing weeks of the 1968 presidential campaign. Working from thousands of hours of taped broadcasts and a modest research grant tied to conservative intellectual circles, Efron tallied favorable and unfavorable references to candidates and hot-button issues, revealing what she saw as a consistent tilt toward an “elitist-liberal-left” worldview. The book became a bestseller (with a quiet assist from the Nixon White House) and provided some of the first empirical data to support accusations of press bias. Her contributions to TV Guide's "News Watch" column reflected a heavier emphasis on political-media analysis, including her argument for scrapping the Fairness Doctrine to allow more ideological diversity on airwaves. She also wrote the book How CBS Tried to Kill a Book: An Expose of the Campaign By CBS to Kill The News Twisters, the title of which is pretty self-explanatory. 

In 1984, she published The Apocalyptics, "an exposé of shoddy science and its effects on environmental policy," She declined overtures from conservative presidents to become a White House staffer, preferring to retain her political independence, even though it meant scraping by on Social Security supplemented by magazine pieces, and left behind an unfinished manuscript on America’s racial caste system that friends expected to be explosive. In an era when media, science, and politics increasingly rewarded narrative conformity, she displayed what one critic called "a rarer stance: rigorous, data-driven dissent that refused to flatten human complexity into ideological teams." She died in 2001 at the age 0f 78, and remains to this day one of the most distinguished writers for TV Guide.

Here she is appearing on William F. Buckley Jr.'s Firing Line, debating Andy Rooney on the topic of media bias, in the wake of The News Twisters.

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What's on TV? Monday, April 1, 1968

It's a day of firsts here in the Northern California Edition. ABC rolls out a pair of new daytime shows, Dream House and Wedding Party. Dream House had actually premiered last week in primetime, where it will run until September; the daytime edition lasts until January, 1970. Wedding Party, which only ran until July, was kind of a variant of The Newlywed Game. It's also the debut of an entire station, KEMO, which signs on at 3 p.m., and continues (with a brief absense in 1971-72) to this day as KOFY, still an independent station.

This week in TV Guide: March 30, 1968

This is one of those issues where what takes place between the covers is invariably overshadowed by the events that aren't found in the pages. 

On Sunday, March 31, President Johnson announces, at the conclusion of a nationally televised address in which he discloses a de-escalation of the war in Vietnam, that he will not seek reelection, throwing the presidential race into chaos. On Thursday, April 4, Martin Luther King is assassinated in Memphis, touching off rioting nationwide and throwing the entire country into chaos. It is, as Broadcasting magazine will say, the beginning of "what may have been the stormiest 10 days of news coverage in [television's history." By the time it ends, with King's funeral the following Tuesday, the three networks will have preempted 55 hours of programming, resulting in a loss estimated to have been $5.65 million in cancelled commercials, plus an additional $1.3 million in expenses for special news coverage.* The Academy Awards broadcast, scheduled for the day before King's funeral, is postponed for two days after several stars, both black and white, inform Academy officials that they will not attend the ceremony. And we'll be doing much of it all over again in two months, with the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.

*The detail on television and radio coverage of the news events is really quite interesting to read; I won't go into the detail here, but if you'd like to look at it, I'd urge you to check out the story at Broadcasting.

Unlike the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, neither of these events calls for wall-to-wall continuous coverage; in particular, according to Broadcasting, coverage of the violence that broke out in major cities throughout the nation "was generally carried in regularly scheduled newscasts in an effort not to exacerbate already tense situations in numerous ghetto areas. Network news crews, like their counterparts from local affiliates, abstained from using bright lights and other conspicuous pieces of equipment." But while many of the programs listed in this issue will be broadcast, there's no doubt a pall will hang over them.

And what might have been affected by the breaking coverage? President Johnson's speech began at 9:00 p.m. ET on Sunday and ran for 40 minutes. CBS and NBC preempted The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and Bonanza, respectively, and presented commentary following the speech up to the top of the hour, whereupon they joined their regularly scheduled programs, Mission: Impossible and The High Chaparral. ABC, on the other hand, devoted only seven minutes to analysis, and then began a late start to the Sunday night movie, a repeat of the made-for-TV adaptation of Johnny Belinda. To make up for it, however, they also expanded their regular 15-minute late evening news roundup to 25 minutes. On Wednesday evening, ABC and NBC both carried half-hour specials on the Vietnam negotiations; ABC preempted Dream House at 8:30 p.m., and NBC delayed the start of The Tonight Show for 30 minutes.

The King assassination came just after 7:00 p.m. ET (the YouTube footage of Walter Cronkite announcing the assassination on the CBS Evening News is from the West Coast rebroadcast at 6:30 p.m. PT, 9:30 p.m. ET), and all three networks interrupted their regular programming with bulletins that King had been shot; additional bulletins were aired when King's death was reported. President Johnson's statement on the assassination was carried live on all three networks at 9:00 p.m., and ABC followed with a one-hour special from 10 to 11 p.m. (a time they usually gave back to the affiliates). CBS had a short special at 10 p.m., and an additional one-hour special from 11:00 p.m. to midnight. NBC followed the Johnson speech with a half-hour special at 9: 30 p.m., which would have knocked Dragnet off the air. 

Of course, there are more preemptions to follow the next week, but that's another story for another week.

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During the 60s, The Ed Sullivan Show and The Hollywood Palace were the premier variety shows on television. Whenever they appear in TV Guide together, we'll match them up and see who has the best lineup.

Sullivan: Scheduled: singers Frankie Laine, Lana Cantrell, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and the Young Americans; comedians Myron Cohen, Wayne and Shuster, and Richard Pryor; dancer Peter Gennaro; and the Barrington Sisters balancing act. (Added guests included Charlton Heston, talking about Planet of the Apes; Lana Cantrell was apparently a no-show.)

Palace: Host Jimmy Durante does his piano-smashing rendition of ‘The Lost Chord” and introduces the Beatles (“‘Lady Madonna’) on tape from London. Also: singer-dancer Liza Minnelli, comics Tim Conway (as the coach of a losing Olympic team) and Jerry Shane, Honky-Tonk musicians Fred and Mickie Finn, and Le grand Ballet Classique from Paris.

This week offers a pretty good comparison. In addition to talking about Apes, Charlton Heston does a recitation of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, the famous "With malice towards none" speech, particularly poignant given the events to come this week. Ed's stand-up guests, Richard Pryor, Myron Cohen, and Wayne and Shuster, are usually very funny. Now, the Young Americans—well, this is where the balance of power starts to shift to Palace, with Durante, Liza (with a Z), and Tim Conway. Oh, and did I mention the Beatles? It's close, but this week goes to The Palace by a nose.

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From 1963 to 1976, TV Guide's weekly reviews were written by the witty and acerbic Cleveland Amory. Whenever they appear, we'll look at Cleve's latest take on the shows of the era.

So what is Cleve cooking up for us this week? Funny you should say that, because his focus is on Julia Child and The French Chef, now in its fifth season, and while they're in reruns currently (with new color episodes coming soon!), this just gives you a chance to catch up on what you might have missed with this "remarkable program."

Amory begins with a premise that I don't think we pay enough attention to: the status of the show's host as a genuine television star. "Julia Child is not just a natural, she is without doubt the most natural performer: television has yet uncovered, Indeed she is perhaps the only performer in the entire medium who is never the slightest bit nervous, the slightest bit coy, the slightest bit 'on' or the slightest bit anything. She is so completely oblivious to the camera that she seems to come right through to us*without any camera at all." Not only that, she has the rare talent, and indeed it is rare, of being able to transcend her material. Even if you're not interested in cooking, you become drawn into the program because of her. I've only experienced one program like that myself; the original Top Gear, which forced one to become a fan of cars whether or not they were, just because the hosts and their personalities were so compelling.

Another thing about her is that, while she definitely takes cooking seriously, she doesn't take herself that seriously, nor how she does her cooking. At one point, while in the process of cutting a chicken breast, she comments that "This is like so many recipes we’ve done where it doesn’t make so much difference where—I mean what—I mean how—you have your proportions, so long as you get the general idea." I always thought that Julia Child was, in a very real sense, the people's chef, the antithesis of the snobbish artiste chef who looks down his nose at anyone who might prefer an old-fashioned burger and fries. Cleve particularly enjoyed watching her prepare a chocolate soufflé, "a nice dessert to have up your sleeve." Before anyone knew it, flour was flying, egg whites were being beaten, and she "was breathing so hard it sounded as if she had a stethoscope on and was being examined by her doctor." Predictably, the soufflé emerged from the oven in perfect condition. "Now," she concluded, "you want to hurry into the dining room, gliding softly so as not to disturb it. And don’t forget there’s a trick to serving it, too. Take your knife and fork back to back and plick it in the center." That, our critic concludes, is advice that anyone can take to the bank, no matter what you do.

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Amidst the jumble of the week's programming, there are still things we can count on, beginning Saturday, with the truly outstanding documentary "Jesse Owens Returns to Berlin" (8:30 p.m. PT, KTVU). Written, produced, and directed by the great documentarian Bud Greenspan, the 60-minute special follows Owens as he returns to Berlin, the site of his 1936 Olympic triumph, to relive his four-gold medal performance; the hour ends with the mayor of West Berlin telling Owens that "30 years ago, Adolf Hitler refused to offer you his hand. Today, I am proud to offer you both of mine." (Or words to that effect; I'm quoting from memory.) You don't have to be a fan of the Olympics to be impressed, and moved, by this film.

Picking through the rubble of Sunday's schedule, we have Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic in the ninth annual "Young Performers Concert" (4:30 p.m., CBS). You can see from the broadcast how casual Lenny looks here, dressed in a turtleneck rather than the white tie and tails. Allen Hughes has a review of the concert here. Later, on Firing Line (6:30 p.m., KQED), William F. Buckley Jr. debates the question of whether or not the Supreme Court favors the criminal. The law-and-order issue is going to be a dominant theme throughout the year's presidential campaign—and up to today, come to think of it.

On Monday, Jack Benny plays himself in a Lucy Show episode that sees the redhead trying to convince the tightwad to move his fortune from his subterranean vault into the bank. Hilarity ensues. (8:30 p.m., CBS) That's followed by The Andy Griffith Show, with Ken Berry starring as Sam Jones in the pilot for Mayberry R.F.D., the Griffith show's successor beginning in the fall. (9:00 p.m., CBS) And it's a rare Christmas-in-March movie on the late show, Larceny, Inc. (11:30 p.m., KPIX), with Edward G. Robinson as a paroled criminal who buys a luggage shop in order to break into the next-door bank at Christmastime, only to find the luggage business too successful for him to quit. 

Tuesday is the day of the Wisconsin primary, and all three networks plan coverage during the evening. With President Johnson out of the race, Eugene McCarthy is the big winner on the Democratic side, garnering 56 percent of the vote, his last major hurrah before Robert Kennedy wins the Indiana primary the following month. In the Republican primary, former Vice President Richard Nixon is the landslide winner, garnering nearly 80 percent. For something considerably more enjoyable, check out NBC's Petula Clark special (8:00 p.m.), with special guest Harry Belafonte. You'd have thought that this would be a pretty uncomplicated program, but in this interview, Pet talks about the controversy generated by "this nice little white lady touching this large black gentleman on the hand." Have you noticed, by the way, how much race plays a role in so many of this week's programs?

On Wednesday, Country singer and Hee Haw co-host Roy Clark makes his TV acting debut on The Beverly Hillbillies (8:30 p.m., CBS) in a dual role as Cousin Roy and his mother Myrtle; seems Roy's planning to market Myrtle's homemade medicine, in competition with Granny. Following that, a two-part Green Acres begins with Arnold the Pig on his way to Hollywood after starring in a local play (9:00 p.m., CBS). Yes, the wonderful world of Hooterville. 

Anything on Thursday is bound to look trite in retrospect, but let's look at a hard-hitting episode of Ironside (8:30 p.m., NBC) that sounds as if it could have been taken from The A-Team: "Ironside's efforts to break a Vietnam hero’s appointment with the gas chamber are jeopardized by the condemned man’s buddies, a trio of avenging paratroopers who have threatened death to everyone connected with the conviction." Gary Collins is the hero, and Gavin MacLeod one of the avenging paratroopers. Later, Dean Martin welcomes Jimmy Stewart, George Gobel, and Shecky Greene (and couldn't we all use a laugh?), the highlight being Jimmy's impression of Dean as host.

Without doubt, the highlight of Friday's entertainment is the NET Playhouse presentation of Chekhov's drama "Uncle Vanya" (9:00 p.m., NET), starring Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir Michael Redgrave, Joan Plowright, and Rosemary Harris. Chekhov's bleak play "focuses on three people who must admit that the man they idolize is a pompous, self-serving nonentity." Could it be a parable for today? Who knows; what I do know is that it's wonderful to run across these old classics in such clean, crisp restorations. Go Chek it out and see what I mean. Later, CBS Reports (10:00 p.m.) is scheduled to present an American profile of "Home Country USA," a look at the great forgotten resources of grass roots America, including shipwrights constructing wooden sailing ships, doctors returning to their rural roots, an ironworks that hires poverty-stricken former cotton laborers, and more of what America used to be all about. Meanwhile, ABC's documentary The Confrontation (10:00 p.m.) takes a look back at the Army-McCarthy hearings. 

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We could probably stand for something light right about now, so what better time for Dick Hobson's article on "Four Days with the Remarkable Mrs. Morton," aka Lucille Ball. 

The scene opens Monday morning at the script reading, held in the dining-cum-conference room that was once occupied by the likes of Joseph P. Kennedy, Dore Schary, and Howard Hughes, and here we get some insight into Lucy's show biz acumen; turning to head writer Milt Josefsberg, she critcizes a bit on page 12: "That's awfully radio! It's just radio exposition! I kept hoping there’d be a joke coming up, not just a lot of words!" To Josefsberg, she says, "Let's go! Don’t just sit there with your chin on your expensive hand!" When husband Gary Morton offers a one-liner, with the explanation that "I was just thinking by myself over here," Lucy replies, "No, darling." Later, Morton will talk about life with Lucy: "She thinks she’s an actress playing Lucy Carmichael. She thinks she puts Lucy Carmichael away for the night at the studio. But I’ve been living with Lucy Carmichael at home for six years! At breakfast we'll do that Laurel and Hardy shtick. She won’t be aware the toast is burning. I’m watching. Then she has that way of saying, ‘There goes the toast!"

  The Mortons warm up the audience

In the projection room where Citizen Kane was first screened, Lucy sits alone, watching the rough-cut of the episode where Vivian Vance guests, and offering her feedback: "No, open with the long shot." "Go to that face." "Let’s move her over in the two-shot." "Go out on me." Later, she and regular Mary Jane Croft begin rehearsal on a scene. "Mary Jane, in this scene coming up, give a beat there after your first line." Mary Jane: "Do you really want me to say that line about 'I’ve got to go catch the movie at the Paramount'?" Lucy: "Well, if you want to stay friends with Mr. Bluhdorn, you’d better." That reference to the chairman of Gulf & Western, the company that bought out Desilu for a cool $17 million, is a reminder that the "little studio that could" no longer exists. Says Hobson, "It still makes her cry when she thinks about it." Later, after a call to last week's guest star, Carol Burnett ("Carol, darling, you were marvelous! I always said you’d make it, if you’d just pay attention."), the day ends with a script conference, and more feedback for Josefsberg, who tells her he has four options for a joke t0 fill out a scene: "There's no time now. You can give them to me for Christmas. You never know what to give me. Now, don't worry, fellas, I'll simply do something."

Wednesday is blocking day, and Lucy has to deal with this week's guest star, Buddy Hackett, who complains that "Lucy doesn't understand my comedy. She’s basic, while I am not of this world." Lucy's constantly battling over his continuous ad-libs, to which Buddy replies, "All right, if you’d rather have a plebeian laugh instead of something intellectual." When Lucy says "I'd rather have it," Hackett says, "You can say anything you want. I'll get even with you when we get on the air." This breaks Lucy up; she "yowls, stamps her foot, throws her arms around his. neck, and kisses him on the forehead. The Bad Boy beams." We also get a glimpse of Lucy's former husband, Desi Arnaz. "I’ve rented him space in one of my studios and he’s working again." His hair is now almost totally white; the rating on his own production, The Mothers-in-Law, are holding up, keeping him on the comeback trail.

Finally, it's Thursday: shooting day. Lucy bursts from her dressing room, "Quiet on the set!" Hackett's still having some problems with his lines, and asks, "Do I always have to sayh the same lines?" By 8:00 p.m., the audience of 400 has made its way into the studio's bleachers. Gary warms up the audience, introduces Hackett, who promises "I'm going to ad-lib a lot. We're on film. Lucy can't stop me," and then Lucy herself, "the star of our show." She's a little concerned that son Desi hasn't shown up yet: Desi IV, one of the most famous babies in television history, "who was welcomed at birth 15 years ago by 20,000 letters and 2000 telegrams." When he makes a belated appearance in the audience, everyone cheers.

And when it's all over, Lucy returns to being Mrs. Gary Morton. She climbs behind the wheel of her car and looks at the note she's attached there: "Stop for bagels for Gary."

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MST3K alert: The Mole People (1956) In Asia, a scientific expedition discovers an ancient tribe of Sumerians. John Agar, Synthia Patrick, Hugh Beaumont. (Saturday, 11:30 a.m., KNTV in San Jose) This is the fourth and final appearance on MST3K by Hugh Beaumont, but without question his most memorable "appearance" is on Lost Continent, when, during one of the host segments, Mike Nelson portrays him as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. ("I come bearing a message of unholy death. I'm really going to give you the business, destroy you, your world, and all that you know. But first, a stern talking-to.") In all the long history of MST3K, it's perhaps the most absurd moment ever, which is why it's so great. But a last word on The Mole People: although he's not listed in the TV Guide, the cast also includes Alan Napier. So we've got Ward Cleaver, Alfred the butler, and the former Mr. Shirley Temple. How cool is that?  TV

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