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post #121 of 195
5/27/09 at 7:56pm

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

I hope S4 of FKB comes out for the fans of that show. Unfortunately I think Shout (a good company) may have shot themselves in the foot with the use of edited S1 episodes. That move likely killed many sales for a show that wasn't going to sell that many to begin with. (Not a criticism of the show, just the reality of the classic TV market).

Quote:
For "Window on Main Street:" I have the original TV Guides from that season, and new episodes were still on in May, so I'd say 36 is the right number.

Wow, Joe, you've got some collection if you have 1961/1962 TV Guides! That's great. I've got some '70s issues and it kills me looking at all the great stuff that was in re-runs on independent and cable stations in those days. I can't imagine how mouth watering seeing a 60s era issue would be.
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post #122 of 195
5/27/09 at 10:54pm

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

Steve...O, looking through a TV Guide from the early '60s is like looking at an artifact from another planet.

The main emotions they inspire in me are great nostalgia and mild depression. People's tastes have deteriorated so badly since then, at times I feel I must have entered some alternate Universe somewhere along the line.

It's not just what was on television in those days -- it's the magazine itself, too, which was 15 cents and had very few ads.

I used to save the TV Guide every week, up to 1969, when I decided to throw them away. However, I just couldn't bring myself to throw away any of them from before 1965. So I have them to this day, from the 1961-64 period, and they're wonderful to look through.
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post #123 of 195
5/28/09 at 8:06am
Thread Starter 

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve...O
I hope S4 of FKB comes out for the fans of that show. Unfortunately I think Shout (a good company) may have shot themselves in the foot with the use of edited S1 episodes. That move likely killed many sales for a show that wasn't going to sell that many to begin with. (Not a criticism of the show, just the reality of the classic TV market).

Unfortunately I fear you are correct, Steve.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Lugoff
Steve...O, looking through a TV Guide from the early '60s is like looking at an artifact from another planet.

The main emotions they inspire in me are great nostalgia and mild depression. People's tastes have deteriorated so badly since then, at times I feel I must have entered some alternate Universe somewhere along the line.

It's not just what was on television in those days -- it's the magazine itself, too, which was 15 cents and had very few ads.

I used to save the TV Guide every week, up to 1969, when I decided to throw them away. However, I just couldn't bring myself to throw away any of them from before 1965. So I have them to this day, from the 1961-64 period, and they're wonderful to look through.

You have no clue how envious I am of you right now, Joe! You lucky dog.

Gary "what a treasure trove you have there" O.
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post #124 of 195
5/28/09 at 9:12am

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Lugoff
People's tastes have deteriorated so badly since then, at times I feel I must have entered some alternate Universe somewhere along the line.
Personally, the point I mark as when the deterioration became unavoidable is April 5, 1987, when Fox started broadcasting. Rupert Murdoch has never resisted lowering the tone of TV if he thought it would make him more wealthy. He has much to answer for.
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post #125 of 195
5/28/09 at 9:28am

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

I discovered the main branch of my library has all the old TV Guides on microfilm. You might want to look into something like that.

Also, at home, through my library's website, I can see every page of every edition of the New York Times (as PDF files). They had TV listings every day -- not as detailed as TV Guide, but still a lot of fun to look at.
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post #126 of 195
5/28/09 at 9:37am

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Tucker

Personally, the point I mark as when the deterioration became unavoidable is April 5, 1987, when Fox started broadcasting. Rupert Murdoch has never resisted lowering the tone of TV if he thought it would make him more wealthy. He has much to answer for.

Actually, TV started declining right from the start.

As soon as the decision was made to make it free and advertising-supported (as opposed to a pay service, like the telephone) the handwriting was on the wall.

At first, only relatively wealthy people in bigger cities had television -- they tended to be somewhat better educated than average -- and thus there were things like NBC Opera (can you imagine that today?), the Bell Telephone Hour, Hallmark Hall of Fame (even doing Shakespeare), serious dramatic anthologies like the U.S. Steel Hour and Playhouse 90 -- etc. etc. etc.

As more and more people owned televisions, and it spread everywhere in the U.S., the 1960s saw most of the older types of programming die off in favor of things like "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "Green Acres."

The trajectory was downhill, culminating in Jerry Springer and "reality" TV.

Years ago I read a science fiction story, written in the 1950s but set in the first decade of the 21st Century (and here we are!), in which television featured people hunting and killing each other, because that brought in big ratings.

I used to think, "No way could that ever happen!"

Now I'm not so sure.

Of course, Murdoch and Fox played a huge part in destroying any last shreds of decency on television.

It worked out OK, though -- it leaves me plenty of time to watch DVDs!
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post #127 of 195
5/28/09 at 11:49am
Thread Starter 

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Lugoff
I discovered the main branch of my library has all the old TV Guides on microfilm. You might want to look into something like that.

Also, at home, through my library's website, I can see every page of every edition of the New York Times (as PDF files). They had TV listings every day -- not as detailed as TV Guide, but still a lot of fun to look at.

I bought an old TV Guide from 1954 off eBay earlier this year. It was, as you might guess, the "Christmas" issue from that year. It features Ozzie and Harriet, along with Dave and Ricky, on the cover. I have loved perusing through that one and have found myself longing for a time machine that I could jump into so that I might watch all the wonderful Christmas programing from that year. Sigh...

Gary "the Ghost of TV Christmas Past can visit me any time he wants - as long as he brings dvds I can keep" O.
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post #128 of 195
6/1/09 at 1:20pm
Thread Starter 

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

Just a little more than one week to go!!!

Gary "slowly chipping away at my 'Holy Grail' list" O.
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post #129 of 195
6/1/09 at 1:27pm

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

I know I plan to buy in the sale that dare not speak its name.

Gary, I watched "24 Hours in Tyrantland" yesterday, and was wondering what you thought of it.
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post #130 of 195
6/3/09 at 8:27am
Thread Starter 

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Tucker

Gary, I watched "24 Hours in Tyrantland" yesterday, and was wondering what you thought of it.

Tim, I loved "Tyrantland" myself. It did a great job of communicating the general feeling in the 50's when it came to the cold war and communism. It was a neat little snapshot into the mindset during that era.

Gary "less than a week to go for Season 3" O.
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post #131 of 195
6/3/09 at 8:50am

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

Well, it certainly did that, but otherwise it didn't work for me. I felt that all the Andersons were acting uncharacteristically... and it wasn't very funny either.
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post #132 of 195
6/3/09 at 8:56am
Thread Starter 

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Tucker
Well, it certainly did that, but otherwise it didn't work for me. I felt that all the Andersons were acting uncharacteristically... and it wasn't very funny either.

In my opinion it shouldn't be viewed as a FKB episode. It had a very specific message to deliver and so naturally the characters had to fit the message instead of visa versa. That's the price you pay sometimes when you are doing something like "TyrantLand." Nevertheless, I enjoyed it because (as I said above) it gave us a glimpse into the patriotic mindset of the 50's in the midst of the Cold War.

Gary "just my two cents" O.
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post #133 of 195
6/3/09 at 9:04am

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

I'll agree with you there. It's an interesting cultural artifact, and I'm glad Shout chose to include it.

Are there even such things as savings bond drives anymore? I haven't heard anyone promoting them in almost twenty years.
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post #134 of 195
6/3/09 at 1:54pm

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

The copy of season three (that was going to be passed on to Gary) has arrived. All the episodes run about 25:42. Nothing snipped this time.
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post #135 of 195
6/4/09 at 4:56am
Thread Starter 

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Tucker

Are there even such things as savings bond drives anymore? I haven't heard anyone promoting them in almost twenty years.

I honestly don't know, Tim. The sense of patriotism certainly isn't what it was in the 1950's, and I'm quite certain we'd never see anything like "24 Hours in TyrantLand" again, with a modern show inserted in place of FKB.

Hopefully we'll see a review or two pop up online in the next week. Regardless, I'm sure this 3rd Season set will follow the pattern of Season 2 and give us full episodes. Like Steve O. said up thread, it's really unfortunate that the 1st Season set was so uneven because that had to hurt the series and sales right off the get go.

I pre-ordered this set from Amazon back in March and now the time is almost here! Just a few more days till Season 3 arrives!!

Gary "good discussing the special with you Tim" O.
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post #136 of 195
6/4/09 at 8:27am

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

Gary, it's too bad you were not able to participate in the TV show tracking thread this year. It would have been nice to have someone else to bounce off thoughts on vintage TV.
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post #137 of 195
6/4/09 at 2:20pm
Thread Starter 

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Tucker
Gary, it's too bad you were not able to participate in the TV show tracking thread this year. It would have been nice to have someone else to bounce off thoughts on vintage TV.

Thanks Tim. I'd have loved to participated, and actually reserved a spot early on thinking I could swing it. But after thinking about it more, I realized it wouldn't be feasible for me right now. If my schedule evens out a little more I'll give it a go for the 2nd half of the year.

Gary "and any time you want to talk about FKB, we can do it here in this thread!" O.
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post #138 of 195
6/8/09 at 3:20pm
Thread Starter 

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

One day to go!

Gary "although my Amazon.com pre-orders never show up until the day after release" O.
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post #139 of 195
6/9/09 at 6:28am
Thread Starter 

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

The day has arrived!!! I'll still have to wait for my set to show up late tomorrow evening (I seem to be last on the UPS route), but this is the official release date. I wish Mr. Paul Mavis would do a review for this set, since he always does great jobs with vintage TV.

Gary "3 down, 3 to go" O.
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post #140 of 195
6/9/09 at 8:03am

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

I'm off to get my copy in a little bit. I hope Season 4 is announced soon after this release. I wonder if Shout! will go ahead with the remaining seasons AND the reunion movies. That would be tremendous!
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post #141 of 195
6/9/09 at 8:31am

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

DHL still delivers domestic?

This comment was supposed to go on someone saying that Barnes and Noble was shipping something via DHL on the Quincy thread.
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post #142 of 195
6/9/09 at 8:45am

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

And I just finished up my S1 set last night with a viewing of the Window on Main Street pilot.

What an unusual TV show. I guess the dramedy is not as new as I previously thought. I can also see why it did not succeed.

Perhaps it is my state of mind at the moment (where I am reflecting on life at middle age, and seeing where things have not developed the way I would have liked), but watching "The Return" had a greater effect on me than I was expecting. I don't know what the other episodes are like, but the pilot is all about unrealized youthful ambitions, the fading of the past, regret, and the possibility of second chances. Heavy stuff... probably too heavy for a mainstream audience in 1961.
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post #143 of 195
6/9/09 at 9:38am

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Tucker
Heavy stuff... probably too heavy for a mainstream audience in 1961.

"Window on Main Street" might have failed for many reasons -- for instance, people weren't ready to see Robert Young in a different role ("Father Knows Best" was still in primetime repeats) -- but I guarantee you it was not because audiences of 1961 couldn't handle the serious theme of the pilot.

Audiences were infinitely more sophisticated then than they are now. It was still the age of live serious drama ("The U.S. Steel Hour" was still on, for instance) -- and "The Twilight Zone" was dealing with similar serious issues every Friday night.

"The Defenders" also premiered that season ... it was much more serious and challenging than "Window on Main Street," and it lasted four years. Then there were the smash hits "Dr. Kildare" and "Ben Casey" -- hardly light, carefree stuff.
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post #144 of 195
6/9/09 at 11:16am

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

But in those shows, the audience would be expecting serious themes. But Window on Main Street is ostensively a sitcom (with a laugh track, even), and this type of material is not common sitcom fodder.
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post #145 of 195
6/9/09 at 11:46am

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary OS
The day has arrived!!! I'll still have to wait for my set to show up late tomorrow evening (I seem to be last on the UPS route), but this is the official release date. I wish Mr. Paul Mavis would do a review for this set, since he always does great jobs with vintage TV.

Gary "3 down, 3 to go" O.

UPS delivers rain or shine Glad for you, friend. Enjoy S3.

Jeff "Let's Hope that 'Shout Knows Best' like Mr Anderson did" W.
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post #146 of 195
6/9/09 at 11:50am
Thread Starter 

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Willis
UPS delivers rain or shine Glad for you, friend. Enjoy S3.

Jeff "Let's Hope that 'Shout Knows Best' like Mr Anderson did" W.

Amen to all of that, Jeff. You're a great friend and I always appreciate your contributions here at HTF.

Gary "the theme music is running through my mind at this very moment" O.
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post #147 of 195
6/9/09 at 4:04pm

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

Thanks, Gary. My theme music that I haven't been able to get out of the grey matter since S1 is that Donna Reed Show. You're to blame for this 50's fever No kidding, thanks for getting me to venture into the "other than Perry Mason, Rifleman" 50's shows. Rawhide, Untouchables started in the 50's but in '59 so I still consider them as 60's shows.
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post #148 of 195
6/9/09 at 8:27pm

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

Hey Gary and Jeff, if I can bug you guys for a moment, I have a challenge for you.

The fiance, much as I love her, she doesn't care for Westerns. Doesn't know why, just not her cuppa. My thinking is I can expose her to one good one, even if it's just one season, maybe she'd be willing to give them a shot.

So... if I had to pick one Western that has the best introductory season... what's my best bet?
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post #149 of 195
6/9/09 at 8:40pm
Thread Starter 

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

Quote:
Originally Posted by MattPeriolat
Hey Gary and Jeff, if I can bug you guys for a moment, I have a challenge for you.

The fiance, much as I love her, she doesn't care for Westerns. Doesn't know why, just not her cuppa. My thinking is I can expose her to one good one, even if it's just one season, maybe she'd be willing to give them a shot.

So... if I had to pick one Western that has the best introductory season... what's my best bet?


The series I know for sure: RAWHIDE. My daughters and wife both like it, and they aren't big western fans in general.

The Season, I don't think would matter all that much. I might suggest Season 3, V.1 simply because it has a little arc at the end of that set that ends with Gil Favor visiting his daughters back East. Good episode that girls will like. So I'd go with Season 3, V.1 and then move her to Season 3, V.2. Then you could go back to Season 1 and/or Season 2.

Just my two cents, but I feel very strongly about that being the right choice.

You could also go with BIG VALLEY Season 1, but it's not quite the same as a gritty western like RAWHIDE. It's great and would also probably work with women, but it's not a traditional western. It's more of a family western.

Gary "I'd go with RAWHIDE without hesitation" O.
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post #150 of 195
6/9/09 at 9:23pm

Re: FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary OS
The series I know for sure: RAWHIDE. My daughters and wife both like it, and they aren't big western fans in general.

The Season, I don't think would matter all that much. I might suggest Season 3, V.1 simply because it has a little arc at the end of that set that ends with Gil Favor visiting his daughters back East. Good episode that girls will like. So I'd go with Season 3, V.1 and then move her to Season 3, V.2. Then you could go back to Season 1 and/or Season 2.

Just my two cents, but I feel very strongly about that being the right choice.

You could also go with BIG VALLEY Season 1, but it's not quite the same as a gritty western like RAWHIDE. It's great and would also probably work with women, but it's not a traditional western. It's more of a family western.

Gary "I'd go with RAWHIDE without hesitation" O.

OK, following up, is Rawhide as good starting with the first season or does it take time to build up? I'm a bit of a stickler about going in order through the episodes and seasons.

Waiting for more advice.
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