Classic TV shows fans...check this out! (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Flugel]

Take a gander at this sample Prime Time TV schedule from 1966:

http://www.tvhistory.tv/1966_TV_programs.jpg

As a fan of classic television and '60s TV in particular, I knew there were some great shows on the airwaves back then...but I had no idea how many were on all at once!

Imagine, all in one week, the following shows gracing the tube:

THE WILD, WILD WEST
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.
THE TIME TUNNEL
THE FUGITIVE
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE
BATMAN
I SPY
THE BIG VALLEY
BONANZA
GUNSMOKE
I DREAM OF JEANNIE
GET SMART
THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW
THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW
COMBAT
LOST IN SPACE
VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA
BEWITCHED
STAR TREK
TARZAN
THE RAT PATROL
THE VIRGINIAN
THE F.B.I.
FLIPPER
DAKTARI

...and on a mere three channels, yet!

The mind boggles. I mean, I'd be the first to say that we've got some fantastic shows on TV right now, but can anyone seriously say that 40 years from now people will be able to look back at a typical weekly TV schedule and be able to come up with even half as many as above?

I think not a snowball's chance in hell.

At least we have a fair representation of most of the above-mentioned series on DVD (or in the pipeline). Although so many others are still M.I.A....

 

[Marty M]

I remeber the mid 60s very well. I was in high school at the time and remember watching a lot of those great shows. The other thing to remember was that this was way before the days of VCRs to record shows. The only way to see a show you missed was to wait until it was shown in rerun during the summer.

 

[Gregory V]

And SO many others:

The Avengers
Family Affair
The Beverly Hillbillies
Petticoat Junction
Green Acres
Pistols n Petticoats
The Mothers in Law
The Addams Family
The Munsters
That Girl
The Doris Day Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Lucy Show
The Pruitts of Southampton
He & She

 

[Bert Greene]

I was too young to even be cognizant of the 1966-67 schedule, much less appreciate it. But, the kicker for me is how a kid could mentally cope with Friday evenings? All scheduled opposite one another, CBS had "Wild Wild West," NBC had "Tarzan," and ABC had "Green Hornet" plus "Time Tunnel." Being a kid and having to make the choice of what to view that night, in those pre-vcr days, would have driven me over the edge!

 

[Bob Hug]

You might also be interested in TV Party's article on the 1964-65 season, filled with more classics. Link: http://www.tvparty.com/fall64.html

TV Party's top 25 for the 64-65 season:

1. Bonanza
2. Bewitched
3. Gomer Pyle, USMC
4. Andy Griffith Show
5. The Fugitive
6. Red Skelton
7. Dick Van Dyke Show
8. The Lucy Show
9. Peyton Place II
10. Combat
11. Walt Disney
12. Beverly Hillbillies
13. My Three Sons
14. Branded
15. (tie) Petticoat Junction
Ed Sullivan Show
17. Lassie
18. The Munsters
19. Gilligan's Island
20. Peyton Place I
21. Jackie Gleason Show
22. The Virginian
23. Addams Family
24. My Favorite Martian
25. Flipper

 

[SatelliteGuy]

Television back then was wonderful. Today we have too many reality shows. I would rather watch a rerun of Gomer Pyle, USMC, That Girl, Hazel, Green Acres, Flipper, Andy Griffith Show, The Lucy Show, etc. rather than watching celebrities dancing, ice scating or singing.

 

[JeffWld]

I agree, and it's ironic that we currently live in a "TV Universe". Not to mention that many of the above-listed shows had at least 26 episodes per season, without the heavy repeat cycle seen these days. It was back in the days when the networks still actually programmed Saturday night instead of writing it off as repeat (repurposing) wasteland...and before NBC became the "Law & Order" channel.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

And you could actually SEE the entire picture with no network logos or show promos on top of it, and less than 10 minutes of commercials per hour! I'll take that over what passes for hi-def now any day!

 

[Marty M]

If most households were like mine in the mid-60s we only had one TV in the house. Consequently, my dad had the last say in what we watched a lot of the times. I did get to watch some of my favorite shows during that period, like Hullabaloo, Shindig, Batman, and The Monkees. Although, I remember when Shindig aired two shows a week. My dad wouldn't let me watch the second night.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

And some of us were already moaning that the great days of television were over by the mid-60s. In the '50s, most shows did 39 episodes a year -- 26 minutes for a half hour slot, 52 for an hour. And some shows, like the game shows, were 52 episodes a year.

Check to see if your library subscribes to ProQuest. You can look through every issue of the New York Times (at home, via the Internet) -- which means every TV schedule for every day, from the beginning in the mid-40s to now (except when there was a newspaper strike.)

 

[Regulus]

That's why I'm DUMPING Cable! There's very little that interests me on Television, and what little there is is PACKED with as many as TWENTY SIX MINUTES of Commercials, Promos and Newsbreaks!:frowning:

DVD Box Sets, the Future of Television!

 

[Alan_H]

LOL, I can relate to that! Only one small B&W TV in our house for my dad, mom, two older brothers and me. Needless to say, I didn't get to pick very often. Fortunately, everyone in the family liked my two favorite shows: Wild, Wild West and Get Smart.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

You're not kidding! What a conundrum for the average kid back then.

Looking over that schedule, there's not a single night without at least 3 shows that I'd be keen to watch (and more often, 5-8). Spoiled for choice...but, as some of you observed, slave to Dad's say-so.

Thanks for the comments, guys (and the fun link, Bob H.)! I figured I couldn't be the only one who'd be impressed with that lineup!

 

[Marty M]

But if everyone abondons watching the shows in their first run on network TV, there won't be any box sets of a series to watch.

 

[Michael Alden]

And don't forget these great one season shows from that year:

Hey Landlord
Occasional Wife
Run Buddy Run
Love on a Rooftop
Hawk
The Jean Arthur Show
Girl from UNCLE
T.H.E. Cat
The Man Who Never Was
Blue Light
Double Life of Henry Phyfe
The Hero


It's funny but you could pick any night of the week and there were more good shows on that one night than there are now altogether. I just wish there was a chance that more of the short-lived shows would come out but unfortunately unless someone is either a TV buff or they have a great memory, the shows that haven't been heavily syndicated are forgotten.

 

[Sam Favate]

To those that think the year or years in question were chock full of great programming, I say also take a look at the music and movies that came from that same fertile period. The mid-to-late 60s saw a renaissance of popular art in American culture, and that still has yet to be matched in the years since. 1966 alone saw the release of The Beatles' Revolver and The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, as well as Dylan's Blonde On Blonde.

Of course, rock and roll was barely 10 years old, and television was still new too (color television was very new). I think people creating popular art in those mediums were building on the first works and expanding what could be done with the artform.

 

[Radioman970]

If I had a time machine I'd only use it when I wanted to watch TV. I realise that's a narrow view but I stand by it.