Black and White One-Hour Shows (1 Viewer)

With the release of The Lieutenant and 87th Precinct, 2 excellent series, I was thinking about all of the other fine 1-hour black and white shows that ran for a season or less that there are out there. Leaving out the longer running great B&W series, like The Defenders, Ben Casey, Dr. Kildare, etc., there are so many of the hour variety. I compiled a little list, which unfortunately is not so little.
Westerns: Gunslinger, Stoney Burke (rumored to be coming), Stagecoach West, The Dakotas, Temple Houston
Action-Adventure: Follow The Sun, The Islanders, Bourbon Street Beat, The Alaskans, Hong Kong, The Aquanauts
Crime Drama: Asphalt Jungle, Cain's Hundred, The Investigators, Target: The Corrupters, The New Breed, Michael Shayne
Reporter: Saints and Sinners, The Reporter, Wire Service
Law: For The People, Sam Benedict, Trials of O'Brien
Historical: The Great Adventure, Profiles in Courage, The Americans
Anthology: Dick Powell Show, Alcoa Premiere, Richard Boone Show
Other Genres: Mr. Broadway, Bus Stop, The Rogues, East Side West Side, Five Fingers, Breaking Point, It's A Man's World, Travels of Jamie McPheeters, Channing, Long Hot Summer, Convoy
So many excellent series which it would be great to see made available some day.

Nice list! One can only hope that more of these shows will come out on DVD in the near future.

Isn't Stagecoach West out on DVD already, by TMG?

A few more: Slattery's People, Mr. Novak, Suspicion, Adventures in Paradise, Outlaws, 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye, The Eleventh Hour, Sam Benedict, The Nurses, and more.
On Edit. ooops, Sam Benedict listed by Neil

I've had the theme to Sam Benedict on a CD since the mid-90s:

It would be a kick to finally see the show! (same goes for Mr. Broadway, with a theme by Dave Brubeck)

I would love to see The Defenders and The Nurses finally being released. Who owns them- CBS/Paramount?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard V /t/323719/black-and-white-one-hour-shows#post_3974599
Isn't Stagecoach West out on DVD already, by TMG?

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Don't I wish. Sadly, no it isn't. But perhaps in the future.


Gary "there are a lot of fine one hour b/w shows that need to be released" O.

and The Greatest Show on Earth--wasn't that a one hour black and white with Jack Palance produced by Desilu?

jmyers said:

and The Greatest Show on Earth--wasn't that a one hour black and white with Jack Palance produced by Desilu?

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No, the show was produced in color, although since ABC didn't do color at the time it aired in black and white.

Richard V said:

A few more: Slattery's People, Mr. Novak, Suspicion, Adventures in Paradise, Outlaws, 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye, The Eleventh Hour, Sam Benedict, The Nurses, and more.
On Edit. ooops, Sam Benedict listed by Neil

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All, other than Suspicion, ran for more than 1 season so they are for another list.

Charles Ellis said:

I would love to see The Defenders and The Nurses finally being released. Who owns them- CBS/Paramount?

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Yes, all of the Brodkin shows are owned by CBS.

The Rogues was released in Germany, under kinwelt; i've got a set here but haven't popped it in yet to see how it measures up, quality and enjoyment wise. At least MeTV has been putting it in regular rotation (although at the rogue-ish hours in the a.m.)...

Neil Brock said:

All, other than Suspicion, ran for more than 1 season so they are for another list.

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My bad, I didn't see the proviso of the series lasting only one season.

shoeshineboy said:

The Rogues was released in Germany, under kinwelt; i've got a set here but haven't popped it in yet to see how it measures up, quality and enjoyment wise. At least MeTV has been putting it in regular rotation (although at the rogue-ish hours in the a.m.)...

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I am very interested as to how that set is. From what I recall, they only put 20 of the 30 episodes on the set. Please post your review after you've checked it out.
Speaking of MeTV, unfortunately after the first several months, they began to time compress everything and quite badly.

Originally Posted by Charles Ellis /t/323719/black-and-white-one-hour-shows#post_3974691
I would love to see The Defenders and The Nurses finally being released. Who owns them- CBS/Paramount?

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I've never seen The Nurses, but I've always wanted too. I have a bunch of old TV/Movie magazines from the 60s and there are a bunch of articles on actress Zina Bethune (one of the stars of the show). She was popular when her show was on the air, but I never heard about her since. I was curious to find out what happened to her, so I googled her name, and discovered she died tragically earlier this year! So sad. Hopefully, I'll get to watch the show someday.

Profiles in Courage is one I'd enjoy seeing, depending on who has the rights. An opportunity to get the show on DVD is coming next year for the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's death and, since the show was made as a tribute a year later, why not?

I'm pleasantly surprised whenever a one-season series is released on DVD. Yancy Derringer is now available from Timeless, with Mr. Lucky following next week. The Gallant Men is available from Warner Archive.

A couple of others I would like to see are Boots and Saddles and Rough Riders. Michael Shayne has already been mentioned, and it was a well-made series with a number of its scripts based upon the Mike Shayne novels. Unfortunately, NBC scheduled it on Friday night, against The Twilight Zone.

Now that Warner Bros. is preparing special compilations for its 90th Anniversary (e.g.: the new Superman set with samples of everything from the Fleischer carttons through Kirk Alyn, George Reeves, Dean Cain and Tom Welling as well as the more recent animated shows), it would be a perfect time to do a special compilation set of select episodes from the classic B/W WB detective shows:
77 Sunset Strip
Hawaiian Eye
Surfside Six
Bourbon Street Beat
It's a crime that aside from Cheyenne, The Gallant Men, and Maverick, and nothing else from Warner Bros. early years in television. As one of the first of the majors to do so, why is this chapter of its history being swept under the rug?

Charles Ellis said:

Now that Warner Bros. is preparing special compilations for its 90th Anniversary (e.g.: the new Superman set with samples of everything from the Fleischer carttons through Kirk Alyn, George Reeves, Dean Cain and Tom Welling as well as the more recent animated shows), it would be a perfect time to do a special compilation set of select episodes from the classic B/W WB detective shows:
77 Sunset Strip
Hawaiian Eye
Surfside Six
Bourbon Street Beat
It's a crime that aside from Cheyenne, The Gallant Men, and Maverick, and nothing else from Warner Bros. early years in television. As one of the first of the majors to do so, why is this chapter of its history being swept under the rug?

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My guess would be that all of the detective shows are a music clearance nightmare. Hawaiian Eye had Connie Stevens singing at least one song, sometimes more, in every episode. All either have to be cleared or cut. Roaring 20s and The Alaskans both have Dorothy Provine singing. Not as familiar with Sunset Strip, Surfside and Bourbon Street but I'm pretty sure that they all have nightclub scenes in the majority of episodes as well. If I had to guess, I would bet that you would see Lawman, Bronco, Sugarfoot and Colt .45 before you ever see the detective series.

MattPeriolat said:

Profiles in Courage is one I'd enjoy seeing, depending on who has the rights. An opportunity to get the show on DVD is coming next year for the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's death and, since the show was made as a tribute a year later, why not?

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I had investigated that one and spoke with the son of Robert Saudek a few times about it but he just didn't sound like he was very interested in pursuing a release. Might be worth another phone call.