Twelve O'Clock High (1 Viewer)

[David Grove]

When I was in 7th grade (in 1964), I used to make a special effort to stay up and watch Twelve O'Clock High, every Fri. night (as I recall the time slot, now).

I still believe it was an exceptional WWII show.

I'd buy season sets, especially the seasons starring Robert Lansing.

Hoping to drum up in others some (no doubt) long forgotten memories.

Regards,

DG

 

[Paul Sandhu]

I watch it a few times, its still on here every night. I didn't know they made war tv shows that far back.

 

[David Grove]

Well, I have to admit, that of several possible responses I anticipated, this was not one of them
One of the features of Twelve O'Clock High, which would not be feasible after the the mid to late 60's, is the extensive integration of actual WWII film footage. Since the show was in B&W, it worked well and did not call excessive attention to itself.
Also, I have always appreciated the magnificent B-17.
It was only just a few years ago when I actually saw one, and climbed inside one. (A B-17 and a B-25 made an appearance in my town as part of a traveling exhibit.) It was actually very spectacular for me. I was sitting in the living room reading a magazine article on the B-17, and was looking at a photo of one. I heard the sound of big round engines, and looked out of our living room windows and saw a B-17 at less than 2000', descending, on approach to the airport. (We are located near the airport, on the approach path). Fantastic.
DG

 

[Paul Sandhu]

Well, I have to admit, that of several possible responses I anticipated, this was not one of them

Well since I was born in 1985 my knowledge of the eras of television before me is limited although I like to watch many classic TV shows from the 50s and 60s.

Maybe I'll watch an episode of 12oCH tonight.

 

[Jeff Willis]

This was a great series and I'd get it in a minute if it was available on DVD! It's neat to hear about younger fans that like these old 60's classics
Ever hear of the other WWII series "Combat!"? I'm a fanatic fan of that one. Season 3's due out in March. I have the 1st 2 season's packs. If you like 12OCH, I'd guess that "Combat!" would be a guarantee buy for you.

 

[Charles Ellis]

It's part of that great bloc of 60s shows that Fox has yet to release on dvd, including:
Peyton Place
Adventures In Paradise
The Green Hornet
Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea
Land Of The Giants
Judd For The Defense, and of course
Batman

 

[Bert Greene]

I'd love to see sets of "12 O'Clock High." Only seen a small handful of episodes, but I enjoyed them. I didn't recall it was a Fox product. Another war series I'd pick up in a heartbeat is "Rat Patrol." I'm a sucker for just about any vintage action/adventure series.

 

[Dan McW]

Speaking of '60s Fox TV series, they also control Rod Serling's "The Loner," methinks, but I doubt we'll see this one anytime soon.

 

[paddypoke]

Lets not forget "THe man who never was" with Robert Lansing

 

[PatrickGoodluck]

Lets not forget "THe man who never was" with Robert Lansing

I've only ever seen the pilot of this show from 16mm - looks like it would've been a great show.

 

[hypnohighball]

Another war series I'd pick up in a heartbeat is "Rat Patrol." I'm a sucker for just about any vintage action/adventure series.

This has been out on dvd - you can pick up the entire series on dvd for less than $15 new : http://www.amazon.com/Rat-Patrol-Complete-Christopher-George/dp/B0014BQR3I/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1359814212&sr=1-1&keywords=rat+patrol+the+complete+series

 

[Harry-N]

This thread is quite old, having been started eight years ago - an eternity in the world of TV on DVD. And yet, 12 O'CLOCK HIGH is still among the missing in series that are available.There's certainly been some movement on Charles Ellis' list above, with VOYAGE, and LAND OF THE GIANTS completed. PEYTON PLACE got a start. There have been rumors of BATMAN and THE GREEN HORNET for years, but nothing yet. And the subject of this thread, 12 O'CLOCK HIGH is not yet available for purchase on DVD.
But it has at least had some runs on television channels that are widely available. It aired on the HISTORY CHANNEL some years ago, and has been running for the past few years on MeTV in its overnight hours along with COMBAT! I was quite eager to see 12 O'CLOCK HIGH after a long absence, and managed to capture the entire series on the DVR and wrote them out to DVD-Rs, so now I can watch it whenever I want. The prints from MeTV are sometimes OK, sometimes rather shabby, but they have run all of the episodes, and as far as I can tell, the episodes are all there, only time-sped to cram in more commercials. Some still have "brought to you by" bumpers at the end. None are "missing" as you might read elsewhere.
The series had a somewhat troubled history. It got great reviews and pretty decent ratings in its first year - the Robert Lansing year. Lansing was reportedly difficult to work with so producer Quinn Martin and he had a falling out, resulting in his dismissal from the series for the second season. They moved the show to a more difficult time-slot for year two and cast Paul Burke in the lead after killing Lansing's Gen. Savage character off off-screen. For the third season, QM was forced by ABC to do the show in color, which was problematic because not much stock WWII battle footage was shot in color. So they ended up tinting some of it blue and using it more sparingly, leading to a lot of ground-based episodes. Though they'd returned to show to its former time-slot on Friday nights, the audience had abandoned the series, leading to very low ratings for the 17 color episodes and cancellation mid-season.


Harry

 

[David_B_K]

I recorded all the episodes of 12 O'Clock High years ago on VHS in my C-band days off a channel called the Nostalgia network. They would show a couple of episodes per night. They also showed reruns of other old shows like Loretta Young, Dante, Richard Diamond, et al. I guess it was a lot like what ME TV is today. I eventually re-recorded them to DVD-R. My versions look decent, but I'd buy them on DVD if the A/V quality was like that of Perry Mason or Maverick. Although I preferred the first season with Robert Lansing as Gen. Savage, I also quite liked the second season when Paul Burke as Gallagher took over. The subplot of him being the "privileged son of a General" was worked into the plot very well, and Andrew Duggan was very good as the General who was always challenging Gallagher to do better. Even though I recorded the color episodes as well, I watched very few of them. The show really does not work well in color.

 

[stuartfanning]

Here is a complete unedited open as originally broadcast, with sponsor tag, commercial and opening scene.

 

[Harry-N]

Thanks for that, but I have to raise issue with the opening. The ABC Color Presentation bumper was only used prior to the 1966-1967 season. Starting in the fall of 1966, it was replaced by the show-specific "In Color" bumper, which you've also included. Running both like that is something that never occurred. It would go straight from the station ID right to the "Next...12 O'CLOCK HIGH, IN COLOR". Harry

 

[stuartfanning]

Thanks for that, but I have to raise issue with the opening. The ABC Color Presentation bumper was only used prior to the 1966-1967 season. Starting in the fall of 1966, it was replaced by the show-specific "In Color" bumper, which you've also included. Running both like that is something that never occurred. It would go straight from the station ID right to the "Next...12 O'CLOCK HIGH, IN COLOR". Harry

Hi. Sorry I cannot tell you anymore. I bought the complete episode on VHS Video some years ago. It has all the commercials intact, the station id stuff in the middle and the sponsor tag at the end. So it seems it it from a legitimate network print. Could be that the ABC bumper at the start was added as an extra at some point!

 

[Harry-N]

Originally Posted by stuartfanning
Hi. Sorry I cannot tell you anymore. I bought the complete episode on VHS Video some years ago. It has all the commercials intact, the station id stuff in the middle and the sponsor tag at the end. So it seems it it from a legitimate network print. Could be that the ABC bumper at the start was added as an extra at some point!

That's what I think. Someone got hold of a network delayed-broadcast print and added in the ABC Color Presentation just for fun - or perhaps because they had another episode of another ABC show and thought it was missing from the 12 O'Clock High episode.
Still, it's always fun to see these relics from the past.
Harry