THE FADED COLOR NETWORK

 While recently emptying one of the big plastic containers we keep in the basement, I removed a 55-year-old beach towel. You might think such an item over a half-century old would be strange to keep. But, as I always have to remind my readers, you don't know me. 

When my father owned an appliance store, he became the recipient of the towel, which featured the 1969-1970 schedule of NBC-TV. At the time, the network was owned by RCA, which gave my father the exclusive rights to sell its color TVs (in our town, I mean). Although now faded by time, sun, and laundry spins, it still tells a story TV fans of a certain age will remember.

Much better.

As you can see, even as late as 1969, NBC felt compelled to refer to itself as the full color network. (All the networks switched entirely to color for prime time by the 1966-1967 season, although NBC seems to be the only one that really was all color during the daytime, too). For a TV-watching zombie like me, color was heaven on earth. That was until I rewatched some of these shows as an adult and realized the black & white seasons of, say, The Andy Griffith Show and Man from UNCLE were better.

Let's take a look at the Peacock network from 55 years ago. The Today Show still exists, while The Tonight Show has gone through two hosts since Johnny Carson left over 30 years ago. Well, three if you count Conan O'Brien's doomed eight-month stint. OK, four if you're a stickler and count Jay Leno's before-and-after Conan as two. 

Today, they'd be considered the
Never-Ready-For-Prime-Time
News Anchors.

The Huntley-Brinkley Report was in its final year. A classy, low-key news program, H-B was, unlike today, hosted by two incredibly unphotogenic guys who happened to be serious journalists. In their earlier days, they stood at podiums -- one in New York, the other in Washington -- with lit cigarettes strategically placed so that you saw only the smoke drifting up. At age eight, I took such things for granted.

As for the rest of the schedule... well, this was before the FCC ordered networks to give up their 7:30-8:00 airtime for what was supposed to be locally produced public affairs programs. This actually worked out well, until the affiliates decided that sitcom reruns and syndicated game shows were easier and cheaper to air. Who wants serious information when they can watch Wheel of Fortune and 30 year-old episodes of Seinfeld? 

What's the difference between a high and a low
chaparral? In fact, what heck is a chaparral?

Breaking down the rest of the schedule by genres:

 Five sitcoms: The Bill Cosby Show, My World and Welcome to It, I Dream of Jeannie, The Debbie Reynolds Show, and Julia. The Cosby show was the one where he played a gym teacher, not a rapist doctor.

Four Westerns: Bonanza, The Virginian, Daniel Boone, and The High Chaparral. I suppose calling Daniel Boone a Western is pushing it, but any show with horses and Indians is a Western to me.

The Cowsills on Kraft Music Hall. I put this here
because we're both from the same town.

Four variety shows: Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Kraft Music Hall, Dean Martin Show, and Andy Williams Show. OK, so Laugh-In was really sketch comedy, but during the first season The Strawberry Alarm Clock appeared. Ergo, variety.

Three movies: Monday Night at the Movies, Tuesday Night at the Movies, and the father of them all, Saturday Night at the Movies. In other words, cheap programming. I always looked forward to the times they had 10 minutes to kill at the end so that former actor/nightclub MC/second-tier comedian Ken Murray could show his old home movies of show biz pals. (I can still hear the angelic choir sing the two-word opening theme: "Hollywood!... Hollywood!") But his caricature at the beginning of the segment terrified me. Wish I could find it so you understood the nightmares it caused.   

One "family" series: The Wonderful World of Disney, previously titled The Wonderful World of Color. It took his death to get the show named after him.

Three cop shows: Dragnet, Adam-12, and Ironside. The first two were Jack Webb productions. If NBC aired them today, they'd be titled L.A. Dragnet and L.A. Adam-12.

OK wise guy, which of the dramas featured this
credit?

Four dramas: The Bold Ones, Then Came Bronson, The Name of the Game, Bracken's World. (Like The Virginian, Bracken's World was 90 minutes long.) Technically, The Bold Ones was the uber-title of a few different series that traded places week by week -- The New Doctors, The Lawyers, The Protectors, and The Senator. Because The Senator was critically acclaimed, your average viewer never tuned in, and lasted only eight episodes. Good to know some things never change.

This peacock is no
RINO.

Today on network TV, the variety, Western, and family genres are dead as analogue television, as are 90-minute series. What NBC has now that they didn't in 1969-1970 are game and reality shows -- the current equivalent of the cheap (Blank) Night at the Movies. 

Another difference: the NBC peacock still faced left in 1969. In 1980 it turned right to "face the future" where it remains today, although rumor had it that it was at behest of the network president to reflect his political bent. Which sounds more likely?

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