Listen to me on TV CONFIDENTIAL:
As always, the further we go back in Hollywood history, the more that fact and legend become intertwined. It's hard to say where the truth really lies.
The World Series was televised in color for the first time. The
game was between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers.
September 29th, 1960
My Three Sons first
aired.
The series ran from 1960 to
1965 on ABC, and moved to CBS until its end on August 24, 1972. My
Three Sons chronicles the life of a widower and aeronautical
engineer named Steven Douglas (Fred MacMurray),
raising his three sons. The series also starred William Frawley as
the boy’s live-in maternal grandfather, Bub. Frawley, was replaced in 1965
by William Demarest due to Frawley’s health issues.
September 29, 1985
The pilot episode of
"MacGyver" aired on ABC.
MacGyver is an American
action-adventure television series created by Lee
David Zlotoff. Henry Winkler and John Rich were the executive producers.
The show ran for seven seasons on ABC in the United States and
various other networks abroad from 1985 to 1992. The
series was filmed in Los Angeles during seasons one, two, and seven,
and in Vancouver during
seasons three through six. The show's final episode aired on April 25, 1992 on
ABC (the network aired a previously unseen episode for the first time on May
21, 1992, but it was originally intended to air before the series finale).
The
show follows secret agent MacGyver, played by Richard Dean Anderson, who works as a troubleshooter for
the fictional Phoenix Foundation in Los Angeles and as an agent for a fictional
United States government agency, the Department of External Services (DXS).
Educated as a scientist, MacGyver served as a Bomb Team
Technician/EOD during the Vietnam
War("Countdown"). Resourceful and possessed of an encyclopedic
knowledge of the physical sciences, he solves complex problem by
making things out of stuff, along with his ever-present Swiss
Army knife. He prefers non-violent resolutions and prefers not to handle a
gun.
The series was a moderate
ratings success, but had a loyal following and was popular in the United States
and around the world. Two television movies, MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis and MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday, aired
on ABC in 1994. A spin-off series, Young MacGyver, was planned
in 2003, but only the pilot was made. Merchandise for MacGyver includes
games and toys, print media and an original audio series. A feature film based
on the series is being developed.
September 30, 1960
The Flintstones
Premiered.
The Flintstones ran from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966 on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones is about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family Fred & Wilma Flintstone and his next door neighbors and best friends Barney & Betty Rubble. Critics and fans alike agree that the show was an animated imitation of The Honeymooners with rock puns thrown in. It aired during an era when color television was becoming popular in America. Its popularity rested heavily on its juxtaposition of modern-day concerns in the Stone Age setting. The Flintstones also became the first primetime animated series to last more than two seasons this record wasn't surpassed by another primetime animated TV series until the third season of The Simpsons in 1992.
The show is set in the town of Bedrock where dinosaurs, saber-toothed tigers, woolly mammoths, and other long extinct animals co-exist with barefoot cavemen. Like their 20th century peers, these cavemen listen to records, live in split-level homes, and eat out at restaurants, yet their technology is made entirely from pre-industrial materials and largely powered through the use of various animals. For example, the cars are made out of stone, wood, and animal skins, and powered by the passengers' feet.
It has been noted that Fred Flintstone physically resembled voice actor Alan Reed, and also Jackie Gleason. The voice of Barney was provided by legendary voice actor Mel Blanc, though five episodes (the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 9th) during the second season employed Hanna-Barbera regular Daws Butler while Blanc was incapacitated by a near-fatal car accident. Blanc was able to return to the series much sooner than expected, by virtue of a temporary recording studio for the entire cast set up at Blanc's bedside. It should be noted, however, that Blanc's portrayal of Barney Rubble had changed considerably after the accident. In the earliest episodes, Blanc had used a much higher pitch. After his recovery from the accident, Blanc used a deeper voice. Additional similarities with The Honeymooners included the fact that Reed based Fred's voice upon Jackie Gleason's interpretation of Ralph Kramden, while Blanc, after a season of using a nasal, high-pitched voice for Barney, eventually adopted a style of voice similar to that used by Art Carney in his portrayal of Ed Norton. The first time that the Art Carney-like voice was used was for a few seconds in "The Prowler" (the third episode produced).
In a 1986 Playboy interview, Jackie Gleason said that Alan Reed had done voice-overs for Gleason in his early movies, and that he (Gleason) considered suing Hanna-Barbera for copying The Honeymooners but decided to let it pass. According to Henry Corden, who took over as the voice of Fred Flintstone after Alan Reed died, and was a friend of Gleason’s, “Jackie’s lawyers told him that he could probably have The Flintstones pulled right off the air. But they also told him, “Do you want to be known as the guy who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air? The guy who took away a show that so many kids love, and so many parents love, too?”
Henry Corden handled the voice responsibilities of Fred after Reed's death in 1977. Corden had previously provided Fred's singing voice in The Man Called Flintstone and later on Flintstones children's records. After 1999, Jeff Bergman performed the voice of Fred. Since Mel Blanc's death in 1989, Barney has been voiced by both Frank Welker and Kevin Richardson. Various additional character voices were created by Hal Smith, Allan Melvin, Janet Waldo, Daws Butler and Howard Morris, among others.
Although most Flintstones episodes are stand-alone storylines, the series did have a few story arcs. The most notable example was a series of episodes surrounding the birth of Pebbles. Beginning with the episode "The Surprise", aired midway through the third season (1/25/63), in which Wilma reveals her pregnancy to Fred, the arc continued through the trials and tribulations leading up to Pebbles' birth in the episode "Dress Rehearsal" (2/22/63), and then continued with several episodes showing Fred and Wilma adjusting to the world of parenthood. A postscript to the arc occurred in the third episode of the fourth season, in which the Rubbles, depressed over being unable to have children of their own (making The Flintstones the first animated series in history to address the issue of infertility, though subtly), adopt Bamm-Bamm. The 100th episode made (but the 90th to air), Little Bamm-Bamm (10/3/63), established how Bamm-Bamm was adopted. About nine episodes were made before it, but shown after, which explains why Bamm-Bamm would not be seen again until episode 101, Daddies Anonymous (Bamm-Bamm was in a teaser on episode 98, Kleptomaniac Pebbles). Another story arc, occurring in the final season, centered on Fred and Barney's dealings with The Great Gazoo (voiced by Harvey Korman).
The Flintstones was the first American animated show to depict two people of the opposite sex (Fred and Wilma; Barney and Betty) sleeping together in one bed, although Fred and Wilma are sometimes depicted as sleeping in separate beds. For comparison, the first live-action depiction of this in American TV history was in television's first-ever sitcom: 1947's Mary Kay and Johnny.
The show contained a laugh track, common to most other sitcoms of the period. In the mid-1990s, when Turner Networks remastered the episodes, the original laugh track was removed. Currently, the shows airing on Boomerang and the DVD releases have the original laugh track restored to most episodes (a number of episodes from Seasons 1 and 2 still lack them). Some episodes, however, have a newer laugh track dubbed in, apparently replacing the old one. Because of this practice, the only episode to originally air without a laugh track ("Sheriff For a Day" in 1965) now has one.
Following the show's cancellation in 1966, a film based upon the series was created. The Man Called Flintstone was a musical spy caper that parodied James Bond and other secret agents. The movie was released to theaters on August 3, 1966 by Columbia Pictures. It was released on DVD in Canada in March 2005 and in United States in December 2008.
The Flintstones had several spin-offs and TV specials.
The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (1971–72)
The Flintstone Comedy Hour (1972–73)
The New Fred and Barney Show (1979)
The Flintstone Comedy Show (1980–82)
The Flintstone Funnies (1982–84)
The Flintstone Kids (1986–88)
The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones (1987)
I Yabba-Dabba Do! (1993)
Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby (1993)
A Flintstones Christmas Carol (1994)
The Flintstones: On the Rocks (2001)
There weree also two Live action Flintstone Movies
The Flintstones (1994)
The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000)
The Flintstones ran from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966 on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones is about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family Fred & Wilma Flintstone and his next door neighbors and best friends Barney & Betty Rubble. Critics and fans alike agree that the show was an animated imitation of The Honeymooners with rock puns thrown in. It aired during an era when color television was becoming popular in America. Its popularity rested heavily on its juxtaposition of modern-day concerns in the Stone Age setting. The Flintstones also became the first primetime animated series to last more than two seasons this record wasn't surpassed by another primetime animated TV series until the third season of The Simpsons in 1992.
The show is set in the town of Bedrock where dinosaurs, saber-toothed tigers, woolly mammoths, and other long extinct animals co-exist with barefoot cavemen. Like their 20th century peers, these cavemen listen to records, live in split-level homes, and eat out at restaurants, yet their technology is made entirely from pre-industrial materials and largely powered through the use of various animals. For example, the cars are made out of stone, wood, and animal skins, and powered by the passengers' feet.
It has been noted that Fred Flintstone physically resembled voice actor Alan Reed, and also Jackie Gleason. The voice of Barney was provided by legendary voice actor Mel Blanc, though five episodes (the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 9th) during the second season employed Hanna-Barbera regular Daws Butler while Blanc was incapacitated by a near-fatal car accident. Blanc was able to return to the series much sooner than expected, by virtue of a temporary recording studio for the entire cast set up at Blanc's bedside. It should be noted, however, that Blanc's portrayal of Barney Rubble had changed considerably after the accident. In the earliest episodes, Blanc had used a much higher pitch. After his recovery from the accident, Blanc used a deeper voice. Additional similarities with The Honeymooners included the fact that Reed based Fred's voice upon Jackie Gleason's interpretation of Ralph Kramden, while Blanc, after a season of using a nasal, high-pitched voice for Barney, eventually adopted a style of voice similar to that used by Art Carney in his portrayal of Ed Norton. The first time that the Art Carney-like voice was used was for a few seconds in "The Prowler" (the third episode produced).
In a 1986 Playboy interview, Jackie Gleason said that Alan Reed had done voice-overs for Gleason in his early movies, and that he (Gleason) considered suing Hanna-Barbera for copying The Honeymooners but decided to let it pass. According to Henry Corden, who took over as the voice of Fred Flintstone after Alan Reed died, and was a friend of Gleason’s, “Jackie’s lawyers told him that he could probably have The Flintstones pulled right off the air. But they also told him, “Do you want to be known as the guy who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air? The guy who took away a show that so many kids love, and so many parents love, too?”
Henry Corden handled the voice responsibilities of Fred after Reed's death in 1977. Corden had previously provided Fred's singing voice in The Man Called Flintstone and later on Flintstones children's records. After 1999, Jeff Bergman performed the voice of Fred. Since Mel Blanc's death in 1989, Barney has been voiced by both Frank Welker and Kevin Richardson. Various additional character voices were created by Hal Smith, Allan Melvin, Janet Waldo, Daws Butler and Howard Morris, among others.
Although most Flintstones episodes are stand-alone storylines, the series did have a few story arcs. The most notable example was a series of episodes surrounding the birth of Pebbles. Beginning with the episode "The Surprise", aired midway through the third season (1/25/63), in which Wilma reveals her pregnancy to Fred, the arc continued through the trials and tribulations leading up to Pebbles' birth in the episode "Dress Rehearsal" (2/22/63), and then continued with several episodes showing Fred and Wilma adjusting to the world of parenthood. A postscript to the arc occurred in the third episode of the fourth season, in which the Rubbles, depressed over being unable to have children of their own (making The Flintstones the first animated series in history to address the issue of infertility, though subtly), adopt Bamm-Bamm. The 100th episode made (but the 90th to air), Little Bamm-Bamm (10/3/63), established how Bamm-Bamm was adopted. About nine episodes were made before it, but shown after, which explains why Bamm-Bamm would not be seen again until episode 101, Daddies Anonymous (Bamm-Bamm was in a teaser on episode 98, Kleptomaniac Pebbles). Another story arc, occurring in the final season, centered on Fred and Barney's dealings with The Great Gazoo (voiced by Harvey Korman).
The Flintstones was the first American animated show to depict two people of the opposite sex (Fred and Wilma; Barney and Betty) sleeping together in one bed, although Fred and Wilma are sometimes depicted as sleeping in separate beds. For comparison, the first live-action depiction of this in American TV history was in television's first-ever sitcom: 1947's Mary Kay and Johnny.
The show contained a laugh track, common to most other sitcoms of the period. In the mid-1990s, when Turner Networks remastered the episodes, the original laugh track was removed. Currently, the shows airing on Boomerang and the DVD releases have the original laugh track restored to most episodes (a number of episodes from Seasons 1 and 2 still lack them). Some episodes, however, have a newer laugh track dubbed in, apparently replacing the old one. Because of this practice, the only episode to originally air without a laugh track ("Sheriff For a Day" in 1965) now has one.
Following the show's cancellation in 1966, a film based upon the series was created. The Man Called Flintstone was a musical spy caper that parodied James Bond and other secret agents. The movie was released to theaters on August 3, 1966 by Columbia Pictures. It was released on DVD in Canada in March 2005 and in United States in December 2008.
The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (1971–72)
The Flintstone Comedy Hour (1972–73)
The New Fred and Barney Show (1979)
The Flintstone Comedy Show (1980–82)
The Flintstone Funnies (1982–84)
The Flintstone Kids (1986–88)
The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones (1987)
I Yabba-Dabba Do! (1993)
Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby (1993)
A Flintstones Christmas Carol (1994)
The Flintstones: On the Rocks (2001)
There weree also two Live action Flintstone Movies
The Flintstones (1994)
The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000)
September 30, 1995
Baywatch Nights began airing
in syndication.
The original premise of the show was that, during a midlife crisis, Sgt. Garner Ellerbee (Gregory Alan Williams), who was the resident police officer of Baywatch since the beginning of the series, decides to quit his job as a police officer and form a detectiveagency. Mitch Buchannon (David Hasselhoff), his friend from Baywatch, joins to support him and they are, in turn, joined by a detective named Ryan McBride (Angie Harmon). Singer Lou Rawls, who starred in the first season, performed the series theme song, "After the Sun Goes Down". Mid-way into the first season, the show added two new cast members (Eddie Cibrian and Donna D'Errico).
The original premise of the show was that, during a midlife crisis, Sgt. Garner Ellerbee (Gregory Alan Williams), who was the resident police officer of Baywatch since the beginning of the series, decides to quit his job as a police officer and form a detectiveagency. Mitch Buchannon (David Hasselhoff), his friend from Baywatch, joins to support him and they are, in turn, joined by a detective named Ryan McBride (Angie Harmon). Singer Lou Rawls, who starred in the first season, performed the series theme song, "After the Sun Goes Down". Mid-way into the first season, the show added two new cast members (Eddie Cibrian and Donna D'Errico).
During the second season, facing slipping ratings which
were never as good as the original series, the producers decided to switch to a science
fiction format (inspired by the success of The
X-Files). Gregory Alan Williams left the series and was replaced by Dorian
Gregory as Diamont Teague, a paranormal expert.
The new format did not help the series and it was canceled after the second
season. The character Donna Marco was later carried over to the original Baywatch series
afterwards.
October 1, 1955
The Honeymooners debuts on CBS.
The TV comedy, which starred Jackie Gleason, enjoyed enduring popularity despite the fact that it aired only 39 episodes.
The TV comedy, which starred Jackie Gleason, enjoyed enduring popularity despite the fact that it aired only 39 episodes.
The show originated in
1951 as a sketch on Gleason's variety show Cavalcade of Stars. He
continued the sketches when he launched a new program, The Jackie Gleason
Show, in 1952. In these skits, Gleason played bus driver Ralph Kramden, and
Audrey Meadows played his long-suffering wife, Alice, who deflated his
get-rich-quick schemes but often saved the day. Art Carney played friend and
sidekick Ed Norton, and Joyce Randolph played Ed's wife, Trixie.
In a departure from most
TV shows at the time, The Honeymooners was filmed in front of a live
audience and broadcast at a later date. To allow Gleason more time to pursue
other producing projects, he taped two episodes a week, leaving him free for
several months at the end of the season.
Unfortunately,
the two shows did not do as well with audiences as Gleason had hoped, and only
39 episodes of the The Honeymooners aired. In 1956, Gleason returned to
his hour-long variety format, occasionally including Honeymooners skits.
In 1966, he began creating hour-long Honeymooners episodes, which he
aired in lieu of his usual variety format. From 1966 to 1970, about half of
Gleason's shows were these hour-long episodes. In 1971, the episodes were
rebroadcast as their own series. On May 9, 1971, the final episode aired.
October 2, 1985
Rock Hudson dies of AIDS in Beverly Hills, California.
Earlier that same year, Hudson announced through a
press release that he was suffering from the disease, becoming the first major
celebrity to go public with such a diagnosis. The first cases of AIDS, a
condition caused by a virus that attacks and destroys the human immune system,
were reported in homosexual men in the United States in the early 1980s. At the
time of Hudson’s death, AIDS was not fully understood by the medical community
and was stigmatized by the general public as a condition affecting only gay
men, intravenous drug users and people who received contaminated blood
transfusions.
Hudson was born Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., on November 17, 1925, in Winnetka,
Illinois. He rose to fame in the 1950s, starring in such films as Giant (1956),
for which he received an Academy Award nomination, and A Farewell to
Arms (1957). Hudson’s good looks and charm were on full display in 1959’s Pillow
Talk and several other romantic comedies he made with Doris Day in the
early 1960s. In the 1970s, Hudson co-starred in the popular TV series McMillan
and Wife. Early in the next decade, he began experiencing health problems
and underwent heart bypass surgery. His final TV role was a recurring part on Dynasty
from 1984 to 1985.
In July 1985, Hudson was hospitalized while in Paris. Some media reports
indicated that he was suffering from liver cancer. However, on July 25, Hudson
issued a press release stating he had AIDS and was in France for treatment.
Hudson, who had a three-year marriage during the 1950s to a woman who had been
his agent’s secretary, never spoke publicly about his sexuality.
Hudson’s death was credited with bringing attention to an epidemic that
would go on to kill millions of men, women and children of all backgrounds from
around the world. Hudson’s friend and former Giant co-star Elizabeth
Taylor became an AIDS activist and rallied the Hollywood community to raise
millions for research. In 1993, Tom Hanks received a Best Actor Oscar for his
performance in the director Jonathan Demme’s Philadelphia, the first
major Hollywood movie to focus on AIDS.
October 3, 1955
Captain Kangaroo
premiered.
Captain Kangaroo is a children's television series which aired weekday
mornings on CBS for nearly 30 years,
from October 3, 1955 until December 8, 1984, making it the longest-running
nationally broadcast children's television program of its day. In 1986, the American Program Service
(now American Public Television, Boston) integrated some
newly produced segments into reruns of past episodes,
distributing the newer version of the series until 1993.
The show was conceived
and the title character played by Bob
Keeshan,
who based the show on "the warm relationship between grandparents and
children." Keeshan had portrayed the original Clarabell the Clown on The Howdy
Doody Show when it aired on NBC.
Captain Kangaroo had a loose structure,
built around life in the "Treasure House" where the Captain (whose
name came from the big pockets in his coat) would tell stories, meet guests,
and indulge in silly stunts with regular characters, both humans and puppets.
The show was telecast live to the East Coast and the Midwest for its first four
years (and broadcast on kinescope for the West Coast, as Keeshan would not
perform the show live three times a day) and was in black-and-white until 1968. The May 17,
1971 episode saw two major changes on the show: The Treasure House was
renovated and renamed "The Captain's Place" and the Captain replaced
his black coat with a red coat. In September 1981, CBS shortened the hour-long
show to a half-hour, briefly retitled it Wake Up with the Captain, and
moved it to an earlier time slot; it was later moved to weekends in September
1982, and returned to an hour-long format. It was canceled by CBS at the end of
1984. In the early years of the series, Keeshan wore make-up in order to look
suitably old for the character he was playing, but the show ran for so long
that by the end, he was wearing make-up to look younger.
In 1997–1998, a sequel
revival series tentatively titled The
All New Captain Kangaroo was attempted by Saban Entertainment. John
McDonough played the Captain on this version, which was shot in Tampa,
Florida.
Keeshan was invited to appear as a special guest called "The
Admiral," but after seeing sample episodes, he declined to appear or have
any association with the new incarnation. It ran for one season and inspired a
spin-off show, Mister Moose's Fun Time.
October 3, 1955
ABC aired The
Mickey Mouse Club for the first
time.
The Mickey Mouse Club was Walt Disney's second venture into producing
a television series, the first being the Walt Disney anthology
television series, initially titled Disneyland. Disney used
both shows to help finance and promote the building of the Disneyland theme park. Being busy
with these projects and others, Disney turned The Mickey Mouse Club over
to Bill Walsh to create and develop the
format, initially aided by Hal Adelquist.
The result was a variety
show for children, with such regular features as a newsreel, a
cartoon, and a serial, as well as music, talent and comedy segments. One unique
feature of the show was the Mouseketeer Roll Call, in which many (but not all)
of that day's line-up of regular performers would introduce themselves by name
to the television audience. In the serials, teens faced challenges in everyday
situations, often overcome by their common sense or through recourse to the
advice of respected elders. Mickey Mouse himself appeared in every show not
only in vintage cartoons originally made for theatrical release, but in
opening, interstitial and closing segments made especially for the show. In
both the vintage cartoons and in the new animated segments, Mickey was voiced
by his creator Walt Disney. (Disney had previously voiced the
character theatrically from 1928 to 1947, and then was replaced by sound
effects artist Jimmy MacDonald.)
October 3, 1960
"The
Andy Griffith Show" Premiered.
There are many great comedic characters on TV, but
many of these comedic characters went to a farcical extreme. Some even dropped
I.Q. points for the sake of a joke. Andy Griffith felt that the integrity of
Mayberry’s citizens was more important than a punch line.
Sheldon Leonard, producer of The Danny Thomas Show and Danny Thomas, hired veteran comedy writer Arthur Stander (who had written many of
the Danny Thomas episodes) to create a pilot show for Andy Griffith which
featured him as justice of the peace and newspaper editor in a small town.
On February 15, 1960, "Danny Meets Andy Griffith" was telecast on The Danny Thomas Show. In the episode, Griffith played fictional Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry, North Carolina, who arrests Thomas for running a stop sign. Future players in The Andy Griffith Show, Frances Bavier and Ron Howard, appeared in the episode as townspeople, Henrietta Perkins, and Sheriff Taylor's son, Opie. General Foods, sponsor of The Danny Thomas Show, had first access to the spinoff and committed to it immediately. On October 3, 1960 at 9:30 p.m., The Andy Griffith Show made its debut. Andy is teamed with an inept but well-meaning deputy, Barney Fife (Don Knotts), has a spinster aunt and housekeeper, Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier), and a young son, Opie (Ron Howard, billed as Ronny).
On February 15, 1960, "Danny Meets Andy Griffith" was telecast on The Danny Thomas Show. In the episode, Griffith played fictional Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry, North Carolina, who arrests Thomas for running a stop sign. Future players in The Andy Griffith Show, Frances Bavier and Ron Howard, appeared in the episode as townspeople, Henrietta Perkins, and Sheriff Taylor's son, Opie. General Foods, sponsor of The Danny Thomas Show, had first access to the spinoff and committed to it immediately. On October 3, 1960 at 9:30 p.m., The Andy Griffith Show made its debut. Andy is teamed with an inept but well-meaning deputy, Barney Fife (Don Knotts), has a spinster aunt and housekeeper, Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier), and a young son, Opie (Ron Howard, billed as Ronny).
Initially, Griffith played
Taylor as a heavy-handed country bumpkin, grinning from ear to ear and speaking
in a hesitant, frantic manner. The style recalled that used in the delivery of
his popular monologues such as "What it Was,
Was Football". He gradually
abandoned the 'rustic Taylor' and developed a serious and thoughtful
characterization.
Producer Aaron Ruben recalled:
Producer Aaron Ruben recalled:
"He was being that marvelously funny character from No Time for Sergeants, Will Stockdale [a role Griffith played on stage and in film]...One day he said, 'My God, I just realized that I'm the straight man. I'm playing straight to all these kooks around me.' He didn't like himself [in first year reruns]...and in the next season he changed, becoming this Lincolnesque character."
As Griffith stopped portraying some of the sheriffs more unsophisticated
character traits and mannerisms, it was impossible for him to create his own
problems and troubles in the manner of other central sitcom characters such as
Lucy in I Love Lucy or Archie Bunker in All in the Family, whose problems were the
result of their temperaments, philosophies and attitudes. Consequently, the
characters around Taylor were employed to create the problems and troubles,
with rock-solid Taylor stepping in as problem solver, mediator, advisor,
disciplinarian and counselor. Aunt Bee, for example, was given several wayward
romances requiring Andy's intervention, Opie suffered childhood missteps that
needed a father's counsel and discipline, and Barney engaged in ill-considered
acts on the job that required Sheriff Taylor's professional oversight and
reprimand. Andy Griffith has also said that he realized during the earlier
episodes of the program that it was much funnier for him to play the straight
man to Knotts' "Barney," rather than his being the originator of the
comedic scenes between them.
Andy's friends and neighbors include barber Floyd
Lawson (Howard McNear), service station attendants and
cousins Gomer
Pyle (Jim
Nabors) and Goober Pyle (George
Lindsey), and local drunkard Otis
Campbell (Hal Smith). On the distaff side, townswoman Clara
Edwards (Hope Summers), Barney's sweetheart Thelma Lou
(Betty
Lynn) and Andy's schoolteacher sweetheart Helen Crump
(Aneta
Corsaut) become semi-regulars. Elinor
Donahue made twelve appearances as Andy's girlfriend in the first season.
In the color seasons, County Clerk Howard
Sprague (Jack Dodson) and handyman Emmett Clark (Paul
Hartman) appeared regularly, while Barney's replacement deputy Warren
Ferguson (Jack Burns) appeared in the sixth season. Unseen
characters such as telephone operator Sarah, and Barney's love interest, local
diner waitress Juanita Beasley, as mentioned in first season episode "Andy
Forecloses", are often referenced. In the series' last few episodes,
farmer Sam Jones (Ken Berry) debuts, and later becomes the star of the
show's sequel series, Mayberry R.F.D..
Knotts left the show at the end of the fifth season to pursue a career in
films but returned to make five guest appearances as Barney in seasons six through
eight. His last appearance in the final season in a story about a summit
meeting with Russian dignitaries "ranked eleventh among single comedy
programs most watched in television between 1960 to [1984], with an audience of
thirty-three and a half million."
The color episodes of the
show in its later years are markedly different from the black and white
episodes of the first five seasons, and are generally far less popular with
fans of the show. New writers took over the scriptwriting for the post-Knotts
color seasons, and they generally abandoned the character-based sitcom format
in favor of dry humor revolving around rather mundane aspects of life in a
small town. Finally, it has also been observed that Griffith's character
underwent another metamorphosis when the show went to color. While the original
"country bumpkin" Sheriff Taylor had already been replaced during the
black and white years by a somewhat less country-acting character, the Sheriff
Taylor of the color episodes is a sophisticated, almost urbane man, to the
point that he often seems, contrary to the Sheriff Taylor of the black and
white episodes, to be discontent, irritated and fed up with life in Mayberry
(as Andy Griffith was in fact trying to figure out a way to leave the series).
Many of the color episodes revolve around Andy's being agitated about something
by one of the other characters (quite often Goober or Warren, but sometimes
Howard, Aunt Bee or Opie).
The show was filmed at Desilu Studios, with exteriors filmed at Forty Acres in Culver City, CA. Woodsy locales were filmed north of Beverly Hills at Franklin Canyon. The show's theme music, "The Fishin' Hole", was composed by Earle Hagen and Herbert Spencer, with lyrics written by Everett Sloane. Whistling in the opening sequence, as well as the closing credits sequence, was performed by Earle Hagen. One of the show's tunes, "The Mayberry March", was reworked a number of times in different tempi, styles and orchestrations as background music.
The show's sole sponsor was General Foods, with promotional consideration paid for (in the form of cars) by Ford Motor Company (mentioned in the credits).
At the end of the show's fourth season (May 1964), the backdoor pilot Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. aired, and, the following September, the spinoff series Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. debuted with Jim Nabors in his Gomer role and Frank Sutton as drill instructor Sergeant Vince Carter.
In the last episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, the character Sam Jones, played by Ken Berry, was introduced and a sequel series, Mayberry R.F.D., was fashioned around him for the fall of 1968 (in essence replacing Andy Griffith — the '68 season would be his last).
Several performers reprised their original roles in the sequel, with Bavier becoming Sam's housekeeper. To create a smooth transition from the original series to Mayberry, Andy and Helen were married in the first episode, remained for a few additional episodes, and then left the show, with a move to Raleigh being the explanation given the audience. After the sequel series' cancellation in 1971, George Lindsey played a Goober-like character over several years on the popular variety show Hee Haw.
In 1986, the reunion telemovie Return to Mayberry was broadcast with several cast members reprising their original roles. Absent, however, was Frances Bavier. She was living in Siler City, North Carolina in ill health, and declined to participate. In the telemovie, Aunt Bee is portrayed as deceased, with Andy visiting her grave.
The show was filmed at Desilu Studios, with exteriors filmed at Forty Acres in Culver City, CA. Woodsy locales were filmed north of Beverly Hills at Franklin Canyon. The show's theme music, "The Fishin' Hole", was composed by Earle Hagen and Herbert Spencer, with lyrics written by Everett Sloane. Whistling in the opening sequence, as well as the closing credits sequence, was performed by Earle Hagen. One of the show's tunes, "The Mayberry March", was reworked a number of times in different tempi, styles and orchestrations as background music.
The show's sole sponsor was General Foods, with promotional consideration paid for (in the form of cars) by Ford Motor Company (mentioned in the credits).
At the end of the show's fourth season (May 1964), the backdoor pilot Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. aired, and, the following September, the spinoff series Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. debuted with Jim Nabors in his Gomer role and Frank Sutton as drill instructor Sergeant Vince Carter.
In the last episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, the character Sam Jones, played by Ken Berry, was introduced and a sequel series, Mayberry R.F.D., was fashioned around him for the fall of 1968 (in essence replacing Andy Griffith — the '68 season would be his last).
Several performers reprised their original roles in the sequel, with Bavier becoming Sam's housekeeper. To create a smooth transition from the original series to Mayberry, Andy and Helen were married in the first episode, remained for a few additional episodes, and then left the show, with a move to Raleigh being the explanation given the audience. After the sequel series' cancellation in 1971, George Lindsey played a Goober-like character over several years on the popular variety show Hee Haw.
In 1986, the reunion telemovie Return to Mayberry was broadcast with several cast members reprising their original roles. Absent, however, was Frances Bavier. She was living in Siler City, North Carolina in ill health, and declined to participate. In the telemovie, Aunt Bee is portrayed as deceased, with Andy visiting her grave.
I think there is a lot of
Barney in all of us. We may strive to be like Andy Taylor, act like Andy Taylor
and may even fool ourselves into thinking that we are Andy Taylor. But we are
really are Barney Fife full of good intentions but with a bullet in our pocket.
October 3, 1995
O.J. Simpson acquitted.
At the end of a sensational
trial, former football star O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the brutal 1994 double
murder of his estranged wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald
Goldman. In the epic 252-day trial, Simpson’s “dream team” of lawyers employed
creative and controversial methods to convince jurors that Simpson’s guilt had
not been proved “beyond a reasonable doubt,” thus surmounting what the
prosecution called a “mountain of evidence” implicating him as the murderer.
Orenthal James Simpson–a
Heisman Trophy winner, star running back with the Buffalo Bills, and popular
television personality–married Nicole Brown in 1985. He reportedly regularly
abused his wife and in 1989 pleaded no contest to a charge of spousal battery.
In 1992, she left him and filed for divorce. On the night of June 12, 1994,
Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were stabbed and slashed to death in
the front yard of Mrs. Simpson’s condominium in Brentwood, Los Angeles. By June
17, police had gathered enough evidence to charge O.J. Simpson with the
murders.
October 4, 1990
Beverly Hills, 90210 debuts on Fox.
Created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling,
the show turned its relatively unknown cast of actors, including Luke Perry,
Jason Priestley and Tori Spelling (Aaron’s daughter), into household names. It
also tackled a number of topical issues ranging from domestic abuse to teen
pregnancy to AIDS and paved the way for other popular teen dramas, including Dawson’s
Creek and The O.C.
Beverly Hills, 90210 originally centered around Brenda (Shannen
Dougherty) and Brandon Walsh (Priestley), middle-class high-school-age twins
from Minnesota who relocate to ritzy Beverly Hills with their parents. The
Walshes attend the fictional West Beverly Hills High School, along with bad boy
Dylan (Perry), popular blonde Kelly (Jennie Garth), rich kid Steve (Ian
Ziering), virginal Donna (Spelling) and nerdy David (Brian Austin Green). Over
the course of the show’s 10 seasons, the characters became entangled in
numerous love triangles, graduated from high school and moved on to college and
careers.
The show was the first big hit for the screenwriter and producer Darren Star,
who went on to create the 90210 spinoff Melrose Place, which
originally aired from 1992 to 1999, and the popular HBO TV series Sex and
the City, which originally aired from 1998 to 2004. Aaron Spelling, who
died in 2006 at the age of 83, was one of the most prolific producers in the
history of television. Spelling’s credits include The Mod Squad, Charlie’s
Angels, Dynasty, Starsky and Hutch, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island and
7th Heaven.
The final episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 aired on May
17, 2000. A new version of the show, titled 90210, premiered on
September 2, 2008. The show follows a Kansas family who moves to Beverly Hills.
Of the original Beverly Hills, 90210, cast, Jennie Garth reprises her
role as Kelly, now a guidance counselor at West Beverly Hills High, while
Shannon Doherty has guest starred as Brenda, who has become an actress.
To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".
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