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1950's Television . Westerns , Sitcoms , Variety , Drama , etc . (1 Viewer)

LouA

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I frequently post on the thread regarding the "End of black and white Television on DVD". Many of us do, posting info about new releases, existing releases, or whatever . So it occurred to me that , it might be a good idea to start a new thread where fans of nineteen fifties ( and early sixties ) television can post opinions , news, memories, etc. And this isn't limited to any one genre , so feel free to post about westerns, or children's shows or detective shows or whatever you want to . Hear of any new releases put it here!
I hope this thread thrives !
 

LouA

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Now that the thread is started , I just want to mention that HOWDY DOODY will be coming back to television in an 9 hour marathon on COSI TV, which will be book ended by two airings of a new Howdy Doody Special regarding Howdy's run for president back in the fifties. If the marathon does well , there will be further Howdy Doody broadcasts . I understand that close to 500 kinescopes of the show exist in the NBC vault .
 
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FanCollector

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I think you've chosen an interesting period in TV history for a lot of reasons. One of them is that it's the transition between the half-hour continuing drama series and the hour continuing drama series. Before 1957, there were just a couple of Warner Brothers hour-long dramas, and after 1962, there were just a handful of remaining shorter drama series. I think one reason for the change was economic, but what other things do you think motivated the change in those years?
 

LouA

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Comet tv runs Men Into Space late at night and, I think, early on Sunday morninings.
Interesting . I'll have to look for that . I've never seen even one episode of Men Into Space , but I continue to hear good things about it . I believe there's even a book about the making of the show. For some reason, it's a show that I always thought would make it to DVD, probably from Timeless. Who knows , it still might .
 

LouA

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I think you've chosen an interesting period in TV history for a lot of reasons. One of them is that it's the transition between the half-hour continuing drama series and the hour continuing drama series. Before 1957, there were just a couple of Warner Brothers hour-long dramas, and after 1962, there were just a handful of remaining shorter drama series. I think one reason for the change was economic, but what other things do you think motivated the change in those years?
It's hard to answer that . In any medium that's largely commercial , economics is usually the dominant factor . Even so Disney was successful using the 60 minute format for it's "dramatic" shows like The Crockett adventures .
Having said that , it seems like most writers back then were able to cram a lot of plot into half hour shows . You came away from an early episode of Have Gun Will Travel or Gunsmoke thinking that so much happened in 26 minutes. Maybe the writing style changed becoming more leisurely, stressing plot less and characterization more and that continued to this day . Ever notice that many of today's feature films have about a half hour 's worth of plot , but loads of effects, gimmicks, violence, sex, and closing credits that seem to last 15 minutes by themselves ?
 

jperez

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It's hard to answer that . In any medium that's largely commercial , economics is usually the dominant factor . Even so Disney was successful using the 60 minute format for it's "dramatic" shows like The Crockett adventures .
Having said that , it seems like most writers back then were able to cram a lot of plot into half hour shows . You came away from an early episode of Have Gun Will Travel or Gunsmoke thinking that so much happened in 26 minutes. Maybe the writing style changed becoming more leisurely, stressing plot less and characterization more and that continued to this day . Ever notice that many of today's feature films have about a half hour 's worth of plot , but loads of effects, gimmicks, violence, sex, and closing credits that seem to last 15 minutes by themselves ?


Maybe the visual aspect began to assert itself little by little: many of the early tv dramas had much in common with the theatre and the radio dramas from which many came, and that's why scripts were so important (and so good). Later on, maybe influenced from a tendency already underway in the movies, camera work began to take precedence. In recent years, of course, it seems it's been gimmicks and technology what's begun to take precedence even over interesting camera work, so there's even less space for good writing... except for the witty one-liner here and there.
 

Flashgear

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I agree Jorge about the camera work and increasingly cinematic sweep of Some TV shows during the period of about 1955 - 1965...especially Westerns like Rawhide (Charles Marquis Warren), HGWT, Virginian, etc...but also some of the contemporary urban shows, mostly drama...freeing themselves from the soundstage sets and shooting on a variety of locations...Frederick Ziv (of the great ZIV TV studio), Quinn Martin (of QM, natch.) and especially, the Great Herbert B. Leonard and Sam Manners of Naked City and Route 66...these guys revolutionized TV production values and the expected scope of Television itself...it's impossible to overstate their importance in the development of American TV...the unheard of concept of filming a weekly hour drama with an expensive touring company, literally from coast to coast! Still a big Wow for me...one of the reasons that this period is my absolute favorite era...I wish there was a first rate biography on the Great Herbert B. Leonard and Sam Manners...
 

jperez

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Also agree completely. One little known show that impresses me for its early cinematic qualities is It's a Man's World, featuring future Route 66'er, Glenn Corbett. The way it's filmed makes me think of Truffaut and the french new wave of that same era: light, funny and affectionate to tits characters with a roaming camera.
 

LouA

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Also agree completely. One little known show that impresses me for its early cinematic qualities is It's a Man's World, featuring future Route 66'er, Glenn Corbett. The way it's filmed makes me think of Truffaut and the french new wave of that same era: light, funny and affectionate to tits characters with a roaming camera.
There were a number of shows which while appearing to be dissimilar were actually quite similar in TONE . Usually dramatic shows like It's A Man's World , East Side West Side , Fugitive, Rt 66 and Dr. Kildare , and the camera work and lighting on those shows reflected dramatic statements they were trying to make .
 

Neil Brock

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Now that the thread is started , I just want to mention that HOWDY DOODY will be coming back to television in an 9 hour marathon on COSI TV, which will be book ended by two airings of a new Howdy Doody Special regarding Howdy's run for president back in the fifties. If the marathon does well , there will be further Howdy Doody broadcasts . I understand that close to 500 kinescopes of the show exist in the NBC vault .

Actually there are over 1800 or more Howdy Doody episodes that exist on kinescopes at NBC. Only the final show exists on color videotape. Amazing to me that with all of the shows NBC produced - great live dramas, variety shows, game shows, soap operas, World Series games and other sports, a daily children's series was what they felt the need to preserve for posterity.
 

LouA

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Actually there are over 1800 or more Howdy Doody episodes that exist on kinescopes at NBC. Only the final show exists on color videotape. Amazing to me that with all of the shows NBC produced - great live dramas, variety shows, game shows, soap operas, World Series games and other sports, a daily children's series was what they felt the need to preserve for posterity.
The 500 episode figure came from Buffalo Bob Smith himself who was attempting to bring the HD show back to Television in the late 1990's with newly filmed wraparounds which he would narrate .
I spoke to him at the Lead East car show in New jersey back around 1996.
Actually , your figure of 1800 sounds better yet so I hope we'll see a lot of them eventually on COZI TV,

Your point is well taken about The NBC shows of the "golden era".
And something I've always wondered about is why we've seen so little of variety shows like Perry Como, Dinah Shore, Garry Moore , Pat Boone , and Martha Raye although I suspect music clearance issues are the problem .
 

Neil Brock

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The 500 episode figure came from Buffalo Bob Smith himself who was attempting to bring the HD show back to Television in the late 1990's with newly filmed wraparounds which he would narrate .
I spoke to him at the Lead East car show in New jersey back around 1996.
Actually , your figure of 1800 sounds better yet so I hope we'll see a lot of them eventually on COZI TV,

Your point is well taken about The NBC shows of the "golden era".
And something I've always wondered about is why we've seen so little of variety shows like Perry Como, Dinah Shore, Garry Moore , Pat Boone , and Martha Raye although I suspect music clearance issues are the problem .

There's no market for them really and yes, music clearance is a big stumbling block, both for broadcast and home video. Also, other than Dinah Shore, who preserved all of her shows on beautiful color 2-inch tape, the others, if they do exist, are on crappy black and white kinescopes with the original tapes long gone.
 

LouA

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According to the TV Shows On DVD site , those Timeless/ Walmart exclusives of Death Valley Days , Season 1 and 2 , The Loner , Baa Baa Black Sheep, My Friend Flicka , and Daniel Boone Season 1 will not be given a general release. So if you want them , you have to go to Walmart . I for one hope this series of releases is successful, so we can get other similar shows - for example some new ZIV titles ..
 

shoeshineboy

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Thanks - I guess I can cancel my Amazon season 1 order... has anyone seen any reviews of that DVD? I'd still like to pick it up, but being as its been in the Walmart stores for a few months I'm guessing it'll take a good search to find it.
EDIT - just did a cursory search at 6 local (well, across the border and up to an hour drive away) at the Walmarts and they almost all have Season 2... no sign of season 1 tho...
 
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LouA

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Thanks - I guess I can cancel my Amazon season 1 order... has anyone seen any reviews of that DVD? I'd still like to pick it up, but being as its been in the Walmart stores for a few months I'm guessing it'll take a good search to find it.
EDIT - just did a cursory search at 6 local (well, across the border and up to an hour drive away) at the Walmarts and they almost all have Season 2... no sign of season 1 tho...
Walmart can be a weird place to deal with . I went to my local store and the LONER wasn't in stock , so I ordered it online . I went back to the store the following week and there were 3-4 copies in stock, but my online order is still on back order and unfulfilled . I'm not sure if I'll ever get the copy I ordered ,and soon it will no longer be in the Walmart stores !
 

BobO'Link

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Walmart can be a weird place to deal with . I went to my local store and the LONER wasn't in stock , so I ordered it online . I went back to the store the following week and there were 3-4 copies in stock, but my online order is still on back order and unfulfilled . I'm not sure if I'll ever get the copy I ordered ,and soon it will no longer be in the Walmart stores !
In that situation I'd just buy at the store and cancel the online order. If it should ship before you can get it cancelled either don't pick it up and it'll get refunded *or* just pick it up and take it to the service desk to return it and get a refund. If you're shipping to your house instead of to the store simply return it to the store for a refund. I've done that a couple of times with media orders (cancelled before it ships) with no issues
 

LouA

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In that situation I'd just buy at the store and cancel the online order. If it should ship before you can get it cancelled either don't pick it up and it'll get refunded *or* just pick it up and take it to the service desk to return it and get a refund. If you're shipping to your house instead of to the store simply return it to the store for a refund. I've done that a couple of times with media orders (cancelled before it ships) with no issues
That's exactly what I did . Still awaiting confirmation that my order is cancelled .
 

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