Tuesday, August 25, 2020

The Broadcast Log: NBC Tuesday Night at the Movies, 1965–66

"The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC"

With a new programming strategy planned for Wednesday (Bob Hope and I Spy), NBC moved its weekday movie to Tuesday in a lineup that was a complete reboot to the night. It wasn't a bad move because both ABC and CBS were leaving NBC in the dust in the '64-'65 season with Combat!, The Fugitive, Red Skelton, and Petticoat Junction.

With two freshmen sitcoms and a medical veteran now splintered into two half-hour episodes per week, the NBC Tuesday Night at the Movies aired 30 films from the MGM and Paramount libraries — except for The Proud Rebel, so if anyone can explain that one, please do. Like the Monday and Wednesday movie nights, the lineup was usually a lighter selection but included comedies, war, westerns, and adventure titles. However, there were no original movies. Those would return next season.

The movie night started a few weeks early with some repeated titles, which are included here. Perhaps NBC was eager to ax its summer lineup of Moment of Fear, Cloak of Mystery, and Hullabaloo.

 Programmer's Corner: Despite the strength of ABC's schedule last season, which certainly worried CBS and NBC execs looking at their fall programming strategies, the strength didn't roll into this season. Top 10 drama The Fugitive and top 20 soap Peyton Place didn't make the top 30. The other ABC competitor for the Tuesday movie was the freshman sitcom F Troop. ABC's lineup was entirely black and white. CBS kept the middle of its schedule — a ratings grabber — intact, The Red Skelton Show and Petticoat Junction, both of which were also moving to color. CBS closed the night with news specials, which seemed to the network bowing the The Fugitive's ratings power. NBC opened this revamped night with two sitcoms, one of which (rightfully) goes down as one of the worst shows of all time, My Mother the Car. The other sitcom, Please Don't Eat the Daisies, was an adaptation of the book and movie of the same name (one of two new NBC shows partly based on movies). Currently, it's more noted for the fact that the main cast members (Patricia Crowley, Mark Miller, and the four child actors) are still living. (The oldest show with a surviving cast? Maybe.) Season five of Dr. Kildare got a revamp by moving to color and being splintered into two half hour episodes per week with one episode on Monday and a second on Tuesday.

(Fun fact: Camp Runamuck was originally scheduled for Tuesdays at 7:30, but the net switched it and My Mother the Car, and The Wackiest Ship in the Army was a Tuesday frontrunner during the fall scheduling speculation.)

NBC's Tuesday primetime lineup, 1965-66

NBC TUESDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES, 1965–66

17 Aug 1965: Never So Few (1959, 2 hours 30 minutes)
    Original Air Date: 17 Oct 1964

24 Aug 1965: Designing Woman (1957, 2 hours 30 minutes)
    Original Air Date: 28 Nov 1964

31 Aug 1965: Li'l Abner (1959, 2 hours 30 minutes)
    Original Air Date: 13 Mar 1965

7 Sep 1965: American White Paper, "United States Foreign Policy"
Produced by the landmark TV journalist Fred Freed, this was three-and-a-half-hour special on the country's foreign policy. While this series is best remembered as NBC White Paper, it was American White Paper in its early years.

Regular season

14 Sep 1965: The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954, 2 hours)
A naval aviator is assigned to bomb a group of heavily defended bridges during the Korean War. (War / Color, Paramount)
Director: Mark Robson; with William Holden, Grace Kelly, Fredric March, Mickey Rooney
Programming Notes: This was premiere night for every Tuesday program on all three networks.
Ratings Report: In Arbitron's overnights, the first Tuesday movie started slow (12.4) before finishing better in the final half hour (21.0), at the heels of The Fugitive but not quite enough. The movie beat Petticoat Junction (14.1). Earlier in the night, NBC's sitcoms (20.6, 21.5) bettered Combat! by 5+ points and Rawhide barely registered. However, Dr. Kildare sunk to third as McHale's Navy (23.2) and then F Troop (24.4) proved incredibly popular.

21 Sep 1965: It Started with a Kiss (1959, 2 hours)
While on leave in New York, a serviceman both weds a chorus girl and wins a red convertible in a charity raffle. Both his wife and the car turn out to be problematic. (Romantic Comedy / Color, MGM)
Director: George Marshall; with Glenn Ford, Debbie Reynolds, Eva Gabor, Gustavo Rojo
Ratings Report: In Arbitron's overnights, while the ratings for the movie remained fairly constant in its two-hour runtime (~18.0), it went from third to first in the timeslot.

28 Sep 1965: A Thunder of Drums (1961, 2 hours)
The trials and tribulations of bitter veteran Captain Maddocks and argumentative rookie Lieutenant McQuade at a cavalry desert outpost. (Western / Color, MGM)
Director: Joseph M. Newman; with Richard Boone, George Hamilton, Luana Patten 
Ratings Report: In Arbitron's overnights, A Thunder of Drums was third in its timeslot for the first hour before getting a small boost when CBS went from Petticoat Junction (18.4) to CBS Reports (6.4). In Nielsen ratings, the movie ranked #23 for the week, slightly ahead of The Fugitive (#25).

5 Oct 1965: The Wheeler Dealers (1963, 2 hours)
A big-time Texas wheeler-dealer (who's actually Ivy league-educated, but plays dumb) runs out of money, and goes to New York City to raise $1.5 million. (Comedy / Color, MGM)
Director: Arthur Hiller; with Lee Remick, James Garner, Phil Harris

12 Oct 1965: Funny Face (1957, 2 hours)
A shy Greenwich Village book clerk is discovered by a fashion photographer and whisked off to Paris where she becomes a reluctant model. (Musical Romantic Comedy / Color, Paramount)
Director: Stanley Donen; with Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Kay Thompson 

19 Oct 1965: The Savage (1952, 2 hours)
A white boy raised by the Sioux must choose sides when the Sioux threaten to go to war against the Whites. (Western / Color, Paramount)
Director: George Marshall; with Charlton Heston, Susan Morrow, Peter Hansen

26 Oct 1965: Rock-a-Bye Baby (1958, 2 hours)
An average television repairman must care for the newborn triplets of his former hometown sweetheart — now a famous movie star — so her career will not suffer. (Musical Comedy / Color, Paramount)
Director: Frank Tashlin; with Jerry Lewis, Marilyn Maxwell, Connie Stevens
More: Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd

2 Nov 1965: Little Boy Lost (1953, 2 hours)
A war correspondent who was stationed in Paris during WWII married a French girl who was murdered by the Nazis. After the war he returns to to try to find his son, whom he lost during a bombing raid but has been told is living in an orphanage in Paris. (Drama / Black & White, Paramount)
Director: George Seaton; with Bing Crosby, Claude Dauphin, Christian Fourcade
Ratings Report: Averaging this movie and the previous week, Tuesday Night at the Movies, didn't crack into Nielsen's top 40. Red Skelton (#6), F Troop (#22), and Petticoat Junction (#39) did.

9 Nov 1965: G.I. Blues (1960, 2 hours)
Tulsa, a soldier with dreams of running his own nightclub, places a bet with his friend Dynamite that he can win the heart of an untouchable dancer... but when Dynamite is transferred, Tulsa must replace him in the bet. (Musical Comedy / Color, Paramount)
Director: Norman Taurog; with Elvis Presley, Juliet Prowse

16 Nov 1965: The Mountain (1956, 2 hours)
Selfish Chris Teller pressures his older brother, a retired climber, to accompany him on a treacherous Alpine climb to loot the bodies of plane crash victims. (Adventure / Color, Paramount)
Director: Edward Dmytryk; with Spencer Tracy, Robert Wagner, Claire Trevor
More: Wikipedia, Letterboxd

23 Nov 1965: The Tunnel of Love (1958, 2 hours)
A series of misunderstandings leaves a married man believing he has impregnated the owner of an adoption agency, and that she will be his and his wife's surrogate. (Romantic Comedy / Black & White, MGM)
Director: Gene Kelly; with Doris Day, Richard Widmark, Gig Young, Gia Scala
More: Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd

30 Nov 1965: The Proud Rebel (1958, 2 hours)
A Confederate veteran living in the Yankee North struggles with his son's shock induced muteness and the hate of the Northerners. (Western / Color, Buena Vista)
Director: Michael Curtiz; with Alan Ladd, Olivia de Havilland, Dean Jagger
More: Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd

7 Dec 1965: The Hook (1963, 2 hours)
Three soldiers in Korea go through inner torment when they’re ordered to execute an enemy soldier. In the final days of the Korean War, an enemy airman is captured by three American soldiers who cannot bring themselves to follow the order to execute their prisoner. (War Drama / Black & White, MGM)
Director: George Seaton; with Kirk Douglas, Robert Walker Jr., Nick Adams
More: Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd

14 Dec 1965: Light in the Piazza (1962, 2 hours)
Fabrizio Naccarelli always seems to know where a young American woman and her mother traveling in Italy will sightsee next. Signor Naccarelli is just as concerned about where this will lead as the mother. Then she starts thinking that perhaps her daughter can be a wife of a wealthy young man in a society where all she has to do is look beautiful. (Romantic Comedy-Drama / Color, MGM)
Director: Guy Green; with Olivia de Havilland, George Hamilton, Yvette Mimieux, Rossano Brazzi, Barry Sullivan

21 Dec 1965: The Savage Innocents (1960, 2 hours)
An Eskimo who has had little contact with white men goes to a trading post where he accidentally kills a missionary and finds himself being pursued by the police. (Adventure / Color, Paramount)
Director: Nicholas Ray; with Anthony Quinn, Yôko Tani, Peter O'Toole
More: Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd

28 Dec 1965: Follow the Boys (1963, 2 hours)
Bonnie, Toni, Michele, and Liz follow the course of their Navy mates along the Riviera. (Romantic Comedy / Color, MGM)
Director: Richard Thorpe; with Connie Francis, Paula Prentiss, Dany Robin, Russ Tamblyn
More: Wikipedia, Letterboxd

4 Jan 1966: The Fastest Gun Alive (1956, 2 hours)
In the frontier town of Cross Creek, storekeeper George Temple is a polite and soft spoken man with a secret past.When three bank robbers on the lam stop in town to change horses George Temple's past comes back to haunt him. (Western / Black & White, MGM)
Director: Russell Rouse; with Glenn Ford, Jeanne Crain, Broderick Crawford
More: Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd

11 Jan 1966: It Started in Naples (1960, 2 hours)
Mike Hamilton, a Philadelphia lawyer, comes to Naples to settle the estate of his long estranged "black sheep" brother. Once there, he discovers that the deceased has left an 8 year old boy who is being raised by Michael's sister-in-law Lucia Curcio. To make matters worse, Lucia happens to be a sexy nightclub dancer. (Comedy Drama / Color, Paramount)
Director: Melville Shavelson; with Clark Gable, Sophia Loren, Vittorio De Sica
More: Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd

18 Jan 1966: The Tin Star (1957, 2 hours)
An experienced bounty hunter helps a young sheriff learn the meaning of his badge. (Western / Black & White, Paramount)
Director: Anthony Mann; with Henry Fonda, Anthony Perkins, Betsy Palmer
More: Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd

25 Jan 1966: Ransom! (1956, 2 hours)
A rich man stuns his wife and town with a televised threat to his son’s kidnapper. (Crime Drama / Black & White, MGM)
Director: Alex Segal; with Glenn Ford, Donna Reed, Leslie Nielsen
More: Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd

1 Feb 1966: Honeymoon Hotel (1964, 2 hours)
A man left at the alter goes on his honeymoon trip anyway, taking his best man along instead. (Comedy / Color, MGM)
Director: Henry Levin; with Robert Goulet, Nancy Kwan, Robert Morse, Jill St. John
More: Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd

8 Feb 1966: Secret of the Incas (1954, 2 hours)
An adventurer searchers for hidden treasure in the Peruvian jungles. (Adventure / Color, Paramount)
Director: Jerry Hopper; with Charlton Heston, Robert Young, Nicole Maurey
More: Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd

15 Feb 1966: Forever Female (1953, 2 hours)
An aging actress has a hard time admitting she is too old to play the ingenue role anymore. (Comedy / Black & White, Paramount)
Director: Irving Rapper; with Ginger Rogers, William Holden, Paul Douglas
More: Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd

22 Feb 1966: Ride the High Country (1962, 2 hours)
An ex-lawman is hired to transport gold from a mining community through dangerous territory. But what he doesn’t realize is that his partner and old friend is plotting to double-cross him. (Western / Color, MGM)
Director: Sam Peckinpah; with Joel McCrea, Randolph Scott, Mariette Hartley
More: Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd

1 Mar 1966: Home from the Hill (1960, 3 hours)
Dramatic story of the influential Hunnicutt family set in Texas during the late 1950s. (Drama / Color, MGM)
Director: Vincente Minnelli; with Robert Mitchum, Eleanor Parker, George Peppard
Programming Notes: Home from the Hill preempted Please Don't Eat the Daisies and Dr. Kildare.

8 Mar 1966: September Affair (1950, 2 hours)
An industrialist and a pianist who fall in love in postwar Italy are pronounced dead when they miss their flight home, but the former's wife does not give him up. (Romantic Drama / Black & White, Paramount)
Director: William Dieterle; with Joan Fontaine, Joseph Cotten, Françoise Rosay
More: Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd

15 Mar 1966: Two Loves (1961, 2 hours)
An American spinster who takes a job teaching Maori students in New Zealand finds unexpected romance with two men. (Drama / Color, MGM)
Director: Charles Walters; with Shirley MacLaine, Laurence Harvey, Jack Hawkins
More: Wikipedia, Letterboxd

22 Mar 1966: Ring of Fire (1961, 2 hours)
A man and his girlfriend are on the run from the law when apprehended and arrested by the sheriff. (Adventure / Color, MGM)
Director: Andrew L. Stone; with Andrew L. StoneStars: David Janssen, Joyce Taylor, Frank Gorshin
More: Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd

29 Mar 1966: Walk Like a Dragon (1960, 2 hours)
The cowboy Lincoln Bartlett finds out there's a slave auction of Chinese women in San Francisco and he intervenes and purchases Kim Sung from the auction with the intent of setting her free. But setting her free isn't enough. Kim doesn't speak English and she's just going to be exploited by somebody else. (Western Romance / Black & White, Paramount)
Director: James Clavell; with Jack Lord, Nobu McCarthy, James Shigeta
More: Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd

5 Apr 1966: The Birds and the Bees (1956, 2 hours)
On an ocean voyage, a card shark and her father cheat a naive man out of his money. Things take a twist when the girl falls in love with the man she’s just fleeced. (Romantic Comedy / Color, Paramount)
Director: Norman Taurog; with George Gobel, Mitzi Gaynor, David Niven
More: Wikipedia, Letterboxd

Summer repeats

(Movies aired entirely in their allotted timeslot unless otherwise noted.)

12 Apr 1966: G.I. Blues (1960)

19 Apr 1966: Light in the Piazza (1962)

26 Apr 1966: The Time Machine (1960)

3 May 1966: The Savage (1952)

10 May 1966: The Honeymoon Machine (1961)

17 May 1966: The Wheeler Dealers (1963)

24 May 1966: The Fastest Gun Alive (1956)

31 May 1966: The Long, Long Trailer (1953)

7 Jun 1966: A Ticklish Affair (1963)

14 Jun 1966: Arrowhead (1953)

21 Jun 1966: The Gazebo (1959)

28 Jun 1966: You're Never Too Young (1955)

5 Jul 1966: My Favorite Spy (1951)

12 Jul 1966: The Proud Rebel (1958)

19 Jul 1966: Where the Boys Are (1960)

26 Jul 1966: Off Limits (1953)

2 Aug 1966: The Girls of Pleasure Island (1953)

9 Aug 1966: Walk Like a Dragon (1960)

16 Aug 1966: Honeymoon Hotel (1964)
Programming Notes: NBC opened the night with the one-hour Emmy Award-winning documentary The Angry Voices of Watts, about Budd Schulberg and young Black writers in the Los Angeles suburb of Watts.

23 Aug 1966: Forever Female (1953)

30 Aug 1966: It Started with a Kiss (1959)
Programming Notes: NBC opened the night with the one-off musical show Up with People, hosted by Pat Boone.

6 Sep 1966: Home from the Hill (1960)
Programming Notes: Like in the movie's original broadcast, Please Don't Eat the Daisies and Dr. Kildare were preempted.

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NBC's NIGHT AT THE MOVIES

 Sources: IMDb and Letterboxd for movie information; Cedar Rapids Gazette, The Daily Banner, and San Bernardino Sun for listing and programming information; Broadcasting for various ratings notes; if you see bad links or incorrect information, let me know in the comments.

THE 1960s... 61–62: Sat | 62–63: Mon, Sat | 63–64: Mon, Sat | 64–65: Wed, Sat | 65–66: Tue, Sat | 66–67: Tue, Sat | 67–68: Tue, Sat | 68–69: Mon, Tue, Sat | 69–70: Mon, Tue, Sat
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