 |
| "The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC" |
By the mid-1960s, NBC was in distress. Most nights were becoming problematic, so near any night could be better served with a movie. With the 90 Bristol Court experiment on Monday, Wednesday night was chosen as the second movie night.
Wednesday nights had been a lackluster night for a while, even as The Virginian remained a solid replacement for losing mega-hit Wagon Train. Counter-programming smash hits like The Beverly Hillbillies and The Dick Van Dyke Show was exactly what a movie could achieve. Espionage and The Eleventh Hour certainly didn't do the trick last season. (It also helped that CBS moved The Beverly Hillbillies back a half hour this season. The move didn't kill the show, but it went from #1 to #12 in no time.)
This season also introduced viewers to made for television movies. NBC ordered three original movies from Universal. Two (See How They Run, The Hanged Man) would air in the fall while the third (The Killers) was deemed to violent for TV and instead went to theaters.
Outside those two movies, the selection this season year came from MGM and Paramount, the latter announced in February as the new studio vault to mine. The previous deal with Fox expired. The night was comprised mostly of various dramatic titles. There are a few comedy titles — with actors like Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope, and Lucille Ball — and even a musical but they were largely reserved for Saturday.
By the end of 1964, NBC reversed earlier statements about reducing movies to once a week next season. Wednesday Night at the Movies rarely lit the ratings on fire, but it was steady and quite reliable, a change from previous Wednesday lineups.
Programmer's Corner: The Virginian would remain a reliable counter to popular sitcoms The Patty Duke Show on ABC Beverly Hillbillies on CBS. Wednesday Night at the Movies, which finished the season with a healthy 21.8/37 from Nielsen, wouldn't make much of a dent in The Dick Van Dyke Show but would outperform The Cara Williams Show and sometimes The Danny Kaye Show. Against the Alphabet Network, it outdid Mickey Rooney's sitcom Mickey, which was replaced midseason by an expanded Shindig!, and Friday import Burke's Law. Like most public affairs show, ABC Scope barely registered.
NBC WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES, 1964–65
Regular season
16 Sep 1964: To Catch a Thief (1955, 2 hours)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock; with Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis
A retired jewel thief sets out to prove his innocence after being suspected of returning to his former occupation. (Romantic Mystery / Color, Paramount)
Ratings Note: In overnights, the movie easily won every half-hour beating Mickey (19.3 to 20.0), Burke's Law (15.9 to 21.3 and 16.6 to 22.2), and then a 22.2 to end the night. CBS was in comedy repeats and the Rudy Valee-hosted On Broadway Tonight on CBS and ABC Scope at 10:30 barely registered.
A retired jewel thief sets out to prove his innocence after being suspected of returning to his former occupation. (Romantic Mystery / Color, Paramount)
Ratings Note: In overnights, the movie easily won every half-hour beating Mickey (19.3 to 20.0), Burke's Law (15.9 to 21.3 and 16.6 to 22.2), and then a 22.2 to end the night. CBS was in comedy repeats and the Rudy Valee-hosted On Broadway Tonight on CBS and ABC Scope at 10:30 barely registered.
23 Sep 1964: Career (1959, 2 hours)
Director: Joseph Anthony; with Dean Martin, Tony Franciosa, Shirley MacLaine, Carolyn Jones
More than anything in the world, Sam Lawson wants to be a successful actor. Is he willing to sacrifice his wife, happiness and personal reputation to achieve his goal? (Drama / Black & White, Paramount)
Ratings Note: Against a full slate, according to Nielsen, the movie at least held an audience. Career was beat by Dick Van Dyke (19.9 to 12.3) and Mickey (15.4) but managed to beat Cara Williams (14.8 to 15.1) but didn't beat Burke's Law — yet remained within a point. The movie beat Danny Kaye at 10 (17.6 to 13.1) but not at 10:30 (15.8 to 14.2). Arbitron gave the edge to the movie over Burke's Law. They ranked #45 and 50. Dick Van Dyke was #4 and Danny Kaye at #29.
Ratings Note: Against a full slate, according to Nielsen, the movie at least held an audience. Career was beat by Dick Van Dyke (19.9 to 12.3) and Mickey (15.4) but managed to beat Cara Williams (14.8 to 15.1) but didn't beat Burke's Law — yet remained within a point. The movie beat Danny Kaye at 10 (17.6 to 13.1) but not at 10:30 (15.8 to 14.2). Arbitron gave the edge to the movie over Burke's Law. They ranked #45 and 50. Dick Van Dyke was #4 and Danny Kaye at #29.
30 Sep 1964: Green Mansions (1959, 2 hours)
Director: Mel Ferrer; with Audrey Hepburn, Anthony Perkins, Lee J. Cobb
A young man in the jungles of Venezuela meets a strange girl of the forest and falls in love with her. (Adventure / Color, MGM)
Ratings Note: In overnights, the movie was neck-and-neck with Cara Williams and Danny Kaye and beat ABC's lineup by a comfortable margin. FWIW, ABC Scope pulled a mere 2.5.
Ratings Note: In overnights, the movie was neck-and-neck with Cara Williams and Danny Kaye and beat ABC's lineup by a comfortable margin. FWIW, ABC Scope pulled a mere 2.5.
7 Oct 1964: See How They Run 📺 (1964, 2 hours)
Director: David Lowell Rich; with John Forsythe, Senta Berger, Jane Wyatt, Pamela Franklin, Franchot Tone, Leslie Nielsen
TV Movie. In the first made for television film(!), three children are stalked by hired killers after they unknowingly take evidence pointing to the existence of a corrupt international cartel, which has just murdered their father. It is based on the novel The Widow Makers. (Drama / Color, Universal)
Ratings Note: In Arbitron ratings, the movie finished at #19, just ahead of The Virginian (#22), which went up against The Beatles' appearance on Shindig! (#7). Dick Van Dyke was #3. For a counter, Nielsen had the movie at #32 (19.8/34.2)and The Virginian out of the top 35. The two companies didn't start their weeks on the same day, but that is still a wide difference.
Ratings Note: In Arbitron ratings, the movie finished at #19, just ahead of The Virginian (#22), which went up against The Beatles' appearance on Shindig! (#7). Dick Van Dyke was #3. For a counter, Nielsen had the movie at #32 (19.8/34.2)and The Virginian out of the top 35. The two companies didn't start their weeks on the same day, but that is still a wide difference.
More: Wikipedia, Letterboxd
14 Oct 1964: Torpedo Run (1958, 2 hours)
Director: Joseph Pevney; with Glenn Ford, Ernest Borgnine, Diane Brewster, Dean Jones
A submarine commander is forced to blow up a Japanese ship with prisoners. (War / Color, MGM)
Ratings Note: In Arbitron ratings, the movie finished at #17 for the week and The Virginian was a strong #6. Dick Van Dyke was #2, and Danny Kaye was #27.
More: Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd, New York Times review
Ratings Note: In Arbitron ratings, the movie finished at #17 for the week and The Virginian was a strong #6. Dick Van Dyke was #2, and Danny Kaye was #27.
More: Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd, New York Times review
21 Oct 1964: Beau James (1957, 2 hours)
Director: Melville Shavelson; with Bob Hope, Vera Miles, Paul Douglas, Alexis Smith, Darren McGavin
Comedian Bob Hope stars in this dramatic biopic of the political career of Jimmy Walker, a flamboyant and somewhat corrupt Mayor of New York City from 1926-1932. (Drama / Color, Paramount)
Ratings Note: In Arbitron overnight ratings, the Wednesday movie trends continue to hold. It has a more distant lead over Mickey and Cara Williams but is in a tight race with Danny Kaye. None of the programs are breakouts.
Ratings Note: In Arbitron overnight ratings, the Wednesday movie trends continue to hold. It has a more distant lead over Mickey and Cara Williams but is in a tight race with Danny Kaye. None of the programs are breakouts.
28 Oct 1964: But Not for Me (1959, 2 hours)
Director: Walter Lang; with Clark Gable, Carroll Baker, Lilli Palmer, Lee J. Cobb
Russ Ward, after 30 years of producing Broadway plays, is ready to quit. His secretary, on being given notice, tells him she loves him. Russ proceeds to turn this into a hit play starring his secretary. (Comedy / Black & White, Paramount)
Ratings Note: In Arbitron overnight ratings, But Not for Me out-rated The Dick Van Dyke Show 20.3 to 19.8.
More: Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd, New York Times review
More: Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd, New York Times review
4 Nov 1964: Gaby (1956, 2 hours)
Director: Curtis Bernhardt; with Leslie Caron, John Kerr, Cedric Hardwicke, Taina Elg
A remake of Waterloo Bridge but set during World War II, Gaby, a ballet dancer, believing her fiance to be dead, loses her job and is forced to turn to prostitution. (Drama / Color, MGM)
Ratings Note: Gaby got stomped by every CBS show and was even challenged by Burke's Law.
Ratings Note: Gaby got stomped by every CBS show and was even challenged by Burke's Law.
11 Nov 1964: The Sad Sack (1957, 2 hours)
Director: Jean Renoir; with Jerry Lewis, Phyllis Kirk, David Wayne, Peter Lorre
The tale of a rich, flaky poet and his servant who both join the army and wind up in the same barracks. (Comedy / Black & White, Paramount)
18 Nov 1964: The Hanged Man 📺 (1964, 2 hours)
Director: Don Siegel; with Edmond O'Brien, Vera Miles, Robert Culp
TV Movie. In the second made for television movie, a gunman who believes his friend has been murdered sets out to get the people who killed him and finds himself enmeshed in corrupt labor union politics. (Crime Thriller / Color, Universal)
25 Nov 1964: The Rack (1956, 2 hours)
Director: Arnold Laven; with Paul Newman, Wendell Corey, Walter Pidgeon, Edmond O'Brien, Anne Francis, Lee Marvin, Cloris Leachman
A decorated Korean War hero inexplicably collaborates with the enemy while interred in a POW camp and is court-martialed. (War / Black & White, MGM)
Ratings Note: The rankings were largely remaining the same. In Arbitron overnights, this movie went from 19.6 and peaked at 21.2. At 10:30, it appears that when Burke's Law ends, viewers flip to the Danny Kaye, which always sees a nice spike (18.6 to 20.6).
Ratings Note: The rankings were largely remaining the same. In Arbitron overnights, this movie went from 19.6 and peaked at 21.2. At 10:30, it appears that when Burke's Law ends, viewers flip to the Danny Kaye, which always sees a nice spike (18.6 to 20.6).
2 Dec 1964: Cry Terror! (1958, 2 hours)
Director: Andrew L. Stone; with James Mason, Rod Steiger, Inger Stevens, Neville Brand
Duped by former army pal Paul Hoplin into building a time-bomb, New York shop owner Jim Molner and his family become hostages of Hoplin who uses bomb-threats to extort money from airlines. (Film Noir / Black & White, MGM)
9 Dec 1964: We're No Angels (1955, 2 hours)
Director: Michael Curtiz; with Humphrey Bogart, Peter Ustinov, Aldo Ray
Three Devil's Island escapees hide out in the house of a kindly merchant and repay his kindness by helping him and his family out of several crises. (Comedy / Color, Paramount)
16 Dec 1964: Julie (1956, 2 hours)
Director: Andrew L. Stone; with Doris Day, Louis Jourdan, Barry Sullivan, Frank Lovejoy
A terrified wife tries to escape from her insanely jealous husband who is bent on killing her. (Film Noir / Black & White, MGM)
23 Dec 1964: Atlantis: The Lost Continent (1961, 2 hours)
Director: George Pal; with Sal Ponti, Joyce Taylor, John Dall
A Greek Fisherman brings an Atlantean Princess back to her homeland which is the mythical city of Atlantis, where the fisherman is enslaved for his trouble. Meanwhile, the King is being manipulated by an evil sorcerer who is bent on using a natural resource of Atlantis to take over the world. (Adventure / Color, MGM)
30 Dec 1964: Elephant Walk (1954, 2 hours)
Director: William Dieterle; with Elizabeth Taylor, Dana Andrews, Peter Finch
The young bride of a rich planter finds herself the only white woman at Elephant Walk tea plantation, British Ceylon. (Adventure / Color, Paramount)
The young bride of a rich planter finds herself the only white woman at Elephant Walk tea plantation, British Ceylon. (Adventure / Color, Paramount)
6 Jan 1965: This Could Be the Night (1957, 2 hours)
Director: Robert Wise; with Jean Simmons, Paul Douglas, Anthony Franciosa
A school teacher takes a secretarial job in a nightclub. The two club owners quibble about a lot, including her. Unfortunately, she develops an interest for the partner who disapproves of her employment at the club. (Comedy / Black & White, MGM)
13 Jan 1965: Hell Is for Heroes (1962, 2 hours)
Director: Don Siegel; with Steve McQueen, Bobby Darin, Fess Parker, James Coburn, Bob Newhart, Nick Adams
Small squad must hold off German attack. (War / Black & White, Paramount)
20 Jan 1965: The Brothers Karamazov (1958, 2 hours)
Director: Richard Brooks; with Yul Brynner, Maria Schell, Claire Bloom, Lee J. Cobb, Albert Salmi
Drama based on Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky's homonymous novel about the proud Karamazov family in 1870s Russia. (Drama / Color, MGM)
Programming Note: The Virginian was preempted for a special 90-minute special about the Lyndon B. Johnson's second inauguration.
Programming Note: The Virginian was preempted for a special 90-minute special about the Lyndon B. Johnson's second inauguration.
27 Jan 1965: Detective Story (1951, 2 hours)
Director: William Wyler; with Kirk Douglas, Eleanor Parker, William Bendix, Cathy O'Donnell
On one day in the 21st Precinct squad room, assorted characters form a backdrop for the troubles of hard-nosed Detective Jim McLeod. (Film Noir / Black & White, Paramount)
3 Feb 1965: The Angry Hills (1959, 2 hours)
Director: Robert Aldrich; with Robert Mitchum, Stanley Baker, Elisabeth Müller, Gia Scala
In 1941, Greek resistance entrusts an American journalist with a Greek double-agent secret list that must reach London and must not fall into Nazi hands. (War / Black & White, MGM)
10 Feb 1965: The Naked Jungle (1954, 2 hours)
Director: Byron Haskin; with Charlton Heston, Eleanor Parker, Abraham Sofaer
The Leiningen South American cocoa plantation is threatened by a 2-mile-wide, 20-mile-long column of army ants. (Adventure / Color, Paramount)
17 Feb 1965: Submarine Command (1951, 2 hours)
Director: John Farrow; with William Holden, Nancy Olson, William Bendix, Don Taylor
Submarine commander Ken White reminisces about his wartime years aboard submarine USS Tiger Shark and struggles with feelings of personal guilt. (War / Black & White, Paramount)
24 Feb 1965: Key to the City (1950, 2 hours)
Director: George Sidney; with Clark Gable, Loretta Young, Frank Morgan
Two mayors meet at a convention and, despite their contrasting personalities and views, find themselves attracted to one other. (Romantic Comedy / Black & White, MGM)
3 Mar 1965: Fancy Pants (1950, 2 hours)
Director: George Marshall; with Bob Hope, Lucille Ball
An American actor impersonating an English butler is hired by a nouveau riche woman from New Mexico to refine her husband and headstrong daughter. The complications increase when the town believes Arthur to be an Earl, and President Roosevelt decides to pay a visit. (Musical Comedy / Color, Paramount)
10 Mar 1965: The Catered Affair (1956, 2 hours)
Director: Richard Brooks; with Bette Davis, Ernest Borgnine, Debbie Reynolds, Barry Fitzgerald
All Jane and Ralph want is a small wedding with the immediate family and no reception, because Jane's parents are poor and Jane and Ralph can borrow a car for their honeymoon. But all Ralph's parents talk about are the big weddings they gave their daughters, and everything escalates. (Comedy-Drama / Black & White, MGM)
17 Mar 1965: Fear Strikes Out (1957, 2 hours)
Director: Robert Mulligan; with Anthony Perkins, Karl Malden, Norma Moore
True story of the life of Jimmy Piersall, who battled mental illness to achieve stardom in major league baseball. (Drama / Black & White, Paramount)
24 Mar 1965: The Last Voyage (1960, 2 hours)
Director: Andrew L. Stone; with Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone, George Sanders, Edmond O'Brien
After a boiler explosion aboard an aging ocean liner, a man struggles to free his injured wife from the wreckage of their cabin and ensure the safety of their four-year-old daughter as the ship begins to sink. (Adventure / Color, MGM)
31 Mar 1965: Hot Spell (1958, 2 hours)
Director: George Cukor, Daniel Mann; with Shirley Booth, Anthony Quinn, Shirley MacLaine, Earl Holliman
A housewife is doing her best to keep her family together as it's slowly falling apart, a fact she's trying to ignore. Her cheating husband's birthday party is approaching and many lines will be crossed after that event. (Drama / Black & White, Paramount)
7 Apr 1965: Thunder in the East (1952, 2 hours)
Director: Charles Vidor; with Alan Ladd, Deborah Kerr, Charles Boyer, Corinne Calvet
In 1947, in an independent India, Europeans are scrambling to evacuate Ghandahar which is besieged by a local warlord but sought-after by an American arms dealer. (Drama / Black & White, Paramount)
Programming Note: The Virginian was preempted for Hallmark Hall of Fame's The Holy Terror.
Programming Note: The Virginian was preempted for Hallmark Hall of Fame's The Holy Terror.
Summer repeats
(Movies aired entirely in their allotted timeslot unless otherwise noted.)
(Movies aired entirely in their allotted timeslot unless otherwise noted.)
14 Apr 1965: Houdini (1953)
21 Apr 1965: The Last Hunt (1956)
28 Apr 1965: Cry Terror (1958)
5 May 1965: The Sad Sack (1957)
12 May 1965: Last Train from Gun Hill (1959)
19 May 1965: Julie (1956)
26 May 1965: Hell Is for Heroes (1962)
2 Jun 1965: Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
9 Jun 1965: We're No Angels (1955)
16 Jun 1965: The Caddy (1953)
23 Jun 1965: Beau James (1957)
30 Jun 1965: This Could Be the Night (1957)
7 Jul 1965: Fear Strikes Out (1957)
14 Jul 1965: The Hanged Man (1964)
21 Jul 1965: Fancy Pants (1950)
28 Jul 1965: Key to the City (1950)
4 Aug 1965: The Angry Hills (1959)
11 Aug 1965: See How They Run (1964)
18 Aug 1965: Hot Spell (1958)
25 Aug 1965: Adam's Rib (1949)
1 Sep 1965: Torpedo Run (1958)
8 Sep 1965: Elephant Walk (1954)
----------
NBC's NIGHT AT THE MOVIES
Sources: IMDb for movie information; Television Obscurities, Cedar Rapids Gazette, 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment