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The battle for the top TV movies was on.
Entering its sixth season of airing Hollywood movies, NBC lowered the number of new studio titles, which used to be 30 for both nights. The network was stepping up its original movie venture, but it wasn't alone. With three networks fighting for popular theatrical features (almost 20% of the primetime schedule), the selection was starting to fizzle. As part of its Project 120 experiment, NBC aired the first two made for TV movies to good but not great ratings during the 1964-65 season and didn't order any for the following season. For this season, NBC ordered eight original features from Universal, which produced its first two, and would air under the new NBC World Premiere banner. However, ABC and CBS were also dipping their toes in making original features — ABC ordered 6 from MGM and CBS, which was late the movie craze, ordered 12 from Warner Bros., but they'd go to theaters before airing on the Eye. This was an unknown market. Would viewers want movies without the lavish Hollywood production value and big stars? Could TV movies be the next generation for the dramatic anthology?
The 8 movies split between Tuesday and Saturday averaged 23.9/40 in the ratings, which was above the average theatrical movie. In July, NBC execs said they were committed to the form for the long haul, and two of the Tuesday movies went to series — Ironside and Fame Is the Name of the Game.
The Peacock Network also turned to Universal for some theatrical features, ending its agreement with MGM but continued to mine Paramount's vault. In total, 29 movies aired on Tuesday. 18 from Paramount, 10 from Universal (6 theatricals, 4 TV movies), and 1 from... 20th Century Fox? Can anyone explain that one?
Entering its sixth season of airing Hollywood movies, NBC lowered the number of new studio titles, which used to be 30 for both nights. The network was stepping up its original movie venture, but it wasn't alone. With three networks fighting for popular theatrical features (almost 20% of the primetime schedule), the selection was starting to fizzle. As part of its Project 120 experiment, NBC aired the first two made for TV movies to good but not great ratings during the 1964-65 season and didn't order any for the following season. For this season, NBC ordered eight original features from Universal, which produced its first two, and would air under the new NBC World Premiere banner. However, ABC and CBS were also dipping their toes in making original features — ABC ordered 6 from MGM and CBS, which was late the movie craze, ordered 12 from Warner Bros., but they'd go to theaters before airing on the Eye. This was an unknown market. Would viewers want movies without the lavish Hollywood production value and big stars? Could TV movies be the next generation for the dramatic anthology?
The 8 movies split between Tuesday and Saturday averaged 23.9/40 in the ratings, which was above the average theatrical movie. In July, NBC execs said they were committed to the form for the long haul, and two of the Tuesday movies went to series — Ironside and Fame Is the Name of the Game.
The Peacock Network also turned to Universal for some theatrical features, ending its agreement with MGM but continued to mine Paramount's vault. In total, 29 movies aired on Tuesday. 18 from Paramount, 10 from Universal (6 theatricals, 4 TV movies), and 1 from... 20th Century Fox? Can anyone explain that one?
Programmer's Corner: NBC rebooted its pre-movie programming again this season with two freshman shows. While both the Man from U.N.C.L.E. spinoff The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. and the sitcom Occasional Wife survived for the season, neither was renewed for a second season. NBC Tuesday Night at the Movies continued to face the last half-hour of the powerhouse Red Skelton Show, the strong performing Petticoat Junction, and the not-highly-viewed reporting programs on CBS. Meanwhile ABC revamped a lot of its lineup and had every show now in color, but to little avail. The Phyllis Diller sitcom The Pruitts of Southampton is a highlight of bad television, and Love on a Rooftop was a ratings dud. At midseason, The Invaders did somewhat better, and Peyton Place returned to the night, but ratings had waned. The Fugitive still closed the night for ABC.
NBC TUESDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES, 1966–67
Regular season
13 Sep 1967: Living It Up (1954, 2 hours)
An unsophisticated stationmaster from provincial New Mexico fraudulently claims that he is dying in order to get an expense-paid dream tour of New York. (Musical Comedy / Color, Paramount)
Director: Norman Taurog; with Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Janet Leigh
20 Sep 1966: My Six Loves (1963, 2 hours)
A celebrated actress discovers six runaway children living on her country property. (Comedy / Color, Paramount)
Director: Gower Champion; with Debbie Reynolds, Cliff Robertson, David Janssen
More: Wikipedia, Letterboxd
Ratings Report: In the first Nielsen report for the season, the Tuesday movie ranked #24 (19.5), which was about even with the ABC sitcom competition of Pruitts of Southampton (tied) and Love on a Rooftop (19.3, #28), but The Fugitive was a ways behind (18.2, #41). CBS still had a hit with Red Skelton (23.3, #9) but Petticoat Junction (16.8, #57) was fragile. The movie's lead-ins The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (19.7, #23) and Occasional Wife (20.2, #17) had okay starts.
27 Sep 1966: The List of Adrian Messenger (1963, 2 hours)
A former intelligence officer is tasked by the heir to the Gleneyre estate to investigate the unusual deaths of a disparate group of eleven men on a list. (Mystery / Black & White, Universal)
Director: John Huston; with Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster, Frank Sinatra, George C. Scott, Dana Wynter, Clive Brook
4 Oct 1966: Lover Come Back (1961, 2 hours)
A series of misunderstandings leaves an advertising executive with a campaign for a product which has not yet been invented, while he romances his rival in the guise of its inventor. (Romantic Comedy / Color, Universal)
Director: Delbert Mann; with Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall
11 Oct 1966: Heller in Pink Tights (1960, 2 hours)
A two-wagon theater troupe travel the West in 19th century Wyoming and are hounded by creditors because Angela, the leading lady, constantly buys clothes. (Western Romantic Comedy / Color, Paramount)
Director: George Cukor; with Sophia Loren, Anthony Quinn, Margaret O'Brien
18 Oct 1966: Papa's Delicate Condition (1963, 2 hours)
A man tries to get his act together when his love for the bottle starts to alienate him from his wife and oldest daughter. However, his younger daughter still remains unflinchingly loyal to him. (Comedy / Color, Paramount)
Director: George Marshall; with Jackie Gleason, Glynis Johns
25 Oct 1966: For Love or Money (1963, 2 hours)
Wealthy Chloe Brasher has three beautiful daughters; Bonnie, Kate, and Jan. Chloe pays attorney Deke Gentry to fix them up with three suitable husbands. (Romantic Comedy / Color, Universal)
Director: Michael Gordon; with Kirk Douglas, Mitzi Gaynor, Gig Young
1 Nov 1966: 40 Pounds of Trouble (1962, 2 hours)
Hilarity ensues when a casino manager spends a day at Disneyland with a cute but troublesome little girl. (Comedy / Color, Universal)
Director: Norman Jewison; with Tony Curtis, Phil Silvers, Suzanne Pleshette
Ratings Report: Arbitron's ratings placed the movie at #2 for the week (24.4). Red Skelton was right behind at #3 (23.8)
8 Nov 1966: 1966 election coverage
"Anchormen Chet Huntley and David Brinkley also will use computers and electronic graphs to report and project the outcome of Election Night. NBC's computer is called Electronic Vote Analysis (EVA), which will not only tell who's going to win a race but why, and what effect candidate's victory (or defeat) will have on the political life of the nation... Along with Huntley and Brinkley, the NBC team's chief reporters are Frank McGee, Robert MacNeil and Sander Vanocur."
15 Nov 1966: Wild and Wonderful (1964, 2 hours)
Cognac, a pampered poodle and popular star on French television, creates marital problems for his pretty owner Giselle when he becomes jealous of her new husband. (Comedy / Color, Universal)
Director: Michael Anderson; with Tony Curtis, Christine Kaufmann
Ratings Report: Arbitron rated Wild and Wonderful as #20 for the week at 18.8. Red Skelton was #4 (24.6).
22 Nov 1966: The Court Jester (1955, 2 hours)
A hapless carnival performer masquerades as the court jester as part of a plot against a usurper who has overthrown the rightful king of England. (Musical Comedy / Color, Paramount)
Director: Melvin Frank, Norman Panama; with Danny Kaye, Glynis Johns, Basil Rathbone, Angela Lansbury
29 Nov 1966: Blue Hawaii (1961, 2 hours)
Chad Gates has just been discharged from the Army, and is happy to be back in Hawaii with his surf-board, his beach buddies and his girlfriend. (Musical Romantic Comedy / Color, Paramount)
Director: Norman Taurog; with Elvis Presley, Joan Blackman, Angela Lansbury
6 Dec 1966: The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954, 2 hours; Original Air Date: 14 Sep 1965)
13 Dec 1966: The Doomsday Flight (NBC World Premiere) 📺 (1966, 2 hours)
TV Movie. Written by Rod Serling, a bomb on board an airliner has an altitude-sensitive trigger. Unless a ransom is paid, it will explode when the plane descends to land. (Thriller / Color, Universal)
Director: William A. Graham; with Jack Lord, Edmond O'Brien, Katherine Crawford, John Saxon, Van Johnson
More: Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd
Programming Note: This was the only broadcast of this movie. There was some backlash from the airline industry that the movie was an ideal blueprint for an actual act of terror.
Programming Note: This was the only broadcast of this movie. There was some backlash from the airline industry that the movie was an ideal blueprint for an actual act of terror.
20 Dec 1966: Omar Khayyam (1957, 2 hours)
During the 11th century, Persian poet Omar Khayyam's lover marries the Shah but the Shah, whose life is threatened by a sect of assassins, appoints Omar royal advisor. (Adventure / Color, Paramount)
Director: William Dieterle; with Cornel Wilde, Michael Rennie, Debra Paget, John Derek, Edward Platt
27 Dec 1966: Tammy Tell Me True (1961, 2 hours)
A wholesome river girl floats her boat to college and meets a professor who finds her charming. (Comedy / Color, Paramount)
Director: Harry Keller; with Sandra Dee, John Gavin
3 Jan 1967: A Touch of Larceny (1959, 2 hours)
A British commander fakes his defection to the Soviets in order to sue the slandering newspapers for the money he needs to woo a fancy American woman. (Comedy / Black & White, Paramount)
Director: Guy Hamilton; with James Mason, George Sanders, Vera Miles
10 Jan 1967: Pardners (1956, 2 hours)
A rich momma's boy returns west with the son of his murdered father's partner to foil a gang trying to gain control of his family ranch. (Comedy / Color, Paramount)
Director: Norman Taurog; with Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Lori Nelson
Programming Note: Pardners aired at 7:30. At 9:30 was the State of the Union.
17 Jan 1967: The Lion (1962, 2 hours)
In Kenya, when young Tina befriends a lion and embraces local customs, her mother summons Tina's American father to help bring Tina back to civilization and give her a "civilized" upbringing. (Drama / Color, 20th Century Fox)
Director: Jack Cardiff; with William Holden, Trevor Howard, Capucine
Ratings Report: While the Tuesday movie has a commanding lead in the final hour, it struggles in its first half hour against Red Skelton and The Invaders started out a good contender. Meanwhile, Occasional Wife has fallen to a distant third place in its timeslot.
24 Jan 1967: That Certain Feeling (1956, 2 hours)
Divorced comic strip cartoonist Francis X. Dignan is hired as a ghost-writer by pompous client Larry Larkin who happens to be the fiancé of Dignan's ex-wife. (Comedy / Color, Paramount)
Director: Melvin Frank, Norman Panama; with Bob Hope, Eva Marie Saint, George Sanders
More: Wikipedia, Letterboxd
31 Jan 1967: Pony Express (1953, 2 hours)
Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill Hickock work to establish the Pony Express and fight Indians and California Separatists who seek to destroy it. (Western / Color, Paramount)
Director: Jerry Hopper; with Charlton Heston, Rhonda Fleming, Jan Sterling, Forrest Tucker
7 Feb 1967: Under Ten Flags (1960, 2 hours)
A German raider, using various disguises, forces a British ship to surrender during World War II. The story is told from a German point of view. (War / Black & White, Paramount)
Director: Duilio Coletti; with Van Heflin, Charles Laughton, Mylène Demongeot
More: Wikipedia, Letterboxd
14 Feb 1967: Wings of Fire (NBC World Premiere) 📺 (1967, 2 hours)
TV Movie. A young pilot, a Vietnam veteran, with a new wife and an ex-girlfriend, has more than enough to contend with, but his memories of the war present the greatest hazard. This movie was first called The Cloudburst. (Drama / Color, Universal)
Director: David Lowell Rich; with Suzanne Pleshette, James Farentino, Lloyd Nolan, Juliet Mills
21 Feb 1967: The War of the Worlds (1953, 2 hours)
A small town in California is attacked by Martians, beginning a worldwide invasion. (Science Fiction / Color, Paramount)
Director: Byron Haskin; with Gene Barry, Ann Robinson
28 Feb 1967: Visit to a Small Planet (1960, 2 hours)
The weirdest alien of the galaxy, Kreton, pays a visit to Earth, landing in the backyard of a famous television journalist who doesn't believe in U.F.O's and aliens. (Science Fiction Comedy / Black & White, Paramount)
Director: Norman Taurog; with Jerry Lewis, Joan Blackman, Earl Holliman, Fred Clark
7 Mar 1967: The Ugly American (1963, 2 hours 30 minutes)
An ambitious scholar becomes the ambassador of Sarkan, a southeast Asian country where civil war is brewing. (Adventure / Color, Universal)
Director: George Englund; with Marlon Brando, Eiji Okada, Sandra Church
Programming Note: Occasional Wife was preempted for the movie to fit in primetime.
14 Mar 1967: Winchester '73 (NBC World Premiere) 📺 (1967, 2 hours)
TV Movie. A remake of the 1950 Western of the same title has two brothers, one an ex-con the other a law officer, competing for possession of the famed repeating rifle. (Western / Color, Universal)
Director: Herschel Daugherty; with Tom Tryon, John Saxon, Dan Duryea
More: Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd
21 Mar 1967: Top o' the Morning (1949, 2 hours)
A singing insurance investigator comes to Ireland to recover the stolen Blarney Stone... and romance the local policeman's daughter. (Romantic Comedy / Black & White, Paramount)
Director: David Miller; with Bing Crosby, Ann Blyth, Barry Fitzgerald, Hume Cronyn
More: Wikipedia, Letterboxd
28 Mar 1967: Ironside (NBC World Premiere) 📺 (1967, 2 hours)
TV Pilot. Robert Ironside, San Francisco's hard-nosed, tough-talking chief of detectives, becomes a paraplegic after being shot while on vacation. Unable to gain reinstatement as chief of detectives, Ironside gets continues investigating criminal cases as a citizen volunteer with the assistance of former protegees and a newly-hired aide/driver. (Crime / Color, Universal)
Director: James Goldstone; with Raymond Burr, Geraldine Brooks, Wally Cox
More: Wikipedia, Letterboxd
4 Apr 1967: All the Way Home (1963, 2 hours)
In the 1900s Tennessee, a family is shocked by the father's sudden, accidental death. The widow and her young son must endure the heartache of life following the tragedy, but slowly rise up and face the hope of renewed life. (Drama / Black & White, Paramount)
Director: Alex Segal; with Jean Simmons, Robert Preston, Pat Hingle
11 Apr 1967: Another Time, Another Place (1958, 2 hours)
An American war correspondent falls in love with a BBC reporter, but their relationship seems doomed from the start. (Melodrama / Black & White, Paramount)
Director: Lewis Allen; with Lana Turner, Barry Sullivan, Glynis Johns
Summer repeats
(Movies aired entirely in their allotted timeslot unless otherwise noted.)
(Movies aired entirely in their allotted timeslot unless otherwise noted.)
18 Apr 1967: Heller in Pink Tights (1960)
25 Apr 1967: Blue Hawaii (1961)
2 May 1967: Fame Is the Name of the Game 📺 (1966)
9 May 1967: Living It Up (1954)
16 May 1967: Lover Come Back (1961)
23 May 1967: For Love or Money (1963)
30 May 1967: My Six Loves (1963)
6 Jun 1967: 40 Pounds of Trouble (1962)
13 Jun 1967: The Longest Hundred Miles 📺 (1967)
20 Jun 1967: A Touch of Larceny (1959)
27 Jun 1967: The Borgia Stick 📺 (1967)
4 Jul 1967: Pony Express (1953)
11 Jul 1967: 1967 MLB All-Star Game and Khrushchev in Exile: His Opinions and Revelations
Play ball! For the 38th exhibition between the all-star players of the American League and the National League, the NL won in a 2–1 15-inning game. Later, it was the first interview with former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev following his fall from power. Historical footage of Khrushchev is shown, and Edwin Newman offered commentary.
18 Jul 1967: How I Spent My Summer Vacation 📺 (1967)
25 Jul 1967: Papa's Delicate Condition (1963)
1 Aug 1967: That Certain Feeling (1956)
8 Aug 1967: Visit to a Small Planet (1960)
15 Aug 1967: A Place in the Sun (1951)
Programming Note: Occasional Wife was preempted for the movie to fit in primetime.
22 Aug 1967: The War of the Worlds (1953)
29 Aug 1967: Pardners (1956)
Programming Note: This repeat aired against the blockbuster series finale of The Fugitive.
5 Sep 1967: Teacher's Pet (1958, 2 hours 30 minutes)
Programming Note: Prior to the movie, NBC aired the busted pilot Li'l Abner and Sheriff Who.
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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.
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