Icon Restoration: Gidget Opening Credits, 1st episode

Opening of William Asher directed Gidget pilot from Screen Gems

Icon Restoration: William Asher

Born on August 8, 1921, William Asher is the son of Hollywood film producer Ephraim Asher. In the 1930's, Ephraim Asher was responsible for some of the classic Dracula and Frankenstein movies, as well as the critically acclaimed film, Magnificent Obsession. Son William Asher worked in various roles in Hollywood, from the mailroom to screen writer, and then director, and his professional career really blossomed after his WWII service with the US Army. His first feature was "The Leather Glove", which he co-wrote and co-produced.

His televsion work as director began in 1950 with several early classics, Big Town and Racket Squad, and in early 1952, landed a lucrative position with Desilu Studios. Asher directed the Our Miss Brooks tv series, but after 11 episodes, Desi Arnaz moved him to their top show, I Love Lucy. His very first "Lucy" show is monumental, the famous "candy factory" show in which Lucy and Ethel take jobs on a candy assembly line. Bill stays for nearly the remaining run of Lucy, overseeing years of unforgettable television, including, the birth of Little Ricky, Lucy's escapades in Hollywood, and the Ricardo's move to the country. Lucille Ball was immediately comfortable with him, and no other director in Lucille Ball's television career would direct more episodes than William Asher did. His flair for orchestrating physical comedy is the hallmark of I Love Lucy, and his distinct style is easily noticed from the start of season 2. Desi Arnaz was so impressed with Bill Asher, he will not premiere a new Desilu production without him in the director's chair. Asher is called in to direct the first dozen crucial segments for shows such as Make Room for Daddy and December Bride.

In the late 1950's, William moved from Desilu to other TV projects, usually as producer. He headed the Jane Wyman Show (Fireside Theater), and he won Dinah Shore and her "Dinah Shore Chevy Show" two major emmy's in 1959. He also re-established his movie career during this period, producing and directing several major film releases. In the early 1960's, he was the director behind nearly all the classic beach movies starring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon. He also produced and directed "Johnny Cool", starring television star Elizabeth Montgomery. The two fell in love, wed in 1963, and decided to develop a tv project together.

Bewitched was the result, an enormously popular and sophisticated television show about a mixed marriage between witch Samantha and mortal Darrin Stephens. The Asher's assembled one of tv's all time great casts and one of the very first ensemble comedy shows in tv history. ABC became the #1 network for key demographics nearly overnight, and began ordering almost 40 episodes a season throughout the show's run. In retrospect, network demands for so many episodes per year sometimes diluted Bewitched's episode catalog, but closer inspection uncovers a program showcasing top quality comedy that touched on social issues such as feminism, racism, bigotry, materialism, mass hysteria and so much more. These issues were so smoothly created that many viewers hardly noticed Asher & Montgomery's political statments. The industry did, however, and awarded Bewitched with nearly 2 dozen emmy nominations. In 1971, Bewitched and the Asher's received the Governor's Award for Excellence for the Television Academy for a Christmas episode regarding bigotry and racism. Burning out after 8 years, the Asher's decided to move on to other projects early in 1972, despite the fact that ABC still wanted 2 more years.

Beyond Bewitched, William Asher continued to direct and produce. He has brought countless more hours of entertainment to the television audience, with shows such as The Paul Lynde Show, early episodes of Alice, and the classic teen show Gidget. After a number of other feature films, Asher wrapped up his tv career with a couple of reunion tv movies, I Still Dream of Jeannie and Green Acres.

For some unknown reason, William Asher has not received the credit he is due. His directorial style was a major influence on all situation comedies. Perhaps he was overshadowed by mega-stars like Lucille Ball and Elizabeth Montgomery, but he stands amongst the most significant television directors of all-time!

The Fugitive, August 29, 1967

The Fugitive was the television series that did everything the right way. Opening with a bang, the premise found Dr. David Kimble discovering the murder of his wife, being arrested, and escaping after his train derails en route to prison. The drama unfolded over the seasons much like an anthology series, with Dr. Kimble's miscelaneous interactions with people he met while on the run. The running thread, however, was the mysterious one-armed man, the true murderer.

The Fugitive catapulted into big ratings, and over 119 episodes, never lost its focus or power. At the end of 4 perfect seasons, The Fugitive broadcast the final show, #120. It is notable that this final broadcast was the first of its kind, as no other television show had ever capped its run with an ending plotline.

Dr. Kimble finally met face to face with the one-armed man, culminating into a powerful, breathtaking fight scene atop a water tower. After much struggle, the one-armed man drops the long fall to the ground, ending David Kimble's long run from the law.

This is the first great television series finale, and it broke all ratings records. It would be another full decade before another television show would bookend a series, Mary Tyler Moore in 1977.

Prior to The Fugitive, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp closed its 6-year run with a 5 episode story arc of the showdown at the OK Coral between Earp, Doc Holliday and the Dalton Gang.

Sources:

The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, Marsh & Brooks

Icon Restoration: Classic TV Titles, Bewitched

Original 1st Season Titles from fall, 1964

Icon Restoration: Classic TV Titles, Love American Style

Original 1971 titles for the unsold Happy Days pilot from Love American Style

Network Massacre, Summer 1971

In the early days of television, the experimental nature of programming offered almost free reign for the networks. As broadcasts expanded into daytime, late night, and weekends, local television stations were eager for network fare. By the late 1960s, however, the FCC began tightening the ropes for programming, implementing regulations regarding children's programming, public service programs, and increased local programming. The most sweeping change came in the spring of 1971, as the FCC dictated that the major national networks relinquish blocks of time to local stations.

In daytime programming, local affiliates immediately filled holes with reruns of old network shows, such as Gilligan's Island, I Dream of Jeannie, Leave It To Beaver, and I Love Lucy. The real hit to networks, though, was the loss of 4 hours of primetime programming and advertising dollars.

The CBS network's response has become legendary. Since the early days of 1960, programming geared to less urban audiences had swept the nation and pulled in top ratings. The Real McCoys, Andy Griffith, Gomer Pyle, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, and the Beverly Hillbillies were all major hits. When advertisers began wondering if high ratings meant increased revenues, the Neilsen company began dividing ratings into demographics, splicing up audiences into the most profitable segments and the least profitable segments; thus, it was the programming geared to rural audiences that took the hit in 1971 as the networks had to suddenly clear their schedules due to the FCC ruling. CBS (and the other networks) canceled all programming that skewed to older and rural audiences. Highly rated shows like Lawrence Welk, Red Skelton, Johnny Cash, Ed Sullivan, the Beverly Hillbillies, Mayberry, RFD, The Jim Nabors Hour, and Hee Haw disappeared. Other shows, like The Doris Day Show, tweaked formats to achieve a hipper, more urban audience. In total, over 30 hours of network programming were removed from the prime time schedule for all three networks. Suddenly, television would be programmed to the younger, more affluent audiences, losing a great deal of the gentle programming offered by television's golden age.

There were positive effects, however, as some niche programming surfaced to reach target audiences, and a host of programs surfaced in the coming years with more diversity and geared toward minorities, such as Sanford and Son, Chico and the Man, Good Times, Welcome Back Kotter, and Maude.

Rhoda's Wedding, October 28, 1974

There was no reason to suspect Rhoda would be more popular than Mary Tyler Moore, but the spin-off was a power house from the start. As Mary Richards' best friend, Rhoda was not the American dream girl next door. She was fiery, witty, heavy-set, and neurotic, but she had a heart of gold. So after 4 seasons on Mary Tyler Moore's show, she visited her family back home in the Bronx, met a man named Joe, and fell in love.

In just nine episodes, the romance blossomed into engagement, and on October 28, 1974, marriage. The classic episode featured the entire gang from Mary Tyler Moore, and was expanded to a full hour special broadcast. As America's favorite ne'r do well and first popular Jewish television character, Rhoda and her wedding were par for the course. There were bickering relatives, the put-upon sister, plus the prickly gang from Minneapolis, including her nemisis Phyllis (played by Cloris Leachman). And Rhoda, deliciously played by Valerie Harper, nearly missed her wedding! The climax came as she ran through the streets of New York in full wedding attire late for her own ceremony.

The episode was the highest rated sitcom episode ever at the time. Valerie Harper won any Emmy, also becoming the first Emmy-winning character for both supporting performance and lead performance. This feat has never been matched again in television.

Seeing RED!, March 9, 1954

See It Now, Edward R. Murrow's ground-breaking news program, had previously in the fall of 1953 broadcast about the red scare. Scores of innocent American's were labeled communists, and a growing political tactic was throwing the communist label at any American with countering views. Senator Joe McCarthy led the way with disgraceful Senate hearings impeaching the name of numerous Hollywood writers, directors, and actors. The result was terrifying. The witch hunt was on and the dividing lines becoming clear. The Republican party was American, the Democratic party labeled socialist.

Also in the fall of 1953, America's number one star was mired in the sludge of the communist hunt. Lucille Ball escaped destruction perhaps by the sheer power of her fame, but I Love Lucy's 3rd season premiere was anticipated by many to be her last. Lucy escaped career destruction, and a popular 1952 play by Arthur Miller, The Crucible, also exposed the red scare as tantamount to the 1692 Salem Witch Trials. Cracks were beginning to surface in Senator McCarthy's tirade. Certainly, these events and other's led to the See It Now broadcast in fall of 1953 exploring the red scare.

By March 9, 1954, however, Edward R. Murrow and producer Fred Friendly had decided to take matters into their own hands. The See It Now broadcasters decided to take Senator McCarthy's own words and flip them, hopefully exposing to America his hypocrisy and the dangerous path of fear-mongering. It was a risky venture, as journalism was expected to be unbiased, and CBS was concerned of a national backlash. The network, also realizing the seriousness of the subject, gave the green light but removed their logo or any network reference from the program's promotion.

The end result was a revolution, as the American public officially came out of hiding and began to question exactly who was un-American, the fear-mongering Joeseph McCarthy or the so-labeled communists. McCarthy was enraged, of course, and demanded an opportunity to respond; however, his appearance a few weeks later on See It Now was even more disastrous, and soon the Senate censured McCarthy, officially ending the Red Scare in America. While hundreds of careers and lives were destroyed forever, the broadcast of March 9, 1954 was American journalism's greatest television moment, and cemented the new medium's power to connect with audiences in troubled times. The immediacy of television continued to prove to be the single greatest instrument of persuasion, whether good or bad, right or wrong, television news came into its own.

References: http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/seeitnow/seeitnow.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/See_It_Now

See It Now transcript from March 9, 1954

Senator McCarthy's follow-up interview transcript

Here's Lucy, September 14, 1970

After 19 years in television, Lucille Ball could still attract huge audiences and lure top stars to appear on her show. On September 14, 1970, Here's Lucy kicked off its third season with guest appearances by Hollywood's royal couple, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The plot revolved around Taylor's famous diamond ring, and basically implements a re-written comedy block from an old I Love Lucy script. It would be unfair to suggest the plot was stolen from I Love Lucy, since this episode also marks the return of the show's original writers to Lucy, a long-standing misunderstanding finally resolved. Directed by Dick Van Dyke's Jerry Paris, and featuring a cast and crew of classic television veterans like Gale Gordon, Vanda Barra, Cliff Norton, Army Archerd, Milt Josefsberg, Irma Kusely, and Hal King, this episode presents a simplistic throwback to the great days of old.

The season premiere, titled "Lucy Meets the Burtons", received huge promotion, including a TV Guide cover, and gave Lucille Ball her highest rating since the birth of Little Ricky in 1952! In many ways, this episode is the final hurrah of television's early days, as a batch of brand new shows hit the airwaves that will change the direction of programming, most notably All In the Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Flip Wilson Show, and The Odd Couple. While Lucy will hold firm in the Top Three for the season, most of television's old classics are disappearing. Ed Sullivan, Danny Thomas, Lawrence Welk, Fred MacMurray, and Red Skelton get the axe to make way for a newer, more sophisticated approach to programming. The Monday night of September 14, 1970 symbolically represents the changing of the guard, and is the last time the great pioneers of television will rule the airwaves and capture a record breaking percentage of the viewing audience.

Sources: The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows by Brooks and Marsh
The Lucy Book by Geoffrey Mark Fidelman

Stunned by Soup, November 2, 1995

Not since I Love Lucy had a television show broadcast one classic episode after another classic episode, and the 116th episode of Seinfeld, broadcast during the show's seventh season, is only one of the shows dozens of pop culture defining momements. In the 1990s, every Thursday was a television event and nearly every Thursday was Friday's conversation. Arguably the greatest Seinfeld show was the Soup Nazi.

Seinfeld writers had a knack for creating a crescendo of comedy from nothing at all, and this episode proves hilarious with just a string of elements such as a soup line and a typical New Yorker's difficulty moving furniture into an apartment.

The episode was influenced by a real New York restaurant famous for soup. Al Yegeneh, the inspiration for the Soup Nazi character, closed his restaurant in frustration with fans of the show, but in 2005, began selling his classic soups in grocery stores across the nation. "No soup for you!" became a national catch phrase in fall of 1995.

Sources: The Soup Nazi Script
CNN

Icon Restoration: Classic TV Titles, The Electric Company

Death of Mr. Hooper, November 24, 1983

When Will Lee passed away in 1982, the producers of Sesame Street were faced with the dilemma of suddenly withdrawing the beloved and popular character of Mr. Hooper from the show without comment, or facing the difficult task of presenting the serious theme to millions of children. Sesame Street chose the latter.

Mr. Hooper had very close ties to Big Bird, and the topical storyline follows Big Bird's discovery, as he hands out portrait drawings as gifts, that Mr. Hooper is nowhere to be found. With the aid of child psychologists, the writers presented a genuine, heartfelt production that explained Mr. Hooper's death as a natural part of life, and with a delicate touch for the sensitive bird. The program was presented as a Thanksgiving Day offering in 1983 to encourage parents to view the special program with their children. The episode ends with the drawing near Big Bird's nest in honor of Mr. Hooper, and it hangs above the nest to this very day.

This Sesame Street presentation won numerous awards for its bold yet sensitive script, and was named by the Television Academy of Arts & Sciences as one of the ten most significant achievements in children's programming history. It is also the first American children's show to explore the theme of dying.

Source: Answers.com

Felix the Cat, ca. March 30, 1929

The 1929 regular broadcast of Felix the Cat is legendary, and is often cited as the first television broadcast. It was not. In actuality, there had been many broadcast before, including presidential speeches, windmills, a dramatic play, and regular programming. It is not even RCA/NBC's first broadcast. It does not even pre-date the first Milton Berle telecast! What is the 1929 Felix the Cat broacast then?

The 13" paper mache Felix doll rotating on a turntable is the first daily broadcast. For two hours every day, the same non-animated cartoon character, simply spun around and around. The broadcast image was a mere 2 inches tall and compiled of a paltry 60-line screen picture. Broadcast on New York City's channel 1 from Van Cortlandt Park, Felix the Cat was the early broadcast image best remembered, most likely due to RCA's publicity machine, thus, becoming television's first true icon.

Angel's In Paradise, September 14, 1977

In the spring of 1976, a new television genre was officially launched. A jiggly television movie starring Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson, and Jaclyn Smith surpassed anyone's expectations, scoring a staggering 55% share of the TV audience. Naturally, ABC scheduled the movie for a fall series and promoted the upcoming series, Charlie's Angels, with posters, dolls, bubble gum cards, and magazine covers. It didn't matter that most episodes featured stale writing or ridiculous plots. Audiences were tuning in to watch the three beautiful ladies trot around, bra-less, in skimpy costumes.

By the first season's end, as full-scale Farrah-mania gripped the country, Fawcett announced she was leaving the show. With ABC in panic, lawsuits were filed, but to no avail. Farrah Fawcett wanted out of the show. The withdrawal of Fawcett, however, actually pushed the show to greater heights. Summer rerun ratings were enormous, and every tabloid, newspaper, and magazine scored with talk of a new angel and Farrah's departure. Even Farrah's non-Angel appearances inadvertantly promoted the show, as she was repeatedly described as "former-angel Farrah Fawcett."

As it turned out, ABC had nothing to worry about. The producer's taunted and teased the audience as everyone waited to see the new angel, kept secret until the broadcast. At first glimpse, however, it was readily apparent that Cheryl Ladd was the perfect replacement. The second season premiere landed firmly at #1. As before, audiences tuned in for the T&A, and Charlie's Angels wiggled and jiggled around the Top Ten for two more years.

ORIGINAL SPECIAL OPENING CREDITS FOR SEASON 2 and new angel introduction.....



Trivia: In one of the strangest power plays in TV history, Fawcett's husband Lee Majors, star of the Six Million Dollar Man, was the culprit behind Farrah's departure. Somehow this did not offend ABC, nor did Lee Majors' demands that the network cancel the top-rated Bionic Woman, despite an Emmy award win for Bionic star Lindsey Wagner. And ABC did cancel the Bionic Woman! It has been stated by biographer Herbie J. Pilato that Mr. Majors was unhappy that the Bionic Woman was receiving higher ratings and critical acclaim than his own bionic show.