10) My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé/Boss/Greek Life (2003-2004): Three different lousy series all based off the title of one surprise hit movie – what a testament to bad programming. Life was the first one, a TV continuation of the inspiration of it all, the 2002 hit film My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Unfortunately star/creator Nia Vardalos had nothing much more to say despite including most of her movie cast on the series, and the result was a quickly receding mess. For Fiancé, actors were hired to con a poor woman into convincing her family she had to wed an irritating man quickly in order to claim a million dollar prize, when in fact he and others were actors hired to push her buttons to see if she would go through with the ceremony. Charming, huh? Boss was more of the same in an office setting, but while viewers were moderately in its predecessor, the sheer classlessness of the whole enterprise was now in full view, and it went off in five weeks as audiences wised up and tuned out.

9) The Anna Nicole Show (2002-2004): It’s always a given when a celebrity does a reality show that his or her career is on the decline and they are desperate for attention. None was more pathetic than this one, detailing the boring daily activities a busty blonde who was obviously on medication along with her hangers-on. This was a program without a purpose except exploitation, and just sad in light of Nicole’s decline and death shortly thereafter.

8) The Jay Leno Show (2009-present): No other series has done more to jeopardize the viability of a network than this one. NBC started with the stupid idea to get rid of Leno as host of The Tonight Show despite him leading the late night wars and was desperate enough to keep him on it at any cost. The result was this nightly mishmash of warmed-over elements from his previous show, listlessly presented by all involved even though pre-show publicity claimed it would revolutionize the industry. Instead, it has struggled just to earn a meager 1.5 rating promised to advertisers even against reruns and has become the joke of the industry while dragging down ratings for NBC affiliates whose news shows follow it. Meanwhile, Leno and company make only the slightest changes to improve it. When NBC meets with station heads in 2010, it will be interesting to see if there is a mutiny on how this is dragging the fourth-place network down even further and affecting them negatively. Right now, it’s just embarrassing to watch.

7) According to Jim (2001-2009): ABC’s longest-running sitcom of the era by far spent eight painful years on the air while never finishing in the top 40 any of those years, which must be a record for an entertainment series on a major network. I have no idea why or how it happened either, other than maybe middle-aged, out-of-shape ABC executives wanted to identify with star Jim Belushi having a beautiful wife. This was a prime example of why sitcoms fell out of grace with much of the public this decade.

6) The Bionic Woman (2007): I had to include one of the disasters from Ben Silverman’s era of mismanagement at NBC from 2007 to 2009, and there could be no better example than this unworthy revival. Lead actress Michelle Ryan tried an unconvincing American dialect while appearing in limp adventures. It was all unnecessary and forgettable, but it did not stop Silverman from doing similarly poor remakes in the future, such as Knight Rider and the upcoming and likely-to-bomb Parenthood.

5) The Bachelor/Bachelorette (2002–present): Forget about gay marriage – the real threat to heterosexual unions is watching this collection of narcissists attempt to woo a member of the opposite sex and wind up being the chosen one for a wedding that usually never occurs after each session ends. The participants are chosen for their looks above all else, with personalities designed to clash secondarily in the mix. It all resembles a bad night at a singles bar, and its incredible and enduring popularity mystifies me, as well as irks plenty of people because it set the template for way too many similar shallow dating shows that cluttered the airwaves after it debuted (remember Joe Millionaire and Temptation Island, among others?).

4) Father of the Pride (2004): NBC made the unprecedented slide from first to fourth place in the 2004-2005 season (and has stayed there ever since) thanks in part to this stupid series that filled the slot that Frasier previously held, if you can believe that. A cartoon with adult jokes focused on the home life of the lions used in performance by Las Vegas stars Siegfried and Roy, this was one show designed with absolutely no one in mind to watch, and somehow cost $1.6 million per episode without looking like it did. What a genuine waste of time and money.

3) Til Death (2006-present): Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher, two genuinely appealing actors, are forced to play the most unpleasantly arguing married couple ever in TV history, with lame scenarios and tired insults standard parts of every episode. This is one of those sitcoms where everyone appears to be going through the motions with little effort invested, and I have yet to read or hear from anybody who is a fan of it. Nevertheless, Fox appears intent on keeping on air at least through 2010 so it produces enough shows to be sold into daily repeats on local stations. Executives there apparently forgot people have to want to watch a series for that to be successful.

2) Big Brother (2000-present): The worst recurring summer replacement series ever, Big Brother puts lots of vain and/or conniving young people into a house with cameras located everywhere and records every navel-gazing moment, trying to edit them into something fascinating to watch in three installments per week. There are competitions to see who is in control of putting up two members to be considered for eviction every week, and general strategizing about forming alliances with various members, trying to make sure your lies do not come back to haunt you. As a model for human behavior, the terms “respect” and “decency” are nowhere to be found while the group hopes to survive for the $500,000 top prize, and often there is verbal and even physical abuse between houseguests. Watching the squalor with a disinterested eye at all times is hostess Julie Chen, the most unemotional and detached emcee ever. The notion that she could do such a show while at the same time report for The Early Show on CBS would be inexplicable were it not known that her husband is Les Moonves, president of CBS. She might impress you, Les, but not the rest of us – nor this alleged excuse for entertainment, for that matter.

1) Fear Factor (2001-2006): An utterly repellent do-anything-for-a-buck show, this competition degraded every involved in it by requiring contestants to eat unappetizing food, endure mental and/or physical anguish, and just in general suffer in public in hopes of winning cash. Host Joe Rogan added to the air of indifference to what this show did to its participants. Its temporary success indicated that NBC was no longer going to pursue classy programming the way it did in the 1990s, and it let producers know that it was pretty much anything goes in treating players in reality shows as long as it titillated viewers. The result is some of the worst programs in TV history littered across the airwaves nowadays. Thanks for bringing us back to the days of lions attacking Christians in Rome, Fear Factor. 

10) Without a Trace (2002-2009): The best of way too many procedurals on the air, Without a Trace stood out because it was much less excessively violent than similar shows, plus it had the benefit of suspense involved. Would the missing person turn up dead or alive? You never knew. The scripts had clever twists, the actions moved swiftly, and the cast was most appealing, with a multilayered job by Anthony LaPaglia in the lead role that could have been a one-note portrayal in lesser hands.

9) Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000-present): Larry David went from co-creating Seinfeld to starring in his own rollicking sitcom, which channeled his misanthropic take on life along with some cutting satire on the Hollywood lifestyle in a manner that’s much better than the overrated Entourage, in my opinion. Yes, sometimes it goes over the top, but I will take that occasional slipup over far too many series that prefer to remain bumbling at the bottom all the time.

8) Nip/Tuck (2003-2010): If you are going to make a drama about plastic surgery, this is the way to do it, with plenty of humor, odd plots, steamy sexual situations and a solid cast, not to mention wonderful guest casting from Larry Hagman to Joan Rivers. Commendably unpredictably, this is unfairly ending rather quietly soon. It deserved better than that.

7) 24 (2001-present): A federal agent (Kiefer Sutherland) has some of the most intense situations ever faced on TV as he attempts to save the President or even the fate of America, all in “real time” episodes spanning a day. A novel concept beautifully played out on all levels, with some great supporting roles where characters are sometimes revealed as not what they first appeared. I dock it some for a few overdone plot contrivances and the use of “torture porn” on suspects which was later said to be popular with Vice President Dick Cheney. Enough said about that.

6) The Big Bang Theory (2007-present): Four brainy geeks interact with one hot blonde living near two of them, which sounds like a tired “sexcom” situation, but it is much more than that. Witty dialogue combined with sharp characterizations has helped make this TV’s most popular comedy right now, and deservedly so. In particular, Jim Parsons’ Sheldon is one of the great TV comedy creations of all time, with his ability to master complex science terms casually while delivering lines in a deadpan style being an instant classic.

5) Six Feet Under (2001-2005): A family focused on the undertaking business – now there is something I can honestly say I never imagined as a great premise for TV drama. But man, did it work beautifully here, with some incredibly poignant moments of love amid reflections of what life really means before you pass away. The imaginative concluding episode alone passed The Mary Tyler Moore Show as the all-time best finale for a series.

4) The Office (2005-present): Some will argue this is a cruder version of the British miniseries of the same name that gave Ricky Gervais his first whiff of fame in the United States. I say first those people are idiots, since Gervais is an executive producer of this rendition, and second they have never watched this carefully. An uproarious look at a workplace whose employees must put up with a boss struggling (and failing mightily) to be politically correct, this is much funnier than its more honored and lower rated Thursday night companion 30 Rock. Three cheers in particular for installing actors as regulars who actually resemble what you might find in a typical business, and whose actions and comments are humorously exaggerated yet entirely believable.

3) The Colbert Report (2006-present): Spinning off a correspondent from The Daily Show to spoof Bill O’Reilly pompous nightly commentary show on Fox News seemed a limited possibility at first, but Stephen Colbert took the challenge to heights unimagined. Managing the tough feat of being funny while often acting smug, Colbert and his writers fashioned a mock opinion show that incorporated The Daily Show trick of using actual video of politicians against them while adding devastating one liners of their own for a variety of segments. Colbert also proved himself surprisingly adept during interviews, and he even became a hero for raising funds among his devoted followers (the “Colbert Nation,” as he dubbed it). There are more laughs per show here than almost all other comedies currently in production.

2) Lost (2004-2010): What sounded like simply Gilligan’s Island redone as a drama (people in a plane crash land into a deserted island) turned out to be more than that – much, much more, with viewers finding they had to watch every scene for clues in scenes that veered into wild tangents that would pay off in fascinating ways in the future. This fantasy has a mythology worthy of that of Lord of the Rings, but it can be enjoyed as character study or even just a plain old adventure. The genius producers are winding it up in a few months, and I can hardly wait to see (or hazard a guess about) how it will end.

1) The Wire (2002-2008): TV shows typically look at one segment of the population – cops, for example, or families. The Wire went beyond that to cover many parts of life in Baltimore, starting initially with the drug war in the city as seen by participants, the police, the media, public officials and others. Thanks to pitch-perfect writing, acting, directing and producing, it all seemed more like life than a TV series, and quite affecting as well. It is truly one of the greatest TV shows ever – and one of the biggest embarrassments to the stature of the Emmy Awards that they never even nominated it for Best Drama. Too realistic, I guess.

(please refrain from offensive or vulgar comments, they will be removed)

ABC
1962-63
**1/2

Theme: None listed

The cast of The Donna Reed Show checked out the new shows on ABC’s lineup, which judging from the clips alone, the best one appeared to be I’m Dickens, He’s Fenster. But like all but two of the 10 series introduced this season, it went off after a year. The two survivors were oddly both set in World War II, Combat and McHale’s Navy. A lot of others went off this season as well - ABC was heading towards one of its perpetual slumps where it was a third-place network with fourth-place ratings. Overall an enjoyable presentation of the best of what they were going to show, but I docked it to midway status because it only ran 15 minutes (at least on the prints I saw) and thus cannot be compared fairly with longer versions.

1963-64
**

Theme: “What’s New on ABC!”

This season was bad for ABC, and unfortunately the preview generally was too. After a corny opening with a man and a woman wondering what’s flickering on their TV set followed by an explosion of mostly unimpressive graphics, Edie Adams sang a tune. Then the clips started, interrupted occasionally and inanely by voiceovers from our unseen man and woman again. Example: During The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, the woman asked, “Who’s the fellow with the high hat? He looks familiar.” “It’s Dan O’Herlihy,” said the man. “Oh, I like him,” responded the woman. The dopiness continued throughout, though thankfully it took a break when The Fugitive ran unspoiled. As bad as the narration was, the worst part of this presentation was a laugh-free skit from Jerry Lewis, a precursor to the mess that would be his two-hour live show that fall. The two stars are for rather generous pieces of the new shows, which included some with decent runs despite ABC’s overall low performance like Burke’s Law, The Jimmy Dean Show and The Patty Duke Show, and for Sid Caesar’s bit, which was funny even if his show ran just six months. Incredibly, the writer of this was Mel Brooks!

1964-65
**

Theme: None listed, but some sources say “The Year of the Week”

An irritating male and female chorale (the syrupy Johnny Mann Singers) sang introductions to the new shows, accompanied with even cheesier and more annoying graphics than ABC used in 1963-64. This preview even had the audacity to pass off the previous season as a winner too. Anyway, what saves it from complete disaster is that several of the stars speak directly to the camera about their new projects, and I mean stars like Bing Crosby and Walter Brennan, and there were actually a few big hits here too - Peyton Place and Bewitched came off pretty nicely. As with last season’s effort, it presented a sizable chunk of each show to review as well. It also tried valiantly but failed in telling viewers that its news division was on the rise - it even promoted Bob Young’s 15-minute roundup at 11 p.m. that did not get heavy clearance nationally. Most impressive was its movie lineup - The Birdman of Alcatraz, Judgment at Nuremberg, Some Like It Hot and The Misfits were pretty decent entries to promote and showed ABC’s lineup on Sundays would start to challenge CBS considerably. But ABC, why so much bad, omnipresent music?!

1965-66
**1/2 

Theme: None listed, but could be “Seven Wonderful Opening Nights”

This started with a somewhat amusing sketch with Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York from “Bewitched” talking about the upcoming lineup (with York looking furtively at a calendar of scantily clad women - how did that get by the censor), then came those *!# Johnny Mann Singers to tell us how ABC improved last year and would do better this one too (it didn’t - the only newcomers that lasted more than one year were F Troop, The Big Valley and The F.B.I.). Taking a cue from CBS, this had stars host each night’s schedule - Inger Stevens from The Farmer’s Daughter Monday (where it ended this season), Forrest Tucker from F Troop Tuesday, Sally Field from the flop Gidget Wednesday (with a disturbing end scene where the near-twice-as-old Gene Barry of Burke’s Law has a romantic dinner with her), Burl Ives from O.K. Crackerby Thursday (where ABC went to the expense of filming him when he was in the Caribbean), Anne Francis of Honey West Friday, Yvonne King of and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. for The F.B.I. Sunday. Also discussed are news (with a young Peter Jennings showing his Canadian roots in how he says “schedule” with a soft “c”). For an hour show, it’s slightly more tolerable than its predecessor, but should’ve been better.

1966-67,
*** 

Theme: “7 Nights to Remember”

Our leads in the hit Batman (Adam West and Burt Ward) discover that ABC is missing a new show from its fall lineup, so they hightail it from the Batcave to Commissioner Gordon’s office to locate it. The preview takes its campy cue from the series in look (fast pop-art bumpers between shows, dynamic colors) and tone (Batman reminding Robin that he normally does not let him look at TV until he has done his homework). Admittedly most of these shows bombed, except for ones on Monday that really weren’t big hits (e.g., The Rat Patrol), but the clips were tolerable except for The Tammy Grimes Show - the strained comedy shows up badly even in this small dose. There was That Girl too, with the original pilot idea of Ted Bessell playing Ann’s agent instead of boyfriend. It also was nice to have Tom Moore, ABC’s programming president, narrate ABC Stage 67 in his southern drawl. SPOILER ALERT: The missing series is The Milton Berle Show. Berle is found hiding in the commissioner’s office, for some reason. After his show ended, Berle wound up guest starring on Batman as villain Louie the Lilac in 1967. That’s TV for you.

1969-70
**1/2

Theme: “Meet Us in September”

Judging from the 1969-70 ratings, where Marcus Welby, M.D. and The Johnny Cash Show were the only ones to make the top 20, not too many viewers took ABC up on its slogan’s offer. The series’ clips did not give much to chew on, as they averaged 30 seconds each. Then again, with 11 new shows to promote, including the transfer of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir from NBC, they did have to limit them somewhat to fit into a half-hour show. But they spent more time promoting the TV-movies on The Movie of the Week (nearly three minutes) than on the individual series, an odd treatment given the fair number of new series that prospered beyond this season, such as The Brady Bunch, Room 222 and The Courtship of Eddie’s Father. They also spent too much time on the dreary theatrical movie premieres - Hombre, Walk Don’t Run and Fathom are hardly the type of titles that were going to win big audiences. As for the series, there are no real stinkers here, and ABC was proud of its strongest daytime lineup ever, as it said, plus a mention of Joey Bishop, so I’ll give an average overall rating.

1970-71
**1/2 

Theme: “Let’s Get Together”

This set the rather irritating pattern for many early to mid 1970s ABC previews by opening with shots of real people as a mushy middle-of-the-road theme song from a vocal group played over them. Among the 12 new shows, The Young Lawyers clip is unintentionally amusing today as one of the defendants is Richard Pryor, looking like he wanted to be somewhere else; Dan August noted it was a Quinn Martin production and thus spotlighted his hits on ABC which included The New Breed from 1962-63 (?); and The Odd Couple apparently had no footage ready except for the title shots, so this preview faked it poorly with hands of unseen men arguing over living together. The Movie of the Week receives more than two minutes, again longer than what the new series received. Returning shows ran the gamut from the great joy in watching Donald propose to Ann Marie in That Girl to enduring Joe Feeney’s extended falsetto in The Lawrence Welk Show. The movies stunk - Lord Jim and Luv were among the top offerings - and there was no mention this time of daytime or late night. In short, another hit-or-miss affair, and ABC needed more than that to come out of third place.

1971-72
**1/2 

Theme: “This is the Place to Be”

With the Prime Time Access Rule in the fall of 1971 taking away the 7:30-8 p.m. slot Mondays through Saturdays (with an exception on Tuesdays, but we won’t get into that), ABC only added six shows in 1971-72, yet only one (Owen Marshall Counselor at Law) went to a second season, and it was far from a hit. With that in mind, this one started with a review of returning favorites. Two points of interest emerged: The Smith Family starring Henry Fonda came off as the most bizarre combo of family sitcom crossed with police action/adventure, and ABC embarrassed itself by having an actor extol the virtues of Monday Night Football while acting like a goofball. (Did ABC think all NFL viewers were clods?!) Movies came next, with True Grit, Cleopatra and South Pacific top billed - not exactly stellar stuff. After more graphics to illustrate the news, the new shows came, and most seemed gimmicky and/or clichéd. Only The Man and the City, a drama starring Anthony Quinn as mayor of a southwestern metropolis, even remotely interested me. As with most other early 1970s ABC previews, this ended at a somewhat unsatisfying level like the programs it was promoting.

1972-73
**1/2 

Theme: “This is the Place to Be” one more time (either the publicity department just give up on doing a new slogan this year, or even worse, they thought last year’s worked just fine, so why not use it again?)

Returning shows were up first, including an incredibly cheesy cartoon for Monday Night Football - ABC should have used stills or new footage of Howard Cosell, Don Meredith and Frank Gifford instead. Other clips generally were better than that. Next was The Movie of the Week, which ran three minutes this time. It did seem enticing to see Divorce His/Divorce Hers, a drama from the male viewpoint one night and the female the next starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. The theatrical movie lineup was tops, such as Goldfinger, The Odd Couple and Lawrence of Arabia (but why promote the disastrous The Adventurers in front of it?). For new series, The Paul Lynde Show looked great (alas, it really wasn’t), James Wainwright was miscast as the hero in The Delphi Bureau, Assignment Vienna had no footage, The Streets of San Francisco looked to be the best new drama, and The Julie Andrews Show had an awkwardly edited song (shades of how it would bomb that season). It ended with a streaming roll of the weeknight lineup that went too quickly in showing stills without identification and made no sense unless you could freeze frame it. Once again, ABC could’ve done better.

1974-75
** 

Theme: “What You See on ABC This Fall You’ll Be Talking About Tomorrow!” (you have got to be kidding)

I have never seen such a smoothly edited show of material that in no way deserved that treatment. ABC only had three shows in the top 30 for 1974-75, and the only new shows renewed another season, That’s My Mama and Harry-O, ended in 1975-76. The producers must have recognized the low quality on tap, as they spotlighted daytime shows, the Saturday morning lineup, sports, news, late night and specials before the new series. Kicking off awkwardly with a gooey mellow theme song by a chorale along with shots of happy people, this used idiotic sketches with little-known comic actors (e.g., Charlie Brill and Mitzi McCall) to set up bits of shows cut as tight as possible to make things like Nakia appear better than they really were. This was such a jumble, it included two series that never made the fall lineup - Where’s the Fire? and Good Heavens (the latter revived in 1976 with Carl Reiner replacing original star Jose Ferrer as an angel). The only encouraging part was the movie slate - The Poseidon Adventure, The Last Picture Show, Thunderball and more were impressive. This one almost screams, “Bring Fred Silverman over to our network to save us!”

1975-76
**1/2 

Theme: “Welcome to the Bright New World of ABC”

ABC staff announcer Ernie Anderson brought his compelling tones to this entry, which started with specials, a few of which did not make it on air this season (e.g., Roots, which ran in 1977 instead). Movies were next, and they were an imposing lineup -The Sound of Music, Cabaret, Jeremiah Johnson and Diamonds Are Forever helped ABC to get its Sunday and Monday movie nights into the top 15. Following them were more specials, returning show highlights, news, sports (we finally get to see Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford and Alex Karras plus game footage for Monday Night Football - yes!) before we reach the halfway point and finally get to see the nine new shows. Fred Silverman had been named programming head after the schedule was announced, so he can’t be blamed that most of these are stinkers like Swiss Family Robinson and The Barbary Coast (both of which coincidentally had villains in their clips played by John Vernon). Among the two hits here, Welcome Back Kotter came off well, Starsky & Hutch less so. This was a slight step up from the previous year’s effort, but then again, almost anything else would have been that way.

1978-79
*** 

Theme: “We’re the One You Can Turn To”

With returning shows divided into three or four boxes, each with individual scenes, this preview was a little cluttered and overwhelming. It does disprove the idea that ABC switched Mork & Mindy from Mondays to Thursdays at the last minute over fears about WKRP in Cincinnati on CBS beating it - here it is the leading light for Thursdays (and includes a great deal of footage from when Mork visited Happy Days). Among the losers, Apple Pie looked underdone (star Rue McClanahan even “broke the fourth wall” and delivered a joke directly at the camera, which simply did not work) and Battlestar Galactica is so obviously a ripoff of Star Wars. Vegas looked flat too, but the other clips were solid, showing why ABC was #1 at the time. The movies were boffo -The Sting, Shampoo and Taxi Driver were among those mentioned. Ernie Anderson narrated the overview of the schedule, but all major actors of new and returning ABC series appeared on three rows of facing risers to sing (well, mouth actually) the theme song. It was depressing to see the black actors were put in one corner for this, however - why such segregation, and in 1978 no less?

1979-80
**1/2

Theme: “Still the One”

Taking its cue from the 1978 hit by Orleans, ABC vowed to remain at the top by moving some established hits to different nights. The strategy backfired (e.g., many viewers did not follow Laverne & Shirley to Thursday), and despite returning the favorites to their original slots, ABC wound up #2 to CBS. That didn’t keep ABC from playing commercials incessantly in 1979-80 using “Still the One” as their theme, but let’s concentrate on this preview. Opening with panoramic shots of America before Ernie Anderson narrated highlights (both tired conceits ABC overdid in the 1970s), this showed no clips of ABC’s best new comedy The Associates, bits of Out of the Blue and A New Kind of Family that stunk, and a glimpse of Ron Moody from Nobody’s Perfect without mentioning the show - ABC disliked what it saw and moved the planned fall entry to the summer of 1980, where it lasted two months. The new dramas were all mediocre at best, including the hit Hart to Hart. News, sports, specials and movies followed, and all were fine enough, yet you couldn’t shake the overriding feeling you had from the rest of the preview, namely “Haven’t I seen this already?” 

1980-81
**1/2

Theme: “We’re One Big Family”

Apparently inspired by the 1979 movie All That Jazz (which in turn owed a debt to the Broadway hit A Chorus Line), this opened with ABC’s new and returning stars pretending to rehearse for a big musical number. Most wisely just mugged for the camera, but Cathy Lee Crosby acted as if she was auditioning for her own aerobics show and tried way too hard to impress with her moves. Anyway, this preview emphasized returning shows first, and you couldn’t escape the feeling they were trying to stress them over the lousy new lineup (when Too Close for Comfort is your biggest hit, you know you are in trouble). Speaking of the latter, the pilot even ripped off a joke from The Mary Tyler Moore Show - just pathetic. As for the others, the TV adaptation of Breaking Away looks promising, Bosom Buddies obviously focused on the guys in drag angle too much, and the rest looked just so-so. The news, sports, specials and movies segments looked particularly well here, but the unimpressive new series and cheesy finale (yes, they dance - for lack of a better word - and lip sync to the theme song down a shiny stairway) set it back.

1985-86
**1/2 

Theme: “You’ll Love It”

This was the Eighties to the excess - break dancers, gaudy outfits and a theme song based on Randy Newman’s overplayed paean to Southern California, “I Love L.A.” Some things never change though - we have “ordinary” people excited to watch ABC’s lineup again, as well as Ernie Anderson narrating the clips by night. The new hits were two sitcoms I hate, Who’s the Boss? and Growing Pains, and two dramas, MacGyver and Spenser: For Hire, which I like better, though both were not classics. The misses include The Insiders and Hollywood Beat, both obvious ripoffs of Miami Vice; Lady Blue, perhaps the worst female detective ever on TV (she kills and sleeps around a lot - big deal); and Lime Street, with Robert Wagner as a rich playboy (some stretch, eh?). There are signs too of how ABC would finish at #3 this season (only six shows in the top 30), with Dynasty staggering from its ridiculous “Moldavia Massacre” wedding and The Love Boat, The Fall Guy and several others looking tired and ready to be canned. And why did ABC bring the aging Diff’rent Strokes over from NBC?! In all, a typical ABC preview, which means equally appealing and appalling.

 1989-90
**1/2

Theme: “Something’s Happening!”

With a theme song based on the old hits “Shout!” and “Mockingbird,” the opening had several stars say “Yeah!” into the camera while mugging for it as well. This shaky start segued into news & sports (grouped together) and then each night’s offerings starting with Mondays. The new hits were all over the place - goodies such as Doogie Howser, M.D. along with bores like Chicken Soup (Jackie Mason paired with Lynn Redgrave for zero chemistry, which forced it off the air after a year even though it finished in the top 20) and Family Matters (before Urkel joined). Indeed, schizophrenia was the air for the whole schedule - what really lingers is how stupid most of the sitcoms were (Mr. Belvedere, Just the Ten of Us) particularly in contrast to the intelligence of the dramas (thirtysomething, China Beach and even newcomer Life Goes On). The promo for Primetime Live wherein Sam Donaldson and Diane Sawyer addressed an affiliates’ convention is unintentionally hilarious in them espousing the high standards the show would have. And in subject matter and presentation, the TV-movies, miniseries and specials seemed like retreads. Once again, inconsistency is the best way to describe ABC’s preview as well as overall lineup.

 CBS

1961-62
**1/2 

Theme: “Seven Wonderful Nights”

With a fair as a framing device, this preview offered stars hosting segments tailored for overviews of individual nights of programs. They were Andy Griffith (Mondays), Garry Moore with an uncredited Carol Burnett and Durward Kirby (Tuesdays), Sebastian Cabot (Wednesdays, where his previous season’s deserving hit Checkmate died), Bob Cummings (Thursdays - his new show there flopped), Rod Serling (Fridays), Raymond Burr with an uncredited Barbara Hale (Saturdays) and Ed Sullivan (Sundays). Balloons with the CBS eye on them escape the fair and go to the stars, providing a rough connecting device. It is obvious that the two new hits in the lineup are The Defenders and The Dick Van Dyke Show - the former is better acted and scripted than the other dramas, while the latter had Van Dyke’s great animated drunk routine pantomime. The other new shows, like the hosts’ introductions, receive a decent share of time but make little favorable impression except The Alvin Show (the memorable opening was used) and The Gertrude Berg Show. Two items of note: the Sunday listings started with G.E. College Bowl at 5:30 p.m., and the Tuesday and Saturday segments appeared as a bonus on the Gunsmoke 50th Anniversary DVD.

1963-64
*** 

Theme: “CBS The Stars’ Address”

We had a postal theme this go-round, with each night’s segment hosted by a familiar CBS personality, starting with Lucille Ball and an unbilled Vivian Vance (Monday), Jack Benny (Tuesday), the cast of The Beverly Hillbillies (Wednesday), Clint Eastwood, Eric Fleming and the unbilled rest of Rawhide (Thursday), Alfred Hitchcock (Friday), Phil Silvers (Saturday, in a failed comeback show) and Ed Sullivan (Sunday). Ball, Benny and Hitchcock are almost always worth watching, and while their material was not “boffo,” it was easy to take. The others did a respectable job too. Too bad the new series were shown not to be up to their level. Of the three that lasted more than a year, there were no snippets available for The Danny Kaye Show, Petticoat Junction was as stupid as always, and My Favorite Martian ran less than 30 seconds. The clips of previous CBS hits made a comparison even less favorable to the newcomers. Notes of interest: the George C. Scott series had the title Eastside, Westside (it was four words when it made it to air), the Sunday lineup started with The 20th Century at 6 p.m. and Walter Cronkite appeared near the end to promote the news.

1964-65
**1/2 

Theme: “Seven Wonderful Nights”

Buddy Ebsen lit a series of firecrackers with successive TV seasons listed on each stick, starting with the 1955-56 season, to represent how long CBS had been #1 in the ratings. The 1964-65 one explodes, and Buddy reappears absent his previous Jed Clampett garb now clad in a tuxedo, dancing to individual columns that rotate showing one night’s lineup. CBS previously started on Mondays - this one began on Sundays with The 20th Century at 6 p.m. This one is downgraded from the last one because there are only bits from the new shows, and many of them were disasters that James Aubrey put on the schedule that led to the controversial CBS president’s ouster in 1965, and their general lousiness showed in the clips presented here. (Out of 13 new series introduced, only four lasted more than one season, and those were the unimpressive Slattery’s People, The Munsters, Gilligan’s Island and Gomer Pyle.) This preview even earned a review in Variety, and it was lot more harsh on this than I was. Then again, the reviewer probably had not seen as many as them as me, so who are you going to trust, hmmm?

1966-67
** 

Theme: None listed, but it looks to be “Seven Wonderful Nights” (again?!)

Garry Moore’s back and CBS has got him! Only this time, he’s up against Bonanza, so his show will end in midseason. We’re in color now, and Garry supposedly uses a projector to display highlights (?) of seven other new entries, with only Family Affair and Mission: Impossible surviving for renewal out of the bunch. This is a truly mind-numbing bunch here, offering extended portions of some of the most brain-dead, unappealing sitcoms ever presented (specifically It’s About Time, Run, Buddy, Run, and Pistols ‘n’ Petticoats). The network mostly coasted on previous successes to stay at #1 this year instead. It also was confusing and unnecessary for each clip to end on a freeze frame giving the title of the series - all that did was make this presentation feel choppy. It was interesting to see Jericho, the network’s late and ultimately failed entry into the World War II action adventure genre tried several times by ABC and NBC in the 1960s, with only Combat! being a success in it. And the movies offered for Thursday and Friday nights had a few winners - Psycho, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and The Music Man. Otherwise, this is a forgettable half hour of your time.

1968-69

***

Theme: “The Winner’s Circle”

A pretty strong lineup of newcomers here (Mayberry R.F.D., The Doris Day Show, Hawaii Five-O) and even the failures The Good Guys and Lancer, both of which ran more than one season, have their moments.  The only outright loser is the lame Blondie adaptation, which went off after 13 weeks. This could have been even better had there been a host for this special and a few better clips (the Mayberry R.F.D. ones were from the last episode of The Andy Griffith Show, for example). Still, this was an encouraging roundup.

1970-71
*1/2 

Theme: “We’ve Put It All Together”

Were I a CBS affiliate in 1970, this promo would have made me fear that the network would finish in second or even third in the ratings that year. With no celebrity host (unusual for CBS then), this displayed mostly blah clips from mostly blah six new shows, like Storefront Lawyers, a “hip” legal firm supposedly helping the downtrodden yet guest star Dean Jagger showed up in a snazzy suit to solicit their help. For Andy Griffith’s show The Headmaster there was just Andy talking about what a great show it would be. (Apology accepted, Andy.) Even this season’s hit, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, comes off horribly because the bit with Mary being interviewed at Lou Grant’s office was filmed before the show’s pilot was done with a different set under a director whom Moore later said had no affinity for the material, and it shows. The show that led into it, Arnie, did make me smile a few times in its bits, however. If it were not for that and a wonderful montage of programs returning to CBS - the ones which reminded you what was great about the network - this pathetic offering would have rated a single star.

1972-73
*** 

Theme: “Have We Got a Fall for You!”

They certainly did. Four of their eight new shows became big hits (M*A*S*H, The Waltons, The Bob Newhart Show and Maude), and another one was a hit that was canceled due to protests by Catholics and Jewish viewers (Bridget Loves Bernie). Of the remaining three - The Sandy Duncan Show, The New Bill Cosby Show and Anna and the King - only the latter came across as a dud right out of the gate. Each new series received a good chunk of time, about two minutes apiece. Then there were montages of most the returning series that lasted about 30 seconds each, plus previews of new movies, none really impressive except for Around the World in 80 Days. There was no host, but people from each of the new shows (and some returning ones) did speak into the camera briefly (except for Yul Brynner - maybe he had an inkling about how bad Anna and the King was). That does not keep it from four stars so much as the fact that CBS insisted on playing its “Have We Got a Fall for You!” music under every introduction as well as the montages for each returning series. That’s called overkill, folks.

1973-74
***1/2 

Theme: “The Best is Right Here”

This is basically a tribute to the acumen of CBS President Bob Wood and programming head Fred Silverman in modernizing the network’s appeal to younger, more educated and upscale audiences than it had in the late 1960s. With a dynamic electronic-tinged score, it rightly salutes its successes in dramas and comedies, including a montage of the latter from All in the Family to The Carol Burnett Show that is astounding in displaying its great depth and breadth, especially in comparison with today’s schedules. There was only one hit from the new shows - Kojak - but it didn’t really matter. The upcoming movie lineup was stellar - The Graduate, Planet of the Apes, and Bonnie and Clyde, among others - and even new show misses like Calucci’s Department and Roll Out! showed considerable potential here. The only reason I don’t give it four stars is because of the ridiculous, condescending framing of new segments featuring people shocked that CBS has been #1 for 17 years. Otherwise, this is well worth a viewing to see why people held Silverman and CBS in such admiration this season, when CBS set a record with the number of Emmys it won as well.

1974-75
**1/2 

Theme: “See the Best”

A definite letdown from the previous effort, this preview began with a so-so assortment of clips from hit CBS shows “comically” answering new setups from Ted Baxter of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. It then goes to the new shows and intersperses portions of them with comments from the producers (and sometimes a couple of actors) about what they are trying to do with them - a great boon to TV historians, sure, but not the optimal way to present them to a casual viewer. Some of them tended towards pretentiousness as well, making you feel like yelling, “Hey, bud, c’mon, you know it’s just a TV show!” Also, based on what is show here, the new dramas Sons and Daughters, The Manhunter and Planet of the Apes were very questionable picks for the schedule, certainly when compared to what CBS tried in the genre in 1973-74. (The new comedies Rhoda and Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers came off much better, even though the latter ended in December.) The movies took a step back as well - the only big critical and commercial hit being promised was M*A*S*H. At least the specials and sports looked strong. Oh well, I’ve seen worse …

NBC

1965-66
**1/2 

Theme (according to the show card): “A Clear Case of Mind Over Mata Hari”

While attending a concert, the shoe phone of Agent Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) rings, causing him to scram to a closet to answer it. He accidentally locks himself inside but has a home viewing audience with him, so why not show clips? This preview is arranged oddly, with the new shows coming after features on entertainment specials, sports and news. More unfortunate is the fact that there is little to hear from most of the clips, as Adams narrates what they are about in a sometimes snarky tone - for example, there are only clips and no singing nor comedy from The Dean Martin Show. This does give the viewer a fine example of what sort of comedy Get Smart would be offering in the fall, but as far as enticing people to watch what was coming, the presentation provides precious little to savor from actual audio of most of the shows except sitcoms, a major shortcoming. It is interesting to watch the preview change from black-and-white to color once he describes the new shows to emphasize NBC leading the field, but overall this one could have - and should have - been better.

1966-67
**

Theme: “Two in a Taxi”

Jack Burns and Avery Schreiber, a comedy duo whose appeal I never really understood, show up here as a talkative passenger going to the airport from Manhattan and his driver respectively. Burns has Schreiber go on an out-of-the-way route with images like the Eiffel Tower presented along the way - oh, how clever. Meanwhile, the two make some quips about NBC’s new lineup that Burns has seen, including Tarzan, The Monkees and Star Trek (the only ones running into the next season), and the inane dialogue makes you angry at how they are being flip rather than respectful to these offerings. Amid this irritating atmosphere, the clips among flops that stand out are The Road West (because George C. Scott does a guest shot as a villain) and Hey Landlord (because it looks amusing and generated some laughter from the studio audience). Otherwise, this is a long half hour to endure, but there is a cameo by Johnny Carson if you feel like doing so.

1967-68
** 

Theme: “Remember Next Year?”

Philip Minoff, who wrote last season’s unfunny preview, is unfortunately back again for another subpar effort. Set in Hollywood in 1987, it has Danny Thomas, joined by Jan Murray as his agent, recalling to a reporter from the moon what NBC’s lineup was like 20 years earlier, when he had his own (unsuccessful) anthology hour that year. The ones to make it beyond this year were The High Chapparal, The Mothers-In-Law, The Kraft Music Hall and Ironside. Don Adams makes a cameo at the end, and the series’ clips are treated more respectfully than before, but unless the shows involved interested you, this is easy to skip.

1969-70
** 

Theme: “NBC’s New Ones for ‘69-‘70″

From their Today show set, hosts Hugh Downs and Joe Garagiola say they are excited about the new shows coming up on NBC, but their body language, flaccid commentary and general tone of voice indicate they are rather calm about it all. Oh well, there is still some amusement in their segments. For one, hearing them wax rhapsodically about The Debbie Reynolds Show tickled me to no end. While NBC’s returning shows like Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, Bonanza, Ironside and The Dean Martin Show, among others, helped it finish a close second to CBS in 1969-70, the new ones except for The Bill Cosby Show made little impact, even though that one and The Bold Ones, Bracken’s World and the revamped Andy Williams Show made it past their first year. The latter show comes off best, with guest shots by top musicians of the time such as Aretha Franklin. The worst are virtually all the other new hour-long shows, which come off as bad, often dated melodramas. This could have used bits of the hit returning shows to enliven the proceedings, not to mention Today co-host Barbara Walters, who wisely (or luckily) avoided participated in this unimpressive preview.

1974-75
**

Theme: None listed, but I guess it’s just “NBC Fall Preview,” since that appears on one of the posters on the set

NBC opted for a no-nonsense approach here, albeit with an unconventional opening. A scene from its new show Lucas Tanner started the presentation before cutting to its star, David Hartman, who served as host for the preview. Hartman presented the 12 shows as if lecturing to students in a rather dry manner, starting with a panel with Monday’s lineup and walking to our right to successive panels for the rest of the week. NBC overdid dramas this year (only one new comedy arrived, the hit Chico and the Man), and the few that lasted more than two years do stand out in different ways - The Rockford Files made the best impression, Police Woman had Bert Convy as Angie Dickinson’s boss (Earl Holliman replaced him in the series), and this presentation put a “The” front of Little House on the Prairie. To the preview’s credit, there are plenty of moments from each show to review - too bad it’s usually dull stuff like Sierra. The big irony was that Lucas Tanner bombed yet Hartman became a hit a year later hosting Good Morning America on ABC while NBC sunk to third in 1975-76 - thanks in part to what flopped this season.

1975-76

**

Theme: “Superseason”

Lloyd Bridges, star of the new disaster, er, cop series Joe Forrester, has to walk through life-sized panels either redone or recreated from last season’s preview to reveal an even more disastrous lineup than last season, with none - that’s right, none - of the new series previewed here lasting into the next season. All look rather unimpressive except for Fay, a sitcom starring Lee Grant in San Francisco that seemed the antithesis of The Doris Day Show set in the same city, and the stylish remake of Ellery Queen. That doesn’t stop the special from saying things like Doctors’ Hospital stars “George Peppard in the most demanding role of his career.” Even the movie lineups weren’t much to enjoy - the only notable title previewed was Dr. Zhivago.  The only other thing of note was that The Family Holvak was titled Holvak in this special, rather odd as a last-minute change at this point. Otherwise, forget this along with NBC’s season here.

The network had to make this move because of the huge profits CBS and NBC were making in mornings and afternoons from advertisers, as well as the need to give another incentive for local stations to join ABC. To encourage skeptical advertisers, most of whom already declined to sponsor the network’s nighttime shows due to low ratings, ABC told them to run their commercials would rotate throughout ABC’s daytime lineup in a month and thus receive exposure on each show at least one time in that period. That sort of exposure was novel and attracted big advertisers such as Proctor and Gamble. By the time “Operation Daybreak” launched, ABC had almost $50 million in advertising dollars to support its schedule.

ABC 1950 Logo

“Operation Daybreak” offered the same amount of programming hours that NBC provided to its stations - six - and just a half hour or so less than CBS. (CBS ran from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. with 1:05-1:30 p.m. reserved for its affiliates to do news or whatever programming after the network’s national headlines update; NBC also ran from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. but took off the 1-2 p.m. hour. ABC left open the 1:30-2 p.m. and 2:30-3 p.m. slots.)

The new shows involved a lot of old faces and/or premises. They were:

• 1) Day in Court, a knockoff of CBS’s daytime hit The Verdict is Yours, where actors portrayed virtually everyone involved in a trial, from 11-11:30 a.m.;
• 2) The Peter Lind Hayes Show, starring a comedian/actor who had substituted often for Arthur Godfrey’s CBS 11-11:30 a.m. show, from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.;
• 3) Mother’s Day, an audience participation show hosted by Dick Van Dyke, just seen a few years earlier hosting The Morning Show on CBS, from 12:30-1 p.m.;
• 4) The Liberace Show, starring the pianist whose syndicated nighttime series from 1953-55 now aired in daytime reruns on several stations, from 1-1:30 p.m.; and
• 5) Chance for Romance, a odd matchmaker series involving psychologists hosted by John Cameron Swayze, NBC’s news anchor from 1948-56 followed by serving as commercial pitchman for Timex watches, from 2-2:30 p.m.

In addition, ABC brought over Beat the Clock from CBS daytime to run from 3-3:30 p.m. to rectify an odd setups - it had been running American Bandstand in that period, then went to Who Do You Trust? with Johnny Carson from 3:30-4 p.m. before returning to American Bandstand from 4-5 p.m. Now American Bandstand would run just from 4-5 p.m. The other adjustment was to install reruns of Tales of the Texas Rangers from 5-5:30 p.m. before The Mickey Mouse Club.

The confidence brimming about the launch of “Operation Daybreak” came crashing down to reality when ratings revealed all the newcomers were bombs. Chance for Romance was the first to be cancelled on Dec. 5, 1958 (after just eight weeks, making it the shortest-lived daily show ever to air on ABC before 5 p.m.). Its replacement was a relocated Day in Court. Then on Jan. 2, 1959, the curtain fell for Mother’s Day (Dick Van Dyke later recalled it was so awful that he auditioned for other work during its run). Play Your Hunch, a game show imported from CBS’s morning lineup, assumed its post.

Three months later, on April 10, 1959, The Peter Lind Hayes Show and The Liberace Show signed off, the former because of strong competition (Top Dollar and Love of Life on CBS and Concentration and Tic Tac Dough on NBC) and the latter because his reruns looked more polished than his live show. Their respective replacements were the half hour The George Hamilton IV Show (yet another castoff from CBS, this time from its Saturday noon-1 p.m. slot) and Music Bingo (a game show from NBC’s summer 1958 nighttime slate, previously installed at 2-2:30 p.m. daily on ABC).

By the end of 1959 the George Hamilton IV Show and Music Bingo were history, and ABC retreated its kickoff time to noon daily, still running until 6 p.m. except from 1:30-2 p.m. Its newest tack was reruns of other networks’ nighttime TV series - The Restless Gun from NBC, Love That Bob from both NBC and CBS, and The Gale Storm Show from CBS (the latter ABC also imported to be part of its nighttime lineup in the fall of 1959; unfortunately, it collapsed there opposite To Tell the Truth on CBS). ABC employed that tactic in the next two years (The Texan, Jane Wyman Presents), plus brought over two game shows from NBC, Queen for a Day and The Price is Right. As for other new game shows, variety shows and dramas, ABC tried its fair share, but none ran longer than two years except for Seven Keys (1961-64) and The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show (1962-65), the latter being a transfer from NBC. Indeed, at any time on the schedule, at least four shows on ABC daytime came from CBS or NBC originally.

The results of these efforts were not too impressive, even when ABC sliced off the 5-6 p.m. slot in 1961, and ratings remained flat except for its first soap opera, General Hospital, which began in 1963 and managed to surpass its NBC competition in 1964, the newly launched soap Another World. By the fall of 1964, of every $10 of advertising spent on network daytime programming, $5 went to CBS, $3 to NBC and $2 to ABC. Almost all ABC series finished third in their time slots, sometimes a distant third at that, and for much of 1964 it was unable to program shows from 1-2:30 p.m. (although it did move The Price is Right to start its lineup at 10:30 a.m.). With the network coming in first place in nighttime for the first few weeks of the 1964-65 season, this situation was untenable to ABC officials. Drastic changes had to be made, and they were.

From September 1964 to September 1965, ABC canned all but three daytime series: General Hospital, reruns of Father Knows Best and The Young Marrieds (which would end in March 1966). Slowly the network broke through with new hits - The Dating Game (late 1965), The Newlywed Game and Dark Shadows (1966) and One Life to Live (1968). At the end of 1968, ABC received an unexpected gift when Monty Hall transferred his Let’s Make a Deal, the first NBC series to make a dent in the ratings opposite As the World Turns, to the network in the same time slot. The ratings gains were so big that ABC finally moved up to second place in daytime in 1969, due also in part to it cutting its lineup back to start at noon rather than 10:30 a.m. with reruns of Bewitched.

In the 1970s ABC moved its startup time to 11:30 a.m. (CBS and NBC still started at 10 a.m., as they would into the 1990s) and fluctuated from first to third place as the race between the networks tightened. Every All My Children (1970), Password (1971) and Split Second (1972) it added as a hit were balanced out by losers like The Girl in My Life (1973), Blankety Blanks (1974) and The Neighbors (1975). It was not until 1978, when it lengthened All My Children, One Life to Live and General Hospital to one hour each, that ABC finally became #1 in daytime for an extended period. The news was not all good, however; ABC’s affiliates resisted expanding its daytime schedule, so the best it could do was to start at 11 a.m. rather than 11:30 and run to 4:30 p.m.

During the 1980s the All My Children-One Life to Live-General Hospital triumvirate held sway from 1-4 p.m., but other periods remained problematic. The Edge of Night, brought over from CBS in 1975, had fewer stations clearing it each year from 4-4:30 p.m., which led to its cancellation in 1984. Family Feud and Ryan’s Hope ran out of gas from noon-1 p.m. and went off, and the new soap Loving, begun in 1983, found few adherents. Nothing worked well from 11 a.m.-noon after The Love Boat reruns in the early 1980s, either.

By the end of the 1980s, CBS led ABC in daytime, a status that has remained since that time. It was not until 1997, when ABC added The View to its 11 a.m.-noon lineup and gave up programming from noon-1 p.m., that the network finalized its current daytime schedule.

The first half century of ABC’s daytime programming has had its fair share of dramatic ups and downs. For a full picture of their impact beyond this article, visit ABC’s Top 10 Greatest Daytime Programming Successes and ABC’s Top 10 Greatest Daytime Programming Mistakes.

That was my initial reaction upon studying who has won Emmys over the last 60 years. Even though TV’s highest honors have been around for less time than the Oscars, the main awards for the motion picture industry, or the Tonys (for Broadway’s best), the Emmys have mushroomed into having so many more categories than the others that they easily outpace them in sheer volume of the awards dispensed alone. As a result, many shows can legitimately call themselves Emmy nominees that you would never expect in the least, from Ramar of the Jungle (for sound editing in 1954) to According to Jim (for cinematography in 2006 and 2007).

Stop Giving Out All Those Emmys!!!

Those serendipitous revelations in studying six decades of Emmy nominees attracted me to write this. They are fascinating yet often overlooked facts about TV history - I recall trading with one game show fanatic who told me plenty of information I never knew who nevertheless was stunned to learn that Masquerade Party had been an Emmy nominee for his field in the 1950s (its 1974 revival also earned an Emmy nomination too, but you will have to look it up to find out what it was for, since I do not want to spoil the surprise).

I realized when going through the official Emmy nominees list that I would have to prune out some from consideration just due to the sheer depth of coverage, as I mentioned earlier. This meant I would go strictly in covering only entertainment nominees - no informational, religious, cultural, sports or news programming could be included if I wanted to keep this section under 2,000 entries.

Also, since the basic information on many of these shows is available on many books and websites devoted to TV series, individual genres and specific series, I have decided to give them the barest of summaries in order to point out virtually unknown facts about them and sometimes their winners and nominees. I also have made an effort to watch as many of these programs as possible so that I can give you a critical perspective on whether Emmy made the right call or a colossal blunder when naming the production and/or certain people involved in it as the best in the industry. If you do not agree with my opinion, hey, no one says you have to do so, but given how I have watched at least 60 percent of what is discussed in these pages, and have been writing about TV professionally for more than a decade, I believe I have a fairly solid perspective about where to rank the relative quality of these entries. For shows that I have not viewed, I have made sure not to include sort of critical comment, instead I just give the basic facts about them.

Most importantly, I have tried to bring out facts regarding the show’s Emmy win(s) and/or nomination(s) that you may not have realized, which are abundant (did you know that Brian Keith competed against his supposed supporting actor Sebastian Cabot in Family Affair for best actor in a comedy?). To help out, I have cross-referenced nominees, and I tell you at the end of each entry which other productions the person(s) received nominations, which also is enlightening - I had no idea that sound editors and mixers have been up so many times for the statuette, yet these lists prove it. I have even uncovered in my research a few times where the series was not eligible to win its category based on the academy’s criteria and noted that - for those instances, see My Hero and Racket Squad.

Keep in mind too that you cannot necessarily simply count the entry and its cross-references and determine that the total is the same number of Emmy nominations the person had. As stated earlier, there can be Emmy mentions in informational, religious, news and sports programming for the person that are not shown here, plus in the case of a series entry a person can and often is nominated more than once during its run.

FUTURE PLANS [STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION]: In case you wonder who competed against each other, or what productions made the final cut in a category for a show you are studying, we will begin by giving you a summary of each year’s nominees and overall commentary about trends for every group of years. As you will see, the Emmys started as a small ceremony, then bloomed into bigger efforts each year, finally leading to the daytime shows getting their own awards in the 1970s, cable awards being allowed to compete in the 1980s, and lately Internet productions as well (those are so new and experimental that I will not cover them here).

For matters of space, I have abbreviated the titles of most categories to their basic elements. I also use EP to stand for executive producer and just P to stand for producer, as there are multiple listings in many of these cases and again I want to save space. Along the same line, once I mention someone’s name in the wins or nominations before the main entry, I will use their last name thereafter, including in the cross-references.

Enough with this talk. TO SEE THE EMMY NOMINEES ALPHABETICALLY, GO TO EMMY NOMINEES - THE COMPLETE LIST AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE, AND A DROPDOWN LIST WILL APPEAR. HIGHLIGHT THE SHOWS YOU WANT TO SEE BY ITS FIRST LETTER, THEN HIGHLIGHT THAT SECTION AND CLICK THE OPTIONS YOU SEE ON THE RIGHT FOR SUBCATEGORIES THERE. Then you can see who won what, and prepare to be amazed, astonished, amused and angered by the selections. That’s the Emmys for you, folks, love her or hate her, and you will probably do both in this section. Enjoy!

PLEASE NOTE: THIS SECTION REMAINS UNDER CONSTRUCTION AS I ATTEMPT TO WATCH AS MANY NOMINEES AS I CAN AS WELL AS DISCOVER NEW ENTRIES, PARTICULARLY FOR DAYTIME TECHNICAL CREDITS. CHECK BACK FREQUENTLY FOR UPDATES.

Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance

I Love Lucy was not the first sitcom to be rerun in daytime, nor even the first one on CBS. NBC had the distinction of doing the first, a series called Comedy Time that reran I Married Joan and some lesser NBC properties from 1956-58. CBS made its initial foray in the field in the fall of 1956 with Our Miss Brooks, which ran from 2-2:30 p.m. to replace the unimpressive Johnny Carson Show - yes, the future host of The Tonight Show at one time followed As the World Turns, believe it or not. Why CBS chose Our Miss Brooks over I Love Lucy is somewhat puzzling, given the latter’s ongoing and bigger popularity, and that CBS already repeated I Love Lucy on early Sunday and then Saturday evenings from 1955-56 with considerable success. Apparently CBS worried about overexposure for its top nighttime series and decided to go with a cancelled show instead.

Our Miss Brooks did not set the daytime world on fire. After a year CBS replaced it with a daytime edition of Beat the Clock. The network prospered in mornings and afternoon the next year with hit soaps and games, but the controversy in late 1958 over whether all the “big money” games were rigged in the face of many facing investigation (including The $64,000 Question) led CBS to can a couple in daytime, like Dotto and For Love and Money. That left room for new shows, ones that the network hoped would have no suspicions surrounding them. And what could be less on the up-and-up than the genuine comedy of Lucille Ball and company?

So at the start of 1959, CBS adjusted its morning lineup and moved Arthur Godfrey Time up a half hour to allow for the addition of I Love Lucy, while the latter also aired Thursdays from 7:30-8 p.m. (the show returned to nighttime reruns from September 1957 through September 1959). The reason for the move was that after dominating daytime for much of the time since he debuted in 1952, Godfrey had spent the last year or so losing to The Price is Right on NBC, leading to that network establishing a solid wall of game shows that challenged CBS considerably before 1 p.m., including Concentration, Tic Tac Dough and It Could Be You. In effect, I Love Lucy was installed to stop the bleeding on the CBS morning schedule.

The result did not destroy The Price is Right by any means - indeed, by the time I Love Lucy moved to 10-10:30 a.m. in March 1961, The Price is Right still held sway at its same time slot on NBC and was the second-highest rated daytime game show, behind Concentration. Yet the series had established its own considerable following, and to the relief of the CBS brass, the public did not hold anything against Ball when she divorced her I Love Lucy co-star and real life husband Desi Arnaz in May 1960. In fact, a month later CBS saturated viewers with the chance to watch I Love Lucy every day of the week.

In the summer of 1960, along with the daytime repeats, I Love Lucy popped up Saturday mornings from 11:30 a.m. to noon (it ran Saturday mornings from October 1959 through September 1960), and Sunday evenings from 10-10:30 p.m. under the series title Lucy in Connecticut, featuring the 1956-57 season episodes when the Ricardos moved to the suburbs (c’mon, you remember that!). The network apparently was having withdrawal pains facing the fact that the 1960-61 nighttime season would be its first one in nine years without having Lucy on at least a semi-regular basis (Lucy and her gang did occasional specials on The Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse from 1957-60).

Getting back to daytime, Arthur Godfrey had to leave his show on April 24, 1959 for lung surgery. CBS replaced him with Sam Levenson, but ratings fell opposite Treasure Hunt on NBC, so he went off at the end of September 1959 to be replaced by repeats of another sitcom from Desilu Studios, December Bride. It performed better, and lasted in daytime until 1961. In the meantime, CBS never let Godfrey return to its morning lineup and began giving more thought to the viability of daytime sitcom reruns thanks to December Bride and I Love Lucy.

The explosion of daytime reruns came after I Love Lucy fended off Say When on NBC from 10-10:30 a.m. in the spring and summer of 1961, then moved a half hour later and eventually forced Play Your Hunch off NBC in 1963. By then, CBS had followed it with The Real McCoys (titled The McCoys in daytime) and Pete and Gladys in the morning hours, and the ratings advantage grew bigger, even with ABC trying to expand its presence in the period. All three shows won their time periods handily. After knocking off Word for Word and then What’s That Song? on NBC from 1963-65, CBS moved I Love Lucy up one more time in the fall of 1965, kicking off each morning slate from 10-10:30 a.m. It was just as popular as it had been the last few years, limiting Fractured Phrases on NBC to a fractured run of 13 weeks and keeping its follow-up Eye Guess a far runner-up in the period.

But on Feb. 10, 1966, there was at least one person very unhappy with the I Love Lucy reruns. CBS News President Fred W. Friendly wanted the network to pre-empt the show in favor of live coverage of hearings on Vietnam by the U.S. Senate, as ABC and NBC were doing. He was overruled and resigned in protest later that week.

Six months later, CBS finally retired I Love Lucy from daily rotation, replacing it with reruns of Candid Camera. No longer worried about shows in daytime reruns while still on the network, Candid Camera joined The Beverly Hillbillies and The Andy Griffith Show as holding this status on CBS, with The Dick Van Dyke Show from 11:30 a.m.-noon being the one exception on the lineup. Presumably that was the reason for I Love Lucy going off the air, even though the extra exposure did not prevent the nighttime Candid Camera from being cancelled at the end of the 1966-67 season. (Ironically, when Candid Camera repeats ended in the fall of 1968, CBS replaced it with reruns of Ball’s second series, The Lucy Show.) Anyhow, its daily run of seven and a half years remains a record for any repeats on a network

CBS brought I Love Lucy back one more time in 1967, on Sundays from 5-5:30 p.m., before ending Aug. 27, 1967. The series then was available for rerun on local stations, and many of them installed it on their daily schedules, particular CBS stations. By 1974 Mad magazine spoofed the network’s New York City affiliate WCBS by putting a mock I Love Lucy episode summary from the 1950s against one for the present day, with only difference being the former one aired at 9 p.m. on Channel 2 and the latter at 9 a.m.

Indeed, I Love Lucy thrived in the 1970s even as most other black-and-white series no longer found favor in repeats. It was so popular that a dance version of the I Love Lucy theme called “Disco Lucy” made the top 30 on the music charts in 1977.

Some markets ran it more than once daily, a rather groundbreaking move at the time, and one which Lucille Ball did not approve. “When I heard one day that I Love Lucy was rerun seven times a day in some areas, I didn’t like it - every time you turn on the water tap, you get me,” she told Cecil Smith in TV Book in 1977. Some speculated than Lucy resented that the series had a better reputation than her later shows, The Lucy Show and Here’s Lucy. One thing is for sure, neither of those have had the durability of I Love Lucy in reruns, which continued strongly in the 1980s, 1990s and today, thanks in part to great exposure on Nick at Nite and TV Land as well as several local stations still carrying it.

Besides its record run, the daytime reruns of I Love Lucy on CBS established the network’s programming philosophy that, for better or worse, dominated its morning schedule from the fall of 1962 through the fall of 1972. It showed that some viewers preferred the old and familiar - even on its ninth rerun - than try a new show. Most importantly, it showed the durability of I Love Lucy itself, as it ended as a top-rated daily offering nine years after its last show was in production. No other program can or will match that achievement. It is a testament to the care and craft of everyone involved of I Love Lucy, a true TV classic.