Applause to Arthur Miller

Curious why The Art Carney Show special won the Emmy for Outstanding Program Achievement in Humor over The Danny Thomas Show, Father Knows Best, The Jack Benny Program and The Red Skelton Show in 1960? I’ll give you my take on it having watched it and let you know if it deserved the statuette over its better-known competitors.

 

Applause

CBS Thursday 9-11 p.m., March 15, 1973

N: Single Program, Variety and Popular Music (Alexander Cohen, EP; Joseph Kipness, Lawrence Kasha, Dick Rosenbloom, P); Actress, Single Performance (Lauren Bacall)

When Margo Channing (Bacall), a star approaching middle age, discovered that her protégé Eve Harrington (Penny Fuller) intended to usurp her status as Broadway’s leading lady, Margo retaliated to save her turf. A superb videotape presentation of the Broadway hit, based on the 1950 movie classic All About Eve, inventively staged to accommodate TV viewers. Bacall had the time of her life acting, singing and dancing her heart out in her role, and the rest of the cast is fine except for Larry Hagman, miscast as her lover (!) but still an OK singer. Thankfully, few concessions occurred in bringing the musical to TV, with CBS allowing Margo to say the then-forbidden word “bitchy” and keeping intact the showpiece number “Be Alive,” where Margo’s appearance in a gay bar electrifies its patrons. This one deserved more nominations, particularly for directors Bill Foster and Ron Field and music director Robert Farnham. Alas, as their material previously appeared on stage, book writers Betty Comden and Adolph Green and composers Charles Strouse and Lee Adams were ineligible for Emmys.

Bacall: The Rockford Files. Cohen: Lotsa ones.

 

Appointment With Destiny

CBS p.m., Nov. 1971-Dec. 1972

W: Film Editing (Peter C. Johnson, Ed Speigel, “Surrender at Appomattox”), 1973; Film Sound Mixing (Richard J. Wagner, George E. Porter, Eddie J. Nelson, Fred Leroy Granville, “Surrender at Appomattox”), 1973

N: Special Classification, Docu-Drama (“The Plot to Murder Hitler”), 1972; Achievement, Creative Technical Crafts (Jess Paley, cinematographer, “The Plot to Murder Hitler”) and (George Porter, David Ronne, Roy Granville, Edward Nelson, “Showdown at O.K. Corral”), 1972; Costume Design (Christina Von Humboldt, “Cortez and Montezuma”), 1973

 

The Apprentice

NBC p.m., 200

N:

“You’re fired.”

 

April Morning – See Hallmark Hall of Fame

 

Arabian Nights

ABC 2000 or 2001

 

Archie Bunker’s Place

CBS Sundays 8-8:30 p.m.*, Sept. 23, 1979-Sept. 21, 1983

N: Actress, Comedy (Sheree North), 1980; Supporting Actress, Comedy, Variety or Music Series (Anne Meara), 1981, 1982; Director, Comedy (Linda Day, “Tough Love”), 1981; Videotape Editing, Series (Marco Zappia, “Three Women”), 1983

Archie (Carroll O’Connor), while serving as guardian for his niece Stephanie Mills (Danielle Brisebois), took over a neighborhood bar in an uneasy alliance with Murray Klein (Martin Balsam 1979-81) and presided over an ethnically diverse crew, including emotional cook Veronica Rooney (Meara 1979-82). A wearisome sequel to All in the Family, designed more to squeeze out the last bit of ratings for CBS and serve as an ego trip for O’Connor rather than provide quality entertainment. Archie’s bite was gone, and even the laugh track seemed unamused with its alleged comedy. At least Jean Stapleton had the good sense to leave after the first season, which led to an episode where Archie mourned Edith’s death – without any visit from Gloria or Mike. Among its few nominees, North (a guest appearance) overcame being a 1950s Marilyn Monroe imitator to become a surprisingly adept comic actress, but she missed nominations for her best guest roles, as Lou Grant’s playful lounge singer girlfriend on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and as Kramer’s mom on Seinfeld, while director Linda Day should not be confused with actress Lynda Day George.

North: Marcus Welby, M.D. Meara: Kate McShane. Zappia: Several.

 

Arista Records’ 25th Anniversary Celebration

Younger: Academy of Country Music Awards, American Music Awards, Body and Soul, Liberty Weekend, Muppets Tonight, Three Tenors in Concert 1994, Three Tenors in Paris 1998.

 

Armchair Detective

CBS Wednesdays 9-9:30 p.m., July 6, 1949-Sept. 28, 1949

N: Most Popular Program, 1948

Host John Milton Kennedy (“Your Armchair Interrogator”) discussed the clues that viewers should have noticed in two short mysteries per show with H. Allen Smith (“Your Crime Authority”), a former Los Angeles attorney and special agent with the F.B.I. and current member of the California State Legislature who was jarringly referred to as just “Al” by Kennedy. If this really was a top draw for TV viewers in Hollywood in 1948, they must have been desperate for entertainment – the acting, writing and directing were below par, and the discussions by Kennedy and Smith pointing out evidence the audience supposedly should have noticed were rushed and confusing to follow. Its network run flopped on the East running against Fireside Theatre on NBC.

 

Armistead Maupin’s Further Tales of the City

Showtime, May 6, 2001

N: Miniseries (Alan Poul, Suzanne Girard, Tim Bevan, Luc Chatelain, Armistead Maupin, EP)

 

Armistead Maupin’s More Tales of the City

Showtime, June 7, 1998

N: Miniseries (Alan Poul, Suzanne Girard, Tim Bevan, EP; Kevin Tierney); Writing, Miniseries or Movie (Nicholas Wright); Costume Design, Miniseries or Movie (Denis Sperdouklis); Art Direction, Miniseries or Movie (Normand Sarazin, production designer; Lise Either and Ann Grenier, set decorators)

 

Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City

PBS, Jan. 10, 1994

N: Miniseries (Armistead Maupin, Tim Bevan, Richard Kramer, Sigurjon Sighvatsson, EP; Antony Root, supervising P; Alan Poul, P); Writing, Miniseries or Special (Kramer)

 

Armstrong Circle Theatre

ABC Various nights and times, Oct. 15, 1966-March 25, 1968

W: Musical Program (”Brigadoon,” Fielder Cook, P), 1967; Directing, Variety or Music (Cook, “Brigadoon”), 1967; Electronic Production (A.J. Cunningham, technical director, “Brigadoon”), 1967, (Leard Davis, lighting director, “Brigadoon”), 1967 and (Robert Dunn, Gorm Erickson, Ben Wolf, Nick Demos, electronic cameramen, “Brigadoon”), 1967

N: Electronic Production - Sound (Ray Kemper, audio engineer, “Brigadoon”), 1967; Individual Achievement (Peter Gennaro, choreographer, “Brigadoon”), 1967; Art Direction and Scenic Design (Jan Scott, art director, George Gaines, set director, “Kismet”), 1968; Electronic Production (Lon Stucky, lighting director, “Carousel”), 1968 and (Jerry Smith, video control, “Carousel”), 1968

The first and better-remembered Armstrong Circle Theatre was an anthology that ran on NBC and then CBS from June 6, 1950-Aug. 28, 1963. The Armstrong Cork Company then became the main sponsor of The Danny Kaye Show until it ended in 1967, leading the company near the end to revive the old name as it offered a quartet of adaptations of Broadway musical hits (the non-nominated one was the last one, “Kiss Me Kate”) for about a year. ”Brigadoon” was the first and most critically acclaimed, starring Robert Goulet, Peter Falk and Sally Ann Howes. Like the 1954 theatrical film, it has a few flaws that keep it from being a classic, like poor accents and obvious filming on location in southern California instead of Scotland, but Goulet and Howes are a winning couple, and it’s a kick to see Falk in a musical even if he doesn’t sing. This was the only Emmy win for Dunn and the only nomination for Kemper and Gennaro, the last one a rather astounding fact given his prominence as a dance director on dozens of TV series and specials from the 1950s and 1960s. Gennaro also was a five-time Tony nominee from 1960-1982, winning for Annie in 1977.

Cook: Many. Cunningham: CBS Playhouse, Climax, Death of a Salesman. Davis: CBS Playhouse, Death of a Salesman, The Nashville Palace, The Osmond Family Christmas Show, Visions. Dunn: Death of a Salesman. Erickson: CBS: On the Air, Death of a Salesman, The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. Wolf: CBS: On the Air, CBS Playhouse, Hallmark Hall of Fame. Demos: CBS Playhouse, Hallmark Hall of Fame. Scott: Blind Faith, CBS: On the Air, CBS Playhouse, Cruel Doubt, DuPont Show of the Week, Evergreen, The Gathering, Hallmark Hall of Fame, Hollywood Television Theatre, I’ll Be Home for Christmas, The Kaiser Aluminum Hour, The Kennedys of Massachusetts, The Lie, The Long Hot Summer, Marilyn: The Untold Story, Orphan Train, Roots, Studs Lonigan, Theatre 62. Gaines: Cheers, Robert Young and the Family. Stucky: Dean Martin Presents Music Country, Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music, Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music II, IBM Presents Clarence Darrow, Mitzi and a Hundred Guys. Smith: Barbara Mandrell’s Christmas: A Family Reunion, Lynda Carter Body and Soul, The Magic of David Copperfield VI, The Magic of David Copperfield VII, The Motown Revue Starring Smokey Robinson, NBC Live Theatre.

 

Arnie

CBS Saturdays 9-9:30 p.m.*, Sept. 19, 1970-Sept. 9, 1972

N: Comedy Series, 1971; Cinematography (Charles G. Clarke, “The Only Way to Go”), 1972

Arnold “Arnie” Nuvo (Herschel Bernardi), a 12-year veteran of the Continental Flange Company’s shipping department, had his life turned upside down when company president Hamilton Majors, Jr. (Roger Bowen) promoted him to head of the Product Improvement Division. (Majors started in the loading dock like Arnie and thought he had potential for growth.) In his new executive suites digs he encountered friendly advertising head Fred Springer (Olan Soule), scowling Neil Ogilvie (Herb Voland) and his over-efficient secretary Felicia Farfiss (Elaine Shore), while he stayed in touch with Julius (Tom Pedi), his dumpy old pal from shipping. At home he had to put up with his adoring yet sometimes trying wife Lillian (Sue Ane Langdon) and his teenage kids, daughter Andrea (Stephanie Steele) and rebellious Richard (Del Russell). The office scenes were better than the domestic ones, but this was nothing too special overall, apart from acting by Bernardi and Bowen that might have been Emmy-nominated if it had debuted a year earlier. A lead-in during its first season for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Arnie was overshadowed by that series with the public and critics and died a quiet death in two other slots the next season. Charles Galloway Clarke, a four-time Oscar nominee for cinematography from Moontide in 1942 to Sand in 1949, was honored by the film group in 1943 for his creation of a device to compose artificial clouds during production photography and in 1979 for his service and dedication to the Oscars.

 

Around the World in 80 Days

NBC p.m., April 16-18, 1989

N: Costume Design, Miniseries or Special (Emma Porteus); Art Direction, Miniseries or Special (Mike Porter, production designer; Jonathan Cheung, Vladislav Lasic, Ian Watson, art directors; Roger Hulme, Chung Yee Fung, Svetislav Todorovic, set directors); Hairstyling, Miniseries or Special (Dorothy D. Fox, Maria Rizzo, Wendy Dawson, Fung Wai Man)

 

Arrest and Trial

ABC Sundays 8:30-10 p.m., Sept. 15, 1963-Sept. 6, 1964

N: Lead Actor, Single Performance (Roddy McDowall, “Journey Into Darkness”); Actress, Supporting Role (Martine Bartlett, “Journey Into Darkness”) and (Anjanette Comer, “Journey Into Darkness”); Film Editing (Danny Landres, Milton Shifman, Richard Wray)

 

 

 

 

 

 

McDowall: Equitable’s American Heritage. Landres: General Electric, Schlitz Playhouse. Shifman: Naked City.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arrested Development

 

Fox

W:

N:

No other sitcom had a bigger schism between critics and Emmy voters, who adored it, and the general TV audience, which ignored or even abhorred it (it was the lowest-rated Emmy-winning comedy ever). It eschewed typical conventions, such as presenting scenes from the next episode that really were just

 

The Arsenio Hall Show

Syndicated Weeknights 60 Minutes, 1989-1994

N: Variety, Music or Comedy (Arsenio Hall, host/EP; Marla Kell Brown, P), 1989

“Woof, woof, woof!”

 

Art Carney Meets Peter and the Wolf

NBC Sunday 5-6 p.m., Nov. 30, 1958

N: Special Musical or Variety Program (One Hour or Longer); Writing, Single Musical or Variety Program (A.J. Russell)

Carney appeared with Bil and Cora Baird’s puppets on a forest set to joke and sing with them (backed by Paul Weston’s orchestra) in this alternately engaging and dragging special for children. Pluses included nice songs and a truly scary looking wolf, among other fine puppets; minuses were pretty much any scene that did not include Art, which basically was the middle third of the show, based on the title tale. In short, ultimately not quite satisfying – the same of which can be said of the next entry starring Carney.

Russell: The Phil Silvers Show, General Hospital.

 

The Art Carney Show

NBC Friday 8:30-9:30 p.m., Nov. 4, 1959

W: Program Achievement, Humor

Subtitled “Very Important People,” this uneven take on celebrities in America started slowly and rather unimpressively before hitting its stride a third of the way with rib-tickling send-ups of What’s My Line? and The Big Party, the latter a phony staged variety series that alternated with Playhouse 90 in 1959. Other targets, such as The Frank Sinatra Show, were misses, and Carney and writers Larry Gelbart and Sheldon Keller had all done more consistently funny work on TV previously. Indeed, it is telling that none of them were nominated for acting or writing on this show. This probably won mostly on account of their reputations as well as the weak comedy competition in 1960, when Father Knows Best was one of the nominees. Among those supporting the title star were David Doyle, Betty Garrett, Dick Van Dyke, and in a surprisingly good comic performance, socialite Gloria Vanderbilt.

 

Art Linkletter and the Kids

Syndicated Weekly 15 minutes, 1953

N: Children’s Program, 1954

An obscure offering barely referenced anywhere, Art Linkletter and the Kids featured the titular host interviewing four children ages 2-10 on a playroom set. A decently amusing attraction, although the dubbed laughter and applause and inserted audience shots date it badly. It earned a nomination the same year Linkletter won for a better-remembered series which included this routine – see the next entry.

 

Art Linkletter’s House Party

CBS Weekdays 2:30-3 p.m.* (also NBC), Sept. 1, 1952-Sept. 25, 1970

W: Daytime Program, 1954

N: Camera Work – Live Show (Les Vaught), 1955; Daytime Program, 1962

The first daily network show airing live from Hollywood, Art Linkletter’s House Party was a potpourri of jokes from the host, games with members of the studio audience, interviews with celebrities and quick-witted children, and advice tips from experts. Keeping it afloat was host Art Linkletter, who outlasted many others to become the longest lasting host of a daytime network TV series for nearly 20 years. When it wore thin by 1968, it became a more traditional talk show in a failed effort to keep ratings up. Even so, this sprightly show holds a special space among certain baby boomers, as reflected by inclusion of a scene of youngsters watching a clip of it on TV in the 1993 theatrical movie Matinee, set in 1962, and by CBS reviving the portion with children being interviewed in Kids Say the Darndest Things (1998-2000), hosted by Bill Cosby with a few guest visits by Linkletter for old times’ sake. Linkletter emceed one other Emmy-nominated series (which appeared in competition in the 1954 Emmy ceremony as well as this show and the previous listing), People Are Funny.

 

Arthur

PBS Daily p.m., Sept. 2, 1996-

 

Arthur Godfrey and His Friends

CBS Wednesdays 8-9 p.m., Jan. 12, 1949-June 26, 1957

N: Variety Program, 1952

No personality ever dominated network television the way Arthur Godfrey did by 1952. He also hosted Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts for aspiring performers Monday nights and Arthur Godfrey Time weekday mornings, giving him sway over four hours of the CBS schedule, with all winning their time slots easily. Then his popularity fell after he began firing his supporting acts such as singer Julius LaRosa for petty reasons in 1953 and banished him mostly to a handful of guest shots by 1961. On Arthur Godfrey and His Friends he nurtured some Talent Scouts winners into being regulars on it before they became stars, including the Chordettes, the McGuire Sisters and Pat Boone. But belying its title, the show is remarkably chilly to watch, as the acts sat in a semicircle behind Godfrey on stage and had to laugh and smile while they waited for him to call them up, do some small talk, perform and return to their chairs. If the host was this much a control freak on air, one can surmise he was even worse off it, so it is no wonder only singer Janette Davis lasted the whole run along with him. Godfrey also received Emmy nominations for Outstanding Kinescope Personality in 1949 and Most Outstanding Personality in 1952 and 1953, due in part to this show.

 

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman

Showtime p.m., Jan. 9, 2000

N: Lead Actor, Miniseries or Movie (Brian Dennehy); Supporting Actress, Miniseries or Movie (Elizabeth Franz)