Mae West to Medical Center
Only one writing nomination for Match Game, and none whatsoever for its regular panelists Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly and Richard Dawson?! Boo, hiss, Emmy! No win for the show, either, nor for oft-nominated host Gene Rayburn. Fill in this blank, Academy members: “I didn’t vote any awards for Match Game because I am _______ .”
Mae West
ABC 9-11 p.m., May 2, 1982
N: Actress – Limited Series or Special (Ann Jillian); Director – Limited Series or Special (Lee Philips); Costume Design – Special (Jean-Pierre Dorleac); Makeup (Richard Blair)
A standard bio drama on the rise of the sex siren Mae West (Ann Jillian), with plenty of inaccuracies and flat dialogue. Jillian was unable to do a convincing replication of Mae’s swagger, and though makeup nominee Richard Blair tried his best, she resembled Jean Harlow more than West. She stood way out of place in a strong field with other actresses doing a better job of playing real-life women – Glenda Jackson (The Patricia Neal Story), Jean Stapleton (Eleanor, First Lady of the World), Cicely Tyson (Hallmark Hall of Fame – “The Marva Collins Story”) and winner Ingrid Bergman (A Woman Called Golda). A better nomination might have been Roddy McDowall for his supporting role as a fictional drag queen who taught Mae the ropes, or even Chuck McCann, whose W.C. Fields imitation was more authentic than what Jillian offered as Mae.
Jillian: Ann Jillian Story. Philips: The Waltons. Blair: Moviola. Dorleac: at least 5 others.
Magnavox Presents Frank Sinatra - Ol’ Blue Eyes is Back
NBC p.m., Sept. 18, 1973
N: Comedy-Variety, Variety or Music Special (Frank Sinatra, star; Howard W. Koch, P); Director, Comedy-Variety, Variety or Music Special (Marty Pasetta)
Taped two months prior to air date, this special officially noted Sinatra’s return to performing after announcing his retirement from show business two years earlier. Old colleagues Gordon Jenkins and Don Costa supervised the orchestra while Frank sang mostly old hits to an adoring audience composed of Old Hollywood notables (clearly seen were Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, Milton Berle, Sammy Davis Jr. and Debbie Reynolds, among others). Taped without the audience were segments that had him singing without at a saloon set smoking (try doing that today) and clowing with guest Gene Kelly, a needed lively addition midway through the show, even if it is obvious they are dancing and performing with audience reaction dubbed on the soundtrack. Sinatra was a little rusty but did fine, particularly doing one ot the first versions of “Send in the Clowns” on TV as part of his new material. Still, his delivery of banter was as rough and unappealing as his previous TV outings, and given that alone, I would say this one deserved to lose the Emmy to Lily.
Sinatra: Francis Albert Sinatra Does His Thing, Sinatra. Koch: Academy Awards. Pasetta: Academy Awards, Burnett Discovers Domingo, Grammy Awards.
Mama
CBS Fridays 8-8:30 p.m.*, July 1, 1949-March 17, 1957
N: Dramatic Show, 1950; Actress (Peggy Wood), 1952; Actress, Continuing Performance, Drama (Wood), 1956
The grandfather (grandmother?) of all TV comedy-dramas, Mama starred Peggy Wood as Marta Hansen, the mother of Nels (Dick Van Patten), Katrin (Rosemary Rice) and Dagmar (Iris Mann 1949, Robin Morgan 1950-56, Toni Campbell 1956-57) and wife of handyman Lars (Judson Laire). Marta and Lars were immigrants from Norway who retained their accent and an abiding love of their children. A few relatives joined them in relocating to San Francisco in the early 1900s, such as Aunt Jenny (Ruth Gates). The stories often verged into treacle, but Wood radiated genuine charisma as Mama. Each show ended with a subdued pitch by sponsor Maxwell House with family and friends drinking its coffee until the advertiser dropped it on July 27, 1956. It returned five months later on Sunday afternoons, switching from live to filmed episodes, but the setup and cast were aging (Van Patten, nearly 30, still played a teen living at home), so it ended after three months there. If you remember Mama as I Remember Mama from its previous adaptations as a Broadway play in 1944 and movie in 1948 under that name (all of which along with the TV show were based on Kathryn Forbes’ novel Mama’s Bank Account), or by the fact that each episode began with a voiceover of middle child and now adult Katrin paging through a family photo album and concluding, “But most of all, I remember Mama,” you are not alone – its Emmy nominations also credited it as I Remember Mama.
A Man and His Music + Ella + Jobim
NBC p.m., Nov. 13, 1967
N: Musical or Variety Program (Robert Scheerer, P); Individual Achievement in Music (Arthur Malvin, special musical material)
Ella Fitzgerald and guitarist Antonio Carlos Jobim joined Frank Sinatra for the latter’s third special in as many years, this time set in theatre in the round but with the same enjoyable classy air as in the past (Sinatra and Jobim wore tuxes). Earlier in 1967 Sinatra and Jobim collaborated on an album, while Sinatra was a longtime admirer of Fitzgerald, who stole the hour with her typically great vocalizing on several numbers. Malvin, who later won an Emmy for The Carol Burnett Show, earned a Tony nomination in 1980 for his score for Sugar Babies. See also Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music.
Scheerer: American Film Institute Salute to Bette Davis, Barbara Streisand: A Happening in Central Park, Danny Kaye Show, Fame, Live from Lincoln Center, Shirley MacLaine: If They Could See Me Now. Malvin: Carol Burnett Show.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
NBC Mondays 8-9 p.m.*, Sept. 22, 1964-Jan. 15, 1968
N: Program Achievement in Entertainment (Sam Rolfe, P), 1965; Drama Series (Norman Felton, EP), 1966; Individual Achievement in Entertainment (David McCallum, actor), (Fred Keonkamp, cinematographer), (Henry Berman, Joseph Dervin, Will Gulick, editors) and (production team effort, special photographic effects), 1965; Supporting Actor, Drama (Leo G. Carroll), 1966, 1967; Lead Actor, Drama (McCallum), 1966; Achievement in Music (Jerry Goldsmith), 1966; Art Direction (George Davis, Merrill Pye, James Sullivan), 1966; Set Direction (Henry Grace, Francisco Lombardo, Jack Mills, Charles Thompson), 1966; Special Allied Arts (Arnold Goode, Bill Graham, Bob Murdock, creation of unusual props), 1966; Cinematography (Koenkamp), 1966; Film Editing (Berman, Dervin, Gulick), 1966; Sound Editing (John J. Lipow, William Rival), 1966
Mannix
CBS Saturdays 10-11 p.m.*, Sept. 16, 1967-Aug. 27, 1975
W: Actress – Supporting Role, Drama (Gail Fisher), 1970
N: Drama Series (Bruce Geller, EP; Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, P), 1972, 1973; Actor, Supporting Role, Drama (Joseph Campanella), 1968; Actress, Single Performance, Support (Nancy Kovack, “The Girl Who Came in With the Tide”), 1969; Lead Actor, Drama (Mike Connors), 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973; Supporting Actress, Drama (Fisher), 1971, 1972, 1973; Art Direction or Scenic Design (Jan M. Van Tamelan, art director, Fred R. Price, set director), 1971, 1973; Film Sound Editing (Douglas H. Grindstaff, Edward L. Sandlin, Josef E. Von Stroheim, Seth D. Larsen, Bill Rivol, Billie Owens, “Sunburst”), 1971; Film Sound Mixing (Joel F. Moss, Don Rush, “Sunburst”), 1971
Los Angeles gumshoe Joe Mannix (Connors) battled baddies first under Lou Wickersham (Joseph Campanella 1967-68), leader of a sophisticated crime unit called Intertect, then with Peggy Fair (Gail Fisher 1968-75), widow of one of Mannix’s old pals, as his secretary. A surprisingly mundane crime entry either way, given that creators William Levinson and William Link came up with Columbo and many excellent TV-movies and that executive producer Bruce Geller created Mission: Impossible. It is mystifying why the Academy nominated it as best drama twice and Connors as best actor four consecutive times, and its Emmy winner Fisher had a marginal acting career afterward. The reason might have been its popularity – it was a top 30 hit half of its run. In fact, the show was ranked #20 in its last season when CBS cancelled it because Paramount, the series’ production company, sold repeats of its first year to ABC for use in that network’s late night lineup in the 1975-76 season, and CBS felt the unprecedented move would damage the ratings of the regular show. The strategy backfired on Paramount, as few stations reran Mannix after the ABC exposure. Nevertheless, Mannix did return on a guest shot of Diagnosis Murder in 1997, just as Connors had played him on a 1971 episode of Here’s Lucy. This was the only Emmy nomination for Campanella, whose decades of other fine TV acting somehow went unnoticed.
Geller: Mission: Impossible. Grindstaff: Many. Sandlin: Many. Von Stroheim: The Immortal, Medic, QB VII. Rivol: Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Marcus Welby, M.D.
ABC Wednesday p.m., March 26, 1969
N: Writing, Drama (Don M. Mankiewicz); Editing (Gene Palmer)
The pilot for the TV series. For more info, see next entry.
Mank
Marcus Welby, M.D.
ABC Tuesdays 10-11 p.m., Sept. 23, 1969-May 11, 1976
W: Dramatic Series (David Victor, EP; David J. O’Connell, P), 1970; Actor, Drama Series (Robert Young), 1970; Supporting Actor, Drama Series (James Brolin) 1970; Cinematography, Entertainment Programming (Walter Strenge, “Hello, Goodbye, Hello”), 1970
N: Drama Series, 1971, 1972; New Series, 1970; Dramatic Program (“Hello, Goodbye, Hello”), 1970; Actor, Drama (Young), 1971, 1972; Supporting Actor, Drama (Brolin), 1971, 1972, 1973; Supporting Actress, Drama (Elena Verdugo), 1971, 1972; Cinematography, Entertainment Programming (Strenge, “A Spanish Saying I Made Up”), 1971; Actress, Single Performance, Drama or Comedy (Sheree North), 1976
So many distinctions – ABC’s first #1 series for a season (it topped the 1970-71 chart), the – and yet so little to enjoy now. Edith Bunker made reference to this series several times on All in the Family, which indicates how the talent on that show regarded its appeal as simplistic. NBC programming whiz Paul Klein used this series as an example of his “Least Objectionable Program” theory of what audiences would watch, saying that it appealed to people more than its original competition, 60 Minutes on CBS and First Tuesday on NBC, because the latter two were documentaries with depressing outcomes, and this one offered hope. Young employed his warm, paternal image cultivated previously on Father Knows Best to great effect here.
Marilyn, The Untold Story
ABC p.m., Sept. 28, 1980
N: Actress, Limited Series or Special (Catherine Hicks); Cinematography, Limited Series or Special (Terry K. Meade); Art Direction, Limited Series or Special (Jan Scott, Sidney Z. Litwack, art directors, Bill Harp, set director); Makeup (Allan “Whitey” Snyder)
Based on Norman Mailer’s book of the same name, this bio covered the life of Marilyn Monroe (Hicks) with all the expected names to those familiar to her tale, including casting John Ireland as John Huston, Frank Converse as Joe DiMaggio and Jason Miller as Arthur Miller. Hicks’ verve compensated what she lacked in looks, and the movie faithfully recreated the high and low points of her life, but there is something inherently exploitative about recounting Monroe’s rise via her sex appeal and fall during her tragic last years that requires more sensitive scriptwriting than this to make it a legitimate piece of entertainment. The fact that it took three directors to put it together did not help either. This was the second TV-movie on Monroe in 1980 – for the first, see Moviola.
Meade: CBS Afternoon Playhouse. Harp: Many. Scott: Many. Snyder: Bell System Family Theatre, 1975 Fashion Awards, Little House on the Prairie.
Mark Twain Tonight!
CBS p.m., March 6, 1967
W: Individual Achievements in Art Direction and Allied Crafts (Dick Smith, makeup)
N: Dramatic Program (David Susskind, P); Actor, Single Performance, Drama (Hal Holbrook); Director, Drama (Paul Bogart)
Holbrook re-enacted the famous author of the title before a studio audience in a version of his one-man show he started off-Broadway in 1959. The special was just as much a treat as the stage show, with Holbrook perfectly capturing the writer’s humor and style, but particularly impressive because of the old man makeup he wore was convincing even under the rather harsh video cameras of the period. The only quibble I have was listing this as a dramatic program – it had more genuine laughs in it than some of the comedy nominees for 1966-67. This was one of three nominations Susskind had in the Dramatic Program category in 1967 – he also lost with The Glass Menagerie but won with Death of a Salesman. Likewise, Bogart competed against himself with The Final War of Olly Winter, but he lost to Alex Segal for Death of a Salesman.
Susskind: Many. Holbrook: Bogart:
Martin Kane Private Eye
NBC Thursdays 10-10:30 p.m., Sept. 1, 1949-June 17, 1954
N: Mystery, Action or Adventure Program, 1953
Martin Kane (William Gargan 1949-51, Lloyd Nolan 1951-52, Lee Tracy 1952-53, Mark Stevens 1953-54) was the first long-lasting TV detective, and probably the smokiest. Sponsored by U.S. Tobacco, the live series made it a point to have the lead smoke a pipe filled with one of its brands each show and stop midway during the show at a shop run by Happy McMann (Walter Kinsella) to buy such now-extinct brands as Dills Best and Tweed, followed by Happy making the commercial pitch to another customer. Watching these segments makes one queasy today knowing that Gargan contracted throat cancer and Nolan died of lung cancer, both probably associated with their smoking on this show. Away from the tobacconist, the show’s mysteries often involved homicides committed at the outset, with a suspect then asking Kane to find the real killer. While the stories were not boring, the series had a tendency towards being crude and stilted in its acting, writing, directing and production. It lost to Dragnet, a show designed precisely to counteract the clichés found in series like Martin Kane Private Eye.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
CBS Saturdays 9-9:30 p.m.*, Sept. 19, 1970-Sept. 3, 1977
Mary even had the unenviable situation of having to compete with her former supporting stars Harper and Leachman in 1976 in the lead comedy actress category, which she won.
Masquerade Party
ABC Wednesdays 9-9:30 p.m.* (also NBC and CBS), July 14, 1952-Sept. 16, 1960
N: Audience, Guest Participation or Panel Program, 1954
Four celebrities had five minutes to guess the identity of an elaborately made up and disguised famous personality by asking yes-or-no questions. The outfits served usually served as a clue (e.g., Ethel Merman as a man selling ethyl gas). In 1954 guests earned a dollar for every second the panel failed to identify them, with the money going to their favorite charity, plus received the sponsor’s products, and each panelist wore a mask over his or her face before being introduced. A fun way to pass time, particularly amusing when the panel went the wrong way in guessing what clue the outfit meant. A summer replacement series in 1952 and 1953, this ran on ABC from 1954-56 before moving to NBC through the fall of 1957, returned on CBS in the summer of 1958, and then alternated between NBC and CBS from the fall of 1958 until its cancellation. Its peregrination was nothing next to its changeover in personnel of at least one person every year. Ilka Chase, Buff Cobb, Ogden Nash and Bobby Sherwood made up the panel in 1954 and Peter Donald was host – after Donald had been a panelist in 1952 and 1953!
Masquerade Party
Syndicated Weekly 30 Minutes, September 1974-1975
N: Makeup (Harry C. Blake, Stan Winston, Jim Kail, Ralph Gulko, Bob Ostermann, Tom Cole, Larry Abbott)
Prior to hosting Family Feud, Richard Dawson did his first game show emceeing in this revival, which used three regular panelists (Bill Bixby, Lee Meriwether and Nipsey Russell) asking three questions each of the masked celebrity (the same format of the original during its last three years). The fourth and final game had the celebrities ask one question each to help two members of the studio audience guess who it could be, followed by champagne being served to all of the show’s celebrities, which was a nice incentive to undergo the extensive and excellent makeup. (I could not believe how well they hid Allen Ludden and June Lockhart, among others.) Too bad some of the banter and questions were prepared in advance, thus taking away from what could have been tremendous spontaneous fun. The shows were taped in the summer of 1974 in advance of the production schedules for Bixby’s series The Magician and Meriwether’s Barnaby Jones.
Blake: General Electric’s All-Star Anniversary, Hallmark Hall of Fame, Third Bill Cosby Special. Winston: Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, The Big Event, Gargoyles, Pinocchio. Kail: Peter and Paul. Ostermann: General Electric’s All-Star Anniversary. Cole: Backstage at the White House, Once Upon a Brothers Grimm. Abbott: Once Upon a Brothers Grimm.
Match Game
NBC Weekdays 4-4:25 p.m., Dec. 31, 1962-Sept. 20, 1969; CBS Weekdays 3:30-4 p.m.*, July 2, 1973-April 20, 1979 (also syndicated 1975-81)
N: Individual Achievement in Daytime Programming (Gene Rayburn), 1967; Writing for a Game Show (Robert Sherman, Patrick Neary, Joe Neustein, Dick DeBartolo), 1974; Host – Game or Audience Participation Show (Rayburn), 1975, 1977, 1978; Daytime Game or Audience Participation Show (Ira Skutch, P), 1976, 1977
Gene Rayburn hosted what began as a straightforward game where two teams, each consisting of two players and a celebrity, tried to write the same answers to an open-ended directive such as “Name a city in Europe” to win. When it returned to the air after a nearly four-year absence in 1973 in a modified format, ratings were poor until writer Dick DeBartolo suggested to executive producer Mark Goodson the show use statements with blank portions that allowed for titillating double entendres as possible answers. That did the trick, as two competing contestants to try and match written answers with a panel of six celebrities on two tiers, including regulars Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly and Richard Dawson (1973-78). At least one of those regulars merited an Emmy nomination for their witty interaction with Gene, the contestants and the rest of the panel which contributed to leading Match Game to be the #1 daytime show for a couple of years in the mid-1970s before CBS screwed it up by moving it to other time slots. Rayburn, whose loose hosting and mugging delivery of questions perfectly infused the needed sense of wackiness for the show, undeservedly holds the unenviable record of having the most game show host nominations without a win. As with several other hit 1970s game shows, it had several unsuccessful revivals in the 1980s and 1990s.
Matinee Theater
NBC Weekdays 3-4 p.m., Oct. 31, 1955-June 27, 1958
W: Daytime Program, 1955
A new live play on TV every afternoon? That could have been foolhardy, but under the leadership of creator/producer Albert McCleery, this series was a class entry in the daytime world, with fine work contributed by the regular crew and guest actors on everything from suspense thrillers to light comedy. Broadcast in color from Hollywood, it sported a distinctive kaleidoscope clip as a “bumper” between the commercials and the main drama, along with host John Conte adding plot points where needed. (He even acted on a few shows.) Unfortunately, NBC’s daytime programming strategy was more on prestige than ratings by 1958, and with the competing The Big Payoff and The Verdict is Yours on CBS attracting bigger audiences, it unceremoniously canned this in favor of two unsuccessful soap operas, Today is Ours and From These Roots, and network daytime TV has never been as adventurous since then. Coincidentally (or not?), the Emmys did not hold a daytime program category after this win until 1962. Officially the title was NBC Matinee Theater.
Maverick
ABC Sundays 7:30-8:30 p.m.*, Sept. 22, 1957-July 8, 1962
W: Western Series, 1959
N: New Program of the Year, 1957; Actor, Continuing Performance, Drama (James Garner), 1959; Cinematography (Harold Stine, “Shady Deal at Sunny Acres”), 1959, and (Ralph Woolsey, “Diamond in the Rough”), 1959; Film Editing (Robert T. Sparr, “The Quick and the Dead”), 1957, (Sparr, “Rope of Cards”), 1959 and (Robert Watts, “Saga of Waco Williams”), 1959
Bret Maverick (James Garner 1957-60) and his brother Bart (Jack Kelly) were two cowpokes who preferred cards, women and money over justice and peace, Delightful western even for people who hate the genre, at least in the first couple of years, with Guest actresses probably had a ball, since they often were allowed to be as larcenous (?) as the Maverick boys rather than mere damsels in distress.
Garner: Several. Stine: Cavalcade of America. Woolsey: It Takes a Thief. Watts: Several.
Max Liebman Presents
NBC Saturdays 9-10:30 p.m., Sept. 12, 1954-June 6, 1956
N: Choreographer (Rod Alexander), 1954, 1955
A monthly series of live musical specials that turned out to drive more viewers to watch regular programs opposite it on CBS, Max Liebman Presents was named in honor of its producer. It started with an unfairly critically reviled original called “Satin and Spurs” that spelled doom on Betty Hutton’s TV career, and though later efforts were better received, the great masses never watched in big numbers. Its nominated choreographer was not part of that debut, which might be why he was the series’ sole nominee, but in truth Alexander did a fine job of running the dancers in such later productions as “Naughty Marietta.” He got the job because he was a regular dancer along with his wife, Bambi Linn, on Liebman’s previous hit, Your Show of Shows. Alexander lost to June Taylor of The Jackie Gleason Show in 1955 and Tony Charmoli of Your Hit Parade in 1956.
McCloud
NBC Sundays 8:30-10 p.m.*, Sept. 16, 1970-Aug. 28, 1977
N: Limited Series (Glen Larson, EP; Michael Gleason, P), 1974, (Larson, EP; Gleason, Ronald Satloff, P), 1975; Lead Actor, Limited Series (Dennis Weaver), 1974, 1975; Supporting Actress (Shelley Winters), 1974; Supporting Actor (J.D. Cannon), 1975
Deputy Marshal Sam McCloud (Weaver) left the confines of Taos, New Mexico to join New York City’s 27th Precinct, but he did not drop his cowboy style to accommodate catching crooks in the big city, much to the chagrin of his loud superior, Chief Peter B. Clifford (J.D. Cannon), and his often exasperated partner on patrol, Sgt. Joe Broadhurst (Terry Carter). Not all the urbanites found him unsophisticated, however - for one, his sophisticated girlfriend Chris Coughlin (Diana Muldaur) adored him. An obvious ripoff of the 1968 film Coogan’s Bluff, this cop drama is unique in that it ran as an hour its first season, 90 minutes its next three seasons and two hours its last two seasons. Otherwise, it was pretty pedestrian in most departments, and nowhere near the series it mostly alternated with, Columbo, in terms of quality and ratings. The fact that the three nominated producers have between them just one other Emmy nod speaks volumes of this show. I would have nominated Muldaur over Cannon myself, as her character has much more dimension than his. Winters earned her third and final Emmy nomination here playing a madam who needed McCloud’s help to locate a killer.
Larson: Quincy. Weaver: Gunsmoke. Winters: Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre.
McHale’s Navy
ABC Tuesdays 8:30-9 p.m.*, Oct. 11, 1962-Aug. 30, 1966
N: Comedy Series, 1963, 1964; Lead Actor, Series (Ernest Borgnine), 1963; Supporting Actor (Tim Conway), 1963; Directorial Achievement in Comedy (Sidney Lanfield), 1964
McHale’s Navy was as unrealistic a view of World War II as its lead-in from 1963-66, Combat!, strove to be authentic. Conniving Lt. Cdr. Quinton McHale (Borgnine) harnessed his crew on P.T. 73 to bypass Navy protocol while they toured the South Seas. His hijinks peeved his superior, Capt. Wallace B. Binghamton (Joe Flynn), who was determined to catch McHale in a lie and discharge him. Unfortunately for him, McHale’s sway over subordinates such as Lester Gruber (Carl Ballantine) was stronger than what the captain mustered with his assistants, the obsequious Lt. Elroy Carpenter (Bob Hastings) and the befuddled, easily confused Ensign Charles Parker (Conway). This sizable hit (it peaked at #22 for the 1963-64 season) was so-so slapstick at best, yet it somehow inspired two theatrical movies, McHale’s Navy (1964) and McHale’s Navy Joins the Air Force (1965) during its run as well as a 1997 theatrical remake with Borgnine in a supporting role. Oddly, the pilot was an hour-long drama on Alcoa Premiere on April 3, 1962, with Borgnine in the cast. Lanfield was a director of mainly film comedies since 1931 who retired after McHale’s Navy ended.
Borgnine: Hallmark Hall of Fame. Conway: The Carol Burnett Show, Coach.
Medic
NBC Mondays 9-9:30 p.m., Sept. 13, 1954-Nov. 19, 1956
W: Director of Photography (Lester Shorr, “I Climb the Stairs”), 1954; Cinematography (William Scikner, “Black Friday”), 1955
N: Drama, 1954; Individual Program of the Year (“White is the Color”), 1954; Lead Actor in a Series (Richard Boone), 1954; Outstanding New Personality (Boone), 1954; Actress in a Single Performance (Beverly Garland, “White is the Color”), 1954; Written Dramatic Material (James Moser, “White is the Color,”) 1954; Sound Editing (Josef von Stroheim, “Red Christmas”), 1954; Film Editing (Jodie Copelan, “White is the Color”), 1954; Original Music Composed for TV (Victor Young), 1954; Producer, Film Series (Frank La Tourette), 1955; Art Direction, Film Series (Ernst Fegte), 1955; Musical Contribution for Television (Sidney Fine, for orchestration of Victor Young’s music), 1956
“Guardian of birth, leader of the sick, comforter of the aged – to the profession of medicine, to the men and women who labor in its cause, this story is dedicated.” So began each introduction to Medic, followed by Dr. Konrad Styner (Richard Boone) addressing the camera to give details of that episode’s case prior to the playlet in which he sometimes appeared. Too bad they were mostly dreary, depressing melodramas that emphasized clinical over compassionate views of patients coping with car crash injuries, breast cancer, or in the case of the debut “White is the Color,” a pregnant woman with leukemia (Garland) who went into labor. Probably since it covered topics that had been mostly taboo on TV, the Emmys inordinately honored Medic with 10 nominations in its first season – the most ever for a series up to that time, and more than double the amount in 1954 received by the top-rated I Love Lucy, which ran opposite Medic. These were the only nominations for Garland, Moser, Copelan, LaTourette, Fine, Fegte (a four-time Oscar nominee who won the statuette in 1945 for color art direction in Frenchman’s Creek) and winners Shorr and Scikner. Moser, who created Medic, had better commercial and critical success with his next medical series, Ben Casey.
Boone: Have Gun Will Travel, Richard Boone Show. Young: Light’s Diamond Jubilee. Von Stroheim: The Immortal, Mannix, QB VII.
Medical Center
CBS Wednesdays 9-10 p.m.*, Sept. 24, 1969-Sept. 6, 1976
N: Music Composition (Alexander Courage, “Cycle of Peril”), 1973; Lead Actor, Single Appearance, Comedy or Drama (Robert Reed, “The Fourth Sex”), 1976
A counterpart to Marcus Welby, M.D. that ran concurrently for seven seasons, Medical Center was a marginally better melodrama than that other doctor series, but it was far from being as good as, say, ER. Here Dr. Paul Lochner (James Daly) mentored Dr. Joe Gannon (Chad Everett) on medicine and treating patients in a Los Angeles hospital, joined occasionally by assorted nurses and other physicians. Nominee Courage, a two-time Oscar contender for his scores for The Pleasure Seekers (1965) and Doctor Doolittle (1967), is best remembered among TV fans for writing the theme for Star Trek, but he did not write this series’ pulsating opening theme – that was provided by Lalo Schifrin. Reed’s role here was fascinating, playing TV’s first fictional character wanting a sex change operation, and knowing that in real life he was a closeted gay man at the time (as was Daly) layers the effectiveness of his low-key performance. He earned another Emmy nomination the same year for his guest work on Rich Man Poor Man. Incidentally, this series holds the record for being the highest-rated medical drama airing on CBS, peaking at #8 in the 1970-71 season.
Courage: Julie Andrews … The Sound of Christmas; Liberty Weekend – Opening Ceremonies. Reed: Rich Man Poor Man; Roots.