Mission: Impossible to My Three Sons
Bob Cummings’ Emmy nomination for his work on My Hero in 1954 appears to be wrong in terms of ineligibility, unless I have missed some fact on the series being in production that year that I have yet to hear about (see the entry for more info on this). Actually, the real shock here is seeing My Little Margie listed as an Emmy nominee.
Mission: Impossible
CBS Sundays 10-11 p.m.*, Sept. 17, 1966-Sept. 8, 1973
W: Drama Series, (Bruce Geller and Joseph Gantman, P) 1967, (Gantman), 1968; Lead Actress, Drama (Barbara Bain), 1967, 1968, 1969; Writing, Drama (Geller), 1967; Film and Sound Editing (Paul Krasny, Robert Watts), 1967; Art Direction and Scenic Design (William P. Ross, art director and Lou Hafley, set director, “The Bunker”), 1969; Film Sound Mixing (Gordon Day and Nick Gaffey, “The Submarine”), 1970; Makeup (Bob Dawn, “Catafalque”), 1971
N: Drama Series (Geller, EP), 1969; Lead Actor, Drama (Martin Landau), 1967, 1968, 1969; Music Achievement (Lalo Schifrin), 1967, (Schifrin, “The Seal”), 1968 and (Schifrin, “The Heir Apparent”), 1969; Writing, Drama (Allan Balter, William Read Woodfield, “The Seal”), 1968; Directing, Drama (Lee H. Katzin, “The Killing”), 1968; Supporting Actor, Drama (Greg Morris), 1969, 1970, 1972; Art Direction and Scenic Design (Ross, “Echo of Yesterday”), 1968, (Gibson Holly, art director, and Hafley, “The Falcon”), 1970, (Holly, Hafley, “Encore”), 1972 and (Holly, Hafley, “Western”), 1973; Film Editing (Watts, “The Traitor”), 1968, (Donald D. Wages, “The Photographer”), 1968 and (Arthur David Hilton, “The Falcon”), 1970; Individual Achievement (Joseph G. Sorokin, sound editor, “The Survivors”), 1968; Dramatic Program (“The Execution,” Balter and Woodfield, EP), 1969; Cinematography (Al Francis, “The Amnesiac”), 1970; Achievement, Technical Crafts (Jonnie Burke, special visual effects, “Time Bomb”), 1970; Film Sound Editing (Douglas H. Grindstaff, Frank R. White, Joe Kavigan, Don Crosby, Chuck Perry, “The Blast”), 1971; Lead Actress, Drama (Lynda Day George), 1973
The only 1960s spy series to last into the 1970s, Mission: Impossible involved a secret U.S. agency led by Dan Briggs (Steven Hill 1966-67) or Jim Phelps (Peter Graves 1967-73) who conned villains out of their dastardly plots and sometimes to their deaths. The team included master of disguise Rollin Hand (Landau 1966-69), glamorous ex-model Cinnamon Carter (Bain 1966-69), electronics expert Barney Collier (Morris) and muscleman Willy Armitage (Peter Lupus). Landau and Bain’s departure in a contract dispute brought various replacements, including Lisa Casey (Day George 1971-73), but the series, previously #11 in the 1968-69 season, never recovered in the ratings from their departure. Ignore the revival (see next entry) and the movie trilogy from 1996-2006 starring Tom Cruise – this was the real deal, a stylish if often outlandish adventure with intense pacing, intricate plotting, fine acting and eye-opening sets, costumes and special effects, all of which netted an impressive and mostly deserving 33 nominations over seven years. Even so, it seems incredible that Bain’s serviceable job won in 1967 and 1968 over Barbara Stanwyck (The Big Valley) and Diana Rigg (The Avengers). How she won three in a row while her-then husband Landau was denied each time for his more rigorous role is an Emmy enigma. The series also provided the only nomination for veteran TV director Lee H. Katzin, who has dozens of credits. Finally, thrice-nominated composer Lalo Schifrin, who created the urgent theme as well as scored many episodes, earned his first Emmy nomination in 1965 for composing music for the documentary The Making of the President 1964 and amassed six Oscar nominations from 1968-84 and 13 Grammy nominations since 1961, including wins for Instrumental Theme and Original Score for a Motion Picture or TV Show for Mission: Impossible in 1967.
Geller: Mannix. Watts: Many. Hafley: Many. Day: Scarlet and the Black. Gaffey: Nero Wolfe. Landau: Without a Trace. Balter and Woodfield: San Francisco International Airport (TVM). Hilton: Hawaii Five-O. Francis: The Blue and the Gray. Grindstaff: The Immortal, many more. White: 3 others. Kavigan: The Immortal. Crosby: 3 others.
Mission: Impossible
ABC Sat 8-9 p.m.*, Oct. 23, 1988-June 9, 1990
N: Sound Mixing, Series (Tom Philben, Scott Millan, Clark Conrad, Paul Clark, for “Spy”), 1989; Sound Editing, Series (Mark Server, supervising sound editor; James D. Young, supervising music editor; George R. Groves Jr., Ken Gladden, Joseph A. Johnston, Craig M. Otte, for “Golden Serpent”), 1989
A weak revival of the original, starring Peter Graves as Jim Phelps again and a new cast of assistant younger spies in the same sort of roles as their predecessors. Created to fill a need on ABC’s schedule due to a writer’s strike, this employed remakes of a lot of the first version’s episodes and was filmed without too much style or sparkle in Australia, both factors that did not impress old fans and failed to create many new ones, and it puttered around until dying out painlessly after two seasons. This was the only Emmy nomination for Clark and Young, although it should be noted that the former was unlikely to win any others as he is based in Australia.
Philben: Barbarians at the Gate, Challenger, Ike: Countdown to D-Day, Ironclads, The Kennedys of Massachusetts, Max Headroom, Mussolini: The Untold Story, Our Family Honor, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, Stalin, Tour of Duty. Millan: Challenger, From the Earth to the Moon, Ironclads, The Kennedys of Massachusetts, Stalin, Thirtysomething, The Young and the Restless. Conrad: Challenger, Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232, Family of Spies, Fresno, Ironclads, The Kennedys of Massachusetts, Thirtysomething, Unnatural Causes, The Untouchables. Server: Cop Rock, Law & Order, NYPD Blue. Groves: Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232, Family of Spies, Ironclads, Queen. Gladden: Challenger, Family of Spies, Fresno, Millineum, NYPD Blue, The Old Man and the Sea, The Tommyknockers, The X Files. Johnston: Challenger, Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232, Family of Spies, The Old Man and the Sea. Otte: Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232, Ironclads, The Old Curiosity Shop, The ’60s, The Untouchables.
Mr. Adams and Eve
CBS Fridays 9-9:30 p.m.*, Jan. 4, 1957-Sept. 23, 1958
N: Actress, Drama or Comedy Series (Ida Lupino), 1957; Actress, Comedy (Lupino), 1959
Performers Howard Adams (Howard Duff) and Eve Drake (Lupino) were a happily married couple who found it difficult to achieve the same sort of bliss professionally (in real life, it was the other way around for the wed Duff and Lupino). An OK sitcom, nothing too special. Lupino, not known as a comic actress, displayed appealing verve here, but I have a feeling her position as a director as well as actress in the industry contributed to her nominations, and it is a shame that despite directing many series in the 1950s and 1960s she was not nominated for her efforts on them. Most personnel involved with the show fared better in TV later – Hayden Rorke (playing Howard and Eve’s agent Steve) gained recognition as on I Dream of Jeannie, Alan Reed (as Mr. Hafter, head of a movie studio) was the voice of Fred Flintstone on The Flintstones, producer Frederick De Cordova went on to produce The Jack Benny Program and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and primary writer Sol Saks created Bewitched.
Lupino: Four Star Playhouse
Mr. Novak
NBC Tuesdays 7:30-8:30 p.m., Sept. 24, 1963-Aug. 31, 1965
N: Drama, 1964 and (Leonard Freeman, P), 1965; Actor, Series (Dean Jagger), 1964, 1965
High school literature teacher John Novak (James Franciscus) earnestly went the extra mile to assist his students and co-workers in need, with Principal Albert Vane (Jagger) offering his insight or occasional disagreement. The do-good intentions and sentiment too often dragged down each episode, and its parallels as the educational counterpart to Dr. Kildare (q.v.) are obvious as well, with Franciscus as clean cut and handsome as Richard Chamberlain and Jagger as interchangeable as Raymond Massey’s Dr. Gillespie. Nevertheless Jagger managed to be the only one in the bunch to be Emmy-nominated, even though it was as lead actor when he was a supporting one. (Way to go again, Emmys.) He later won an Emmy in 1980 for Individual Achievement in Religious Programming for This Is The Life, and he previously won a Supporting Actor Oscar in 1949 for 12 O’Clock High (see that title for more information on the series).
Freeman: Four Star Playhouse, Hawaii Five-O.
Mister Peepers
NBC Sundays 7:30-8 p.m.*, July 3, 1952-June 12, 1955
N: Situation Comedy, 1952, 1953, 1954; Comedian (Wally Cox), 1952; Male Star, Regular (Cox), 1953; Supporting Actor (Tony Randall), 1953; Supporting Actress (Marion Lorne), 1953, 1954; Written Comedy Material (James Fritzell, Everett Greenbaum), 1954
Meek science professor Robinson J. Peepers (Cox) joined the staff of Jefferson High School and encountered a wide range of personalities there, from cocky history teacher Harvey Weskit (Randall) to occasionally befuddled English instructor Mrs. Gurney (Lorne). He also found love with Rayola Dean (Norma Crane) in the music department in the summer of 1952, but by the fall, he was heavy into Nurse Nancy Remington (Patricia Benoit), and the two wed on May 23, 1954. Some claim the marriage made the last season anticlimactic and led to its cancellation, but the series always finished far behind its competition of The Jack Benny Program from 1953-55, and its failure to surpass it played a part in it ending. If this live comedy from New York was any more low-key, the show would have been nonexistent, but the leisurely pace did make it stand apart from the more raucous (and vacuous) 1950s TV comedies. Its chief pleasure came from the laidback comic styling of Cox, who inspired this series under the production of Fred Coe when Cox starred in a humorous production called “The Copper” of Coe’s series Goodyear TV Playhouse in 1951. Cox continued to do much TV until his untimely death from a heart attack in 1973, including being a regular on The Hollywood Squares.
Randall: The Odd Couple, more. Lorne: Bewitched, Sally. Greenbaum: George Gobel Show.
Mitzi’s 2nd Special
NBC p.m., Oct. 20, 1969
W: Art Direction or Scenic Design (E. Jack Krause)
Nearly a year after her first TV special, Mitzi, the multitalented Mitzi Gaynor sang, dance and performed comic bits with a few guests including Ross Martin in this show, which teamed her up for a second time with Jack Bean as executive producer and Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In alumni Larry Hovis and Ann Elder as writers. Its success resulted in more specials for Gaynor patterned after this for most of the 1970s, though oddly for CBS rather than NBC. Everything on this was tops, but the only nominee and winner was art director Krause, who received another nomination (and another win) three years later.
Krause: Diana!
Moviola
NBC p.m., May 18-20, 1980
W: Cinematography, Limited Series or Special (Gayne Rescher, “The Silent Lovers”); Costume Design, Limited Series or Special (Travilla, “The Scarlett O’Hara War”)
N: Limited Series (David L. Wolper, EP, Stan Margulies, P); Actor, Limited Series (Tony Curtis, “The Scarlett O’Hara War”); Supporting Actor, Limited Series (Harold Gould, “The Scarlett O’Hara War”); Supporting Actress, Limited Series (Carrie Nye, “The Scarlett O’Hara War”); Director, Limited Series or Special (John Erman, “The Scarlett O’Hara War”); Writing, Limited Series or Special (James Lee, “This Year’s Blonde”); Art Direction, Limited Series or Special (Michael Baugh, production designer, Jerry Adams, set decorator, “The Silent Lovers”); Music Composition, Limited Series or Special (Gerald Fried, “The Silent Lovers”); Hairstyling, Limited Series or Special (Leonard Drake, “The Silent Lovers”); Film Editing, Limited Series or Special (David Newhouse, “The Silent Lovers”)
A miniseries based on three stories about Hollywood from Garson Kanin’s novel of the same name, Moviola kicked off with “This Year’s Blonde,” a sensitive retelling of Marilyn Monroe’s breakthrough in movies unfortunately undermined by Constance Forslund’s inadequate lead star turn. Next came “The Scarlett O’Hara War,” a jaunty retelling of the search for the female lead in Gone With the Wind, with mostly unknown actresses playing mostly familiar 1930s movie stars. Nye earned a nod for her showy caricature of Tallulah Bankhead; I would have chosen the wry turn by Sharon Gless as Carole Lombard instead. Curtis (as David O. Selznick, his only Emmy-nominated role) and Gould (as Louis B. Mayer) were fine as always, but have done better. Then “The Silent Lovers” spotlighted the doomed love between Greta Garbo (Kristina Wayborn – anyone remember her?) and John Gilbert (Barry Bostwick) as Gilbert’s career ended when sound movies arrived. Gould played Mayer here too. Erman directed all three programs, and Rescher (whose only Emmy win came here) did the same for cinematography. This also was the only Emmy win for Travilla, who won an Oscar in 1949 for color costume design for The Adventures of Don Juan, followed by three other Oscar nominations. Overall this miniseries fell somewhat short of its ambitions in terms of artistic success, but all are well done enough overall to merit at least one viewing.
Rescher: Bitter Harvest, Princess and the Cabbie, Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer. Travilla: Evita Peron, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. Wolper: Many. Marguiles: Many. Gould: Police Story, Rhoda. Erman: Roots, Who Will Love My Children? Lee: Hallmark Hall of Fame, Omnibus, Roots. Baugh: Several. Adams: Several. Fried: Roots.
My Hero
NBC Saturdays 7:30-8 p.m.*, Nov. 8, 1952-Aug. 1, 1953
N: Actor, Regular Series (Robert Cummings), 1954
Los Angeles real estate agent Robert S. “Bob” Beanblossom (Cummings), with the help of his secretary/girlfriend Julie Marshall (Julie Bishop), endeavored to go the extra mile in his transactions to impress his cranky boss, Willis Thackery (John Litel) of the Thackery Realty Company. Hilarious (?) complications ensued. This sitcom with a grating laugh track was tedious in all departments, although to his credit Cummings gave his role all his comic timing to make it somewhat endurable. The nomination is a puzzler; this series ended production after its NBC run, so Cummings should not have been eligible for it. Official Emmy records credit the show as being syndicated in 1954, but that was its reruns. Apparently Cummings’ acclaim for starring in “Twelve Angry Men” on Studio One that same year (which won him an Emmy) was enough to make Emmy judges give his old sitcom a second look for consideration, and they nominated him as a result. What a lucky guy.
Cummings: The Bob Cummings Show, Studio One.
My Little Margie
NBC Wednesdays 8:30-9 p.m.* (also CBS), June 16, 1952-Aug. 24, 1955
N: Director of Photography (Walter Strenge), 1954
Margie Albright (Gale Storm) lived in a Manhattan apartment with her father Vernon (Charles Farrell), and they meddled in each other’s lives, supposedly to benefit the other one but really to satisfy themselves. The epitome of everything wrong with most 1950s sitcoms – weak setups, lame scripts, incessant mugging by the actors, mundane production and direction, and add to that a politically incorrect slow black building superintendent called Charlie (Willie Best). Still, it made a TV star out of Storm, who followed this with The Gale Storm Show. This was the first of six nominations for Strenge, who won for Marcus Welby, M.D. and earned an Oscar nomination for his black-and-white cinematography on Stagecoach to Fury in 1956.
Strenge: Marcus Welby, Portrait: A Man Whose Name Was John, Wagon Train.
My Name is Barbra
CBS Wednesday 9-10 p.m., April 28, 1965
W: Program Achievement in Entertainment (Richard Lewine, P); Individual Achievement in Entertainment (Barbra Streisand, star, Joe Layton, concept, choreography and staging, Tom John, art director, Bill Harp, set decorator, and Peter Matz, musical director)
N: Individual Achievement in Entertainment (Dwight Hemion, director)
The making of a legend, TV style: After four years of national TV appearances in guest shots, Barbra Streisand received her own solo variety show and made the most of it, singing, dancing, joking and mugging her heart out to let viewers know she was a superstar and don’t you forget it. Ably assisting her was a top-notch crew creating scenarios as distinctive and striking as the singer herself, although she was just as compelling vocalizing alone on stage, as she did at the end with “Happy Days Are Here Again.” Quite simply one of the greatest specials ever, with an eager studio audience lapping it up along the way. It generated two hit albums for Streisand and led to another lauded special – see Color Me Barbra.
Streisand: Color Me Barbra,
My Sweet Charlie
NBC Tuesday 9-11 p.m., Jan. 20, 1970
W: Actress, Lead Role, Single Performance (Patty Duke); Writing, Drama (Richard Levinson, William Link); Film Editing, Special or Feature Length Program (Edward M. Abroms)
N: Dramatic Program (Bob Banner, EP; Levinson, Link, P); Actor, Lead Role, Single Performance (Al Freeman Jr.); Direction, Drama (Lamont Johnson); Cinematography, Special or Feature Length Program (Gene Polito); Film Sound Mixing (Melvin M. Metcalfe Sr., John Stransky Jr., Clarence Self, Roger Heman Sr.)
Young, pregnant Marlene Chambers (Duke) thinks she has found the ideal hideaway for herself in an abandoned home near a lighthouse, only to have her seclusion spoiled by the arrival of Charles Roberts (Freeman), where the two form an unlikely bond while facing possible discovery. One of the highest-rated TV-movies of all time, this production is slightly dated in theme (e.g., Marlene’s initial hysterical response to being with Charlie, and the notion that humans have more in common with each other than differences in race suggest), but as a character study it holds up well, and Duke and Freeman are fantastic in their roles. It is certainly better than most of its fellow competitors for Dramatic Program in 1970, a wan version of David Copperfield and an unexceptional episode of Marcus Welby, M.D. (One word of warning to more sensitive viewers: As correctly defined by her character, Duke uses the “N” word several times.) Filmed beautifully by Gene Polito on location at Port Bolivar, Texas, My Sweet Charlie was an adaptation of a novel and 1966 Broadway play of the same name, both by David Westheimer. Abroms was nominated for an editing Oscar for 1983’s Blue Thunder. This was the only Emmy nomination for Polito, who was quite active from the 1950s through 1970s, as well as most of the sound mixers. However, Heman won an Oscar for special effects for Crash Dive in 1944 as well as four other Oscar nominations from 1943-1949.
Duke: Captains and the Kings, A Family Turned Upside Down, George Washington, The Girl on the Edge of Town, Having Babies III, The Miracle Worker, The Patty Duke Show, Touched by an Angel, The Women’s Room. Levinson: Columbo, The Execution of Private Slovik, Murder She Wrote, The Storyteller, That Certain Summer. Link: Columbo, The Execution of Private Slovik, Murder She Wrote, The Storyteller, That Certain Summer. Abroms: Columbo. Banner: The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, Real Kids, Real Adventures, A Special Sesame Street Christmas. Freeman: One Life to Live, Roots: The Next Generation. Johnston: Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232, Ernie Kovacs: Behind the Laughter, The Execution of Private Slovik, Fear on Trial, The Kennedys of Massachusetts, Lincoln, That Certain Summer, Unnatural Causes, Wallenberg: A Hero’s Story. Metcalfe: That Certain Summer.
My Three Sons
CBS Saturdays 8:30-9 p.m.* (also ABC), Sept. 29, 1960-Aug. 24, 1972
N: Directing, Comedy (Peter Tewksbury), 1962; Supporting Actor, Comedy (William Demarest), 1968; Single Performance, Supporting Actress (Irene Hervey, “The O’Casey Scandal”), 1969
It began with widower Steve Douglas (Fred MacMurray) raising Mike (Tim Considine 1960-65), Robbie (1960-71) and Chip Douglas (Stanley Livingston) with help from his father-in-law Michael Francis “Bub” O’Casey (William Frawley 1960-65). It ended with Steve having adopted the former orphan Ernie Thompson Douglas (Barry Livingston 1963-72), Bub being replaced as family caretaker by his brother, Uncle Charley O’Casey (Demarest 1965-72), and four marriages – Steve to widow Barbara Harper (Beverly Garland 1969-72), which brought her daughter Dodie (Dawn Lyn 1969-72) into the family too; Mike to Sally (Meredith MacRae 1963-65); Chip to Polly Williams (Ronne Troup 1970-72); and Robbie to Katie Miller (Tina Cole 1967-72), which resulted in the birth of male triplets. Despite all the turnover, this series was a top 30 hit all but three of its seasons. ABC originally aired it, but CBS offered executive producer Don Fedderson a seven-year deal in 1965 to move to that network that was irresistible and proved to be a smart investment. To accommodate MacMurray’s desire to do movies, scripts were written in advance so that each season could be filmed in just three months, a process Fedderson later did with Family Affair. Demarest, a supporting actor Oscar nominee for 1946’s The Jolson Story, spent more than 50 years in movies and TV, usually like here a crusty foil. Hervey was the wife of singer Allan Jones and mother of Jack Jones previously seen in Honey West who rarely acted on TV after this nomination before she died in 1998 at age 89.
Tewksbury: Father Knows Best.