TV

Trek Review: “Where No Man Has Gone Before” (the air version)

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As everyone knows, there are two Star Trek pilots.  You don’t need the history lesson from me, that has been said many, many times.  It also goes without saying that in a good number of TV shows in history, there are major differences between a pilot or pilots and the actual series, such as casting changes, set changes, costume changes, etc.

What’s interesting about watching either of Trek’s pilots against the actual series is these not so subtle differences.  The uniforms were quite different (no red shirts, no mini skirts) and Spock looked different as well.  Note the more up-swept eyebrows that made him look more devilish than later on.

The tale of Where No Man itself is a very straightforward action-filled moral dilemma… does the Captain liquidate his best friend who has mutated into a god-like figure?  I wouldn’t want to have to make that decision, I can assure you.  But James Kirk has to do it, to save the ship and save the crew.

I would have loved this story in 1966 or 2016, no matter when I would have seen it for the first time.  This is the story that sold the show to NBC to make it into a weekly series.  You can definitely see why.  All of the great elements of a great show are present, even if all of the characters aren’t here.

I wonder how many people noticed in 1966 and said the following…

“Hey, where’s Dr. McCoy???  Who’s that old fart playing the Doctor here?  Where have I seen him?”

Of course I am referring to Dr. Piper played by Paul Fix, who was a veteran of many, many movies and TV shows.

And you movie buffs will know that perhaps the roles Gary Lockwood and Sally Kellerman are better known for are ahead of them. It helps that they bring great charm and charisma to this pilot.

All in all, a memorable hour of TV that is significant on so many levels. I could go on for days about it, but I’ve said enough. 🙂

By the way (and I might include these every week, because I like them), here is a look at next week…

Trek Review: “Charlie X”

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This story has always been a so-so one for me.  The tale of Charles Evans, alone since he was three years old, discovered at 17.  But, he was given a power by a race called the Thasians so he could survive.  Couple teen angst with power to change things at will and you have a tale probably better suited for the Twilight Zone episode “It’s a Good Life.”

I almost certainly would have drawn that conclusion in 1966 as I do now.  But, that doesn’t make it a bad episode whatsoever.

The guest star, Robert Walker, Jr., I have always thought that his performance leaves a lot to be desired as Charlie.  Sometimes it feels as if he is going a little too over the top in his interpretation of the role.  It’s not bad, but it leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion.

The story is solid.  Who can fault a script by the legendary D.C. Fontana?  Visually the show is a bit passable, but most bottle shows (that being a story completely on board the ship, to save money) are.  No big visual effects here, nor are any necessary.  This is definitely a story-driven episode.

That music score by Fred Steiner however is the most memorable thing to take away from this show.  Such legendary cues that would be heard several times over in later episodes.

Me, the TV viewer of 1966, would have gobbled up every moment of this show!  It was a much better experience than the previous episode, and more indicative of what this show is about.  What would intrigue me however, is the teaser for next week, and the odd looking uniforms to what I had previously seen.

 

See you next week! 🙂

 

Trek Review: “The Man Trap”

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Thursday night, September 8th, 1966 from 8:30pm-9:30pm on NBC is a sacred, historic time in television history.  It’s the debut of Star Trek.  Viewers were treated to the saga of the Enterprise visiting Planet M-113 and crossing paths with a monster that has come to be affectionately known as the “Salt Vampire.”

I can’t help but think after watching this show that the audience, unless they absolutely knew what they were watching, would be left bespectacled, but a tad confused.  Nobody had ever seen a show like this on television before.

To be quite honest, I probably would have felt the same way.  But, knowing my penchant for unusual ideas, I would have been fascinated to tune in again.  Just to see what they were cooking up next.

I always have a false impression that you always should be introducing characters in a series premiere.  One has to remember however, that Star Trek was never like that at all.  Even in the two pilots, there are little morsels here and there revealing character traits, but the background of all characters is something that was gradually added to over time.  As to whether or not this episode needed more introductory material, not really.  The plot is the point of this episode, any expository stuff is merely here to pad out the episode.

Speaking of opportunities for exposition, I call attention to a scene in the middle of the episode.  It’s when Yeoman Rand visits Sulu in the Botanical section.  I call your attention to the plant, named “Beauregard” (or “Gertrude” according to Sulu) in the center of the room.

hand-plant

I don’t need to tell you that it is obviously someone’s hand.  Remember the show has a limited budget, folks.  It adds to the charm.

So, in summary.  From an average TV viewer’s perspective, what is my impression?  I would be encouraged by what I seen.  I would have probably hoped for a more spectacular story then a melodramatic monster-fest that this episode was to open the show.  But, not knowing the production challenges going on behind the scenes at the time to even get the show on the air by its airdates.

Next Week: “Charlie X”.

 

Before The Trek Began

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It’s almost the 50th anniversary of the premiere of “Star Trek” on NBC.  As a tribute to a show that I have enjoyed since I was a kid (way back in the early 90’s), I plan to watch every episode of the Original Series each week, on their respective airdates.  However, I am taking a different approach as we navigate through this exciting time.

I thought recently, “What if I were my current age, never heard of this show, and saw the promos/advertisements for the show, and my curiosity piqued.  What would I think after I watched the premiere?”

So, I am going to take the approach of an average viewer and try to give an impression of what an average TV viewer would have thought of this show when it premiered on September 8th, 1966.

At this stage, all I would have to go on are a few rumblings in the press and trade publications about the pilot being picked up to series and who was starring in it.  By about this point, when this article is being published (August 26th), mentions of it might have appeared in newspapers.  But for certain, I and others would have seen this promo airing either during NBC network programming or during local time:

 

The artwork seen in the promo was done by James Bama based on promotional photos from the second pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before” shot the previous summer.  It’s quite good artwork when you look at it, but you can see the obvious misinterpretation of what propels the ship in the photo.

jamesbama_trekart_1966

 

I’ll admit, the NBC promo was very limited, using one the one rendering scanned in different places.  But, with the show coming dangerously close to not meeting airdates, it’s the best the promo makers at NBC could have done to tantalize the audience.

You will also notice that NBC was going to premiere Star Trek on September 15th on their annual “NBC Week.”  But the program planners at NBC had a trick up their sleeve.  They decided to give special “Sneak Previews” of their new fall shows.  So the previous week became the “Sneak Preview” week.  Star Trek had it’s special Sneak Preview episode on September 8th.   ABC apparently got wind of this and decided to copy the stunt and call it “Advance Premieres.”

trek_nbcweek_tvguide66

The actual TV Guide fall preview issue didn’t come out until the week of the Sneak Previews (which would be listings for the following week), so I’m guessing that I wouldn’t have seen that information before the Thursday night premiere.  I remember that when we had a TV Guide subscription in my house in the late 90s that we would get the next issue sometime around Wednesday or Thursday.  It’s probably likely that the issue was on newsstands by the day of the September 8th premiere.

tvguide_fallprevew_startrek

So based on all of this, would I, assuming the guise of the average TV viewer had been excited?  Yes, I would have been.  Based on my sensibilities and tastes, even if I had been alive in that era, I can safely say that I would have been enthusiastic about what I was reading about the show and what I had seen in that promo.  Looking at what was on against the show on the other two networks…

1966_TV_Programs_cropped

“The Tammy Grimes Show” was very forgettable.   I doubt I would have wanted to watch that show.  “My Three Sons” on CBS was a true ratings success,  plus the show has a funny concept, so I might have wanted to watch that one as well.  Remember kids, there were no VCRs/DVRs/etc.  in 1966!  At 9:00pm, you could flip over to “Bewitched” on ABC, or the beginning of the “CBS Thursday Night Movie.”  Tough choice there, since CBS usually programmed big blockbuster movies in that slot.  In the case of the premiere night, CBS showed the 1961 Jerry Lewis comedy “The Ladies Man.”

In hindsight, I can see where the majority of viewers might be turned off by the sight of a Sci-Fi series like “Star Trek.”  Imagine the reaction of the average household at that time:

“That show looks too complicated!” 

Or…

“That looks like a kiddie show!”

I would bet more on the second of those reactions being what more households who might have seen one of the promos above might have thought.  So, they’ll probably stick with the Douglas family, or Sam and Darren, or just turn the TV off and spend time with their family and/or go to bed.

So, that sets the stage for the “Sneak Preview” of Star Trek.  The next post will be the day after the premiere, with my thoughts on what I would have thought after I had watched the premiere on September 8th, 1966 on NBC.

My thoughts on the Summer 2016 Game Shows

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I was thinking to myself, what do I think of the summer game shows currently on broadcast television.  You may be surprised at my thoughts.

Celebrity Family Feud (ABC)

While I don’t care much for the question material on the current versions of Family Feud, hosted by Steve Harvey, there are still plenty of laugh out loud moments to make it somewhat tolerable… at times.  The problem with celebrities of today is that I’ve never heard of some of them, and some of those people are… let’s see, how do I put this… not altogether there.  (Note to self: don’t be so denigrating, celebrities are people too.)

The $100,000 Pyramid (ABC)

Now *this* is an awesome show.  When I heard that Michael Strahan was going to be the host, my initial reaction was one of skepticism.  He did have a good run with Kelly Ripa on Live and was very popular with the audience of that show.   I was very impressed to hear in interviews that in preparing for the show, he went back and watched episodes of the Dick Clark version on YouTube.  Read this article from the New York Post and you’ll see why I think he’s a great addition to a new breed of host that I enjoy watching.  The winner’s circle has brought lots of excitement to this version as in any other.  It still remains my favorite bonus round/end game of all time of any game show, without question.  It’s fun to see people master the art of this round.  And one more thing….

2016pyramidset

That set.  It’s so freaking beautiful.  A great update to the classic look.  This is how a modern game show set should be done.

Match Game (ABC)

Gene Rayburn once said that Match Game has a weak format.  That is true.  What drives this game is the insane laughter and goings-on in between the answers.  When I heard Alec Baldwin was going to host this one, my thought at the time was, “Huh?”  Then, that quickly became, “Either this will work or it will utterly fail.”  I think it’s safe to say it was the former.  While the question writing and the stacking of said questions (such as having gimme questions in Round 1 instead of Round 2) leaves a lot to be desired, the laughs and the mixture of celebrities are working out very good.  There are still some celebrities here that I have to Google, or ask Greg, to figure out who they are.  There are other little nit-picky presentation problems that I’ve come to expect out of Fremantle Media revivals.

To Tell the Truth (ABC)

Now this show I wasn’t so crazy about.  The game play wasn’t altered that much from what we would expect from years past.  The execution was very, very lacking.  Do we need a house band on a panel show?  Do we need the host’s mother keeping score for no reason?  Do we need Twitter shame just because you were the worst panelist at trying to figure out who was lying on purpose?  I find myself asking too many questions about these elements of this show to enjoy it.  At least they tried, but I don’t see this one coming back, especially when you consider they taped the shows about a full year before they even aired.  Back burners do not a renewal make.

 

So, that’s my thoughts on this summer’s shows.  Will we see more Feud, Pyramid and Match Game?  Time will tell.  I’ll try to review more new shows and not-so-new shows in the future.

EDIT: Right after I published this post, word came down on the ABC summer press tour that all four of these shows have been renewed, presumably for next summer.  (Source for the Truth renewal was the ABC press site.)

Shadows on the Wall

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Those who know me know I have loved the classic Gothic soaper “Dark Shadows” for many years. Me and Greg have been watching the show on DVD over the years. As of the night of this writing, we have reached the end of the series, which aired on April 2, 1971. Our intention is to go back to the beginning again. Back to June 1966.

I’ve always been fascinated with how TV is made and accomplished. That’s the big reason why I studied, trained, and now work in TV. It was a difficult show with witches, vampires, spirits and such. The show constantly needed special effects that was difficult to achieve given the equipment of the period. Just as equally fascinating is looking at where the show was actually recorded, the studios where all the magic happened.

“Dark Shadows” utilized two studios over the course of its run of almost five years. The first was ABC TV-2 near ABC’s headquarters at 77 West 66th Street. (The studio is actually located on 67th Street)

Outside of ABC on West 66th Street in NYC

DS taped its first 11 weeks here (through episode 55.) This studio is still in use today, currently it is the home of “The Chew”. There is great info about the modern look and equipment the studio offers at this link.

I have a pretty good feeling that TV-2 was only a temporary home for the series. At this time, ABC was renovating a former lumber yard in another part of Manhattan.

Original ABC TV-16 Exterior
Original ABC TV-16 Exterior
Former ABC TV-16 Exterior
The building in later days

This is ABC TV-16 at 433 West 53rd Street. DS moved here during a one-week taping break in August 1966. It must have been nice to be the new tenants of a newly renovated studio. The situation reminds me of when we converted from SD to HD at my station. New equipment, new challenges. The show had a great run here, with all the ghosts and ghouls and wonderful writing, acting and production filling the stage. Oh how it must have been fun to work on a series like this! All good things must come to an end however, and the show did so on April 2, 1971. DS remains a legendary show to this day. The studio itself however would have more legendary shows to come. It would later house the popular ABC soap “Ryan’s Hope” for the first 10 years of its run, from 1975-1985.

The picture above is from our first trip to New York City in April 2014. I made it a point to visit this location. And I’m glad I did, because it won’t be there for much longer.

That’s right, the famous studio which was home to all those great shows is about to become just another group of way-too-expensive condos. Oh well, time marches on. But the memories will remain. Forever.

Affiliation Switcheroo

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Well, it’s an interesting day back in my old home, the Tri-Cities market. Not a lot has changed there in the media landscape, until now. Today, the parent company that employs me and Greg, Media General, announced that they have secured an agreement with ABC to take over the affiliation from WKPT, owned by George DeVault and Holston Valley Broadcasting as of February 1st, 2016. It will operate on WJHL and be on Channel 11.2 as of that date.

WKPT-TV has been with ABC since it signed on the air for the first time on August 20, 1969. Prior to that, you were lucky to see ABC programs at all on any station in the area. Either WJHL or WCYB had to air them, and more than likely they were at odd times to keep the pristine time slots for more popular CBS or NBC shows, respectively.

The Kingsport Times-News is reporting that WKPT-TV will no longer do local news after the move. My heart hurts for all of the people in their news and production departments that will be losing their jobs (more than likely) at the end of the month.

I totally did not think this is how this would go down in that market. Greg and I have discussed in the past that if WKPT-TV would ever want to become a major player in that market, they would have to be bought out completely by some other entity, seeming as how Bonten or Media General would be restricted from doing so. Quite honestly, the production value of the news that they were doing left a lot to be desired, but then again, on the probably minuscule budget that they had, you can only do so much. They were lucky they had anything at all. It goes without saying that a company with the resources and the diversity to be a major player could have made a third newscast competitive in that market.

Let’s face it folks, the era of Mom-and-Pop Broadcasters has come to a sad end. Conglomerates have been and will continue to be the way of the future. It’s sad it had to end this way for a small town station in the market I grew up in, but given the realities of today’s world… I’m not surprised, not in the slightest.

Steal This Episode

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Watched “The Simpsons” from a couple of weeks ago. The episode was entitled “Steal This Episode.” The plot involved Homer, internet movie piracy and Hollywood getting angry. It’s a rare good episode from them, and they’ve had a LOT of duds over the last few years. Heck, I’m not even a regular watcher anymore. But there was one thing that rings true, this:

You can’t tell me that you haven’t felt this way at a movie theater any time in the last 10 years.

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Greg scored big time for our production company today…

First, some back story… WEMT Fox 39 was housed on Hanover Road here in Johnson City up until 2005, then after Bluestone (under the guise of Aurora), bought the station’s operations from Sinclair, they moved the operations and master control to Bristol at WCYB.

Fast forward to this last weekend, and Greg gets an email that the former building has been sold, and the new owners, Bonten Media Group, want to get rid of everything out of the buidling to make way for some possible new tenants. Including equipment. Yes, you heard that right, equipment.

So, Mooneyhan/Brobeck Productions is now equipped with a Sony VO-9800 3/4″ U-Matic SP record deck, and a Sony BVW-95 Betacam SP side loading cart deck (playback only). Wow, equipment that cost a buttload brand new was handed to us without question. The latter was used in a Betacart setup, most of which is going to the ETSU Division of Broadcasting (so, I’ll be seeing more of where it came from, too). Also, lots of BNC cables. The decks work perfectly, which means that we can import anything off Betacam SP or 3/4″ U-Matic!

Wow, what a way to move up in technology… now if only we could get a Betacam SX or a DVCam machine…

Bloopers of a special kind

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You know, I always have been a fan of the original Star Trek series, never liked stuff past Next Gen. I have searched high and low for many years for just one thing that you think would be easy to find, but seems impossible at the same time.

At the christmas party every year, the cast and crew of Star Trek viewed a gag reel full of bloopers. These were meant for the cast and crew as souvenirs, but was shown to the public at conventions over the years. What I’ve been looking for is the complete copies from all three seasons. I was first exposed to the bloopers with a tape I bought at a convention in 1997, but this was far from complete. Most people see fit to edit and move stuff around to their own leisure. I think this is an atrocity to the original reel. I prefer to see it as is, uncut and uncensored.

So, the question remains, does anyone know of anyone or anywhere where I can find the UNEDITED versions?

Not expecting a response, but it’s a shot in the dark.