Week of May 29: "I Bid You a Very Heartfelt Good Night"

Jay Leno's imminent departure from NBC's "The Tonight Show" to a five-night-a-week slot at 10 p.m. recalls another "Tonight Show" departure, 17 years ago last Friday: Johnny Carson's.

There was a big and justifiable buildup: Carson had reigned as the king of late-night television for 30 years. With his guests (including a poetry-reading Jimmy Stewart, the potato-chip lady, the accordion lady and many more), his skits (Aunt Blabby, Floyd R. Turbo, parodies of newsmakers including Walter Cronkite and Presidents Carter and Reagan), his experiences with animals and his monologues, he set the standard.

His emotional last two shows - May 21 and 22, 1992 - set ratings records, as well as standards. The May 21 show featured Bette Midler and Robin Williams. The May 22 show featured Carson in an unconventional pose - sitting on a stool - through the monologue and the end, when he told the audience, "I bid you a very heartfelt good night."

Carson had hoped to come back to entertain in a different manner. He was seen sporadically - a 1993 Bob Hope birthday special on NBC; as one of the Kennedy Center honorees, also in 1993, and on a couple of editions of CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman" - before his death in 2005.

There is an official site for Carson/Tonight Show clips, DVDs and a good guide to who was on and what they talked about. Heeeeere's Johnny:

http://www.johnnycarson.com/carson/home.jsp

See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!

Week of May 22: Being Upfront About Upfronts

This week, the television networks had the upfronts - the unveiling of their fall schedule. Critics and viewers have looked over the schedules and decided what new shows might get a look-see next fall.

Here are some blasts from the past:

Dick Kleiner, 1963:
"The Fugitive is another different idea. David Janssen stars as a fugitive from justice - innocent, of course - and for 13 weeks, Barry Morse will try to capture him while he in turn tries to capture the genuinely guilty parties."

"The Fugitive" went way past 13 weeks - more like four seasons, with the last episode one of the highest rated programs in television history. It also spawned a hit movie starring Harrison Ford.

Dick Kleiner, same column:
"A spinoff from The Beverly Hillbillies called Petticoat Junction. Yuch."

Viewers didn't complain. Petticoat Junction was a hit for CBS through the end of the 1960s.

Ronald Boyd, St. Petersburg Times, 1981 (article about Fred Silverman):
"Then there's Hill Street Blues. Silverman's pet, it has the potential of making TV history."

It certainly did, with standards for television excellence and honors. It eventually became one of the keys to NBC's 1980s turnaround. Silverman got back on top, too, producing series like "Matlock."


Steve Sonsky, Miami Herald, 1989:

"ABC would seem to have the most to offer next fall; one other new show may be worth mentioning: If it opts for true feelings over saccharine melodrama, the new Sunday 7 p.m. entry, Life Goes On, starring Patti LuPone in the story of a working- class family of five inspired by the indomitability of their Down's syndrome middle child, could be a ground-breaker."

The show ran until 1993, and Chris Burke became an inspiration to those with Down's syndrome and their families. Burke would later have a recurring role on CBS' "Touched By An Angel."


Sonsky, 1984

"For better or worse, Miami is either going to influence, or be a footnote to, a little piece of television history. For better or worse, there has never been a show on television quite like Miami Vice. It is a show that is certain to be talked about. It is a show that contains flashes of brilliance with its cinematic and scoring innovation, but that, at times, can be disturbing in its brutality in the name of realism."

Miami Vice would run on NBC until 1989; the show that Brandon Tartikoff conceived of with the expression "MTV Cops" would also contribute to NBC's rebirth - as well as Miami's.

Janis Froelich, St. Petersburg Times, 1988:

ABC's Roseanne will be a hit, scheduled Tuesdays from 8:30 to 9 p.m. I didn't like it very much, but I can spot mass appeal when I see it.

I didn't like it very much, either, but many viewers did; it ran until 1997.

See you next week. Until then, Happy Upfront Viewing!

Week of May 15: Cliffhangers - Tune In Next Season.....

The Web site Mr. Pop History says that the first television cliffhanger came in a 1951 episode of "Superman," but the first one that's remembered came at the end of the 1977-78 season of the ABC series "Soap." Seems logical. "Soap" was a spoof of soap operas.

But the cliffhanger was rare through television's first 30 years or so. Formula dramas like "Perry Mason" and "Hawaii Five-O" never had them. Neither did comedies.

Of course, the first cliffhanger just about everyone remembers came in 1980, when J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) was shot on the season finale of "Dallas." It took five months and an actors' strike until viewers worldwide found out the shooter was his sister-in-law, Kristen (Mary Crosby).

Since then, many dramas and comedies have had cliffhangers. It's become a cottage industry to predict what's going to happen in the cliffhanger....Never mind what will happen next season! (Well, at least until after the cliffhanger.)

Some of the best cliffhangers.....

*Season 1, "The West Wing," "What Kind of Day Has It Been": An assassination attempt on President Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen) as he came out of a town-hall meeting. "Who's been hit?" was the operative question. Answer: Bartlet (not seriously, but the coverup of his multiple sclerosis started in earnest) and Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford), who was seriously injured. The shooting was done by a white supremacist going after the president's aide, Charlie (Dule Hill), who was dating Bartlet's daughter, Zoe (Elisabeth Moss).

*"Friends," "The One With Ross' Wedding": While I confess I never watched this show, it takes some imagination to have Ross (David Schwimmer) say Rachel's (Jennifer Aniston's) name while he's marrying someone else.

*Season 7, "Frasier," "Something Borrowed, Someone Blue, Part 2": Niles (David Hyde Pierce) and Daphne (Jane Leeves) do a "Graduate" and run away together after confessing their true feelings to each other.

*Anything produced by the Bellisarios: "Magnum, P.I.," "JAG" and now "NCIS" get kudos for cliffhangers that drive you crazy, but make you watch.
Best of the bunch: The end of Seasons 7 and 8 for "Magnum."
Season 7's "Limbo," saw Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck) get shot. He recovered, but only after angry fans feared the series might end with him killed off.
The series finale, Season 8's "Resolutions," ended with one never resolved (by design): Did Rick Wright (Larry Manetti) say "I Do" to Cleo?

*"Las Vegas" also gets kudos for most of its cliffhangers. But NBC gets a "Boo" for cancelling the show with some storylines unresolved (not by design).

See you next week. Until then, Happy Cliffhanger Viewing!

Week of May 8: Notes on the Original Final Frontier and Dom DeLuise

Once upon a time, there was a television series that struggled to run three years. It had a diverse cast and unusual plots, but it couldn't seem to find an audience. Then, it was cancelled.

That was only the beginning.

Somehow, this show had run long enough to be able to be sold in syndication. And that is where the Starship Enterprise really took off.

It's been 43 years since the original "Star Trek" went on the air. And with the release of the latest movie today, focus is back on that original series.

When Gene Roddenberry was casting the series, one story goes, the original choice for Captain Pike, the character played by film actor Jeffrey Hunter in the pilot, was....Jack Lord. Lord wanted the same 30 percent deal on the show he would later get on "Hawaii Five-O." Fortunately for both shows, Roddenberry turned him down. It's hard to picture the private Lord at a Trekkie convention. And "Book 'em, Spock" just wouldn't have sounded the same. ;)

Hunter was uncomfortable in the role of Pike; along came William Shatner to play the iconic Capt. James T. Kirk.

Another story goes that Martin Landau was the original choice for Spock, but turned it down. Leonard Nimoy created another icon. Ironically, Nimoy would replace Landau on the CBS series "Mission: Impossible" several years later.

The appeal for fans rests in the diversity of the cast (including James Doohan as Scottie, Nichelle Nichols as Uhura, George Takei as Sulu and Walter Koenig as Chekov, not to mention DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy), and in the imaginative flights of fancy taken with the scripts.

The favorite in this corner? "The Trouble With Tribbles," especially since it was immortalized on an episode of the game show "Jeopardy." There was a "Star Trek" category, and by the time host Alex Trebek was done asking the questions, those furry little creatures were all over the set.

The entire series is available on DVD and online. Fan sites, memorabilia and just about everything else under the stars abound. "Star Trek" will live long and prosper well into....the 23rd Century. At least.

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Sad news this week with the death of Dom DeLuise. During the 1960s and 70s, when variety shows still abounded, DeLuise was almost a constant presence on television screens. Here's a link to a clip from "The Muppet Show":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88JqfsvDNmA

DeLuise was an appealing presence, even managing to liven up a 1980s commercial for a plastic wrap. Who can forget the ending, when he's preparing a platter and says, "Aw gee, I hope it's enough" - and it looks like enough for an army.

As it turns out, it wasn't enough for us. We'll miss you, Mr. DeLuise. Arrivederci.

Week of May 1: And Then There Was Bea

And then there will always be Maude. And Dorothy.

Beatrice Arthur, who died last week, put her eternal stamp on two television shows: "Maude" and "The Golden Girls."

Arthur was known primarily as a theater actress when Norman Lear tapped her to play Maude Finley, the outspoken, liberal cousin of Edith Bunker, in one episode of "All In the Family." When Maude went head-to-head with Archie Bunker, played so well by Carroll O'Connor, a new legend - not to mention a television show - was created. As Donny Hathaway sang in that wonderful theme song, she was "anything but compromising - Right On, Maude!"

"Maude" ran on CBS from 1972-77. The cast included Bill Macy, Conrad Bain (later on "Diff'rent Strokes"), Adrienne Barbeau, Esther Rolle (later on "Good Times") and Rue McClanahan (also later on "The Golden Girls"). Much has been made this week of "Maude's Dilemma," just the ninth and 10th episodes of the first season, in which Maude decided to have an abortion.

The episode, done months before Roe v. Wade made abortion legal nationwide, was gutsy then; it would take far more courage to do such a program today, when no one wants to offend advertisers, networks or viewers unless it's with sexual content or profanity. Issues made "Maude" the success it was; there is no way network or even cable television would make such a show today.

Later, Arthur and McClanahan joined Betty White and Estelle Getty in NBC's "The Golden Girls," which ran from 1985-92. Arthur played Dorothy Zbornak, daughter of Getty's character Sophia Petrillo. McClanahan was originally cast to play naive Rose Nylund, while White was to be the man-chasing Blanche Devereax, similar to previous roles they'd played. Before taping began, the roles were reversed; White played Rose, McClanahan played Blanche.

All four women and the show won Emmys, and no wonder: The show was part of then-NBC programming chief Brandon Tartikoff's willingness to show some guts of his own in an increasingly youth-oriented medium. McClanahan, then in her 50s, was the baby of the bunch. While not as issue-oriented as "Maude," "The Golden Girls" could tackle some hot topics.

In 1992, Arthur decided she had had enough. Her character was married to Blanche's uncle Lucas Hollingsworth, played by Leslie Nielsen, and "The Golden Girls" ended. Unfortunately, NBC made the worst decision since CBS had tried "After M*A*S*H" and put Getty, White and McClanahan into a spinoff, "The Golden Palace," which didn't last long.

All seven seasons of "The Golden Girls" are available on DVD, and the series is currently shown on the Lifetime cable network. The first season of "Maude," which includes the two-parter "Maude's Dilemma," is also available on DVD, and perhaps interest following Arthur's death might trigger releases of other seasons.

Here's to you, Bea Arthur. Thanks to television, long may you live.