ABC Archives - The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

Nov292018 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

TV Listings Flashback: November 29, 1973

TV & Radio

It's been awhile since my last TV Listings Flashback, so let's get right to it! Here are the evening/prime time TV network TV listings from November 29, 1973. This particular grid is courtesy that day's edition of the Tampa Times. Let's take a look and then get into the shows. Remember that visiting any of the Amazon show title links below will help me in keeping this site running! I'm going to focus on just the three big networks although you can see what PBS and the local independent station had in store that evening too. Channel 8 (WFLA - NBC) 6:00 Local news / NBC Nightly News 7:00 What's My Line? 7:30 To Tell the Truth 8:00 The Flip Wilson Show with guests Richard Pryor and Tim Conway 9:00 Ironside "The Hidden Man" - POW returns home, discovers that revenge-cr...

Oct72016 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Don’t Touch That Dial #3: The Paul Lynde Halloween Special, 1976

Advertising, TV & Radio

I was a little too young to have seen the Paul Lynde Halloween Special from 1976, but as a lifelong Kiss fan I knew of it. Here's a national newspaper ad that ABC ran for the special, which aired on October 29, 1976. Featured on the show were Tim Conway, Roz Kelly, Margaret Hamilton, Florence Henderson, Betty White, and of course the aforementioned Kiss.

Aug262016 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

That’s Entertainment! #3: Fantasy Island

TV & Radio

Ricardo Montalbán (Mr. Roarke) and Hervé Villechaize (Tattoo) from Fantasy Island, airing on ABC from 1977-1984.

Jun302016 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

TV Listings Flashback: July 3, 1970

TV & Radio

Here are the evening/prime time network TV listings for the Newburgh, NY market on Friday, July 3, 1970, as published by the The Evening News. As you might expect, the schedule was full of reruns on the eve of the July 4th holiday. Remember that visiting any of the Amazon show title links below will help me in keeping this site running! Channel 2 (CBS) 7:30 Get Smart - Smart and 99 mistaken for doctor and his nurse by hoodlums. (R) 8:00 He & She - Hollisters celebrate their sixth wedding anniversary by being remarried in gala fashion. (R) 8:30 Hogan's Heroes - Hogan and cronies staggered by urgent order from London. (R) 9:00 Ten Little Indians, Hugh O'Brian, Shirley Eaton (1964), suspense thriller Channel 4 (NBC) 7:30 The High Chaparral - Buck and Mano...

Jun72016 by Chris Holmes1 Comment

TV Listings Flashback: June 9, 1980

TV & Radio

Here are the evening and prime time network TV listings for the Pittsburgh, PA market on Monday, June 9, 1980, as published by the Beaver County Times. As you might expect, the schedule was full of reruns, with a scheduled baseball game being one of the few pieces of original programming. Remember that visiting any of the Amazon show title links below will help me in keeping this site running! Channel 2 (CBS) 8:00 WKRP in Cincinnati - Everyone at the station is convinced Johnny has gone mad when he claims God talked to him. (R) 8:30 Channel to Pittsburgh - Host Marlynn Singleton 9:00 M*A*S*H - A critically injured patient faces permanent paralysis or death unless he is operated on within 20 minutes at the poorly equipped 4077th. (R) 9:30 House Calls - Amos arrange...

Mar302016 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

That’s Entertainment! #2: Bosom Buddies

TV & Radio

A production still from the short-lived sitcom Bosom Buddies: (l to r) Tom Hanks, Peter Scolari, and Wendie Jo Sperber. The show ran for 37 episodes over two seasons (1980-82) on ABC.

Feb72014 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Make Your Own 1950s Space Patrol Helmets!

TV & Radio

In the 1950s there were two genres that ruled the TV and radio airwaves -- space adventures and westerns. One of the most popular space-themed shows was Space Patrol, which aired on ABC from 1950 through 1955. Kids not only loved Space Patrol and the adventures of Commander-in-Chief Buzz Corry (Ed Kemmer) and his crew, they wanted to be like them too. And so we come to this charming little nugget from television's golden age, as Commander Corry tells kids how they can make their very own Desert Crash Helmet from household parts. Notice the part where he holds up a picture featuring an article in the August 1953 issue of Woman's Day that tells you which parts to use. That looks pretty nifty, huh? I bet you'd like to see what that looks like in color, right? Well here you go...

Nov52013 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Film at 11: A Gallery of Vintage TV News Program Ads

Ephemera, TV & Radio

Sometimes I know that a post I'm putting together is destined to get 20 views if I'm lucky. But I have to follow my muse wherever she may lead me, and today she leads me to TV newsrooms across the country. I can't say exactly why, but I find these old advertisements for network TV news programs to be just so... quaint? Charming? I don't quite know how to put it. I just love how much these ads convey what it must have been like to watch the news back in the day -- not slick in the least. Just a bunch of square white men (and sometimes white women) reading the day's events. And now the news of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s...

Apr192013 by Chris Holmes1 Comment

Logo Evolution: ABC TV

TV & Radio

Until the Fox television network went on the air in 1986, the American Broadcasting Company -- ABC -- was the young kid on the block. It began in 1943 as a direct descendant of RCA's NBC Blue radio network. Originally known as the Blue Network, the network was re-branded in 1944 as the American Broadcasting Company. On April 19, 1948 the ABC television network went on the air, and so it is in that year that I begin my look at the history of the ABC-TV network logos. Dates on some of the early logos are approximate. If any readers have more accurate information please let me know in the comments. To check out my history of the NBC logo, click here. Logo #1 (1948 - ?) Not surprisingly, ABC's first television logo was directly inspired by radio -- the same is true for NBC as well. Ba...