Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1961)

SPONSORS SPELL OUT DO'S, DONTS continued instances of refusal regarding episodes in new tv series this season. Show Censored ■ Mr. Burgard said Brown & Williamson could not approve sponsorship of an episode titled "The Benefactor" in CBS-TV's The Defenders because of its treatment of abortion. He said the script "never touches on the psychological and physiological aspects of abortion." He said that in his view the program was not proper for a young audience, and that many young viewers would see the show because of its early time period — 7:30-8:30 p.m. in the central time zone. He added: "As you can see, we do not exercise censorship lightly." Asked to compare B&W's policies in tv with its advertising in print publications, Mr. Burgard said that "we might refuse to pay for an ad if it's adjacent to an article detrimental to smoking or tobacco." Mr. Burke of General Electric was questioned primarily on sponsorship of GE Theatre. He said the sponsor's participation in selection of programs for the series, which started in the 1954-55 season, is limited to a review of script or story outlines submitted by the producer to both the advertiser and the agency (BBDO). Mr. Burke said: "We exchange viewpoints with the agency to see if the story meets our requirements," which he said must be suitable for the program's anthology format and "balanced audience." He said the program presents a variety of dramatic fare for all members of the family. Outside of contractual rights to reject scripts he said GE has not tried to spell out a specific policy, "but we do have standards." Mr. Gorman of Allstate Insurance said: "We are not currently sponsoring a network dramatic program. This means we are not presently involved in the expensive and time-consuming process of reviewing scripts and making suggestions which we believe to be the duty of any sponsor of major dramatic presentations. We can't say we are sorry to escape this burden. If, however, the opportunity ever presented itself for us to participate in a dramatic program of the quality and stature of Playhouse 90 (which the company co-sponsored in 1957-60), we would gladly accept this opportunity and the burdens that would accompany it." Allstate currently is a co-sponsor of CBS-TV's What's My Line and NBCTV's Bob Newhart Show in the west and southwest, starting Oct. 11. Many Rejections ■ Mr. Gorman cited 1 1 programs in the Playhouse 90 series in which the advertiser either rejected sponsorship or asked for script changes. He said several of the programs Allstate refused to sponsor were presented in the series on the alternate weeks under other sponsorship. Even so, he said, Allstate still received letters of complaint from viewers because of its identification with the series. Mr. Gorman said Allstate's principal concern was with the area of good taste. "In our examination of 78 stories in synopsis or script form over a twoand-a-half -year period we made approximately 175 suggestions for changes. A substantial portion of these were concerned with a single line of dialogue or a single phrase. "Out of this total approximately 95% were changes related to the general categories of taste, sex, violence or brutality, and profanity, and about 5% to business considerations." Referring to a Playhouse 90 program called "The Ding-a-Ling Girl," in which the girl commits suicide by crashing her automobile, Mr. Gorman said Allstate objected to the program for a number of reasons, including the NAB Code stand against the presentation of suicide. He added that his company pays close at tention to the positioning of auto accidents in all programs it sponsors because they "can look too contrived if they are immediately followed by a commercial about Allstate's auto insurance policies." No Taboo List ■ Mr. Kletter of the J. B. Williams Co., stated that Williams does not have any list of programming taboos. He does not see scripts of programs in advance, he said, explaining that as general policy, Williams buys into programs that "have track records" and accordingly, the company is acquainted with the types of stories that the various series present. He noted that from 1958 through 1961, Williams has been a co-sponsor or participating sponsor on 40 network tv programs but pointed out they are largely entertainment programs and contain "nothing to be fearful of." Mr. Kletter said cost-per-thousand was not a major factor in Williams' buying decisions, pointing out the company has sponsored various Arthur Godfrey programs and The Original Amateur Hour, both of which, he said, had high costs-per-thousand but nevertheless were regarded as satisfactory buys by Williams. NIELSEN First Report for September 1961 (Based on two weeks ending Sept. 3, 1961) NIELSEN TOTAL AUDIENCE (t) Rating No. % U.S. Homes Rank TV Homes (000) 1 Gunsmoke 30.8 14,445 2 Have Gun, Will Travel 26.6 12,475 3 Ed Sullivan Show 26.6 12,475 4 The Untouchables 25.0 11,725 5 Playhouse 90 25.0 11,725 6 My Three Sons 24.8 11,631 7 Rawhide 24.6 11,537 8 Lawrence Welk Show 24.3 11,397 9 Wagon Train 24.0 11,256 10 Candid Camera 23.7 11,115 Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 NIELSEN AVERAGE AUDIENCE (t) Rating No. % U.S. Homes TV Homes (000) Gunsmoke Have Gun, Will Travel My Three Sons Candid Camera What's My Line Real McCoys Price Is Rght Ed Sullivan Show Holiday Lodge 10 G. E. Theatre 28.1 23.7 22.1 21.5 20.8 20.7 20.6 20.5 19.6 19.1 13,179 11,115 10,365 10,084 9,755 9,708 9,661 9,615 9,192 8,958 (t) Homes reached by all or any part of the program, except for homes viewing only 1 to 5 minutes. (W Homes reached during the average minute of the program. Background: The following programs in alphabetical order, appear in this week's BROADCASTING tv ratngs roundup. Information is in following order: program name, network, number of stations, sponsor, agency, day and time. Candid Camera (CBS-175); Bristol-Myers (Y&R), Lever (JWT), Sun., 10-10:30 p.m. General Electric Theatre (CBS-168); GE (BBDO), Sun., 9-9:30 p.m. Gunsmoke (CBS-194); Remington Rand (Y&R); L&M (D-F-S), Sat., 10-10:30 p.m. Have Gun, Will Travel (CBS-177); Lever (JWT), American Home Products (Bates), Sat., 9:30-10 p.m. Holiday Lodge (CBS-187); State Farm (NL&B), Lipton (SSC&B), Sun., 9:30-10 p.m. My Three Sons (ABC-188); Chevrolet (C-E), Thur., 9-9:30 p.m. Playhouse 90 (CBS-195); P&G (B&B); P. Lorillard (L&N); Bristol-Myers (Y&R); Johnson's Wax (FC&B); Starkist Tuna (FC&B), Tue., 9:30-11 p.m. Price Is Right (NBC-183); Lever (0BM), Wed., 8:30-9 p.m. Rawhide (CBS-190); Gen. Foods (B&B); Bristol-Myers (Y&R); Colgate (L&N); Drackett (Y&R); Nabisco (M-E); Philip Morris (Burnett), Fri., 7:30-8:30 p.m. Real McCoys (ABC-178); P&G (Compton), Thur., 8:30-9 p.m. Ed Sullivan (CBS-181); Colgate-Palmolive (Bates), Eastman Kodak (JWT), Sun., 8-9 p.m. Untouchables (ABC-179); L&M (M-E), Armour (FC&B), Whitehall (Bates), Beecham (K&E), Union Carbide (Esty), Sunbeam (FC&B), Thur., 9:30-10:30 p.m. Wagon Train (NBC-186); R. J. Reynolds (Esty), Ford (JWT), National Biscuit (M-E), Wed., 7:30-8:30 p.m. What's My Line? (CBS-147); Sunbeam (Perrin Paus), Kellogg (Burnett), Sun., 10:30-11 p.m. Lawrence Welk Show (ABC-160); J. B. Williams (Parkson); Dodge (BBDO), Sat., 9-10 p.m. Copyright 1961 by A. C. Nielsen Co. BROADCASTING, October 2, 1961 (BROADCAST ADVERTISING) 35