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adversely affected. The accompanying newspaper publicity is pointed to as a big part of $64,000'?, phenomenal suspense buildup. If there are two suspense stories for newspaper editors t<. choose from, one may cheapen the other. In any case $64,000 Question is running into tougher sledding as the season unfolds. Its Trendex the first week of October was down 9 points to 45.2 from the week before. This may be a reflection of the fact no bigwinnings were in the cards for that evening, however. 5. Will situation comedy fade as a major tv format? At NBC situation comedy has virtually washed out. Today only Life of Riley and It's a Great Life are left from a lineup which last year included the following: Mr. Peepers, Dear Phoebe, Mickey Rooney's Mulligan, I Married Joan, My Little Margie, Ethel and Albert, Red Buttons — in addition to the two Lifes. A possible indication of the decline in situation comedy popularity may be the fact that Lucy began this season with a 33.3 Trendex — some 10 points below its 1954 fall opener. (One of the new program types being introduced this season is the "adult Westerns." They don't seem to be starting with the strength shown by the first situation comedies, however. Their first ratings have been low.) An even dozen situation comedies go on CBS this fall, down four from last year's peak. The dozen: Burns & Allen, Private Secretary, Lucy, December Bride, Phil Silvers' You'll Never Get Rich, Joe ami Mabel, My Favorite Husband, Bob Cummings, Our Miss Brooks, Mama, Damon Runyon Theatre, and Jackie Gleason's Honeymooners. Three of the dozen are new (compared with last season's spate of new CBS situation comedy entries). It's in these — You'll Never Get Rich, Joe and Mabel and The Honeymooners— that most interest centers. If the situation comedy form can't keep coming up with fresh hits, it's destined for a fadeout as older entries lose appeal. The Phil Silvers half hour achieved a 13.3 Trendex the first week of October opposite the debut of the Milton Berle show at 30.7. Silvers is at his best as an army sergeant with more side business ventures than a squad of GIs in the Paris of 1945. But Silvers on a $38,000 budget with a new show is outclassed against Milton Berle; Berle has a near-$150,000 budget for a one-hour semi-spectacular which rotates with Martha Rave and the over-$200,000 Bob Hope shows. Joe and Mabel, scheduled to follow Silvers, had not premiered as scheduled late in September. CBS stated there weren't sufficient shows in the can to keep the original starting date, despite the fact that it had previously given Joe and Mabel closed-circuit buildup on the same press showing as the Phil Silvers show. The show, from the sample shown the press several weeks back, is built on winsome values rather than biglaugh contretemps and as such faces tough competition in the long-running and recently revamped Jane Wyman Fireside Theatre on NBC. The Honeymooners, Gleason's most popular characterization of seasons past, translated into a half-hour film, is still a moot question in terms of audience-appeal. Its opening night 37.2 Trendex reflected the star's popularity last season. On its second exposure, the show dropped to a 28.6 Where your Boast Meets the Coast and Pays You Greater Dividends COVERING SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WITH 5000 WATTS Beverly Hills 419 So. Robertson Boulevard BRadshaw 2-3429 I Long Beach 3745 Atlantic Avenue LB. 407-907 against a sharpened Como program. Como introduced Gino Prato of $64,000 Question headline fame just at the 8:30 p.m. station break. This helped pull his Trendex from 15 the week previous to 22.1. Whether or not Gleason holds on to his edge on Como will depend as much on the popularity of the new Honeymooners format as it will on NBC's ability to introduce top-drawing acts at the crucial switchover time. What Big Surprise and its $100,000 prize money will attain in the way of early-evening ratings on NBC with the possible building effect on Como; and how much the switch to film will detract from Gleason, time will tell. In any case it seems a fair assumption that CBS will fight to keep situation comedy alive. As the network's programing v.p., Hubbell Robinson, put it recently "only bad situation comedies are dead." Said Robinson: "At CBS it is our belief that it is not what you do but how well you do it. The entertainment business is loaded with cases in point. Formula is nothing. Execution is everything . . ." • • * NEED A PRO TO RUN YOUR STATION? More than 20 years a practical broadcaster, writer, producer, commentator, sales manager, station manager, agency executive, station representative. Now employed as station manager of a network station in a southern market. Seeking a greater outlet for talents. Creative, hard-working, steady, professional. Top references. Write or wire box 1017. SPONSOR. 40 E. 49th St.. N.Y. 17. N.Y. 118 SPONSOR