Variety (August 1959)

RADIO-TELEVISION Rise of Specials Poses Manifold Problems for Agency TV Buyers A look at the fall network schedules is making a lot of agency men nervous, especially those who have a big bundle of client money in the half hours. The frantic planning of 200 spe¬ cials and the scheduling of 30- plu» nighttime hour shows fore¬ cast new problems. What will the number of preemptions do to fre¬ quency pitches? What will the star-loaded big shows do to rating consistency? What will the hours, with slick Hollywood production credits and time for character and plot development, do to ratings generally? What will fractional buys mean to agencies that like close supervision and agency-of-^ record status? There may well be some, hard j accounting soon after the fall sea¬ son is underway. Right now agencies l’ke J. Walter Thompson and BBDO would seem to have the top hand. With big and small ticket clients, they have been able to plunge into r • 'rials and at tlm same time stiex with the. half-: hour breadwinner. Ted Bates,;, heavy in packaged goods. Is con¬ fidently swinging partly to hour; shows. | Benton & Bowles, on the other hand, has bought no specials ta date and is hanging the hopes of General Foods and Procter Gamble (about two-thirds of the agency’s tv billing* on the half? hour formula. Oliver Barbour, who quietly slid into the top programming post at B&B in the flurry' that sur¬ rounded Tommy McDermott’s exit; may find the chair a little warm. For the time, however, he is eyeing the plans for 200 specials w ith reservations and asking: How many are set, how many options will be picked up, how many are really special, and when will the schedules be sated? Barbour’s department, which for the time plans no major changes, consists of six active iv producers on the Coast and eight in N.Y., all with show biz back¬ ground. Agency, one of the hold- I outs for inside production and really close supervision, produces two daily half-hour soap operas, and for fall is producing, in asso¬ ciation with indies, the Danny ; Thomas and Ann Sothern Shows, “Rifleman,’- “Zane Grey Theatre,” and the new’ Betty Hutton show; “The Detectives," with Robert Taylor as host and participant in i a few segments, and “Witchita Town.” I Nine, Inc. Continued from page 31 ■ ' — | Green and Seelen recently finished ; Scripting the series and it is now j the casting stage ready for a fall ; frllot venture. Nine, Inc. is con¬ fident of financial backing for the . shooting of this property. Green : is in partnership with Nine, Inc. . on “Man Who Came to Levittown.” Green, who authored the best ; seller, “The Last Angry Man,” : bought by Columbia Pictures, also has a new novel, “The Lotus Eat¬ ers” coming out next month. In [ collaboration with Nine, Inc, he’s I also presently working on the out- ; line of a tv series called“When In ! Rome,” dealing with the tribula¬ tions of a writer and his family in overseas surroundings. It’s been described as a “Father Knows Best” theme built- around a. writ¬ er’s domestic problems: ! “The Others” is another project I under the Nine, Inc. banner. Out-' j fit has just finished the pilot of this j series at 20th Century-Fox in | Gotham and it. is reportedly a hor- | ror supernatural—a kind of com- j mercial ‘ Camera Three” in tech? {nique and performance much in I the spirit of the old “Lights Out” and “Inner . Sanctum” , spirit Heading “The Others*’ is Sydney Gross, an English deejay who worked for WINS at one time do¬ ling midnight readings of ghost 1 stories. “The Others” is described. H&IETY as a natural for the syndication field; Nine Inc.’s partner in this specific undertaking is Konstantin Kalzer, film . man. The trio’s also peddling what it consider a fresh variant of the tal¬ ent contest idea. It is called “The American Beauty” and is a weekly video contest based on talent, charm and beauty for professional actresses. Show. calls for several actresses to appear weekly oppo¬ site major guest stars and has op¬ portunities for merchandising angles, according to the producers. William Morris Agency is offer¬ ing another Nine> Inc. package to potential clients. Show is slugged “Hole in One Golf” and is de¬ signed as a series of six sports spectaculars each offering $65,000 in prizes to viewers, etc.: “Hole in One Golf” would also feature 20 top golf pros. Highspot of. the show is the approach shot and tv it seems can cover this shot perfect¬ ly from the hackswing to the. cli¬ max. Participating in the; pro¬ grams would be such top golfers as Sam Snead, Doug Ford, Tommy Bolt and Jackie Burke, “You Never Cain TelT’ is another show in the Nine, Inc.*shop, It is a sort of “Strike It Rich” on wheels in which a mobile videod tape set¬ up- is employed to visit the homes of different Americans every day. Guests for the program will be chosen by letters of admiration from friends, relatives, etc. . Reopen Orlando Case Washington, Aug: 4. Federal Communicatiohs Com-, mission, in accord 'with Court of Appeals remand, has formally re¬ opened the Orlando, Fla , Channel 9 influence case. . Remand was based on allegations made before the House Legislative; Oversight Subcommittee last year that influence was wielded on be¬ half of WLOF, the winning appli¬ cant. Award was protested by WORZ Inc., parent company of WKIS, ivbose bid for. the ’outlet was denied. No date Was set for the rehear¬ ing. FCG said i all parties con¬ cerned may take part on request by Aug. 10. TV Webs 9% Ahead . Television networks grossed . the grand sum of $309,380,932 for the first six months of 1959. Take represents ah in¬ crease of 9.3% over the like 1958 period. It wasn’t;a bad June, either, , since that first hotspell month accounted alone for $48,472.- 139“ among ABC-TV, NBC-TV ■j and . CBS-TV. Figures were released by the Television Bureau of Advertising. ABC’s half-year gross was $61,422,516. CBS took in $132,537,670, and NBC hit $115,420,746. JAYARK ACQUIRES FEATURE BUNDLE Jayark Films, less than a year old, is branching out into feature .film distribution with a recently acquired package of 40 theatrical pix. .Bundle includes seven United Artist’s features, six from RKO, seven for 20th, three, from Repub¬ lic, and one from. MGM. Titles include an early Audrey Hepburn starrer, “Monte Carlo Baby”; “Faee to Face” with James Mason and . Robert Preston; “Wetback” with Lloyd Bridges; “The Mag¬ nificent Matador” with Anthony Quinn and Maureen O’Hara*:“San Francisco Story” with Joel. Mc- Crea and Yvonne deCarlo; “Cash oh Delivery” with Shelley Winters, and “The Girl and .the Palio” with Diana Dors and Vittorio Gassman. Most of the package represents post '22 releases. Jayark Films salesmen are in N. Y. this week for* series of con¬ fabs with general sales veep Har¬ vey Victor. Firm’s “Bozo the Clown” cartoon series is now in more than 90 markets. Jayark also has in production two half-hour series, “Trapped,” mystery suspense, and “Birth¬ right,” plotted around adoption with cooperation of the Los An¬ geles Bureau of Adoption. : Wednesday, August 5, 1959 (France's 2d TV Paris, Aug: 4 . Christian Chavanon, head of. the governmental Radiodiffusion-Tele¬ vision Frantaise, controlling video and radio, officially stated this week that the second tele channel would be working by Jan. '60, It will beam 20 hours per week, only in the evening, to the regular web’s 50 hours. Chavanon reiterated there would be no advertising, but he said, that the second unit would vie with tire first for listeners by giving the same type of programs. However, the two webs would never have the same kind of show on at the same time. He also said that sets now in operation would be able to pick up the . new .beamings.' via a. simple- converter addition. | Chavanon also assured set own¬ ers that aU of France will be cov¬ ered by tv transmissions by *62, at which time more money will be able to be poured into the pro¬ grams. for the two channels;- "He admitted - that ;the new web will only service the Peris area for some years, but that by .’63 could be received all over France. Pierre Sabbagh, who will head the new channel; went on record as naming it a definite competitive, setup and it will not have a cultur¬ al format only as has been stated heretofore. Entertainment will also be stressed as welt as culture via the state subsidized theatres. The RTF will also soon get a ( new statute which will make the personnel workers for a nationa¬ lized industry rather than a civil service unit. This will make it pos¬ sible to snare top talents since big¬ ger wages could be paid without affecting wage ceilings "of, other -civil workers. Though Chavanon stressed that there will be no commercial as¬ pects on tv, private sources feel that oh a “competitive” status some private orgs might get orders for special programs.. Yank vidpie packagers are also w r atching de¬ velopments OJU.ANDO—DAYTONA BEACH STATIONS: WESH, WDBO, WLOF. SURVEY DATES: MAY S-l 4, 195? • TOP TEN NETWORK SHOWS AT. RK. PROGRAM—DAY—TIME STA. RTG. 1. Gunsmoke (Sat. 10:00-10:30)..*. .WDBO 54.6 2. Red Skelton (Tues. 9:30-10:00)..WDBO 48.4 3. Have Gnu, Will Travel (Sat. 9:30-10).WDBO 44.4 4. The Millionaire (Wed. 9:00-9:30).... .. WDBO 42.7 5. To Toll The Truth (Tues. 8:30-9:00)... WDBO 41.9 6. I’ve Got A Secret (Wed. 9:30-10:00). .WDBO 39.5 7. Ann Sothera (Mon. 9:30-10:00).......WDBO 39.3 8. Danny Thomas (Mon. 9:00-9:30)-.....WDBO 35.7 9. December Bride (Thurs. 8:00-8:30) a . WDBO 34.9 10. Father Knows Best (Mon. 8:30-9 TOP SYNDICATED PROGRAMS AT. PROGRAM—DAY—TIME STA; DISTRIB. RTG. , Resene t (Mon. 8:00),........ . Sea Hunt (Thurs. 9:00). . . . ..; . Highway Patrol (Sat. 10:30) . .. , Whirlybirds (Fxl, 8:30)....».. • Screen Genu 30.0 .ZiV 29.4 .Ziv 2710 .CBS 26.0 . Jeft’* Collie (Thurs. 7:30).... i .....-. .WDBO. . . U.S. Marshal (Wed, 8:30)............WDBO.. . Cannonball (Thurs. 8:30) ...... ..WDBO.. . Bold Venture (Tues. 8:00). ........WDBO.. . New York Confidential (Tues. JM) * • • WESH.. . Border Patrol (Tues. 7:30). ...WDBO.. AV.I TOP COMPETITION SH. PROGRAM STA. .52.1 Restless Gutt .;........ .WESH 50.3 Pat Boone .............WLOF 65.1 D.A.'s Man ............ .WESH 49.8 (Why Berlin U.........WESH ( Walt Disney Presents ..WLOF 50.5 Flight . . . .........;... .WESH 32.3 Price Is Right ..........WESH 35.5 Real McCoys ...........WLOF 33.7 Sugarfoot ..............WLOF 30.9 Sugarfoot ............. ...WLOF 30.6 Dragnet ...........; ...WESH Here’s dramatic proof of Dominance! WDBO-TV has ALL the top tea network shows; and nine of the top ten syndicated shows. Convincing proof that WDBO-TV does the standout selling, job in Central Florida. Rightly WDBO-TV programs command audiences of 70,000 and more TV homes and regularly reach virtually all the 25&006 TV homes in this far- above-average market, WDBO-TV CH ERRY BROADCASTIN O COM PANY CBS• TV • CHANNEL 6 Orlando, Fla. Represented by BLAIlVt TELEVISION ASSOCIATES