Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1960)

VOL 16; No. 49 9 NEW YORK ROUNDUP Electronic journalism was probed in a workshop session of the Sigma Delta Chi (journalistic fraternity) convention in N.Y. Dec. 1. Participating in the after-lunch discussion were Sig Mickelson, CBS News pres., Jack Gould, N.Y. Times TV-radio critic, and Gilbert Seldes, dir., Annenberg School of Communications, U. of Pa. Moderating the discussion was William Small, WHAS-TV Louisville news dir. & chmn. of Radio-TV News Dirs. Assn. Accepting the group’s first Freedom Award, Rep. John E. Moss (D-Cal.), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Government Information, predicted that the Kennedy administration will release more govt, news to the public than ever before (see p. 3). Another “pilot salvage” is due on NBC-TV Dec. 13. This time it’s 60-min. O’Conner’s Ocean, starring John Payne as a sea-going lawyer. Directed by Earl Bellamy from a script by associate producer Tony Barrett, the show was originally planned by NBC as a 1960-61 nighttime entry, and was financed through NBC. Eager to recoup its investment, NBC will now give it the same oneshot special treatment given Rivak, the Barbarian earlier this year. Goodson-Todman Productions has signed deals in N.Y. for 2 new NBC-TV program projects. One is for Say When, a Mon.-Fri. daytime audience-participation show in which home viewers, according to NBC, will “match their own shopping skill against the studio players.” The series, which will star Art James, former announcer on Concentration, will be produced in N.Y. and will replace Dough Ri Mi in NBC-TV’s morning (10-10:30 a.m.) lineup Jan. 2. The other G-T project is for a 60-min. Las Vegas pilot to be shot on location in the Nevada resort city as a joint production of G-T and Fenady-Kowalski Productions. The latter project, it’s interesting to note, is similar to a 60-min. series planned by Warner Bros. TV. BBC now has 2 N.Y. outlets scheduled to air its export program fare. The latest deal is with WNTA-TV N.Y., for a 30-min. documentary trilogy. The Wind of Change. The film series focuses on life & opinion in Africa and was scheduled to begin Sun. Dec. 4, 9:30-10 p.m. An earlier deal was signed by BBC with WNEW-TV N.Y. and WTTG Washington for An Age of Kings, a package of 15 Shakespearean programs (Vol. 16:44 pl3). Cal. National Productions is dropping its 3-year old economy rerun division. Victory Program Sales, because it no longer has an unsold backlog of TV films for rerun. VPS will reassimilate its staff into the regular CNP syndicated sales organization. NTA Telestudios, N.Y. tape commercial offshoot of NTA, has developed a new single-camera technique using Ampex’s latest Intersync equipment. This technique in video-tape production gives the medium a “control” factor which it didn’t have before. Reported NTA Telestudios’ Pres. George K. Gould: “It is now possible to shoot single scene footage on tape and electronically edit & mix the tape at a later time.” Reynolds Aluminum is the first advertiser to use the new method for its Telestudios commercials.” People: Steve Krantz has been elected Screen Gems (Canada) Ltd. vp . . . Emanuel Gerard has been named Robert Lawrence Productions art dir. HOLLYWOOD ROUNDUP COMEDY COMEBACK A FIZZLE?: Despite the much-touted resurgence of situation comedies on TV this season, few have delivered pay-off ratings & good critical reception. On the whole, the comeback is a dud, in the opinion of many in the industry. Of the 1960-61 entries, Don Fedderson’s My Three Sons, starring Fred MacMurray, and The Andy Griffith Show have probably won the best receptions. But the welcomes have been only so-so for Harrigan & Son, Guestward Ho!, My Sister Eileen, Tab Hunter Show, to name some. But, Hollywood producers being a hardy lot, the present situation is not apt to stem the flow of situation comedy pilots for this & next season, and some have already been filmed. Among those still due are Revue Studio’s Mother Climbs a Tree, Four Star Television’s The Freshman (Gertrude Berg & Cedric Hardwicke), MGM-TV’s Aridy Hardy, Harry Tatelman’s Mack Sennett’s Comedy Theater, an untitled Ben Brady pilot, and projects from virtually every company in Hollywood. The collective fate of the new comedies bears out the Hollywood axiom that there is nothing more difficult to do with quality than a comedy show. This is because good comedy writers — like good comedians — are at a premium. In addition, the field has been so thoroughly explored since the success of I Love Lucy, that the danger of imitativeness is omnipresent. Trade reaction to the apathetic reception for comedies is that the shows aren’t good — “but we can do comedy better.” Producers point to a valid reason for turning out more: Obviously TV needs a balanced program diet — it can’t be all Westerns & private eyes. There’s a big vacuum, which comedy must fill, they say. MGM-TV will shoot 2 pilots in co-production with NBC — both 60-min., blueprinted for 1961-62: Cain’s Hundred, an Untouchables-tyge show about a dedicated crime buster out to catch the 100 top syndicated-crime bigshots (and thus, theoretically, providing the basis of a series that can stretch to 100 weeks) ; the other a suspense anthology. Woman in the Case, with a series of feminine guest stars in dramas of the “Sorry, Wrong Number” variety. Revue Studios has postponed its pilot of Mother Climbs a Tree, following the collapse of negotiations for Joan Fontaine to star . . . KTTV Los Angeles has finished production on 130 tapes of Sincerely, Maria Palmer, 5-min. series produced for syndication by the station. Goodson-Todman Productions is considering reactivating its Jefferson Drum series . . . Ex-20th Century-Fox TV executive Irving Asher is discussing a co-production series deal with Hong Kong producer-distributor Run Run Shaw. The series would be filmed in the Far East. Revue Studios has made a 20-min. presentation film for Tom Sawyer, starring Maureen O’Sullivan & Chuck Herbert. Jennings Lang supervised. Ziv-UA study of its client list during the past year revealed that regional power & public utility companies accounted for $1.8 million of its syndication business. Properties purchased regionally by such companies include Miami Undercover, Sea Hunt and Lock Up.