Category Archives: Forgotten Television

FORGOTTEN TELEVISION: TARGET (1958)

TARGET (1958) – This syndicated 30-minute suspense anthology series was hosted by the one and only Adolphe Menjou. It was a Ziv production and ran for 38-41 episodes, depending on which online source you go by.

STANDOUT EPISODES:

BREAKING POINT – A woman finds that violence is her only recourse against a sinister stalker and her distrustful husband who suspects she is having an affair with the stalker. Features Howard Duff and Maria Riva.   

POLICE DOCTOR – Accident victim Joe Burns (Leo Gordon) freaks out and thinks he’s being held by hostile forces at the hospital. He grabs a cop’s gun and a standoff results. An MD (Gene Barry) tries to talk the man back to reason. Also with Brett Halsey.

EDGE OF TERROR – Handicapped female author Alice Ward (Bonita Granville) slowly realizes the “friendly stranger” she is alone with matches the description of a homicidal maniac at large. Continue reading

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DR. DEATH: TED KNIGHT PLAYED A MOVIE HOST IN THE 1950s

DR. DEATH (1953?-1955) – Ted Knight, famous for his roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Too Close for Comfort is among the surprising names who worked in the American folk art of Movie Hosting. Yes, just as Tim Conway played Ghoulardi’s sidekick and Gary Busey was Mazeppa’s sidekick; just as Pat Sajak wrote for Nashville’s Phantom of the Opry, Bill O’Reilly for Uncle Ted and Tom Snyder for Bob Hersh’s Movie Host the Advisor, Ted Knight is in the mix as well.

Though the other figures mentioned above were in the supporting staff, Knight was the host himself as Dr. Death, a Mad Scientist who was also some form of revenant back from the dead. Most sources describe Ted’s Dr. Death character as a combination of Dr. Phibes and the 1930s Mummy.

I often wonder if it was more a case of Knight basing the concept partially on Humphrey Bogart’s “back from the dead Mad Scientist” in The Return of Dr. X from 1939 rather than on Boris Karloff’s Mummy. Whatever the thought process was, as Dr. Death the future Ted Baxter hosted Milkman Movies (one source says Milkman’s Movies), which aired so late at night/ early in the morning that it ended before the crack of dawn, when milkmen of the past did their rounds. Continue reading

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FORGOTTEN TELEVISION: PAT MORITA AS OHARA (1987-1988)

OHARA (1987-1988) – In this 1-hour detective show’s case “Ohara” is NOT O’Hara and is instead a Japanese-American cop played by the venerable Pat Morita, who also co-created the program. During its run Ohara went through THREE changes of format, starting out with a very innovative approach before poor ratings prompted desperate network scrambling for tired old approaches.

The first name of Morita’s character was never revealed on the show, and he was basically a “gimmick” character. Ohara was a Los Angeles police detective who initially worked without a partner and preferred meditation and soft-spoken interrogations to the cliched Tough Cop techniques. Our hero often cooked Japanese meals for guests to his home, incorporating Pat Morita’s own culinary enthusiasms into the show. Continue reading

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FORGOTTEN TELEVISION: BORDER PATROL (1959)

BORDER PATROL (1959) – Based on actual case files of the United States Border Patrol, this half-hour series ran for 39 episodes and starred Richard Webb of Captain Midnight fame. Webb played Don Jagger, Deputy Chief of the Border Patrol, yet oddly he took part in individual cases. Why not just make him an agent or officer? I guess the creative team felt Deputy Chief sounded cooler.

Don Jagger’s law enforcement activities provided a degree of novelty compared to traditional cop or spy shows of the time period. Episodes ranged from Dragnet style procedural tales to Darren McGavin’s more colorful Mike Hammer investigations. 

STANDOUT EPISODES:

AN EVERGLADES STORY – Don Jagger goes undercover to infiltrate a gang of illegal immigrants who are part of a network of gun smugglers and kidnappers. Ben Johnson and William Smith guest star.

PASSPORT TO THE DEEP SIX – U.S. gangsters exploit and abuse people entering America illegally. Don Jagger takes them down. 

A BUNDLE OF DOPE – Our main character busts up a drug smuggling ring operating along the U.S.-Mexico border. Susan Whitney guest stars. Continue reading

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FORGOTTEN TELEVISION: THE GIRL WITH SOMETHING EXTRA (1973-1974)

THE GIRL WITH SOMETHING EXTRA (1973-1974) – This half-hour sitcom continued the concept of having Sally Field in possession of paranormal abilities. The Flying Nun saw her capable of flight and The Girl with Something Extra featured her comedic escapades as a young woman who was able to read people’s minds.

NBC was apparently hoping for this series about ESP to be the new version of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie, but The Girl with Something Extra never quite gelled. Field as Sally Burton was married to John Davidson’s John Burton, a lawyer.   

The supporting cast included Terri Garr, Jack Sheldon, Zohra Lampert and William Windom. NBC lost faith in the ESP angle and often downplayed it during the 22-episode run of this show that couldn’t decide if it wanted to be about cutesy newlyweds or lean into the mind-reading element. 

THE EPISODES:

SALLY ON MY MIND – Attorney John Burton contemplates asking out Sally, a woman he’s just met. He is surprised when, out of nowhere, she tells him she is available the next night. Their whirlwind courtship ends in marriage and on their wedding night, Sally finally tells John about her ESP abilities. Feeling uncomfortable, John walks out on her but realizes he loves Sally enough to just deal with the fact that she can read his mind.

EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO HIDE BUT COULDN’T – Once while kissing Sally, John is thinking about Annette Funicello instead. Naturally, Sally can tell and wears Mouseketeer ears the next time she and John canoodle. John feels embarrassed, leading to Sally telling him about men she thinks about when they are together. Continue reading

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FORGOTTEN TELEVISION: ADVENTURES OF THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL (1955-1956)

THE ADVENTURES OF THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL (1955-1956) – British television series based on Baroness Emma Orczy’s 1903 play and 1905 novel (and series) about Sir Percy Blakeney (Marius Goring), who puts on a foppish and dim-witted air to disguise the fact that he is secretly the Scarlet Pimpernel.

As that figure, he and his network of agents covertly organize the escape from France of aristocrats and others condemned to die on the guillotine under the Reign of Terror in the 1790s. Chauvelin (Stanley Van Beers), one of the most rabid operatives of the Revolutionary mad dogs terrorizing France, works to prevent the Scarlet Pimpernel and his eponymous League from rescuing his targets.   

Strangely, the series omitted Sir Percy’s beautiful and brilliant wife Marguerite, a former French actress whose daring matched his own. Instead, the show used a different female ally for the Pimpernel – Countess la Valliere (Lucie Mannheim).

Some of the novel’s League of the Scarlet Pimpernel were supporting characters, including Second Doctor Who star Patrick Troughton as Sir Andrew Ffoulkes and Anthony Newland as Lord Hastings. The series ran for 18 half-hour installments.  

THE EPISODES: Continue reading

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DR. SAN GUINARY (1971-1981) – BAD MOVIE HOST

DR. SAN GUINARY – From 1971 to 1981, director John F. Jones at KMTV in Omaha, Nebraska hosted the channel’s version of Creature Feature as mad scientist Dr. San Guinary. The program originally aired late Saturday nights after the 10:00pm local news, then was moved to Midnight when KMTV started airing SNL in 1975.

Omaha’s Creature Feature opened with the sound of whooshing winds, thunder and a few screams as the camera grew closer to what was obviously a scale model of a spooky old house where Doc maintained his lab. The joke was that the audience could clearly tell the house was just a model, like so many fake-looking models of buildings in so many bad movies. (Same joke with the Gizmonic Institute models.)  

In his light green skin makeup and lightly blood-spattered white lab coat, San’s schtick was the by-then well-established airing of old and often bad movies like Day of the Triffids or The Giant Behemoth alongside various supporting characters like his lab assistant Igor and occasional pretty nurses.

The doctor, whose voice always had a certain Wolfman Jack sound to it, also did comedy inserts and sketches, of course. The circulating DVDs of Horror Host footage from decades ago featured plenty of Dr. San Guinary’s comedy bits, including his Mystery Door segments (above right).

Doc never knew what would lie behind that door, like maybe a train racing toward him, or himself playing on a rock piano and singing Catfish Boogie, or other oddities and sight gags. Sort of a forerunner of the Hexfield Viewscreen gags on Mystery Science Theater 3000 during its original run. Continue reading

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FORGOTTEN TELEVISION: THE INVISIBLE MAN (1975-1976) WITH DAVID MCCALLUM

THE INVISIBLE MAN (1975-1976) – Before Harve Bennett and Steven Bochco would launch The Gemini Man they tried a very similar premise with The Invisible Man. David McCallum, with his best Cousin Oliver hairdo (below right), starred as Dr. Daniel Westin, a scientist working for KLAE Corporation on matter transformation.

A failed attempt at Westin’s invention has the side effect of making living and unliving matter invisible. Westin fears that the government might want to use his accidental creation for military purposes, so he uses the prototype to turn his naked body invisible and destroys all evidence of the device and his research before fleeing.

Westin is trapped in invisible form but he and his scientist wife Kate (Melinda Fee) work together to make “realistic” fake skin for hands and a seemingly fleshy mask for Daniel to wear as a face in order to appear normal in public. (Though how it made him appear to have teeth is never explained.)

With the help of KLAE Corporation figure Walter Carlson (Jackie Cooper in the pilot movie, Craig Stevens in the series) working with Westin from then on as his handler, he is sent as an invisible secret agent on missions while Daniel tries to rediscover his process and make himself visible again.

This otherwise solid premise was weakened by the fact that the hero had to peel off his fake skin to become invisible, meaning he was always naked in action, which was silly and made him vulnerable. When the creative team started over with Ben Murphy in The Gemini Man the following year they had the main character’s flesh AND clothing turn invisible.

PILOT MOVIE: THE INVISIBLE MAN (May 6th, 1975) – My above description also serves as a synopsis, with the resulting series set up by KLAE Corporation only allowing Dr. Westin to use their laboratory facilities to work on his invisibility cure if he and his wife work for them as spies. Henry Darrow played Dr. Nick Maggio in this 90-minute telefilm. 

THE EPISODES:

THE KLAE RESOURCE – As the secret “KLAE resource” Daniel and Kate are hired out as spies for delicate government assignments. (Mission: Invisible) In this episode they are sent to rescue a reclusive scientist who is being forced to sell his fossil fuel breakthrough to a Middle Eastern country who fear losing their grip on the oil market. With James Karen and Conrad Janis. 

THE FINE ART OF DIPLOMACY – The Invisible Man and his wife Kate are assigned to take down a ring that is stealing original works of art and replacing them with fakes. Ross Martin and Michael Pataki guest star. Continue reading

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FORGOTTEN TELEVISION: THE FLYING DOCTOR (1959-1960)

THE FLYING DOCTOR (1959-1960) – This installment of Balladeer’s Blog’s Forgotten Television is a series that was based on the 1950s BBC radio show about Australia’s airborne doctors who tended to widely separated communities in the Outback. Previously, I covered the long-running Australian television series The Flying Doctors based on the same outfits.

Richard Denning starred in this 1959-1960 UK-Australian co-production as Dr. Greg Graham. Jill Adams portrayed Nurse Mary Meredith, Alan White played pilot Charley Wood, and Peter Madden was Dr. Jim Harrison, a temporarily blinded physician.

There were 39 half-hour episodes.

STANDOUT EPISODES:

A PAIR OF EYES – American Dr. Greg Graham (Denning) takes a leave of absence from a medical research institute in San Francisco to temporarily serve in Australia’s Flying Doctor Corps. 

DEATH BY WILLIE-WILLIE – Nothing to do with Death by Snu-Snu. A windstorm called a Willie-Willie prevents planes from flying, meaning pilot Charley Wood must be talked through a medical procedure for a patient.

BLOOD DONOR – Dr. Graham must improvise his way through a blood transfusion for a little girl who fell down a mine shaft. Meanwhile, the only donor for her rare blood type is an escaped convict. Continue reading

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FORGOTTEN TELEVISION: BEHIND CLOSED DOORS (1958-1959)

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS (1958-1959) – This Cold War spy series starred and was narrated by Bruce Gordon, who portrayed U.S. Navy Commander Matson (no first name given). Matson would take an active role in some episodes and would narrate from a supporting role in others.

The half-hour series ran for 26 episodes and was based on the espionage files of Rear Admiral Ellis M. Zacharias, who had served in World War One and World War Two. Zacharias offered closing commentary in 17 of the episodes.

Behind Closed Doors was a docu-drama and is generally pretty entertaining. The half-hour running time and the inventive plots prevent any potential boredom from setting in.

THE EPISODES:

THE CAPE CANAVERAL STORY – Commander Matson and U.S. Naval Intelligence deal with a Soviet submarine sent to monitor American rocket tests at Cape Canaveral as well as with a Russian spy who tries forcing a charter boat captain in the area to take him to a spot where he can observe launches. Virginia “Mrs. Olson” Christine also stars.

FLIGHT TO FREEDOM – Dr. Brauer (Francis Lederer), a German rocket scientist now working for the Soviet guided missile program, is motivated to try defecting to the U.S. when his longtime colleague Dr. Von Elm is lobotomized by the communists for dissent. Television debut of Arlene Martel.  Continue reading

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