DAS BLAUE PALAIS (1972-1974) – This German science fiction series is criminally neglected. The title building is where scientists led by Louis Palm (Silvano Tranquilli) conduct interdisciplinary research and investigate unusual phenomena.
The Blue Palace reminded me of the 1972 German television series Alpha Alpha but on a much higher production budget. The Blue Palace resembled old British shows like Doomwatch or the even older Quatermass tv serials. It was also a forerunner of The X-Files, Fringe and similar programs, but hewed closer to reality like Doomwatch rather than use the more fantastic approach of those other shows.
Additional regulars included Lyne Chardonnet as Yvonne Boucher, Jean-Henri Chambois as Professor Manzini, Luminata Iacobescu as Sibilla Jacopescu and Dieter Laser as Enrico Polazzo. Rainer Erler wrote and directed every installment.
The Blue Palace was a series of five 90-minute telefilms. The individual stories are below.
ONE: THE GENIUS (October 15th, 1974) – The international group of scientists at the Blue Palace are pursuing their usual boundary-pushing research while periodically debating the ethics of various projects.
One of their current experiments involves attempts at transferring memory cells from one living organism to another. At present the Blue Palace team is still testing the process on rats but they’re soon faced with evidence that another organization has already been conducting similar experiments on human subjects. Continue reading
BEACON HILL (1975) – An attempt at an American version of Great Britain’s Upstairs, Downstairs, this short-lived series was set in Boston following World War One. As opposed to the British program’s “rich pigs upstairs” and “servants downstairs” dichotomy, Beacon Hill presented the wealthy Irish-American family the Lassiters and their servants, who live in a cheaper neighborhood. 
George Rose co-starred as Arthur Hacker, head butler and quasi-patriarch of the servants. Beatrice Straight played his wife Emmeline, the head housekeeper. Arthur’s nephew Brian Mallory (Paul Ryan Rudd) was the Lassiter chauffer who was having an affair with one of the Lassiter women, and his niece Maureen Mahaffey (Susan Blanchard) worked as one of the maids. 
AMY PRENTISS – Long before she was known as Archer’s mother, the talented Jessica Walter had churned out powerful performances of all kinds in movies and television. Jessica’s short-lived run as the sleuth Amy Prentiss is a reminder that a program can be a bit too far ahead of its time to thrive. 
THE TELEVISION GHOST (1931-1933) – As astonishing at it may seem, there were actually some regularly televised programs on pioneering channels like W2XAB beginning in 1931. Comparatively few people actually had the mechanical television sets of that period when the whole enterprise was highly experimental. Newspaper listings offer most of what little information survives about the broadcasts.
The Television Ghost ran 15 minutes and starred George Kelting as the Ghost with Bill Schudt as an announcer and narrator. The show’s Halloween Episode of 1931 was nicely hyped with a reference to some primitive television special effects magic. 
BIG HAWAII (1977) – From a promising pilot movie to “poof” it’s canceled – that’s the story of and that’s the glory of Big Hawaii. I’ve rarely seen such a pronounced overhaul from a pilot movie to the resulting series. 
BIG HAWAII: DANGER IN PARADISE (May 12th, 1977) – The creative team came so close to changing the future of 1970s prime time programming by getting the jump on Dallas, which did not come out until 1978. The network suits or somebody chickened out after this powerhouse pilot movie. 
JOHN DEHNER, forever remembered as the voice of Paladin on the Have Gun Will Travel radio western, played Barrett Fears, patriarch of the Fears family and a veteran power player in what would soon become Jock Ewing fashion. 
INA BALIN as Barrett’s second wife Marla embodied the older-but-still-hot female character that would soon define a genre. Think Joan Collins and Linda Evans on Dynasty, Abby Dalton, Susan Sullivan and many more on Falcon Crest, Barbara Rush and Stella Stevens on Flamingo Road, Katharine Ross on The Colbys plus a few others I’m probably forgetting. 
PROFILES IN COURAGE (1964-1965) – This television series took its name from the late President John F. Kennedy’s non-fiction book of that title. Some of the episodes dramatized specific sections of JFK’s book while others depicted what the producers felt were similar instances of political figures facing tough choices. 
Those choices were between following their conscience or following what was best for their political career at the time. 
OSCAR W. UNDERWOOD (Nov 8th, 1964) – Senator Underwood was a top contender for the Democrat presidential nomination in 1924. However, he obeyed his conscience by speaking out against the Ku Klux Klan, one of the Democrat Party’s most powerful forces. 
MARY S. MCDOWELL (Nov 15th, 1964) – Mary McDowell was a New York teacher during World War One. She refused to support the war effort via War Bonds rallies or sign a loyalty oath due to her religious principles as a Quaker. 
LUCKY SEVEN (1978) – Years before the hacker calling himself Captain Midnight hijacked HBO airtime to protest their high prices and years before the weird Max Headroom parody hack in Chicago came this forgotten incident in the annals of pirate broadcasting. 
The host for Lucky 7 was a memorable man wearing a gas mask on his face like he was some kind of late-night Horror Host. This figure would introduce the programs and movies being shown on the channel and would also editorialize about the way corporations and the government held a monopoly on the airwaves. 
WILDSIDE (1985) – After The Wild Wild West, The Barbary Coast and Bearcats but before The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. came this short-lived series about a secret crime-fighting group in the 1880s American West. 
HOWARD ROLLINS portrayed Bannister Sparks, who had been a demolitions man as an outlaw and retained that expertise as a crime-fighting operative. 
WILLIAM SMITH played Brodie Hollister, gunfighter extraordinaire. Hollister breeds and trains horses.
THE BEST OF BROADWAY (1954-1955) – Balladeer’s Blog’s latest look at a Forgotten Television item deals with The Best of Broadway. The color program aired on CBS once per month and its failure to last more than one season may be explained by the fact that the other three weeks the program that aired in its time slot was … Pabst Blue Ribbon Bouts. 
THE ROYAL FAMILY (September 15th, 1954) – From the Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman comedy The Royal Family of Broadway. Paul Nickell directed this depiction of a Barrymore-esque thespian dynasty and the chaos that results when the family matriarch is outraged to learn that her daughter and granddaughter are considering leaving their stage careers behind for marriage. 
NBC OPERA THEATRE (1949-1964) – Believe it or not, television networks used to regularly broadcast presentations of operas. Gradually, declining public interest drove operas off the networks and onto educational television. 
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