BRACKEN’S WORLD (1969-1970) – This one-hour drama has the dubious distinction of being the series that replaced Star Trek on NBC’s Fall Schedule for the 1969 into 1970 season. The program was set at fictional Century Studios in Hollywood and presented dramas about life in the film industry. Dorothy Kingsley created and produced the show and wrote several episodes.
John Bracken ran Century Studios and in the first season all viewers got was his voice on the speakerphone, praising or crushing his employees. The voice was provided by Warren Stevens in the first season, then Leslie Nielsen took over the role and appeared in person as Bracken for the second season.
The episodes were sometimes self-contained with assorted guest stars at the center of each week’s backstabbing and maneuvering, but most revolved around a regular cast portraying figures who worked at or were under contract to Century Studios.
Appearing in all 41 episodes were Peter Haskell as producer Kevin Grant, Linda “Nova from Planet of the Apes” Harrison as ingenue actress Paulette Douglas, Elizabeth Allen as talent coach Laura Deane and Karen Jensen as established star Rachel Holt.
Other recurring roles with a lengthy run were filled by Madlyn Rhue as Kevin Grant’s wife Marjorie, Dennis Cole as stunt man and later assistant studio head Davey Evans and Stephen Oliver as Tom Hudson, a talented but volatile actor.
THE EPISODES:
101. FADE IN – Brandoesque Tom Hudson tries to make his mark as an actor, Paulette Douglas is reluctant to do a nude scene in her first film, but her ambitious show-business mother (Jeanne Cooper) insists she do it. Producer Kevin Grant’s marriage is in trouble over his use of the casting couch. Tony Curtis, Omar Sharif and Raquel Welch make brief appearances as themselves to sell the supposed “star power” of Century Studios. Continue reading
EMPIRE (1962-1963) – Ryan O’Neal, Charles Bronson, Richard Egan and Terry Moore starred in this modern-day (1960s) drama about a family ranch in New Mexico. 
RICHARD EGAN starred as Jim Redigo, the brawny ranch manager with an MBA. That was an intriguing idea, and this character helped capture the new complexities of operating a ranch in the modern era while retaining the raw machismo that 1960s viewers would have expected from a ranch manager. 
RYAN O’NEAL played Tal Garret, Lucia’s son who was being groomed to take over the family ranch one day. His relationship with Redigo went from being like an uncle and nephew to more like a father and son but Tal struggled for the respect that he felt the older man was not giving him. Neither as a young man nor a rancher. 
THE SUCCESSOR (1965) – This made for British television drama was as deep as a 1965 production was going to go in depicting the deliberations and the behind the scenes maneuvering as the College of Cardinals chooses the next Pope. All the characters are fictional, but it’s acknowledged that the events are slightly based on the election of Pope John XXIII in October of 1958. 
HOLLYWOOD DETECTIVE (1991) – I want to be very clear – this review covers the six-episode Arts & Entertainment Network original program Hollywood Detective, NOT the 1989 Telly Savalas made for TV movie The Hollywood Detective.
The stories are played straight but there’s always a tongue-in-cheek air about the proceedings because the nostalgia and quasi-historical events are more than half the appeal. Some critics complained about the less than trail-blazing mystery writing in the series but that’s like complaining about how the shows Columbo or Monk didn’t reflect authentic police work. Or how the Moses Wine novels had the detective interacting with pastiches of recognizable 1960s and 1970s public figures. 
THE ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK SHOW (1969-1970) – No, it wasn’t a Meeting of Minds type of educational program depicting the long-ago German composer Engelbert Humperdinck interacting with other historical figures. Although I would have watched a show like that! (But I’m kind of weird.)
PILOT (Dec 2nd, 1969) – The Dinckster shared the stage with Barbara Eden, Jose Feliciano, Dionne Warwick and his entertainment doppelganger Tom Jones. The Mike Sammes Singers, the Jack Parnell Orchestra and the Paddy Stone Dancers were on hand as well. This episode was rebroadcast on December 26th. 
EPISODE ONE (Jan 21st, 1970) – E-Bert’s guests this time were Tony Bennett, Leslie Uggams, Donald O’Connor and Ed Bishop from UFO. The Irving Davies Dancers joined the Mike Sammes Singers and the Jack Parnell Orchestra as the figurative house entertainers. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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