Tuesday, November 8, 2016

ABC's Second Season


4 comments:

  1. I remember Batman premiered in early 1966 as a mid-season replacement for some series that had been cancelled. With the others, I would not have remembered the dates, beyond, generally, the mid-1960's.

    "Blue Light" and "The Double Life of Henry Phyfe" seem vaguely familiar. I may have gotten confused at the time as to which was which, although one was a serious drama and the other was obviously a comedy. Maybe because both involved espionage. (And maybe I was just dumb when I was seven.) I don't recall ever watching either one, but I must have seen ads for them.

    Maybe "Henry Phyfe" was ABC's answer to Get Smart. That is, a sitcom spoofing the spy-fi fad, which was at its peak in 1966. The idea of an ordinary (and often "mild mannered") civilian getting caught up in espionage and intrigue is probably the most often-used premise in spy-fi, whether straight or spoof.

    I didn't know that The Baron ever aired on American network TV. I remember watching reruns of it in the 1970's, along with The Saint, The Prisoner, The Avengers, and Man In a Suitcase. It seems like they were on consecutive weeknights on the same channel, so maybe they were marketed together in syndication as a package deal.

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  2. I never saw the Baron back then. Don't remember even hearing of it. Had a FB friend send me the Complete Series a couple years ago!

    The late Marty Ingels claimed that he had been cast as Henry Phyfe and that they replaced him with Buttons for some complicated quid pro quo reason.

    I believe Batman actually replaced Ozzie and Harriet after about 15 years or so on TV.

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    Replies
    1. I believe Batman actually replaced Ozzie and Harriet...

      And Shindig! as well.

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  3. I remember cutting this exact ad out of the local newspaper in 1966!

    Although we watched every minute of every Batman episode, I don't remember ever watching Double Life or Blue Light (and I don't recall ever hearing about The Baron).

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