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Thursday, July 4, 2013

Shrinks On The OTN.

Two more entries for the OTN today:

They are contemporaries of each other, from the early 1960's.
One ran one season, the other ran two.
One, I watched a season's worth,, and the other, I watched an episode's worth.
They were both about psychiatry.
One was "The Eleventh Hour"
It starred Wendell Corey as the main psychiatrist.
I only watched one of it's two seasons because it was on opposite "The Danny Kaye Show" for the other.
One had to choose, and this one chose Danny.
But it was again Sophie's Choice, as "The Eleventh Hour was very well done.
It was very well written and well played.
I remember an episode where Tony Dow (yes, Wally Cleaver, in one of his few non-Wally Cleaver roles) impregnated his young girlfriend.
Ruth Roman played his mother.
When confronted by the girl's mother, Ruth uttered the immortal line, "It takes two to tango, toots!"
You gotta love it.
I'd love to have the opportunity to love it again.
On the OTN.

The other show was "Breaking Point"
It aired for one season in 1963, on ABC.
Monday nights at 10pm.
It starred an actor named Paul Richards as the main psychiatrist.
At least, he was the first-billed psychiatrist.
It was a spinoff of "Ben Casey" and shared many of its production values and personnel.
At least what I could tell from only seeing one episode.
The one episode was only seen because the other two networks had better choices in my home.
"East Side, West Side", which starred George C. Scott as a social worker, and was superior stuff to just about anything, and "Sing Along With Mitch".
If you'll recall, the latter was a must-see show for my mother, and it was one which my mother made me sing along with.
But a lot of times, I caught a break on Monday nights, because Mitch had already been moved from Friday nights at 8pm.
By 10pm, my mother was usually hitting the road to dreamland, because she had to get up early to go to work.
So I was able to watch "East Side/West Side".
Then, one week, "East Side/West Side" was pre-empted, my mother was already asleep, and that's when I got to sample "Breaking Point"
It made me want to see more of it.
But not as much as I wanted to see George C. Scott control his temper on "East Side/West Side"

So obviously, one episode of "Breaking Point" was not enough for me.
And that's why we should have the OTN.

Mark Rothman, CEO of the OTN.

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My books ,"Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne & Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
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If you'd like one, contact me at macchus999@aol.com.
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne & Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.

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1 comment:

  1. THE ELEVENTH HOUR:

    After the first season, Wendell Corey left the show, for reasons unclear, and Ralph Bellamy took over.
    This was a Norman Felton production, as was DR. KILDARE, but there was no interplay between the two; some believe that this contributed to the short run.

    BREAKING POINT:

    Some critics wondered how (why, really) the lead role was given to Paul Richards, whose grim face and voice had kept him typecast as heavies for years.

    I read recently that Richards was not the producers's first choice.
    The guy they wanted was a handsome leading man type, who hadn't yet broken through in features, and was marking time on TV guest shote.
    They offered BREAKING POINT to him, and he stalled them, and eventually they hired Richards, who campaigned for the part, in hopes of finally breaking his typecast.
    The guy who stalled was Robert Redford.
    He did do a guest shot on BREAKING POINT ... just one.
    After one season, Paul Richards was back playing heavies.
    C'est la vie.

    Because there's no Big Book Of Ratings, I couldn't tell you why all three shows in that time slot were cancelled.
    From the little I've been able to gather, BREAKING POINT usually won the hour, but not by as much as BEN CASEY had been winning the previous year.
    The next fall, BEN CASEY was back on Mondays, and knocked out SLATTERY'S PEOPLE in a matter of weeks ... but you know that story already.

    ReplyDelete

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Hi. I am, according to my Wikipedia entry,(which I did not create) a noted television writer, playwright, screenwriter, and occasional actor. You can Google me or go to the IMDB to get my credits, and you can come here to get my opinions on things, which I'll try to express eloquently. Hopefully I'll succeed. You can also e-mail me at macchus999@aol.com. Perhaps my biggest claim to fame is being responsible, for about six months in 1975, while Head Writer for the "Happy Days" TV series, for Americans saying to each other "Sit on it."