SUNDAY NIGHT PROGRAMMING
Sun., August 22, 04:20 PM
As I watch less and less network television, I don’t pay as much attention to the schedules. Besides, I can always use either U-Verse or the internet to find out what’s on.
Fifty years ago it was a different story. My parents had just gotten our first television set and, to a great extent, we watched what they wanted to watch. If we were lucky, we liked the same shows. If not, too bad.
One of those shows was “Ted Mack and the Original Amateur Hour,” which aired early on Sunday evenings. It had a long history on the radio, but it was not that different from today’s “American Idol.” Listeners just sent in postcards to vote for their favorites. Some of the acts were pretty good, and some were pretty awful. One notable who changed his status to “professional” before his year was out was Pat Boone. (It meant that he wasn’t eligible for the year-end contest.)
Somewhere along the way, we noticed that Sunday afternoon football often ran too long, and the networks were often undecided what to do about the programs that were originally scheduled. Maybe you have heard of the infamous “Heidi game.” In any case, it often happened that they would just cancel the show that was scheduled and extend the post-game talk until the next show was due. Ted Mack’s show was often canceled. A few years later, the show was gone for good. It’s hard to tell whether the network canned the show because it had the wrong demographic or if Mack just saw it coming and quietly ended the show himself. Whichever reason — or both — Sunday football, along with the emergency of “Bonanza” on NBC — in living color — seemed to mark the death knell for CBS Sunday night programming. The most recent victim has been “Cold Case,” which is an excellent drama, but I was never willing to stay up till ten on the off chance they might actually air it on the east coast.
Now that September is almost here, the advertising for the new season is splashed all over network and cable. And I see that “CSI: Miami” is moving to…Sunday night. Okay, that was my least favorite. It will be up against a newer series on A&E, called “The Glades.” Goodbye, Horatio.
The original “CSI” hit bottom, in my opinion when they killed off Warrick Brown and then sent Gil Grissom off to central America or Europe or wherever. I can pick up old episodes on cable. I still watch “CSI: New York,” but considering last season’s cliff-hanger, I don’t know where that’s headed.
I just watched the Live from Lincoln Center performance of “South Pacific.” Better than any of the movie versions I’ve seen; it’s like I’m ten years old again. Oh, how I would relish the chance to play in a large orchestra again.
