Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present

A A&E (Network), see Arts & Entertainment Network ABC ALBUM, see Plymouth Playhouse ABC BARN DANCE (Music) FIRST TELECAST: February 21, 1949 LAST TELECAST: November 14, 1949 BROADCAST HISTORY: Feb 1949Jun 1949, ABC Mon 8:309:00 Jul 1949Oct 1949, ABC Mon 9:009:30 Oct 1949Nov 1949, ABC Mon 9:3010:00 EMCEE: Hal O'Halloran Jack Stillwell The National Barn Dance, begun in 1924 on radio station WLS, Chicago, and long a radio favorite, was carried on ABC television in 1949 as the ABC Barn Dance. Among the Barn Dance favorites appearing on this half-hour Monday night version were the Sage Riders instrumental quartet, Lulu Belle and Scotty, Cousin Tifford, the De Zurick Sisters (a yodeling duet), caller John Dolce, and comic Holly Swanson. The series was telecast from Chicago. ABC COMEDY HOUR (Comedy/Variety) FIRST TELECAST: January 12, 1972 LAST TELECAST: August 9, 1972 BROADCAST HISTORY: Jan 1972Apr 1972, ABC Wed 8:309:30 Jun 1972Aug 1972, ABC Wed 9:3010:30 REGULARS: Rich Little Frank Gorshin George Kirby Marilyn Michaels Charlie Callas Joe Baker Fred Travalena Most of the telecasts that were aired under the title ABC Comedy Hour featured a guest host plus a regular repertory company of impressionists called The Kopycats, listed above. (Fred Travalena replaced Charlie Callas in the company in mid-series.) The series also included a number of other comedy specials, among them two Friars' Roasts, an Alan King special, and an updated version of Hellzapoppin'. Reruns of the Kopycats episodes were aired during the summer of 1972 under the title ABC Comedy Hour Presents the Kopycats. ABC COMEDY SPECIAL (Comedy Anthology) FIRST TELECAST: June 6, 1986 LAST TELECAST: August 8, 1986 BROADCAST HISTORY: Jun 1986Jul 1986, ABC Fri 9:3010:00 Aug 1986, ABC Fri 9:0010:00 A collection of pilots for comedies that did not make ABC's Fall 1986 schedule. Among those starring in this particular crop of "busted pilots" were Caroline McWilliams, Annie Potts, Blair Brown, Ted Bessell, Robert Klein, Madeline Kahn, and Pat Harrington. ABC DRAMATIC SHORTS19521953 (Dramatic Films) ABC had problems in the early 1950s. It had fewer stations than NBC or CBS, few advertisers, and therefore little revenue with which to pay for new programming. In order just to stay on the air, the "other network" was forced to schedule dozens of low-budget quiz shows, interview programs, and documentary films (most obtained free from government and industry). Needless to say, this did not attract much of an audience to the network. In 1952 ABC tried an experiment. It assembled a package of several dozen low-budget 30-minute dramatic films, most of them made by MCA Films in Hollywood. Many of them had been seen on TV before, on ABC (Gruen Guild Theater), DuMont (Gruen Playhouse), and some even on NBC (Campbell Soundstage). These shopworn films were sprinkled liberally throughout the ABC schedule during the 19521953 season, on multiple "theater" series. Each film ran up to half a dozen times on different nights and on different series. Not every film would turn up on every series, but if you watched ABC long enough you would frequently get the impression that you had "seen that film before." Most of the films were grade "B" productions, starring some Hollywood old-timers as well as lesser-known young actors and actresses (some of whom were to gain fame in later years). Among them were Buddy Ebsen, Raymond BuBrooks, Tim is the author of 'Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present', published 2003 under ISBN 9780345455420 and ISBN 0345455428.