by Billy Ingram

Americans were luxuriating in a prime time world of fantasy in 1967, no doubt reflecting the underlying optimism of an expanding economy.

Domesticated witches, incompetent females, airborn clergy, humanized animals, colorful crusaders and wandering loners were just some of the way-out concepts found on television during this era.

'Batman' was TV's hottest commodity in January, 1967, but shows with a sci-fi or fantasy bent were falling by the wayside by 1968.

Because of the many action-adventure shoot-em-ups on the schedule, critics and concerned parent groups were asking aloud - is television programing responsible for our increasingly violent society? Playwrite Arthur Miller publically decried TV fare, "...whose brutality is photographed in sufficiently monstrous detail."

That argument grew louder after the 1967-68 season closed with live, three network coverage of the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago where rioting hippies took center stage.

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1967-68
Top Twenty

1. Andy Griffith Show
2. The Lucy Show
3. Gomer Pyle, USMC
4. (tie) Gunsmoke
Family Affair
Bonanza
7. Red Skelton Show
8. Dean Martin Show
9. Jackie Gleason Show
10. NBC Saturday Night at the Movies
11. Bewitched
12. Beverly Hillbillies
13. Ed Sullivan
14. The Virginian
15. (Tie) Friday Night Movies
Green Acres
17. Lawrence Welk Show
18. Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
19. Gentle Ben
20. Tuesday Night Movies

NBC Thursday Night Line-up

NBC Entire Fall, 1967 Line-up

ABC produced this pop-art, psychedelic spot introducing their 1967-68 season.

SUNDAY NIGHTS
ON CBS:
CBS has enjoyed a ratings lock on Sunday nights for a long, long time - a tradition stemming from their powerhouse 1967-68 lineup.

7:00 - Lassie
(1954-1971)
This was Lassie's final year teamed with forest ranger Corey Stewart. Now more of a wanderer, the Collie takes up with two younger rangers (Scott and Bob) in 1968.

7:30 - Gentle Ben
(1967-1969)
Dennis Weaver and Clint Howard starred with a friendly black Bear named Ben. Ivan Tors ('Flipper') produced this series in the everglades of Florida. A top twenty show in 1967, ratings dropped drastically in 1968.

8:00 - Ed Sullivan Show
(1948-1971)

9:00 - Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
(1967-1969)
These funny guys began a three season run in January, 1967.
A long parade of great TV shows belly-flopped going head to head with the Cartright family on NBC. But the Smothers Brothers finally made a dent - for the first time in three years, 'Bonanza' wasn't the number-one rated show. The first season of the Smothers show was standard variety show fare with an interesting mix of unusual guest stars. In the fall of 1967, controversy began with CBS censoring an appearance of blackballed folk singer Pete Seeger.

10:00 - Mission Impossible
(1966-1973)
Peter Graves joined the team in 1967 as Jim Phelps, head of the IMF (Impossible Mission Force). Also featuring Marin Landau, Peter Lupus and Barbara Bain (who won the Emmy for Best Actress in a Dramatic Series three years in a row - 1967, '68 and '69).
'Mission Impossible' was revived on TV in 1988 - again, with Peter Graves starring.

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STILL FIGHTING
THE WAR:

ABC / MONDAY 8:30
Rat Patrol
(1966-1968)
In 1966, key scenes for this series were shot in Spain for added realism - plus there was leftover wreckage from old WWII movies laying around in the desert anyway. It was too expensive to continue filming overseas for season two and the audience noticed the difference - ratings were way down in 1967.

ABC / TUESDAY 7:30
Garrison's Gorillas
Television shows were so popular there were comic book versions of the top programs, including 1967 titles like: Bewitched, Hogan's Heroes, Flying Nun, Star Trek, Daktari, The Invaders, Lost in Space, Man from UNCLE, Rat Patrol, Garrison's Gorillas, Beverly Hillbillies, The Lucy Show, Gomer Pyle, Gunsmoke, Lassie, Cowboy in Africa, Andy Griffith, Bonanza, Iron Horse, Maya, The Monkees, Batman, Tarzan and many others.

CBS / SATURDAY 9:00
Hogan's Heroes
It's cliche in modern times to wonder what CBS might have been thinking when they broadcast a sitcom about the hilarious adventures American POWs had in a German Concentration Camp. But then, all good sitcoms require a hefty suspension of disbelief and Nazis always make a great comic foil. Pitching this to a network today would get you tossed off the lot!

FANTASY
AND SCI-FI:

NBC / MONDAY 8:00
Man From U.N.C.L.E.
(1964-1968)
Last season for Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin. U.N.C.L.E. was an enormously popular series for the first two years but as the scripts got sillier, ratings sank lower.
In an attempt to save the franchise, a new producer and music composer were brought in, new opening titles were shot and the storylines took a more serious turn. They succeeded in improving the quality of the series, but the formula was played out - and a move to Monday nights didn't help. U.N.C.L.E. was cancelled midseason; Robert Vaughn stated that he got word of the show's cancellation just one day before filming was halted.
A couple of two-part episodes were shot this season and released as theatrical features in Europe. Artwork for the Lunch Box (seen above) was by Jack Davis.

ABC / TUESDAY 8:30
The Invaders
(1967 - 1969)
Thrilling sci-fi series about a single witness to an impending alien invasion of Earth. A Quinn Martin production, 'The Invaders' was closer in tone to 'The F.B.I.' (which QM also produced) than 'Star Trek.'

NBC / TUESDAY 7:30
I Dream of Jeannie
Astronaut finds a bottle on the beach.

CBS / WEDNESDAY 7:30
Lost In Space
(1965 - 1968)

ABC / THURSDAY 7:30
Batman
(1966 - 1968)
In a casting choice that caused shockwaves in Hollywood, Eartha Kitt took over the role of Batman's love interest, Catwoman and Yvonne Craig joined the cast as Batgirl for the third and last season.
Bat-ratings were way down in the fall of 1967 but still respectable. NBC wanted to pick up the show for a fourth season but backed out because of the expense of rebuilding the Batcave set - which was destroyed days after ABC cancelled the series.

ABC / THURSDAY 8:00
Flying Nun
(1967 - 1970)
Premier season - Sally Field takes to the skies to spread mayhem and the gospel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. For a show set in a convent, there was very little religious content.

ABC / THURSDAY 8:30
Bewitched

ABC / FRIDAY 7:30
Off To See The Wizard
Cartoon adventures of Dorothy and the gang frame a series of theatrical films along with nature shows geared to children. This incredible promo displays scenes from 'Clarence, The Cross-Eyed Lion,' 'Zebra In The Kitchen' and more - all popular movies for kids from a few years earlier. This phenomenon also spread into merchandise and became a Halloween favorite through a line of Wizard of Oz costumes.

NBC / FRIDAY 8:30
Star Trek
(1966 - 1969)
'Star Trek' was cancelled at the end of this season - only to be revived by a 'grass-roots' letter writing campaign that stunned NBC by its enormity. It was later discovered to have been coordinated by producer Gene Roddenberry. Some people believe that NBC deliberately made the final season of 'Star Trek' so abysmal that no one would care when they cancelled it for good in 1969.

NBC / FRIDAY 7:30
Tarzan
(1966-1968)
Diana Ross and the Supremes appeared as nuns in one of the last episodes. CBS aired reruns of 'Tarzan' during the summer of 1969.

ABC / SUNDAY 7:00
Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea
(1964-1968)
On this last tour of duty, Commander Crane (David Hedison) and Admiral Nelson (Richard Basehart) faced off against a devious leprechaun, abominable snowmen, pirates, and deadly dolls. Like all Irwin Allen productions, the first few episodes of the season were top notch. ABC wanted to renew 'Voyage' for another year - but Allen talked them into the infinitely inferior 'Land of the Giants' instead.

MONDAY
NIGHTS ON CBS:

7:30 - Gunsmoke
(1955-1975) CBS cancelled the show after the 66-67 season, then decided at the last minute to renew and move the show to Monday nights. The show zoomed into the top ten for the next six years.

8:30 - Lucy Show
(1962-1968) Last season for Lucy Carmichael and banker Mr. Mooney. Next season the format changes slightly, Lucy's real-life kids were added to the cast and the show became known as 'Here's Lucy.'

9:00 - Andy Griffith Show
(1960-1968) Last season for TV's number one rated series. Andy married Helen Crump in the fall of 1968 and eased out of the series - while Ken Berry and Arlene Golonka eased in and the name changed to 'Mayberry RFD' for 1968-69.

9:30 - Family Affair
(1966-1971) Five years after the series left this air, the actress who played little Buffy (Anissa Jones) was found dead of a drug overdose.

10:00 - Carol Burnett
(1967-1978) CBS finally talked the queen of variety specials into doing her own weekly series in 1967. It took ten years for this smash hit to run out of steam.

THE WESTERNS:
The networks didn't know it, but westerns were on the way out. After over a decade of dominating the ratings, with a few exceptions, the folks at home were growing weary of the genre.

ABC / MONDAY 7:30
Cowboy in Africa
(1967-1968)
An Ivan Tors production ('Daktari'), with Chuck Connors as a wrangler who migrates to Africa to help with their animal management program. Lasts only this season.

10:00 SUNDAY
High Chaparral
(1967-1971)
Set in Arizona, this series deals with the Cannon and Montoya families.

CBS / THURSDAY 7:30
Cimarron Strip
(1967 - 1971) One of three new westerns this season to get renewed.

NBC / WEDNESDAY 7:30 - Virginian
(1962 - 1971)
James Drury and Doug McClure in a first class oater set in Medicine Bow, Wyoming, circa the 1890's. Key cast member Lee J. Cobb left the production in 1966 and was replaced by John Dehner, Charles Bickford (who died) and then John McIntire, who had successfully replaced Ward Bond on 'Wagon Train.' Jeanette Nolan ('Dirty Sally') joined the cast this year.

ABC / WEDNESDAY 7:30
Legend of Custer
(1967-1968)
Wayne Maunder as disgraced General George A. Custer with Slim Pickens as his sidekick, California Joe. Michael Dante was cast as Crazy Horse.

NBC / THURSDAY 7:30
Daniel Boone
(1964 - 1970)
Fess Parker ('Davy Crockett') as the famous frontiersman.

NBC / SUNDAY 9:00
Bonanza
(1959-1973)
David Canary was added to the show in season 9 as Candy. On the first episode of the season, Ben joined up with an Army unit to rescue Hoss and Little Joe from hostile natives. John Wayne dismissed these shows as 'living room westerns' because they were shot on a set, which meant lots of indoor situations.

CBS / MONDAY 7:30 -
Gunsmoke
(1955-1975)
Starting on radio in 1952, there are still 'Gunsmoke' TV movies being produced today. Jim Arness gained more control over the production this year - with superior scripts in 1967, the show shot into the top ten for the next six years.

ABC / FRIDAY 8:00
Hondo
(1967-1968)
Based on the classic John Wayne film (1953); a one-hour weekly series with Ralph Taeger starring as Cavalry scout Hondo Lane.
The series also featured Kathie Brown, Noah Berry, Jr. and Buddy Foster (Mayberry RFD). Michael Pate returned in the role he played in the original film, Chief Vittorio.
Hondo's dog Sam, who ended up on the wrong end of an Indian's lance in the movie, was resurrected in the TV version which was cancelled after only three months. Two episodes were edited together to comprise a feature film, Hondo and the Apaches.

ABC / FRIDAY 9:00
Guns of Will Sonnett
(1967-1969) One of the better dramas of 1967. Walter Brennan as Will Sonnett, his grandson was played by Dack Rambo - they search dusty Western towns for their son/father, an outlaw gunfighter on the run. Along the way, they encounter human interest stories - all neatly wrapped up in thirty minutes.

ABC / SATURDAY 9:30
Iron Horse
(1966-1968)
Dale Robertson wins a railroad in a poker game, then fights his way down the tracks - violent competitors and angry creditors be damned! Derailed midseason.

CBS / WEDNESDAY 10:00
Dundee and the Culhane
(1967-1968)
A sophisticated British barrister travels the wild frontier in search of cases - a wagon train chaser, if you will. Starred John Mills.

CBS / FRIDAY 7:30
Wild, Wild West
(1965-1969)
In order to keep the show on the air in 1965, Robert Conrad agreed to do his own stunts to save money. An accident while filming in January, 1968 left Conrad in the hospital for a week - that's when CBS demanded he stop with the stunts. The star - and the show - were too valuable. It seems absurd that this was considered the most violent program on TV in 1967.

- 8 of these 13 Westerns were renewed.

CBS / TUESDAY 7:30
Daktari
(1966 - 1969)
Third season. A smash hit when it debuted January, 1966, Daktari spawned a host of imitators and lasted three seasons.

THURSDAY
NIGHTS ON ABC:
Programmed for the ladies.

7:30 - Batman
8:00 - Flying Nun
8:30 - Bewitched

8:30 - That Girl
"Oh Donald, please Donald... your pants are hanging in my closet and I'm feeling so sad!" Season two for Ann Marie's quest for fame in New York. Ethel Merman and Sid Caesar guest starred during '67-68; Ruth Buzzi had a recurring role as Ann's kooky friend.

9:00 - Peyton Place
Fourth year for the original prime time soap opera - broadcast Monday and Thursday nights at 9:30. Ed Nelson, Christopher Connelly and Ryan O'Neal were seen. The next season of 'Peyton Place' was the last.

10:00 - Good Company
Famed lawyer F. Lee Bailey (O.J. Simpson trial) interviewed stars like Tony Curtis and Hugh Hefner from their homes. Gone by December.

CBS / FRIDAY 8:30
Gomer Pyle

ON SATURDAY NIGHTS:

ABC 7:30 - Dating Game 8:00 - Newlywed Game 8:30 - Lawrence Welk Show 9:30 - Iron Horse 10:30 - ABC Scope

CBS 7:30 - Jackie Gleason Show 8:30 - My Three Sons 9:00 - Hogan's Heroes 9:30 - Petticoat Junction 10:00 - Mannix

NBC
7:30 - Maya
The networks had such high hopes for their 'exotic locale' shows like Tarzan, Daktari, 'Cowboy in Africa' and 'Maya' but most were gone by season's end. TVparty gets a lot of requests for 'Maya' - Jay North ('Dennis the Menace') and Sajid Khan were two teens travelling India - not in a '67 Corvette - but on the back of an elephant named Maya.

8:30 - Get Smart
Third season. The show was revived in 1995 but ran for only two months.
9:00 - Movie

IN THE DAYTIME:
They were consistent - NBC ran most of these shows in the very same timeslots for the better part of a decade:

MORNING SCHEDULE:
10:00 - Snap Judgement
10:30 - Concentration
11:00 - Pat Boone ('66-'67)
11:30 - Hollywood Squares

12:00 - Jeopardy
12:30 - Eye Guess

AFTERNOONS:
1:00 - Let's Make A Deal
1:30 - Days of Our Lives
2:00 - The Doctors
2:30 - Another World
3:00 - You Don't Say
3:30 - The Match Game

NBC
MONDAY 7:30
The Monkees
(1966-1968) Last of two years for this unstructured sitcom - featuring the first modern examples of rock videos created for television. Reruns of 'The Monkees' were a staple of the CBS and ABC Saturday morning schedules for most of the seventies. Davy Jones, Peter Tork, Mickey Dolenz, and Mike Nesmith starred.

NBC / TUESDAY 8:00
Jerry Lewis
Standard variety format with Lewis doing his famous movie characters in skits and blackouts along with musical guests like The Osmond Brothers. Unlike most variety shows, this one was not filmed before a live audience - until the second season.

KEEPING LAW
AND ORDER:

ABC / TUESDAY 9:30
N.Y.P.D.
(1967-1969) ABC loves these initials - remember 'N.Y.P.D. Blues' not to mention their current series, 'N.Y.P.D. 24/7'?

CBS / SATURDAY 10:00
Mannix
(1967-1975)
TV's coolest private eye - driving that hot 'cuda convertable. During this first season, Joe Mannix (Mike Connors) was working for a high tech firm, Intertect. He opened his own office in year two with secretary Peggy (Gail Fisher). The success of this show led to a flood of lone detective-with-secretary shows.

ABC / MONDAY 9:00
Felony Squad
(1966-1969) Howard Duff, Ben Alexander and Dennis Cole starred as LA cops, filmed at locations around the city. Barney Phillips joined the cast in 1967 as their new boss.

NBC / THURSDAY 9:30
Dragnet 67 / 68
After a nine year run in the fifties, 'Dragnet' returned to NBC in January, 1967 with faster paced stories dealing with relevant themes like drug abuse and student unrest.

Sergeant Joe Friday's inflexible manner when confronting young malcontents was a great comfort to the old folks at home who were convinced that society was crumbling around them. Starred Jack Webb and Harry Morgan - oddly, the pilot film was shot in 1966 but didn't air until 1969.

NBC / SATURDAY 7:30
The Saint
'The Saint' returned to NBC in February, 1968 with reruns from the 1966 season; replaced 'Maya' which never caught on. Future James Bond Roger Moore as the cool do-gooder crook who left behind a distinctive calling card.

YOUR CHOICES ON
WEDNESDAY NIGHTS:

ABC
7:30 - Legend of Custer
The critics hated it. Native American leaders were revolted. Historians puked in their beer. ABC cancelled 'Time Tunnel' for this?!? ABC was trying to sap the audience away from what was on NBC - 'The Virginian' - but failed.

8:30 - The Second Hundred Years
Light comedy about a suburban guy who's 100 year-old grandfather thaws out of an iceberg and comes to live with the family. Starred Monte Markham in a dual role as grandfather and grandson... with Arthur O'Connell as the son in the middle.

9:00 - Movie

8:30 - Beverly Hillbillies
Year five; ratings were starting to dip for the show that dominated the early-sixties. Larry Pernell guest starred as Dash Riprock from 1966-1969.

9:00 - Green Acres
Year three.

9:30 - He and She
Even though Wednesday was a big ratings night for CBS, the audience tuned out 'He and She,' one of the finest shows of the year. This was the sitcom that broke the mold, re-introducing strong writing and mildly eccentric but believable characters to the genre; from the guys who later brought us 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' and 'The Bob Newhart Show.'
Richard Benjamin portrayed New Yorker Dick Hollister, cartoonist for a popular comic strip and TV character Jetman. Benjamin's real-life bride Paula Prentiss was seen his wife Paula and Jack Cassidy was the pompous ass who played Jetman. Like most fore-runners, recognition and ratings were not forthcoming. Re-run as a summer replacement series (June - September) in 1970.

10:00 - Dundee and the Culhane

Rolls over, dies and is gone in December - mourned by no one.

NBC
7:30 - Virginian
The competition on the other channels was so weak, this show gave NBC a solid lead-in audience.
9:00 - Kraft Music Hall

10:00 - Run For Your Life
Ben Gazzarra portrayed a lawyer with only a short time left to live, so he travelled the country looking for people to help. A reverse 'Fugitive' that lasted three seasons.

Overall Top Fifteen: (1967-68)
1. Lucy Show / 2. Andy Griffith / 3. Gomer Pyle / 4. Gunsmoke / 5. Family Affair / 6. Bonanza / 7. Red Skelton / 8. Dean Martin / 9. Jackie Gleason / 10. Saturday Night Movies / 11. Bewitched / 12. Beverly Hillbillies / 13. Ed Sullivan / 14. The Virginian / 15. Green Acres

Children 6 - 11 Top Ten:
1. Flying Nun / 2. Second Hundred Years / 3. Family Affair / 4. Monkees / 5. Gomer Pyle / 6. Bewitched / 7. Beverly Hillbillies / 8. Gentle Ben / 9. Off to See the Wizard / 10. Walt Disney

Teens 12-17 Top Ten:
1. Guns of Will Sonnett / 2. Second Hundred Years / 3. Monkees / 4. Star Trek / 5. Smothers Brothers / 6. Flying Nun / 7. Saturday Movies / 8. I Spy / 9. Dragnet / 10. Family Affair

18-34 Top Ten:
1. Saturday Movies / 2. Friday Movies / 3. Thursday Movies / 4. Wed Movies / 5. Mission: Impossible / 6. Tuesday Movies / 7. Dean Martin / 8. I Spy / 9. Sunday Movies / 10. High Chapparral

(Keep in mind that there was no such thing as renting movies in 1967, the whole idea that you could watch a movie in your own home - in color - a movie that played in a movie theater within the last decade - was revolutionary at the time.)

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The Mothers-in-Law
Sunday nights at 8:30
September 10, 1967
- September 7, 1969

One of the few genuinely funny, old-school style of sitcoms on television during the late-sixties, 'The Mothers-In-Law' was ill-suited for the timeslot it was given - between 'The Wonderful World of Disney' and 'Bonanza.'

This sitcom starred Kaye Ballard as Kay Buell and Eve Arden as Eve Hubbard, two longtime next-door neighbors who become in-laws when their kids marry. Roger Carmel co-starred as Kay's husband Roger and Herbert Rudley played Eve's husband Herb.

With all of the bickering on this thirty-minute comedy, it certainly wasn't 'Disney' and with the focus mostly on the women, it wasn't for the 'Bonanza' crowd either. Audiences defected to the last half of 'The FBI' on ABC and 'The Ed Sullivan Show' on CBS.

Executive producer of The Mothers-in-Law was Desi Arnaz for Desilu Productions. Arnaz was proud of this show, and worked hard to collect for this series the quality talent that made 'I Love Lucy' and the first season of 'The Lucy Show' so fabulous. He succeeded in that, but the production never caught on in a big way with audiences. 'The Mothers-In-Law' aired for two years.

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