Answers for Americans is an American public affairs program which aired briefly, first in prime time and then on Sunday afternoons on ABC from November 1953 to February 1954. Social and political issues, both foreign and domestic, were discussed by a regular panel, including university professors, publishers, and retired military officers.
The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians is an animated half-hour ABC television special produced by Rankin/Bass Animation, best known for their stop-motion Christmas special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The show aired on April 7, 1970 before the airing of that year's Oscars. It was a tribute to early vaudeville, and featured animated reworkings of various famous comedians' acts.
The Money or the Gun was an Australian comedy/talk-show on the ABC network. It ran from 1989 to 1990, with occasional specials until 1994. It was written by Andrew Denton, Simon Dodd, Bruce Griffiths, and George Dodd, directed by Martin Coombes and produced by Mark Fitzgerald. Each episode was based on a significant theme, with Denton interviewing a number of people as well as conducting vox pops on the street. Significant episodes include "Guns-The Musical" and the award-winning episode on disabilities, "The Year of the Patronising Bastard". In 1993, a one-off special was called "Topic of Cancer", which talked to teenagers with cancer. In 2003, Denton held a 10-year reunion for the people on the 1993 show, as part of his ABC interview programme Enough Rope.
The Children's Doctor is an American daytime medical and parental advice program that ran on ABC for 3 years, from April 1967 to August 1969.
Quizzing the News was an American game show which aired on ABC from August 16, 1948 to March 5, 1949 at 8:00 PM on Monday nights. Alan Prescott hosted the show, which featured Arthur Q. Bryan, Milton Caniff, Mary Hunter and Ray Joseph as the panelists. The series was produced by Robert Brenner Productions.
FYI was an information series seen on the ABC network in the early 1980s. Hosted by Hal Linden, the program features answers to questions that many viewers ask, from common questions such as, "What's the leading cause of burns in children?", to questions not many ask, but may be interesting to know, like "Can a child dance his/her way to better grades?", just to name a couple. With each show lasting sixty seconds, FYI was seen three times a day on weekdays, following ABC's popular soaps All My Children, One Life to Live and General Hospital, using a formula not unlike ABC's Saturday morning mini-programs, such as Time for Timer, The Bod Squad and Schoolhouse Rock. Two books based on the television series have been published, both by M. Evans and Company: FYI: Unexpected Answers to Everyday Questions and More FYI: Further Tips for Healthful Living.
The MDA Show of Strength is an annual televised benefit concert that is held each Labor Day Weekend in the United States to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The program is the successor to the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon, an annual telethon that ran until 2010. The history of MDA's telethon dates back to the 1950s, when the Jerry Lewis Thanksgiving Party for MDA raised funds for the organization's New York City area operations. The telethon has been held annually on Labor Day weekend since 1966, and has raised $2.45 billion for MDA from its inception through 2009. The telethon was founded by actor and comedian Jerry Lewis, who hosted the broadcast from its 1966 inception until 2010. For its first 44 years from 1966 to 2010, the telethon aired up to 21½ hours, starting on the Sunday evening preceding Labor Day and continuing until late Monday afternoon on the holiday itself. MDA called its network of participating stations the "Love Network". The show originated from Las Vegas for 28 of the years it was broadcast. In 2011, it was seen exclusively on the Sunday evening before Labor Day for six hours; This edition, syndicated to approximately 160 television stations throughout the United States on September 4, 2011, was also the first edition without Jerry Lewis as host. Nigel Lythgoe, Jann Carl, Alison Sweeney and Nancy O'Dell, all who were originally tapped to co-host the telethon with Lewis, shared hosting duties for the 2011 edition.
The Magic Window was an American children's television program broadcast on ABC affiliate WOI-TV in Ames, Iowa from 1951 to 1994. With a run of 43 years, it was the longest running children's television program in American history. For all but the first three years of the show, it was hosted by Betty Lou Varnum, a pioneer in central-Iowa broadcasting. Betty Lou Varnum, who is best known for The Magic Window, but was versatile enough to host such other shows as a teen dance party, election coverage, and a call in 'issues' show, hosted the show, along with a cast of puppets such as Gregory Lion, Dusty the Unicorn, and Catrina Crocodile. The heart of the show was Betty Lou teaching kids a new craft each episode. The puppets would help out by opening the curtain to the screen on which various featurettes were shown. These included episodes from Tales of the Riverbank, Felix the Cat, and a series called "Let's Be Friends" which introduced viewers to a child from another city or country, sharing their culture and lifestyle.
Gruen Playhouse is a dramatic anthology series that aired on ABC and the now-defunct DuMont Television Network. Sponsored by the Gruen Watch Company, the series aired on ABC on Thursdays at 9:30pm EST, and on DuMont on Thursdays at 9pm EST. From January to March 1952, Gruen Playhouse alternated with Shadow of the Cloak on DuMont. The 30-minute dramas featured actors such as Carolyn Jones, Raymond Burr, and Bonita Granville.
Mysteries of Chinatown is an American crime drama series that aired on the ABC television network from December 4, 1949 to October 23, 1950.
ABC Saturday Movie of the Week is a weekly American anthology series that airs on ABC. The series began as the replacement for ABC's Big Picture Show and as a revival of ABC's Movie of the Week theme. Since its inception, it has been ABC's main platform for airing theatrical movies, although other movies air as part of the movie of the week format during the holiday season and as special presentations. As such, ABC airs a movie on every night of the week at some point during the television season styled as [Insert Day] Movie of the Week.
Monday Night Golf is a series of match play golf challenge matches that ran from 1999 to 2005, and was revived in 2012. All the matches have involved World Number 1 Tiger Woods, and the first seven were run by his representatives IMG and were broadcast on ABC Sports. The eighth was organized by Excel Sports Management, Woods' representatives since he left IMG in 2010. It marked the first time that live golf had been shown in prime time during the week in the United States. The first match was played at Sherwood Country Club, and dubbed the Showdown at Sherwood. The next three were held at Bighorn Golf Club and known as the Battle at Bighorn, and the next three were known as the Battle at the Bridges and played at The Bridges Club. Monday Night Golf proved to be an initial success, drawing more viewers than the final round of the U.S. Open, and being second only to the final round of the Masters Tournament in terms of golf broadcasts. Ratings increased significantly for the second match, but they declined rapidly after that, and the event was initially cancelled after the 2005 edition, with Woods also wishing to take a break from the event. However on August 15, 2012, it was announced by Excel Sports Management that the first new match in seven years had been scheduled. It took place on October 29, 2012 at Lake Jinsha International Golf Club in China, and featured World No. 2 Woods facing World No. 1 and PGA Champion Rory McIlroy.
Family Man is an American sitcom which aired on ABC from March 18, 1988 until April 29, 1988. It starred Richard Libertini as a middle-aged comedy writer married to a much younger wife, and focused on the trials and tribulations he faced raising two stepchildren and one biological child. The series was created by Earl Pomerantz.
Celanese Theatre is an anthology television series which aired from October 3, 1951 to June 25, 1952 on ABC. The show aired as a 60-minute program on Wednesdays at 10pm ET. Beginning on January 9, 1952, the show aired in a 30-minute version which ran from 10pm to 10:30pm ET. The series was produced by the Celanese Corporation and the William Morris Agency, and featured plays by Maxwell Anderson, Philip Barry, Rachel Crothers, Eugene O'Neill, S. N. Behrman, Elmer Rice, John Van Druten, Sidney Howard, Paul Osborn, and Robert E. Sherwood. The show alternated with Pulitzer Prize Playhouse. For a short period beginning in October, Celanese Theatre alternated with a short-lived program King's Crossroads.
So You Want to Lead a Band is a half-hour variety show hosted by Sammy Kaye which aired on ABC from August 5, 1954 to January 27, 1955. Members of the studio audience are invited to conduct the band. Then through its applause the audience chooses the winning amateur conductor. The winner receives a prize. Vocalists on the program included Barbara Benson and Jeffrey Clay. The series aired on Thursdays at 9 p.m. Eastern after Treasury Men in Action and before Kraft Television Theater. Its competition on NBC was Dragnet.
Jukebox Jury was an hour-long television series hosted by disc jockey Peter Potter which aired in the 1953-1954 season on the American Broadcasting Company, and was syndicated in 1959. The program actually began in 1948 in Los Angeles, California on the CBS Television station KNXT-TV, which has since changed call letters to KCBS. Five years later, Jukebox Jury went national for one season. The show has been compared to a radio program replete with commercial endorsements and movie previews. The jury on the program consisted of six usually young lesser-known film stars or minor recording artists who judged the latest releases from the record companies. Among the "jurors" were Barry Sullivan, Maureen O'Sullivan, and Jane Powell. Mike Connors, long before Tightrope and Mannix, appeared on an early KNXT episode under the name "Touch" Connors. Once the program was added to the network schedule, many who appeared as jurors to yell "Hit" or "Miss" at each song selection were already or later well-known entertainers, having included: Steve Allen, Walter Brennan, Lloyd Bridges, Ann B. Davis, Elinor Donahue, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Dean Martin, Steve McQueen, Jayne Meadows, Johnny Mercer, Sal Mineo, Leslie Nielsen, Debbie Reynolds, Mamie Van Doren, Robert Wagner, and Natalie Wood. Dick Clark used this listen-and-comment technique from persons in his audience on a reduced scale with his later long-running Philadelphia-based ABC series, American Bandstand.
The Mail Story, subtitled Handle with Care, is a half-hour dramatic television anthology series which aired on ABC for thirteen weeks from October 7 to December 30, 1954. In the premiere episode then Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield, who served in the administration of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, introduced the program to American audiences. The program was partly documentary in offering explanations of the services available from the Post Office Department, now known as the U.S. Postal Service. It also had original dramas about individuals or groups who tried to misuse the mail and hence faced apprehension for their crimes. Such segments ranged in date from the 1850s with stagecoach robberies to contemporary times with sophisticated mail fraud cases. The three-month series aired at 8 p.m. on Thursdays opposite Meet Mr. McNutley, renamed The Ray Milland Show on CBS, and You Bet Your Life with Groucho Marx on NBC.
