Robot Jones was a diminutive robot with a large clear dome on top of his head and a monotone, synthesized voice, who had to deal with both being “different” (a robot) and growing up. Mom and Dad had sent him to Polyneux Jr. High School to study that strange race known as humans. Robot could be rather definite in his opinions (“Humans are illogical and inefficient”), but he did want to get along as he interacted with his friends Socks and Cubey, the infuriating Yogman twins, the oppressive Principal Madman, and gym teacher Mr. Rucoat. Shannon, a geeky girl with an artificial leg and teeth in a huge brace, was the object of his affection. While his mechanical brain and body gave him physical advantages, social interaction was another matter, and he had to be careful; for example, when ordered into the showers he was afraid he would rust! At the end of each episode the lessons he had learned became an entry in his data log.
The title role was voiced in season one by a synthesizer (a Macintalk voice “Junior”), but in the abbreviated second season this was replaced by an actor, Bobby Block, who also overdubbed some earlier episodes.
WHAT'S GOING ON? (Quiz/Panel)
FIRST TELECAST: November 28, 1954
LAST TELECAST: December 26, 1954
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Nov 1954-Dec 1954 , ABC Sun 9:30-10:00
MODERATOR:
Lee Bowman
PANELISTS:
Kitty Carlisle
Hy Gardner
Audrey Meadows
Cliff Norton
Gene Raymond
Susan Oakland
This show featured a panel of six celebrities, divided into two groups, the “ins” and the “outs.” The “ins” remained inside the studio and had to guess what the “outs,” gathered outside at some remote location, were doing. The program lasted exactly five weeks.
WHAT'S HAPPENING!! (Situation Comedy)
FIRST TELECAST: August 5, 1976
LAST TELECAST: April 28, 1979
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Aug 1976 , ABC Thu 8:30-9:00
Nov 1976-Dec 1976 , ABC Sat 8:30-9:00
Dec 1976-Jan 1978 , ABC Thu 8:30-9:00
Jan 1978-Apr 1978 , ABC Sat 8:00-8:30
Apr 1978-Jan 1979 , ABC Thu 8:30-9:00
Feb 1979-Mar 1979 , ABC Fri 8:30-9:00
Mar 1979-Apr 1979 , ABC Sat 8:00-8:30 (In first-run syndication from September
1985-September 1988)
CAST:
| Roger Thomas (“Raj”) | Ernest Thomas |
| Freddie Stubbs (“Rerun”)(1976-1986) | Fred Berry |
| Dwayne Clemens | Haywood Nelson |
| Mrs. Thomas (Mama) (1976-1979). | Mabel King |
| Dee Thomas | Danielle Spencer |
| Shirley Wilson | Shirley Hemphill |
| Rill Thomas (1976-1977) | Thalmus Rasulala |
| Marvin (1976-1977) | Bryan O'Dell |
| Rig Earl Rabcock* (1978-1979) | John Welsh |
| Little Earl (1978-1979) | David Hollander |
| “The Snake” (1978-1979) | Leland Smith |
| Nadine Hudson Thomas (1985-1988) | Anne-Marie Johnson |
| Carolyn (1985-1986) | Reina King |
| Maurice Warfield (1987-1988) | Martin Lawrence |
| Darryl (1987-1988) | Ken Sagoes |
*Later called Barnett, then Barrett
MUSIC:
Henry Mancini
Urban comedy about three spirited black kids in a big city. Raj was the studious dreamer, who wanted to be a writer; Rerun, the jolly, over weight clown who often wound up with his foot in his mouth; and Dwayne, the shy tag-along, always striving to be “cool.” When not involved in some sort of scrape, the three could be found hanging out at Rob's, a diner near their school, where Shirley was the waitress. Family problems arose when Raj clashed with his no-nonsense mother, who worked as a maid, and with his pesky little sister, Dee. Mama's no-good ex-husband Bill, the kids' father, was seen occasionally, as was Marvin, the gossipy reporter for the high school newspaper.
In 1978 Raj and Rerun graduated from high school and moved into a shared apartment nearby, while Raj entered college and Rerun went to work. Their new neighbors were Big Earl, a police detective, and his smart-mouthed son, Little Earl. “The Snake” was the college basketball star.
First seen as a summer replacement show, What's Happening!! was given a spot on the regular ABC schedule in the fall of 1976. Six years after leaving ABC in 1979 it returned to television with a new title, What's Happening Now!! , and most of the original cast. In the syndicated version Raj was newly married and trying to make it as a writer, and Rerun and Dwayne, now a used car salesman and a computer programmer, respectively, were sharing an apartment. Shirley and Raj were also partners running Rob's, and Dee (who only showed up occasionally) was in college. Raj and Nadine, who were living in the house he had grown up in, took in a foster child named Caroline for a time. Added to the cast in the fall of 1987 were a local high school student named Maurice, who worked part-time as a busboy at Rob's, and his buddy, Darryl. It was also during that season that Dwayne gave up corporate life to open a small magic supplies shop.
The series was loosely based on the movie Cooley High.
WHAT'S HAPPENING TO AMERICA (Discussion)
FIRST TELECAST: July 12, 1968
LAST TELECAST: August 16, 1968
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jul 1968-Aug 1968 , NBC Fri 10:00-11:00
HOST:
Edwin Newman
NBC News correspondent Edwin Newman was the host and moderator of this series of four discussions with prominent figures about the contradictions in American life: the gap between the rich and the poverty-stricken, the disparity between the good times experienced by some and the bad times by others, and the recently apparent tension and violence on the political scene. This series did not air on either August 2 or August 9.
WHAT'S IN A WORD (Quiz/Panel)
FIRST TELECAST: July 22, 1954
LAST TELECAST: September 9, 1954
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jul 1954-Sep 1954 , CBS Thu 8:00-8:30
MODERATOR:
Clifton Fadiman
PANELISTS:
Faye Emerson
Audrey Meadows
Jim Moran
Mike Wallace Contestants on this word-association panel show made up simple two-word rhymes, like Fickle Pickle or Nice Rice, and won money depending on how successful the panel was at guessing what the rhyme was. The moderator provided clues to the noun portion of the rhyme and, to narrow down the possibilities, the panelists tried to make an association that was correct. The contestant won $5 for each clue used before the panel narrowed down and correctly identified the noun. At that point the moderator would give a definition of the adjective. The contestant then won an additional $5 for each wrong guess until the panel identified the adjective to complete the rhyme.
WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT, WORLD? (Comedy/ Variety)
FIRST TELECAST: February 6, 1969
LAST TELECAST: May 1, 1969
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Feb 1969-May 1969 , ABC Thu 9:00-10:00
HOST:
Dean Jones
REGULARS:
Dick Clair Jenna McMahon
Gerri Granger
Alex Dreier
Dennis Allen
Scoey Mitchell
Ron Prince
Maureen Arthur
Bayn Johnson
Kevin Carlisle Dancers
Denny Vaughn Orchestra
Not exactly a Laugh-In , not as bitingly satirical as That Was the Week That Was , not as controversial as The Smothers Brothers Show, What's It All About, World? nevertheless had some elements of each of those programs. It was a satirical revue that made fun of contemporary mores and hallowed institutions in a light, relatively inoffensive way. Comedy routines, fake documentaries, and musical production numbers were included, such as “The Rumor Factory” and “Hollywood Behind the Nixons.” Among the regulars were the comedy team of Clair and McMahon, singer Gerri Granger, commentator Alex Dreier, and nine-year-old Bayn Johnson.
The show was produced by Saul Ilson and Ernest Chambers, who were also responsible for The Smothers Brothers Show (the Smothers Brothers made a guest appearance here).
WHAT'S IT FOR (Quiz/Panel)
FIRST TELECAST: October 12, 1957
LAST TELECAST: January 4, 1958
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Oct 1957-Jan 1958 , NBC Sat 10:00-10:30
EMCEE:
Hal March
PANELISTS:
Betsy Palmer
Hans Conried
Abe Burrows
Toni Gilman (1957)
Lisa Ferraday
Strange inventions with presumably practical uses (an automatic hammock swinger, an umbrella skirt, etc.) were demonstrated each week for the panelists and audience of this program. After the demonstration an offstage announcer would inform the audience what the purpose of the invention was. The panel then had four minutes, one for each panel member, to guess the use of the invention by asking questions of the inventor or the inventor's representative, who had performed the demonstration. If the panel was stumped, the inventor received $100, and if they guessed the function of the invention he received $50. The three original regular panel members were Betsy Palmer, Hans Conried, and Abe Burrows, with a rotating fourth member. Toni Gilman became a fourth regular member in November and Lisa Ferraday re-placed Miss Gilman in December.
WHAT'S IT WORTH (Art Appraisal)
FIRST TELECAST: May 21, 1948
LAST TELECAST: October 11, 1953
BROADCAST HISTORY:
May 1948-Jun 1948 , CBS Fri 9:00-9:30
Jul 1948-Dec 1948 , CBS Fri 8:00-8:30
Dec 1948-Jan 1949 , CBS Fri 8:30-9:00
Jan 1949-Mar 1949 , CBS Tue 9:30-10:00
Oct 1952 , DUM Wed 8:30-9:00
Nov 1952–Sep 1953 , DUM Thu 9:00-9:30
Sep 1953-Oct 1953 , DUM Sun 6:00-6:30
APPRAISER:
Sigmund Rothschild
EMCEE:
Gil Fates (1948-1949)
Nelson Case (1952-1953)
Bill Wendell (1953)
As the resident authority on What's It Worth? , art restorer and copyist Sigmund Rothschild invited viewers to submit objects for appraisal. The objects could be family heirlooms, things discovered buried in attics, pets, or anything else of questionable value. Aided by visiting appraisers, Mr. Rothschild would establish the value of the object and discuss its discovery or history with its owners. The series left network TV in March 1949 but remained on as a local program in New York for another three months.
A little over a year later, on November 9, 1950, Mr. Rothschild made his first appearance as an occasional visitor to the late afternoon weekday daytime series The Kate Smith Hour. He did essentially the same thing he had done on CBS—pointing out the distinguishing characteristics that made objects either valuable or worthless. He left Miss Smith in January 1952 but turned up that fall on DuMont with his own show, Trash or Treasure , the same title his feature had used within The Kate Smith Hour. The DuMont show utilized Nelson Case as emcee until March 1953, and Bill Wendell thereafter. The title was changed to Treasure Hunt (not to be confused with the later quiz show of that name) in April 1953.
WHAT'S MY LINE (Quiz/Panel)
FIRST TELECAST: February 16, 1950
LAST TELECAST: September 3, 1967
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Feb 1950-Mar 1950 , CBS Thu 8:00-8:30
Apr 1950-Sep 1950 , CBS Wed 9:00-9:30
Oct 1950-Sep 1967 , CBS Sun 10:30-11:00
MODERATOR:
John Daly
PANELISTS:
Arlene Francis
Dorothy Kilgallen (1950-1965) Louis Untermeyer (1950-1951) Hal Block (1950-1953) Bennett Cerf (1951-1967) Steve Allen (1953-1954) Fred Allen (1954-1956)
PRODUCERS:
Mark Goodson and Bill Todman
What's My Line was the longest-running game show in the history of prime-time network television. It ran for 18 seasons, on alternate weeks from February to September 1950, then every Sunday at 10:30 P.M. for the next 17 years. The format was exceedingly simple. Contestants were asked simple yes-or-no questions by the panel members, who tried to determine what interesting or unusual occupation the contestant had. Each time the contestant could answer no to a question, he got $5, and a total of 10 no's ended the game. The panel was forced to don blindfolds for the “mystery guest,” a celebrity who tried to avoid identification by disguising his voice.
That little game, by itself, hardly warranted an 18-year run, when other panel shows of the early 1950s came and went every month. But What's My Line was something special, both for the witty and engaging panel, and for a certain élan which few other shows have ever captured. There were no flashy celebrities-of-the-moment or empty-headed pretty faces on this panel; they were obviously very intelligent people all, out to have some genteel fun with an amusing parlor game. Like John Daly with his bow tie and perfect manners, it reeked of urbanity (“That's three down and seven to go. Mr. Cerf?”).
The panelists who created this special atmosphere were an elite group. The panel on the initial telecast consisted of Park Avenue psychiatrist Dr. Richard Hoffman, poet and critic Louis Untermeyer, former New Jersey Governor Harold Hoffman, and columnist Dorothy Kilgallen. (Their first contestant: a lissome blond hat-check girl from the Stork Club.) Arlene Francis joined the panel on the second telecast, and Bennett Cerf in March 1951. Kilgallen, Cerf, and Francis were continuing regulars for the next 15 years.
Of the other early panelists, Untermeyer was perhaps the most tragic loss—forced off the show, and off television, by McCarthy Era political blacklisting. Gag writer Hal Block was a panelist for a time, as were acerbic Fred Allen and multi-talented Steve Allen (who, in trying to determine size as quickly as possible within the show's yes-or-no format, conjured up the program's classic question: “Is it bigger than a breadbox?”). After the death of Fred Allen in 1956, the fourth seat on the panel was left permanently open for a different guest panelist each week. Little changed until the mid 1960s. In 1965 Dorothy Kilgallen died suddenly, of an overdose of medication, following her appearance on the November 7 program. A much-publicized talent hunt ensued for a permanent replacement, but in the end her chair was also left open, filled by another guest panelist each week.
Finally in 1967, hoary with age, What's My Line left the network, only to surface less than a year later in a considerably less sophisticated and more slapstick syndicated version. Arlene Francis was the only holdover, joined by Soupy Sales as a regular panelist and Wally Bruner as a moderator (replaced by Larry Blyden in 1972). The syndicated version lasted until 1975.
WHAT'S MY NAME , see Paul Winchell—Jerry Mahoney Show, The
WHAT'S NEW , see Gulf Road Show Starring Bob Smith, The
WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND , see How Did They Get That Way
WHAT'S SO FUNNY? (Comedy)
FIRST TELECAST: December 3, 1995
LAST TELECAST: December 31, 1995
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Dec 1995 , FOX Sun 9:30-10:00
HOSTS:
Nick Bakay
Julie Hayden
CORRESPONDENT:
Suli McCullough
Each week What's So Funny? took an off-center look at amusing things that had occurred during the previous week in movies, television, sports, news, and videos. Hayden did the roundup of funny clips from TV shows airing during the week. McCullough was the show's special correspondent covering the world of computers and video games.
WHAT'S THE STORY? (Quiz/Panel)
FIRST TELECAST: July 25, 1951
LAST TELECAST: September 23, 1955
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jul 1951-Oct 1951 , DUM Wed 9:00-9:30
Oct 1951–Feb 1952 , DUM Tue 8:00-8:30
Feb 1952-May 1952 , DUM Tue 10:30-11:00
Jun 1952-May 1953 , DUM Thu 9:30-10:00
May 1953-Jun 1953 , DUM Wed 7:30-8:00
Jun 1953-Sep 1953 , DUM Sun 10:00-10:30
Sep 1953-Apr 1954 , DUM Thu 9:00-9:30
Apr 1954-Sep 1954 , DUM Thu 8:00-8:30
Sep 1954-Feb 1955 , DUM Thu 9:00-9:30
Mar 1955–Jun 1955 , DUM Wed 8:00-8:30
Jul 1955-Sep 1955 , DUM Fri 7:30-8:00
MODERATOR:
Walt Raney (1951)
Walter Kiernan (1951-1953)
Al Capp (1953)
John K. M. McCaffery (1953-1955)
PANELISTS:
Harriet Van Horne (1952-1955)
Robert Sullivan (1952-1953)
Jimmy Cannon (1952-1955)
To this innocuous panel show belongs the unique distinction of being the last surviving entertainment show on the dying DuMont TV network—only a few scattered sports events were continued into 1956. After What's the Story? left the air in September 1955, and the remaining boxing matches petered out in 1956, the DuMont network was but a memory.
For four years, however, What's the Story? had a reasonably successful career. It consisted of a celebrity panel which attempted to identify important news events from clues provided by the moderator and his helpers. Panelists were generally well-known newspaper columnists, with Harriet Van Horne of the New York World Telegram , Robert Sullivan of the New York Daily News and Jimmy Cannon of the Post the longest-running regulars. Bosley Crowther of the New York Times made frequent guest appearances, and John McCaffery's English bulldog, Porthos, was the show's mascot for a time.
WHAT'S YOUR BID (Auction)
FIRST TELECAST: February 14, 1953
LAST TELECAST: July 5, 1953
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Feb 1953-Apr 1953 , ABC Sat 7:30-8:00
May 1953-Jul 1953 , DUM Sun 10:00-10:30
HOST:
Leonard Rosen (ABC) Robert Alda (DUM)
ANNOUNCER:
John Reed King (ABC) Dick Shepard (DUM)
MODEL:
Roslyn Woods (ABC)
What's Your Bid was a switch on the usual TV giveaway in that the studio audience was supposed to bring its own money to the show—and use it to bid on merchandise such as radios, cars, mink coats, home freezers, etc. Bidders at least got their money's worth (if they bid more than an item was worth, something extra was thrown in) and the proceeds all went to charity. A feature of each show was the auctioning of an item brought in by a famous celebrity, and having some special connection with that celebrity. Some straight giveaway segments were also worked in, but this early form of “pay TV” did not catch on and was soon canceled. Leonard Rosen, the first host and auctioneer, was known on the show as “Liberal Bill.”
WHEEL OF FORTUNE (Quiz/Audience Participation)
FIRST TELECAST: July 7, 1953
LAST TELECAST: September 15, 1953
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jul 1953-Sep 1953 , CBS Tue 8:30-9:00
HOST:
Todd Russell
All of the contestants on this early series were people who had distinguished themselves as good samaritans or heroes. They were brought on the show and re-ceived rewards for their good deeds. After host Todd Russell related their individual stories for the audience, a giant carnival-type wheel was spun to determine the nature of the “reward” that they would receive. A special “lucky” section on the wheel could bring the contestant a $1,000 bonus if he could answer a special jackpot question correctly. This summer series was identical to the daytime version that had premiered the previous October, and ran until Christmas Day 1953.
WHEEL OF FORTUNE (Quiz)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Syndicated and network daytime 30 minutes Produced: 1983– Released: September 1983
HOST:
Pat Sajak
ASSISTANT:
Vanna White
This series was a rather straightforward game show in which contestants spun a large wheel to determine whether they could attempt to fill in one letter of a mystery phrase. Depending on where the wheel stopped, they might win a corresponding amount of money (if the letter they guessed was in the phrase); lose control to another contestant; or go “bankrupt,” losing all their winnings to date. The first contestant to guess the phrase got to use his or her accumulated money to buy prizes.
Wheel of Fortune premiered in NBC daytime in January 1975, with Chuck Woolery as host, later replaced by Pat Sajak. A syndicated evening version began production in 1983 and it became the most popular syndicated series of the 1980s.
When Pat Sajak's late-night talk show premiered on CBS in January 1989, he left the network (but not the syndicated) version of Wheel of Fortune. Rolf Benirschke took over but was, in turn, replaced by Bob Goen when it moved from NBC to CBS that July. Goen stayed with the network daytime version when it moved back to NBC in January 1991 and remained with it until its cancellation that September. Vanna White continued to serve as hostess of both the network and the syndicated versions.
The program was created and produced by Merv Griffin.
WHEELS (Drama)
FIRST TELECAST: April 4, 1979
LAST TELECAST: April 18, 1979
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Apr 1979 , NBC Wed 9:00-11:00
CAST:
| Adam Trenton | Rock Hudson |
| Erica Trenton | Lee Remick |
| Greg Trenton | Howard McGillin |
| Kirk Trenton | James Carroll Jordan |
| Hub Hewitson | Tim O'Connor |
| Rusty Horton | Gerald S. O'Loughlin |
| Rollie Knight | Harold Sylvester |
| Teresa Chapman | Adele Mara |
| Lowell Baxter | Ralph Bellamy |
| Jody Horton | Lisa Eilbacher |
| Smokey Stephenson | Tony Franciosa |
| Barbara Lipton | Blair Brown |
| Leonard Wingate | Fred Williamson |
| Ursula | Jessica Walter |
| Newkirk | Al White |
Set in Detroit in the late 1960s, Wheels was the story of boardroom intrigue at National Motors, a giant automobile company struggling for its life in a highly competitive industry. The central character was Adam Trenton, Vice President of Product Development, who had put his career on the line by developing and pushing the Hawk, a radically new, sporty model designed to win back the youth market. Opposing him were scheming President Hub Hewitson and conservative Board Chairman Lowell Baxter, Adam's father-in-law. Adam's total commitment to his work put his marriage on the line, as well. His wife, Erica, began an affair with a race driver, his younger son, Greg, ran away from home, and his older son, Kirk, began an affair with Adam's own mistress, Barbara Lipton.
Wheels was based on the best-selling novel by Arthur Hailey. It first aired as a five-part mini-series from May 7-15, 1978, and was highly successful. When it was repeated a year later, however, as part of NBC Novels for Television , hardly anyone watched— leading to one of the fastest re-editing jobs ever seen on network television. The repeat was supposed to run for five consecutive weeks, but when the network saw the disastrously low ratings for parts one and two it quickly compressed parts three, four, and five into a single concluding episode. Next week, surprised viewers saw the entire remainder of the novel flash by—and disappear.
WHEN THE WHISTLE BLOWS (Situation Comedy)
FIRST TELECAST: March 14, 1980
LAST TELECAST: July 27, 1980
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Mar 1980-Apr 1980 , ABC Fri 8:00-9:00
Jun 1980 , ABC Sat 10:00-11:00
Jul 1980 , ABC Sun 8:00-9:00
CAST:
| Buzz Dillard | Doug Barr |
| Randy Hanford | Philip Brown |
| Lucy Davis | Susan Buckner |
| Martin “Hunk” Kincaid | Tim Rossovich |
| Norm Jenkins | Dolph Sweet |
| Dottie Jenkins | Alice Hirson |
| Ted Hanrahan | Gary Allen |
| Bulldog | Noble Willingham |
| Darlene Ridgeway | Sue Ane Langdon |
Comedy about a gang of young construction workers out to have a good time, on the job and off. Lucy was the only woman on the crew, and just “one of the guys” at that. Randy was the college graduate; Buzz, the complete extrovert; and Hunk, the resident hulk. Others around the ol' construction site were Norm Jenkins, the older guy whose wife, Dottie, wished he would slow down; Bulldog, another worker; Hanra-han, the foreman; and Darlene, the operator of the gang's favorite hangout.
WHEN THINGS WERE ROTTEN (SituationComedy)
FIRST TELECAST: September 10, 1975
LAST TELECAST: December 24, 1975
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Sep 1975—Dec 1975 , ABC Wed 8:00-8:30
CAST:
| Robin Hood | Dick Gautier |
| Friar Tuck | Dick Van Patten |
| Alan-a-Dale | Bernie Kopell |
| Bertram/Renaldo | Richard Dimitri |
| The Sheriff of Nottingham | Henry Polic II |
| Maid Marian | Misty Rowe |
| Little John | David Sabin |
| Prince John | Ron Rifkin |
| Princess Isabelle | Jane A. Johnston |
CREATOR PRODUCER:
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks created this wild satire on Robin Hood and His Merry Men of Sherwood Forest in 12th-century England. Instead of the boldly heroic Robin of legend, he was portrayed as a complete nitwit, and his men a band of incompetents who only succeeded because of the even greater incompetence of the evil Prince John and his henchman, the sheriff of Nottingham. Much of the humor in this fast-paced, movie-style comedy was based on non sequiturs and historical anachronisms, such as the episode in which Prince John hired the four fastest woodcutters in the kingdom to chop down the entire Sherwood Forest— to make way for a new housing development for wealthy burghers. In the premiere telecast, the prince lured Robin into a trap by staging an archery contest to determine who was the greatest bowman in the land. Robin, vain as ever, came in disguise to win the title but was seized and thrown into the dungeon. Whereupon his men disguised themselves as a traveling conga band and bongoed their way into the castle to rescue him.
Maid Marian was Robin's sexy but empty-headed love interest.
Critics applauded this series as one of the most inventive of the season, but viewers paid no attention to it and it was soon canceled.
WHERE I LIVE (Situation Comedy)
FIRST TELECAST: March 5, 1993
LAST TELECAST: November 20, 1993
Mar 1993-May 1993 , ABC Fri 9:30-10:00
Aug 1993 , ABC Tue 8:30-9:00
Nov 1993 , ABC Sat 8:30-9:00
CAST:
| Douglas St. Martin (age 17) | Doug E. Doug |
| James St. Manin | Sullivan Walker |
| Marie St. Martin | Lorraine Toussaint |
| Sharon St. Martin (14) | Yunoka Doyle |
| Reggie Coltrane | Flex Alexander |
| Malcolm | Shaun Baker |
| Kwanzie | Jason Bose Smith |
| Vonzella | Alma Yvonne |
Easygoing, low-key sitcom about three black teenage buddies who hung out on a Harlem stoop (“the center of the universe”), jived about sports and girls, and generally tried to figure out what life was all about. Doug was the carefree center of things, a hip kid in dreadlocks who was not as sure of himself as he looked; Reggie the self-styled ladies' man; and Malcolm the impulsive, opportunistic one. Just when their plans got bigger than their hip, oversized threads, in would roll the clouds of reality in the form of stern father James and sensible mom Marie. Meanwhile bookish little sis Sharon kept busy fighting off the advances of pint-sized Lothario Kwanzie.
Where I Live drew praise for its realistic characters and absence of the usual sitcom stereotypes. Despite disappointing ratings during the spring of 1993, fans (including Bill Cosby) persuaded ABC to give it a second chance in the fall. By then good-student Reggie had been accepted to a college and Doug, though no whiz at school, succumbed to family pressures and enrolled in a junior college. Only Malcolm stayed behind, dropping out of school and working as a stock clerk. Buried in a little-viewed Saturday-night time period (after a turkey called George) , the series expired after just three more episodes.
WHERE MY DOG'S AT? (Cartoon)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
MTV, MTV2
30 minutes
Original episodes: 2006 (8 episodes)
Premiered: June 10, 2006
VOICES:
| Buddy | Jeffrey Ross |
| Woof | Tracy Morgan |
| Dog Catcher | John DiMaggio |
This notorious, short-lived cartoon was a wild send-up of young Hollywood centering on Buddy, a wisecracking beagle who had been separated from his 10-year-old owner, a tourist from New Jersey, and Woof, a big, gruff bulldog who had escaped from the pound. Together the two canines tried to survive on the streets of Hollywood and avoid being captured by the Dog Catcher, while encountering all manner of outrageous celebrities. Among them were a skeletal Lindsay Lohan, skinny, dumb Nicole Richie, hamster-like Mary-Kate Olsen, muscular dolt Arnold Schwarzenegger, narcissistic Brad Pitt and big-lipped, huge-boobed Angelina Jolie.
The one that got the show into trouble, however, was rapper Snoop Dogg, who arrived at a party with two black women squatting on all fours tethered to leashes and defecating on the floor. That brought a storm of protest from African-American organizations, who were unappeased by MTV's explanation that it was a parody of an actual appearance by Snoop Dogg in which he had been accompanied by two women wearing neck collars and chains. The episode—and the show—quickly disappeared.
WHERE WAS I? (Quiz/Panel)
FIRST TELECAST: September 2, 1952
LAST TELECAST: October 6, 1953
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Sep 1952-Mayl953 , DUM Tue 9:00-9:30
May 1953-Jun 1953 , DUM Tue 10:00-10:30
Jul 1953-Oct 1953 , DUM Tue 9:30-10:00
EMCEE:
Dan Seymour (1952)
Ken Roberts (1952)
John Reed King (1952-1953)
PANELISTS:
Nancy Guild
Peter Donald
Samuel Grafton (1953)
Virginia Graham (1952)
Bill Cullen (1953)
Barbara Barondess MacLean (1953)
Skitch Henderson (1953)
Mort Greene (1953)
In this picture quiz the panel had to identify a given location from a set of photographs and some verbal clues. The original host, Dan Seymour, lasted less than a month, followed by Ken Roberts for about two months and then John Reed King for the remainder of the run of the show. There was quite a bit of turnover in panelists as well.
WHERE'S HUDDLES (Cartoon)
FIRST TELECAST: July 1, 1970
LAST TELECAST: September 9, 1970
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jul 1970-Sep 1970 , CBS Wed 7:30-8:00
VOICES:
| Bubba McCoy | Mel Blanc |
| Spons Announcer | Dick Enberg |
| Freight Train | Herb Jeffries |
| Claude Pertwee | Paul Lynde |
| Fumbles | Don Messick |
| Ed Huddles | Cliff Norton |
| Mad Dog Maloney | Alan Reed |
| Marge Huddles | Jean VanderPyl |
| Penny McCoy | Marie Wilson |
This animated summer series was the story of two professional football players for the Rhinos, quarterback Ed Huddles and center Bubba McCoy. They were next-door neighbors and best friends, as well as teammates, and their adventures on and off the field were the subjects of the episodes of the show.
Reruns of Where's Huddles aired the following summer on CBS' late Sunday afternoon schedule.
WHERE'S RAYMOND? , see Ray Bolger Show, The
WHILE YOU WERE OUT (Instructional)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
The Learning Channel
60 minutes
Original episodes: 2002-2006 (211 episodes)
Premiered: July 6, 2002
Anna Bocci (2002)
Teresa Strasser (2002-2003)
Evan Farmer (2003-2006)
REGULARS:
Chayse Dacoda, designer
Stephen Saint-Onge, designer (2002-2004)
Mayita Dinos, landscape designer (2002-2003)
Peter BonSey, garden designer (2002-2003)
Leslie Segrete, carpenter
Andrew Dan-Jumbo, carpenter
Mark Montano, designer (2003-2006)
John Bruce, designer
Nadia Geller, designer (2003-2006)
Jason Cameron, carpenter (2003-2006)
Ali Barone, carpenter (2003-2005)
In this variation on TLC's popular Trading Spaces a person conspired to get his or her housemate (usually a wife or husband) out of the house for 48 hours while a designer and two carpenters swooped in and redecorated the housemate's favorite room, garden or backyard space. Meanwhile the housemate was trailed with hidden cameras. When the housemate returned, his or her surprised (and usually delighted) reaction was recorded. Both the person at home and the housemate (when he/she returned) were asked questions, which could result in additional prizes. There were occasional celebrity guests, such as magician Penn Jillette (surprising his partner, Teller).
WHIPLASH (Western )
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Syndicated only
30 minutes
Produced: 1960—1961 (34 episodes)
Released (U.S.): 1961
CAST:
| Christopher Cobb | Peter Graves |
| Dan | Anthony Wickert |
This was an Australian Western. Set in the 1850s, it traced the exploits of American Chris Cobb as he fought gunslingers, robbers, and swindlers to establish Cobb & Co., the first stagecoach line on the continent. Although filmed in Australia, the series did all it could to look American—even the bad guys were émigrés. The locals were mostly reduced to lines like, “You're an American—you're the only one who can stop them.” Cobb, at least, showed some sensitivity to local feelings by using bullwhips and boomerangs to corral the villains.
WHIRLYBIRDS, THE (Adventure)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Syndicated only
30 minutes
Produced: 1956—1959 (111 episodes)
Released: January 1957
CAST:
| Chuck Martin | Ken Tobey |
| Pete (“P.T.”) Moore | Craig Hill |
| Janet Culver (1956-1957} | Sandra Spence |
| Helen Carter (1957-1959) | Nancy Hale |
Helicopters were substituted for horses in this contemporary Western. Chuck and P.T. were pilot partners in an outfit called Whirlybirds, Inc., located in Southern California. They hired out for all sorts of jobs, such as locating lost prospectors, delivering vital supplies, and even chasing a bad guy or two. There were plenty of stunt scenes, where one of the heroes would dangle from the end of a rope to pluck a client out of danger, or even leap from the chopper onto the back of a villain galloping away on horseback. Janet Culver was their original pretty secretary, replaced after the first season by Helen Carter.
The series was originally made to run on the CBS network, but instead was put into syndication by CBS Films. It became a substantial hit with the younger set.
WHISPERING SMITH (Western/Detective)
FIRST TELECAST: May 15, 1961
LAST TELECAST: September 18, 1961
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Mayl961-Sep 1961 , NBC Mon 9:00-9:30
CAST:
| De i. Tom “Whispering” Smith | Audie Murphy |
| De i. George Romack | Guy Mitchell |
| Chief John Richards | Sam Buffington |
Set in Denver, Colorado, in the 1870s, Whispering Smith was based on the adventures of the first police detective to bring modern methods of analysis, tracing technique, and apprehension to the practice of law enforcement in the West. Denver police detective Tom Smith, better known by his nickname “Whispering,” was this pioneer Western criminolo-gist. His partner and sidekick, George Romack, was played by singer-turned-actor Guy Mitchell. Sam Buffington, who played the chief of the Denver Police Department, died during the filming of the series and was seen in only a portion of the episodes. Actual cases from the files of the Denver Police Department provided the cases depicted in Whispering Smith.
This series was originally scheduled for the 1959-1960 fall season but, after costar Guy Mitchell suffered a broken shoulder with only seven episodes completed, it was temporarily postponed. Based rather loosely on the 1948 Alan Ladd film of the same name.
WHITE CAMELLIA, THE , see ABC Dramatic Shorts—1952-1953
WHITE SHADOW, THE (Drama)
FIRST TELECAST: November 27, 1978
LAST TELECAST: August 12, 1981
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Nov 1978-Jan 1979 , CBS Mon 8:00-9:00
Jan 1979—Feb 1979 , CBS Sat 8:00-9:00
Mar 1979-Dec 1979 , CBS Mon 8:00-9:00
Dec 1979-Sep 1980 , CBS Tue 8:00-9:00
Dec 1980-Jan 1981 , CBS Tue 8:00-9:00
Feb 1981—Mar 1981 , CBS Mon 8:00-9:00
Jun 1981-Aug 1981 , CBS Wed 8:00-9:00
CAST:
After a succession of knee problems forced Ken Reeves to retire from his job as a forward on the Chicago Bulls professional basketball team, his college friend Jim Willis convinced him to take a shot at being the basketball coach of Carver High in Los Angeles. Carver was in a tough inner-city, lower-middle-class neighborhood, with a racially mixed student body and team. It was a hard job, especially for someone unfamiliar with street-wise kids and coaching them in a game he knew best as a player. Ken could have earned more doing something else, as his sister Katie kept reminding him, but he found greater satisfaction working with these teenagers. Ken's old friend Jim was Carver's principal, and Sybil Buchanan was the vice principal (who became principal in the fall of 1980).
The White Shadowwas more than just a basketball show, it was also the story of young people and their adjustments to life in an often hostile world. Within the framework of a high school basketball team were stories of personal conflict, drug problems, teenage crime, and the dangers in a tough area. In fact, in the spring of 1980 one of Ken's players, Curtis Jackson, was shot to death while witnessing a liquor-store holdup. Students moved on, as in real life. In the spring of 1980, after the team had won the Los Angeles City Basketball Championship, several players graduated from Carver and were replaced by new players in the fall. The series treated its subjects realistically and sympathetically, and was lauded by numerous educational organizations, although its audience size remained marginal throughout its run.
WHIZ KIDS (Detective/Adventure)
FIRST TELECAST: October 5, 1983
LAST TELECAST: June 2, 1984
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Oct 1983—Dec 1983 , CBS Wed 8:00-9:00
Jan 1984-Jun 1984 , CBS Sat 8:00-9:00
CAST:
| Richie Adler | Matthew Laborteaux |
| Hamilton Parker | Todd Porter |
| Jeremy Saldino | Jeffrey Jacquet |
| Llewellen Farley, Jr. | Max Gail |
| Alice Tyler | Andrea Elson |
| Cheryl Adler | Melanie Gaffin |
| L i. JVea J Quinn | A Martinez |
| Irene Adler | Madelyn Cain |
| Ms. Vance | Linda Scruggs |
| Carson Marsh (1984) | Dan O'Herlihy |
If you were going to do a show about kids and computers, what better place than California, home of Silicon Valley, high-tech, and trend setters? It was there, in the suburban Los Angeles community of Cal-abasas, that the Whiz Kids lived. Richie was the bright computer “hacker” who, with the aid of Ham, Jeremy, and Alice, his buddies and schoolmates at Canyon High School, worked as an amateur detective in his spare time. Farley was their friend and information source, a reporter with the Los Angeles Gazette who sometimes asked them for help on stories he was working on and at other times got involved with cases on which they were already working. Farley's brother-in-law Neal Quinn, who ran the police department's MDT's (Mobile Data Terminals), also provided Farley and the kids with some help, albeit grudgingly, when they needed access to police computer information.
The real star of the show, however, may have been Richie's talking computer, Ralf. With Richie's expert programming, Ralf provided clues, graphic images, answers to problems, and access to other computer information banks that were supposedly protected against unauthorized use. Everyone in Richie's home got involved with technological toys and services. His little sister, Cheryl, had a small robot (instead of a doll) named Herman, and his divorced mother, Irene, had been enrolled (by Richie) in a computer dating service. At midseason the mysterious Carson Marsh was added to the cast, an elderly gentleman who, as head of the Athena Society, had contacts and access to data that not even Richie or the police could get to. Occasionally, when the kids got in over their heads, Carson helped bail them out.
WHO IN THE WORLD (Interview)
FIRST TELECAST: June 24, 1962
LAST TELECAST: September 16, 1962
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jun 1962-Sep 1962 , CBS Sun 9:30-10:00
HOST:
Warren Hull
Each week host Warren Hull interviewed three to five people who had made headlines in the nation's newspapers during the previous seven days. At least that was the original idea behind the show. A shortage of available headline-makers forced the area from which guests were drawn to be broadened to include people who had human-interest stories to tell. The program's producer found the world's first airline stewardess and the 1,000th member of the Peace Corps, among others, for Warren Hull to chat with.
WHO PAYS (Quiz/Panel)
FIRST TELECAST: July 2, 1959
LAST TELECAST: September 24, 1959
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jul 1959-Sep 1959 , NBC Thu 8:00-8:30
EMCEE:
Mike Wallace
PANELISTS:
Gene Klavan
Cedric Hardwicke
Celeste Holm
The object of Who Pays was for the three regular panelists to determine which celebrity or public figure was the employer of each pair of contestants. The employees were questioned by the panelists in two rounds. The first round gave each panelist one minute to ask specific questions of the two employees (who were chauffeurs, doctors, gardeners, hair stylists, etc.). At the end of the round the panelists pooled their information and decided whether or not to guess the identity of the employer. If they guessed correctly, the employees split $100 and if they guessed incorrectly the employees split $200. If the panelists felt they had too little information to hazard a guess, a second round was played with the dollar value to the employees doubling.
WHO SAID THAT? (Quiz/Panel)
FIRST TELECAST: December 9, 1948
LAST TELECAST: July 26, 1955
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Dec 1948-Jan 1949 , NBC Mon 10:00-10:30
Jan 1949–Mar 1949 , NBC Sun 10:30-11:00
Apr 1949-Dec 1949 , NBC Sat 9:00-9:30
Jan 1950-Jul 1954 , NBC Mon 10:30-11:00
Feb 1955-Apr 1955 , ABC Wed 9:00-9:30
May 1955-Jul 1955 , ABC Tue 8:30-9:00
EMCEE:
Robert Trout (1948-1951) Walter Kiernan (1951-1954) John Daly (1955)
PANELISTS:
John Cameron Swayze (1948-1951)
Bill Henry (1952-1953)
June Lockhart (1952-1955)
Morey Amsterdam (1954)
H. V. Kaltenborn (1954)
Bob Considine (1955)
John Mason Brown (1955)
Live quiz show based on quotations from the news. A panel of newsmen and celebrities was read a quotation from the current headlines, and then asked to identify “who said that,” and something about the circumstances. Failure to come up with the correct answer resulted in forfeiture of cash to the prize jackpot, which at one time was represented by a goldfish bowl into which panel members stuffed bills. The jackpot was awarded to a home viewer if the quote had been sent in by one, or to a charity. Variations such as a famous guest who, seen only in silhouette, personally delivered his own quote, famous quotes from the past, and partial quotes which had to be completed were also introduced from time to time. During most of the show's run there was only a single permanent panelist (or “anchorman”), plus guests, but toward the end several permanent panelists were used. Among the panelists appearing irregularly, but frequently, were Frank Coniff, Earl Wilson, Al Capp, Quentin Reynolds, Bennett Cerf, Oscar Levant, and Kitty Carlisle.
The program was originally edited by Fred Friendly, and was also heard on radio for a time.
WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? (Quiz)
FIRST TELECAST: January 8, 2000
LAST TELECAST: June 27, 2002
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jan 2000 , ABC Sat 8:00-9:00
Jan 2000-Sep 2001 , ABC Sun 9:00-10:00
Jan 2000–Dec 2000 , ABC Tue 8:00-9:00
Jan 2000-Jun 2002 , ABC Thu 9:00-10:00
May 2000-Jun 2000 , ABC Wed 8:00-9:00
Sep 2000-Mar 2001 , ABC Wed 8:00-9:00
Jan 2001 , ABC Fri 8:00-8:30
Feb 2001-Sep 2001 , ABC Fri 9:00-10:00
Mar 2001-Sep 2001 , ABC Tue 8:00-9:00
May 2001 , ABC Wed 10:00-11:00
Sep 2001–Feb 2002 , ABC Mon 8:00-9:00
(New episodes in first-run syndication beginning September 2002)
EMCEE:
Regis Philbin
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? was one of those shooting stars that occasionally flashes across the TV firmament, an enormous hit that had all of America talking, then disappeared almost as quickly as it had begun. But what a hit it was. The premise was basically a big-money quiz show with some ingenious and dramatic trappings. Anybody could try out for the show by calling a 900 number and taking a short quiz; those who did best competed in a second telephone quiz, and the winners of that were invited to New York to appear on the show.
The show was set in a cavernous studio-in-the-round, with strobes, ominous music, and gregarious host Regis Philbin on a raised platform in the center, usually dressed in black. He began with ten contestants who competed to be the first to punch in the answer to a question. The winner came up on stage and sat opposite Regis, each of them facing a television monitor, in a kind of high-tech inquisition, with music (and pulses) pounding. There were 15 multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty, the first worth $100, then continuously doubling, more or less, to the fifteenth, which was worth $1 million. Contestants could stop at any time and leave with their winnings, which were locked in at levels five ($1,000) and ten ($32,000). If stumped they could use three “Lifelines” allowed during the course of the game. The first, “50/50,” eliminated two of the four multiple-choice answers; the second polled the audience to see what they thought the correct answer was; and the third was a phone call to a person of the contestant's choosing, to get advice. Except for the first few, the questions were not particularly easy—for example, “What's a mackintosh?” or “Where did Ted Kaczynski teach?”
Regis presided with panache, allowing contestants to ponder as long as they wanted (the overly long ones were edited down for broadcast). His habitual response when the contestant finally spoke up—“Is that your final answer?”—became a catchphrase.
The show was first telecast as a special event on August 16, 1999, with episodes telecast most nights for the next two weeks. It was such an enormous hit that ABC rushed more episodes into production, which aired November 7-20, 1999. It then launched as a regular series in January, airing on as many as five nights a week. Many, in fact, thought that massive overexposure by ratings-starved ABC is what ultimately killed the show. There were periodic celebrity editions, and other variations, but the basic game remained the same. Most contestants bailed out, or flunked out, well short of the $1 million, but as early as November 1999 an IRS officer (!) won the top prize. Later a bonus pool was established, raising the potential grand prize to over $2 million.
A syndicated version of the show, hosted by Meredith Vieira, premiered in September 2002. Adapted from the British hit of the same name.
WHO WANTS TO BE A SUPERHERO?
(Competition)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Sci-Fi Channel
60 minutes
Original episodes: 2006-
Premiered: July 27, 2006
Stan Lee
The Sci-Fi Channel put its own stamp on the world of competitive/reality shows with this unusual contest. Hosted by legendary comic book creator Stan Lee, a fatherly man with a white mustache who appeared on a video screen, it began with 12 contestants dressed in costumes representing superheroes of their own creation. One of them—Rotiart (or “traitor” spelled backward)—was soon revealed to be Lee's spy and left. Thereafter the would-be superheroes faced challenges, and the “least worthy” one or two were eliminated by Lee at the end of each episode. The challenges were designed to test character as well as ability. For example contestants were told to quickly change into their costume in a public park without being seen, then dash to a finish line. The real test, however, was whether they would stop to help a crying little girl on the way (only half did). They all lived in an opulent warehouse “lair” and communicated by electronic devices. Among the contestants were Nitro G, Fat Momma, The Iron Enforcer and Cell Phone Girl. The eventual winner was actor Matthew Ather-ton for his character “Feedback,” who could absorb powers from video games, disrupt electrical devices in his vicinity and blast electrical energy from his hands. He won an appearance of the character in a sci-fi comic book and in a movie produced by the Sci-Fi Channel.
WHO WANTS TO BE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA? (Quiz)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Game Show Network
60 minutes
Original episodes: 2003
Premiered: October 6, 2003
EMCEE:
Kennedy
Proof that politics and entertainment are closely related—at least in California—this unusual game show took as its starting point the 2003 special election to recall Governor Gray Davis. Six celebrity and underdog (but real) candidates out of a field of 135 appeared on a stage and answered questions about politics, improvised “sound bites” explaining their positions (which were evaluated by a panel of reporters), and drew “artistic renditions of California” on a board. The grand prize of $21,200 (the maximum campaign contribution in the state) was awarded by audience vote and went to porn star Mary Carey. Fellow contestant Gary Coleman did better in the actual election, placing eighth with 14,000 votes, but Carey was not far behind at tenth with 11,000. (Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had nothing to do with this show, won with 4.2 million votes.)
WHO WANTS TO MARRY MY DAD? (Dating)
FIRST TELECAST: July 14, 2003
LAST TELECAST: August 2, 2004
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jul 2003-Sep 2003 , NBC Mon 10:00-11:00
Jun 2004-Aug 2004 , NBC Mon 10:00-11:00
In this reality-dating show adult children were asked to pick a new bride for their single dad, with a notable lack of success. Nine gorgeous women moved into the southern California mansion of tall, bald and rich businessman Don Mueller, 48, wooing him under the watchful eye of his grown kids Heidi, Chris, Joe and Karla. Of course dates, challenges and backbiting ensued. Among the gimmicks were periodic lie detector tests administered by pudgy Nick Savastano (“If you and my dad were caught in a bear trap, would you gnaw off your leg so you could go for help?”), faxes arriving in the mansion with instructions about what to do next, and instant eliminations (one poor lady was kicked out in the middle of a meal, her dessert in a doggy bag). In one episode magicians Penn & Teller literally made a contestant disappear.
At the end the kids picked Christena Ferran, a divorcée and single mom from San Diego and Don proposed to her. But little was as it seemed. Sharp-eyed viewers learned from the credits that the Muellers did not actually live in the mansion, some sequences were staged, participants “consulted” with the producers on their choices, the wedding ring was donated, the new couple got separate “engagement” trips and everybody got paid. Don and Christena broke up almost immediately, Don explaining that he had only done the show to be with his adult kids for a few weeks. Chris and Heidi used their TV exposure to launch acting careers.
Undeterred by this fiasco NBC aired a second season in 2004, this time revolving around 47-year-old Frito-Lay salesman Marty Okland and his grown daughters Brooke, Jennifer and Nicole. Season two's gimmicks included a mole (the girls' aunt) among the contestants, more lie detector tests and the arrival of the contestants' ex-boyfriends. The daughters picked Stacy Leutner as the winner (because Dad asked them to), but Marty and Stacy's relationship was apparently no more successful than that of Don and Christena.
WHODUNNIT? (Quiz/Audience Participation)
FIRST TELECAST: April 12, 1979
LAST TELECAST: May 17, 1979
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Apr 1979 , NBC Thu 8:00-8:30
May 1979 , NBC Thu 8:30-9:00
EMCEE:
Ed McMahon
REGULAR PANELISTS:
F. Lee Bailey
Melvin Belli
This odd program was a hybrid of drama and quiz show. Each week three contestants and a panel of three experts watched a dramatization of a murder mystery. The action stopped just before the villain was revealed, and the object was for the contestants to match wits with the experts in determining “whodunnit.” Clues were provided, some relevant and some not, and the “suspects” were interrogated by a law-enforcement officer. The panel also cross-examined the suspects, but if any contestant could guess the actual murderer before they did he won $10,000. The panel then offered their opinion of who the actual murderer was. With all this information, the contestants made their choices; if they were right, and the panel was wrong, they won $5,000. If they and the panel both nailed the right suspect, they got $2,500.
Ed McMahon hosted the show, and celebrity attorneys F. Lee Bailey and Melvin Belli were the most frequent panelists. An added feature was the appearance of famous guest stars such as Jack Klugman, Erik Estrada, and Loni Anderson as the murder victims.
Although NBC billed this as television's first mystery game show, the format, and variations on it, were in fact rather popular in the very early days of TV: see Stand By for Crime (1949), Chicagoland Mystery Players (1949), and Crawford Mystery Theatre (1951), among others.
WHOLE NEW BALLGAME, A (Situation Comedy)
FIRST TELECAST: January 9, 1995
LAST TELECAST: March 13, 1995
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jan 1995-Mar 1995 , ABC Mon 8:30-9:00
CAST:
| Brett Sooner | Corbin Bernsen |
| Meg O'Donnell | Julia Campbell |
| Dwight Kling | Richard Kind |
| Dr. Warner Brakefield | Stephen Tobolowsky |
| Libby Desoto | Kari Coleman |
| Tad Sherman | John O'Hurley |
| Mickey | Shashawnee Hall |
| Pat | Pat Millicano |
Stereotype-laden sitcom modeled on WKRP in Cincinnati and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Brett Sooner was an egotistical baseball star sidelined by the Great Baseball Strike of 1994 who was hired by the owner of Milwaukee TV station WPLP as its celebrity sportscaster. A true male sexist pig, he immediately clashed with liberated station manager Meg; unfortunately for her, his sloppy, unconventional on-air style was a hit with viewers, so she was stuck with him. Though they squabbled, there was an undeniable attraction between them. Looking on was the usual cast of broadcasting loonies: crass sales manager Dwight, dopey weatherman Warner, pompous anchorman Ted (er, Tad—we must have been thinking of Ted Baxter), and zealous secretary Libby, who mooned over handsome Brett. Mickey ran the sports bar where Brett hung out when he wasn't sparring with Meg.
WHOOPI (Situation Comedy)
FIRST TELECAST: September 9, 2003
LAST TELECAST: April 20, 2004
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Sep 2003–Nov 2003 , NBC Tue 8:00-8:30
Dec 2003-Feb 2004 , NBC Tue 8:30-9:00
Jan 2004–Mar 2004 , NBC Sat 8:30-9:00
Feb 2004-Apr 2004 , NBC Tue 8:00-8:30
CAST:
| Mavis Rae | Whoopi Goldberg |
| Courtney Rae | Wren T. Brown |
| Nasim Khatenjami | Omid Djalili |
| Rita Nash | Elizabeth Regen |
| Jadwiga Duda | Gordana Rashovich |
| Sophia | Mary Testa |
| Danielle | Danielle Lee Greaves |
| Soo Lin……. | Mary Ann Hu |
Whoopi Goldberg starred as a loud, opinionated, drinking, smoking, cussing has-been singer in this sitcom that, though not long-lived, was certainly distinctive. Mavis' one big hit was a song called “Don't Hide Love,” which she had recorded with a trio called The Ebony Blackbirds in 1986, and she had taken its profits to buy a boutique hotel in Manhattan. The La-mont was a hotel full of loonies giving Mavis plenty of opportunities to launch zingers from behind the front desk, as well as to sing in the hotel's Nappy Dug Out Lounge. Targets included Courtney, her starched, uptight brother, a corporate attorney out of work since the collapse of Enron; Nasim, the chubby, hypersensitive Persian (“I am not an Arab!”) handyman; Rita, Courtney's white-trash girlfriend who insisted on talking and acting black; Jadwiga, a smart-alecky Polish housekeeper; and Sophia, the proprietor of a nearby diner. Confirmed liberal Mavis clashed regularly with right-wing Courtney (and Rita), and in one episode even ran into President George W. Bush (played by Steve Bridges) who unexpectedly charmed her.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG SHOW, THE (Talk)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Syndicated only
30 minutes
Produced: 1992-1993 (200 episodes)
Released: September 1992
HOSTESS:
Whoopi Goldberg
Each weeknight actress/comedienne Whoopi Goldberg and her guest sat across from each other in overstuffed chairs chatting informally. Most of the people who appeared were show business celebrities—Elizabeth Taylor, Ted Danson, Elton John, Robin Williams, Burt Reynolds, and Billy Crystal appeared in the first two weeks—but there were others. Among them were vice presidential candidate Al Gore, baseball player Bo Jackson, former California governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr., former San Francisco mayor Dianne Fein-stein, political activist the Reverend Al Sharpton, and boxer Evander Holyfield. Whoopi's questions were decidedly nonthreatening, and the mood was rather low-key.
WHO'S THE BOSS? (Quiz/Panel)
FIRST TELECAST: February 19, 1954
LAST TELECAST: August 20, 1954
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Feb 1954-Jun 1954 , ABC Fri 9:30-10:00
Jul 1954-Aug 1954 , ABC Fri 8:30-9:00
EMCEE:
Walter Kiernan (Feb-Jul)
Mike Wallace (Jul-Aug)
PANELISTS:
Peggy McKay
Dick Kollmar
Sylvia Lyons
Horace Sutton
Secretaries to famous personalities from the worlds of show business, politics, and sports were the guests on this show. The panel attempted to identify the names of their bosses through indirect questioning, with prizes being awarded after each round that the secretary continued to stump the panel.
WHO'S THE BOSS? (Situation Comedy)
FIRST TELECAST: September 20, 1984
LAST TELECAST: September 10, 1992
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Sep 1984 , ABC Thu 8:30-9:00
Oct 1984-Apr 1985 , ABC Tue 8:30-9:30
Apr 1985-Jul 1985 , ABC Tue 9:00-9:30
Aug 1985-Aug 1991 , ABC Tue 8:00-8:30
Augl991-Sep 1991 , ABC Tue 8:30-9:00
Sep 1991-Jan 1992 , ABC Sat 8:00-8:30
Feh 1992—Mar 1992 , ABC Sat 8:30-9:00
Mar 1992-Jun 1992 , ABC Sat 8:00-8:30
Jun 1992-JuI 1992 , ABC Wed 9:30-10:00
Jul 1992-Sep 1992 , ABC Thu 8:00-8:30
CAST:
| Angela Bower | Judith Light |
| Tony Micelli | Tony Danza |
| Samantha Micelli | Alyssa Milano |
| Jonathan Bower | Danny Pintauro |
| Mona Robinson | Katherine Helmond |
| “Geoffrey Wells (1986-1987) | Robin Thomas |
| *Bonnie (1986-1991) | Shana Lane-Block |
| “Jesse Nash (1987-1988) | Scott Bloom |
| *Mrs. Rossini | Rhoda Gemignani |
| Billy (age 5)(l990-199l) | Jonathan Halyalkar |
| “Kathleen Sawyer (1990) | Kate Vernon |
| “Andy (1990) | Doug Ballard |
| Hank Thomopolous (1992) | Curnal Achilles Aulisio |
*Occasional
THEME:
“Brand New Life,” by Larry Carlton, Robert Kraft, Martin Cohan, and Blake Hunter
1984 was the year of male role reversal on television. That fall, both Who's the Boss? and Charles in Charge featured macho guys working as domestics for women who didn't have time to raise the kids. Tony was a former second baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals and a widower with a kid of his own, young Samantha. Fed up with the congestion and bustle of New York City, he sought refuge working as a domestic for Angela Bower, the high-powered but somewhat disorganized President of the Wallace and McQuade Advertising Agency, who lived in suburban Connecticut. Angela, a divorcée with a rambunctious young son named Jonathan, had doubts about the arrangement, but her mother, Mona, quickly observed that “a man can do meaningless, unproductive work as well as a woman.” Tony proved to be very good at his new job, bringing order to Angela's chaotic household and providing a needed father figure to Jonathan.
Angela, who worried constantly about her career, was abruptly fired in 1986, whereupon she opened her own ad agency, with Mona pitching in. At about the same time romance entered her life in the person of handsome Geoffrey Wells—which served to bring into focus her growing fondness for Tony. However, for the time being, at least, they would not become an “item.” Also in 1986, Samantha entered high school where, a year later, she found a boyfriend in Jesse. Not to be left out Mona was courted, off and on, by mature, dashing Max Muldoon (Leslie Nielsen).
Inspired by Angela's upscale lifestyle, Tony began taking college courses, and when Sam graduated from high school she enrolled at the same college. Among her boyfriends were Andy and Eric (the latter seemingly played by a different actor each time he appeared); Jonathan, meanwhile, entered high school. Things weren't as uproarious without a little kid in the house—and in the plots—so the writers introduced Billy, a five-year-old from Tony's Brooklyn neighborhood who was taken in for a season. Tony maintained his ties with Brooklyn, where his pal Al (William Gallo) and “second mom” Mrs. Rossini were his chief contacts. The family dog was Grover.
The running theme of Who's the Boss? was Tony and Angela's evolving relationship, which must have been one of the longest courtships in sitcom history. For the first few seasons it was easy banter and no more. Whenever they started to get close, they would call a halt and start seeing others (among Tony's more frequent dates was Kathleen). By 1991, seven years after they met, the uptown lady and Brooklyn mug admitted they were in love. Sam and her boyfriend Hank got married during the last season, and Tony and Angela had several close calls. In the spring when Tony got a job as baseball coach for a small college in Iowa Angela tried living with him there (she missed her job) and then having a long distance relationship (it didn't work). At the end of the last episode, having given up hope and in the market for a new housekeeper, Angela answered the door to find Tony, who had decided their relationship was more important than his coaching career, applying for the job. They still weren't married but they were going to give it another try.
ABC aired reruns of Who's the Boss? on weekday mornings from June 1987 to July 1988.
WHO'S THERE (Quiz/Audience Participation)
FIRST TELECAST: July 14, 1952
LAST TELECAST: September 15, 1952
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jul 1952-Sep 1952 , CBS Mon 9:30-10:00
EMCEE:
Arlene Francis
PANELISTS:
Bill Cullen
Robert Coote
Roger Price
The panelists on Who's There tried to identify famous celebrities from various articles of clothing or props that had been characteristic of, or identified with, the celebrities. There were two regular panelists—originally Bill Cullen and Robert Coote—and one guest panelist. Cullen was replaced in midsummer by Roger Price.
WHO'S WATCHING THE KIDS (Situation Comedy)
FIRST TELECAST: September 22, 1978
LAST TELECAST: December 15, 1978
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Sep 1978—Dec 1978 , NBC Fri 8:30-9:00
CAST:
| Stacy Turner. | Caren Kaye |
| Angie Vitola | Lynda Goodfriend |
| Frankie “the Fox” Vitola | Scott Baio |
| Melissa Turner | Tammy Lauren |
| Mitzi Logan | Marcia Lewis |
| Larry Parnell | Larry Breeding |
| Memphis O'Hara | Lorrie Mahaffey |
| Bert Gunkel | Jim Belushi |
| Venus | Shirley Kirkes |
| Bridget | Elaine Bolton |
The kids in this comedy were 15-year-old Frankie and 9-year-old Melissa, two hyperactive and worldly-wise youngsters who lived with their showgirl older sisters in a Las Vegas apartment. Angie and Stacy spent much of their time performing at a third-rate local nightspot, the Club Sand Pile, so help was enlisted from neighbor Larry Parnell to “watch the kids.” Macho, street-wise Frankie and bookish, know-it-all Melissa were more than a match for all three adults. Larry was a reporter whose ambition was to become a hard-hitting investigative journalist, but so far he had made it only to reading the weather and garden news on a local TV station. Mitzi was the rotund emcee at the Club Sand Pile, and also the girls' landlady; Memphis was a singer at the club.
The pilot for this comedy, which had a slightly different story line, aired on May 19, 1978, under the title Legs.
WHO'S WHO (Newsmagazine)
FIRST TELECAST: January 4, 1977
LAST TELECAST: June 26, 1977
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jan 1977-May 1977 , CBS Tue 8:00-9:00
Jun 1977 , CBS Sun 10:00-11:00
REPORTERS:
Dan Rather
Barbara Howar
Charles Kuralt
If 60 Minutes was the television equivalent of Time magazine, this series, produced by the same team, was patterned after People magazine. Although 60 Minutes often did profiles on individuals, it also included in-depth studies of broader issues. Who's Who concentrated only on people. Dan Rather and Barbara Howar did pieces on the famous—Richard Burton, Leopold Stokowski, Lily Tomlin, Jodie Foster, Jack Nicklaus, UN Ambassador Andrew Young, and First Lady Rosalynn Carter. Charles Kuralt focused on more obscure subjects. His “On the Road” segment in-cluded chats with an 89-year-old kite flyer in Farmland, Indiana; a champion boomerang thrower living on an island in the Gulf of Mexico; a nightclub owner in Vicksburg, Mississippi, who had booked top black jazz performers into his place in the 1930s and 1940s; and the inventor of the supermarket shopping cart, in Oklahoma City.
WHO'S WHOSE (Quiz/Audience Participation)
FIRST TELECAST: June 25, 1951
LAST TELECAST: June 25, 1951
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jun 1951 , CBS Mon 9:30-10:00
EMCEE:
Phil Baker
PANELISTS:
Robin Chandler
Art Ford
Basil Davenport
Emily Kimbrough
The object of this summer show was for the celebrity panel (three regulars and one guest) to guess which of three people was the spouse of a fourth contestant. The panelists had an opportunity to question all four people, three of one sex and the fourth of the other, in the attempt to determine who was whose. Since the show only lasted one week, it obviously did not work too well.
WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? (Comedy Quiz)
FIRST TELECAST: August 5, 1998
LAST TELECAST: September 4, 2004
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Aug 1998-Sep 1998 , ABC Wed 9:30-10:00
Dec 1998-Mar 1999 , ABC Wed 9:30-10:00
Jun 1999-Aug 1999 , ABC Wed 9:30-10:00
Aug 1999-Jun 2002 , ABC Thu 8:00-9:00
Apr 2001 , ABC Wed 8:30-9:00
Oct 2001–Dec 2001 , ABC Wed 9:30-10:00
Jul 2002-Aug 2002 , ABC Fri 9:00-10:00
Sep 2002–Oct 2002 , ABC Mon 8:30-9:00
Nov 2002-Dec 2002 , ABC Fri 9:30-10:00
Dec 2002-Jan 2003 , ABC Fri 9:00-9:30
Mar 2003-May 2003 , ABC Thu 8:00-9:00
Jun 2003-Sep 2003 , ABC Fri 9:00-10:00
Jun 2004-Jul 2004 , ABC Thu 8:00-9:00
Jul 2004-Sep 2004 , ABC Sat 10:00-11:00 (New episodes on ABC Family, 2005-)
MODERATOR:
Drew Carey
REGULARS:
Ryan Stiles
Colin Mochrie
Wayne Brady
*Greg Proops
*Brad Sherwood
*Chip Esten
*Kathy Greenwood
Laura Hall, musical accompaniment
Cece Worrall Rubin (2000-2005), musical accompaniment *Occasional
This improvisational comedy show began as a summer time filler, but proved popular enough to be added to the regular ABC schedule the following winter. It consisted of four comics on a bare stage, improvising sketches and impressions based on lines given to them by the moderator, and sometimes suggested by the audience. It sounds easy, but how do you improvise a video dating service, a song about accountants, or a foal being born? The sketches were usually short, very physical, and sometimes risque. A rotating cast of comics was used, the most frequently seen being tall, gawky Stiles, goofy, balding Mochrie, ingenious black comic Brady, and stuffy Proops. Presiding over the mayhem was loosey-goosey host Drew Carey, who awarded points and declared winners “purely arbitrarily,” which didn't matter much since there were no prizes.
The producers called this unscripted show “comedy without a net,” although each half hour was actually distilled from taping sessions that ran as long as two hours. Nevertheless it was highly unusual for American television. The show was based on the British series of the same name, which began in 1988 and on which Stiles, Mochrie, Brady, Proops, and Sherwood sometimes appeared. The British series aired in the U.S. on Comedy Central and its predecessor Ha! from 1990 to 1997.
In 2005 ABC Family, which had long been rerunning the ABC shows, began airing “new” episodes cre-ated from unused footage from prior years.
WHY? (Quiz/Panel)
FIRST TELECAST: January 12, 1953
LAST TELECAST: April 20, 1953
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jan 1953-Apr 1953 , ABC Mon 10:00-10:30
EMCEE:
John Reed King
ASSISTANT:
Bill Cullen
In this quiz show based on the old “five W's,” Bill Cullen read the panel the who, what, where, and when of a situation. The panel then had to guess the “why.” The three members of each night's panel were drawn from all walks of life.
WICHITA TOWN (Western)
FIRST TELECAST: September 30, 1959
LAST TELECAST: September 23, 1960
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Sep 1959-Apr 1960 , NBC Wed 10:30-11:00
Jun 1960-Sep 1960 , NBC Fri 8:30-9:00
CAST:
| Marshal Mike Dunbar | Joel McCrea |
| Ben Matheson | Jody McCrea |
| Rico Rodriguez | Carlos Romero |
| Dr. Nat Wyndham | George Neise |
| Aeneas MacLinahan | Bob Anderson |
| Joe Kingston | Robert Foulk |
In the decade following the Civil War the town of Wichita, on the fringes of the lawless Western frontier in the Kansas Territory, was a young city trying to grow and prosper. The town's leading citizen was Mike Dun-bar, a man who had led a cattle drive to Wichita and decided to stay on as marshal to help establish law and order in the community. Dunbar was aided by his two deputies, Ben Matheson and Rico Rodriguez, the former a foreman at the nearby Circle J Ranch, and the latter a reformed Mexican gunfighter. Also seen regularly in the series were Dr. Nat Wyndham, Wichita's first doctor, Aeneas MacLinahan, the town blacksmith, and Joe Kingston, the bartender in the local saloon.
Joel and Jody McCrea, who played marshal and deputy in this Western, were in real life father and son.
Wichita Town was based on the 1955 film in which McCrea had played Wyatt Earp.
WICKED WICKED GAMES (Serial Drama)
FIRST TELECAST: December 6, 2006
LAST TELECAST: March 6, 2007
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Dec 2006-Jan 2007 , MNT Mon-Sat 8:00-9:00
Jan 2007-Mar 2007 , MNT Mon-Fri 8:00-9:00
CAST:
| Blythe Hunter | Tatum O'Neal |
| Dr. Josh Spencer | David Smith |
| Aaron Spencer | Jack Krizmanich |
| Theodore “Theo” Crawford | Clive Robertson |
| Emma Crawford | Jessie Ward |
| Brooke Crawford | Kate French |
| Madeline “Mady” Crawford… | Serena Scott Thomas |
| Taylor Burns. | Nicholas Irons |
| Lani Walker | Femi Emiola |
| Edward Hoffman | Tim McElwee |
| Jennifer Harris | Tanja Reichert |
| Hope Lorca | Debbe Dunning |
| Benjamin Grey | Paul Greene |
| Violet Walker…. | Kim Porter |
| Det. Mark Gannon | Spencer Garrett |
| Cherry Milton … | Azie Tesfai |
| Dr. Megan Winters | Sarah Laine |
| Celeste Walker (2007) | Sundra Oakley |
| Anna Whitman Crawford (2007) | Joan Severance |
| Philippe (2007) | Michael Francoeur |
THEME:
“Think Again,” performed by Blond Mafia
Rich wacko Blythe Hunter was obsessed with ruining the life of her former boyfriend Theodore Crawford in this over-the-top soap opera. Now a successful businesswoman, she had never forgiven him for leaving her for wealthy Anna Whitman 25 years earlier. Her plan was to totally destroy him by taking over his business, The Tides racetrack in San Diego, and having her fraternal twin sons, Josh and Aaron, marry Theo's two daughters Emma and Brooke. Josh, an idealistic emergency room doctor, was dragged reluctantly into his mad mom's schemes but slick manipulator Aaron was more than willing to help. Under the fictitious name Daniel Karol, Aaron convinced Theo to hire him to help restore the struggling racetrack to financial solvency. In reality his objective was to push the business into bankruptcy so his mother could take over. Aaron also set his sights on Theo's party-girl daughter Brooke, until Blythe found out that Emma would inherit the family's assets and told him to go after her instead. Emma worked at The Tides and was dating Edward, The Tides' attorney who, unbeknownst to her, was having an affair with Theo's assistant, Jennifer. Also seen regularly were Theo's sister, Mady, who lived in the family home; Hope, the housekeeper who had raised Theo's daughters and was in love with him; Taylor, the CFO at The Tides; Benjamin, Blythe's lawyer and sometimes lover; and Lani, Blythe's assistant.
As the story developed Emma accepted Edward's proposal despite her feelings for Josh. Aaron was really falling in love with Brooke and Lani began an affair with Taylor. Theo found out that Josh was Blythe's son and later that Daniel (Aaron) was, too, but not before Aaron's financial dealings enabled Blythe to gain control of The Tides. Emma found out that she and Brooke were not Theo's biological children and that their father was a stableboy with whom Anna had had a longtime affair. After a falling out with Theo Hope tried to leave town but was killed by Blythe who, in a rage, beat her to death. Blythe then concocted a plan in which Theo lost title to his estate in a rigged poker game after which she gleefully took possession of that, too.
Worried about Lani's loyalty, Blythe had her car tampered with but Lani survived the resulting crash, only to be kidnapped by Blythe who tortured her in a secret room in her house. While there she witnessed Blythe poison the woman who had set up Theo at the poker game (Benjamin disposed of the body). Emma dumped philandering Edward and restarted her relationship with Josh. This enraged Edward who shot Josh (a minor shoulder wound) and, with Blythe's help, framed Theo for the crime—unsuccessfully. In yet another twist, Blythe revealed to Theo that she was pregnant when he left her and that Josh and Aaron were his sons.
As things heated up Theo's wife, Anna, surfaced (she had left him for her stableboy lover 22 years before). Anna was determined to get everything back and succeeded, much to Blythe's chagrin, at a legal hearing. Blythe forced Lani to get a job at The Tides and slowly poison Anna (who survived) by holding Lani's sister Violet hostage. With the help of the third Walker sister, Celeste, Violet escaped. They took a copy of an incriminating video diary Blythe had been keeping to Detective Gannon. The diary revealed that Blythe suffered from multiple personality disorder (she had not taken her medication for months), and that one of the personalities, The Boss, had paid Celeste to deliver messages to people that would undermine evil Blythe's machinations.
Josh proposed to Emma and an increasingly unhinged Blythe showed up at the engagement party determined to kill both of Theo's daughters. She shot Aaron in the stomach by mistake and was caught and institutionalized. In the epilogue, one year later, Emma was three months pregnant, Brooke and Aaron were getting married and Theo was back in control of The Tides.
Based on the 1998 Venezuelan telenovela Aunque me Cueste la Vida (Though It Might Cost Me My Life). The Saturday episodes were recaps of the episodes that had aired the previous Monday through Friday.
WICKEDLY PERFECT (Reality)
FIRST TELECAST: January 6, 2005
LAST TELECAST: March 5, 2005
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jan 2005 , CBS Thu 8:00-9:00
Jan 2005—Mar 2005 , CBS Sat 8:00-9:00
HOST:
Joan Lunden
JUDGES:
Candace Bushnell
David Evangelista
Bobby Flay
Twelve people with visions of becoming the next Martha Stewart competed in this reality series. They were all obsessive, creative types who appreciated the finer things in life and each of them believed, “Anything you can do, I can do better.” Sequestered in a Connecticut estate, they were faced each week with challenges that ran the gamut in the areas of home decor and entertaining, and one of them was eliminated. The three regular judges were restauranteur Bobby Flay, stylist David Evangelista and Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell.
In the first episode the contestants were divided into two teams, Team Artisan and The Crafty Beavers. Their first challenge was to pick the most apples in a half hour and create a project using the apples. Apple tablescape, anyone? Or perhaps an apple peel lampshade? The team that lost the challenge had to eliminate one member. This same procedure was used in subsequent episodes, with random team reassign-ments to keep them roughly the same size. The other team challenges included putting together a dinner party for the judges; designing a campsite for the judges, complete with meal and entertainment; creating “living art” in which they designed a frame, backdrop and costume to wear in the painting; cleaning up and running the Roger Sherman Inn, a Connecticut bed-and-breakfast; remodeling the apartment above the workshop in the estate where they were living; and holding an estate sale during which they bought and refinished at least four antiques. For the last team challenge, converting a vacant lot into a park, all of the previously eliminated contestants were allowed back to participate and one of them, 32-year-old Kim-berly Kennedy, from Atlanta, won her way back into the game.
In the two-hour series finale the five surviving participants worked as individuals, rather than on teams. Each of them prepared for a five-minute screen test on
CBS's The Early Show demonstrating the craft of their choice, with Kennedy (ribbon flowers) and 40-year-old Mitch Pennell from Chicago (floral arrangement) making it to the finals. Their last project was to host a “coming-out” party where they unveiled the cover of the first issue of their new magazine. Kennedy, the winner, won a development deal for a lifestyle TV show, a publishing contract with Atria Books and a guaranteed minimum six appearances on The Early Show , the first of which aired the Monday after the Wickedly Perfect finale aired.
WIDE COUNTRY, THE (Western)
FIRST TELECAST: September 20, 1962
LAST TELECAST: September 12, 1963
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Sep 1962-Sep 1963 , NBC Thu 7:30-8:30
CAST:
| Mitch Guthrie | Earl Holliman |
| Andy Guthrie | Andrew Prine |
Western drama revolving around champion bronco rider Mitch Guthrie, as he encountered the adventures of contemporary rodeo life, while trying to persuade his kid brother Andy not to become a “rodeo bum” like himself.
WIDOWS (Drama)
FIRST TELECAST: August 6, 2002
LAST TELECAST: August 27, 2002
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Aug 2002 , ABC Tue 10:00-11:00
CAST:
| Dolly Rawlins | Mercedes Ruehl |
| Shirley Heller | Brooke Shields |
| Linda Pirelli | Rosie Perez |
| Bella | N'Bushe Wright |
| Harry Rawlins | Nigel Bennett |
| Jimmy Rawlins | Michael Rhoades |
| Lt. Maynard | Jay O. Sanders |
| Mike Resnick | Aidan Devine |
| Sara Sellick | Jenna Stern |
| Sgt. Hodges | Jonathan Higgins |
| Det. Dexter | Kedar Brown |
| Audrey | Jayne Eastwood |
| Arnold Stein | Colm Feore |
| Piudi Sellick | Rod Wilson |
| Terry Heller | Bobby Johnston |
| Joe Pirelli | Roman Rodhora |
Widows was a miniseries, telecast over four consecutive weeks and thus qualifying for this book. The convoluted plot involved three widows from very different backgrounds who shared a common bond: their husbands had been killed by unknown parties as they were attempting a major heist at Boston's Stein Art Gallery. Dolly was the upper-middle-class ringleader, determined to find out who was behind the killings, and finish the heist; Shirley a rather innocent aspiring actress; and Linda a wisecracking blue-collar type who worked at a used-car dealership. Joining them was Bella, an exotic dancer whose missing boyfriend may also have been involved in the caper. As they tracked down clues and planned their own heist, they encountered Lt. Maynard, who was suspicious of them, Det. Resnick, who seemed to have been involved in the crime, and rich, arrogant gallery owner Stein, who may have been behind it all, in a elaborate scheme to switch paintings. In the conclusion Resnick, the dirty cop who set their husbands up, was killed by Dolly's crooked husband Harry (who was not dead after all); Harry was then killed by his girlfriend Sara, whom he had planned to dump, and Dolly found the real painting they had all been after. She turned it in for a $20 million reward, which she split with the other widows.
Based on the 1983 British miniseries of the same name.
WIFE SAVER, THE (Household Hints)
FIRST TELECAST: May 22, 1947
LAST TELECAST: June 26, 1947
BROADCAST HISTORY:
May 1947-Jun 1947 , NBC Thu 8:30-9:00
HOST:
Allen Prescott
Longtime radio favorite Allen Prescott tried his popular Wife Saver routine (first heard in 1932) on television in 1947. The format consisted of Prescott in the kitchen demonstrating household gadgets and explaining ways of solving problems around the house, such as keeping twine untangled or bureau drawers unstuck, all interspersed with a steady patter of gags. The humor plus the useful hints should have made this a popular show, but it lasted only six weeks.
WIFE SWAP (Reality)
FIRST TELECAST: September 26, 2004
LAST TELECAST:
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Sep 2004 , ABC Sun 10:00-11:00
Sep 2004–Mar 2005 , ABC Wed 10:00-11:00
Sep 2005-Mar 2007 , ABC Mon 8:00-9:00
Aug 2006-Sep 2006 , ABC Mon 9:00-10:00
Mar 2007-Apr 2007 , ABC Fri 9:00-10:00
May 2007– , ABC Mon 8:00-9:00
Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. Wife Swap was as simple as they come: two wives with very different lifestyles swapped homes and families for two weeks. During week one each was required to live by the other wife's rules; during week two each got to impose her own rules on her new “family.” The swaps were chosen to provide maximum drama: a pampered New York heiress swapped with a hardworking blue-collar mom; a strict vegetarian who home-schooled her five children with a junk-food-loving mom who let her kids run wild; a clean-freak mom with an utter slob; an archconservative mom with a liberal antiwar protester. After the two weeks were over the families met and compared notes on what, if anything, they would change in their lives as a result of the experiment. Some learned from each other (the socialite pitched in and worked), but others just hissed and spit at each other, denouncing the other family's unenlightened ways. It was great drama.
Sometimes the producers mixed things up a bit, as with a “husband swap,” “boss swap,” “vacation swap” (a millionaire family went on a blue-collar family's vacation, and vice versa) or surprising a husband by bringing in a gay man in place of his wife. (That last one didn't work out so well; the husband sued ABC for $10 million for emotional distress.) There were other hiccups as well, such as charges that scenes were reenacted and house rules rewritten by the producers. “We come out of the entertainment division. There is a certain amount of poetic license,” explained producer Wendy Roth.
Wife Swap was based on a British series of the same name. A virtually identical series called Trading Spouses appeared on Fox.
WILD & CRAZY KIDS (Sports/Audience Participation)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Nickelodeon
30 minutes
Produced: 1990-1992 (65 episodes)
Premiered: July 4, 1990
HOST:
Omar Gooding
Donnie Jeffcoat
Annette Chavez (1990-1991)
Jessica Gaynes (1991-1992)
Physical competition in unusual settings was the theme of this early-evening series on Nick. Teams of well-padded kids competed in fast-paced games using go-carts, bumper boats, tennis guns, and slime slides; sometimes the youthful hosts joined in as well.
WILD BILL HICKOK , see Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, The
WILD CARD (Drama)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Lifetime
60 minutes
Original episodes: 2003-2005 (36 episodes)
Premiered: August 2, 2003
CAST:
| Zoe Busiek | Joely Fisher |
| Taylor Woodall (age 16) | Vikki Krinsky |
| Clifford “Cliff Woodall (12) | Jamie Johnston |
| Hannah Woodall (8) | Aislinn Paul |
| Dan Lennox | Chris Potter |
| Sophia Mason (2003-2004) | Rae Dawn Chong |
| Marcos Morales (2003–2004) | Bronson Picket |
| Julian (2003-2004) | Corey Sevier |
| M. (Matilda) Pearl McGuire (2004-2005) | Loretta Devine |
| Leo Lombardi (2004-2005) | Joe Pingue |
Zoe was a feisty Las Vegas blackjack dealer who was abruptly thrust into a world of crime capers and child-rearing in this lighthearted series. Returning to Chicago after the death of her sister in an auto accident, she first had to become a surrogate mom to her late sister Susan's three kids (their dad was long gone). Taylor was a self-absorbed, sexually active teen, Cliff a moody 12-year-old and Hannah a cheerful little grade schooler. At the same time the insurance company was refusing to pay up on Susan's life insurance policy, claiming she was “at fault,” so Zoe investigated the case herself and—using her Vegas-honed ability to “read people”—found the real culprits who had caused the accident. This so impressed the insurance company, they gave her a job working with investigators Dan and Sophia on a variety of cases, often bizarre and usually involving murder. Handsome Dan soon had a crush on Zoe, as did the kids' hottie coach Marcos.
In the second season Marcos moved on, leaving Zoe and Dan to generate the series' romantic sparks. Sophia, who had been promoted to boss, also left and was replaced by sassy boss M. Pearl McGuire. In the series finale Zoe and Dan, who had been bantering for two seasons, were “accidentally” married while working on a case. Whether they stayed that way or not we'll never know since the series was abruptly canceled.
WILD KINGDOM (Wildlife/Nature)
FIRST TELECAST: January 7, 1968
LAST TELECAST: April 11, 1971
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jan 1968-Jun 1968 , NBC Sun 7:00-7:30
Jan 1969-Jun 1969 , NBC Sun 7:00-7:30
Sep 1969-Jun 1970 , NBC Sun 7:00-7:30
Sep 1970-Apr 1971 , NBC Sun 7:00-7:30
(In first-run syndication from fall 1971-fall 1988)
REGULARS:
Marlin Perkins
Jim Fowler
Stan Brock
The full title of this long-running nature series was Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. It starred famed naturalist and zoo director Marlin Perkins, with the aid of fellow naturalist Jim Fowler and, later, Stan Brock. The series covered such diverse topics as animal survival in the wilds, treatment of animals in captivity, the environments of primitive peoples, and the interrelationships between both primitive peoples and their animal neighbors and different species of animals with each other. An outgrowth of an earlier NBC series, Zoo Parade , which had originated almost exclusively from Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo and which also starred Mr. Perkins, Wild Kingdom spent much more time away from the zoo setting. When it premiered on January 6, 1963, Wild Kingdom was telecast on Sunday afternoons, as its predecessor had been. It moved into the evening hours in January 1968. Following its cancellation by NBC at the end of the 1970-1971 season, Wild Kingdom went into syndication. Although many of the episodes shown in the syndicated version were reruns of those seen previously on NBC, new episodes continued to be produced. Perkins and Fowler were featured in these new episodes until failing health forced Perkins to leave the series in 1985 (he died the following year). Fowler's new assistant was Peter Eros.
WILD ‘N OUT , see Nick Cannon Presents Wild ‘N Out
WILD OATS (Situation Comedy)
FIRST TELECAST: September 4, 1994
LAST TELECAST: September 25, 1994
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Sep 1994 , FOX Sun 9:30-10:00
CAST:
| Jack Slayton | Tim Conlon |
| Brian Grant | Paul S. Rudd |
| Shelly Thomas | Paula Marshall |
| Liz Bradford | Jana Marie Hupp |
| Tanya Kavasi | Karri Turner |
| Natasha Kavasi | Tamara Olson |
| Kathee | Christine Cavanaugh |
| Gordon Walker | Timothy Fall |
This was a comedy about the social lives of twenty-somethings in Chicago. Jack was a self-centered professional photographer used to getting his way. His lifelong best friend and roommate, Brian, was a sensitive social worker who between jobs worked for a temp agency. Shy Brian was dating Jack's former girlfriend, Shelly, a fifth-grade teacher, rekindling Jack's ardor for her. Shelly's dizzy roommate, Liz, was an insecure hairdresser who couldn't sustain a romantic relationship. Most of the action took place in their apartments and at The Hanger, a neighborhood singles club where they talked about important things like feelings, dates, and sex, sex, sex. Habitués there included the Kavasi sisters, sex-crazed dumb blonde bimbos who had moved to Chicago from their European homeland; Kathee, a cynical waitress/musician waiting for her big break; and Gordon, an obnoxious nerdy regular with the hots for Liz.
WILD ON (Documentary)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
E! Entertainment
60 minutes
Original episodes: 1997-2003
Premiered: 1997
HOSTS:
Eleanor Mondale (1997)
Jules Asner (1997-1999)
Brooke Burke (1999-2002)
Cindy Taylor (2002-2003)
April Sigman (2003?)
This sex-drenched travelogue, a spin-off from E!'s Sex On series, explored the party scene in exotic locales all over the world, from New Orleans' Mardi Gras to the crystal waters of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The focus was generally on local food, customs and especially nightclubs, where revelry and occasional nudity prevailed. Appropriately, the host was a scantily clad beauty, originally Eleanor Mondale (daughter of onetime presidential candidate Walter Mondale), succeeded by glamour queens Jules Asner and Brooke Burke. When Burke quit the show in 2002 (too many drooling drunks and leering locals, evidently), the network held an eight-episode competition to find her replacement, culminating at the Skin Pool Lounge in Las Vegas. Surprise, the winner was the finalist with the skimpiest bikini of all, Cindy Taylor!
E! planned to revive Wild On in 2005, but at the last minute changed the title to Taradise to highlight the new host, tabloid party girl Tara Reid. Taradise , which featured a good deal of drunkenness in exotic places, had a short run.
WILD THINGS (Wildlife Documentary)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Syndicated only
60 minutes
Produced: 1997-2000 (72 episodes)
Released: September 1997
The producers of this series traveled around the world filming animals in their natural habitats. Wildlife experts were seen on location and provided commentary on the action. Segments included rescuing a ten-foot-long anaconda in Brazil, birthing a seal in Argentina, an orphan rhino in Kenya, saving an elephant from drowning in mud in Namibia, spying polar bears swimming in Alaska, and tracking alligator hunters in Florida.
WILD THORNBERRYS, THE (Cartoon)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Nickelodeon
30 minutes
Original episodes: 1998-2004 (91 episodes)
Premiered: September 1, 1998
VOICES:
| Eliza Thornberry (age 12} | Lacey Chabert |
| Debbie Thornberry (16) | Danielle Harris |
| Donnie Thornberry (4) | Flea |
| Nigel Thornberry | Tim Curry |
| Marianne Thornberry | Jodi Carlisle |
| Darwin, the chimp | Tom Kane |
| *Kip O'Donneili 1998-1999) | Keith Szarabajka |
| “Neil Biedermann (1998-1999) | Jerry Sroka |
*Occasional
Hey kids, how'd you like to live in a big, high-tech RV, roaming the world with your family and filming nature documentaries about exotic animals of all kinds? If you were an inquisitive 12-year-old like Eliza, you'd probably find it cool. If you were a whiny 16-year-old grunge princess like Debbie, it would be, like, the pits. And if you were 4-year-old Donnie, you'd just crawl around and explore. The Thornberrys certainly led an unusual life. Nigel, the father, with his big red mustache and booming British voice (“Smashing!”), hosted the documentaries, while Marianne, his somewhat more cautious wife, served as cameraman and producer. Darwin was a talking chimp, with an English accent, who traveled with them, and Kip a villainous poacher with whom they had run-in's. Settings ranged from the Amazon to Africa, and not all of the wildlife they encountered was particularly friendly, but bright Eliza had the ability to talk to the animals, which got the family out of many a scrape.
The series also aired on CBS from 2002 to 2004.
WILD WEST SHOWDOWN (Competition)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Syndicated only
60 minutes
Produced: 1994 (26 episodes)
Released: October 1994
HOST:
Alex Cord (“West”) Lisa Coles (“K.C. Clark”)
ANNOUNCER:
Joe Fowler
OUTLAWS:
Sandy Berumen (“Alibi”)
Craig Branham (“Three Fingers”)
Tremel James (“Badger”)
Lynn “Jonnie” Jonckowski (“Chance”)
Kerry Maureen Mellin (“Faro”)
Cheryl Lawson (“Silk”)
Juddson Linn (“George”)
Jeff Manazanares (“Bull”)
Randall Oliver (“Godbreath”)
Jason Reins-Rodriguez (“Kid Kidd”)
Con Schell (“Snakebite”)
Yet another variation on American Gladiators, Wild West Showdown gave average people the opportunity to compete as “cowboys” in such events as The Grand Stampede, Rider in the Sky, Shootout, and Bull Run, with $100 going to the winner of each individual event. Normally there were three contestants, two males and one female. Events included riding and roping, and everything had a Western flavor. The weekly winner could win $5,000 by defeating a selected outlaw in the final showdown. Events took place in and around the town of Broken Neck, and everything was designed to have the good guys helping rid Broken Neck of its outlaws. There were also lots of stuntmen doing Western stunts between events. West was the narrator and K.C. was the editor of the Broken Neck Gazette , who talked with the contestants and awarded the prize money.
WILD WILD WEST, THE (Western)
FIRST TELECAST: September 17, 1965
LAST TELECAST: September 7, 1970
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Sep 1965-Sep 1969 , CBS Fri 7:30-8:30
Jul 1970-Sep 1970 , CBS Mon 10:00-11:00
CAST:
| James T West | Robert Conrad |
| Artemus Gordon | Ross Martin |
| “President Ulysses S. Grant | Roy Engel |
| Jeremy Pike (1968-1969) | Charles Aidman |
*Occasional
James T. West was the James Bond of Westerns. West was an undercover agent for President Grant (played by James Gregory in the pilot) whose assignments usually involved exposing or undermining the attempts of various radical, revolutionary, or criminal groups to take over all or part of the U.S. Helping him was his fellow Secret Service agent, Artemus Gordon, a master of disguises and dialects. The two of them traveled in a special railroad car that supplied them with the materials to concoct all sorts of bizarre weapons and devices to foil their adversaries. Beautiful women, contrived situations, and fantastic devices populated this series throughout its four-year run. One villain who had a remarkable facility for evading capture, or escaping from prison if caught, was the evil genius Dr. Miguelito Loveless (played by dwarf Michael Dunn). Dr. Loveless was to James West what Prof. Moriarty was to Sherlock Holmes—a brilliant antagonist bent on taking over the world. For part of the 1968-1969 season West was assisted by Jeremy Pike while costar Ross Martin was recovering from a heart attack.
CBS aired reruns during the summer of 1970.
WILD, WILD WORLD OF ANIMALS, THE
(Wildlife/Nature)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Syndicated only
30 minutes
Produced: 1973-1978 (129 episodes)
Released: Fall 1973
NARRATOR:
William Conrad
This popular wildlife documentary series was produced by Time-Life Films.
WILDBOYZ (Documentary)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
MTV, MTV2
30 minutes
Original episodes: 2003-
Premiered: October 26, 2003
REGULARS:
Chris Pontius Steve-O (Stephen Otis)
A spin-off from Jackass in which two of that show's regulars, Chris and Steve-O, did wild and often dangerous stunts involving animals around the world. Laughing and behaving like a couple of irresponsible kids, they swam with sharks, put on tuxes and mocked penguins, stripped and had animals in Belize lick their teats, got stuck in the bare buttocks with porcupine quills, and put Khudu turds in their mouth, then spit them out. There was a lot of nudity and gross humor, as they ran around in jock straps (even in Alaska) and played close-ups of hyenas masturbating. Wild animal expert Manny Puig helped on some stunts, such as pulling a grown lion's tail (supposedly an African rite of passage). The raunchy series moved to MTV2 in January 2006.
WILDFIRE (Family Drama)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
ABC Family Channel
60 minutes
Original episodes: 2005-
Premiered: June 20, 2005
CAST:
| Kristine “Kris” Furillo (age 18). | Genevieve Cortese |
| Jean Ritter…… | Nana Visitor |
| Matt Ritter | Micah Alberti |
| Todd Ritter… | Andrew Hoeft |
| Kenneth “Ken” Davis, Sr. | James Read |
| Kenneth “Junior” Davis, Jr. | Ryan Sypek |
| Danielle “Dani” Davis | Nicole Tubiola |
| Pablo Betart … | Greg Serano |
| Gillian Parson | Charlotte Salt |
| Kerry Connelly (2006-) | Kieren Hutchison |
Kris was a rebellious young woman who had just been released from a juvenile correctional facility, where she had served time for auto theft, and was looking to get a new start in life. Given her troubled past she didn't have many options, but she was good with horses and the Ritter family, which operated Raintree Horse Farm in Fremont, California, was willing to give her a chance as a ranch hand and jockey. There she was drawn into a classic soap opera of warring families. The Ritters, headed by patriarch Henry (Dennis Weaver), had fallen on hard times and were fighting to hold on to their once-great stables; the wealthy Davises had designs on both them and the farm. Henry's smart, decent daughter Jean ran Rain-tree; Matt was her hunky, horny son, who had a gambling problem; and Todd the sixth-grade genius. Pablo was their handsome young foreman, and Kris' trainer. Over at the Davis ranch oily dad Ken wanted both Raintree and Jean, when he wasn't feuding with his cocky, arrogant son Junior, who dated Kris. Daughter Dani was the bitch of the piece and Kris' chief rival; she once dated Matt. Fortunes were made and lost, romances swelled and crashed, and races were run “to save the farm.”
WILDSIDE (Western)
FIRST TELECAST: March 21, 1985
LAST TELECAST: April 25, 1985
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Mar 1985-Apr 1985 , ABC Thu 8:00-9:00
CAST:
| Brodie Hollister | William Smith |
| Sutton Hollister | J. Eddie Peck |
| Bannister Sparks | Howard E. Rollins, Jr. |
| Varges De La Cosa | John DiAquino |
| Prometheus Jones | Terry Funk |
| Cally Oaks | Meg Ryan |
| Governor J. Wendell Summerhayes. | Sandy McPeak |
| Keye Ahn | Jon Fong |
| Elliot Thogmorton | Kurt Fuller |
| Alice Freeze | Robin Hoff |
| Skillet | Timothy Scott |
| Zeke | Jason Hervey |