YANCY DERRINGER (Action/Adventure)
FIRST TELECAST: October 2, 1958
LAST TELECAST: September 24, 1959
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Oct 1958-Sep 1959, CBS Thu 8:30–9:00
CAST:
| Yancy Derringer | Jock Mahoney |
| Pahoo-Ka-Ta-Wah | X. Brands |
| John Colton | Kevin Hagen |
| Amanda Eaton | Julie Adams |
| Madame Francine | Frances Bergen |
Set in New Orleans in the years after the Civil War, Yancy Derringer followed the exploits of an ex-Confederate soldier turned cardshark and adventurer in a wide-open city. Yancy did have a steady occupation, that of special agent working for John Colton, civil administrator of the city of New Orleans. His job was to prevent crimes when possible, and to capture the criminals when it was not. Yancy was a smooth operator, dapper and suave with the ladies, and he carried a tiny pistol in his fancy hat. His constant companion and aide was an Indian named Pahoo. Together they formed a team that was not police, not detective, and not secret agent, but a little bit of all three.
YEAR AT THE TOP, A (Situation Comedy)
FIRST TELECAST: August 5, 1977
LAST TELECAST: September 4, 1977
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Aug 1977, CBS Fri 8:00–8:30
Aug 1977-Sep 1977, CBS Sun 8:30–9:00
CAST:
| Greg | Greg Evigan |
| Paul | Paul Shaffer |
| Frederick J. Hanover | Gabriel Dell |
| Miss Worley | Priscilla Morrill |
| Trish | Julie Cobb |
| Grandma Belle Durbin | Nedra Volz |
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER:
Norman Lear
MUSIC SUPERVISOR:
Don Kirshner
This summer series, long delayed in getting on the air because of production and conceptual problems (it was originally supposed to premiere in January, with a completely different cast), was about two young rock musicians in search of fame and fortune. Greg and Paul moved to Hollywood from their home in Boise, Idaho, and were looking for an agent to help them get their big break. The promoter they found was Frederick J. Hanover, renowned for discovering and creating pop music stars. He offered them a chance at stardom, but there was one little catch. Hanover was the son of the Devil and, in exchange for this year as pop music superstars, Greg and Paul would have to sign away their souls. Hanover gave them tastes of what their “year at the top” could be like, and tried various ways of tempting them to sign the contract, but circumstances and misgivings on Greg and Paul’s part prevented it from happening, at least in the five weeks that A Year at the Top ran.
YEAR IN THE LIFE, A (Drama)
FIRST TELECAST: August 24, 1987
LAST TELECAST: April 20, 1988
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Aug 1987-Sep 1987, NBC Mon 9:00–11:00
Sep 1987-Feb 1988, NBC Wed 9:00–10:00
Mar 1988, NBC Wed 10:00–11:00
Apr 1988, NBC Wed 9:00–10:00
CAST:
| Joe Gardner | Richard Kiley |
| Anne Gardner Maxwell | Wendy Phillips |
| David Sisk | Trey Ames |
| Sunny Sisk | Amanda Peterson |
| Lindley Gardner Eisenberg | Jayne Atkinson |
| Jim Eisenberg | Adam Arkin |
| Jack Gardner | Morgan Stevens |
| Sam Gardner | David Oliver |
| Kay Ericson Gardner | Sarah Jessica Parker |
| Dr. Alice Foley | Diana Muldaur |
This warm family drama, a spin-off from the acclaimed December 1986, mini-series of the same name, sensitively explored the lives of three generations of a large, prosperous Seattle family. Joe Gardner was the patriarch, a strong-willed but basically decent man who had grown up during the Depression (the kids were never allowed to forget it!) and built the family’s successful plastics business. In the mini-series, the death of his wife had brought his four grown children back together, despite their various problems. Anne, 35, was an ex-hippie, who had been shattered by the failure of her second marriage and had moved back into the house with her two teenage children (David and Sunny) from her first marriage. Daughter Lindley, 31, was struggling to balance her career as a sales representative for Gardner Plastics with being a mother to her new baby, Ruthie, and wife to amiable patent attorney Jim. Jack, 30, was the black sheep of the family, a rebellious drifter still trying to “find himself”—to the disgust of his father. And Sam, 24, was a handsome, conservative preppie-type who had inexplicably married the flighty, free-spirited Kay; he also worked for the family firm and lived in the guest house while saving for a home of his own.
Stories revolved around the tears and joys of these marriages and family relationships. Alice was Joe’s on-again, off-again romantic interest.
YEARBOOK (Documentary)
FIRST TELECAST: March 7, 1991
LAST TELECAST: July 6, 1991
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Mar 1991, FOX Thu 8:30–9:00
Mar 1991-Jul 1991, FOX Sat 8:30–9:00
NARRATOR:
Ken Dashow
The Fox network gave the real-life students of Glenbard West High school, in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, a most unusual senior yearbook in 1991. With the students’ permission, this series’ cameras used the cinéma vérité style to follow, up close, both the school and home lives of a group of Glenbard students during their senior year. The subjects covered were both public and private: homecoming, sports competition, dating, worries about the war in Iraq, personal tragedies (one student’s mother was diagnosed with cancer), and the pressure to get good grades and get into college.
FIRST TELECAST: October 2, 1983
LAST TELECAST: August 3, 1990
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Oct 1983, NBC Sun 10:00–11:00
Oct 1983-Jan 1984, NBC Sat 10:00–11:00
Mar 1984-May 1984, NBC Sat 10:00–11:00
Jul 1990-Aug 1990, NBC Fri 9:00–10:00
CAST:
| Chance McKenzie | Sam Elliott |
| Colleen Champion | Cybill Shepherd |
| Roy Champion | David Soul |
| Quisto Champion | Edward Albert |
| Jeb Hollister | Chuck Connors |
| Juliette Hollister | Deborah Shelton |
| Grace McKenzie (1983) | Susan Anspach |
| Luther Dillard | Noah Beery, Jr. |
| Hoyt Coryell | Ken Curtis |
| Whit Champion | Tom Schanley |
| L. C Champion | Michelle Bennett |
| Caryn Cabrera | Kerrie Keane |
| John Stronghart | Will Sampson |
Soap opera set on a huge, modern-day west Texas ranch. All the usual ingredients were there— money, lust, power, mysterious pasts, and family entanglements—along with a few not usually found in modern soaps (cattle drives, campfires out in the wide open spaces). The Yellow Rose, a 200,000 acre spread, had been built by the late Wade Champion, and now his offspring were fighting among themselves and against the world to keep it going. Wade’s sons Roy and Quisto (a lawyer), and his 29-year-old widow, Colleen, ran the place. Roy found himself fighting both family arch-enemy Jeb Hollister, who thought the ranch should belong to him, and his own passion for his beautiful young stepmother. Colleen, on the other hand, was drawn to Chance, a lanky, taciturn stranger who arrived in the first episode and was the man with a past; it turned out he (1) had served time for murder, and (2) was Wade’s illegitimate son. Other stories involved the smuggling of drugs and illegal aliens across the nearby border.
L.C. (“Love Child”) was Colleen’s 12-year-old daughter, and Whit was Roy’s sexually curious teenage son. Also near the center of things were Grace, the sensual housekeeper, ranch hands Dillard and Coryell, and Jeb’s daughter Juliette. Midway through the season it was announced that Jane Russell would join the cast as Chance’s long-lost mother, Rose Hollister, but she showed up for only a couple of episodes.
NBC aired reruns of The Yellow Rose during the summer of 1990.
YES, DEAR (Situation Comedy)
FIRST TELECAST: October 2, 2000
LAST TELECAST:
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Oct 2000-Jun 2003, CBS Mon 8:30–9:00
Apr 2002, CBS Mon 8:00–8:30
Jun 2003–, CBS Mon 8:00–8:30
CAST:
| Greg Warner | Anthony Clark |
| Kim Warner | Jean Louisa Kelly |
| Jimmy Hughes | Mike O’Malley |
| Christine Hughes | Liza Snyder |
| Sam Warner (infant) | Anthony and Michael Bain |
| Dominick Hughes (age 4) (first two episodes) | Connor and Keenan Merkovich |
| Dominick Hughes (2000–) | Joel Homan |
| Logan Hughes (1) (pilot only) | Blake, Easton and Hunter Draut |
| Logan Hughes (2000–2002) | Christopher and Nicolas Berry |
| Logan Hughes (2002). | Alexander and Shawn Shapiro |
| Logan Hughes (2002–) | Brendon Baerg |
| * Billy (2001–) | Billy Gardell |
| *Mr. Savitsky (2002–) | Brian Doyle-Murray |
Greg and Kim Warner were raising their infant son, Sam, in the suburban sprawl of Los Angeles. They were both well-meaning and attentive parents, but since they were also neurotic and uncertain about what was right for their son, they tended to wear on each other. They wanted everything to be perfect for Sam. It didn’t help that Kim’s free-spirited sister, Christine, was living with her goofball husband, Jimmy, and their two young children in the Warner’s guest house. Christine and unemployed Jimmy just coasted through life, assuming everything, including parenting, would work itself out. Jimmy’s carefree attitude drove uptight Greg crazy.
In the fall of 2000 Jimmy got a job as a security guard at Radford Studios, where Greg was executive manager of business affairs. The following January Jimmy’s unreliable best friend, Billy, showed up and got an acting job on The District, but later lost it. At the start of the 2001–2002 season Christine started taking college classes and Jimmy got Billy a job working with him as a security guard at the studio. Little Sam and dumb Logan started nursery school together in January. In April Greg’s boss, Mr. Savitsky, promoted him to executive director of business affairs because Jimmy had hit a home run for his team in the studio softball game—not because Greg was the best choice— which grated on Greg. In the season finale Kim found out she was pregnant and, the following November, gave birth to a daughter, Emily.
Various parents showed up from time to time, including Tim Conway and Vicki Lawrence as Greg’s mom and dad.
YES YES NANETTE, syndicated title for Westinghouse Playhouse
YESTERDAY & TODAY (Music Documentary)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
The Nashville Network
60 minutes
Produced: 1997–1998
Premiered: March 25, 1997
A reverential prime-time documentary series celebrating the history and stars of country music. Subjects included artists who came from the gospel field, performing families, country radio, the “Urban Cowboy Era,” and stars with humble backgrounds (ain’t that all of ’em?).
YESTERYEAR (Documentary)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
The Nashville Network
60 minutes
Produced: 1994–1996
Premiered: September 30, 1994
Rex Allen, Jr.
Lisa Stewart
A nostalgic look at a year in the past in country music, with clips of famous artists.
YOU AGAIN? (Situation Comedy)
FIRST TELECAST: February 27, 1986
LAST TELECAST: March 30, 1987
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Feb 1986, NBC Thu 8:30–9:00
Mar 1986-Jun 1986, NBC Mon 8:00–8:30
Jun 1986-Jan 1987, NBC Wed 9:30–10:00
Mar 1987, NBC Mon 10:30–11:00
CAST:
| Henry Willows | Jack Klugman |
| Matt Willows | John Stamos |
| Enid Tompkins | Elizabeth Bennett |
| Pam | Valerie Landsburg |
| Maggie Davis | Barbara Rhoades |
| Louis Robles | Luis Avalos |
| Harry | Guy Marks |
Ever since his bitter divorce ten years before, supermarket manager Henry Willows had been leading a quiet, peaceful life—and getting very set in his ways. Until, that is, his 17-year-old son Matt, whom he had not seen since the divorce, turned up on his doorstep. Henry’s life was thrown into turmoil. Matt was a girl-chasing, borderline juvenile delinquent, and more than his conservative father could deal with. There was much yelling, and a lot of difficult adjustments to make on both sides, but underneath it all—as in all sitcoms—genuine affection. Henry’s sarcastic British housekeeper, Enid, tossed in a few wisecracks from the woman’s point of view.
Adapted from the British series Home to Roost, which was still running in that country. You Again? boasted at least one TV first. Actress Elizabeth Bennett played the same role (Enid) in both series simultaneously, requiring her to regularly commute between Los Angeles and London.
YOU ARE AN ARTIST, see Ben Grauer Show, The
YOU ARE AN ARTIST (Art Instruction)
FIRST TELECAST: November 1, 1946
LAST TELECAST: January 17, 1950
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Nov 1946-Dec 1946, NBC Fri 8:15–8:30
Dec 1946-Aug 1948, NBC Thu 9:00–9:15
Sep 1948-Oct 1948, NBC Wed 7:30–7:50
Nov 1948-Mar 1949, NBC Tue 7:30–7:45
Mar 1949-Apr 1949, NBC Thu 7:30–7:45
Jul 1949-Sep 1949, NBC Sat 7:30–7:45
Jan 1950, NBC Tue 11:00–11:15
HOST:
Jon Gnagy
Jon Gnagy might seem an unlikely choice to be one of the very first personalities to have his own network television series. An obscure but articulate young artist, he first appeared on NBC’s Radio City Matinee, a grab bag of features telecast locally over WNBT, New York, in the early and mid-1940s. In November 1946, he was given a 15-minute time slot of his own and his program, You Are an Artist, was fed to a small network of stations on the East Coast. A month later the Gulf Oil Company was persuaded to assume sponsorship of the show, thus insuring its survival (and making Gulf one of the first sponsors of a network series).
Sporting a goatee, a plaid shirt, and sometimes a beret, Gnagy would execute drawings before the camera while describing his technique in simple, understandable terms as he went along. Later he added a segment in which he analyzed a famous painting lent by the Museum of Modern Art (and brought into the studio by two armed guards). He varied little from this simple format from 1946 to 1949, but around him the medium of television changed dramatically. In 1949 the program, by then a gentle reminder of an earlier day (only three years back!), quietly moved into daytime, then became a local New York show. It had a final three-week run on the network in January 1950.
Though soon forgotten amid the rush of the super-productions and big names flooding into the new medium, Jon Gnagy and You Are an Artist were true video pioneers. Gnagy died in 1981.
YOU ARE THERE (Documentary Drama)
FIRST TELECAST: February 1, 1953
LAST TELECAST: October 13, 1957
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Feb 1953-Jun 1953, CBS Sun 6:00–6:30
Sep 1953-Oct 1957, CBS Sun 6:30–7:00 (OS)
REPORTER:
Walter Cronkite
Reenactments of major events in the history of the world, with the emphasis on those of the last century, were presented on this weekly series. CBS News correspondent Walter Cronkite served as the anchorman as the events “occurred” and reports and interviews came in from various reporters. The initial telecast was “The Landing of the Hindenburg” and the last one was “The Scuttling of the Graf Spee.” In between there were programs on “The Salem Witchcraft Trials,” “The Gettysburg Address,” and “The Fall of Troy.”
Perhaps best remembered are the program’s closing lines: “What sort of a day was it? A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times … and you were there.”
You Are There was first heard as a CBS radio show in 1947, with John Daly as host.
YOU ASKED FOR IT (Audience Participation)
FIRST TELECAST: December 29, 1950
LAST TELECAST: September 5, 1999
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Dec 1950-Dec 1951, DUM Fri 8:30–9:00
Dec 1951-Mar 1952, ABC Mon 9:00–9:30
Apr 1952-Jan 1958, ABC Sun 7:00–7:30
Jan 1958-Apr 1958, ABC Sun 9:30–10:00
Apr 1958-Sep 1959, ABC Sun 7:00–7:30
Aug 1999-Sep 1999, NBC Sun 8:00–9:00 (New episodes in syndication, 1971–1977, 1981–1983)
HOST:
Art Baker (1950–1958)
Jack Smith (1958–1959)
Phil Morris (1999)
When this series premiered on the DuMont television network in December 1950, it was named The Art Baker Show, after its creator and host. That title was changed on April 13, 1951, to the more descriptive You Asked for It.
The format of the show was very simple. Viewers were asked to send in a postcard describing something they wanted to see and the program’s staff made every attempt to provide it. For almost a decade You Asked for It thrived, taking viewers into the vault at Fort Knox, bringing to them strange people with unusual talents, showing them $1,000,000 in one-dollar bills, and almost anything else that the viewers wanted to see.
Jack Smith replaced Art Baker as host when the program moved to 9:30 P.M. Sunday night on January 26, 1958.
Although You Asked for It is most associated with this particular format, it was actually anticipated by a nearly identical program on NBC from 1948–1949 called Id Like to See.
Jack Smith also hosted the syndicated version of You Asked for It that appeared during the 1971–1972 season and which continued in production on an erratic basis until 1977. A new syndicated version surfaced from 1981 to 1983, with impressionist Rich Little as host. Jack Smith was on hand to narrate clips from the older versions, many of them in black-and-white, while Little and his assistant, Jayne Kennedy, narrated the new stories.
Yet another version appeared in 1999 during the network vogue for “shocking documentaries” (When Animals Attack, etc.), hosted by actor Phil Morris, the son of 1960s star Greg Morris. Somewhat tamer than its 1990s counterparts, it featured a combination of new clips and segments from earlier versions of the show, some in black-and-white. Like his predecessors, Morris read requests from viewers. The most requested clip was said to be the old film of a huge suspension bridge twisting in a high wind, and then collapsing.
YOU ASKED FOR IT, AGAIN (Audience Participation)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
The Family Channel
30 minutes
Produced: 1991–1992 (22 episodes)
Premiered: September 1, 1991
HOST:
Jimmy Brogan
A revival of the venerable series that used a combination of old clips and new material. Some requests came from the studio audience.
YOU BET YOUR LIFE (Quiz)
FIRST TELECAST: October 5, 1950
LAST TELECAST: September 21, 1961
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Oct 1950-Jun 1951, NBC Thu 8:00–8:30
Oct 1951-Sep 1958, NBC Thu 8:00–8:30
Sep 1958-Sep 1961, NBC Thu 10:00–10:30
EMCEE:
Groucho Marx
ANNOUNCER:
George Fenneman
THEME:
“Hooray for Captain Spaulding,” by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby
Comedian Groucho Marx, of the rapierlike wit and sarcastic asides, was the emcee and star of this filmed quiz show, which had begun on radio in 1947. Although it was ostensibly a quiz, the series’ most important asset was the humor injected by Groucho into the interviews he did with contestants before they had a chance to play the game. Contestants were picked primarily on the potential they had to be foils for Groucho’s barbs, which they seemed to love.
At the start of each show the audience was informed of the night’s secret word—“It’s a common word, something you see every day.” If any of the contestants happened to say it while they were on the air, they won an extra $100. When they said the word a dilapidated stuffed duck would drop from the ceiling with the $100 attached. The quiz consisted of question-and-answer rounds in which contestants bet all or part of an initial purse on their ability to answer the questions in a chosen category. The questions were not really difficult, and the two members of a team could collaborate (“Remember, only one answer between you”), but sometimes they lost the whole thing. Then there was always the consolation prize, which could be won by answering a nonsense question like “Who is buried in Grant’s Tomb?” As Groucho liked to say, “Nobody leaves here broke.”
During the period in which You Bet Your Life was aired on both TV and radio, an hour-long session was filmed and then edited down to provide both 30-minute versions of the show—as well as to edit out any risqué remarks by Groucho. The same contestants appeared on both radio and TV versions, though the two were not exactly alike. The reruns that aired on TV during the summer were titled The Best of Groucho and the entire program was retitled The Groucho Show during its last season.
Along with the title change came a slight change in format. The mangy duck announcing the secret word was still around, but sometimes it was replaced by other ways of revealing the “word”—a pretty girl on a swing, a ballerina dancing across the stage, tumblers dropping from the ceiling with it on a sign, etc.
A syndicated version of You Bet Your Life, hosted by comic Buddy Hackett, turned up briefly in the fall of 1980. In the fall of 1992, following the conclusion of his highly rated sitcom, The Cosby Show, Bill Cosby starred in another revival of You Bet Your Life. Pretty young Robbi Chong was on hand as his announcer/assistant, but because of possible legal issues, the mangy duck had been replaced by a black goose. Cosby fared little better than Hackett had more than a decade before. By the end of 1992 it was obvious that viewers were not in love with the show—many stations had moved it to a postmidnight time slot—and the producers announced it would cease production at the end of the season.
YOU CAN BE A STAR (Talent)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
The Nashville Network
30 minutes
Produced: 1983–1989, 1991–1992
Premiered: September 5, 1983
REGULARS:
Jim Ed Brown (1983–1989)
Bobby Randall (1991–1992)
Lisa Foster (1991–1992)
One of TNN’s earliest regular series was this daily country talent show for amateurs, originating from Nashville. After a six-year run as You Can Be a Star, it was revived in 1991 with a new name (Be a Star), new hosts, and prizes that included $50,000 in cash, television appearances, and recording contracts.
YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU (Situation Comedy)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Syndicated only
30 minutes
Produced: 1987–1988 (26 episodes)
Released: September 1987
CAST:
| Martin Vanderhof | Harry Morgan |
| Penny Vanderhof Sycamore | Lois Nettleton |
| Paul Sycamore | Richard Sanders |
| Alice Sycamore | Lisa Aliff |
| Essie Sycamore | Heather Blodgett |
| Durwood M. Pinner | Theodore Wilson |
A turn-of-the-century Victorian home in New York City’s suburban borough of Staten Island was the setting for this multigenerational comedy about a family of eccentrics. Martin Vanderhof was the patriarch of the clan, an independent curmudgeon who also served as the series’ narrator. Martin, a widower, lived with his bubbly, somewhat scatterbrained daughter, Penny, and her family. That family consisted of Penny’s husband, Paul, an inventor of toys, with no apparent regular source of income; their idealistic teenage daughter, Essie; and their older daughter, Alice, who worked for a Manhattan brokerage firm. Mr. Pinner was a neighbor and friend who constructed prototypes for the toys Paul invented.
Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1936 play of the same name written by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, which will be remembered long after this routine comedy is not.
YOU DON’T KNOW JACK (Quiz)
FIRST TELECAST: June 20, 2001
LAST TELECAST: July 18, 2001
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jun 2001-Jul 2001, ABC Wed 8:30–9:00
HOST:
Paul Reubens (as Troy Stevens)
This wild summer entry was half comedy, half quiz show. Three contestants attempted to answer offbeat questions as manic host Troy Stevens mugged and shouted. Each question started off worth $2 million, but money was subtracted so fast—even while Troy read the question—that by the time a contestant got to buzz in the answer it might be down to $191. A sample question: “Fidel Castro is to military fatigues as the Jolly Green Giant is to what? 1: Pesticide, 2: Corn, 3: Leaves, 4: Speedos.” In addition there were constant distractions, such as a mariachi band marching across the stage as the contestants tried to think, a crying, peeing baby or a belly dancer performing.
YOU DON’T SAY (Quiz/Audience Participation)
FIRST TELECAST: January 7, 1964
LAST TELECAST: May 5, 1964
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jan 1964-May 1964, NBC Tue 8:30–9:00
EMCEE:
Tom Kennedy
You Don’t Say was a game in which two teams of two members each (one member being the contestant and the other member a celebrity) competed in trying to guess the name of a famous person. One member of each team would be told the identity of the person and would then give clues to his partner in the form of incomplete sentences, with the missing word at the end of the sentence being the clue. The winner of each game got $100 and the chance to go to the bonus board to win more money. The board contained word clues to a different famous person’s name. The clues were revealed, one at a time, and the members of the winning team tried to guess who the famous person was. Correct identification after one clue was worth $300, after two clues worth $200, and after all three clues worth $100. The daytime version of You Don’t Say, on which the nighttime version was based, ran from April 1963 to September 1969 and was revived for a six-month period in 1975. Tom Kennedy was the emcee of all network versions of the show.
When You Don’t Say returned to the air on a first-run syndicated basis during the 1978–1979 season. Jim Peck was the new emcee.
YOU TAKE THE KIDS (Situation Comedy)
FIRST TELECAST: December 15, 1990
LAST TELECAST: January 12, 1991
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Dec 1990-Jan 1991, CBS Sat 8:00–8:30
CAST:
| Nell Kirkland | Nell Carter |
| Michael Kirkland | Roger E. Mosley |
| Raymond Kirkland (age 16) | Dante Beze |
| Lorette Kirkland (14) | Caryn Ward |
| Peter Kirkland (12) | Marlon Taylor |
| Nate Kirkland (10) | Trent Cameron |
| Helen | Leila Danette |
THEME:
“Nobody’s Got It Easy,” written by Jeff Moss and performed by Nell Carter
Short-lived comedy about a blue-collar family living in Pittsburgh’s inner city. Michael Kirkland made a modest living as a school-bus driver, a job he had held for years. Nell, his wife of 17 years, opinionated but loving, taught piano at home to provide a little extra money for the family. Together they were raising their four children—Raymond, whose only apparent goal in life was to stay cool; Lorette, who was desperate to get a boyfriend; Peter, the family intellectual who wanted to become a doctor; and Nate, the resident pint-sized con artist. Living in the basement was Nell’s loudmouthed mother, Helen, who wished her daughter had married better and was not shy about saying it in front of poor Michael.
YOU WISH (Situation Comedy)
FIRST TELECAST: September 26, 1997
LAST TELECAST: September 4, 1998
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Sep 1997-Nov 1997, ABC Fri 9:00–9:30
May 1998-Sep 1998, ABC Fri 8:30–9:00
CAST:
| Gillian Apple | Harley Jane Kozak |
| Mickey Apple (age 14) | Alex McKenna |
| Travis Apple (11) | Nathan Lawrence |
| Genie | John Ales |
| * Mustafa | John Rhys-Davies |
| *Grandpa Max | Jerry Van Dyke |
A bright Friday night kid-com about a genie who brought some fun into a family’s life—despite mom. Single mom Gillian and her two kids had wandered into Mustafa’s quaint little Los Angeles carpet store looking for a bathroom rug. When she unrolled an old-looking purple rug, out popped Genie, who had been imprisoned there for 2,000 years as punishment for a serious genie offense: he had fallen in love with his last, female “master.” Having had no love for 2,000 years, ebullient, curly-haired Genie was desperate to get out, and begged the Apples to become his new masters. He would grant their every wish. Gillian, a practical, no-nonsense ’90s mom, didn’t want the “disruption,” but the kids pleaded and she finally relented. Happy, optimistic Genie could make wonderful things happen by just snapping his fingers, and the kids thought he was great. Even mom had to admit he could be fun.
YOU WRITE THE SONGS (Music/Competition)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Syndicated only
30 minutes
Produced: 1986–1987(26 episodes)
Released: September 1986
REGULARS:
Ben Vereen
The New Song Dancers (choreographed by Jaime Rogers)
Sam Harris
Monica Page
Kenny James
Catte Adams
Aspiring songsmiths were given exposure on this weekly series which presented offerings from three different amateur songwriters each week. The songs were performed by the show’s regular singers, all alumni from Star Search, and were judged by a rotating celebrity panel with the weekly winners advancing toward a $100,000 grand prize. Host Ben Vereen introduced the songs and chatted with the weekly celebrity guests. Among those appearing on the show were Stevie Wonder, Donna Summer, Carole Bayer Sager, Melissa Manchester, Smokey Robinson, and Neil Sedaka.
For a similar series 36 years earlier, see Songs for Sale.
YOU’ll NEVER GET RICH, see Phil Silvers Show, The
YOUNG AMERICANS (School Drama)
FIRST TELECAST: July 12, 2000
LAST TELECAST: August 30, 2000
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jul 2000-Aug 2000, WB Wed 9:00–10:00
Jul 2000-Aug 2000, WB Fri 9:00–10:00
CAST:
| Will Krudski | Rodney Scott |
| Scout Calhoun | Mark Famiglietti |
| Hamilton Fleming | Ian Somerhalder |
| Finn | Ed Quinn |
| Bella Banks | Kate Bosworth |
| Jacqueline “Jake” Pratt | Katherine Moening |
| Charlie Banks | Ed Fry |
| Susan Krudski | Deborah Hazlett |
| Ryder Forrest | Charlie Hunnam |
| Sean McGrail | Matt Czuchry |
THEME:
“Six Pacs,” written by Kristian Ottestad and Espen Norweger, performed by The Getaway People
Will, a local boy from the poor side of town, was starting the summer session on scholarship at fancy Rawley Academy, a boarding school in New Rawley. His mother, Susan, was thrilled but his father, with whom he was having problems, was less than enthusiastic. Early on Will admitted to his wealthy roommate, Scout, that he had cheated on the entrance exam to get away from his dad. One of the other entering students was Hamilton who, despite being the dean’s son, was totally anti-establishment. Bella, a pretty local girl who worked at her family’s gas station—and was the object of every horny Rawley student’s desire—had grown up with Will and treated him like a brother. Jake, also an outsider, was a tomboy masquerading as a guy who was working her way through every prep school in the Northeast. Finn, the crew coach and eccentric but idealistic lit professor, figured out that Will had cheated to get in but was convinced that Will belonged at Rawley and had real writing talent. In the premiere episode Bella’s father told Scout, who was dating her, that she was actually his half sister, and Bella subsequently started dating townie Sean. Jake finally admitted to Hamilton—who feared he was gay—that she was a girl, and they surreptitiously started to date. Bella had figured out that Jake was a girl and they shared her secret, too. In the finale, as the summer term was ending, Bella had unsuccessfully tried to keep her mother from putting the gas station/home where she and her divorced dad lived up for auction; Jake, whose masquerade as a boy was becoming common knowledge, was heading home to New York for the rest of the summer; and Will had decided to spend the last few weeks of the summer with Scout on the island of St. Martin.
Rodney Scott had appeared as Will Krudski in a few episodes of Dawson’s Creek earlier in 2000.
YOUNG AND GAY, see Girls, The
YOUNG BROADWAY, (Music)
FIRST TELECAST: December 22, 1948
LAST TELECAST: June 23, 1949
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Dec 1948-Mar 1949, NBC Wed 7:30–7:50
Apr 1949-Jun 1949, NBC Thu 10:00–10:30
Live musical program featuring young performers who were just getting their start in show business. For a time each program was built around a current Broadway play, but with the understudies rather than the stars performing the lead roles. Performers as varied as Roberta Quinlan and Marguerite Piazza appeared.
YOUNG DAN’L BOONE (Adventure)
FIRST TELECAST: September 12, 1977
LAST TELECAST: October 4, 1977
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Sep 1977, CBS 8:00–9:00
Oct 1977, CBS Tue 8:00–9:00
| Daniel Boone | Rick Moses |
| Rebecca Bryan | Devon Ericson |
| Hawk | Ji-Tu Cumbuka |
| Peter Dawes | John Joseph Thomas |
| Tsiskwa | Eloy Phil Casados |
Fess Parker had spent six successful seasons in the latter half of the 1960s playing an older version of the legendary Daniel Boone and CBS brought a younger version of the Kentucky woodsman to television in the fall of 1977. In his mid-20s, and not yet married, Daniel did his exploring with Peter Dawes, a 12-year-old English boy; Hawk, a runaway slave; and a Cherokee Indian friend named Tsiskwa. Waiting for him to settle down was his sweetheart, Rebecca. One of the failures of the 1977–1978 season, Young Dan’l Boone lasted only four weeks, three in its original Monday time slot and a fourth on Tuesday, October 4.
YOUNG INDIANA JONES CHRONICLES, THE (Adventure)
FIRST TELECAST: March 4, 1992
LAST TELECAST: July 24, 1993
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Mar 1992-Apr 1992, ABC Wed 9:00–10:00
Aug 1992-Nov 1992, ABC Mon 8:00–9:00
Mar 1993-Apr 1993, ABC Sat 8:00–9:00
Jun 1993-Jul 1993, ABC, Sat 8:00–9:00
CAST:
| Indiana Jones (age 16) | Sean Patrick Flanery |
| Indiana Jones (10) | Corey Carrier |
| Indiana Jones (93) | George Hall |
| Remy | Ronny Coutteure |
| * Professor Jones | Lloyd Owen |
| *Anna Jones | Ruth DeSosa |
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER:
George Lucas
Movie mogul George Lucas brought his big-screen, slam-bang epic Indiana Jones to the small screen in this series—and found it didn’t fit. Though lavishly produced (in eleven countries), the series lacked the sprawling, nonstop action of the films and, oddly, was didactic. Indy was seen at three stages in life (sometimes in the same episode), as a child, a teenager, and an old man recalling his great adventures. In those adventures the young archeologist/explorer seemed to bump into every historical figure imaginable, from Pancho Villa to Sigmund Freud, Thomas A. Edison, Lawrence of Arabia, Norman Rockwell, George Patton, and Teddy Roosevelt. And, of course, dear viewer, we learned a little bit about each one.
Remy was Indy’s pal and confederate. Indy’s parents were occasionally seen, and Harrison Ford (the movie Indy) made a guest appearance in March 1993 as the adventurer at age 50.
YOUNG LAWYERS, THE (Legal Drama)
FIRST TELECAST: September 21, 1970
LAST TELECAST: May 5, 1971
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Sep 1970-Jan 1971, ABC Mon 7:30–8:30
Jan 1971-May 1971, ABC Wed 10:00–11:00
CAST:
| Attorney David Barrett | Lee J. Cobb |
| Aaron Silverman | Zalman King |
| Pat Walters | Judy Pace |
| Chris Blake (1971) | Philip Clark |
Drama about law students operating a Boston “Neighborhood Law Office” that provided free legal assistance to indigent clients. Slumlords, drug busts, police brutality, and rip-offs of the poor constituted most of their cases. In TV fashion the crew was suitably mixed: Aaron was the scrappy, tousle-haired young idealist, Pat was the well-educated but street-wise black chick, and Chris the earnest young middle-class WASP who was added to the cast in January, for contrast. Their experienced supervisor was David Barrett.
YOUNG MAVERICK (Western)
FIRST TELECAST: November 28, 1979
LAST TELECAST: January 16, 1980
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Nov 1979-Jan 1980, CBS Wed 8:00–9:00
CAST:
| Ben Maverick | Charles Frank |
| Nell McGarrahan | Susan Blanchard |
| Marshal Edge Troy | John Dehner |
Revivals have had a generally dismal record on network television, and this one was no exception. The original Maverick was one of the biggest hits of the late 1950s, and widely remembered for its laid-back, easygoing sense of humor. The secret of its success was James Garner, a magnetic personality with just the right sardonic touch, and when CBS tried to bring it all back without him 20 years later the effect was like sarsaparilla gone flat.
Garner did appear briefly in the opening scene of the first episode, meeting his successor on the trail, but it was Charles Frank who had the unenviable task of trying to fill his boots as the permanent lead. Ben Maverick was Bret’s cousin (which brought the number of Maverick kin appearing on the two series up to five: Ben, Beau, Bart, Bret, and Brent). He was Harvard-educated and in-heritor of the Maverick family traditions of gambling artistry, disarming good looks, a willingness to bend the law wherever profitable, and an abiding belief in cowardice as the best way to avoid getting killed on the rough frontier. He was a little more of a dandy than Bret, having learned much from his father Beau. Ben’s nemesis, partner, and romantic interest was Nell McGarrahan, a pretty slick operator in her own right, who hoped to marry him someday. Marshal Edge Troy always seemed to arrive on the scene just in time to save Ben from bodily harm. He never quite understood Ben’s sense of humor, or anybody else’s for that matter. He was all business. Marshal Troy’s territory was the area of Idaho where Ben and Nell did their gambling and ran an occasional con game.
Series stars Charles Frank and Susan Blanchard were already well acquainted before this series premiered. They had spent several years playing husband and wife on the ABC daytime soap opera All My Children, and were married in real life as well.
YOUNG MR. BOBBIN (Situation Comedy)
FIRST TELECAST: August 26, 1951
LAST TELECAST: May 18, 1952
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Aug 1951-May 1952, NBC Sun 7:30–8:00
CAST:
| Alexander Hawthorne Bobbin | Jackie Kelk |
| Aunt Clara | Jane Seymour |
| Aunt Bertha | Nydia Westman |
| Nancy | Pat Hosley |
| Susie | Laura Weber |
| Mr. Deacon | Cameron Prud’homme |
| Mr. Willis | Cort Benson |
At age 18, Alexander Bobbin had just graduated from high school and begun seeking his fortune. At his age, however, his aspirations tended to exceed his abilities. This live situation comedy focused on the struggles of the young man to establish himself and attain maturity. Alexander lived in an old house with the two maiden aunts who had raised him: organized, resourceful Aunt Clara, and confused, flighty Aunt Bertha. He was in love with Nancy, the girl next door, who liked him but was determined not to let him think he was the only man in her life. His strongest ally in his effort to win Nancy was Susie, her tomboy sister who tried to help him despite her apparent teasing.
YOUNG PEOPLE’S CHURCH OF THE AIR, see Youth on the March
YOUNG REBELS, THE (Adventure)
FIRST TELECAST: September 20, 1970
LAST TELECAST: January 3, 1971
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Sep 1970-Jan 1971, NBC Sun 7:00–8:00
CAST:
| Jeremy Larkin | Rick Ely |
| Isak Poole | Louis Gossett, Jr. |
| Henry Abington | Alex Henteloff |
| Elizabeth Coates | Hilary Thompson |
| General the Marquis de Lafayette | Philippe Forquet |
This series was supposed to allow the youthful social rebels of the late 1960s and early 1970s (or those who fantasized along with them) to relate to the American Revolution. The four young leads were members of the fictional Yankee Doodle Society, based in Chester, Pennsylvania, in the year 1777. Their goal was to harass the British behind their lines and to serve as spies for the American forces. Everyone was under 30, and British rule was the “system” they sought to overturn. Jeremy, the son of the town’s mayor, was the long-haired leader; Elizabeth, his teenage girlfriend and helper; Isak, an ex-slave; and Henry, the brains of the outfit. Henry greatly admired Benjamin Franklin, and even looked a lot like him, with a calm, intellectual detachment and tiny spectacles on his nose. General Lafayette, the 20-year-old French nobleman who had come to aid the rebels, was a frequent ally, and various other youthful patriots also passed through the stories (including that eternal teenager Brandon De Wilde as young Nathan Hale).
YOUNG RIDERS, THE (Western)
FIRST TELECAST: September 20, 1989
LAST TELECAST: July 23, 1992
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Sep 1989, ABC Wed 8:30–9:30
Sep 1989-Apr 1990, ABC Thu 9:00–10:00
May 1990, ABC Mon 8:00–9:00
May 1990-Sep 1990, ABC Thu 9:00–10:00
Sep 1990-Aug 1991, ABC Sat 8:00–9:00
Sep 1991-Jan 1992, ABC Sat 9:00–10:00
May 1992-Jul 1992, ABC Thu 8:00–9:00
CAST:
| Teaspoon Hunter | Anthony Zerbe |
| The Kid | Ty Miller |
| William “Billy” Cody | Stephen Baldwin |
| Jimmy Hickok | Josh Brolin |
| Ike McSwain (1989–1991) | Travis Fine |
| Little Buck Cross | Gregg Rainwater |
| Lou McCloud | Yvonne Suhor |
| Emma Shannon (1989–1990) | Melissa Leo |
| Marshal Sam Cain (1989–1990) | Brett Cullen |
| Noah Dixon (1990–1992) | Don Franklin |
| Rachel Dunn (1990–1992) | Clare Wren |
| Tompkins | Don Collier |
| Jesse James (1991–1992) | Christopher Pettiet |
The Pony Express rode again in this revisionist view of the Old West, which strove mightily to make Westerns palatable to the socially sensitive 1990s. The year was 1860, the place a prairie station near Sweetwater on the Central Overland Express line, which stretched 2,000 miles from St. Joseph to Sacramento. Grizzled, understanding old Teaspoon Hunter was the station-master, while his young riders were an unlikely mix of races, sexes, and famous-names-to-be: crack shot Jimmy, “Wild Bill” Hickok; the future Buffalo Bill Cody; handsome Kid (no other name); bald, mute Ike, the handicapped member (killed in 1991); minority representative Buck, half Kiowa Indian; and cross-dresser “Lou,” a girl who masqueraded as a boy so she could be a Rider, too. The second season added Noah, an educated, freeborn black, and the third eager, young Jesse James, age 14, who helped out around the station. Emma was the original cook and housemother, replaced by the more mysterious Rachel in the second season after Emma ran off with Marshal Cain.
The riders did deliver some mail from time to time in their “mochila” pouch, but spent most of their time rescuing escaped slaves, protecting the innocent, and being nice to the Indians. Rumblings of the imminent Civil War allowed some moralizing on that subject. In the third season the entire crew moved to the larger town of Rock Creek, on the Nebraska-Kansas-Missouri border, to allow for the introduction of more “urban” concerns. Perhaps AIDS, or a crack epidemic? Teaspoon became a U.S. Marshal.
In the final episode Noah was refused enlistment into the white man’s army (they were sorry), then was killed along with some soldiers in an ambush by a gang. Lou and the Kid were married (he wouldn’t even give the preacher his real name!), and young Jesse ran off with his evil brother Frank after betraying his friends.
The real Pony Express was established in April 1860 and did use boys and small men as riders, but operated for only 11?2 years. Fourteen-year-old “Buffalo Bill” Cody was, in fact, a member, but he was probably galloping too fast to stop and right wrongs along the way. Indeed, given his later descriptions of his “expert scalping” of Indians, it is unlikely that he was terribly sensitive to Native American issues.
YOUR BIG BREAK (Talent)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Syndicated only
60 minutes
Produced: 1999–2001
Released: September 1999
Christopher “Kid” Reid (1999–2000)
Alfonso Ribeiro (2000–2001)
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER:
Dick Clark
On each telecast of this series five amateur singers with dreams of professional success competed by performing the hits of their favorite singers. They didn’t lip-sync but actually sang the songs themselves. Before they appeared on stage, the contestants’ real lives were profiled individually. At the end of the show the studio audience voted for their favorite act based on sound, looks and presentation. Weekly winners advanced to the semi-finals, with the eventual top prize of $25,000, a contract with a major record label, and the opportunity to compete in the international version of Your Big Break.
YOUR BIG MOMENT, see Blind Date
YOUR CHEVROLET SHOWROOM (Variety)
FIRST TELECAST: November 20, 1953
LAST TELECAST: February 12, 1954
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Nov 1953-Feb 1954, ABC Fri 10:00–11:00
EMCEE:
Cesar Romero
This hour of music and comedy premiered locally in New York on October 25, 1953, and went on the full ABC network a month later. Unfortunately the biggest name guests appeared on the first few telecasts, which were seen only in New York, and by the time network telecasting had begun, Cesar Romero found himself playing host to good but non-superstar acts such as Earl Wrightson, Connee Boswell, and the Russ Morgan Orchestra, plus legions of unknown singers, dancers, and comedians. The program was known for its first weeks simply as Chevrolet Showroom.
YOUR ESSO REPORTER (News)
FIRST TELECAST: July 12, 1951
LAST TELECAST: September 13, 1951
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jul 1951-Sep 1951, CBS Thu 9:00–9:30
Your Esso Reporter had been a regular feature of CBS radio since the late 1930s, and the company had also sponsored one of the very earliest regular network TV newscasts, which began almost as soon as NBC was able to organize its first three-station East Coast network in 1946. During the summer of 1951 Esso sponsored this weekly roundup of the major news events from around the world, with the CBS News correspondents based in various world capitals all participating. In a rather unusual situation, the 1951 series was seen only in the East and the Far West, where Esso was marketed. The midwest portion of the CBS-TV network got Meet Corliss Archer instead.
YOUR FAVORITE GIRL NEXT DOOR (Talent)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
FX
30 minutes
Original episodes: 2000
Premiered: March 15, 2000
HOSTS:
Brian Palermo
Stephanie Lydecker
A beauty contest for “ordinary people,” in which female viewers were invited to submit home videos of themselves modeling swimsuits and engaging in various physical activities (the more bounce, the better). Each week the audience voted on five taped submissions, and the two with the highest vote totals were invited to the studio to chat with the hosts and do a little act. After another vote, the grand prize winner got $10,000.
YOUR FUNNY, FUNNY FILMS (Comedy)
FIRST TELECAST: July 8, 1963
LAST TELECAST: September 9, 1963
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jul 1963-Sep 1963, ABC Mon 8:30–9:00
HOST:
George Fenneman
Home movies taken by amateurs, with the emphasis on intentionally (and sometimes unintentionally) humorous sequences. A few celebrities also appeared with their home movies. The first telecast consisted of (1) a five-year-old’s birthday party, as he demolished a cake, then learned to ride a bicycle and roller skate; (2) a World War II “epic” made by a 12-year-old and his friends; (3) some amateur films made in the 1920s. The “Short Shorts” feature consisted of a string of brief clips, such as a youngster experimenting with shoe polish, a woman ostensibly climbing a mountain, a little girl dancing, a wood-chopping scene, and a tiny Romeo trying to steal a kiss from his little girlfriend. A lot of kids were seen in this series, which in some ways resembled Candid Camera.
YOUR HIT PARADE (Music)
FIRST TELECAST: July 10, 1950
LAST TELECAST: August 30, 1974
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jul 1950-Aug 1950, NBC Mon 9:00–9:30
Oct 1950-Jun 1958, NBC Sat 10:30–11:00 (OS)
Oct 1958-Apr 1959, CBS Fri 7:30–8:00
Aug 1974, CBS Fri 8:00–8:30
VOCALISTS:
Eileen Wilson (1950–1952)
Snooky Lanson (1950–1957)
Dorothy Collins (1950–1957, 1958–1959)
Sue Bennett (1951–1952)
June Valli (1952–1953)
Russell Arms (1952–1957)
Gisele MacKenzie (1953–1957)
Tommy Leonetti (1957–1958)
Jill Corey (1957–1958)
Alan Copeland (1957–1958)
Virginia Gibson (1957–1958)
Johnny Desmond (1958–1959)
Kelly Garrett (1974)
Chuck Woolery (1974)
Sheralee (1974)
DANCERS:
The Hit Paraders (chorus & dancers) (1950–1958)
Peter Gennaro Dancers (1958–1959)
Tom Hansen Dancers (1974)
ANNOUNCER:
Andre Brauch (1950–1957)
Del Sharbutt (1957–1958)
ORCHESTRA:
Raymond Scott (1950–1957)
Harry Sosnik (1958–1959)
Milton Delugg (1974)
“Be Happy, Go Lucky” (open); “So Long for Awhile” (closing)
The legendary Lucky Strike Hit Parade, which had been a radio standby since 1935, was first seen on television during the summer of 1950, as a four-time-only replacement for Robert Montgomery Presents. It became a regular series the following October, simulcast with the radio version.
The format was essentially unchanged from radio, presenting the seven most popular songs in America as performed by a regular cast of singers and the Hit Parade Orchestra. Songs were not necessarily presented in rank order, although the rank of each was prominently featured and number one was always presented last, with great fanfare. Two or three “extras”—usually standards—were also included. Elaborate production numbers marked Your Hit Parade, and since many songs stayed on the charts for months, considerable ingenuity was required to vary the treatment of a song from week to week. Among the songs that remained in the number-one spot for long periods in the early 1950s were “Too Young” (12 weeks), “Because of You” (11 weeks), and “Hey There” (10 weeks).
The survey strove to sound official. Each week listeners were told that “Your Hit Parade survey checks the best sellers on sheet music and phonograph records, the songs most heard on the air and most played on the automatic coin machines … an accurate, authentic tabulation of America’s taste in popular music.” No explanation of exactly how the surveying was done was ever revealed, however, and the actual compiling took place in great secrecy at Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborne, which was sponsor American Tobacco Company’s advertising agency.
The ballads of the early 1950s were fine for TV presentation by a regular cast of singers, but trouble began to brew for Your Hit Parade in 1955 when a new kind of music invaded the charts—rock ’n’ roll. Not only were the Hit Parade regulars ill-suited to perform this new, raucous music, but the youngsters who bought the records wanted to see only the original performers. There was something ludicrous about Snooky Lanson attempting “Hound Dog” in a different setting each week (usually as a childish novelty).
Although most of the Hit Parade singers were recording artists in their own right, only one of them ever had a hit big enough to appear on the program’s top seven while a regular on the show. That was Gisele MacKenzie’s “Hard to Get,” which made the list briefly in 1955. Ironically, one-time Hit Parade regular June Valli had the biggest hit of her career, “Crying in the Chapel,” only two months after leaving the show in June 1953.
In September 1957 the entire cast was replaced by a younger, more “contemporary” crew, none of whom were popular rock artists, however. The age-old format itself was extensively revamped the following February, with the hit parade reduced to five songs, plus five more melodious “extras” and a big $200,000 “Mystery Tune” contest. None of this tinkering solved the problems created by drastically changing musical styles, and after a final season on CBS (during which the top-tunes list was drawn from Billboard magazine) the program expired on April 24, 1959. An abortive attempt was made at reviving the show in the summer of 1974, with the emphasis on Your Hit Parade songs from selected broadcasts of specific weeks in the 1940s and 1950s, mixed with currently popular hits performed by the original artists.
YOUR KAISER DEALER PRESENTS KAISER-FRAZER “ADVENTURES IN MYSTERY” STARRING BETTY FURNESS IN “BYLINE”, see Byline
YOUR LUCKY CLUE (Quiz/Audience Participation)
FIRST TELECAST: July 13, 1952
LAST TELECAST: August 31, 1952
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jul 1952-Aug 1952, CBS Sun 7:30–8:00
EMCEE:
Basil Rathbone
Each week two teams competed with each other to solve dramatized mysteries. One team was composed of two professional detectives and the other of two amateur criminologists. The audience was made aware of where the clues were in each dramatization, but the contestants were not. Each team tried to solve the case before the other team did, and before the emcee disclosed the solution. Basil Rathbone, long known as the Sherlock Holmes of motion pictures (he played the role in most of the adaptations of A. Conan Doyle’s stories), was a logical choice as emcee.
YOUR LUCKY STRIKE HIT PARADE, see Your Hit Parade
YOUR NEIGHBOR THE WORLD (Documentary)
FIRST TELECAST: April 6, 1958
LAST TELECAST: October 8, 1959
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Apr 1958-Jan 1959, ABC Sun Various (30 minutes)
May 1959-Oct 1959, ABC Thu 10:00–10:30
Documentary films about different peoples and cultures around the world, from high fashion in Paris to natives in the Belgian Congo.
YOUR PLAY TIME (Dramatic Anthology)
FIRST TELECAST: June 14, 1953
LAST TELECAST: September 3, 1955
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jun 1953-Sep 1953, CBS Sun 7:30–8:00
Jun 1954-Sep 1954, CBS Sun 7:30–8:00
Jun 1955-Sep 1955, NBC Sat 10:30–11:00
For three consecutive summers series bearing the title Your Play Time aired as replacements for other shows. In 1953 and 1954, on CBS, the show was the summer replacement for two alternating CBS programs, The Jack Benny Show and Private Secretary. In 1953 some of the plays were done live and others on film. They tended to be on the melodramatic side with settings in foreign locales. 1954’s offerings, both comedy and drama, were entirely on film and generally took place in domestic settings. Featured were such lesser-known stars as George Nader, Hillary Brooke, Jack Haley, Peter Graves, Ruth Warrick, and Tommy Rettig.
The Your Play Time that was telecast by NBC in the summer of 1955 was made up of reruns from other anthology series, primarily Pepsi-Cola Playhouse and Studio 57. It was the summer replacement for Your Hit Parade.
YOUR PRIZE STORY (Dramatic Anthology)
FIRST TELECAST: April 2, 1952
LAST TELECAST: May 28, 1952
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Apr 1952-May 1952, NBC Wed 10:00–10:30
This live weekly dramatic show was unique in that its sponsor, Hazel Bishop, requested viewers to submit story ideas. The person sending in a story that was accepted and adapted for television received a cash prize of $1,000. It had to be a true story and literary skill was not required. The viewer was to tell it in his own words and let the program’s staff rewrite it for airing. The presentations were done with very little in the way of scenery or props, much in the manner of little-theater performances.
Evidently the public was not bubbling over with good ideas for TV shows, as the series lasted less than two months.
YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS (Comedy/Variety)
FIRST TELECAST: February 25, 1950
LAST TELECAST: June 5, 1954
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Feb 1950-Jun 1954, NBC Sat 9:00–10:30
REGULARS:
Sid Caesar
Imogene Coca
Carl Reiner
Howard Morris (1951–1954)
Robert Merrill (1950–1951)
Marguerite Piazza (1950–1953)
Bill Hayes (1950–1953)
Jerry Ross & Nellie Fisher (1950–1952)
Mata & Hari (1950–1953)
Tom Avera (1950)
Hamilton Dancers
Jack Russell
Billy Williams Quartet
Judy Johnson (1950–1953)
Earl Redding (1950–1951)
Aariana Knowles (1951–1952)
Dick DeFreitas (1950–1953)
Bambi Linn & Rod Alexander (1952–1954)
James Starbuck
Show of Shows Ballet Company
Charles Sanford Orchestra
PRODUCERS:
Max Liebman
WRITERS:
Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Lucille Kallen, Larry Gelbart, Mel Tolkin, others
One of the classics of television’s “Golden Age,” Your Show of Shows was the successor to Caesar and Coca’s 1949 Admiral Broadway Revue. At the outset, Your Show of Shows was actually half of a larger show, being the New York element of NBC’s Saturday Night Revue. The other portion, from Chicago, was The Jack Carter Show, on between 8:00 and 9:00 P.M. At the end of the 1950–1951 season Carter and the Saturday Night Review umbrella title were dropped.
Your Show of Shows was surely one of the most ambitious undertakings on television, ever. It was 90 minutes of live, original comedy, every week. And it was good. In addition to Caesar and Coca’s sketches there was a large corps of regular singers and dancers, plus top-name guest stars. As a matter of fact, the nominal host of each program was a different big-name guest star (Burgess Meredith hosted the first two shows). Ballet sequences and scenes from grand opera were also featured, to give the show an undeniably “classy” air.
But it was the comic genius of Caesar and Coca for which the program is remembered. They appeared in such regular routines as “History As She Ain’t,” Caesar’s roving reporter, monologues and mime, as well as in large-scale satires on current films and other hit TV shows. Caesar and his writers were movie buffs, and many of Hollywood’s most pretentious epics got the full treatment, ranging from antique silent films (the drunken father) to contemporary hits such as Shane (in which Caesar played the unbelievably fearless gunfighter Strange) and From Here to Eternity (“From Here to Obscurity”).
Carl Reiner and Howard Morris, who joined the supporting cast in 1950 and 1951 respectively, were gradually given more prominent roles and by the final season Caesar, Coca, Reiner, and Morris constituted a four-person repertory group employed in many of the skits. Caesar could take on many roles. He was the double-talking foreigner (he was a master of dialects), the henpecked husband, or the greasy-haired cad. Coca was nearly as versatile, while Reiner would most often be the slick, presumptuous salesman type, and Howard Morris the little guy determined to prove that he was as good as anybody —even if he wasn’t. Among the notable routines developed during the show’s long run were Caesar and Coca’s husband-and-wife skit, “The Hickenloopers”; the fable of the great clock in the little town of Baverhoff, Bavaria, whose mechanical figures always seemed to go haywire when the hour struck; Coca as the happy-go-lucky tramp; Caesar as an Italian opera star bubbling gibberish in Galapacci, or as the supercool jazz musician Progress Hornsby, or as the visiting authority on almost anything, usually being interviewed at the airport, with such dialogue as this:
ARCHEOLOGIST: “After many years, I haff found ze secret of Titten-Totten’s Tomb!”
INTERVIEWER: (excitedly): “What is it, Professor?”
ARCHEOLOGIST: “I should tell you?”
Your Show of Shows finally left the air in June 1954, as Caesar and Coca parted to pursue separate careers. Most series end their runs forgotten or in reruns, but in what must have been one of the more unusual farewells in TV history, the last telecast of Your Show of Shows was a big, tearful, nostalgic recap of the best sketches of the past years, ending with the by-then famous finale number “Stars over Broadway.” Even the president of NBC, Pat Weaver, showed up to thank everyone for four excellent years and to wish them well in their future separate series.
Caesar and Coca never again quite recaptured the magic of those four years, either separately or together. The combination of fresh talent, excellent supporting cast, gifted writers (including such future stars as Mel Brooks and Neil Simon), and perhaps the times themselves had been “right”— but only once. Excerpts from the shows were packaged by producer Max Liebman as a theatrical movie titled Ten From Your Show of Shows, in 1973, and as a series of 90-minute TV specials syndicated in 1976.
YOUR SHOW TIME (Dramatic Anthology)
FIRST TELECAST: January 21, 1949
LAST TELECAST: July 15, 1949
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jan 1949-Jul 1949, NBC Fri 9:30–10:00
HOST:
Arthur Shields
Filmed dramatizations of classic short stories by many of the world’s most famous authors, including Guy de Maupassant, Robert Louis Stevenson, Henry James, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Each telecast opened in an old bookshop where host Arthur Shields was seen seated behind an old-fashioned desk, from which he introduced tonight’s story.
This program was notable as the recipient of the very first Emmy award presented to a network show. The award was for the premiere telecast, “The Necklace,” starring John Beal.
YOUR SPORTS SPECIAL (Sports News)
FIRST TELECAST: October 8, 1948
LAST TELECAST: November 4, 1949
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Oct 1948-Jan 1949, CBS Fri 7:00–7:15
Jan 1949-Nov 1949, CBS Various 7:00–7:15
REPORTER:
Carswell Adams
Dolly Stark
Sports reporter Carswell Adams and former major-league umpire Dolly Stark were the hosts of this sports news and interview show. Originally seen on Friday nights, it expanded in January 1949 to an irregular schedule that varied from two to five times per week for the next ten months.
YOUR STORY THEATRE (Dramatic Anthology)
FIRST TELECAST: December 1, 1950
LAST TELECAST: February 2, 1951
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Dec 1950-Feb 1951, DUM Fri 8:00–8:30
Series of half-hour filmed dramas, starring such Hollywood standbys as Robert Alda, Hurd Hatfield, Marjorie Lord, William Frawley, Sterling Holloway, etc. Stories included both original scripts and adaptations from Henry James, Robert Louis Stevenson, Frank R. Stockton (“The Lady or the Tiger”), and other noted authors.
YOUR —— TV THEATER, syndicated title for Fireside Theatre
YOUR WITNESS (Courtroom Drama)
FIRST TELECAST: September 19, 1949
LAST TELECAST: September 26, 1950
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Sep 1949-Oct 1949, ABC Mon 8:00–8:30
Dec 1949-May 1950, ABC Sun 9:00–9:30
Aug 1950-Sep 1950, ABC Wed 9:00–9:30
WITH:
Edmund Lowe
Wednesday was courtroom night in 1950, with Your Witness following On Trial on the ABC schedule, and running opposite Famous Jury Trials on DuMont. This was a low-budget courtroom drama/mystery, and originated from Chicago.
YOU’RE IN THE PICTURE (Quiz/Audience Participation)
FIRST TELECAST: January 20, 1961
LAST TELECAST: January 20, 1961
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jan 1961, CBS Fri 9:30–10:00
HOST:
Jackie Gleason
PANELISTS:
Pat Harrington, Jr.
Pat Carroll
Jan Sterling
Arthur Treacher
This was one of those rare series that was so bad it was canceled after exactly one telecast. It was certainly one of the major fiascos in Jackie Gleason’s career. The four celebrity panelists on the show were seen situated behind an oversized comic cutout of the kind found in amusement-park photography booths. They had no idea what the picture through which they had stuck their heads, and sometimes their hands, represented. The object was for the panel to guess what the picture was by asking questions of host/emcee Gleason. When they had successfully identified the picture, a new one would be substituted and they would start over. Jackie’s wit was supposed to add to the humor of the show, which was played primarily for laughs. Keenan Wynn was supposed to be one the panelists, and appeared in the promotional stills shot for the show, but was injured on the day of the premiere and was replaced by Pat Harrington, Jr.
The first telecast was so bad, however, that the program never aired again. On the following Friday night Jackie spent the entire half hour apologizing for the disastrous first episode. For the remainder of the season he filled the time slot with an interview show, hosting different celebrities each week, under the title The Jackie Gleason Show (not to be confused with his comedy variety series of the same name). You’re in the Picture was never heard of again.
YOU’RE INVITED (Comedy/Variety)
FIRST TELECAST: July 1, 1948
LAST TELECAST: September 20, 1948
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Jul 1948-Aug 1948, ABC Wed 8:00–8:30
Aug 1948-Sep 1948, ABC Mon 9:00–9:30
EMCEE:
Romo Vincent
Jovial, rotund comic Romo Vincent hosted this early variety show, which took place in a houseparty setting. At the start of each show he greeted his audience at the front door and invited them in to see the singers, dancers, and ventriloquists who were that week’s guests. There was also an audience-participation segment.
YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN (Quiz/Audience Participation)
FIRST TELECAST: December 22, 1956
LAST TELECAST: March 16, 1957
Dec 1956-Mar 1957, CBS Sat 10:30–11:00
EMCEE:
Steve Dunne
Contestants on You’re on Your Own had free access to anything on the stage that would help them find answers to the questions posed by emcee Steve Dunne. They need not know everything, only be able to use the correct source: directories, record albums, telephone books, etc. The faster they were at ferreting out the correct answers, the more money they could win—as much as $25,000 on a single night.
YOU’RE THE ONE (Situation Comedy)
FIRST TELECAST: April 19, 1998
LAST TELECAST: April 26, 1998
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Apr 1998, WB Sun 9:30–10:00
CAST:
| Lindsay Metcalf | Cynthia Geary |
| Mark Weitz | Elon Gold |
| Chip Metcalf | Jayce Bartok |
| Robin Weitz | Julie Dretzin |
| Howie | Troy Winbush |
| Bo Metcalf | Leo Burmester |
| Mary Chase Metcalf | Jessie Jones |
| Leanore Weitz | Dori Brenner |
| Sy Weitz | Lenny Wolpe |
Opposites attracted, briefly, in this cartoonish comedy. Perky Lindsay was a WASPy Southern aristocrat, the great granddaughter of a Civil War general. Who should she fall for but Mark, a prototypical New Yawker and the great-grandson of a Rumanian horse trader? She was an elegant landscape architect, he ran a baseball website on the Internet, called The Score. Needless to say, their parents—especially hers—were aghast. Lindsay’s blustery, gun-toting dad, Bo, constantly tested his new son-in-law (“understand you’re a Jew”), buying The Score and saddling him with his timid teenage son, Chip. Mark’s large, noisy clan (including mom and dad Leanore and Sy) descended on the newlyweds, nattering over everything. Stereotypes abounded as the two clans met (Grandpa Weitz: “Hello. Where’s the toilet?”). It all ended, mercifully, after two episodes.
YOURS FOR A SONG (Quiz)
FIRST TELECAST: November 14, 1961
LAST TELECAST: September 18, 1962
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Nov 1961-Sep 1962, ABC Tue 9:30–10:00
EMCEE:
Bert Parks
Contestants on this live half-hour game show won money by filling in the missing words to song lyrics that were flashed on a screen. Whenever a contestant won a round, in addition to the prize money he won the right to face a new challenger. In addition to serving as quizmaster, Bert Parks got a chance to sing in this one. A few weeks after this prime-time version premiered, ABC added a daytime version that ran until March 1963.
YOUTH ON THE MARCH (Religion)
FIRST TELECAST: October 9, 1949
LAST TELECAST: June 7, 1953
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Oct 1949-May 1952, ABC Sun 10:30–11:00 (OS)
Oct 1952-Jun 1953, DUM Sun 10:30–11:00
HOST:
Rev. Percy Crawford
This program of inspirational songs, hymns, and sermons was a fixture on Sunday nights for nearly four years, first on ABC and then on DuMont. It was presented by the Young People’s Church of the Air and was presided over by Rev. Percy Crawford, with mixed choir and men’s glee club.
YOUTH TAKES A STAND (Discussion)
FIRST TELECAST: August 18, 1953
LAST TELECAST: September 15, 1953
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Aug 1953-Sep 1953, CBS Tue 10:30–11:00
MODERATOR:
Marc Cramer
Alan Jackson
In an effort to get intelligent audience feedback to its television news effort, CBS invited four young scholars from high schools and junior colleges to participate in a discussion of current events and world affairs with a different CBS-TV reporter each week. The first moderator for the sessions during the show’s prime-time run was the series’ coproducer, Marc Cramer. A different panel of students, selected by CBS stations around the country in cooperation with various public, parochial, and private school organizations, appeared on each telecast to chat with such reporters as Charles Collingwood and Douglas Edwards. Mr. Cramer was replaced by CBS News reporter Alan Jackson before the series moved into a late-afternoon time slot on Sundays. It remained on the air until March 1955 with Jim McKay replacing Jackson as moderator in March 1954.
YOUTH WANTS TO KNOW (Forum)
FIRST TELECAST: September 8, 1951
LAST TELECAST: August 24, 1954
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Sep 1951-Oct 1951, NBC Sat 7:00–7:30
Jun 1952-Sep 1952, NBC Wed 8:30–9:00
Jul 1954-Aug 1954, NBC Sat 7:30–8:00
MODERATOR
Theodore Granik
This series gave high school and college students the opportunity to ask questions of major figures in the world of politics, business, and international affairs. The subjects covered were generally related to major issues that affected large parts of the world and large numbers of its people. Youth Wants to Know originated live from Washington, D.C., and students from the Washington area participated. Mr. Granik and the guest were seated on a platform in front of the students and the entire operation was run like a press conference, with Mr. Granik picking the questioners. The students prepared their own questions. When this series premiered in 1951, its title was The American Youth Forum. It was changed to Youth Wants to Know in January 1952. At times, though not always, it was simulcast on radio, and it continued to run irregularly on Sunday afternoons until October 1958.
YU-GI-OH! (Cartoon)
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Cartoon Network
30 minutes
Original episodes: 2002–
Premiered: November 11, 2002
(Seen in daytime on WB Kids’ Network beginning Sep. 29, 2001)
VOICES (U.S.):
| Yugi Moto, Yami Yugi | Dan Green |
| Joey Wheeler, Shadi | Wayne Grayson |
| Tea Gardner | Amy Birnbaum |
| Mai Valentine | Megan Hollingshead |
| Maximillion Pegasus | Darren Dunstan |
| Seto Kaiba | Eric Stuart |
| Mokuba Kaiba | Tara Jayne |
| Bakura Ryou, Yami Bakura, Bandit Keith | Ted Lewis |
| Serenity Wheeler | Lisa Ortiz |
| Weevil Underwood | Jimmy Zoppi |
Action-packed Japanese anime cartoon based on the popular kids’ card game. Yugi Moto was the young, blond, spiky-haired hero who had unlocked the secret of the Millennium Puzzle, hidden away by the Egyptians 5,000 years before. Infused with its magical energies, Yugi played Duel Monsters in island tournaments, summoning up monsters and spells to counter those of his foes. Joey and Tea were pals who played also (sometimes against each other), but often needed rescuing; among the chief villains were Seto Kaiba and Pegasus, an evil millionaire who craved the power of the cards (such as that of the much-sought-after “Blue Eyes White Dragon”). It was Pegasus who had created Duel Monsters, based on the ancient Egyptians’ Shadow Games, and who held the Millennium Eye, which allowed him to see into the minds of others. Points earned were shown on the screen, making this look much like a video game.
The U.S. series was a dubbed version of the popular series seen in Japan.