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Short-Lived Television Series, 1948-1978: Thirty Years of More Than 1,000 Flops
 
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Short-Lived Television Series, 1948-1978: Thirty Years of More Than 1,000 Flops [Paperback]

Wesley Hyatt (Author)
2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Book Description

January 8, 2003 0786414200 978-0786414208
Do you remember the 1959 game show where ABC cancelled a tape featuring a female impersonator (Across the Board)? Ever heard of Snip, the 1976 sitcom starring David Brenner that NBC canned just before it debuted? Almost everyone who has worked on a successful television series has also been on one that flopped. Even during the first thirty years of broadcasting, when NBC, CBS, and ABC were the only networks and not quite so quick to cancel unsuccessful programs, hundreds of shows lasted less than one year.

This work tells the stories of those ill-fated series that were cancelled within one year after their premieres. The entries are arranged chronologically from the 1948-1949 through the 1977-1978 seasons, and provide brief descriptions of the shows along with such facts as the type of program each series was; its times, dates, and network; its competition on other networks; and the names of the cast, producer, director and writer. The book also includes information from more than 100 interviews with actors, writers, directors, and producers who worked on the short-lived television series.


Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Hyatt, a television enthusiast, uses 1948 as the beginning point of his chronicle of TV shows that lasted a year or less, because that year included the first full nighttime (and some daytime) lineups for ABC, CBS, NBC, and DuMont (which folded in 1955). Programming practices remained fairly stable until 1978, when the push for ratings resulted in an unprecedented number of cancellations. Hyatt thought that documentation of more recent shows would be easier to locate, so he decided to focus on harder-to-find shows of earlier years. He also restricted his survey to regular season entertainment series: no news, documentaries, public affairs, sports, theatrical movie series, animation, or syndicated shows (i.e., those programs sold individually to stations rather than to networks). Variety shows and anthology series with no recurring cast members were also omitted.

Entries range from a few lines to a page in length. Each entry includes series genre, dates of airing, programs shown at the same time on other channels, major cast members, producers, directors, and sometimes writers. Longer entries describe the basic premise of each series and discuss the program's successes and failures. Most of the detailed information came from personal (and sometimes biased) interviews, though apparently many potential interviewees declined to talk about the shows they were associated with because of negative memories. A thorough index of names and titles concludes the work.

As the author correctly states, finding information about these early, short-lived television programs is difficult. Reading the "back-fill" stories of some of these programs gives them new life. Because of the specificity of the topic, this reference is probably most useful for those libraries having deep mass media communications collections. RBB
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Wesley Hyatt is a senior editorial assistant at Divers Alert Network, affiliated with Duke University. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 328 pages
  • Publisher: Mcfarland & Co Inc Pub (January 8, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0786414200
  • ISBN-13: 978-0786414208
  • Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.1 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,401,749 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
2.8 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Not Worth The Money, May 15, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: Short-Lived Television Series, 1948-1978: Thirty Years of More Than 1,000 Flops (Paperback)
For a book that costs nearly $40 I expected (somewhat realistically, I think) that between the pages of this book I would find information not found anywhere else. This is not the case. A brief look was enough to tell me that the back cover is very inaccurate when it states that the book will "provide brief descriptions of the shows" as well as cast information, networks, and dates. There are no brief descriptions. For the majority of the shows chronicled in this book all the information given is easily found in one of the two major television encyclopedias currently available, either The Complete Directory To Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows or Total Television.

The only reason I've given this book one star is because of the 100 interviews it contains; the only original information it has. On the one hand these interviews can be somewhat enjoyable and halfway informational. On the other hand only 100 of the 1000+ shows have interviews. That means that only about 1/10th of the book is information that you probably couldn't find anywhere else. But is it worth paying $40 for 1/10th of a book? If you ordered a mystery novel that promised "100% Intrigue!" and only got 10% would you be satisfied? Probably not.

I am not satisfied with Wesley Hyatt's Short-Lived Television Series 1948-1978. Just the fact that it has a bibliography with over twenty-six entries should be enough to convince anyone that the book is hardly original. I'm almost curious as to how it got published considering the fact that the only original aspects are the interviews. I plan on returning this book and finding something more worthy of my money. I suggest anyone with an interest in short-lived television shows NOT purchase this book unless they want to be disappointed.

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Fun for trivia buffs, May 31, 2006
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DavidT (Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   
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This review is from: Short-Lived Television Series, 1948-1978: Thirty Years of More Than 1,000 Flops (Paperback)
Can't completely disagree with the other reviewer -- if you're looking mainly for facts about cast members, etc., there are better sources to consult.

However, I found this book a lot of fun to browse. Hyatt did an amazing number of interviews, and while not every show I wanted to read about was covered in detail, I still thought the book was worthwhile. For those who enjoy reading television history, this is definitely worth a look.
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5.0 out of 5 stars I enjoy the item, June 11, 2011
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This review is from: Short-Lived Television Series, 1948-1978: Thirty Years of More Than 1,000 Flops (Paperback)
I enjoy the book very much. I got it

on time. I like that I can track the

item on my computer. I am very

satisfied with the transacion.
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