Peter Jennings Reporting was a continuing series of documentaries produced and hosted by ABC News anchor Peter Jennings that aired on ABC. Many of these documentaries were produced by Jennings's production company, PJ Productions, and are currently distributed in DVD format by Koch Vision. The series debuted in 1990.
Documentaries include The Search for Jesus in 2000 and Jesus and Paul — the Word and the Witness in 2004. International news was also a focus of these documentaries, covering the tense relations between India and Pakistan, the conflict in Bosnia, the crisis in Haiti, the war in Iraq, and the drug trade in Central and South America. Important domestic issues also reported were gun control policy, the politics of abortion, the crisis in funding for the arts and a highly praised chronicle of the accused bombers of Oklahoma City. The series earned many awards, including the 2004 Edward R. Murrow award for best documentary for The Kennedy Assassination — Beyond Conspiracy.
Author Meets the Critics was an American talk show which was broadcast by the National Broadcasting Company, American Broadcasting Company, and the DuMont Television Network. The series began as a mid-season replacement on NBC on April 4, 1948, but was transferred to ABC during 1949. The show was transferred back to NBC during 1951, and then to DuMont from January 10, 1952 to October 10, 1954.
Warner Bros. Presents is the umbrella title for three series telecast as part of the 1955-56 season on ABC: Cheyenne, a new Western series that originated on Presents, and two based on classic Warner Bros. films, Casablanca and Kings Row.
While neither a critical or popular success, this wheel series is an historically important program. Perhaps most significantly, it is the first television program of any kind made by Warner Brothers. It was also the original home of Cheyenne, the first hour-long television Western series and the first wholly original television series produced by a major Hollywood studio. It also allowed ABC, then a junior player in American television, to secure its first advertising contracts with commercial giants General Electric and tobacco company Liggett & Myers.
Think Fast was an American quiz show that ran on ABC from March 26, 1949 to October 8, 1950.
The program revolved around a group of five panelists who would compete to see who had the most to say about a particular subject. They sat at a large table, each getting a chance to sit at the "King's" throne by out talking the others on subjects decided by the host.
The regular panelists were Leon Janney, David Broekman, who was also the show's musical director, and Eloise McElhone. The moderator was Mason Gross for the first episodes, then Gypsy Rose Lee afterward.
The series originally aired on Saturdays until April, followed by Fridays until September, then Sundays for the rest of its run.
AM America is a morning news program produced by ABC in an attempt to compete with the highly rated Today on NBC. The show never found an audience after its premiere on January 6, 1975. Lasting just under ten months, its final installment aired on October 31.
The program's concept was based on Ralph Story's AM, the local morning show on the network's owned-and-operated Los Angeles station KABC-TV. Like Today, AM America employed two hosts and a news anchor. ABC chose Bill Beutel, who was co-anchor of Eyewitness News on the network's New York City flagship station WABC-TV, and Stephanie Edwards from Ralph Story's AM to host the program. Peter Jennings, who at the time was ABC's Washington correspondent, provided the news reports.
One notable episode of AM America aired on April 25, 1975, when members of the British comedy troupe Monty Python made one of their earliest appearances on American television.
Edwards quit the show by the end of May, and Beutel followed her out a few months later. On November 3, the Mon
Animal Crack-Ups is an ABC game show which aired in primetime from August 8 to September 12, 1987, after which it aired on Saturday mornings from September 12, 1987 to December 30, 1989 and again from June 2 to September 1, 1990. It was produced by ABC Productions in association with Vin Di Bona Productions and hosted by Alan Thicke, who was on Growing Pains at the time. The program was based on a Japanese series, Waku Waku.
The show's theme song was "Animals Are Just Like People Too", created by Thickovit music
Showoffs is an American game show which ran on ABC from June 30 to December 26, 1975. Bobby Van was host, with Gene Wood as announcer. The Mark Goodson-Bill Todman production involved two teams competing in a game of charades.
Make a Wish is an American children's television series which ran on ABC from 1971 to 1976. Produced by ABC News, it was hosted by musician Tom Chapin and created and produced by Lester Cooper. It replaced Discovery, a similar series for children also produced by ABC News.
Each episode of the series, broadcast on Sunday mornings, focused on a particular theme. One episode, for instance, was about snakes, and another was about motorcycles. Chapin would introduce the topic in much the same manner: "I think a snake is what I'll be. Imagine all the possibilities." After that there would be a sort of free association presentation on the theme featuring stock footage, animation, and Chapin's music and voiceover commentary. The quick-cutting, free-association, stream-of-consciousness style of the show caused Chapin, years later on a talk show, to describe Make a Wish as "a show for six-year old speed freaks."
The series won a Peabody Award for Best Children's Series in 1971.
Some songs performed on the show were writte
Animals, Animals, Animals is an educational television series on ABC about different species of animals. The program, produced by ABC News, was hosted by Hal Linden. Information about animals was provided by Roger Caras and, songs about animals were performed by Lynn Kellogg, who also performed the opening theme song. Zoo personnel and animal researchers frequently appeared on the show. During segments about animals, voiceover was provided by Estelle Parsons and Mason Adams. The show first aired in 1976, replacing Make a Wish on ABC's Sunday morning schedule.
The series won Emmies for four consecutive years and the Peabody Award. 1978 Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Informational Series. Animated segments were provided by Al Lowenheim, Arland Barron, Jeff Melquist, Jim Comstock, Ray Pointer, and Stacey Mann of Lions' Den Studio and David Labelle of David Labelle Animation Studios.
Five years later, in 1981, Animals, Animals, Animals was replaced by This Week with David Brinkley; this marked the end of ABC's
The Professional Bowlers Tour, also known as Pro Bowlers Tour, is a broadcast of the Professional Bowlers Association that aired on ABC from 1961 to 1997. In the telecasts, Chris Schenkel and the graphics displayed during the show would refer to the show as "The Professional Bowlers Tour", possibly to disambiguate from the NFL's use of the term "pro bowler" when referring to players who were selected for the Pro Bowl - an event also televised on ABC for many years.
Caryl & Marilyn: Real Friends is an hour-long daytime talk/variety show that ran on ABC from June 10, 1996 to May 30, 1997. The series was produced by Viacom Productions.
The Big Moment is an American television game show that aired on ABC in 1999 and was hosted by Whose Line Is It Anyway? alumnus Brad Sherwood. John Cramer served as announcer. The show was based on a Japanese show of the same concept, Happy Family Planning.
The show's premise centered on one member of a family who was given one week to practice a certain task before the episode's taping. A video camera was provided to record the rehearsal process at home. At the end of the week, the contestant came to the studio to perform the task. The contestant was given only one attempt; if successful, he/she won a pre-selected prize package worth $25,000. If unsuccessful, he/she received a $2,000 consolation prize. Two contestants appeared each episode.
Some of the stunts presented:
⁕Memorizing pi to the 100th decimal
⁕Playing Beethoven's Für Elise on a piano, without missing a note
⁕Answering ten questions on the film Ghost
⁕Riding around three cones on a unicycle and returning to a starting
The Baseball Network was a short-lived television broadcasting joint venture between ABC, NBC, and Major League Baseball. Under the arrangement, beginning in the 1994 season, the league produced its own in-house telecasts of games, which were then brokered to air on ABC and NBC. The package included coverage of games in primetime on selected nights throughout the regular season, along with coverage of the postseason and the World Series.
Unlike previous broadcasting arrangements with the league, there was no national "game of the week" during the regular season; these would be replaced by multiple weekly regional telecasts on certain nights of the week. Additionally, The Baseball Network had exclusive coverage windows; no other broadcaster could televise MLB games during the same night that The Baseball Network was televising games.
The arrangement did not last long; due to the effects of a players' strike on the remainder of the 1994 season, and poor reception from fans and critics over the coverage was implemen
Howard K. Smith: News and Comment was a half-hour ABC news and documentary program hosted by commentator Howard K. Smith, which aired from February 14, 1962, to June 16, 1963. It was broadcast at the 10:30 Eastern time slot on Sundays opposite CBS's long-running quiz show, What's My Line?, hosted by John Charles Daly, himself the first ever ABC News anchorman.
In 1961, Smith left CBS News because of a dispute about a documentary that he produced on police violence against civil rights demonstrators in Birmingham, Alabama. He then joined ABC, where his contract stipulated that neither the network nor sponsors could interfere with the content of his program.
While at CBS, Smith hosted the documentary program Behind the News with Howard K. Smith for twenty-one weeks from January 11 to September 20, 1959. Selected episodes focused on communism in Cuba, the status of Berlin, the Cold War, Charles de Gaulle, Nikita Khrushchev, unemployment in depressed areas, and the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Smith's News and Comment began
Talent Varieties is a country music talent show on American network television and radio in 1955 that featured performers hoping to achieve fame in the entertainment business.
The weekly ABC-TV program was a live half-hour summer replacement series hosted by Slim Wilson. Wilson introduced the amateur and professional talent, including music and comedy acts; and his Tall Timber Trio, composed of Speedy Haworth, Bob White and Bryan "Doc" Martin provided accompaniment. Auditions were handled by Bill Ring. The Westport Kids appeared July 12, and Buck Griffin appeared August 2.
The show aired on Tuesday nights from June 28–November 1. Its original time slot was 7:30–8 p.m. Eastern Time, replacing Cavalcade of America, but moved to 10–10:30 p.m. in September to briefly replace Break the Bank.
ABC Radio simulcast the program under the name Talent Round-Up from 7:30 p.m., as well as carrying an additional half-hour until 8:30.
The program originated from the Jewell Theatre in Springfield, Missouri, ho
FYI was an information series seen on the ABC network in the early 1980s. Hosted by Hal Linden, the program features answers to questions that many viewers ask, from common questions such as, "What's the leading cause of burns in children?", to questions not many ask, but may be interesting to know, like "Can a child dance his/her way to better grades?", just to name a couple.
With each show lasting sixty seconds, FYI was seen three times a day on weekdays, following ABC's popular soaps All My Children, One Life to Live and General Hospital, using a formula not unlike ABC's Saturday morning mini-programs, such as Time for Timer, The Bod Squad and Schoolhouse Rock.
Two books based on the television series have been published, both by M. Evans and Company: FYI: Unexpected Answers to Everyday Questions and More FYI: Further Tips for Healthful Living.
Bowling Headliners was television's first regularly scheduled bowling show. Bowling Headliners aired on ABC from 1948-1949 and the DuMont Television Network from November 13, 1949 to April 9, 1950.
The series aired from Rego Park Lanes in Queens, New York. The original commentators were Jimmy Powers and Al Cirillo. When the show moved to DuMont, Joe Hasel took over as host.
The show was featured on the cover of the October 29, 1949 TV Guide when the magazine was still a local publication from New York City.
Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You? is an animated musical television special written by Dr. Seuss, directed by Gerard Baldwin, produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, completed in 1979 and first aired on CBS on May 2, 1980. This was one of the final cartoons done at DePatie-Freleng as the studio would be sold to The Coca-Cola Company and become Sunbow Productions in 1981. The songs are by Joe Raposo.
The Mini-Munsters was an animated one-hour telefilm that was aired as part of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie in 1973, and was based on the characters from The Munsters.