{"id":14560,"date":"2011-04-27T06:00:37","date_gmt":"2011-04-27T10:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=14560"},"modified":"2013-01-17T18:48:01","modified_gmt":"2013-01-17T23:48:01","slug":"the-umbrella-tv-series-of-the-1970s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=14560","title":{"rendered":"The Umbrella TV Series of the 1970s"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cheyenne:<\/a>Guest blogger Rick 29 presents this look at the saga of The Bold Ones, the NBC Mystery Movies, and Others:<\/p>\n

In 1955, U.S television launched one of its most interesting experiments: the umbrella series, in which different TV shows were rotated in the same time slot under a single title. The original umbrella series was Warner Bros. Presents, in which the TV shows Cheyenne<\/a>, Casablanca, and King\u2019s Row were all shown in the same time slot. The only one of the three to be renewed was Cheyenne, the Clint Walker<\/a> Western that evolved into a launch pad for other TV series. The umbrella series concept seemed to die a swift death.<\/p>\n

However, it was revived unexpectedly in 1969 when NBC borrowed the format for The Bold Ones\u2014which was three separate series linked only by the fact that (apparently) the protagonists were bold! The rotating shows were The New Doctors (with John Saxon<\/a>, David Hartman<\/a>, and E.G. Marshall<\/a>), The Lawyers (Burl Ives<\/a>, Joseph Campanella<\/a>, and James Farentino<\/a>), and The Law Enforcers (with Leslie Nielsen<\/a> and Hari Rhodes<\/a>). The last series performed poorly and was replaced the following year with The Senator, starring Hal Holbrook<\/a> as an idealistic politician. For the third year, only The New Doctors and The Lawyers were retained. In its final season, The Bold Ones consisted only of its three physicians, even though the umbrella title was still used.<\/p>\n

In 1970, NBC introduced the umbrella series Four in One. This time, there was no attempt to connect the separate shows even loosely. Each series consisted of six episodes shown back-to-back\u2026and then the next series would start. The four shows were: McCloud<\/a> (with Dennis Weaver<\/a>); San Francisco International Airport (with Lloyd Bridges<\/a>); Night Gallery<\/a> (hosted by Rod Serling<\/a>); and The Psychiatrist (with Roy Thinnes<\/a>). The advantage of the format was that each series got a limited try-out. It worked out well for Night Gallery, which was renewed and given its own time slot, and McCloud, which moved to The NBC Mystery Movie the following year. The downside to the format was that viewers didn\u2019t have time to get invested in a series before the next one started. As a result, Four in One was deemed a failure.<\/p>\n

That didn\u2019t stop NBC from continuing to experiment with the umbrella series concept. In 1971, it launched the most successful of all umbrella series: The NBC Mystery Movie. In its original form, this 90-minutes series consisted of three shows: the previously mentioned McCloud; Columbo<\/a> (starring Peter Falk<\/a>); and McMillan & Wife<\/a> (with Rock Hudson<\/a> and Susan St. James). The NBC Mystery Movie was a hit from the start and finished among the Top 15 TV series in its first year. Realizing it had a lucrative franchise on its hands, NBC tried to add a fourth show to the original three and eventually expanded to a second night of mysteries with The NBC Wednesday Night Mystery Movie. Alas, detectives came and went quickly, including: Richard Boone<\/a> as Western detective in Hec Ramsey; Tony Curtis<\/a> as a con man detective in McCoy; James Farentino<\/a> as an expensive detective in Cool Million; James McEachin<\/a> as an African-American family man detective in Tenafly; and Helen Hayes<\/a> and Mildred Natwick <\/a>as The Snoop Sisters. The only segments that really clicked were Banacek<\/a> (with George Peppard<\/a> as an insurance investigator) and Quincy, M.E.<\/a> starring Jack Klugman<\/a>. They each earned their own time slots, though Quincy was the far more successful of the two.<\/p>\n

The success of the mystery movie prompted ABC and CBS to develop their own umbrella series\u2014although neither was successful. ABC\u2019s attempt was The Men (love that\"\"<\/a> title!), a 1972 one-season wonder consisting of Assignment: Vienna (with Robert Conrad<\/a>); The Delphi Bureau (with Laurence Luckenbill); and Jigsaw (with James Wainwright<\/a>). CBS opted to go with big-name stars with the 1973 New CBS Tuesday Night Movie. Each month, CBS showed two original made-for-TV movies and then one episode each of Hawkins and Shaft. The former series starred James Stewart <\/a>as a \u201ccountrified\u201d crafty lawyer. In the latter series, Richard Roundtree<\/a> reprised his film role as private eye John Shaft (the violence displayed in the movies was toned down considerably for the small screen).<\/p>\n

Except for the NBC Mystery Movie, the umbrella series faded quickly. There were attempts to revive the format in 1979 with Cliffhangers (an innovative experiment worthy of its own article) and NBC Novels for Television (which were basically miniseries\u2026not unlike PBS\u2019s long-running Masterpiece Theater and Mystery!). Unfortunately, the business side of TV production killed the concept. It was simply cheaper to produce one series with a regular cast and standing sets than to multiply those costs by two or three. Variety may be the spice of life, but on television, it can be expensive!<\/p>\n

Rick29 is a film reference book author and a regular contributor at the Classic Film & TV Caf\u00e9 (<\/em>http:\/\/classic-film-tv.blogspot.com\/<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and on Facebook). He\u2019s a big fan of MovieFanFare, too, of course!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest blogger Rick 29 presents this look at the saga of The Bold Ones, the NBC Mystery Movies, and Others: In 1955, U.S television launched one of its most interesting experiments: the umbrella series, in which different TV shows were…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9691,"featured_media":14561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1462,1386,1510,1390],"coauthors":[3819],"class_list":["post-14560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-articles","tag-1950s-tv-shows","tag-clint-walker","tag-tv-shows","tag-western-tv-shows"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Umbrella TV Series of the 1970s<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Umbrella TV Series: A look back at the Umbrella TV Series started in 1955 where different TV show were rotated in the same time slot.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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