1968 TV Poll

[Mysterious Benefactor]

While trying to track down the stuff from the DS Vampire Club, I came across an old issue of Young Catholic Messenger (which was a magazine we used to get back when I was going to Catholic grammar school) from February 16, 1968 (back when DS was airing the original 1795/96 storyline) and I wondered what the hell it was doing packed away with DS stuff. Well, I wondered no longer when I came to Page 10 and discovered this and thought I'd share:

And here are the results of the voting:

One thing that I find horrifying in those results is that Family Affair, OMG, FAMILY AFFAIR beat out DS!! My only guess is that many of the voters' parents thought that show was much better for their kids than watching the "depraved" goings-on of the Collins family might be.    And, well, after all, these results were published in a Catholic publication. 

And it's very interesting that I Dream of Jeannie is nowhere to be found in the results because that was a very popular show in the ratings in '68 - much more popular than several of the other shows on the list. But then, perhaps the same parents who miight have thought the Collins family were depraved might have thought that it was scandalous that Jeannie and Major Nelson lived together "in sin." 

It's also interesting to consider the fact that many of the shows on the list have cult followings to this day. So, I suppose it's time for us all to admit and accept that we're definitely a generation that's obsessive when it comes to the shows we enjoyed when we were young.    Not that there's anything wrong with admitting or accepting that. 

[Sandor]

Thanks for finding and sharing this, MB - I love this kind of stuff. The Flying Nun was #2? Barnabas could fly circles around Sally Field's coronet.

[Gothick]

Thanks for posting those clippings, MB.  I'm amazed that Dark Shadows was given any press at all in that publication, given the statements in a couple of published histories about various Christian activist groups' dislike of the series.  Looks as if the Church took a more lenient view than some others...

I have to say I almost broke out laughing at the retitling "Dragnet '68"; I suddenly had this image of Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner with poker faces in love beads, tie-dye and bell bottoms...

Reading this list makes me wonder how many of the top 20 shows of 2005 will be remembered 37 years from now?

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I'm amazed that Dark Shadows was given any press at all in that publication, given the statements in a couple of published histories about various Christian activist groups' dislike of the series.  Looks as if the Church took a more lenient view than some others...

As would still seem to be the case in other circumstances, I think the most vocal opposition to DS came from the Evangelical Protestants rathar than the Catholics. (Though I do seem to recall at least one Catholic group rallying to have DS removed from the Boston ABC affiliate - and for a time in the second half of '68 they were actually successful.  )

As far as the Young Catholic Messenger goes, it wasn't exactly a conservative publication - at least not the issue that the TV poll appears in because there were a few anti-Vietnam War articles. I can't say I can honestly remember if the Church as a whole was opposed to the war in '68, but I know several factions of the Church were, like the Jesuits, and a few Jesuits would appear to have been on the magazine's staff because I can tell from the intials after their names. So, perhaps my grammar school was already grooming some of us for our high school experiences (I went on to attend a high school that was run by radical Jesuits  ).

Also, we should probably remember that February of 1968 wasn't all that long after Pope John XXIII had passed away - and he had been one, if not THE most progressive Pope ever, decreeing all sorts of what were then considered radical Church reforms - and in '68 Pope Paul VI was following through with those decrees. In many ways, the Catholic Church was far different then than it is today. (I wouldn't be surprised if the current Pope wouldn't seriously consider excommunicating Catholics who read Harry Potter!    But I suppose we should really stay off the topic of the current state of religion...)

[Janet the Wicked]

Regardless of all the religous issues, it's still a nice piece. Memories, history. Thanks for sharing, MB.

Janet

[PennyDreadful]

Very cool clipping.  Thanks for sharing it. 

[BuzzH]

Though I do seem to recall at least one Catholic group rallying to have DS removed from the Boston ABC affiliate - and for a time in the second half of '68 they were actually successful. 

Hmmm, this from a church, and in particular the Boston Arch Diocese, that routinely molested children, then shuffled the pedaphiles to other parishes where they could harm other children rather than excommunicating and prosecuting them.   Interesting....glad I left the Catholic church when I turned 18.  Can you tell I'm a very anti-Catholic ex-Catholic?

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Well, the Boston group was a parent's group, so it's probably not quite as hypocritical as it may have sounded at first. Although, if the Boston diocese hadn't at least tacitly condoned their effort to get DS taken off the local ABC affiliate, I suppose they never would have been allowed to move forward with it.

An interesting side note to the whole situation is that even though the group successfully got DS taken off of the ABC affiliate station, DS didn't actually disappear from the Boston airwaves - an independent station picked it up and simply ran the DS kinescopes on a one week delay basis. So, even though the group's effort succeeded, their actual objective failed. 

[Patti Feinberg]

from MB:

scandalous that Jeannie and Major Nelson lived together "in sin."

MB...I never! thought of Maj Nelson & Jeannie 'living in sin'. What a cool post this is; and I agree, what will 'our kids' in 37 years see as the favorite shows?

Also, it's suprising to find a daily serial in with I'm assuming prime time shows.

Thanks!!

Patti

[BuzzH]

what will 'our kids' in 37 years see as the favorite shows?

Hmm, I'll take a stab at it...

Lost
Desperate Housewives
Survivor (ANY Survivor!)
Alias
Charmed
CSI (ANY CSI!)
Law & Order (any or all of them)
Prison Break
The Bacholor
The Apprentice
ER

How's that for a start?  Anyone else want to play?!  

[Raineypark]

Secret underground groups will be showing "West Wing" to their children in order to teach them how democracy worked before we lost it........

[Midnite]

How's that for a start?  Anyone else want to play?!

Sure.  I just asked several teens hanging out at my house, and they had sorta different answers:

The O.C.
Smallville
Gilmore Girls
Invasion
Charmed
Supernatural
Veronica Mars
Desperate Housewives
Lost

[Barnabas'sBride]

I think Buffy will...and the X-Files. Both of them were pretty large "cult" hits, and Buffy seemed to get more popular as the show went on. Tons of Buffy merchandise still comes out even though the show ended a couple of years ago.

Smallville...maybe by Superman fans, if the show ends well. For me, I'll always praise it for the way they write Lex Luthor, but that's really the only reason I watch it. I actually find it quite hard to like Clark Kent in SV.

Supernatural, Desperate Housewives, other new shows...it's way too early to say, IMO.

[Sandor]

Here was my Top 10 for 1968 - as for today, I don't even have 10 favorite shows - so much for cable:

1. DARK SHADOWS
2. GENTLE BEN / FLIPPER / LASSIE (tough to choose between Bear, Dolphin & Dog)
3. GET SMART
4. ROWAN & MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN
5. THE MONKEES
6. I DREAM OF JEANNIE / BEWITCHED
7. BEVERLY HILLBILLIES / GREEN ACRES / PETTICOAT JUNCTION
8. LAND OF THE GIANTS
9. THE WILD WILD WEST
10. HERE COME THE BRIDES

[retzev]

Anyone else want to play?!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer will always be at the top of my list - Just below Dark Shadows of course. A truly amazing show.

And The Office (BBC) - God forbid the American remake!