KIMMER'S TOP 10 FAVORITE TV SHOWS OF 1964

1964! What a great year for TV for a kid. I loved the magic shows like My Favorite Martian and Bewitched. they were ok to watch with parents in the room. Hollywood gave us The Munsters and The Addams Family that year as well. So I thought I'd share a bit of my top 10 favorites from 1964 for you youngsters out there... :)

1. Bewitched (1964–1972)

A witch married to an ordinary man cannot resist using her magic powers to solve the problems her family faces. Bewitched is an American television sitcom fantasy series, originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from September 17, 1964, to March 25, 1972. It is about a witch who marries an ordinary mortal man and vows to lead the life of a typical suburban housewife.

The show enjoyed great popularity, finishing as the number two-rated show in America during its debut season, staying in the top ten for its first three seasons, and just missing this mark with an eleventh-place ranking for both seasons four and five. The show continues to be seen throughout the world in syndication and on recorded media.

2. The Addams Family (1964–1966)

The misadventures of a blissfully macabre but extremely loving family. The Addams Family is an American horror/black comedy sitcom based on the characters from Charles Addams' New Yorker cartoons.

The 30-minute television series was created by David Levy and Donald Saltzman and shot in black-and-white, airing for two seasons on ABC from September 18, 1964, to April 8, 1966, for a total of 64 episodes. The show is also notable for its opening theme that was composed and sung by Vic Mizzy.

3. Gilligan's Island (1964–1992)

Seven men and women are stranded on an uncharted island following a torrential storm. Gilligan's Island is an American sitcom created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz. The show had an ensemble cast that featured Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Russell Johnson, Tina Louise, and Dawn Wells.

It aired for three seasons on the CBS network from September 26, 1964, to April 17, 1967. The series followed the comic adventures of seven castaways as they attempted to survive on an island on which they had been shipwrecked. Most episodes revolve around the dissimilar castaways' conflicts and their unsuccessful attempts, for whose failure Gilligan was frequently responsible, to escape their plight.

4. The Munsters (1964–2004)

A family of friendly monsters has misadventures, never quite understanding why people react to them so strangely. The Munsters is an American sitcom depicting the home life of a family of benign monsters starring Fred Gwynne as Frankenstein's monster-type head-of-the-household Herman Munster; Yvonne De Carlo as his vampire wife, Lily Munster; Al Lewis as Grandpa, the over-the-hill vampire who relishes talking about the "good old days"; Beverley Owen (later replaced by Pat Priest) as their teenage niece Marilyn Munster, whose all-American beauty made her the family outcast; and Butch Patrick as their half-vampire, half-werewolf son Eddie Munster.

5. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964–1968)

The two top agents of the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement (U.N.C.L.E.) fight the enemies of peace, particularly the forces of T.H.R.U.S.H. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American spy-fiction television series[1] produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC.

It follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for secret international counterespionage and law-enforcement agency called U.N.C.L.E. The series premiered on September 22, 1964, completing its run on January 15, 1968.

6. Shindig! (1964–1966)

A musical variety show featuring the biggest acts in rock-n-roll performing their latest hits. Shindig! is an American musical variety series which aired on ABC from September 16, 1964, to January 8, 1966.

The show was hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, a disc jockey in Los Angeles at the time who also created the show along with his wife Sharon Sheeley, British producer Jack Good, and production executive Art Stolnitz.

The original pilot was rejected by ABC and David Sontag, then Executive Producer of ABC, redeveloped and completely redesigned the show. A new pilot with a new cast of artists was shot starring Sam Cooke. That pilot aired as the premiere episode.

7. Flipper (TV Series 1964–1967)

Flipper is an American television program first broadcast on NBC from September 19, 1964, until April 15, 1967. Flipper, a bottlenose dolphin, is the pet of Porter Ricks, Chief Warden at Coral Key Park and Marine Preserve (a fictional version of John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo, Florida), and his two young sons, Sandy and Bud. The show has been dubbed an "aquatic Lassie", and a considerable amount of children's merchandise inspired by the show was produced during its first run.

8. Daniel Boone (1964–1970)

Daniel Boone is an American action-adventure television series starring Fess Parker as Daniel Boone that aired from September 24, 1964, to May 7, 1970, on NBC for 165 episodes, and was produced by 20th Century Fox Television, Arcola Enterprises, and Fespar Corp. Ed Ames co-starred as Mingo, Boone's Cherokee friend, for the first four seasons of the series.

9. Jonny Quest (1964–1965)

The Quest family and their bodyguard investigate strange phenomena and battle villains around the world.

10. Valentine's Day (1964–1965)

Valentine Farrow works for O.D. Dunstall in a New York publishing house. He is young and single and constantly chased by women. While in the Army, he was saved by "Rocky" Sin, a poker-playing con artist, who now serves as Farrow's valet.

THE DIFFICULT MAKING OF THE MONKEES!

I spent some time watching a few of the Monkees' documentaries over the holiday. What a complicated but interesting history of this popular TV series/band. So much drama behind this "comedy". Mickey was my favorite...still is, though all 4 were very talented comedians and musicians.

The Monkees TV show was inspired by the Beatles movie Hard Day's Night. The band was conceived in 1965 by television producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider specifically for the situation comedy series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968. The band's music was initially supervised by record producer Don Kirshner, backed by the songwriting duo of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. Very Pop tunes ruled the day. Michael and Peter wanted to write and record their songs.

Davy, Michael, Mickey, and Peter

The original line-up consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork with English actor/singer Davy Jones.  Mickey Dolenz was a child actor famous for his role on Circus Boy. I loved that show so I was already a fan of Mickey's.

Davy Jones was also a child star from England and a jockey. Won acclaim on stage for playing the Artful Dodger in Oliver.

Davy and Mickey were happy to be working as actors. Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork were musicians, not actors. Thus began the big rub within the band lineup.

The four actor/musicians were initially allowed only limited roles in the recording studio for the first few months of their five-year career as "the Monkees". This was due in part to the amount of time required to film the television series.

Nonetheless, Nesmith composed and produced some songs from the beginning, and Tork contributed limited guitar work on the sessions produced by Nesmith. All four contributed lead vocals to various tracks.

They eventually fought for the right to collectively supervise all musical output under the band's name, acting as musicians, singers, songwriters, and producers. But the show didn't last long. Too difficult. Read More

I thought (still do) a lot of their songs were great. Timeless, as they still sell to this day. But as I grew up in that timeframe, I remember that their music was too "poppy" and I think the guys wanted to be creating harder rock songs and be taken seriously by the music industry.

Ironically, the success of the show led to the actor-musicians becoming one of the most successful bands of the 1960s. The Monkees have sold more than 75 million records worldwide[3][4] making them one of the biggest selling groups of all time with international hits, including "Last Train to Clarksville", "Pleasant Valley Sunday", "Daydream Believer", and "I'm a Believer".

Here are two good backstory videos:

From a reader Roger Rais:

My best friend and I while growing up put on a "Monkees" show for the neighbor hood kids ! He played "Mike" and I was "Peter" (his little brother was "Davie" and another friend was "Mickey" !

HILL STREET BLUES BEGAN JAN 15 1981 BEST COP SHOW EVER

Hill Street Blues still stands the test of time. I just streamed the entire series on HULU during the holidays. No cell phones or computers to be found but they weren't needed. They used payphones a lot! Great show from the 1980s and older folks remember and young folks will dig it too...Check it out.. and Let's Be Careful Out There

On this day in 1981, Hill Street Blues, television’s landmark cops-and-robbers drama, debuts on NBC. When the series first appeared, the police show had largely been given up for dead.

Critics savaged stodgy and moralistic melodramas and scoffed at lighter fare like Starsky and Hutch. Created by Steven Bochco and Michael Kozoll, Hill Street Blues invigorated television, paving the way for more realistic and gritty fare.

Hill Street Blues was set in an anonymous northern city (the exteriors were actually filmed in Chicago) and was the first real attempt by television to portray police officers as fallible human beings. Each episode began with the 7 a.m. roll call led by Sergeant Esterhaus. He closed the roll call with his trademark refrain, “Let’s be careful out there.”

Sgt. Phil Esterhaus (Michael Conrad)

The series not only changed the way that Americans viewed police officers, but it also revolutionized the television drama itself. The show resisted formula and introduced the ensemble cast.

Whereas early cop shows like Dragnet and Adam-12 were centered around a couple of officers who always got their man by the end of the hour, the full squad house of regulars on Hill Street Blues rarely resolved cases in one episode.

Hill Street Blues was acclaimed through its entire run. When it ended in May 1987, it had set the records for most Emmys won in a single season and most nominations in one year.

Hill Street Blues: The Complete Series

POPEYE THE SAILOR AND ALICE THE GOON

Alice the Goon! How I loved her! Poor thing I always felt so sad for her. She longed for Popeye and of course she was not the Paris Hilton of her time. Alice was the first assertive woman on screen long before Scarlett O'Hara or Judy Garland we had Alice the Goon!

She originated as a non gendered slave for the Sea Hag Popeye rescued her and her goon baby and she fell for him since that rescue. Popeye even hit her before realizing that Poor Alice was a woman and a single mom! The original goon look was radical for a kiddie cartoon see below:

The irate mommies wrote in and complained that Aliceand the goons were frightening the children! Hey that was the whole point!

Poor Alice with hairy legs..

Ever watch that show? Heck that Sea Hag was pretty scary but my second grade teacher beat her by a mile. So the advertisers buckled under and made Alice more feminine, gave her a dippy hat and goofy skirt. Lame

We rarely saw Alice make an appearance but were thrilled when she came on. Alice moved slowly and we were also afraid of what she might do if she caught Popeye! Luckily we do have a some old videos of Alice in Action as there are very few images left.