Television Shows I watched with my Grandfather--Bryan F.

Putting this blog post together brought me great joy as I sat and collected the theme songs and TV episodes that took me back to some of the happiest moments of my childhood.

Sitting with my Grandparents in their tiny den, three chairs, a comfy chair for my Grandma, an old fashion Naugahyde and cloth recliner for Granddaddy, and the ancient box cushion rocker that had been my Great Grandma's, sitting in the center, was mine. Other Grandchildren were allowed to sit there, but it was mine. (It still exists in the loft of the garage of their home that my brother now owns. It needs a touch up though.) Grandma's chair had an old fashion floor to ceiling pole lamp next to it because she preferred to read rather than watching TV.

Granddaddy and I were already into our TV program as Grandma came in from tidying up the kitchen. Granddaddy got home from work around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, so he always had dinner ready when Grandma came in from work at about 5:30, so she did the few dishes there were. We often had frozen dinners, it was the 60s, after all, and the cleanup was usually pretty easy. She was in no hurry though, as her Grace Livingston Hill story waited for her patiently on her chair. The TV had no DVR in those days which meant you needed to be on-time or miss the beginning. Missing episodes required that you tune in during summer reruns to catch up. How did we ever survive? Very well, actually.

I have more memories in that little TV room/ den than I can ever begin to remember. The TV programs were excellent. Early on having only a black and white TV did not diminish the experience. I might even say it improved it. They didn't get a color TV until 1968 and then only because Granddaddy won it in a bowling tournament. Granddaddy gave it to my family in 1969 when he won another much bigger one in another tournament. It was our first color TV. Most of the programming in the late '50s and early 60s was in B&W, anyway. I can't even imagine Topper or Naked City in color.

Topper:

We watched Topper in syndication. I was too young to see it in its first runs. I think I mostly watched this one alone at my Grandparents, though.

At home, the TV was under my Dad's control so I really appreciated the TV to myself when I was at my Grandparents. Saturday morning was the best with Mighty Mouse and the other cartoons. But the most memorable were evenings watching with my Grandfather.

Full episode

Have Gun Will Travel:
This is the oldest western I can remember watching with my Granddaddy. I was pretty young when we watched this one and it sometimes scared me a little. I loved the theme song though.

Season One, Episode One, 14 Sept 1957 to 20 April 1963.
Full episode.

"This series follows the adventures of a man calling himself "Paladin" (played by Richard Boone on television and voiced by John Dehner on radio), taking his name from that of the foremost knights in Charlemagne's court. He is a gentleman investigator/gunfighter who travels around the Old West working as a mercenary for people who hire him to solve their problems.

Although Paladin charges steep fees to clients who can afford to hire him, typically $1000 per job, he provides his services for free to poor people who need his help. Like many Westerns, the television show is set in a nebulous time period, after the Civil War. The radio show states the year in the opening of every episode.^[5]

The season 5 television episode, "A Drop of Blood", gives the specific date of July 3, 1879.^{[6]" from Wikipedia}

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050025/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Have_Gun_–_Will_Travel

Maverick:
James Garner is one of my all-time favorite actors, and yes, I watched Rockford Files.
This is another that was running when I was pretty young, but watching even what I didn't always understand was just fine sitting there in the loving environment of my two Grandparents.

Maverick ran from 22 Sept 1957 to 8 July 1962.
It starred James Garner as Bret Maverick, Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick, Roger Moore as Beau Maverick, and Robert Colbert as Brent Maverick.

The Maverick Brothers are poker players that travel the old west.

Season One Episode Four.

Full episode.

Gunsmoke:
Gunsmoke and Bonanza were tied for first place favorites with me and Granddaddy.
Also, one of the firsts I can remember watching with him. It ran from 10 Sept 1955 to 31 March 1975.

It was the longest-running western on television. It starred James Arness as Sheriff Matt Dillion, Amanda Blake as Kitty, Milburn Stone as Doc, Dennis Weaver as Chester, and Ken Curtis as Festus. Curtis replaced Dennis Weaver who went on to star in his own hit show McCloud.

Sebastian Cabot guest starring. Many famous movie stars guest-starred on Gunsmoke including Bette Davis.

Season One, Episode One.
Full episode.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052451/

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047736/

Rawhide:
This was not my favorite of the westerns. It was on the rougher side and sometimes made me anxious. Granddaddy liked it tough, so I watched, too. I loved the theme song.

It starred Eric Flemming as Gil Favor and Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates. Stories revolved around the struggles of driving cattle across the old west and a variety of characters encountered along the way. It ran from 9 Jan 1959 to 3 Sept 1965.

Season One Episode One.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052504/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rawhide_(TV_series)

Wagon Train:
This is another one that I didn't like as much as my Grandaddy did but I watched anyway and sometimes there was ice cream so...

The format is copied from Wikipedia.
Format:

"The series chronicles the adventures of a wagon train as it makes its way from St. Joseph, Missouri across the Mid-Western plains and the Rocky Mountains to California and the trials and tribulations of the series regulars who conducted the train through the American West.

Episodes revolved around the stories of guest characters portraying various members of the massive wagon train or encountered by it. Occasionally, these characters were played by stars such as Ernest Borgnine, Bette Davis, Jane Wyman, Ronald Reagan, Lee Marvin, and Joseph Cotten. Episode titles routinely emphasized the guest characters with titles such as "The Willy Moran Story" and "The Echo Pass Story".

So notable was the show that veteran film director John Ford came on board to direct a 1960 segment.^{[3] " From Wikipedia}

^{It ran from 18 Sept 1957 to 2 May 1965.}

Cast information copied from Wikipedia.

"The regular cast included:

Ward Bond as wagon master Major Seth Adams (1957–61, seasons 1–4). Bond died of a heart attack in the middle of the fourth season, and was replaced by John McIntire as wagon master. No explanation was ever given on the show.
Robert Horton as scout Flint McCullough (1957–62, seasons 1–5).
John McIntire as Christopher Hale (1961–65, seasons 4-8), replacing Bond as wagon master upon Bond's death. McIntire had guest starred in a Season 3 episode in the role of preacher Andrew Hale.
Robert Fuller as scout Cooper Smith (1963–65, seasons 7–8) replacing the McCullough character after Robert Horton left the series. Fuller had previously played a lead in the western series Laramie and physically resembled Horton. Fuller and McIntire rotated top billing from week to week on the series. Fuller even shared the same birthday as Horton, albeit nine years apart.
Frank McGrath as cook Charlie Wooster (1957–65, seasons 1–8), one of only two regulars to last the entire series.
Terry Wilson as Bill Hawks (1957–65, seasons 1–8), one of only two regulars to last the entire series.
Michael Burns as Barnaby West (1960–65, seasons 6–8).
Scott Miller (aka; Denny Miller) as Duke Shannon (1961–64, seasons 5–7)." From Wikipedia.

Full episode.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagon_Train

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050073/

Bonanza:
Gunsmoke and Bonanza were Granddaddy's favorite westerns, mine too. Bonanza was the second-longest-running western behind Gunsmoke.

It ran from Sept 1959 to January 1975. It starred Lorne Greene, Parnell Roberts, Dan Blocker, and Michael Landon.

It presented storylines that dealt with moral dilemmas for the most part.

Season One, Episode One, 12 Sept 1959

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonanza

Naked City:
This is another one that when I watched it with my Granddaddy was a little advanced for my age. I have watched it as an adult and find it quite good.

"Naked City is a police drama series from Screen Gems which was broadcast from 1958 to 1959 and from 1960 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture The Naked City and mimics its dramatic "semi-documentary" format. As in the film, each episode concluded with a narrator intoning the iconic line: "There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them."

The Naked City episode "Four Sweet Corners" (1959) inspired the series Route 66, created by Stirling Silliphant. Route 66 was broadcast by CBS from 1960 to 1964, and, like Naked City, followed the "semi-anthology" format of building the stories around the guest actors, rather than the regular cast.^[1] The episode "Sweet Prince of Delancey Street" (1961) was in 1997 ranked #93 on TV Guide's "100 Greatest Episodes of All Time".^{[2]" From Wikipedia}

The show catapulted many an actor's careers. The list is a whos who of Hollywood. This one holds up for present-day viewing with exceptional writing.

"Guest stars[edit]

The series was notable for featuring younger and/or lesser-known/little-known actors, some of whom became major stars, including Alan Alda, Michael Ansara, Ed Asner, Martin Balsam, Barbara Barrie, Orson Bean, Robert Blake, James Caan, Godfrey Cambridge, Joseph Campanella, Diahann Carroll, James Coburn, Michael Constantine, William Daniels, Sandy Dennis, Bruce Dern, David Doyle, Keir Dullea, Robert Duvall, Peter Falk, James Farentino, Peter Fonda, Conard Fowkes, Eileen Fulton, Frank Gorshin, Harry Guardino, Gene Hackman, Barbara Harris, Dustin Hoffman, Dennis Hopper, Diana Hyland, Richard Jaeckel, David Janssen, Salome Jens, Jack Klugman, Shirley Knight, Piper Laurie, Diane Ladd, Audra Lindley, Jack Lord, George Maharis, Nancy Marchand, Sylvia Miles, Vic Morrow, Barry Morse, Robert Morse, Lois Nettleton, Leslie Nielsen, Carroll O'Connor, Susan Oliver, Marisa Pavan, Suzanne Pleshette, Robert Redford, Doris Roberts, Mark Rydell, Telly Savalas, George Segal, William Shatner, Martin Sheen, Jean Stapleton, Maureen Stapleton, Rod Steiger, Mel Stuart, Rip Torn, Cicely Tyson, Brenda Vaccaro, Dick Van Patten, Jon Voight, Christopher Walken, Deborah Walley, Jack Warden, Tuesday Weld, and Dick York.

The show also featured more established and/or better-known actors, including Luther Adler, Eddie Albert, Robert Alda, Louise Allbritton, Kirk Alyn, Richard Basehart, Theodore Bikel, Nancy Carroll, Lee J. Cobb, Gladys Cooper, Hume Cronyn, Ludwig Donath, Diana Douglas, Betty Field, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Nina Foch, Ruth Ford, Martin Gabel, Peggy Ann Garner, Vincent Gardenia, Eileen Heckart, Barnard Hughes, Kim Hunter, Sam Jaffe, Glynis Johns, Kurt Kasznar, Abbe Lane, Eugenie Leontovich, Al Lewis, Viveca Lindfors, Ross Martin, Walter Matthau, Myron McCormick, Roddy McDowall, Burgess Meredith, Jean Muir, Meg Mundy, Mildred Natwick, Cathleen Nesbitt, Jeanette Nolan, Nehemiah Persoff, Claude Rains, Eugenia Rawls, Aldo Ray, Ruth Roman, Mickey Rooney, Albert Salmi, George C. Scott, Sylvia Sidney, Jan Sterling, Beatrice Straight, Akim Tamiroff, Lawrence Tierney, Jo Van Fleet, Eli Wallach, David Wayne, Jesse White, Cara Williams, Roland Winters, and Keenan Wynn.

Many of the actors listed above played multiple roles for different episodes, as different characters.

Sanford Meisner, the noted acting coach, made a rare celluloid performance in an episode of the series. Acting coach and actress Peggy Feury also made an appearance, in a different episode. Rocky Graziano made an appearance during his relatively brief post-boxing acting career. Actors such as Conrad Bain, Dabney Coleman, Ken Kercheval, Burt Reynolds and Jessica Walter appeared in minor roles, long before becoming famous.

Several actors played recurring roles, e.g. Suzanne Storrs (as "Janet Halloran" in nine episodes during the series' first version, featuring Franciscus and McIntire), Jimmy Little as "Desk Sergeant", Robert Dryden as "Police Surgeon", and Richard Kronold as "Detective Dutton."^{[4]" From Wikipedia.}

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_City_(TV_series)

Perry Mason:
This was a must-watch for Granddaddy. He also read the Perry Mason detective series. He, like me, was a sucker for a good whodunit. Perry Mason did those better than anyone in our opinion.

My brother and I watched some Perry Mason episodes a few days ago. They actually caused me to pick the topic for this blog. We found they held up beautifully. Very watchable.

I have also watched an episode of the new HBO Perry Mason. It's nothing like this one. More like the novels I guess. I'm reserving judgment until I can watch a few more.

Perry Mason ran from 21 Sept 1957 to 22 May 1966. It starred Raymond Burr as Perry Mason, Barbara Hale as Della Street, and William Hopper as Paul Drake.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050051/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Mason_(1957_TV_series)

Mannix:
Granddaddy and I watched the first Mannix together back in 1967 when I was 13 years old. It was exactly the kind of program we liked. Some action and suspense. A good storyline and some good acting. Granddaddy liked detective stories as much as he liked westerns. Starring Mike Conners as Mannix it ran from 1967 to 1975 and we watched a lot of them together. One of our favorites in the detective genre. As a young gay boy, I had a bit of a crush on Mike Conners.

Season One Episode One, 16 Sept 1967.

Full episode

Mannix drove several very cool cars during the series. I'll let you google them if that's something you like. There are too many to list here. It's kind of a big deal out in the online car culture.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mannix

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=mannix+tv+show&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Ironside:
Ironside ran from 28 March 1967 to 16 Jan 1975
Granddaddy and Me watched this show and loved it after we adjusted to Raymond Burr in a new role after so much Perry Mason. It ran the period that I was most often at my Grandparents and I was old enough to enjoy the story fully. This was also one of his favorites. He had lots of favorites.

For Granddaddy, television must have been on par with my own experience with computers and the internet. He fully enjoyed it.

"Cast

Complete series cast summary:
	Raymond Burr	...	Robert T. Ironside / ... 195 episodes, 1967-1975
	Don Galloway	...	Det. Sgt. Ed Brown / ... 195 episodes, 1967-1975
	Don Mitchell	...	Mark Sanger / ... 195 episodes, 1967-1975
	Barbara Anderson	...	Officer Eve Whitfield 105 episodes, 1967-1971
	Elizabeth Baur	...	Fran Belding / ... 89 episodes, 1971-1975

See full cast »

View production, box office, & company info

" From IMDb

"Plot[edit]

The series revolved around former San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) Chief of Detectives Robert T. Ironside (Raymond Burr), a veteran of more than 20 years of police service, forced to retire from the department after a sniper's bullet to the spine paralyzed him from the waist down, resulting in him having to use a wheelchair. In the pilot episode, a television movie, Ironside shows his strength of character and gets himself appointed a "special department consultant" by his good friend, Police Commissioner Dennis Randall. He does this by calling a press conference and then tricking Commissioner Randall into meeting his terms. In the pilot, Ironside eventually solves the mystery of the ambush. He requests Ed Brown and Eve Whitfield be assigned to him.

Raymond Burr as "Ironside"

Supporting characters on Ironside included Det. Sgt. Edward "Ed" Brown (Don Galloway) and a young socialite-turned-plainclothes officer, Eve Whitfield (Barbara Anderson). In addition there was delinquent-turned assistant Mark Sanger (Don Mitchell), who subsequently attends and graduates from law school (night classes were mentioned from early on), joins the San Francisco Police Force himself in the sixth season, then marries late in the run of the series. Commissioner Randall was played by Gene Lyons.

After the program's fourth season, Anderson left for personal reasons and her character was then replaced by another young policewoman Fran Belding (Elizabeth Baur), who filled much the same role for four more years.

Ironside uses a fourth-floor room (for living and office space) in the old San Francisco Hall of Justice building, which housed the city's police headquarters. He recruits the angst-filled black ex-con Mark Sanger to be his personal assistant after Sanger is brought in as a suspect who wanted to kill Ironside. Ironside acquires a specially equipped, former fleet-modified 1940 1½-ton Ford police patrol wagon. This is replaced in the episode titled "Poole's Paradise" after the van is destroyed by Sergeant Brown as part of a way to trick a corrupt sheriff. At the end of the episode the patrol wagon is replaced by a one-off fully custom modified 1969 1-ton Ford Econoline Window Van.

The show became a success as Ironside depended on brains and initiative in handling cases. Although Ironside was good-hearted and honest, he often maintained a somewhat gruff persona. The series enjoyed a seven and a half-season run on NBC, drawing respectable, if not always high, ratings. As the shortened eighth and final season began (only 16 of 19 episodes produced were aired by NBC), Universal released a syndicated rerun package of episodes from earlier seasons under the title The Raymond Burr Show, reflecting the practice of that time to differentiate original network episodes from syndicated reruns whenever possible. After NBC's mid-season cancellation, however, the syndicated episodes reverted to the Ironside title." from Wikipedia

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061266/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironside_(1967_TV_series)

Streets of San Francisco:
This show sparked my interest in living in San Francisco which I eventually realized in May of 1979, about two years after the series ended.

I was older when this came out but I lived with my grandparents off and on in my late teens and early twenties. Granddaddy and I continued our tradition of watching TV together when I wasn't working a late shift.

The street scenes captured my imagination. I couldn't believe that such a beautiful city actually existed. I did go to San Francisco once in 1965 with my Grandparents in their brand new tan Rambler American. It was actually a trip to Sacramento to visit my uncle with a side trip to San Francisco. I mostly just remembered Fishermans Wharf, so I had some reference when I watched this show.