60s TV commercials: Honey West, The FBI ads etc.

ABC-TV network promos for the 1965-66 season. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The FBI (black & white ads with "in color" tags), Twelve O'Clock High, and two short-lived flops: The Legend of Jessie James and A Man Called Shenandoah (a high-concept western about a man with amnesia). Plus another FBI spot and hair product ads for Breck.

Last, two unusual promos with "Honey West" stars Anne Francis and John Ericson. The actors endure what must have been a long and humiliating series of local affiliate plugs. This one is for a Dallas/Fort Worth station. Francis gamely chirps about the wonderful Friday night line-up of ABC shows. This is shot so most of the footage could be re-used with inserts of her calling out the individual TV stations. The last ad is Anne Francis promoting TV Guide.

Historical note: This was the last year of black and white TV production. About half the programs were now in color. Most loudly announced "In Color!" at the opening so folks at home watching on their pathetic B/W sets would feel left out. This boosted sales of color TVs which cost a then-whopping $300-400. Sponsor RCA pushed the NBC network into all-color production for the 1966-67 season and the other networks followed suit.

Recently changed this to sepia tone, as it's brighter and warmer, using YouTube's handy new editing features.

I originally posted this public domain selection on the Internet Archive some time ago so, other copies of this, and other things I've done, may appear elsewhere.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• 1960s
• classic
• television
• series
• advertisements
• ads
• advertising

[KCOliver1960]

Anne (God rest her soul) wasn't chirping about the Sunday schedule, she was chirping about the Friday night schedule. The Flintstones, Addams Family, and The Farmer's Daughter were in their last seasons while Honey West and the other shows on the Friday lineup made it for one season.

[jlovebirch]

@KCOliver1960 -- Duly noted and corrected. All would be chaos without pedantic attention to the tiniest detail.

[KCOliver1960]

@jlovebirch I knew this because I actually watched that Friday lineup (although I was barely 5 at the time). There's also the fact I have the Honey West DVD myself. On an additional note, I did briefly met Miss Francis at a sci fi convention some years back, she was very pleasent to be with. And speaking of the Flintstones, you do know that the fat guy who tried to frame Honey with that double is the original voice of Fred Flintstone?

[jlovebirch]

@KCOliver1960 -- I, too, have the faintest memories of seeing this in 65-66 as a kid. All I recall is Sam getting hit on the head (which happened a lot) and the episode with the bizarre robot (was obsessed with robots at the time). Addams Family left a much deeper impression overall. Have seen the Flintstone guy in other shows. Nice that you met Anne Francis. After all these years am just starting to really see and appreciate this show. The half-hour format probably killed it.

[KCOliver1960]

@jlovebirch No, what killed it was (and I got this from Anne herself when I met her) that ABC got the American rights to the Avengers (the british show, not the Marvel super group whose movie I'm looking forward to seeing) and they canceled Honey West to make room for the British series. Also, the sexist tv executives weren't comfortable with having two shows with women beating up men.

[jlovebirch]

@KCOliver1960 - I heard that as well. If the show had been fleshed out to one-hour it may have gotten the ratings to keep it on. 30 min. does not work for a detective or action drama story. To add insult to injury was The Girl From UNCLE in fall 1966 from NBC. The producers must have not seen The Avengers and made April Dancer a wimpy damsel in distress who couldn't fight. Bad scripts & low ratings led to cancellation. Both could have been epic shows (like Alias) but the networks blew it.

[bbdupon]

Oh, humiliation by teleprompter! Poor lady. :-)