So What Are you Reading?: Generations
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(Copy of post made to my personal Facebook page.) I just finished reading The Forgotten Desi and Lucy TV Projects: The Desilu Series and Specials That Might Have Been by Richard Irvin (2020). An excellent reference book on all of the (known) television projects Desi Arnaz and/or Lucille Ball—both through their Desilu Studios and then later under their individual separate production companies—considered making (or actually did shoot “pilot” episodes of which then didn’t get made into television series).
Broken down into projects under Desi Arnaz’s running of Desilu from 1950 to 1962 Desilu first, then, after Desi’s resignation from the company in 1962, under Lucy’s term as president of Desilu from 1962 to 1967 (when she sold Desilu to Gulf + Western).
Each of these periods are then further divided out by “funny lady” comedy pilots, “funny guys”, “couples comedies”, “dramas”, “anthologies”, proposed spin-offs of successful Desilu series like “I Love Lucy”, “Westinghouse-Desilu Playhouse”, “The Untouchables”, etc.
The length of each project/pilot entry varies from only a paragraph or two in cases where nothing was made and little information still exists to several pages about pilots that were actually shot.
There are also chapters detailing the Gene Roddenberry produced Desilu pilots and proposed projects including the original “Star Trek” pilot episode, “The Cage”*, and precursors to Desilu’s successful “Mission: Impossible” series.
(* It is in the Gene Roddenberry chapter that I found a glaring error, though. It might just be a poorly written sentence but it says that the second pilot episode of Star Trek, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, with William Shatner taking over as lead of the series from Jeffrey Hunter, “became the first episode of Star Trek to be aired with an entirely new cast except for Leonard Nimoy” (153). Any one who knows the original Star Trek series well at all knows that the first episode aired was “The Man Trap”. “Where No Man” was aired as the third episode of the first season.)
Still, this is an excellent reference book for those interested in early television production (a look into the *many* projects a studio used to make—or consider making—of pilots of in hopes of a television network buying them to turn into a regular weekly series), the early history of television in general (such as the 1950s when the television anthology series was prevalent), and/or just in learning more about Lucille Ball’s and Desi Arnaz’s careers. (One project considered by Desi Arnaz was a Fred and Ethel Mertz spinoff series after “I Love Lucy” but Vivian Vance refused to work with William Frawley on any project without also Lucy and Desi.)
I gave this book four out of five stars on GoodReads.
Broken down into projects under Desi Arnaz’s running of Desilu from 1950 to 1962 Desilu first, then, after Desi’s resignation from the company in 1962, under Lucy’s term as president of Desilu from 1962 to 1967 (when she sold Desilu to Gulf + Western).
Each of these periods are then further divided out by “funny lady” comedy pilots, “funny guys”, “couples comedies”, “dramas”, “anthologies”, proposed spin-offs of successful Desilu series like “I Love Lucy”, “Westinghouse-Desilu Playhouse”, “The Untouchables”, etc.
The length of each project/pilot entry varies from only a paragraph or two in cases where nothing was made and little information still exists to several pages about pilots that were actually shot.
There are also chapters detailing the Gene Roddenberry produced Desilu pilots and proposed projects including the original “Star Trek” pilot episode, “The Cage”*, and precursors to Desilu’s successful “Mission: Impossible” series.
(* It is in the Gene Roddenberry chapter that I found a glaring error, though. It might just be a poorly written sentence but it says that the second pilot episode of Star Trek, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, with William Shatner taking over as lead of the series from Jeffrey Hunter, “became the first episode of Star Trek to be aired with an entirely new cast except for Leonard Nimoy” (153). Any one who knows the original Star Trek series well at all knows that the first episode aired was “The Man Trap”. “Where No Man” was aired as the third episode of the first season.)
Still, this is an excellent reference book for those interested in early television production (a look into the *many* projects a studio used to make—or consider making—of pilots of in hopes of a television network buying them to turn into a regular weekly series), the early history of television in general (such as the 1950s when the television anthology series was prevalent), and/or just in learning more about Lucille Ball’s and Desi Arnaz’s careers. (One project considered by Desi Arnaz was a Fred and Ethel Mertz spinoff series after “I Love Lucy” but Vivian Vance refused to work with William Frawley on any project without also Lucy and Desi.)
I gave this book four out of five stars on GoodReads.
Oh? I'm intrigued by this.
Latest Positively Trek Book Club is up! Bruce and I talk about The Lost Era: Catalyst of Sorrows by Margaret Wander Bonanno. Hope you enjoy the show!
Currently reading The Autobiography of Mr. Spock, "edited" by Una McCormack.
Currently reading The Autobiography of Mr. Spock, "edited" by Una McCormack.
They made a Frankenstein out of mammoths? Run for the hills!!!!
And a new Syfy channel TV-movie is born . . . .
Starting with Mapping Smallville
Critical Essays on the Series and Its Characters
Critical Essays on the Series and Its Characters
Victory's Price by Alexander Freed
The last couple week's I've been kind of burned out on Trek, and wanted something new, so I decided to start a new book while I'm also finishing up To Lose the Earth. The new book is Desert Cursed Book 1: Witch's Reign by Shannon Mayer. This is one that just kind of caught my eye while browsing through Amazon, and I'm glad I did, I'm not even done with the first chapter yet, and I'm really enjoying it.
I'm starting early on some Halloween season reading with a book that I've been saving for a while, but very much wanted to read, called The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. For me as a slow reader it's a long-ish book, so it'll last me well into October.
Whoops! Sorry, I just saw this (after having returned the book to the library). I can’t remember the specifics on that but I do remember that it was one of the shorter chapters and basically covered a couple pilots or episodes of airing series that had that same “team of agents with specific skill sets going on a mission” theme (prior to “Mission: Impossible”).
The next time I’m by the public library if the book is still there I’ll look to see what episodes or pilots it was exactly and report back.
David Young
Trying to put a dent in my towering “to read” stack of public library books (and in order of first ones due back), I finished this short one earlier in the week: Star Trek: Voyager 25th Anniversary Special by Titan Books (2020) (not to be confused with Star Trek: Voyager: A Celebration, another book released in 2020 in honor of Voyager’s 25th anniversary, A Celebration by Hero Collector Books).
Not a lot to say about the Voyager 25th Anniversary Special other than that it’s basically a hardcover magazine length book consisting almost entirely of interviews and articles that ran in Titan Magazines’ “Star Trek Magazine” back while “Voyager” was originally on the air (1995-2001). Short interviews (one to three pages long with the actors and also the season ending recap interviews with producers Jeri Taylor and Brannon Braga). The book does open with a short new interview with Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway) conducted especially for those special. (One can tell that it was pre COVID as they mention the upcoming Star Trek Cruise that the “Voyager” cast was set to attend in honor of the anniversary. That cruise was held in March 2020, right before COVID closed everything down.)
This is by no means a must read, but it is a nice “quick read”. And it is interesting to go back and read what the actors and producers were saying about the show and their characters at the time it was being made. I gave this three out of five stars on GoodReads.
David Young
Not a lot to say about the Voyager 25th Anniversary Special other than that it’s basically a hardcover magazine length book consisting almost entirely of interviews and articles that ran in Titan Magazines’ “Star Trek Magazine” back while “Voyager” was originally on the air (1995-2001). Short interviews (one to three pages long with the actors and also the season ending recap interviews with producers Jeri Taylor and Brannon Braga). The book does open with a short new interview with Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway) conducted especially for those special. (One can tell that it was pre COVID as they mention the upcoming Star Trek Cruise that the “Voyager” cast was set to attend in honor of the anniversary. That cruise was held in March 2020, right before COVID closed everything down.)
This is by no means a must read, but it is a nice “quick read”. And it is interesting to go back and read what the actors and producers were saying about the show and their characters at the time it was being made. I gave this three out of five stars on GoodReads.
David Young
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Ok, I got by the library today and the lost Desilu pilots and specials book was still there.
The precursors of “Mission: Impossible” chapter is only three pages long. It first describes the 1965 treatment titled “Briggs’ Squad: A Beginning” written by M:I creator Bruce Geller. Lt. Col. David (not Daniel) Briggs. His agents: Albert Key, a wheeler dealer; Jack Smith, a ladies man; Barney Collier, with graduate degrees in bio-electro chemical engineering, permutative mathematics, and micro-physics, and a ballistics expert; Willy “Arm” Armitage, ugly, ill-educated, strongest man in the world; Little Terry Targo, soft-spoken master at all forms if hand-to-hand combat and a hitman; and Martin Land, the master if disguise. When the M:I pilot was made only Briggs, Collier, Armitage, Targo, and Land (now Roland Land) appeared, plus addition of Cinnamon Carter. Terry Targo was only in the pilot.
Then it describes two other Desilu pilots prior to this that bore similarities to the M:I format. The first being “Man With 1,000 Faces”/“The Man Nobody Knows”, a project intended for syndication. Created by Hendrik Vollaerts. A “super-investigator” working out of Washington, D.C. Would have starred Steve Peck as the investigator, but Peck would have opened and closed each episode. Like Roland Hand, character would have donned make up at beginning of episode and taken it off again at the end, allowing other actors to play character in disguise for most of episode. Began development in 1957, pilot shot on 1959.
Then there was “Trio”, about the adventures of three ex-Army friends, an engineer, a lawyer, and a doctor. They get together to help individuals and also governments in trouble. There is a 1958 pilot script by Ed Adamson. After a year passed, Martin Leeds tried to get the project going again in January 1959 but it was soon dropped again.
Lastly, the chapter talks about “the real precursor of Mission: Impossible”, a short-lived series made by Filmways in the late 1950s titled “21 Beacon Street”. A team of operatives who devised elaborate schemes to catch criminals. Created by Leonard Heideman. There is a rather long side story about how Heideman had a psychotic break, stabbing and killing his wife. He eventually pled not guilty by reason of insanity (after spending spending fourteen months in a state hospital). Once the hospital testified that he had recovered from his psychosis, he changed his name to Laurence Heath and wrote a book about all of this. He subsequently scripted episodes of “Mission: Impossible”. Filmways sued Bruce Geller, claiming “M:I” resembled “21 Beacon Street” because of its emphasis on gadgetry and a team of experts. Geller claimed to have not have seen “21 Beacon Street” but paid Filmways off anyway to settle the suit.
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