tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post2727399535651630839..comments2024-03-28T11:45:24.378-07:00Comments on Tralfaz: Benny, Writing and RatingsYowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-27494073922078957262015-11-16T18:54:13.444-08:002015-11-16T18:54:13.444-08:00Is it any wonder why Aubrey was called "The S...Is it any wonder why Aubrey was called "The Smiling Cobra"? He reportedly had an actress fired from "Petticoat Junction" because he wanted someone with a bigger bosom. And his set-tos with Keefe Brasselle would be fictionalized in Brasselle's book "The CanniBalS." <br />Paley decided enough was enough, and when he went into Frank Stanton's office and said "He's got to go," Stanton, the #2 man at CBS, didn't have to ask who.rnigmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01370724366178429029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-67274506227481056682015-11-16T14:18:29.134-08:002015-11-16T14:18:29.134-08:00In 1959, P. Lorillard Tobacco had been the primary...In 1959, P. Lorillard Tobacco had been the primary sponsor of whatever they "bought" for their Sunday night time period on CBS [10-10:30pm(et)] since 1952. That included "THE WEB", "FATHER KNOWS BEST", "APPOINTMENT WITH ADVENTURE", "THE $64,000 CHALLENGE", "THE $64,000 QUESTION", and finally "RICHARD DIAMOND, PRIVATE DETECTIVE". However, in order to accommodate Lever Brothers' plans to alternate Jack Benny and George Gobel on Sunday nights in the fall of 1959, Lorillard would have to relinquish their time slot.....and they didn't want to. As CBS president Louis Cowan discovered, when he told them they'd HAVE to, in order to keep Jack Benny on the network, Lorillard was VERY UNHAPPY with the decision [they moved "RICHARD DIAMOND" to NBC's Monday night schedule in the fall of '59]. And after all that finagling and planning.....Lever moved Jack up a half-hour earlier the following season {State Farm Insurance became Benny's new alternate sponsor, as a weekly series}, and co-sponsored "CANDID CAMERA" with Bristol-Myers at 10pm.bgraumanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07481033911573623806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-33386247570854219922015-11-16T14:09:20.004-08:002015-11-16T14:09:20.004-08:00It was because Aubrey "shoehorned" "...It was because Aubrey "shoehorned" "PETTICOAT JUNCTION" in between Red and Jack the following season that Benny objected to it- mostly because NO ONE at CBS had asked him how HE felt about the idea. "Why would they split up Red and me?", he demanded. According to his version of events, he tried to call Bill Paley {"Mr. CBS"}, the man who brought him over from NBC in the first place fourteen years earlier, and discuss the schedule change.....but got no response from him. Jack then decided, if THAT'S the way I'm was going to be treated, the hell with him! He then asked MCA to make the deal that would bring him back to NBC the following season. Other versions of this have Aubrey telling Jack to his face, "You're fired".bgraumanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07481033911573623806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-19756741235338655172015-11-16T14:03:17.716-08:002015-11-16T14:03:17.716-08:00Even Jack admitted "BONANZA" was a probl...Even Jack admitted "BONANZA" was a problem, as he recalled he decided to watch a few minutes of it before his own show aired (at 8:30pm Pacific Time, 9:30 Eastern). He was impressed {"It was good, darned good"}, and became so interested in it, when he finally checked his watch to see what time it was, "Hell, it wasn't 8:30, it was 8:50!!!". He'd missed over half of his own program by sticking with 'BONANZA". He then concluded that if he, himself, was so engrossed watching the competition to miss the start of his own show, what chance did he have with millions of other viewers who were doing the same thing? "I knew I was through"....in that time period, that is. Jim Aubrey wisely moved him away from 'BONANZA", and gave him a very "cushy spot" in between "THE RED SKELTON HOUR" and "THE GARRY MOORE SHOW" on Tuesdays the following fall......bgraumanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07481033911573623806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-40051886938863486192015-11-15T08:33:33.528-08:002015-11-15T08:33:33.528-08:00Jack would have trouble with westerns again in the...Jack would have trouble with westerns again in the 1961-62 season, when NBC's move of Bonanza from Saturday to Sunday night vaulted it into the No. 2 spot and resulted in Jack's show moving to Tuesday nights the following season (where it finished a very respectable 11th in the ratings, even if it wasn't up to past levels and CBS programing honcho Jim Aubrey already was planning to kill it completely by the end of the season).J Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15175515543694122729noreply@blogger.com