Paul Lynde Show marathon New Years Eve Antenna TV

[Yong Fang]

Love Paul Lynde.

Bruce Villanch said it best about Paul Lynde and his talents, (you can find this on YouTube) that Lynde was a "flavor" in that he would walk into a show, he would "kill" (break the audience in hysterics) and leave. Lynde was not a headliner. He was too eccentric for that.

Even as the star of Hollywood Squares, Paul Lynde was one of ten celebrities (using the term slightly loosely), since Lynde was the center square, he was always picked, and was the funniest one, but there were again, nine other people on the show too. Lynde was basically the first among equals than anything.

Paul Lynde was just not believable in this show. Even in what, 1972, it is fairly obvious that he was very gay and him being married with a couple of kids and a wife was just implausable to say the least, and what I said above about what Villanch said about Lynde being a flavor of the show and not a headliner.

That was a problem ABC had with Lynde, they signed a huge contract with Lynde and didnt know what to do with him, and one thing they did was the Paul Lynde Halloween Special. That show was AWFUL, but a wonderful kind of awful, so bad it was good. But ABC were suckers on that and while it probably hurt Paul's feelings, he got paid whether ABC could find stuff for him to do or not.

[1960'sTVfan]

Originally Posted by Yong Fang

Paul Lynde was just not believable in this show. Even in what, 1972, it is fairly obvious that he was very gay and him being married with a couple of kids and a wife was just implausable to say the least

I agree, that was the other problem with this show, along with the fact that Paul Lynde's routine gets overbearing after awhile. He is better in a reduced role/supporting character. Having the lead role in his own sitcom, there are funny moments but overall it just didn't go over too well.

After The Paul Lynde Show was cancelled, ABC re-vamped the Temperature's Rising sitcom and Lynde was given a part in the show, but then that series ended up being cancelled too.

[Duster76]

I don't think Lynde's gayness (for lack of a better term) was the issue, RetroTVfan's comments are more on target. Lynde's acerbic personality gets exhausting in a half hour format that centers around his character. I guess Don Rickles had the same problem, playing off of likeable/relatable lead characters Lynde and Rickles shined, in the role of MC in the world their characters inhabit they become a little obnoxious.

A big thank you to Antenna TV for running the series, I love when they do stuff like this. Even with its faults the show is much funnier than some of the other one year series Antenna ran (specifically, It's About Time, My Mother the Car, Good Morning World).

Lynde show featured great guest stars, a real who's who in 60's 70's and 80's TV,

Bernie Kopell
Ray Walston (he played a Japanese businessman)
Mabel Albertson
David White
Charlotte Rae
Tom Bosley Who reacted when at the mention of an arrest in Milwaukee
Roger Bowen
Elaine Giftos

The above is just a partial list.

[stevea]

Originally Posted by Duster76

I don't think Lynde's gayness (for lack of a better term) was the issue, RetroTVfan's comments are more on target. Lynde's acerbic personality gets exhausting in a half hour format that centers around his character.

Yes, he seems eternally irritated by EVERYTHING and everyone.

As far as the gayness thing goes, there are a few comments he makes here and there that pertain to that--I'm betting they went right over the ABC censor's head.

[1960'sTVfan]

Originally Posted by Duster76

I don't think Lynde's gayness (for lack of a better term) was the issue, RetroTVfan's comments are more on target. Lynde's acerbic personality gets exhausting in a half hour format that centers around his character. I guess Don Rickles had the same problem, playing off of likeable/relatable lead characters Lynde and Rickles shined, in the role of MC in the world their characters inhabit they become a little obnoxious.

A big thank you to Antenna TV for running the series, I love when they do stuff like this. Even with its faults the show is much funnier than some of the other one year series Antenna ran (specifically, It's About Time, My Mother the Car, Good Morning World).

This is true. Paul Lynde Show, including it's faults, is funnier than the other three shows you mentioned. I'm glad that Antenna TV had the marathon, it was a fun way to bring in the new year.

[Svenfan1234]

One question I have: are the episodes edited or full length versions?

[1960'sTVfan]

Originally Posted by Svenfan1234

One question I have: are the episodes edited or full length versions?

As far as I can tell, it looks like Antenna runs them uncut. If they aren't uncut, then they are close to uncut. If anything is missing it isn't much.

[1960'sTVfan]

Here's something interesting: The Paul Lynde Show actually had it's origins ten years prior in 1962 when the unsold TV pilot "Howie" was filmed. The ratings for The Dick Van Dyke Show in it's first season weren't that good, and if that series had been cancelled, it seems that "Howie" might have been chosen to replace it. The pilot for "Howie" is currently on You Tube but it's downloaded in four parts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SyjEBJ-uQM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHsKiyOa2Ps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1f3Gd1N_FM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KvdMIad0tg

[icecream]

Oh my. CBS made a wise move sticking with The Dick Van Dyke Show. Classic TV might not have been the same if it had died after just one season.

[stevea]

Originally Posted by retroTVfan4ever

As far as I can tell, it looks like Antenna runs them uncut. If they aren't uncut, then they are close to uncut. If anything is missing it isn't much.

They're close to uncut. They vary between 23 and 24 minutes. There may be an opening scene they cut.

If you watch the Antenna episodes closely the color changes right before breaks sometimes. IMO that's restored footage. It was common to cut a few seconds before the break on old syndication episodes.

[1960'sTVfan]

Originally Posted by stevea

They're close to uncut. They vary between 23 and 24 minutes. There may be an opening scene they cut.

If you watch the Antenna episodes closely the color changes right before breaks sometimes. IMO that's restored footage. It was common to cut a few seconds before the break on old syndication episodes.

Maybe Antenna airs the shows uncut but they are time sped. That would explain the 23-24 minute run time.

[stevea]

The time shifting thing hadn't occurred to me, but that's a good possibility. I know MeTV does it, for sure--never thought about Antenna.

In any event I have to give Antenna a lot of credit for picking up short run shows like this and Lotsa Luck. I hope they do more of it.

[1960'sTVfan]

Originally Posted by stevea

The time shifting thing hadn't occurred to me, but that's a good possibility. I know MeTV does it, for sure--never thought about Antenna.

In any event I have to give Antenna a lot of credit for picking up short run shows like this and Lotsa Luck. I hope they do more of it.

Antenna's airings of Joey Bishop have always been edited, but now the episodes have 8 minutes of commercials when before there were 7 minutes of commercials. No additional edits were made to the episodes, which means they have been time sped so an extra minute of commercial time can be fit in.

With The Paul Lynde Show, it looks like Antenna runs it uncut but if the run time is 23-24 minutes, this would indicate these episodes are time sped also.

I would like to see Antenna add the Temperature's Rising sitcom to their lineup. Also a few other one season sitcoms from the 60's like Hey Landlord and The Cara Williams Show, or He & She with Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss.

[stevea]

Yes, I've noticed the extra minute of junk ads on Antenna.

[stevea]

No, but if you copy the show on the DVD recorder and edit out the commercials, you see the total time. The way you describe it would definitely not be enjoyable!