United We Stand - A Martin Luther King Jr. Lives TLIAW (or more)

[DTF955Baseballfan]

Is this really just a TLIAW?

Maybe, it can be continued, I mostly did it in the early days of recovery from hernia surgery, and am still recovering slowly so not walking a lot, etc. I invite others to add once I get it started (since just giving the idea didn't spark anything)

Oh, thanks for the mental image. Will you show your scar, too?

LBJ did after, I think, gallbladder surgery, so why not?

Yeesh, speaking of things that only started to get mentioned on TV then… though Dr. King won't push that much.

Right, his concern is equality, which is why he chooses this.

Andnot a baseball one?

Well, I learned Dave Winfield rejected a trade to Texas in 1984, and it could have led to a Cub win in ‘84, so now I don’t know if I should have that in 1984 or ‘85 with the Braves sending Horner to the Yankees, which would appear to be a fairer deal at the time with others involved.

He's actually going to have interesting twists, some stuff helps, some doesn't.

Right, much like a TV show, wouldn't you say?

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

Part 1 - From “Kingsey’s Army” to King’s Channel

"Civil Rights is not the only great need in America. The struggle is a symptom of a greater ill, that being that those without a voice are at the mercy of others, some of whom care nothing about their welfare."

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in a speech in May of 1968.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had said this in early May, 1968, when asked what the future of the Civil Rights movement was. He'd been feeling ill for a while - in fact, before the failed asassination attempt on April 4, 1968 he’d been feeling sick.

There was much sympathy after the attempt on his life - if he hadn’t had that sudden cough/sneeze, if someone hadn't jostled James Earl Ray, who was subsequently wrestle to the ground and beaten up by onlookers as the assailant spewed racist rhetoric - the bullet would have struck him and killed him instantly.

King got a second wind that allowed him to continue planning for the Poor Peoples’ March. However, when he spoke there, King was said to look “worn out” and “in need of about a six-month break.”

He would get that days later, as his wife, Coretta, found him slumped over at home and very short of breath. He was rushed to the hospital, where emergency procedures saved his life following a heart attack. It was said that the Poor Peoples’ March, while only seeing one instance of police brutality, that in Detroit, had taken so much effort it had nearly killed King. Organizers had even suggested turning it into a tent city and not worrying about the march and speaking aspects, but King had insisted upon speaking, as he had done in 1963.

At the time, some had jokingly called it “Kingsey’s Army,” after Coxey’s Army nearly 75 years earlier. King’s exhausted look was said to typify the way some saw it. However, his heart attack days later spurred action on numerous fronts.

Richard NIxon had called Dr King right away after the assassination attempt and wished him well. Now, seeking to make political hay, but also deeply concerned for the man, he called Coretta Scott King fast and also made sure he was the first politician to visit KIng. He was called by some a “political hack” who was using it, but he did feel deeply for the man. As NIxon said, “Dr. King is a great man, a man who is nothing like the rioters who oppose his efforts. Americans should follow his advice and seek peaceful resolution to conflicts; including means such as this coming election.” He pointed to his own Quaker upbringing and how peacefulness was the right avenue for everything.

This, then, and not the visit itself, is where Nixon would use it to his advantage. He pointed out talks with King before the 1968 March, talks which had proven beneficial. He had gotten King to say (again) in public he was not Marxist or Socialist, and in turn Nixon embraced the full employment calls of the March, based on the 1946 Full Employment Act, with the idea that the one million created public sector jobs could, possibly, become private sector jobs, and that they would keep people off of the streets.

He also encouraged Government funding for minority entrepreneurs, although critics were fast to point out that he was not in the White House and his party was not in power. Still, Nixon could point to the fact that the Fair Housing Act was still being delayed, although some said that it would have been passed quickly had King been assassinated. And, that the Democratic Congress had actually surrendered in the war on poverty by cutting Head Start and other things. Nixon made a number of campaign appearances with black business owners, although he also tried to lay conservative fears by pointing out that he did not say where those black businesses that he might support would be. Thus, he could argue to his supporters that he wasn’t going to force them to set up shop in white neighborhoods, although he could tell this was the way things were going. He already had people like Dr. King noting that school desegregation wouldn’t involve busing if blacks and whites could live together, something that couldn’t happen till the Fair Housing Act was passed in June of 1968 in the wake of King’s heart attack and of Nixon and John Volpe of MAssachusetts - who had done well with Civil Rights issues in a heavily Democratic state - conatantly pounding the table with: “The Democrats don’t really want racial equality, or they would have passed this already with a heavily Democratic Congress; wait till we’re in power!”

In doing so, Nixon scoffed at Democrats who, in his words, "had done nothing for the poor but pay lip service, with your choice there between George Wallace, who wants to push every poor person to the back of the bus, and Lyndon Johnson the Second."

Nixon had a few choices for running mate as he wrapped up the GOP nomination. Spiro Agnew was one of his top choices. So was Volpe, who had been in office longer. Nixon thought that, as time went on, he could make some points about the need to accept the “peaceful means” of Dr. King, whose Poor People March had shown that "these people want jobs, they want to be productive and not sit around like Lyndon - Johnson - and Hubert Humphrey - want them to do."

To do this, it was a lot better to have Volpe. There might have been a lot more riots had Dr King been shot and killed, and this would probably have tipped a close race in Agnew's favor for running mate. But Volpe had helped Nixon with ideas on how to use the march to their advantage. Besides, the man also checked off another box as far as “stealing votes from the New Deal coalition,” as one pundit put it. Volpe was a child of Italian immigrants. Yes, Agnew’s father was Greek, but there were far more Italian Americans in the U.S..

Nixon would go on to win the presidency in November, as peace talks went nowhere. He had considered trying to interfere, but Volpe had told him that the strategy they were taking was plenty. With Dr King still around, the others were having to speak for him a lot, riots were not nearly on people's minds as much as they had been and Nixon's economic plan was going to be a big deal.

King, meanwhile, would use an idea from a century earlier to determine how he could best get his point across, with the limited schedule he was now forced to live with.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

It was good that people were talking for King, because he wasn’t going to be speaking for a while. In fact, his doctors gave him strict orders: “Retire from your arduous schedule, or not only won’t you live to 70" - that was probably out anyway by now - "you might not live to 1970.” King was said to have the heart of a 65-year-old man, and he wasn’t yet 40.

So, as King pondered his future that summer of '68, he hit upon something.

It all began a century earlier. That's what many people said, anyway.

Frederick Douglass had known how to influence the masses through photography when it was a rather new invention - he had been the most photographed person of the 19th century. And as Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - in his hospital bed recovering from heart surgery - pondered his doctor's orders, he considered how he could use TV to do the same, and give people a voice.

He wanted to speak to the political situation. But, even more, he wanted to speak to society. To make people see black and white could live together - not just as a team like in sports or a show like Hogan's Heroes or I Spy, but in communities. Times were changing, and the Poor Peoples’ March had had people of many different races working together. Dr. King couldn't go around the country speaking anymore at a feverish clip like he used to be able to do. He needed some other way to urge people to accept blacks and whites together, just as they accepted other minorities.

And so, as MLK lay in that bed, forbidden from doing demanding things, he let his mind work, just as Douglass had a century earlier. He compiled a list of Hollywood people who would support him, white and black, as well as those he thought could be swayed to do what he planned.

Dr. King would create something which would change the face of television.

—-----------------

It had taken months to line up channels, get people to sign on to the concepts, and find good, creative talent. The network had covered Nixon's inauguration without much of an outlet to give their product, though there were a few stations by this time. King joked that his time had been an endless string of meetings; they were just all in one place now.

His wife, Coretta, had to manage many, especially early. His friends had some great ideas for making things come together - Jackie Robinson and Jim Brown, for instance, helped come up with ideas for getting into sports.

He realized it would be harder than he thought. He needed to decide, for instance, whether to try to sell his shows to a network or use syndication.

Both had plusses and minutes.

Networks gave more stability and bigger stations, but they could cut him off easily, and some Southern affiliates might refuse to air his content anyway - so having network affiliates was no guarantee they would listen. Meanwhile, syndication might help for some things, but the budget wouldn't be there for others. A talk show or game show was viable - a sitcom wasn't. Plus, he could have the same problem getting stations to air stuff. Although changes in regulations could make it a little easier.

It's not known who first broached the idea. Some said it was several at once who had it. However, as the positives of networks were discussed, they planned for a black crew to cover the Apollo launches and try to sell their product to some local news stations. Live footage from Mission Control and so on for less cost. And then, the idea came.

Why not their own network?

It would take much more planning. It would take much more money - but at least as they developed, advertisers could get behind them. Still, if anyone could rival the Big 3, they would have a lasting impact on everything.

And so, the United Broadcasting Group was born. The motto in various iterations would be “United We Stand.”

They would have their first big test right after the network launched.

____________________

Greg Gumbel wondered why he was there.

His brother was the broadcast enthusiast. Oh, Greg enjoyed it, but a black man in 1970 didn't have a lot of options when it came to broadcast journalism. He had been working in medical supplies when his younger brother, still a junior in college, had called and said that this new group was looking for a black reporter to cover Apollo 11.

His brother had been home from school the summer before his senior year. The Gumbels had broadcast the launch of Apollo 11, sent a live feed to local stations, and had interviews with the astronauts upon landing. They were really more like huge press conferences where they were lucky to get more than one question in.

Now, however, it was Greg alone.

That wasn't so bad with Apollo 12. His broadcast had been covered by a few more stations than last time, but he was certainly nowhere near Walter Cronkite, or even a popular local news anchor. However, enough people knew his face and name and he was glad to have a little break from his regular work again in April of 1970.

Once there was a problem, however, he told his employer that if this thing bombed, they would never have to worry about his needing a few days off of work again. He didn't think anyone would want to hire him after a disaster. The man who had broadcast the Hindenburg tragedy over the radio had even taken flak for his handling of it, and he had been a pro. And that was the radio where you couldn't see people.

Greg decided he would stick to sports after this. Maybe, just maybe he could come up with something. He had called around and learned that there had been a planned address had Apollo 11 failed and the men been stranded on the moon. Maybe he could borrow some things from that… no, he told himself, he had to have confidence. He could handle this. Whether the crew of Apollo 13 came home or not.

Lots of Americans, as well as people around the world, were tuning in as the Apollo 13 craft neared the point of landing; many watched to see if the craft would bounce off the Earth's atmosphere, burn up, or be at just the right angle to make a safe entry.

More local stations than before, in several parts of the country, had purchased the feed from them knowing that the UBG group wouldn't cost as much. In fact, a few game and talk shows one evening a week had officially marked their launch weeks earlier. He wouldn't exactly be live in a lot of homes, but he wondered if he wanted to be.

Those small bits would expand to a couple nights a week in fall of 1970. They didn't expect to compete with the Big 3 til they got some experience, but they needed to put a product out to get it.

Flip Wilson was going to NBC, and that was okay. They wanted the others to be integrated, too. King wanted to make points that could be made better with sitcoms, dramas, etc., as well as actually showing blacks in positions like newscaster.

From his headquarters, Dr King didn't know how nervous the young broadcaster was. All he knew was that a black man would be delivering the news to some places, including some local stations in large markets.

Greg Gumbel waited with many Americans. As the seconds ticked down, knowing that they only had a few moments in which they could do this, he decided it was best to remain quiet. He let his face tell the story, a tiny bit of sweat trickling down it.

He got the scoop only moments before some of them, but Dr. King smiled proudly. If this man's brother was anything like him, they would have the start of a news channel. But, on the other hand, he wanted it to be blacks and whites together.

For now, all that mattered was that the first voice to report had been Greg Gumbel with a relieved sigh as he blinked back a tear and said simply, "They're coming home. They made it!" Before pausing and - after a deep breath - giving an explanation and turning to a scientist for more detail.

Even before Dr King could release the vast majority of his shows, he had made an impact on the culture by breaking down another barrier and getting more and more audiences used to the idea of black journalists.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

Dr King had had to fight to get some studio executives and producers to come over to his group. He didn't have as much money, but there were idealists who believed in him. They might mostly be in the Midwest at first - critics dubbed United “The Great Lakes Network” because they seemed to be totally centered in those states at first. However, the presence of some of those creators - along with good publicity like with Apollo coverage would let them slowly get into all the big markets outside the South, and even some inside. A stroke of luck in 1971 - well, one stroke and one signing - would give them the whole country.

However, one such idealist would not stay with King for very long.

Norman Lear had plenty of ideas. However, he and Dr King soon found, as they discussed things in 1969, that they had some creative differences.

The show creator thought conflict was the way to go. He wanted to show the conflict when someone was totally against equality and wanted to show that bigots never won. He wanted to show a variety of things that would make Americans think.

Dr King vehemently disagreed. While he admired some of Lear’s ideas, he was against the idea of the character Lear envisioned named Archie Bunker. He also feared what m8ght be seen as stereotypical stuff that with his concept that would become “Sanford and Son,” even though the latter was a takeoff on a BBC show, “Steptoe and Son.” (Even the former was based off a British show.)

For one, Dr King didn't like the idea that there would be such antipathy King supposedly privately told Ivan Dixon as they discussed concepts once, “Lear’s afraid to try anything new.” Dixon reportedly teased King back saying, “That’s what everyone says about all of Hollywood.”

King thought it was important for characters to talk out their differences. Yes, there could be conflict, but King felt that character growth and learning to get along was the key, not having a foil who never won. As he said once, "you risk turning the man into a one-dimensional character if you don't show some growth and show him actually learning a lesson and sticking with that lesson. Yes, he can backslide, we are all like that. But when will he ever learn?"

Lear merely replied that he believed that audiences would respond better to his concepts than they would to King's. To him there was more natural humor in his type of conflict.

King had his own ideas. A popular family show, Family Affair, had had some episode dealing with the problem of racism, as well as a few other things, though certainly not the number of barriers Lear wanted to push. King wanted shows like that where blacks and whites were neighbors - indeed, the girl who played Buffy, Anissa Jones, was actually a few years older than her character. Her mother wanted her to play a little girl for longer so she could capitalize on marketing. But Dr King felt she would be perfect as a teenage daughter in such a show.

He was tired of the stereotypes, period - Davis Roberts, a good character actor who had always insisted on rising above the stereotypes, was someone he thought could play the patriarch of a black family, or perhaps a grandfather, and be a doctor, too - the neighborhood would be upper middle class but it could show how some communities still wouldn't accept blacks. Nichelle Nichols looked young enough to be his daughter but could play his wife. Nipsy Russell could also be the patriarch, or they could be brothers. He and others kept tossing ideas around, and Lear felt more and more left out as 1969 waned.

Finally, Lear had had enough, and they parted amicably, though perhaps a little stiffly. “I hope I see you at the Emmys one day,” Lear is supposed to have said. “I know the people will buy mine - I wish you good luck with your concepts.” With that, he left.

A television article later noted that Dr King probably made a wise decision, though it didn't necessarily look like it at the time. "In hindsight, Lear wanted to push a lot of boundaries at once with All in the Family. King had to be careful. He couldn't be the one doing everything, he had to pick his spots because his was a very new network. He could only push boundaries so so far - just having black families as part of the group of neighbors a family had, extras who could grow into regulars the same way white actors did, was enough.

"They stayed in touch and would collaborate on a few things. That would come later and involve interesting dilemmas. For now, they developed into friendly rivals. Lear knew for instance that Dr King's plan for a family in the Rust Belt area involved a pilot where a white family tried to solve a mystery about who would be trying to keep a black family away. When he knew that show was slated to start in 1971, he informed King that he planned to have something similar but with Archie Bunker not wanting a black family there. And, his would be earlier, so King might want to start that show in January. Which he would have, except <redacted> changed everything about the show and may have turned it from an average show into a golden goose."

John Amos caused interesting ripples later, too. But their desire for a white star to join them pushed UBG into the spotlight years before, thanks to some rumors that blew up into a full-fledged scoop, or series of them. Plus, it made that issue of the one show's pilot all the more pressing, and threatened to change it altogether.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

Dr. KIng and his people first spoke with “Family Affair'' writers in early 1969 to discuss a variety of issues - and it was mostly positive. He liked how the show had been willing to touch on problems with race relations, and he felt that it was a good model for how they might want to produce family-oriented sitcoms. Coretta, who because of his recovery took the ball with a few contentious issues yet, had broached the issue of Anissa’s age - wasn’t she getting a bit old to be able to play a little girl? How were they going to transition her?

This was when it became clear that they had no plan. Then, as discussions became a little more tense, the reasons came out - Jones’ mother and marketing.


“The way I see it,” King related to them, “you have allowed a person who is not even related to your production to call every shot.”

“When you develop your network - and I know you’re just in the beginning stages - you will learn that agents - and others - have a lot of control,” one producer said, trying to remain calm and understanding. He could, at least vent some of his frustration at what King was saying and make it like it was all frustration at Jones’ mother.

King chose to take it this way, too. “What’s needed is for this show to have a plan. Why not recast the role of Buffy, and have Anissa play a friend of Cissy’s? She could end up adopted into the family.” He pointed out that other characters had been recast with actors who looked rather different than the originals.

The executive producer smiled. At least now, they were discussing possibilities and not lecturing each other. “I’ll admit, we think the marketing issue is one that helps to drive the show. And just finding a girl who looks reasonably close out of the blue will be… difficult.”

“To say nothing of the mother’s reaction,” his assistant said.

The discussion continued for a little while, and the issue was finally tabled, but Dr. King had gotten them thinking; first, that they had to have a plan, and second, that if Anissa - a teenager by early 1971 - chose, she might take a more lucrative offer if one was available. Or, maybe, just maybe, they could eventually come to UBG with the show retooled just a bit.

To their credit, “Family Affair” writers actually tried to think of ways to show Jones as a young teen if possible, after some pressure from the United group. Dr King had clout and was persuasive. Plus, Anissa herself was interested in what UBG was proposing. The Idea was even floated, as Vietnam led to more understanding of trauma, that her parents’ death and the forced separation had, in fact, traumatized her enough that she was constantly pretending to be a young girl even though she was a few years older.

There were a few problems with the last idea. First, why would Cissy and Jody go along with it without telling anyone? Second, was Uncle Bill so clueless when they got there that he didn’t know the twins really weren’t twins? Third, how would they pull it off without making it sound like the plot of a soap opera?

Her mother, meanwhile, was opposed to any change - which was a problem because as was pointed out, Anissa would be a teenager by the end of a fifth season anyway, and was starting to clearly resembles a woman in a very important way, which would need to be hidden, something which would be uncomfortable at the least.

As far as Jones considering rival UBG, the mom chafed at the very idea. “Why would my daughter consider you - you don’t even have one TV show!” she complained in January of 1970.

They had been working on that. The idea was to pick up a couple nights a week at first, with variety and game shows aimed to begin in fall of 1970, plus a few sitcoms, with more in January of 1971. They didn't have to be all or even majority black, King just wanted them to be sufficiently integrated and show black people in everyday roles. They actually would roll out something one night a week in March of 1970 with hype for May sweeps month when additional content would come.

While they wouldn’t be able to get CBS’ programming director once Fred Silverman replaced him as expected - the man planned to move to Childrens’ Television Workshop and develop its international fare - they could get any popular shows which Silverman thought of cutting. More importantly, they brainstormed for their own shows and got people to pitch ideas to them starting in 1969.

King and the others were smart enough to know that a show needed star power, though. And Anissa would provide it for all the right reasons.

During one of the early meetings about this situation, Nichelle Nichols had made sure of it. "Remember how you told me I needed to stay on Star Trek? Because it was so important for black people? We need to stay in this for Anissa. Because its a stand that must be taken to protect children like her." Dr King agreed that it was important to ensure such people had a voice.

In fact, Anissa had a favorable view of the whole idea of playing a young teen on a rival network if CBS wouldn't let her. She would honor her contract for now, but the eleven-year-old, 12 in March of 1970, felt relieved knowing there was somewhere for her to go.

If only everyone else felt that way around her. They wondered why King wasn’t looking to promote a black star. But, King had said from day 1 that he wanted “an integrated network, not one relegated to the back of the bus.”

Besides, Jim Brown - who was a big part of the funding and promotion - preferred action movies - plus he’d had some legal troubles. Jackie Robison wasn’t in the best of health and was too busy with other interests, anyway, so he wouldn’t be up to taking on the grind of sitcom filming. They wanted someone who could carry a show, be funny, but also be serious. Yet, one who would instantly draw fans - which meant, if it wasn’t going to be to a known star in another field (since Flip Wilson didn’t want to leave his variety show, nor did King want him to - “NBC wants you, you’re established, stay that way,” he insisted) - it probably had to be a white star.

This would have been all well and good, but as is the nature of TV shows, complications added to the problem. Complications which overwhelmed publicity in spring of 1970.

Anissa Jones’ mother decided to leak word of the negotiations in order to force “Family Affair” producers to give her more money - meaning, of course, the mother. This prompted cries from UBG personnel that it wasn’t about the money, and scurrying from Family Affair writers to see how what was once a worry they could push aside could be quickly prevented - having to replace Buffy or write her off if she wouldn't continue at their price, and if so, how to avoid the mother’s wrath.

King decided to counter-propose. He had people around him who could smell something dirty with how her mother acted. But, he thought, maybe that could be a good thing. His network could get some positive publicity for standing up against such behavior by a parent. This way, they could get more child actors with the reputation for treating the much more fairly.

So, he asked one of his best civil rights attorneys to represent Anissa and try to get an injunction preventing her from having to wear something which would force her breasts to be flattened. Anissa had, even toward the end of the fourth season, been forced to wear something which allowed her to conceal her breasts - something very uncomfortable and which they found experts to argue could be dangerous. “I felt like I should be starring in a Victorian show about a girl in a corset,” she would say years later.

The actions of one of his executives stunned King, who wasn’t used to hardball Hollywood negotiations - the injunction and possible lawsuit were supposed to lead to an easy settlement. He figured it wouldn’t be too big of a deal.

The executive had sent a telegram to Anissa’s mother “Name your price, and if it's even remotely possible we’ll get her a show for the fall of 1971,” he had said. This would let her keep her contract for 1970, thus not angering Family Affair executives.

What would result would be a gigantic swing for the fences. But it was one he’d had inside information on, as it would come at the same time as the injunction would be threatened.

What this executive knew was that Anissa, being impatient as many kids her age were - didn't want to wait to see if the injunction was granted or needed, further confounding things.

So, on the same day the telegram was sent, Anissa - without her mother’s knowledge - told “Family Affair” writers that - now that she knew she had a landing spot if she was fired - she would no longer wear the “corset.”

“If I appear on Family Affair, I will look like the twelve-year-old girl I am,” she declared, reportedly with the support of at least a couple of her fellow cast members who had been getting wind of the thing. “However you handle it,” she continued, “whether to have Buffy look like this" - and Dr King's talks with her about peaceful resistance told her just doing the show without the "corset" was plausible - "to have Buffy recast or always be offscreen, or to write her off, you may have me for the show as a girl about to enter her teenage years. How you handle it is up to you.”

The statements, threats, and so on would result in, among other things, an all-time record sale of TV Guides throughout the country. Anissa’s face appeared with the headline “Million Dollar Baby” there and in other publications, amid stories of how each party involved - Anissa, “Family Affair” producers and writers, Anissa’s mother, and the new UBG with its developing slate of shows, saw her potential for money and stardom. Including King’s sitcom idea which others had helped him to develop into a project slated for January of 1971. Suddenly, the possibility of Anissa being the simple teen daughter on that show turned into a giant swirl of rumors.

To be continued…

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

Part 5 - Million Dollar Baby - part 2

“It was a swing for the fences - by everyone,” one network executive said later. “And you know how the industry is - the first thing many of us thought was, 'this will make a great TV movie.' The world would be reshaped, that was all we knew.”

The typical reaction when her mother presented her demands on what it would take to jump to the UBG was, "For that kind of money? She'd better be Lucille Ball!"

The money was just part of what Anissa Jones's mother was asking for. However, the fact that Jones had only just turned 12 meant that a lot was expected of her, no matter what happened.

Oh, the Family Affair writers could work around that. They were apoplectic till they realized the courts could get involved, and then the public reaction to the "corset" was forcing their hand anyway.

She could play the older sister of a kid the Davises would bring in - but what to do with the character of Buffy? Sudden discovery by a talent scout a la Shirley Temple and appearing in TV or movies? A sudden desire to be a professional ballerina? With Uncle Bill hiring a “wonderful lady the family was familiar with” to coach and travel with her? Even if they just wrote her off, that would leave a gaping hole… negotiations were tense as they tried to find ways to get her to at least appear sometimes as Buffy, the 9-or-so year old. (Well, probably 10, though the number had been fluid. Just not that fluid).

Still, as King and the staff of his network met in Atlanta, consensus seemed to be that this was a symptom of the problems that Anissa Jones had. Somebody needed to solve them - the people on the show weren't doing their jobs when it came to protecting her. In fact, they seemed to be enabling her mother.

At least her co-stars were glad something was possible, so rumors of cancellation lasted only a day or two - besides, some other network would pick up the show if they did that. Anissa kept in contact with UBG throughout, and at the worst with her mom's behavior she needed daily assurances of support from her co-stars and UBG personnel that they wouldn’t give in.

Still, the mom liked the idea that Buffy had some recently discovered talent - it would let her continue to reap merchandise money, and maybe get more. Some still held out hope for her to "suddenly wear only very loose clothing," but something would apparently be done. Anissa would do the too-large clothing for 1-2 episodes as Buffy, but not a full season, and frankly, almost everyone agreed the idea of her always wearing a painters Smock or something was ludicrous.

Meanwhile, King and his people had been having a variety of meetings before and after receiving the mother’s demands - which seemed to be aimed at driving CBS’ price sky high. The mother feared losing control, but if she could rake in more money, she could live with it. Show producers certainly felt that the sudden change, if done right, would draw lots of curious viewers.

"Alright," King said once May sweeps were over, "what are her mom's demands? We've got a few months till the 1970 fall schedule. We've got a concept. Do we have wiggle room? Will she accept her in this concept in January?”

"Yes, she is allowed to play a teenager when she comes to us. But, she can’t just be a daughter who is a supporting cast member. I may as well be blunt. These negotiations have gotten to the point to that her mom is asking for her daughter to be Lucille Ball. She’s asking that this be the Anissa Jones Show and that her daughter be the star, with any parents as supporting actors. In other words, the opposite of what she's doing to her own daughter."

King rubbed his chin. " Those bigots in the South have nothing on some Hollywood mothers.” He looked at the numbers which had been passed around. “Can we even afford this?"

"I'll put in my own money. As much as we need," Jim Brown said.

"That's mighty kind of you," King said. "I will accept that. But from what the financial people just shared, we have to make sure that we get the advertising for this show and every Major Market possible. I think we can get enough stations to air it, and we do have all the major advertisers willing to advertise on United. But I was hoping to have her in our concept about a black family who moves out of the ghetto into a decent Pittsburgh neighborhood. She would be the drawing card, the bridge to people accepting this family." The city was chosen because it had a history of decent race relations - so it wouldn’t be a huge surprise - and as a Midwestern city it would resonate more with mainstream audiences.

Robinson suggested that a few of what would later be called “Easter eggs” where the Pirates were mentioned might be good since baseball was still big, and the Steelers could be, too, if they ever improved.

"We may as well tell Alan Alda right now that he's not going to be the father he thought he was in the pilot," one executive said. Others nodded. Alda was later would later quipped that he had been traded to CBS for Anissa Jones with others involved as well, and that "the trade worked out well for both sides.".

Nichelle Nichols was there also. She had been pegged as the mother in this black family, she looked old enough that she could have a black child that age. "Doctor King, I know what Hollywood is like; there are things we need to take a stand for." She described how well the child actors were cared for in a few episodes of Star Trek, one in particular with William Shatner's daughters. She offered to meet with Anissa, and echoed what someone else had said that their Network could be known for fairer treatment of child actors, which would possibly get them more talent.

"Good, do that. Maybe the mother is pressuring them, I don't know. One concern I have is the mother might not accept if the show doesn't do well; not that it won't, but we need to hit some home runs quickly with it."

Doctor King felt the pressure. He was trying to launch something major when he himself had been told to step back. It had been almost 2 years since his heart attack, but he still needed to delegate a lot. He appeared personally when he had to however.

Thankfully one of them offered some advice that seemed to go well with what the famed civil rights leader wanted. "Maybe this can work if she is the dynamo, so to speak, that gets this family welcomed into the white neighborhood. Maybe she can be the All-American girl who people look up to and respect for being able to do that and want to follow suit. Have the whole neighborhood revolve around her."

"And make it a tad more upper middle class. Maybe the black father is a doctor and he can't get his family into the really wealthy neighborhood", someone suggested. King liked the idea.

"So we change her from just a nice girl who helps and does the typical babysitting and such into what, Annie Oakley? Do we run a risk of turning people off of her? Not that I don't mind a tough girl who is a leader, but from what people have told me about Mary Tyler Moore, the important thing is she is going to be very nice and friendly all the time. Can we afford to have this character, and I hope we can say Anissa’s character, be like that?" one writer asked.

King held up his hand after a moment of discussion. "Let's think about different leaders and how they lead - who are the most well respected women in America?" Someone said Eleanor Roosevelt, Another Jackie Kennedy. A couple others named fictional mothers. Lucille Ball's name came up. One even said Rosa Parks. "All good women. But while we thought of this teen as a sweet mother figure, we don't have to. We want character growth. So why not allude to that leadership and call her Eleanor?"

"Her mom insists on the name Anissa.” King gave a tired “of course” nod. “But Anissa Eleanor rolls off the tongue nicely."

"All right, let's build her character. And instead of starting with the concept we were going to and starting in the winter, we can just start the show in fall of 1971 and move another show to January of '71. It looks like we have to rework this pilot. Which means you're right, Alda will not be the star."

They thought correctly that he would back out once he realized Anissa would have the run of the show. He wanted his own starring role. Something else would come up, however - MASH.

"As long as she’s okay on ‘Family Affair’ - and we can have her on something else if she isn’t for 9ne year. Unless her contract will let her leave, but it sounds like that's not possible?"

Someone else reported that they were going to tell Nichelle this later, but they heard that Anissa was very unhappy by this time and might want to jump her contract - that threat to not perform as a little girl anymore was a promise, and there was uncertainty about whether the writers could come through while they had this late May meeting.

"I was a very minor performer and I told Gene Roddenberry that I was going to leave if I didn't get opportunities. He was very understanding."

“It sounds like the writers might accept some compromise with Buffy. It would be a change, Dr. King. But it wouldn't be anything we haven't seen before with character changes. They'll bring a new little girl in instead." The others could tell that the speaker was hesitating in how he said this. "I… don't know what the mom's reaction is, or how she will act if Anissa keeps standing up for herself. Apparently she’s not taking Anissa’s promise to not play a little girl very well, and I don't know if she'll be pressured..."

"It can't be worse, can it?" There was a slight hesitation. "Is she safe?" Nichelle asked in a hush.

The executive couldn't say for certain, though thankfully the mother realized any physical assault would ruin her own cause.

"Look, let me talk to the producers at Family Affair. We had a good meeting at first when we discussed family shows, once we stopped lecturing each other.” Dr King brushed off concerns about his health if it got contentious. "Don't worry, they won't tear into me. Maybe they can do something. I agree if she needs protection we need to make sure she has it."

He was glad for the laugh when someone else suggested that Muhammed Ali be the one to approach the mother.

Eventually, Anissa agreed to play Buffy on a few episodes, including the first and last of the new season. A new girl would be brought in to replace Buffy, a four-year-old who also needed a home, played by a child of 5 or 6. Buffy would become a celebrity - with the new girl, ironically, admiring her so much that she tries to take after her, a role that was said to be because of her grieving and not wanting to face her loss.

Anissa’s new character would be a neighborhood friend whose dad was a psychologist and who tries to get the new girl to be herself. There would therefore be mention of Buffy at least once in every episode. It was a fair workaround, but the mom insisted that she retain rights to merchandising of items with Buffy on them. That was the least of the confusing problems.

Anissa wished she didn’t even have to play Buffy in the few episodes she’d agreed to - but at least later, she’d be free, and they would find a way with a painter's smock or something like that.

CBS executives got concessions, too, in the form of promises not to compete for shows they did not cancel. There was already talk of a rural purge and the network was forced to admit that they would not have any interest in some shows, so UBG might as well have them. UBG also pledged not to compete for the services of Alan Alda. In return, CBS would not charge the United network for any potential lost revenue because of the situation. They would also be able to collaborate in the future.

Her mom’s insisting on the UBG deal, on the other hand, meant that UBG had their star going into the 1971-72 season. It was just a matter of finding the right way to use her, and hoping it worked.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

Part 6 - Free Agents From the Rural Purge

The Rural Purge changed everything, and not just because the shows that were picked up allowed the new network to finally get into every important Market in the United States, thanks to devoted fans of those shows insisting on it.

It was decided that Beverly HIllbillies really didn’t have a lot of time left after its 11 season run. But when news of the planned “purge” of shows taking place in rural areas began to leak out, the young network knew they had some interesting decisions to make. And they knew that if they picked up Beverly Hillbillies, even that would allow them to get some viewers who might not have come over otherwise.

They would not compete against the Flip Wilson show till they had to. Dr King wanted to support black performers who were on the big three networks. However, they would do an additional night if they found enough shows, thus allowing them to expand to all seven nights.

In fact, they realized that they could start to eventually sell their shows overseas as well. In communications with the BBC, since the BBC wasn't interested in keeping the earliest Doctor Who series, the UBG would take them as well. It was good quality programming for a lower cost at first, just like they bought the rights to a few really old movies for their movie nights.

Back in the United States, Gunsmoke was going to be cancelled, with Mayberry:RFD and “Family Affair" being renewed, but then Gunsmoke was so popular CBS couldn’t just cancel it. Some say that the presence of the United Network was part of the reason, but many say that they would have kept Gunsmoke anyway. The idea that the new network could air Gunsmoke at 8 and then a good Western at 9:00 to draw more viewers away from CBS just added to it.

Ironically, Dr. King had been unsure about the idea of taking on Gunsmok, though he supposed it would work. He was convinced that they needed viewers most of all, even if the Western wasn't doing too well on TV anymore. Besides, the idea of a few black Exodusters riding into Dodge City and being welcome after a while could have worked. And, he didn't have to have black performers in every one of his shows. So there was still a good possibility he would have taken the show, but as it turned out it didn't happen.

However, he not only had ideas for the other 2 shows, he had a good working relationship with “Famiy Affair” people, once the craziness surrounding the Anissa Jones affair had subsided. After all, they had seen a boost in ratings, especially at first because of all of the publicity and questions surrounding what would happen, and Dr. King and his Network had tried to remain friendly and work with them as things got crazier. They all understood that they could use the mother as the real culprit.

The new situation had created a breath of fresh air in what had become a stale situation on the show. Indeed, NBC was looking at picking up the show itself for a sixth season, though many in NBC’s programming department felt the show had run its course. “Look,” they said, “sure there was a boost, but the only reason there was, was that the audience wanted to know what became of Buffy’s television career. And now she’s got her own sitcom - well, she’s the child in one - in-universe. What a sendoff they gave her! And except for the finale, ratings fell back to the level they had been at the end of season 4.”

The writers knew Anissa wouldn’t be returning as Buffy or as the single-season character she had played (actually three years older than her real age to make it easier for her to be in Cissy’s class at school.) But the latter could be recast or a new friend found, and now they could give it one more season, at least. They still felt they had something left. And if NBC didn't want them, they knew that United would. And, they're working relationship with UBG was a bit better anyway.

As for Mayberry, RFD, Dr. King and his associates hoped to see if they could bring the show on but introduce some reasons why blacks were accepted in that county and thus there was no reason for any mention of the Civil Rights movement. He thought that Sheriff Taylor must have been accepting of them, people just never saw them, and he tried to hide the acceptance from outsiders because the rest of the South might not like it. The fact that there were already recurring African-American characters was a plus. He could then use it to share his message that there were southerners who did accept integration.

This helped draw viewers, because there was anticipation as to how they did it. Dr King was seeing more and more how the idea of getting viewers excited and curious would draw ratings. There were hints that this was one county where the mayhem from the Wilmington Coup of 1898 hadn’t touched them, because it was too far out of the way (close to the border with Tennessee) and also because of a hard-nosed sheriff who had been a Unionist during the Civil War; a distant ancestor of Sheriff Taylor’s could be featured in a November Sweeps episode in 1971 as the actors played versions of themselves in 1903, with the Wright brothers coming down from Ohio to Kitty Hawk as part of the plot.

However, as Dr King met with Andy Griffith, they discussed the intentional integration which had occurred in Mt. Airy, just like in Shaker Heights Ohio and one place in illinois, after World War II. This was the town upon which Mayberry was based. They decided that, since Griffith had grown up there, it was better to use the idea of intentional integration and how it could be expanded into the rest of the country.

When writers insisted upon their idea of the flashback to 1903 and Kitty Hawk, King decided to Green Light the project and that instead of it being immune from the effects of the Wilmington coup, Mayberry would be one community where people tried to oppose the racism of the rest of the state. It would become a two-part episode which was grittier than most, but where the good guys still won. As king told a very close friend and civil rights coworker, “I'm willing to compromise a little with Hollywood for production if in the end we can make the statements I want to make. It really goes along with another of Frederick douglass's quotes. I will unite with anyone to do right and with no one to do wrong.”

"It was a sign that the show still had life. It would go on for a few more years. It was really almost like a spin-off even back on CBS and especially here," a later TV historian wrote. “it also showed that Dr King was learning more and more about how Hollywood worked and how to go with the flow to draw viewers. “

So in the end, Mayberry and Family Affair both were picked up by United. The latter was seen as a free agent where they could go to either United or NBC, but increased publicity surrounding the new Anissa Jones show, and the possibility of crossovers, convinced writers to take a chance on the new network. It would probably be the only season, or two seasons at the most, whereas Mayberry would last a few more, as retooling caused it to become almost like a third iteration. The newcomers were also a good way to ensure that UBG could get into all the important markets.

As Dr. King said, “we want to show the older demographic that there have been common, ordinary people who have always been accepting of integration, even if the majority in the South didn’t.” He also made a point to emphasize that “We could even take the show in a whole new direction. Maybe center it on a different character, for instance.”

Lassie was another which had been cancelled. This was an area where Dr. King’s and others’ feathers were ruffled, since children were viewed as a “useless demographic because they have no money.” He insisted that nobody should be called useless for any reason, and he pushed for Lassie to be put on his network. While the producers of Lassie wanted to go into syndication, they reached a deal where they could air on UBG and other independent stations; this might be a way for UBG to package itself to reach more people eventually.

It was certainly doing that with The Anissa Jones Show.

Loretta Swit was hired to play Anissa’s mother. She knew she’d not be the star, but she accepted the supporting actress role. She liked that Anissa’s character - Anissa Thompson - had had something of a similar upbringing to Loretta’s own with all of her activities, Girl Scouts, and so on. In fact, Loretta was consulted if she thought the script made Anissa too busy.

King might have found that his executives fought for another diamond in the rough - The Waltons - but CBS realized the need to respond to the rural Purge and also the United Network's ratings success. Even before that, though, rights to negotiate with the creators were said to be one of the things exchanged for young Anissa's contract rights, especially when they saw the success of the shows that had come over from CBS. "So," as someone joked when told of how Alda had kidded Anissa Jones about it at the Emmys one year, " the trade was really Alan Alda - who did the most for MASH - and The Waltons for Anissa Jones and several other shows, most of which did decently for a year or more. Given what she did, it still seems like a decent trade."

Green Acres, which had the benefit of satire, let them enjoy moderate success, though some of that was because Family Affair was placed at 7:30 on Tuesday nights, followed by the Anissa Jones Show and then Green Acres. They parodied their own cancellation and moving fairly often.

Plucking “Family Affair” from them had, because the writers decided to make this the final season, given them a top 20 show which rose in the ratings and helped as the lead-in that The Anissa Jones Show needed to succeed even more. In fact, they did a one-hour crossover between the two during November Sweeps Week that had Cissy's new fiance in Pittsburgh.

Cissy would eventually leave and marry in the final two-parter, with her and her new husband adopting the little girl who had come to stay with them and replace Buffy in the home. Jody would go with Buffy on TV, and by the end of the final episode, Uncle Bill would be all alone, till he got a call to join Buffy and Jody on set as an assistant, one which he and Mr. French accepted. Cissy's new husband was a writer for the show, so she would be there, too. It was a nice two-part sendoff that local stations would enjoy airing with all the other reruns.


Speaking of sendoffs, though, one other show was cancelled in 1971, not a victim of the “rural purge” itself but of a major network reshuffling.

“Hogan’s Heroes” had seemed to run its course also. But, they hadn’t ended the war. Dr. King knew Ivan Dixon, who had directed shows by now on other networks as well as UBG, would enjoy the reunion, and executives thought it could be a huge made-for-TV movie.

CBS wasn’t interested, but if his group could get the rights to the movie, and do it well, it could help boost them even more and give them a good reputation for more current movies than some of the ones they had been showing. And, it seemed possible. The show was going to be in reruns anyway and be very popular on many local stations. So, the movie would be a one-off but still allow CBS to keep any royalties from reruns. There was just a question of how to do it without kind of ruining some of the show’s tension, since it was generally thought that at least a few of the Germans were in on the sabotage and stuff, and Dr King wanted the show to portray that.

Meanwhile, The Anissa Jones Show was a huge rookie sensation, finishing tied for fourth with, ironically, CBS’s Gunsmoke, though their Executives would secretly be happier with the fifth place finish next year when CBS tried to put Maude opposite them. After consistently losing to them in the ratings, CBS moved it back to the time right after All in the Family, to attempt it on a different night next year. In addition, some of the early ratings had been driven by audience curiosity after the huge buildup from the Million Dollar Baby controversy of the year before, proving that as long as it wasn't disastrous, any publicity was good publicity.

Anissa's show had a cast that functioned well together, even as events (mostly Anissa's mom) made things difficult off the air and drew the cast even closer because of it.

 

[neopeius]

This is fascinating! I saw Anissa on Hollywood Palace and was impressed with how precocious she was. It makes sense if she was really 8 and not 5.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

This is fascinating! I saw Anissa on Hollywood Palace and was impressed with how precocious she was. It makes sense if she was really 8 and not 5.

Thanks. Yeah, the way child actors were treated changed because of the tragedy surrounding her death, here things will change early because of people catching the situation in time but especially because she has an outlet.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

TV Critics lashed out at “All in the Family” for “not always being family friendly." They lauded Dr. King’s network, though, because “The Anissa Jones Show” - dubbed Anissa’s World in afternoon reruns - was a surprise hit.

Meanwhile, The Anissa Jones Show was a huge rookie sensation, finishing tied for fourth with, ironically, CBS’s Gunsmoke. All in the Family was first of course but the new network made the ratings race closer Executives would secretly be happier with the fifth place finish next year when CBS tried to put Maude opposite them. After Maude consistently lost to them in the ratings in the fall, CBS moved it to a slot right after Here's Lucy at 9:30 on a different night, and bought out Doris Day’s contract for the last half season of her show, as it had changed premise in season 4, away from being a family-oriented show anyway, due to the effects of the Rural Purge, it was going to be canceled after this season anyway, it was losing in the ratings, and Doris Day had been signed on by her husband without her knowledge before his death. They would have to figure out where to put Maide for the 1973 season later. That paid off better with Good Times being spun off of it in early 1974, although that would create its own interesting dilemmas. And, the new network meant that ratings weren't as high as they could be. Anissa's show ended up in a muddle right ahead of the NBC movie and right behind Bridget Loves Bernie.

Some of the early ratings had been driven by audience curiosity after the huge buildup from the Million Dollar Baby controversy of the year before, proving that as long as it wasn't disastrous, any publicity was good publicity. But they were holding their own, and once the tougher competition had left they rose, passing Mary Tyler Moore and the movie in the end to be a comfortable fifth. They would rise to 3rd next season, as they had gotten a good grasp on what characters audiences liked and what they didn't among the neighborhood group.

Anissa fought all year in its third season with The Waltons for second before settling down to third, partly because Happy Days had been moved to its time slot in the spring. As one writer put it, “UBG doesn't have dominant shows everywhere, but they have enough to create very stiff competition. They just have to gain more consistency with their other programs. And they are starting to do that.” Vanessa would wind up running for several seasons more and doing consistently well.

So, before a comment on the way the rest of the world was going, let’s look at the way Anissa took the UBG by storm, as well as a few other network things in the next chapter.

The very first scene of the pilot had been crucial - Anissa is talking briefly with the family dog about taking a care package (sandwiches and brownies she’d made and a homemade card) to the new family, the Grants. Loretta enters and says light-heartedly, “Anissa Thompson, you may have just turned 14, but you still can't get out without a hug from your mother.”

She smiles, says “Sorry, Mom,” and they briefly hug as Anissa says “I knew you were busy.”

In an article later, Anissa recalled, “We set the stage fast. My age - not 2-3 years younger like Buffy, 7 months older than me in fact - my being independent, and my mom being a little stiff when it comes to the new family, yet also willing to learn, even if a bit reluctantly. My character is always quick to remind her that she taught me everything I know, what shows respect for her. She sees how some of her lessons have repercussions that she never considered. That helps drive a bit of the tension. But she always comes around, and she’s not like the combative Archie, she’s just unsure at times. So is my dad.”

This was important because there had to be a big distinction between this pilot episode and the episode that had aired in Spring of 1971 on All in the Family, where the Jeffersons move into the neighborhood. Norman Lear sent Dr King a note of congratulations after King’s episode and kidded him that he, Lear, had set the stage. Dr King said that if the timing had been right he would have had the pilot in January of 1971 but that he thought Lear's show would have been just as successful.

Indeed, one can argue what one magazine noted in an article titled "Welcome to the Big Leagues, United." The author notes that "it is a similar situation but told from two very distinct points of view, that of the person who doesn't want them in Archie and a person who does and who is looking for the culprit in Anissa, with the black family portrayed in a different manner in each. Although, that is partly because the family in Anissa Jones's show has younger children and in that first scene her mom admits 'knowing you, you'll have a babysitting job by tonight.'"

UBG promotions urged people to guess a few things in the show like the girl’s middle name, in order to get them to watch; one person received a prize for writing in with the correct one. It wasn’t revealed till the last lines of the pilot, when Anissa’s mom meets NIchelle Nichols’ character and they learn that each one had met Eleanor Roosevelt - the black woman on a campaign stop in 1940 as a girl, the white one when a bit older in 1950.

“The scene is written to say that we all have things in common,” Swit went on in the same article. "That’s the whole idea behind Dr. King’s plan for TV shows - he wants to bring people together.”

This would happen a few times, such as when Davis Roberts’ character is filling in for the doctor who normally treats Anissa’s character’s father - and the dad must deal with having a black doctor for the first time. Yet It's not heavy-handed, just as much attention is paid to the fact that a neighbor will now have information about his medical history, even though the doctor promises and keeps the promise of doctor-patient confidentiality. (At the end of the episode, her father is pleasantly surprised to learn that nobody else knows about his hernia.)

Anissa also learns lessons herself, but they are mostly of the misunderstanding variety. In that same third episode, she joins a friend in questioning why a boy stood this friend up when he was in school the next day (with lines about boys and maturity showing Anissa won't be the "boyfriend of the week" type, though a recurring friend might and a few possible suitors appear as recurring characters if they fit into the plot. They finally learn the boy has a medical condition that can pop up at any time (possibly something like Crohn's though it's vague), and the family phone wasn't working.

King also uses the medical part to make a point. This is a very good middle-class neighborhood, but it's not the richest even though the doctor could afford it, because they didn't seem as welcomed in the ritzy neighborhood. It also has a variety of people who all have some needs - episode 2 of season 1, "Fear Itself," is King's poke at the Vietnam War while not getting too controversial. Anissa helps a neighbor boy whose dad is frozen with fear after a PTSD spell while the mom is out of town, and another kid she is babysitting at firdt who is afraid of a noise in the house that ends up being a ferret in the wall. The episode has her grandfather appear who had shell shock in WW1 and manages to help the dad through this spell, and has the message, "Let's focus on how this is destroying lives." It's a knock at Vietnam without being totally anti-war and respecting the veterans who serve.

Cleavon LIttle was considered for the role of NIchelle’s husband but he had several other opportunities at the time, including a TV movie that seemed promising. He did appear in a few episodes as her youngest brother, a football player at a historical black college who “made it to the 3rd week of an AFL camp in '61" (with appropriate confusion between the old American Football League and the American Federation of Labor), and later became a doctor and a colleague of Davis Roberts’ character. As King said, “It’s just one more way of knocking down stereotypes - judging by the content of their character and having black men doing more than menial labor.” (Anissa's character occasionally shows interest in the medical profession by asking the dad questions.)

Anissa, of course, got top billing, with the audience slowly being introduced to all of the people in their neighborhood, including her friends, which includes the children of their new neighbors.

It’s clear that the neighbors respect her (“Girl scout cookies, lemonade, homemade cards, she’s practically run a general store from her house,” one neighbor jokes early on) even if not all agree with her. (Such as whoever placed a “not welcome”

The children of the Grants are friends of hers from the first episode, when she knocks and the Grants let her in only to have her not only introduce herself but also say she has something for their trash (the aforementioned sign.)

The theme song, All-American Girl, also resonates with people as it tells of "a girl growing up in America who wants to take advantage of the American dream and make sure that everyone else has the same chance, while showing the care and compassion that Americans should have." Among various scenes shot in the opening montage is Anissa in a pose exactly like the “Rosie the Riveter” posters from WW2

She has dramatic scenes as well as comedic. One dramatic one has her as the only person welcoming home a plane of Vietnam vets because she cares about all the people, Though a few people have schedule conflicts like the Grants being at a wedding. Her mom shows up in the very end.

“They needed a home run, and they got it!" A TV critic wrote. "She’s bubbly and outgoing, she has all the energy you would hope a child that age would have, yet she has respect for others and politeness, even if she has to speak her mind sometimes - and she uses brains and humor to do it. There is lots of Mary Richards, but hints of being really grumpy like Lou Grant if need be.” One of the kids tells the new neighbor kids, "she gives a stink eye that smells like a skunk farm."

Another refers to her having lasers in her eyes. At one point in the pilot, it’s presumed the neighborhood bully, a boy Eddie Haskell overtones who Anissa has learned to see through, had put the sign there, till Anissa proved that he hadn’t by showing that he always spelled “welcome” with 2 “l”s - the bully brags about horrible spelling being a good thing until he gets found out for having done something bad at school because of it.

“We invested so heavily in this,” Coretta Scott King admitted later, “my husband felt a huge weight of pressure going into the pilot.” Anissa’s positive attitude really helped. It grew partly from being away from “Family Affair,” where she felt like some people disliked her refusal to keep playing Buffy - and where her mother kept badgering her. She earnestly hoped that her dad would have custody when the divorce finally went through; and it was a mess of one.

The show represented a way for her to hang out on set and relax, away from her mother. An employee recalled: “She was always the first to arrive and the last to leave - and she had the money now she could get a chauffeur and have her bring her. We had to have a security guard there with a female employee to help her with anything like schoolwork because there were times she would get there before sunrise. We were just glad she was throwing herself into this and not off getting into alcohol or something.”

Loretta Swit noticed right away, as did NIchelle Nichols. They became her surrogate mothers, and helped her find other hobbies so she didn’t burn herself out - and there were worries that she could. They got producers to teach her about directing, producing, scriptwriting, and much else. Nichols got her interested in science fiction to the point where she would be rumored to be considered as companion for Doctor Who in a later iteration, and would play a Starship captain also. Swit got her interested in animal rights after showing up during a day off, figuring Anissa would be there, and surprising her with a “mysterious adventure” that turned Jones on to the plight of the bald eagle and got her character involved in a campaign on the show to ban DDT, which would be banned in 1972.

She refused to become a vegetarian, which was fine by Swit. “We had a debate about that and midway through I realized, 'She’s testing me - I must be getting to be like a mom to her.'”

Indeed, Anissa would later write in her autobiography, “That day we went on that adventure, I kept thinking, 'This is what a mother should be like.'”

In addition, since there were younger children in this cast, she asked how to get in touch with people who could write childrens’ books for the show. She was also behind a push to include actual items from the city of Pittsburgh - when the Pirates won the 1971 World Series, they agreed to have a few Pirates players as guest stars. She read up on the Pittsburgh Crawfords and had the Grant characters use some Josh Gibson mentions in the show. They had a very special tribute to Roberto Clemente in an episode early in 1973, which earned Swit an Emmy in a supporting role as it showed the incredible highs and lows of the Christmas season, starting with a sure loss and then the Immaculate Reception, then Christmas and days later Clemente's death.

“Instead of just a generic neighborhood that is just said to be in Pittsburgh or a suburb somewhere but is really just California with a dash of black and gold,” a Pittsburgh area newspaper said, “Anissa has been so focused on this show that she has truly turned it into a show that could be in Pittsburgh, not just in Californians’ image of the city.”

Anissa’s intense focus was telling, though. “We saw what she was doing,” one executive reported. “This was her imaginary home where she had none of the stresses of real life. Her mom, by forcing the network to sign her to a contract unheard of for a child star like that - no matter what this show did she would get paid for a few years - had unwittingly given her the way to escape her clutches that her mom may have never wanted. They made her their unpaid intern because frankly that helped them with their budget. Yet her mom couldn’t say anything; especially since she knew we were letting Anissa do so much. I wondered sometimes if she was living in a world where this was reality to her. The good thing is, she was focused enough and the show popular enough she could keep it going by herself.” although some wondered, when she finally got the money from her trust fund when she turned 18, if she might take a break from acting for a few years. The way she was going, she could be a writer, producer, or anything.

When they did the crossover in November of 1971, her former Family Affair costars could tell - the adults especially had seen that she was bothered but hadn't really been able to do anything, or at least they hadn't thought they could. But they had really pushed for help when it became possible, so now, while there might be concerns that she might be burning herself out, she was at least doing a wide variety. She was also staying away from the extravagant parties where she might have been introduced to some very bad things.

She would consistently get nominated for best actress Emmys in a sitcom, and would win a few for it. She even won one for one episode in the first season.

Late in the year, she is babysitting. The audience didn’t like the bully much, and there were fears he was cutting in to her screen time anyway. This fit perfectly into a planned script which would have let him either be mellowed, spun off, or just ignored figuring he was no longer a bully.

The script said he had been hitting girls at school. Anissa - who can see through the kind, innocent exterior he shows to authority figures - is asked by his parents to be there when he gets home because the mom has a doctors’ appointment and her husband will be leaving work early to take her and pick her up.

The mother tells her, in keeping with the lesson that boys should never take advantage of girls which had been stated a few times in season 1, that the bully has been very mean to his baby sister and after trying everything else they decided that he needs to be spanked to learn how bad it is to hurt girls. He has a plan to appear innocent and make it seem like someone else has done something bad at school, so he figures he can lay low on the home front and get away with it.

Anissa's character has grown up without that and asks the mom how she does it, to help establish that it doesn't have to be anything really harsh, though Loretta has a line that does that, too. She is a bit stunned when she learns it's more like the taking to the woodshed type that would be referenced on some place like Andy griffith, but she agrees when she considers just how bad this bully is. “ I know it's a job for the parents, but.. in case he can fool them again… maybe that's why I'm in charge right now.”

Like a TV detective, she sees through the bully's outwardly kind, polite demeanor and the plot where an incident happens where the bully has “done it again.” she proves that the kid the bully framed had nothing to do with it and the bully was responsible. Her character reluctantly goes through with it, with rhe scene going from her about to do it ( after giving him a chance to confess and have it be a lot gentler) to afterward. She stuns him by comforting him as he is crying,, and the boy finally admits that it was actually very fair for how he’s been treating girls in general.

The parents see her doing this and realize that encouraging him to express his feelings and care about others by showing they care about him more openly will help him to not be a bully anymore.

(Some have wondered why the little sister just disappears, but there is a line when Anissa is talking to Loretta's character that if she needs to deal with the bully she will call her mom who will come to watch after the little girl while Anissa looks into things. Such complaints are seen as signs that people don't always pay attention to a television show like they should.)

So, the episode managed to teach the importance of being tough on bullying, listening to victims who might be afraid to come forward otherwise, and compassion and helping people to see and think for themselves.

“'The Sitter Versus the Bully' is, as some say, a sign that some conservative elements will exist in this series - and on this network,” one writer said. As another noted, “the camera closeup on Anissa’s face so the audience could only imagine what she was going through as she hoped he confessed, then as he put on his innocent act like usual, then as she prepared to do it was originally done so no violence would be shown, but it also helped to net her that Emmy - her facial expression must have changed half a dozen times in just a few seconds.”

The reference to The Andy Griffith Show was not lost on some. Johnny Carson in his monologue spoke of how Jones had not only been expected to be Lucille Ball, but now she had been turned into Andy Griffith, and he joked about her also becoming Jackie Gleason, the Lone Ranger, and Howdy Doody. He also had a skit with her once the season was over and they were on a break where Anissa performed almost every single role in an episode, including producer and director, was someone else having just a few lines.

It's worth noting that in her Amy acceptance speech, she spent one sentence mentioning her mom and dad and the rest of her family, and 30 seconds praising Loretta and Nichelle as well as more time praising Dr. king.

The network had other programming, too. They had various types of shows There were other shows, too, and while many had black and white cast members together, not all did.

The network also bought the rights to movies, some better than others, and used plenty of black entertainers; ironically, many of whom had been on Flip Wilson’s NBC show.

They especially had one very special one which would go to honor a dying star.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

A British band, “The Brotherhood of Men,” had released a song, “United We Stand,” which had gained little attention at first. They weren’t too shocked when they were approached about using the “United We Stand” part in a little jingle for the new network - it certainly happened, and it wasn’t like the song was sure to go anywhere otherwise.

It not only became a hit thanks to UBG, it was a motto that showed why Dr King had insisted on the network the way it was.

The American family was still a crucial thing to many in the early ‘70s. Yes, they said, it was good to have divorcees and others represented, and King would try to do that, but he wanted to honor his roots and the importance of family among many of his race, as well as for many white Americans. The Anissa Jones show featured the first black family with a husband and wife that was a consistent part of the show and his network would eventually have the first black family as the stars with a husband and wife together, just before The Jeffersons on CBS.

He began promoting UBG as the network uniting the family on their various stations. He contrasted that with shows like “All in the Family,” remarking that “I have nothing against bringing certain issues to light; I believe we are slowly doing this. However, what I do have a problem with is constant insults instead of talking about things and using humor in a good-natured way.”

Anissa would consistently win her timeslot with her friendlier way of confronting problems, though as Bea Arthur told her at the Emmys, “Your character can afford not to be loud and obnoxious - she’s had advantages mine didn’t and she’s not in New York.”

Anissa could lecture, but hers were about "asking people to walk a mile in others' shoes." The most famous in the first seasons came when she politely asks a bunch of questions at once to a minister who described it as "akin to God's 4 chapters of questions for Job," the point being "to show we don't always know what others go through and must help them, not fall into stereotypes." This led to a funny skit where Anissaand Carol O'Connor went at it as entertainment before one awards show.

John Amos, who played a weatherman on Mary Tyler Moore’s show, agreed that each type played a part. “There are still people who will have never encountered a black man except through sports or other forms of entertainment. We want to show what it is to be black in America and how we can relate to one another - how even though we are different, we have hopes, dreams, fears, and frustrations just like whites.” He pointed to an episode of Anissa Jones’ show as proof of that in the first season. “Who hasn’t dealt with troubles with their phone, electric, or something else? Even if we look at life a little differently, we can all share in helping one another - that’s part of life. We don’t have to add name calling to that.” Yet, at the same time, “there are bigots, too, and it must be shown that bigotry is never a solution."

Sports also drove ratings, and while NBA games were unavailable for a couple years yet, the United Network did see local stations enjoying baseball games and decided that they would purchase rights to Monday night games to counter the Monday Night Football games that ABC had. They considered whether they might bid on the NBA when the contract was up or focus on baseball and football - college sports were still big, and they hoped to claim the rights to at least a minor bowl game or two. They bid for and won the rights to the Fiesta Bowl, first played in late December, 1971, and a couple other bowl games later in the decade, as well as title games with historical black universities. They also covered some regional NCAA tournament games with lesser known conferences, a strategy to get their feet in the door which would also be used successfully by ESPN.

Their willingness to use black announcers helped to bring them into more national prominence, too. Greg Gumbel was the first play-by-play man for the inaugural Fiesta Bowl, and several other prominent black athletes were also used.

Still, the biggest thing in UBG in the 1972-73 season was not the landmark episode about the highs and lows of a 2-week stretch in PIttsburgh from the sitcom’s point of view (though it helped win February sweeps and gave the show a 5th place finish thanks to Maude being shifted to another night for the spring after losing the ratings battle to Anissa in the fall and winter), or the various game shows and other things, including other successful shows.

No, the biggest thing was the Hogan’s Heroes movie.

The concept was pushed when Hogan’s Heroes had been considered for being brought over to UBG after its cancellation in 1971. Not many people thought it would happen, as there was a difficult path to navigate, with the question of whether to handle heavy topics like the Holocaust or not. John Banner, Werner Klemperer, and Leon Askin (whoc played 3 of the 4 main cast Germans) had been in concentration camps at one point, as had Robert Clary, who played French prisoner Louis LeBeau. There was also the question of how to explain some of the more far-out things on the how.

Still, because UBG had saved several other shows from the Rural Purge - at least for a season or two, though some for more - fans of the comedy thought it was possible for them to do it too. There was another reason, though.

Banner had retired from acting after April of 1972. While he wouldn’t admit it, his health was poor; he would die in January of 1973. There was clamoring once rights were bought for a made-for-TV movie to be made before his passing; it wasn’t known if he would even be able to make it as it was.

A concept was invented which would explain a lot of things - and it actually added to the drama to make it just dramatic enough while being very funny, also. And, John Banner taped a few scenes in the fall of 1972 which would be his last scenes, and only air after his death - which heightened interest and allowed United to win the “Sweeps” in May ‘1973, even with new shows like MASH and The Waltons having been bought by CBS and doing very well themselves.

(A/N: Sorry to break the 4th wall, but several of these are not my own ideas - they are from several fanfiction writers on ff.net, but they form my head canon for the series - namely, especially about the tunnel system being a mine and Newkirk’s age. Klemperer did say he thought Klink was NImrod, I think it was Burkhalter, so I decided the best way was to hint at it was an organization, and have it be one of them or Hochstetter, but no one knows the other is in it. An organization was a great idea by yet another writer. The time travel silliness is all mine.)

The movie begins with the Heroes having 2 big things happen - Schultz running in to ask them to rescue his wife and children and get them out of Germany - “they’re safe but I do not know for how long” - and stunning the men when he reveals there are a *lot* more than 5 children. “Figures: You're always blabbing about how much they eat,” Newkirk says.)

The other big thing is that Schultz has interrupted while they are listening on the coffee pot, saying he doesn't want any coffee and being confused when they say they are not making coffee. They hear as someone enters Klink’s office - they are saying something about a man remembering that there was an abandoned mine in the area, but records indicate it had been blown up 12 years earlier. Klink wonders why he’s being bothered with such nonsense, but it’s clear that the abandoned mine was the main part of the tunnel system, and the men just added to it.

It's near the end of the war, just before the Allies cross the Rhine, and eventually a bunch of other revelations keep getting dropped as they try to get Schultz’s family up from Heidelberg - which hasn’t been bombed since the Americans OTL used it as a base - while also getting prisoners out. Kinch is revealed to have been sent down to help with Schultz’s family at various times - hence the absence of Ivan Dixon in season 6. Kinch hadn't divulged how many because he didn’t want to endanger them. He had just been said to be sick a lot. Hogan sighs snd understands - "I guess you had to do your part just like all of us; but addition is one thing, but multiplying?" - but now it’s vital that they get every specific they can.

Nimrod offers his help - this is an Allied agent who Hogan had said was Klink so Klink could be traded for an Underground person in Gestapo custody, but who is in fact unknown. There is speculation about whether it is Klink, Burkhalter, or Hochstetter; it can’t be Schultz because he isn’t high up enough. But Schultz is clearly… something.

Then, time travelers are revealed to have come from the year 2000. They were chasing some “Fourth Reich” group which had been trying to ensure that the Germans won the war - but who are the good guy time travelers? Is this Nimrod? Is this someone else? And are they Germans or Allies?

Newkirk is revealed to have had a stuttering problem and run away to join the RAF at a month shy of 16 - he was of age by the time he joined Hogan’s Heroes but his youth and the fact he no longer stuttered - and used a different voice - meant nobody would suspect it was really him who did a Berlin Better broadcast, so he’s safe. But, that also makes some wonder if his father was actually the Allied time traveler.

The main Heroes eventually get to a safe haven after having encountered some of the others who regularly appeared - mostly Crittenden and Marya, who have their own unique takes and who are ruled out as being the time travelers, with enough jokes about the concept to add lighthearted frivolity to it even as they realize someone is trying to undermine them and reveal their operation.

Eventually, Ivan Dixon appears with the “cubs” - children the Schultzes had protected, including his own 5. His one scene is long enough for him to get the children to a waiting airplane he helps to pilot. He will eventually get a secret message to the Allies - there is one bridge that the Germans haven’t blown up, at Remagen. Kinch and the Schultz children and others are safe.

Hogan, meanwhile, has been taken prisoner, and the other Heroes must get him out, even though they were ordered to go with Kinch.

To everyone’s surprise, Klink arrives first with a variety of guards; but not Schultz. Klink just reveals that “Schultz told me about the children” - but nothing about whether Klink himself is also an Allied agent.

In the end, everyone gets to London safely, but there are enough questions left that the whole series isn’t ruined. For instance, was Schultz the time traveler all along - was that why John Banner doesn’t appear at the end, and not just his fleeing with his wife and the children? If so, it makes sense - he starts a large toy company and then uses the funds to help the Nirmod group. Or is Nimrod the time travelers. Or is Klink? Or Hogan? Or even Kinch? Or Hogan and Klink but they only suspect and don’t know for sure.

Whoever it is, the time travel device is shut down back in 2000 so the bad guys can’t get at it anymore.

One TV critic put it, ”It’s hard to answer the unanswerable in a series like this without totally ruining things. They managed to end the war by fiddling with time in a way that would make Doctor Who proud. It’s our timeline - yet… in some ways, it’s not. The Holocaust and all of its horrors still occurred, and yet… a few more people were saved than were in our timeline thanks to the Schultzes, which satisfies the soul as much as it can in times like this. Things had to have been set up before so why not by time travelers?... Could any of about half a dozen people or more be the main time travelers? Probably so. Or, maybe we’ll never know the real time travelers for the Allies…. The bad guy for the Germans is sufficiently mean with little humor, yet also on screen little enough that we can think of him as the villain in a comic book series that has been brought to a satisfying conclusion.”

There is even mention of how the exploits of these men will be remembered right after the war and not classified, because a reporter had leaked the possibility, though it was passed off as propaganda during the war. This means Hogan’s likely career as a spy after the war is over, as he’d be highly suspected, but he doesn’t care. He ends up proposing to French agent Tiger, with the wedding the final scene, the toy company is rebuilt, and people go on to normal civilian living after the war. The end shows a tribute “in memory of John Banner.”

Dr. King’s network was by no means perfect. However, it was competitive, and had enough things right that it was number one (generally “The Anissa Jones Show”) on some nights, and 2nd some others. It was growing, and it would do okay as long as it kept a steady stream of entertainment coming in.

Meanwhile, the impact of Dr. King surviving his assassination attempt was beginning to be felt in the rest of the world, too.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

The lack of a Southern Strategy had led to some intriguing things in 1968. By 1972, it would be a tidal wave of things.

John Volpe was a good Vice president. Nixon wasn't sure if he would be presidential material by 1976. That was fine with the vice president. He knew the position was mostly to help the president, and that's what he wanted to do.

He thought he had done so pretty well. But he had had a few worries. He'd had to talk Nixon out of interfering with Vietnam because, as he said, the negotiations were not going to go anywhere anyway and Dr King surviving the riots hadn't been as bad as they could have been in 1968. It was very likely that they could split the Democratic vote without worrying about people going to Wallace who would have supported Nixon.

He had to wonder, then, why Nixon was shutting him out of things more as he went into the election year of 1972.

Oh, Nixon had given him a vote of confidence. The party tended to like Volpe. Liberals attacked Nixon so much that he didn't have to worry about being less Conservative then some would like him to be. So, he could accept Volpe's help when it came to things like affirmative action and the jobs program that would encourage black entrepreneurs, something which he had only intended to be a campaign promise but which Volpe really liked. So, while some things upset the very consderative wing of his party, his ideas at least built businesses and created more business owners and more jobs. Although the economy was still having trouble.

He told Nixon late in 1971 that he wondered if Nixon was hearing the crowd too much instead of paying attention to his play, as he put it. Nixon had just thanked him and said that that was a good analogy and that he would consider what the vice president had said. So, maybe he had hit upon something. The next time he saw the president, Volpe simply added another analogy and promised that most Americans were like Anissa Jones’ character, not Archie Bunker's brother-in-law, and that Nixon could win them over by just working with others. Nixon nodded his approval.

Going into 1972, once Humphrey was known to not really be running and Ed Muskie had dropped so much in the polls, it was a two-person race between George Wallace and George McGovern. Volpe again told Nixon that both men were beatable and that this planned trip to China and then they taunt with the USSR would give him a great legacy. He had doubts about whether Vietnam was winnable, something the president didn't seem to think, but then the vice president thought that maybe that was the problem. The president didn't want to admit that it couldn't be one. So he hinted at that. Nixon simply said that he was going to try mining the harbors and seeing if he could work something out with the Soviets, and if that didn't get them started toward victory they would see.

Meanwhile, if Nixon was "hearing the crowd," he was also seeing that George Wallace was creating some enemies. Wallace, in an effort to continue to win blue collar voters, had been attacking integration in many forms. However, he got in trouble when he was asked about the way television was portraying integration.

His response was something like Archie Bunker might say, according to One News source. He derided Hollywood for how simple it seemed and said that the way Dr King's network was showing it was “stupid.” he continued to claim that many Americans were worried about housing integration and would never accept it. He said that was why the Fair Housing Act had been delayed for so long.

This caused some UBG Executives to lash out on Wallace and ask why their shows were popular if Americans didn't believe in it. After all, they were actually showing a much better example than Archie Bunker, who was dead set against it but never won. Their shows at least had people coming out and discussing their issues with each other and coming to agreements. Anissa's was not the only type of show, but as far as sitcoms they represented the good majority of shows that were on the network, if Anissa was the most obvious example, with a black family that, by the end of their first season, was one of the closest friends of her family's and lived right next door. Dr. Grant's family would be spun off in 1973, when with the success of Emergency's first season on a rival, their family would be replaced in the network by another black family, while he would become a doctor in the ubg's first medical show, but instead of focusing on paramedics and hospital staff, it would combine his home life and the hospital situation. With the Grants living in a richer neighborhood.

This situation with Wallace soon turned into personal verbal attacks, including on Jones, who Wallace said was making too much money and was just a cash cow, and other things.

This meant her mother, that is her real life one, started getting into it with him because she was afraid that his attacks on her daughter would damage the financial gain that she, the mother, was getting from all the merchandise that now was created with Anissa Jones as a teenager. Indeed, there was the possibility of a new Barbie that would look like her and be much more of a Girl Scout type than just a pretty girl who went with Ken. That was still in discussion however, because they were concerned that if the company was going to put that out, that they should put out a Barbie that wasn't dangerously skinny.

Sometime in April, Jones's mother decided she wasn't getting the time with her daughter that she wanted so she wanted to prove herself to her a little. She started following Wallace around a little and at one campaign stop actually went up to him afterward and they had a small physical altercation.

Wallace had thought that he could get a tidal wave of support to push the 1968 election into the House of Representatives, but he siphoned as many votes from Humphrey since he was also a Democrat as from Nixon. Although some say Nixon would have won Maryland with Agnew on the ticket, that isn’t certain, and while Nixon barely lost Missouri, he also narrowly won Connecticut thanks to Volpe's great push in the Northeast, though it hadn’t helped him win Massachusetts. Even without Connecticut, though, Nixon would have won.


Now, he seemed to be losing a little momentum even before of this altercation. He needed to get it back. But, because he had some protesters of his own following him, he decided he needed to beef up security more. He still seemed like a possible Democratic nominee in 1972.

Maryland had been heavily Democratic in 1968 - and would have probably gone to Humphrey even if Agnew had been on the ticket. Without it, Himphrey had decided to change his campaign strategy and bypass that state a little more as well.

Arthur Bremer had planned to try to assassinate Richard Nixon or George Wallce. But, a surviving Martin Luther King,Jr. meant Wallace wasn’t quite as popular, and even if he had been, the opportunity didn’t materialize because he needed a little more security that spring. So, Bremer set his sights on Nixon again.

Nixon would be on a foreign trip for much of the month, but this would give him time to plan without people feeling like they needed to watch the D.C. area since the president wasn't there. He could map out an area where the president could be in D.C. once he got back before Nixon left for Florida and a vacation; perhaps everyone would be a bit jet lagged. In late May, he finally hatched his plan. Nixon and his staff would be too exhausted from their flight back from the USSR, so there might be a moment of hesitation.

D.C. seemed a little too hard, but Florida wasn’t nearly as watched - Bremer wound up attempting it in early in June when the President was out shaking hands with the crowd. Though it was still very hurried with lots of people around he did get a couple shots off.

John Volpe, having remained back in Washington, was rushed to a secret place while they waited to see if the president lived. He chose to speak to the America people from the Oval Office once it became clear that, at least for the time being, he would have to serve as the 25th amendment was invoked.

This would end up having a massive impact as the Secret Service had been ordered to ensure that everything was safe. Volpe himself had gone in and, in helping them - as he felt a leader should - go through Nixon’s things, he noticed recording equipment. He raised his eyebrows, and while he figured at first that it had just been used for historical moments, he asked them to look into it because he was afraid of what the Secret Service had been, that perhaps there had been a conspiracy by others and that recording Nixon’s plans had been part ot it.

He hadn’t heard Nixon staffers remarking that they were in big trouble as he had the tapes gathered and people went through it.(1)

George Wallace would flame out in the end, and George McGovern would win the nomination; Wallace wasn’t really relevant nationally, though he did try to run as a third party candidate again.

Volpe would become president regardless, given the scandals that would erupt if Nixon survived that would lead to volt becoming president after Nixon resigned. If he didn't survive, he would do so earlier.

However, some conservatives were wary of him, as he was the one who had championed the affirmative action and pushing of help for black entrepeneurs (though Nixon had also supported affirmative action).

His quick action in assuring the American people helped Republicans to see that they would win the election handling no matter what. wasn’t just a liberal - the Democrats were seen as radical Left. This would let him promise to slip a little to the left himself, though really being more centrist. This would lead to Ronald Reagan beating him in primaries in 1976, as he had served long enough that he really wasn't as interested, Plus he would be almost in his mid-70s by the time his term ended if he was elected in 1976. Unlike someone like Gerald Ford, he had never seen himself as someone who would be playing among Washington Insiders. And his actions in speaking out against Italian communists in the run up to the 1976 nomination sounded to some like a person who would love to just be ambassador there.

Reagan would win in 1976, but despite the fact that the economy had started to improve a little by 1980, the things that were making it so - deregulation of the oil industry to get more American jobs and also decreased dependence on foreign oil, an increased tax base because of the jobs program and the support for black entrepreneurs, were things that had actually been championed by Volpe.

Volpe would, like Harry truman, be seen as a much better president in retrospect then he was during his time in office. When a moderate Democrat won in 1980, he would actually appoint Volpe as ambassador to Italy for a couple of years.

Back to King, he continued to use his network to support his idea, and while he was disappointed that Reagan was the VP, he hoped that wouldn’t be a problem. If it became one, well, maybe it was a symbol of Hollywood. Because he was the beneficiary of yet another CBS squabble, this one by John Amos with the creators of Good Times.

---------------------------

(1) I honestly couldn't decide if Bremer would actually kill Nixon or not. I could see that, at least for a couple days, the 25th Amendment would be invoked, which would mean that the tapes could be discovered earlier. I thought that would be interesting but this is mostly about Dr King and his influence. I do think that Bremer could switch back to Nixon in this situation.
Volpe would still become president at some point, but despite the moderates there was a fairly big conservative wing of the Republican party, and the way things are moving it might have more support in this timeline. Not a whole lot changes internationally except if Nixon is out Vietnam might be ended a little earlier. Enough for Reagan to do what he almost did in 1976, and be a champion for conservatives in a way that seemed more appealing than Wallace.
However, while stagflation might be a little better in this timeline, it's still not enough to give him a victory in 1980.

 

[TrevorFromStarWarsBackup]

Watched

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

Martin Luther King, Jr. had worked with John Amos, then been glad when he first got a part on the Mary Tyler Moore Show, then told Dr. King that he’d been pegged for Good TImes.

While the Grants were spun off from the Aniisa Jones show (replaced by another black couple) in their own series, it would focus on the dad as a doctor. They would touch on his and his wife’s new neighborhood, but the family wouldn’t appear as much. Still, he’d had the first black married couple by a small margin at the center of a show. And, Dr. King had high hopes that more people were going to see blacks and whites together.

Then, Good Times began airing, and the stories he’d heard from Amos were true. And frustrating.

“Dr. King, you saw the first few episodes - you know we don’t talk like that, we don’t think like that. And I’m worried that JImmy Walker is going to take over.”

King agree - this was a problem. “I know; we thought we had really made inroads with them since they put a family in the ghetto in Chicago. We've had poor families. We've had black families. But even we haven't combined them yet in that big of a city.”

“They never put a family in such a poor area at all - well, except for The Waltons, but everyone was poor then,” Amis said of the Great Depression.

“This is your fight, John. If they fire you, I can hire you and we can work out a show. I’d rather there be some sort of agreement, though.”

“You know the sad part? This is a product of Norman Lear, who you parted ways with back in ‘69.”

King remembered. President Volpe was doing some good things now in 1974, but a bad economy was hampering it.

“We have time to change America’s hearts even more than politicians; some days I wonder why I didn't think of this earlier. We have people talk. We have some doing. We just need to keep working,” King said. “Do whatever you can there. We are doing some very good things over here at UBG; activists are hailing how we respect child actors and let them age naturally, and don’t force too much on them - well, unless they’re like Anissa Jones and want to.”


“Although that might settle down some with her dad having custody now.”

“Some, but she loves it. We’ve settled on a good role for her. We’re just debating about her going to college, though. I mean, sure, she could go to Pitt and stay at home, but all that homework and such, making that realistic will make it hard.” King thought for a moment. “Although the writers did keep her in school another year by saying she had just turned 14 in early August of 1971; meaning the character could have missed the cutoff date or just been held back till she was 6, and therefore, she was in 8th grade then, which means 12th grade in 1975-76.” King chuckled. “Listen to me - I sound like I’ve been doing this my whole life.”

“Dr. KIng, you are a wise man who knows how to take a situation and study it in a way that allows you maximum flexibility. I had no doubt from the moment you took on this project that you would do a tremendous job running a network. I just hope your health is good - becasue I don’t know who I can see replacing you,” Amos praised him.

“Thank you.” King hummed. “I don’t know how much longer I have. But, if it’s something they would want, I think I know someone who could eventually.”

—--------------

King’s network had picked up a few series for 1974-75. He already planned to do a takeoff of Good Times, but a more realistic one, dreamed up by several of his friends, called “What’s Happening.” It would be a comedy, still family friendly, but would try to “make black people act like black people,” he promised Amos.

Amos, like Anissa Jones a few years earlier, knew he had a landing spot. However, Norman Lear was nervous - if Amos jumped ship, he could not only certainly go to UBG, but he might do really well. And yet, the comedy was too good for Lear to pass up. Jimmy Walker was popular.

Finally, early in 1975, Lear had decided that he would let Amos go at the end of the season, but he would need to coordinate with King.

King was in his mid-40s by this time, and the resurgence in his health had begun to fade. He wasn’t as tired as he had felt before, but he really hoped that he could let others do most of the work with his growing network. Still, he had worked well with Lear in the past, even when they eventually had to part ways.

“Look, Dr. King,” Lear said, “I know where you’re coming from. The bad economy, plus the mess before, makes people want a little more escapism. Had you not forced us to move Maude from where we had wanted it a couple of years ago, Happy Days probably would have after this season. But, I also don’t want to lose a really good actor.”

“He’s threatening to quit anyway. Look, I don’t begrudge you one bit - you’ve got a formula that often works.”

“So do you. That’s what I’m afraid of,” Lear kidded him. By being light-hearted like this, he didn't have to swallow his pride as much. But, Lear and CBS were realizing that it was possible to combine reaching younger families with children and the messages that he wanted to send, at least some of them. And, Dr King's network had even gotten Beyond the interracial aspect too mention things like the bathroom. He just did it any different way, such as when the doctors on the show that had been spun off from Anissa's had a Swedish patient and there were a few embarrassing moments as part being the word for speed in Swedish was not the only place where a Swedish word had a very different English meaning. They haven't used the worst, but just having three little bits of confusion was probably best over that hour anyway. It was like Johnny Carson said in doing monologues, how two or three jokes was best and having more made them less funny.

(For the record, they used the fact that the Swedish word bra means good in English and that kiss means pee in English - they wisely had the Swedish patients say that the doctors would not want to know what the word for kiss is. The people were popular enough that they were on a second time, and one of the things that happened was confusion between the Swedish word gift, with the G pronounced like a y. Used in one way, it meant poison, and in another way it meant married.)

“If we say they’re in the same universe, if I get him it can be your character's young brother or cousin. He’s whar, less than ten years older than Jimmy Walker anyway!”

Lear nodded. “Again with the age thing; it got you Anissa Jones. Look, I see where you’re coming from. You’ll make nods to our show, maybe we get more viewers; it can always be at a time we don’t clash as much in terms of ratings.”

“I appreciate that; do we need to work out a trade?”

“Well, ABC is trying harder to integrate, too.” Lear sighed. “I don’t want to talk trade again; that was such a unique situation.” He didn't want to admit that he was getting tired of John Amos complaining and, were it not for the UBG, he would probably have fired him anyway, though he would have tried to make it another season with Amos first.

“Look, I’m not telling you how to write your product; it was that kind of thing that made me start my own network. And, I think we’re doing pretty well having gone our separate ways.”

“Yes. You are doing great for having just started 5 years ago. Every TV executive says you guys are solvent enough you don’t need to worry. As long as you keep it up. And you’ve even had a few ABC and NBC affiliates switching to you guys.” Lear inhaled deeply. NBC had lost one affiliate this past year and would lose more after the 1975-76 season placed only 2 NBC shows in the top 30 and one of those in the top 20! ABC would this year have 1 in the top 20 and 3 in the top 30.(1) “Look at this; I’m making your argument for you. We’re at the top on CBS - if Amos wants to quit, we’ll let him. Maybe get someone to replace him who looks nothing like him,” Lear teased, thinking of how some shows had done that.

Amos signed on with UBG for the 1975-76 season to do a show..

Meanwhile, the joke was that the Big 3 was slowly becoming the Big 2 - CBS and UBG. Really, CBS was still in the lead, but CBS had never gotten Maude into the top 10 thanks to struggles with finding it a good spot - although it was at least holding its own around 15th this year again. Lear, while seen as very good, wasn’t seen as quite the genius he might have without another network to challenge him. His large number of shows was still impressive, as were with Dr King's show creators.

Anissa Jones’ show, meanwhile, would finally reach #1 in 1975-76 in a very close fight with All in the Family as ABC moved Happy Days to Monday at 8 before football at 9:00 and Good Times was moved by CBS to 8:30 with a cartoon at 8 on Tuesday, The Bugs Bunny and Road Runner Show.(2) All the excitement surrounded what Anissa would do, whether she’d stay on the show, go part time to Pitt and just appear less, or do something else. Her character had been interested in medicine, and had even had a guest appearance on the show with the Grants. However, there was definite anxiety as her contract was up, and now that she’d made plenty of money for the UBG, even given the huge amount they’d paid her, there was still some uncertainty in the network.

------------------------

(1) I bumped a few shows down a few pegs with each Big 3 Network for those stats, meaning NBC has Police Woman knocked out of the top 30 in the latter, while ABC got enough good new shows that they had recovered somewhat. With the UBG ascendant, it makes sense that in each situation some Network Affiliates would jump to them. It's possible one or two small CBS Affiliates would, but it wouldn't be the number of the others.

(2) this happened later in the season OTL, at least partly because of competition from Happy Days.

 

[Unknown]

I wonder when MLK will run into one William Cosby--if he finds out about Cosby's behavior off-camera, methinks he won't be turning a blind eye to it...

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

I wonder when MLK will run into one William Cosby--if he finds out about Cosby's behavior off-camera, methinks he won't be turning a blind eye to it...

You read my mind. you will see that he wants to avoid the typical stereotypes, but then he finds a way, thanks to another.

 

[Neoteros]

You read my mind. you will see that he wants to avoid the typical stereotypes, but then he finds a way, thanks to another.

I don't know, MLK wasn't very committed, to his marriage vows - the pessimist in me thinks he might've ignored or minimized Cosby's behaviour.

 

[TheSpectacledCloth]

I don't know, MLK wasn't very committed, to his marriage vows - the pessimist in me thinks he might've ignored or minimized Cosby's behaviour.

There's a massive difference between infidelity and rape. Ignoring or minimizing Cosby's behavior would destroy Dr. King's legacy.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

There's a massive difference between infidelity and rape. Ignoring or minimizing Cosby's behavior would destroy Dr. King's legacy.

Yes, and I think you will see that he does hedge a little bit, though it is more waiting for the right time.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

Dr King liked the direction that things were going with television. As 1975 wore on, he knew Gabe Kaplan would have a comedy series, welcome back kotter, about his life in Brooklyn and while it would be more comical, he had been willing to take it on. However, ABC had stepped in instead - they had definitely needed some new programming with how they were losing in the ratings. He didn't mind doing sillier shows if he could have serious ones also, or at least comedies which were more realistic and yet family oriented like The Anissa Jones show.

Ah, Anissa. She would be going to college in the fall of 76, at least through some correspondence courses. He really wanted her to remain with the network. But, one problem with making sure that children aged normally was that they aged normally.

Adjusting for children going through puberty was simple. You didn't have to have them going all crazy over the opposite sex, you just had to have them mature and decide how much a dating relationship was important to your show. Her character had been more goal-oriented, and it had been decided that she would have a steady boyfriend by her last year of high school but she would have a good balance. Dr King wanted to demonstrate what that was like so others would copy her. He recognized the need for good role models.

But, with her getting into college, she had to be written as different from high school.

This wasn't a huge problem, given all that she did in the neighborhood. It was decided that her parents would be written as growing up during the Depression, secretly a little worried about money, and wanting to dote on one child versus having a bunch and having to divide a lot of things. She had been taught the value of leadership, compassion, and helping others very early in life and because of that she was not the selfish child who had everything but the selfless child who was taught that the most important thing was to give to those less fortunate. So there were big shoes to fill in the neighborhood. However, she also had done enough babysitting that she had developed a plan.

It had been discussed a little bit the previous season. She would groom a successor. Actually, a few of them, but the problem would be that those successors would have all sorts of lumps and trials and things like that as they went on, especially during the 1975-76 season.

The season would mark more of a transition. She was no longer the girl who was into every activity, rather, she was the girl who was managing the others and giving advice.

Some speculated that the show might end, but insiders knew that there was no way this would happen. The show was still popular, and in fact it was getting a big boost in ratings because of the expectations and because of another character who had become a pretty big star.

So by mid season, everyone knew they would be continuing as the show prepared to do yet another Super Bowl special. They included a joke about the Mary Tyler Moore Show, which had had the Vikings winning the Super Bowl win the Steelers had on their Super Bowl episode last year. “But that's just a TV show,” Anissa says comically.

In the end, it was agreed that a show about college would be aired at 8:30, right after the show, starting next season. She would float between the two, usually on the college show but making a few appearances as she would be home on weekends and could, in an emergency, drive home some evening.

Dr King was pleased. He found it so refreshing to see that Hollywood - at least the people who were willing to work with him on it - could take a city like Pittsburgh and really include some of the sports and other facts about the city in the series. The University of Pittsburgh even won the college national title in 1976, and Tony Dorsett had agreed to appear once he was drafted into the NFL, in a May episode the first season.

Now, he began to pass the torch more and more to others as he began to feel more tired. He was having light symptoms going into 1977 but he wasn't having any more heart attacks right away. However, the medicine he was taking was definitely helping to prolong his life.

This was fortunate because he had other business to take care of.

 ----------

There was no shortage of people in Hollywood who were doing things that conservatives would see as very bad as far as all the affairs. King had turned a blind eye toward quite a bit of this - he'd had his own flirtations with other women, though all consensual. This blind eye was needed in order to make sure that his Network got off the ground and that he could get his message out. Both had been done. After all, for a number of years he hadn't heard any specific rape allegations or, even worse, allegations about stuff done to children. He had remained in Atlanta, which helped shield him. Plus, he was not into movies, except for the very old ones, which Ted Turner had advised him to use if he could, and ones that weren't as well known. At times, their movie night was to show things like Doctor Who, whose oldest series were broadcast at times in America even if they were not extant in Britain.

He had been lauded by those inside the television business for how he had helped to protect child actors, as well as respecting the rights of women and several episodes where victims were treated well in different shows. Some even speculated that having a place to go and not be hounded by her mother or forced to do other things might have even kept Jones away from a very dangerous lifestyle which could have harmed her or even killed her - especially when Mackenzie Phillips started having trouble off set at One Day at a Time with partying.

UBG was definitely a preferred landing spot for other child actors also, though there were certainly family shows being considered by other networks. So, well some Hollywood people might have mumbled under their breath that King was being really self-righteous, he was not attacking what was at times a totally free love attitude, so they accepted him.

However, late in 1976, several women started bringing allegations to him against a performer he knew to be very well respected, a black man as well who was really becoming a pillar in the business.

Coretta had actually handled a fair amount of this. She knew that these allegations against Bill Cosby were awful and that if Dr King had to handle the full brunt of them, it could even kill him. She did tell Dr King about it, and he confronted Bill Cosby, who denied the allegations. King had to back off when he started to feel a little angina as the argument got heated.

He knew from discussions with others that they could try to focus on white performers or producers who were doing this, so that they could then just say that Cosby was just part of what horrors Hollywood had within it. Otherwise, they worried the media would latch onto this and it would set things back years as far as the reputation of blacks in the community. After all, Cosby was really well respected. Indeed, Cosby was well respected enough that there might be some backlash by the other networks against him for attacking Cosby. He almost felt like he had to have someone do the investigation himself, and his health, though not awful, wasn't the best. Coretta was right, he needed something to happen so he wasn't handling everything, though he did start to have some people look into it.

One thing was for sure, though, Dr King was not going to let these things slide. It was just a question of how to handle it.

Then, a situation came about which President Reagan, while not a favorite of Dr King's, was able to provide help on - he could make sure that a white person's allegations got front page news on his network, where Bryant Gumbel, now a reporter on the less well-known but still good UBG evening news, would break the news quickly.

King had never met a man named Roman Polanski when the latter was arrested in March of 1977. The tremendous scandal surrounding Polanski was one that King and his small news team played to the hilt.

While can use the opportunity to encourage the women, with help he had provided, to go forward against Bill Cosby while all eyes were on Polansky. He reportedly quipped that, "I knew that the way Hollywood was, we wouldn't have to wait long. It's really sad, but it is true."

They had a problem though. They were afraid that the movie maker could escape custody by fleeing the United States. This was because even if he accepted a plea deal, there would be prison time.

“It was just like something you would see on Kojak or Cannon or one of those shows,” a news magazine remarked after Polansky was arrested after being detained at an airport before he could board an international flight for just long enough for them to catch him and bring him back and put him in prison. The attempt to flee custody added time to his sentence.

Ronald Reagan called from the White House and told Dr King that while they had their differences, they could certainly agree that what Polanski had done was evil. Someone from King's network had called and pushed for Reagan, who had many ties with Hollywood performers, to make sure that Polanski could not escape by pulling a few strings with Customs people. “They called in quite a few favors,” he said, “and your person was right. This will definitely play well as a big help for the conservative, family friendly atmosphere we want in this country.”

King couldn't help but laugh. He told the president that he was right, that was one thing they could agree on, that there was no place for Polansky's actions anywhere. There would be civil suits even as Polansky sat in jail and other allegations later, meaning that his career was ruined all over the world.

As for cosby, well he did some entertaining after his present time, his career was mostly over on the big stage as well.

King couldn't help but wonder who it had been that had been bold enough to call the president. He had known quite a few Hollywood performers since he had gotten into the business, some with conservative ties who would definitely have been able to talk with Reagan. Charlton Heston's Ten Commandments had certainly been a big hit when King finally got it on his Network for a movie night, and that was a big conservative name. One idea, though, really made him laugh. He actually asked Anissa Jones the next time he saw her, she denied it but he couldn't help but wonder. No, he decided, that would be too Hollywoody. If not someone from hollywood, it had probably been coretta, who had done a lot of work with the network to keep him from being overworked. And, there were two or three others whom it could have been.

King felt bad for people who had seen Cosby as such an upstanding figure, but he knew there was no place for such things. Besides, while Bill Cosby had hoped to do a sitcom with a middle-class family as the main family, he had slowly moved the bar far enough that he knew there was a black man somewhere who he could get to star as the father in such a sitcom. He had increased the number of black performers to where they represented 11% of people on television shows versus less than half that on the other three networks by 1976.

He wouldn't even mind Jimmy Walker. Although, he saw him more as the silly next door neighbor kind. But, he was starting to accept that the silliness was doable as the 1970s neared the end. He sensed that his network was truly in the big leagues to stay.