The Garry Moore Show
Encyclopedia
The Garry Moore Show is the name for several separate American
variety series on the CBS
television network
in the 1950s and 1960s. Hosted by experienced radio
performer, Garry Moore
, the series helped launch the careers of many comedic talents, such as Don Adams
, George Gobel
, Carol Burnett
, Don Knotts
, Lee Goodman, James Kirkwood, Jr.
and Jonathan Winters
. The Garry Moore Show garnered a number of Emmy nominations and wins.
skits, monologues, singing
, and interaction with the studio
audience
. The show became an important commercial success for CBS.
Candid Camera
segments became a regular feature of this series, along with a lengthy recap segment called "That Wonderful Year." In 1959 Moore produced one LP record, That Wonderful Year, 1940. In its first season, this version of The Garry Moore Show faced competition on NBC
from the drama series with a western
setting, The Californians
, and the ABC
crime/police reality show, Confession
, hosted by Jack Wyatt
.
In the summer of 1960, the series was replaced for nine weeks by the Patrick O'Neal medical/police drama Diagnosis: Unknown
. The Garry Moore Show was cancelled in 1964, and Moore retired for two years.
on NBC
, the show was cancelled after only five months. It was replaced on the CBS schedule by The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
variety series on the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
television network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
in the 1950s and 1960s. Hosted by experienced radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
performer, Garry Moore
Garry Moore
Garry Moore was an American entertainer, game show host and comedian best known for his work in television...
, the series helped launch the careers of many comedic talents, such as Don Adams
Don Adams
Don Adams was an American actor, comedian and director. In his five decades on television, he was best known as Maxwell Smart in the television situation comedy Get Smart , which he also sometimes directed and wrote. Adams won three consecutive Emmy Awards for his portrayal of Smart...
, George Gobel
George Gobel
George Leslie Gobel was an American comedian and actor. He was best known as the star of his own weekly NBC television show, The George Gobel Show, which ran from 1954 to 1960 .-Early years:He was born George Leslie Goebel in Chicago, Illinois, His father, Hermann Goebel, was a...
, Carol Burnett
Carol Burnett
Carol Creighton Burnett is an American actress, comedian, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut...
, Don Knotts
Don Knotts
Jesse Donald "Don" Knotts was an American comedic actor best known for his portrayal of Barney Fife on the 1960s television sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, a role which earned him five Emmy Awards...
, Lee Goodman, James Kirkwood, Jr.
James Kirkwood, Jr.
James Kirkwood, Jr. was an American playwright, author and actor. In 1976 he received the Tony Award, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the Broadway hit A Chorus Line.-Biography:Kirkwood was born in Los Angeles, California. His father...
and Jonathan Winters
Jonathan Winters
-Early life:Winters was born in Bellbrook, Ohio, the son of Alice Kilgore , a radio personality, and Jonathan Harshman Winters II, an investment broker. He is a descendant of Valentine Winters, founder of the Winters National Bank in Dayton, Ohio...
. The Garry Moore Show garnered a number of Emmy nominations and wins.
Origins
The show originally started as a radio program; CBS eventually awarded Garry his own early evening television show in its place.Original version (1950-1958)
The first incarnation of the show began in June, 1950 as a Monday-through-Friday 30-minute evening series. It was also simulcast on radio. The show changed to a once-weekly one-hour format by August. In the fall of 1950 CBS rescheduled the show each weekday in the afternoon, and it ran in this format until mid-1958 (another prime-time edition, The Garry Moore Evening Show, alternated with The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show on Thursday nights from September through December 1951). The series featured a relaxed and flexible combination of comedyComedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
skits, monologues, singing
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
, and interaction with the studio
Television studio
A television studio is an installation in which a video productions take place, either for the recording of live television to video tape, or for the acquisition of raw footage for post-production. The design of a studio is similar to, and derived from, movie studios, with a few amendments for the...
audience
Audience
An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any medium...
. The show became an important commercial success for CBS.
Second version (1958-1964)
In 1958, Moore ended the previous show because of his demanding work schedule, but he returned in the fall with a weekly hour-long evening series, with the same title and similar format. Allen Funt'sAllen Funt
Allen Funt was an American television producer, director and writer, television personality, best known as the creator and host of Candid Camera from the 1940s to 1980s, as either a regular television show or a television series of specials...
Candid Camera
Candid Camera
Candid Camera is a hidden camera/practical joke reality television series created and produced by Allen Funt, which initially began on radio as Candid Microphone June 28, 1947...
segments became a regular feature of this series, along with a lengthy recap segment called "That Wonderful Year." In 1959 Moore produced one LP record, That Wonderful Year, 1940. In its first season, this version of The Garry Moore Show faced competition on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
from the drama series with a western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
setting, The Californians
The Californians (TV series)
The Californians is a 54-episode half-hour Western television series, set in the San Francisco gold rush of the 1850s, which aired on NBC from September 24, 1957, to May 26, 1959...
, and the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
crime/police reality show, Confession
Confession (TV series)
Confession is a short-lived ABC crime/police reality show which aired from June 19, 1958, to January 13, 1959, with interviewer Jack Wyatt questioning criminals from assorted backgrounds. The program was carried by videotape from WFAA-TV, the network affiliate in Dallas, Texas, the first station to...
, hosted by Jack Wyatt
Jack Wyatt
John Francis Minford "Jack" Wyatt was an advertising executive and television host from New York City and Dallas, Texas, who, during his early fifties, was ordained as an Episcopalian priest...
.
In the summer of 1960, the series was replaced for nine weeks by the Patrick O'Neal medical/police drama Diagnosis: Unknown
Diagnosis: Unknown
Diagnosis: Unknown is an American medical drama that aired on CBS from July 5 to September 20, 1960. Produced by Bob Banner, the series aired as a summer replacement for The Garry Moore Show, a variety program.-Synopsis:...
. The Garry Moore Show was cancelled in 1964, and Moore retired for two years.
Final version (1966-1967)
Moore returned with yet another version of the show in the fall of 1966. Due to very tough competition from BonanzaBonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, the show was cancelled after only five months. It was replaced on the CBS schedule by The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour is an American comedy and variety show hosted by the Smothers Brothers and initially airing on CBS from 1967 to 1969.-History:...
.