ABC Remembers 50 Years of Glory Days

ABC hasn’t had a lot to celebrate lately. Its scripted series rarely crack the top 10 in the Nielsen ratings and even have trouble making the top 20. In the broadcast network universe, ABC is third overall and tied for third in the all-important 18- to 49-year-old demographic that advertisers covet.

But over the past half-century, ABC’s achievements have been vast and many. The network was the first to air a prime-time cartoon series (“The Flintstones” in 1960), the first to have an African American TV news journalist (Mel Goode in 1962) and the first to have a black anchorman (Max Robinson in 1978). Its movies of the week tackled such hotbed subjects as homosexuality (“That Certain Summer” in 1972) and incest (“Something About Amelia” in 1984).

The late 1970s comedy series “Soap” had the first recurring gay character (Billy Crystal as Jodie Dallas) on network television, and in 1993, “NYPD Blue” became the first series to bare breasts (albeit partially concealed) and backsides on a regular basis.

ABC may be beleaguered, but its woes haven’t stopped the network from throwing a big bash, televised of course. Monday night comes a three-hour, star-studded special, “ABC’s 50th Anniversary Celebration,” taped March 16. Highlights include cast reunions from such series as “Welcome Back, Kotter,” “Happy Days,” “The Brady Bunch” and “The Mod Squad”; a retrospective of historic news events presented by Barbara Walters, Hugh Downs, Peter Jennings and Ted Koppel; pivotal moments and tributes from the world of sports; clips from the network’s favorite comedy and drama series, past and present; and a tribute to its movies and miniseries. Oprah Winfrey and Richard Chamberlain are hosts.

“We have looked across the 50 years and tried to sort of home in to what things really set the network apart,” says Susan Lyne, president of ABC Entertainment. “Obviously, one of them has been the family comedy. It has been a great legacy of this network from the start, from ‘Leave It to Beaver’ and ‘The Donna Reed Show’ through things like ‘Roseanne’ and ‘Home Improvement.’

“ABC also has a rich history of doing character-driven drama -- dramas that had rich enough characters that you would tune in week after week to see what happened to them, whether it be ‘China Beach’ or ‘Family’ or ‘Life Goes On’ or ‘My So-Called Life’ or ‘thirtysomething.’ ”

Participating in the special, says Florence Henderson, “was a fabulous night.” Henderson starred in one of ABC’s favorite family comedies, “The Brady Bunch,” from 1969 to 1974. “Almost every cast of every decade that had been on ABC was there. Every one of the ‘Brady Bunch’ was there except for Eve Plumb, who doesn’t do those” reunions.

“The Brady Bunch,” Henderson says, was the first series to feature blended families. “We were the first couple to sleep in the same bed and actually alluded to the fact we had sex! I would insist on wearing a sexy nightgown. ‘The Brady Bunch’ has never been off the air in this country, and it’s all over the world.”

One person who is synonymous with the network is Dick Clark, who, at 73, quips that he is the oldest living employee of the company. Clark says that when “American Bandstand” started on ABC in 1957 as a daytime show, it became the top show in just four weeks. “They gave it a seven-week trial and it went to No. 1. They had 67 affiliates and beat NBC and CBS with 200 affiliates. That was the beginning of the daytime stronghold.”

Clark says that the ABC of the 1950s was very much like Fox when that scrappy network began in the late 1980s. “It was an ambitious, feisty little forerunner of Fox in its day,” Clark says of ABC. “It was a one-man band under the auspices of [founder] Leonard Goldenson.”

But it wasn’t until the late ‘70s that ABC made huge inroads as a news organization. In fact, Walters says the news department was a “mess” when she was hired away 27 years ago from NBC’s “The Today Show.” But that all changed when ABC transferred the late Roone Arledge from the sports division to become president of ABC News

“He is the one who made the difference,” says Walters. “That’s when I did some of the best work that I ever did. He was the one who also believed that talent was very important. Roone was the one who brought Diane Sawyer over and Connie Chung. He just thought, get the best talent, both producers and on-air talent. He made ABC the news channel.”

“ABC’s 50th Anniversary Celebration” can be seen at 8 p.m. Monday on ABC.

Cover photograph of Dick Clark in 1968 by ABC