Bishop Sheen & Milton Berle
Mar 30, 2019 16:05:59 #
crazylibertarian
Loc: Florida by way of New York & Rhode Island
Milton Berle and Fulton J. Sheen
A Good Story
Milton Berle had been an vaudevillian who, early on, saw the potential of television as a medium of entertainment. They called him Mr. Television. I believe that he’d had several other programs before he became a fixture on Tuesday evenings, 8-9PM with his Texaco Star Theater on NBC. He had Sid Stone, as a comedic pitchman (“Tell you what I’m gonna do.”), singer Charlie Applewhite and others as regulars.
He was king of his time slot. No one could put a dent in his ratings; not even Frank Sinatra. No one until Bishop Fulton J. Sheen came along.
At the time, there were four networks, CBS, NBC, a relative newcomer ABC and the now-defunct Dumont Television Network. They didn’t know what to do with their time slot to compete. Someone came up with the idea of giving it to Bishop Sheen. They gave him the the first half hour and called it, ‘Life Is Worth Living.’
When it debuted, only 3 or 5 stations signed on. That gradually increased and, finally, Sheen was beating Berle in the ratings but only for the first half-hour that Sheen was on. Right after it went off, Dumont’s ratings went down and Berle’s went up.
Berle and Sheen went on to have friendly rivalry. Berle was once asked why he thought Sheen was beating him so handily in the ratings, he quipped “He has better writers; Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.”
Berle said there was no person he’d rather be beaten by, in the ratings, than by someone like Bishop Sheen. He went on that it really showed that the American people did have their priorities right in preferring Bishop Sheen to someone like himself, a clown.
My mother used to watch the show every week. She was dev**ee. Interestingly, the demographics showed that Bishop Sheen had a disproportionately large Jewish viewership. His message was as timeless as the prophets & as important as ever.
A Good Story
Milton Berle had been an vaudevillian who, early on, saw the potential of television as a medium of entertainment. They called him Mr. Television. I believe that he’d had several other programs before he became a fixture on Tuesday evenings, 8-9PM with his Texaco Star Theater on NBC. He had Sid Stone, as a comedic pitchman (“Tell you what I’m gonna do.”), singer Charlie Applewhite and others as regulars.
He was king of his time slot. No one could put a dent in his ratings; not even Frank Sinatra. No one until Bishop Fulton J. Sheen came along.
At the time, there were four networks, CBS, NBC, a relative newcomer ABC and the now-defunct Dumont Television Network. They didn’t know what to do with their time slot to compete. Someone came up with the idea of giving it to Bishop Sheen. They gave him the the first half hour and called it, ‘Life Is Worth Living.’
When it debuted, only 3 or 5 stations signed on. That gradually increased and, finally, Sheen was beating Berle in the ratings but only for the first half-hour that Sheen was on. Right after it went off, Dumont’s ratings went down and Berle’s went up.
Berle and Sheen went on to have friendly rivalry. Berle was once asked why he thought Sheen was beating him so handily in the ratings, he quipped “He has better writers; Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.”
Berle said there was no person he’d rather be beaten by, in the ratings, than by someone like Bishop Sheen. He went on that it really showed that the American people did have their priorities right in preferring Bishop Sheen to someone like himself, a clown.
My mother used to watch the show every week. She was dev**ee. Interestingly, the demographics showed that Bishop Sheen had a disproportionately large Jewish viewership. His message was as timeless as the prophets & as important as ever.
Apr 1, 2019 00:29:10 #
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