The Columbia Broadcasting System is one of the largest television networks in the United States. From September 13th - December 20th, 1974, CBS aired the Planet of the Apes live-action television series at 8:00 pm on Friday evenings. Speaking about the failure of the Apes series, executive producer Herbert Hirschman laid some of the blame on Fred Silverman, CBS Vice President in charge of programming: "My interest was making the show for adults and hopefully the kids would enjoy it too. But the focus changed. Freddy was concerned we weren't doing so well. He thought the scripts were too sophisticated. You know how these things go. When he saw the first script, he thought it was absolutely fantastic. When the ratings didn't come in, he started complaining that we were too sophisticated and that the villains should all be black-hats and the heroes should all be white-hats. I think the scripts did become more simple-minded, for lack of another term."[1] Early in production, Silverman had invited Joe Ruby and Ken Spears to review the completed scripts and re-orient them to "75% action, 25% drama".[2]
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- Doctor Frank Stanton was the name of the president of CBS between 1946 and 1971, one of the pioneering executives at the dawn of the TV era. The animated Return to the Planet of the Apes series, broadcast on the rival NBC network, referenced the "Time Thrust" theory of a 'Dr Stanton'.
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- ↑ Planet of the Apes on Television, by Joe Russo, Larry Landsman & Edward Gross - 'SFX Magazine' (2001)
- ↑ Story Editors on the Planet of the Apes, by John Roche - 'Simian Scrolls' #16 (2010)