The Avengers Forever: Detail Point

	Trivia Overload

So, when exactly did this episode premiere in the US? It was scheduled for 27 January 1969, but got pre-empted at the last minute by the annual Bing Crosby Golf tournament. So far, a precise date is eluding even TV historians. David Schleicher, who cracked the case for the real US premieres of "The Murder Market" and "Escape in Time," puts it like this:

"A look back at The Avengers' 1969 US summer schedule is a disheartening experience for every fan of the show. It demonstrates how cavalier, and even disdainful, ABC's attitude toward the show had become. After repeats of only four arbitrarily-chosen Tara King episodes (not even "Game," generally acknowledged a King high point, is included), the network spends the rest of the summer broadcasting (for the third time) 13 Emma Peel episodes from the 1967 season!

"Even so, the series is pre-empted three times by various specials, and the last six episodes shown, from 18 August until 15 September, were not even identified by ABC in time to make that day's TV listings page in The New York Times which is, incidentally, located in the same city as ABC's flagship station, where the broadcasting decisions were being made. At least ABC refrained from playing schedule tag with the show and kept it on Monday evenings at 7:30 PM until the bitter end, when it was ignominiously replaced on 22 September by Music Scene (anyone remember that one?) which even opening week guests The Beatles could not save from almost instant oblivion.

"And here's the rub: it's those last six unnamed episodes that are preventing me from cracking this case once and for all. If my original claim is correct, one of them is "The Morning After," making its belated US debut. However, ABC's scheduling pattern suggests that more Emma Peel episodes were included there. The Times listings for these dates all do state "The Avengers (R) [for rerun] Patrick Macnee, Diana Rigg" with no further information. I even backtracked on the microfilm files to review the Sunday full-week listings, which are identical to the daily listings, providing no episode information at all."

And, regarding Laugh In...

Thanks go to Greg Brown and Roy Green, who informed me of an effect I was unable to appreciate owing to a poor off-air video copy: the sound of a single clapping hand, which was the trademark close of every Laugh In show, can be heard just before Steed makes his "Sock it to me" remark.

And here's some rather off-topic trivia: back when Laugh In was on the air, I discovered quite by accident how the production company created that strange little sequence of sounds that ran during the end logo slide, which went something like, "diddly-dip-bop-boop-boop-boom-tick-chah." A popular electronic organ sold back then had a percussion generator, and when one pressed each percussion button in quick succession, it produced that sound. Well, I say, that and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee—and me a visit to the loony bin...