John Corbett
2021-03-07 17:34:49 UTC
In your archives, do you have any or all of this TV program:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_World_(1986_TV_program)
It aired for one season but to me it was one of the finest programs ever
produced on network television. Each episode would take a retrospective
look back in time, not to a single year but a particular segment of a
years, a few days, a few weeks, or a few months. It mixed stories from
news, sports, and entertainment and blended them together masterfully.
Early on in the show's run they flashed back to the autumn of 1956. One of
the stories they covered was Don Larsen's perfect game and I was looking
forward to it. Unfortunately, early in the broadcast, the local ABC
affiliate broke in to cover a story about a load of dynamite that somebody
had discovered. To this day, I have no idea why they felt that was such a
big news story it couldn't wait for the 11 o'clock news but they wiped out
the rest of the Our World program. This show was up against Cosby and got
killed in the ratings and was canceled after just one season despite
critical acclaim and there were no reruns.
For the longest time I had been looking for that program to come out on
DVD but to no avail. I had pretty much given up on it. Last week I was
searching for something else and I stumbled across the entire series being
offered on DVD by a rare books store. Naturally I jump on it. I received
it today and it appeared that somebody with access to the original
programming had made DVD copies. Each disk was labeled with a marking pen.
Naturally the first thing I did was go to that episode about 1956. It's
been my experience that often when you go back and look at old programming
you remember fondly, it's not as good as what you remember. That was the
case with this program. It was even better than I remember. After almost
35 years, I finally got to see the episode that I had missed and it was
well worth the wait.
If you don't have these programs in your archives, it would be well worth
the effort to get a copy. It's a treasure trove of significant events in
our history. The Wiki article lists each episode and the time period
covered. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the video even
though it doesn't compare to today's hi-def. At times the audio wasn't the
best although that is probably due in part to my mild hearing loss.
One very interesting story was about the Melbourne Summer Olympics and the
Hungarian water polo team upsetting the Soviet team in the semi-finals
just weeks after the Soviets had crushed the Hungarian revolution. The
Hungarians went on to win the gold. It was a precursor to our own Miracle
on Ice 24 years later and in retrospect probably even more significant.
Over half the Hungarian Olympic team defected following the games.
Going back to Don Larsen's perfect game, it was the first time I saw the
entire ninth inning played back. Mostly all I've seen was the last pitch
to Dale Mitchell. Larsen, Yogi, and Mitchell were all interviewed for the
program. Larsen said in the seventh inning he went back to the dugout and
smoked a cigarette, not an uncommon practice among ballplayers in that
era.
If you are interested, here is where I bought it from:
https://tv-museum.myshopify.com/products/our-world-tv-series-9-dvds
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_World_(1986_TV_program)
It aired for one season but to me it was one of the finest programs ever
produced on network television. Each episode would take a retrospective
look back in time, not to a single year but a particular segment of a
years, a few days, a few weeks, or a few months. It mixed stories from
news, sports, and entertainment and blended them together masterfully.
Early on in the show's run they flashed back to the autumn of 1956. One of
the stories they covered was Don Larsen's perfect game and I was looking
forward to it. Unfortunately, early in the broadcast, the local ABC
affiliate broke in to cover a story about a load of dynamite that somebody
had discovered. To this day, I have no idea why they felt that was such a
big news story it couldn't wait for the 11 o'clock news but they wiped out
the rest of the Our World program. This show was up against Cosby and got
killed in the ratings and was canceled after just one season despite
critical acclaim and there were no reruns.
For the longest time I had been looking for that program to come out on
DVD but to no avail. I had pretty much given up on it. Last week I was
searching for something else and I stumbled across the entire series being
offered on DVD by a rare books store. Naturally I jump on it. I received
it today and it appeared that somebody with access to the original
programming had made DVD copies. Each disk was labeled with a marking pen.
Naturally the first thing I did was go to that episode about 1956. It's
been my experience that often when you go back and look at old programming
you remember fondly, it's not as good as what you remember. That was the
case with this program. It was even better than I remember. After almost
35 years, I finally got to see the episode that I had missed and it was
well worth the wait.
If you don't have these programs in your archives, it would be well worth
the effort to get a copy. It's a treasure trove of significant events in
our history. The Wiki article lists each episode and the time period
covered. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the video even
though it doesn't compare to today's hi-def. At times the audio wasn't the
best although that is probably due in part to my mild hearing loss.
One very interesting story was about the Melbourne Summer Olympics and the
Hungarian water polo team upsetting the Soviet team in the semi-finals
just weeks after the Soviets had crushed the Hungarian revolution. The
Hungarians went on to win the gold. It was a precursor to our own Miracle
on Ice 24 years later and in retrospect probably even more significant.
Over half the Hungarian Olympic team defected following the games.
Going back to Don Larsen's perfect game, it was the first time I saw the
entire ninth inning played back. Mostly all I've seen was the last pitch
to Dale Mitchell. Larsen, Yogi, and Mitchell were all interviewed for the
program. Larsen said in the seventh inning he went back to the dugout and
smoked a cigarette, not an uncommon practice among ballplayers in that
era.
If you are interested, here is where I bought it from:
https://tv-museum.myshopify.com/products/our-world-tv-series-9-dvds