Welcome to the St. Gregory

Aaron Spelling, the television producer who injected fantasy into ABC’s prime time lineup in the 1970s and the 1980s, created Hotel, based on the 1965 novel of the same name by Arthur Hailey.  Where Hailey’s novel took place in New Orleans,...

Desperation in the Vast Wasteland

In 1961, FCC Chairman Newton Minow decried television as a vast wasteland.  Nearly a half-century later, Bill Carter analyzed the landscape, coalescing his findings into the 2006 book Desperate Networks. A television show reaching the prime time airwaves is a...

All in the Mafia Family

In 1985, ABC debuted Our Family Honor.  Ultimately short-lived, it lasted half of the 1985-86 television season.  Our Family Honor presented the classic format of two families battling each other, with star-crossed lovers from each family complicating matters;...