|
''Our World'' is an American television news series that ran for 26 episodes, from September 25, 1986 to May 28, 1987. The show was anchored by Linda Ellerbee and Ray Gandolf. Each episode of the series examined, through the use of archival film and television footage, one short period in American history. ''Our World'' aired on ABC. ''Our World'' grew out of an earlier ABC News special called ''45/85'', whose producer, Avram Westin, would go on to produce ''Our World''. Each episode was produced on a budget of $350,000, less than half of the budget of a typical hour of prime time programming at the time. ''Our World'' premiered to indifferent critical response but as the series progressed critics became effusive with their praise. Despite being critically well received and profitable for the network, ''Our World'' performed poorly in the Nielsen ratings, as its first half-hour was programmed against the extremely popular ''The Cosby Show''. ABC canceled the show after one season. Ellerbee tried to move the series to PBS but was unsuccessful. ==Production== ''Our World'' was created by ABC News president Roone Arledge.〔Arledge p. 320〕 The show had its genesis in a 1985 ABC News special called ''45/85'', a three-hour documentary that reviewed post-World War II history with an emphasis on the Cold War. That special was produced by Avram "Av" Westin, who also produced ''Our World''.〔 〕 Anchors Ellerbee and Gandolf co-wrote ''Our World'', which combined archival footage with new interviews with people who participated in or witnessed the events. Initial plans were that each episode would cover one year, but that idea was quickly scrapped; Ellerbee said, "It's hard enough to do a month, or even days." ABC hired Ellerbee away from NBC to co-anchor the show. The network considered Sander Vanocur, Dick Schaap and James Wooten as possible partners before selecting Gandolf, at the time the sports anchor for ABC's ''World News Saturday'' and ''World News Sunday''. Set designers modeled the set for ''Our World'' after a corner news stand. For each episode, artifacts of the period being profiled, including magazines and political posters, decorated the set and a movie marquee listed the title of a film that was in theatres of the time. In the foreground was placed an ''Our World'' newspaper the headlines of which were the program's title and the name of that program's producer.〔 Each episode cost $350,000 to produce as compared to the then-typical $800,000 cost of an hour of prime time network programming.〔 The low budget combined with a dozen commercial spots sold at $35,000 each meant that ''Our World'' generated an estimated $4 million in profit for ABC during its original run and summer repeats. ''Our World'' producers selected each episode's subject time period with the help of consultants from the Smithsonian Institution and Columbia University. The show was limited in its choices by the available footage for the given time period. Ellerbee recalled a viewer-submitted proposal for an episode on the American Civil War, which could not be made because of the non-existence of archive footage from the 1860s and the lack of any living eyewitnesses.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Our World (TV series)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|