Ben Jerrod
{{Short description|American TV soap opera}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| image =
| caption =
| genre = Soap opera
| creator = Roy Winsor
| writer = William Kendall Clark
| director = Fred Carney
| presenter =
| starring =
| judges =
| voices =
| narrated =
| theme_music_composer =
| opentheme =
| composer =
| country = United States
| language = English
| num_seasons = 1
| num_episodes = 65
| list_episodes =
| executive_producer =
| producer = Joseph Hardy
| editor =
| cinematography =
| camera = Single-camera
| runtime = 25 mins.
| company =
| channel = NBC
| first_aired = {{start date|1963|04|01}}
| last_aired = {{end date|1963|06|28}}
}}
Ben Jerrod is an American serial which ran from April 1, 1963 to June 28, 1963. The series is most notable for being the first daytime drama to be regularly televised in color.{{cite book|title=TV Guide Guide to TV|year=2004|publisher=Barnes and Noble|isbn=0-7607-5634-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780760756348/page/60 60]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780760756348/page/60}} Michael M. Ryan played the show's title character. The cast also included Addison Richards, Lyle Talbot, Gerald Gordon, and Isabel Randolph.{{cite book |last1=Schemering |first1=Christopher |title=The Soap Opera Encyclopedia |date=1987 |publisher=Ballantine Books |isbn=0-345-35344-7 |edition=2nd |page=42}}
Production
The show was one of the least-durable soap operas on television.{{cite book|last1=McNeil|first1=Alex|title=Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present |date=1996|publisher=Penguin Books USA, Inc.|location=New York, New York|isbn=0-14-02-4916-8|page= 85|edition=4th}} It was created by Roy Winsor{{cite book |last1=Erickson |first1=Hal |title=Encyclopedia of Television Law Shows: Factual and Fictional Series About Judges, Lawyers and the Courtroom, 1948-2008 |date=September 15, 2009 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-3828-0 |page=44 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g6oJBAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Ben+Jerrod%22&pg=PA44 |access-date=September 13, 2022 |language=en}} and was produced by Joseph Hardy. William Kendall Clark was the writer, and Fred Carney was the director.{{cite book |last1=Hyatt |first1=Wesley |title=Short-Lived Television Series, 1948-1978: Thirty Years of More Than 1,000 Flops |date=October 6, 2015 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-0515-9 |page=130 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ty21CgAAQBAJ&dq=%22Ben+Jerrod%22&pg=PA130 |access-date=March 17, 2023 |language=en}} Ben Jerrod's musical bridges were produced through a guitar and percussion instruments.
Recorded on tape in Hollywood, Ben Jerrod was broadcast from 2 to 2:25 p.m. Eastern Time.{{cite magazine |date=February 4, 1963 |page=66 |title=NBC -TV sets changes in daytime programs |magazine=Broadcasting |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1963/1963-02-04-BC.pdf#page=66 |accessdate=March 17, 2023 }} It joined with another soap opera, House of Hope, to replace Merv Griffin's program,{{cite magazine |date=February 1963 |page=21 |title=Sponsor-scope |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Sponsor-Magazine/1963/Sponsor-1963-02-1.pdf#page=21 |magazine=Sponsor |access-date=March 17, 2023}} but its ratings turned out to be lower than Griffin's show.{{cite book |last1=Hyatt |first1=Wesley |title=The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television |date=1997 |publisher=Billboard Books |location=New York |isbn=0-8230-8315-2 |page=56 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/History/Encyclopedia-of-Daytime-Television-Hyatt-1997.pdf#page=78 |access-date=March 17, 2023}} Its competition included Password on CBS and Day in Court on NBC. It was replaced by People Will Talk.
Synopsis
Set in the town of Indian Hill,{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010|date=2011|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers|location=Jefferson, N.C.|isbn=978-0-7864-6477-7|page=89|edition=2nd}} the series follows two Rhode Island lawyers defending a socialite accused of murdering her husband. John Abbott is a retired judge, and his young assistant, Jerrod, attended Harvard. Abbott's daughter was their "secretary and gal Friday".
Cast
- Michael M. Ryan as Ben Jerrod
- Addison Richards as John Abbott, Jerrod's older partner
- Jeanne Baird as Agnes Abbott, daughter of John Abbott
- Lyle Talbot as Lt. Choates
- Regina Gleason as Janet Donnelli
- Ken Scott as Jim O'Hara, Donnelli's boyfriend
- Peter Hansen as druggist Peter Morrison
- Martine Bartlett as Lil Morrison, wife of Peter Morrison
- Gerald Gordon as Sam Richardson
- Denise Alexander as Emily Sanders
- William Phipps as Coroner Engle
- John Napier as D.A. Dan Joplin
- Don Collier as Abel Forsythe
- Adele Pike as Jo Helton
- Charlotte Stewart as Ingénue
- Isabel Randolph
- Paul Geary
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0056740}}
Category:1963 American television series debuts
Category:1963 American television series endings
Category:American television soap operas
Category:Television shows set in Rhode Island
Category:American English-language television shows