It is interesting to find myself recalling Mr. Newton Minnow - hardly anyone remembers him today, but he was involved with the F.C.C. in the Kennedy Administration or that period, and in the early 1960s came up with a statement that set television stations and producers teeth on edge. Looking at what television was like, he made the general statement that it was "a vast wasteland". Minnow was basically attacking how the powers that be that produced shows gave the public pablum, not provocative television that made people think.
How true was this? Well I suspect it was as true as the results of motion picture feature films were to men like D.W. Griffith. Griffith, in an interview after he did INTOLERANCE stated that the medium of movies could be used to teach people history and culture. Well...it didn't really happen that way. Due to public demand there were few attempts to put major literary works on film, or (like INTOLERANCE...and (God help us!) BIRTH OF A NATION) teach history. Historical films were produced, but most were combinations of history, adventure, and romance. Cultural works got produced if (like GONE WITH THE WIND or THE GOOD EARTH) they were best sellers. Example of this failure: in 1935 Spencer Tracy played a carnival huckster on the make in DANTE'S INFERNO. While H. B. Walthall talks a little about Dante Alighieri's huge poem (about 100 cantos), he only talks of the first third dealing with hell - not the parts about purgatory and heaven. As for the film, while enjoyable, it is the only one to make a film commentary (in it's conclusion) to the burning of a ship that resembles the ill-fated "Morro Castle" (which burned in 1934). It really does not go into an in depth approach to Dante's great poem.
You see, film is commercial as well as popular - you have to make it so for public consumption. So was radio and television. So, for that matter, was theater. Minnow did not want to recognize this, and (frankly) his comment strikes me as both snobbish and elitist. But he was probably looking at how in the 1950s the standards were somewhat higher because there were more dramas on the air (PLAYHOUSE 90, etc.) and there were intelligent news discussion by journalists. Actually how true this is is another matter - probably much of the live and filmed drama of the 1950s was mediocre, and only one journalist (Edward R. Murrow) tried to make a difference - and he ended up conducting a show (PERSON TO PERSON) where he interviewed celebrities!
But Minnow was right about one thing - that producers had a tendency of throwing things at the public which were not really good. It was not necessarily bad taste or lack of concern: the producers frequently misjudged public taste. This was particularly true of the comedy shows. The plots of even the best ones (GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES) were silly or stupid, but the truth was that these shows and other classic comedies had first rate casts who made the dumb stories really funny. But if the story was really dull or the cast not up to it or some defect was in the plot - well the show should collapse on its own.
To me MONA MCCLUSKEY was almost proof of what Minnow was arguing about. It came and failed so quickly that most people do not even recall that it was on television. It was the only time that dancer and Sinatra girl friend Juliet Prowse ever appeared on television in any acting role of note. Prowse was a wonderful dancer (see her in CAN-CAN sharing the screen with Shirley MacLaine) and had a good looking body and face. But her acting talent was just passable. Nothing exciting about her at all there.
The plot dealt with a big time movie star who marries an army sergeant (Denny Miller - who he?), and is determined to continue making films as a career, but at the same time living on her husband's income. She also is determined to be a housefrau - for example she cleans the house wearing expensive gowns and negligees. She cannot cook - she keeps serving peanut butter sandwiches or some combination with it. Like Lucille Ball (but with less wit or ability) she keeps getting into problems with the military and the movie studio - but she is an artist, so everyone talks to her softly when they confront after some particular lunacy. Must not disturb the nervous system of an artiste.
I note that Robert Strauss was in some episodes, but he was wasted. In fact the whole show was a waste - it did not last a season.
Looking at this show the question becomes "WHY?" I have no answer. The writers were experienced, or seemed to be. But what I notice is that the producer was George Burns. This is a shocker to me - until I realize that Burns turned to producing after his wife Gracie Allen died in 1964 (the year before this show came out). He was quite unhappy, and his work was below par (he also produced and starred in WENDY AND ME - another terrible comedy - around this time). It would not be until he played "Al Lewis" in THE SUNSHINE BOYS in the 1970s, and won his "Oscar" that Burns got back into his normal level of ability.
