ABC Stage 67


ABC Stage 67 is the umbrella title for a series of 26 weekly American television shows that included dramas, variety shows, documentaries and original musicals.
It premiered on ABC on September 14, 1966, with Murray Schisgal's The Love Song of Barney Kempinski, directed by Stanley Prager and starring Alan Arkin as a man enjoying the sights and sounds of New York City in his last remaining hours of bachelorhood. Arkin was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance By An Actor in a Leading Role in a Drama and the program was nominated as Outstanding Dramatic Program.
Later programs included appearances by Petula Clark, Bobby Darin, Sir Laurence Olivier, Albert Finney, Peter Sellers, David Frost and Jack Paar.
Ultimately, ABC's effort to revive the popular anthology series format from the 1950s failed. Scheduled first against I Spy on Wednesdays and then The Dean Martin Show on Thursdays, the show consistently received low ratings. Its last production, an adaptation of Jean Cocteau's one-woman play The Human Voice starring Ingrid Bergman, was shown on May 4, 1967.

Significant episodes

A behind the scenes documentary of a May 1966 British concert tour by the musician Bob Dylan was promoted by the network as a forthcoming episode. Eat the Document, as the film was later titled, was never shown as part of the series. Editing delays and an un-television "art house" choice of camera technique are believed to be the reasons.