Actor Robert Vaughn reflects on the everlasting appeal of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and how the show was initially almost cancelled. The interview is with writer Christopher Stipp from the web site www.quickstopentertainment.com He also discusses the forthcoming U.N.C.L.E. DVD set and his highly successful TV series Hustle. Here are some highlights:
I’m writing an autobiography and it was just last week…David McCallum,
who was my co-star on U.N.C.L.E., they’re putting a DVD of all four
seasons, and Warner Brothers, who are putting out the DVDs asked us to
be sat down and be interviewed for this. It lasted about three hours
and it was because of this where I went and thought about why
U.N.C.L.E. was as successful as it was, when it was. There were a
number of reasons. Mainly, it was because of the success of the Bond
pictures. Next, David and I were successful in engaging a young
audience. And, the next most important reason was the time slot.
Because, when we went on the air, in 1964 we were on the verge of being
cancelled two months after we started because our Nielsen ratings were
so low. They changed our time slots from Tuesday night to Monday night
but one of the things about that is that the show caught on with
college students who were away at school. In those days, in regular
houses, there was just one black and white set so when they came back,
during the holidays, they were the ones controlling what was being
watched.
And so, the ratings suddenly went through the roof and, by the summer,
when they re-ran the entire first season, it wound up being the number
one show in the country almost a year after it almost canceled. It was
mostly all due to college students and it the time slot was moved once
more accordingly and the show remained a huge hit.
For the full interview click here