August 9, 1957…”Home” With Arlene Francis Ends Three Year Run
August 9, 1957…”Home” With Arlene Francis Ends Three Year Run
NBC’s “Home” show debuted March 1, 1954 at 11 AM from their 67th Street Studios which were built just a few years earlier by WOR.
The concept came from a show NBC President Pat Weaver had originally titled “Shopping”, and was designed for the upscale female demo. Weaver’s other creations “Today” and “Tonight” are alive and well, but “Home”, the third of the triad, ended with the 893rd and final episode on August 9, 1957.
When Arlene Francis was chosen as the host, Weaver changed the name to “Home” and broadened the scope of the show to add more entertainment and interviews, but each show did have a twelve minute segment on shopping and new products that ranged from food and furniture to clothes and cosmetics.
Instead of trying to present the show on a household type set, NBC spent $200,000 on a circular set that made it clear to viewers that it was done on in a modern television studio. As you can see it was shot “in the round”, but the set also rotated on a huge turntable and was one of the most versatile sets ever. There is also something special about the cameras, that I will point out on the individual photos, so click on those.
As you can see,NBC even built a huge ceiling mounted, remote control camera boom for overhead shots. What you can’t see it the elaborate plumbing the set had. As in the image with the girls with umbrellas, there were often special effects on the set, including a way to make and drain “rain”, as well as operate the kitchen sinks.
In the third year of the show, it was moved to the 10 o’clock hour as CBS was doing their best to counter program with Lucy reruns at 11. Although critics loved the show, it’s aim at the upper class female demo was too narrow and the ratings continued to drop forcing NBC to cancel it. Still under contract for another year, NBC replaced “Home” with “The Arlene Francis Show”, which was much livelier and had more entertainment. – Bobby Ellerbee
I tried to get a job as a studio manager there, in 1969. But they wouldn’t hire me because I wasn’t a member of the union. This was ABC-TV. (I was at CTN at the time as a commercial coordinator.)
Terrific. Thanks for sharing!
A few years ago, I read a book of interviews called “Producers on Producing.” It included a talk with Pat Weaver that contains one of my favorite sentiments ever:
INTERVIEWER: “You pioneered again with a show called ‘Home.’ Could you talk about that?”
PAT WEAVER: “It should still be running. That’s the first thing I’ll say about it. It was a very successful show, and the idiots took it off.”
I dimly remember this show. As it went off the air about a week after my 5th Birthday, I don’t think I was part of the target demographic.