Reviews & Ratings for
"You Are There" More at IMDbPro »

19 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
This was a great TV series for the 1950s, 23 November 2004
Author: tony-close from Chicago

I noticed the one user comment about this show, about seeing it in elementary school in the 1960s. That person seemed to feel the acting wasn't up to par and kids were not too interested.

I remember the series as a teenager in the 1950s when it was on the air for real. Our whole family would watch this show together, and we were as I recall fascinated by it. I distinctly recall one of the shows was on the death of Socrates which even to this day must affect me in some way. Here I was, a teenager, thoroughly bored with history in school, being fascinated by the way it was portrayed right in front of us. Poor acting? I don't remember that - knowing CBS at the time, it was probably as good as anything else being shown on the little black and white tube.

In thinking back on this, I really think it was amazing that this serious - and important - subject could be shown in the way it was. Today's programming is dumbed down stuff compared to the plot lines and staging that were done back then. I think we are the poorer for the lack of good programming that is available on prime time for our kids - programming that is presented as a serious prime time program, not as a History Channel feature that the kids would never be caught dead watching.

14 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
An Early Television Gem, 12 August 2006
Author: sonny_1963 from United States

Hosted by Walter Cronkite before his bigger successes, "You Are There" created something totally new for television - a reporter with a camera and microphone who covered historical events as though they were breaking news.

One example was, "The Assassination of Julius Caesar." He interviews many of the people who took part as they stand over Caesar"s body.

"Excuse me, sir," he asks Marc Antony. Antony takes a moment to be interviewed. What a fascinating concept.

The only other episode I remember seeing live was, "The Capture of Jesse James," with an unknown James Dean in the title role.

If the episodes have not been lost, they should be put on DVD for today's generation to watch.

11 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Seen through the Blacklist, 25 July 2006
Author: treagan-3 from United States

One of the interesting footnotes to this New York-based show from the 1950s was that it became a sort of refuge for blacklisted scriptwriters. Walter Bernstein and Abe Polonsky are mentioned in the extended IMDb credits as "uncredited" writers. Some of the Hollywood blacklist histories mention this series as employing blacklisted writers.

I think it was Polonsky (whose FORCE OF EVIL is arguably one of the best of the film noirs) who talked about his "You Are There" experiences at a panel I attended in Berkeley in 1980. He stated that many of the historical episodes covered in the series were about the suppression of dissidents (such as The Death of Socrates), mirroring what the leftist screenwriters felt about being blacklisted from their industry on the basis of their political beliefs and affiliations.

I watched "You Are There" occasionally as a kid growing up in the 1950s, and of course I had no sense of this context. I remember thinking the shows were interesting--but corny. But I cannot compare the effort to penetrate historical events with anything currently on commercial broadcast network TV, and the CBS effort behind "You Are There" was a laudable one, in a different age.

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Where's the 1971 version?, 11 January 2012

Author: willibwar from United States

I, too, remember seeing an episode of the original "You Are There" in elementary school in 1973 (I don't remember which episode, however). And since selected episodes of the original 1950's series are now on DVD, I hope to check out some of them.

But, having been born in April 1962 - and *this* is the one I *really* remember, having seen it on some Saturday afternoons when I was a kid - I'd like to know:

*What about the 1971-72 revival of "You Are There?"*

I recently saw just the opening and closing of one episode from the "You Are There" revival on YouTube; it was the one about the Alamo. According to the credits, Fred Gwynne of "The Munsters" had a brief role in this segment (for some strange reason, the poster of that video *didn't* include the body of that episode in his submission).

Also, I discovered some episodes of the 1971 "You Are There" were made available for school use; following the closing credits, a title card read: "Distributed by BFA Educational Media." I did some research on Google and found out BFA morphed into a company now called The Phoenix Learning Group, Inc.; when I went to PLG's website, I checked to see if any episodes of the 1971 "You Are There" were still available on DVD or VHS. Sadly, PLG is *no longer* printing any episodes of the 1971 "You Are There" on DVD or other formats, including the above-mentioned "Alamo" episode. (The 1971 revival of "You Are There" was recorded on videotape rather than film; perhaps that's another reason hampering a DVD release of this version? I can only hope not, since that "Alamo" episode was converted to film from videotape without any problem.)

So, CBS, if you and your sister company Paramount Home Entertainment don't want to release the 1971 version of "You Are There" on DVD yourselves, why don't you lease it out to Shout! Factory, Real Gone, or some other "Classic TV" DVD company? I'm sure there are others who remember the 1971 revival of the show and might enjoy seeing these episodes again, too (hopefully you still have the 1971 "You Are There" in your archives and didn't let the copyrights expire)!

In the meantime, I hope to purchase some of those original 50's "You Are There" episodes on DVD and watch them. After viewing the brief snippet of that one 1971 episode on YouTube, that made me want to see other episodes of the original series even more!

1 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
A Break From the Usual Sit-Com's....., 29 October 2008

Author: noneabve1947 from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I remember this, though it might have been in re-runs. I don't know how one can possibly be guilty of "spoiler alert" since the show is exactly as advertised and summed up here. It also was a prelude to future newscasts and maybe an amplification of those WW2 newsreels my parents told me about. Still, the views and events were based on the "standard model" we all read in school. There wasn't much of the other side and when there was it was pretty slanted. It's like that old test that if you tell one person an eye witness account and he/she tells it to another, by the time you get through ten generations you have turned "Mary Had a Little Lamb" into the Spanish Inquisition..... The only other show that I remember was on PBS called "The Battle of Culloden". It was very violent, though only in words describing the effect of grapeshot, for example...etc. Looking for it here and will make my comments. Lastly, Walter Cronkite. Jeez, how can you sum him up in a few words?? He was the anchor at my house for JFK in Dallas, RFK in California, and two unknown guys taking a stroll on the moon.

4 out of 27 people found the following review useful:
Does anybody remember Walter?, 3 November 2003
Author: Twins65 from Lindenhurst, IL

I somehow stumbled upon this looking at the bio of director John Frankenheimer, and thought I'd throw in a quick review, just to see if I can stir up anybody else's memory.

These "films" (and I use that term loosely) were shown to me in the mid-1960's during elem. history class, and they were about on par with the "Mr. Bungle" series Pee-Wee Herman used to feature on his show. Each black and white episode was introduced by Walter Cronkite "embedded" right in the middle of some historical event, and it was all downhill from there. Bad acting eliciting snickers and catcalls from 3rd graders is most-likely not something Mr. Frankenheimer featured prominently on his resume', but he was probably more proud of these than THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU!

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