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1-26 of 26
- One of Channing's oldest students is Don Burroughs, who's nearly thirty and never graduates. He and his wife and child live on her salary as the Dean's secretary, but he can't keep a job either. He seems like a charming eternal boy, always forgiven, but deep inside, he resents it.
- A freshman who is better at partying and flirting with trouble takes a job to help a wheelchair bound paraplegic. It's a definite mismatch as he is sullen and diffident. The two over time learn from each other.
- A Channing alumnus, running for State's Attorney on a "throw the rascals out" platform, discover his campaign manager is using dirty tricks to get him elected.
- Channing was an interesting, well reviewed, but little known tv series from TV's "New Frontier " era. The much praised but now little -viewed shows of that era featured unusual heroes who grappled with the issues of the day. There were shows built around Psychiatrists ( The Eleventh Hour), Social workers, (EastSide/ West Side), drifters ( Route 66), High school English teachers( Mr. Novak), and state legislators. ( Slattery's People.) All of these shows attracted passionate, if in most cases, small followings. Almost none of them are rerun, almost none are available on DVD. One such show was Channing. Channing was almost unique among serious TV dramas was that it was set in a liberal arts college. Having lived in that envirionment, ( for many years) I can testify that it is , in fact a much more interesting- and dramatic world than most outsiders think. Unfortunatey, it is also a pretty high-brow world, and the typical TV viewers is NOT highbrow. Channing tried to make gripping TV drama out of that world, and the average viewer wasn't buying. This may have been unfortunate, since there were some pretty talented people involved with this show. Jack Laird and Bob Rafelson were the chief producers, and the show starred Jason Evers( who was then a promising newcomer) , and that wonderful character actor with the unforgettable voice, Henry Jones. Laird and some of the other people behind the show had worked with the great James Moser on Ben Casey, and like some other New Frontier Dramas, Channing followed the Ben Casey formula. Bold brash, Kennedy-like Young Turk sometimes blessed and and sometimes burdened with a Wise Old Mentor.( Think Ike.) In the case of Channing, the bold young new frontiersman was a bright young English professor and Korean War vet named Joseph Howe played by Evers, while the wise old mentor was Dean Henry Baker, played by Jones. Every episode was built around the sort of small drama that often occurs on campus- a tenure fight, a perpetual grad student, and popular but alcoholic professor, a student athlete torn between his studies and the playing field. One episode was built around an angry Vietnam War veteran ( In 1963!) Almost every episode featured one or more remarkable guest stars. Freedom is a Lovesome Thing God Wot was one of the most interesting episodes. It was nominated for Writers Guild award and featured two of the greatest performers ever. Agnes Morehead played a mathematics professor, and James Earl Jones played a bitter, brilliant, Black intellectual. ( Imagine, a tv drama with two INTELLIGENT characters.) The plot was simple. These two very smart, but very different, people clashed over the future of a gifted young black student. Moorehead wanted to guide him toward an academic career, Jones had other ideas. I would love to find this on DVD somewhere, but this show seems to be harder to find than even Slattery's People or East Side/ West Side.
- This was the last episode of the unfortunately overlooked series, Channing. Channing was one of the two ( serious) TV shows set on a college campus, the other one being the somewhat longer lived The Paper Chase. Channing was made by some of the same people responsible for Ben Casey, and the few descriptions I have read sound ( a bit) like "Ben Casey on Campus". Young Turk Professor Howe ( the under-rated and little known Jason Evers) tries to help his students and his colleagues, guided by the outwardly crusty but wise Dean Baker(The great Henry Jones.) In this episode, James Caan plays an All-American Football player who becomes fascinated by Judaism, in part due to his girlfriend, played by Yvonne( Batgirl) Craig. It all begins when Professor Howe tells his students a story about Mark Twain and Sholem Aleichem. Caan's character goes so far as to think of abandoning his football career to take up Judaic Studies. Apparently, Channing was an intelligent show that often dealt with unusual or pathbreaking subjects. One of the episodes even dealt with the early stages of the Vietnam War.
- Inspired by the recent death of that gifted writer (and incurable wonanizer and chronic drunk), Brendan Behan, A Bang and a Whimper tells the tale of a visitor to the Channing campus, poet laureate, drunk,and skirt chaser Paddy Riordan, played by Robert ( The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes) Stephens. a naive and impressionable young female student, played by Susan, ( Imitaion of Life,) Kohner, has to escort hima round campus. She finds herself falling in love, but Riordan is more interested in a short-term affair. This is another show that deserves to be realesed on DVD. Sadly, it apparently has an an even smaller following than Slattery's People.
- Professor Paul Atherton surprises almost all when he turns down the chance to head the Institute of Foreign Policy. Howe is curious as to why and finds out the man is keeping something hidden from his past.
- Dean Baker takes in a homeless man for Christmas, a decision which has life changing consequences for both men.