Television in the late 1950's,for those of us who remember it,was largely in shades of gray(black and white)and was composite of live variety shows from New York or Hollywood,lighthearted situation family comedies,detective series and the average television adult western,not to mention films that from the 1930's and 1940's that were usually filmed and made in Hollywood was design for the new medium. Most of the filmed television shows at that time were centered around the setting for contemporary big city detectives and larger-than-life western figures.
In the fall of 1959,20th Century Fox decided to try something that totally beyond the norm at that time and something that was different than any other show on television. At the time this series came out,the only shows that was on television were western programs along with the situation family comedies and detective/mystery shows along with the usual big bang variety programs of that era. Westerns were at the top of the Nielsens with the shows "Gunsmoke" and "Wagon Train" being at the top of the ratings stats. In 1959,ABC-TV also introduced two very unique shows at the time,one of them was the period-piece crime drama series "The Untouchables",and the other was the action-adventure series "Adventures In Paradise".
"Adventures In Paradise" was also 20th Century Fox's first television entry in the action-adventure format which was a huge difference to audiences in 1959. Borrowing from the literary works of James Michener,the producers constructed a series set in the South Pacific around a modern day roving South Seas captain,Adam Troy and his Edwardian schooner "The Tiki" along with his first mate,as they each week sail the seas toward some fantastic adventures toward uncharted islands and somewhere along the way encounter the unexpected along the action-adventure/mystery,romance and the usual suspense in some of the episodes. The series starred Gardner McKay as Captain Adam Troy. This was television at its finest hour. Long before the days of "Hawaii 5-0",and "Mangum P.I."
Created by James A. Michener and produced by Martin Manulis along with Art Wallace and Gene Levitt,and William Self(executive producer in charge of production)for 20th Century Fox Television,this series was a huge hit for ABC-TV producing 92 episodes,all in black and white from the premiere episode on October 5, 1959 until the final episode of the series on April 1,1962. The series was in its day remarkably popular with audiences,especially women who were watching the show each week seeing Gardner McKay sailing the seas toward fantastic adventures. Also to note the program intro was unique for its time,hince the opening theme done by Max Steiner,also by Lionel Newman. The episodes for this series were brilliant,but 20th Century Fox did little to enhance the series during its three seasons on the air,failing to transfer the South Pacific setting to actual locations(since it was filmed on the backlot of the Fox studios),and by ignoring the color process that was at the time recently introduced to television audiences(the only television that had the color process in 1959 was at NBC with the premiere series western "Bonanza",which was the only program of its kind in color back then with some of its episodes filmed on location in parts of California and Nevada which gave it that cinematic theatrical Technicolor look).
Haven't "Adventures In Paradise" stayed on for its fourth season on ABC-TV(from the 1962-63 season),audiences would have finally gotten the chance to see Captain Troy and his adventures aboard the "Tiki" in full color which ABC would have made the jump the following year with half of its programming in color. The series was cancelled anyway in 1962. Some great guest stars appeared in some of the episodes. Actors like Claude Akins, Barbara Bain, Dick York, Lizbeth Scott, Johanna Barnes, Tom Drake, Jack Lord, Peter Thompson, Susan Hampshire were guest stars.
The Best Episodes from this series were "The Pit of Silence"(the pilot episode),"The Reluctant Hero", "Incident at Suva", "The Amazon", and "The Appointment at Tara-Bi".
In the fall of 1959,20th Century Fox decided to try something that totally beyond the norm at that time and something that was different than any other show on television. At the time this series came out,the only shows that was on television were western programs along with the situation family comedies and detective/mystery shows along with the usual big bang variety programs of that era. Westerns were at the top of the Nielsens with the shows "Gunsmoke" and "Wagon Train" being at the top of the ratings stats. In 1959,ABC-TV also introduced two very unique shows at the time,one of them was the period-piece crime drama series "The Untouchables",and the other was the action-adventure series "Adventures In Paradise".
"Adventures In Paradise" was also 20th Century Fox's first television entry in the action-adventure format which was a huge difference to audiences in 1959. Borrowing from the literary works of James Michener,the producers constructed a series set in the South Pacific around a modern day roving South Seas captain,Adam Troy and his Edwardian schooner "The Tiki" along with his first mate,as they each week sail the seas toward some fantastic adventures toward uncharted islands and somewhere along the way encounter the unexpected along the action-adventure/mystery,romance and the usual suspense in some of the episodes. The series starred Gardner McKay as Captain Adam Troy. This was television at its finest hour. Long before the days of "Hawaii 5-0",and "Mangum P.I."
Created by James A. Michener and produced by Martin Manulis along with Art Wallace and Gene Levitt,and William Self(executive producer in charge of production)for 20th Century Fox Television,this series was a huge hit for ABC-TV producing 92 episodes,all in black and white from the premiere episode on October 5, 1959 until the final episode of the series on April 1,1962. The series was in its day remarkably popular with audiences,especially women who were watching the show each week seeing Gardner McKay sailing the seas toward fantastic adventures. Also to note the program intro was unique for its time,hince the opening theme done by Max Steiner,also by Lionel Newman. The episodes for this series were brilliant,but 20th Century Fox did little to enhance the series during its three seasons on the air,failing to transfer the South Pacific setting to actual locations(since it was filmed on the backlot of the Fox studios),and by ignoring the color process that was at the time recently introduced to television audiences(the only television that had the color process in 1959 was at NBC with the premiere series western "Bonanza",which was the only program of its kind in color back then with some of its episodes filmed on location in parts of California and Nevada which gave it that cinematic theatrical Technicolor look).
Haven't "Adventures In Paradise" stayed on for its fourth season on ABC-TV(from the 1962-63 season),audiences would have finally gotten the chance to see Captain Troy and his adventures aboard the "Tiki" in full color which ABC would have made the jump the following year with half of its programming in color. The series was cancelled anyway in 1962. Some great guest stars appeared in some of the episodes. Actors like Claude Akins, Barbara Bain, Dick York, Lizbeth Scott, Johanna Barnes, Tom Drake, Jack Lord, Peter Thompson, Susan Hampshire were guest stars.
The Best Episodes from this series were "The Pit of Silence"(the pilot episode),"The Reluctant Hero", "Incident at Suva", "The Amazon", and "The Appointment at Tara-Bi".