Bicentennial Minutes: Difference between revisions

| show_nameimage = CBS Bicentennial MinutesMinute.png

| caption alt_name =

| country = {{USA}}United States

| language = [[English language|English]]

| picture_formatfirst_aired = {{Start date|1974|07|04}}

| audio_formatlast_aired = {{End date|1976|12|31}}

| first_runrelated =

'''''Bicentennial Minutes''''' was a series of short educational [[United States|American]] [[television]] segments commemorating the [[United States Bicentennial|bicentennial]] of the [[American Revolution]]. The segments were produced by the [[CBS]] Television Network and broadcast nightly from July 4, 1974, until December 31, 1976. (The series was originally slated to end on July 4, 1976, airing a total of 732 episodes, but was extended to the end of the year, airing a total of 912 episodes.) The segments were sponsored by [[Shell Oil Company]], then later by [[Raid (insecticide)|Raid]] from July 1976 onward.

The series was created by [[Ethel Winant]]<ref name=boca>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1291&dat=19750606&id=vxBUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=w4wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6124,4861999|title=Bicentennial Minutes 'a network hit'|date=6 June 1975|author=Witbeck, Charles|work=Boca Raton News|accessdate=4 July 2016}}</ref> and Lewis Freedman<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/27/arts/lewis-freedman-producer-66-a-tv-career-spanning-45-years.html|title=Lewis Freedman, Producer, 66; A TV Career Spanning 45 Years|author=Lambert, Bruce|work=New York Times|date=27 June 1992|accessdate=4 July 2016}}</ref> of CBS, who had overcome the objections of network executives who considered it to be an unworthy use of program time. The producer of the series was Paul Waigner, the executive producer was [[Bob Markell]], and the executive story editor and writer was Bernard Eismann from 1974 to 1976. He was followed by Jerome Alden. Associate producer Meryle Evans researched the historical facts for the broadcasts.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2002&dat=19750221&id=LrMtAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PNoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1978,4677348|title=And That's The Way It Was||work=Beaver County (Pa.) Times|date=21 February 1975|accessdate=4 July 2016}}</ref> In 1976, the series received an [[Emmy Award]] in the category of Special Classification of Outstanding Program and Individual Achievement. It also won a Special [[Christopher Award]] in 1976.

The videotaped segments were each one minute long and were broadcast each night during [[prime time]] hours, generally at approximately 8:27 or 8:57 P.M. Eastern time.<ref name=boca/> The format of the segments did not change, although each segment featured a different narrator, often a CBS network television star. The narrator, after introducing himself or herself, would state "This is a Bicentennial Minute," followed by the phrasesay "Two hundred years ago today..." and a description ofdescribe a historical event or personage prominent on that particular date two hundred years before and during the [[American Revolution]]. The segment would close with the narrator saying, "I'm (his/her name), and that's the way it was." This was an offhand reference to the close of the weeknight CBS Evening News with [[Walter Cronkite]], who always ended each news telecast by saying, "And that's the way it is."

The ''Bicentennial Minute'' on July 3, 1976, was narrated by [[Nelson Rockefeller|Vice President Nelson Rockefeller]]. The ''Bicentennial Minute'' on July 4, 1976, was narrated by First Lady [[Betty Ford]]. The final ''Bicentennial Minute'', broadcast on December 31, 1976, was narrated by [[Gerald Ford|President Gerald Ford]]. (Thishis was also the longest ''Bicentennial minute.Minute''). After the series ended, the time slot of the ''Bicentennial Minute'' came to be occupied by a brief synopsis of news headlines ("Newsbreak") read by a CBS anchor.

The ''Bicentennial Minute'' achieved a high cultural profile during its run and was widely referenced and parodied. For example, in the ''[[All in the Family]]'' episode "Mike's Move" (originally broadcast on February 2, 1976), the character [[Mike Stivic]] responded to a typical monologue by his father-in-law [[Archie Bunker]] about the history of American immigration and the meaning of the [[Statue of Liberty]] with the sarcastic comment: "I think we just heard Archie Bunker's Bicentennial Minute."<ref>{{Cite web|title=- YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fATKiS-mU8Y|access-date=2020-12-31|website=www.youtube.com}}</ref> Another Norman Lear-producedLear–produced sitcom, ''[[Sanford and Son]]'', featured series star [[Redd Foxx]] parodying the ''Bicentennial Minute''.

[[Country music]] also used the ''Bicentennial Minute'' as a source of humor. The long-running television program ''[[Hee Haw]]'' parodied ''Bicentennial Minutes'' as "About 200 Years Ago", with musician [[Grandpa Jones]] (wearing a mockery of a [[tricorne|tri-cornered hat]]) giving a weekly monologue of humorously fractured historical "facts", about figures from the [[American Revolution]] and the [[Colonial history of the United States|colonial era]]. These ended with Jones saying "That's the way it was, about 200 years ago... enh, more or less," and shrugging at the camera. The radio program ''[[American Country Countdown]]'' had a similar feature, delivered by then-''ACC'' host [[Don Bowman (singer)|Don Bowman]].

A sketch on ''[[The Sonny and Cher Show]]'' aired in early 1976 featured guest star [[Jim Nabors]] portraying British [[George III of the United Kingdom|King George III]], offering a comic rebuttal to the always pro-pro–[[American Revolution]] ''Bicentennial Minutes''. ''[[The Carol Burnett Show]]'' with [[Harvey Korman]] and [[Tim Conway]] did a comic parody.<ref>{{Cite web|title=- YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_ffW8VCbbA|access-date=2020-12-31|website=www.youtube.com}}</ref> The character Brenda Morgenstern ([[Julie Kavner]]) refers to the Bicentennial Minutes in the ''[[Rhoda]]'' episode "If You Don't Tell Her, I Will," broadcast in December 1975.<ref>{{Cite web|title=RHODA S02E15 If You Don't Tell Her, I Will - YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8nfpGqBeyg|access-date=2020-12-31|website=www.youtube.com}}</ref> CBS daytime [[game show]] ''[[Match Game]]'' had questions posed to contestants in this form as well throughout 1975 and 1976. Panelist [[Charles Nelson Reilly]] makes a joke that a moment on the New Year's Eve 1976 episode of ''Match Game 76'' is "the last one, thank god."

In anthe February 24, 1975 episode of ''[[TheMaude King(TV of Queensseries)|Maude]]'' "Walter's Pride", Arthurwhen brieflyWalter referencesgives theMaude Bicentenniala Minutelist byof sayingreasons howfor inwhy 1976she hecannot remembersmortgage "throwingthe ahouse pairto ofsave glasseshis atbusiness, theMaude TVresponds during"...I adidn't ask particularlyfor offensiveyour Bicentennial Minute!"

*''[[Heritage Minute]]'', similar Canadian series

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUoto1lsX50 ''Bicentennial Minute'' from August 31, 1975] featuring [[Jessica Tandy]]

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