Thursday, August 9, 2012

PROJECT U.F.O. (1978) TV Guide Ad

It's not easy finding much memorabilia for the Jack Webb-produced, NBC television series, Project U.F.O. online - so here, scanned from my own scrapbook, is a vintage TV Guide advertisement for the October 28th, 1978 episode.

According to the IMDb, alongside series regulars Edward Winter and Caskey Swaim, this episode guest starred Jared Martin, late of The Fantastic Journey. I wonder who currently owns the rights to this series? It's one of the few genre shows of the decade still not available on home video - and unlike most of them, this one was actually successful enough to last two (albeit 13-episode) seasons!

8 comments:

  1. Might be a while for this one to see the light of day on disk. According to iMDB, Mark VII produced the series with Worldvision, which over time got folded into CBS Corp while selling off most of their distribution rights. And with Mark VII doing most of their business through Comcast/NBCUniversal, getting these two together for 26 programs could be tricky.

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    1. Right, Jim Ryan! Worldvision held the rights to most of the ABC and NBC libraries of legendary television series following the sale of Spelling Entertainment to CBS predecessor Viacom, including Project U.F.O. I agree, now that CBS Television Distribution currently distributes selected Peacock and Alphabet Network shows owned by Disney/ABC Television Group and CBS globally.

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  2. I never had a chance to see this NBC show hope it comes out on DVD one these days?

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  3. Apparently Jack Webb's estate holds the rights to all of the Mark VII shows from the '60s onward (except Adam-12, which they've transferred to Universal.) So it could probably be done, assuming there's A) enough perceived interest and B) a decent set of masters to strike a DVD set from.

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  4. I remember watching this show and then going outside hoping to see a flying saucer. Never saw one. I remember the ships more than anything else about this show.

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  5. Dude on the right looks like what's-his-face from Super 8/Friday Night Lights.

    I remember watching this show, but I remember it billed as Project Blue Book. Could just be my faulty memory.

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  6. I watched this show when I was in elementary school. As I recall, it *was* called Project Blue Book, but they changed the name to the catcher Project UFO, possibly with the second season.

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  7. It was always Project U.F.O.. In fact, I can find no actual evidence anywhere - aside from the memories of people who saw it as a kid and insist otherwise - that it was ever called Project Blue Book. No vintage ads, newspaper or magazine articles, or even YouTube videos of the opening credits with the "Blue Book" title.

    I have assumed that since so many people insist that they remember that title that it was used in syndication or some markets, but I haven't actually seen any evidence that it was ever called anything other than Project U.F.O..

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