Twelve O'Clock High (series)

Twelve O'Clock High or 12 O'Clock High was an ABC television series that ran for three seasons from September 1964 to January 1967. It was based in the 1949 motion picture of the same name.

Related Topics:
ABC - Television series - Motion picture

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The series follows the missions of the 918th Bomb Group stationed at Archbury, England during World War II. For the first season many of the characters from the movie were retained including Brigadier General Frank Savage (Robert Lansing), Major Harvey Stovall (Frank Overton), Major Cobb (Lew Gallo), Doc Kaiser (Barney Miller) and General Pritchard (Paul Newlan). Albeit, all of them were played by different actors than in the movie. In addition to these characters several other infrequently reappearing characters were introduced, including Captain (later Major) Joe Gallagher who appeared twice (played by Paul Burke).

Related Topics:
England - World War II - Brigadier General - Robert Lansing - Major - Paul Burke

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At the end of the first season studio executives decided a younger looking lead actor was needed. In the first episode of the second season General Savage was killed in action and replaced by Joe Gallagher, now a full Colonel. Ironically, the younger looking Burke was two years older than Lansing.

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For the second season most of the supporting cast from the first season was replaced with the exception of Major Stovall, Doc Kaiser and an occasional appearance by General Pritchard. Other actors who did reappear after the first season played other characters. This trend continued throughout the other seasons. Bruce Dern appeared four times in three different roles. Tom Skerritt appeared five times, each time in a different role.

Related Topics:
Bruce Dern - Tom Skerritt

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The first two seasons were filmed in black and white. This was done mostly to allow the inclusion of actual WWII combat footage, negating the need for special effects. Limited usable combat footage often resulted in the same shot being reused in multiple episodes. For the third season the series was filmed in color but only ran 17 episodes, being cancelled in mid-season. The inclusion of combat footage in the third season was much more obvious; much of it was just black and white footage tinted blue.

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As with most television programs Twelve O'Clock High was created in episodic form. There is no particular order the episodes have to be watched in. The stories themselves were often based more on character drama than action usually involving individuals who felt the need to redeem themselves in the eyes of others. Other story lines focussed on actual war events such as the development of bombing through cloud cover using radar and the complexities of operating a large fleet of (often malfunctioning) B-17s.

Related Topics:
Radar - B-17

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