The short-lived live-action Planet of the Apes TV series debuted 50 years ago today on Friday, September 13th, 1974. CBS had high expectations for the expensive series but unfortunately those expectations were not met. Ratings for the series premiere were decent but not sensational and only went down from there. Only 14 episodes were produced, one of which may or may not have aired on CBS. More on that later.
I’m a huge Planet of the Apes fan. I can vividly remember going to the local video store on multiple occasions and renting one of the Planet of the Apes movies on VHS. I have no idea how many times I watched them. When AMC aired its “Behind the Planet of the Apes” documentary in 1998, I taped it and all five movies.
I’ve never seen Tim Burton’s 2001 remake but I will acknowledge the good it did pushing 20th Century Fox to release the 1974 TV series on DVD. Until then, I’d only read about the TV series. I’ve since watched the entire TV series two or three times.
Due to the popularity of the Planet of the Apes franchise, I haven’t written much about the 1974 TV series here at Television Obscurities. It may be short-lived but it is by no means forgotten or obscure. Back in 2010, I investigated whether or not all 14 episodes aired on CBS. Evidence from newspaper TV listings was inconclusive. However, several years later, a reader left a comment confirming that every single episode did air on CBS, using details written in personal journals from 1974.
I’ve also reviewed the first Planet of the Apes tie-in novel for my Bookshelf column.
If you’re a Planet of the Apes fan, share your memories and recollections of watching Planet of the Apes, either in 1974 or later.
I remember watching the series on TV when it aired, although I can’t recall if I saw all the episodes. I wasn’t a big fan of the films or TV show because they were based on the premise of apes taking over the world, which just wouldn’t work.
Like the Logan’s Run TV series and many sf TV shows of it’s time, it seemed to be an adventure of the week story where the heroes traveled from place to place discovering new adventures along the way. Of course they always failed in their main premise since it would have ended the show.