My favorite obscure television show of all time, The New People, celebrates its 55th anniversary today. The drama series debuted 8:15PM ET on Monday, September 22nd, 1969 on ABC. Yes, that’s right. The New People ran for 45 minutes each week from 8:15-9PM ET. It followed another 45-minute series, The Music Scene, which ran from 7:30-8:15PM ET.
The premise of The New People was simple: a planeload of college students crashes on an island somewhere in the South Pacific. They discover an abandoned town on the island and learn it’s an abandoned testing site built by the Atomic Energy Commission. They have food and provisions and shelter but no way to contact help. When the sole surviving adult dies, the New People are left alone to build their own society.
The New People ran for just 17 episodes, the last of which aired on January 12th, 1970. For many who watched The New People, it left an impression. They remember parts of the theme song, the nuclear explosion shown in the opening credits, the unusual 45-minute run time.
Also notable is the involvement of Rod Serling in the development of the show. Aaron Spelling and Larry Gordon created The New People but Rod Serling wrote the script for the pilot episode. Serling penned a script for a traditional hour-long series only to see it cut down to fit a 45-minute time slot. He doesn’t receive on-credit for writing the pilot episode. The closing credits give Serling a “Developed for Television By” credit.
The UCLA Film & Television Archive uncovered an alternate, unaired 51-minute version of the pilot episode in September 2012. It does give Rod Serling a “Written By” credit.
My interest in The New People dates back to the late 1990s, before Television Obscurities was born. A family member had given me an audio cassette filled with TV theme songs from the 1960s, transferred from a quarter-inch reel-to-reel tape. I don’t remember exactly when I listened to the theme song to The New People but ever since, I’ve been obsessed with the show.
One of the first articles I published at Television Obscurities back in 2003 was about The New People. I’ve revised it many times over the last 20 years. I’ve also reviewed the tie-in novel and both issues of the comic book based on The New People. I own a copy of Rod Serling’s The New People script; I also own several quarter inch reel-to-reel tapes used in the production of the series.
Later today, I’ll share video of the opening credits from The New People, unseen by anyone outside the UCLA Film & Television Archive since the series went off the air in January 1970. Look for other videos later this week. Plus, I’ll share scans of the original typewritten presentation for the series from October 1968. If you watched The New People during its brief run, hit the comments with your thoughts and recollections.
