East Side/West Side

"East Side/West Side" was a beautiful series that became a one season experiment that ran for 26 episodes on CBS from September 23,1963 to April 27,1964 that filmed on location in New York and in black & white. This was an grand one run experiment that was absolutely brilliant in every aspect and in every grand detail. It came out at a period where America was at a crossroads within itself and also a tumultuous time period where the issues were confronted---the years 1963 and 1964.

The years 1963-1964 were conflicts of turmoil with the escalating violence the occur with the issues of racial prejudice and discrimination in the South,the encompassing of the death of JFK,the passing of the Civil Rights Bill,the senseless killings of three Civil Rights workers in Mississippi,the bombing of three African-Americans on a bloody Sunday in Alabama and the senseless race riots that engulfed the Southern states and not to mention the escalation of the fighting and the opposing of the war in Vietnam. All of this occur within a single season during the show's run and it was just that--- A gruesome chapter in American History.

The series starred the great George C. Scott in his first and only television series. Scott played a social worker in Manhattan,while Cicely Tyson played his secretary,and before they softened the series,or before the series went off the air toward its own whimsy,they changed the course of television into a whole new agenda by looking at the way America looked at itself---ashamed at the way people are depicted here and the way society uses them as a pawn in life's uncrueled world. But the series offer some very controversial material that was ahead of its time when showed the social status of a nation in constant turmoil. The series,however was filmed on location in New York City and shot in grainy black and white with location shoots within the burrows of Manhattan,Queens,Bronx,Staten Island,Brooklyn,and Yonkers.

These episodes haven't been seen in almost 40 years,but there are four that really stick out that are totally spellbinding and brilliant in detail including two that were totally blocked in the Southern states of Georgia,Alabama,Tennessee,Mississippi,and South Carolina,but it is vital that the other two are worth seeing..........

1. Social Services takes away the child of a prostitute,who was portrayed as a devoted mother--her grief was seismic.

2. A mentally retarded adult is charged with the molestation of a young child and the father is to blame for the son's mistake.

3. A young black father who loses a baby to a rat's attack gets a weapon and wanders through Harlem looking for someone to kill.(This episode was totally blocked-out in four Southern states--hasn't been seen since its original broadcast more than 40 years ago)

4. A middle-class black couple moving to the suburbs sets off a calculated real-estate stampede,and even the liberal whites who sponsored them finally rebukes them.(This episode was totally blocked-out in four Southern states also hasn't been seen since its original broadcast more than 40 years ago)

5. A young teenager decides to kill himself after his parents find out that he is committing suicide----on the top of an apartment building.

NOTE: The guest stars ranged from Carroll O'Connor, Norman Fell, Howard Silva, Maureen Stapleton, Alex Cord, Ruby Dee, James Earl Jones, to Beah Richards, Raymond St. Jacques, Simon Oakland, Daniel J. Travanti, and Brock Peters. It won the prime-time Emmy in 1964 for Best Original Drama series even though it lasted one season.

Superb drama series showcasing the young George c. Scott and a Hall of Fame list of guest stars. One characteristic of the series is that the episodes don't conclude with the conflicts neatly resolved. When the episodes conclude we are not told if the little girl went back to school or if the neighborhood was successfully integrated. The feature of unresolved conflict was unique in dramatic tv at the time, and may have contributed to the series low ratings and regrettable cancelation.

Apparently , the early nineteen sixties was one of the under appreciated eras of TV history. It may not have been a " Golden age; but at least it was a silver one. It began with Newton Minow lamenting the fact that Television was a vast wasteland, it ( probably ) ended when Slattery's People left the airwaves for good. It was a period of interesting writing and of shows that were socially conscious without ( usually ) being preachy. While some of these programs are never rerun and are not even on DVD( Witness SLattery's People), East Side/West Side was actually rerun about seven years ago on the sadly departed TV network TRIO. Of course, It helped that East Side West Side starred a true legend of acting in George C. Scott. Unlike Slattery's People, which (usually) tried to be pretty optimistic, for all its ironic undercurrents, East Side West Side was gritty, melancholy and frequently downright depressing. I have only seen one full episode. I saw as part of a high school class on "Black America" It was the classic, widely banned, Who Do you Kill, with James Earl Jones. I still remember how well acted and written it was, and how utterly sad. Like Slattery's People, and (maybe) the even more obscure Channing, it deserves to be on DVD.

The comparison has been made between this show and "Naked City", which was canceled the spring before this one appeared. Both were grimily serious shows filmed on the streets on New York using new York City Stage actors, (many of whom became famous movie and TV actors). Both shows were well done but there is more than a few months difference in thinking between them . Naked City tended to show stories with neat, (if often tragic) endings. ESWS didn't show ending at all. Everything it depicted was an ongoing problem, with no clear solution. The heroes could not simply arrest someone to end the problem at the conclusion of the hour. Often, they are nothing more than powerless observers, which is not very dramatically pleasing. The "Who do you kill" episode is somewhat disappointing to me because of the complete inefficacy of the heroes- it seems to rub your face in the problem but supplies no solutions. At least that's "real".

The second difference is that ESWS was the first TV program to come to terms directly with the problem of race, to show white audiences what it was like for a black man or woman in America. Black faces are almost totally absent from Naked City. Imagine a "realistic" story about big-city policeman who investigate nothing but crimes involving Caucasians. ESWS showed New York the way it really was- and is.

Great series with George C Scott at his usual best! Gritty black and white, ahead of its time. On location on streets of the Big Apple just made it that much more realistic, like Naked City was! Can not believe it lasted only one season. Just goes to show you how stupid the bean counters on the networks are!