Bracken's World

No plot spoilers...

Growing up in the late 1960's, I ended up watching a lot of movies on TV, and became a big Hollywood fan. Even though I was just a teenager, I enjoyed watching the series "Bracken's World" when I could to get a peek behind the scenes at that seemingly magical industry.

Jump ahead many years, and one day the old series just kind of popped into my head. I had hardly thought of it since I was in junior high school. With a little bit of effort I was able to find all 40 or so episodes on DVD, even though it has never been released in any form of home video.

I am about half way through, watching the episodes in order, and I am so glad I found this again. I now live in Los Angeles and know a little bit about movie making and the entertainment business, and even though it is coming up on almost 50 years old, the show is a little better and more realistic than I had imagined.

As a TV and movie buff I have enjoyed the various well-known guest stars (some who became much more famous after "Bracken's World") as well as the various performers who appear briefly as themselves. (I think both Tony Curtis and Raquel Welch make brief appearances in the very first episode.)

I know this was only on for two seasons and it was not a huge hit, but if anyone in the biz is reading this please consider this for home video, even if only streaming. '

Tom

This very short-lived series was totally entertaining and got me to the TV each week it was on as it shows one or two of the ways that movies get cast and made and the intrigue and treachery that can if you believe it be involved. That's what made Bracken's World entertaining as from top to bottom the studio head, the agents, the starlets feigned friendship or it was real and got hurt or the men and their efforts or dating complications across studios. Although this system is said gone in favor of today's star/agent driven self-building and star owned production companies maybe this would make Bracken's World even more entertaining now in comparison to how would such things work today. For instance having seen Inside Daisy Clover and learned what things like looping are and having watched Natalie Wood act out a breakdown on screen during some looping whenever I feel I can detect such a thing as voice dubbing/ syncing(looping) that is not quite right or sounds like someone else other than the actor in question in todays deleted scenes of dvds I cannot help but think of Bracken's World and the studio system and how stars and studios did it then and do it today. I remember being enthralled by the finagling of the actors and actresses on Bracken's World particularly Peter Haskell, Elizabeth Allen, Karen Jensen not Marten Jensen as I thought I had remembered and even Jeanne Cooper, Kay Chancellor of todays The Young & The Restless were regulars or made stops at Bracken's World.

I am not sure if this series is available on DVD but if it ever is hope it is the complete series and try it out. If for nothing else maybe the deleted scenes that might be included.

"Bracken's World" was in syndication on a New York City TV channel back in the mid-to-late '70s, about five years after it actually aired. It was an interesting show that centered around a powerful producer (Leslie Nielsen) and his studio's group of up and coming starlets. It only ran a year, probably because the concept of the studio system was very dated by 1970, and the show was set in modern times.

Nevertheless, the series had a wonderful cast, including the handsome Peter Haskell, Eleanor Parker, Madelyn Rhue, Dennis Cole, Bettye Ackerman, Karen Jenkens, Jeanne Cooper, Laraine Stephens, and Leslie Nielson. The story lines were very good also. I wish there were a cable station where some of these old dramas could be recycled.