The New People

I really loved this series when it was on from 1969 - 1970. I was a teenager at the time and it really appealed to most of my friends back then.

Interesting concept for a group of young college age kids on a plane that crashes in the Pacific. They are survivors and try their best to form an organized society when they realize they might not be rescued. They ultimately realized what life is like as an adult. I have hunted for this for a long time, and I had forgotten the title. It's been over 30 years and the theme of this short lived series still stuck in my mind. I finally remembered Tiffany Bollings name as one of the stars, so I was able to find the title finally. Rod Serling and others involved with this show could have done so much more with it. I recommend watching it, if it is ever brought back into syndication as old shows sometimes are. I sadly doubt that anyone would put a series this short onto video or DVD, but I'd watch it again if they did.

Rod Serling as "Creator" is deceptive. He was probably in an executive capacity with little "creative" contribution. In other words, they used his august name.

If memory serves, this programme did not last a full season, and its 45 minute running time is a mystery. THE NEW PEOPLE was very much a product of its time, inspired much less by LORD OF THE FLIES than MOD SQUAD. It showed. To be honest, however, during the late '60s -- which I remember very well -- more than one middle-aged individual wondered how well all these griping young people could do if they were left to re-shape society. It is a small detail that starting from scratch in an environment red of tooth and claw is not the best way to test a high-falutin' hypothesis. The only "old guy" dies a long and expository death in the first episode, and life, such as it is, begins for the new society. Of course, by 1970 both great powers had high resolution spy satellites, although with non-Pacific targets, and it would be a matter of maybe two or three casualty filled years before things would be put to right. If they ever gave it a thought, that is probably how the "creators" planned to end the series.

For some bizarre reason, however, I found the theme attractive. Perhaps as a failed man in his middle-20s, I wanted to be off by myself on a non-desert isle with a nice high mountain at centre from which to watch the Sun go down and the Moon come up.

It is ironic that the top show on TV in the early 21st century, "Lost" echos greatly the rarely seen 1969 TV series, "The New People'. Like "Lost", "The New People" concerned the survivors of a plane crash in the pacific. "The New People' however was a reflection of the social issues of the day and in the pilot episode it featured the only adult in Richard Kiley. Kiley did a superb job in the clash of generations and made the pilot episode seem like a 1969 episode of The Twilight Zone.

All of the existing episodes of the New People aired only once on US TV and have never been even surfaced on internet tape trading sites. Recently however all of the episodes have been found at the UCLA video library. It would be great, now that "Lost" is such a big hit, to show people....new people, (ahem) what the original plane crash survivor show was like...and issue these episodes as a boxed set....for Christmas....perhaps even track down the original cast for commentary....etc......The New People shouldn't be lost forever.....(ahem)

I will never forget one gripping episode of The New People.It had to do with the budding romance of one of the white guys with the very pretty black female.The person who"tripped"the most over this daring relationship was one of the black males in the stranded group.

The reason I was so struck by this episode was that at the time I was going through some similar"changes"in my own life.I had befriended a couple of black women but also was alarmed and frightened by some of the reactions to these friendships among black men.Some whites were pretty hostile as well but 1969 was the time of Black Power and militancy so that vibe predominated back then.

Ironically,I was a big supporter of black causes(list provided upon request)but on a personal level that fact was often not considered during the heat of the times.

This started off as an excellent, but short-lived series about a group of college-aged students stranded on an island in the Pacific after an airplane crash. The premise was for this group of teenagers and early twenty-somethings to survive and, at the same time, develop some kind social order by learning to deal with the responsibilities of adulthood. The pilot episode was entitled "Day One" and was apparently written by Rod Serling under the pseudonym of John Phillips. The writer, John Phillips is also credited with a "Playhouse 90" episode entitled "The Second Happiest Day". This is interesting because Serling cut his TV teeth on numerous "Playhouse 90" episodes before "Twilight Zone". As I recall, "The New People" aired on ABC in the 1969-70 season with a 45-minute time format. This was one of the odd programming attempts that was done to capture a specific audience, as it came just before another 45-minute show entitled "Music Scene" hosted by David Steinberg. This short-lived series was produced by Aaron Spelling, who brought us "The Mod Squad" a year earlier (1968) and "The Young Rebels" a year later (1970). Of course, Rod Serling went on to host "Night Gallery" from 1970 to 1973.