The Long, Hot Summer (TV series)

*The Long, Hot Summer*
The Long, Hot Summer
Genre	Drama
Created by	Dean Riesner
Opening theme	"The Long Hot Summer" performed by Jimmie Rodgers
Composer	Leith Stevens
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	26
Production
Producer	Frank Glicksman
Running time	45 mins. (approx)
Production company	20th Century Fox Television
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	September 16, 1965 –; April 13, 1966

The Long Hot Summer is an American drama series from 20th Century Fox Television that was broadcast on ABC-TV for one season from 1965–1966. It was aired in the UK on ITV.

Series synopsis

The series is set in the Deep South community of Frenchman's Bend, Mississippi, which is dominated and owned by the town's wealthy, powerful (and deceitful) bank owner "Boss" Will Varner (Edmond O'Brien). A widower with two grown children, the unscrupulous Varner runs the town and its citizens with an iron fist and nobody dares to question him. He and his family live in the largest mansion in Frenchman's Bend. However, problems arise when Ben Quick (Roy Thinnes), a young man whose father Varner destroyed some years prior, returns to town to reclaim his family's farm and challenge Varner's absolute authority over the town and its people.

Supporting characters include Jody Varner, Will's weak-willed but more honest son, and Clara, Will's sensible older daughter and lady of the house (in lieu of her late mother). To her father's dismay, she and Ben fall in love. Other characters include the town's hotel owner, Minnie Littlejohn, who is also Will's mistress, and Eula Johnson, a 17-year-old girl who becomes a central point in Jody's life after he picks her up during a rain storm. In the 1958 film of the same name, Eula and Jody were married, but in the television series they are merely friends. Also seen in recurring roles were Andrew (Charles Lampkin), the Varner family's butler/chauffeur, Sheriff Harve Anders (Paul Bryar), the local sheriff for the county in which Frenchman's Bend is located, and Dr. Aaron Clark (Jason Wingreen), the Varner family's physician.

Cast

Main

Edmond O'Brien (eps. 1–13) and Dan O'Herlihy (eps. 15–26) as "Boss" Will Varner
Nancy Malone as Clara Varner
Roy Thinnes as Ben Quick
Lana Wood as Eula Johnson (eps. 3+)
Paul Geary (eps. 1–23) and Tom Lowell (eps. 24–26) as Jody Varner
Ruth Roman as Minnie Littlejohn

Guest cast

Karen Steele as Willow Sterne (eps. 4–5)
Celeste Holm as Libby Rankin (ep. 15)
Gary Lockwood as Danny Hamil (ep. 17)
Ralph Meeker as Jess Corbett (ep. 21)
Ricardo Montalban as Brice Ferguson (ep. 26)

Production

Development

Created by Dean Riesner, The Long Hot Summer was based on the novel The Hamlet by William Faulkner, the short story "Barn Burning", and the 1958 film of the same name. The show retained the movie's theme song, "The Long, Hot Summer," written by Sammy Cahn and Alex North, and Jimmie Rodgers sang it for the series just as he did for the film.

Broadcast

The Long Hot Summer was scheduled on Thursdays at 10 p.m. EST opposite CBS' Thursday Night Movie and NBC's long-running variety series The Dean Martin Show.^[1] The series was canceled after twenty-six episodes with the last original episode airing on April 13, 1966.

Casting

In January 1966, series star Edmond O'Brien left the series after a disagreement with the producers (the disagreement was about making Ben Quick the main focus of the show instead of the Varners) and was replaced by Dan O'Herlihy. O'Herlihy played the role of Will Varner for the rest of the series' run.

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Viewers (millions)
1	"The Homecoming"	Ralph Senensky	Dean Riesner	September 16, 1965 (1965-09-16)	14.5^[2]
2	"A Time for Living"	Robert Gist	Story by : Donald S. Sanford Teleplay by : Donald S. Sanford & Dean Reisner	September 23, 1965 (1965-09-23)	15.5
3	"A Stranger to the House"	Vincent Sherman	Story by : Alfred Brenner Teleplay by : Alfred Brenner & Dean Reisner	September 30, 1965 (1965-09-30)	14.6
4	"The Twisted Image – Part 1"	Robert Gist	Anthony Lawrence	October 7, 1965 (1965-10-07)	14.3
5	"The Twisted Image – Part 2"	Mark Rydell	Anthony Lawrence	October 14, 1965 (1965-10-14)	13.0
6	"Home is a Nameless Place"	Richard Sarafian	William Bast	October 21, 1965 (1965-10-21)	14.5
7	"No Hiding Place"	Vincent Sherman	Story by : Jerome Ross Teleplay by : John Bloch	October 28, 1965 (1965-10-28)	15.0
8	"Run, Hero, Run"	James B. Clark	Mark Rodgers	November 4, 1965 (1965-11-04)	13.9
9	"The Desperate Innocent"	Alex March	Oliver Crawford	November 11, 1965 (1965-11-11)	14.6
10	"Bitter Harvest"	Vincent Sherman	Al C. Ward	November 18, 1965 (1965-11-18)	16.1
11	"Hunter to the Wind"	Alex March	Franklin Barton	December 2, 1965 (1965-12-02)	14.5
12	"Nor Hell a Fury"	Vincent Sherman	Oscar Millard	December 9, 1965 (1965-12-09)	13.5
13	"The Return of the Quicks"	Don Richardson	James Gunn	December 16, 1965 (1965-12-16)	13.4
14	"Track the Man Down"	Vincent Sherman	Oliver Crawford	December 30, 1965 (1965-12-30)	13.0
15	"Face of Fear"	Lewis Allen	Story by : Bernard Schoenfeld Teleplay by : Jack Turley	January 6, 1966 (1966-01-06)	14.6
16	"Evil Angel"	Robert Stevens	Story by : Alfred Brenner & Robert J. Shaw Teleplay by : Robert J. Shaw	January 13, 1966 (1966-01-13)	14.3
17	"Day of Thunder"	Don Richardson	Jack Turley	January 19, 1966 (1966-01-19)	13.1
18	"The Warning"	Marc Daniels	Sy Salkowitz	January 26, 1966 (1966-01-26)	14.2
19	"The Intruders"	John Peyser	Jerome Ross	February 2, 1966 (1966-02-02)	14.1
20	"From This Day Forward"	Vincent Sherman	Robert J. Shaw	February 9, 1966 (1966-02-09)	13.9
21	"A Time to Die"	Alex March	Michael Zagor	February 16, 1966 (1966-02-16)	13.0
22	"Reunion—Italian Style"	Marc Daniels	Story by : Mark Rodgers & Robert J. Shaw Teleplay by : Robert J. Shaw	February 23, 1966 (1966-02-23)	15.2
23	"Blaze of Glory"	Vincent Sherman	Story by : William Bast & Robert J. Shaw Teleplay by : Robert J. Shaw	March 2, 1966 (1966-03-02)	14.5
24	"Crisis"	Mark Rydell	Anthony Lawrence	March 9, 1966 (1966-03-09)	14.2
25	"Carlotta, Come Home"	Mark Rydell	Robert J. Shaw	March 30, 1966 (1966-03-30)	14.3
26	"Man with Two Faces"	Alex March	Jack Turley	April 13, 1966 (1966-04-13)	unknown

References

^ Hyatt, Wesley (2003). Short-Lived Television Series, 1948–1978: Thirty Years of Bore Than 1,000 Flops. McFarland & Co. p. 155. ISBN 0-7864-1420-0.
^ Bruce B. Morris, Prime Time Network Serials: Episode Guides, Casts and Credits for 37 Continuing Television Dramas, 1964-1993, McFarland and Company, 1997.

External links

The Long Hot Summer at IMDb
Long Hot Summer on TV IV [1]
Long Hot Summer complete episodes on YouTube [2]

[1] Hyatt, Wesley (2003). Short-Lived Television Series, 1948–1978: Thirty Years of Bore Than 1,000 Flops. McFarland & Co. p. 155. ISBN 0-7864-1420-0.

[2] Bruce B. Morris, Prime Time Network Serials: Episode Guides, Casts and Credits for 37 Continuing Television Dramas, 1964-1993, McFarland and Company, 1997.

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