Ralph's Trek

COME VISIT MY WEBSITE  RALPH'S CINEMA TREK: A JOURNEY IN FILM AT HTTP://SENENSKY.COM/ After the whirlwind three months on the road with ROUTE 66 and NAKED CITY followed by a short month-long...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/11/ordeal-june-july-1963-nurses.html

The script for my final 12 O’CLOCK HIGH had the most stereotypical protagonist of any of my four airborne  adventures on the series.  In the thirties and forties, James Cagney practically had...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/11/hero-april-1965-12-oclock-high.html

A month following completion of my second THE FUGITIVE I reported to 20th Century Fox for 12 O’CLOCK HIGH, a co-production of QM Productions and 20th Century Fox.  I don’t know the exact det...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/10/to-heinie-with-love-december-1964-12.html

Stephen Bowie in his insightful (and at at times even inciteful) CLASSIC TV HISTORY blog recently wrote: Also this year I’ve watched most of the fourth and penultimate season of NBC’s  Dr...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/10/journey-to-sunrise-september-1964-dr_18.html

My final two bookings for THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY were not back-to-back.  There had been a PARTRIDGE episode guest starring Bobby Sherman that spurred the network to order the  development of a ne...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/10/guess-whos-coming-to-drive-june-1971.html

During their first season THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY had a charming episode, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE OLD SONGS, that brought Shirley’s parents to her home for a visit.  The parents were played by R...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/10/forty-year-itch-dora-dora-dora-may-june.html

Do you remember the Swiss village in THE NEW ADVENTURES OF HEIDI? Eight years before I filmed that, I filmed the same location on the Columbia ranch in Burbank to open the second episode th...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/10/to-play-or-not-to-play-partridge-up.html

In the aftermath of THE THOLIAN WEB debacle (one incident being David Victor refusing to hire me to direct MARCUS WELBY because he said I was now directing comedy), an unexpected booking was to d...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/09/when-mother-gets-married-june-1970.html

The evil Luzern cousins were played by two of my favorite and favored actors -- Walter Brooke and Amzie Strickland.  I had known Walter Brooke since 1952 when I was an assistant director at the...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-adventures-of-heidi-part-two-june.html

My mother passed away in Iowa in March after a two year battle with cancer.  Soon after I returned to the west coast, Robert Jacks, former producer of THE WALTONS, called to inform me that Will ...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-adventures-of-heidi-june-july-1978.html

The beginning of the sixth season of THE WALTONS found me returning to Walton’s Mountain, where I found a major change had taken place.  Richard Thomas, his five year contract at an end, had f...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/08/grandchild-july-1977-waltons.html

This outing has also been posted on my website at www.senensky.com The next two episodes of the final foursome were a little darker in tone, a bit more serious than the previous two had been.  ...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/07/road-to-you-know-where-is-paved-with.html

This outing has also been posted on my website at www.senensky.com Between August (when I completed filming GENTLEMAN FRIEND) and November, I was very busy. I directed three more episodes of THE...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/07/theyre-either-too-young-or-too-old-mod.html

THIS OUTING HAS ALSO BEEN POSTED ON MY WEBSITE AT WWW.SENENSKY.COM Six months after completing THE LIBRARY CARD, I returned to MGM to direct three more episodes of COURTSHIP. Two seasons before...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/07/f-for-mrs-l-bully-for-you-gentleman.html

THIS OUTING HAS ALSO BEEN POSTED ON MY WEBSITE AT WWW.SENENSKY.COM That was an example of the usual teaser opening. Unlike the teaser for GUESS WHO’S COMING TO LUNCH, this was not a part of t...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/06/library-card-december-1968-courtship-of.html

This outing has also been posted on my website at www.senensky.com Last October in my posting for THE MASK MAKERS on DR. KILDARE, I ended by saying: "This was my second DR. KILDARE assignment...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/06/guess-whos-coming-to-lunch-december.html

WITH A NOD TO MARGO CHANNING OF ALL ABOUT EVE Fasten your seat belts - it’s going to be a bumpy flight. The day after I finished filming IS THERE IN TRUTH NO BEAUTY, I reported to the studi...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/06/tholian-web-august-1968-star-trek.html

My return to STAR TREK early in their third season found more changes. Producer John Meredyth Lucas was gone, replaced by Fred Freiberger. Director of photography Jerry Finnerman was still there ...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/06/is-there-in-truth-no-beauty-july-1968.html

“On those occasions when the medium has taken a stab at limning the unhappy reality of what goes on in much of the world (e.g., East Side/West Side), the public has quickly tuned out.” These ...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/05/age-of-consent-july-1963-east-sidewest.html

Only three months had passed from the time I finished THE NIGHT OF THE DRUID’S BLOOD and when I reported to do THE NIGHT OF THE BIG BLAST. For my part I had worked in another (my third) episode...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/05/night-of-big-blast-may-1966-wild-wild.html

Filmed television in the 1960’s sometimes made for strange bedfellows. How else to explain my being booked to direct an episode of THE WILD WILD WEST. My resume at the time was loaded with film...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/05/night-of-druids-blood-february-1966.html

AN APPLE A DAY was my third flight with THE FUGITIVE. But when I did my last posting, I chose to skip over it and go onto the fourth and final show I directed of that series. Quite frankly my int...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/04/apple-day-july-1965-fugitive.html

In the olden days of early sixties television (and I’m positive at this late date that’s what they should be called) the producer and story editor of a dramatic series were the ones responsib...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/04/when-wind-blows-august-1965-fugitive.html

I had seen James Olsen in a production at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. He was a powerhouse onstage in contrast to the rather bland actor I had considered him to be based on the roles he w...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/04/family-nobody-wanted-part-two.html

I wonder if it was a coincidence that after directing THE WALTONS in 1973, ensuing assignments included THE FAMILY KOVACK, THE FAMILY NOBODY WANTED, THE FAMILY HOLVAK and just plain FAMILY. I don...

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/04/family-nobody-wanted-december-1974.html