W.E.B.
W.E.B. is an American prime time drama series that aired on NBC for five episodes from September 13 until October 5, 1978.
| W.E.B. | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama |
| Starring | Pamela Bellwood Richard Basehart Alex Cord |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 5 |
| Production | |
| Producer | Lin Bolen |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production company | 20th Century Fox Television |
| Distributor | 20th Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | September 13 – October 5, 1978 |
Cast
- Pamela Bellwood as Ellen Cunningham
- Alex Cord as Jack Kiley
- Lee Wilkof as Harvey Pearlstein
- Richard Basehart as Gus Dunlap
Overview
W.E.B. showed the inner workings of the TV industry, centering on brash female programming executive Ellen Cunningham (Pamela Bellwood) at fictional network Trans-American Broadcasting. As head of Special Events Programming, Ellen was confronted with a variety of obstacles, most notably her male colleagues, such as ruthless programming head Jack Kiley (Alex Cord), drunken has-been news chief Gus Dunlap (Richard Basehart), and ratings-obsessed research chief Harvey Pearlstein (Lee Wilkof).
The initials that comprised W.E.B. were never explained on the series; presumably, it referred to the fact that "web" is a slang term for a broadcast network. (In promotional spots, the show was called simply "web", not "double-you ee bee".)[1]
W.E.B. was originally scheduled to air on Wednesday nights at 10pm Eastern, and debuted on Wednesday, September 13, 1978. However, new NBC boss Fred Silverman's decision to scrap the proposed hour-long sitcom Coastocoast, originally announced for the Thursday 10pm slot, caused the network to move W.E.B. to Thursdays. It didn't help -- W.E.B. aired just four more episodes, the last on October 5, 1978. The show, the sixth lowest-rated network program of the entire 1978–79 season (10.1 rating, 18 share), was replaced with the police drama David Cassidy: Man Under Cover.
In a case of life and art imitating each other, W.E.B. was at least partially inspired by the 1976 film Network, starring Faye Dunaway. Dunaway's role in the movie (ratings-mad TV exec Diana Christensen) was said to have been based on NBC's former daytime programming chief Lin Bolen—who produced W.E.B.[2] However, Bolen has denied that the Network character was based on her.[3]
References
External links
- W.E.B. at TV.com
- W.E.B. at IMDb
- "Interview with Pamela Bellwood/W.E.B. (1978)". Texas Archive of the Moving Image. 1978. Retrieved June 29, 2014.