ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, June 22, 1996                TAG: 9606250009
SECTION: SPECTATOR                PAGE: S-11 EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DOUG NYE KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS 

SHOWS SWITCHING NETWORKS BEGAN IN EARLY DAYS OF TV

When the networks announced their fall schedules last month, a few eyebrows were raised about two series, ``The Jeff Foxworthy Show'' and ``JAG.''

``Foxworthy'' is moving from ABC to NBC this fall and ``JAG,'' after a year on NBC, will show up as a midseason replacement on CBS.

It didn't take long for some folks to wonder if perhaps this was the start of a trend. Actually, series switching networks is nothing new. The practice is almost as old as television itself.

Dozens of shows have started on one network and ended up on another. Some shows such as ``Ted Mack's Original Amatuer Hour'' have even spent time on four networks if you count DuMont, which operated from 1947 to 1956.

Others have actually been telecast on two networks at the same time. ``Man Against Crime'' starring Ralph Bellamy aired on both CBS and DuMont Sunday nights at 10:30 during 1953. For years, ``Kraft Television Theater'' aired on both NBC and ABC each week at different times with different plays.

Two of the most recent network switches were ``In the Heat of the Night,'' which began on NBC and closed out its run on CBS, and ``Matlock,'' which went from NBC to ABC.

There is no pattern as to what happens when a show changes networks. Some times they do better on the new network, some times they don't do as well.

Here are several more famous network jumps:

``Voice of Firestone'': This was television's entry into the world of classical and semiclassical musical. It had been on radio for several years when it made its TV debut in 1949 on NBC, where it ran for five seasons. In the fall of 1954, the show moved to ABC for another five-year run. ABC revived it for one season, 1962-63.

``Father Knows Best'': Robert Young was the father in one of the most popular family sitcoms of the 1950s. It, too, had been on radio before moving to TV in the fall of 1954. After a year on CBS, it was picked up by NBC for a three-year run. Then it ran for another four years (1958-62) on CBS and finally aired on ABC, 1962-63.

``Wagon Train'': Ward Bond was the wagon master and Robert Horton was the train's scout for this hour-long western that featured plenty of guest stars. It ran on NBC (1957-63) and then moved to ABC (1963-65). By then, John McEntire had replaced Bond, who had died, and Robert Fuller was the train's scout. During the 1963-64 season, the show expanded to 90 minutes but reverted back to an hour for its final year.

``Leave It To Beaver'': This look at life through the eyes of a kid, played by Jerry Mathers, remains one of the best-remembered sitcoms of its era. Its first season was 1957-58 on CBS and then it moved over to ABC for another five years.

``The Real McCoys'': Walter Brennan played Grandpa McCoy in this rural comedy about a West Virginia family that moves to California. It ran six seasons, five on ABC (1957-62) and one on CBS (1962-63).

``Peter Gunn'': Craig Stevens was the private eye whose girlfriend, Edie, was played by Lola Albright and his friend, Lt. Jacoby, by Herschel Bernardi. But the original music, by Henry Mancini, was the show's star. It ran two seasons on NBC (1958-60) and one on ABC (1960-61).

``My Three Sons'': Fred McMurray headlined this long-running family sitcom. It was in ABC's lineup for five seasons (1960-65) and on CBS for another seven years (1965-72).

``Columbo'': It's something of a stretch to classify this as the usual network switcher. Peter Falk had appeared as the detective with the rumpled trench coat in several TV movies before it became a series on NBC in 1971. It ran on the network until the summer of 1977. Twelve years later, the series was revived with new episodes on ABC.

``Bionic Woman'': Lindsey Wagner starred in this spinoff from ``The Six Million Dollar Man.'' The series premiered in January 1976 on ABC and then moved over to NBC in the fall of 1977. The next year, it was dropped.

LENGTH: Medium:   85 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  ``Leave It To Beaver'' opened the 1957-58 season on CBS 
          and then moved to ABC for another five years. Hugh Beaumont (from 
          left), Tony Dow, Barbara Billingsley and Jerry Mathers starred in 
          the series.