Feeling Good (lost PBS TV series; 1974-1975)

Title card.

Status: Lost

Feeling Good was an American short-lived television series hosted by Dick Cavett and produced by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW, now Sesame Workshop). The series aired on PBS from November 20^[1], 1974 to 1975 with two seasons. It was the first TV series produced by the CTW that was aimed at adults instead of children, and it was also the first TV series about health. Unlike Sesame Street and The Electric Company, which were also produced by the CTW, the series is considered lost, with no footage being surfaced online and a few images exist.

Plot

Mass‐appeal guest stars were used each week (the first episode featured Bill Cosby, Helen Reddy and Johnny Cash) along with a cast of regulars that congregated in a general store called “Mac's Place”—a kind of antiseptic “Hot I Baltimore.” The first program covered such diverse matters as mental health, prenatal and nutrition^[2].

Production

Two‐and‐a‐half years ago, the CTW officials decided to extend their efforts to the adult audience, in particular the under‐educated, and began work on a series about health. Plans called for production of 26 hour ‐ long shows. The budget was a healthy $6.5 million, making the cost per show higher than anything ever before attempted on PBS.

The man in charge of the project was William Robin. executive producer and vice president of CTW. Robin and his staff worked under the assumption that most people already know the dangers of improper health care hut lack motivation to change their habits. Since it seemed clear that traditional documentary methods had failed to influence them (Robin mentions the negligible results achieved with costly anti‐smoking campaigns), the producers of “Feeling Good” wanted a new approach.

The staff worked with the same “model” developed by the CTW for its children's programs. Experts were interviewed and data were gathered about the subject matter. Seminars were held throughout the country at which specific health problems were outlined along with methods of presenting the material to the TV audience.

Availability

The series originally aired on PBS from November 20, 1974 to 1975. After the show was revamped, it later aired on Channel 13 Wednesdays at 8 P.M.—with a repeat Sundays, at 6:30 P.M. It is unknown for how long it lasted, but since it was short-lived, it likely had 26 episodes and ended on June 25, 1975. None of the episodes have been publicly shown and remain lost to this day. Unlike Sesame Street and The Electric Company, the series never aired reruns and was never released on home video. The only accessible material are the poster of the series, an article of the New York Times about the show, a screenshot featuring Dick Cavett and the other doctors conducting stress tests, images of the Feeling Good newsletters and three press photos of the show.

Gallery

Poster of the series.
From left to right: Dick Cavett, Joseph Catano, Karen Kline and Dr. Peter Peacock conducting stress tests.
A page of the New York Times featuring an article about the series premiere.
Another page of the New York Times featuring an article about how the show went bad.
Newsletter of the series.
CTW newsletters featuring the logo of the show.
Newsletters of the series featuring Dick Cavett and the logo.
Joe Morton and the cast of Feeling Good.