Evening/PM Magazine was a half-hour local program that was in production at many stations from the late 1970s through the early ’90s. The show pioneered the use of small-format videotape field equipment and electronic editing to tell stories about local people, places and things. The program was known as “Evening Magazine” at the five Group W stations (Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Francisco) and “PM Magazine” on other stations where it was franchised. “Evening/PM” was seen on over 100 stations at it peak, and usually aired at either 7:00 or 7:30 P.M. This 1981 segment from WBZ-TV’s “Evening” illustrates how a typical story was produced using the television technology of the era: Sony 3/4-inch videotape decks, Ikegami HL-79 field camera, Datatron edit controller, Grass Valley Group 1600 switcher, and RCA TR-600 quadruplex VTRs.

UFO was Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s first live action television program. Stepping away from Supermarination, UFO was geared towards adults and took on themes like death, adultery, divorce, and drug use.

UFO’s basic premise is that in a alternate universe 1980 Earth is being visited and attacked by aliens from a dying planet and humans are being covertly harvested for their organs. The show’s main cast of characters are members of a secret, high-technology international agency called SHADO (an acronym for Supreme Headquarters, Alien Defence Organisation) established to defend Earth and humanity against the mysterious aliens and to learn more about them. Their headquarters are hidden beneath the Harlington-Straker movie studio where the agents both protect the Earth against aliens as well as produce entertainment programs.

In the 25th episode in the series the creators decided to mess with the idea of the suspension of disbelief. Half way through the episode, the camera pulls back to reveal that SHADO HQ is nothing more than a film set and Straker is actually Howard Byrne, the leading actor. A dazed Straker exits onto the studio grounds and makes his way over to Theatre 7, where the rough-cut of his “show” is being screened.

This episode not only breaks the 4th wall, it also addresses the idea that movie makers could steal someones life and memories and “put them up on the screen” for the entertainment of others. It uses the actual movie studio (Pinewood) in which the TV show was filmed and stirs up reality enough for one character to scream out “Let’s get back to realities,” to which another character replies “CUT PRINT!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jer2_sWZuQk&index=24&list=PLjrdBM3OjcIh0eUSbYziUj12mSwrLfSBM

To start things off here is a Behind-the-Scenes of STUDIO SEE, a magazine-style children’s TV show that aired from February 5, 1977 to February 24, 1979 on PBS, with reruns continuing through the early 1980s.

Created by Jayne Adair, Studio See was produced by South Carolina ETV. The behind the scenes episode was it’s final episode in the series.