"There was a three hour differential in performances because the sponsor insisted it be done live for California. You would go on at 8 pm in New York but you would also have to go on at 8 p.m. in California. That meant coming back in to do the show at 11 p.m"
About this Quote
Network television’s supposed glamour collapses here into something closer to shift work with a studio audience. Dick York isn’t reminiscing; he’s itemizing a logistical absurdity that reveals who actually ran the show: the sponsor. The “three hour differential” isn’t just time zones colliding, it’s power made visible. When a sponsor “insisted,” everyone else reorganized their bodies, their sleep, their nerves around the demand. The line reads like a complaint delivered in a calm voice because, in that system, calm was often the only safe tone.
The repetition is the point: “8 pm in New York” and “8 p.m. in California” sounds reasonable until you do the math and feel the fatigue. York’s blunt phrasing mimics the grind of the requirement itself, turning corporate preference into a physical consequence. “That meant coming back in” lands with quiet indignation. It’s not the dramatic suffering of stardom; it’s the weary indignity of being treated as endlessly reschedulable.
Context matters: mid-century broadcast TV sold itself as communal, live, national. But “national” was always negotiated through commerce, and “live” was a brand promise that could override common sense. York, best known for Bewitched, had well-documented health issues; in that light, the anecdote becomes sharper. It’s not just about inconvenience. It’s about an industry that prized seamlessness for viewers and sponsors, while treating performers as the part of the machinery you can run twice in one night.
The repetition is the point: “8 pm in New York” and “8 p.m. in California” sounds reasonable until you do the math and feel the fatigue. York’s blunt phrasing mimics the grind of the requirement itself, turning corporate preference into a physical consequence. “That meant coming back in” lands with quiet indignation. It’s not the dramatic suffering of stardom; it’s the weary indignity of being treated as endlessly reschedulable.
Context matters: mid-century broadcast TV sold itself as communal, live, national. But “national” was always negotiated through commerce, and “live” was a brand promise that could override common sense. York, best known for Bewitched, had well-documented health issues; in that light, the anecdote becomes sharper. It’s not just about inconvenience. It’s about an industry that prized seamlessness for viewers and sponsors, while treating performers as the part of the machinery you can run twice in one night.
Quote Details
| Topic | Work |
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