17 episodes from the beginning
Moor Larkin
agreed that there is no evidence that The Prisoner was planned to have
exactly 17 episodes before August 1967.
>
> Scoville.
We've had this *argument* before... :-)))):
Scoville said a year ago:
"Tommacfearsom's quote from the Washington Post indicates that the
decision to produce a final four episodes was made no later than
August 2nd 1967. This isn't new information though. For example, by
the end of August 1967, the ATV Midland schedulers were already aware
that there were to be exactly 17 episodes.
As Rick and others have pointed out, for various documented reasons
it's extremely unlikely that the decision to film only a further four
episodes was made before production of the first block of thirteen was
completed at the end of April 1967.
So it would appear that the decision was made at some point between
the beginning of May 1967 and the end of July 1967.
(Robert Fairclough states in his book The Prisoner The Official
Companion that the decision was "announced" during production of The
Girl Who Was Death but it would have to have been actually decided
earlier than this). "
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.tv.prisoner/msg/85ad0dce8429573c?hl=enUad0dce8429573c
Since November last year, my Blog now gives you the clarity of a press
article dating from February 1967 stating that CBS had contracted to
*at least 17*, and further the comment that Michael Dann had agreed to
this when he had read just one script, which pushes the significance
of 17 *at least* back to the writing of Arrival. This concurs exactly
with Lew Grade's brief memoir from his *prisoner-disinterested*
biography, where he clearly recalled a meeting with CBS executives and
quotes himself saying that, "At the moment though, Patrick McGoohan
only wants to make 17 episodes".
There is no room for real doubt that 17 lies well within the bounds of
possibility as the original plan.
What seems to have then happened was that, probably for practical
reasons of getting the thing off the ground, McGoohan agreed to go
along with a production season of 13, allowing presumably Grade and
CBS to think they might be able to persuade him differently later. I
think this sort of behaviour is called Pragmatism - on both sides of a
business deal.
The fact that many of the crew of the show dispersed after the first
block of production also goes to proof that there was no second 13 due
to follow. If they had believed there was, they would have been
anticipating new contracts.
Moor
roger
news:bede8ea9-eb2c-426f...@j19g2000yqk.googlegroups.com...
> There is no room for real doubt that 17 lies well within the bounds of
> possibility as the original plan.
That sentence, regardless of its context, is nonsensical. "No room for real
doubt" in something that is "within the bounds of possibility"!
Tut, tut.
:-)
Rick Davy
"Moor Larkin" <moorl...@googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:bede8ea9-eb2c-426f...@j19g2000yqk.googlegroups.com...
> this when he had read just one script, which pushes the significance
> of 17 *at least* back to the writing of Arrival.
We dont know when he was shown the script, why do you suppose he was shown
it just after it was written?
Daily Mirror feb 1968:
BRITISH television's most bizarre, baffling and costly series, "The
Prisoner," is coming to an end months before its time.
The final episode - No.17- was screened by I T V in the Midlands last
night and will be shown in London and the South tomorrow. It was
originally planned to run for a further thirteen installments.
Why the abrupt finish to this series which has cost �1,375,000? The
Prisoner himself, actor Patrick McGoohan, told me: "It has knocked me
out. I'm whacked. This is why I'm stopping. I just can't do any more."
Rick
scoville
> The fact that many of the crew of the show dispersed after the first
> block of production also goes to proof that there was no second 13 due
> to follow. If they had believed there was, they would have been
> anticipating new contracts.
>
> Moor
Actually, the fact that many of the crew of the show dispersed after
the first production block proves the opposite.
If the plan was to make exactly 17 episodes, the contracts would
obviously have been for that number in the first place.
Scoville.
Moor Larkin
> "Moor Larkin" <moorlar...@googlemail.com> wrote in message
The Daily Mirror *says* it was planned to run for another 13
instalments but McGoohan is directly quoted from August 1967 as saying
it wasn't. .... :-)))
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dbfL5ekPDio/Srp12XLePwI/AAAAAAAAAVI/3HEwQUTNNOI/s320/P1060537.JPG
direct link to newspaper scan - Washington Post Page B5. August 4th,
1967 - reporter: Dorothy Manners.
McGoohan's actual quote from the Daily Mirror is quite consistent with
the American one don't you think?, suggesting the huge pressure he was
under to do more, but declining to carry on. All this agrees with the
comments of Mr. Liles, the production manager, whose memoir referred
to his only being employed for four episodes, not thirteen and his
awareness that Lew Grade wanted McGoohan to make more, but McGoohan
refused. If anyone *cancelled* it appears to have been McGoohan.
Moor ...... http://numbersixwasinnocent.blogspot.com/
