The Week in Review

TV made a brave effort last week to do more than merely entertain. It tried to say something. In its handling of the news and its treatment of drama, it tried to reach beyond fact to what was significant, and beyond fiction to what was meaningful. Unhappily, on all three levels--news, drama and new summer entertainment--TV fell ingloriously on its face.

Report-in-Depth. NBC, making the major effort to interpret the news, promised "an unprecedented report-in-depth" of the Big Four Conference in Geneva.

But in 60 minutes, Meeting at the Summit tried to cover so much ground (including a snappy history of the last ten years) that it never pricked the surface. The Christian Science Monitor's Correspondent Joseph C. Harsch was flown in from Geneva, and breathlessly announced: "The biggest fact I came back with is this: people there are calm and confident." Others made it clear that the East was lined up against the West. To the unabashed cliches on audio were wedded equally tired cliches on video. The challenge of such a TV show is at once to be pictorial and handle ideas.

Meeting at the Summit had no idea, no visible direction and a poor picture sense. In the words of trade sheet Variety, it was a lot of "thisa-without-much-data."

The week's TV dramas were thin, talky and without dramatic zing, but they at least had the merit of trying to get away from the usual empty-headed TV plots and make a few comments about life and the pursuit of happiness. The depressing fact was that when the comment was not confused, it was trite.

Most interesting of the teleplays was Man on Spikes, presented on NBC's Goodyear Television Playhouse (Sun. 9 p.m., E.D.T.). It was the story of an aging baseball player who is good enough for the majors, but fated by managerial decision never to get out of the bush leagues. The play had moments of power and persuasiveness when the ballplayer and his wife revolted against their fate. At these moments, Man on Spikes seemed to be on the verge of saying something important not merely about baseball, but about big enterprise in general and the enterprise of life itself. Unfortunately, the idea was never rounded out.

Double Bromide. In the La Banza, over-aggressively played on NBC's Kraft Theater (Wed. 9 p.m., E.D.T.), had the opposite fault of Man on Spikes. Its point was crystal clear but simpleminded. An ambitious small-towner exploits his brother's boxing talents, and by overmatching him, causes him to be so gravely injured that he can never fight again. The double bromide: ambition is a drug on the market, but no cure in itself for those who are sick for success. The Gambler ("Security is for suckers"), on CBS's U.S. Steel Hour (Wed. 10 p.m., E.D.T.), was a character study of a megalomaniac, painted in overripe colors. The gambler (Jack Carson), at the nadir of his career (he is broke), risks whatever is dear to him for a bet on a sure thing that turns out not to be so sure. Its soupy point: the biggest suckers are those who think they can ride home on the long shots.

The new summer shows were headed by Dateline Disneyland, a one-shot, Spectacular-sized look at Walt Disney's new amusement park at Anaheim, Calif.

It was a dazzling demonstration of what the name Disney can do. In the guise of entertainment, the show consisted of a 90-minute commercial for Disney's newest commercial enterprise. By comparison, CBS's Frankie Laine Time (Wed. 8 p.m., E.D.T.) was merely a minor, 60-minute disappointment. The summer replacement for Godfrey is a variety show, with Frankie singing and acting as host. But the acts were uniformly mediocre, and Frankie, whose singing is stylized, lacked style.

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