That Wacky Redhead

[Glen]

More later but

Love the Doctor Who update!

I believe Dehgado' death should ans would be butterflied. This in tself is likely to keep Pertwee on for one more season than OTL. Booth may stay on longer than two years due to US popularity of show bu this is by no means certain. Letts may still leave more or less on time and would definitely go at end of Pertwee tenure. An extended third Doctor and the first run US showings ending at same time make sense. I can see another big finale with The Master 'dying' and the Doctor regenerating. i believe The Three Doctors will still be made for the tenth anniversary. I think Brainbin that first and second who episodes are actually likely to be aired in US syndication earlier than you indicate. Desilu bought the rights and will want return on investment. I think the early success of the first run series will make them saleable commodities. They won't be as popular as third doctor episodes but will be enough of interest to air in less demanding timeslots. can just imajine the Docotr Who marathons leazding up to the airing of the Three Doctors...

 

[Glen]

More later but

Love the Doctor Who update!

I believe Dehgado' death should ans would be butterflied. This in tself is likely to keep Pertwee on for one more season than OTL. Booth may stay on longer than two years due to US popularity of show bu this is by no means certain. Letts may still leave more or less on time and would definitely go at end of Pertwee tenure. An extended third Doctor and the first run US showings ending at same time make sense. I can see another big finale with The Master 'dying' and the Doctor regenerating. i believe The Three Doctors will still be made for the tenth anniversary. I think Brainbin that first and second who episodes are actually likely to be aired in US syndication earlier than you indicate. Desilu bought the rights and will want return on investment. I think the early success of the first run series will make them saleable commodities. They won't be as popular as third doctor episodes but will be enough of interest to air in less demanding timeslots. can just imajine the Docotr Who marathons leazding up to the airing of the Three Doctors...

 

[Falkenburg]

Anyone else just get a sense of dejavu?

Falkenburg

 

[Glen]

Anyone else just get a sense of dejavu?

Falkenburg

Pitfall of surfing with a Kindle - if you hit the back button too far back, you get a reposting on our site. Sorry!

 

[Glen]

So...in further review/thought on the future of the Third Doctor...

There seems to be some degree of contradiction in the sources I can find as to whether there might have been thoughts/reasons for Pertwee to end his run as he did OTL even if there was no death of Delgado.

Whether we would see an additional Pertwee season/serial or not is dependent on a number of factors. Letts I think is ready to move on irregardless...Delgado doesn't appear to have wanted to go further either, with the idea that the episodes that were the last of OTL Pertwee would have seen the 'death' of the Master if Delgado hadn't died himself (Episode tentatively called 'The Final Game' which would replace 'Planet of Spiders'). If Pertwee knows that this is the last appearance of Delgado as the Master, he might still want to go out with him. Whether Booth is still around or not is still an open question, but I think there will be strong pressure with the success of the series in America to keep her as their 'American Link' for as long as the Americans are still running it first run. If at the end of her first two year contract for Booth she is asked to renew for another two years, that would mean that her second contract would expire ALSO after the OTL 'Planet of Spiders'/maybe ITTL 'The Final Game'.

Of course, one of the biggest factors here might be the Desilu deal. Desilu is likely looking at the Pertwee run as one series, and would want to be able to 'strip' it as such when selling it in syndication. If they are seeing the first season/serial of the Pertwee Doctor as year one (despite it not being first run in the US and not post-produced by Desilu), then the 'Planet of Spiders'/'The Final Game' would be the end of five years, and a reasonable place to stop running as a first run show and go straight to syndication.

On the other, other hand, Pertwee really enjoys being the Doctor, and with his success in America, he (and possibly other members of the 'team' for Doctor Who) might consider running for one more season/serial (note that apparently OTL the episodes were already commissioned for the first year of the Fourth Doctor). I don't think that it would go longer than that, though. I think Letts would probably leave at some point, I don't think Booth would want to go on, and I think with the family breaking up, Pertwee would be finally more than ready to move on. If Desilu is more interested in having only the Desilu edited Pertwee for their six month strip, then they might push for one year over what Pertwee did OTL.

There are pros and cons to ending the Pertwee Third Doctor roughly at the same time as OTL, or letting it run a year more. One big question you need to resolve for yourself Brainbin is whether to have Doctor Who have some more parallel development to OTL or to unleash the butterflies. If you are going to bring in Tom Baker as the fourth doctor (and maybe Lis Sladen as a Companion?) despite the distance from the POD, then you might want to go with the OTL ending, just making it a BETTER Pertwee era, rather than a BIGGER AND BETTER Pertwee era. If you are going to have someone entirely different cast as the Fourth Doctor, then maybe you should go for a sixth year of Pertwee.

 

[Brainbin]

This marks my 100th post to this thread - about one-quarter of those past have been relevant updates. The rest of them have been responses to your many wonderful comments, and now I have another one to share with all of you!

First of all I'd just like to say I'm greatly enjoying this TL, by giving Star Trek five seasons and saving the Doctor Who last episodes finally I have an alternate history I would like to live in!

Thank you very much for the kind words, stupid_boy, and welcome aboard! I'm not trying to create a utopia, but I admit, I wouldn't terribly mind living ITTL either, though some of my own personal reasons for feeling that way have not yet been made privy to any of you

Now ITTL Katy Manning did not join the cast of the show, with Connie Booth's Linda in her place. Also, I believe it was mentioned that Booth was signed to a two year contract, and she doesn't seem the type to stick in that sort of a role.

I agree with you here - Booth doesn't strike me as the type to enjoy the rigors of a series commitment - apparently, the four-year delay between seasons one and two of "Fawlty Towers" IOTL was mostly her fault, as she had to be convinced to return and write more episodes (presumably by Cleese - and note that they had divorced in the interim). Needless to say, she's also the reason that there has never been any more of the program: Cleese, to the credit of his modesty, generosity, and collaborative spirit, refused to continue without her, and I've noted before that he seems to do his best work with creative partners - Booth, Chapman, Crichton...

Although I admit a certain bias, Pertwee being my favourite Doctor, I would love to see him do a season or two more, he continued to act until his last years and returned to his most famous role for anniversary specials and in radio productions shortly before his death in 1996, and he embraced the role in such a way that makes me think he wouldn't want to leave due to typecasting.

It's nice to have someone who ranks Pertwee as his favourite Doctor following along. To be honest, Pertwee is really just "along for the ride" - I have no special attachment to him, myself; he just so happened to be the Doctor during that narrow window of opportunity when there could have been a crossover between the two programs. (I've mentioned the possibility of Captain Pike and the Second Doctor, but that's another timeline. And not one that I plan to write.) But yes, he seems a perfectly amiable fellow, and certainly wouldn't have the same kind of chip on his shoulder that Tom Baker did.

Another though is that due to Doctor Who now reaching mainstream popularity in the United States in 1971, will we see Hartnell and Troughton returning for an anniversary special? I could see such a thing baffling US audiences who only have the exposure of the Third Doctor.

We'll get into that. One thing to bear in mind is that both Desilu and (especially) NBC have a considerable level of creative input into the show's production. Right now, they're taking a hands-off approach, considering the program's present success; however, they may choose to exercise their influence if ever the outlook is not quite so sunny in the future.

An how will the Americans react to those genocidal pepperpots, will Terry Nation return to Doctor Who in another attempt to launch a Dalek spin-off in the United States?

Well, now, that would be telling

Really looking forward to see how different the 70s will be in this TL.

Thank you very much! Looking forward to telling you all about the "Me Decade" as it unravels.

I knew he'd lost out because of it. (I even saw the ninja commercials he did.) Was that deliberate?

I'm afraid so. And NBC was riding high at the time; it was purely out of spite.

Oh, I don't disagree they teased too long, but I have to wonder, if they'd done it sooner, would it still have killed the show?

Well, the comics (until the recent reboot, of course) seemed to be doing just fine with them as a married couple (they even had an adopted kid for a while there!), so yes, I think the producers officially found themselves past the point of no return.

I take the Golden Age ending with the first SA Flash in Showcase.

1956, in other words. The very latest possible terminus to the Golden Age. And since you explicitly mention the two seminal works of the Dark Age (The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen), that means you're having it end no earlier than 1986. No wonder you regard the Silver Age so highly! Though careful not to get too recent, or you're stuck with Rob Liefeld dragging you down again

Ah but I'm from Belfast and we consider Laws to be more along the lines of general guidance than absolute rules.

I want to thank you for sharing your fascinating story with us, Falkenburg. It's provided all of us with an intriguing pop culture perspective of your circumstances. I strongly suspect that the politically charged atmosphere of Northern Ireland is not replicated in the Republic - that the vast majority of the people there are willing to watch the BBC, and other British output, and do not have strong ideological reasons to eschew doing so. But your particular situation is highly reminiscent of the Canadian one in that regard. Your parents are surrogates for the Canadian government (and the fourth estate, and the intelligentsia), whereas your own experience parallels that of the average Canadian viewer. So I've learned that approximately one-half of the people of Northern Ireland are in a very similar situation to those of Canada. And that makes sense to me - there's that same, very dogmatic drive for cultural protectionism in both places.

And since you shared some Irish television with us, allow me to share something that has very much stuck with me, as an outsider looking in: This clip from "The Late Late Show", hosted by Gay Byrne. (No further comment.)

Love the Doctor Who update!

Thank you, Glen

I think Brainbin that first and second who episodes are actually likely to be aired in US syndication earlier than you indicate. Desilu bought the rights and will want return on investment. I think the early success of the first run series will make them saleable commodities. They won't be as popular as third doctor episodes but will be enough of interest to air in less demanding timeslots. can just imajine the Docotr Who marathons leazding up to the airing of the Three Doctors...

All right, let me clarify my point. Yes, the runs of the first two Doctors will be syndicated prior to the late 1970s; however, they will, as you point out, air in truly awful timeslots, on nigh-unreachable UHF stations. And unlike Star Trek, which did much the same at around this time, they will not move on to bigger and brighter things... that is, until the late 1970s, which mark the ascent of the earliest "superstations", along with cable television. Remember, there are only so many timeslots, and Star Trek, if anything, will be occupying even more of them ITTL. And Desilu can offer the runs of the first two Doctors all they want, but someone still has to buy them. And there just won't be too many interested parties in the early 1970s. But, to be fair, "not widely seen" does not mean "unseen".

Anyone else just get a sense of dejavu?

I believe that's the fourth time he's done that in this thread

One big question you need to resolve for yourself Brainbin is whether to have Doctor Who have some more parallel development to OTL or to unleash the butterflies. If you are going to bring in Tom Baker as the fourth doctor (and maybe Lis Sladen as a Companion?) despite the distance from the POD, then you might want to go with the OTL ending, just making it a BETTER Pertwee era, rather than a BIGGER AND BETTER Pertwee era. If you are going to have someone entirely different cast as the Fourth Doctor, then maybe you should go for a sixth year of Pertwee.

I like your reasoning; that was a very well-thought-out post. I won't confirm or deny any of the particulars, of course, but I do have a few general rebuttals. First of all, it should be made clear that the content of the show is not going to be what I (or you, or anyone IOTL) would want. It's going to be a delicate balance of what the BBC, NBC, Desilu, and the cast and crew want. They'll want bigger and better, not just better. I suppose that my lovingly detailed Star Trek posts might have created the wrong impression, but I did do my best to create a kind of "reality check" within them, as I'm doing rather more bluntly with my Doctor Who posts, given the greatly reduced emotional attachment. The Star Trek that I, personally, would have wanted, doesn't exactly line up with the one that I devised for TTL. Likewise, Doctor Who is being given a better shot at "the big time", but there are still going to be problems, and we'll get to those in due time. I think that after my next update about the show, a lot of your concerns will have been at least partially addressed.

I hope to have my next update ready in the next couple of days. Until then!

 

[Orville_third]

I hope you do something with Tom Baker- he's too good to waste!
Will Zatanna still be around? Will she still join the JLA?
BTW, the Daleks did visit the USA at least once in the 1960's...in the promotion for the Doctor movie. (I even have a paperback somewhere that has them!) A DWM article also ahd a quote from a US paper article in which a Dalek dated a girl at the Empire State for a publicity stunt...

 

[phx1138]

Anyone else just get a sense of dejavu?

No.

if you hit the back button too far back

Like this?

 

[phx1138]

1956, in other words. The very latest possible terminus to the Golden Age. And since you explicitly mention the two seminal works of the Dark Age (The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen), that means you're having it end no earlier than 1986. No wonder you regard the Silver Age so highly! Though careful not to get too recent, or you're stuck with Rob Liefeld dragging you down again

You might say there's a "gilt age" between the wartime books & Showcase, but that's really swan song of GA IMO. I'd tend to include Alan & Dave in SA, along with Scout & War Shaman, Morison's DP, JSF, & JLI/JLE, but that's the peak. It's on the cusp of the "grim age", & it tends to blur, then. For me, clear SA remains the time of the Punisher Spidey & the early new Xmen (end of the Phoenix Saga, clearly, maybe up to the end of the Brood Saga, but we can debate that).

And the less said about Liefeld, the better. And Jim Shooter, too, after Jean.

Neeless to say, a TL of mine would tend to be comics-friendly. (Which is why PIOT gives Wertham a smack & lets the horror books survive).

 

[Glen]

With regard to Star Trek and Doctor Who in syndication. Network affiliates on VHF stations are likely to play Star Trek late afternoon and early evening to catch the just off work crowd. Pertwee Doctor Who will also play on these stations but earlier more an afternoon offering for the after school crowd but may also shade toward the early evening. Actually I can imagine some stations playing them back to back or bookending the evening news. Black and white Doctor Who will less reliably play on VHF and not in every market. It will tend to show up on early daytime or late night or even just as weekend fare. It's largest player will be UHF I agree and on those stations they might help fill the afternoon evening slots.

 

[Glen]

I could see some UHF stations playing several episodes in a row back to back as a Doctor Who weekend movie sort of like the olf Creature Feature type fare.

 

[Glen]

Most of the Pertwee era story arcs ran four to six 25 minute episodes. I wonder if with an eye to stripping anyone would think to standardize to five which would fit neatly into a five day workweek daily airing.

 

[The Professor]

I can't speak to that. I didn't like it, & I always despised Robert Vaughn. McCallum's Kuryakin I liked much better. (Had it been Vaughn alone, I'd never have watched at all.)

Dammit, now I'm agreeing with you

Ah but I'm from Belfast and we consider Laws to be more along the lines of general guidance than absolute rules.

*puts down the burning torch and shuffles off nonchalantly*


As per the end of the 3rd Doctor and the Master, perhaps ending them together might work. This might also suggest an-alt 4th Doctor along the lines of the resurrection as 6th Doctor where he's initially played much darker prompting any companions/audience to wonder if the new Doctor is actually the new Master....

 

[Glen]

My further thoughts on syndication for the first three Doctors. I think Desilu will sell Who by the doctor. The First Doctor has about 134 episodes which is a big big for a six month stripped cycle but doable. The Second Doctor has 119 episodes which is just dandy for a six month cycle. We don't know yet the total number of Third Doctor episodes but even if it just ran as OTL that is another stripprd viewing for a six month cycle. I think Desilu will charge by Doctor. The First Docto package will be the cheapest even in absolute terms and provides the largest batch of episodes. The Second Doctor will be midprice. The Third Doctor will be the premium episode package and cost the most. I doubt that any one station will buy all three at once. The network affiliates for NBC might purchase the Second Doctor episodes as prequels during the Third Doctor's time in first run on the network. If they don' I can see one of the other network affiliates in their market picking it up to compete for Who fans. If they don't then I bet the biggest independent will. The First Doctor is going to be low in terms of demand though a particularly aggessive competing affiliate or big independent might pick it up if the NBC affiliate opions the Second Doctor. Otherwise it is likely to go to UHF land. I think a good number of NBC affiliates will pick up the Second Doctor especially after the First Run First US season does so well in the ratings. If they don't someone else will. Someone different is likely to pick up First Doctor as a consolation prize. Of course the big item in a few years will be Third Doctor syndication.

 

[Falkenburg]

This marks my 100th post to this thread

Happy TWR Centennary, Brainbin. Here's hoping for many more Posts.

So I've learned that approximately one-half of the people of Northern Ireland are in a very similar situation to those of Canada. And that makes sense to me - there's that same, very dogmatic drive for cultural protectionism in both places.

Er, I wouldn't want you to go away with that impression.
At most I'd say a tiny minority of even those of my 'persuasion' (themselves a minority within the Nationalist minority in Norn Iron)
would have shared the 'extreme' viewing prejudices of my childhood home.

Nevertheless, you could say that there would have been a sizeable number (25%, say) who would have viewed the British media with a jaundiced eye.
For such a reputedly political area you'd be amazed at the number of people who wouldn't have given a tuppenny fu.. for the politics, as long as there was something 'Good' on the telly.
(As my maternal grandmother would have said)

Speaking of 'viewing with alarm',

And since you shared some Irish television with us, allow me to share something that has very much stuck with me, as an outsider looking in: This clip from "The Late Late Show", hosted by Gay Byrne. (No further comment.)

The Horror!

One good turn deserves another...

Falkenburg

 

[Glen]

My further thoughts on syndication for the first three Doctors. I think Desilu will sell Who by the doctor. The First Doctor has about 134 episodes which is a big big for a six month stripped cycle but doable. The Second Doctor has 119 episodes which is just dandy for a six month cycle. We don't know yet the total number of Third Doctor episodes but even if it just ran as OTL that is another stripprd viewing for a six month cycle. I think Desilu will charge by Doctor. The First Docto package will be the cheapest even in absolute terms and provides the largest batch of episodes. The Second Doctor will be midprice. The Third Doctor will be the premium episode package and cost the most. I doubt that any one station will buy all three at once. The network affiliates for NBC might purchase the Second Doctor episodes as prequels during the Third Doctor's time in first run on the network. If they don' I can see one of the other network affiliates in their market picking it up to compete for Who fans. If they don't then I bet the biggest independent will. The First Doctor is going to be low in terms of demand though a particularly aggessive competing affiliate or big independent might pick it up if the NBC affiliate opions the Second Doctor. Otherwise it is likely to go to UHF land. I think a good number of NBC affiliates will pick up the Second Doctor especially after the First Run First US season does so well in the ratings. If they don't someone else will. Someone different is likely to pick up First Doctor as a consolation prize. Of course the big item in a few years will be Third Doctor syndication.

So...during the era of first run Third Doctor on NBC, it is also IMO likely that Second Doctor will be running in syndication, probably on a network affiliate or big independent. First Doctor will be less common, and in most cases will be relegated to the independents, especially UHF channels. This may mean that in the USA you could see all three Doctors at any given time, but on different channels! Now then, smaller markets probably only see Third Doctor once a week on NBC and Second Doctor in reruns, with no money/space for First Doctor.

The real prize will be the Third Doctor when it becomes available (are you thinking after the third season of of Pertwee's Doctor?).

Now then, let me mention here that I am well aware that the jewel in the crown of early 1970s syndication is Star Trek. I suspect it will go to the biggest bidder for each market. Don't know what Desilu's policy will be on it, but you might even see more than one channel per market buying it, and then battling to see who can place it more strategically.

 

[phx1138]

I could see some UHF stations playing several episodes in a row back to back as a Doctor Who weekend movie sort of like the olf Creature Feature type fare.

I'd bet you'll see a few bigger markets using it as late-night filler, the way my local station used to use Oz TV (before infomercials).

Dammit, now I'm agreeing with you

 

[Glen]

I'd bet you'll see a few bigger markets using it as late-night filler, the way my local station used to use Oz TV (before infomercials).

I would think that is possible for the First Doctor episodes.

 

[Brainbin]

The Wide World of Sports

"I'm just telling it like it is."

– Howard Cosell, sports journalist, and colour commentator for "Monday Night Football"

For all the popularity of dramatic programming during the Classical Era of television, it was increasingly being forced to share space with another format: televised sporting events. For the major leagues were beginning to experience a transformational shift in their economic philosophies: they were seeing unprecedented revenues from their broadcast deals with the major networks, and these could come to eclipse even gate revenues, which had been the very foundation of how sports leagues had operated for almost a century. This sea change had been anticipated by a number of trailblazers on both sides of the transaction: league executives, and television executives.

"Monday Night Football", the brainchild of ABC producer Roone Arledge, saw what had already become the nation's most popular spectator sport (edging out the venerable National Pastime of baseball) secure a regularly scheduled berth on network television; it quickly developed into a massive success, finishing in the Top 30 for the 1971-72 season. Arledge, in his own way, came to define the changes of the "Modern TV" Era as prominently as Fred Silverman or Norman Lear did within their own sectors of the industry. [1] Certainly, his reputation preceded him. However, behind-the-scenes functionaries rarely achieve fame, no matter their talent or skill; though Arledge would eventually transcend this limitation, as he had done with so many of the others he had faced beforehand, it certainly remained a truism in the early 1970s. Instead, the popular imagination of football audiences was instantly captured by colour commentator Howard Cosell.

Cosell was one of the most memorable on-air personalities on television; his announcing style was unforgettable. Intellectual and analytical, he essentially took a "hard news" tack with sporting events, an outlook which he shared with Arledge. He was already an established sports journalist, particularly in the field of boxing, where he and boxer Muhammad Ali (originally known as Cassius Clay) each rose to glory with help from the other. To the extent that a person's fame could be judged by how often he was parodied, Cosell was one of the most famous men in America: his highly peculiar vocabulary, cadence, and delivery were often imitated. And as a "serious" journalist who viewed sports as worthy of serious coverage, he did not shy away from politics. He was a staunch opponent of racism, and a tireless advocate of ending segregation in sports. [2] His friendship with, and support of, Ali through his many controversies would cement this reputation. He was certainly not without flaws, though these were typical of his role as an on-air personality and generally – though far from universally – endeared him to his audience: his pomposity, his bluster, his arrogant attitude, and his unwillingness to suffer fools gladly.

Baseball had been evolving from its 1950s doldrums, during which the National Pastime was essentially a New York one. There were now as many teams in California as there were in New York City, and indeed, there was also an international team, based in Montreal. The Expos, named for the famous 1967 event which had put the city on the world map, were the first modern major league team to be based outside of the United States, excluding the NHL. Even prior to the official arrival of the Expos in 1969, Montreal had a rich baseball legacy: it had been the town where Jackie Robinson had played for one season, as part of the minor league Montreal Royals, who were the primary farm team for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson, who had famously broken the colour barrier, never forgot the launchpad to his major league career, whose fans had embraced him wholeheartedly. [3] Having become an announcer following his retirement, he would even return to the city in 1972, serving as a commentator for the Expos. Unfortunately, he was in declining health, and would die soon after.

The Basketball Association of America, one of two precursor leagues to the present National Basketball Association (NBA), the major league for basketball, had also fielded an international team, with a club in Toronto (the Huskies) for one season after World War II. (Interestingly, Robinson's tenure with the Royals had been only just before the season, 1946-47, that the Huskies had played in Toronto.) However, they disbanded thereafter, and the NBA expressed no interest in returning to Canada. As of the 1971-72 season, the league consisted of 17 teams. Of the four major league sports, basketball was perhaps the least prominent, and certainly drew the least attention to itself. However, stars like Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ensured the continuing visibility and popularity of the sport.

And then there was hockey. As with baseball, hockey's major league was fighting a long-held reputation for stodginess and extreme conservatism. The National Hockey League (NHL) played with the same six-team roster for 25 seasons, before circumstances (namely the growing potential for rival leagues) drove them to expand, doubling in size in the 1967-68 season. By 1971-72, the league comprised 14 teams (eleven in the United States and three in Canada), and were poised to expand by two new clubs for the following season. But their moves to do so were already too little, too late; a rival league, the World Hockey Association (WHA), had been established, and would field 12 teams (eight in the United States, and four in Canada) in their inaugural season of 1972-73. [4] The two leagues would see overlap in five markets: New York City (with two NHL teams playing in that metro area), Philadelphia, Chicago, the Twin Cities of Minnesota, and Los Angeles. The upstart WHA would prove surprisingly able to compete with the established NHL, due to their adeptness at attracting quality players, culminating in the defection of star forward Bobby Hull, generally regarded as one of the greatest hockey players.

1972 also marked the year of the Olympics. Both of the former Axis powers played host – Japan to the Winter Games, in Sapporo (which were, of course, opened by none other than Emperor Hirohito himself); and (West) Germany to the Summer Games, in Munich. It was the first time that the games would be taking place in Germany since the infamous 1936 Games in Berlin, held under the auspices of the Nazi regime. The modern, democratic Germany obviously had a lot to prove, and the general atmosphere of détente served to provide some legitimacy for their overall goodwill efforts. However, their best-laid plans quickly went awry with the infamous Munich Massacre, during which Palestinian terrorists kidnapped and later murdered Israeli athletes and coaches who had been participating in the Games. [5] The international incident exposed West German authorities as woefully unprepared for such an event, and – just as the Berlin Games had done before them – resulted in an increased politicization of the Olympic Games.

The Canadian performance in pro athletics in 1972 was shameful – they failed to win a single gold medal at either Sapporo or Munich, and they narrowly lost the Summit Series, a bragging-rights contest in their native sport of ice hockey, to Soviet Russia. [6] It was enough to set off the warning bells, as they would be hosting the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, and hoped to recapture the glory of Expo '67. In the election taking place that autumn, Opposition Leader Robert Stanfield made a campaign promise to increase funding to Canadian sport in general, and to the Olympics in particular. He and his Progressive Conservatives, or Tories, would win the election – though with a narrow minority – defeating incumbent Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and his governing Liberal Party. [7] One of Stanfield's first acts upon forming government was to elevate the role of Minister for Sport to full cabinet-level rank.

And then, alongside all of these mere athletic sports, there was also the "Sport of Kings": Chess. The young and famously eccentric Grandmaster, Bobby Fischer, was perhaps the finest that the world had ever seen – and he was also an American, competing in a field utterly dominated at the top level by Soviets. Naturally, his proficiency came to be framed within the context of the Cold War. Chess mastery had become one of the key propaganda tools of the Soviet arsenal: it implied superior logic, reasoning, and strategic thinking abilities. The World Chess Champion, Soviet Boris Spassky, had ascended to the title by defeating another Soviet, Tigran Petrosian, in 1969. The last Champion who had been neither Russian nor Soviet was the Dutchman, Max Euwe – now the President of the sanctioning body, FIDE – who had been defeated in 1937. Opportunities for Fischer to contest the title against Spassky were continuously planned, but for various reasons, they never came to pass. Fischer, in addition to being eccentric, was also reclusive and egotistical, and insisted on terms that both FIDE and Spassky found absurd. [8] In the end, he never contested the title, and would generally be considered the greatest chess player never to hold it.

---

[1] Arledge had earlier created the "Wide World of Sports" anthology series, and would IOTL go on to head the network's news division, cementing his reputation as one of the most important people in the television industry.

[2] An OTL incident, in which Cosell used a rather unfortunate term to describe an African-American football player, has resulted in those who use labels with impunity to describe him as a "racist"; my consultation with an expert on many of the particulars of the matter confirm my opinion, which will inform Cosell's portrayal ITTL, that he was emphatically anti-racist, and merely (and tragically) misspoke.

[3] The legend has it that Robinson never faced so much as a racial slur from the fans during his season in Montreal, where he and his wife lived in a predominantly white (and francophone) neighbourhood. Robinson died on October 24, 1972, IOTL, but his health had been in decline for a number of years beforehand. Therefore, his death will occur at approximately the same time ITTL.

[4] These teams, and their locations, are all as per OTL, up to and including the 1972-73 season, for both the NHL and the WHA. Canadian representation within major league hockey has never fallen below a 5:1 disparity with the United States, though it has not risen above a 2:1 differential (which it held throughout the "Original Six" period of 1942-67, and again from 1980-91 and 1992-93) since 1937-38.

[5] The Munich Massacre, and its aftermath, proceeds more or less as IOTL - security at the event was, by all accounts, a joke, as were the abortive negotiations and rescue attempts. The terrorists, for their part, have potent ideological motivations which would not be butterflied away by the other geopolitical changes that have taken place in TTL to date.

[6] The Summit Series of 1972, IOTL, was very much to the Canadian psyche what the "Miracle on Ice" was to the Americans in 1980. Eight games were played, with the Canadians winning 4-3-1 against the Soviets. The architect of this victory, Paul Henderson, quickly became a national hero; though, like Roger Maris, he is remembered for little else. ITTL, the Soviets instead narrowly win, also 4-3-1, and instead of an illusory morale boost, the Canadian sporting establishment is handed a harsh reality check.

[7] Canada, like most Commonwealth countries, has a Westminster Parliamentary system, with members elected to districts (popularly known as "ridings") First Past the Post. IOTL, the Liberals (very narrowly) defeated the PCs, and Trudeau would govern until 1984 (with a brief interruption in the interim). Stanfield is generally reckoned as "the greatest Prime Minister we never had".

[8] Among the incentives that finally convinced Fischer to challenge for the title on realistic terms IOTL was a phone call from National Security Advisor (and later Secretary of State) Henry Kissinger, who will not serve in either position ITTL. Thus, the Soviets retain the World Chess Championship, an important moral victory for them in the face of other setbacks elsewhere. The title of "Greatest Chess Player Never To Win The Championship" is hotly contested IOTL, but a popular contemporary candidate is Victor Korchnoi.

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For the interest of my Canadian readers, as well as those of you with an interest in psephology, I'll provide a short summary (which will not constitute a proper update) of the 1972 Federal Election ITTL. I'll also be sure to provide a little insight into the major players of the era, for those of you who may be unfamiliar. I'll try to have that ready in advance of the next update.

To be honest, I had no idea how political this seemingly light-hearted sports post would become, but it does anticipate a number of (hopefully) apolitical updates in the cycles ahead. It does tie in very nicely to the racial challenges in my overview update, along with the continuing remind that TTL is not a utopia, and that harmony and brotherhood in the Star Trek mould is still a very long time in coming.

 

[vultan]

Hmm... so Munich still happens.