The Mobil Showcase Network, also known as Mobil Showcase or Mobil Showcase Theatre, was an occasional or ad hoc
television network
A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mid- ...
from 1976 to 1984 with an ad hoc group of stations.
Background
A
Mobil Oil
Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999.
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media expert,
Herb Schmertz, wrote canned
paid "editorials" placed into newspapers like the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' opinion-editorial page.
Schmertz also had Mobil underwriting ''
Masterpiece Theatre
''Masterpiece'' (formerly known as ''Masterpiece Theatre'') is a drama anthology television series produced by WGBH Boston. It premiered on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) on January 10, 1971. The series has presented numerous acclaimed Briti ...
'' to improve Mobil's image,
which Mobil has been sole supporter since the beginning of the series. He also considered having the company buy a newspaper, the ''
Long Island Press
The ''Long Island Press'' is a free monthly news and lifestyle periodical serving Long Island.
Alternative Weekly
Its previous print incarnation was as a free, independent print and digital monthly news journal with extensive coverage of local a ...
''. He instead settled on a "sort of TV network" as Mobil and Schmertz were frustrated with the network-developed anti-oil-company news and documentaries.
History
Schmertz worked with
SFM Media Service Corporation lining up 43 stations, primarily in the top 50 markets; half of these were network affiliates. Mobil paid $3.2 million to the stations for the 8 PM ET/PT Thursday time slot for 10 weeks. In the winter of 1976, Mobil launched its first show, ''Ten Who Dared'', hosted by
Anthony Quinn
Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), known professionally as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican-American actor. He was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental v ...
and adapted from a 1975
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
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. The show dramatized the adventures of various explorers (including
), and was one of the highest budgeted BBC shows for its time. The commercials were exclusively for Mobil, with some of them in a "documentary" or reality-based format showing Mobil employees out in the field, and shown in a positive light. The show beat the networks in the ratings, defeating
''. Based on the ratings, Mobil arranged for two more "'non-network' series."
''. For summer 1980, Mobil Showcase assembled a group of shows dubbed ''Summershow''.
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