About
"I think television is basically an entertainment art. If you entertain, within certain parameters, I think then it's at its best. For instance, on Armstrong, my dictum, and everybody agreed, was that we have to entertain first, even if we're doing a drama. If you don't entertain them, they're not going to watch. It doesn't matter how valid your information is."
In his four-hour interview, Robert E. Costello (1921-2014) discusses his start at NBC as a production manager on many live shows including Mr. Peepers, on which he worked closely with producer Fred Coe. He talks about how he went on to produce The Armstrong Circle Theater and The Patty Duke Show. He then discusses becoming a producer on the daytime dramas Another World, One Life to Live, and Ryan's Hope, for which he won multiple Emmys. Henry Colman conducted the interview on October 19, 1998 in New York, NY.
Highlights
Bob Costello on producing Armstrong Circle Theatre; on the Armstrong Cirlcle Theatre production of "Nightmare in Red" about Communism; on his dealings with McCarthyism and the Blacklist
Bob Costello on producing Dark Shadows
Bob Costello on producing The Adams Chronicles
Bob Costello on directing One Life to Live starting in 1972
Bob Costello on producing The Patty Duke Show for a year
Full Interview
Chapter 1
On his early years, influences, and education; on attending Dartmouth University and then serving in U.S. Armed Forces during World War II; on teaching drama at Yale University
Chapter 2
On working at a European circus
On returning to New York and starting his career in television; on working on an early broadcast of Your Pet Parade; on becoming a Unit Manager at NBC; on some of the early shows he worked on; on televising President Eisenhower
On working to secure props on the comedy series Mr. Peepers
Chapter 3
On working on Mr. Peepers; on the cast and crew; on some of the memorable storylines
Chapter 4
On associate producing the sitcom Bonino; on working on the anthology series Appointment with Adventure; on working on Kukla, Fran and Ollie when they performed in New York; on working on Armstrong Circle Theatre and becoming producer when the show went to an hour format
Chapter 5
On producing Armstrong Circle Theatre; on the Armstrong Cirlcle Theatre production of "Nightmare in Red" about Communism; on his dealings with McCarthyism and the Blacklist; on working on The Nurses
Chapter 6
On leaving The Nurses; on the advent of 2-inch videotape; on producing The Patty Duke Show for a year; on working as an art director for Information Management Facility; on producing Dark Shadows
Chapter 7
On producing Strange Paradise; on producing The Secret Storm; on becoming a director for One Life to Live; on producing The Adams Chronicles for PBS and reuniting with Fred Coe; on producing Ryan's Hope; on producing Another World; on executive producing The Doctors; on becoming a professor at NYU
Chapter 8
On what makes a good producer; on producing successful daytime series; on television at its best; on television audiences; on how he would like to be remembered
On working with people in the TV industry including: Agnes Nixon, Tad Mosel, Marion Lorne, David Swift, JP Miller, Ethel Winant, Douglas Edwards, Patty Duke, Claire Labine and Paul Mayer, and Fred Coe
Shows
Adams Chronicles, The
Bob Costello on producing The Adams Chronicles
Appointment with Adventure
Bob Costello on working on Appointment with Adventure
Armstrong Circle Theatre
Bob Costello on working on Armstrong Circle Theatre and becoming producer when the show went to an hour format
Bob Costello on producing Armstrong Circle Theatre; on the Armstrong Cirlcle Theatre production of "Nightmare in Red" about Communism; on his dealings with McCarthyism and the Blacklist
Bonino
Bob Costello on associate producing Bonino
Dark Shadows
Bob Costello on producing Dark Shadows
Doctors, The
Bob Costello on producing The Doctors (and discusses its eventual demise)
Kukla, Fran & Ollie
Bob Costello on working on Kukla, Fran and Ollie in New York; on film actors not wanting to appear on television
Mister Peepers
Bob Costello on working as a property manager on Mr. Peepers
Bob Costello on working in production on Mr. Peepers
Nurses, The
Bob Costello on working with Herbert Brodkin on The Nurses
One Life to Live
Bob Costello on directing One Life to Live starting in 1972
Patty Duke Show, The
Bob Costello on producing The Patty Duke Show for a year
Ryan's Hope
Bob Costello on becoming a producer of Ryan's Hope in 1975 (to 1978)
Secret Storm, The
Bob Costello on producing The Secret Storm in its last year
Topics
Dwight D. Eisenhower
NBC Unit Manager Bob Costello on televising President Eisenhower's speeches
Hollywood Blacklist
Bob Costello on producing Armstrong Circle Theatre; on the Armstrong Cirlcle Theatre production of "Nightmare in Red" about Communism; on his dealings with McCarthyism and the Blacklist
Technological Innovation
Bob Costello on being a unit manager at NBC when the network was experimenting with color tV
People
Herbert Brodkin
Bob Costello on working with Herbert Brodkin on The Nurses
Fred Coe
Bob Costello on producing The Adams Chronicles
Bob Costello on working as a property manager on Mr. Peepers
Bob Costello on working in production on Mr. Peepers
Wally Cox
Bob Costello on working in production on Mr. Peepers
Dan Curtis
Bob Costello on producing Dark Shadows
Patty Duke
Bob Costello on producing The Patty Duke Show for a year
Agnes Nixon
Bob Costello on directing One Life to Live starting in 1972
Sidney Sheldon
Bob Costello on producing The Patty Duke Show for a year
David Susskind
Bob Costello on working on Armstrong Circle Theatre and becoming producer when the show went to an hour format