As we commemorating on the 60th anniversary of a classic television series the critically acclaimed "Mr. Novak" was in fact the absolute best among the finest of programs to be produced during the 1960's. It ranks with "The Fugitive", "The Andy Griffith Show", "Ben Casey", "The Defenders", "The Twilight Zone", "The Dick Van Dyke Show", and others as the absolute pinnacle of brilliant television programming that came from that decade. The series "Mr. Novak" was nominated for four Prime Time Emmys including Outstanding Dramatic Series and won the Peabody Award in 1963 Best Dramatic Series. It also was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor In A Dramatic Series and Outstanding Writing In A Dramatic Series.
Created by E. Jack Neuman (who was also the executive producer of the series)along with producer Boris Segal and producers Joesph Calvelli and David Victor, the critically acclaimed dramatic series aired on NBC's prime time Tuesday night schedule that ran for two seasons producing 60 episodes all in black and white airing from September 24, 1963 until the final telecast on April 27, 1965. The series was produced by Arena Productions in association with MGM Television for the NBC Television Network. The first season alone had impressive ratings where it faced strong competition against ABC's World War II drama "Combat!" and CBS' variety series "The Red Skelton Show". The second season saw solid ratings as well as it faced numerous casting changes during its run.
The award winning series stars James Franciscus(of Naked City) in the title role as John Novak who is a first year English teacher at Jefferson High School in Los Angeles who often gets involved in the lives of his students and fellow teachers and other employees of the school while under the guidance and the watchful eye of the school principal Albert Vane (Dean Jagger in Season 1 only) and later under the school principal Martin Woodbridge (Burgess Meredith in Season 2). The series took on the issues of its time as it dealt with controversial subjects that were intense for network television at the time but in turn brought solid riveting performances.
The guest stars that were on this program consisted of some of Hollywood's best that included June Lockhart, Robert Culp, Edward Asner, Eddie Albert, Johnny Crawford, Sherry Jackson, Shelly Fabares, Martin Landau, Beau Bridges, Don Grady, Kim Darby, Tony Dow, Tommy Rettig, Brooke Bundy, Steven Frankel, Frankie Avalon, Diane Baker, Peter Breck, Billy Gray, Tige Andrews, George Takei, Harold J. Stone, Mark Slade, and Patricia Crowley just to name a few. Big name directors like Richard Donner, Alvin Ganzer and Mark Rydell contributed to some of the great episodes. "Mr. Novak" was the forefront of shows that became the trailblazer for others to follow later like "Room 222" and later "Lucas Tanner",and "The White Shadow". A brilliant series that should have stay on the air longer but was abruptly canceled after two seasons.
