Where the Action Is

For a lot of years because Mike Neismith of the Monkees started MTV, the thought was the original Monkees TV series created the first original rock video. This show actually did some rock video type format stuff before the Monkees premiered. This was Dick Clarks' first move beyond American Bandstand in 1965.

It had a catchy theme song which actually hit the charts & would have singers & groups set up in actual locations doing songs. I remember one sequence where Paul Revere & the Raiders were on a riverboat doing one of their hit songs. Because of this location stuff, lip sync-hing was used on this show extensively.

After Freddy Cannon's theme song was off the charts, this show ran in a week-day afternoon slot around 4 PM on ABC network. It never got really popular but it did give Dick Clark a new outlet for presenting music besides Bandstand. This show did not have teens on a stage dancing.

Where The Action Is took its viewers to places like Malibu to ski resorts where we saw plenty of rock and roll groups perform in various exotic locations. The show ran at 4:30 pm during the week where I lived in New York and other places at other times.

This was a Dick Clark production kind of like the American Bandstand moved outdoors. The acts that were booked were strictly of the G rated variety.

The show was done in by the counterculture of the middle and late 60s and a new type of music, much more message driven, anti-Vietnam War most of all.

Still if those episodes are around somewhere they'd be good nostalgia.