The beginning of the end came in 1947, when ABC vice president Ed Boroff canceled the quarter-hour format. Boroff had been critical of juvenile cliffhangers for some time, and one particular Armstrong episode contained all the elements he had long disdained. Jack had bailed out of an airplane wearing a suit of armor and a parachute. The chute didn't open, but wait!-there was a backup chute! When the second chute failed, there was Jack, encased in steel, plummeting to earth late one Friday afternoon, leaving his fans in the lurch until Monday. It was too much, Boroff decided: the serial had to go. Two weeks later, Jack Armstrong became a watered-down half-hour. It was never the same after that. Gone was the breathless pace, the sense of wonder.
( John Dunning )
[ On the Air: The Encyclopedia ]
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