Now we know that this special was funded by an outside company and not PBS and because of that PBS has no record of it. Now I found out from IMDb.com and other sites that it aired on 2/14/86. I bought a TV Guide. It’s the Long iIsland Metro edition. It covers NYC (the number 1 media market in the world). At the time, the NYC area had FIVE PBS stations (No joke). I can vouch for this because I lived in Northern NJ at the time (Bergen County just one hour away from New York.) The PBS Stations we’re: WNET Channel 13 WLIW Channel 21 WNYE Channel 25 (Now a non commercial independent station. No longer affiliated with PBS.) The future WPXN Channel 31 (Now an ION station) The future WNJN Channel 50 Here’s the listings and there is no special. Maybe it aired somewhere else. Heres evidence that suggests that the PBS Show Gleason,is his own words DIDNT AIR - Sitcoms Online Message Boards - Forums
Thanks. I’m thinking maybe this special if it did air, they talked about when exactly these two blunders aired and maybe they showed them. The first one is when Art Carney peeled an orange just to buy time when Audrey had to get Gleason to cone back in stage (Jackie thought he had more time so he was apparently looking for something to wipe his sweaty brow.) The second one is when Art had to climb through a window because the door was jammed.
Here’s more evidence Heres evidence that suggests that the PBS Show Gleason,is his own words DIDNT AIR - Sitcoms Online Message Boards - Forums
I can't prove it but I'm thinking I might've seen it on either WTVS Detroit or KCTS Seattle at some point, both PBS stations. I certainly saw some kind of Honeymooners/Gleason doc anyway, it's the 'in his own words' series aspect I can't swear to. So if you can check listings for those two stations it might've been there on one of them? I often have a weirdly precise recall for things up to the early 2000s, and then I have blanks... sometimes taking the same book or video out of the library multiple times with no memory at all of having seen or read either (but then my account history will show the item as having been taken out by me before). I can understand some detail that might seem frivolous to others becoming important to another...