I loved this show when it was aired in 1969. My Mom didn't allow us to watch it as it was very controversial at that time. I remember the episode in which one girl got pregnant, and then, before I found out what happened, my Mom came downstairs and whooped on me for watching it. She thought it was "filthy". Crazy. It really does have a lot of parallels with Lost. This didn't last, as many good and interesting shows don't. But I would sure love to see it again. It's funny how this one has stuck with me over the years. I agree with many of the other reviewers that this was undertaken as an experiment and was a concept and effort born of the times. What I enjoyed most was the pushing of the envelope of what kinds of social structures are possible in such an isolated environment. I would have liked to see it last longer and explore these ideas even more.
15 Reviews
The Great Experiment
aliendial13 July 2006
I really enjoyed this when it was on -- two hip and interesting shows (it was paired with David Steinberg's show right afterward) that my parents didn't really get, cute young actors and both highly topical (well, Steinberg was more satirical). Or as topical as you got in 1969.
Yes (as noted above) Vietnam was on all our minds. This show struggled with issues we were confronting, at a level a young person like me could relate to. Frankly it taught skepticism of war but also cynicism about the human condition as the young idealists struggled again and again with the same dilemmas. Kind of a Lord of the Flies with less murder and more food. And girls.
I also remember being impressed with the innovative (and of course completely failed) time format, which I've never seen tried again.
Yes (as noted above) Vietnam was on all our minds. This show struggled with issues we were confronting, at a level a young person like me could relate to. Frankly it taught skepticism of war but also cynicism about the human condition as the young idealists struggled again and again with the same dilemmas. Kind of a Lord of the Flies with less murder and more food. And girls.
I also remember being impressed with the innovative (and of course completely failed) time format, which I've never seen tried again.
A Social Revolution - of sorts
Gypsybelle5 September 2004
I really loved this series when it was on from 1969 - 1970. I was a teenager at the time and it really appealed to most of my friends back then.
Interesting concept for a group of young college age kids on a plane that crashes in the Pacific. They are survivors and try their best to form an organized society when they realize they might not be rescued. They ultimately realized what life is like as an adult. I have hunted for this for a long time, and I had forgotten the title. It's been over 30 years and the theme of this short lived series still stuck in my mind. I finally remembered Tiffany Bollings name as one of the stars, so I was able to find the title finally. Rod Serling and others involved with this show could have done so much more with it. I recommend watching it, if it is ever brought back into syndication as old shows sometimes are. I sadly doubt that anyone would put a series this short onto video or DVD, but I'd watch it again if they did.
Interesting concept for a group of young college age kids on a plane that crashes in the Pacific. They are survivors and try their best to form an organized society when they realize they might not be rescued. They ultimately realized what life is like as an adult. I have hunted for this for a long time, and I had forgotten the title. It's been over 30 years and the theme of this short lived series still stuck in my mind. I finally remembered Tiffany Bollings name as one of the stars, so I was able to find the title finally. Rod Serling and others involved with this show could have done so much more with it. I recommend watching it, if it is ever brought back into syndication as old shows sometimes are. I sadly doubt that anyone would put a series this short onto video or DVD, but I'd watch it again if they did.
The original "Lost" episode of the New People
stephenvincent21 September 2005
It is ironic that the top show on TV in the early 21st century, "Lost" echos greatly the rarely seen 1969 TV series, "The New People'. Like "Lost", "The New People" concerned the survivors of a plane crash in the pacific. "The New People' however was a reflection of the social issues of the day and in the pilot episode it featured the only adult in Richard Kiley. Kiley did a superb job in the clash of generations and made the pilot episode seem like a 1969 episode of The Twilight Zone.
All of the existing episodes of the New People aired only once on US TV and have never been even surfaced on internet tape trading sites. Recently however all of the episodes have been found at the UCLA video library. It would be great, now that "Lost" is such a big hit, to show people....new people, (ahem) what the original plane crash survivor show was like...and issue these episodes as a boxed set....for Christmas....perhaps even track down the original cast for commentary....etc......The New People shouldn't be lost forever.....(ahem)
All of the existing episodes of the New People aired only once on US TV and have never been even surfaced on internet tape trading sites. Recently however all of the episodes have been found at the UCLA video library. It would be great, now that "Lost" is such a big hit, to show people....new people, (ahem) what the original plane crash survivor show was like...and issue these episodes as a boxed set....for Christmas....perhaps even track down the original cast for commentary....etc......The New People shouldn't be lost forever.....(ahem)
Anyone remember the episodes?
littleyacht20 June 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Yes, you should assume this contains spoilers as I want to talk about specific episodes! I was looking over the episode list and it jogged my memory. I remember two episodes in particular. One I believe is the episode entitled Speed Kills. One of the boys finds gasoline and fixes up a sort of race car to drive around the island as fast as possible. There's a real discussion about what he's doing...i.e. should he be allowed? Does the group have a right to make rules for everyone? At the end, someone gets hit by the car and badly hurt. Of course, there is no doctor among the survivors, so suddenly the college student "fun" becomes a serious issue as the group must face up to reality and whether they need a pseudo "government" or let anarchy rule.
The other episode I remember involved a "survivor" type guy who decides he needs a woman, so he just kidnaps one of the girls and holds her prisoner. His idea is they are going to be mates. No one's coming to rescue them, so they will have to live out their lives on the island. He wants a woman and she needs a man to take care of her, so he can't understand why she's not cooperating. It's awhile before anyone realises she's missing and when they do, only one guy is willing to go after her. This was 1969, remember? Women's Rights were a huge issue. He rescues the girl, but again, is there need for societal punishment for the crime? Anyone remember any more episodes?
I noticed the parallel to LOST the first time I heard about that show, so I'm glad others see it as well. I think the person who said they thought the show was called The Young Americans might be confusing it with The Young Rebels (1970), another short-lived Spelling show which actually starred a young Louis Gossett Jr. as one of a group of young patriots during the American Revolution.
The other episode I remember involved a "survivor" type guy who decides he needs a woman, so he just kidnaps one of the girls and holds her prisoner. His idea is they are going to be mates. No one's coming to rescue them, so they will have to live out their lives on the island. He wants a woman and she needs a man to take care of her, so he can't understand why she's not cooperating. It's awhile before anyone realises she's missing and when they do, only one guy is willing to go after her. This was 1969, remember? Women's Rights were a huge issue. He rescues the girl, but again, is there need for societal punishment for the crime? Anyone remember any more episodes?
I noticed the parallel to LOST the first time I heard about that show, so I'm glad others see it as well. I think the person who said they thought the show was called The Young Americans might be confusing it with The Young Rebels (1970), another short-lived Spelling show which actually starred a young Louis Gossett Jr. as one of a group of young patriots during the American Revolution.
A group of young people, stranded on a desert island are forced by necessity to create a new society!
Little-Mikey24 June 2007
A group of (young) college students survived a plane crash only to find themselves stranded on a deserted island that was originally slated as a site for a nuclear bomb test that never occurred.
On the island is a perfect recreation of a small town, complete with houses, stores and all the comforts of home, 1950s style.
The rumor that Rod Serling wrote the story under an assumed alias, is very believable. It has all the marks of THE TWILIGHT ZONE.
The survivors, being college students, saw their new environment as the perfect place to PARTY! Then, they realized that they were stranded and as good as it was with all the comforts of home, there was a very good chance that they may be never be rescued. Although they had no fear of being nuked by a government that didn't know that there was anyone living on that island, they realized that this island was picked because it was outside of any established flight paths. Their only hope of being rescued would be if another pilot flying a plane would also fly off course.
So they needed to create a society of their own, with their own set of laws.
What kind of society would they create? What kind of order would they have? How would they enforce their laws? Although I have a very good memory of prime time TV throughout the middle to late 1960s, my mind sometimes plays tricks on me and although I remember this program right down to the time and the network that aired it, I could've sworn that it was called THE NOW GENERATION and my search for this program landed me in a really interesting web site which included information on a budget album from 1970, COME TOGETHER by a group called THE NOW GENERATION that was supposedly so bad that the album (featuring a very young Jimmy Buffett) has become some sort of collector's item.
THE NEW PEOPLE was not a hit and even though it was canceled by popular demand, that doesn't mean it was a bad show, just that it was a tiny contender up against the TV giants of the time like ROWAN AND MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN, THE LUCY SHOW and the tale end of GUNSMOKE. On DVD, this show could sell quite well. How about it?
On the island is a perfect recreation of a small town, complete with houses, stores and all the comforts of home, 1950s style.
The rumor that Rod Serling wrote the story under an assumed alias, is very believable. It has all the marks of THE TWILIGHT ZONE.
The survivors, being college students, saw their new environment as the perfect place to PARTY! Then, they realized that they were stranded and as good as it was with all the comforts of home, there was a very good chance that they may be never be rescued. Although they had no fear of being nuked by a government that didn't know that there was anyone living on that island, they realized that this island was picked because it was outside of any established flight paths. Their only hope of being rescued would be if another pilot flying a plane would also fly off course.
So they needed to create a society of their own, with their own set of laws.
What kind of society would they create? What kind of order would they have? How would they enforce their laws? Although I have a very good memory of prime time TV throughout the middle to late 1960s, my mind sometimes plays tricks on me and although I remember this program right down to the time and the network that aired it, I could've sworn that it was called THE NOW GENERATION and my search for this program landed me in a really interesting web site which included information on a budget album from 1970, COME TOGETHER by a group called THE NOW GENERATION that was supposedly so bad that the album (featuring a very young Jimmy Buffett) has become some sort of collector's item.
THE NEW PEOPLE was not a hit and even though it was canceled by popular demand, that doesn't mean it was a bad show, just that it was a tiny contender up against the TV giants of the time like ROWAN AND MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN, THE LUCY SHOW and the tale end of GUNSMOKE. On DVD, this show could sell quite well. How about it?
New People, yes, lost ripped it off.
huwmerlin11 February 2021
I remember The New People from when I was a kid. Well written. Disappointed it was cancelled.
Lost ripped off the basic premise. As usual when they steal, because the show was cancelled early, they had no ending and not the imagination to resolve Lost.
Lost ripped off the basic premise. As usual when they steal, because the show was cancelled early, they had no ending and not the imagination to resolve Lost.
An Interesting Concept
Sargebri27 September 2003
Even though I was only three years old at the time this show came out, for some reason it stuck with me. One reason is the fact that it is one of the few failures in the illustrious career of the master television writer Rod Serling. It also marked one of the few failures for Aaron Spelling, who had just produced the Mod Squad and would later go on to dominate the 1970's with such shows as Charlie's Angels and the Love Boat. Another reason is the concept of the show. The whole concept of this show was that a plane carrying a group of college students on the way back from a trip abroad gets caught in a storm and crashes on a seemingly deserted island. However, this seemingly deserted island was an abandoned nuclear test site, which was completely stocked with enough provisions to keep them alive almost indefinitely. They then go about creating their own society complete with their own rules as they try to survive on the island. This show definitely was a product of its time, the late 1960's, when youth rebellion was was very prevalent. I think that this would have been better if instead of being a weekly series that it should have been either a movie of the week or maybe a mini-series and maybe it would have been remembered better.
I thought I was the first, but my original review was lost it seems.
TheAncientOne28 March 2002
This show was an experiment. It was 45 minutes per episode and it followed David Steinberg who also had a 45 minute time slot. I'm assuming that they expected you to be captivated by Steinberg and then trapped into watching The New People since you were left 15 minutes into everything else that was on. The premise was: "What kind of world would young adults create if they were left to their own devices?" The plot had them stranded on a remote island that was designed to be destroyed by an atomic bomb. It had a complete town constructed to test the effects of said bomb. Sort of a metaphor for the Cold War and the threat of nuclear war. So there they were with a civilization to build while trying to avoid the mistakes of their parents. They even had an episode where the castaway's found a cache of weapons and had to make the decision to keep them or destroy them. (Remember we were in the middle of the Vietnam war). It showed promise, but I'm assuming it didn't work because adults were writing it and they had a hard time thinking like teenagers.
Great series!
erjent16 November 2004
I too was a very young 10 at the time. For some reason I always thought the show was called "The Young American's". I remember the plane crash, and their attempt to form a new Utopia. I don't recall individual story lines or the characters, but I also remember it followed David Steinberg's show. I do remember that Three Dog Night played Eli's Coming on that. I would love to see it again, but it would probably be like watching My Three Son's grow up and get real long(shoulder length) hair. Would original copies of this still be archived anywhere? Send an e-mail if available.
Young people surviving plane crash on deserted island. 1969-70
mccabedoug22 January 2006
This started off as an excellent, but short-lived series about a group of college-aged students stranded on an island in the Pacific after an airplane crash. The premise was for this group of teenagers and early twenty-somethings to survive and, at the same time, develop some kind social order by learning to deal with the responsibilities of adulthood. The pilot episode was entitled "Day One" and was apparently written by Rod Serling under the pseudonym of John Phillips. The writer, John Phillips is also credited with a "Playhouse 90" episode entitled "The Second Happiest Day". This is interesting because Serling cut his TV teeth on numerous "Playhouse 90" episodes before "Twilight Zone". As I recall, "The New People" aired on ABC in the 1969-70 season with a 45-minute time format. This was one of the odd programming attempts that was done to capture a specific audience, as it came just before another 45-minute show entitled "Music Scene" hosted by David Steinberg. This short-lived series was produced by Aaron Spelling, who brought us "The Mod Squad" a year earlier (1968) and "The Young Rebels" a year later (1970). Of course, Rod Serling went on to host "Night Gallery" from 1970 to 1973.
Well, if I must be the first . . ..
gmr-45 November 2001
Rod Serling as "Creator" is deceptive. He was probably in an executive capacity with little "creative" contribution. In other words, they used his august name.
If memory serves, this programme did not last a full season, and its 45 minute running time is a mystery. THE NEW PEOPLE was very much a product of its time, inspired much less by LORD OF THE FLIES than MOD SQUAD. It showed. To be honest, however, during the late '60s -- which I remember very well -- more than one middle-aged individual wondered how well all these griping young people could do if they were left to re-shape society. It is a small detail that starting from scratch in an environment red of tooth and claw is not the best way to test a high-falutin' hypothesis. The only "old guy" dies a long and expository death in the first episode, and life, such as it is, begins for the new society. Of course, by 1970 both great powers had high resolution spy satellites, although with non-Pacific targets, and it would be a matter of maybe two or three casualty filled years before things would be put to right. If they ever gave it a thought, that is probably how the "creators" planned to end the series.
For some bizarre reason, however, I found the theme attractive. Perhaps as a failed man in his middle-20s, I wanted to be off by myself on a non-desert isle with a nice high mountain at centre from which to watch the Sun go down and the Moon come up.
If memory serves, this programme did not last a full season, and its 45 minute running time is a mystery. THE NEW PEOPLE was very much a product of its time, inspired much less by LORD OF THE FLIES than MOD SQUAD. It showed. To be honest, however, during the late '60s -- which I remember very well -- more than one middle-aged individual wondered how well all these griping young people could do if they were left to re-shape society. It is a small detail that starting from scratch in an environment red of tooth and claw is not the best way to test a high-falutin' hypothesis. The only "old guy" dies a long and expository death in the first episode, and life, such as it is, begins for the new society. Of course, by 1970 both great powers had high resolution spy satellites, although with non-Pacific targets, and it would be a matter of maybe two or three casualty filled years before things would be put to right. If they ever gave it a thought, that is probably how the "creators" planned to end the series.
For some bizarre reason, however, I found the theme attractive. Perhaps as a failed man in his middle-20s, I wanted to be off by myself on a non-desert isle with a nice high mountain at centre from which to watch the Sun go down and the Moon come up.
Mixed romance?
Riverman9461015 May 2008
I will never forget one gripping episode of The New People.It had to do with the budding romance of one of the white guys with the very pretty black female.The person who"tripped"the most over this daring relationship was one of the black males in the stranded group.
The reason I was so struck by this episode was that at the time I was going through some similar"changes"in my own life.I had befriended a couple of black women but also was alarmed and frightened by some of the reactions to these friendships among black men.Some whites were pretty hostile as well but 1969 was the time of Black Power and militancy so that vibe predominated back then.
Ironically,I was a big supporter of black causes(list provided upon request)but on a personal level that fact was often not considered during the heat of the times.
The reason I was so struck by this episode was that at the time I was going through some similar"changes"in my own life.I had befriended a couple of black women but also was alarmed and frightened by some of the reactions to these friendships among black men.Some whites were pretty hostile as well but 1969 was the time of Black Power and militancy so that vibe predominated back then.
Ironically,I was a big supporter of black causes(list provided upon request)but on a personal level that fact was often not considered during the heat of the times.
This was a very promising and interesting show..
popsgone14 February 2004
As most have read the plot, the show was both exciting and spenseful. The Young(New) People found out that growing up was not as easy as they believed. I was upset when they cancelled this program. It was cancelled when a young lady became pregnant out of wedlock. Big Mistake back then................
Epilogue or is it reprise?
gmr-423 October 2004
Well it seems THE NEW PEOPLE is back in another, more contemporary, guise. Not by that title, of course, but the young-and-telegenic-people-stranded-on-an-island series which just hit the airwaves is smack dab of that theme, but with to-day's twist: SURVIVOR with monsters.
I do not know the name of this programme which I certainly will never see, but instead of the social commentary ca. 1970 we get "reality t.v." plus PREDATOR or ALIEN. Instead of tabula raza for a speck of mankind (St. Thomas's UTOPIA?), we get sacrifice of the attractive to the evil gods, the Minotaur and all that.
Bring back the old series. I saw so few episodes maybe it will do me good.
I do not know the name of this programme which I certainly will never see, but instead of the social commentary ca. 1970 we get "reality t.v." plus PREDATOR or ALIEN. Instead of tabula raza for a speck of mankind (St. Thomas's UTOPIA?), we get sacrifice of the attractive to the evil gods, the Minotaur and all that.
Bring back the old series. I saw so few episodes maybe it will do me good.
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