The New People

1969

The New People

7.2 | en | Drama

The New People is a short-lived 1969 American television series on ABC that focused on a group of young college students who were returning from a trip in Southeast Asia when their plane crashed on an island in the south Pacific Ocean. The crash killed several of the college students, and all but one of the adults, who was badly injured and later died. The surviving students were the only human life remaining on the island. The island was unusual in that it had been built up as a site for a potential above-ground nuclear test which never took place, leaving all of the buildings and supplies untouched and ready for use by the survivors.

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Seasons & Episodes

EP17 On the Horizon

Jan. 12,1970

""The appearance of a distant fishing trawler raises the exciting hope of being rescued -- if the New People can agree that they want to signal the ship."" (TV Guide, January 12, 1970)

EP16 The Siege of Fern's Castle

Jan. 05,1970

""""The Siege of Fern's Castle"" examines pride and individual rights. The drama centers on Fern, a self-sufficient New Englander who's made a home in the wrecked plane -- and refuses to leave when a dangerous mine is beached near-by."" (TV Guide, January 5, 1970)

EP15 The Prisoner of Bomano

Dec. 29,1969

""Wash's fate is in doubt after he is imprisoned by fellow blacks. They're establishing their own society, and they don't trust him to ""keep the faith."""" (TV Guide, December 29, 1969)

EP14 The Guns of Bomano

Dec. 22,1969

""The election of an armed peace officer brings to the island the old issues of law and order, gun control and the role of police in society."" (TV Guide, December 22, 1969)

EP13 Speed Kills

Dec. 15,1969

""Mental illness -- and the problems of coping with it -- loom with dramatic suddenness when a normally happy-go-lucky guy erupts in murderous paranoic outbursts aimed at George."" (TV Guide, December 15, 1969)

EP12 The Pied Piper of Pot

Dec. 08,1969

""Wash takes issue with a self-proclaimed mystic who proposes to show the way to bliss through meditation and marijuana."" (TV Guide, December 8, 1969)

EP11 A Bride in Basic Black (2): The Surrender

Dec. 01,1969

""A two-part story concludes with ""A Bride in Basic Black: The Surrender."" Having failed to get a law protecting women, Susan fears nothing will stop arrogant Ben Geary from forcing her to live with him."" (TV Guide, December 1, 1969)

EP10 A Bride in Basic Black (1): The Courtship

Nov. 24,1969

""A two-part story begins with ""A Bride in Basic Black: The Courtship."" Susan, frightened by Ben Geary's insistence that she live with him, demands a law protecting the women on the island -- a proposal underscored by another girl's accusation of rape against Bob Lee."" (TV Guide, November 24, 1969)

EP9 The Dark Side of the Island

Nov. 17,1969

""The discovery of a shallow grave gives rise to fears that someone -- or something -- may inhabit the unexplored side of the island. The fear mushrooms into near hysteria when one of the girls disappears."" (TV Guide, November 17, 1969)

EP8 Is This Any Way to Run an Island?

Nov. 10,1969

""Even in a society without rules, problems arise when everyone ""does his own thing."" The beach boys, for example, feel free to take the food -- and George, the others' quasi leader, feels just as free not to get involved."" (TV Guide, November 10, 1969)

EP7 Marriage-Bomano Style

Nov. 03,1969

""Van Heflin's daughter Kate plays her first major role in ""Marriage -- Romano [sic] Style."" Cara, a teen-ager reared in church tradition, runs away from an unsanctified marriage, her emotional trauma intensified by the imminent birth of a baby."" (TV Guide, November 3, 1969)

EP6 Lifeline

Oct. 27,1969

""Several youths decide to leave the island by raft. A near-suicidal scheme to start with, the plan is further endangered by the inclusion of Christine Miller, a neurotic."" (TV Guide, October 27, 1969)

EP5 Comes the Revolution, We Use the Girls' Shower

Oct. 20,1969

""Always a rebel, Stanley wages a slightly ludicrous campaign against building an aqueduct for the girls' showers. He sees the project in terms of an emerging power structure, a virtual assault on the spirit of unfettered man."" (TV Guide, October 20, 1969)

EP4 Murderer!

Oct. 13,1969

""The specter of murder haunts the New People when a youth is found dead at the foot of a cliff. Not that they lack a suspect: enigmatic Dan Stoner had both opportunity and motive. But how should they handle the tragedy?"" (TV Guide, October 13, 1969)

EP3 The Tin God

Oct. 06,1969

""[A] new look at the old issue of the rebel vs. the establishment. When Bob Lee injures a girl with his car, a committee decrees that he take care of her. On the other hand, Bob Lee has spent a lifetime not doing the things required of him."" (TV Guide, October 6, 1969)

EP2 Panic in the Sand

Sep. 29,1969

""The outbreak of a mysterious epidemic raises a point in medical ethics: who will be guinea pigs for a chemical that may cure -- or cause -- the malady?"" (TV Guide, September 29, 1969)

EP1 Pilot

Sep. 22,1969

""Richard Kiley guest stars in a Rod Serling story that sets the scene for this series. A planeload of American exchange students crash lands on a Pacific island. Once planned as an atomic test site, the sanctuary offers a completely provisioned village. The survivors, a microcosm of their generationâ€”white and black militants, leftists and rightists, glue sniffers and middle-of-the-roadersâ€”must now suit their actions to their ideas and create a society of their own."" (TV Guide, September 22, 1969)

7.2 | en | Drama | More Info

Released: 1969-09-22 | Released Producted By: , Country: United States of America Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:

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Reviews

Little-Mikey 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?

stephenvincent 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)

erjent 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.

Brian Washington 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.