Therefore, it was no surprise that when the Nielsen ratings for the November 1968 sweeps were released, not a single network movie telecast finished in the Top 20[REF]-an interesting predicament considering the lofty pronouncements made a year earlier by top media observers concerning the popularity of feature films on television.
The beginning of the 1969-70 season saw a brief surge in audience numbers with CBS's two-part world TV premiere of The Guns of Navarone (1961), based on the Alistair Maclean best-seller.