Our World was created by ABC NEWS president Roone Arledge.The show had its genesis in a 1985 ABC News special called 48/45, a three-hour documentary that reviewed post-World War II history with an emphasis on the Cold War.That special was produced by Avram 'Av: Westin, who also produced Our World. Anchors Ellerbee and Gandolf co-wrote Our World, which combined archival footage with new interviews with people who participated in or witnessed the events. Initial plans were that each episode would cover one year, but that idea was quickly scrapped; Ellerbee said, "It's hard enough to do a month, or even days."
Set designers modeled the set for Our World after a corner news stand. For each episode, artifacts of the period being profiled, including magazines and political posters, decorated the set and a movie marquee listed the title of a film that was in theaters of the time. In the foreground was placed an Our World newspaper the headlines of which were the program's title and the name of that program's producer.
Each episode cost $350,000 to produce as compared to the then-typical $800,000 cost of an hour of prime time network programming.The low budget combined with a dozen commercial spots sold at $35,000 each meant that Our World generated an estimated $4 million in profit for ABC during its original run and summer repeats.
Our World producers selected each episode's subject time period with the help of consultants from the Smithsonian Institution and Columbia University. The show was limited in its choices by the available footage for the given time period. Ellerbee recalled a viewer-submitted proposal for an episode on the American Civil War, which of course could not be made because of the non-existence of archive footage from the 1860s and the lack of any living eyewitnesses.
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