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THE NANCY DREW MYSTERIES Nancy (Pamela Sue Martin) was 18 and the daugher of famed criminal lawyer Carson Drew (William Schallert), a widower. George (a girl, first played by Jean Rasey and later by Susan Buckner) was her buddy, not particularly brave but willing to stick by Nancy through thick and thin. Ned Nickerson (George O'Hanlon) was her father's law-student assistant, always willing to help (later he became an investigator for the district attorney's office, and more anxious to keep Nancy out of cases than in them). The Drews' home base was River Heights, a suburb of New York, but the mysteries took them far and wide.
In the fall of 1977 Nancy Drew appeared in several joint episodes with the Hardy Boys. Then in February 1978 the two series were combined under the title Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, at which time Pamela Sue Martin left the program.
Based on the Nancy Drew books by "Carolyn Keene" (see Hardy Boys for true authorship). Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
THE NBC SATURDAY NIGHT MOVIE Most of television's early efforts at showing theatrical films were unmemorable. It was not until the advent of Saturday Night at the Movies on NBC in 1961 that major contemporary films would become part of the television scene. Saturday Night at the Movies was the first movie series that could air movies in color, and also had access to recent movies showcasing popular stars, not the poor grade-B films, imports, and dated films previously seen in the late Forties and throughout the Fifties. The popularity of good-quality movies on TV was demonstrated by the rapid growth of such programming. Within a year of the premiere of Saturday Night at the Movies, ABC was carrying theatrical films on Sundays (The ABC Sunday Night Movie) and NBC had added a Monday movie to its schedule (The NBC Monday Night Movie). By the end of the decade there were as many as nine network movies on each week. The increased demand for movies on television eventually led to another major development, the made-for-television film. The acceptance of these films, which began in 1964 with See How They Run on NBC, resulted in the first series of made-for-television films only, The ABC Movie of the Week, in the fall of 1969. The attraction was that every week would be a "world premiere" of a new motion picture. Over the years, a number of series relying on new films have appeared under titles such as World Premiere Movie and Movie of the Week, and later trends tended to minimize the distinction between theatrical and made-for-TV films. In fact, by the 1978-1979 season, with the available supply of theatrical films dwindling while demand for motion pictures on network television remained strong, a milestone was reached. Fifteen years after the first made-for-TV film aired on network television there were more of them aired during an entire season than there were theatrical features. In addition to the various prime-time movie series, CBS premiered The CBS Late Movie, a Monday-Friday 11:30 P.M. collection of theatrical and made-for-television reruns in 1972; ABC incorporated a large number of made-for-television films in ABC Late Night beginning in 1973; and NBC added the NBC Late Night Movie on Sunday nights starting in 1977.
THE NBC SUNDAY MYSTERY MOVIE The NBC Mystery Movie was an umbrella title used to cover a number of rotating series that appeared in the same time slot on different weeks. The first Mystery Movie series premiered in 1971 on Wednesday nights, and included Columbo, McCloud, and McMillan and Wife, three series that had considerable success over the years. Due to the popularity of the Mystery Movie concept in the 1971-72 season, NBC decided to try another one. The three original elements were moved to Sunday night (retitled The NBC Sunday Mystery Movie) and three new ones were introduced on Wednesday, under the new blanket title The NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie. However, Madigan, Cool Million, and Banacek were not as successful as their predecessors, nor were any of the elements that were subsequently tried.
THE NEW DICK VAN DYKE SHOW
For the third season, the setting of the show moved to Hollywood, and so did its production. Dick moved his family there so that he could take advantage of an opportunity to star in a daytime soap opera, Those Who Care. New series regulars were the soap opera's writer, Dennis Whitehead (Barry Gordon); its producer, Max Mathias (Dick Van Patten); its stage manager, Alex Montenez (Henry Darrow); and the soap opera's star, Margot Brighton (Barbara Rush). In the soap Dick played Dr. Brad Fairmont. At home the Prestons had acquired new neighbors in Richard (Richard Dawson) and Connie Richardson (Chita Rivera).
NFL MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
Later years saw periodic changes in the broadcast booth, as new faces were brought in to do color. Easygoing Frank Gifford was for many years the play-by-play announcer, switching to color in 1986. Howard "The Mouth" Cosell got most of the press, however, and it marked the end of an era when he retired in 1983. ABC briefly tried a two-man team in 1986 (Gifford and Al Michaels), reverting to the former three-person arrangement the following year. Starting in 1988 ABC also telecast several pre-season games on Monday, beginning 8:00 P.M. rather than the regular season's 9:00 P.M. start. From 1989 onward, the first of these games was seen in August. Buy ABC Monday Night Football: 25th Anniversary at Amazon.com
NIGHT GALLERY
Night Gallery was a weekly collection of short, supernatural vignettes. Rod Serling introduced each one from a bizarre gallery, in which grotesque paintings foreshadowed the stories to follow. Not all of the stories were frightening, and many times humorous blackouts were used between more serious stories. In many respects, Night Gallery was the supernatural equivalent of Love, American Style. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
THE ODD COUPLE
For a couple of seasons Miriam Welby (Elinor Donahue) served as Felix's girlfriend, but by the final season he had reconciled with his ex-wife Gloria (Janis Hansen). The situation on which the series had been built was neatly resolved in the final episode when Felix moved out to remarry Gloria. Oscar returned to the apartment alone, looked around, and exploded into noisy, messy celebration at the prospect of uninhibited chaos -- at last! Notwithstanding this clear-cut ending to the original Odd Couple's run in 1975, the series returned to the ABC schedule seven years later as The New Odd Couple, with an all-new cast. This time the principals were black, with Ron Glass as fussy photographer Felix and Demond Wilson as sloppy sportswriter Oscar. The setting was the same, and many of the favorite supporting characters were black, although Felix's ex-wife was now called Frances (played in a couple of episode by Telma Hopkins). It was no more successful than most other revivals of the former hit series. An animated spinoff of this series, titled The Oddball Couple and starring a neat cat and a sloppy dog, ran as a weekend daytime entry on ABC from September 1975 to September 1977. The Odd Couple was based on Neil Simon's hit Broadway play (1965), which was made into a movie (1968) starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon. The New Odd Couple, which ran in May-June 1983, marked ABC's second unsuccessful attempt to stage a Neil Simon comedy with black actors -- the first being Barefoot In the Park.
ONE DAY AT A TIME
In 1979, while still in college, Julie married Max Horvath (Michael Lembeck), an airline flight steward. No sooner did they get married than he got laid off from his job, forcing the newlyweds to move in temporarily with Ann and Barbara. Max did get back to work and, when he got promoted to a new position in Houston, he and Julie moved away from Indianapolis (series star Mackenzie Phillips had developed a serious drug problem during the 1979-80 season and was written out of the show to allow her to rehabilitate herself). When Ann left the advertising agency in the fall of 1980 she started a new professional, and eventually, personal, involvement with Nick Handris (Ron Rifkin). They became partners doing freelance advertising -- Ann writing copy and Nick doing the art work -- and despite initial hostility, romance did bloom. Nick was divorced with a young son. Ann's mother, Katherine (Nanette Fabray), also became a frequent visitor to the Romano household, especially after her husband died and she moved to Indianapolis to be close to her daughter. Reruns of One Day at a Time were seen on the CBS daytime lineup from September 1979 to September 1982. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
THE PAPER CHASE
Even with his heavy work load, Hart had to find time for a part-time job at Ernie's pizza joint. There he met Carol (Carole Goldman), a waitress who admired him but couldn't understand his dedication to his studies. Also seen occasionally was Mrs. Nottingham (Betty Harford), Professor Kingsfield's secretary. Despite being hailed by critics as the most praiseworthy new series of the 1978-1979 season, The Paper Chase never attracted a competitive audience and was canceled at the end of the year. PBS aired reruns of The Paper Chase for a few years following its departure from CBS and, in the first case of its kind, the pay-cable television service Showtime revived it in the spring of 1983. Under the title The Paper Chase: The Second Year, these new episodes introduced Hart's love interest, first-year law student Connie Lehman (Jane Kaczmarek), as well as students Rita Harriman (Claire Kirkconnell), Laura (Andra Millian), Vivian (Penny Johnson), and Gerald Golden (Michael Tucci), who was editor of the Law Review for which Hart was writing. 1985 brought a title change -- The Paper Chase: The Third Year -- and two new first-year law students. Ford's younger brother Tom (Peter Nelson) and older, former housewife Rose Samuels (Lainie Kazan). When Hart finally graduated in 1986 (it had taken eight years since the series' original premiere to complete three years of law school), he had hoped to get a teaching post at the law school. His appointment failed to materialize, however, and he joined a law firm in the last orignal episode. The series was based on the movie of the same name, for which John Houseman (as Kingsfield) won a supporting-actor Academy Award. Although the movie took place at Harvard, no mention was made of a specific university in the television series. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
PAPER MOON This was a gentle comedy about an itinerant Bible salesman/con artist named Moses (Moze) Pray (Christopher Connelly) and his precocious daughter Addie (Jodie Foster), traveling across Kansas during the Depression years. If Moze and Addie never had much money, it wasn't for lack of trying every fast-buck scheme in the book. Though they just "got by," and were often only one step ahead of the law, they at least had each other. Much period flavor was featured in this series, including an authentic 1933 theme song. The series was filmed on location in Kansas. Based on the 1973 hit movie starring Ryan and Tatum O'Neal, which had in turn been taken from the novel Addie Pray by Joe David Brown.
THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY
Besides Shirley and 16-year-old Keith (Cassidy), the band included Laurie, 15 (Susan Dey); Danny, 10 and the freckle-faced con man of the family (Danny Bonaduce); Christopher, 7 (Jeremy Gelbwalks from 1970-1971; Brian Forster from 1971-1974); and Tracy, 5 (Suzanne Crough). Reuben Kinkaid (David Madden) was their fast-talking, child-hating agent -- and perpetual foil for Danny. During the 1973-1974 season a neighbor's son, four-year-old Ricky (Ricky Segall), joined the cast, and he sang too. Simone was the family pooch. The Partridges were heavily promoted in the real-life music business, and they caught on with several hit singles, including "I Think I Love You," which sold four million copies, as well as albums. David Cassidy became the hero of the subteen set and had considerable success as a solo act. Unlike the Monkees, the Partridges had no artistic pretensions -- none of them were professional musicians -- and the backgrounds on their records were in fact done by professional studio musicians, with Shirley and David providing the vocals. Their success was as spectacular on the record charts as on TV, but it did not last long in either case. An animated Saturday morning sequel, The Patridge Family, 2200 A.D., ran on ABC from September 1974 to September 1975. The Partridge Family was loosely based on the experiences of a real-life popular recording family, the Cowsills. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
PETROCELLI
Barry Newman created the role of Petrocelli in a 1970 movie called The Lawyer, which was loosely based on the Sam Sheppard murder case. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
PHYLLIS
Phyllis found a job working as assistant to Julie Erskine (Liz Torres) at Erskine's Commercial Photography Studio. Also working as a photographer for Julie was Leo Heatherton (Richard Schaal). Barbara Colby was the actress originally signed for the role of Julie Erskine but only appeared in the first episode of the series. Miss Colby was brutally murdered soon after production had started and was replaced by Liz Torres. This job, with Phyllis being her busybody, self-centered, oblivious self, lasted only one season. At the start of the 1976-77 season, in an effort to improve upon the mediocre ratings of the first season, Phyllis was given a new job as administrative assistant to Dan Valenti (Carmini Caridi), a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She worked in an office with another supervisor, Leonard Marsh (John Lawlor), and his assistant Harriet (Garn Stephens). On the home front things were also changing. Witty, sharp-tounged Mother Dexter, far and away the best member of the family when it came to putting down Phyllis, had become involved with a man. She was 87 and Arthur (Burt Mustin) was 92, but love flowered and they were married in December 1976. Ironically, elderly actress Judith Lowry ha died while on vacation in New York during a break in production early in December, before the episode aired, and Burt Mustin, who was too ill to see it, died not too long after. Bess also found a man, in the person of Phyllis' boss' nephew Mark (Craig Wasson). They sneaked off to Las Vegas and were married in the spring. The changes in the cast and multiple marriages didn't help the rating enough to save the series. It was canceled at the end of the 1976-77 season.
POLICE STORY
Two episodes from Police Story were turned into two series of their own. "The Gamble" was aired on March 26, 1974, with Angie Dickinson in the role of policewoman Lisa Beaumont. That fall, with her named changed to Pepper Anderson, she became Police Woman. "The Return of Joe Forrester," aired as a special 90-minute episode on May 6, 1975, became Joe Forrester that fall, with Lloyd Bridges re-creating his role. Although Police Story was an anthology, characters occasionally made return appearances. The most notable examples were Tony Lo Bianco (as Tony Calabrese) and Don Meridith (as Bert Jameson). During its first two seasons on the air, these two appeared four times as partners and once each separately as detectives on various cases. Despite the frequency of their visits, they never got a series of their own. NBC aired occasional two hour Police Story specials after the series ceased weekly production in summer 1977. A decade after the original series left NBC, ABC aired four new Police Story movies at the beginning of the 1988-1989 season, using scripts from the orignal run, to fill in for its strike-delayed ABC Saturday Mystery Movie. There were no recurring characters. The leads included Ken Olin (as a troubled cop), Robert Conrad (as an imprisoned cop), and Jack Warden (as a cop who didn't want to retire).
POLICE WOMAN
The pilot for Police Woman, which starred Angie Dickinson and all of the series regulars except Earl Holliman, aired as an episode of Police Story titled "The Gamble." Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
PROJECT U.F.O.
Regulars were Maj. Jake Gatlin (William Jordan) and S/Sgt. Harry Fitz (Caskey Swaim), Project Blue Book's stolid investigators, who traveled around the country interviewing people who had reported seeing a U.F.O. Some of the stories verged on character studies of these people, but there was always a certain amount of hardware seen, including vivid recreations of the flying saucers and spacemen that the people had claimed seeing. Off-screen narration reinforced the series' appearance of authenticity. Maj. Gatlin was replaced in the fall of 1978 by Capt. Ben Ryan (Edward Winter) as Project Bluebook's chief. Libby Virdon (Aldine King) was Gatlin's and later Ryan's secretary. Colonel William T. Coleman, who had headed the real life Project Bluebook, was producer of the series.
QUINCY, M.E.
Although Quincy's first name was never mentioned on the show, he did, apparently, have a first initial. His business card was seen briefly in one episode and it read "Dr. R. Quincy." Quincy was one of the four rotating elements in the 1976-1977 edition of The NBC Sunday Mystery Movie -- the others being Columbo, McCloud, and McMillan. It proved so popular during the fall of 1976, however, that after the first of the year it was moved to Friday nights as a weekly series. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
REAL PEOPLE
Real People premiered as a limited series in the spring of 1979. When it returned that fall Fred Willard, one of the original hosts, had been replaced by Byron Allen. Allen, Sarah Purcell, John Barbour and Skip Stephenson appeared regularly in the studio and on location in the filmed stories. Bill Rafferty was a roving reporter who did all of his commentary on film, never appearing in the studio, and political satirist Mark Russell made pungent comments on the federal bureaucracy, from Washington. Fred Willard returned to the show for two seasons, starting in 1981, and the following fall young Peter Billingsley was added to the roster to cover stories with particular emphasis on children. Kerry Millerick, another roving reporter, was also added in 1982, but appeared infrequently. When Kerry was added, former roving reporter Bill Rafferty began to appear in the studio, as well as on location. Only moderately successful when it began, Real People soon grew into one of the top hits on television, spawning a host of imitators -- That's Incredible, Those Amazing Animals, and That's My Line among them.
RHODA
The newlyweds moved into the same building in which Brenda and Rhoda had been living. Joe went off every day to the office to deal with his partner Justin (Scoey Mitchell) while Rhoda was a relatively unoccupied housewife. Boredom precipitated her decision to start her own window-dressing business with a high school friend, shy Myrna Morganstern (Barbara Sharma) (no relation to Rhoda), as a partner. With Rhoda happily married, the comedy shifted to her chubby sister Brenda, a bank teller with constant problems trying to get a boyfriend, sort of a younger version of the Rhoda who started on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1970. After two years of stories about wedded bliss the producers of Rhoda decided that a happily married couple was just not as funny as two single people trying to cope with the world. In order to create more flexibility in Rhoda's role, she and Joe separated soon after the start of the 1976-77 season. Now they were able to make new friends, suffer the adjustments of living apart, and again deal with the world of the lonely "single." Joe was gradually phased out of the show, preparatory to the inevitable divorce, and Rhoda joined her sister at mixers and singles bars. She found a new friend in 39-year-old divorced airline stewardess Sally Gallagher (Anne Meara), and both she and Brenda were frequently escorted by platonic friend Gary Levy (Ron Silver). In the middle of that season Rhoda began an off-again on-again romance with egocentric Las Vegas-based entertainer Johnny Venture (Michael Delano). The 1977-78 season brought another raft of changes. Rhoda found a new job working at the Doyle Costume Company, a rundown business struggling to survive. Jack Doyle (Ken McMillan) was the owner of the company and his assistant was Ramón (Rafael Campos). Brenda had a new boyfriend in Benny Goodwin (Ray Buktenica), and mother Ida had just returned from a year's traveling around the country. By the start of the last season Ida too was single, having been deserted by Martin. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
RICH MAN, POOR MAN
The source was Irwin Shaw's sprawling (720-page) 1970 best-seller about the divergent careers of two brothers in the years from 1945 to the 1960s. Rudy Jordache (Peter Strauss) was the "rich man," the ambitious, educated entrepreneur who triumphed over his impoverished immigrant background to build a business and political empire. Tom (Nick Nolte) was the "poor man," the trouble-prone rebel who turned boxer for a time, and was eventually murdered in the last episode by the vicious Falconetti (William Smith). Axel (Edward Asner) and Mary (Dorothy McGuire) were the parents, and Julie (Susan Blakely), Rudy's lifelong love. An enormous, all-star cast paraded through the 12-hour presentation as lovers, enemies, scoundrels, and friends. The entire 12 hours was repeated in May-June 1977. A sequel, Rich Man, Poor Man - Book II, began in the year 1965 after the death of Tom Jordache, and followed brother Rudy's further career as a U.S. senator. It aired beginning September 21, 1976, and was repeated in February-March 1977. Buy this mini-series on DVD at Amazon.com
THE ROCKFORD FILES
Jim used all the seamier ploys for which detectives are known -- impersonating others to get information, cheap disguises, petty bribery, eavesdropping -- but his power of reasoning and dogged hard work usually solved the case. If, along the way, he got beaten up, had his car damaged, and got shot at -- well, he had a sense of humor. He resented fellow private investigator Lance White (Tom Selleck) who, during The Rockford Files' last season, always seemed intuitively to know all the answers and have everything fall into his lap without effort. That final season was cut short when Garner, tired of the role and suffering from a variety of ailments, abruptly quit the show. The theme song from this series was on the hit parade in mid-1975. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
THE ROOKIES
ROOM 222
The program was highly regarded for tackling current problems relevant to today's youth (prejudice, drugs, dropping out, etc.) and it received many awards and commendations from educational and civil rights groups. Its sense of reality was heightened by the fact that it was based on, and partially filmed at, 3,000-student Los Angeles High School. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
THE ROPERS In this spinoff from Three's Company, landlord Stanley Roper (Norman Fell) sold his apartment building in Santa Monica and bought a condominium town house in posh Cheviot Hills. His new foil was balding realtor Jeffrey P. Brookes III (Jeffrey Tambor), who felt that the earthy Roper was downgrading the neighborhood. Helen Roper (Audra Lindley), socially aspiring but ever frustrated by Stanley's crass ways, found a supportive friend in Jeffrey's wife Anne (Patricia McCormack), however. David (Evan Cohen) was the Brookes' young son; Jenny (Louise Vallance), an attractive art student who rented a room; and Ethel (Dena Dietrich), Helen's snobbish sister. Muffin was Helen's little dog. Just as Three's Company was based on the English TV hit Man About the House, The Ropers was based on its spinoff, George & Mildred.
ROWAN & MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN
Laugh-In was first seen as a one-time special on September 9, 1967. It was such an enormous hit that it inevitably led to a series premiering the following January. Its lightning-fast pace took full advantage of the technical capabilities of television and videotape. Blackouts, sketches, one-liners, and cameo appearances by famous show-business celebrities and even national politicians were all edited into a frenetic whole. The regular cast was large and the turnover high, and of the 40 cast regulars who appeared in the series only four were with it from beginning to end -- the two hosts, announcer Gary Owens, and Ruth Buzzi. The essence of Laugh-In was shtick, a comic routine or trademark repeated over and over until it was closely associated with a performer. All the great comedians have at least one, but what was remarkable about Laugh-In was that it developed a whole reertoire of sight gags and catch phrases using little-known talent exclusively (though some became quite famous later). Among the favorites: Arte Johnson as the German soldier, peering out from behind a potted palm and murmuring "Verrry interesting!"; Ruth Buzzi as the little old lady with an umbrella, forever wacking the equally decripit old man who snuggled up beside her on a park bench; Lily Tomlin as the sarcastic, nasal telephone operator (even the company wanted to hire her to do commercials using that routine -- she wouldn't); Gary Owens as the outrageously overmodulated announcer, facing the microphone, hand cupped to ear; Alan Sues as the grinning moron of a sports announcer; Goldie Hawn as the giggling dumb blonde, and so on. Some of the devices of the show were the Cocktail Party, Letters to Laugh-In, The Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award, Laugh-In Looks at the News (of the past, present, and future), Hollywood News with Ruth Buzzi, the gags written on the undulating body of a girl in a bikini, and the joke wall at the close of each show, in which cast members kept popping out of windows to throw each other one-liners -- or a bucket of water. Laugh-In went straight to the top of the TV ratings and was the number one program on the air for its first two full seasons, 1968-1970. It then began to drop off as the best talent left to pursue newfound careers, and finally ended its run in 1973. Buy The Best of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In on DVD at Amazon.com or The Best of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In at TimeLife.com
SANFORD AND SON
Sanford and Son was producer Norman Lear's second major hit (All in the Family was the first) and, like All in the Family, was based on a successful British TV comedy. Sanford and Son's source was called Steptoe and Son. Sanford and Son was an instantaneous hit and ranked among the top ten programs throughout its run. Fred had a steady girlfriend in Nurse Donna Harris (Lynn Hamilton), whom he was always promising to marry, and was constantly at odds with Aunt Esther Anderson (LaWanda Page), who ran the Stanford Arms, a run-down rooming house that was located next to the junkyard. Early in 1976 Lamont found a serious romantic interest in Janet (Marlene Clark), a divorcée with a young son, Roger (Edward Crawford), and they became engaged at the end of the 1976-77 season. The marriage never took place, however, as the series left the air in the fall of 1977. Redd Foxx had committed himself to do a variety show for ABC and co-star Demond Wilson left the series in a dispute over his remuneration as the sole star of the series after Foxx's departure. With the two stars gone, NBC premiered The Sanford Arms (named after Aunt Esther's rooming house) in the fall of 1977, which featured most of the supporting players from Sanford and Son. For a three-month period during the summer of 1976, a second episode of Sanford and Son was seen each week on Wednesday nights. The second episodes were reruns from previous seasons and titled The Best of Sanford and Son. Reruns were also telecast weekdays on NBC from June 1978 to July 1978. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
Each week also had a musical guest, ranging from some truly offbeat and eccentric musicians to such major rock stars as Blondie and the Rolling Stones. The chief "discovery" of Saturday Night Live during its initial season was comic Chevy Chase, famous for his opening pratfall and his role as the earnest young newsman reporting preposterous headlines on "Weekend Update." His trademark line was "Good evening. I'm Chevy Chase and you're not." Jane Curtin took over the role as newscaster after Chevy left the show in November 1976, and was later joined by Dan Aykroyd when an anchor team was instituted. Other frequent bits included Chevy as bumbling President Ford; Dan as candidate, and later President, Jimmy Carter; Gilda Radner as a lisping Barbara Walters (Ba Ba Wawa), a confused Emily Litella making editorial replies on Weekend Update, and later as rambling, loudmouthed newscaster Rosanne Rosanna-Danna; John Belushi as Samurai warrior; Aykroyd and Belushi as the Blues Brothers; Don Novello as Father Guido Sarducci; and practically everyone in ridiculous constumes as the Bees or the alien Coneheads. Originally Jim Henson's Muppets were a regular feature, as was a short, offbeat film produced each week by Albert Brooks (later films were by Gary Weis). Still later came "Mr. Bill" films, about the hapless little puppet made of dough who was always being squashed or dismembered by Sluggo. These evolved from a short film submitted by a young man named Walter Williams. And of course there were ersatz "commercials," satirizing everything from the telephone company to milk. Over the years Saturday Night Live developed a large and loyal audience, and by the 1977-1978 season it was by far the most popular program in late-night television, surpassing the longtime champ The Tonight Show. With the success of the show came success for its stars, and eventually the departure of the original cast. Chevy Chase left in the fall of 1976 to pursue a career in films and prime-time specials. Three years later Belushi (a major film star in Animal House) and Aykroyd left to make a large-screen production based on the Blues Brothers characters they had developed on Saturday Night Live. By the spring of 1980 producer Lorne Michaels decided he wanted to do something different, and when he left the remainder of the original cast went with him. A new producer, Jean Doumanian, a new cast, and new writers took over in the fall of 1980, to generally poor reviews. Declining audiences resulted in considerable behind-the-scenes turmoil, with more cast changes and a new production team taking over in 1981. Michaels returned in 1985. The major discovery of the recast Saturday Night Live was youthful black comic Eddie Murphy, whose career exploded with the success of his first feature film, 48 Hrs, in 1982. Later favorite characters included Billy Crystal's oily interviewer Fernando ("Mahvelous, mahvelous!"). A frequent musical guest in the mid-'80s was David Johansen as gravelly voiced singer Buster Poindexter. After considerable turmoil during the early 1980s (42 regulars appeared on the show between 1980 and 1985), things settled down in the late 1980s with a stable cast of nine players: Nora Dunn, Jon Lovitz, Dennis Miller, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson, Kevin Nealon, and A. Whitney Brown. Carvey's "Church Lady" and Lovitz's pathological liar Tommy Flanagan ("That's the ticket!") were favorite characters, as was newcomer Mike Meyers' Wayne. While no program can be expected to recapture the magic of its youth (or of ours), many felt that SNL was once again one of television's best comedy showcases. Edited reruns of Saturday Night Live were telecast in prime time in 1979-1980, under the title The Best of Saturday Night Live. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN
Handsome, athletic Col. Steve Austin (Lee Majors) was a U.S. astronaut who had been critically injured when the moon-landing craft he was testing over a Southwestern desert crashed to the ground. Fighting to save his life, government doctors decided to try a new type of operation devised by Dr. Rudy Wells (Martin E. Brooks) -- the replacement of certain human parts by atomic-powered electromechanical devices, capable of superhuman performance. Steve lived and became cyborg -- part human, part machine, endowed with powerful legs that permitted him great speed, a right arm of incredible strength, and a left eye of penetrating vision (it even had a built-in grid screen!). Armed with these weapons, Steve set out on dangerous missions for the Office of Scientific Information, battling international villains, mad scientists, and even a few alien monsters such as Bigfoot. Early in the series Steve learned that he was not the only bionic wonder around. It seemed that Dr. Wells had built a seven-million-dollar man as backup for Steve, using an injured racecar driver named Barney Miller (Monte Markham). Unfortunately the other superhuman ran amok, and Steve had to find a way to dispatch him, in a battle of the bionic men. A few months later, in January 1975, Jaime Sommers (Lindsay Wagner) was introduced as Steve's love interest and a former tennis pro who had been grievously injured in a sky-diving accident. She was reconstructed into the Bionic Woman. Unfortunately her body rejected its bionic parts, and she died -- at least Steve (and viewers) thought she did, until she was brought back ("out of a coma") for several more episodes in the fall. Then she got her own spinoff series called The Bionic Woman. Steve and Jaime's romance seemed destined never to be fulfilled, but nevertheless in November 1976 the series did produce a bionic boy -- not theirs, but 16-year-old athlete Andy Sheffield (Vincent Van Patten), whose paralyzed legs were replaced by Andy Wells. Using his new powers the boy promptly set out on a crusade to clear his dead father's name. Oscar Goldman (Richard Anderson) appeared as Steve's government boss, and Peggy Callahan (Jennifer Darling) was seen occasionally as his secretary. The role of Dr. Rudy Wells was played by a number of actors, including Martin Balsam in the movie pilot and Alan Oppenheimer and Martin E. Brooks in the series. The Six Million Dollar Man was based on the novel Cyborg, by Martin Caidin. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
60 MINUTES
Among the more provocative stories featured in segments of 60 Minutes were numerous items on politics in the Middle East; a 1971 feature on the situation in the Gulf of Tonkin; "The Poppy Fields of Turkey -- The Heroin Labs of Marseilles -- The N.Y. Connection" (1972); "The Selling of Colonel Herbert" (1973); "The End of a Salesman" (1974); "Local News and Ratings War" (1974); several items on, and interviews with, participants in the Watergate scandal during the 1974-76; a controversial story on the plight of Jordanian Jews (1976); a feature on brain damage suffered by workers in a chemical plant manufacturing Kepone (1976); and a dramatic report by Dan Rather from inside the sealed borders of Afghanistan, reporting on resistance to the Soviet invasion (1980). 60 Minutes spent its first three seasons on an alternate-week schedule with CBS News Hour. It was during this period that one of the original two correspondents, Harry Reasoner, left the show to join ABC News. His last appearance was on November 24, 1970. Two weeks later, Morley Safer joined Mike Wallace. When it moved into its own weekly time slot on Sunday evenings, a new regular feature called "Point Counterpoint" was added. Each week two columnists at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum -- conservative James J. Kilpatrick and liberal Nicholas Van Hoffman (replaced by Shana Alexander in 1975) -- would debate a current issue. They never agreed about anything. Dan Rather joined the show in December 1975, when it moved into the prime 7:00--8:00 P.M. hour, expanding the correspondent team from a duet to a trio. It was here that 60 Minutes became a major hit, violating the traditional rule that documentary programs are marginal audience attractions. The summer of 1978 saw the addition of "Three Minutes with Andy Rooney" as a weekly feature filling in for the vacationing debaters from "Point Counterpoint." At the start of the 1978-79 season Mr. Rooney's musings shared time with "Point Counterpoint," each feature airing on alternate weeks. It was also that fall that Harry Reasoner returned to 60 Minutes, bringing the number of correspondents to four. In the spring of 1979 Shana Alexander decided to leave 60 Minutes and, although there was an attempt to find a new liberal to debate James Kilpatrick, the "Point Counterpoint" feature was dropped from the show (last telecast May 29, 1979) and Andy Rooney's observations became a weekly feature. The 1979-80 season was a milestone for 60 Minutes as it became the highest-rated series in all of prime time. It was in the spring of 1980 that CBS announced that Dan Rather would leave. Despite leaving 60 Minutes to anchor the CBS News in the spring of 1981, Rather had already recorded enough features to remain a 60 Minutes regular through the end of the 1980-81 season. Ed Bradley replaced Rather in 1982 and Diane Sawyer joined in late 1984. When Ms. Sawyer left 60 Minutes in 1989 to become co-host of ABC's PrimeTime Live, Meredith Vieira and Steve Kroft were added to the roster of correspondents. Vieira's departure in early 1991, reportedly due to a dispute with 60 Minutes' executive producer Don Hewitt, brought Leslie Stahl to the show. Longtime correspondent Harry Reasoner retired that May, with a nostalgic collection of excerpts from stories he had done for the show over the years. In failing health, he passed away less than two months later. The conclusion of 60 Minutes telecasts, in true magazine fashion, consisted of one of the correspondents reading a collection of letters to the editors, followed by that ever-moving stopwatch signalling the end of the hour while the closing credits rolled.
SOAP
The object of all this ire was a half-hour comedy which was billed as a satire on soap operas. It had a continuing story line of sorts, but was populated by a cast such as was seldom seen on any serious dramatic show. Stories centered on the wealthy Tates and the blue-collar Campbells. Chester Tate (Robert Mandan) was a pompous businessman with an affinity for extramarital affairs; no wonder, since his wife Jessica (Katherine Helmond), was a spaced-out fluttery idiot. Of their three children, sexy Corrine (Diana Canova) was always putting her best attributes forward; Eunice (Jennifer Salt) was quieter and more conservative; and Billy (Jimmy Bain), 14, was a wise-cracking brat. Living with the Tates was Jessica's father, "the Major" (Arthur Peterson), who crawled around the floor in his old Army uniform, still fighting World War II; and Benson (Robert Guillaume), the insolent and obnoxious black servant and cook, who commented on the proceedings. Across town lived Jessica's brother, Mary Dallas Campbell (Cathryn Damon). Her husband, Burt (Richard Mulligan), was a "working stiff" whose main problem lay in dealing with stepsons Jodie (who was gay, played by Billy Crystal) and Danny (who was involved with organize crime, played by Ted Wass). Surreptitious sex was on practically everyone's mind, and formed the basis of many of the stories. Soap attracted a large and loyal audience, and the controversy over it was confined largely to the first season. ABC intimated that the program represented a major breakthrough in TV comedy, and claimed that "through the Campbells and the Tates many of today's social concerns will be dealt with in a comedic manner." Others considered Soap to be nothing more than an extended dirty joke being piped into America's living rooms. Much of the opposition to the program was led by religious groups, including the National Council of Churches. Rev. Everett Parker, a longtime critic of TV, called Soap "a deliberate effort to break down any resistance to whatever the industry wants to put into prime time... Who else besides the churches is going to stand against the effort of television to tear down our moral values and make all of us into mere consumers?" Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
THE SONNY AND CHER COMEDY HOUR
All was going well, the ratings were good, the couple seemed to be the picture of happiness (they had even made their daughter Chastity a semi-regular at the show's close when they would sing their record hit "I've Got You Babe"). Unfortunately, reality and appearances were two different things. The Bonos were having marital problems, and it was announced in the spring of 1974 that they were getting divorced and would give up the series. They went their separate ways. Sonny failed with The Sonny Comedy Revue, his own show for ABC that fall, and Cher had only middling success with Cher, her solo effort that began on CBS the following January. With her solo venture limping along after less than a year on the air, a professional reconciliation was arranged with Sonny so that they might work together again. Cher had since married rock singer Gregg Allman and given birth to a son. The new venture was titled The Sonny and Cher Show, but it could never regain the magic of the original. Cher's putdowns of Sonny, which seemed funny when they were married, just didn't work as well after they were divorced. The new series limped along for two season and was cancelled in the summer of 1977. Buy Sonny and Cher: The Ultimate Collection on DVD at Amazon.com
THE STARLAND VOCAL BAND SHOW The four members of the popular music group The Starland Vocal Band (Bill Danoff, Taffy Danoff, Margot Chapman and Jon Caroll) starred in this whimsical variety show which featured music and satirical comedy sketches. Political satirist Mark Russell was also a cast regular in this series, which was taped on locations in such diverse places as a concert at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and at an outdoor picnic in Great Falls, Virginia. The group's main claim to fame, and the reason they got this summer series, was a 1976 hit record called "Afternoon Delight." Featured regularly in comedy sketches were three of the show's writers -- David Letterman, Phil Proctor, and Peter Bergman.
STARSKY AND HUTCH
THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO
Mike's co-ed daughter was seen occasionally during the early years (played by Darlene Carr), but later the emphasis was shifted to the cases, rather than the home lives, of the principals. Some scenes in the series were filmed in actual San Francisco police buildings, such as the communications center, the morgue, etc. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com Based on characters from the novel Poor, Poor Ophelia, by Carolyn Weston.
S.W.A.T.
Filmed in Southern California and based, loosely at least, on real-life S.W.A.T. teams formed in several large American cities following the disturbances of the late 1960s. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
SWITCH
By the middle of its second season, Switch had become a somewhat more traditional detective series, with fewer elaborate con games, and in the fall of 1977 Pete moved into a new apartment above Malcolm's bouzouki bar, where Revel (Mindi Miller) was the hostess and Wang (James Hong) the new cook.
TAXI
During the 1980-1981 season Latka started to date a rather scatterbrained lady from his homeland named Simka Gravas (Carol Kane), and at the end of that season they were married. Falling ratings led ABC to cancel Taxi in the spring of 1982 and, for a time, it seemed that the pay-cable network Home Box Office would pick up the series. That was not to be, however, as NBC decided to give Taxi a new life. Promotional announcements on NBC during the summer of 1982 showed series star Danny DeVito looking up at the camera and gloating, "Same time, better network!" Despite critical acclaim for the ensemble acting, the wit and charm of the writing, and the faith of a new network, Taxi obtained the same low ratings on NBC as it had in its last season on ABC, and faded from sight the following summer. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
THAT'S INCREDIBLE!
To be fair, there were informative segments on breakthroughs in medicine and people overcoming their handicaps. But the show was perhaps best represented by the picture of a man juggling whirring chain saws, while a caption on the screen read, "Do not try this yourself!" Four years after the program left the ABC schedule, it returned for an additional season, under the new title Incredible Sunday. Otherwise, little had changed. Smiling John Davidson was once again host, joined by Christina Ferrare (and in early 1989, by teen actress Tracey Gold). The feature story on the first episode in October 1988 was about a South American woman who became the surrogate mother for her own daugher; implanted with her daughter's fertilized eggs, she gave birth to her own grandchildren. That's incredible!
THIS IS TOM JONES
After the last big, brassy musical number, dynamic Tom would wish his viewers good night in traditional Welsh, saying, "Gwyn eich byd a dymunaf i chwi lawenydd bob amser." Although there was some speculation about what he was really saying [how many Americans understand Welsh?], it meant, simply, "May you always be well and happy." Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
THREE'S COMPANY
Parents objected and humorous misunderstandings abounded, but Jack stayed. In addition to his other virtues, he was the only one of the three roommates who could cook. His favorite ploy was to intimate that he was a homosexual, and therefore uninterested in the two sexy girls (in fact, nothing did go on between them). The landlady, Mrs. Roper (Audra Lindley), who lived downstairs, worried less about what was going on upstairs than about the fact that nothing was going on in her love life with her husband, Stanley (Norman Fell). Away from their confused home life, Jack (John Ritter) was studying for (and eventually got) his chef's diploma; Janet (Joyce DeWitt), the brunette, worked in a florist shop; and Chrissy (Suzanne Somers), the frivolous blonde, was a typist. After a short run in the spring of 1977 Three's Company was picked up as a regular series on ABC's fall 1977 schedule. The comedy was based almost entirely on sexual double-entendres, and religious leaders and critics found the program almost as objectionable as Soap, which followed it on the Tuesday night schedule. Nevertheless viewers made it one of the major hits of the 1977-78 season, especially after it was featured on the cover of Newsweek magazine in February 1978. The cover photo was a staged shot of Chrissy with her negligé seemingly falling off, and Jack leering over her shoulder -- something that never happened on the show. Norman Fell and Audra Lindley left the series in 1979 for their own show, and were replaced by Don Knotts as Ralph Furley, the new landlord. Then, in 1980, Suzanne Somers, who had become a media celebrity as a result of this series, demanded a huge increase in salary plus a piece of the profits in recognition of her new importance. The producers adamantly refused, and her role was reduced to an occasional brief scene in which she was seen phoning her roommates long distance (she was supposed to be in Fresno caring for her sick mother). Eventually Somers was written out of the show altogether, and her career went into decline. Jack and Janet promptly found a new roommate in Cindy (Jenilee Harrison), who was introduced in December as Chrissy's cute but clumsy cousin. She moved out in 1981 in order to study veterinary medicine at UCLA, though she continued to visit for another season. Her replacement was a smart, vivacious nurse named Terri Alden (Priscilla Barnes). Meanwhile, Jack pursued his career as a chef, first at Angelino's Restaurant (whos owner Frank Angelino, played by Jordan Charney, was seen occasionally). In 1982 Mr. Angelino and landlord Ralph Furley put up the money to open Jack's own place, called Jack's Bistro, specializing in French cuisine. When not at the restaurant or the apartment, the gang hung out at the Regal Beagle, a neighborhood pub. When he lost his roommates (Janet got married and Terri moved to Hawaii) Jack moved in with his new girlfriend Vicky Bradford (Mary Cadorette) and a new series, Three's a Crowd, began in 1984. Three's Company was based on the British series Man About the House. ABC aired reruns on weekday mornings from June to September 1981. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
TONY ORLANDO AND DAWN
VEGA$
THE WALTONS
At the start of the 1977-78 season The Waltons moved out of the Depression and into World War II. Young Rev. Fordwick enlisted in the army (John Ritter, who played the role, had a starring role in ABC's Three's Company that season) and was replaced by young Rev. Buchanan (Peter Fox). Grandma Walton was ill in the hospital (actress Ellen Corby had suffered a stroke) and was not seen until the last episode of the season, when she finally came home to Walton's Mountain, even though she was still partially incapacitated. The reunion was tearful, but brief. In April 1978, shortly after the close of the regular season, actor Will Geer, who played Grandpa Walton, died at the age of 76. The 1978-79 season saw much suffering on Walton's Mountain. At its beginning the family was mourning the passing of Grandpa. Mary Ellen's husband, Curt (Tom Bower), was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and Olivia found out she had tuberculosis and went to a sanitarium for treatment (Michael Learned's contract had expired and she asked to be written out of the show to pursue other roles). In the spring there was some good news, however, as Ben (Eric Scott) eloped with a young girl named Cindy (Leslie Winston), who had never met the family before their marriage. Despite a rocky start -- she and Ben hardly knew each other before getting married -- things settled down. The war continued to affect the Waltons as time passed. Olivia returned from the sanitarium and went off to a domestic army hospital to serve as a nurse. With Olivia gone and Grandma now having passed away, Olivia's cousin Rose (Peggy Rea) arrived to run the Walton household -- adding her two grandchildren Serena and Jeffrey (Martha Nix and Keith Mitchell) to the group. Jason (Jon Walmsley), John Boy, and Ben were all in the military, and a shortage of both materials and help forced John Walton to close his lumber mill temporarily. As the war drew to a close Jason got engaged to WAC Toni Hazleton (played by Jon Walmsley's real-life wife, Lisa Harrison), and Mary Ellen, taking courses in premed, found a new love with fellow student Jonesy Formula (Richard Gilliland). Her romance was almost aborted when she found that Curt had not died at Pearl Harbor but had been badly injured and rendered permanently impotent. He had given up medicine and established a new life with a new name in Florida. After visiting him there, she returned to Walton's Mountain and Jonesy, leaving Curt to make the best of his new life. Meanwhile, Olivia suffered a relapse of TB, John sold Walton's Mill to son Ben and moved to Arizona to be with his wife while she recuperated. Author Earl Hamner, Jr., was the creator and narrator of The Waltons, which was based on reminiscences of his own childhood. It was the most wholesome of TV programs and, surprisingly, did extremely well in the ratings. When it premiered in 1972 its competition was The Flip Wilson Show on NBC, then one of the most popular shows on television. To the surprise of both critics and TV executives The Waltons not only survived, but it forced Flip Wilson off the air and itself became one of the most viewed programs on TV. It was never a big hit in large cities, but it struck a chord in middle and rural America that guaranteed it a long and prosperous run. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
WELCOME BACK, KOTTER
Dozens of other students passed through the series, most seen only briefly, including Rosalie Totzie (Debralee Scott), Verna Jean (Vernee Watson), Judy Borden (Helaine Lembeck), Todd Ludlow (Dennis Brown), and Maria (Catarina Cellino). Other regulars were Gabe's wife Julie (Marcia Strassman), and Mr. Woodman (John Sylvester White), the assistant principal. Julie became pregnant at the end of the 1976-1977 season, and gave birth to twins Rachel and Robin in the fall of 1977, adding to the confusion and crowding in the Kotter's small apartment, and putting new strains on Gabe's limited income. In other developments, Angie (Melonie Haller) turned up in early 1978 with the announcement that she was becoming the first female "sweathog" (she didn't last long), and a slick southerner, Beau De Labarre (Stephen Shortridge), joined the class the following fall. Also in the fall of 1978 Kotter was promoted to vice principal and Mr. Woodman to principal. The sweathogs get part-time jobs, with Vinnie becoming an orderly at a nearby hospital. Welcome Back, Kotter, inspired by the hit British TV series Please Sir!, was based on a real high school and the real experiences of Gabriel Kaplan. Kaplan had once attended the equivalent of James Buchanan High School, in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York, and had been a student in a remedial class there. He credits a Miss Shepard as the teacher who inspired him, and who led, indirectly, to Welcome Back, Kotter. Like Kotter, she cared about her "unteachable" students. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
WHAT'S HAPPENING!!
In 1978 Roger and Rerun graduated from high school and moved into a shared apartment nearby, while Roger entered college and Rerun went to work. Their new neighbors were Big Earl (John Welsh), a police detective, and his smart-mouthed son, Little Earl (David Hollander). "The Snake" (Leland Smith) was the school basketball star. First seen as a summer replacement show, What's Happening!! was given a spot on the regular ABC schedule in the fall of 1976. Six years after leaving ABC in 1979 it returned to television with a new title, What's Happening Now!!, and most of the original cast. In the syndicated version Raj was newly married and trying to make it as a writer, and Rerun and Dwayne, now a used car salesman and computer programmer, respectively, were sharing an apartment. Shirley and Raj were also partners running Rob's, and Dee (who only showed up occasionally) was in college. Raj and Nadine, who were living in the house he had grown up in, took in a foster child named Carolyn (Reina King) for a time. Added to the cast in the fall of 1987 were a local high school student named Maurice Warfield (Martin Lawrence), who worked part-time as a busboy at Rob's, and his buddy, Darryl (Ken Sagoes). It was also during that season that Dwayne gave up corporate life to open a small magic supplies shop. The program was loosely based on the movie Cooley High. In the 1980's, a sequel called What's Happening Now ran from 1985-1988. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
THE WHITE SHADOW
The White Shadow was more than just a basketball show, it was also the story of young people and their adjustments to life in an often hostile world. Within the framework of a high school basketball team were stories of personal conflict, drug problems, teenage crime, and the dangers in a tough area. In fact, in the spring of 1980 one of Ken's players, Curtis Jackson (Eric Kilpatrick), was shot to death while witnessing a liquor-store holdup. Studends moved on, as in real life. In the spring of 1980, after the team had won the Los Angeles City Basketball Championship, several players graduated from Carver and were replaced by new players in the fall. The series treated its subjects realistically and sympathetically, and was lauded by numerous educational organizations, although its audience size was marginal. This lead to its cancelation after three seasons on March 16, 1981. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
WKRP IN CINCINNATI
The staff at WKRP was full of offbeat characters. Les Nessman (Richard Sanders) was the naive, gullible, and pompous news director, more concerned with his farm reports than with national and international stories. Bailey Quarters (Jan Smithers) was Andy's enthusiastic young assistant, who handled billing and traffic and was eventually given the added responsibilities of backup news reporter working with Les. The two WKRP disc jockeys seen regularly were morning man Johnny Caravella, a.k.a. "Dr. Johnny Fever" (Howard Hesseman), a jive-talking counterculture type who seemed constantly spaced out; and night man Gordon Sims, a.k.a. "Venus Flytrap" (Tim Reid), a hip black who had worked with Andy at other stations. Jennifer Marlowe (Loni Anderson), the sexy but efficient receptionist, actually had a lot to do with holding the station together -- she knew far more about what was going on than did her boss, Mr. Carlson. Loni Anderson quickly became the star of the show, and one of the major sex symbols of the late 1970s. The Farrah Fawcett-Majors posters of a few years earlier gave way to posters of buxom Loni. She guested constantly on other programs, and soon landed the juicy role of Jayne Mansfield in a made-for-television movie about the life of that sex symbol of an earlier era. All the adulation went to her -- or her agent's -- head, and, like Farrah, she quickly demanded a huge increase in salary or she would leave the show. Unlike Farrah, she got it, and stayed. The final regular was Herb Tarlek (Frank Bonner), WKRP's high-pressure advertising salesman who, though married, spent much of his time making passes at Jennifer. He proved to be more talk than action, however, as he was totally intimidated when she indicated she was willing to take him up on his offer in one touching episode. Station owner Mrs. Carlson was a constant threat to them all but, fortunately, only showed up occasionally, usually to complain about something they either were or weren't doing at the station. Nine years after WKRP in Cincinnati left CBS, it returned to the air in first-run syndication with three returning characters from the network series -- bumbling station manager Arthur Carlson, sleazy salesman Herb Tarlek, and nerdy news director Less Nessman. New to the station were Donovan Aderhold (Mykel T. Williamson), the recently hired black program director; Dana Burns (Kathleen Garrett) and Jack Allen (Michael Des Barres), the quarrelsome married couple who were known on the air as the "morning maniacs"; Mona Loveland (Tawny Kitaen), the sexy late-night disc jockey; Claire Harline (Hope Alexander-Willis), WKRP's cynical traffic manager; Ronnie Lee (Wendy Davis), the young receptionist; Buddy Dornster (John Chappell), the station's portly rumpled engineer; and Mrs. Carlson's son, Arthur, Jr. (Lightfield Lewis), an ambitious and rather arrogant apprentice salesman working with Herb. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
WONDER WOMAN
The show was comic strip, pure and simple, set in the 1940s. Wonder Woman came from a "lost" island where a band of Amazon women had fled ca. 200 B.C. to escape male domination by the ancient Greeks and Romans. On Paradise Island they found the magic substance Fleminum, which when molded into a golden belt gave them superhuman strength and in golden bracelets could deflect bullets. It didn't help their love life much, though, so when Major Steve Trevor (Lyle Waggoner) of the U.S. Army crash-landed on the island during World War II, Wonder Woman fell in love and returned with him to the U.S. in the guise of his secretary. Major Trevor did not know of her powers, but when trouble threatened, Yeoman Diana Prince could disappear for awhile, and whirl herself into Wonder Woman! She then reappeared, clad in sexy tights and draped in a cape that looked something like the American flag. Her opponents were mostly Nazi agents, plus a few aliens from outer space, all of whom were dispatched in slam-bang-biff-pow style. Once the Nazis even found and occupied Paradise Island in their quest for Feminum, and they had their own Wonder Woman in Fausta. Seen occasionally on Diana's side was her younger sister Drusilla, the "Wonder Girl" (played by Debra Winger). Lynda Carter, who portrayed Wonder Woman, did fit the part. A former "Miss World -- U.S.A.," she was very athletic, tall (5'10", not 6" as some publicity releases claimed), and extremely well endowed. Buy this series on DVD at Amazon.com
THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY
Luring Disney into television was a major coup for struggling ABC. Both CBS and NBC had negotiated with the moviemaker, but neither could agree to his seemingly exorbitant terms. Among other things, Mr. Disney wanted the network to help finance his proposed amusement park in Anaheim, California. Only ABC was willing to take a chance, paying a then-fabulous $500,000 plus $50,000 per program. ABC won big. Both the TV series and the park, Disneyland, were fabulous successes. The program Disneyland was, in fact, ABC's first major hit series. Disneyland consisted of a mixture of cartoons, live-action adventures, documentaries, and nature stories, some made especially for TV and some former theatrical releases. A liberal number of repeat telecasts was included with each season's originals. At first Disneyland was divided into four rotating segments, listed at the beginning of each week's show by the cartoon character Tinkerbell (from Peter Pan). They were Frontierland, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, and Adventureland. The first telecast was a variety show, but what really got Disneyland off the ground was a three-part series of Frontierland adventures which began less than two months later -- Davy Crockett. The exploits of the famed real-life frontiersman of the early 1800s took America by storm. The title role was played by Fess Parker (whom Disney had seen playing a bit part in the horror movie Them). Buddy Ebsen played his sidekick, George Russell. Davy's trademark coonskin cap and other Crockett merchandise sold like wildfire to the nation's youth, and a recording of the theme song, "The Ballad of Davy Crockett," was one of the biggest hits of the mid-1950s. (Fess Parker had recorded the song, but ironically a minor-league singer named Bill Hayes, who later went on to appear in the soap opera Days of Our Lives, beat him to it and had the big hit recording.) There were many other presentations on Disneyland beyond the boundaries of Frontierland. Some were adaptations of classics such as Alice in Wonderland, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (narrated by Bing Crosby), Robin Hood, Treasure Island, and Babes in Toyland (with Annette Funicello, Tommy Sands, and Ray Bolger). The animated shows tended to feature well-known Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse (voice provided by Walt himself), Donald Duck, Pluto, and Goofy, sometimes in full-length stories, sometimes "narrating" documentaries on various subjects. When the series moved to NBC in 1961 a new character was added, Professor Ludwig Von Drake (voice by Paul Frees), who was supposed to be Donald's eccentric uncle and who co-hosted many of the shows, with Walt. Documentaries within the series covered subject ranging from space travel to how cartoons are made, and were always entertainingly presented. And of course there were plenty of plugs for the Disneyland park and its Florida counterpart, Disney World, including reports on construction in progress, big opening galas, and, later, on-location variety shows. Every season of Disney brought all types of presentations, but the mix changed with the times. In the late 1950s and early 1960s there were many Westerns and other early-American adventures, but then the emphasis shifted more to nature stories, often about animals and their young human companions. For many years Walt Disney himself introduced the telecasts, and it was through television that the master showman became a national celebrity. He was such an institution that it was a distinct shock when Walt Disney passed away suddenly on December 15, 1966. On the next Sunday's telecast the prefilmed introductions by Disney were deleted, and tributes by Chet Huntley and Dick Van Dyke were substituted. But the program itself went on as planned -- appropriately, it was a tour led by Walt himself through his pride and joy, Disneyland. In subsequent seasons there was no opening and closing host, simply voice-over narration by announcer Dick Wesson. In later years Disney suffered the same fate as many other long-running series, gradually declining in audience because viewers apparently took it for granted, or considered it "old hat." The fact that such programs might continue to provide first-rate entertainment meant little in the quest for "novelty." Each year Disney's renewal became more doubtful until NBC finally announced its cancellation in 1981. The Disney magic refused to die, however, The series was picked up by CBS for two seasons (1981-1983), and then after a two-year hiatus returned to its original network, ABC. This latter version consisted of films (theatrical and made-for-TV), and revived the custom of specially film introductions by the head of the Disney studio -- now a young executive named Michael D. Eisner. The Disney series was originally titled Disneyland, changed to Walt Disney Presents in 1958, to Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color in 1961 (when many of the films previously seen in black-and-white on ABC were repeated in color on NBC), to The Wonderful World of Disney in 1969, and to Disney's Wonderful World in 1979. The 1981 CBS version was titled simply Walt Disney, the 1986 ABC revival, The Disney Sunday Movie, and the NBC 1988-1990 version, The Magical World of Disney. Buy Walt Disney Treasures - Television on DVD at Amazon.com
- excerpted from The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows - Fifth Edition by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh (New York: Ballantine Books, 1992).
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