The Freakin' Weekend (1973)

So much to address here on this Nov. 23-25, 1973, #freakinweekend: the Kings Island Brady Bunch, No. 1 vs. No. 4 and No. 8 vs. No. 9 in college football, the debut of the HP's International House of Pancakes National Football League e-Magnetic Team Standings Board and more!

Friday

After a run of seasons in which the networks turned out new series that became some of the most iconic programs of our lives, TV73 came up a clunker. Good Times and Happy Days are going to turn up this winter, but nothing much at all took from the fall debuts. Kojak was the lone new fall 1973 series to qualify for the Nielsen top 30 for the season.

The writers had struck, and there wasn't a single week crammed with debuts, so that the new series might market for each other. Plus, it appears to me that so many highly popular series were still so early in their runs that the brand-new series couldn't peel away viewers. Take Calucci's Department, a pretty compelling setup for Broadway's James Coco in a New York unemployment office. From the little bit of it I've seen, there's no reason for me to think that this show couldn't've found the quirky, low-burn stroke that Barney Miller ultimately found ...

But it was pitted against NBC's red-hot Sanford and Son at 7 Central on Friday nights, and Calucci's Department is going to be finito after 11 episodes. By the way, ABC's 7 p.m. Central Friday entry, The Brady Bunch, is nearing the end, too. The Bradys are all going to Kings Island on Nov. 23, 1973, which is one of my very favorite episodes of this show ...

Indeed, I'm sticking with Channel 3 the rest of this Friday night: The Odd Couple, a Julie Andrews variety special with Perry Como and the Muppets and then a Love American Style ...

Saturday

Here's the current Associated Press Top 20 in college football:

1. Ohio State 9-0

2. Alabama 10-0 (after beating Louisiana State on Thanksgiving, Nov. 22)

3. Oklahoma 8-0-1

4. Michigan 10-0

5. Notre Dame 9-0

6. Penn State 10-0

7. LSU 9-1 (after losing to Alabama on Thursday)

8. UCLA 9-1

9. Southern California 8-1-1

10. Nebraska 8-1-1

11. Texas 7-2

12. Texas Tech 9-1

13. Arizona State 9-1

14. Houston 8-1

15. Miami (Ohio) 10-0

16. North Carolina State 7-3

17. Tulane 8-1

18. Oklahoma State 5-2-2

19. Missouri 7-3

T20. Kansas 6-3-1

T20. Pittsburgh 6-3-1

So, as you can see, we've got ourselves a pretty compelling Saturday afternoon in front of Channel 3 to look forward to ...

I'm not sure on which Saturday this little Hee Haw snippet aired on Channel 12, but I think Nov. 24, 1973, is a pretty good bet because it was on Nov. 11, 1973, that Louis "Grandpa" Jones of Niagara, Kentucky, had discovered the corpse of his Nashville-suburbs neighbor, David "Stringbean" Akeman of Annville, Kentucky ...

Now on to happier Saturday-night fare ...

Sunday

NBC's got a pretty good noon Central kickoff in 8-2 Steelers at 6-3-1 Browns ...

But we're not seeing that. Channel 12's got the double-header this afternoon: 3-6-1 Cardinals at 6-4 Bengals at noon and then 7-3 Falcons at 3-7 Jets at 3. Channel 6 is holding fire until 6-3-1 Chiefs at 5-3-2 Broncos at 3. 

Here's where things stand in Week 11 of NFL73, after the 8-3 Redskins beat the 4-6-1 Lions, 20-0, and then the 10-1 Dolphins beat the 7-4 Cowboys, 14-7, on a very happy Thanksgiving ...

What's On TV Tonight (1973)?

It's a David Aldridge Friday night on Feb. 2, 1973, on Channel 3:

At 7 p.m., it's an old HP favorite, "Bobby's Hero," on Brady Bunch.

At 7:30, Bert Convy, who has not been discussed nearly enough at the HP, makes a pass by The Partridge Family.

At 8, we have Room 222, a show I know hardly anything about and one with apparently no Season 4/1972-73 full episodes available online. Here's how The Paducah Sun described tonight 1973's episode: "A bright, rebellious student plans to refuse a college scholarship to protest scholastic competition." I should probably spend a little more time with this program.

At 8:30 comes dependable Odd Couple.

And, at 9, it's Love, American Style, which is hard to find online. But then we can pretty much fill in the blanks of the hour from this IMDb episode summary: "A woman is willing to remove everything but her gloves. A bride undergoes hypnosis in order to relax. A woman is prone to hysterical laughing upsetting social events. A young girl finds the ideal roommate with a gut but insists on being platonic." 

The Freakin' Weekend (1971)

What's on TV tonight (Friday, Aug. 20, 1971)?

The Aldridge lineup ...

The Partridge Family S01E21 Partridge Up A Pair... by burak-akpli

OK, here's the deal ... it's time to catch up on what's been going on TVwise ...

And now's the time to catch up on any music I might've missed so far in 1971 ...

Or if there's a movie out there I want to see, this is the weekend to see it ...

Or if there's some baseball teams or players I want to take a look at, other than the likely playoff participants, I better get on it ...

Or if I want to give a whirl to some new boutique parlor activity ... or check out what the hipsters are going crazy about ... or deep dive on one of those long, one-off, oddball SI takeouts ... whatever freak-flag curiosity that's catching my fancy ... the time is now ...

Because do you know what's drawing near?

The Freakin' Weekend (1971)

Then, on the next Sports Illustrated, it's Al Unser (and Peter Revson) on the cover. It's Friday night (June 4, 1971), at last ...

Maybe I'll clip and fill out my All-Star ballot this (freakin') weekend ...

Here's where we stand, MLB71wise ...

I'm still pretending that I'm either 48 or 8 and either visiting or living in Chicago, by the way, and I'm pleased to report that the Chicago Tribune reports there is finally some good news on the Cubs ...

Why, yes, that is a Patio soda (Go Heath!) that (future-A!) Ken Holtzman is enjoying after his big game ...

As always, there is plenty to do around and about Chicago ...

But, of course, I will likely spend a good bit of it hanging out at the house, catching up on Mac Divot ...

... and TV, which is mostly in reruns ...

Not totally in reruns, however--there is a fresh Bobby Sherman special on ABC tonight!

What's On TV This Season (1969)?

I'm back from vacation 1969. Rich Hoptown 1969 me did go up to Dayton to watch the PGA Championship. So did Dan Jenkins. I didn’t know about Woodstock (which didn’t turn up in the Kentucky New Era in the days before the event, Aug. 15-18, 1969), but I did make it to “the tournament that let golf in on what’s going on out there in the real world,” as Jenkins put it in the Aug. 25, 1969, Sports Illustrated. 

From Dayton, I caught Bob Griese's exhibition at Cincinnati, and then I went down to Miami for a week of Dolphins training camp and another exhibition, against the Colts. Anyway, now I'm back, just in time for this week's start of the new TV season. 

New NBC series that seem promising to me include My World and Welcome to It, The Debby Reynolds Show, The Bill Cosby Show and Then Came Bronson.

Among ABC's offerings, I have very high hopes for Music Scene; The New People; Love, American Style; The Courtship of Eddie's Father; Room 222, and, of course, The Brady Bunch.

Also, "the action and pageantry of the 100th season of college football" sounds exciting!